208 NATURE STUDIES. 



I listened a moment to catch any sound that might 

 betray his whereabouts, and suddenly heard the latch 

 of the kitchen-door fall. I rushed into the kitchen 

 just in time to see Tom slide his forepaw between the 

 door and the jamb, forcing the door open and leaping 

 out into the garden, thence on to the top of a high 

 wall, from which "bad eminence" he regarded me 

 with a placid and unctuous look of injured innocence. 



He had opened the door by jumping on to a small 

 shelf near, from whence, by standing up on his hind 

 legs, he could reach the latch and push it up with hi& 

 forepaw, thus releasing the door, which then swung 

 partially open. The rest, to a cat of " Sweep's " 

 intelligence, was easy. I often afterwards watched 

 him do it. He never succeeded (though he often tried) 

 in opening the door from the outside, because there was 

 nothing sufficiently near the latch on which he could 

 stand while he pressed the thumb-piece of the latch 

 downwards, a proceeding the necessity for which he 

 evidently thoroughly understood, as evidenced by the 

 way in which his attempts to open the door on the 

 outside were made. He would leap up and catch hold 

 of the latch-guard with one paw, while with the other 

 he frantically struck (downwards) at the thumb-piece, 

 continuing his efforts till his strength for the moment 

 failed him, and he dropped to the ground. 



He never asked any one to open the door for him. 

 If he wanted to get out, he opened it and went out ; 

 if he wanted to come in, he tried to open it, and con- 

 tinued trying (the idea of ultimate failure never 



