r.

"Not now," she said. "Let's wait."

Grater began to sing in a harsh voice. As Hortense listened to the
words, she hastily put her hand to her throat to make sure that the
little monkey charm was safe, for it was certain the words referred to
it.

_I'll have the charm
That saves from harm;
The charm I'll have
And make her slave;
It's on her neck,
And I expect
She'll die of fear
When I come near.
On her I'll grate
As sure as fate._

This was certainly a disagreeable prospect, for Grater must prove very
scratchy indeed.

"I surely must keep away from him," Hortense reflected.

She forgot her fear of Grater in a moment, however, for there was a
noise as of claws on the attic floor, and the movement of a heavy body.

"It's Alligator!" she said aloud.

"Yes, it's me," Alligator answered. "Don't anybody try to stop me. I
know that Cat's upon the roof, and I mean to have him. I'll swallow him
whole."

"The Cat is dancing with Grater," said Hortense, "and Grater is a
terrible person. You daren't swallow him, for he's all hard and covered
with sharp points."

"I am myself," Alligator said. "I'll look him over, but it's the Cat I
want. Warm and soft, he'll be."

Alligator started up the ladder, and Hortense and the others pressed
aside to let him pass. Softly he slid out of the window upon the roof
and was half way down it before the Cat saw him.

Jeremiah, with a howl, leaped to the top of the chimney, his back
arched, his tail as large as a fox's brush.

Grater, who was a nimble fellow for all that he looked so clumsy, after
one glance at Alligator ran quickly around to the other side of the
roof, and Alligator, with the slow, relentless movement of a traction
engine, continued after Jeremiah. Jeremiah remembered his former
unhappy experience, apparently, for with one despairing meow he
disappeared down the chimney. They could hear him falling slowly, his
claws scratching the bricks. As he fell, his cries grew fainter and
fainter. As for Alligator, he stood with his short forelegs resting on
the chimney top, the picture of disappointment.

Hortense and the others were so absorbed in this interesting scene that
they had quite forgotten Grater. His sudden appearance at the window so
surprised them that all four slid down the ladder in a panic.

"Quick, the trapdoor!" Hortense cried.

"Let me fight him!" Malay Kris begged.

"No, no, not here!" Hortense said an