IT WAS quite late when the Teenie Weenies arrived at the shoe house, and it was almost nine o’clock when the little people had finished their supper.
“Well, we’d better all get to bed,” said the General, pushing his chair back from the table, “for we have got to be out bright and early in the morning and take Mr. Mouse back to his home.”
Gogo and the Turk helped the Cook wash up the supper dishes, and half an hour later every single Teenie Weenie was sleeping peacefully in his teenie weenie bed.
The Teenie Weenies had been asleep only a short time when they were awakened by a loud squeaking and scratching at the front door.
“Who dat?” cried Gogo, putting his head out one of the tiny windows.
“Its me,” answered Mrs. Mouse. “Oh dear me.”
“What’s the trouble?” asked the General, joining Gogo at the window.
“Oh gracious me,” wailed Mrs. Mouse, “I’m scared half out of my senses, for I’m afraid that old cat that lives next door might get in the cellar, and to think what would happen to my poor crippled husband just frightens me half out of my wits.”
“We’ll not desert you, madam,” said the General kindly. “We’ll come over immediately and take your husband home.”
The Teenie Weenies soon dressed themselves, and Gogo hurried over to the hospital to call the Doctor.
“Hadn’t we better take along one of the wagons?” asked the General, when the Teenie Weenie physician arrived.
“A wagon wouldn’t do,” answered the Doctor. “We could never take Mr. Mouse home in a wagon. Why, it would jar the poor mouse’s injured legs until he couldn’t stand the pain.”
“Great grief!” cried the General, “how in the name of ripe cherries are we going to move him?”
“Very simple matter,” said the Doctor. “We can carry him in a hammock, which we can make out of a sheet or tablecloth. This can be hung on a pole and we can carry him on our shoulders.”
“I know where there’s a pole that will be just the thing,” shouted the Turk. “Come on, Gogo, and we’ll get it.”
The two Teenie Weenies hurried away in the darkness and presently they returned with a long handled paint brush.
The Cook brought out an old tablecloth and the little men set out for the cellar where the poor mouse lay.
It was dark, but the little fellows found their way without trouble, for Teenie Weenies can see almost as well as owls in the dark and in a short time they arrived safe and sound.
The injured mouse was soon put into the tablecloth and the ends were made fast to the brush handle. Six of the strongest Teenie Weenies were chosen to carry the mouse and they gently lifted the brush handle to their shoulders. The Teenie Weenies moved off carefully towards the mouse’s home, which lay at the far end of the cellar.
The Dunce walked at the side of the hammock and carried the mouse’s long tail over his shoulder, in order to keep it from dragging on the floor, for the poor fellow’s spirits were mighty low and his tail would drag.
The mouse was carried through a hole in a brick wall, which was the entrance to his home, and laid gently on a bed of soft cotton. The Lady of Fashion helped Mrs. Mouse nurse her husband back to health and the Doctor called almost every day, while the Cook made all sorts of dainty dishes for the invalid.