ll.

"No, suh!" declared Jeff. "Dis am mah white pussy, dat I done took outen
de fire an' de p'liceman didn't see me, an' I's gwine to keep her, I
is!"

He held the China Cat higher above his head.

"Oh, mercy me!" thought the poor white pussy, "I hope he doesn't let me
fall. Oh, how miserable I am! So dirty, and in such an unpleasant place!
I thought I'd be back in the toy shop with the Talking Doll and my other
friends!"

The China Cat did not at first know where she was when Jeff pulled her
out from beneath his blouse. It had been dark in there, but it was
lighter in the kitchen, and this confused the toy animal. But when she
had a chance to look around, held up high in the air as she was, she did
not at all like her new home. And she was very much afraid that Jeff
would let her fall.

But the colored boy did not. He set the China Cat on the table, right
down in a little puddle of molasses that had been spilled when the table
was set for breakfast.

"Oh, dear me, this is worse and worse!" thought the China Cat, as she
felt the sticky stuff on her tail. "I shall never get clean and white
again now!"

As for Jeff and his brothers and sisters, they did not seem to mind a
bit of molasses on the table. Indeed, one of the little colored girls
put her finger in the sweet, sticky puddle, and then she put her finger
in her mouth.

"Dat's good!" she murmured. "Me 'ikes 'lasses, me does!"

But the others were more interested in the China Cat. They stared at her
with all their eyes, and Jeff's mother asked:

"Where yo' done say yo' got her?"

"At de fire," Jeff explained. "I heard de engines puffin' past early dis
mawnin', an' I gits up an' goes out. Dere was a toy store on fire, an'
dey frowed a lot ob toys out in de street. Dere was Jumpin' Jacks, an'
Dolls, an' Steamboats, an'--an'--"

Two of the older colored boys started on a rush for the door, one of
them crying:

"I'se gwine to git a steamboat!"

"Yo' can't git none now, Sim!" shouted Jeff. "De p'licemans is all
aroun' de place. Dey won't let you take nuffin. But I done fooled 'em.
Anyhow, de fire's out now, an' dey'll be puttin' de toys back. But I
done got a white cat!"

So he had, but the China Cat was not so very white now. Besides the dirt
from the fire and the grime from Jeff's hands, she was sticky with
molasses, and every bit of dust flying about the basement room seemed to
settle on the poor toy pussy.

"Lemme hab her, Jeff!" pleaded one of