nd then they both began to scream,
"I won't come back! I won't come back!"

"I don't care what they do," said the old woman, "I'd much rather have a
cat for a pet than a parrot, anyway. He has been a dreadful care ever
since my son, who is a sailor, brought him home."

So Puss looked down from the tree and said, "Then would you rather I
didn't catch your parrot?"

"Yes, let him go," said the old woman.

"But I must catch the other one," said Puss.

"Well, you'll have to get a pair of wings, my dear Sir Cat," cried the
parrot. "You may be Puss in Boots, Junior, but you can't fly. So I bid
you farewell," and away he flew, and then the old woman's parrot clapped
his wings and followed him.

[Illustration]

So there was nothing for Puss to do but come down from the tree. And
then all of a sudden the old woman cried, "Why, here comes my son," and
a sailor boy jumped over the fence and threw his arms around her.

"My ship just got in to-day, mother," he cried, giving her a big hug.
And after that he looked at Puss, and said, "Shiver my timbers, but
that's a fine cat you have, mother."

"He's not mine," answered the old woman, "but I wish he would stay with
us, my parrot has just flown away."

"Thank you, madam," said Puss, "but I must be on my way to find my
father, Puss in Boots."

"We sail to-morrow," said the sailor boy, "why don't you come aboard
ship? You'll have a fine trip, and maybe you'll find your father at the
first sea-port we reach."

"Good idea," cried Puss, "I'll go with you."

"All right, my hearty," cried the sailor boy, slapping Puss on the back,
"you and I will be pals. A sailor's life is the life for me."

"Then I'll be a sailor, too," cried Puss, "and to-morrow we will sail
the ocean blue."

A WONDERFUL SHIP

"I SAW a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And it was full of pretty things
For baby and for me."

"Hurrah!" cried Puss, Junior, "A sailor's life is the life for me." The
good ship was at the dock, and her crew of sailor boys were ready to
cast off the mooring lines. Puss, Junior, had been promised a
sailor-suit as soon as the ship's tailor had the time to make it.

Just then the little woman who hung her baby's cradle on the willow tree
by the old mill, came walking down to the dock.

"Are you going, too?" asked Puss, helping her with the cradle, for she
had walked a long way and was very tired.

"Yes, indeed," she r