The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackie, a Lost Cat, by Richard Barnum This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Blackie, a Lost Cat Her Many Adventures Author: Richard Barnum Illustrator: Walter S. Rogers Release Date: March 22, 2020 [EBook #61654] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKIE, A LOST CAT *** Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net cover Under a wagon, between the legs of a horse and under an automobile sprang the black cat. After her ran the red-haired boy. Kneetime Animal Stories BLACKIE A LOST CAT HER MANY ADVENTURES BY RICHARD BARNUM Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant,” “Dido, the Dancing Bear,” “Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit,” etc. ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER S. ROGERS PUBLISHERS BARSE & CO. NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J. Copyright, 1916 by BARSE & CO. Blackie, A Lost Cat Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I Blackie Hears Something 7 II Blackie Runs Away 17 III Blackie in Trouble 27 IV Blackie Gets Out 36 V Blackie Finds a Friend 44 VI Blackie in a Basket 52 VII Blackie in a Train 63 VIII Blackie is Chased 71 IX Blackie Meets Don 83 X Blackie Scares a Dog 91 XI Blackie is Sad 102 XII Blackie is Happy 112 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Under a wagon, between the legs of a horse and under an automobile sprang the black cat. After her ran the red-haired boy Frontispiece “Now jump through my hands, Blackie!” called Mabel 23 When Blackie reached the top she could look up and see the sky through a crack 45 Whenever he saw her he barked and growled, and tried to break his chain to get loose 61 “Oh, that’s all right,” said the bear kindly. “Hide as much as you like” 81 For several days Blackie lived with Don in his kennel 97 Blackie walked in, her tail held up straight like a fishing pole 117 B BLACKIE, A LOST CAT CHAPTER I BLACKIE HEARS SOMETHING lackie was a cat. Now that I have told you this much I think you can guess why that was her name. It was because she was as black as a coal, or a bit of tar from the barrel which stood on the street when the men were fixing the roof. Blackie did not have so much as a speck, or a single hair, of white in her glossy coat of fur, and on a dark night, if you were to look for Blackie I think you would not have found her. For she looked just like a bit of the dark itself. When you first looked at Blackie you might have thought she was just like other cats, but she was not. She was a very smart cat, and so many things happened to her, and she had so many adventures, that I am going to tell you about them. Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, Blackie lived in a fine large house with a little boy and girl, named Arthur and Mabel. Of course the papa and mamma of Arthur and Mabel lived in the house too, but as the children were the ones who played with Blackie, and looked after her, giving her milk and good things to eat, it seems best to say that Blackie lived with them. “Now it’s your turn to feed Blackie,” Mabel would call to her brother. “All right,” Arthur would answer. “I’ll get her the milk right away.” The children never had to be told twice to look after their pet cat, for they loved Blackie very much. Though the children’s father or mother often had to tell them twice, or perhaps even three times, to go to the store, or run on an errand, just one telling was enough when it was about Blackie. “I certainly have a good home here,” thought the black cat, “and Arthur and Mabel are very kind to me. Yes, I certainly am a lucky cat.” Of course Blackie did not say this out loud, for neither cats, nor dogs, nor other animals, can speak as we do. But they can make noises, such as mewing or barking, and I think that is, for them, talking in their own way, just as much as we talk in ours. And cats and other animals think, too, I believe. Else how would they know enough to come to the same place many times to be fed, or how would they know how to find their way home when they have gone far off? Of course cats and dogs often get lost, for they may go so far that they can not find the way back again. So you might say, from that, I suppose, that cats can’t think. But then did you never get lost? Yes, I’m sure you must have, at least once. And you can think, I know, but you could not find your way home alone. I know cats and dogs think, and that they can talk to one another, too, in their own language. So it isn’t at all strange that Blackie should think about what a good home she had, and how kind the little boy and girl were to her. “Now, Blackie,” said Mabel one day, as she got ready for school, “be a good cat to-day, and don’t run off.” “Put the red ribbon with the bell around her neck,” said Arthur as he gathered up his school books. “Then if Blackie goes away we can listen for the bell and find her.” “Oh, yes! That’s what I’ll do,” said Mabel. “Here, Blackie!” called the little girl, “come and have your ribbon put on.” There was a pretty red ribbon for Blackie’s neck, and it always looked nice on the cat, because black and red seem to go well together. I think they “match” as the ladies say, though I don’t know much about such things. I know when a team of horses match, and go well together, and when two dogs, or two cats, are well matched, but I am afraid I can’t tell much about ribbons and such things matching. Anyhow a lady told me black and red matched, or went well together, and I guess she is right. And I know that the red ribbon looked very pretty on Blackie’s neck, for I saw it there myself. “There!” exclaimed Mabel, as she tied the ribbon into a pretty bow. “Now you won’t get lost, Blackie, and when I come home from school I’ll find you here.” Blackie lifted one velvety paw, and shook her head. This made the little brass bell tinkle. “You can hear that a good way off,” said Arthur. “When I come