"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. Come with me and I'll show it to you. I have great hopes the
mouse may come out before so very long, and if you sit there and watch,
you may catch him."
"Aunt Tabby! Oh, I don't want to watch mouse-holes today," mewed
Jazbury. "I told Fluffy I would come out and play with him. Mayn't I,
Mother? I said I would, and I don't want to sit there in the cupboard
and watch. Maybe the mouse wouldn't come out anyway, and Fluffy expects
me."
"You always have some excuse, Jazbury," said his aunt, severely. "If
you had your way you would never do anything but play. But as long as
you have to learn to mouse some time, I don't see why today isn't as
good a time to begin as any."
"Yes, Jazbury. Go with your aunt," said his mother. "And don't look
sulky. I'm sure you ought to be very grateful to her for telling you
about the hole."
"But I don't want to sit in the cupboard all morning. And _I_ can find
holes, too. I found one out in the shed yesterday. A big, big one. I'd
rather watch that one if I have to watch any."
"Very well," said his aunt. "You may do as you please about it, but I
think you'd be much more likely to catch a mouse in the cupboard."
"I'd rather watch in the shed."
His mother, too, said he might do as he chose about it, but neither she
nor Aunt Tabby had much hopes he would catch anything.
"I'll have to go out and tell Fluffy I can't play this morning," said
Jazbury.
"Don't be long," said his mother. "Come straight back as soon as you
have told him."
Jazbury promised he would, and then he ran out into the kitchen and
mewed for the cook to open the outside door for him.
"Bother those cats!" scolded the cook. "It takes all my time letting
them in and out."
She left the soup she was stirring and came over and opened the door,
and the kitten ran past her out into the sunny yard.
Fluffy was sitting on the top step of the ladder, looking over the
fence and waiting for him.
"I can't come out to play with you now. I have to catch a mouse for
Mother and Aunt Tabby."
Fluffy was much interested. "Where are you going to catch it?" he asked.
"In the shed. I found the hole myself. It's a big, _big_, BIG hole. I
guess the biggest mouse you ever saw lives in it. I guess you'd be
scared if you tried to catch a mouse as big as that one; wouldn't you?"
"Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn't."
"I know you would."
"I've caught some big mice, too," said Fluffy.
"Not as big as this one, though. I'll show him to you after I catch
him."
Jazbury ran back and mewed for the cook to open the door again. The
cook was so angry she would not open it for quite a while, but Jazbury
mewed so loudly that at last she was obliged to for the sake of peace.
When she did open it she cried, "Scat!" at him, and pushed out her foot
at him as he ran past her.
Jazbury did not mind that. He hurried on past her, and out into the
shed, the door of which was luckily open.
The hole he had found was down back of a bench, and some unused buckets
were piled up in front of it.
Jazbury crouched down in the shadow of the buckets. He crouched there
for a long time without moving, and with his eyes fixed patiently on
the hole. Aunt Tabby would have been pleased and surprised if she could
have seen how still he kept.
After a while, however, he began to feel discouraged. He wondered
whether there were any mouse there after all. 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.
Jazbury was terrified. His tail grew big and every separate hair stood
on end.
The rat looked at him with a wicked grin. "Ho, ho! So you thought you'd
catch me, did you?" cried the rat. "I knew you were there. I heard you
and I smelled you. You thought you'd catch me, did you? Well, here I
am! Now let's see you catch me."
The rat sidled over toward Jazbury, and just as fast as he sidled over
Jazbury backed away. He tried to spit and growl, but he was too
frightened.
[Illustration: _The rat looked at him with a wicked grin_]
"Thought you'd catch me! Maybe I'll catch you. I like little kittens
for supper. Like 'em as much as cheese."
He gave a heavy jump toward Jazbury, and his sharp teeth showed in a
wicked grin.
"Momma! Momma! Aunt Tabby! Come quick," mewed Jazbury shrilly.
Suddenly the rat started. His eyes glared past Jazbury toward the
kitchen door. A look of terror came over his face. He wheeled about and
scuttled back toward his hole.
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! 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."
"Very well. And thank you, Aunt Tabby," said Jazbury meekly. And he
followed her back from the shed into the kitchen, wondering what he
would say to Fluffy when he saw him again, and how he could explain not
having caught anything after all.
However, he need not have been troubled. Fluffy was such a gentle
little kitten that he never would tease or make fun of any one, no
matter what they did or didn't do.