THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS, JR.

"Oh, my pretty cock, oh, my handsome cock, I pray you do not crow before day, And your comb shall be made of the very beaten gold, And your wings of the silver so gray."

"Yes, indeed, thank you," answered Puss, now thoroughly awake and remembering how he had met Mother Goose the previous day, and how fortunate it was that she had agreed to take him back to Mother Goose Land."Cock-a-doodle-do!" said the weathercock.

"Crow as much as you like," said Mother Goose. "Now that Puss is awake you can make all the noise you wish. At first I thought we were not going to stop on your barn, Sir Chantecler, and that was the reason I asked you to delay your early morning crow so that we could be far away before you commenced. Puss is in need of all the sleep he can get, for in a few days he will be on his feet again.

He has still a long ways to go ere he finds his famous father, Puss in Boots." "Well," answered the weathercock, "I didn't crow before day, so kindly give me a gold comb and silver wings. "That I will," answered Mother Goose, "this very evening." "And who will bring them?" asked the weathercock, for he was very vain, and is sometimes called a weather-vane, perhaps for that reason.

"Who will bring them to me, and how am I to know that a gold comb will be becoming or that silver wings will suit my complexion?" "Leave that to me," said Mother Goose, with a lofty air. "Weathercocks only know of the breezes that blow; they swing back and forth when the wind's from the north, the south, east or west—they are never at rest." "More poetry from Mother Goose," sighed the weathercock.

"If people must talk, why do they want to rhyme it out? Let them talk in good old prose. It suits me best. Mother Goose evidently did not hear his remarks, for she was busily feeding the gander. Puss was stretching his legs by walking along the roof and watching some sparrows who were chirping under the eaves. Presently she called Puss. "We are off again," she cried; "get aboard the goose-ship!" When they were comfortably seated she turned to the weathercock and said: "This evening the sun will gild your comb and silver your wings just before he goes behind yonder western hill. Good-by!"

The weathercock did not reply, and the gander did not wait, but flew away with his two passengers safely sitting on his back.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky."

Puss repeated this little rhyme to himself as he looked at a lovely star that shone in the heavens with a soft and silvery light."I always liked that little song," said Mother Goose. "I've heard it time and again. Mothers always sing that to their babies just before they go to sleep." "Do they?" asked Puss. "Mine never did. She used to sing about little mice and birds."

Mother Goose laughed heartily. "It all depends on whose little baby you are," she said, "but I guess it all comes out all right in the end." The gander said never a word. He was doubtless too busy propelling his great wings and steering with his tail to pay much attention to what his two passengers were saying. I don't know whether there was a sign up like the ones they have in the cars, "Don't talk to the motorman," or not. At any rate, the gander observed the law, for he made no answer. On and on they went, through the night. Past cloud and star, over river and valley, hill and dale, swiftly and silently, for after these few remarks both Mother Goose and Puss grew very sleepy. It must have been well on toward morning before they awoke. Nestled on a soft, feathery gander's back, with the wind singing lullabies as you travel swiftly underneath the stars, is quite sufficient to keep any one asleep. It was indeed a mighty fine cradle, and if the morning sun had not poked his golden fingers into Puss, Jr.'s, eyes he might still have been sound asleep.

"Mother Goose," he cried, touching the dear old lady gently on the shoulder, "we are getting very near the earth. It's time for you to wake up." "To be sure it is," she replied, rubbing her eyes and arranging her curls beneath her old peaked hat; "to be sure, and, dearie me! I believe I have actually overslept!"

They were now close to the earth. The cocks were crowing lustily in the barn-yards, and every now and then the bark of a dog, faint but clear, would come to their ears.

"It's funny to look at a house from the outside in the early morning," said Puss. "I've always looked out from the inside."

"Of course you have, my dear little traveler," answered Mother Goose, "but now that you are on your journey to find your famous father, Puss in Boots, you will see many things very differently."

"Well," said the gander, for the first time speaking, "I'm a bit tired, so I think I will alight near this old barn." Puss was delighted, for he wanted once more to feel himself on earth.