re until bedtime; and then she led Twinkle
and Chubbins into the kitchen and showed them a pool of clear water, in
a big clay basin, that had been caught during the last rain and saved
for drinking purposes. The children drank of it, and found it cool and
refreshing.

Then they saw the bedrooms, and learned that the beds of prairie-dogs
were nothing more than round hollows made in heaps of clay. These
animals always curl themselves up when they sleep, and the round hollows
just fitted their bodies; so, no doubt, they found them very
comfortable.

There were several bedrooms, for the Puff-Pudgy house was really very
large. It was also very cool and pleasant, being all underground and not
a bit damp.

After they had admired everything in a way that made Mrs. Puff-Pudgy
very proud and happy, their hostess took one of the lighted candles from
a bracket and said she would now escort them to the house of the
Honorable Mr. Bowko, the Mayor.

Chapter VII
The Mayor Gives a Luncheon

"DON'T we have to go upstairs and out of doors?" asked Twinkle.

"Oh, no," replied the prairie-dog, "we have halls connecting all the
different houses of importance. Just follow me, and you can't get lost."

They might easily have been lost without their guide, the little girl
thought, after they had gone through several winding passages. They
turned this way and that, in quite a bewildering manner, and there were
so many underground tunnels going in every direction that it was a
wonder Mrs. Puff-Pudgy knew which way to go.

"You ought to have sign-posts," said Chubbins, who had once been in a
city.

"Why, as for that, every one in the town knows which way to go,"
answered their guide; "and it isn't often we have visitors. Last week a
gray owl stopped with us for a couple of days, and we had a fine ball in
her honor. But you are the first humans that have ever been entertained
in our town, so it's quite an event with us." A few minutes later she
said: "Here we are, at the Mayor's house," and as they passed under a
broad archway she blew out her candle, because the Mayor's house was so
brilliantly lighted.

"Welcome!" said Mr. Bowko, greeting the children with polite bows. "You
are just in time, for luncheon is about ready and my guests are waiting
for you."

He led them at once into a big dining-room that was so magnificently
painted with colored clays that the walls were as bright as a June
rainbow.

"How pretty!" cried Twinkle