The Mouse's Revenge. 251

“Stop gnawing, you small wretch,” roared the
Bell. ‘I will punish you.”

“Oh, no, you can’t hurt me,” said the Mouse,
and the Bell, feeling that this was so, trembled with
rage, knowing that he was powerless, although
big and strong, and with a tongue mightier than
any pen.

“You can’t even speak till nine o'clock to-
night,” said the Mouse, ‘and it shall be my pleas-
ing duty to see that even then you remain silent,”
and he chuckled in great glee. Then he began
again, ‘gnaw, gnaw, gnaw.” Snap, went another
strand, and before very long the rope gave way
entirely, and down went the big Bell witha tre-
mendous crash that seemed to shake the very
building !

But, oh, little Mouse, poor little Mouse, how
did it happen? With it, Ze fell too! He had
been sitting on the Bell, you know, and had
gnawed the rope above his head. When that
broke, down came the Bell, and he being on it,
had to come too. When some men, hearing the
crash, rushed up the stairs, to see what had hap-