etty easily, but, alas! he never
jumped down again! for the heat of the sun had forced the bung out,
though we could not see this from the ground. Poor Softy saw it, when
too late, for he could not save himself from tumbling down headlong
into the keg, where he was soon drowned, while his brother and sister
were horrified by hearing him screaming for assistance, which they
could not possibly give him, and lamenting that he had not taken
Sleek's advice.

So Tiney and his sister came back, frightened and sorrowful enough, and
our cheerful home became a house of mourning. Mamma was in hysterics
all night, and I verily thought we should have lost her. But sister
Sleek, who knew something of the virtues of herbs, sent two of the boys
into the wheat-field for a red poppy-head, which she persuaded mamma to
eat, and soon after she became quiet, and slept all the next day and
night. Then we were terribly afraid that she had taken so much of this
powerful medicine that she would never wake again; and though Sleek
said that she was not at all alarmed, I am sure she seemed very nervous
and agitated, till at last our dear mother opened her eyes, and asked
for some food.

In one corner of our field was an old deserted stable, which we
sometimes visited, partly for the sake of a few horse-beans which we
found on the floor, and partly to have a chat with a very odd creature
who had taken up his abode there, and with whom we had formed a sort of
acquaintance. This creature was an immense _toad_, a very strange
companion, you will say, for a family of little mice. Certainly, he
_was_ an odd fellow, and a very ugly fellow too; but then he had the
most beautiful eyes in the world, and I am sure he gave us very good
advice, if we had been wise enough to have attended to it, instead of
laughing at his croaking voice, and formal manner of talking.

The first time we visited the hermit, as we called him, after the loss
of our brother, we were almost afraid to tell him of the accident,
expecting he would say that poor Softsides was rightly served, and that
we should all perish like him, by our folly, if we did not pay a little
more attention to the advice of our elders. But Toady had a more
feeling heart than you would have supposed from his manners and
appearance, and when he had heard the sad tale to an end, and we were
expecting a terrible lecture, he closed his searching eyes for a minute
or two, and then said,

"Children, I commiserat