XA BIT OF ADVICE
"It'slike this," Fatty Coon said, puffing a bit—on account of his climb—as he looked up at Dickie Deer Mouse. "Old Mr. Crow says that Farmer Green is going to sick old dog Spot on me if I don't keep out of the cornfield."
"Well, I should say it was very kind of Mr. Crow to tell you," Dickie remarked.
Fatty Coon was not so sure of that.
"He'd like to have the cornfield to himself," he told Dickie. "He'd like nothing better than to keep me out of it. And if old dog Spot is coming there afterme, I certainly don't want to go near the place again."
"Then I'd stay away, if I were you," Dickie Deer Mouse told him.
"Ah! That's just the trouble!" Fatty Coon cried. "I can't! I'm too fond of corn. And that's why I've come here to have a word with you," he went on. "I've noticed that you haven't set foot in the cornfield since I spoke to you over there in the middle of the day. And I want you to tell me how you manage to stay away."
"Something seems to pull me right away from it," Dickie Deer Mouse told him.
Fatty Coon groaned.
"Something seems to pull metowardsthe corn!" he wailed.
Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help feeling sorry for him.
"If there was only something else that you liked better than green corn," he said, "perhaps it would help you to keep away from this new danger."
"But there isn't!" Fatty Coon exclaimed.
"Have you ever triedhorns?" Dickie Deer Mouse asked him.
Fatty Coon looked puzzled.
"What kind?" he asked his small friend.
"Deer's!" Dickie explained. "You know they drop them in the woods sometimes. I've had many a meal off deer's horns. And I can say truthfully that there's nothing quite like them when you're hungry."
Fatty Coon actually began to look hopeful.
"I'm always hungry," he announced. "And perhaps if I could get a taste ofdeer's horns they would keep my mind off the cornfield. Where did you say I could find some?"
"I didn't say," Dickie Deer Mouse reminded him; "but I don't object to telling you where to look. They're generally to be found in the woods, near the foot of a tree."
Fatty Coon's face brightened at once.
"Then it ought to be easy for me to get a taste of some," he cried. And he began to crawl down the tree even as he spoke.
He did not thank Dickie Deer Mouse for his help. But that was like Fatty. Always having his mind on eatables, he was more than likely to forget to be polite.
Little Dickie Deer Mouse smiled as he watched the actions of his late caller. The instant Fatty Coon reached theground he began to look under the trees—first one and then another.
"Don't miss a single tree!" Dickie called to him.
"Don't worry!" Fatty Coon replied. "I'm going to keep looking until I find some deer's horns. And I hope I'll like 'em when I find 'em, for I'm terribly hungry right now."
XIA SEARCH IN VAIN
Itwas true that Dickie Deer Mouse and all his relations feasted on the horns shed by the deer. But of course they didn't find horns in the woods every day. Only at a certain season of the year did the deer drop them. And since that time was now past, and the Deer Mouse family had scoured the woods until they found—and devoured—them all, it is clear that Fatty Coon had started out on a fruitless hunt.
But he didn't know that, even if Dickie Deer Mouse did. And that was the reason why Dickie smiled as he watchedFatty Coon dodging about among the trees, looking for deer's horns where there couldn't possibly be any.
"It's the finest thing that could happen to Fatty," Dickie Deer Mouse thought. "While he's hunting for horns he can't go to the cornfield. And so long as he stays away from the cornfield, old dog Spot can't catch him there."
And then Dickie set forth to find his friends and enjoy a romp in the moonlight.
Dawn found him creeping into his house once more. And after what had happened during the night it was not strange that he should dream about Fatty Coon.
It was not a pleasant dream. For some reason or other Fatty Coon seemed to be angry with him, and was shouting in a terrible, deep voice, "Where's DickieDeer Mouse? Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?"
And then Dickie awoke, all a-shiver. But of course he felt better at once, for he knew that it was only a dream. And he stretched himself, and buried his head in his bed of cat-tail down, because the daylight was trickling in through his doorway.
"Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?" Again that question startled him, though he was wide awake, and couldn't be dreaming.
