Where did she chase the little cat? (Out of the house.) Where did Dick take his cat? (Into his own garret.) One day what did the merchant say to his servants? (That a ship of his was going to sail to a far-away land.) What did he offer? (To send things and sell them for the servants.) What had Dick to send? (Nothing but his cat.)

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DICK AND HIS CAT (Continued)

Now the merchant had a little daughter, called Alice. She was a kind little girl. She looked at the sad face of poor Dick, and she said in a whisper to her father, "Why does not that little boy speak like the rest?"

"You had better ask him," said the father, giving his little girl a kiss before he went out of the

room.

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So Alice went up to Dick and asked him why he had not sent some small thing that could be 10 sold for much money in the foreign land, though it cost only a little here.

"All the rest are going to send," said little Alice, "and when the ship comes back they will

get the money. Why do you not send something

"I have nothing to send," said poor Dick, looking very sad. "I am a poor boy. I have noth

5 ing of my own but a cat."

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I have some money in my purse; I will give it to you," said little Alice. But Dick said that he should not like to take money from the little girl.

10 Just then the merchant came back into the room. He had heard what Dick said about having nothing but a cat.

"Fetch your cat, boy, and let her go,” said he. "I heard the captain of the ship say that he 15 wanted a cat to clear the ship of mice. He will give you money for her."

"But," cried Dick, "I could not give up my poor cat. She loves me, and I love her. She has grown such a beauty, sir, and she can almost 20 talk."

But Dick was at last tempted to send his cat. And as he went along the street with her, on his way to the ship, he heard Bow bells begin to ring.

Dick stopped for a moment to listen, and as he did so, their chime came to his ears like the sound of his own name. They seemed to say:

"Turn again, Whittington,

Lord Mayor of London."

"But it is very

"This must be my fancy," said Dick, as he ran on to the house of the captain. pleasant to be spoken to kindly, even by the bells. And I wonder whether good fortune is in store for me at last?"

The kindly message of the bells, however, could not keep Dick from being very sad at parting with his little friend.

for'eign (for'in), far away; cap'tain, one who commands an army or a ship; beauty (bū'ty); Bōw bells, the bells of an old church in London.

Oral Exercise. Which paragraphs tell about Alice and Dick? Would Alice and the merchant have thought more or less of Dick if he had taken the money from Alice? Why?

Which paragraphs tell about the merchant and Dick? Do you think Dick should or should not have let the cat go? Which paragraphs tell about the bells?

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10

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DICK AND HIS CAT (Continued)

THE ship, with Dick's cat on board, put out to sea. Soon there was a heavy storm, and the ship was nearly wrecked on the coast of a land then unknown to the English. This land was filled 5 with dark-skinned people called Moors.

When the captain and his men landed on this shore, the natives came in great numbers to gaze at them. They had never seen people with white faces before.

As they came to know the captain and his sailors better, these Moors would go on board the ship. The English sailors showed them all the goods which they had brought from England.

The Moors wished to buy them. As they 15 had gold in great lumps and heaps, they were willing to give a high price for what the servants had sent out from the merchant's house.

The captain, seeing how much pleasure the things gave, sent some of the goods to the king 20 of the country. He was so much pleased with

them that he sent for the captain and his friends to the palace.

Here they sat on cushions and carpets made of rich silk and worked in gold and silver. And the king and queen being seated at the upper end of 5 the table, the dinner was brought in.

But no sooner was the dinner set in front of them, in plates of gold and silver, than a rushing sound was heard. In an instant a whole army of mice and rats came running in.

They were so bold that they leaped on the table and began to devour the food from the king's own plate. In a few minutes nothing would have been left.

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The guests had to drive them away, and snatch 15 a few hasty morsels before they came back again. But the creatures seemed to care for nothing, for they ran back as fast as they were made to go.

The captain was full of surprise. "Are not these mice and rats a great trouble to you?" he 20 asked the king.

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Oh, yes, they are indeed!" said he. "They not only eat up almost all we have, but they disturb us even in our own bedrooms. We are sadly