192 THE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



some damage to liis knees, and a good deal of 

 exertion, he held on hy the ladder-rest with his left 

 hand, while with his right he made the best use of 

 his hat, in which, after many unsuccessful sweeps, 

 he had at last the satisfaction of making good his 

 capture, and he slid down the iron post in triumph. 

 He had scarcely reached the ground, however, when 

 he found himself in the arms of a stalwart police- 

 man ; but he was at first too much absorbed to pay 

 much attention to this interruption, and shaking 

 himself free, all but his collar, which the policeman 

 kept a firm hold upon, he proceeded to secure the 

 treasure, and place it in his small collecting-case, 

 which he always carried Avith him, regardless of the 

 persistent questions of the policeman as to "what 

 he meant by damaging the lamps ?" " what he was 

 after?" and many other forms of interrogation in 

 which the official continued to indulge. At last, 

 just as he was depositing the tin-case in his breast- 

 pocket, the policeman put his question either in a 

 form more intelligible to the excited entomologist, 

 or in a way that appealed more forcibly to the set of 

 feelings just then in most powerful action, " What 

 have you got there?" he said. This was a plain 

 question, and to the point ; for the entomologist well 

 knew " what he had got there," and, with a smile 



