Part 2

Jazbury started violently. "Run away!" How strange for Yowler to say that. It was exactly the thing he had been thinking about.

"Yeh! Run away. I'm tired of sticking around in the baker's shop and catching his mice for him. Let him catch his own mice if he wants 'em. I'm tired of it, I tell you."

"Where are you going to run to?"

"Somewhere. I think maybe I'll go and live in the woods for awhile. Want to come along? It's going to be fine."

"The woods!" broke in Fluffy. "You couldn't live there. You'd be rained on. You'd get _wet_."

"Oh, you keep quiet," mewed Yowler roughly. "I ain't talking to you. Don't you want to come, Jaz? There's lots of places to live,--hollow trees and things; and birds, and field mice, and fish; we'd just have a great time."

"But you don't know how to get there," said Jazbury.

"Sure I do. Some man brought me in from the country when I was a kitten; a _little_ kitten, I mean; we came past a wood, and I could find my way back there just as easy as not if I tried. Come on, Jaz. It's going to be fine, I tell you."

"I'd just as lief as not," said Jazbury slowly. "When are you going?"

"Tomorrow morning, I guess; just as soon as the baker opens his shop and I can get you."

"You come, too, Fluffy," cried Jazbury suddenly. "I'll go if you will."

"Oh, no!" mewed Fluffy, and Yowler chimed in, "Oh, he can't go. He's too much of a mamma's pet. We don't want him."

"Yes, we do, too. And I won't go unless he will. Come on, Fluffy. We'll have lots of fun. And we needn't stay unless we want to. Come on!"

It took a great deal of persuasion before Fluffy would agree to the plan, but at last he said he would go if Yowler would promise to let him come home any time he wanted to. He also made Yowler promise that they would come straight back again that very day if they could not find a cave or a hollow tree for shelter before nightfall.

It was arranged that they should all three meet in the lot the next morning as soon after breakfast as possible. Yowler wanted them to start before breakfast, but to this Fluffy would not consent. Jazbury, too, thought it would be well to have a last saucer of milk before they set out. They would not be apt to find much milk in the wood.

That night Jazbury was very restless. He was too excited to sleep well. When he did doze off at last he dreamed he was trying to run down a road toward a wood and a dog was after him--two dogs--three dogs. He dug his nails into the ground and tried to pull himself along, but his paws seemed to have grown fast to the ground. Then the first dog was upon him, had caught him--was crying in his ear, "Jazbury, Jazbury, wake up. You must be having a nightmare, you are mewing so."

He opened his eyes and there he was, safe in the warm, snug home cellar, and Aunt Tabby was patting him, and telling him to wake up. Jazbury was still trembling and panting from the terror of his dream.

"What were you dreaming, dear?" asked his mother.

"Oh, nothing," said Jazbury. "Just something about dogs"; and then he snuggled up against his mother and went to sleep again, and this time he slept quietly and undisturbed by dreams.

VI

When Jazbury awoke the next morning the sun was shining in through the cellar window, the birds were singing, and the air was full of dewy freshness. His ugly dreams of the night before were all forgotten. There could not have been a more wonderful day for three little kittens to start out on their adventures.

The three of them met in the lot soon after breakfast, as they had agreed. Yowler at once took command. "Now, kits," said he, "we won't go all together in a bunch. That would look queer, and some one would be sure to notice us. I'll start off first; Fluff can come next, and then Jaz. You keep about half a square behind me, Fluffy, and Jaz about half a square behind you. Then you can see which way I go, but nobody will think we're together."

To this plan the others agreed.

"Suppose we meet some dogs?" said Fluffy.

"If you do, you'll just have to do the best you can. Run up an alley, or climb a fence or something. Now come on! We'll go as far as the edge of the lot together."

The three little kittens stole away through the weeds, and when they came to the edge of the lot Jazbury and Fluffy stopped. They watched Yowler cross to the other side of the street and turn a corner. Then, after a moment or so, Fluffy followed, then Jazbury.

The others were still in sight when Jazbury turned the corner, Yowler quite a distance up the street, and Fluffy not so far.

Two women with brooms in their hands were sweeping their pavements and gossiping together as they swept. "Look at that kitten," said one of them, as Jazbury ran past them. "That's the third kitten that's gone by in the last few minutes."

