ing them over her ears from time to time as prettily as a kitten. "Very well done,” thought the soldier; "she does her toilet very handsomely." He seized a little dagger which he had taken from the Arabs, and prepared to bid her good-morning. At this moment the panther turned her head and saw him.

12. The fixedness of her bright metallic eyes made the soldier tremble. She arose and moved toward him. With great presence of mind he looked her directly in the eye. When she came up to him he gently scratched her head and smoothed her fur. Her eyes gradually softened, and at last she purred like a petted cat; but so deep and strong were her notes of joy that they resounded through the cave like the rolling of a church-organ.

13. The Frenchman redoubled his caresses, and turned and went out of the grotto. The panther came bounding after him, lifting up her back and rubbing like an affectionate kitten. He felt of her ears and throat, and, perceiving that she was pleased with it, he began to tickle the back of her head with the point of his dagger, hoping to find an opportunity to stab her; but her strength and size made him tremble lest he should not succeed.

14. The beautiful sultana of the desert tried the cour age of her companion by stretching out her neck and rubbing against him. He raised his arm to give the fatal blow; but at that moment she crouched gently at his feet and looked up in his face with a strange mixture of affection and native fierceness. The soldier's arm fell, and she licked his shoes and purred. During the whole day the panther attended him as a dog does his master, and never suffered him to be out of sight.

15. Taking courage from the past, he began to hope he could get along very comfortably with his new companion. He seated himself by her and patted her neck

until she began again to purr. He took hold of her paws, felt her ears, and rolled her over. She suffered him to do

all this; and when he played with her paws she carefully drew in her claws lest she should hurt him. He soon began to have an unwillingness to kill her. In the lonely desert she seemed like a friend. He gave her a name, and before the end of the day she would look up in his face when he called "Mignonne!"

16. When the sun went down she uttered a deep, melancholy cry. "She is well educated," said the soldier; "she has learned to say her prayers!" He was rejoiced to see her grow drowsy. "That is right," said he, "you would better go to sleep first!" When she was sound asleep, he arose silently and set off vigorously toward the Nile; but he had not gone a quarter of a league over the sand when he heard the panther bounding after him, uttering at intervals a loud, sharp cry.

17. Before she came up, the Frenchman fell into a dangerous trap of loose sand, from which he could not extricate himself. The panther seized him by the collar, drew him out of the sand, and brought him safe to the other side of the treacherous ditch at a single bound. "My dear Mignonne," exclaimed the soldier as he caressed her, "our friendship is for life and for death." He retraced his steps. Having hung out his shirt as a signal to any human being who might come near, he lay down and slept.

18. When he awoke, Mignonne was gone. He went out, and soon saw her at a distance clearing the desert with her long and high bounds. She arrived with bloody jaws. When receiving caresses, she purred and fixed her eyes upon him with more fondness than usual. The soldier patted her neck and talked to her as he would to a companion. "Ah, miss, you have been eating some of

the Arabs. Aren't you ashamed? Never mind, they are worse animals than you are; but please don't take a fancy to grind up a poor Frenchman. If you do, you won't have me to love you any more."

19. This animal was so fond of caresses and play, that if her companion sat many minutes without noticing her she would put her paws upon his lap to attract attention. In this way several days passed. The panther became used to the inflections of the soldier's voice and under

stood the expressions of his face. While her beauty pleased, she delighted him most when she was on a frolic. She showed the perfection of grace and agility as she glided swiftly along, jumping, bounding, and rolling over and over. When she was darting away at full speed, she would stop suddenly when the Frenchman called, "Mignonne!"

20. One day a large bird sailed through the air over their heads. In the desert anything that has life is of interest. The soldier stepped apart to watch the flight of the bird as it slowly and heavily fanned the air. In a few moments the sultana began to growl. "She is certainly jealous," said the soldier, as he looked into her fierce and glittering eyes. They looked at each other, and the proud creature leaped as she felt his hand on her head. Her eyes flashed lightning as she shut them hard. "The creature must have a soul!" exclaimed the French

man.

21. This account was given me by the soldier himself as we met near the panther's cage in the menagerie at Paris. "I do not know," continued he, "what I had done to displease Mignonne, or whether the creature was merely in sport; but she turned around, snapped her teeth at me, and seized hold of my leg. Thinking she was about to destroy me, I plunged the dagger into her

neck. The poor creature uttered a cry that froze my very heart. She made no attempt to avenge my blow, but looked mildly upon me in her dying agonies. I would have given all the world to have recalled her to life. It was as if I had murdered a friend. Some French soldiers who saw my signal found me some hours afterward weeping beside her dead body.

22. "Ah, well," said he, after a mournful silence, “I have been in the wars in Germany, Spain, Prussia, and France, but I never had had such sensations as were produced by the lonely desert and my beautiful sultana. In the waste of sand you felt the terrible majesty of God alone. Mignonne came, and with her human sympathies and fears. She died, and the terrible remained. Her mournful cry and the reproachful look of her eyes before they closed in death will haunt me to my dying day."

CHAPTER V.

THE GUARDIANS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

1. "I THINK every family should have a dog; it is like having a perpetual baby; it is the plaything and crony of the whole house. It keeps them all young." These words are from that highly cultivated friend of dogs, Dr. John Brown, of Scotland. They express a sentiment which has, to a great extent, been anticipated by the history of that one of all the kingdom of animals that has kept close to man in every part of the globe. Indeed, the friendship of man and his dog is traced back to so remote a period of history, that it can not be certainly determined whether

the family dog is descended from the wolf or the jackal, or whether it is a distinct species.

2. It scarcely needs to be said that the dog is a carnivorous animal, and that his structure is perfectly adapted to secure and dispose of his appropriate food. How many toes the dog has in his fore-paws and hind-paws, and how many teeth he has in his two jaws how many incisors or cutters, canine or dog teeth, and molars-may be easily ascertained by applying to the dog himself. Among the numerous varieties of dogs, including the most diverse sizes and appearances, there is a unity of feeling. The mastiff and the toy terrier recognize each other as cousins, but neither will take kindly to a tame wolf.