hid in
the little room. They left the door open a bit so that they could see
out, and all crouched on the upper stair waiting for whatever was to
come.

"What's that?" said Malay Kris. "I heard a sound."

"It's Andy, of course," said Hortense, running down the stairs. "I'd
almost forgotten him."

Leaning over the hole beside the chimney, she called in a soft voice,
"Andy, Andy."

"It's me," said Andy, and soon he joined them.

"Why do we wait here?" Malay Kris demanded. "How can you be sure any
one will come?"

"We can't be sure, of course," Hortense said, "but it's likely because
it's a secret place. We want to see who it is that goes with Jeremiah.
Highboy has seen him but doesn't know his name. He's all shiny, and
prickly, and hard."

"Not too hard for me," Malay Kris boasted. "I'll run him through as
though he were cheese."

"It won't be so bad, once we see him," Hortense observed. "A thing is
never so bad as you think it is beforehand."

"Except castor oil," said Andy. "That's worse."

They all sat in silence, waiting for something to happen.

"Unless it comes soon, I'll go out and look for it," Malay Kris growled
after a time. "I rust with inaction."

"Hush!" said Hortense.

They heard the swift patter of feet on the attic stairs and across the
floor.

"Only Jeremiah," Hortense whispered disappointedly, peeping out of the
crack in the door. But immediately after came the clatter of metal and
a bright round figure ran up the ladder after Jeremiah and disappeared
through the cupola window.

Hortense clapped her hands softly.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, full of excitement.

"What did you know?" Andy asked.

"It's the Grater! The one that hangs in Aunt Esmerelda's kitchen."

"Let me see him!" cried Malay Kris.

On the roof above their heads, light footsteps pattered rhythmically.

"I do believe they're dancing!" Hortense said.

They ran to the ladder and scrambled up.

"Careful! We mustn't let them see us," Hortense warned.

Cautiously they peeped over the window ledge. Below them on the roof,
Jeremiah and Grater were dancing outrageously. The Cat pranced on his
hind legs, and Grater leaped and spun like a top, so that his sides
glittered in the moonlight.

[Illustration: Grater danced outrageously, leaping and spinning in the
moonlight.]

"He's wearing armor," said Malay Kris. "H'm, he won't be so easy as I
thought. However, I'll have a try."

Hortense laid a hand on his shoulde