The Slum Cat 
the big Black Tom there, but discreetly with- 
drew before he saw her. The water-bucket 
was usually at its place, or, failing that, there 
were some muddy little pools on the stone 
below. But the garbage-box was very unre- 
liable. Once it left her for three days without 
food. She searched along the high fence, 
and seeing a small hole, crawled through that 
and found herself in the open street. This 
was a new world, but before she had ventured 
far, there was a noisy, rumbling rush—a large 
Dog came bounding, and Kitty had barely time 
to run back into the hole in the fence. She was 
dreadfully hungry, and glad to find some old 
potato-peelings, which gave a little respite from 
the hunger-pang. In the morning she did not 
sleep, but prowled for food. Some Sparrows 
chirruped in the yard. They were often there, 
but now they were viewed with new eyes. The 
steady pressure of hunger had roused the wild 
hunter in the Kitten ; those Sparrows were game 
—were food. She crouched instinctively and 
stalked from cover to cover, but the chirpers 
were alert and flew in time. Not once, but 
many times, she tried without result except to 
22 
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