‘The people who make their home with us greatly prefer cats, and every cat I have ever met says cats are much brighter than dogs,’ said Oxford. ‘Prove it,’ Spot said with a loud bark. ‘Can you climb a tree?’ Sally asked. ‘I am so superior that I do not have to climb trees,’ said Spot. ‘Can you catch a mouse?’ Oxford inquired. ‘I don’t care about mice. I can be a true companion for man. Men don’t climb trees, at least not as a rule, and they can’t catch mice. And dogs are unselfish. I have heard of many a dog losing his life to save his master, or dying of grief because his master has died.’ Oxford and Sally were considerably impressed. For once Oxford was at a loss as to what to reply, but Sally was thinking things out. ‘I would do a great deal for Miss Harvey,’ she said. ‘Maybe some day I’ll have a chance to save her life, but what good does it ever do to die of grief if one loses a friend? It seems to me wiser just to be a good friend to all the friends one has left than to die of grief.’ Sally was astonished at her own words, but she had learned this from Oxford. And just then who should come along the avenue that led to the two houses but Mrs. Conant with her husband in their automobile. ‘Spotty, what are you doing here? I didn’t mean you to get out until we came back,’ said Mrs. Conant. ‘John, you had better get out and take Spot back with you, and I’ll go on to the house. Spot has treed two cats.’ As Spot walked off unwillingly with his master, he flung back these words, ‘I’ll ask Mrs. Conant my exact pedigree and I’ll tell it to you the next time we meet.’ ‘We don’t have to take that trouble,’ Oxford retorted; ‘our family tree is complete in our heads, beginning with William the Conqueror and coming down to Martha Furbush-Tailby, our great-great-grandmother, and then to William Furbush-Tailby, the poet, and then to his daughter, who married our grandfather Oxford Forepaw Gray; his son was my father, Oxford Gray, and I am Oxford Gray, Junior.’ ‘I know who you are, you are a no-account bragging cat,’ said Spot, as he vanished into the house. [Illustration] CHAPTER XVI THE TRAVELING CAT One day Sally looked out of the screen door and she saw a new cat looking in at the window. He had a glossy coat of long black fur, and a white shirt-front and four white paws. At least they once had been white, but they were dirt-color from much traveling. Sally looked at the cat and the cat looked at Sally. He asked Sally if he could get a meal at the house. Sally was about to say she would speak to Elvira, for she could always attract her attention by mewing or clawing her gown, when Oxford came to the screen door. ‘You can’t. This is my house. Clear out, and don’t show your black coat around here again!’ The black cat was very much offended. ‘I am an important person,’ he hissed back. ‘I’m a great traveler. I’ve come all the way from Malden, and I’ve been at the wharves in Boston and taken one or two sea voyages.’