"But I adore cats," declared Mombi and, before anyone could stop her, she thumped hard upon the gates. The walls surrounding Catty Corners formed a huge triangle and were so high that even by bending backward Snip could not see the top. As he straightened up, a door in the gray wall flew open and a simply enormous Tabby Cat, dressed as a guard, seized Pajuka by the wing and Mombi by the arm. "No boys allowed!" bawled the guard, bristling his whiskers at Snip. Before the little button boy could even wink, the cat had dragged his two companions in and slammed the door. Snip could hear Pajuka hissing and Mombi protesting in a shrill voice and next instant the door flew open and he, himself, was seized by a cat guard and jerked through. "He's my prisoner," cried Mombi defiantly, as Snip was lined up beside her. She had no intention of letting Snip out of her clutches. He knew entirely too much for that. "Well, he's my prisoner now," snarled the guard, giving Snip a shake. Then, looking more closely at Mombi, his eyes began to sparkle with pleasure. "Who are you, beauteous being?" purred the cat, doffing his cap. Pajuka, though badly scared by his predicament, could not restrain a loud chuckle. "I'm a witch!" answered Mombi, drawing herself up proudly. "A witch!" cried the second cat guard, releasing his hold on Mombi's arm. "Oh cousin, how splendid! The Queen must know of this." Throwing back his head he began to yowl in a hundred piercing and alarming cat cries. "What's he saying?" gasped Snip. "Sounds like cat fish to me," gurgled Pajuka, ducking his head under his wing. At the cat guard's call, hundreds of cats began to race toward the prisoners. They were as large as Snip himself, and of every kind and color imaginable. As soon as they saw Mombi, they began to purr with pleasure and delight, rubbing against her knees, knocking her hat sideways and pressing so close that Snip and Pajuka were almost suffocated. Then, forming a triumphant procession, they started for the center of Catty Corners. Mombi, like all witches, was fonder of cats than of anything else and walked along fondling first one and then another, while Snip and Pajuka, still in the clutches of the guards, followed in huge disgust. Several of the cats cast hungry looks at the goose, but most of them were too taken up with Mombi to even notice him. "Did you ever see such a place?" sniffed the little button boy scornfully. "Why, it's all fences." Even as he spoke, his cat guard sprang up on a white fence, dragging him along. It was so perfectly unexpected that Snip nearly fell on his nose but, glancing ahead, he saw Mombi nimbly walking the fence between two black cats. Pajuka had no trouble walking the fence either, though he was greatly inconvenienced by the guard who had hold of his wing. "If I just had a pair of clothes props," sighed Snip, balancing himself precariously. "Take hold of my tail," advised the guard gruffly, "and if you fall I'll scratch you."