fo' nuffin, if dat p'liceman don't see me.'
Jeff, who was dirty and ragged, watched his chance. He had come from his home in a tenement house, not far from the fire, and his eyes glistened when he saw so many toys out on the street.
'Um-ah! Jest look at 'em!' murmured Jeff. 'Golly! I kin git one as easy as not outen dat open box! Wait till dat p'liceman turns around.'
Jeff watched his chance. The policeman on guard moved off to one side. In an instant Jeff, the dirty little black boy, sneaked up, and, thrusting in his hand, which was black with dirt as well as being covered with black skin, he took up the pure, white China Cat.
'Dis am just whut I want!' whispered Jeff.
'Oh, my, how dirty he is! Oh, I can't bear to have him touch me!' thought the China Cat. 'I dread dirt more than I do water! Oh, what shall I do?'
But she had no chance to do anything just then, for, with a quick motion, Jeff, the colored boy, thrust the China Cat inside his dirty, ragged blouse.
'Oh, I'll be smothered!' thought the poor China Cat. 'What a dreadful fate to be taken away by a dirty boy! And only an hour ago I was so happy! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!'
CHAPTER V. ROUGH PLAY
You can just imagine how the China Cat felt. Always so clean and white, always washing herself if she found the least speck of dirt on her, always keeping as much as possible away from dust and grime-and now to be spattered with water, blackened by the smoke of the fire, and finally thrust inside the soiled blouse of a not very clean boy! Oh, it was terrible!
The China Cat said it was, over and over again; to herself, of course, for she dared not speak aloud, nor so much as mew, while Jeff, the colored boy, had her. And Jeff certainly had the China Cat.
Jeff's eyes sparkled with delight as he pressed the toy up under his blouse, out of sight, and then he darted away from the pile of toys, on the sidewalk-toys that had hastily been carried out of the burning store.
'Hi, golly! I's done gone fool dat p'liceman,' murmured Jeff, as he stepped off the sidewalk and made his way out of the crowd in front of the burning store. 'He tole me to keep away from dem toys! But I sneaks up when he isn't lookin', an' I gits de bestest toy ob all! Golly! I's smarter dan a p'liceman, I is!'
Jeff grinned, showing two rows of white teeth in his black face. Indeed, Jeff's teeth were the only clean things about him, it seemed. At least they were white, though I can not say that he ever used a tooth brush. His teeth were as white as was the China Cat when she was her very cleanest. But she was not at all clean now. And you know how unhappy this made her feel.
There was so much excitement now in front of Mr. Mugg's toy shop, with the fire, the smoke, the water, the fire engines, the firemen and the police, to say nothing of the crowd that had gathered, that no one paid any attention to Jeff. Away he sneaked, with the China Cat under his blouse.
'I's smart, I is!' said Jeff to himself, grinning. 'I could 'a' tooken a lot ob toys; but I liked dis Cat bestest ob all. She's so white!'
Jeff did not mind the black specks from the fire that had settled on the cat, and he cared nothing about the grimy marks his own dirty hands had made.
It was broad daylight now, and the firemen were getting the best of the fire. By pouring a lot of water from their hose down in the basement, the blaze had been put out, though there was still much smoke.
Jeff, the negro boy, shuffled off down the street on his way back to his home. When he was nearly there he met some other colored boys.
One of these lads, named Sam, saw that Jeff was hiding something under his blouse.
'Hello, Jeff!' called Sam. 'Whut yo' got there? Something good to eat?'
'Nope, 'tain't nuffin to eat!' declared Jeff. He and Sam talked negro talk, of course, just like Topsy, the colored doll, whom the China Cat at first thought would rub off some of her black.
'Whut yo' got then?' asked Sam. 'Show me!'
'Yes, show what yo' got, Jeff!' cried the other colored boys.
'Oh, I ain't got nuffin much!' Jeff answered, as he moved away from Sam and the other boys. Sometimes they had taken things away from Jeff, and Jeff was afraid that was what they were now going to do. Inside the blouse of the colored boy the China Cat heard what was said, but she could see nothing.
'I wonder what is going to happen?' she thought.
'Jeff has got something!' declared Sam to his chums. 'Let's catch him an' take it away!'
'All right!' agreed the other colored boys. They made a rush for Jeff, but he was too quick for them. Pressing his hands over his blouse, at the spot where the China Cat was stuffed, so she would not bounce out, Jeff ran down the street.
'I's got something yo' can't have!' he cried. 'An' yo' all can't catch me, an' git it; dat's whut yo' can't!'
Away he sped, and he was such a good runner that the other boys could not come up to him. Around the corner of one street, down another and up a third ran Jeff, and then he darted down the stairs into what was almost a cellar, though it was called a basement. It was here, in some poor, miserable rooms, that Jeff lived with his brothers and sisters.
'Whut de mattah, Jeff?' asked his mother, a large, fat, colored washerwoman. 'Am de p'licemans after yo' a'gin?'
Jeff had run so hard that he was out of breath, and could not speak for a few moments. Hidden as she was, inside his blouse, the China Cat could feel Jeff's heart pumping hard, and notice his rapid breathing.
'Dear me!' thought the China Cat, 'this is a dreadful state of affairs. I wonder if I am ever to get out of this smothering place. I don't like it, cooped up like this! I want to get out in the air, and have Geraldine or Angelina wash me!'
You see the China Cat did not know all that had happened to her. She hoped she would soon be back in Mr. Mugg's store, washed nice and clean, and set on a shelf. But the store of poor Mr. Mugg was in a sad state now, even though the fire had been put out.
As Jeff's breathing became easier, his brothers and sisters, who were just getting up out of their beds, crowded around him. His mother, who was getting breakfast, asked him again:
'Jeff, am de p'licemans tryin' to git yo'?'
'Nope!' answered the colored boy. 'I runned 'cause I wanted to git away from Sam Brown an' his crowd. Dey was gwine to take mah cat away from me!'
'Yo'
Jeff wiggled and twisted as he reached his hand inside his blouse and pulled out the China Cat.
'Dere she am!' he cried, holding her up. 'Dere's mah pussy! I done got her at de fire, an' de p'liceman didn't see me!'
For a moment there was silence in the dingy basement tenement where Jeff lived. His brothers and sisters, all smaller than he, crowded up around him as he held the China Cat high in the air.
'Ain't she jess boo'ful!' murmured one little black girl.
'Kin she wiggle her haid, like I done see a Donkey shake his haid in de toy shop?' asked one of Jeff's brothers.
'Lemme hab her!' pleaded the littlest black girl of all.
'No, suh!' declared Jeff. 'Dis am mah white pussy, dat I done took outen de fire an' de p'liceman didn't see me, an' I's gwine to keep her, I is!'
He held the China Cat higher above his head.
'Oh, mercy me!' thought the poor white pussy, 'I hope he doesn't let me fall. Oh, how miserable I am! So dirty, and in such an unpleasant place! I thought I'd be back in the toy shop with the Talking Doll and my other friends!'
The China Cat did not at first know where she was when Jeff pulled her out from beneath his blouse. It had been dark in there, but it was lighter in the kitchen, and this confused the toy animal. But when she had a chance to look around, held up high in the air as she was, she did not at all like her new home. And she was very much
