"Does this belong to you?"
“Thank you! Yes, it is. You see, I have been obliged to wear a false one for some time; I had no idea, however, that it had become detached.” And he carefully adjusted it again, tying it on with a couple of tapes, and artfully concealing the ends.
“Our family,” he whispered, “have no tails to speak of, and, as we look rather remarkable without them, most of us wear artificial ones; but please don’t tell the others, they are sure to make fun of me, if you do.”
“All right,” promised the Archæopteryx, kindly; “I won’t, if you don’t wish me to; but I——”
“Hist! hist!” interrupted a voice, and the Dodo, with a very scared face, peeped from behind a tree. “Who do you think is here?” he gasped.
“Who?” inquired the others, curiously.
“The Little Panjandrum himself,” declared the Dodo. “I have just caught sight of him up by the Palace, and he looks so angry about something.”