secret passage to the tunnel. When they came to the door and opened it,
imagine their surprise to find Grater untied and standing directly in
their path. Before they could retreat, they heard soft padded feet and
on turning around found Jeremiah staring intently at them, his eyes a
brilliant green.

"Well, well, well," purred the cat. "This time it looks like our turn,"
and quick as a flash Jeremiah caught Hortense with one paw and Andy
with the other, while Grater jumped on Malay Kris and they tied all
three of them with the cords which had been holding Grater.

"You forgot," said Jeremiah, "that the trap door from the chute outside
was open, so I got here ahead of you and untied Grater. Then we just
decided to wait for you, figuring you'd be along."

Meanwhile Grater began to run his prickly sides on Malay Kris so he was
no longer a sharp knife, just a dull old one. All the time Kris tried
to wriggle free of his ties, but could not.

"Enough of this," said Jeremiah, "let's get rid of these pests once and
for all. But first I believe I'll have the charm." So saying, he took
the monkey charm from Hortense, who could do nothing to stop him. Then
the cat and the grater marched their captives through the tunnel to
their house.

"Before, when we put them in the cookie jar, they escaped," said
Jeremiah.

"Why not lock them in the clock case," suggested Grater.

"Splendid idea," agreed Jeremiah, so they unlocked the door and pushed
them all inside, carefully locking them in and Grater put the key in
his pocket.

"Now," said Jeremiah, "let's go out on the mountain side and maybe we
can catch a couple of those little people and really have a fine
supper."

After they left Hortense began to cry softly. "Whatever will happen to
us now," she sobbed, and sat down on one of the pendulum weights of the
clock.

"If you don't get off my weights I'm afraid I'll have to stop," spoke
up the clock. "And if time stands still then you certainly will never
go anywhere."

"Oh, excuse me," said Hortense. "I quite forgot where we were." Then a
sudden thought came to her. "Can you help us?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not," said the clock. "You see, time can't be on anybody's
side, but must be on all sides."

"If you are on all sides, then you must be on our side," reasoned
Hortense. "Anyway, do you know any way we can get out of your inside?"

While Hortense and the clock were thus talking, Malay Kris was rubbing
his ropes agains