DANGERS.
My Father was what is called a sporting character. The quantity of ratshe caught, and of birds he ensnared, was almost incredible; and the fameof his exploits spread throughout the neighbourhood.
A taste of so decided a kind, and a dexterity so remarkable, notunnaturally extended to his offspring; and before we had attained ourfull growth, we had all killed our rats and caught our birds.
To indulge this passion my father had two little huts, which he calledhunting-boxes, both conveniently situated for his favourite pursuits.One was on the bank of the river, near some old timber, a famous hauntof the rats, who had a colony close by; and the other was in a woodedspot, overhung with trees, among which the birds loved to linger,although many of their number waited there to their destruction.
My mother, who had been very delicately brought up, and who had verystrict notions concerning propriety in female Cats, was very anxious tokeep myself and sisters away from either of these places, although shehad, of course, no objection that our brother should visit them; but,as we had been all educated together, we Pussies thought it rather hardthat Tommy should go whilst we were forced to stop at home; and, as ourfather was very indulgent, we often managed to slip off unawares andjoin him and our brother, trusting to his kindness to save us from ourmother's displeasure.
I happened to learn one day that several sporting Cats had been invitedto a great hunt, the place of meeting being my father's box beside theriver. I felt the greatest desire to be present at one of these affairs,as Tommy's account of them had made my very mouth water. I knew it wouldbe vain to ask my mother's consent, as she would not only refuse it,but would take measures to prevent my getting out if I felt inclinedto disobey. I therefore kept very quiet about the matter, but resolvedwithin myself to indulge my inclination, and get a peep at what wasgoing on.
"It will be easy," I thought, "to do so without any one being the wiser;and even if I should be found out when I am there, I am sure father willnot be angry."
With this reflection, on the appointed morning I slipped offunperceived, and, arriving at the hut a good hour before the time fixed,I climbed up to the top by the help of a tree which grew near; andstretching myself on the roof, with my eyes peering over the edge, justwhere a branch of the elm I had got up by afforded me a shade, I waitedfor the company.
They were not long in coming. My father and brother arrived first, anda servant with some provisions; they were soon followed by an immenseWhite Cat with one eye (but what a fierce one it was!) and a handsomeTabby, his son. Next came a Cat they called Mr. Dick, who wore a shabbygrey coat, rather torn and patchy, and whose tail was ragged and dirty,yet to whom everybody showed a great deal of attention, because, asI afterwards learnt, he was very rich and ill-tempered. There were twoor three others that I don't well remember, but which made the numbercomplete.
As soon as they were all assembled, they sat down to breakfast; andI could see them through a chink in the roof as they demolished theirmeal. I had taken the precaution to bring something to eat too, andI now devoured it with much appetite; for the fresh morning air and myelevated position had made me hungry. As I munched my food, I could hearthe conversation below, and was much edified by the terrible storieswhich some of them told about the fights they had had with rats as bigas themselves, and the fierce battles they had won. I could not helpobserving that although Mr. Dick's adventures were much less wonderfulthan those of any other Cat present, they were heard with a great dealmore interest, and were applauded as infinitely more remarkable.
Word was now given to prepare for the coming hunt, and every Cat rosefrom table, and came out among the timber. Hiding themselves behindvarious logs, my father stood up and uttered a loud cry, which Iafterwards learnt was a signal for a quantity of ferrets, trained forthat purpose, to rush into the rats' holes to drive them out. As therats have the greatest horror of these creatures, they sprang from theirhiding-places in the wildest confusion, and were at once pounced upon bythe hidden Cats.
What a scene of confusion followed! The rats, who were scampering along,over and under the logs to escape from the hated ferrets, were suddenlyaware of the presence of more detested and more formidable enemies, as,one by one, the sporting Cats jumped up, and made a dash at theirbewildered prey.
My excitement at this spectacle was almost more than I could bear.As the growls of my friends and kindred, joined to the screams of theflying rats, became audible, and I could see the lashing of tails andthe fierce glances of bright eyes, accompanied every now and then by achase where some rat, which had been hiding beneath a log, suddenlyleaped across the open ground, I sprang to my feet, I ran hither andthither, with my tail swollen to twice its natural size, from myeagerness to participate in the so-called _sport_ of my relations.
I was not however destined to remain without my share of it, althoughI did not stir from the spot where I had been concealed. I said that atree grew close to the hunting-box, on the roof of which I was placed,and that it was by its help that I had climbed to my present elevation.A large rat, with a body not very much smaller than my own, which hadmanaged to escape from the fight where so many of his friends andrelations had fallen, sought about for a place of refuge. Espying thetree, and seeing that all his enemies were at that moment too muchengaged to attend to him, he sprang up the trunk and came rapidlytowards me, little expecting to find another of his foes so far awayfrom her companions. I watched him come, and resolved in my own mindthat he should not escape, although my heart beat a good deal at theidea of the encounter.