home from school I’m going to try to teach Blackie the trick of standing in the corner.” “She can do one trick now,” said Mabel. “She can jump through my hands, when I hold them in front of her like a hoop.” “Can she?” asked Arthur. “Let’s see her do it.” “Children! Don’t be late for school,” called their mother from the dining room. [7] [8] [9] [10] “No, we won’t, Mother,” answered Mabel. “I am just going to have Blackie do one trick. Come here, Blackie!” Blackie always came when the little boy or girl called her, for the black cat knew she would be petted, or given something nice to eat each time. This time Mabel stroked Blackie’s soft fur, and then put the cat down in front of her, behind her arms which she held in a round ring. “Jump through, Blackie!” called Mabel, and Blackie did. “See!” said the little girl to her brother. “Didn’t Blackie do that trick nicely?” “She surely did!” exclaimed Arthur. “And when I come home from school I’ll teach her to stand on her hind legs in a corner.” “Come now, children, run along!” called the mother, and Arthur and Mabel, having each patted Blackie once more, hurried off to school. “Well, I think now I will go and take a little sleep,” said Blackie to herself. “Then I will go out and see if I can find another cat to play with until the children come home.” For Blackie loved to play, and she was sometimes lonesome when the children were not home. Mabel had made a little cushion for Blackie, and this cushion was kept in one corner of the dining room, where the sun shone a good part of the day. Blackie liked to sleep in the sun. “Yes, I certainly am a lucky cat,” thought Blackie, “to have such a nice home, and such a good little girl and boy to pet me. I have a nice red ribbon, too, and a bell. Not many cats have things as nice as I.” Blackie was sure of this, for a number of times she had seen, on the back fence, other cats, whose fur was all scraggly and rough; who looked poor and thin and who seemed scared almost to death. Once Blackie had spoken to one of these cats and the cat had told Blackie how hungry he was. “Why don’t you go home and eat?” asked Blackie. “Home? I have no home!” sadly exclaimed the strange cat. “I had one once but the people moved away, leaving me behind, and since then I have eaten as best I can. You are very lucky to have such a nice home. Excuse me, I see a piece of meat!” And with that the strange cat jumped down off the fence and grabbed a bit of meat out of the ash can. “I’m glad I don’t have to eat that way,” thought Blackie. As Blackie went to sleep on the soft cushion she thought of the time when she had been a little kitten, and had lived with her mother, and her brothers and sisters, in a barn in the country. For Blackie’s early days were spent on a farm, though she did not now remember very much about that part of it. Arthur and Mabel’s father and mother had taken the children on a visit to the farm, and it was there the children saw the black cat, which they liked very much. So the farmer gave her to them, and they named her Blackie and brought her home to the city with them. Since then Blackie had lived in the fine house with her little master and mistress, and, as I say, she had a very easy time of it, never wanting for anything to eat, or for a warm, cozy place to sleep. For several hours Blackie slept on the cushion, now and then turning around to get more in the sunlight, and when she did this the little brass bell on the red ribbon on her neck would go “tinkle-inkle.” “Well, I think I’ll take a walk out in the yard, and perhaps I may see another cat to talk to,” said Blackie, as she awakened and stretched first one leg, and then the other, opening her mouth as wide as she could to stretch that too. Blackie was a bit lonesome without the children. Out in the yard went the black cat. The sun was shining down through the leaves of the grape vine, making dancing shadows on the walk below. Blackie pretended that these shadows were mice, and that she was chasing them. As she was doing this the black cat heard a voice calling to her. “What are you doing?” the voice asked. Blackie looked up, and saw another cat looking at her over the back fence. This cat was mixed gray and white in color. “Oh, I’m just having a little game by myself,” answered Blackie. “I do this to amuse myself when the children are at school, and I am alone. Excuse me, but I think you must be a strange cat around here.” “I am,” meowed the other. “My folks have just moved in the house next door.” “I saw loads of furniture going in there yesterday,” said Blackie, “but I did not see you.” “No, I was shut up in a box,” the new cat said. “They were afraid I would get lost, I guess. They kept me down cellar until a little while ago.” “Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Blackie. “I guess you are glad to be out again; aren’t you?” “Indeed I am! But they kept me down cellar so I would not be hurt when the furniture was being set around, I guess.” “Won’t you come over and have a game of shadow tag?” asked the black cat. “My name is Blackie,” she went on. [11] [12] [13] [14] “And mine is Speckle,” said the other. “I suppose you are called Blackie because you are so black.” “Yes,” answered Blackie, “and I think you must be called Speckle because you are speckled gray and white.” “That’s it,” Speckle answered, as he jumped down off the fence. Then the two cats had a nice time playing shadow tag under the grape arbor. After a bit, as they lay down to rest on the grass, Speckle asked: “Did you ever run away?” “Run away!” exclaimed Blackie. “What’s that?” “Why, don’t you know?” went on Speckle in some surprise. “To run away is to leave your home, and go off to have adventures.” “What are adventures?” Blackie wanted to know. “Oh, things that happen to you,” replied Speckle. “Did you ever run away and have adventures?” Blackie wanted to know. “Indeed I did,” Speckle said, somewhat proudly. “I have run away more than