<h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XIX<br/> <span class='large'>THE CLOSE OF THE SUMMER</span></h2></div>
<p class='c010'>I am ashamed to say that weeks and weeks
have gone by since I have sat down at night
and had a good think over things that are
going on about me.</p>
<p class='c000'>I have been happy and busy. All day long
something was happening on the farm to
keep us interested, and nearly every night
Serena and I would run about and play, till
we were so tired that we just tumbled into
our nice beds.</p>
<p class='c000'>It seems impossible to think that the summer
is about gone. “Why, Aunt Tabby,” I
said to her just now, “surely it was only
yesterday that I asked you why Farmer
Gleason made nice little beds for the seeds
to go to sleep, and then kept fussing with
them till I was sure he would wake them
up.”</p>
<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>Aunt Tabby smiled. “You were a very
ignorant little city cat. Now you know something
about grubs and worms, and the constant
care a farmer has to put forth to keep
his crops from being eaten up.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“The haying was beautiful,” I murmured.
“I wish the sweet smelling days could come
again.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“A pity Thummie has hay-fever,” said
Aunt Tabby. “He is glad when the haying
is over. It was pitiful to hear him sneezing
when the men were unloading the hay-carts.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“I admire Thummie,” I said warmly.
“He is a brave cat not to desert his post
when it becomes unpleasant.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“He's all right in winter,” said Aunt
Tabby. “He is out a great deal, and then
when he is cold he sits on a cow's back.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Bessie is his friend, isn't she?” I said.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Yes, the Jersey. She loves Thummie.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Here comes Joker,” I said, as he walked
down from the barn and sat beside us.</p>
<p class='c000'>I said nothing aloud, but I thought to myself
how much Joker has improved since we
came to the farm. Aunt Tabby says it is
<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>because he has been much with Serena and
me, and less with the untrained Blizzard and
the slippery Rosy.</p>
<p class='c000'>I think he is better because Slyboots gave
him such a beating for taunting poor Serena,
however, I don't like to say this to Aunt
Tabby. These country cats all stand by each
other.</p>
<p class='c000'>“I've got some news for you,” said Joker
to me. “I'm afraid you're soon going
away.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“From the farm?” I said in dismay.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Yes, I just heard Farmer Gleason tell
one of the men that soon you'll all be going
back to Boston.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Why, the summer has passed like a
dream,” I said.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Perhaps you'll come back next summer,”
said Aunt Tabby.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Oh! I hope so,” I said. “I just love
this place.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Slyboots is a lot better for her visit,”
said Aunt Tabby. “Her eyes look quite
strong now.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“She strained them trying to see mice and
<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>rats in the Boston streets when she was cold
and hungry,” I said. “She was all run
down.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“We are just like human beings in that
way,” said Aunt Tabby. “If we're not
properly fed and housed, all our bodily functions
suffer.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“What's a function?” asked Joker slyly.
“You're trying to talk Bostonese, like Serena,
Aunt Tab.”</p>
<p class='c000'>Aunt Tabby thoughtfully licked her paw
and said nothing.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Where is Serena?” asked Joker looking
round.</p>
<p class='c000'>“On the upper veranda,” I said.</p>
<p class='c000'>“She never got over that mole-hunt, did
she?” he went on.</p>
<p class='c000'>“A cat that never has trouble doesn't
amount to much,” said Aunt Tabby. “You
know that, Joker.”</p>
<p class='c000'>He hung his head, then his eyes twinkled,
and he looked at me. “We ought to weigh
Black-Face before she goes back to the city.
She's gained about three pounds since she
came!”</p>
<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>I gave a little sigh. My appetite is my
weak point. Then I said, “Your cream
here is so delicious, and I have never tasted
such bread and butter in Boston, nor such
savory meat.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Put a rein on your appetite, Black-Face,”
said Joker, “or you'll have kitten's
gout.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“There are the Denvilles coming up from
the meadow,” said Aunt Tabby, “and little
Mary with them.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“All as brown as berries,” said Joker.
“That child ought to live in the country.”</p>
<p class='c000'>There was certainly an immense change in
our dear little Mary, and just now a wonderful
thing happened. Her parents came up
the hill, went to the barn, then began to descend
the slope to the carriage-house. Little
Mary left her parents and ran ahead—actually
ran—a thing I had never seen her do
before, though she could walk very fast.</p>
<p class='c000'>I saw Mrs. Denville stop and snatch at her
husband's arm as if she were going to fall.
One hand pointed to Mary. Her lips were
moving. We cats knew that she was saying—“My
<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>little girl can run—she is stronger
than when she came. What wonders the
country has done for her.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“You'll come next summer fast enough,”
said Aunt Tabby.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Oh, I wish we could stay till apple-picking!”
