Show A A K K x f I J K SCOTTT 9 fC I Ot of l Qa BY ERl ERNEST EST HAROLD B YN V HE first tune sa saw Scotty he was Sur aur Surrounded rounded by a group of children T the the veranda of a stammer in Q Mala ii e eThe The y stroked stoked hi fur far all pulled taU tail and arranged and re a blue lue ribbon ell pt his bis neck and the big ble cat evidently ed It all fir r instead of running Dg away he t tk arched arched b back ck and taU tail erect rubbing his sleek sees against the legs 0 of Jit his pia For a week or two After this I often saw NW thin t tan an enormous gray fellow with black bArS bags ro t g good with any member of the hou d who would play with him But one day a n came for Cor the man woo who lived In the col t and I he made immediate to e a and d his family for the west In the general excitement nota dy thought of until the question is 18 pUSSy gob too attention to the baby who appealed with Scotty cotty his JUs head clasped tight to her bel beland and the rest of his body trailing on the floor AU All AUthe the children wanted to take him bim of coupe OUNe but their mother and father realising the difficulties ea in floe pae way of taking the cat decided to te leave him believing that he W was 6 popular enough to be welt well looked after abler by the neighbors And In this they Were partly right for as coon Eoon as the hou house was vacant vant the big bAa gray y cat found a warm w welcome at any of the other he cho chose to visit But by and by the u e eat n netie came and with It chilly days wb h etie ue a few at ata time b back k to the c cities t the e 1st of October the last family left eft the pIece and aDd Scotty was alone aloM For n a little UttIe while he be got along without bar harp p The was not very cold yet and In a barrel at atthe atthe the back of one of the hOUses he found scraps which Ia lasted ted for several days After that he began to get hungry for the first time in his wandered nde from ope deserted garden to aIM for lor ng to eM eat No NorY and th he would leap to the sills of houses where h he Ji d otten been fed and meow plaintively in hopes of gaining tance One morning when hen he had beeR been without food for J O day the canto came 4 flurry of snow ow and with it a floel nees Which alighted l in 11 UI looted where n nad i aim had ad been es hang close to tM the b back k s steps ps th they arrived an and In an il tant his whole body took on an atU altitude e ot He WM was hungry and acid th there re was a breakfast dale b before tOTe him if h only onty catch Jt It c Silently f pr d his body closer to the ground and slowly as the hand tf of a acl clock cl he be moved toward the busy group p of slate colored birds In his eyes there was 4 cruel ruel leapt which had never neer n there before and which be intensified as he drew rew nearer to his p pray At lute last be gathered his legs w well Il under and leaning tw sr ward he sprang forward as though thrown front 4 catapult There was wa a whirr of small l wings w amongst the scattering snow snow and nd a of white as the juncos flew I is Js all allbut allbut but one flew away aey Scotty crouched o on th the sPOt w where ere he landed switching his tall tail angrily fro to side and gr growling as well as he be could w his teeth burled buried in the body of his victim In that hew was born in him No longer did he be prowl about the gardens or beH bIDon the window sills he be se seemed ined to realize that lie he satisfy his hunger only bY capturing living and d these he be hunted from daylight u until dark And It did not take him long to find out that more gone e was 5 to be had in the woods wood than near the houses b ao binto into the woods he went rot and ma made his home I in P file e hollow of a fallen tree Into which pouch enough hd had drifted to make him a bel Often he went hungry and once he almost starved to death but t a rabbit now and a squirrel then kept the lUft In his body hody until spring Then t the migrant birds to return and when hen they came in tired and list from their long journeys journey he found them easy y prey after the wary creatures he had bad hunted during the win er r And when hen they began to neat his wot c became easier still and he could either devour dint la is tile the 5 estt ester or tall fall upon them u as they blundered about t tOft Oft on the nd As a destroyer le a Wu was worse wone in itte respects than a fox or a skunk for he could and nothing was safe from him Among other birds he killed l pheasants and grouse and during the apr summer and nad autumn he be destroyed more game tn any other creature I in his territory The was was a verv very hard one aD and in spite or of Scotty Scottys great cunning and often otten went fent hungry for days at a time One utter night as h ht was stalking half famished O over the Ie snow he Started across an open space in the intact tonK X Next t morning g that Pen open Space looked like a battle field ld and indeed it was one for the snow raae ploughed up fo for may many yards rOund around and dYed with Uk 4 Feathers and aad gray fur were strewn in a KI wide circle in the outer edge of which Ia lay a horned dl deft with its mighty talons burled buried to the theIn In the back of a gray tom cat |