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Read Ebook: Toto's Merry Winter by Richards Laura Elizabeth Howe
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Ebook has 788 lines and 43399 words, and 16 pages
"No, nobody there!" said little brown Scrabble.
"Hark! what was that noise?" cried Squeak.
"Only the wind!" said Scrabble.
"Do you think we can get through the crack?" said Squeak.
"Nothing like trying!" said Scrabble.
"Scrabble!" went little brown Squeak.
"Squeak!" went little brown Scrabble.
And the next moment they were in the kitchen.
It was nearly dark, but not quite, for the covered embers still sent out a dusky glow. It was warm; the floor was smooth and flat; there was a smell as if there might be something to eat, somewhere. Altogether, it was a very pleasant place for two little mice to play in; and as they had it all to themselves, why should they not play? Play they did, therefore, with right good-will; scampering hither and thither, rolling over and over each other, poking their little sharp noses into every crack and cranny they could find. Oh, what fun it was! How smooth the floor! how pleasant the dry, warm air, after their damp cellar-home!
Thoroughly sobered by this adventure, the two little mice sat on the floor beside the basin, dripping and shivering, the water trickling from their long tails, their short ears, their sharp-pointed noses. They blinked sadly at each other with their bright black eyes.
"Shall we go home now, Scrabble?" said Squeak. "It is late, and Mother Mouse will be looking for us."
"I'm so c-c-c-cold!" shivered Scrabble, who a moment before had been devoured by burning heat. "Don't you think we might dry ourselves before that fire before we go down?"
"Yes!" replied Squeak, "we will. But--what is that great black thing in front of the fire?"
"A hill, of course!" said the other. "A black hill, I should say. Shall we climb over it, or go round it?"
"Oh, let us climb over it!" said Squeak. "The exercise will help to warm us; and it is such a queer-looking hill, I want to explore it."
So they began to climb up the vast black mass, which occupied the whole space in front of the fireplace.
"How soft the ground is! and it is warm, too!"
"Because it is near the fire, stupid!"
"And what is this tall black stuff that grows so thick all over it? It isn't a bit like grass, or trees either."
"Home to our Mother Mouse! Home to our Mother Mouse! and never, never, will we leave our cellar again!"
But Bruin sat up on his haunches, and scratched himself and stretched himself, and gave another mighty yawn.
And stretching his huge length once more along the floor, Bruin slept again.
AT dinner the next day, it was noticed that Coon was very melancholy. He shook his head frequently, and sighed so deeply and sorrowfully that the kind heart of the wood-pigeon was moved to pity.
"Are you not well, my dear Coon?" she asked. "Something has gone amiss with you, evidently. Tell us what it is."
The raccoon shook his head again, and looked unutterably doleful.
"I knew how it would be, Coon," said the bear. "You shouldn't have eaten that third pie for supper. Two pies are enough for anybody, after such a quantity of bread and honey and milk as you had."
Coon sighed again, more deeply than before.
"Why, Coon," queried Toto, "what's the trouble?"
"Well," said Coon, "there was a piece left. I couldn't eat any more, so I put it away in the cupboard, thinking I would have it for lunch to-day. It was a lovely piece. I never saw such a squash pie as that was, anyhow, and that piece--"
He paused, and seemed lost in the thought of the pie.
"Dormouse!"
"Tree-toad!"
"Grasshopper!" murmured the squirrel, the bear, and Toto, simultaneously.
"Like a RACCOON!" he continued severely. "I can say no more than that; and I was desperately hungry. I went to the cupboard to get my piece of pie, and it was--gone!"
"Gone!" exclaimed the grandmother; "why, who can have taken it?"
"That is the point, Madam!" said Coon. "It was some small creature, for it got in through the crack under the cupboard door, gnawing away the wood. I have examined the marks," he added, "and they are the marks of small, very sharp teeth." And he looked significantly at the squirrel.
"What do you mean by looking at me in that way?" demanded little Cracker, whisking his tail fiercely, and bristling all over. "I've a good mind to bite your ears with my sharp teeth. I never touched your old pie. If you say I did, I'll throw this cheese--"
"Cracker! Cracker!" said the grandmother, gently, "you forget yourself! Good manners at table, you know. I am sure," she added, as Cracker hung his head and looked much ashamed, "that none of us think seriously for a moment that you took the pie. Coon loves his joke; but he has a good heart, and he would not really give you pain, I know. Of course he did not mean anything. Am I not right, Coon?"
It is only justice to the raccoon to say that he was rather abashed at this. He rubbed his nose, and gave a deprecatory wink at Bruin, who was looking very serious; then, recovering himself, he beamed expansively on the squirrel, who still looked fierce, though respect for "Madam" kept him silent.
"Those marks," interrupted the bear, who had risen from his seat and was examining the cupboard door, "were made by mice. I am quite sure of it."
"So am I," said Miss Mary, quietly. "I saw them do it."
"What!"
"You!"
"When?"
"How?"
"Tell us!" exclaimed every one, in a breath.
"Two brown mice," said Miss Mary, "came out from under the cellar-door about midnight. They gnawed at the cupboard till they had made the crack wide enough to pass through. Then I heard them say, 'Squash pie!' and heard them nibbling, or rather gobbling. After a while they came rushing out as if the cat were after them, and jumped into the water-basin. Then they tried to climb up Bruin's back, but he yawned like an alligator, and shook them off, and they ran hurry-scurry under the cellar-door again."
A great laugh broke out at this recital of Messrs. Squeak and Scrabble's nocturnal adventure, and under cover of the laughter the raccoon approached the parrot.
"Why didn't you give the alarm," he asked, "or drive off the mice yourself? You knew it was my pie, for you saw me put it there."
Miss Mary cocked her bright yellow eye at him expressively.
"I lost two feathers from my tail, yesterday," she said. "Somebody bit them off while I was asleep. They were fine feathers, and I cannot replace them."
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