when miss kitty cat awoke from her nap she got up and stretched herself. in her opinion, a nap was no nap at all if one didn't stretch after taking it. "there's nothing like a good stretch to make a person limber," she often remarked.

of course, in order to climb trees, or spring successfully at a rat or a mouse, miss kitty had to keep her muscles supple. and since it happened, now and then, that others jumped unexpectedly at her, she believed in always being ready either to chase or to be chased.

after she had smoothed her fur to suit her, miss kitty went to the door and mewed patiently until farmer green's wife opened it. then miss kitty cat slipped out of the kitchen and found herself in the woodshed. a highly interesting place, it seemed to her, with any number of crannies to offer lurking-places for mice. she decided at once that the woodshed would be a fine spot in which to hunt in stormy weather.

feeling much pleased with her new home, miss kitty hopped down upon the great flat stone that served as a step from the woodshed to the ground. she couldn't help thinking, as she sat there, what a pleasant yard farmer green had. she noticed that there were trees enough about the farmhouse to furnish homes for plenty of birds.

and if there was one thing that missp. 11 kitty cat liked it was to visit birds right where they lived.

seeing a faint stir in the grass not far away, she began to creep towards it. miss kitty had found that it paid to look into such things. often she had surprised a meadow mouse in just that way.

this time, however, it was miss kitty cat herself that was surprised. she was so intent on her own important business that she never took her eyes off that spot where the grass had moved. and that was why she didn't see old dog spot when he stuck his nose around a corner of the farmhouse.

now, spot's ways were quite different from miss kitty's. whenever he set out on a hunt he never could keep still. so the moment he caught sight of miss kitty cat he gave a joyful bark. at the same time he bounded towards her.

of course spot's yelps warned her to run. the moment she heard his first bark she forgot all about her own hunt, being herself the hunted. she scurried off across the farmyard, with spot tearing after her.

if she had had time enough miss kitty would have climbed a tree. but spot was altogether too near her for that. and being a stranger about the farmyard, she hadn't learned all the fine hiding places. since spot was between her and the house, she made for the barn and sprang through the open door. inside spot quickly cornered her.

with her back arched and her tail almost as big as tommy fox's brush, miss kitty cat turned and faced her pursuer.