[Illustration: Under a wagon, between the legs of a horse and under an
automobile sprang the black cat. After her ran the red-haired boy.]
_Kneetime Animal Stories_
BLACKIE
A LOST CAT
HER MANY ADVENTURES
BY
RICHARD BARNUM
Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum Tum, the
Jolly Elephant,” “Dido, the Dancing Bear,”
“Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit,” etc.
_ILLUSTRATED BY
WALTER S. ROGERS_
PUBLISHERS
BARSE & CO.
NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J.
Copyright, 1916
by
BARSE & CO.
Blackie, A Lost Cat
_Printed in the United States of America_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I BLACKIE HEARS SOMETHING 7
II BLACKIE RUNS AWAY 17
III BLACKIE IN TROUBLE 27
IV BLACKIE GETS OUT 36
V BLACKIE FINDS A FRIEND 44
VI BLACKIE IN A BASKET 52
VII BLACKIE IN A TRAIN 63
VIII BLACKIE IS CHASED 71
IX BLACKIE MEETS DON 83
X BLACKIE SCARES A DOG 91
XI BLACKIE IS SAD 102
XII BLACKIE IS HAPPY 112
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Under a wagon, between the legs of a horse and under an
automobile sprang the black cat. After her ran the
red-haired boy _Frontispiece_
“Now jump through my hands, Blackie!” called Mabel 23
When Blackie reached the top she could look up and see the
sky through a crack 45
Whenever he saw her he barked and growled, and tried to
break his chain to get loose 61
“Oh, that’s all right,” said the bear kindly. “Hide as much
as you like” 81
For several days Blackie lived with Don in his kennel 97
Blackie walked in, her tail held up straight like a fishing
pole 117
BLACKIE, A LOST CAT
CHAPTER I
BLACKIE HEARS SOMETHING
Blackie was a cat. Now that I have told you this much I think you can
guess why that was her name. It was because she was as black as a coal,
or a bit of tar from the barrel which stood on the street when the men
were fixing the roof. Blackie did not have so much as a speck, or a
single hair, of white in her glossy coat of fur, and on a dark night,
if you were to look for Blackie I think you would not have found her.
For she looked just like a bit of the dark itself.
When you first looked at Blackie you might have thought she was just
like other cats, but she was not. She was a very smart cat, and so many
things happened to her, and she had so many adventures, that I am going
to tell you about them.
Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, Blackie lived in a fine
large house with a little boy and girl, named Arthur and Mabel. Of
course the papa and mamma of Arthur and Mabel lived in the house too,
but as the children were the ones who played with Blackie, and looked
after her, giving her milk and good things to eat, it seems best to say
that Blackie lived with them.
“Now it’s your turn to feed Blackie,” Mabel would call to her brother.
“All right,” Arthur would answer. “I’ll get her the milk right away.”
The children never had to be told twice to look after their pet cat,
for they loved Blackie very much. Though the children’s father or
mother often had to tell them twice, or perhaps even three times, to go
to the store, or run on an errand, just one telling was enough when it
was about Blackie.
“I certainly have a good home here,” thought the black cat, “and Arthur
and Mabel are very kind to me. Yes, I certainly am a lucky cat.”
Of course Blackie did not say this out loud, for neither cats, nor
dogs, nor other animals, can speak as we do. But they can make noises,
such as mewing or barking, and I think that is, for them, talking in
their own way, just as much as we talk in ours.
And cats and other animals think, too, I believe. Else how would they
know enough to come to the same place many times to be fed, or how
would they know how to find their way home when they have gone far off?
Of course cats and dogs often get lost, for they may go so far that
they can not find the way back again. So you might say, from that, I
suppose, that cats can’t think. But then did _you_ never get lost? Yes,
I’m sure you must have, at least once. And you can think, I know, but
you could not find your way home alone.
I know cats and dogs think, and that they can talk to one another, too,
in their own language. So it isn’t at all strange that Blackie should
think about what a good home she had, and how kind the little boy and
girl were to her.
“Now, Blackie,” said Mabel one day, as she got ready for school, “be a
good cat to-day, and don’t run off.”
“Put the red ribbon with the bell around her neck,” said Arthur as he
gathered up his school books. “Then if Blackie goes away we can listen
for the bell and find her.”
“Oh, yes! That’s what I’ll do,” said Mabel. “Here, Blackie!” called the
little girl, “come and have your ribbon put on.”
There was a pretty red ribbon for Blackie’s neck, and it always looked
nice on the cat, because black and red seem to go well together. I
think they “match” as the ladies say, though I don’t know much about
such things. I know when a team of horses match, and go well together,
and when two dogs, or two cats, are well matched, but I am afraid I
can’t tell much about ribbons and such things matching.
Anyhow a lady told me black and red matched, or went well together, and
I guess she is right. And I know that the red ribbon looked very pretty
on Blackie’s neck, for I saw it there myself.
“There!” exclaimed Mabel, as she tied the ribbon into a pretty bow.
“Now you won’t get lost, Blackie, and when I come home from school I’ll
find you here.”
Blackie lifted one velvety paw, and shook her head. This made the
little brass bell tinkle.
“You can hear that a good way off,” said Arthur. “When I come home from
school I’m going to try to teach Blackie the trick of standing in the
corner.”
“She can do one trick now,” said Mabel. “She can jump through my hands,
when I hold them in front of her like a hoop.”
“Can she?” asked Arthur. “Let’s see her do it.”
“Children! Don’t be late for school,” called their mother from the
dining room.
“No, we won’t, Mother,” answered Mabel. “I am just going to have
Blackie do one trick. Come here, Blackie!”
Blackie always came when the little boy or girl called her, for the
black cat knew she would be petted, or given something nice to eat each
time. This time Mabel stroked Blackie’s soft fur, and then put the cat
down in front of her, behind her arms which she held in a round ring.
