into her eyes. Yet he had received no mortal hurt.

He owed his rescue to a human hand, and the hand smoothed his poor
draggled coat, and pushed him inside his hole, while the cat complacently
purred. For two long hours he lay just within the entrance, exhausted, but
unattainable, and for two long hours the cat sat waiting for his
reappearance. Whenever he raised his head their eyes met.

* * * * *

Their eyes were meeting now. Consciousness returned to him for a few
seconds, and in those few seconds his blood turned to water, even as
before. She sat on the window-ledge outside. Her muzzle was pressed
against the glass, and he could trace the snarling curl of the lips,
which just revealed her teeth. He cowered back as far as possible.
Sooner or later she would find her way inside--and then?

* * * * *

He had only once been actually caught, but he was very near it in the
corn-bin. Now, a house-mouse has no right whatever in the corn-bin, and
yet it was a point of honour with the house-mice that they should visit
their stable relations at least once a week. It was the love of
excitement, more than the love of corn, which impelled them.

[Illustration: WAS IN THE ACT OF PUSHING HER INTO SHELTER.]

Crossing the yard was always risky work, whether one skirted the shadowy
side of the wall, or made a bold dash in the open. Then the simplest way
into the storeroom was through a hole in the corner of the window-sill,
and to reach this meant a clamber along a half-inch ledge, with the
certainty of falling into the water-tank if one missed one's hold.
Finally, the stable itself was the training-ground for the household
kittens.

[Illustration: THEIR STABLE RELATIONS.]

It was not a kitten, however, but a dog that so nearly terminated his
career. There must have been thirty or forty mice in the corn-bin at the
time. The lid was suddenly flung open, their eyes were dazzled by the
blaze of an upheld lantern, and, before they could realize their
position, a terrier was amongst them, dealing out scientific murder.
Fortunately, he, with one companion, had been where the corn was highest,
and a frantic scramble had landed them over the edge of the bin and down
behind it. But, from where he lay, he could hear plainly enough what was
happening. The mice were leaping in every direction against the polished
sides of the bin, missing their footing and falling back into th