re the China Cat was stuffed, so she would not bounce out,
Jeff ran down the street.

"I's got something yo' can't have!" he cried. "An' yo' all can't catch
me, an' git it; dat's whut yo' can't!"

Away he sped, and he was such a good runner that the other boys could
not come up to him. Around the corner of one street, down another and up
a third ran Jeff, and then he darted down the stairs into what was
almost a cellar, though it was called a basement. It was here, in some
poor, miserable rooms, that Jeff lived with his brothers and sisters.

"Whut de mattah, Jeff?" asked his mother, a large, fat, colored
washerwoman. "Am de p'licemans after yo' a'gin?"

Jeff had run so hard that he was out of breath, and could not speak for
a few moments. Hidden as she was, inside his blouse, the China Cat could
feel Jeff's heart pumping hard, and notice his rapid breathing.

"Dear me!" thought the China Cat, "this is a dreadful state of affairs.
I wonder if I am ever to get out of this smothering place. I don't like
it, cooped up like this! I want to get out in the air, and have
Geraldine or Angelina wash me!"

You see the China Cat did not know all that had happened to her. She
hoped she would soon be back in Mr. Mugg's store, washed nice and clean,
and set on a shelf. But the store of poor Mr. Mugg was in a sad state
now, even though the fire had been put out.

As Jeff's breathing became easier, his brothers and sisters, who were
just getting up out of their beds, crowded around him. His mother, who
was getting breakfast, asked him again:

"Jeff, am de p'licemans tryin' to git yo'?"

"Nope!" answered the colored boy. "I runned 'cause I wanted to git away
from Sam Brown an' his crowd. Dey was gwine to take mah cat away from
me!"

"Yo' _cat_?" cried Jeff's mother. "Where'd yo' git a _cat_?"

Jeff wiggled and twisted as he reached his hand inside his blouse and
pulled out the China Cat.

"Dere she am!" he cried, holding her up. "Dere's mah pussy! I done got
her at de fire, an' de p'liceman didn't see me!"

For a moment there was silence in the dingy basement tenement where Jeff
lived. His brothers and sisters, all smaller than he, crowded up around
him as he held the China Cat high in the air.

"Ain't she jess boo'ful!" murmured one little black girl.

"Kin she wiggle her haid, like I done see a Donkey shake his haid in de
toy shop?" asked one of Jeff's brothers.

"Lemme hab her!" pleaded the littlest black girl of a