moses mouse, who lived in the farmhouse, had warned master meadow mouse. he had warned him to look out for miss snooper's nose.

master meadow mouse did not pay any great attention to his new friend's advice. he was building himself a new home in farmer green's woodpile. and he went about his work as if there wasn't a cat within a hundred miles.

then, one day, he caught a glimpse of miss snooper. he peeped out from a chink in the woodpile and saw her sitting on a stick of wood. she was so near him that master meadow mouse could have leaped upon her back in one spring.

but he didn't do that. he gazed at her with round eyes, for miss snooper looked very fierce, especially when she opened her mouth and showed her sharp teeth as she yawned. master meadow mouse saw that she was a quite different creature from the awkward kitten whom he had bitten on the nose earlier in the summer.

"goodness!" thought master meadow mouse, staring at miss snooper with great awe. "goodness! her whiskers are longer than mine!"

and then he drew back very softly and crept to his nest in the woodpile.

that night moses mouse came to make another call. and he brought his wife with him, so that she might see the stranger with the short tail who was going to live in farmer green's woodpile.

"i saw miss snooper to-day," master meadow mouse told them.

"did you bite her nose?" mrs. mouse asked him eagerly; for her husband had told her all about the newcomer.

"no!" said master meadow mouse. "no! i was too busy, building my new home, to stop and bite her."

"isn't he brave!" whispered mrs. moses mouse to her husband.

from where they sat, on the top of the woodpile, master meadow mouse and his callers caught sight of a dark shape that moved stealthily towards them through the shadows.

"it's miss snooper herself!" mrs. mouse cried. and quick as a wink she dived down among the sticks of wood, with her husband following close behind her.

"probably master meadow mouse will bite miss snooper's nose this time," she said to moses, when she had reached a safe retreat.

"he isn't biting it now," moses mouse replied, "because he's crowding right behind me."

"miss snooper has come," mrs. mouse said to master meadow mouse. "maybe you didn't understand that it was she."

"let her come!" master meadow mouse squeaked.

"isn't he brave!" mrs. moses mouse murmured.

"i'll bite her nose if she sticks it into this crevice," master mouse declared.

"isn't he brave!" she breathed into her husband's ear.

"i'm not so sure of that," said moses mouse in an undertone. "he talks a good deal about nose-biting. i should like to see him do it. i knew miss snooper was skulking around the yard to-night. that's why i came to call on this chap. i wanted to see whether he'd fight or run."

meanwhile miss snooper climbed all over the woodpile. she could hear faint squeaks somewhere. and she was almost frantic because she couldn't squirm under the wood and find whoever was talking.

it was almost morning before moses mouse and his wife dared to steal back to the farmhouse. when they left the woodpile master meadow mouse left it too. he had decided, during the night, that he wouldn't live in the farmyard.

"i've become very tired of this old cat," he told his companions—mr. and mrs. moses mouse. "i shouldn't care to stay where i had to see her often."