us?"

"Neigh, neigh!" cried the good gray horse as he gave a spring forward.

"Then go faster!" screamed the little old man.

"Gid ap!" yelled Puss, Jr. At this the horse with leaps and bounds came
closer and closer to the fleeing pig.

"I've got the rope!" cried the little old man.

"Make a big noose at one end," said Puss, "and as we draw near throw it
over his head."

"That I will," answered the little old man. "When I was young I was a
cowboy. I hope I've not forgotten how to swing a lariat."

As good luck would have it, he had not. All at once the little old man
swung the rope in the air and the noose fell over the pig's head.

"I've got him! I've got him!" cried the old man, and Puss, Jr., pulled
in his horse. The race was over and the old man, jumping down to the
ground, thanked Puss again and again for his assistance.

PUSS HELPS A LITTLE BOY WHO IS IN TROUBLE

The town of Banbury Cross was very pretty, situated at the corner of two
cross-roads, close to a sparkling river over which ran a bridge. As
Puss, Jr., on his good gray horse, whose feet went rackety-rackety,
rackety-tak over the broad planking, drew rein at the farther end a
small boy, who stood by the side of a pretty little pony, began to sing:

"I had a little pony,
His name was Dapple-gray,
I lent him to a lady
To ride a mile away.
She whipped him, she lashed him,
She rode him through the mire;
I would not lend my pony now,
For all the lady's hire."

"Neither would I," said Puss.

The little boy opened his eyes very wide. They were blue as the skies
overhead and were full of tears. "She whipped him, she lashed him,"
continued the boy. "I'll never again lend my pony to anybody."

"I wouldn't lend my good gray horse," said Puss, "for one never knows
whether a person is kind to animals or not."

"I never thought a lady would hurt my pony," sobbed the boy. "Just look
at him. He's all covered with mud."

"So he is," said Puss, consolingly; "but never mind. A good washing will
fix him up."

"But my father will be angry," said the boy. "He doesn't like to wash my
pony, and I'm too little."

"Let's take your pony down to the riverbank," Puss suggested. "We'll
find a shallow spot and wash him off. Perhaps we can ride him a little
way into the water; that would help." Tying his good gray horse to a
post near by, Puss led the pony down the bank to the river, the little
boy followi