Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1913)

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90 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE about his work before the cook came downstairs. And in the meantime, and for a year to come, the ship, with the cat on board, was never heard from, and the cook took to cuffing Dick more and more as she thought of her poverty. At last the ship caught fire at sea, and a great fire mounted up from it over the dark waters, but the captain never gave up hope, and landed his men in small boats on the coast of Barbary, where the only people were the Moors, that had never seen the English. The horsemen of the plains came riding about the ship's crew in great numbers and shook their long spears in the sailors' white faces. But when the colorless strangers did not fight them, the Moors treated them civilly, and were very eager to buy the things that the captain had brought ashore. When the captain saw this, he was willing to be taken prisoner, and marched with them to the court of the king of the country. The king and queen, with all the veiled Moorish ladies of their court, were seated in the upper end of the room, and the}^ immediately ordered a banquet to be spread there for the captain. They had hardly sat down on the rugs before the rare dishes and fruits, when a vast horde of rats rushed in, helping themselves boldly from the dishes and dragging the food away. As the king and queen jumped away and the veiled ladies set up a din of frightened cries, the captain stood ground boldly with his sword, and speared as many of the fearless rats as he was able to. After a while the rest of the rats were satisfied and scampered away, winking evilly at the captain, and then the court came back, with nothing but a row of dirty dishes to eat from. The captain wondered at the whole proceeding, and asked if these vermin were not very offensive. "Oh, yes!" said the king; "very offensive, not to say disgusting, for they not only run off with my dinners, as you see, but they assault me in my chamber, and even in bed — life is hardly worth living, even as the King of Barbary." The captain jumped for joy; he remembered poor Whittington and his cat, and told the king that he had brought a creature from his ship that would dispatch all these rats with a switch of her tail. At this news, the king's heart heaved so high that his turban almost dropped off his head. "Bring me this, wonderful creature, ' ' he ordered, ' ' and if she will perform what you say, I will load you a new ship with gold and jewels in exchange for her." The captain, who knew his business, took this opportunity to set forth the merits of Miss Puss. ' ' Run, run ! ' ' broke in the queen, impatiently; "you cannot guess how eager I am to see the dear thing!" Away went the captain to his tent, while another dinner was got ready. He put puss under his arm and arrived at the palace soon enough to see the dining-hall full of rats again. When Dick's cat saw them, she did not wait to be told, but jumped out of the captain's arms, and in a few moments laid almost all the rats dead at her feet. The rest of them, in their fright, scampered away to their holes. The king and queen, who had been hugging each other in fright on a high dais, were quite charmed. Thereupon the captain called: "Pussy, pussy, pussy," and the ferocious creature ran up to him and rubbed her side gently against his legs. The queen was delighted. And when the captain reached down and stroked the animal's back, causing her to hump it with pleasure, the queen could scarcely contain herself with joy and affection toward the cat. The captain picked her up and set her in the queen's lap, where she played with her majesty's hand and sang herself to sleep. "I positively must have her!" cried the queen, quite enraptured; ' ' there could not exist a creature both more bold and lovable than this ! ' '