The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-01-20


and said nothin'.
There's goin' to be some doin's
here says l. I feel it in my bones.
i says.
And sure enough, II wasn't long
before the doin's begun. They start
ed in with the old cat jabbin' one
of her paws down and snatehin'
somethin out o. the water.
AS she riz her paw 1 see IT was
full o. somethin' that wiggled and
sqnirmed like all possessed, tryin'
to git away When the cat see what
1t was that she had she spread a
smile all over her face. Her paw
was full o. young catfish, and il
there is one thing that creepa or
flies or swims or runs that cat
likes better than another it's cat
fish.
"The old cat picked out couple
o. the fish and passed 'em back To
her kitten on the log, and gobbled
the rest o. the handful herself.
They tickled her palate so that she
dabbed both paws down in the wa
ter and brung up mess O. young
catfish in each one, and her and the
kitten got away with them and
smacked their lips.
Then looked little closer and
| seen the old catfish that had
rescued her family from the hoIser
stump. She was layin' by the log,
lookin' scared, and seen that most
OF her family O. young ones was
missin'.
That cat says l, is swoopin
that catfish's family off the face o.
the earth, so to speak, says /, as
sure as wasps astingin'r says /.
The old catfish hadn't jest got on
to what was goin' on yit, but when the
yaller cat on the log reached down and
scooped out another handful of the
catfish's family and divide up with her
kitten, that old catfish actually turned
white around the gills.
She seen it oil at last, and with one
all-wollopin' slash Of her tail she
jumped onto that log like britchy
COW goin' over barnyard fence, and
Je-e-e-willikens borax! maybe she
didn't swat that yaller cat She swept
that yaller cat of O that log as if she
hadn't been nothin' more than
feather.
Then the catfish stepped back into
the water and waited to see. The yal-
Ter cat scrambled back on to the log.
and her dander was up as high as it
could git. Oh, but she was mad.
She pranced up and down the log
minute, and at it ag'in she went, scoop
in out young catfish and scatterin' 'em
to the winds so fast that l see there
wouldn't be one of 'em left to tell the
tale unless the old catfish got her sec
ond wind pretty quick and done some
thin
"And she got her second wind, and
riz up ag'in that yaller cat ag'in most
exilaratin' for TO see. Seems to me
for five minutes there wasn't nothin'
to be seen on that log but whirlin
streak o. yaller sort o. mixed up with
a whirlin' streak o. black and cat
cussin'. Merciful mani / jest had to
plug my fingers in my ears, couldn't
bear to hear it sol
When the whirlin' and back-taIk
quit, the catfish was back in the water.
There was catfish hide stretched here
and there on the log most enough to
make saddle, and enough yaller had
scattered about to stuff it with. The
yaller cat was sort lickin' herself |
here and there, and the catfish was |
glarin' at her.
The kittin' was standin' on the log i
With her back way up, and her tail
swelled like rollin' pin, and she was
spittin' away at that catfish fierce as
Wildcats. The last one o. the catfish's
family had been swept off the face of
The earth.
The catfish, seem that the old cats
kitten was still left, made up her mind
that she'd put an end to the cats FAM
ly and sort o. even things up, SO she
sprung back on to that log, grabbed
he kitten, and swallowed it, whole
md alive, right before its mothers
yes.
"Jumpin' back into the water, the
atfish turned and stuck her big head
tut, close by the log, and as the old cat
vas tearin' her hair, as you might say,
II leastways what little she had left.
md was mournin' and moanin' for her
ost kitten, the fish opened her mouth
rom ear to ear, so as the cat could
lear her kitten cryin' way down in
he catfish's depths. Say! could
ear that kitten cry myself, way over
N the bank where was settin'l
well, that voice of her kitten was
more than the bereaved yaller cat
ould stand. She pounced square on
OPP of the catfish and they both went
own together.
Il didn't see nor hear nothin' more
( either of 'em for maybe three min
ties, and | made up my mind that the
at had gone TO join her kitten, when
see ripple on the water, and the
ext minute the yaller cat come to the
1p.
"She swan ashore, and she had the
atfish in tow. The catfish was dead.
nd considerable clawed up.
"The yaller cat drug it out on
lore. Then she ripped it open with
er claws, and out stepped the kitten,