from side to side to brush off the flies. And maybe Puss never would
have passed her if she hadn't all of a sudden, with a loud moo, trotted
into a meadow spread over with butter-cups.

Well, after a little way, Puss almost ran into a big load of hay, and if
the farmer had kept on going down the road instead of turning into a
gate, I guess Puss would have never caught up with his Good Gray Horse.

"Gracious me!" said Puss, when the road was clear, "I must make up for
lost time." But just then a big black crow, who was sitting on a fence
post, called out:

"Where are you going so fast, Sir Cat?
Look out, or the wind will blow off your hat."

And he flew off the fence and settled on the handlebar.

"Oh, don't worry! You'll get him, all right," said the crow when Puss
told him what a hard time he was having to overtake his Good Gray Horse.
"I saw him go by a few minutes ago. He looked pretty tired." And then
the old black bird flew away to tell Mrs. Crow that he had seen a pussy
cat in boots riding a bicycle.

PUSS RECOVERS HIS STEED

THE girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain,
Cried, "Gobble, gobble, gobble!"
The man on the hill, that couldn't stand still,
Went hobble, hobble, hobble!

"Goodness me!" exclaimed Puss, Junior, as he mounted the bicycle which
the kind owner of the Willow Tree Inn had lent him, "I can't understand
a word the girl says. I asked her if she had seen my Good Gray Horse and
she answers, 'Gobble, gobble, gobble!'" And then little Puss gave a
great sigh, for it's pretty hard luck to have your horse stolen while
asleep in a strange inn, although it's mighty lucky to have the
innkeeper lend you his bicycle.

Well, after a while and many a mile, the road began to wind up a hill,
so Puss got off and pushed his wheel ahead until by and by he met a
little old man. He held a stick in both hands, on which he leaned as he
hobbled along.

"Did you see a runaway horse?" asked Puss.

"I did, indeed, my good Sir Cat," answered the hobble-hobble man. "He
went by but a few minutes ago. There were fairies on his back. I
thought at first I must be dreaming, till I remembered once before in my
life seeing a swarm of fairies, if I might use the word, from yonder
forest in hot pursuit for a bold robber who had waylaid a traveler."

[Illustration]

"Thank you," said Puss. "I must catch up with them, for the horse
belongs to me