The Nomad of the Nine Lives

Excerpt

Preface

"Uncle, why don't you write the story of your life?" So says my nephew Tom to me when he comes in and finds me sitting in a brown study before a comfortable fire. I have finally granted his request, for I have spent many an hour in relating my thrilling adventures to him and am sure that he has enjoyed them and even profited by them. Thus have I been persuaded to write this little book in the hope that it will be interesting to people as well as to cats.

Of course I am only a cat, but I have tried to be a good one, and I think that a good cat is of more use in the world than a bad human being. There is no doubt but that cats are important members of almost every household. What is home without a cat? Great is the comfort and companionship that have been brought by them into the lives of solitary spinsters; earnestly and faithfully have they slaved to free homes of destructive rats and mice, and have also protected the corn in the farmers' barns. When one reads of the terrible loss caused by these rodents, it is astonishing to think that their destroyers could ever be ill-used or abandoned. I shall quote as nearly as possible from a newspaper which I once heard my master reading, so you can see how a good many faithful cats are treated:

"There are probably few people in the city of Boston who realize that over 25,000 abandoned cats and 3,000 dogs are electrocuted each year by the Animal Rescue League, by means of a cage which is charged with a strong current of electricity. After entering and the door is closed, they die without pain or struggle. June is the time of year that people abandon dogs, cats and other pets, for at this time they move to the seashore and disregard their four-footed friends, leaving them to wander in the streets. It is the aim of the Animal Rescue League to procure and dispose of all animals thus abandoned and, whenever possible, they are provided with good homes. There were 27,607 cats rescued by the League in 1912 and each year the number increases."

Oh, the pity of it! This little story will, I hope, appeal to many, as it shows how keen are the sufferings of a pampered pet, thrown on its own resources and forced to wander day by day without food or water. Surely it may save some poor beast from misery, and I sincerely hope that it will not have been written in vain.

CHAPTER I

The first thing I remember is that all was dark, but that I could feel a mother's loving caress and knew that there were other helpless things in the same box with me. After several days, something large and strong lifted us, box and all, and carried us up into a much more pleasant place; I can still remember how good it smelled. Upon opening my eyes the next day, I beheld the face of my mother and found that we were seven, and were comfortably settled at the rear of a provision store. Mother did not feel at all safe; that I could see by the uneasy manner in which she looked about her, and started and trembled as people came to look at us. Once, if I remember correctly, she tried to bite a small boy who would persist in picking me up by the tail....