“My! You had a perfectly wonderful time!” exclaimed Blackie, when Don had finished.
“Tell me about yourself now,” invited the big dog. And Blackie did. She told how she had gone wandering off, so that she might learn to become a fine fence-jumper, how she had gotten on the roof of the house, how good Mrs. Thompson had taken care of her and brought her to the country, and how, finally, she had gotten lost.
“And I’m lost yet,” went on the black cat. “I don’t know where to go or what to do, Don. I thought I would find a place in this house to stay, but you tell me they don’t like cats.”
“They don’t,” Don said. “At least they never keep a cat where I live now, and I am sure that shows they do not like them. For if they kept one I would be friendly with her and not chase her as I did you. But from now on I’m not going to chase cats. I never knew before how nice they could be. I thought they always scratched and bit. And many a time I’ve had cats crook up their backs at me, make their tails big, and hiss like a snake.”
“That is our way of scaring dogs,” said Blackie. “You see most dogs are bigger and stronger than we, and the only way we can scare them is to fluff out our fur, and make believe we are twice as big as we are. Then we hiss like a snake, or like a steam pipe, and that scares the dog more. But I was so tired and frightened that I didn’t try to scare you, Don.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. Now we’ll be friends. But of course if you see some other dog running at you, why you’ll scare him, I suppose, Blackie.”
“Yes, I guess I will,” answered the black cat, sort of smiling.
The two new friends talked for some time longer and then, all at once, Don said:
“Oh, Blackie! I forgot! You said you were hungry, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Don, I am hungry. But you say they don’t like cats in your house, so I don’t see how I am going to get anything to eat there.”