Twenty cats joined in the search for Nugget. Ban-Ban darted hither and thither; Tommy Traddles beat every bush and scanned every hole in his thorough way; and Kiku-san walked beside Bidelia, one paw around the afflicted little cat, talking to her in his gentle, cooing way, and keeping up her courage as none of the others could do. As they walked, searching sorrowfully, the cats sang these words to the air of “Long, Long Ago:”
“When our loved kittens wander away,
Sad are our hearts, bitter our pain;
Sobbing, we mew through the long empty day,
Hoping they’ll answer again.
Oh, little Nugget, had’st thou been wise,
Thy mother’s counsel thou would’st not despise!
But through our errors life’s lessons we learn;
All is forgiven; oh, return!”
The last two lines of the music they repeated, singing, over and over again: “Nugget, oh, come! Nugget, oh, come!” hoping that the kitten would hear and call to them. After some time they were rewarded by hearing afar a faint, a very faint and feeble mew.