ughing over it, when
they heard a loud scream from below, followed by a heavy fall, and a
crash as of broken china. For a moment they all looked at each other in
silence, startled by the shock; then Mrs. Posset put Downy off her knee,
and flew down stairs, followed by the three little mice, all eager to
know what had happened. Uncle Jack had heard the noise in his study, and
Susan had heard it in the kitchen; in fact, the whole household was
roused, and all turned their steps towards the school-room, where Nibble
and Brighteyes were. Uncle Jack was the first to open the door, and
when he looked into the room, he saw--see! I will draw you a picture.
_This_ is what he saw. Nibble was lying on the floor, apparently
half-stunned, while near him lay the fragments of a china teapot; and
all around on the floor, were scattered gold coins, large and small,
hundreds and hundreds of them. Every one stood astonished, very
naturally, and no one was more astonished than Master Nibble himself. As
soon as he recovered his composure a little, he sat up on Uncle Jack's
knee, and told his story, very much in these words:

[Illustration]

"It was all my geography lesson, Uncle!" said Nibble. "I played I was
Christopher Columbus, so that I should like it better, and I learned it
all, every word of it. But I finished before Mr. Colburn had written his
books, so I--"

"Stop! stop! Nibble!" cried Uncle Jack. "Who is Mr. Colburn, pray? and
what has he to do with your geography lesson?"

"Why, he is Brighteyes!" said Nibble. "To make her like her arithmetic
lesson, don't you know?"

"Oh! indeed!" said Uncle Jack. "Go on, Christopher!"

"So," continued Nibble, "I thought I would go on a voyage of discovery,
a _real_ voyage. And I saw that little trap door in the ceiling, that
you said must be an old sky-light covered over--"

"And that I forbade you to meddle with," said Uncle Jack, quietly.

"Well, yes, Uncle, I know you did. But if Columbus had minded what other
people said, would he ever have found America?"

"Humph!" said Uncle Jack, trying to suppress a smile. "Well, sir?"

"Well, sir," responded Nibble, "so I thought I would sail for that port.
I climbed up on some things" (I should say he did! there was a heap of
tables and chairs, desks and books, sofa-pillows and coal-scuttles,
under the open trap-door, which was enough to frighten one,) "and got
into it. It was a kind of an attic place, Uncle, all beams and rafters
and cobw