"Served him right," said Pwit-Pwit. "I can't bear dogs; they're as bad as cats."
"But my poor mate was dead," continued Wapiti, "and while I was mourning over her body, the men came and bound me fast with cords. That is why you find me here."
With that, they took leave of the red deer, and with the sparrow in the lead, proceeded to the Elephant House.
"By this time," said Toots, "the lion cubs will have ceased their chatter over the white carpet the heavens laid on the earth in the night, and we shall be able to get in a word."
Mahmoud and the Duchess stood as near the front of their house as the chains on their legs would let them, and seemed eager for visitors. They greeted Pwit-Pwit cordially, stretching out their trunks to him. The sparrow hopped upon that of Mahmoud, and said:
"Where are your eyes, old friend? Here is the little Limping Boy back again, and you give him not so much as a flap of your ear in greeting."
"Alas, my eyes give me small service these days," said the elephant; "yet I would have sworn that the lad who follows you hither with the little butterfly maiden is stout and brown and well-clad, and with two good, straight legs under him. Can it be that my ears are growing dull, also, that I failed to hear the clank of the iron on his leg?"
Thus speaking, Mahmoud put forth his trunk, and with the two fingers at its end felt carefully of Toots' legs, first of one and then of the other. Then he drew back and blew a puff of wind through his trunk that ruffled Pwit-Pwit's feathers, saying playfully:
"And so, Pwit-Pwit, little one, thou wouldst jest with thy most faithful of friends? Nay, the lad is well-favored and good to look upon, but he is not the little Limping Boy."