Inger Johanne, madam," she called.

"Is it that spindleshanks again?" I heard Madam Land say--yes, she
really said "spindleshanks"; but to me she only said, "Your cock is not
here, girl; he has not been here all day--not for two or three days, I
believe."

"But he was here this morning."

"Not at all. You didn't see straight. He is not here, I tell you."

I ran home completely at a loss. What in the world had become of
Carolus? The next day I searched everywhere. I went around to all the
houses in the neighborhood and asked after my cock. No, no one had seen
him anywhere.

Then all at once a frightful suspicion arose in my mind: Madam Land had
cut off Carolus' head!

Oh, what a shame, what a shame!--what a shame for her to do that! How I
cried that day! It did no good for them to say at home that perhaps
Carolus would come back, and that even if he didn't, it wasn't at all
sure that Madam Land had made an end of him; he might easily have just
gone astray himself.

No, I didn't believe that for a moment. It was Madam Land who had
murdered him, and I thought it was mighty queer of Father that he
wouldn't put her on bread and water for twenty days, for she deserved
it.

The only thing that consoled me was that I myself never had to see
Carolus served up in white sauce in a covered dish on the dinner table.
Never--never in the world--would I have tasted a bit of Carolus!

* * * * *

Well, something always does happen to pets--think of Uncle Ferdinand's
monkey.

CHAPTER VIII

CHRISTMAS MUMMING

It was Christmas Eve when we went mumming, and oh! how glorious the
moonlight was! Down in our streets and up over our hills the moon shines
clearer than it does anywhere else on the face of the globe, I'll wager.

Massa, Mina and I had dressed ourselves up in fancy costumes. "If any
one asks where you are from," said Mother, when we were ready to start,
"you can safely say, 'From the Land of Fantasy.' You certainly look as
if you came from there."

Massa had on a light blue dress trimmed with gold-colored cord. It was
one of Mother's heirlooms from Great-grandmother Krag, and had a tiny
short waist and big puffed sleeves. Massa wore also a green velvet hat,
and her thick long flaxen hair hung loose down her back.

Mina was dressed in silk from top to toe; an old-time dress of flowered
brown silk with a train, a green silk shawl and a big white silk bonnet
that came away out