“Oh, oh!” cried the little Peppers.
“Yes; and ‘Stand away there, my children,’ came in very faint tones from the jar, ‘or you’ll be killed;’ and one of the great big mice—it was Mr. Father Brown Mouse—stood on the very tip most top of the jar, and let his tail dangle over.
“‘Now run down, my dear,’ he said to his wife, Mrs. Mother Mouse, ‘and stand on the ground,’—he called the shelf the ground, you know,—‘and pull my tail as hard as you did last night, you know; then you must fly, just as you did last night too, when you see the jar coming, or you will be killed.’ So Mrs. Mother Mouse promised she would do it all just as he told her, and she did. And over came the jar on its side on the shelf!”
“Oh, dear me!” exclaimed the little Peppers.
“Then in rushed the two little brown mice, and after them pell-mell the two big brown mice, to drag out [the pink and white sticks.] But Mr. Periwinkle hopped up, and so did Mrs. Periwinkle, and all the little Periwinkleses, and he said, ‘No, sir, and No, ma’am, and no, you little Mousiekins, you don’t take my pink and white sticks, and’”—
“O Polly!” cried Phronsie, grasping Polly’s arm, “please do let the poor, sweet little brown mousies have the pink and white sticks. Please, Polly!” she begged, dreadfully excited.
“Hoh, hoh! why, they were Mr. Periwinkle’s pink and white sticks,” cried Joel. “O Polly! I hope he took a big stick and whacked ’em.”