During his rambles on the following night Dickie Deer Mouse took great
care to keep out of sight of the three families of cousins that had
tried to quarter themselves in his new house in the pasture. Moreover he
said nothing to anybody about his future home. Fatty Coon had taught him
in one lesson that it is sometimes wise to keep a secret.
The night was not ended when Dickie sought the burrow in the pasture
once more. He hardly dared hope, as he neared the dooryard, that he
would not find a crowd waiting there again. But when he reached his
doorway he saw not a soul anywhere around.
He felt happy beyond words. And he popped through his doorway, hurried
through the hall--which was a hundred times as long as Fatty Coon's
tail--and burst into the cozy chamber.
Dickie had hardly entered the room when he stumbled over something soft.
And a voice that sounded exactly like Cousin Dan'l's called out in
rather a peevish tone that he'd better look out where he stepped.
"Who's here?" Dickie asked in a faint whisper.
"We are!" the voice replied. "There are eighteen of us in all. And you'd
better be careful not to trample on anybody."
Dickie's heart sank. He understood, in a flash, what had happened. The
three families of cousins were all there, sleeping in his soft bed of
dried grasses! They had come back to the house in the pasture ahead of
him, and had found the chamber without his help.
At first he almost turned around and left that place forever, without
saying another word. But the night had turned cold and a drizzling rain
was falling. And he knew that the roof of his summer home must be
leaking badly. That underground chamber was delightfully dry and warm.
And if the twelve children didn't wake up and begin to cry he saw no
reason why he shouldn't spend one night there, anyway.
So he felt his way carefully about the room. There was no denying that
it was dreadfully crowded. But at last Dickie Deer Mouse found a vacant
spot that was big enough to lie upon. And burrowing down into the bed
of grasses he soon fell asleep.
When Dickie Deer Mouse awoke, after his first sleep in the underground
chamber, he thought that summer had come. He hadn't felt so comfortable
for weeks. And for a little time he lay quite still, half dozing,
enjoying the delightful warmth.
And then all at once he came to his senses. He remembered that he was in
the burrow where Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck had lived, in Farmer Green's
pasture. And he recalled unpleasantly the misfortune that had happened:
he had been forced to share his snug bedroom with eighteen of his
distant cousins.
They were still sleeping soundly all around him. And Dickie Deer Mouse
made a strange wish.
"They're here," he said to himself. "And I don't know of any way to get
rid of them. I only wish they wouldn't wake up till spring."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]