176 



THE CAT AND THE CAN. 



was when she saw Mops with the can. "You homd cat!" she 

 cried, snatching up the broom. " You greedy, thieving, sly — 

 Scat! " but Mops did not wait for the broom. Out of the window 

 she leaped for her life j and the cook threw the broom, and the 

 tongs, and finally the can itself, after her. " I wouldn't demean 

 myself by eating after a cat! " said the cook. 



So there the can lay, in the back yard, until Tommy came by, 

 and kicked it about by way of a foot-ball, and finally left it out 

 behind the barn. ]S"ow, Mops, though she dared not come near the 



house just then, kept an eye on the can 

 iVom behind the hedge, ;nid when 

 Tommy kicked it behind the 

 bam she thought, " Xow is my 

 chance to finish that salmon! 

 I am very glad the cook 

 was too proud to eat 



after me ! " She crept along behind 



the hedge, and round through the orchard to the barn. There 

 was the can, lying on its side. " Why shouldn't I put my head 

 in, instead of my paw," said Mops, "and get it all at once'?" 

 Suiting the action to the word, she thrust her head inside the can. 

 Ah, that was all very well! But when she had eaten the last 

 scrap offish, and tried to draw her head out again, it would not 

 come out. She pulled and pulled; the sharp, jagged edges of tin 

 only stuck into her neck, and held her tight. Half-mad with pain 

 and fright, the cat sprang wildly about, striking the can against 

 the ground, and making frantic eflforts to escape ; but all in vain. 