The next instant Dickie's tree began to quiver. Fatty Coon was climbing up it! And Dickie Deer Mouse jumped out of bed in a hurry and slipped out of his door.
Looking down, he could see that Fatty Coon was in something quite like a rage.
"What's the matter?" Dickie called to him.
Fatty could do nothing but glare and growl at him.
"Have you had your breakfast?" Dickie asked him.
Fatty shook his head.
"No!" he roared. "I haven't had a morsel to eat since I last saw you. I've been hunting for horns all this time. And I've come back to tell you that I don't like your advice. If I followed it much longer there's no doubt that I'd starve to death."
"It has kept you out of the cornfield, hasn't it?" Dickie inquired.
"Yes!" Fatty admitted. "But it won't much longer. I'm on my way to the cornfield now." He looked at Dickie and frowned, as if to say, "Just try to stop me!"
"Aren't you afraid to go there?" Dickie asked him.
Fatty Coon sniffed.
"That story about old dog Spot was nothing but a trick," he declared. "It was just a trick of old Mr. Crow's. He wants all the corn himself."
"Don't you think, then, that you and I ought to eat all the corn we can?" Dickie inquired.
"I certainly do!" Fatty Coon replied. "Let's hurry over now and get some!"
Dickie Deer Mouse was only too glad to accept the invitation. And he waited politely until Fatty had reached the ground, before going down himself.
Old Mr. Crow saw them the moment they entered the cornfield. And he hurried up to them with a most important air and advised them both that they "had come to a dangerous place."
"Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?""Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?"
Fatty Coon paid no attention to the old gentleman.
But Dickie Deer Mouse thanked Mr. Crow and told him that after he had had all the corn he wanted he was going back to the woods.
Noticing that the old gentleman seemed peevish about something, Dickie said to him:
"There ought to be enough for all."
But still Mr. Crow looked glum.
"There's enough for them that don't care for much else," he muttered. "But we can't feed the whole world on this corn, you know.... How would you like it if I took to eating deer's horns—when they're in season, of course?"
"You can have all the deer's horns you want," Fatty Coon remarked thickly—for already his mouth was full.
And being very polite, Dickie DeerMouse said the same thing; though of course he waited until he could speak distinctly.
XIIA LITTLE SURPRISE
Simon Screecherlived in the apple orchard, in a hollow tree, where he could sleep during the day safe from attack by mobs of small birds, who had the best of reasons for disliking him.
By night Simon wandered about the fields and the woods, hunting for mice and insects. And since night was the time when Dickie Deer Mouse was awake, and up and doing, it would have been a wonder if the two had never met.
One thing is certain: Dickie Deer Mouse was not eager to make Simon Screecher's acquaintance. Whenever heheard Simon's call he stopped and listened. If it sounded nearer the next time it reached his ears, Dickie Deer Mouse promptly hid himself in any good place that was handy.
So matters went along for some time. And Dickie actually began to think that perhaps he didn't need to be so careful, and that maybe Simon Screecher was not so bad as people said.
However, he jumped almost out of his skin one night, when he heard a wailing whistle in a tree right over his head. And when he came down upon all-fours again he couldn't see a single place to hide.
So he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe.
To Dickie's dismay, a mocking laugh rang out. And somebody said:
"I see you!"
It was Simon Screecher himself that spoke.
Dickie Deer Mouse looked up and spied him, sitting on a low limb. He was not so big as Dickie had supposed. But it was certainly Simon. Dickie knew him, beyond a doubt, by his ear-tufts, which stuck up from his head like horns.
"What made you jump when I whistled?" Simon Screecher asked him.
"I don't know," Dickie answered, "unless it was you."
Simon Screecher chuckled.
"You're a bright young chap," he observed. "But that's not surprising, for I notice that you belong to the Deer Mouse family, and everybody's aware that they are one of the brightest families in Pleasant Valley—what are left of them."
These last words made Dickie DeerMouse more uneasy than ever. But he made up his mind not to let Simon Screecher know that he was worried.
"I have a great many relations," he declared stoutly. "Ours is a big family."
"Yes—but not nearly so big as it was when I first came to this neighborhood to live," Simon told him with a sly smile.
