Adventures in Toyland Part 2

Then he recovered his spirit. "I will baulk him yet!" he exclaimed, his pink eyes flashing, and his white fur bristling with excitement.

"How can I help you?" asked the Owl. "I will endeavor to keep awake as long as I am wanted."

"Wait a moment," answered the Rabbit, and then he beat a tattoo thoughtfully on his drum. "I think I have arrived at a conclusion," he said presently. "I will meet their dastardly plot by a counter-plot. I do not expect the Mouse back for another half-hour; he told me he should be busy till half-past twelve putting away our recent earnings. This will just give us time to do what I wish.

"Here is _my_ plot," he continued. "Having procured a bottle of gum we will go to the sentry-box, at the back of which you will take up your position. I will tell the Sentry you have been telling me a most comical little dream you have had--the one, indeed, you told me of late. He is a great fellow for good stories, and will certainly hurry off to hear it.

"Whilst he is away I will spread the bottom of the sentry-box with gum.

When, on his return, he steps into the box, I shall keep him still, and give the gum time to take effect, by offering him a bet of a gold piece that he will not stand perfectly motionless whilst I go home and back.

He is very fond of a bet, and is sure to accept it. Leaving you to see that he acts fairly, I shall go and meet the Mouse, returning here for the performance which is to be suggested.

"That, however, I shall cut short, having no desire to waste my talent on a villain like the Sentry. I shall turn away with the Mouse, who, on giving the signal agreed upon, will, to his amazement, find that it is followed by no result. For by that time the Sentry will be gummed so tightly to the floor of his sentry-box that he will not be able to move an inch.

"Having enjoyed the sight of their confusion I shall punish them, biting off the head of the Mouse--for whose deceit no punishment can be too severe,--and beating the Sentry about the head until he can't see out of his eyes. Nor shall the Horse escape my vengeance. I shall creep into his stall, and suddenly, and with a precise aim, throw a piece of gold at the pupils of his wicked eyes. Thus he will be totally blinded by the gold he has wrongfully helped to keep. A most fit and proper punishment."

"Your plans are well and thoughtfully worked out," said the Owl, blinking his eyes.

"To business, then," remarked the Rabbit; and the two having first procured the gum took their way to the sentry-box; the Rabbit strolling thither on his hind-legs to avoid any appearance of alarm or haste, the Owl hopping by his side with a certain grave and sleepy dignity.

Arrived at the sentry-box, the Owl placed himself behind it, whilst the Rabbit, concealing the bottle of gum under his drum, went to the front and bid the Sentry "good-day."

"Good-day," said the Sentry. "What are you grinning at?" For the Rabbit was smiling from ear to ear.

"Nothing of much consequence," he replied. "Merely a most comical little dream that the Owl--who happens for a wonder to be awake--has been telling me. It made me die of laughter."

"Pa.s.s it on," said the Sentry.

"I shouldn't think of doing that," replied the Rabbit. "I don't approve of telling people's own particular little stories; they prefer the fun of relating them themselves. Look here, you go round for a moment or two and get him to let you hear it before he drops asleep again. It is an occasion to seize, for he is hardly ever awake when other people are, and he tells a story better than anyone else I know."

"Well, I rather think I will," answered the Sentry. "I'm very fond of a good story. You take my place whilst I'm away, there's a good fellow.

Here, put down your drum and take my bayonet."

"Very good," answered the Rabbit, and the Sentry hurried off.

The moment he had turned the corner the Rabbit set to work and spread gum all over the floor of the sentry-box. Then, standing outside, he took up the bayonet and mounted guard, first carefully hiding the tell-tale bottle behind a box of bricks. By and by the Sentry returned.

"Well, it was not a very good story after all," he said rudely. "Thank you for nothing. Why aren't you in the sentry-box? I am inclined to bayonet you for breaking your word."

"I should not have been able to move about sufficiently," the Rabbit answered. "I should have suffered from cramp."

"Stuff and nonsense!" the Sentry replied. "I stand in it for hours at a time."

"But not without moving?" asked the Rabbit, with an air of disbelief.

