At midnight, Milo the Mouse was sure he heard a noise. He poked his head out of a hole in the wall and listened. All he could hear was: “Tic, Tic, Tic!” He listened again. It was from the clock in the corner. For the last two hours it had been striking the half hours and the three-quarters.
Then he heard the noise again: “Tic,Tic, Tic!” in the other direction.
“What can that be?” thought Milo. It was coming from his pantry. He listened again. “It’s something nibbling,” he concluded, “for it’s a teeth sound.”
So out he jumped from the hole in the wall into the pantry. There was moonlight streaming through the window. The door of the cupboard where all the good things were kept stood a bit ajar, so Milo soon found out that there was a great deal of nibbling going on, and that a very large mouth was the cause of the “Tic, Tic, Tic.”
Milo crept cautiously down the steps, slipped nimbly past the cupboard and made his way to the door.
Twitch, twitch, twitch! There was something lying by the cupboard as if to listen to the noise.
“Mice never feed at night,” thought Milo.
Twitch, twitch, twitch!
“That’s not a mouse! I really think I’m a little afraid!
Twitch, twitch, twitch!
“If I were a brave mouse, I ought to try to find out what it is. By day I am not a bit afraid of anything, and I do wish I could see what was going on there.”
So he braced himself up and sat right in front of the cupboard. “Tic, Tic, Tic! will you come out?” he cried.
But nothing appeared except a great brown bushy thing, which moved about as if it wanted to creep out of the cupboard; and “Tic, Tic, Tic!” went on merrily without stopping one moment.
“Would the thing come out in time to breakfast?” thought Milo, and at the very same moment he felt a twitch on his tail- A very large grey hand had seized hold of it, and a very gruff voice said: “Little thief, little thief!” But Milo was far too old a hand to let himself be frightened at that.
“It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” squeaked he. “There’s a thief in the pantry.”
“True for you, little thief,” replied the grey hand. “There’s a thief in the pantry who won’t leave it all night.”
“But there’s another!” said Milo, trying to squeeze his tail out of the grey hand.
“Save you, say you? What do you mean?” said the big voice.
“Save my little tail from you,” said Milo, in his most polite tone.
Then the large grey hand let go his tail, and seized Milo the body, and pulled him inside the cupboard and said: “Good-day at last! I was waiting here the whole time under the drawer until I got hold of the little thief—and lo and behold! it’s you!”
Then a very gentle little hand touched the drawer on which the other was resting.
“Are not you my cousin Doctor at the Weasel Chamber at the Fishmarket?” asked Milo at once.
The little hand flew up to the very tip of the very long grey snout, and said: “Most intrepid mouse! may I first of all beg you to lift a little of my fur off your best waistcoat, and when you’ve done so, I shall be at your service.”
“What fur?” asked Milo.
“Oh! I really beg your pardon! I quite forgot myself. But I will give them my last shirt; and if I had even a pawful of porridge, I’d share it with my best cousin!”
“What on earth is the matter with them?” thought Milo; and he asked, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Brownie. But don’t hold me so tightly; my fur hurts.”
“You growl like a dog,” said Milo. “But be good enough to let me go.”
No sooner was he reassured on that point than he quickly got out of the large grey hand, which had hold of him again.
“I’m glad it wasn’t a mouse you got hold of,” grumbled the grey hand.
“But it would have come to that had I allowed you to carry me any further,” continued the large hand.
“You growl like a dog,” was Milo’s ill-tempered answer.
“I’m not a bit contrary, if people don’t tease me,” said the disagreeable grey hand.
“I’ll tease you still less!” squeaked Milo. “There’s a thief in the pantry; and if you won’t catch him, I shall. Only let go my tail.”
“Very civil, I’m sure! I caught you without being asked, and you want to snub me!” said the grey hand.
“No harm was meant,” said the little hand squeaking. “He only wished to give you such of his ancestrals as remained to him, and I was going to say, let us set to work and catch that thief first, and dividerus afterwards. This my honourable cousin will admit. Will you, honourable cousin?”
“That I will,” squeaked Milo.
So the grey hand held the cupboard door, and the two others went in search of the thief, who must surely have disappeared by this time.
“No, see!” cried Brownie, who was the most active. “There he lies; hard by you.”
“I can’t see him,” said Milo.
“Well, feel in the corner by your foot,” said Brownie.
Milo felt, and at once seized a tail, and cried “I’ve caught him!”
But Brownie said, “Reverse Moore first!”
So the other one held his tail in his footclaws, and Milo woke up and yawned. “Oh, it’s you, Cleff!” said he. “So it is you who are lying down here so snugly! Good-night.”
“Stop, dear cousin, stop a moment!” said Brownie. “You won’t wake your uncle and aunt by playing about with your friend; kindly come with me to a certain place, where I have some dried nuts to offer you.”
So saying, the one mouse and the little hand departed, while the disagreeable grey hand lay down again, and very soon fell fast asleep.
The following morning Cleff said in confidence to Milo, “There’s a handsome dashing little fellow! I’d rather have a night with him than with all the unpleasant folk who surround me.”