Chapter II

Sammy sat on the wall and watched the mice.

He saw them stop in front of the hole and peep into it.

Then he saw Mr. Mouse go in--head, tail and all.

"That house belongs to some one else," said Sammy.

But Mr. Mouse was in the hole and did not hear what he said.

Mrs. Mouse and the little mice were peeping into the hole and they did not hear what he said.

In a minute Sammy heard Mr. Mouse call to his family to follow him.

Mrs. Mouse picked up the bag and started into the hole.

All the little mice followed her.

Sammy sat on the wall watching them.

All at once he heard a noise.

Mrs. Mouse heard the noise and jumped back.

She dropped the bag, and it flew open. Everything spilled out on the ground.

The next minute Mr. Mouse came scrambling out of the hole.

He had lost off his glasses, and his cap was gone.

"Oh, oh, oh! That is no home for us. Some one lives there, now," he said.

"Who, who, who?" asked all the little mice at once.

Mr. Toad came out to the edge of the hole, winking and blinking.

"I do," he said. "This is my home. Who came to visit me?"

"I told you that some one lived there," chattered Sammy Red Squirrel.

"I told you, but you would not listen to me."

"Well, there is no harm done," said Mr. Mouse. "I just paid Mr. Toad a visit."

"We must find a home any way," said Mrs. Mouse. "If we stay here the cat will catch us."

"There comes the cat now," said Sammy. "She heard Mr. Mouse squeal when he came out of the hole."

When the mice heard that the cat was coming, what a scampering there was.

It did not take the whole family of mice long to find a home under a big stone.

Sammy jumped off the wall and ran up into the pine tree.

The cat came along the path very slowly.

"Meow, meow!" she said to herself. "I must find something for breakfast."

But she did not find the little mice. They were hiding away under the big stone.

And she did not find Sammy. He was safe in the pine tree.

Of course she knew where the mice were hiding.

She saw them when they ran into the hole.

But the stone was too heavy for her to move.

She sat down beside the hole and waited and waited, but not one little mouse put out his nose.

At last the cat grew tired of waiting, and walked back along the path to the house.

She found a saucer of milk on the kitchen floor.

And the best of it was that it could not run away and hide like the mice and squirrels.

A SUMMER SHOWER