'I love that story,' said Kitty. 'And then tell how a man gave you some monstrous biscuits for the bears and Auntie May gave him sixpence. And how then you met a man who was king of the Zoo!'
'Yes,' said Amerye, 'and he gave the bears some Nestlé's milk, and let Auntie May have a baby wolf to hold in her arms. Its mother seemed a very nice collie dog, like Meg. And then—and then'—(Kitty shrieked with delight)—'he went into the cage beside a Snow leopard, a thing just like a large cat—'
It was here that I got so excited that I leaped up on to the bed on to the top of them.
'Oh, here's dear Loki! Come up, Loki, and hear about the leopard. Make yourself comfortable, and if you must stick your claws in and out, do it where the clothes are thickest, that is all we ask you. Go on, Amy.'
'This man went in and the leopard was asleep in a corner. He climbed up a sort of tree and pulled its legs.'
'Brave man! Didn't he spoil his clothes and get scolded?'
'Yes, jolly well scolded by his wife who stayed outside. He said it didn't matter, for this little game would soon have to come to an end, for the leopard was getting a big boy now. It came after him rubbing about like a cat, and it lay down all curly, and invited him to play with it, and nipped the edge of his trousers, and he took it up all of a piece, as we take up Loki, and it crowded all over him, but it was happiest biting his legs and his hand. Then it got wilder and wilder and wanted him to roll over too, and he got frightened and he came out, and his wife dusted the sawdust off him.'
'Is that all the leopard?' asked Kitty.
'Yes, that is all. I wish there was some more for Loki's sake. I must not tell you about the kangaroos with their children in their pockets coming hopping across the ground up to us, it will bore poor Loki—oh, I'll tell you about the cat-house, where I saw the very king of cats that lived in Egypt and was praised.'
'How praised?' asked Kitty.