WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



with perfect confidence on my hand. Indeed, 

 it was not long before he rushed to the side of 

 the box whenever he heard any sound and 

 tried to jump up to get to me. When taken 

 upstairs to the empty room, in which he was 

 allowed to run about, he would race across 

 the floor to meet me, spring on to my skirt, 

 and haul himself up hand over hand. His 

 favourite seat was on my shoulder, where he 

 would ride all over the place and even out of 

 doors, disappearing under my coat at the sight 

 of a stranger or anything peculiar. Presently 

 I would feel a heaving down my sleeve, and 

 then Whiskers' sharp nose and twitching 

 whiskers would come sniffing out at the wrist. 

 By the time he was full grown he was more 

 than a tight fit inside a sleeve — ^that is when 

 the owner's arm was there as well — ^and the 

 sensation as he wriggled his way up and down 

 was decidedly curious ! Perhaps his favourite 

 hiding-place was beneath my coat, just in the 

 middle of the shoulders, where he made a 

 lump that looked as if I was becoming de- 

 cidedly hunch-backed. 



But I am getting on rather too fast, and must 

 go back to the point where the cat and her 

 two babies had been taken from the kitchen to 

 172 



