‘Poor old Nipper!’ said Jack softly, as he picked me shivering out of the little tree and stowed me safely inside the breast of his coat. ‘We won’t run any more risks of that sort, will we, old chap?’ Indeed, the fright was so severe that I did not get over it for some time. It gave me a good lesson, and the next time my master let me out I did not venture far from him. Soon after this I had another adventure which came very near to closing my career abruptly. One dull rainy morning I was loose as usual in Jack’s bedroom. Just as he had almost finished dressing, his brother, whose room was on the same floor, opened the door and called to my master to come and help him to find one of his mice which had got loose and disappeared. Jack ran out, carefully closing the door behind him, and leaving me to play by myself. A few minutes afterwards one of the maids, thinking no doubt that Jack had finished dressing and had gone down to his early morning lesson with his tutor, came in to turn the bed down and tidy up. She never saw me, and I paid no attention to her, for I was busy under the dressing-table with some nuts. It was some minutes after she had gone away that I became conscious of an animal moving softly about the room, and a spasm of terror seized me, for though I could not see it owing to the hangings of the dressing-table, instinct—that sixth sense which informs us of danger—gave me warning of desperate peril. Crouching back as near to the wall as possible, I lay there absolutely still, listening with beating heart to the almost noiseless footsteps which came gradually nearer and nearer. I could tell by the soft snuffing that the animal scented me, and terror almost paralysed me. Closer and even closer came the creature, and presently the hangings of the table rustled, and as they were pushed aside a whiskered head appeared, and two eyes that glowed luminous green in the dim light glared upon me. Stiffened in my corner I watched the cat crouch for a spring, her gleaming eyes fixed greedily upon me, while her tail waving quickly from side to side, made a soft tattoo on the carpet. Those cruel green eyes absolutely fascinated me, and for the moment I could not have moved even to save my life. Suddenly came a loud crash. The door left open by the maid had blown to in the strong draught from the open window. The noise startled the cat almost as much as it did me, and for the moment she took her eyes off me. The spell was broken and I ran for dear life. As I passed under the hangings and out into the open I heard her heavier, larger body strike the very spot where I been crouching, and with another spring she came out from under the table and landed barely her own length behind me. One wild bound to the right and I was inside the fender; another, and my enemy’s outstretched paw actually grazed my tail as I bolted clean up the chimney, and a snarl of disappointed rage gave me the glad tidings that I was for the moment safe.