When Jazbury awoke the next morning the sun was shining in through the
cellar window, the birds were singing, and the air was full of dewy
freshness. His ugly dreams of the night before were all forgotten.
There could not have been a more wonderful day for three little kittens
to start out on their adventures.
The three of them met in the lot soon after breakfast, as they had
agreed. Yowler at once took command. "Now, kits," said he, "we won't go
all together in a bunch. That would look queer, and some one would be
sure to notice us. I'll start off first; Fluff can come next, and then
Jaz. You keep about half a square behind me, Fluffy, and Jaz about half
a square behind you. Then you can see which way I go, but nobody will
think we're together."
To this plan the others agreed.
"Suppose we meet some dogs?" said Fluffy.
"If you do, you'll just have to do the best you can. Run up an alley,
or climb a fence or something. Now come on! We'll go as far as the edge
of the lot together."
The three little kittens stole away through the weeds, and when they
came to the edge of the lot Jazbury and Fluffy stopped. They watched
Yowler cross to the other side of the street and turn a corner. Then,
after a moment or so, Fluffy followed, then Jazbury.
The others were still in sight when Jazbury turned the corner, Yowler
quite a distance up the street, and Fluffy not so far.
Two women with brooms in their hands were sweeping their pavements and
gossiping together as they swept. "Look at that kitten," said one of
them, as Jazbury ran past them. "That's the third kitten that's gone by
in the last few minutes."
"I know. I noticed that," replied the other. "Funny! Wonder where they
come from!"
As Jazbury neared the next corner he heard a sound of voices in loud
talk, and then the bark of a dog. Some boys were coming that way, and a
dog was with them. They were just around the corner.
Luckily there was an alleyway close by. Jazbury ran into it and
crouched there, and a moment later a group of rough-looking boys passed
by it, with a couple of dogs at their heels. Luckily none of them
thought of looking into the alleyway. Jazbury waited till the sound of
voices had died away, and then he came out and ran on again. Yowler and
Fluffy were far ahead now, and he had to hurry to get near them again.
A little later Fluffy had an adventure that might have been very
serious. He was going past a little brown wooden house when the door
opened, and a little girl came out, followed by an ugly-looking cur.
Almost at once the dog saw Fluffy. He gave a sort of half yelp, half
bark, and started after him. Fluffy saw him coming. There was no fence,
and no alleyway where he could take shelter. Fortunately there was a
tree a little further down the street, and it was toward this tree that
Fluffy ran for his life, his tail big, and every hair on end.
The dog was close at his heels when he dashed up the tree. He clung
there, part way up, the dog leaping and yelping below him. Jazbury
watched from behind a flight of steps, trembling and terrified. It
seemed as though any moment the dog's teeth might close on the kitten.
Fluffy clung there, afraid to try to climb higher, lest he lose his
hold, and fall back into the dog's jaws.
[Illustration:
_It seemed as though any moment the dog's teeth might
close on the kitten_
]
The little girl had been shouting at the dog, and now she found a
stick, and running up she beat him until he whined and ran a little
distance away. He did not go far, however, but stood watching eagerly
while the little girl tried to coax Fluffy to come down to her. But
this Fluffy would not do. He had now scrambled up to a crotch of the
tree, and sat there mewing.
Presently the door of the house opened, and a woman looked out.
"Pansy," she called to the child, "you go on and get me the yeast cake.
I'm waiting for it."
"But, mother, there's a kitten up this tree."
"I can't help it if there is. You go on, and hurry, too. It's almost
school time."
Reluctantly the little girl left the tree and went on down the street
and around the next corner. Fortunately she took the dog with her.
Carefully and warily Jazbury crept along a gutter to the foot of the
tree. "Hurry, Fluffy!" he mewed. "Come down. We must get away before
the dog comes back."
"Oh, I'm afraid!" wailed Fluffy. "I want to go home. Mew! Mew!"
"Don't stop to cry," called Jazbury impatiently. "You can't get home
now, and if you don't hurry the dog will be back again."
So urged, Fluffy managed to half scramble, half fall down the tree, and
he and Jazbury made off down the street as fast as they could go.
They had come almost to the end of the village now, and Yowler was
waiting for them.
"What kept you so long?" he mewed crossly. "I've been waiting and
waiting for you."
"A dog almost caught Fluffy," said Jazbury; and he told Yowler the
story of Fluffy's adventures. "Wasn't that terrible?" asked Jazbury.
"Oh, I don't know. He didn't get him, anyway," said Yowler impatiently.
"We'll get to the fields in a minute now, and then we can all keep
together. There won't be any one to see us."
A little later they were out of the village altogether. Before them lay
the sunny breadth of the country, a meadow and a stream, a field, and
far away the dark edge of a shady wood.
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. "Aren't you glad we came?"
"Yes, it is fun," answered Fluffy; but he did not seem quite as joyous
over it as Jazbury.
A little later Yowler crept away from them through the grasses. They
saw him pounce, and a moment later he came back with a little
field-mouse in his mouth.
"What did I tell you?" he purred, proudly. "Guess we won't starve here.
The fields are full of them."
They divided the field-mouse amongst them, and though none of them were
hungry it was fun to eat out there in the open meadow with the blue sky
overhead, and the warm wind ruffling their fur.
They went on again presently, taking their time, and making side
excursions through the grasses, or stopping to rest and sun themselves
in the more open places.
Not until late afternoon did they come to the wood. By that time they
were hungry again. Fluffy managed to catch a small bird, which
delighted the other two.
"Isn't he a fine catcher? What did I tell you?" boasted Jazbury.
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!" he whispered.
"Yes."
"Don't you wish we were home?"
"Well, I wouldn't mind it."
"Let's go home. Let's go before Yowler gets back."
"No; that would be mean. But maybe tomorrow,--only I don't know the
way."
"Miaw-aw-aw!" came Yowler's loud voice, breaking harshly through the
silence of the wood. "Come on over here, kits; I've found a fine place
to sleep."
The other kittens hurried toward the place from which his voice had
come, and found him standing in front of a hollow tree. There was a bed
of moss and dry leaves in the hollow, and it was snug and dry. The
three kittens crept into it and snuggled down together, and soon they
were fast asleep, worn out by their journey and the adventures they had
passed through.