The children shook their heads.
“Dear, dear; I’m afraid he’s so scared that he’ll never come back. I caught sight of some boys setting their dog on him two or three hours ago, and I’ve been tramping about hunting for him ever since. I’m nearly distracted, and I can’t walk another step with my lame hip.”
The children looked at each other. If they stopped now they would, maybe, miss the sale; but Mabel spoke her thought.
“I don’t care, I’m going to hunt up that poor, frightened kitty. Which way did he go?” She turned to the old woman.
“Down the lane, in that direction.”
“We’ll look for him, and if we find him, we’ll come back and tell you. I don’t suppose we could catch him, for he wouldn’t know us.”
“Thank thee, child. Thee is very good to turn aside for an old woman,” was the answer Mabel received.
Up and down the two children trudged; the afternoon grew shorter and shorter, and at last, up in a tree Mabel caught sight of pussy, and back they went to where the old woman still sat on her steps waiting for them.
“We’ve found him!” cried Harold. “He’s up a tree. Mabel saw him first. Now, what shall we do to get him down?”
“Thee has brought good news, and I’m very thankful,” said the old woman. “He’s all I’ve got, and we’ve kept house together for fifteen years. He’s old, for a cat, but is still spry; he can’t bite much, but he can scratch, and I’m afraid he might be hurt somewhere, and couldn’t get home, and would die off there alone. Let me see, what is the best thing to be done. I’m afraid my lameness will prevent me from walking any further.”