once, and many things happened to me. It was fun, only I got hungry sometimes.” “How do you run away?” asked Blackie. “Why, you just run,” Speckle said. “You walk out of the house, just as if you were going out in the yard to play as we did now, and, when no one is looking, you walk off down the street as far as you like.” “Oh, I thought you said run!” exclaimed Blackie. “Now you are talking about walking away.” “It’s all the same thing,” Speckle explained. “You can’t run all the time you are running away; you have to walk part of the time or you would get very tired. You just try it some day.” “Perhaps I shall,” Blackie said. “I’ll think about it. I have certainly learned something to-day. Arthur spoke about teaching me a new trick when he came home from school, but I have learned something all by myself, and that is how to run away. I believe I’ll try it!” “Do,” said Speckle. “Let me know when you are going and perhaps I’ll go with you. Excuse me!” said the mixed- color cat, “but I hear them calling me. I guess my dinner is ready,” and with that the other cat jumped back over the fence. [15] [16] “T CHAPTER II BLACKIE RUNS AWAY hat cat is a good jumper,” thought Blackie when her new friend had gone. “He went over that fence easily. I wonder if I could do it?” Blackie tried, but she could not jump all the way to the top of the fence as Speckle had done. “I suppose it must be because he ran away once or twice,” thought Blackie, as she again went back to rest in the shade, after having tried two or three times to leap to the top of the fence in one jump. “It must be that running away makes one a good jumper. Yes, I certainly must run away, or walk away, as Speckle called it. I wonder what would happen to me? I suppose Mabel and Arthur would miss me, and I would miss them. But I need not run very far away, and, and I can run back when I want to.” Blackie did not know much about things outside of her own nice home, you see. Running away never made a cat a good jumper that I ever heard of, though some cats, who have no homes, learn to jump fences easily because, I suppose, they are chased by dogs or boys so often that they just have to know how to make big jumps. “Yes, I certainly must try what running away will teach me,” thought Blackie as she went in the house where, near the stove in the kitchen, set her saucer of milk. “Then I will have things to tell Speckle when I come back. I must ask him more about it the next time I see him.” That afternoon, just before Arthur and Mabel came home from school, Blackie saw Speckle out on the fence again. “Wait a minute, Speckle!” called the black cat. “I want to ask you about running away,” and she hurried out in the yard. “Oh, I’m not going to run away for some time,” said the other cat. “I’ve just moved here and I want to see what sort of a place it is before I run away. Perhaps I shan’t run away at all. Anyhow I shall not for a long time. I never run away until I get tired of a place, and then I don’t often stay away more than a day or so.” “Oh, I wasn’t going to ask you to run away,” said Blackie. “But I want to know if running away makes a cat a good fence-jumper?” Speckle thought for a few seconds and then said, slowly: “Well, yes, I suppose it does. I know the first time I ran away I could not jump very well. And then a dog chased me. I ran into a yard, and in front of me was a fence. The only chance to get out of the dog’s way was by jumping the fence. I had never jumped so high a fence before, but I did that time, and the dog could not get me, so I got away.” “My gracious!” exclaimed Blackie. “Something happened to you that time! Was that an adventure?” “Yes,” answered Speckle, thinking a moment, “I suppose you could call that an adventure. But I had many more after that.” “Do dogs always chase you when you run away?” Blackie wanted to know. “Oh, no, not always,” answered the gray cat. “But that is one of the things that may happen when you run away.” “I shan’t like that part of it,” spoke Blackie. “There is a dog in the house on the other side of ours, and the family that lived in the house into which your folks just moved also kept one. He used to chase me until I scratched his nose with my sharp claws one day, and after that he let me alone. I was sorry to scratch him, but it was the only thing to do.” “Yes, of course,” agreed Speckle. “It is a good thing we have sharp claws. They are especially for scratching dogs that chase us.” “I wonder if there is any other way of scaring a dog besides scratching him?” asked Blackie. “Perhaps there may be,” said Speckle. “It would be nice if there was. I may learn how to do that if I run away to look for adventures.” “Oh, so you are going to run away; are you, Blackie?” “Well, I’m thinking of it. Will you come?” “Not right away—at least I think I will not,” said the other cat. “Still you might call over the fence to me when you go, and perhaps I’ll come along. Hello, who are they?” asked Speckle quickly as he saw a boy and girl coming in the yard. “Oh, that’s Arthur and Mabel, my little master and mistress,” explained Blackie, but Speckle did not stop to listen. With a jump he was on top of the fence. “Excuse me!” called the gray cat to Blackie, “but that boy looks just like one who once tied a tin can to my tail!” “The idea!” meowed Blackie. “Arthur is a good boy, and loves cats. He’d never do anything like that to me, nor to you or any other animal.” “You never can tell,” said Speckle. “Safety first, as I hear they are teaching the children in school. I’ll just stay on my [17] [18] [19] [20] side of the fence until I see what kind of a boy he is,” and though Blackie kept saying that Arthur was a good boy, and would not plague cats, Speckle would not stay. Of course Mabel and her brother did not understand what their cat said to the other one, for they did not know animal language, though Blackie and other cats know what boys and girls say to them, or a great deal of it, I