sconcert him in the least. They only added to the excitement.

As for Tabby, she hated it as much as the doctor did, and generally took
advantage of these times to go to visit her cousin who lived across the
fields a mile and a half away.

[Illustration]

Zip had just come from the watering trough where he had been trying to get
the dirt and cobwebs off his coat which he had gotten on under the eaves
in the attic, and was up on a table nosing around when he thought he smelt
mice in a bandbox. He cocked his head to listen and, sure enough, he heard
the mice moving around inside. So he cautiously tried to open the lid. It
fitted loosely, so slipped off easily, and Zip peered in. What he saw made
him smile at the horror it was going to give Martha when she discovered
it. There in the crown of her best winter bonnet was a mouse nest, with
three tiny little mice in it, and the father and mother scampering around.

At the sight of Zip, the old mice ran for the hole they had gnawed in the
side of the box, and tried to escape, but Zip saw them and gave chase.
They jumped from the table and tried to hide under a sofa. But Zip was on
their track and under he crawled after them. Then they dodged in and out
of some boxes and at last jumped into a cracker box, thinking to hide
safely under the crackers. But Zip soon scratched the layer of crackers
off and again they had to run.

[Illustration]

This time they saw a nice big, black hole and into it they scampered,
thinking it too small a place for Zip to follow, but they did not know
Zip. The hole was black enough inside and out to suit anyone, for it was
nothing more or less than a long piece of stovepipe from the kitchen stove
which had been put there for Noah to clean out the soot when he was
through beating the carpets. It was a pretty tight squeeze for Zip, but he
never thought of that until he had himself wedged into it. Neither did he
think of his clean white coat. All he thought of was to catch the mice. So
in he rushed, but he had to crouch down and literally squeeze himself
through. And once or twice he thought he would suffocate from the amount
of soot he shook down. He grew so tired creeping with his legs doubled up
under him that when he was half way through he gave up and howled for
help.

It was a long time before anyone heard him and when they did, they could
not for the life of them tell where the sound came from, for the pipe made
his howls sound so queer. Wh