on jumping down to help me
himself; but I told him that would be the most foolish thing he could
do; if he did, we should certainly both be drowned. So he began to mew
at the top of his voice, and between his mewing and mine, there was
noise enough for a few minutes; then windows began to open, and I heard
your grandfather swearing and throwing out a stick of wood at Caesar;
fortunately he was so near the house that it did not hit him. At last
your grandfather came downstairs, and opened the back door; and Caesar
was so frightened that he ran away, for which I have never thought so
well of him since, though we are still very good friends. When I heard
him running off, and calling back to me, from a distance, that he was so
sorry he could not help me, my courage began to fail, and in a moment
more, I should have let go of the edge of the barrel, and sunk to the
bottom; but luckily your grandfather noticed that there was something
very strange about my mewing, and opened the door at the head of the
cellar stairs, saying, "I do believe the cat is in some trouble down
here." Then I made a great effort and mewed still more piteously. How I
wished I could call out and say, "Yes, indeed, I am; drowning to death,
in I'm sure I don't know what, but something a great deal worse than
water!" However, he understood me as it was, and came down with a lamp.
As soon as he saw me, he set the lamp down on the cellar bottom, and
laughed so that he could hardly move. I thought this was the most cruel
thing I ever heard of. If I had not been, as it were, at death's door, I
should have laughed at him, too, for even with my eyes full of that
dreadful stuff, I could see that he looked very funny in his red
night-cap, and without his teeth. He called out to Mary, and your
mother, who stood at the head of the stairs, "Come down, come down;
here's the cat in the soft-soap barrel!" and then he laughed again, and
they both came down the stairs laughing, even your dear kind mother, who
I never could have believed would laugh at any one in such trouble. They
did not seem to know what to do at first; nobody wanted to touch me; and
I began to be afraid I should drown while they stood looking at me, for
I knew much better than they could how weak I was from holding on to the
edge of the barrel so long. At last your grandfather swore that oath of
his,--you know the one I mean, the one he always swears when he is very
sorry for anybody,--and lifted me out