“Where are we goin’ now?” asked Aunt Mary.
“To a roof garden,” said Jack, “and we’re going to take the whole menagerie, Aunt Mary. We’re going to get put in the papers. That’s the great stunt,—to get put in the papers.”
“But we’ll leave the megaphones,” said Mitchell. “I won’t go about with a mouse and a megaphone. People might think I looked silly. People are so queer.”
“Put the mouse in the megaphone,” suggested Burnett. “That’s the way my mother taught me to pack when I was a kid. You put your tooth brush in a shoe, and the shoe in a sleeve and then turn the sleeve inside out. Oh, I tell you—what is home without a mother?—Put the mouse in the megaphone and stop up both ends. What are your hands and your mouth for?”
“Yes,” said Mitchell, “I think I see myself so handling a megaphone that the mouse doesn’t run out either end or into my mouth. My mouth is a good mouth and it’s served me well and I won’t turn it over to a mouse at this late day.”
“Let’s keep the mice in their cages,” said Clover, and as he spoke he dropped his.
“Now see what you’ve done!” said the parrot.
“I didn’t hurt it,” said Clover. “Come on now.”
“Yes, come on,” said Burnett. “It’s long after ten o’clock. You want to remember that even roof gardens are not eternally on tap.”
“Well, I’m trying to hurry all I can,” said Mitchell. “I’m the picture of patience scurrying for dear life only unable to lay hands on her gloves.”