"I know. I noticed that," replied the other. "Funny! Wonder where they come from!"

As Jazbury neared the next corner he heard a sound of voices in loud talk, and then the bark of a dog. Some boys were coming that way, and a dog was with them. They were just around the corner.

Luckily there was an alleyway close by. Jazbury ran into it and crouched there, and a moment later a group of rough-looking boys passed by it, with a couple of dogs at their heels. Luckily none of them thought of looking into the alleyway. Jazbury waited till the sound of voices had died away, and then he came out and ran on again. Yowler and Fluffy were far ahead now, and he had to hurry to get near them again.

A little later Fluffy had an adventure that might have been very serious. He was going past a little brown wooden house when the door opened, and a little girl came out, followed by an ugly-looking cur. Almost at once the dog saw Fluffy. He gave a sort of half yelp, half bark, and started after him. Fluffy saw him coming. There was no fence, and no alleyway where he could take shelter. Fortunately there was a tree a little further down the street, and it was toward this tree that Fluffy ran for his life, his tail big, and every hair on end.

The dog was close at his heels when he dashed up the tree. He clung there, part way up, the dog leaping and yelping below him. Jazbury watched from behind a flight of steps, trembling and terrified. It seemed as though any moment the dog's teeth might close on the kitten. Fluffy clung there, afraid to try to climb higher, lest he lose his hold, and fall back into the dog's jaws.

The little girl had been shouting at the dog, and now she found a stick, and running up she beat him until he whined and ran a little distance away. He did not go far, however, but stood watching eagerly while the little girl tried to coax Fluffy to come down to her. But this Fluffy would not do. He had now scrambled up to a crotch of the tree, and sat there mewing.

Presently the door of the house opened, and a woman looked out. "Pansy," she called to the child, "you go on and get me the yeast cake. I'm waiting for it."

"But, mother, there's a kitten up this tree."

"I can't help it if there is. You go on, and hurry, too. It's almost school time."

Reluctantly the little girl left the tree and went on down the street and around the next corner. Fortunately she took the dog with her.

Carefully and warily Jazbury crept along a gutter to the foot of the tree. "Hurry, Fluffy!" he mewed. "Come down. We must get away before the dog comes back."

"Oh, I'm afraid!" wailed Fluffy. "I want to go home. Mew! Mew!"

"Don't stop to cry," called Jazbury impatiently. "You can't get home now, and if you don't hurry the dog will be back again."

So urged, Fluffy managed to half scramble, half fall down the tree, and he and Jazbury made off down the street as fast as they could go.

They had come almost to the end of the village now, and Yowler was waiting for them.

"What kept you so long?" he mewed crossly. "I've been waiting and waiting for you."

"A dog almost caught Fluffy," said Jazbury; and he told Yowler the story of Fluffy's adventures. "Wasn't that terrible?" asked Jazbury.

"Oh, I don't know. He didn't get him, anyway," said Yowler impatiently. "We'll get to the fields in a minute now, and then we can all keep together. There won't be any one to see us."

A little later they were out of the village altogether. Before them lay the sunny breadth of the country, a meadow and a stream, a field, and far away the dark edge of a shady wood.

The kittens slipped through a fence and into the deep grass of the meadow. Insects whined about them. A butterfly fluttered by, so close above them that when Jazbury leaped for it he almost caught it. He would have liked to chase some of the insects that flitted about, but Yowler told him to wait. "There are plenty of other things to catch," he said. "Bigger things that we can really eat."

"Isn't it fun, Fluffy?" cried Jazbury. "Aren't you glad we came?"

"Yes, it is fun," answered Fluffy; but he did not seem quite as joyous over it as Jazbury.

A little later Yowler crept away from them through the grasses. They saw him pounce, and a moment later he came back with a little field-mouse in his mouth.

"What did I tell you?" he purred, proudly. "Guess we won't starve here. The fields are full of them."

They divided the field-mouse amongst them, and though none of them were hungry it was fun to eat out there in the open meadow with the blue sky overhead, and the warm wind ruffling their fur.

They went on again presently, taking their time, and making side excursions through the grasses, or stopping to rest and sun themselves in the more open places.

