“No one,” answered Ozma. “Your actions alone accuse you. The fact is that I left my little pet in my dressing-room lying asleep upon the table; and you must have stolen in without my knowing it. When next the door was opened you ran out and hid yourself⁠—and the piglet was gone.”

“That’s none of my business,” growled the kitten.

“Don’t be impudent, Eureka,” admonished Dorothy.

“It is you who are impudent,” said Eureka, “for accusing me of such a crime when you can’t prove it except by guessing.”

Ozma was now greatly incensed by the kitten’s conduct. She summoned her Captain-General, and when the long, lean officer appeared she said:

“Carry this cat away to prison, and keep her in safe confinement until she is tried by law for the crime of murder.”

259