To his delight it seemed thick and stout . Another movement , and , by stretching out his paw , he would be able to draw the string towards him , when the branch gave a loud crack , and the cat made haste to wriggle himself back the way he had come . But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO it ; and this cat began to look about to see if there was really no way of getting at his ball . Yes ! there was , and it was much surer than the other , though rather more difficult . Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thicker , which he knew could not break with his weight ; and by holding on tight to this with all his four paws , he could just manage to touch the ball with his tail . He would thus be able to whisk the ball to and fro till , by-and-by , the string would become quite loose , and it would fall to the ground . It might take some time , but the lion 's little brother was patient , like most cats . Well , it all happened just as the cat intended it should , and when the ball dropped on the ground the cat ran down the tree like lightning , and , picking it up , tucked it away in the snake 's skin round his neck . Then he began jumping along the shore of the Big Water from one place to another , trying to find a boat , or even a log of wood , that would take him across . But there was nothing ; only , on the other side , he saw two girls cooking , and though he shouted to them at the top of his voice , they were too far off to hear what he said . And , what was worse , the ball suddenly fell out of its snake 's skin bag right into the river . Now , it is not at all an uncommon thing for balls to tumble into rivers , but in that case they generally either fall to the bottom and stay there , or else bob about on the top of the water close to where they first touched it . But this ball , instead of doing either of these things , went straight across to the other side , and there one of the girls saw it when she stooped to dip some water into her pail . ` Oh ! what a lovely ball ! ' cried she , and tried to catch it in her pail ; but the ball always kept bobbing just out of her reach . ` Come and help me ! ' she called to her sister , and after a long while they had the ball safe inside the pail . They were delighted with their new toy , and one or the other held it in her hand till bedtime came , and then it was a long time before they could make up their minds where it would be safest for the night .
At last they locked it in a cupboard in one corner of their room , and XXXXX there was no hole anywhere the ball could not possibly get out .
To across along as for from on though while with