"But there _wasn't_ any school in _his_ room! So many of the kids went to Mag Macdougall's funeral that Miss Wheeler had to dismiss the room, didn't she, Sube?" Sube huskily admitted that she did, while Cathead bemoaned the misfortune of his being in another room, and Mr. Cane showed signs of being relieved, although he was at the same time annoyed at Cathead's forwardness CHAPTER VI REIMBURSEMENT There was something of a sensation at the breakfast table next morning when sube appeared with his best clothes on, and without waiting for interrogation modestly explained that his school suit had been incapacitated by his futile attempt to do the household a real service. He had arisen early and quietly taken the rake to the attic for the purpose of dragging the rainwater tank for the remains of an alleged dead cat. He had not succeeded in locating the body, but had unfortunately lost his balance and fallen into the tank, from which he had escaped with his life only after a terrific struggle (although the tank was not over three feet deep), and he called Cathead to witness that he had carefully examined Exhibit A and found it to be a thoroughly saturated and badly polluted suit of school clothes. "I declare!" complained Mr. Cane. "I never saw such a household as this. No sooner do we get rid of one scourge than another is upon us. Contaminated water is about the worst thing that can happen to a place. There's no telling when we'll get this thing cleared up. I suppose the plumber will be round here for the next month. I might as well make him a present of the house!" "Oh, well," soothed Mrs. Cane. "It might be worse. We'll miss the rain water, of course, but we still have the city water to fall back on." "Yes, but who wants to use that city water?" demanded Mr. Cane. "It's as hard as a rock! It makes my hands feel chapped just to think of it." Then turning to Sube he asked, "Didn't you find anything at all that might have made this trouble?" Sube appeared to be searching his memory. In reality he was searching his imagination. Finally he replied, "No, sir; unless maybe it could of been that little piece of fur I found in one corner." "There!" cried Mr. Cane. "Why didn't you tell me that before? I might have spent a hundred dollars having the plumber tear things to pieces in search of that same little piece of fur!" "I wasn't sure," muttered Sube. "I didn't know jus' _what_ it was." "Not sure, eh? Well what did it look like?" "It _looked_ like a rat," Sube fabricated. "What did you do with it?" "Threw it on the ash pile." "_I_ can soon tell," declared Mr. Cane. "But an ol' cat grabbed it and carried it away," romanced Sube.