The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat | Page 6

for her, and with switching tail and bristling
whiskers waited to see what he would do next.
"It makes me uneasy to see you swaying so," she told Frisky. "Besides,
you're shaking this limb. And I don't like it."
"She's a fussy creature--this cat!" Frisky said to himself. "I promised
Mr. Crow I wouldn't hurt her; but I didn't promise him that I wouldn't
tease her." So he bobbed up and down with all his might.
"Stop!" cried Miss Kitty Cat. "That's a very reckless thing to do. It's
like rocking the boat."
"I think it's the finest sport in the world," Frisky chuckled.
"I know a finer," Miss Kitty snarled.
"What that?" he asked her.
"If I could get my claws on you I'd soon show you," she told him
grimly.

Somehow there was something about her remark that startled Frisky
Squirrel--something that made him shiver. And when he shivered he
lost his hold. Down he dropped, slipping and floundering from one
branch to another.
And down Miss Kitty Cat followed him.

VIII
NINE LIVES
FRISKY SQUIRREL was much more at home in the trees than Miss
Kitty Cat was. While Frisky managed at last to cling to a limb and right
himself, Miss Kitty lost her footing and fell out of the tree completely.
"Oh! She'll he hurt!" Frisky cried as he saw her turning and twisting
through the air. But to his great surprise she struck with all her four feet
on the ground, quite unharmed. "You did that very nicely," he called to
her generously.
But she didn't answer. To tell the truth, she felt rather foolish because
she had fallen out of the tree. And she walked back to the woodshed
and stalked through the doorway without saying a word.
After that adventure Frisky Squirrel decided to go back home. So he
scurried town the tree-trunk and scampered to the stone wall, and
scooted along the top of it.
Old Mr. Crow was watching for him. And as before, he dropped down
near the wall to talk.
"I hardly expected to see you again," Mr. Crow remarked. "You
couldn't have met the cat."
"Yes!" said Frisky. "I met her. She followed me up a tree. And it's a
wonder she didn't get hurt, though I was careful of her. She had a fall;
but she landed beautifully."

Old Mr. Crow nodded wisely.
"She always lands on her feet," he observed. "And you needn't worry
about her," he added. "You know, they say she has nine lives."
"Nine lives!" Frisky Squirrel exclaimed. "What do you mean, Mr.
Crow?"
Now, Mr. Crow really knew a great deal, because he had lived many
years. And he pretended to know still more, because he liked to appear
learned. But this question was a puzzler for him. He simply couldn't
answer it.
"You wouldn't understand, even if I explained," he told Frisky Squirrel.
And then he flew away, leaving Frisky to run home and wonder what it
meant to have nine lives.
As for Mr. Crow, he suddenly made up his mind that he would find out
about Miss Kitty Cat's nine lives. He would ask that lady herself. So he
flapped himself over to the big elm in the farmyard, where he cawed
and cawed, hoping that Miss Kitty Cat would appear to see what all the
noise was about.
And sure enough! she soon bounced out of the woodshed door and
looked up at Mr. Crow inquiringly.
"I've been hearing a good deal about; you," Mr. Crow called down to
her in what he considered his sweetest tones, though anybody else
would have said they were quite hoarse. "I know you always manage to
land on your feet--and I can understand that. But what's this I hear
about nine lives?"
Miss Kitty Cat only stared at him.
"Perhaps you don't feel like talking," said Mr. Crow. "If you've just had
a fall, maybe you're still a bit shaken up, even if you did land on your
feet. Perhaps you'd rather I came back later."

Miss Kitty Cat suddenly found her voice.
"You've been gossiping with that young squirrel!" she snapped. "I'll
have you know that I'm not shaken up at all. But I'd shake you up if I
could get hold of you!"
Mr. Crow was astonished. He was sure he had been most polite. Yet
here was Miss Kitty Cat as rude as she could be!
He amused himself by jeering at her until she turned her back on him
and went inside the woodshed. And he had to go away without learning
anything at all about the nine lives of Miss Kitty Cat. They always
remained a deep mystery. Everybody agreed that the number was nine.
But beyond that, nobody could explain about them.

IX
THE STOLEN