SIM-SAM THE MINK.
(AN IDYLL OF BUITI811 COLUMBIA.)
GLEAMS from a lantern came through the bedroom windows, and the voice of Lucas, on his way to milk, called from the outside darkness : " Sim-sam has got out!" Then children scampered from their beds upstairs, repeating the cry ; hurried dressing began throughout the house; and soon in the dim light of the early winter morning time usual search was being made among the bushes of the great wild garden where Sim-sam loved to play the truant—search that familiarity never robbed of a spice of real anxiety. For suppose a dog should come around I Sim-sam had not the least fear of dogs ; he would attempt to play with one should he meet it in his rambles, and so be killed upon the instant ! Calls of "Chu-shut Sim-sam !"--•-appealing calls, emphatic calls—echoed from one searcher to another ; but minute after minute passed and there was no answering " Chip ! Chip !" and no scuttle of a tiny form from bush to bush, nor mis- chievous gleam of bright boot-button eyes peering through a tuft of grass. Sim-sam was being naughtier than ever ! Then of a sudden, at a turn in the path, Mrs. Lucas caught a glimpse of the white form of Kan, the China- man's terrier, that rat-killing dog; its ears pricked, its nose to the ground. That demon vanished into a thicket, hot-foot upon a little trail. There came the sound of an excited yap. Before mother and children could rush to the tragic spot, dog and victim had vanialielfrom their ken. Yet the search went on, " for at least," they said to one another, " we shall find hie body V' And as they spoke they felt how horrible it was to picture that gracious little elfin being dead —gambolling no more, playing no more tricks upon its plays mates, tucking itself into no more beds or pockets for its frequent sleep. The house would be strangely silent without the busy chattering that sounded like " Chuschu-chu" or the rattling of stolen reels of cotton upon the stairs. There would be nobody to beg prettily for food, no quaint small pillar of brown fur bolt upright on the kitchen floor, eyeing the cook with bright intelligence; no one upon the hearthrug kicking short, fat legs into the air and defying the company to tickle that small, plump stomach and get away unscathed; no one to grab undefended fingers with a speed quicker than human eight and pretend to chew them up. Some one would be sadly missed by mother and children alike ! The mother, indeed, searched back and forth throughout the garden, hour after hour, with a lump in her throat. But there was nothing found, either before or after breakfast. Dentist's appointments must be kept even if pet minks are lost and dead; household work cannot all be put aside. So the morning dragged on, and the last hope died. Only Lucas, remorseful because it was he who had let Sim-sani get away, continued time fruitless search till dinner-time. That was the dismal end I
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On a little island in the Straits of Georgia, whore minks live among the sea-coast rocks, Sim-sam was born, and three days later, attracted to the spot by tiny squeakinge, the Lucas children found him underneath a pile of driftwood on the beach near to their summer camp. He was blind and deaf, a mere woolly slug three or four inches long, that uttered small noises and sought to cuddle in tire nearest warmth—against a hand, inside a pocket, near a hot-water bottle. Many a time in the small hours of the succeeding nights did Mrs. Lucas rise from bed to give Sim-sana his drink of warm canned milk anti water (cow's milk he would never take), or to rewrap him in his cosy blankets. And Sim-sam grew— grew fat with a bulging stomach that was far too heavy for Iris hind-legs to stagger under, like that of Mark Twain's jumping frog. The fiat wrinkles beside hie head became flat ears ; these ears stuck out; soon he could answer to his nameostumbling to you from across a tennis coma. By and by sight came, and with that Sim-cam's intelligence begun to grow with impish quickness. • Life became one long game of biting . . . biting fingers, rags, pencils, cats' tails, objects tied to a string, the toes of sleepers —anything that a harmless small jaw could hold. He learned that raw meat and fish were what he needed, and taught him- self to frighten away cats and dogs and human beings when he was eating, his long-drawn " Chee-eze ! " being considered most terrifying. Then, as his strength increased and the heavy burden of his fat stomach passed away, leaving him a slim young mink that could slip through any napkin-ring, his schooldays began. He and the kitten tried conclusions, victory passing in the end to the heavier feline except when Sim-sam was really roused. He learned to beware of the bullying mother-cat. He perceived that old Punka's wagging tail would make the finest kind of swing, and thereafter be used it like a patent exerciser. Then there was the sport of mops . . . you jump on the housekeeper's mop and travel up and down the floor, up and down, up and down, as long as teeth and paws will hold you on. Or you get some one to whirl you round and round like a tee-to-turn while you grip grimly a piece of rag tied to a string. An hour's doze in an empty teaput or beneath a carpet goes well after a game like that ! Sim-sam was sometimes spanked, we grieve to say. There were occasions when, like a child, play would over- excite his nerves. Then the hair upon his strong, thick neck would rise like a crest and Sim-sam would bite hard—hard enough to scratch some one's skin and stir some ono's temper. Authority in the person of Mrs. Lucas would then appear upon the scene of naughtiness, and Sim-sam, struggling in her arms, would utter loud angry squeaks between the smacks, bristle his hair, and try to bite the descending hand—the very picture of a small offender equalling but defiant under nursery discipline. It might take ten, it night take twenty, slaps before defiance would ooze away and Sim-sam would turn and creep abjectly against the shoulder of the only mother he had ever known, to be cuddled and coaxed back to happiness. He understood; he had a good memory. There would be no more hard biting for weeks afterwards. Sim-sam, poking his head temptingly into an empty boot and looking round as if to say : " Bet you a dollar you can't shove me up that boot!" (and you couldn't), was an imp of fun itself, for he would play with you, remember, wits against wits—not with mere objects as does a cat; and Sim-sam, dashing under a coverlet in mock fear at the stamp of a foot and shout of " Naughty mink " and rushing out again to scare you with mock ferocity, had a charm all his own. But Sim-sam's bath was the spectacle that revealed him at his very best. Watch- ing him glide and twist and loop the loop under water with the utter ease of a fish made you see the reason for the webbed toes, the powerful short, double-jointed legs that bent in any direction indifferently, and for the slim, lithe body with its rippling muscles. Si111-82.111, you perceived, was built expressly for quick movement under water—movement far different from the clumsy-looking bopping gallop that was his best gait on land. A bath was his supreme enjoyment. It filled him with the highest spirits. After he bad climbed out, rubbed himself dry upon rugs or pillows or trouser-legs—rolling and tumbling in a very frenzy of the toilet—he would spring and dash about the house like a gigantic festive flea, making the passages echo with " Chu-chu-chu" and squeaks. It was never safe to leave liquid within Sim-sam's reach, for he would bathe in any dish or teapot or vase of flowers. On one memorable occasion he swam in greasy dishwash, upset a sugar-bowl to dry his fur in what he thought was sand, and removed the sticky mess by vigorous rubbing upon the blankets in which Lucas slept. On another he was removed from the flour-bin, a Pierrot figure of absurdity, a mirthful mink whose every hair was white as a circus clown's.
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And now Death had come! The house was silent; the small comrade gone. Mrs. Lucas, sewing on the veranda in the late afternoon, felt bitterly. She was upon the verge of tears (for a dead mink !), and as she wondered at her own emotion—at the unsuspected hold a small wild animal could get upon human affection—she heard a tiny noise that sounded like the tinkling together of two light silver coins, a noise she knew. And looking round in shocked astonishment, she saw a little upright figure on the veranda floor, a hungry little wisp of fur with bright boot-button eyes, begging prettily for meat. ,Then Sim-sam yawned, for he had slept nine hours underneath ,the porch
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