hile he was making up his mind Mrs. No-Tail sat in the other room,
wondering what kept Mrs. Longtail such a long time away, getting the
second cup of tea.

"Perhaps I had better go and see what's keeping her," Mrs. No-Tail
thought. "She may have burned herself on the hot stove, or teapot." So
she went toward the kitchen, and there she saw a dreadful sight, for
there was that bad cat, holding poor Mrs. Longtail in his claws and
opening his mouth to eat her.

"Oh, let me go! Please let me go!" the mouse lady begged.

"No, I'll not," answered the cat, and once more he licked his whiskers
with his red tongue.

"Oh, I must do something to that cat!" thought Mrs. No-Tail. "I must
make him let Mrs. Longtail go."

So she thought and thought, and finally the frog lady saw a sprinkling
can hanging on a nail in the dining-room, where Mrs. Longtail kept it to
water the flowers with.

"I think that will do," said Mrs. No-Tail. So she very quietly and
carefully took it off the nail, and then she went softly out of the
front door, and around to the side of the house to the rain-water
barrel, where she filled the watering can. Then she came back with it
into the house.

"Now," she thought, "if I can only get up behind the cat and pour the
water on him, he'll think it's raining, and as cats don't like rain he
may run away, and let Mrs. Longtail go."

So Mrs. No-Tail tip-toed out into the kitchen as quietly as she could,
for she didn't want the cat to see her. But the savage animal, who had
made his tail as big as a skyrocket, was getting ready to eat Mrs.
Longtail, and he was going to begin head first. So he didn't notice Mrs.
No-Tail.

Up she went behind him, on her tippiest tiptoes, and she held the
watering can above his head. Then she tilted it up, and suddenly out
came the water--drip! drip! drip! splash! splash!

Upon the cat's furry back it fell, and my, you should have seen how
surprised that cat was!

"Why, it's raining in the house," he cried. "The roof must leak. The
water is coming in! Get a plumber! Get a plumber!"

Then he gave a big jump, and bumped his head on the mantelpiece, and
this so startled him that he dropped Mrs. Longtail, and she scampered
off down in a deep, dark hole and hid safely away. Then the cat saw Mrs.
No-Tail pouring water from the can, and he knew he had been fooled.

"Oh, I'll get you!" he cried, and he jumped at her, but the frog lady
threw the sprinkling can at the cat, and it wen