The Story of a China Cat Part 8

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that!" sighed the China Cat. "If you could only be taken to the store of Mr. Mugg he would put a new tail on you.

He mended the broken leg of the Nodding Donkey."

"I'm afraid it is too late," whined the Cloth Dog. "But I am sorry for you. You are such a fine toy, and almost new."

"Yes, I am quite new. In fact, I have never been sold as yet," said the Cat. "I wouldn't be out of the store now, except for the fire. I was going to be taken by a very nice little girl named Jennie Moore. But now, alas, it is too late for that!"

"Tell me about the fire," begged the Cloth Dog. "It will make me forget that I have no tail."

So there on the shelf in the tenement kitchen, the China Cat told the Cloth Dog the story of the fire in the toy shop, and how she had come to be taken away by Jeff.

"I wondered where he had found you when I saw him bring you in this morning," barked the Dog, when the Cat finished her story. "Indeed, you have had many adventures; almost as many as I."

The two unfortunate toys became very friendly there in the half darkness of the night. The Cat was just telling about the Nodding Donkey, and how he had made the lame boy smile, when she suddenly stopped mewing.

"What's the matter?" asked the Cloth Dog.

"I heard a noise," said the China Cat.

"Oh, that's only rain," went on the Dog. "It is raining hard outside, and you hear it more plainly here because we are so near the street.

Don't worry. Though this place is dirty, no rain comes in."

So the Cat went on with her story, but as the rain came down harder and faster it brought her another adventure.

Not far from the tenement was a river. And because there had been much rain before this last hard shower, the river had risen very high, until it was almost ready to overflow the banks.

Down pelted the rain, and soon there was a louder roar in the street outside.

"Is that just the rain?" asked the Cat of the Dog.

"It does sound a little different," the Dog replied. "I wonder if anything is happening? And see, what is that on the floor?"

"It is water!" cried the Cat, catching the gleam of it in the light of the street lamp. "Water is running in under the door!" she added.

"Then the river must be overflowing," barked the Dog. "The water is running in here. Oh, what shall we do?"

As the two toys watched they saw the puddle of water on the floor grow larger. The rain pelted down harder than before, and all at once there was a shouting in the streets.

"Get out! Get out, everybody!" came the cry. "There's a big flood! The river is rising! Get up and get out, everybody!"

CHAPTER VII

THE RESCUE

For a few moments after this wild shouting in the street there was no sound in the negro bas.e.m.e.nt where the China Cat and the Cloth Dog without any tail were perched on the shelf. The rain pelted down harder than before, a regular flood in itself, and to the noise of the drops was added the roar from the flooded river.

Presently there came a pounding on the bas.e.m.e.nt door of the tenement where Jeff, the colored boy, lived.

Bang! Bang! Bang! came the loud knock.

"Who's dat?" asked Jeff's mother from the bedroom where she was sleeping. "Who's dat knockin' at de do'?"

Bang! Bang! Bang! came the sound again.

"Can that be thunder?" whispered the China Cat to the Cloth Dog.

"No, this isn't a thunderstorm," answered the Dog. "It is much worse than any thunderstorm I ever heard. There is going to be a bad time here, with a flood and everything."

"Who's dat?" asked the voice of Jeff's mother again, as the pounding at the door sounded a second time.

"The police!" was the answer.

Jeff, who had been awakened, heard this answer. He covered his head with the clothes, and cowered down in the bed.

"Oh, mah good land!" thought Jeff when he heard this. "De p'lice has done come to git me 'cause I took de China Cat! Oh, good land! I ain't so smart as I thought! Oh, dey's gwine 'rest me suah!"

But the police had not come to get Jeff. Once more the officer pounded with his club on the bas.e.m.e.nt door.

"Come there!" he cried. "Get up and dress and skip out if you don't want to be drowned! The river is rising. It will flood all these bas.e.m.e.nt tenements! You'll have to clear out--all of you! Wake up and get out!

We'll help you! Open the door!"

"Oh, ma.s.sy me! A flood!" cried Jeff's mother. "Does yo' heah dat, Rastus?" she called to her husband. "Dere's a flood an' we's done got to run out! Git up an' open de do' an' I'll roust up de chilluns!"

"I'll open the do,' Ma," said Jeff, slipping out of his bed, and as he swung the door open there stood a policeman.

"Come, boy; lively!" cried the officer. "You were long enough answering my knock. You've all got to leave here! How many of you are there?"

"Ten," answered Jeff, and he looked over the mantel shelf to see if the officer noticed the China Cat.

But the policeman had something else to do just then. He and others had been sent to the tenement district, near the rising river, to rouse and save the poor people from the flood.

"Ten, eh?" cried the policeman. "That's quite a family. Well, don't stop to put on more than a few clothes. There isn't any time to save things.

The river will be pouring in here soon."

"Some of it's heah already," remarked Jeff, as he saw the water on the floor.

"Lively now!" called the policeman again. "Here, let me take some of those," he said, as Jeff's father came out of a bedroom carrying in his arms two sleepy little colored girls.

The policeman wore a big rubber raincoat, which was dripping wet, and in the gleam of a light, which Jeff's father made, the wet rubber coat glistened brightly.

The policeman took the two little sisters of Jeff, and tucked them under his rubber coat. They were too sleepy to cry, having just been lifted from bed.

"This will keep you dry," said the officer. "I'll put you in the wagon and send you to the station house."

"Is yo'--is yo' gwine to 'rest 'em?" asked Jeff.