s no wonder that he
felt peevish.

At first Master Meadow Mouse did not answer Mr. Crow when the old
gentleman called down the tunnel that led to the nest beneath the sod.
But soon Master Meadow Mouse remembered that Mr. Crow could get no more
than his bill inside the hole. And then Master Meadow Mouse found his
voice again.

"I don't want to go above ground," he said. "Can't you talk to me, where
I am?"

"It's not easy to do that," Mr. Crow grumbled. "I have to speak too
loud; and my voice is hoarse to-day."

"Stick your bill into my tunnel as far as it will go," Master Meadow
Mouse suggested. "Then you won't have to shout. I could hear a whisper
if you'd do as I say."

Old Mr. Crow thrust his bill down the hole.

"I don't like this," he croaked. "I can't see you."

"That's because you're shutting out all the light," Master Meadow Mouse
explained.

"I doubt it," said Mr. Crow angrily. "I believe you've drawn a curtain
across the other end of this tunnel. And I can't talk to anybody through
a curtain. I _refuse_ to injure my voice trying to talk with anybody
that won't give me a more friendly welcome when I call on him."

"Talk away!" Master Meadow Mouse urged his caller. "There's nothing
between us to keep me from hearing you. Nothing but a foot of air!"

"Ah!" Mr. Crow cried. "I _knew_ you had something in that tunnel. Remove
the air at once, sir, or I'll go away and leave you."

"If his bill wasn't so hard--if it was as soft as the Kitten's nose--I'd
bite it," Master Meadow Mouse thought.

And while he was thinking, all at once a shaft of light trickled inside
his house. Old Mr. Crow had gone grumbling on his way.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

8

Moses Mouse

MASTER MEADOW MOUSE felt ill at ease. Now that the grass had been cut
from the meadow he began to think he didn't care to live there any
longer. After his adventure with old Mr. Crow, Master Meadow Mouse
scarcely dared stray from his dooryard in the daytime. Anybody, almost,
could see him as he crept through the stubble.

At night he ventured further from home. And once he went even as far as
the farmyard.

To his surprise he found that the grass in Farmer Green's yard was
longer than he had ever seen it. Earlier in the summer, when Master
Meadow Mouse visited that spot, he had been afraid to cross the lawn
because it was clipped so short. But now he could creep through the
thick green carpet and nobody could see him, unless