children had rubbed out of their eyes the soft powdery dust which
their fall had stirred up, they made out the dull glow of a dying
fire, a real one in a real fireplace this time, and no plum-pudding
affair. From the amount of furniture they knocked against in moving
about they knew they must be in somebody's house.

"Oh, dear," whispered Ann, "I hope the owner is not at home!"

Rudolf said nothing, for he was groping about after the poker. He
found it presently and stirred the embers into quite a cheerful blaze.
By this light the children were able to see dimly what the room was
like. It was circular in shape and the walls and ceiling were covered
with rough bark. The floor was of earth, covered with a thick carpet
of dry leaves. There were several chairs and a round table all made of
boughs with the bark left on and the mantel-piece was built of
curiously twisted branches. On it stood a round wooden clock and a
pair of wooden candlesticks. A pair of spectacles lay on the top of a
pile of large fat books upon the table.

"I'd like to know whose house this is," said Rudolf.

"It's Manunderthebed's house," said Peter calmly.

"How do you know?" cried Ann and Rudolf.

"'Cause I _do_ know," said Peter.

"Oh, Peter, you naughty boy, you are so provoking!" exclaimed Ann,
hugging him. "Tell sister what you mean, and what you've been doing
and why you ran away to find those horrid creatures!"

"Aren't horrid," said Peter, wriggling away from her, "and '_tis_
Manunderthebed's house, 'cause he came out by the little door when the
Bad Dreams brought me. He came out of his little door, and he said
'Peter, will you come to my party?'"

"But there isn't any little door now," interrupted Rudolf, "anyway,
_I_ can't find it." He had taken a candle from the mantel-piece, had
lighted it at the fire, and was making a careful search of the walls.
No trace of a door or any opening except the fireplace could be seen.

"It's a magic door," said Peter cheerfully. "Manunderthebed touched
something with his foot and that opened it and then he pushed you and
you pushed me and I bumped into Ann, and here we are."

"He's shut us up on purpose!" cried Ann. "It's just like him."

"He's shut us up to starve us into submission, like they do in books,"
said Rudolf gloomily.

"I'm starved now," began Peter, "and that was the very _nicest_ pie!"
But the other two were much provoked with Peter for having led them
into such a fix, and they wo