laid together in a council of war.

The liver hung high. Tom rose upon his hind feet, clawed the air
futilely and came down sheepishly upon all fours. Next, a small, nimble
black cat jumped and fell short of the bait. Uncle Ike snickered, and I
drew in my breath excitedly, as the pampered exquisite, My Lady
Preciosa, tripped mincingly into the open. The moon shone out obligingly
to let us see her fall into position, her head upraised toward the
tempting morsel--(pig's liver, and none too fresh at that)--her
crouching body thrown well back upon the haunches, her tail, enlarged to
double the usual size, waving sinuously from side to side in leisurely
calculation of distance and chances. Suddenly she launched her supple
body into space like a catapult, caught the meat between her claws,
swung in the air for a victorious half-second--and then, the deluge!

A chorus of screeches, a frantic stampede in all directions, and the
arena was clear of all except the home-made infernal machine,--the empty
dish-pan upside down on the ground, the brick, the string, and the raw
meat lying under it.

The caterwauling, Uncle Ike's "ky-yi!" and my scream of laughter,
brought the porch-party to the spot. By previous agreement neither of us
mentioned Preciosa's name. I had to pinch myself violently to contain
the unseemly mirth bottled up in my wicked soul when Mary 'Liza was "so
glad the horrible creatures were punished," and "hoped" gently "that
Molly was convinced, now, that poor, dear Preciosa was innocent."

"By the way, where _is_ Preciosa?" asked my father.

"She seemed so sleepy that I gave her her supper, and put her to bed,
when I took Dorinda upstairs," said her surety.

Perhaps my father partly interpreted the gleam in my eyes and the
quivering muscles about my uncontrollable mouth, for he glanced keenly
at me and made as if he would let the inquiry drop. Not so my mother.
She bade Mary 'Liza run upstairs and make sure that Preciosa was there.

"I want my dear little girl to be entirely satisfied that her cousin was
right, and that she did the cat an injustice," she said with judicial
mildness.

Preciosa was not in our room, and she stayed out all night, greatly to
her owner's alarm and distress. Her habits were so regular, her
deportment was always so impeccable that the circumstance assumed the
proportions of an Event by breakfast time. My mother was anxious, Mary
'Liza sorrowful, and my father shook his head more grave