The kitten would have looked like a small red lion, but that its ears
were positively enormous--making the head like one of those little
demons sculptured in mediæval stonework which have wings instead of
ears. It ate beefsteak and cockroaches, caterpillars and fish, chicken
and butterflies, mosquito-hawks and roast mutton, hash and tumble-bugs,
beetles and pigs' feet, crabs and spiders, moths and poached eggs,
oysters and earthworms, ham and mice, rats and rice pudding--until
its belly became a realization of Noah's Ark. On this diet it soon
acquired strength to whip all the ancient cats in the neighborhood,
and also to take under its protection a pretty little salmon-colored
cat of the same sex, which was too weak to defend itself and had been
unmercifully mauled every night before the tawny sister enforced reform
in the shady yard of the old Creole house. The red kitten was not very
big, but was very solid and more agile than a monkey. Its flaming
emerald eyes were always watching, and its enormous ears always on the
alert; and woe to the cat who dared approach the weak little sister
with hostile intentions. The two always slept together--the little
speckled one resting its head upon the body of its protector; and
the red kitten licked its companion every day like a mother washing
her baby. Wherever the red kitten went the speckled kitten followed;
they hunted all kinds of creeping things together, and even formed a
criminal partnership in kitten stealing. One day they were forcibly
separated; the red kitten being locked up in the closet under the
stairs to keep it out of mischief during dinner hours, as it had
evinced an insolent determination to steal a stuffed crab from the
plate of Madame R. Thus temporarily deprived of its guide, philosopher,
and friend, the speckled kitten unfortunately wandered under a
rocking-chair violently agitated by a heavy gentleman who was reading
the "Bee"; and with a sharp little cry of agony it gave up its gentle
ghost. Everybody stopped eating; and there was a general outburst of
indignation and sorrow. The heavy gentleman got very red in the face,
and said he had not intended to do it. "Tonnerre d'une pipe;--nom d'un
petit bonhomme!"--he might have been a little more careful!... An hour
later the red kitten was vainly seeking its speckled companion--all
ears and eyes. It uttered strange little cries, and vainly waited for
the customary reply. Then it commenced to look everywhere--upstairs,
downstairs, on the galleries, in the corners, among the shrubbery,
never supposing in its innocent mind that a little speckled body was
lying far away upon a heap of garbage and ashes. Then it became very
silent; purring when offered food, but eating nothing.... At last a
sudden thought seemed to strike it. It had never seen the great world
which rumbled beyond the archway of the old courtyard; perhaps its
little sister had wandered out there. So it would go and seek her.
For the first time it wandered beyond the archway and saw the big
world it had never seen before--miles of houses and myriads of people
and great cotton-floats thundering by, and great wicked dogs which
murder kittens. But the little red one crept along beside the houses
in the narrow strip of shadow, sometimes trembling when the big wagons
rolled past, and sometimes hiding in doorways when it saw a dog, but
still bravely seeking the lost sister.... It came to a great wide
street--five times wider than the narrow street before the old Creole
house; and the sun was so hot, so hot. The little creature was so tired
and hungry, too. Perhaps somebody would help it to find the way. But
nobody seemed to notice the red kitten, with its funny ears and great
bright eyes. It opened its little pink mouth and cried; but nobody
stopped. It could not understand that. Whenever it had cried that way
at home, somebody had come to pet it. Suddenly a fire-engine came
roaring up the street, and a great crowd of people were running after
it. Then the kitten got very, very frightened; and tried to run out of
the way, but its poor little brain was so confused and there was so
much noise and shouting.... Next morning two little bodies lay side
by side on the ashes--miles away from the old Creole house. The little
tawny kitten had found its speckled sister.