The rat sprang on to the roof, and was going to scamper over it, whenhis fierce little eyes,--and quick nose too, no doubt, for it movedincessantly,--spied me out, crouching at a short distance and ready tospring. He stopped an instant, as if considering what it were best todo, then, thinking perhaps that if he attempted to run I should be atonce upon his back, and, I suppose, observing from my look that I wasonly a Kitten after all, he came boldly towards me, and, just as I wasabout to pounce upon him, he sprang, like a flash of lightning, at myface, and made his sharp teeth meet in the most tender part of my nose.In vain I shrieked and beat the terrible creature with all my strengthupon the roof; it was to no purpose that I fixed my sharp claws intohis sides, and tried to tear him from his hold; he would not let go, andthe pain was at last so great, that, squeezing him in my paws, I rolledover and over in my agony. The roof was sloping, and slippery besideswith dew, so that, blinded with terror and not knowing what I did,I gradually got near the edge, and at last tumbled over on to the partybelow. I should probably have been much hurt by the fall, as I was notyet clever enough to tumble on my feet, but that I came down plump uponthe back of a very stout Cat, who was standing a little aside quitetired out with his exertions. Him I knocked completely over, sending himflying, to his astonishment, a dozen paces off; the rat, detached frommy nose by the shock, was at once strangled by my brother; and the restof the party, running up to me, whom they thought dead, were not alittle surprised to find the daughter of their friend. My father himselftook the matter very quietly; I heard him exclaim, "I say, Tommy, howcame your sister here? There will be a fine noise at home when yourmother hears of this;" but I heard no more; I had fainted from loss ofblood, and I did not recover my senses till I found myself in my ownbed, with my mother's mild eyes, full of sorrow, looking down upon me.
Notwithstanding the great cause she had to feel anger at my conduct,which was in direct opposition to her wishes and even to her commands,so frequently expressed, I had little cause to fear a scolding whileI was still confined to the house and suffering pain. And even whenI recovered, her remarks upon the folly of my behaviour were madewith such tenderness that, while I could not help admitting theirtruth, I felt that I loved my mother the better for her correction.I promised,--oh! how warmly I promised her, while the smart was stillwithin my wound, and my face was yet swollen and inflamed, that I wouldnever more be guilty of an act of disobedience; that I would, from thattime, do only what I was sure m
ust cause her pleasure, and that I wouldstrive in all things to acquire a good name for gentleness and otherfemale virtues.
Alas! a Kitten's resolutions, made in the midst of pain and sorrowcaused through not attending to the advice of elders, are too apt tobe forgotten, when the aches are gone and the grief has worn away;at least, to my shame be it spoken, it was so in my case, for whenI recovered I was more than once guilty of acts of mischief, which,by good luck only, happened to be less serious in their results thanthe event of the rat-hunt.
A circumstance which helped to make me thus doubly naughty anddisobedient, was the falling among bad companions. I had, at that time,the dangerous fault of easily making acquaintance, no matter whether theanimals were such as I should or should not associate with. Not contentalso with simply speaking and being civil to them, I became at onceextremely intimate, and therefore very naturally often found myself inplaces and among dangers which I had no right to enter into or incur.
There came into the town, from a distant and wild part of the country,a family of Cats, consisting of a father and nine daughters. They werestrange, shabby, half-savage looking creatures, and, having lost theirmother at an early age, had unhappily possessed no one who couldrestrain or teach them better, so had grown up more like Toms than quietfemale Pussies. I was too young to know this at the time, and no warningvoice had been raised against them; for, fearing I should be denied thepleasure of going out with my new acquaintance if I confessed to mymother that I knew them, I never said a word concerning them, but ranout to meet them on the sly. The elder Cats of the family ratherfrightened me, they were so terribly wild; but the three youngest, whowere about my own age, I very much admired. They seemed so good-natured,so bold, and were so free in their manners, that we became, in a few days,the firmest friends; and although I was a little shocked at first at thenaughty words they used,--the biggest, I am grieved to say, sometimesreally swore,--yet I even got accustomed to that, and thought, sillyKitten that I was, that it sounded grand and spirited.
Many and many a time, when my good mother thought that I was visitinga relation or one of her own steady friends, was I scampering over thecountry with these dangerous playmates, until, had I not possessedso kind yet strict a guide at home, I should have become as bold andshameless as they. Fortunately for me, I discovered their real characterbefore they had succeeded in ruining mine; and as the circumstancecaused a final break between us, I will relate it just as it fell out.
