"Goodness!" thought Master Meadow Mouse, staring at Miss Snooper with great awe. "Goodness! Her whiskers are longer than mine!"
And then he drew back very softly and crept to his nest in the woodpile.
That night Moses Mouse came to make another call. And he brought his wife with him, so that she might see the stranger with the short tail who was going to live in Farmer Green"s woodpile.
"I saw Miss Snooper to-day," Master Meadow Mouse told them.
"Did you bite her nose?" Mrs. Mouse asked him eagerly; for her husband had told her all about the newcomer.
"No!" said Master Meadow Mouse. "No! I was too busy, building my new home, to stop and bite her."
"Isn"t he brave!" whispered Mrs. Moses Mouse to her husband.
From where they sat, on the top of the woodpile, Master Meadow Mouse and his callers caught sight of a dark shape that moved stealthily towards them through the shadows.
"It"s Miss Snooper herself!" Mrs. Mouse cried. And quick as a wink she dived down among the sticks of wood, with her husband following close behind her.
"Probably Master Meadow Mouse will bite Miss Snooper"s nose this time,"
she said to Moses, when she had reached a safe retreat.
"He isn"t biting it now," Moses Mouse replied, "because he"s crowding right behind me."
"Miss Snooper has come," Mrs. Mouse said to Master Meadow Mouse. "Maybe you didn"t understand that it was she."
"Let her come!" Master Meadow Mouse squeaked.
"Isn"t he brave!" Mrs. Moses Mouse murmured.
"I"ll bite her nose if she sticks it into this crevice," Master Mouse declared.
"Isn"t he brave!" she breathed into her husband"s ear.
"I"m not so sure of that," said Moses Mouse in an undertone. "He _talks_ a good deal about nose-biting. I should like to see him _do_ it. I knew Miss Snooper was skulking around the yard to-night. That"s why I came to call on this chap. I wanted to see whether he"d fight or run."
Meanwhile Miss Snooper climbed all over the woodpile. She could hear faint squeaks somewhere. And she was almost frantic because she couldn"t squirm under the wood and find whoever was talking.
It was almost morning before Moses Mouse and his wife dared to steal back to the farmhouse. When they left the woodpile Master Meadow Mouse left it too. He had decided, during the night, that he wouldn"t live in the farmyard.
"I"ve become very tired of this old Cat," he told his companions--Mr.
and Mrs. Moses Mouse. "I shouldn"t care to stay where I had to see her often."
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10
A Handy Sign
HUNTING played a great part in the life of Master Meadow Mouse. Somebody or other was always hunting him. And he was always hunting for something to eat. He spent a good deal of his time away from home, looking for seeds and grain. On the other hand, he spent a good deal of his time in his house; for Master Meadow Mouse liked to take naps--especially in the daytime.
After he started to live in Farmer Green"s woodpile, but moved away from it before he had finished building his nest there, Master Meadow Mouse settled near the fence between the meadow and the pasture. The mowing machine hadn"t cut the weeds and gra.s.s that grew close to the fence. He found shelter there from the sharp eyes of birds that would have caught him had they been able to.
This time Master Meadow Mouse didn"t live underground. He made a sort of little hut for himself, which kept out the cold in chilly weather, and shed the rain when it didn"t pour down too hard.
It was a good home. But it had one drawback. If anybody came along when its owner was asleep in it--Well, Master Meadow Mouse didn"t like to think about that. The little nest at the end of the tunnel where he had once lived had been far safer.
"I know what I"ll do!" he cried at last, as a happy thought came to him.
"I"ll hang a sign outside my door."
He set to work. And soon he had printed a sign. On one side of this was the notice, "Gone to Lunch. Back To-morrow." And on the other side were the words, "At Home. Don"t Knock. Walk In."
"There!" said Master Meadow Mouse as he stood off a few paces and looked at his handiwork. "That ought to do the trick."
Then he hung the sign outside his door and went into his house to enjoy a nap. And the side of the sign that was turned outward said, "Gone to Lunch. Back To-morrow."
Master Meadow Mouse slept late into the afternoon. And towards sunset, while he was still asleep, Tommy Fox slipped through the pasture fence.
"Hullo!" he murmured softly as his eyes fell on Master Meadow Mouse"s dwelling. "Here"s a bit of luck. I smell a Mouse. And he must be taking a nap inside his house."
Tommy Fox crept closer to the little hut. Then all at once he straightened up with a look of displeasure on his sharp face. He had just noticed the sign.
"He"s away from home!" Tommy exclaimed. "That"s a pity. He can"t have been gone long. Maybe I can catch him near-by."
But he couldn"t find Master Meadow Mouse anywhere. He looked all around--except inside the shelter where Master Meadow Mouse was fast asleep.
Tommy Fox came back and read the sign once more.
"Back To-morrow," he muttered. "Very well! I"ll come back here to-morrow. For that"s what the sign tells me to do."
And the next day he returned. He grinned from ear to ear as he read what the sign said: "At Home. Don"t Knock. Walk In." Then he thrust his long, sharp nose right through Master Meadow Mouse"s doorway.
There was n.o.body there. And Tommy Fox looked silly as anything.
"Fooled!" he growled. "Fooled by a Meadow Mouse! I hope n.o.body ever finds it out."
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11