lded her shrilly, calling her a tramp and telling her to get out of
their woods.

Of course Miss Kitty had to stay there for a time after that, to let the
birds know that they couldn't frighten her away. She scared them almost
out of their wits by threatening to climb up where their nests were. But
she didn't do more than sharpen her claws against a tree-trunk. That
alone was enough to throw them into a panic.

At last, after she had bothered the birds quite enough, Miss Kitty Cat
set off for Pleasant Valley once more. Sometimes she travelled through
fields; sometimes she jogged along the roads; sometimes she jumped to
the top of a stone wall and used that for a highway. And always when she
heard the creak and rattle of a wagon, as the sun rose higher and
higher, she crept into the bushes and hid until she had the road to
herself again.

If Miss Kitty hadn't been homesick she would have thought her adventure
a great lark. But somehow she couldn't get Mrs. Green's house out of her
mind. Especially the thought of the kitchen, with its delicious odors of
seven-layer cakes baking in the oven, and doughnuts frying on top of the
range, made Miss Kitty's nose twitch. And her own particular warm spot
under the range, where she basked away long hours! When she recalled
that it was no wonder that her pace quickened.

Perhaps Miss Kitty Cat herself couldn't have told exactly how she knew
the way back to Farmer Green's place. No doubt she wouldn't have told,
had she known; for she was one of the kind that keep such things to
themselves. She never even explained to old dog Spot, afterward, where
she spent the three nights that she was away from the farm.

Anyhow, Miss Kitty Cat kept plodding along. And one afternoon when she
came out of a patch of woods on a hill-top, she saw something looming
right ahead of her that looked familiar.

It was Blue Mountain. And she knew that on the other side of it lay
Pleasant Valley--and her home at Farmer Green's.

XXI

IN THE PANTRY

OF COURSE everybody knows that while the cat's away the mice will play.
So what happened during Miss Kitty Cat's absence from the farmhouse was
really no more than any one might have expected. There were gay banquets
in Mrs. Green's pantry at midnight. And among those present there was no
one that had a better time than fat Mr. Moses Mouse. He was always the
life of the party. He made jokes about Miss Snooper--as he called Miss
Kitty Cat. And nobod