They nibbled away at the jelly for a little while, but Bobby soon found a stone jar with a cover on it.
"Come over here, Ratsies," he called.
Whiskers sniffed at the cover three times. "There are grape preserves in that jar," he said at last.
"We must have some," cried Bobby.
"Yes, yes," squeaked Tiny; "there's nothing I like half so well as grape preserves."
"I am the biggest," said Jumbo, "so I ought to get off the cover." He pulled and pushed, and worked away until the cover came off.
"Goody, goody, goody!" squealed all the rats together, and they plunged in their paws and gobbled up the grapes so fast that their faces were soon purple and sticky with the sweet preserve.
They were not very quiet about it, either. They forgot there was some one else in the house.
Suddenly Listen pricked up his ears. "Ratsies," he whispered, "I hear a noise."
And, sure enough, he did hear a noise; for down the cellar stairs came Nig, the big black cat.