THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER. 47

ings and creakings of the mice begin over again; and the
king of the mice, as if to reply to the challenge of the Nut-
cracker, issued from beneath the great table in the middle of
the room, followed by the main body of his army. At the
same time, the wings, on the right and left, began to appear
from beneath the arm-chair, under which they had taken

refuge,
CHAPTER Y.

THE. BATTLE.

TRUMPETS, sound
the charge! drums,
beat the dlarm!” ex-
claimed the valiant
Nut-cracker. °

And at the same
moment the trumpets
of Fritz’s hussars *be-
gan to sound, while
SS the drums of his in-
fantry began to beat, and the rumbling of cannon was. also
heard. At the same
time a band of mu-
sicians was formed
of fat Figaros with
their guitars, Swiss
peasants with their
horns, and Negroes
with their. triangles. o
And all these per- = My
sons, though not «
called upon by thes fpoai
Nut-cracker, did not =
the less begin to de-
scend from shelf to