ou're crushing me against the pantry floor."

XXII

THE FLOUR BARREL

MISS KITTY CAT took her paw off Moses Mouse, after giving him a sharp
nip to warn him not to try to run away.

"Ouch!" Moses squeaked. And then, when he felt himself free, he picked
up the hit of cheese that he had dropped upon the pantry floor. But he
was shaking with fear.

He shook so hard that he couldn't balance the cheese on the end of his
nose. It tumbled off at once and he turned quickly to get it. Miss Kitty
Cat turned with him. And while she was turning, Moses Mouse turned back
again and jumped behind a flour barrel.

She sprang after him. But the barrel stood so near the wall that there
was only a small space behind it. It was wide enough for Moses Mouse to
slip through; but it was entirely too narrow for Miss Kitty Cat. And
Moses Mouse waited just beyond reach of her paw.

She ran around the barrel, only to find that Moses had crawled back
through the opening and was watching her with his beady little eyes.

Miss Kitty Cat was almost frantic. She hurried around the barrel again,
and saw that Moses Mouse had repeated his trick. He needed only to move
the length of his tail, while she had to whisk all the way around the
fat flour barrel.

"This will never do," Miss Kitty thought, as she peered through the
crack at Moses Mouse, while she paused to get her breath. And as she
stared at him, an idea popped into her head. It seemed such a good idea
that Miss Kitty Cat decided to act upon it at once.

So she wheeled and started off again, as if to run around the barrel
once more. But when she had whisked half way around it she turned and
hurried back again.

She had expected to surprise Mr. Moses Mouse on the wrong side of the
crack. And to her astonishment, he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere in
sight.

"Goodness me!" Miss Kitty Cat wailed. "There must have been something
wrong with my idea."

There wasn't. It had merely happened that Moses Mouse had had an idea of
his own.

"I don't want to stay dodging here the rest of the night," he had said
to himself. "The next time Miss Snooper makes a trip around the barrel
I'm going to run up the side of it and trust to luck."

That was exactly what he did. Once on top of the barrel, Moses Mouse
leaped to a shelf. He crept along the shelf until he came to the pantry
window. Now, Mrs. Green had left the window slightly open. And Moses
Mouse darted out of doors and half jumped, h