cy. Oh, if only he would tumble! But he did not fall, and her
expression of jubilation changed to disappointment.

Carefully he righted himself on the limb where he had landed, and,
peering down at the child in the road, tauntingly cried,

"Don't we think we are smart, Tabby Catt, Tabby Catt? Don't we think we
are smart?"

The girl's lips curved scornfully, but her hard fists tightened until
her knuckles stood out like white balls.

"How's Thomas Catt today?" continued the boy, swinging his feet
dangerously near the tattered sunbonnet, which half concealed the angry
little face below.

Still she deigned no reply, though her eyes blazed furiously and her
breath came quick and short. She took a step nearer the tree and he
cautiously drew his feet up to the branch on which he sat; but
apparently she did not notice this move, as she stood measuring the
distance from the ground to the limbs above and wondering whether or not
she could reach him and give him the drubbing he deserved before he had
a chance to escape or call for help. She could climb like a squirrel and
run like a deer, but in the pasture beyond this fringe of trees was the
boy's big brother, and she had no desire to meet him, having once had a
taste of his great whip.

Perhaps the boy in the tree guessed her thoughts, for once more he
lowered his feet and kicked viciously at her as he chanted:

"Tabby Catt, Tabby Catt,
Drink some milk and make you fat,
Skinny, scrawny Tabby Catt."

The faded calico bonnet caught on his toes and he tossed it high in the
air, letting it fall far out in the dust of the road. Never pausing to
see what was the fate of her possessions, the child let out one scream
of animal rage, and with a tiger-like spring caught the feet of her
enemy and jerked the coward off his perch.

Taken off his guard, he fell heavily into the road, crushing her beneath
him, and raising such a cloud of dust that both were nearly smothered;
but with a dexterous twist she freed herself, and, unconscious of the
dust, the boy's screams or the sound of answering shouts in the pasture
nearby, she fell to pummelling her helpless victim with relentless
fists, all the while screaming at the top of her voice,

"I am a Tabby Catt, am I? I am scrawny and skinny, am I? Well, you're a
coward, a good-for-nothing coward, and so is your big brother. He
wouldn't dare fight Tom, and you wouldn't dare say such things to me if
Tom was anywhere near. Y