Leonora was their match. For the elephant she had a rusk, a bun for the bear, and the gorilla was pacified by an offering of nuts from his native Brazil. THIS WAY TO THE CROCODILE HOUSE we now read, on an inscription in black letters, and, following the path indicated, we reached the dank tank where the monsters dwell. We had arrived at a place which I find it difficult to describe. The floor was smooth and hard. 'What do you make of _this_?' asked Leonora, tapping her dainty foot on the floor. 'Flags,' I replied phlagmatically, and she was silent. In the centre of the space was a dark pool, circled by crystalline palaces inhabited by the sacred snakes, from huge pythons to the terrapin proud of his tureen. Again, there was a whipsnake, and a toad, bloated as the aristocracy of old time, and puffed up as the plutocracy of to-day. For such is the lot of toads! Now a strange thing happened. '_Hark!_' said Ustâni; '_hark! hark! hark!_ a den is opening!' He was right; it was the den of a catawampuss, an animal whose habits are so well known that I need not delay to describe them. In the centre of the dark pool in the middle of the vague space lay one crocodile. The rest were sleeping on the banks. The catawampuss secretly emerged from its den--horror, I am not ashamed to say, prevented me from interfering--stealthily crept across the cold floor, and, true to the instincts of all the feline tribe,[20] made straight for the water. [20] _Is_ the catawampuss one of the Felidæ?--PUBLISHER. Of course he is. Look at his name!--ED. 'Ah!' cried Ustâni, 'he's going for him!' The expression was ambiguous, but we understood it. The catawampuss, cunning as the dread jerboa, crept to the edge of the pool, took a header into it, and then, still true to the feline instincts, _swimming on its back_, made its way to the crocodile. In this manner it caught the crocodile by the tail and waked it. When the tail of a crocodile awakes the head awakes also. The crocodile's head, then, waking as the catawampuss seized its tail, caught the tail of the catawampuss. The interview was hurried and tumultuous. The crocodile had one of his ears chawed off (first blood for the catawampuss), but this was a mere temporary advantage. When next we saw clearly through the tempest of flying fur and scales, the head of the catawampuss _had entirely disappeared_, and the animal was clearly much distressed. Then, all of a sudden, the end came. _They had swallowed each other!_ Not a vestige of either was left! This duel was a wonderful and shocking sight, and was therefore withdrawn, by request, as the patrons of the Gardens are directly interested in the morality of the establishment. CHAPTER VII. AMONG THE LO-GROLLAS.