"Without stirring an eighth of an inch," the Sentry said.

"I don't believe it," replied the Rabbit. "I challenge you to keep perfectly still for any length of time. I bet you a gold piece you won't stand motionless whilst I run home and back again."

"Done!" said the Sentry, and straightway stepped into his box.

"This sentry-box gets slimy and dirty," he said, without the least idea of what the Rabbit had done. "It is quite sticky with dirt. It wouldn't be a bad thing if you were to clean it out for me some day."

"I'll see," answered the other carelessly, fearing to be either too polite or too rude lest he should arouse any suspicions in the Sentry's mind. "I don't generally care to do other people's dirty work, but I may do that some day when I am not busy. You serve your country, so you deserve a little help."

"If you don't do it willingly, you shall do it unwillingly," he bl.u.s.tered. "If _I_ serve my country, _you_ must serve me."

"There's plenty of time to think it over," answered the Rabbit. "In the meanwhile, you can't stir even to have it cleaned or you lose your bet.

I'm off. But wait, I must call the Owl to be a witness that you keep strictly to the terms we have agreed upon."

Then, having called the Owl and stated the terms of the bet, the Rabbit went home.

Here he awaited the arrival of the Mouse, who presently returned, full of pretended sympathy for the dulness of the Sentry's life.

"He told me to-day," said the little rascal, "that the dulness of his life was killing him. It struck me that it would be really an act of charity on our part to give him a little performance, and let him fully understand we expect no money for it. I hinted at something of the sort to him, and the poor fellow's face lighted up in a way that was quite touching. Suppose we go his way now as we have a little spare time."

"I'm quite willing to," replied the Rabbit. "But I've just come from him, and he never complained of dulness to me. In fact, he was in quite good enough spirits to have a bet with me on the subject of his being able to stand motionless for a certain time."

"Oh, he did that to try and kill care, no doubt," answered the Mouse. "I know him well, though he is a reserved chap and opens out his heart to few. Come on."

Now by the time the Rabbit and the Mouse returned to the sentry-box, the gum had had time to get well dried, so that the Sentry was firmly fixed in his box. Nevertheless, there was still the danger that he might attempt to move, and so find out too soon the trick that had been played upon him. To avert this, directly the Rabbit came back again he lost no time in remarking to the Sentry:

"Yes, I acknowledge you have won the bet. But you have only just managed to do so; you are looking quite tired out. Another five minutes or less, and you would have been unable to stand still a moment longer."

"Double or quits!" cried the Sentry. "For another gold piece, I'll engage to keep still for the time you mention. If I fail to do so, of course you don't pay me anything."

"Agreed," said the Rabbit.

"Oh, friends," exclaimed the Mouse, shaking his head, "do not give way to this habit! It is, indeed, a sad, bad one."

This he merely said to impress the Owl (on whom he had not counted as a spectator) with a sense of his moral worth. He hoped by this means to counteract any after suspicions that might arise in the good bird's mind.

"As to that," said the Sentry, who was generally rude whether he was addressing friend or foe, "it is my own concern whether I bet or not.

You had better not trouble yourself with my affairs, but if you really mean to give me one of your performances you would do well to begin."

"Just as you will," the Mouse said. "But I can't help taking an interest in the welfare of those with whom I have to do." Then addressing the Rabbit: "Dear friend," he said smoothly, "will you open with your famous _reverie_, 'Dreamings of a Drum,' whilst I perform my _pas de quatre_, 'Twirlings of the Toes?'"

"Very good," agreed the Rabbit.

And the two performers began. But in a few moments the Rabbit stopped.

"I cannot continue," he said. "I am suffering from cramp in the muscles of my drum-legs."

"Dear! What a pity!" exclaimed the Mouse. "Come for a walk and brace yourself up."

"All right!" answered the Rabbit. "We'll go and fetch the gold pieces which I must give this fellow."

"Can't you give me something at once?" asked the Sentry, who did not, in his greed of gold, wish to lose the chance of getting all he could.

"I've nothing with me," replied the Rabbit. And so saying he followed the Mouse, who with his back towards the Sentry had already moved away.