-bit and that it
had come to look for her. She quaked with fear till she shook the house.
Poor thing! She didn't think that she was now more than ten times as
large as the Rab-bit, and that she had no cause to be a-fraid of it.

Soon the Rab-bit came to the door and tried to come in, but Al-ice's arm
pressed it so hard the door would not move. Al-ice heard it say, "Then
I'll go round and get in at the win-dow."

[Illustration:]

"That you won't!" thought Al-ice; then she wait-ed till she heard the
Rab-bit quite near the win-dow, then spread out her hand and made a
snatch in the air. She did not get hold of it, but she heard a shriek
and a fall.

Next came an an-gry voice--the Rab-bit's--"Pat! Pat! Where are you?" And
then a voice which was new to her, "Sure then, I'm here! Dig-ging for
apples, yer hon-or!"

"Dig-ging for ap-ples, in-deed!" said the Rab-bit. "Here! Come and help
me out of this! Now, tell me, Pat, what's that in the win-dow?"

"Sure it's an arm, yer hon-or"

"An arm, you goose! Who-ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole
win-dow!"

"Sure it does, yer hon-or; but it's an arm for all that."

"Well, it has no right there; go and take it out!"

For a long time they seemed to stand still, but now and then Al-ice
could hear a few words in a low voice, such as, "Sure I don't like it,
yer hon-or, at all, at all!"

"Do as I tell you, you cow-ard!" and at last she spread out her hand and
made a snatch in the air. This time there were two lit-tle shrieks.

"I should like to know what they'll do next! As to their threats to pull
me out, I on-ly wish they could. I'm sure I don't want to stay in here."

She wait-ed for some time, but all was still; at last came the noise of
small cart wheels and the sound of voi-ces, from which she made out the
words, "Where's the oth-er lad-der? Why, I hadn't to bring but one;
Bill's got the oth-er. Bill, fetch it here, lad! Here, put 'em up at
this place. No, tie 'em first--they don't reach half as high as they
should yet--oh, they'll do. Here, Bill! catch hold of this rope--Will
the roof bear? Mind that loose slate--oh, here it comes! Look out. (A
loud crash.)--Now who did that? It was Bill, I guess--Who's to go down
the chim-ney? Nay, I shan't! You do it!--That I won't then!--Bill's got
to go down--Here, Bill, you've got to go down the chim-ney!"

"Oh, so Bill's got to come down, has he?" said Al-ice to her-self. "Why,
they seem to put all the work on Bill.