A popular
fellow such as I am--my friends get round me--we chaff, we sparkle, we
tell witty stories--and somehow my tongue gets wagging. I have the
gift of conversation. I've been told I ought to have a _salon_,
whatever that may be. Never mind. Go on, Badger. How's this passage of
yours going to help us?"

"I've found out a thing or two lately," continued the Badger. "I got
Otter to disguise himself as a sweep and call at the back-door with
brushes over his shoulder, asking for a job. There's going to be a big
banquet to-morrow night. It's somebody's birthday--the Chief Weasel's,
I believe--and all the weasels will be gathered together in the
dining-hall, eating and drinking and laughing and carrying on,
suspecting nothing. No guns, no swords, no sticks, no arms of any sort
whatever!"

"But the sentinels will be posted as usual," remarked the Rat.

"Exactly," said the Badger; "that is my point. The weasels will trust
entirely to their excellent sentinels. And that is where the passage
comes in. That very useful tunnel leads right up under the butler's
pantry, next to the dining-hall!"

"Aha! that squeaky board in the butler's pantry!" said Toad. "Now I
understand it!"

"We shall creep out quietly into the butler's pantry--" cried the
Mole.

"--with our pistols and swords and sticks--" shouted the Rat.

"--and rush in upon them," said the Badger.

"--and whack 'em, and whack 'em, and whack 'em!" cried the Toad in
ecstasy, running round and round the room, and jumping over the
chairs.

"Very well, then," said the Badger, resuming his usual dry manner,
"our plan is settled, and there's nothing more for you to argue and
squabble about. So, as it's getting very late, all of you go right off
to bed at once. We will make all the necessary arrangements in the
course of the morning to-morrow."

Toad, of course, went off to bed dutifully with the rest--he knew
better than to refuse--though he was feeling much too excited to
sleep. But he had had a long day, with many events crowded into it;
and sheets and blankets were very friendly and comforting things,
after plain straw, and not too much of it, spread on the stone floor
of a draughty cell; and his head had not been many seconds on his
pillow before he was snoring happily. Naturally, he dreamt a good
deal; about roads that ran away from him just when he wanted them, and
canals that chased him and caught him, and a barge that sailed into
the banqueting-hall with