He had hardly finished that remark when a loudwha-wha, whoo-ahcame from a hemlock not far away. And the next moment Simon's cousin Solomon Owl sailed through the moonlight and alighted near him.
Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help thinking that it was a great night for the Owl family. And he was surprised to notice that Simon Screecher did not act overjoyed at seeing his cousin.
"It's a pleasant night," said Solomon Owl in his deep, hollow voice.
Simon Screecher replied somewhat sourly that he supposed it was. And he changed his seat, so that he might keep his eyes on both his cousin and Dickie Deer Mouse at the same time.
But Solomon Owl made matters very hard for Simon. Simon had no sooner seated himself comfortably when Solomon Owl moved to a perch behind him.
Simon Screecher looked almost crosseyed, as he tried to watch everything that happened. And he looked so fretful that for a moment Dickie Deer Mouse actually forgot his fear and laughed aloud.
XIIITHE FEATHERS FLY
"I'mglad to see you," Solomon Owl told his cousin Simon Screecher, while Dickie Deer Mouse stood stock still on the ground beneath the tree where the two cousins were sitting. "I'm glad to see you. And I hope you're enjoying good health."
"I'm well enough," Simon Screecher grunted.
"Do you find plenty to eat nowadays?" Solomon asked him.
Simon Screecher admitted that he was not starving.
"Ah!" Solomon exclaimed. "Thenyou can have no objection to sharing a specially nice tidbit with your own cousin."
Dickie Deer Mouse shivered. But he did not dare move, with one of Simon Screecher's great, glassy eyes staring straight at him. And there was something else that did not help to put him at his ease: Solomon Owl seemed to be watching him likewise!
"Haven't you dined to-night?" Simon Screecher inquired in a testy tone.
"Yes!" Solomon admitted. "But I haven't had my dessert yet.... What are you looking at so closely, Cousin Simon, down there on the ground?"
An angry light came into Simon Screecher's eyes.
"Can't I look where I please?" he snapped.
And he changed his seat again, so thathe might get a better view of Dickie and Solomon at the same time.
Solomon Owl promptly moved to another limb behind Simon, and slightly higher.
And Dickie Deer Mouse took heart when Simon Screecher began to make a queer sound by opening his beak and shutting it with a snap, as if he would like to nip somebody.
Dickie knew that Simon Screecher was in a terrible rage. And unless his threatening actions scared Solomon Owl away, Dickie thought there was likely to be a cousinly fight.
He was pleased to notice that Solomon Owl showed no sign of dismay. There was really no reason why he should. He was much bigger than his peppery cousin. And he looked at Simon in a calm and unruffled fashion that seemed to makethat quarrelsome fellow angrier than ever.
"What's the matter?" Solomon Owl asked Simon Screecher. "If you had any teeth I'd think they were chattering.... Are you having a chill?"
Simon made no answer.
"Maybe you're afraid of something," Solomon Owl suggested. "Can it be that young Deer Mouse down there on the ground?" And he laughed loudly at whathethought was a joke.
"That'smyDeer Mouse!" Simon Screecher squalled, suddenly finding his voice. "I saw him first. And he's my prize."
"He looks to me like the one I lost a few nights ago," Solomon Owl announced solemnly. "In that case, of course I saw him first. So you'd better fly home to your old apple tree in the orchard."
"I'll do nothing of the sort!" Simon Screecher declared; and his voice rose to a shrill quaver.
Turning swiftly, he flew straight at his cousin. And then how the feathers did fly!
Dickie Deer Mouse wanted to stay right there, for he hated to miss any of the fun. But he remembered that he was a "tidbit"; so he scampered away through the woods. And though he never knew how the fight ended, he was sure of one thing: There was no prize for the winner.
XIVMAKING READY FOR WINTER
Afterhis escape from Solomon Owl and Simon Screecher, Dickie Deer Mouse never felt quite so care-free as he always had before, when wandering through the woods at night. And he never stayed inside his house after dark without wondering whether Solomon or Simon could by any chance discover his snug home in the last year's bird's nest. It was not a pleasant thought. And the oftener it popped into Dickie's head the less he liked it.
