The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat | Page 5

fields, caught sight of
the stone wall traveller and glided into a tree beside the road. "You'd

better not go near the farmyard, young fellow!" old Mr. Crow called.
Frisky Squirrel stopped, sat down, and looked up at Mr. Crow in the
tree above him.
"Why not?" Frisky inquired.
"Haven't you heard the news?" Mr. Crow asked him. "Haven't you
heard that there's a cat at the farmhouse?"
"I didn't know it," Frisky admitted. "But I don't see why I should turn
back. I won't hurt her."
Old Mr. Crow haw-hawed.
"I don't believe," he croaked, "you've ever met a cat."
"No, I haven't," Frisky Squirrel replied, "but I'd like to see one. So I'll
be on my way. But don't worry, Mr. Crow? I won't hurt her." And then
Frisky started off along the top of the stone wall once more, at a
somewhat brisker pace to make up for lost time.
"He can't say I didn't warn him," Mr. Crow exclaimed as he watched
the bouncing bit of gray fur.
"I hope Mr. Crow won't worry," said Frisky Squirrel to himself. "If the
cat gets hurt it will be her own fault, for I certainly won't harm her."
When Frisky reached the farmyard he crept around a corner of the barn,
hoping to find a few kernels of corn. But Henrietta Hen had been there
before him and there wasn't one kernel left. He ran here and there about
the yard. And at last, when quite near the woodshed door, he sat up
suddenly, twitched his nose a few times, and said, "Ha! I smell
beechnuts!"
Now, that was not strange. Johnnie Green had been eating beechnuts in
the woodshed doorway. And he had scattered the shucks on the broad
stone step. Frisky Squirrel began nosing them. And just out of sight
inside the woodshed Miss Kitty Cat awoke from a short nap, stopped

right in the middle of a long stretch, and said, "Ha! I smell a squirrel!"
Miss Kitty Cat was wide awake in an instant. She flattened herself
upon the woodshed floor and crept silently to the door. Though she
didn't make the slightest sound, all at once Frisky Squirrel's nose
twitched again, as he muttered to himself, "There's a very queer smell
about these beechnut shucks!"
He was sitting on the edge of the stone doorstep with a bit of beechnut
clutched in his paws. And when he looked up and saw somebody's nose
appear in the doorway he tumbled right over backward. The only sound
he made came from the beechnut shuck, which made a faint click as it
fell upon the stone. And Miss Kitty Cat's sharp ears caught it.

VII
TWO IN A TREE
WHEN Miss Kitty Cat dashed out of the woodshed Frisky Squirrel was
two jumps ahead of her. That was really a better lead than it sounds.
Frisky was always a good jumper. And the more scared he was, the
further he could leap. Anybody that knew him well would have known
then--just to see him--that something had given him a great fright.
First he had noticed a strange smell. Next he had seen a strange nose
come stealing out of the woodshed door. And not knowing who was
going to follow that nose, Frisky Squirrel felt that the sooner he
climbed a tree the better it would be for him. So he made for a tall elm
that wasn't too far away.
Though Miss Kitty Cat was a fast runner, Frisky reached the foot of the
tree ahead of her. And he was half way to the lowest branches before he
took a real look at his pursuer.
To his dismay he saw that the creature hadn't stopped at the foot of the
tree. The monster had already begun climbing after him. Frisky had
never seen any one just like this fierce person. One look was enough

for him. He pushed higher and higher into the tree-top and crept far out
on a drooping limb, which swayed beneath his weight as he clung to it.
There he paused, while he watched to see what the stranger would do.
And as he stared at the creature he remembered suddenly what Mr.
Crow had told him. "There's a cat at the farmhouse," the old gentleman
had said.
"This must be the cat," Frisky thought. And to her he called, "If you're
the cat, don't come any nearer, madam! You might get hurt." For he
remembered, too, that he had told Mr. Crow that he wouldn't harm the
cat.
"It is the cat," he said to himself presently, "for she has stopped."
Miss Kitty Cat did not quite dare follow Frisky Squirrel to the tip
where he swung. She crouched upon the branch a little way from him,
where it was safer