think. “Did you see that strange cat?” asked Mabel of her brother. “Yes, I guess it belongs to the folks next door,” spoke Arthur. “Now I am going to teach Blackie to stand on her hind legs.” Arthur picked Blackie up, and rubbed her under the ears. Cats like to be rubbed under the ears, and they will purr if you do it to them. And when a cat purrs it shows it is happy. Just why cats like to be rubbed, or tickled, under the ears I do not know, any more than I know why a pig likes to be scratched on his back. I only know that this is so. A hoptoad likes to be scratched on his back, also. Many a time I have gone quietly up to a toad in the grass, and, with a little twig, have scratched his back. And Mr. Toad will sit there quietly, and will puff himself out like a little balloon, because he is so pleased to have his back scratched. But you must do it very gently. And poll parrots like to have their heads rubbed. But don’t ask me why, for I don’t know. Anyhow Arthur rubbed Blackie under her ears, and the black cat liked it and purred in the boy’s arms. “And now for your trick, Blackie,” said Arthur. It is not easy to teach a cat to stand on her hind legs, as Arthur very soon found out. Cats do not learn tricks as easily as dogs do, though I have seen performing cats on the stage of a theater. They climbed ladders, walked a tight rope, and did many other little tricks. Blackie did not know exactly what Arthur wanted her to do. The little boy put the black cat in a corner, so she could lean her back against the sides of the room, and not fall over. Then he lifted her front feet off the floor so that she was resting on her hind ones. “Now stand up that way!” Arthur said, speaking kindly. Blackie did it, for a few seconds, and then she got down on all four feet as she was in the habit of standing. “No! Not that!” said Arthur, lifting her up again. “Stand on your hind legs, Blackie.” But Blackie did not do it very well. “Now jump through my hands, Blackie!” called Mabel. “Let me try,” said Mabel, who was watching her brother. “She will jump through my hands, and perhaps she will stand up for me.” “I’ll try once more,” said Arthur, “and then you may have a turn, Mabel.” But neither Arthur nor his sister could make Blackie stand up on her hind legs. Blackie just did not want to do it, or perhaps she could not. “Maybe when I come back, after having run away, I’ll do it for them,” thought the black cat, as she rubbed up against Mabel’s legs. “Now jump through my hands, Blackie!” called Mabel, and she made a loop of her arms in front of Blackie. This trick the black cat knew very well. “If she would only do the standing on her hind legs trick as well as she does yours she would be a fine cat,” Arthur said. “Blackie is a nice cat anyhow, and I love her,” spoke Mabel, cuddling the cat in her arms. That night, when the children were studying their lessons, Blackie lay on a soft cushion at their feet, purring happily. And, all the while, the black cat was thinking about running away. “I suppose Mabel and Arthur will feel badly at first,” thought Blackie, “but I won’t be away very long, at least not the first time. I think I’ll run off to-morrow.” The next day came, and after breakfast, when Arthur and Mabel had gone to school, Blackie went out in the yard. She had made up her mind to run away, and she wanted to see if Speckle might not like to go along. Blackie did not have to pack up any clothes, or take anything to eat with her, when she started to run away. Cats can’t do those things. The only clothes they need is their coat of fur, and that is always with them. I have seen dogs with little blankets on, and even a sort of overcoat, but cats are different and do not wear them. And Blackie could not take with her anything to eat. She thought she would have no trouble in picking up what she wanted as she went along. “I may even stop in a house some day, and get milk,” the black cat said to herself. Out in the yard she went, close to the fence. “Meow!” called Blackie to Speckle. “Come on out; I want to speak to you.” [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] “What is it?” asked the gray cat, sticking his head up over the fence. “I’m going to run away,” answered Blackie. “Don’t you want to come along?” “My goodness! Run away!” exclaimed Speckle. “So you have made up your mind, have you?” “Yes, I’m going. Will you come?” “Hum! No, I think not,” Speckle said slowly. “I don’t believe I’ll run away to-day. You see I have hardly gotten to know all the cats around here yet. I’ll wait a while. But don’t let me keep you from running if you really want to go.” “Yes, I do want to go,” Blackie said. “Perhaps when I come back I may be able to jump a fence as well as you, and I may do the standing on my hind legs trick that Arthur tried to teach me.” “Perhaps,” said Speckle. “Well, good luck to you!” “Thank you,” answered Blackie. Then she looked toward the house. No one was watching her. Blackie went slowly down the front walk to the street. “I don’t need to run at first,” she thought. “I’ll begin to run when I get out of sight of the house. The children can’t see me, for they are at school, and I am glad of it, as they might cry if they saw me going. But I’ll soon be back, only I can’t tell them so.” Blackie went slowly to the front gate. She went out in the street. Then she went slowly down the sidewalk, and when she was out of sight of her house she began to run. “Now,” said Blackie to herself, “at last I am really running away!” [26] B CHAPTER III BLACKIE IN TROUBLE lackie soon grew tired of running, and slowed down into a walk. “It doesn’t really matter much what I do, as long as I keep on going away,” thought the black cat. “I can walk or run, so Speckle said, and he ought to know, for he has run away a number of times.” Blackie walked on and on, down the city street. Soon she came to a corner, and she stood there a moment, looking up and down, wondering which way she had better