"Now, boys," said Mrs. No-Tail, the frog lady, to Bully and Bawly one
day, as she put on her best bonnet and shawl and started out, "I hope
you will be good while I am away."
"Where are you going, mamma?" asked Bully.
"I am going over to call on Mrs. Longtail, the mouse," replied Mrs.
No-Tail. "She is the mother of the mice children, Jollie and Jillie
Longtail, you know, and she has been ill with mouse-trap fever. So I am
taking her some custard pie, and a bit of toasted cheese."
"Oh, of course we'll be good," promised Bawly. "But if you don't come
home in time for supper, mamma, what shall we eat?"
"I have made up a cold supper for you and your papa and Grandpa
Croaker," said Mrs. No-tail. "You will find it in the oven of the stove.
You may eat at 5 o'clock, but I think I'll be back before then."
Poor Mrs. No-Tail didn't know what was going to happen to her, nor how
near she was to never coming home at all again. But there, wait, if you
please, I'll tell you all about it.
Away hopped Mrs. No-Tail through the woods, carrying the custard pie and
the toasted cheese for Mrs. Longtail in a little basket. And when she
got there, I mean to the mouse house, she found the mouse lady home all
alone, for Jollie and Jillie and Squeaky-Eaky, the little cousin mouse,
had gone to a surprise party, given by Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrow
girl.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you," said Mrs. Longtail. "Come right in, if you
please, Mrs. No-Tail. I'll make you a cup of tea."
"Oh, are you able to be about?" asked Bully's mamma.
"Yes," replied Jollie's mamma. "I am much better, thank you. I am so
glad you brought me a custard pie. But now sit right down by the window,
where you can smell the flowers in the garden, and I'll make tea."
Well in a little while, about forty-'leven seconds, Mrs. Longtail had
the tea made, and she and Mrs. No-Tail sat in the dining-room eating
it--I mean sipping it--for it was quite hot. And they were talking about
spring housecleaning, and about moths getting in the closets, and eating
up the blankets and the piano, and about whether there would be many
mosquitoes this year, after Bawly had killed such numbers of them with
his bean shooter. They talked of many other things, and finally Mrs.
Longtail said:
"Let me get you another cup of tea, Mrs. No-Tail."
So the lady mouse went out in the kitchen to get the tea off the stove,
and when she got there, what do you think she saw? Why, a great, big,
ugly, savage cat had, somehow or other, gotten into the room and there
he sat in front of the fire, washing his face, which was very dirty.
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the cat, blinking his yellow eyes, "I was wondering
whether anybody was at home here."
"Yes, I am at home!" exclaimed the mouse lady, "and I want you to get
right out of my house, Mr. Cat."
"Well," replied the cat, licking his whiskers with his red tongue, "I'm
not going! That's all there is to it. I am glad I found you at home, but
you are not going to be at home long."
"Why not?" asked Mrs. Longtail, suspicious like.
"Because," answered that bad cat, "I am going to eat you up, and I think
I'll start right in!"
"Oh, don't!" begged Mrs. Longtail, as she tried to run back into the
dining-room, where Mrs. No-Tail was sitting. But the savage cat was too
quick for her, and in an instant he had her in his paws, and was glaring
at her with his yellowish-green eyes.
"I don't know whether to eat you head first or tail first," said the
cat, as he looked at the poor mouse lady. "I must make up my mind before
I begin."
Now while he was making up his mind Mrs. No-Tail sat in the other room,
wondering what kept Mrs. Longtail such a long time away, getting the
second cup of tea.
"Perhaps I had better go and see what's keeping her," Mrs. No-Tail
thought. "She may have burned herself on the hot stove, or teapot." So
she went toward the kitchen, and there she saw a dreadful sight, for
there was that bad cat, holding poor Mrs. Longtail in his claws and
opening his mouth to eat her.
"Oh, let me go! Please let me go!" the mouse lady begged.
"No, I'll not," answered the cat, and once more he licked his whiskers
with his red tongue.
"Oh, I must do something to that cat!" thought Mrs. No-Tail. "I must
make him let Mrs. Longtail go."
So she thought and thought, and finally the frog lady saw a sprinkling
can hanging on a nail in the dining-room, where Mrs. Longtail kept it to
water the flowers with.
"I think that will do," said Mrs. No-Tail. So she very quietly and
carefully took it off the nail, and then she went softly out of the
front door, and around to the side of the house to the rain-water
barrel, where she filled the watering can. Then she came back with it
into the house.
"Now," she thought, "if I can only get up behind the cat and pour the
water on him, he'll think it's raining, and as cats don't like rain he
may run away, and let Mrs. Longtail go."
So Mrs. No-Tail tip-toed out into the kitchen as quietly as she could,
for she didn't want the cat to see her. But the savage animal, who had
made his tail as big as a skyrocket, was getting ready to eat Mrs.
Longtail, and he was going to begin head first. So he didn't notice Mrs.
No-Tail.
Up she went behind him, on her tippiest tiptoes, and she held the
watering can above his head. Then she tilted it up, and suddenly out
came the water--drip! drip! drip! splash! splash!
Upon the cat's furry back it fell, and my, you should have seen how
surprised that cat was!
"Why, it's raining in the house," he cried. "The roof must leak. The
water is coming in! Get a plumber! Get a plumber!"
Then he gave a big jump, and bumped his head on the mantelpiece, and
this so startled him that he dropped Mrs. Longtail, and she scampered
off down in a deep, dark hole and hid safely away. Then the cat saw Mrs.
No-Tail pouring water from the can, and he knew he had been fooled.
"Oh, I'll get you!" he cried, and he jumped at her, but the frog lady
threw the sprinkling can at the cat, and it went right over his head
like a bonnet, and frightened him so that he jumped out of the window
and ran away. And he didn't come back for a week or more. So that's how
Mrs. No-Tail saved Mrs. Longtail.
Now in case the baker man doesn't take the front door bell away to put
it on the rag doll's carriage, I'll tell you next about Bawly and
Arabella Chick.