X 88 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



still treat their keeper with a filial affection whose demon- 

 strativeness fluctuates with the quality of the menu. For 

 similar reasons danger often effects the sudden conver- 

 sion of an infidel pet. The post-trader of the Fortin 

 de San Pablo, near Mazatlan, is the nominal proprietor 

 of an old ocelot that has long ceased to recognize 

 his authority. Juanita' absents herself for weeks to- 

 gether, and visits the post only as a guest, or rather 

 as a privileged member of an inspecting-committee, for 

 she rummages the premises, appears and disappears 

 without asking anybody's leave, and resents every 

 familiarity on the part of her former patron. But one 

 evening she had just entered his store, when a troop of 

 horsemen alighted at the gate, and a minute after a 

 government scout with a big wolf-dog stepped up to 

 the counter, while his comrades deposited their saddle- 

 bags near the open door. Juanita cast an uneasy 

 glance at the blockaded door, and in the next instant 

 caught sight of the dog, and he of her, when the 

 attitudes of both parties became so disagreeably sug- 

 gestive of an impending set-to that the scout reached 

 for a stick to chase his dog out. But Juanita either 

 misconstrued his motive or had already made up her 

 mind to secure a vantage-ground, for just when he 

 faced about she leaped upon the counter, and with 

 the next jump upon the shoulder of her old master, 

 and there proceeded to " get her back up," growling 

 viciously and bristling up into twice her natural size, 



