The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-12-29

pile and said, in a voice that meant
business:
"I'll trouble you for that fish, if you
please"
'All right" said Cleopatra "I'll leave
You the bones when I'm through with it. u
The strange cat reached out to take the
savory fish, and Cleopatra smote him. In
less time than it takes to tell it, he stood
that cat in the corner of the fence and
wiped enough hair off him to stuff sofa
cushion. And as the wailing cat dragged
its lacerated body down the drain, Cleo.
patra resumed his fish, remarking. as he
lodged a passing backing brush, that
he believed, as long as he was out, he'd
stay up little while and have some fun
with the boys.
And he had it. He went down the
alleys and danced to everything he met
He nearly tore the ear off smart kitten
him. He prowled through back yards
and he almost Mortified the life out of a
most highly respectable elderly tortoise
shell tabby sitting in q kitchen window,
by creeping up close under the window
and roaring out to know if "she danced
the lancers ?" He scalped harmless
Mexican dog all the way down its bare
back, in six red raw lines, and shouted
after the anguish stricken animal to
run home and put on his hair" He
was hit once with an old kerosene torch
that perfumed him up like political
procession, and he crawled through an
old drain back of the soap works and
came out smelling worse than an Indian
picnic. At last he heard music over in
''Stony Lonesome" and went there and
found the boys were having little
dance, and the first thing he did when
he went in, he spat at the bar-keeper
and slapped Il one eyed cat from Hiber-
MIA.
pile onto me by thousands" he
yelled. Give got just one more eye than
l want to take home!'
And they didn't wait for second invi-
tation. They piled onto him then and
there. and the babbling brook that pratt
ties through the rocks of Stony Lonesome
when it heard the wild ,unearthly clamor,
turned back and ran up the hill, and in
dumb terror watched the circling clouds
of misty hair drifting about in the valley
below.
In Judge Diffen baugh's hospitable
parlors his chosen friends fingered
though the hour was late. At the piano
Miss Diffenbaugh dreamily wandered
through the enhancing numbers of
"Schubert's cradle song" There was a
familiar voice at the front gate that made
her heart beat wildly. The voice came
E1aanokrn
And then that apparitiyn-that mock
strobe into Judge Dihtenbaugh's parlor,
and everybody climbed on the tables and
chairs Miss Diffenbaugh tainted. The
old Judge swore, Cleopatra laughed sar-
donically and remarked that he'd been
out all night, and that he was gettin' to
be q big boy now" His hair was
mainly gone, and what he had left was
not combed. His face was scratched.
One eve was closed. His ears hung
loose and limp. He hlccoughed in his
speech, and tried to sing "Old Oaken
Bucket Around his neck still clung
the blue ribbon and letter, crumpled,
stained, unsavory. The Judge received
the letter with pair of tongs, and Cleo
patra was banished to the barn. Order
was restored IN the parlor and the judge
read the letter to himself.
He did not divulge its contents.
The terrified guests thought, and still
think, that it was a nihilist warming.
The judge did not show the letter to
his daughter.
He simply told her that if ever that in
finite ass. young what's his name, came
around that house again he would
pulverize his brainless carcass with the
lawn mower.
Mr.. Tillinghast still lives a blighted
life. He has gone out of the mail SER
vice. and abandoned experiments in star
routes.