Katharine Pyle

“ The kittens slipped through a fence and into the deep grass of the meadow. Insects whined about them. A butterfly fluttered by, so close above them that when Jazbury leaped for it he almost caught it. He would have liked to chase some of the insects that flitted about, but Yowler told him to wait. "There are plenty of other things to catch," he said. "Bigger things that we can really eat."
"Isn't it fun, Fluffy?" cried Jazbury. ”

“ Guess I could find it just as well as Yowler."
"Oh, could you? Could you, Jazbury?"
"Listen, Fluffy!" said Jazbury. "There was something mother told me, and I'd forgotten all about it. I just remembered a little while ago. She said cats--and kittens, too, if they weren't too little--could always get home from any place if they just didn't worry about it and try to remember the way to go. All they have to do is to love their home, and run along without thinking, and then they'll get there." ”

“ This made Yowler very angry, and he would not speak to Fluffy for a whole day.
Jazbury, indeed, was becoming a very fine hunter,--better, even, than Fluffy himself. Fluffy was very skilful, but Jazbury was not only quick, he was also strong and brave; stronger and braver than the gentle little Fluffy had ever dreamed of being. ”

“ Maybe Aunt Tabby was right, and he should have watched in the cupboard.
Just as he was thinking this he heard a scratching, brushing sound inside the hole, and a grey head with a pointed nose and two gleaming round black eyes appeared at the mouth of the hole.
Jazbury quivered all over as he crouched still lower and made ready to leap upon the mouse. Then suddenly he stiffened and stared with big eyes. Surely no mouse had ever had such a big head as that. After the head followed a great fat body, and a long, long, LONG tail. The mouse was not a mouse at all, but a huge grey rat. ”

“ No fair walking so slowly," said Jazbury.
"Yes, it is fair, too. And don't you mew at me."
Fluffy reached the post safely, and then tried to turn. But that was not such an easy matter. He lost his balance. His tail waved wildly. His claws clutched the fence. He teetered back and forth, and then, with a loud mew, he half jumped, half fell, down on the flower bed below.
Jazbury laughed and laughed, the way kittens do. You wouldn't have known he was laughing. You couldn't have heard it, but a cat or kitten could. It hurt Fluffy's feelings to be laughed at. ”

“ That wasn't a mouse, kitten! That was a rat, and a very big and savage rat, too. No wonder you were frightened. You'll have to be a bigger kitten before you can grapple with a rat. I've been trying to have a chance at him myself, but I've never even seen him till today. He always stays hidden when I'm around."
Aunt Tabby talked on, comforting the kitten until at last he stopped trembling and his hairs smoothed themselves down into the usual smoothness.
"Now, Jazbury, perhaps you'll watch one of my mouse-holes," she ended. "I promise you nothing but mice ever come out of it." ”

“ He turned on them so fiercely that they were frightened
"Well, Yowler, we didn't know it," said Fluffy.
"Oh, be quiet. I don't care, anyway. I'm tired of the woods. I know a farmhouse near here where they want another cat, and I'm going there to live. I met a cat that lives there, and he asked me to come."
"Oh, but Yowler! What's going to become of us? Can we come, too?" cried Jazbury.
"No, you can't. They only want one cat. If you tried to tag along they'd drive us all away." ”

“ The kittens ran, crouching, down into a dry gutter beside the road. There they were almost hidden by the dusty weeds.
"Oh, Sarah! They're running away!" cried the soft-voiced lady.
"I'll catch them!" said the other. She hastily clambered down from the buggy, and ran over to the side of the road and parted the weeds. When the kittens looked up they could see her big face above them looking down at them. Then her hands came down through the weeds, and caught them by the napes of their necks. One hand caught Jazbury and the other hand caught Fluffy. ”

“ And now look how dirty you are."
"Sit down and make yourself clean, Jazbury," said his mother. "No; let my tail alone. I'm not going to play with you. And if you want any breakfast you'd better make haste to wash yourself. I will not have such a dirty kitten eating from the saucer with me."
Jazbury sat down and began to wash his face with one of his grimy little paws.
His aunt sighed. "Paws first," she said. "You'll only make yourself dirtier if you try to wash your face before you clean your paws." ”

“ His mother growled and drew her tail up and curled it around her.
Jazbury jumped up after it, and tried to tease his mother into playing with him.
"Jazbury, you haven't washed yourself this morning," said his aunt severely. "Look at your paws. You've been in the coal-bin again, you naughty kitten."
"Well, I thought I heard a mouse there," mewed Jazbury.
"A mouse! What would a mouse be doing in the coal-bin? No, you just wanted an excuse for clambering about among the coal and making it rattle. ”

