now, but that during the four days' captivity she had so cleaned
and slicked her fur that her unusual coloring was seen, and Jap
decided to keep her.


LIFE II

VI

Jap Malee was as disreputable a little Cockney bantam as ever
sold cheap Canary-birds in a cellar. He was extremely poor, and
the negro lived with him because the 'Henglish-man' was willing
to share bed and board, and otherwise admit a perfect equality
that few Americans conceded. Jap was perfectly honest according
to his lights, but he hadn't any lights; and it was well known
that his chief revenue was derived from storing and restoring
stolen Dogs and Cats. The half-dozen Canaries were mere blinds.
Yet Jap believed in himself. "Hi tell you, Sammy, me boy, you'll
see me with 'orses of my own yet," he would say, when some
trifling success inflated his dirty little chest. He was not
without ambition, in a weak, flabby, once-in-a-while way, and he
sometimes wished to be known as a fancier. Indeed, he had once
gone the wild length of offering a Cat for exhibition at the
Knickerbocker High Society Cat and Pet Show, with three not
over-clear objects: first, to gratify his ambition; second, to
secure the exhibitor's free pass; and, third, "well, you kneow,
one 'as to kneow the valuable Cats, you kneow, when one goes
a-catting." But this was a society show, the exhibitor had to be
introduced, and his miserable alleged half-Persian was scornfully
rejected. The 'Lost and Found' columns of the papers were the