Well, anyhow, Puss didn't wait any longer, but rode away, and by and by, after a while, he met a funny little man with a sack over his back.
"What have you in your bag?" asked Puss, for he felt sorry for the little old man and meant to give him a lift in case he had a heavy load, you see.
"What's that to you?" asked the little old man, with a scowl. And before you could say "Jack Robinson!" he disappeared inside a stump.
Puss jumped off his Good Gray Horse and peeped in. But he couldn't see anything, only a big black hole. Well, he was just going to turn away when he heard a voice say:
"Mother, I've brought you a bag of gold
For the little pink-and-white pig I sold."
So Puss peeped in again, and pretty soon he saw a tiny light way down deep, like the flicker of a candle. And by and by, as his eyes grew used to the darkness, he saw a flight of stairs. Then what do you think he did? Jump into the hollow stump and climb down? That's just what he did, and it wasn't long before he found himself in a little hall opposite a small door with a glass knob inside of which was an electric light, which I suppose had been put there by the little old man in case he got home after twelve at night and his wife had blown out the candle.
All of a sudden the door opened and a little old woman, bent and withered, asked, in a shrill voice:
"How dare you come down to our Hollow Stump hall?
I'll cut off your whiskers, tail and all."
"Please, ma'am," said little Puss, Junior, "I won't tell anybody." And I guess he would have climbed up the stairs then and there if he hadn't feared she might cut off his tail when he turned around.