Sometimes, when summer had ended and fall brought a night that was rainyand cold, he liked to go home after he had finished his supper, and burrow deep into his soft bed of cat-tail down.
But even after he had dried his wet coat and warmed himself well, at such times Dickie Deer Mouse started whenever he heard the slightest noise. Somehow, he couldn't get the Owl family out of his mind.
As the days grew shorter—and the nights longer—he began to find that his summer home was not so cozy as it might have been.
The cold wind searched him out, even under his soft covering; and the driving rains trickled annoyingly through his roof of moss.
So at last Dickie Deer Mouse made up his mind that he would move once more. And since he was not the sort to put off the doing of anything that had to bedone, he set out at once to see what kind of place he could find.
Now, Dickie Deer Mouse liked the woods in which he had always lived. So one might think it strange that when he set forth on his search he headed straight for Farmer Green's pasture. But there is no doubt that he knew what he was about.
For some time he crept cautiously about the pasture, peeping under big rocks, and moving among the roots of the trees which dotted the hillside here and there. And since his eyes were of the sharpest, what he was looking for he found in surprising numbers.
Most people, strolling through the pasture, would have noticed little except grass and bushes, trees and rocks and knolls. But those were not the things that Dickie Deer Mouse discovered, andsniffed at. What he was hunting for washoles.
For Dickie had decided that when winter came, with its ice and snow, its cruel gales and its piercing cold, he would be far more comfortable underground than he could ever hope to be in a last year's bird's nest that was fastened to a tree.
He had found it no easy matter to pick out a summer home. And now there were reasons why his search for a winter one was even harder.
It is true that at the beginning of summer, when Dickie Deer Mouse climbed the tall elm where Mr. Crow lived, he found the old gentleman asleep in the nest that he had hoped to take for his own. But on the whole it was easy to discover whether a nest was deserted.
One look into it usually told the story. Eggs in a bird's nest meant that somebodymust live there. And of course if Dickie saw a bird sitting on a nest he knew right away that he couldn't live there without having a fight first.
But aholeis different. One can't see what's at the bottom of it without going inside it.
And that is not always a pleasant thing to do.
XVA PLUNGE IN THE DARK
Therewas one hole, especially, among those he found in Farmer Green's pasture, from which Dickie Deer Mouse ran as fast as he could scamper.
This was a hole with a big front door, and plenty of fresh dirt scattered around it, as if somebody had been digging there not long before.
When Dickie first noticed the burrow he stopped short and stood quite still, while he peeped at it out of a tangle of blackberry bushes.
Something told him that he had stumbled upon the home of a dangerous person.And if the wind hadn't been blowing in his face, as he looked towards the wide opening, he would not have dared stay there as long as he did.
As he looked he suddenly saw a pair of eyes gleaming from the dark cavern. And soon he beheld a long, pointed snout, which its owner thrust outside in a gingerly manner.
That was enough for Dickie Deer Mouse.
He wheeled about and whisked up the nearest tree he could find. And there he stayed for a long, long time, until he felt sure that it was quite safe for him to venture down upon the ground again.
He had come upon Tommy Fox's burrow!
And if there was one hole in the ground into which he had no wish to go,that was it. For Tommy Fox was no friend of his.
Since he didn't care for Tommy's company, Dickie went to the corner of the pasture that was furthest from Tommy's home, to search once more for such a hole as he hoped to find.
Almost nobody else ever would have discovered the one that Dickie picked out at last as the best place of all in which to spend the winter. But the bright eyes of Dickie Deer Mouse found a tiny opening, which he carefully made just big enough to admit him.
It was the entrance to an old burrow where an aunt and an uncle of Billy Woodchuck had once lived and raised a numerous family. When the children had all grown up and gone away their parents had left that home for a new one in the clover field. And somehow allthe smaller field people had overlooked it.
Little by little the frost had heaved the earth about the doorway, and the wash of the rains had helped to fill it, and Farmer Green's cows had trampled over it, and the grass had all but covered the small opening that remained.
