And it was while Ruddy was racing here and there in the woods among the leaves, catching, now and then, the most wonderful smells of wild rabbits, squirrels and quail birds—it was while thus running wildly to and fro, that Ruddy heard a voice calling.
"Mew! Mew! Meaouw!" came the sound, and Ruddy well knew what it was.
"A cat!" he thought to himself, in the way that dogs think, by instinct. "A cat! and maybe I can have fun chasing her."
Ruddy and Sallie had become friends by this time, living so close to one another, and Ruddy had given up chasing the big, gray tabby. But he was not friends with any other cat. In fact he did not then know any other cats except Sallie.
"Mew! Mew!" came the voice again, and Ruddy knew enough of animal talk to tell that it was a cat in trouble.
He sniffed and smelled his way to where the cat-odor came from until, passing around a hollow stump, he saw a sad sight.
Huddled up in a heap among the leaves was Sallie, and the gray cat was in pain. She was caught in something, as Ruddy could see, and at once he leaped to her side, though he did not know what was the matter. All he knew was that he wanted to help a friend, as, very often, animals help one another.
The fact was that Sallie was caught in a steel trap, set to catch some wild animal of the woods.
CHAPTER X
SALLIE IS CAUGHT
Sallie, the big, gray cat, was so huddled up among the dried leaves of the forest that, at first, Ruddy could see nothing of the trap. It was down in a hollow, and Sallie was lying close to a stump.