56 THE CAT AND THE PUPPIES.

in motion and amused, so that they ate well, and were strong
enough to be removed and to take care of themselves long
before their brothers and sisters.

On their being taken away from her their poor nurse
showed her sorrow, and went prowling about the house,
looking for them in every place. At length she caught sight
of the spaniel and the three remaining puppies. Instantly
up went her back; her bristles stood erect, and her eyes
glared fiercely at the little dog, which she supposed had
carried off her young charges.

“Ho, ho! ‘you vile thief, who have ventured to rob me of
my young ones; I have found you at last!” she said—at
least, she thought as much, if she did not say it. The spaniel
barked angrily, answering, “They are my own puppies; you
know they are as unlike as possible to your little, tire-
some, frisky mewlings.”—“TI tell you I know them to be
mine,” cried Puss, spitting and hissing; “I mean to re-
cover my own.” And before the spaniel knew what was
going to happen, Puss sprang forward, seized one of the
puppies, and carried it off to her own bed in another part
of the house.

Not content with this success, as soon as she had safely
placed the puppy in her home, she returned to the abode of
the spaniel. This time she simply dashed forward, as if she
had made up her mind what to do, knocked over the spaniel
with her paw, seized another puppy in her mouth, and carry-
ing it off, placed it alongside the first she had captured. She
was now content. Two puppies she had lost, two she had
got. Whether or not she thought them the same which had
been taken from her, it is not easy to say. At all events,