like a Dog, was flying, but all in vain; the monstrous pursuer
overtook her, but missed her in the darkness, and hurried past to
be lost in the night, while Kitty crouched gasping for breath,
half a mile nearer home since that Dog began to bark.

This was her first encounter with the strange monster, strange to
her eyes only; her nose seemed to know him and told her this was
another landmark on the home trail. But Pussy lost much of her
fear of his kind. She learned that they were very stupid and
could not find her if she slipped quietly under a fence and lay
still. Before morning she had encountered several of them, but
escaped unharmed from all.

About sunrise she reached a nice little slum on her home trail,
and was lucky enough to find several unsterilized eatables in an
ash-heap. She spent the day around a stable where were two Dogs
and a number of small boys, that between them came near ending
her career. It was so very like home; but she had no idea of
staying there. She was driven by the old craving, and next
evening set out as before. She had seen the one-eyed
Thunder-rollers all day going by, and was getting used to them,
so travelled steadily all that night. The next day was spent in a
barn where she caught a Mouse, and the next night was like the
last, except that a Dog she encountered drove her backward on her
trail for a long way. Several times she was misled by angling
roads, and wandered far astray, but in time she wandered back
again to her general southward course. The days were passed in
skulking under barns and hiding from Dogs and small boys, and the
nights in limping along the track, for she was getting foot-sore;
but on she went, mile after mile, southward, ever