I said, casting a glance at the old
orchard where each tree was a perfect sight
with its load of red fruit.</p>
<p class='c000'>“You might be cold,” said Aunt Tabby
cautiously. “Up here in Maine cool winds
sometimes blow, and the farmers get their
fingers nipped while they are picking the
apples. Often Mrs. Gleason sends out hot
drinks to the orchard to keep the men warm
while they are up on the ladders at work.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Well, we have had a lovely summer,” I
said. “We shall have very pleasant things
to think over during the long winter.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“I liked that picnic down by the river
about as well as anything,” said Joker licking
his lips. “I've often heard folks talk
about picnics but they always went so far off
that cats couldn't go. Now, when Farmer
Gleason had that one right here at home
<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>after haying, and had all the men who helped
him and their families, I thought it was
fine.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“I liked the big evening party,” I said,
“when people drove in from miles round,
and they had speeches and singing.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“And I liked the school children's parade
on the Fourth of July,” said Aunt Tabby,
“when they all marched up from the schoolhouse
with banners, and had that play-acting
on the front lawn and the feast afterwards,
and nobody got hurt at fireworks.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“It was all good,” I said—“all this last
part of the visit has been lovely. I think it
must be easier to have happy times in the
country than in Boston.”</p>
<p class='c000'>Aunt Tabby smiled. “You are young,
Black-Face. When you are older, you will
know that whether you are happy or unhappy
depends on the kind of cat you
are.”</p>
<p class='c000'>Before I could answer her Slyboots came
trotting up. She seemed unusually excited
for her. “What's this I hear about going
back to Boston?” she said.</p>
<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>We told her what we had heard, and I said,
“Don't you want to go?”</p>
<p class='c000'>She shuddered as she said, “I hate the
train.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Do you want to stay here?” asked
Joker.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Wouldn't be square,” she said firmly.
“I'm the Denvilles' cat and I've got to stick
it out with them.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“They'll always be good to you,” said
Aunt Tabby. “You can trust those
people.”</p>
<p class='c000'>Slyboots looked at me. “Is Serena going
to live with us?” she said.</p>
<p class='c000'>“I suppose so,” I replied in surprise. “I
have never asked her.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“You just go find out,” she said. “I
guess she'll jar you.”</p>
<p class='c000'>I fled up-stairs to the veranda. Serena
was lying with half-shut eyes, and occasionally
glancing up into the blue sky seen
through the tree-tops.</p>
<p class='c000'>Something told her I was coming, and without
turning her head she said, “The hawk
is around. Go warn Mona.”</p>
<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>I flew down-stairs. There was great talk
on the farm of the intelligence of the St.
Bernard, whereas we cats told her when
the hawk was coming, and the birds told
us.</p>
<p class='c000'>As I ran up to the barn I threw swift
glances about me. The little birds knew.
Wild sparrows, swallows, goldfinches, purple
finches, robins, and ever so many other birds
were all flying toward the west. The pigeons
saw them, and they were high up in the
air circling as swiftly as they could round
and round the carriage-house, so the hawk
could not drop on them from above. The
hens didn't know yet, for Beauty and her
brood were following Bobby, the tame pig,
up and down the young orchard where he
was rooting up worms. He wouldn't let any
other hen and chickens get near him.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Mona, Mona,” I mewed as I ran to the
barn floor, “hawk! hawk!”</p>
<p class='c000'>Mona opened her great jaws and bellowed,
“Bow! Wow!” as she ran from the barn
to the house and then to the orchard.</p>
<p class='c000'>Every creature understood her warning
<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>note, and she was not the only enemy the
hawk had. There was a furious scolding and
chattering from the pine trees beyond the
orchard where a pair of crows had had a nest
during the summer. They had seen the
hawk, and they worried him till he passed
by the front door of their nest where the
young ones used to be.</p>
<p class='c000'>He had a hard flight that morning. By the
time he reached the farm, every chicken was
hiding under bushes, or in the buckwheat, or
under the veranda, or on the woodpile, and a
pair of king-birds were nearly driving him
crazy.</p>
<p class='c000'>Aunt Tabby had explained to me when I
first came to the farm about these brave little
birds, who are never frightened of a hawk
and who do no harm, though they are often
accused of eating too many bees. Aunt
Tabby, who has watched them closely, says
they kill a thousand noxious insects for
every bee they eat.</p>
<p class='c000'>Mr. Hawk flew away to the westward, but
the little frightened birds were all scurrying
ahead of him, and he would not be able to do
<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>much damage in that direction. As soon as
I saw the last beat of his powerful wings, I
ran back to Serena.</p>
<p class='c000'>“Oh, sister!” I said, “have you heard
that we are soon going back to Boston?”</p>
<p class='c000'>She turned her handsome eyes on me.
“No, but I imagined the subject would soon
be under discussion.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“And are you going to live with the Denvilles?”
I blurted out.</p>
<p class='c000'>She smiled half sadly. “No, Black-Face,
I am going back to our parents.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Oh, Serena!” I said, “I am much disappointed.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“That is nice in you, Black-Face, but I
must do my duty. Our father and mother
have missed me, and in thinking things
over lately, I know I did wrong to leave
them.”</p>
<p class='c000'>I was so surprised that I did not say anything
for a long time. Then I murmured,
“You will come to see us sometimes.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Oh! yes,” said Serena brightly. “We
are close by.”</p>
<p class='c000'>“Serena,” I said, “are you going back
<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>home because you want to, or because you
ought to?”</p>
<p class='c000'>“The latter first, but I'll make it the
former, before I'm done with it,” she said
with a laugh.</p>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>
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