AND HER CAT. 29

hands held the fishing-rods, they struck each other on the
left hand to ratify the treaty.

When Mowmouth saw the two lines let down, his
hopes began to revive. As soon as they came within reach
he laid hold of them with his claws, and the anglers,
feeling an unusual weight, exclaimed, in one breath,
“ There’s a bite! there’s a bite!” and hastened to draw
up their lines.

“Tl bet you I’ve caught a barbel!” said
Mr. Cotton; and he would have rubbed his
hands with glee, had they both been disen-
gaged. :

“J must have a fine carp on my hook!”
replied Mr. Shorthose.

He had scarcely finished his sentence before
Mowmouth leaped upon the parapet.

«“ Weare duped !” cried the two fishermen;
and they ran after the unlucky quadruped so
b wonderfully rescued from the stream, but the
cat ran faster than they did and got away easily.
As soon as he found himself alone again, he stopped to take
breath, examined the houses, and not finding any of them
like his own, very naturally concluded his home was not
there. It was necessary, however, to get a birth some-
where, for he was shivering with cold and panting after the
pursuit he had undergone: nor could he stay longer in the
street without exposing himself to an inflammation of the
lungs. Guided by the light of an oven, he made his way
into the underground workshop of a famous baker, squatted
pel behind a pile of bread-baskets, and gradually fell
asleep.

By and by he was roused by his hunger.

Mowmouth was the offspring of poor parents, who had
turned him adrift at a tender age; he had been reared in
the street, obliged to find his own living, and had his cha-
racter formed in the school of adversity. He was there-