Shireen and her Friends Part 30

"'Ah!' sighed the silver tabby, 'would it were so. But it is far often the reverse.'

"'Indeed!'

"'Yes, and I am going to tell you why. _You see cats like us, that have been dragged up in a den like this, and without human companions.h.i.+p, never learn manners. They are never cleanly in their habits, and just as often thieves as not. So the new purchaser soon finds out her mistake, and p.u.s.s.y, instead of becoming a parlour pet, is thrust out of doors, ill-used by the servants, and in time becomes a nomad and helps to swell the great army of vagrant cats, that commit depredations of every conceivable sort and render night hideous by their howlings_.'

The sentences I place in italics should be remembered by all who think of buying a beautiful cat for a companion.

"My young heart sunk when I heard this intelligence, and, alas! I soon found it was all too true. Yes, my dear s.h.i.+reen, and more than true, for not only were all the cats in this great prison-house treated as if they had been wild beasts, but sometimes even with systematic cruelty.

I myself was soon the subject of this. You see, that having been used to good food in variety, with plenty of fresh air and exercise, I fell ill. I could not drink the thin skimmed-milk, and I loathed the high half-putrid horse-flesh. Then my skin became irritable. So one day my mistress hauled me out of my cage and slapped me across the head till my eyes grew almost blind, and I was dizzy.

"'I shall lose by you, confound you,' she cried.

"Then I was taken to a dirty back kitchen and scrubbed, yes, literally scrubbed with hot water and soap, then roughly dried and put in a cage near the fire. When half dry I was smeared all over with some vilely-smelling ointment till I loathed the very smell of myself. After this I was put in the hospital cage in another room. Here there was a cat in a worse plight than myself by far.

"She didn't care to talk at all.

"'I'm too sick and ill to speak,' she said. 'Besides, I'm going to be drowned to-night. I do so wish the night was come.'

"I shuddered with horror and fear.

"The night did come, and with it the executioner. He seized my poor companion and thrust her roughly into a sack, in which I could see there were some old bricks. Then he tied her up and left the room.

"I got worse instead of better, and there came a day when, from something in my mistress's eye, I knew that I too was doomed.

"I received no food or drink of any kind that day; my inhuman mistress no doubt considering it would be mere waste to give meat to a cat she was going to drown.

"I determined, however, that I would make a struggle for life.

"The day pa.s.sed wearily by, and how very, very long it did seem to be sure.

"At last--ah! how my heart did beat--the door of the room opened and the same horrid ragged man came in. He carried a lantern and a sack with bricks, just as before.

"I pretended to be asleep.

"He cautiously opened the door.

"In a moment I sprang up, and he speedily withdrew a badly-bitten hand.

Before he could shut me up again I had dashed out and darted from the room.

"I knew not where to run; but here was a window. I was a powerful kitten for my age.

"So the window flew into flinders and I was free.

"Yes, I was free. A homeless, wretched nomad. Now some cats are possessed of the homing instinct, as it is called, in great perfection.

But, alas! I felt none of it, else you may be sure, my friends, I should have found my way back again speedily enough to Mrs Rayne's.

"But I was free. Oh, how glad even that thought made me.

"The fresh air blew in my face, and I felt better and stronger already.

I glanced up and down the street. Far up one end of it were many lights, the other was all dark and so I chose that.

"I ran on and on and on, and soon found myself in the country, and tired at last, I crept into a shed and went to sleep among some clean hay, the fragrant smell of which seemed to curl round my heart and revive me.

"I was hungry when daylight came, and was lucky enough to find a mouse, on which I breakfasted, and then went to sleep again.

"It was dark when I awoke, and so I resumed my journey, still going in the same direction, guided by some instinct to place as great a distance as possible 'twixt myself and the cat-dealer's den I had escaped from.

"Before daylight I came to a great forest, and being tired, I crept in under a bush of furze, and, on a warm dry bed, slept long and sweetly.

"I idled about the forest all night--and a lovely moonlit night it was-- finding plenty of food, but seeing no men and no dogs.

"I determined, therefore, to make this forest my home for a time, at all events; but I must not sleep on the ground, for dogs would be sure to find me out and worry me. Luckily I found a comfortable shelter half way up the trunk of a grand old oak, and so I concluded to live here.

And a most perfect shelter I found it to be.

"For many, many months, I could not tell you, my friends, how many, I lived in this tree, becoming entirely nocturnal in my habits, for when I ventured out during the day I sometimes saw rough-looking men with dogs, and was glad to escape into the branches of some oak or beech, where I sat trembling with fear until they had gone.

"I found plenty of food in the forest, and my drink was the pure soft water from the purling brooklets. The only thing I ever did long for was a drop of milk.

"The summer and autumn pa.s.sed away, and winter came wild and dreary.

The birds no longer sang in the forests, and many had flown south and away to summer lands beyond the seas. I missed many of my forest friends too; they had gone away, or had hidden themselves in cosy corners and gone to sleep for the winter. This kind of long sleep was denied to me however, and now I often felt cold and wretched, and would wander for hours through the snow and under the stars or moon, that used to glimmer down through the leafless branches, and fall in patches of light on the ground beneath.

"One evening, while wandering thus, I came upon a little country cottage, and, listening near to the stackyard, I heard the voice of a young girl raised in song coming from one of the outhouses.

"I crept nearer and nearer, and presently came to the door of the byre, where the cows were. The girl's song was a very simple and a very sweet one; but far more sweet to me was the sound of the purling milk as it fell in rich streams into the pail.

"The temptation to enter was irresistible. But I did not venture too far in.

"'Oh, what a pretty p.u.s.s.y!' said the girl.

"Her voice re-a.s.sured me, and I began to sing. She tried to get me to come indoors with her, but I was too wild and suspicious for that. Yet I accompanied her as far as the cottage door, and I even peeped in.

"A cheerful fire of wood was burning on the hearth. How pleasant it looked! And near it sat an old man smoking, and two pretty children--a girl and a boy--were playing by the fireside.

"They brought me bread and milk, and I ate it coyly and hungrily. But when they would have taken me up I ran out again, and once more made for the forest and for my cold bed in the tree.

"Next night, however, I returned to the cottage, and was treated with equal kindness; and so for night after night, till the children used to quite expect me. I allowed them to smooth and pat me now, and sometimes I went indoors and sat a little by the fire.

"But one dark and stormy evening some dogs and men discovered my tree.

They had traced me by my footprints through the snow.

"It was, however, too late for them to do anything to me that night, but I knew they would come and rout me out when morning broke, so I made up my mind now that the forest was no longer safe for me in winter. That night I left the tree, and wandering away to the cottage, I took shelter in the outhouse above the room where the cows dwelt.

"Next morning I astonished and delighted the children by appearing among them to breakfast. I had captured a huge rat, and, bringing it in with me, I laid it on the hearth to show my prowess. By so doing I quite ingratiated myself with the old man.

"And so it ended by my taking up my abode with these good people.

"When summer came again I used to go roving in the forest, for a very delightful life I found it. Nevertheless, I invariably came home in the evening, and did my best to keep the outhouse clear of rats and the rooms indoors free from the plague of mice.

"I was a great favourite with this humble family, and many people came from afar to see the wonderful wild cat as they called me, who had been tamed by the power of kindness.