Peter Pan began to realize a fearsome sensation at the pit of his round stomach, the purport of which very soon became only too evident. The floor seemed to rock beneath him, and when he essayed to walk, it made as if to rise up and hit him on the head. It curved in billows and tipped itself up at a fearful angle, as if offering him a challenge.
Who had ever before seen the floor of an ordinary shop, or indeed, any floor at all, behave in such an utterly absurd and unaccountable manner?
Peter Pan would have wondered had he not been too ill to wonder at anything. His head was splitting and a flame of thirst devoured his parched tongue.
In his misery, the cause of which he did not in the least understand, he let fall the pipe, a spark from which fell upon the web-like lace and in a moment the whole pile was in a blaze.
Now Peter Pan knew what a fire meant, for he had seen one once before, and although he was about as ill as a bear could well be, he took to his unsteady heels, calling loudly to his family to follow him, and together they plunged down the stairs, seeking safety in the lower regions.
Hastily they climbed to their original shelf, and not a moment too soon, for the torpor which enveloped them all day was beginning to steal upon them, and mercifully to dull the pangs that gripped their mischievous ringleader.
Now the watchmen, who had seen the light of the rapidly increasing blaze, came racing to the scene of action. The fluids used in cleansing fed the flames, that now were burning fiercely; an alarm was turned in and by the time the fire department arrived they found all that they could attend to.
Nearly everything in the store was destroyed, and such articles as were saved were so soiled and begrimed by the water and smoke that it was found necessary to clean them over again, much to the disgust and dismay of the Teddy bears. And right glad they were when at last they were swathed in wrappings of tissue paper, packed in a big box and expressed home to Papa Doctor’s house.
Here Bedelia immediately set her wits to work to plan new mischief for the amusement of the nursery and her own delectation, the result of this scheming being a grand ball, which took place at no very late date.
