MEERKATS. i6i 



the table and make for the nearest hidiiicr-place, chat- 

 tering triumphantly as he goes, like a blackbird caught 

 stealing fruit ; an overturned milk-jug, dishes rifled 

 of their contents, and sticky trails of butter, jam, or 

 gravy across the tablecloth, proclaiming how profitably 

 he has used his opportunity. He revels in mischief ; 

 and the reckless destructiveness in which he indulges, 

 with no possibility of advantage to himself, but just 

 for the fun of the thing, often brings you to the end 

 of your patience. You vow that you will endure him 

 no longer. You must get rid of him. The great 

 Newton himself could not have pardoned such a con- 

 stantly-offending Diamond. But the little rogue knows 

 what is passing through your mind ; and he knows, too, 

 how to get on the right side of you. He assumes his 

 prettiest attitude and his most benevolent smile ; and as 

 he sits bolt upright, turning his little head from side 

 to side with quick, jerky movements, calling to you 

 in the softest and sweetest of the numerous voices 

 with which nature has endowed him, he is so irresist- 

 ibly comical that, whatever he may have done, you 

 cannot find it in your heart to be wroth with him very 

 long. He is soon restored to favour ; and then, to ex- 

 press his extreme contentment, he goes and lies flat on 

 his stomach in the sunshine, with his legs stretched out 

 straight. He is so flat that he seems all poured out 

 over the ground, and looks like an empty skin. What 

 becomes of his bones on these occasions is a constant 

 source of wonder. 



The only other creature I have seen capable of so 



