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Sammie and Susie Littletail

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<h2> XVII </h2> <h3> SUSIE AND THE WHITE KITTIE </h3> Susie Littletail had gone for a walk in the woods. It was coming on spring, but the little bunny girl did not go to see if there were any wildflowers peeping up. Indeed, she cared very little about flowers, except the kind that were good to eat, and these were mostly clover blossoms. So that is what Susie went out to look for. Uncle Wiggily Longears had said to her that day: "It seems to me, Susie, that it's getting quite warm out. My rheumatism is better, and it never does get better unless it's getting warm. So, of course, it must be getting warm." Susie thought so, too. "Then if it's getting warmer it must be almost spring," went on her uncle. "Now, if I were you, I would go take a walk and see how the clover is coming on. Some nice, fresh clover would taste very good." "I'll see if I can get you any," spoke Susie, who was a very good little rabbit girl, and who always was kind to her old uncle. So that is why she was walking in the woods. She was almost through the place where the tall trees grew, and was just going to step out into a field that looked as if it had clover in it, when she heard a funny little noise. It was a sort of a squeak, and at first Susie thought it might be Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, for, sometimes, the muskrat started off with a squeak when she wanted to talk. But it was not her nurse whom Susie saw. Instead it was a dear little pussy kitten. "Did you make that funny noise?" asked the little rabbit girl of the kitten. "Yes," answered pussy, "but I don't call it a funny noise." "I do," went on Susie. "It was not at all funny, and I don't see anything to laugh at," spoke pussy, and then Susie saw that the white kitten had a large tear in each eye. "That was a mew," the kittie said. "Why did you mew, pussie?" asked Susie.  <center><ANTIMG src="images/112.jpg" height-obs="573" width-obs="355" alt="Illustration by Louis Wisa"></center> "Because I am lost, and I don't know my way home. I guess you would mew if you couldn't find your papa or mamma." "No," said Susie, "I wouldn't mew, but I would be very much frightened. But why don't you go home?" And Susie sat up and wrinkled her nose, just like water when it bubbles in the tea kettle, for that was the way she smelled, and she wanted to see if she could smell danger. "How can I go home when I don't know the way?" asked the white kitten. "Which way did you come in here?" "If I knew that, I would know which way to go back home," the pussy replied, and the large tears, one in each eye, fell out and dropped on the ground, while two more came into her eyes. "Are you crying because you are lost?" asked Susie. "Of course. Wouldn't you?" "Perhaps," answered Susie. "But you see I never was lost. I can always smell my way home, no matter how far off I go," and she wiggled her nose so fast that it made the kittie quite cross-eyed to watch it, and being cross-eyed made pussy sneeze. Then the pussy felt better. "Can you show me the way home?" asked the kittie of Susie. "Not to your house, for I don't know where it is," answered Susie, "but I could show you the way to mine." Then the white kittie wanted Susie to do this, but the little rabbit girl thought it might not be safe, for the little kittie might show the big cats where the new underground house was. "What is your name?" asked Susie of the kittie. "My name is Ann Gora, but every one calls me Ann." "That is a funny name," said Susie. "I don't think it is at all," went on the kitten. "It is no funnier than Susie," and she began to cry again. "Oh, don't cry!" exclaimed Susie, and she patted the kittie on the back with her foot. "Come with me. We will walk through the field, and maybe we will see your house. I think you must live in a house with people, for kitties never live in the woods like the squirrels, or in burrows as we do. We will look until we find a house with people in it, and maybe you belong there." "That will be fine!" cried the kittie, and she dried her tears on her paw. So Susie and the kittie walked on together. And pretty soon Susie saw a little girl coming toward them. The little girl was looking in the grass, and calling, "Ann—Ann," in a soft voice. And when she saw the little kittie she ran to her and caught her up in her arms and hugged her. Then Susie Littletail ran home, for she was afraid of little girls, and on the way she saw that the clover was coming up nicely, so she told Uncle Wiggily. Now, if it is not too cold to-morrow night, I am going to tell you about Sammie and the black doggie.     <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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