go. She had come past many houses, and had passed many persons in the street, mostly women and men, for all the children were at school. No one did more than look at Blackie, for all were too busy, I suppose. As Blackie stood on the corner she saw a cat on the porch of a house near by. Blackie knew this cat a little, for once the cat, whose name was Muffins, had come walking in Blackie’s yard. And, once or twice, Blackie had been as far as this corner herself. So she knew Muffins a little. “Hello, Blackie!” meowed Muffins. “You’re quite a stranger. I haven’t seen you in some time. Where are you going?” “I’m running away,” answered Blackie. “Running away! You surprise me,” cried the other cat. “What is the matter? Did they treat you badly at your home? Didn’t they give you enough to eat?” “Oh, yes, plenty,” said the black cat. “And they treated me very kindly, too.” “Then why in the world are you running away?” Muffins wanted to know. “I want to have some adventures, as Speckle did.” “What are adventures, and who is Speckle?” asked Muffins. “Adventures are things that happen to you,” replied Blackie, “and you never can have them happen as long as you are around the house. You have to run away to get them. That’s why I’m running away. And Speckle is the cat who lives next door to me.” “I don’t know him,” spoke Muffins. “He just moved there,” went on Blackie, “and he was only just let up out of the cellar.” “Hum!” said Muffins. “Well, run away if you like, but, as for me, I can find plenty of adventures around the house. Why, only a little while ago, the cook dropped a bottle of cream and spilled it on the kitchen floor. I was there and I licked up all the cream. Oh, it was good! I’d invite you in to have some, only it’s all gone now. That was an adventure, I can tell you!” “Yes, cream is good,” said Blackie, “but I don’t call that an adventure.” “No?” asked Muffins. “Then, pray tell me, what is an adventure?” “Oh, when a dog chases you and makes you jump a higher fence than you ever before leaped over,” said Blackie. “That is an adventure.” “Yes, I should say so,” agreed Muffins. “It’s a kind I shouldn’t like. I’d rather have our cook drop another bottle of cream.” “Oh, well, of course all adventures that come to you when you have run away aren’t dog-chasing ones,” said Blackie. “I only spoke of that one because Speckle told me. I really never had any adventures myself so I can’t tell you about them. But, anyhow, I am running away. Would you like to come along?” asked Blackie politely of Muffins. “No, I thank you. I’m going to stay here. Home is good enough for me. But where are you going to run to, if I may ask?” “Oh, not any special place,” answered the black cat. “I am just going to run, that’s all.” “What? And not know where you’re going? That’s queer. I should think if you ran away you’d have to have a place to run to.” “Not at all,” said Blackie. “Speckle ran away many times, and he never said anything about going to any special place.” Muffins shook her head. “It doesn’t seem right,” she said. “I’d want to know where I was going, even if I ran away.” “That’s part of the adventure, not knowing where you’re going,” said Blackie. “Now I can go up the street, or down the street, just as I please. If I had picked out a place to run to I’d have to go there whether I wanted to or not. No, it’s best to run away just as Speckle did, and then see what happens. So you won’t come with me?” [27] [28] [29] [30] “Thank you, no.” “Then I must go alone, I suppose. Well, when I come back I will tell you all my adventures,” Blackie promised. “Yes, do,” invited Muffins. “I shall like to hear about them, even if I can not go myself.” Then the two cats said good-by, in cat-talk, and Blackie turned down the side street. She had never been there before. It was like going to a new world for her, or as when you children visit or board at a new place in the country, or at the seashore, on your vacation. “Now my adventures will begin!” thought the black cat. She went slowly along the street, keeping close to the fences, for this street was a bigger one, and busier than that on which Blackie lived. There were trolley cars on it, and many wagons, also. Once Blackie saw a boy going along with a basket on his arm. From the basket came a lovely smell of meat, and, what Blackie liked best of all, liver. She ran toward the boy with the basket, thinking he might give her a bit, as Arthur often did. But when the butcher-boy saw the cat he cried: “Scat!” and looked around for a stone to throw. “My, you’re awfully stingy with your meat,” thought Blackie, as she ran behind a tree so the boy could not hit her. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t give me a bit.” But of course the meat in the basket was for the family that had bought it, and the boy could not give any away. If Blackie had gone to the butcher shop the man there might have given her a bit of liver. “Scat! Scoot!” cried the boy, as he ran up to the tree, and he made a hissing noise through his teeth. Blackie was afraid he would hurt her, so she climbed up the tree as fast as she could, knowing quite well how to do that with her sharp claws. “Ha! Go up a tree, will you?” cried the boy. “If I had time I’d make you come down! Trying to get my meat! The idea!” “Oh, I never tried to get any of his meat!” thought Blackie, for she heard what the butcher-boy said. “But you might have given me a little.” However, Blackie was now safely up the tree, and she stayed there until the boy went off whistling down the street. Blackie was about to come down when she happened to see a dog on the ground below. The dog did not look to be a kind and gentle one. “I guess I’ll just stay up here until he is gone,” Blackie said to herself. “Safety first!” The dog sniffed around the tree a little and then, as he saw another dog down the street, ran away. “Now is my chance,” thought Blackie, and down she came, running along close to the fence as