“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.
