The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat Part 8

"I've brought you something in here that you'll like," said the peddler as he handed Miss Kitty's basket to somebody. "But don't look at it out of doors or it'll get away."

Later, inside the house, a woman let Miss Kitty out of her prison.

"What a big cat!" she exclaimed. "Where did you get her?"

"Oh, I picked her up on the road," said the peddler. "She looked as if she wanted a ride," he chuckled. "I think she was hunting along an old stone wall."

"She'll find hunting enough here," said his wife. "This house is overrun with mice. I'll just put her down cellar and let her work for her supper." Then she gave Miss Kitty a toss down the cellar stairs and slammed the door behind her.

It was no wonder that Miss Kitty Cat was angry.

"A fine way to treat a guest!" she spluttered down there in the dark.

"That woman might have set out a little milk for me. It would have tasted good, after my long ride in that stuffy basket." Miss Kitty couldn't help thinking what a fine home she had had at Farmer Green's and how good Mrs. Green had always been to her.

Even Johnnie Green--though he _was_ a boy--had petted her oftener than he had pulled her tail.

But Miss Kitty was too hungry to sit long at the foot of the cellar stairs in thought.

She soon heard faint rustlings squeaks, and scratchings around her. And though she didn't care to oblige the woman upstairs in any way, Miss Kitty lost no time in providing a hearty meal for herself.

Then she lay down on an old sack and slept for a while.

And just before the roosters began to crow she had found a broken pane in a cellar window.

"What luck!" said Miss Kitty under her breath. And very silently she slipped through the opening and stole away.

XX

A LONG JOURNEY

BY SUNRISE Miss Kitty Cat had trotted at least a mile along the road that pa.s.sed the peddler's house. She wanted to get a safe distance away before the family got up and turned loose the dog that had barked the night before, when she arrived.

Miss Kitty remembered clearly that the wagon had been climbing a long hill before it turned into the peddler's dooryard. So without hesitating she started _down_ the road. She knew that in that direction lay Pleasant Valley--and her home at Farmer Green's.

Having put the first mile of her journey behind her, Miss Kitty stopped beside a little brook and drank her fill of cool, sweet water. She was very thirsty, because she hadn't had a drink since the evening before.

A pretty wood stretched beyond the brook, tempting Miss Kitty Cat to explore it. At that hour of the morning there were many birds twittering among the trees. And spry chipmunks were frisking about in search of their breakfast. Miss Kitty Cat just naturally began to think of her own breakfast.

"If I were at home, Mrs. Green would be setting a saucer of milk on the woodshed steps about this time," she murmured. "But now I must s.h.i.+ft for myself."

Luckily Miss Kitty was quite able to find something to eat, as a surprised meadow mouse soon discovered.

After breakfasting, Miss Kitty lingered a while to tease the birds, who scolded her shrilly, calling her a tramp and telling her to get out of their woods.

Of course Miss Kitty had to stay there for a time after that, to let the birds know that they couldn't frighten her away. She scared them almost out of their wits by threatening to climb up where their nests were. But she didn't do more than sharpen her claws against a tree-trunk. That alone was enough to throw them into a panic.

At last, after she had bothered the birds quite enough, Miss Kitty Cat set off for Pleasant Valley once more. Sometimes she travelled through fields; sometimes she jogged along the roads; sometimes she jumped to the top of a stone wall and used that for a highway. And always when she heard the creak and rattle of a wagon, as the sun rose higher and higher, she crept into the bushes and hid until she had the road to herself again.

If Miss Kitty hadn't been homesick she would have thought her adventure a great lark. But somehow she couldn't get Mrs. Green's house out of her mind. Especially the thought of the kitchen, with its delicious odors of seven-layer cakes baking in the oven, and doughnuts frying on top of the range, made Miss Kitty's nose twitch. And her own particular warm spot under the range, where she basked away long hours! When she recalled that it was no wonder that her pace quickened.

Perhaps Miss Kitty Cat herself couldn't have told exactly how she knew the way back to Farmer Green's place. No doubt she wouldn't have told, had she known; for she was one of the kind that keep such things to themselves. She never even explained to old dog Spot, afterward, where she spent the three nights that she was away from the farm.

Anyhow, Miss Kitty Cat kept plodding along. And one afternoon when she came out of a patch of woods on a hill-top, she saw something looming right ahead of her that looked familiar.

It was Blue Mountain. And she knew that on the other side of it lay Pleasant Valley--and her home at Farmer Green's.

XXI

IN THE PANTRY

OF COURSE everybody knows that while the cat's away the mice will play.

So what happened during Miss Kitty Cat's absence from the farmhouse was really no more than any one might have expected. There were gay banquets in Mrs. Green's pantry at midnight. And among those present there was no one that had a better time than fat Mr. Moses Mouse. He was always the life of the party. He made jokes about Miss Snooper--as he called Miss Kitty Cat. And n.o.body laughed at them harder than he.

With every night that pa.s.sed, Moses Mouse grew still merrier. Some of his companions even claimed that they could scarcely eat, he made them giggle so violently.

On the fourth night of Miss Kitty's absence, and at the fourth banquet, Mr. Mouse balanced a bit of cheese on the end of his nose, exclaiming at the same time, "What a pity it is that Miss Snooper isn't here! How I'd like to offer her this delicious tidbit!"

To his great surprise, none of his friends laughed.

"Look out, Moses!" Mrs. Mouse cried the next moment.

"Don't worry, my dear!" said he. "I shan't lose this nice piece of cheese. If I drop it I can find it again. But I'm not going to drop it.

I've practiced this trick a good many times.... It's too bad Miss Snooper isn't here to see it."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Miss Kitty Cat Sees Moses Mouse Balance a Bit of Cheese on His Nose.]

Still n.o.body even snickered--though Moses himself would have had he not been afraid of joggling the cheese off the end of his nose. He thought the silence very strange. And removing his eyes from the cheese, which he had been watching closely (though it made him look cross-eyed), he took a quick glance about him. Everybody had vanished.

"Ha!" said Moses Mouse to himself. "They're playing a trick on me. They're hiding." And he promptly lost his temper. Much as he loved to cut capers and play tricks on others, Moses never liked to have any one get a laugh on him. And now he gave a sort of snort, because he was angry.

Thereupon the bit of cheese fell off Moses's nose and rolled behind him on the pantry floor. He turned to get it, only to find himself face to face with Miss Snooper herself; for Miss Kitty Cat was home again.

Before Moses Mouse could jump she clapped a paw down on him. And there he was--a prisoner!

"Well, well!" cried Miss Kitty Cat. "Aren't you glad to see me? You were just wis.h.i.+ng I was here."

Moses Mouse didn't act glad--not the least bit! He struggled his hardest to get away. But Miss Kitty hadn't the slightest trouble holding him, with only one paw, too.

"Now that I'm here," she said to him, "don't you want to balance that sc.r.a.p of cheese on your nose once more, and offer it to me?"

Since Miss Kitty caught him, Moses Mouse hadn't said anything that she could understand. He had made only a few squeaks of fright. Now, however, he managed to gasp, "Yes! Just let me go a moment! I can't pick up the cheese while you're crus.h.i.+ng me against the pantry floor."