Nibbles was sorry that he had not asked where the kitchen was, but he preferred to hunt it up himself rather than to go back to Mrs. Guinea Pig’s hot bath-room, and after a little while he found it.
The tea-kettle was boiling cheerily on the stove, and Nibbles noticed a delicious odor of toasted cheese and bacon, but nowhere could he see the Salamander.
He looked in the cupboard and under the sink, behind the door and under the table, in the coalhod and behind the stove, until at last, being very hungry, he began to call: “Mr. Salamander! Oh, Mr. Salamander!”
At once he heard a sleepy, squeaky voice saying: “Yes, yes, I’ll get up in a minute. Is it time for breakfast already?”
The voice came from the stove, and, to Nibbles’s amazement, he saw the oven door slowly open, and the most curious looking animal with a very sleepy face jump out. It looked like a fat black lizard, with large flame-color spots, bright black eyes, and queer, short little legs.
After giving such a prodigious yawn that Nibbles was afraid that he might never be able to shut his mouth again, he looked at Nibbles and said very sadly: “Oh, dear! I was having such a lovely dream when you woke me up.”
“I am very sorry,” replied Nibbles, “but I am so hungry that I shall soon be ready to eat my whiskers.”