A Tale Of Long

Ago.

By H.J.E.S.

THE finest Tom Cat in Moresai was the pet of the leading lady tale maker in the land. It had the mien of one whose future is assured; almost an official air.

A Doctor of Chiropody—cum—Teeth had a modest little cat with fluffy hair.

One dark night Tom and Fluffy had a quarrel, and Fluffy finished up under the doctor’s bed, crying bitterly.

Tom stepped along the verandah and sat in a beam of lamp-light.

The Doc. saw him and seized his gun.

In two minutes it was loaded and at his shaking shoulder.

There was the orthodox report and Tom looked round with interest in his eyes. Simultaneously a shower of water shot across the dim-lit stoop.

The Medico had sighted too quickly to hit anything less than the thousand gallon tank.

Tom stepped lightly outside the radius of the shower and sat enjoying the un usual coolness. Soon, however, he be came so disgusted with the language of the marksman that he went away.

The Doc. rushed into his surgery for cotton-wool and a tooth probe, and be gain filling the cavities of the tank with professional speed.

Fluff had taken the shot more seri ously and was hiding behind the highest coconut on the local plantation.

When the unusual filling operation was complete, the Doc. turned to see that Tom had come back and was watching him from the verandah rail.

With a quick side-step the irate man headed again for his gun. He levelled it through a window toward the cat.

Shutting his eyes, he fired.

There was a rattle of lead on the roof and an accompaniment of howls from Tom, as he hopped over the garden fence on three legs. A toe had been shot away.

Agitated questioning floated in from the nearest neighbour; but the Doctor slammed down the window and went to bed.

The next morning the storyteller made inquiries about her Tom’s missing toe.

It could not be found, but the lady’s house-boy advised his mistress that Misi Siton’s big dog had “kaikaied hand be long cat.” He had not witnessed the as sault, but he brought several other boys who had seen the disgraceful episode.

They agreed the attack was uncalled for and unfair and seemed to be on the verge of tears. The lady was soon under way for Misi Siton’s office.

She was there for only a few moments.

But for many days afterwards a big dog strained at an unaccustomed chain.

It is the memory of its reproachful look that forces me to vindicate its honour, even after all those years.