The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1919-09-13

master, began to show his independ-
ence. He sulked every time he passed
Sammy in that never ending prone
made of the cage, glared at him side
wise and snarled-getting r0using
| belt on the nose with Sammy'S raw
hide that didn't improve his temper.
But Caliph wasn't alone in his mood,
Eliza, his big mate, never took her
| baleful eyes Off Sammy for an instant,
while HindoO, the biggest Of the
youngsters, kept his mouth open and
his teeth barred tW0-thirds of the time.
Even Never and Forever, the hitherto
fairly amiable cubs, frankly and open
ly foreswore allegiance to the banner
Of King Edwards.
1t helped matters not at all that at
the very first avenue crossing some
one on the curb yelled: pipe Sammy
Edwards all done up In pinkies! Gee,
Sammy, but it brings out the legs
great !'-an extremely embarrassing
remark, since Sammy from boyhood
had been painfully conscious of his
slightly bowed neither limbs.
Well, what with the animals acting
Ike the deuce and the kidding he got
from old aCQuaintances along the line,
and what With--mOSt Of all-keeplng
on the lookout for Kitty the eyes that
should have been attending very strict
ly indeed to the leOpards, it happened.
The spotted beasts, always the bane
Of menagerie mems existence at best,
were on the verge Of getting out OF
hand wher The cage reached that par
ticular juncture of two important
thoroughfares where Sammys taxi had
been wont to stand O nights.
Involuntarily Sammy let his eyes
divert from his snarling, feverishly
pacing charges, to the old spot. And
there, On the edge Of the sidewalk,
stood Hartman, his old taxi days EN-
ployer, and-evidently quite by acct
dent just BESIDE him-stood Kitty!
Kitty was white, as Sammy'S glance
fell on her. Kitty was frightened.
For Kitty had been able to sense what
scarcely anybody in the crowd sus-
pected for she had been investigating
this animal business deal in the last
six months, had Kitty.
She knew that things were going
wrong in that cage. AS her eyes and
Sammy's met, she raised her hand In
one imperious, undeniable gesture, and
through white lips screamed over all
the fanfare Of the pageant, Duck,
Sammy
Sammy ducked-and the razor-like
claws Of Caliph missed him by the
thinness of whistle as the snarling
beast hurtled through the air. There
was a whirl of tawny, black spotted
bodies and horrifying scrambling
and snarling; an agile flashing OF
pink; one, two, three rapid blank
shots in the faces Of the frantic cats
and, like a jack out of his box,
Sammy emerged from the rear door Of
the cage, slamming In the hasp behind
him. In two jumps he reached the
sidewalk
There was no fnterlude. "Can
have my Job back?" he demanded OF
Hartman.
"You can" replied Hartman. In
just five seconds Sammy Edwards had
quit one job and secured another.
"Come on, Kitty" he breathlessly
urged, grasping that almost fafnting
young woman by the arm; 'I'll borrow
a raincoat in Ferguson's and we'll go
somewhere and have a little talk. You
can't kid me after the look that was
on your face just now"
Kitty might, of course, have told
him that she'd have felt just the same
about perfect stranger. Butch,
what was the use? She was too glad
to have him back alive.