Bidelia and Madam Laura put up a lunch for the travellers, although the distance was not great, and Wutz-Butz tried to teach them a certain stroke with the right paw, followed instantly by one of another sort with the left, which he knew, and which he said would be sufficient defence against any attack which might be made upon them on the way.
But Kiku-san refused to entertain the idea of fighting, even in self-defence, and Ban-Ban said he’d risk his four slender, fast legs to take him out of reach of danger, and so Wutz-Butz had to give up his purpose of teaching them the noble art of self-defence, to his own great disappointment.
Purrington gave its ambassadors a farewell dinner. Mr. S. Katz furnished it with his most delicious meats, and all the ladies in town cooked for it. It was such a tremendous dinner that the idea of carrying a luncheon on their journey seemed really funny to Ban-Ban and Kiku-san; they ate so much at the dinner that they could not fancy themselves ever again being hungry.
When the banquet ended all the cats rose from their chairs, and raising their glasses of distilled catnip high in the air, and keeping time with their left paws on the table to the gliding air of “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton,” sang this farewell song:
“Go forth to your old friends, dear cats, from the new,
For Purrington sends you, an embassy true;
We hope that for your sakes the children may be
The guide and the stay of our Pussy city.
Then hasten, O Ban-Ban, your steps, for you know
How blank our days and our nights when you go,