to go in after him."

"How can you?" asked Vi promptly, but excitedly, too.

"I can crawl into that hole----"

"Isn't it too small?"

"Well, I'm not so big," replied Laddie. "I guess I can do it. I'm going
to try."

He knelt down before the round mouth of the culvert. It was a piece of
drainpipe with a rough rim at the edge of the hole. Laddie poked his
head into the hole.

"It's as dark as the inside of your pocket, Vi Bunker," he said, in a
muffled voice.

"Shall I run get a candle?" asked his sister.

"No," sighed Laddie; and even his sigh sounded funny from inside the
pipe. "If you do they'll want to know what you want it for. And if we
are going to catch this--this whatever-it-is, we want to catch it all by
ourselves. Wait."

Vi granted that request. She waited, watching Laddie's plump little body
wriggling farther and farther into the culvert. His jacket caught
several times on the rough rim of the opening. But he persevered.

"Oh!" ejaculated Laddie at last, and his voice seemed a murmur from a
great way off.

"I guess you better come back, Laddie," said Vi, getting anxious.

Laddie, if the truth were known, thought so too. For just then he had
sighted in the dark two fiery points, like flashing bits of glass or
mica. He knew what they were; they were the eyes of the little red
animal he had chased into this hole. And Laddie thought that when eyes
flashed so brilliantly, their owner must be angry.

"He's going to jump at me!" breathed the little boy to himself.

He began to back out hastily. The bottom of his jacket caught on the rim
of the pipe. He was stuck there!

"Pull! Pull me out, Vi Bunker!" he shouted.

But his voice was so muffled that his sister could not understand what
he said. It looked as though Laddie was unable to get back the way he
had come. And he certainly dared not go on ahead.

For now, to increase his fears, he saw other points of light in the
darkness--all in pairs, the eyes of several smaller animals, he was
sure! He had self-control enough to count them and found that there
were five pairs of eyes altogether.

What should he do about it? Struggle as he might he could not back any
farther. And no manner of wriggling was likely to get him out of the
hole the way he had come in.

CHAPTER XIX

IN MAMMY JUNE'S ROOM

Russ and Rose had both got up very early the day after Christmas, for
their minds were filled with the idea of helping Mammy June. The poor
ol