ii 
\ 
——=_— 
ee 
nd 
— y 
= 
The Slum Cat 
caught, but it saved her life. She threaded 
the lumber-maze to the cracker-box and was 
probably puzzled to find that there were no 
Kittens to come at her call, and the Rabbit 
would not partake of the Rat. Pussy curled up 
to nurse the Rabbit, but she called from time to 
time to summon the Kittens. Guided by that 
call, the negro crawled quietly to the place, 
and peering down into the cracker-box, saw, to 
his intense surprise, that it contained the old 
Cat, a live Rabbit, and a dead Rat. 
The mother Cat laid back her ears and 
snarled. The negro withdrew, but a minute 
later a board was dropped on the opening of 
the cracker-box, and the den with its tenants, 
dead and alive, was lifted into the bird-cellar. 
“Say, boss, look a-hyar—hyar ’s where de 
little Rabbit got to wot we lost. Yo’ sho t’ought 
Ah stoled him for de ’tater-bake.” 
Kitty and Bunny were carefully put in a 
large wire cage and exhibited as a happy fam- 
ily till a few days later, when the Rabbit took 
sick and died. 
Pussy had never been happy in the cage. 
She had enough to eat and drink, but she 
34 
