houlder. "I do believe the poor
beast is blind. See, it strikes against the branches as it walks along.
It must be a very old one;" and I hastened towards it.

"Only think," said Peterkin with a suppressed laugh, "of a superannuated
wild cat!"

We now found that the poor cat was not only blind, or nearly so, but
extremely deaf, as it did not hear our footsteps until we were quite
close behind it. Then it sprang round, and, putting up its back and
tail, while the black hair stood all on end, uttered a hoarse mew and a
fuff.

Poor thing said Peterkin, gently extending his hand and endeavouring to
pat the cat's head. "Poor pussy! chee, chee, chee! puss, puss, puss!
cheetie pussy!"

No sooner did the cat hear these sounds than all signs of anger fled,
and advancing eagerly to Peterkin, it allowed itself to be stroked, and
rubbed itself against his legs, purring loudly all the time, and showing
every symptom of the most extreme delight.

"It's no more a wild cat than I am!" cried Peterkin, taking it in his
arms; "it's quite tame.--Poor pussy! cheetie pussy!"

We now crowded around Peterkin, and were not a little surprised--and, to
say truth, a good deal affected--by the sight of the poor animal's
excessive joy. It rubbed its head against Peterkin's cheek, licked his
chin, and thrust its head almost violently into his neck, while it
purred more loudly than I ever heard a cat purr before, and appeared to
be so much overpowered by its feelings that it occasionally mewed and
purred almost in the same breath. Such demonstrations of joy and
affection led us at once to conclude that this poor cat must have known
man before, and we conjectured that it had been left either accidentally
or by design on the island many years ago, and was now evincing its
extreme joy at meeting once more with human beings. While we were
fondling the cat and talking about it, Jack glanced round the open space
in the midst of which we stood.

"Hallo!" exclaimed he; "this looks something like a clearing. The axe
has been at work here. Just look at these tree-stumps."

We now turned to examine these, and without doubt we found trees that
had been cut down here and there, also stumps and broken branches--all
of which, however, were completely covered over with moss, and bore
evidence of having been in this condition for some years. No human
footprints were to be seen either on the track or among the bushes, but
those of the cat were found