When Jazbury awoke the next morning the sun was shining in through the cellar window, the birds were singing, and the air was full of dewy freshness. His ugly dreams of the night before were all forgotten. There could not have been a more wonderful day for three little kittens to start out on their adventures.
The three of them met in the lot soon after breakfast, as they had agreed. Yowler at once took command. "Now, kits," said he, "we won't go all together in a bunch. That would look queer, and some one would be sure to notice us. I'll start off first; Fluff can come next, and then Jaz. You keep about half a square behind me, Fluffy, and Jaz about half a square behind you. Then you can see which way I go, but nobody will think we're together."
To this plan the others agreed.
"Suppose we meet some dogs?" said Fluffy.
"If you do, you'll just have to do the best you can. Run up an alley, or climb a fence or something. Now come on! We'll go as far as the edge of the lot together."
The three little kittens stole away through the weeds, and when they came to the edge of the lot Jazbury and Fluffy stopped. They watched Yowler cross to the other side of the street and turn a corner. Then, after a moment or so, Fluffy followed, then Jazbury.
The others were still in sight when Jazbury turned the corner, Yowler quite a distance up the street, and Fluffy not so far.
Two women with brooms in their hands were sweeping their pavements and gossiping together as they swept. "Look at that kitten," said one of them, as Jazbury ran past them. "That's the third kitten that's gone by in the last few minutes."
"I know. I noticed that," replied the other. "Funny! Wonder where they come from!"
As Jazbury neared the next corner he heard a sound of voices in loud talk, and then the bark of a dog. Some boys were coming that way, and a dog was with them. They were just around the corner.