JACOB HUGHES OPINION OF CATS 305 
I will watch here.” As soon as they had gone, Gray Lady 
went into a corner and seated herself upon a box. Pres- 
ently she heard a rustle among the cornstalks and out 
stalked a great tiger-striped cat, licking her whiskers. 
After snuffing the footsteps of the boys, she began to lash 
her tail to and fro, which in a cat means anger, and quite 
the reverse of the dog’s sociable, “I’m glad to see you” 
tail-wag. Then, looking back at the hole in the corn stack 
through which she had come, she made a strange sound, 
half purr, half grow], that Gray Lady thought was evi- 
dently intended as a note of warning, and then the cat 
slunk off through the snow, keeping as close to the fence 
as possible and dropping her body low as she hurried 
away. 
When Jacob came, he took a hayfork and began to shift 
the cornstalks from the corner to the empty floor opposite. 
The feathers, he said, had all been gathered during the 
two past weeks, for when he had last taken the wood-sled 
from the barn, no feathers were to be seen. 
“Here they are!”’ he exclaimed, as the last stack was 
reached, but even as he spoke, six half-grown kittens, 
brindled like their parent, sprang in different directions, 
some going up on the beams and others diving into the 
hay, only one remaining, with arched back and flashing 
eyes, to hiss a protest at the disturbing of their comfort- 
able home. 
“What’s the use of making bird laws and feeding birds 
and all that, and letting wild beasts like these multiply 
about the country?” said Jacob, resting on the handle of 
the fork. “No, ma’am, if I had my way, I’d get up a 
Kind Heart Club of men to help the birds and rid the 
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