“Bend it down,” she called. “Bend the branch down and I’ll pick her off, Bobby.”
And, after one or two unsuccessful attempts to bend the branch down, that was just what they did do. Bobby managed to bend it within arm’s reach of Meg, who detached the little cat much as you pick a caterpillar off a leaf. Though 151 the cat stuck tighter to the branch than any caterpillar was ever known to do.
“You’re all right,” said Meg soothingly, putting the kitten in her dress and gathering it up like a bag. “Soon as you get home, you can have something to eat and you’ll feel much better.”
It was hard work, wading against the current, but they helped each other and by good luck reached the bush, just as they saw Jud starting out from the other side. Dot and Twaddles danced impatiently on the bank, but he had evidently told them to stay there, for they did not follow him.
“Jud! Jud!” called Bobby and Meg, beginning to do a dance of their own. “You don’t know what we found, Jud!”
“If I was you, I’d wait to do my prancing on, dry ground,” Jud advised them as he waded across. “It’s safer and drier.”
“Did Linda do the shirt? Is it mended?” Meg asked eagerly, when Jud was within easy talking distance.
“Mended tip-top,” announced Jud. “Buttons 152 all on, pocket sewed back, rip between the shoulders all fixed. Never saw a neater job.”
“Linda is good as she can be,” Meg said gratefully, holding her skirts with one hand and reaching for the shirt with the other. “Let’s spread it out just the way we found it.”
They draped the shirt as Meg insisted she remembered seeing it, Jud all the while staring curiously at the little girl.