as one."

"And charge for two pair, I warrant, also," cried Puss, with a grin.

"I can give you fine work," said the cobbler.

"Are you sure?" asked Puss. "My last pair, which was unfortunately
burned up in a fire, was made by a royal cobbler."

"I have not made boots for royalty," replied the cobbler, "but I made
the shoe in which an old woman lives with so many children that it would
take you an hour to count them all. That was some job, let me tell you.
One doesn't often live in a shoe, although one may walk in one."

"You don't mean to tell me you made that wonderful shoe?" cried Puss.

"Most certainly, my good Sir Cat."

[Illustration]

"Then you shall make me a pair of boots. And, mind you, my good man,
they must have red tops."

"That they shall," said the cobbler. "Dismount, and come into my humble
shop. I would measure your feet."

"Perhaps you have a pair on hand that will fit me," said Puss, gazing
about the tiny shop.

"I will see," replied the cobbler.

"I am in haste," said Puss, as the cobbler looked over his stock. "I am
in haste, for I have yet a long journey before me, and cannot delay. I
am in search of my illustrious father, Puss in Boots."

"What!" cried the cobbler. "I once made a pair of boots for a cat. Could
it have been the noble Puss in Boots?"

"Tell me where he lives," cried Puss, much excited.

"Ah," replied the cobbler, "that I do not know, for it is many years ago
since I made the boots. But here is a pair I think will fit you."

"I would rather that you had told me where my father lives," said little
Puss, Junior, "than to have found a pair of boots."

"They are certainly a fine fit," said the cobbler, gazing with
admiration at Puss, Junior's, feet.

"Yes," answered Puss, "and here is the money. Good-by," and off rode our
little hero, still in search of his father, the famous Puss in Boots.

DOCTOR DRAKE

DOCTOR DRAKE kept a shop,
Of dimensions not large,
In a hole in the haystack
By the side of the yard,
Where he dispensed certain small stones
And one or two gravels,
With sundry rare herbs
He had found in his travels.

"I hope the good doctor's at home," said Puss, as he reined in his Good
Gray Horse. "I don't feel at all well to-day."

So he dismounted and knocked on the front door, and pretty soon the
famous duck doctor appeared. He wore a big pair of spectacles and a