she had done before. “Well, that was two little adventures,” the black cat said after a while, “being chased by a butcher-boy up a tree, and seeing a dog under me. Though I suppose Speckle would not think much of them. Still I may have other things happen to me. I must keep on.” By this time Blackie was getting hungry and thirsty, so she looked around for something to eat. She saw no nice saucer of milk, as she would have seen had she been at home, for one can’t find saucers of milk in the street. Nor was there any nice liver, or bit of fish, lying around. “Still one can’t have everything one wants when one runs away,” Blackie said. The cat came to a fountain in a little park, and there she drank some water. But before she had finished along came a dog, and chased her away. Blackie ran into the bushes. “Oh, dear!” she thought, her heart beating very fast. “Running away isn’t as nice as I thought it would be. Still it may be nicer later on.” Farther on down the street walked Blackie, looking from side to side for something to eat. But though she passed butcher and grocery stores she did not feel like going in and mewing to show that she wanted to eat. “I ought to have asked Speckle what he did for food when he ran away,” thought Blackie. “I forgot about it. I may find something soon.” A little later Blackie passed a house the door of which was open. “That looks inviting,” thought the black cat. “I am sure kind people must live there, or they would not leave a door open for cats or dogs to go in. I’ll go in, and maybe they’ll give me something to eat.” Blackie looked all around, to make sure there were no dogs about, and then she went up the front steps. In through the front door of the house she went, and then she saw something that surprised her. There was no furniture in the house, and no one was in sight. “Nobody lives here,” said Blackie. “But perhaps they are just going to move in, as Speckle’s folks did. I’ll wait a bit. That’s what must be going to happen. They had the door open to bring in the furniture. When the people come they’ll give me some milk, I’m sure.” [31] [32] [33] [34] Blackie walked through the empty rooms of the house. She went out to the kitchen, and no one was there. Then she went up to the second floor, and no one was there. While up on the second floor Blackie heard the front door being shut with a bang. “Oh, perhaps that’s the folks moving in,” she mewed. “I’ll run down and see.” Down the stairs scampered the black cat, but there was no one in the house. The front door was shut, and Blackie, of course, could not open it. I once had a cat that could open a door with a latch on. This door, however, had a knob, and Blackie could not turn that. “Well, I wonder what happened?” thought Blackie. “Perhaps the wind blew the door shut.” She jumped up on a window sill and looked out. She saw a man going down the front steps of the house. “He must have shut the door,” thought Blackie, and the man had. He owned the house, and he had come that day to see if it had been cleaned when the people moved out. He had opened the door, gone in and looked about. When he came out, to look around the back yard, he left the front door open. It was then that Blackie went in. Then the man, not seeing the cat in his house, shut the door, locking Blackie in, and he went away. “Well, if I can’t get out the front door I’ll go to the back,” said Blackie. She ran to the back door. That was locked too, and all the windows were closed. “Oh, dear!” thought Blackie. “I guess I’m in trouble. I’m locked in an empty house!” [35] B CHAPTER IV BLACKIE GETS OUT lackie was quite a wise cat in her way. When she had been a little kitten in the country, with her mother, her brothers and sisters, she had learned many country things, such as all cats must learn. And when she had been brought to the city she learned some city things. So you see she had been educated, you might say, to country life and city life. “But what I am going to do now I don’t know,” thought Blackie. “Here I am, locked in a house that has no one in it, though maybe if I wait long enough a new family may move in. But if they don’t come very soon I’ll starve, unless I can get out. It’s a good thing it is summer, for I won’t get cold. The weather is nice and warm.” Blackie walked slowly through the different rooms of the empty house. She thought perhaps she might find a window open, though when she had first looked she saw none. “But there might be a pantry, or a cupboard, with an open window,” thought the black cat. “I might not have seen it at first.” So she went carefully all over the first floor. Not a window was open. The man who owned the house had made sure all were closed, for he did not want the rain to come in during a storm. So there was no way Blackie could get out from the first floor. Of course she might have jumped against a pane of glass and broken it, for she was a heavy cat. But if she did that she might cut herself. “Well, if I can’t find a window open down here, I may find one open upstairs,” thought Blackie. “I guess it wouldn’t be too far to jump from there. Or I may be able to jump in a tree and climb down, if a tree is near enough to an open window.” Blackie went upstairs and looked for an open window. But alas! there was none. True, the black cat did find a tree growing close to a window, but there was no way of getting out in it. “Oh, dear!” thought poor Blackie. “I certainly am in a lot of trouble. I should never have gone in this house without knowing more about it. I suppose I should not have run away. But no, I must not say that. I want to become a good fence-jumper, and running away seems to be the only way to do it. I guess I’ll be all right. Some one may come and let me out.” Blackie was not so frightened as another cat might have been who had not lived in both the country and the city. She knew how to think, and she remembered how she had once been shut in the barn before she was taken