“Jump through, Blackie!” called Mabel, and Blackie did.
“See!” said the little girl to her brother. “Didn’t Blackie do that
trick nicely?”
“She surely did!” exclaimed Arthur. “And when I come home from school
I’ll teach her to stand on her hind legs in a corner.”
“Come now, children, run along!” called the mother, and Arthur and
Mabel, having each patted Blackie once more, hurried off to school.
“Well, I think now I will go and take a little sleep,” said Blackie to
herself. “Then I will go out and see if I can find another cat to play
with until the children come home.”
For Blackie loved to play, and she was sometimes lonesome when the
children were not home.
Mabel had made a little cushion for Blackie, and this cushion was kept
in one corner of the dining room, where the sun shone a good part of
the day. Blackie liked to sleep in the sun.
“Yes, I certainly am a lucky cat,” thought Blackie, “to have such a
nice home, and such a good little girl and boy to pet me. I have a nice
red ribbon, too, and a bell. Not many cats have things as nice as I.”
Blackie was sure of this, for a number of times she had seen, on the
back fence, other cats, whose fur was all scraggly and rough; who
looked poor and thin and who seemed scared almost to death. Once
Blackie had spoken to one of these cats and the cat had told Blackie
how hungry he was.
“Why don’t you go home and eat?” asked Blackie.
“Home? I have no home!” sadly exclaimed the strange cat. “I had one
once but the people moved away, leaving me behind, and since then I
have eaten as best I can. You are very lucky to have such a nice home.
Excuse me, I see a piece of meat!” And with that the strange cat jumped
down off the fence and grabbed a bit of meat out of the ash can.
“I’m glad I don’t have to eat that way,” thought Blackie.
As Blackie went to sleep on the soft cushion she thought of the time
when she had been a little kitten, and had lived with her mother, and
her brothers and sisters, in a barn in the country. For Blackie’s early
days were spent on a farm, though she did not now remember very much
about that part of it.
Arthur and Mabel’s father and mother had taken the children on a visit
to the farm, and it was there the children saw the black cat, which
they liked very much. So the farmer gave her to them, and they named
her Blackie and brought her home to the city with them.
Since then Blackie had lived in the fine house with her little master
and mistress, and, as I say, she had a very easy time of it, never
wanting for anything to eat, or for a warm, cozy place to sleep.
For several hours Blackie slept on the cushion, now and then turning
around to get more in the sunlight, and when she did this the little
brass bell on the red ribbon on her neck would go “tinkle-inkle.”
“Well, I think I’ll take a walk out in the yard, and perhaps I may see
another cat to talk to,” said Blackie, as she awakened and stretched
first one leg, and then the other, opening her mouth as wide as she
could to stretch that too. Blackie was a bit lonesome without the
children.
Out in the yard went the black cat. The sun was shining down through
the leaves of the grape vine, making dancing shadows on the walk
below. Blackie pretended that these shadows were mice, and that she was
chasing them. As she was doing this the black cat heard a voice calling
to her.
“What are you doing?” the voice asked.
Blackie looked up, and saw another cat looking at her over the back
fence. This cat was mixed gray and white in color.
“Oh, I’m just having a little game by myself,” answered Blackie. “I do
this to amuse myself when the children are at school, and I am alone.
Excuse me, but I think you must be a strange cat around here.”
“I am,” meowed the other. “My folks have just moved in the house next
door.”
“I saw loads of furniture going in there yesterday,” said Blackie, “but
I did not see you.”
“No, I was shut up in a box,” the new cat said. “They were afraid I
would get lost, I guess. They kept me down cellar until a little while
ago.”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Blackie. “I guess you are glad to be
out again; aren’t you?”
“Indeed I am! But they kept me down cellar so I would not be hurt when
the furniture was being set around, I guess.”
“Won’t you come over and have a game of shadow tag?” asked the black
cat. “My name is Blackie,” she went on.
“And mine is Speckle,” said the other. “I suppose you are called
Blackie because you are so black.”
“Yes,” answered Blackie, “and I think you must be called Speckle
because you are speckled gray and white.”
“That’s it,” Speckle answered, as he jumped down off the fence.
Then the two cats had a nice time playing shadow tag under the grape
arbor. After a bit, as they lay down to rest on the grass, Speckle
asked: “Did you ever run away?”
“Run away!” exclaimed Blackie. “What’s that?”
“Why, don’t you know?” went on Speckle in some surprise. “To run away
is to leave your home, and go off to have adventures.”
“What are adventures?” Blackie wanted to know.
“Oh, things that happen to you,” replied Speckle.
“Did you ever run away and have adventures?” Blackie wanted to know.
“Indeed I did,” Speckle said, somewhat proudly. “I have run away more
than once, and many things happened to me. It was fun, only I got
hungry sometimes.”
“How do you run away?” asked Blackie.
“Why, you just run,” Speckle said. “You walk out of the house, just as
if you were going out in the yard to play as we did now, and, when no
one is looking, you walk off down the street as far as you like.”
“Oh, I thought you said _run_!” exclaimed Blackie. “Now you are talking
about _walking_ away.”
“It’s all the same thing,” Speckle explained. “You can’t run _all_ the
time you are running away; you have to walk part of the time or you
would get very tired. You just try it some day.”
“Perhaps I shall,” Blackie said. “I’ll think about it. I have certainly
learned something to-day. Arthur spoke about teaching me a new trick
when he came home from school, but I have learned something all by
myself, and that is how to run away. I believe I’ll try it!”
“Do,” said Speckle. “Let me know when you are going and perhaps I’ll
go with you. Excuse me!” said the mixed-color cat, “but I hear them
calling me. I guess my dinner is ready,” and with that the other cat
jumped back over the fence.