“ Even when a mouse runs right by under your nose you can't catch it."
Jazbury began to mew. "Well, you don't have to box my ears, anyway. I couldn't help it."
"Yes, you could. That's what provokes me so. Fluffy's not half as quick and active as you, and look at the way he catches mice. I'm ashamed of you."
Mother Bunch's round furry face appeared at the door looking in at them. "What's the matter? Has Jazbury been doing anything?"
"No, he hasn't been doing it, that's the matter," and Aunt Tabby poured out the whole story, while Jazbury stood by looking both sullen and ashamed. ”

“ The two cats hurried up the cellar steps together. They found the door at the top already open. As they entered the kitchen they saw Jazbury dragging something in from the shed beyond. Something that was too heavy for him to lift.
They saw Jazbury dragging something in from the shed beyond
"Jazbury, what have you got there?" cried his mother.
Jazbury dropped the thing and ran over to her. "It's the rat," he said.
"The rat!" cried Aunt Tabby. "Not the rat that lived in the shed, and that I've been trying to catch for such a long time!" ”

“ After that Yowler hunted by himself, and the other kittens by themselves. At first Jazbury found it very hard to catch anything. The birds and mice all got away from him. He would have had to go hungry or to content himself with grasshoppers and beetles if it had not been for Fluffy. But Fluffy was such a good little hunter that he always managed to catch enough to eat, and whatever he caught he always shared with Jazbury. He was a better hunter than Yowler, and after a while Yowler said maybe they'd all better hunt together and share whatever they might catch. ”

“ I think maybe I'll go and live in the woods for awhile. Want to come along? It's going to be fine."
"The woods!" broke in Fluffy. "You couldn't live there. You'd be rained on. You'd get wet."
"Oh, you keep quiet," mewed Yowler roughly. "I ain't talking to you. Don't you want to come, Jaz? There's lots of places to live,--hollow trees and things; and birds, and field mice, and fish; we'd just have a great time."
"But you don't know how to get there," said Jazbury. ”

“ She dived down under the seat of the buggy and got out a big brown bag, and held it out with the mouth open ready for the kittens to be dropped into it.
A moment later and Fluffy and Jazbury found themselves in the bag, with the mouth of it tied tight, so that they could not possibly get out. The bag, with them in it, was laid in the back part of the buggy, and then the rumbling and thudding began again as the buggy drove on. The kittens were jolted and shaken about.
"Oh, Jazbury!" mewed Fluffy. "What do you s'pose they're going to do with us?"
"I don't know. We'll have to try to get out." ”

“ After they had eaten the bird Yowler told the others to wait where they were, while he went on to find a place for them to sleep.
After he left them the two younger kittens dropped into silence. Dusk was drawing down. How big and dark and lonely it seemed in the wood. Jazbury thought of his mother and Aunt Tabby. They must have missed him by now. How troubled they would be. There would be good milk in the saucer in the pantry. They must be eating their supper by now. But maybe they would be too sad and sorry to eat.
Fluffy snuggled up close against him. "Jazbury!" ”

“ Aunt Tabby sat by and listened gravely. "Well, Jazbury, it's really no more than I expected," said she. "It's just as I told you. If you won't wash yourself you'll get washed by some one else. And I must say you're looking cleaner than you've looked for many a day."
His mother said nothing. She thought Jazbury had been punished enough by the drenching without being lectured as well.
III "Jazbury, I've found a fresh mouse-hole," said Aunt Tabby one day. "It's in the cupboard under the sink, and the cook has left the door open. ”

“ He's learning. And anyway, I'd rather share with him than with you any day, and you can hunt by yourself, and we'll hunt by ourselves. That's the way you wanted us to do it at first, and now that's the way we like best. ”

“ At the same moment there was an angry growl, and a grey shape shot past Jazbury. It was Aunt Tabby. She had heard Jazbury's cry of distress and had flown to help him. She rushed at the rat and made a wild grab at him. But he was too quick for her. Already he was disappearing in his hole. She did catch his tail, but it slipped away from her and the next moment the rat was gone.
Jazbury began to mew pitifully.
"Why, Jazbury, what are you crying about now? You're all safe," said his aunt.
"Mew! mew! mew! Oh, he frightened me so! I never knew there were mouses like that!"
"Mouse! ”

“ Another kitten was hunting there, too, but he was hunting birds. He laughed at Jazbury for catching grasshoppers. He told Jazbury his name was Yowler, and that he belonged to the baker who lived further down the street. ”