III

One full meal is as much as any one needs in two or three days,
and under the influence of this stored-up heat and power, Kitty
was very lively. She walked around the piled-up rubbish, cast
curious glances on far-away Canary-birds in cages that hung from
high windows; she peeped over fences, discovered a large Dog, got
quietly down again, and presently finding a sheltered place in
full sunlight, she lay down and slept for an hour. A
slight'sniff' awakened her, and before her stood a large Black
Cat with glowing green eyes, and the thick neck and square jaws
that distinguish the Tom; a scar marked his cheek, and his left
ear was torn. His look was far from friendly; his ears moved
backward a little, his tail twitched, and a faint, deep sound
came from his throat. The Kitten innocently walked toward him.
She did not remember him. He rubbed the sides of his jaws on a
post, and quietly, slowly turned and disappeared. The last that
she saw of him was the end of his tail twitching from side to
side; and the little Slummer had no idea that she had been as
near death to-day, as she had been when she ventured into the
fox-cage.

As night came on the Kitten began to feel hungry. She examined
carefully the long invisible colored stream that the wind is made
of. She selected the most interesting of its strands, and,
nose-led, followed. In the corner of the iron-yard was a box of
garbage. Among this she found something that answered fairly well
for food; a bucket of water under a faucet offered a chance to
quench her thirst.