"Of course I am. Don't be silly," barked the dog, wagging his tail
joyfully at the thought of another good dinner. "Surely! surely! I will
do anything you like if it will bring Dame Fortune back again."

"All right. Here is the plan. There has been a thief in the house who
has stolen our mistress's golden beetle. You remember all our big
dinners that came from the pot? Well, every day I saw our mistress take
a little golden beetle out of the black box and put it into the pot. One
day she held it up before me, saying, 'Look, puss, there is the cause of
all our happiness. Don't you wish it was yours?' Then she laughed and
put it back into the box that stays in the cupboard."

"Is that true?" questioned Blackfoot. "Why didn't you say something
about it before?"

"You remember the day Mr. and Mrs. Chu were here, and how Mrs. Chu
returned in the afternoon after master and mistress had gone to the
fair? I saw her, out of the tail of my eye, go to that very black box
and take out the golden beetle. I thought it curious, but never dreamed
she was a thief. Alas! I was wrong! She took the beetle, and if I am not
mistaken, she and her husband are now enjoying the feasts that belong
to us."

"Let's claw them," growled Blackfoot, gnashing his teeth.

"That would do no good," counselled the other, "for they would be sure
to come out best in the end. We want the beetle back--that's the main
thing. We'll leave revenge to human beings; it is none of our business."