could not understand this great difference as her voice did not sound any
better than mine, I thought, although it may sound conceited in me to say
this.

I finally escaped with the remains of my ninth life and when I got away
from my new friends (?) I limped painfully back to the school house,
thinking how glad I should be to clamber in again and nurse my wounds.
When I reached there and looked for the open window I found to my horror
that it was closed. What should I do? Too weak to run from an offensive
dog, must I lie helpless in an open school yard? It was not to be thought
of.



CHAPTER III


I rested awhile and felt a little better. No bones were broken. I could
walk slowly, and as mother's provision store was not far away, I decided
to take the risk of finding a cellar window open there. So, painfully
limping along back streets and resting in dark corners, I arrived at my
destination at midnight, and found that a window had been left open. It
was a brave task to jump down but better than staying out all night, so I
set my teeth and leaped softly in. I was greeted with a snarl and hiss
which sounded like a bunch of fire-crackers going off, and there was
mother on guard, standing with arched back in front of a box of newly-born
kittens in a dark corner. I crept toward her and with a cry of delight she
recognized me. I told my pitiful story while she gently led me to another
corner and bade me lie down on some carpeting, near which stood a saucer
of milk. She lapped my wounds and comforted me with kind words. She said