Page:Comical transactions of Lothian Tom (5).pdf/4

 ( 4 ) then the vessel was like to be overset by the weight of herself, so she had to flee to the other; and finding the same there, from thence to the middle, where she sat mewing, always turning herself about, combing their noses with her foot. The old woman, being informed of the dan- gerous situation of her dearly beloved cat, came running with a long pole to beat off the dogs, and haul her ashore. What now, says Tom, if you be going to take part with my enemies, you shall have part of their reward : then gives the old woman such a push, that she tumbled into the dam over head and ears, beside her beloved cat, and would undoubtedly have perished in the water, had not one of the people, who was there looking at the diver- sion, came to her relief.

3. After this Tom was sent to the school, to keep his hand out of an ill turn: And having an old cankered, crab-witted fellow for his dominie, they were always at variance; for if Tom had got his whips, which he often deserved, he was sure to be revenged upon his master again for it. So Tom perceiving that his master had a close-stool in a little closet within the school, where he went to case himself. Tom gets a penny-worth of gun-powder