"Have you had a rest now, Mew-Mew?" said Bow-Wow.

"Oh yes," said the cat, as she got on her legs again. "We will not go quite so fast now, will we?"

"As you please. If the men from the farm come after us, and take us back, it will not be I that am to blame."

They set off once more.

They did not keep to the road, for fear of those who might be on the lookout for them.

Some fields were much more easy to cross than others. The best of all were those of nice soft short grass.

The fields in which the corn had been cut, were very hard to get over. The short stems of the corn were sharp to their paws.

The field of large green leaves was not so bad to cross.

Still it was not nice to be out of sight the whole time, and only to know where the other was by calling out every now and then.

They could not run so fast as on the road, and though they did stop many times to rest, it was hard work for Mew-Mew.

She was short of breath, as you know. But, worse than that, her paws had become so large that she could only just get along.

"Oh, dear me!" she said, "what can have made my paws swell in this way, and what makes them so full of pain?"