The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-06-24
THE LINKS THE CAT FORGED.
BY w. ]. HENDERSON,.

BY w. J. HENDERSON.
1t was past II o'clock when l opened
the door and the black cat walked slow
ly out and down the steps waiting t.
see if l followed. l turned up the col
lar of my coat, for the air was chilly
and wen out again into the beautiful
October night. The street was as 81
lent as the footballs of the 1.-the anima
softly walking down the steps. I'll,
black cat led the way, and L followed
Why, | do not know.
Two nights before l had walked III
from my office late with a friend. II
was long past midnight when we turn.
ed into the quiet street where 1 lived
talking about 1 know not what. Sud.
denly there stepped out of the shadow
of a huge tree a black cat. Looking
neither to the right nor the left, she
walked deliberately before lis.
Hal" said my friend. with a tragic
air, "a cat!-a black cat! Let us fol
low the cat!"
And then he laughed, and ever as he
walked the echoes down the street,
can not tell why-I shivered. The cat
walked silently along past the lower
steps of the flights leading down from
the houses, keeping apace or two ahead
of us. My friend left me at his door,
saying, Goodnight. Beware of the
cat. | went to my house not far be-
yond. At the steps the cat stopped,
hesitated for a moment, and then walk
up to the door. Somewhat surprised, 1
followed.
i do not like cats. They seem to me
to be treacherous, dangerous brutes,
and | am even half afraid of them. But
when the black cat stopped at nv door
L determined, for some meXplicable
reason. to admit her. She seemed to
know my room, for she walked up the
single flight of stairs before me and en-
tered the o as | opened the door. I
found her stretched out on the floor
when l had lighted the gas, and if she
had lived in my room all her life she
could not have appeared more at home.
For the same inexplicable reason that 1
admitted the cat to my house I allowed
her to email in my room.
The next evening l came in earlier;
it may have been 10 o'clock. The
black cat met me at the door and dart
ed by me as | stepped over the TIRES
hold. Then, as | turned to see with
er she had gone, Ifelt a pull at the leg
of my trousers, and saw that the cat
had fastened a claw there and was
certainly trying to draw me from the
house. l stopped down and softly
stroked the animals back, at the same
time disengaging her claw. Then L
turned and entered the house, and the
cat, after a moment of apparent ire
solution, followed me, mewing strange
ly.
The mex night she again met ME at
the door, and the effort to draw me
from the house was repeated. The
desire was SO apparent that | was puz-
zled, and, [ own, a little disturbed.
The cat went with me to my room, and.
sitting there in the freight. with her
bright eyes starring at me, ] formed a
purpose to yield to this curious within
if it were again displayed. 1 tried to
reason with myself, but reason seemed
to have given way to an impulse as
uncomfortable as it was mysterious.
l passed an uneasy night and then a
day, half hoping that when evening
my unbidden and unwelcome
guest would be gone. 1 heard the
in the houses along the street
where l lived strike II as | walked
down toward my door. As I stepped
over the threshold l saw the fiery eyes
of the cat in the dark hall. A cold
SILVER passed through my frame. 1
trembled with an excitement as intense
as it was sudden. My heart began to
beat SO loudly that l involuntarilv held
my hands over it as if to still it. Then
my resolution | followed
cat down the steps and strobe after
her as she fitted down the street.
1t wa a black night. Heavy, swol-
len grayclouds had been hanging low
the sky when darkness came on, and
now they draw an impenetrable veil be-
tween the earth and the stars. The
old, winding streets of the quarter of
5he town in which l lived were silent
and deserted. Now and then a gust of
wind swept down and swung some shut
Ter back upon its hinges with a hoarse,
sound. The moaning of the
wind was full of strange meanings to
Ny thoughts wandered off through
he black arches of that dismal night,
md as l strobe down the street drawn
rresistibly after the noiseless black cat,
here came up before me Il vivid picture
If the tragedy which had come into
ny life only a year before, when l had
completed my college course.
I saw my fathers house-a large
White building, surrounded by spacious
and standing in the middle of "A
vide, velvet-like lawn. l saw my faith
II sitting in his comfortable library,