The Corner House Girls Part 13

The mother cat had forgotten her children in this moment of panic. The dancing bulldog outside the fence quite crazed her. She ran out on the first limb of the tree, and leaped from it into the next tree. There was a long row of maples here and the frightened Sandy-face went from one to the other like a squirrel.

"She's running away! she's running away!" cried Agnes.

"Where did you get that cat and those kittens, child?" demanded Mrs.

Adams.

"At Mr. Stetson's store," said Agnes, sadly, as the old cat disappeared.

"She's going back," said the lady firmly. "That's where she is going.

A scared cat always will make for home, if she can. And now! what under the canopy are you going to do with that mess of kittens-without a cat to mother them?"

Agnes was stricken dumb for the moment. Tess and Dot were all but in tears. The situation was very complicated indeed, even if the boy had urged his dog away from the gate.

The four little kittens presented a problem to the Corner House girls that was too much for even the ready Agnes to solve. Here were the kittens. The cat had gone back. Agnes had a long scratch on her arm-and it smarted. Tess and Dot were on the verge of tears, while the kittens began to mew and refused to be pacified.

CHAPTER IX

THE VANISHING KITTENS

"What you'll do with those little tykes, I don't see," said Mrs.

Adams, who was not much of a comforter, although kind-hearted. "You'd better take them back to Mr. Stetson, Aggie."

"No-o. I don't think he'd like that," said Agnes. "He told Myra to get rid of them and I promised to take them away and keep them."

"But that old cat's gone back," decided the lady.

"I s'pect you'll have to go after her again, Aggie," said Tess.

"But I won't carry her-loose-in my arms," declared the bigger girl, with emphasis. "See what she did to me," and she displayed the long, inflamed scratch again.

"Put her in a bag, child," advised Mrs. Adams. "You little ones come around here to the back stoop and we'll try to make the kittens drink warm milk. They're kind of small, but maybe they're hungry enough to put their tongues into the dish."

She bustled away with Tess and Dot and the basket of kittens, while Agnes started back along the street toward the grocery store. She had rather lost interest in Sandy-face and her family.

At once Tess and Dot were strongly taken with the possibility of teaching the kittens to drink. Mrs. Adams warmed the milk, poured it into a saucer, and set it down on the top step. Each girl grabbed a kitten and the good lady took the other two.

They thrust the noses of the kittens toward the milk, and immediately the little things backed away, and made great objections to their introduction to this new method of feeding.

The little black one, with the white nose and the spot of white over one eye, got some milk on its whiskers, and immediately sneezed.

"My goodness me!" exclaimed Dot, worriedly, "I believe this kitten's catching cold. Suppose it has a real _hard_ cold before its mother comes back? What shall we do about it?"

This set Mrs. Adams to laughing so hard that she could scarcely hold her kittens. But she dipped their noses right into the milk, and after they had coughed and sputtered a little, they began to lick their chops and found the warm milk much to their taste.

Only, they did not seem to know how to get at it. They nosed around the edge of the saucer in the most ridiculous way, getting just a wee mite. They found it very good, no doubt, but were unable to discover just where the milk was.

"Did you ever see such particular things?" asked the impatient Mrs.

Adams. She suddenly pushed the black and white kitten (the girls had already called it "Spotty") right up against the dish. Now, no cat-not even a very tiny cat like this one-cares to be pushed, and to save itself from such indignity, Spotty put out one paw and-splash!-it went right into the dish.

Oh! how he shook the wet paw and backed away. Cats do not like to get their feet wet. Spotty began licking the wet paw to dry it and right then and there he discovered something!

The milk on it tasted very good. He sat up in the funniest way and licked it all off, and Dot danced around, delighted to see him.

A little of the milk had been spilled on the step, and one of the speckled kittens found this, and began to lap it up with a tiny pink tongue. With a little urging the other two kittens managed to get some milk, too, but Spotty was the brightest-at least, the girls thought so.

After he had licked his paw dry, he ventured over to the saucer again, smelled around the edge, and then deliberately dipped in his paw and proceeded to lap it dry once more.

"Isn't he the cunningest little thing that ever was?" demanded Tess, clapping her hands. Dot was so greatly moved that she had to sit down and just watch the black and white kitten. She could not speak for happiness, at first, but when she _did_ speak, she said:

"Isn't it nice that there's such things as kittens in the world? I don't s'pose they are useful at all till they're _cats_, but they are awfully pretty!"

"Isn't she the little, old-fashioned thing?" murmured Mrs. Adams.

Tess and Dot were very much at home and the kittens were curled up in the basket again in apparent contentment, when Agnes returned.

She had Sandy-face in a sack, and it was just about all Agnes could do to carry the cat without getting scratched again. For Sandy's claws came through the flimsy bag, and she knew not friend from foe in her present predicament.

"I declare! I had no idea cats had so little sense," Agnes sighed, sitting down, quite heated. "Wouldn't you think she'd be _glad_ to be taken to a good home-and with her kittens, too?"

"Maybe _we_ wouldn't have any more sense if we were being carried in a sack," said Tess, thoughtfully.

"Well!" exclaimed Aggie. "She knew enough to go back to Mr. Stetson's store, that's sure. He had to catch her for me, for Myra was out. He says we'll have to watch her for a few days, but I don't believe she'd have left her kittens if that bad Sam Pinkney hadn't come along with his dog-do you, Mrs. Adams?"

"No, deary. I think she'll stay with the kittens all right," said the old lady, comfortingly.

"Well, let's go on home, girls," said Agnes, rising from the step.

"We've bothered Mrs. Adams long enough."

"We've had an awfully nice time here," said Tess, smiling at the old lady, and not forgetful of her manners.

"I'm glad you came, dearies. Come again. I'm going to have a little party here for you Corner House girls, some day, if you'll come to it."

"Oh, I just _love_ parties," declared Dot, her eyes shining. "If Ruth will let us we'll come-won't we, Tess?"

"Certainly," agreed Tess.

"Of course we'll come, Mrs. Adams," cried Agnes, as she led the way with the me-owing cat in the sack, while the two smaller girls carried the sleeping kittens with care.

They reached home without any further adventure. Ruth came running from Aunt Sarah's room to see the kittens. When they let Sandy-face out of the bag in the dining-room, she scurried under the sofa and refused to be coaxed forth.

The children insisted upon taking the kittens up to show Aunt Sarah, and it was determined to keep the old cat in the dining-room till evening, at any rate; so the basket was set down by the sofa. Each girl finally bore a kitten up to Aunt Sarah's room.

Agnes had chosen Spotty for her very own-and the others said she ought to have her choice, seeing that she had been through so much trouble to get the old mother cat and her family-and received a scratch on her arm, too!

They remained long enough in Auntie's room to choose names for all the other three kittens. Ruth's was named Popocatepetl-of course, "Petl,"