Not until late afternoon did they come to the wood. By that time they were hungry again. Fluffy managed to catch a small bird, which delighted the other two.

"Isn't he a fine catcher? What did I tell you?" boasted Jazbury.

After they had eaten the bird Yowler told the others to wait where they were, while he went on to find a place for them to sleep.

After he left them the two younger kittens dropped into silence. Dusk was drawing down. How big and dark and lonely it seemed in the wood. Jazbury thought of his mother and Aunt Tabby. They must have missed him by now. How troubled they would be. There would be good milk in the saucer in the pantry. They must be eating their supper by now. But maybe they would be too sad and sorry to eat.

Fluffy snuggled up close against him. "Jazbury!" he whispered.

"Yes."

"Don't you wish we were home?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind it."

"Let's go home. Let's go before Yowler gets back."

"No; that would be mean. But maybe tomorrow,--only I don't know the way."

"Miaw-aw-aw!" came Yowler's loud voice, breaking harshly through the silence of the wood. "Come on over here, kits; I've found a fine place to sleep."

The other kittens hurried toward the place from which his voice had come, and found him standing in front of a hollow tree. There was a bed of moss and dry leaves in the hollow, and it was snug and dry. The three kittens crept into it and snuggled down together, and soon they were fast asleep, worn out by their journey and the adventures they had passed through.

VII

Jazbury opened his eyes and looked about him. For a moment he could not think where he was. Instead of the white-washed walls and beams of the cellar, the sides of the tree arched up above him; and there was Fluffy cuddled up close against him, instead of Mother Bunch and Aunt Tabby.

Then he remembered. He had run away. He was in the wood. But where was Yowler? He had been there when Jazbury went to sleep. Surely Yowler had not gone away and deserted them.

"Fluffy!" he mewed.

Without opening his eyes Fluffy gave a sleepy little answering mew. He stretched himself and yawned, showing his little pink tongue curled up inside his mouth. Then he opened his eyes.

"Why, Jazbury!" he said in a surprised tone. He looked about him in a startled way. "Why--why--I'd forgotten we ran away. Where's Yowler?"

"I don't know. Let's call him."

But at this moment Yowler came strolling around from behind the tree. "Hello, kits!" he said. He had a comfortable, lazy look. He was licking his lips, and there was a tiny feather sticking to one of his whiskers.

"Where have you been?" asked Jazbury.

"Oh, I just went out to look about."

"Well, I'm hungry. What shall we do about breakfast?"

"Yes; what shall we do about breakfast?" chimed in Fluffy.

"Oh, you'll have to catch something. There's plenty here in the woods."

"But aren't you going to help us?" asked Jazbury anxiously.

"No. I don't feel hungry. You kits go ahead. You won't have any trouble about it. If I want anything I'll catch it later on."

"But I don't know _how_ to catch things. I never learned," said Jazbury.

"All the worse for you, but I can't help it," said Yowler cruelly.

Fluffy had been looking sharply at Yowler. Now he said, "Yowler, there's a feather on your whiskers."

Yowler started. "Oh, is there?" he said, and he hastily wiped it off with his paw. "You'd better hurry up if you want to catch anything." He added. "I'm sleepy. Guess I'll take another snooze."

He went inside the tree and curled himself up in the warm spot that Jazbury and Fluffy had just left, and closed his eyes. The two smaller kittens stood looking at him for a moment.

"Come on, Jazbury!" mewed Fluffy. "Let's go and look for something to eat."

The two little kittens wandered away from the tree and on deeper into the wood. Jazbury felt very much hurt that Yowler would not come with them. He didn't see why he wasn't hungry, too.

"I know why he wasn't hungry," said Fluffy mysteriously.

"Why?"

"Oh, I'll tell you some time."

"Why won't you tell me now?"

"I don't want to; but I'll tell you some time."

Jazbury looked about him. "I don't see wherever we're to get anything to eat," he mewed.

"I do, right now," whispered Fluffy. "Hist! Keep still now."

He crept silently forward through the bushes, there was a sudden leap--a squeak--a flutter, and a moment later Fluffy came back proudly carrying in his mouth a young bird he had killed.

"Oh, goody!" cried Jazbury, "I just love bird, and I've never tasted it but once. Aunt Tabby caught one in the yard at home and gave me a piece. Won't Yowler be pleased? Come on! Let's hurry back with it and all have breakfast."

