Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1903-07-23

to a dead tree that lay out from the
bank into the river maybe ten foot
or more a Saller cat came trottin'
She was the yallerest cat | ever see
and the little kitten that was foIler-
in right at her heels was jest as
yaller as the cat was.
The old cat pranced out on to
the log as fur as she could git, and
that brung her close to the water.
She scrooched down, and the kitten
squatted on the log jest behind her
and said nothin'.
"'There's gon' to be some doin's
here says l. 1 feel it in my bones,
l says.
And sure enough, it wasn't long
before the doin's begun. They start
ed in with the old eat jabbin' one
Of her paws down and snatchin'
somethin' out o. the water.
las she riz her paw 1 see it was
full o. somethin' that wiggled and
squirmed like all possessed, tryin'
| to git away. When the cat see what
it was that she had she spread a
smile all over her face. Her paw
was full O young catfish, and if
there is one thing that sreeps OF
flies or swims or runs that a cat
likes better than another it's cat
fish.
THE old cat picked out a couple
O. the fish and passed 'em back to
lt- %
the rest o the handful herself.
They tickled her palate 50 that she
dabbed both paws down in the wa
ter and brung up a mess o. young
catfish in each one, and her and the
kitten got away with them and
smacked their lips.
Then | looked a little closer and
rescued her family from the holser
stump. She was layin' by the log,
lookin' scared, and l seen that most
of her family O young ones was
missin'.
THAT cat says I, is swoopin'
that catfish's family off the face o.
the earth so to speak, says l, as
sure as wasps astingin!' says l.
"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
catfishs family and divide up with her
kitten, that old catfish actually turned
white around the g'ills'
'She seen it all at last and with one
all-wollopin' slash of her tail she
jumped onto that log like britchy
COW gOin' over a barnyard fence, and
Je-e-e-wiHikens 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 a
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' EN-
to the winds so fast that | see there |
wouldn't be one of 'em left to tell the
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 !
exllaratln' 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
q ri II -
cussin'. Merciful mani | jest had to
plug my fingers in my ears, | couldn't
bear to hear it so!
when the whirlin' and back-talk
quit, the catfish was back in the water
There was ca Ctish hide stretched here
and there on the log most enough to
make a saddle, and enough yaller haG
scattered about to stuff it with. The
yaller cat was sort o liCkin' herself
here and there, and the catfish was
glarin' at her.
The kittin' was standin' on the log
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, seein' that the old cats
kitten was still left, made up her mind
that she'd put an end to the cats fam
lily and sort o even things up, so she
sprung back on to that log, grabbed
the kitten, and swallowed it, whole
and alive, right before its mothers
eyes.
"Jumpin' back into the water, the
catfish turned and stuck her big head
out. close by the log, and as the old cat \
was tearin' her hair, as you might say, v
Dr leastways what little she had left, J
and was mournin' and moanin' for her \
ost kitten, the fish opened her mouth t
rom ear To oar So aS the cst couId a