At the distance of an easy walk from the city of Caneville was theresidence of a very wealthy bloodhound, who was as proud of his nobledescent as he was of his riches and influence. The grounds attachedto his splendid mansion were very extensive and beautiful, and oneportion, which contained some tall trees and low bushes, was calledthe "preserve," because birds of all kinds had their nests among thebranches. In order to guard this property from thieves and intruders,several fierce dogs paraded about the grounds, and, as they had ordersto kill all animals that were discovered lurking there, you may believethe place was tolerably quiet. All these particulars I only learnedafterwards, when I had nearly fallen a victim to my folly; but I knewperfectly well that this ground was private property, and that I hadno business whatsoever to go into it.
My three friends and myself, being out one day upon an excursion, suchas I have described, I, having slipped away from home, as usual, on thesly, with only a little pinafore for clothing, came upon these beautifulgrounds, and having crossed a park, where we rolled upon the green turfundisturbed, we at last stood in the "preserve."
AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.]
Here we were at once attracted by the quantities of birds which flewfrom branch to branch above our heads, and twittered gaily in thefancied security of their leafy homes. We looked, and sniffed, andwatched them as they flew, until our mouths watered at the sight. Havingeaten nothing since morning, our appetites were very keen, and thethought of a little poultry was not by any means a disagreeable one. Buthow was it to be procured? My friends, bold as they seemed, had a greatobjection to climb one of the trees to hunt for it; and I, althoughsufficiently strong and active to mount to the very highest in thecourse of a few seconds, had just sufficient sense of propriety left tofeel that it would be wrong. What, however, will not the persuasions ofthe wicked sometimes do? Although I knew perfectly well that it was agreat sin, that the birds were not mine, and that I had not only noright to them, but no right either to be within those grounds, I was, ina moment of weakness, prevailed on to climb a lofty oak, and seize uponthe contents of a nest we could discover among the branches.
Quick as thought, I sprang upon the gnarled trunk, and mounted to theupper boughs; in a few seconds, I stood high up in the air, with onefoot resting on a convenient ledge, my fore-paws outstretched upon anest, wherein three half-fledged birds were chirping, one of which hadopened its beak at my approach, as though I were its mother, whom itasked for food.
At another time I should have been touched at the spectacle of theselittle helpless creatures, and could have found it in my heart toplace something in their yellow mouths; but now giving heed only to myvoracious appetite and the cries of my friends, who kept calling out tome to pitch them down, I seized them cruelly by their necks, and castthem, one by one, below, desiring my companions, as I did so, not todivide them till I had descended to have my share.
Imagine, however, my astonishment, my anger, at their ingratitude, when,instead of waiting my coming, each seized a bird as it fell, and begandevouring it with all speed, paying no more attention to my claims orwords than if I had been a stranger, instead of their _friend_ and theprovider of the feast.
Enraged at their baseness, I had commenced my descent, to punish theirperfidy, when the terrible sound of a dog's voice broke upon my ear.From my leafy hiding-place I peeped, in trembling, below, and saw twoenormous brutes rush from a neighbouring bush, and, with a tremendousgrowl, fall upon my ungrateful companions. In an instant one was seizedby the back of the neck, and dragged off, I knew not where; the othertwo fled, with shrieks of fear, pursued by the remaining dog, which,I suppose, had been attracted to the spot, with his companion, by thecries of the Cats, when telling me to throw them down the birds.
Oh! how my heart beat as I witnessed the scene I have just described,and thought that I too might have been one of the victims! Even now Imight be unable to escape, but lose my life in attempting to get away.How bitterly I reproached myself for having been weak enough to choosesuch creatures for associates! What advantage had they ever procured me?Had I learnt from them one single thing of good? I grieved to think, notone. But what evil had their acquaintance not brought me? I had been notonly guilty of disobedience to my mother,--that tender mother!--but Ihad trespassed upon the property of others: I had taken that to which Ihad no possible right; I had caused the death of three little creatures;and I had not even had the consolation of putting the smallest bit ofone of the innocents into my own mouth. All these reflections passedthrough my Cat's brain, as I sat shivering on my elevated perch; andI resolved, as I had so often resolved before, that if I got safelyout of this danger, nothing should induce me to commit such sins, ortrust to such worthless _friends_ again.
Whether my repentance had anything to do with my escaping from mydifficulties with a whole skin, I cannot say; but it is certain thatwhen, after darkness had settled on the earth and all around was silent,I ventured to descend from my hiding-place, I succeeded in making my wayout of the "preserve," and park beyond, in safety, when I took to myheels with all speed; nor did I stop till I had reached my own quiethome, which I stealthily entered through an open window.