away from the farm. That time Blackie had been locked up a whole day and a night, but finally some one heard her mewing and let her out. And oh! how hungry and thirsty she had been! “I guess I’ll try crying now,” thought Blackie. “Some one may hear me out in the street.” Blackie did not mean that she was going to “cry” real tears, but that she was going to mew. Some folks call that crying for a cat. “Yes, that’s what I’ll do,” said Blackie to herself. “I’ll get up on the window sill, and mew as loudly as I can.” Up jumped Blackie to the sill of the window and, looking out in the street, she opened her mouth and let out a loud: “Mew!” “They ought to hear that,” thought the black cat. But no one seemed to hear her. She could see people passing along the street, boys and girls being among them, for school was now out. But though once in a while some one did look at the cat in the window, no one came to let Blackie out. “Oh, if only Arthur or Mabel would pass along the street on their way from school, they might let me out,” thought Blackie. “I wonder if this is the street by which they come home?” This was something Blackie could not tell, smart as she was. She could only hope, and call, which last she did every minute or two. But every one on the street seemed to be in a great hurry. Men and women walked quickly past, with only a glance, now and then, at the black cat in the window. Perhaps they did not stop to think that it was strange for a cat to be alone in an empty house. Perhaps the people did not even stop to think that the house was empty. And they might have thought that if Blackie got in the house she could also get out. But she could not, as we know, for every door and window was tightly fastened. And another thing was that only the man who owned the house had a key to it. So if any one did try to let Blackie out how could they do it? Blackie did not know all this though. She just knew that she wanted to be let out, and so she kept on mewing. “Well, this doesn’t seem to be doing any good,” thought Blackie at last. “I’m only wasting my time crying this way, and making myself tired, too. Oh! how thirsty I am! I’d like even a good drink of water, though of course milk would [36] [37] [38] [39] be much better. “Still I must not find fault. I ran away on purpose and I must put up with what I meet with. I should have asked Speckle how he found things to eat and drink when he ran away. But I forgot all about that. I wish he had come with me, for he would know what to do now. And I guess he would not have let me come in this house to get locked up. “Oh, well, it isn’t night yet, and before dark some one may come. That man whom I saw going away may come back. I’ll just wait a bit.” So Blackie waited and waited, but no one came. It was late afternoon now, and the shadows were getting longer and longer, as the sun went farther and farther down in the west. No more children passed the house, for they were all home from school now, and were playing their games, and having fun. “I guess Mabel and Arthur are playing, too,” thought Blackie. “I wonder if they miss me?” The two children did indeed look for the black cat when they came home from school, but not finding her they thought little about it at the time. “I guess she has gone over to play with the cat next door,” said Arthur. “I guess so, too,” said his sister. “Come on down the street and we’ll play with the Blake children. Tommie Blake asked me to come over after school.” So Arthur and Mabel ran off to play, not thinking any more about Blackie for a while, though afterwards, when she did not come home, the children did not know what to think, and they looked all over for their pet. But this story is just about Blackie, and not so much about Arthur or Mabel, though I may mention them once in a while. Now I must tell you what happened to the black cat. She wandered all over the house once more, now and then jumping up on a window sill that fronted on the street, to give her mewing cry. But if any one heard her no one tried to get her out of the locked and vacant house. “I must do something. I really must!” said Blackie to herself at last. “Otherwise I shall have to stay in this house all night with nothing to eat. I’ll go upstairs again and see if there is something to eat up there. The family may have left something when they moved out.” Upstairs went Blackie once more, and she hurried through the different rooms, for it was getting dusk now. Not a thing to eat could poor Blackie find. At last she came to another flight of stairs that seemed to lead up to the roof. “Why, that’s queer,” said the black cat. “I did not notice them before. I wonder what they are for? I must go up and find out.” Blackie walked up these other stairs. They were narrow and quite steep, and when the cat reached the top she could look up and see the sky through a crack. “Ha! This isn’t so bad,” thought Blackie. “Perhaps I can squeeze through that crack and get out. I’ll try.” Blackie went up to the highest step. Over her head was a square piece of wood that seemed to cover a hole in the roof. The wood was really a cover to what is called a “scuttle,” or hole, in the roof of the house, which roof was flat, and of tin. When the men built the house, which was in a long row with many others, they left a hole in the roof, with stairs leading to it, so when the roof needed painting, or mending, men could get out on it without bringing ladders and putting them against the building on the outside. Then so the rain would not come in through the hole, the men made a cover for it. This cover could be lifted up, whenever any one wanted to get out on the roof, and the cover could be fastened down, by hooks inside, when the hole was to be closed. But now, as it happened, the cover was only partly over the hole, and it was not fastened down. There was a little crack, as when a door is only partly closed, and Blackie put her nose to this crack. She could