icucc. Either from fear of the men, or of its formidable anta- 

 gonist, the otter relinquished its hold, and poor puss safely 

 landed amidst hearty cheers and congratulations. But puss, 

 not being content with the laurels she had won in the first 

 contest, went out again on the following day, and, strange to 

 say, the old combatants met again, and the otter, with undi- 

 minished pluck, attacked the cat on land. The contest became 

 very severe, but ultimately the otter was glad to regain its 

 watery refuge, and leave puss the victor the second time, with- 

 out suffering very considerably from an encounter with such a 

 formidable foe." 



Next comes the story of a traveller-cat, derived, like the 

 preceding, from a newspaper source : — 



" In a parish in Norfolk, not six miles from the town of 

 Bungay, lived a clergyman who, having a cat, sentenced it to 

 transportation for life, because it had committed certain 

 depredations on his larder. But the worthy gentleman 

 found it far easier to pronounce that sentence than to carry 

 it into execution. Poor puss was first taken to Bungay, 

 but had hardly got there when she escaped, and was soon 

 at home again." Her morals, however, had in no way improved, 

 and a felonious abstraction of butcher's meat immediately 

 occurred. "This time her master determined to send the 

 hardened culprit away a distance, which, as he expressed. 

 it, ' she would not walk in a hurry.' He, accordingly, gavo 

 her (generous man !) to a person living at Fakenham, distant 

 at least forty miles. The man called for her in the morning, 

 and carried her off in a bag, that she might not know by what 

 road he went. Vain hope ! She knew well enough the way 

 home, as he found to his cost, when, directly the house-door 

 was opened the next morning, she rushed out, and he saw no 

 more of her. 



"The night after, a faint mewing was heard outside the 

 minister's dwelling,' but, not being so rare an occurrence, no 

 attention was paid to it. However, on opening the door next 

 morning, there lay the very cat which he thought was forty 

 miles away, her feet all cut and blistered, from the hardness of 

 ♦;he road, and her silky fur all clotted and matted together with 

 dust and dirt. She had her reward. However her thievish 

 propensities might annoy him, the worthy vicar resolved never 

 again to send her away from the house she loved so well and 

 exerted herself so nobly to regain." 



There is a capital story told of a monastery-cat, which. 



