"I have nothing whatever but a cat, which
I bought for a penny some time ago."

"Go, my boy, fetch your cat then," said his master, "and let her go."

Dick went upstairs and fetched poor puss, but there were tears in his
eyes when he gave her to the captain. "For," he said, "I shall now be
kept awake all night by the rats and mice." All the company laughed at
Dick's odd venture, and Miss Alice, who felt sorry for him, gave him
some money to buy another cat.

Now this, and other marks of kindness shown him by Miss Alice, made the
ill-tempered cook jealous of poor Dick, and she began to use him more
cruelly than ever, and was always making game of him for sending his cat
to sea. "What do you think your cat will sell for?" she'd ask. "As much
money as would buy a stick to beat you with?"

At last poor Dick could not bear this usage any longer, and he thought
he would run away. So he made a bundle of his things--he hadn't
many--and started very early in the morning, on All-hallows Day, the
first of November. He walked as far as Holloway, and there he sat down
to rest on a stone, which to this day, they say, is called
"Whittington's Stone," and began to wonder to himself which road he
should take.

[Illustration: Dick Whittington hears Bow Bells]

While he was thinking what he should do the Bells of Bow Church in
Cheapside began to chime, and as they rang he fancied that they were
singing over and over again:

"Turn again, Whittington,
Lord Mayor of London."

"Lord Mayor of London!" said he to himself. "Why, to be sure, wouldn't I
put up with almost anything now to be Lord Mayor of London, and ride in
a fine coach, when I grow to be a man! Well, I'll go back, and think
nothing of the cuffing and scolding of the cross old cook if I am to be
Lord Mayor of London at last."

So back he went, and he was lucky enough to get into the house and set
about his work before the cook came down.

But now you must hear what befell Mrs. Puss all this while. The ship
_Unicorn_ that she was on was a long time at sea, and the cat made
herself useful, as she would, among the unwelcome rats that lived on
board too. At last the ship put into harbour on the coast of Barbary,
where the only people are the Moors. They had never before seen a ship
from England, and flocked in numbers to see the sailors, whose different
colour and foreign dress were a great wonder to them. They were soon
eager to buy the goods with which the ship was