White Rabbit had chewed carrots and turnips and soft things all his life, and it only set his teeth on edge when he tried to cut a way for Gray Mouse out of the little wire house.
“Scat B-r-r-r,” came a noise, and old Green Eyes, the cat, sprang from out behind a tub. White Rabbit jumped out of reach.
“Ugh!” meowed Green Eyes to Gray Mouse, “I’ve got a thief and I’m going to eat him.”
Green Eyes tried as hard as he could to get his paws through the cage. One of his claws caught Gray Mouse in the side and made the blood come. Green Eyes became very angry when he saw that he could not reach Gray Mouse. He struck the trap with his claws. He picked it up and gave it a good shaking. He lifted it over his head and threw it down on the floor as hard as he could. The trap rolled over and over and at last rested bottom side up. That made the door, which had been closed all this time, fall back. When Gray Mouse saw that the door was open all he had to do was to jump right out of the trap. He scuttled out of that cellar as fast as he could and up at the top of the steps he met White Rabbit.
White Rabbit turns over the trap.
“It was very warm down there,” said White Rabbit, as he saw Gray Mouse, “and you know that my fur is so thick that I did not feel like staying down there any longer. It was very bright of you to get out of that trap.”
Then White Rabbit and Gray Mouse went away to the barn laughing and chuckling to themselves. They went back to the house the next night.