"You"d think so if you were I. It was Miss Kitty Cat. And when she left she took one of our nestlings with her."
"Perhaps she only borrowed it," Rusty Wren suggested. "Maybe she"ll return it to-day."
"No!" Jolly Robin told him. "If she comes back again it will only be to take another one."
Suddenly Rusty Wren remembered that he had urged his wife to be cordial to Miss Kitty Cat the next time she called at the cherry tree where they lived.
"I must hurry home!" he cried. "I must warn my wife."
"But your youngsters are safe," Jolly Robin a.s.sured him. "Miss Kitty Cat can"t reach them inside the tin can where you built your nest."
"That"s true," Rusty Wren admitted. "But there"s my wife! Miss Kitty might harm her, if she caught her unawares." So he started for home at top speed.
XIII
AN UNWELCOME GUEST
AS he neared his home in the cherry tree, Rusty Wren saw a fearsome sight. Miss Kitty Cat was crouched right on top of the tin syrup can which Johnnie Green had nailed to the tree. Inside that can was the Wren family"s nest. And inside the nest were some brand-new youngsters, only two days out of their sh.e.l.ls.
It was no wonder that when Rusty Wren came hack from the orchard and saw such a sight he began to shriek.
"What are you doing on my roof?" he shrilled.
Miss Kitty Cat looked up calmly and watched him as he hopped about in the top of the tree above her head.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Miss Kitty Cat Looked Calmly at Rusty Wren.]
"I"ve come to make another call on your wife," she explained.
Then a m.u.f.fled voice chirped, "She"s been here a long time and I can"t get her to go away."
The moment he heard that, Rusty Wren felt better. It was his wife"s voice and it meant that she was safe. To be sure, Rusty knew that she was a prisoner in her own house; for it was plain that she dared not leave it so long as Miss Kitty Cat stayed on the roof, ready to grab Mrs. Wren the moment she stepped out of her doorway.
"Your wife is very shy," Miss Kitty remarked to Rusty Wren with a sly smile. "I"ve been hoping to get more acquainted with her. That"s why I climbed up and sat on your roof. When people are shy and don"t invite me inside their houses I believe in making myself at home outside, while I wait for them to appear."
From her doorway Mrs. Wren called to her husband, "Don"t let her deceive you with her pretty talk! Remember what I told you! She"s mealy-mouthed.... If you had seen her trying to reach her paw through the door you"d know how dangerous she is."
"There!" said Miss Kitty Cat with a sigh. "People never seem to understand my ways. I was only trying to shake hands!"
"With her claws!" cried the m.u.f.fled voice of Rusty Wren"s wife. "Ugh!
She"s a wicked creature if ever there was one."
"Go away!" Rusty Wren scolded. "Get off my roof! Get out of my cherry tree!"
By this time feathered neighbors of the Wren family were arriving from all directions. They didn"t hesitate to call Miss Kitty Cat names. And some of them even darted quite near her, as if they meant to peck her eyes out.
Miss Kitty began to have a worried look.
"Goodness! Where do they all live?" she asked herself. "I had no idea there were so many birds around here. There"s better hunting than I supposed."
Try as they would, the birds couldn"t budge Miss Kitty Cat from the top of Rusty"s house. He was frantic, poor fellow!
"I don"t know what to do," he wailed. "My wife will starve in there--and the children, too."
Just then little Mr. Chippy came hurrying up to him.
"Don"t worry!" Mr. Chippy cried. "He"s coming! He"s on the way now; and he can get you out of your trouble if anybody can."
Miss Kitty Cat p.r.i.c.ked up her ears. She couldn"t help hearing what Mr.
Chippy said.
"I shall stay right where I am," she declared. "n.o.body can make me move."
She had scarcely finished speaking when a most unexpected sound startled her.
It was "_Meaow!_"
XIV
CATCALLS
PERCHED on top of Rusty Wren"s tin house, Miss Kitty Cat had been enjoying herself thoroughly, while the birds made a great how-dy-do and tried in vain to frighten her away.
When she heard all at once an unexpected _meaow_ she showed that it startled her.
"A cat!" cried Miss Kitty. "I didn"t suppose there was another cat for miles around." She looked about on all sides, on the ground and in the tree-tops. And there was no cat anywhere in sight.
Meanwhile the birds were all exclaiming, "There! He"s here. Now Miss Kitty Cat had better watch out."
Again a strange, mocking catcall sounded from somewhere. There was a sort of jeer about it that aroused Miss Kitty Cat"s anger.
"He"s come, has he?" she exclaimed to little Mr. Chippy, who chattered at her from a good, safe distance. "If he"s looking for a fight I"d be pleased to have him come and get it."
Whoever the stranger was, and wherever he was, he knew how to tease Miss Kitty Cat. Now he howled at her from the thicket of lilac bushes on the edge of the flower garden. Now he mewed at her from the hedge in front of the farmhouse. And though Miss Kitty Cat tried to get a glimpse of him, she couldn"t see anything that even faintly resembled a cat.
The annoying cries moved from one place to another. She was sure of that. But the one that made them managed to stay hidden.
"This is queer!" Miss Kitty Cat said to herself. "Can it be that there"s a cat"s voice around here, and nothing more? A cat without a voice wouldn"t be so strange. But a voice without a cat--that"s the oddest thing I ever heard of!"
At last Rusty Wren seemed to take heart. And his wife, inside their house, abused Miss Kitty Cat loudly--or as loudly as she could from inside the tin syrup can.