But he didn’t seem to have any chance; so there he stayed and told stories till he longed to wring the necks of the gaping birds that kept asking him for more.

Now, all this time the cow had been getting more and more nervous.  Every day she thought of the poor old man and his meek little legs and his sweet old smile, and just how his coat-tails looked as he went up; till at last she laid her head down on a tuft of grass by the brook, and cried—­regularly boo-hooed.

Having thus relieved her feelings, she became calm, and, rising, said: 

“I’ll go to his house and find out how and where he is, if I can.”

So off she started.  But the house was shut up, and there was no one there except the cat.

Very much frightened the cat was, too, when the cow pushed up the pantry window with her horns, and bellowed: 

“Where’s your master?”

“I don’t know,” said the cat, retreating to a far corner, with his back up.  “I haven’t set eyes on him since last Sunday.”

“Oh dear!” sighed the cow, dropping the window with a crash that broke out two of the panes of glass.  “What shall I do?”

[Illustration:  “THE POOR OLD MAN WAS UP IN THE AIR.”]

“What’s the matter with you?—­and what do you want of the old man?” asked Tabby, bounding out through one of the broken panes.

The cow told him.

“Well,” said Tab, stroking his whiskers reflectively, “I guess I’ll go with you and help you look for the good-natured old creature.”

So they journeyed on, asking everybody they met about the old man.  But nobody knew, until finally they came across an old crow who knew everybody’s business.

“An old man?” said he.  “The eagle took an old man the other day.  Did he have very slender legs?”

“Yes, yes!” said the cat and the cow together.

“And a sweet smile on his face?”

“Yes, yes!” cried the cow.  “He went up with that smile, and it has been haunting me ever since,” and she burst into a flood of tears.

“Well,” said the crow, “he’s in the eagle’s nest telling stories to the eaglets, and if he isn’t tired of the business by this time, I’m mistaken.”

“Where is the nest?—­and how can we get there?”

“Up at the very top of the mountain yonder.  Go straight ahead, and you can’t miss it.”

[Illustration:  THE OLD MAN TELLING STORIES TO THE EAGLETS.]

So straight ahead they went till they came to the rock where the eagle’s nest was.  Then what should they do?  They could hear the old man’s little, thin voice telling stories to the birds, but they knew he wouldn’t dare come where the cow was, even if he could clamber down that steep rock.  At last, Tab suggested that the cow should hide herself, while he climbed up into the nest and persuaded the old man.  So the cow hid, and puss scrambled up to the nest and carefully poked his head in.