she found no means of coming down again. There was no
trellis; and a blank wall, without a single projection to afford a
footing, was beyond even her dexterity. There was nothing to be done but
to retrace her steps, I meanwhile running along the footpath, and
looking up with some anxiety.

But we were not obliged to go back very far. The middle house was an
inn, with a sign-post before it, from which hung a picture of a red lion
rampant,--an ugly beast, and far from royal. I thought I would have
shaken him to pieces if he had been alive, but under present
circumstances I was very glad to see him. Puss sprang from the roof to
the cross-beam which supported him, and from thence easily scrambled
down his post to the ground. Very glad I was to have her at my side
again, and to make our way through the village unmolested.

[Illustration: THE JOURNEY TO LONDON. Page 84]

All these freaks had rather hindered us, as people cannot go out of
their way for amusement without wasting more time than they reckon upon;
and I now urged Puss to resist such temptations, and to keep up a steady
walk on her side of the hedge. Not being able to climb myself, I had no
sympathy with her great love of the art; and, in fact, I had sometimes
considered her power of ascending heights, and finding footing in places
inaccessible to me, as a fault in her character. But as I did not wish
to be ill-natured and disagreeable, I indulged her taste, though
believing it to be useless, if not dangerous, and often persuading her
to keep to the beaten path in every thing.

But I thought myself wiser than I was, and I had to learn by experience
that every different nature and endowment may have its peculiar
advantages. Before we were out of sight of that village, the very talent
which I had despised was the means of saving Pussy's life.

The hedgerow, which had hitherto been our safeguard and screen from
impertinent observation, had come to an end; the fields were separated
from the road only by an open ditch, and young trees enclosed in palings
were planted at regular intervals along the path. We were trotting
leisurely, thinking of no mischief, when at a turn in the road there
suddenly darted out upon us a fierce and powerful mastiff. To leap the
ditch and be at Pussy's side was the work of a moment both for him and
for me, though with very different intentions; he to assail, I to defend
her. The attack was so sudden, that Puss had not time to use her we