1. Taking puss in his arms, Dick was surprised to find that she tried to get away from him again, and to run down to the cabin below. This was the first time that she had done so, and he could not make it out.  
2. She struggled to get away each time that Dick tried to carry her out of the ship, making an odd sort of "miew," and[Pg 20] trying to coax¹ him to come where she led him.
 
3. At last he ran after puss, down the cabin steps, and at the bottom, in a dark corner, he found that puss had hidden five pretty little kittens!
 
4. She was purring with all her might over them, and she tried to say, "Did you ever see five such sweet little things? How could you ask me to leave them? They would die if I did. Though I love you dearly I cannot go away."
 
5. So Dick found a warm piece of flannel³, and wrapping the baby pussies⁴ up in it, he took the whole lot with him. Puss was ready enough to come when she saw this.
 
6. He made as much haste as he could. Soon he came into the palace with the kittens under one arm and their proud mother purring under the other.
 
7. No sooner did Dick enter than the cat began to sniff⁵ the air. Then she caught a glimpse of the rats and mice, which were still feasting on the table. The cloth was black with them.
 
8. In one instant she sprang from his[Pg 21] arms. She laid a dozen rats and mice dead at the king's feet in half a minute, and all the rest were scared out of their wits, and ran away.
 
9. They had never seen a cat before, for there were none in that land. The king had never seen one either; and his queen[Pg 22] did not know what sort of beast puss was at all. But she thought her very pretty.
 
10. "What is this strange, useful creature; what is it called?" said the king, "and where did you get it? I will give all I have to buy it from you, rather than be left without one."
 
11. But though the king sent for a great sack of gold, so heavy that it took three men to bring it into the room, Dick would not hear of selling his friend.
 
12. "What is that bundle under your arm?" said the captain to Dick. And then the boy showed him the kittens.
 
13. "Why these are even more pretty than the beast itself," said the queen, and she wished to have all the kittens in her lap. Poor woman! she had never before nursed a kitten in her life!
 
14. "You had better sell these to the king," the captain said in a whisper to Dick. "Tell him that some day they will grow up to be cats like yours, and in due time will have little ones of their own."
 
15. "But it would be cruel to take them all away from their mother," said Dick, for[Pg 23] he had seen how quickly his cat had run to the queen to beg for her little ones.
 
16. The cat was not afraid to stare even into the face of a king, and ask him bravely to put down the little kit² which he had taken into his royal hands.
 
17. Puss had at last taken all her treasures to a mat near the door, where she was busy washing their faces. She did not[Pg 24] care to have so many folks pulling them about.
 
18. "You must leave one for the mother, and sell the rest," said the captain. "She will not fret⁶ long if you leave her one child. And we cannot take them all five back on the ship. There would be too many."
 
Write: Dick found that his cat had five little kits⁷. He took them with him to the house of the king. The queen was pleased; she had never seen a kitten before.
 
Questions: 1. What was Dick surprised to find when he took up his cat? 2. Where did she try to lead him? 3. What had puss got in a corner? 4. How did Dick manage to bring the kittens to the palace? 5. What did his cat do when she got there? 6. What did the queen wish?