“I’m sorry I had to run away from such a nice lady,” thought Blackie, in her hiding place. “I’ll go back to her after dark.”
Blackie was not hungry, for she had been well fed before being shut up in the basket. She curled herself snugly up and waited. Pretty soon the men and boys stopped looking for her, and, after a while it grew more quiet about the railroad station.
“I guess I can come out now and look around,” thought the black cat. “I’ll start off in the country, and I ought to be able to find Mrs. Thompson’s house. I think she must live in a quiet place, for she was so quiet in her city house, living all alone except for me.”
Blackie stuck her nose out a little way from in between two barrels. She sniffed the air, and she smelled no danger. Then she looked around and came out. She ran down the platform a little way. There were no trains at the depot now, for which Blackie was glad.
“Now for a nice trip to the country,” thought Blackie. She looked across the road and saw that the station was near a little country town. There were wagons going up and down the street, but not as many as in the city where Blackie had come from.
“I wonder if I can get a drink anywhere around here?” thought Blackie. So she sniffed the air hard, and she smelled water. She went toward it and saw, not far away, a drinking-fountain for horses. Some of the water dripped down and had made a little puddle on the ground.
“I’ll get a drink there,” thought Blackie, and while she was drinking something else happened to her.