

The Kangaroo Rat 



(Yes, of course, another pretty mystery nearly ^ 

 gone. How sharp the flints are on this upland ^ 

 path ! ) I set a trap by these holes, and next 

 morning I had surely caught my " fairy." Just 

 the loveliest, daintiest fawn-brown little creature 

 that ever was seen in fur : large beautiful eyes 

 like a Fawn's — no, not like a Fawn's, for no Fawn 

 that ever lived had such wonderfully innocent 

 orbs of liquid brown, ears like thinnest shells of 

 the sea, showing the pink veins' flood of life. 

 His hind feet were large and strong; but his 

 fore feet — his hands, I mean — were the tiniest 

 of the tiny, pinky white and rounded and 

 dimpled, just like a baby's, only whiter and 

 smaller than the tip of baby's smallest finger. 

 His throat and breast were snowy white. How- 

 ever does he keep himself so sweetly clean in 

 such a land of mud! Down the outside of his 

 brown velvet knickerbockers was the cutest 

 little silvery-white stripe, just like that on a 

 trooper's breeches. His tail, the train that I 

 suppose the page carried in dancing, was re- 

 markably long, and was decorated to match the 

 breeches with two long white stripes, and ended 

 in a feather duster, which was very pretty but 



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