But Baby Akbar only put out one fat hand towards the black dog and said “Tumbu,” and the other fat hand towards the cat and said “Down,” and that was all he would say.

He had tumbled down; but how, when, and where, and how the dog and the cat came to be with him no one ever knew from that day to this.

CHAPTER V

ON THE ROAD

Naturally when, after an uneventful journey with the shepherd as guide, they reached Prince Askurry’s camp that evening, they came to talk over the incident.  Foster-father was not sparing of Head-nurse.  The whole tissue of misfortunes, which had ended in Baby Akbar so nearly losing his life—­and that he had been spared was simply a miracle—­arose from her insisting on a Royal Procession.  But for that, both she and the child would have gone comfortably on a camel.  They would have kept up with the other baggage animals and none of the distressful events would have happened.  It should not, however, happen again.  Of course, Head-nurse tried to brazen it out and assert that the Heir-to-Empire could always count on a miracle in his favour; but in her heart-of-hearts she knew that Foster-father was right.

So next morning she said nothing when she saw a camel with two panniers kneeling in front of the tent, ready for its load. That had to be endured, but she revenged herself by objecting to the black dog and the white cat, who sat expectantly one on either side, evidently prepared for a start.

“Whose are those uncouth beasts?” she asked of Roy angrily.  “Did I not tell those ghosts of the desert who call themselves shepherds to remove them last night?  Why have they come back?  Take them away!  Catch them!  Tie them up!  Such mean born animals have no right to attend the Mighty-in-Pomp, the Lord-of-Light,” etc., etc.

She rolled out the titles sonorously, determined that if she was docked of dignity in one way she would have it in another.

Now it was not very hard to catch the big black golliwog of a dog, even though he did snarl and snap and try to bite.  There were a lot of camp followers who were only too glad to have the amusement of capturing him, so, after a very short space poor “Tumbu,” for Baby Akbar insisted on calling him so, was being dragged off at the end of a long rope to his masters the shepherds, looking very sad, with his tail between his legs.

But it was quite different with “Down,” the cat.  She had made up her mind to stay where she was, and it is very hard, indeed, to make a cat change its mind when it is once made up.

So she moved about gently, from one place to the other, purring softly and looking as mild as milk, her blue eye—­for real Persian cats often have their eyes of different colours and one of them is always blue—­ever so friendly, as if she were just longing to be picked up.  Only the very tip of her bushy tail swayed a little, and that is a sure sign that a cat is contrary.  And contrary Down was.  The very instant any one tried to pick her up—­why! she was somewhere else!