The Case of the Missing Cat Read Free

I’ll bet you tonight’s supper scraps.”
    â€œNot enough.”
    â€œWell, then I’ll throw in tomorrow’s breakfast scraps too.”
    â€œTo be real blunt about it, Pete, scraps don’t excite me right now. If we’re going to bet, I want to bet something that really matters—something that, if lost, will hurt BAD.”
    â€œUmmm! That kind of bet!”
    I smirked and gave him a worldly, sideways glance. “Now you understand, Pete. No penny ante here. This is go-for-broke. Do you want into the deal or do you want out?”
    He studied his claws for a moment, I mean, the cat was obviously scared and stalling for time. “All right, Hankie, if that’s the way you want it.”
    â€œThat’s the way I want it.”
    His eyes came up. “I’ll bet you your job as Head of Ranch Security.”
    â€œHUH? My job as . . . now wait just a minute.”
    â€œYou wanted big stakes, right? You wanted to go for broke, right?”
    â€œYeah, but . . .”
    â€œThere’s the bet,” he grinned, “if you’re dog enough to take it.”
    My eyes narrowed and a growl began to rumble deep in my throat. “Watch what you say, cat. Your words could come back to honk you. And if your words don’t honk you loud enough, I might consider doing a little honking of my own. Repeat the bet.”
    â€œI’m betting your job as Head of Ranch Security that you can’t catch that rabbit.”
    My data banks whirred. “Let me get this straight. If I lose, you get my job as Head of Ranch Security. But what are you putting up? What happens if you lose?”
    â€œWell, if I lose, you win the job as Head of Ranch Security. We’ll both be playing for the same prize, and if the prize is the same for both of us, it has to be a fair bet.”
    I didn’t like the way he was grinning, so I took the time to study the deal from every possible angle. It checked out. For the first time in years, this cat had offered a deal that was equal, fair, square, level, and plumb.
    â€œAll right, cat, you’ve got yourself a bet. It’s a done deal and there will be no backing out.”
    â€œYou only get three tries.”
    â€œSure, fine, don’t bore me with details.”
    â€œBut what if you lose, Hankie? Will you pay off?”
    I laughed. “That’s not likely to happen, Kitty, but if it does, I’ll pay off. You’ve got my Solemn Cowdog Oath on it.”
    â€œMmmm. And a cowdog never goes against his oath, right?”
    â€œExactly. And now that you’ve committed yourself to the deal, I can reveal that you’ve made a very foolish blunder. Pete, old buddy, old pal, you’re fixing to lose it all on one roll of the dice.”
    He gasped! Yes, he tried to hide it but I saw him gasp. Hey, that cat was beginning to feel the jaws of my trap closing around him.
    All that remained was for me to lumber down and catch the rabbit, which would be a piece of cake for this old dog. I mean, catching rabbits was no big deal for me—just by George run ’em down and snatch ’em up in the old iron jaws.
    Yes sir, and when that happened, fellers, Pete the Barncat would be out of luck and out of business.

Chapter Three: The Case of the Lumber-Pile Bunny

    A s you might expect, old Pete was shaking in his tracks, and we’re talking about worried sick and scared to death.
    I guess he’d finally figgered out that he’d bet his entire future on this deal and that his chances of winning had come down to Slim and None.
    Slim Chances, not Slim the Cowboy. There are several Slims around here, don’t you see.
    Anyways, I headed down to the gas tanks to find the Lumber-Pile Bunny.
    Did I mention where he got his name? Maybe not. Okay, here we go.
    One of my jobs on the ranch was to identify and track the movements of every rabbit within the perimeter of ranch headquarters. At that particular time, I was