The Slum Cat 
was not much hurt. He got over his fright, 
and since he could not get out of the box, he 
snuggled among the Kittens, and when they be- 
gan to take their evening meal he very soon 
decided to join them. The old Cat was puzzled. 
The hunter instinct had been dominant, but 
absence of hunger had saved the Rabbit and 
given the maternal instinct a chance to appear. 
The result was that the Rabbit became a mem- 
ber of the family, and was thenceforth guarded 
and fed with the Kittens. 
Two weeks went by. The Kittens romped 
much among the boxes during their mother’s 
absence. The Rabbit could not get out of the 
box. Jap Malee, seeing the Kittens about the 
back yard, told the negro to shoot them. This 
he was doing one morning with a 22-calibre 
rifle. He had shot one after another and seen 
them crop from sight into the crannies of the 
lumber-pile, when the old Cat came running 
along the wall from the dock, carrying a small 
Wharf Rat. He had been ready to shoot her, 
too, but the sight of that Rat changed his plans: 
a rat-catching Cat was worthy to live. It hap- 
pened to be the very first one she had ever 
33 
