“I’ll go up and saw off the limb he is sitting on, while you and mother hold a net under the limb. Then when it falls, the cat and limb will fall in the net and the cat won’t be hurt.”
“An excellent idea, my son,” commended his mother.
“But where are we going to get the net?” asked his father.
“We can use my tennis net.”
“Run and get it while I go for a saw and, mother, you stay here to keep him from escaping while we are away,” said the father.
Presently the father and son were back with the saw and the net. The boy climbed the tree, while the father and mother stood under the limb, waiting to catch Button when the limb should be sawed off. Button never stirred while the boy sawed the limb, for he had made up his mind what he was going to do when the limb fell into the net. This it did in about two minutes. The branch had scarcely touched the net when Button with a bound ran up the side of the net, jumped to the ground and ran up the next tree. And could you have looked into the faces of those three people, you would have said you never had looked into three more disappointed ones in your life.
“That cat is possessed of the devil!” said the father.
“I truly believe he is!” said the mother.
“Well, gosh darn his skin, I say!” exclaimed their son.