Now and then down came a shower of cocoa-nuts and little Flanagans, but the little Flanagans went scuttling up the tree again to join once more in the fray.
Baby Jane was afraid and trembling, and longed to tell the Bear to gallop away with her; but that was not what she had come out to do, so she gathered her scraps of courage and said:
'Let us sing a carol: in the story-books bad people always turn good when they hear a carol'; and she struck up in a shaking voice, 'Heav'n rest you, merry gentlemen!'
And all the animals joined in—not properly of course, but still as each kept up one note—the Lion's falsetto rising high above the rest—it made a fairly good accompaniment to Baby Jane's tune.
After the first few notes the hullaballoo up in the palm tree ceased.
'Oh,' thought Baby Jane, 'it has made them gentle, and the story-books are right—oh, I am glad!'
But at that moment a storm of cocoa-nuts came pelting down upon them, and a voice exclaimed:
'Ah, it's no manners you have at all to come disturbing a decent family at this time of the night. Go away with you!'
And with that the riot began again.
'They all want to thrash little Patsey at once,' shouted the Lion in Baby Jane's ear; 'that is what they usually quarrel about.'