There were signs in plenty about the spot that told Dickie Deer Mouse the burrow was deserted. Or perhaps it would be better to say that there was no sign at all of any occupant. Dickie found not a trace of a path nor even a foot-print near the hole nor did his nose discover the faintest scent either of friend or enemy.
Slipping inside the hole, Dickie found himself in the mouth of a big, airy tunnel, which went sharply downwards for a few feet.
And without the slightest fear he plunged down the dark hole, to see what he could see.
XVIA LUCKY FIND
ThoughDickie Deer Mouse was shy, he couldn't have been a coward. For when he had reached the end of that first pitch that led into the old burrow of Billy Woodchuck's uncle and aunt he never once thought of turning back. Before him stretched a dark, dry, level tunnel. And through it Dickie quickly made his way.
It was surprisingly long—that underground passage. But he came to the end of it at last. And creeping upwards, because the tunnel rose suddenly, Dickie Deer Mouse found himself in a roomy chamber, comfortably furnished with abig bed of soft, dried grasses, where Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck had passed a good many hard winters asleep, while the snow lay deep upon the ground above them.
It took Dickie Deer Mouse no longer than a jiffy to decide that he had found the very place for which he had been looking. He knew that in that secret chamber he had nothing to fear from Solomon Owl nor Simon Screecher, nor Fatty Coon, either. And when midwinter came, and the nights turned bitterly cold, he could cuddle down in that soft bed and dream about summer, and warm, moonlit nights in the woods of the world above.
It was no wonder that Dickie Deer Mouse was pleased. And for a time he forgot everything but his good luck—until he remembered that he had had nothing to eat since the night before.
So he made his way back through the long tunnel, and up into Farmer Green's pasture. Then, looking around under the twinkling stars, he took pains to see exactly where his new home was.
It certainly would have been a great mishap if he had gone away in such a hurry that he could never have found his doorway again. But it was an easy matter to fix the spot in his mind. When he came back he needed only to follow along the rail fence until he came to the corner. Not far from the fence corner, in the woods, stood Farmer Green's sugar house. And about the same distance on the other side of the fence a lone straggler of a maple tree stood on a knoll in the pasture. The departed Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck had been wise enough to dig the opening to their burrow between the roots of the tree. They knew that ifTommy Fox tried to dig them out of their underground home, he would find the passage between the roots too small to squeeze through.
Dickie Deer Mouse smiled as he saw what the builders of his house had done. They had made everything exactly to suit him. He knew that he could have done no better himself; in fact he knew that he couldn't have done nearly so well. For he was no digger. But he told himself that there was no reason why he should feel sad about that, so long as others were kind enough to dig a fine home and leave it for him to live in.
Then he slipped into the woods, feeling so happy that he had to stop and relate his good fortune to the first person he met.
And that was where Dickie Deer Mouse made a slight mistake.
XVIIA SLIGHT MISTAKE
Scarcelyhad Dickie Deer Mouse plunged into the woods when he met Fatty Coon coming in the opposite direction.
"Hullo!" Fatty said, looking up at Dickie, who had scrambled into a tree as soon as he caught sight of Fatty's plump form. "What have you been doing in Farmer Green's pasture! I thought you always stayed in the woods—unless you happened to go to the cornfield."
"I've been looking for a winter home," Dickie explained. "And I've just found the finest one you ever saw."
"Where is it!" Fatty asked him. "Imight want to pay you a call some night—when I had nothing else to do."
Dickie Deer Mouse was in such a cheerful mood that almost anything Fatty Coon might have said would have pleased him.
"My new house is just beyond the fence," Dickie explained. "But I'm afraid you can't very well visit me there," he added with a smile.
"Why not?" Fatty Coon inquired. "I'm as good a climber as anybody. I can climb the tallest tree you ever saw, without feeling dizzy. But of course I'm a bit heavier than you are. And if you've gone and picked out a nest that's a long way above the ground, among the smallest branches, it might not be safe for me to go all the way up to it."
Dickie Deer Mouse had to smile once more.
Dickie escapes from Tommy FoxDickie escapes from Tommy Fox
"My new home isn't as high as I am right now," he told Fatty Coon.
