The Slum Cat 
ster missed her and passed on, and all would 
have been well, but it turned back, or another 
just like it came suddenly spitting behind her. 
Pussy leaped to the long track and made for 
the home shore. She might have got there had 
not a third of the Red-eyed Terrors come 
screeching at her from that side. She was run- 
ning her hardest, but was caught between two 
foes. ‘There was nothing for it but a desperate 
leap from the timbers into—she didn’t know 
what. Down, down, down—plop, splash, plunge 
into the deep water, not cold, for it was August, 
but oh,so horrible! She spluttered and coughed 
when she came to the top, glanced around to see 
if the Monsters were swimming after her, and 
struck out for shore. She had never learned to 
swim, and yet she swam, for the simple reason 
that a Cat’s position and actions in swimming 
are the same as her position and actions in 
walking. She had fallen into a place she did 
not like; naturally she tried to wa/k out, and 
the result was that she swam ashore. Which 
shore ? The home-love never fails: the south 
side was the only shore for her, the one near- 
est home. She scrambled out all dripping 
61 
