“Ooof—umph,” said the spotted one, who had brown, red-rimmed eyes, trimmed with white eyelashes.
“Humph—humph!” replied the white one, who had but one eye, and no eyelashes at all, except along the ridge of his spine. “Wee, wee! Murder! Help! Help!” they both squealed, as two spitting balls of fur shot across the yard, and landed on their backs.
“Hivin save us!” exclaimed Biddy, rushing to the window, as two shrieking pigs, each ridden by an angry cat, dashed past, and out of the yard. The departure of the pigs through a fence on the other side of the street, caused the cats to dismount before they had planned. But Franklin was so proud of this feat, that he went around boasting among his friends, that “his sister had a cat that could lick anything on four legs.” So, of course, all the boys were anxious to prove that his sister had nothing of the kind.
“Bet you it couldn’t lick Boston’s bull-pup,” one of them said.
“Bet you it couldn’t lick my thorough-bred mastiff-poodle,” said another.
“Ho!” said Franklin, “Weejums would claw up the pedigree of your dog, so that you’d have to cart home the mastiff and the poodle part of him, in separate loads.”
It was this remark that caused Boston’s bull-pup to go in training for action, as it was well known that no cat on whom he was set, ever escaped him, and he had a shameful record of little paws hushed in the beginning of their play, and gentle purrs silenced through murderous intent. For the bull-pup’s owner was a cruel boy, and a boy’s dog always tries to be like his master.
“THE SASH WAS NOT TOO TIGHT TO ALLOW FOR DINNER”
That fall, Eunice had begun dressing all her cats in little blankets; and this naturally suggested petticoats, and, later on, pantalettes. The pantalettes were cut like cross-sections of stove-pipe, and were held on the cat’s front paws by a little suspender going over her shoulders. Clytie had a charming pair made of white flannel, feather-stitched with light blue silk, and the effect of these, peeping from under her Mother Hubbard blanket with the guimpe, was most unusual. This blanket did not fasten with a buttoned belt underneath, like her plaid gingham ones, for morning, but had two little slits in the side, for a sash to come through, and tie in a huge bow on top. When fully dressed, she looked like a cross between a circus clown and a chrysanthemum. But of course she could run about perfectly well, and the sash was not too tight to allow for dinner.