The Slum Cat 
in, sniffed again, then made toward the feed- 
pan, to be seized in a flash by the crouching 
Fox. It gavea frightened “mew,” but a single 
shake cut that short and would have ended 
Kitty’s nine lives at once, had not the negro 
come to the rescue. He had no weapon and 
could not get into the cage, but he spat with 
such copious vigor in the Fox’s face that he 
dropped the Kitten and returned to the corner, 
there to sit blinking his eyes in sullen fear. 
The negro pulled the Kitten out. The shake 
of the beast of prey seemed to have stunned 
the victim, really to have saved it much suffer- 
ing. The Kitten seemed unharmed, but giddy. 
It tottered in a circle for a time, then slowly 
revived, and a few minutes later was purring 
in the negro’s lap, apparently none the 
worse, when Jap Malee, the bird-man, came 
home. 
Jap was not an Oriental; he was a full- 
blooded Cockney, but his eyes were such little 
accidental slits aslant in his round, flat face, that 
his first name was forgotten in the highly descrip- 
tive title of “Jap.” He was not especially un- 
kind to the birds and beasts whose sales were 
19 
