At this, Zuelma, who was a mother herself, laughed scornfully.
"If you were not a giddy, gadding sparrow," she said, "with neither mate nor nest of your own, you would know that without eggs and hot sand to hatch them in, there would be no young in the world. Come, go and try again. By this time the door should be open."
The sparrow was no quicker than were Toots and the Princess to profit by this hint. They found the outer door of the Hippopotamus House still closed; but that of the Lion House was open, and also one connecting the two. As Pwit-Pwit hopped past the cage of the frolicsome lion cubs, they tumbled over each other in their eagerness to greet him.
"Ho, Pwit-Pwit," they roared in their babyish voices, "stop and tell us the news."
"Wait till I come back," chirped the sparrow; "I'm busy now." And he hurried on into the Hippopotamus House and to the big tank where old Caliph was cooling himself after the excitement of the morning. Toots and the Princess stopped within a yard of him, eager to hear what was said between them.
"Is it indeed true?" demanded Pwit-Pwit. "Are you for the second time a father?"
Caliph blinked at the sparrow, and seemed to be turning something over in his mind. Presently he opened his mouth at least a yard and snorted so loudly that the sparrow's feathers were drenched with the spray from his nostrils.
"Such manners!" exclaimed Pwit-Pwit, shaking himself vigorously. "What on earth are you laughing at?"
"Father for the second time," repeated Caliph, with a broad smile. "Why, little one, my age is at least three-quarters of a century, and all of our family wedded young. At least a score of the young with which Fatimah has presented me are to-day rolling about the broad earth in gaudily painted wheeled tanks for the amusement of the Master World. Therefore, excuse me if I smile decorously at your inquiry if it be true that I am indeed a father for the second time."