The Nomad of the Nine Lives | Page 9

found mother, who was getting quite stout, dozing
in the garden.
She was pleased to hear of my prosperity and thought I looked
extremely well. I told her about the chance for another cat at our house,
and suggested Tom, whom I knew she had labored to bring up to be a
credit to us all. I explained to her how I had the run of the library and
could direct his education; this made her see what a great advantage it
would be to him. She said that my brother Teddy had grown fat and
lazy and was not very valuable to her, thus making it harder to spare
Tom, but that she would not stand in his way. So Tom went in and
spruced up a bit and I took him home with me. The cook took a liking
to him at once, and that meant a good deal for his future welfare. The
master and mistress liked his looks and were satisfied with my choice,
and the cook allowed me to take him upstairs, whenever our people
were out. Thus I taught him many things, so that when I passed away
he could take my place in the household.
I began to settle down into a calm middle age, happy and contented; my
working days were over and I felt that I had earned a rest.
Lord Roberts' people went to the same seashore resort that ours did and,
to my delight, I was to go also, leaving Tom with the caretaker to
protect the house from rats and mice in our absence. I enjoyed myself
every summer by going down to the beach and watching the children in
bathing and then sunning myself on the piazza. I did not have much to
do, but an occasional mouse would find to his sorrow that I slept with
one eye open. We did not remain very late in the fall, but one summer,
as Lord Roberts' family wished to make a longer season, we stayed also.
I had noticed that after the houses were closed there were many cats
about. Some would come to the back door and our cook, who was
tender-hearted, would throw food out to them. I did not understand this
at first but soon found out what it meant. Their owners had returned to
the city and had left them to look out for themselves; the only excuse
was that it was too much trouble to carry them back or, very possibly
they were forgotten in the moving. Oh, what a hungry horde we saw
them become as we stayed through October! Their gaunt bodies and

hollow eyes which glowed like coals of fire, would have been a
reproach to the ones who had left them.
Our people finally began to pack up and word was given that the next
day we should all go back to the city. I was pleased for it did seem
good to think of returning to my beautiful home. Lord Roberts
announced that his people were going the same day, and was as pleased
over it as I was. While the things were being put on express teams I
went out to say good-by to some of my friends, as I had made the
acquaintance of a number of cats during my stay at the shore. It
astonished me to find them in such a pitiable condition, and to find that
they had given up hopes that their people would ever return for them. I
could not understand this state of things and spent some time trying to
console and cheer them. They paced wildly up and down, their thin
bodies and hungry faces revealing their inward sufferings and they now
began to realize that cold weather was approaching. Their plight was a
serious thing to me and the time passed on for I hated to leave them to
their misery, going back as I was to a comfortable home. When at last I
hurried back, what was my horror to find that the family had gone and
that the house was boarded up.
I walked around the house several times but no one was there. I became
frenzied with fear. The wind was North and it was getting colder with
the approach of night. I thought of Lord Roberts and proceeded to his
house where I found that not only had his people gone but that he had
been left locked up in the house.

CHAPTER VII
I tried to be brave, but when I heard the pitiful cries of Lord Roberts, I
broke down and almost gave up in despair. This, then, was the end of
my dreams of a happy life during my old age. Oh, human beings!
Could you realize how dependent we are