Fatty grunted.
"Then I'll certainly come to see you," he said, "when time hangs heavily on my hands."
"My new house isn't as high as you are right now," Dickie remarked.
And at that Fatty Coon looked puzzled. His mouth fell open; and for a few moments he stared at his small friend without saying a word.
"You must be mistaken," he replied at last. "I'm standing on the ground. And I never saw a last year's bird's nest that was lower than that."
"I shall have to explain," said Dickie, "that my new home is much finer than my old one. Now, you may not believe it, but it has a front hall that's a hundred times as long as your tail."
Fatty Coon looked around at his ringed tail, with its black tip; and then he looked up at Dickie Deer Mouse again.
"You must be mistaken!" he cried. "I'll have to take my tail to your house and measure your front hall myself before I'll believe that."
"You can't measure my hall!" Dickie Deer Mouse exclaimed.
"Who's going to stop me?" Fatty Coon growled. He was used to having his own way. And it always made him angry when anybody tried to upset his plans. "I'm going to your house in the pasture now; and I'll soon show you that you're mistaken about your front hall.... You come with me and lead the way, young fellow!"
But Dickie Deer Mouse said he was so hungry that he couldn't go back just then.
"I'm headed for the big beech tree to see if I can find a few nuts," he announced.
At the mention of food Fatty Coon's face took on a different look.
"I'm hungry myself," he said, as if he had just remembered something. "I was on my way to Farmer Green's corn house when I met you. And I really ought to get there before the moon comes up. So if you'll tell me where your house is I'll stop there when I come back."
"My new home——" Dickie Deer Mouse informed him with an air of great pride——"my new home is in the burrow where Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck used to live. The front door is under the tree that stands on the knoll just beyond the fence. But you can never get inside it, because you're altogether too fat."
The stout person on the ground knew that he spoke the truth. And without saying another word he turned about and disappeared in the direction of the farm buildings.
"Don't forget to take your tail with you!" Dickie Deer Mouse called to him, just before he was out of sight. "You might want to measure the corn house."
But Fatty Coon did not trouble himself to answer.
XVIIITOO MANY COUSINS
Inhigh spirits Dickie Deer Mouse hurried on through the woods until he came to the big beech tree. And though many others had been there before him, since the nuts had ripened, Dickie had such a sharp eye for a beech nut that even though it was then night, he soon found enough for a hearty meal.
Then he had to have a romp with a few gay fellows whom he met under the beech tree. And so quickly did the time pass that before he knew it the night had turned gray. Day was breaking. And shouting good-bye to his friends DickieDeer Mouse ran off towards Farmer Green's pasture. He wanted a nap. And having nothing in his summer home that was worth moving, he knew of no reason why he shouldn't begin at once to live in his new quarters.
He never felt happier than he did as he scampered in and out among the trees, slipped under the rail fence, and streaked across the short grass of the pasture. But when he reached his doorway he stopped in dismay.
Where he had expected to see nobody at all, his eyes bulged with surprise at the crowd that had gathered in his dooryard.
As soon as he had taken several good looks at the company, Dickie Deer Mouse discovered that they were distant relations of his, of all ages and sizes. And at last he succeeded in sorting them into families.
There were three big families. And no one in the whole crowd paid any heed to Dickie Deer Mouse. They seemed to be talking about something most important, and too busy to notice the newcomer.
If the truth were known, the sight of his second and third and fourth cousins did not particularly please Dickie Deer Mouse. But he was an agreeable young gentleman. So he stepped forward and called several of his cousins by name. And since he couldn't say honestly that he was delighted to see them, he told them how well they looked and said that he hoped they had passed a happy summer.
"Here he is at last!" everybody cried. "We've been waiting for you for a long time, because we weren't sure whether we'd found the right place."
"What place?" Dickie Deer Mouseasked them as he looked from one to another in dismay.
"Why, the great house that you've found!" somebody cried. "We've heard that it has a front hall a hundred times as long as Fatty Coon's tail. So of course there must be lots of rooms in it; and we've come to keep you company and spend the winter."
