Mascot, now free, ran to the end of the gallery, leaped upon the railing and sat there. At the first symptom of an outburst from the excited students, the now thoroughly frightened creature began to look about wildly, and Janet approached him cautiously.
"Kitty, kitty, poor Mascot," she said softly stroking his bristling fur.
He looked up into her face, gave a piteous meow and allowed her to pick him up.
She gathered him into her arms and as she walked back to her place she said: "Don't cheer, please," for she saw the sophomores making ready to give their yell. She took her seat amid a soft clapping of hands, and, holding Mascot by the collar, she succeeded at last in stroking him into a serene frame of mind.
SHE CAUGHT THE RIBBONS AND CUT THEM THROUGH.
Then the players went on with their basketball. First victory for the juniors, then a steady increase in the gains of the seniors till triumphantly they retired from the field. All of Janet's friends crowded around her. She had succeeded in so quieting Mascot that he purred in her arms, and resented none of the attentions bestowed upon him by the victorious seniors. Had he not been fondled and fed by each one of them for over three years?
It was only when strangers approached, that he became restless, and considering that his nerves had received more than an ordinary shock that day, Janet concluded to take him back at the end of the first game.
"Positively his last appearance upon any stage," she announced as she held him high for a moment. "He retires from public office upon this auspicious occasion."
As she bore him away, there arose three cheers for Mascot from the enthusiastic sophomores, but Mascot was then safe within the familiar precincts of Hopper Hall, and made no demonstration beyond a sudden clutching of Janet's sleeve with his curved claws.