Fluffy dropped the bird and put his paw on it. "I'm not going to give Yowler any," he declared.

"Not give Yowler any! Oh, Fluffy! Why not?"

"Because. Now I'll tell you what I was going to tell you awhile ago, and didn't. I'm just sure Yowler caught a bird this morning and ate it all himself before we were awake."

Jazbury could hardly believe such a thing could be true. "Oh, Fluffy! He wouldn't be so mean!" he cried.

"Well, I'm sure of it. Don't you remember the feather on his whiskers? Anyway, you might as well eat your share of the bird for I shan't give Yowler even a single bone, whether you eat any of it or not."

So the two little friends sat there on the soft moss and divided the bird between them. How delicious it was! The kittens purred and smacked their lips over it, it was so good, but all the while Jazbury had an unhappy feeling that they were treating Yowler very badly, for he _couldn't_ have done such a mean thing as to catch a bird and eat it without telling them a word about it.

After they had finished eating Fluffy sat down and began to wash himself. "You'd better wash yourself, too, Jazbury," he said. "Just look how dirty and dusty your fur is."

"I don't care," mewed Jazbury. "I didn't come out in the woods to wash myself, and I don't mean to do it. I'm never, never, never going to wash myself until we go home again."

"You'd feel a whole lot more comfortable if you were nice and clean," said Fluffy, and he went on washing himself until his fur fairly shone with whiteness.

Then the two kittens strolled back toward the tree. Jazbury was almost ashamed to face Yowler. Anyway, it was not his fault. It had not been his bird.

Suddenly Fluffy stopped, his eyes wide and excited. "There, look at that!" he cried.

"What?" asked Jazbury.

"There! Under that bush!"

Jazbury looked, and then he saw a little heap of feathers lying under the bush,--a wing--a tail. Fluffy went over to where they lay and sniffed about. "I knew it," he mewed. "Yowler has been here. This is where he killed the bird and ate it. Now you'll believe me, I guess."

Jazbury, too, went over to the bush and sniffed about, and he could very easily tell that Yowler had been there. It made him feel very sad that their companion should have played such a trick upon them.

When they came to the hollow tree they found Yowler still fast asleep. Their coming awakened him. "Did you catch anything?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes, we caught a bird."

"Where is it?" Yowler sprang to his feet. "Did you bring it home?"

Jazbury and Fluffy looked at each other. Then Fluffy said, "No; we ate it."

"Ate it! Without giving me any? What d'you mean by that? Ain't we pardners? Here I bring you along with me, and show you a good place to sleep, and you go and eat up all the breakfast without giving me even a taste."

"You didn't give us any of the bird you caught," retorted Fluffy.

"Bird I caught! What d'you mean? When did I catch any bird?"

"Before we were awake. And you ate it all yourself, and never saved a bit for us."

"I don't know what you mean; don't know what you're talking about," blustered Yowler. "But I'm not going to argue with you. If you can catch things, so can I. And I can eat them all myself, too, just as much as you can." And he stalked away, and would not answer them when they called after him.

After that Yowler hunted by himself, and the other kittens by themselves. At first Jazbury found it very hard to catch anything. The birds and mice all got away from him. He would have had to go hungry or to content himself with grasshoppers and beetles if it had not been for Fluffy. But Fluffy was such a good little hunter that he always managed to catch enough to eat, and whatever he caught he always shared with Jazbury. He was a better hunter than Yowler, and after a while Yowler said maybe they'd all better hunt together and share whatever they might catch. "Only, of course, Jazbury ought to let us have the best pieces," he added, "because he's no good about catching things."

"Yes, he is, too," mewed Fluffy indignantly. "He's learning. And anyway, I'd rather share with him than with you any day, and you can hunt by yourself, and we'll hunt by ourselves. That's the way you wanted us to do it at first, and now that's the way we like best."

This made Yowler very angry, and he would not speak to Fluffy for a whole day.

Jazbury, indeed, was becoming a very fine hunter,--better, even, than Fluffy himself. Fluffy was very skilful, but Jazbury was not only quick, he was also strong and brave; stronger and braver than the gentle little Fluffy had ever dreamed of being.

