“Perhaps Mrs. Silverskin would be willing to go for it. She’s very fond of Posy, you know, and the sparrow tells us that she objected to stealing the ribbon on that account.”
“Absurd!” exclaimed Mrs. Polly in a contemptuous tone. “Why, she’s afraid of her own shadow! I can assure you it would take a good deal of courage to venture into any rat’s hole, let alone old Graywhisker’s! Why, where do you think she’d be if he came back and found her there?”
“I suppose it would be a pretty dangerous undertaking,” said the canary meekly.
“I suppose it would too!” sneered the parrot. “No, that’s out of the question; so that settles the matter.”
“I don’t know about that,” said the sparrow dryly.
“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Polly sharply. “Don’t speak in riddles.”
“I mean what I say,” answered the sparrow, boldly returning Mrs. Polly’s glance. “I said I didn’t know about that. I’m not so sure that nobody will dare venture into Graywhisker’s hole.”
“Who will, pray?” said Mrs. Polly.
“I will,” answered the sparrow firmly. “I’ll go into Graywhisker’s hole and get that ribbon back if it’s there.”
Mrs. Polly and the canary stared at the little sparrow in astonishment too great for words.