Read "Erastasius of the Whanghoa" by Rudyard Kipling online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"The old cat's tumbled down the ventilator, sir, and he's swearing away / under the furnace-door in the stoke-hole," said the second officer to / the Captain of the _Whanghoa_.[1]
"Now what in thunder was Erastasius doing at the mouth of the / ventilator? It's four feet from the ground and painted red at that. / Any of the children been amusing themselves with him, d'you think? I / wouldn't have Erastasius disturbed in his inside for all the gold in / the treasury," said the Captain. "Tell some one to bring him up, and / handle him delicately, for he's not a quiet beast."