Hortense, Andy and Malay Kris all took a bite of cookie and suddenly grew to their full size. Hortense seized Jeremiah and got her charm off his neck, but not before she got scratched deeply on the arm. Andy and Malay Kris dived for Grater, and he jumped backwards, right into the mouth of Alligator sofa.
When Fergus landed with Tom and Jerry, he also took the last bite of cookie and looked around. By this time the little people were all gone and Jeremiah had likewise disappeared. The moon was getting low in the sky, and so he gathered all the friends together.
"Soon it will be daylight," he said. "Until then, I think we"d better all stay together here, rather than risk getting lost trying to get down the mountain at night." So Hortense and Andy curled up on the sofa, Coal and Ember lay down beside Tom and Jerry, and Fergus sat up with Malay Kris to keep guard.
When the first red streaks of sunshine began to appear, all the magic had gone with the night. Coal, Ember and Malay Kris again became cold pieces of bra.s.s and steel, and the sofa looked just like any other piece of furniture. Fergus shook Andy and Hortense, and when they were awake he explained that they needed to get home by breakfast and it was a long climb down the mountain. So they tied the sofa on Tom"s back, and Fergus helped Hortense and Andy on Jerry"s broad back. He stuck Malay Kris in a loop of his belt, and picked up the firedogs. Slowly, this strange procession wound its way down the steep mountain, across the brook, and up through the apple orchard toward the big house. By the time they arrived at the barn, Grandfather was there to greet them.
"We"re all back home, alive and well," he said. "I think we had better keep it this way." With a twinkle in his eye he continued. "There is a letter for Hortense in the morning mail. It says her folks are home from Australia, so she"s to get on the train this afternoon and we"ll not see her again until Christmas."
So this ends the strange adventure of Hortense and the cat in Grandfather"s house. n.o.body ever sat on the sofa again, however, for it felt lumpy.
[1] Grabo"s book ends with Chapter 13. This chapter was written, but never published, by Paul D. Adams (1923-1999) for his children. In it, he completes the storyline that Grabo left unfinished. This work is hereby released into the Public Domain.
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