Fluffy admired Jazbury very much, and was proud of the way he caught things. But one thing troubled him. Jazbury _would not_ wash himself. Every day he grew dirtier and rougher, until at last he looked more like some wild creature of the wood than a little town kitten who should have known enough to wash and care for himself.

VIII

For some time the weather was beautiful, clear and warm and sunny. But after about a week it changed. Clouds gathered. There was a feeling of rain in the air, and the wind was chilly. The kittens huddled close together at night for warmth. Yowler always took the warmest corner, the one furthest back in the tree where the leaves were thickest and softest.

In the daytime he went off on long prowls. Sometimes the other kittens did not see him from the time he set out in the morning till he came back at night. They no longer liked or trusted him, but it troubled them that he should stay away so much. One day Jazbury asked him whether he wouldn't show them the way home. They were tired of staying in the woods, and he wanted to see his dear mother and his Aunt Tabby again. When Jazbury said this he felt so sad that he began to mew pitifully. Fluffy joined in, and the two little kittens cried bitterly. "Let's go home!" they cried. "Oh, let's go home. We don't want to stay here any longer."

"Hush!" cried Yowler angrily. "Oh, _hush_! I tell you I'm not going home. Not for a long time, anyway. You may go if you like, but I shan't."

"But we don't know the way! We don't know the wa-y-y-y!" wailed the kittens.

"Well, I can't help that," retorted Yowler, and he stalked away and left them still crying.

It was the very next night that a rain set in. Yowler had come home late. Jazbury and Fluffy had already cuddled down together in the tree, as far back as they could, for the night was chilly and damp. But as soon as Yowler came he crowded them out of their snug nest and took it himself.

"Oh, Yowler! We just got that place warm!" mewed Fluffy.

"I don't care! You can get another place warm. This is where I am going to sleep."

"I don't think that's fair!" said Jazbury. But Yowler paid no attention to him. He curled down and soon was fast asleep.

It was not long after this that the rain began. It beat into the tree. "Oh, dear!" said Jazbury. "I'm getting so wet."

"Listen, Jazbury," whispered Fluffy. "Yowler has the only dry place here. Do you remember that sort of little cave I found today under that big rock? It isn't far away, and I'm sure we could keep dry there. It isn't very big. Not big enough for all of us to sleep in, but there would be plenty of room for you and me."

"All right," said Jazbury. "One thing's sure, we'll soon be dripping wet if we stay here."

The two little friends crept out of the hollow without wakening Yowler, and ran quickly over to the cave Fluffy had spoken of. It was indeed a cosy little cave and perfectly dry, really much better than the hollow of the tree. The two little kittens crept in and huddled down together.

Outside the rain beat. The leaves hung down from the trees, drenched and heavy with water; the ground was sodden, but the two little kittens cared nothing for all this.

All night they slept there as dry and comfortable as though they had been in their cellar at home instead of out in the wild wood with only a rock cave to shelter them.

The next morning Fluffy and Jazbury were awakened by a loud "Miaw-aw-aw! Miaw-aw-aw!" It was Yowler calling them.

"That's Yowler," said Fluffy. "He must have awakened."

Jazbury rose and stretched himself and stepped outside the cave. It had stopped raining; the sun was shining down through the leaves, but the woods were still wet.

"Here we are, Yowler," he called.

Yowler came over toward the cave. He was dripping wet.

"Where have you been all night?" he asked crossly. "What did you mean by going off without telling me? Look how wet I am! A mean trick, I call it."

"Well, Yowler, we thought you were dry," said Jazbury. "You took the only dry place there was, so we came over here."

"Dry place! I look as if I'd been in a dry place, don't I? I just guess not. Sopping wet I am."

"Well, Yowler, we didn't know it," said Fluffy.

"Oh, be quiet. I don't care, anyway. I'm tired of the woods. I know a farmhouse near here where they want another cat, and I'm going there to live. I met a cat that lives there, and he asked me to come."

"Oh, but Yowler! What's going to become of us? Can we come, too?" cried Jazbury.

"No, you can't. They only want one cat. If you tried to tag along they'd drive us all away."

"But won't you show us the way home first?" begged Fluffy. "Please, please do. We're tired of the woods, too, but we don't know where else to go."