“It’s ’bout a mouse that jes’ was set on gettin’ all he could fer hisself,” she explained. “This mouse lived with his mother an’ four brothers in a fine cabin whar thar was a big cupboard. Thar was cakes an’ cheese an’ nice white bread, an’ cold meat; an’, like as not, thar was raisins an’ nuts in that thar cupboard. But the door was allers kep’ shut tight, an’ thar was a big white cat that, seemingly, was allers lurkin’ roun’ that pantry door. So Mother Mouse warned her children to be satisfied with the crumbs they could pick up ’roun’ the kitchen. But one day one of the little mice found that the door was open and he slipped in, an’ ’twa’n’t a minute afore that little mouse found a big round cheese an’ began to nibble it; an’ he was so busy and so happy that he didn’t hear the cupboard door shut, or notice that ’twas dark.
“Wal, Mother Mouse didn’t miss him fer a considerable spell, bein’ busy collectin’ grain jest outside the cabin. But when it began ter get dark she calls fer the young ones so’s to settle down fer the night, an’ she finds one of ’em don’ come. The first thing Mother Mouse thought of was the white cat, but the cat wasn’t anywhar ter be seen; so Mother Mouse goes all about the kitchen calling the missing mouse, an’ when she crept by the cupboard she heard a little bit of a squeak, and then she stopped mighty quick. She knew the little mouse was in that cupboard, an’ she prob’ly knew that thar war traps set in it. So she calls her fam’ly an’ then says she, ‘Your brother is in thar, an’ we mus’ get him out. Now the folks have all gone to bed, an’ we’ll begin work.’ So she began to nibble at the edge of the door, and the little mice did their best to help her, and jes’ ’fore daylight there was a hole big enough for the little mouse to come through. But he wouldn’t come. Says he, ‘I only squeaked so you’d know that I’m well fixed fer life,’ says he. ‘I ain’ no need ever to gather kitchen crumbs again,’ he says, ‘an’ so you can all go your ways an’ ferget me.’ An’ he ran back to his cheese. Wal, at that very minute the woman of the house came into the kitchen to light up the fire, an’ she sees the mice. ‘My land!’ she calls out; an’ off went Mother Mouse and all her family into a safe hiding-place. But the woman opened the cupboard door, and then she called, ‘Puss, puss!’ an’ the big cat came running, an’ into the pantry she sprung an’ the little mouse, who had felt so grand and had scorned his own folks who were tryin’ ter help him, was so stupid and clumsy because he had eaten so much that he couldn’t run, and in a minute the cat had grabbed him and fetched him out to the kitchen an’ ate him up. Thar,” Mrs. Bragg concluded, “I guess I’ll hev to stir up a corn pone fer dinner,” and she got up from the bench.
“What became of the Mother Mouse and the other little mice?” Berry demanded.
But Mrs. Bragg shook her head, “I reckon they jes’ moved away,” she said.
It was now nearly noon, and Berry realized that she must get home as soon as possible; so reminding Mollie that “school” would begin the next morning, she bade them good-bye.
As soon as she had left the Bragg cabin Berry’s thoughts flew back to the man she had encountered that morning. Although she had not spoken of him to Mrs. Bragg, for some reason that she could not easily account for, she was now eager to reach home and tell her father and mother of the stranger who had taken her for a boy, and who had threatened her.
“I’ll go home another path,” she decided. “I never want to see that man again,” and she made her way up the crest of the ridge, circling about thick growths of trees and underbrush, and coming into the trail that led to the cabin a mile above the place where she had encountered the stranger.
CHAPTER III
SCHOOL
It was with a grave face that Mr. Arnold listened to Berry’s story of her morning’s adventure at the brook; and her mother instantly declared that Berry could no longer run about alone. “The man was probably a Confederate spy,” she said anxiously, “and if he had discovered that a family from New England were living near by, that, instead of being a little boy of Tennessee, you were a little Yankee girl, we cannot tell what would have happened.”
“Yes, I believe the man has been traveling along the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers looking over the Confederate line of defense, and his saying he might return this way in the spring may mean that the Confederates fear an attack will be made upon Fort Henry or Fort Donelson. If the Union army could capture these forts and open the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, the Confederate line of defense would be destroyed,” said Mr. Arnold thoughtfully; and Mrs. Arnold instantly added, “We surely need not fear any battle taking place near this remote spot, but with spies everywhere we must take all possible precautions. I hope you did not tell the Braggs of meeting a stranger, Berry?” she added.