When he heard that news Dickie Deer Mouse became almost faint. He did not want to hurt his cousins' feelings. But his plan of spending the winter quietly hardly made him welcome the idea of having a dozen half-grown children in his home.
"Who told you about my house?" he demanded with just a trace of disappointment.
"It was Fatty Coon," several of his cousins explained at once.
And then Dickie Deer Mouse knew that he had made a mistake when he told Fatty of his good fortune.
"I'm sorry to say that he has misled you," Dickie informed his relations. "It's true that my front hall is very long. But the trouble is, there's only one chamber."
XIXTHE WRONG TURN
Fora few moments Dickie Deer Mouse's cousins looked terribly disappointed. He had told them that his new house had only one chamber. And each of the three big families had expected to have at least one bedroom.
The elder cousins gathered in a group and talked in low tones. Dickie could not hear what they said. He hoped that they were going to bid him farewell and go back where they came from. But he soon saw that they had no such idea.
The eldest of all, whom Dickie knew as Cousin Dan'l, said to him presently:
"Cheer up! We know you'd be sorry not to have us with you during the winter. So we'll take a look at your chamber. Perhaps it's big enough for all of us."
Dickie tried to tell Cousin Dan'l Deer Mouse that he was afraid the chamber would be too crowded with so many in it. But when he opened his mouth the words, somehow, would not come. And at last he nodded his head and crept through his doorway, while his cousins followed him one by one.
The younger cousins pushed and crowded and quarreled, making such a commotion that Dickie Deer Mouse could hear them plainly, though he was some distance ahead of them.
"Those youngsters will have to keep still," he said over his shoulder to the cousin that was nearest him.
Everybody passed the message down the line. And when the youngsters heard it they began to laugh.
"Tell Cousin Dickie to stop us if he can," they shouted.
Their rude answer reached Dickie Deer Mouse just as he came to a place in his front hall to which he had paid little heed before. Right at the spot where he stood the tunnel divided itself into two passages. Before, he had taken the one on the right. But now something told him to go the other way. So he turned to the left, still followed closely by the cousin that was behind him.
The whole procession came trailing after them. And the first thing Dickie—or anybody else—knew, they all found themselves standing in the grassy pasture once more, in the gray light of the morning.
They had passed out through the back door of the house, without entering the chamber at all!
As soon as Dickie's relations saw where they were they looked at one another in a puzzled fashion.
"What's the matter?" Cousin Dan'l demanded of Dickie. "I followed the crowd. But I saw no chamber anywhere."
Dickie Deer Mouse didn't know exactly what to say. So he merely shook his head, hoping that the company would go away.
"Can it be possible that you've lost your bedroom?" Cousin Dan'l Deer Mouse asked him. "Is it so small that you could have overlooked it?"
"The bedroom's none too big," Dickie replied.
"Then maybe we passed through itwithout noticing it," his elderly cousin observed.
"We can't stand around here in the pasture all day, Dan'l," the cousin's wife complained. "If Mr. Hawk happened to come this way he'd be sure to see us."
"What do you suggest?" Cousin Dan'l asked Dickie Deer Mouse. "You see the women are nervous." And he cocked an eye up at the sky, as if he did not feel any too safe himself when he thought of Mr. Hawk.
"It seems to me," Dickie told him, "that we'd all of us better go back to our summer homes."
And then, after saying that he hoped everybody would get home without an accident, and wouldn't meet Mr. Hawk, Dickie Deer Mouse turned towards the woods and hurried away.
His parting words did not make his numerous cousins feel any happier. And since they wanted to get out of sight as soon as they could, they quickly followed Dickie's example and scurried off as fast as they could go, to spend another day in the summer houses in which they had been living.
Now, Dickie Deer Mouse had paused as soon as he had reached the rail fence at the edge of the woods. And unseen by his cousins he peeped back to find out what they might do.
When the three families scattered in three different directions Dickie Deer Mouse believed that he was well rid of them.
But by that time it had grown so light that he did not want to show himself in the pasture, not even long enough to scamper the short distance from thefence back to the front door of his new house.
So he passed another day in the last year's bird's nest.