sniff the fresh air. “Oh, how good that smells!” she said. “If I could only get out!” Blackie again put her nose in the crack, and, bracing her legs on the top step, she began to push with her head. Blackie was a strong cat, as I have said, and soon she began to feel the cover slipping and moving to one side. “Oh, I believe I can push it away from over the hole!” said Blackie. “If I do I can get out! I must push harder!” Blackie pushed as hard as she could and the scuttle cover moved more. The crack was wider now. Blackie could put out one paw. Soon she had pushed the cover far enough away so she could put out two paws. “I’ll soon have it all the way off now!” thought the black cat. She gave one more hard shove and then, to her delight, the cover slid away from the hole. There was room for Blackie to jump out. She found herself on the flat tin roof of the house. On either side were the tin roofs of other houses in the brick row. It was like one long, big roof. [40] [41] [42] [43] “Well, I’m out, anyhow!” said Blackie to herself. “That is something. It’s an adventure, a real, truly adventure! I wonder what will happen to me next?” B CHAPTER V BLACKIE FINDS A FRIEND lackie was now out of the vacant house, it is true, but, for a time, she did not feel much better off. She was up on a high roof, and as she went to the edge to look down she saw that it was too far for her to jump, even down into a tree. “As soon as I get through with one adventure I find another,” sadly said Blackie. “I had an empty-house adventure, and now I am having a roof adventure. I wonder how it will end? I must get down some way. I can’t stay up here all night, for it might rain, and I don’t like to get wet.” Cats do dislike getting wet, you know. They are not like dogs in that way. A dog loves to jump in the water and swim, or at least most dogs do. But you never saw a cat in swimming—at least I never did. Blackie walked up and down the roof for a while. She could look down to the street from in front, and she saw persons walking along, as well as many wagons, automobiles and trolley cars. Blackie gave two or three loud mews, but she soon stopped. When Blackie reached the top she could look up and see the sky through a crack. “There is so much noise down there in the street, and I am up here so high, that I don’t believe they can hear me,” thought the black cat. “I may as well keep still.” Then she went to the other side of the roof, to where she could look down in the back yards of the houses. She saw no one there, in any of them, and after she had mewed several times she also gave that up. “Oh, dear!” thought Blackie. “I don’t know what I shall do. Suppose it rains during the night? Well, of course I could go down in the empty house again, so I would be dry, anyhow. But I want something to eat. Oh, dear! Running away, even to learn how to jump high fences, is not half as nice as I thought it would be. Speckle did not tell me I would have bad adventures. I thought they would all be nice ones.” Blackie walked over toward one of the end houses in the row. She was wondering what she would do, when, all at once, another and the same kind of a scuttle cover as the one she had pushed to one side, was opened in the roof in front of her, and up popped the head of a gray-haired lady, who had a kind, pleasant face, and who looked at Blackie through large spectacles. “Why, it’s a cat—I do believe!” exclaimed the lady, whose name, as Blackie learned later, was Mrs. Thompson. “I was wondering what was making that noise, walking around on the roof. I’m glad I came up to see. It’s a cat!” “Of course I’m a cat,” said Blackie to herself. “I hope I don’t look like a dog.” Of course Mrs. Thompson did not hear Blackie say this, for the cat only thought it to herself, just as we often think things without speaking them out loud. “What a fine big black cat!” went on Mrs. Thompson. “Come to me, pussy! How did you get up here?” “Pur-r-r-r-r!” said Blackie out loud. That, and mewing, was the only way she had of talking to real folks. But to those who understand, cats can say several things in just those two ways. Sometimes you can tell by the way a cat mews, whether it is hungry, or whether it wants to go out doors. And when it cries in another way you know it is in pain. And when it says “pur-r-r-r-r!” like that, sort of softly and slowly, and rubs up against you, why then you know the cat is happy. Blackie was beginning to feel happy again, for she saw the lady looking out through the hole in the roof, and the black cat thought the lady would take her down and feed her. “Why, you’re a nice cat,” said the lady, speaking to Blackie in a way the cat liked. “You certainly are a nice pussy. I wonder how you got up on this roof?” Then, as she rubbed Blackie under the cat’s ears, in a way Blackie liked, the lady looked along the roofs, and she saw on the roof the cover, or scuttle, which Blackie had pushed to one side to get out. “Oh, I see! That’s how you got up here, through the hole in the roof,” said the lady. “Well, I must close it, or the rain might come in Mr. Smith’s house. I see how it is. The family there moved out, and you were left behind, Blackie. It’s too bad they forgot you. But never mind, I’ll take care of you.” Of course Mrs. Thompson was not right in thinking Blackie had been left behind by the family that had moved away. But Mrs. Thompson did not know that Blackie had run away, and had wandered in the vacant house by herself. And Blackie could not tell. “Now I’ll just close that scuttle over the roof for Mr. Smith,” went on Mrs. Thompson. “He doesn’t know it is open, I dare say. Then, after that, I’ll take you down in my house, Blackie.” You might wonder how the lady knew Blackie’s name, never having seen her before. But when a cat is all black, as this one was, it seems natural for every one who meets her for the first time to call her Blackie. [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49]