he old gentleman, who often came to chat with Ulick, and to try to
teach him various things, felt quite vexed, and he folded up his paper,
and shut up his camp-stool and went away.

When he had gone an old hen turned round and spoke to Ulick.

"You can hear us, for you have the right sort of ears, but the old man
cannot. It is quite true: the house has gone."

"Where?"

The rabbits were listening, with their long ears erect.

"That I cannot tell, but Nan is going after it."

"Nan! but she is so small."

"Is she?" exclaimed the hen. "You should see her now that she has eaten
the porridge: she is much taller than her mother, and her legs are so
long that she can skim over the ground like an ostrich."

"Then she will get the cat."

"Perhaps. One does not know," answered the hen.

"I hope she will," said a young rabbit.

"I hope she won't," said an old rabbit, "for then she will bring her
back here."

There was a groan amongst the rabbits and the poultry. And then the
Virginian creeper, that was twisting and turning and throwing its leaves
about all over the trellis, began to quiver and shake as if it were
trying to say something, and at last a very tiny voice came from one of
the shoots, and said--

"Should Nan the flying house o'ertake,
She will with it long journeys make,
And come back here no more."

The fowls and rabbits were glad to hear this, but Ulick said--

"Nan shall not overtake the house; Nan shall not have the dear little
cat."

IV.

"Nan will soon be tired," said Ulick; "besides, she does not know where
to go."

"Do you?"

Ulick started, for he could see no one. Still he was not surprised, for
since the rabbits and fowls and Virginian creeper had begun to talk
there was no reason why other things should not also. It must have been
some sensible creature; and he began to consider the point.

No, he did not know where the house had gone; he did not suppose that
even the top of the tallest chimney would be visible, or even the smoke
from it. The house might have gone along the straight road, or have
turned to the right or left, he could not tell. And Ulick sat down upon
a large moss-covered stone, and felt very despondent.

"What's the matter, little man?" asked his big brother Ben, who happened
to come up at the moment. And Ulick told him of his difficulty.

[Illustration: "SHE WAS SO HIGH UP" (_p. 361_).]

"Oh! if that is all," said big Ben, "I will start you on your jour