THE GHOST OF THE WAINSCOT

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 83, 29 June 1927, Page 16

THE GHOST OF THE WAINSCOT

A little wire cage stood in a certain shop-window, and in it were two white mice, the funniest little fellows, with snow-white fur coats and pink, trembly noses, having long, silky white whiskers, and eyes like tiny red jewdts. All the school children had a habit of stopping on their way to and from school to visit the white mice. They would stand close to the great glass window, pressing their noses quite flat against the pane, as they watched with delight the funny capers of the white mice. Fluff and Muff, for thus the children had named them. Fluff was the larger mouse, and he would spend hours whirling about in the small wire wheel, going so swiftly at times that all the children could make out was just a round ball of white fur revolving in space.

The wheel had a way of creak, creak, creaking merrily whenever Fluff whirled very fast, and, to tell truth, this creaking was not wholly unmusical; and it had such a queer effect upon Muff, who apparently had an ear for music, that she would instantly commence a giddy sort of dance, all by herself, whirling madly around to the strange accompaniment of tlfe creaking wheel just so long as Fluff kept up the music. All day long the two white mice frolicked together, only nestling down for short naps in their white cottonwool bed when they were quite exhausted. All this was entertaining to the children, who never wearied watching their antics. But one morning when they stopped at the great window, as usual, there was no wire cage with white mice in its customary place between the glasses of pickled limes and lollipops; in fact, the mice were gone.

So one boy, somewhat braver than the rest, volunteered to go into the shop and find out what had become of their favourites; indeed, if the truth were known, this boy had been saving up his pennies for a week in hopes that he might finally have enough to buy the white mice. Just as soon as he entered the shop he knew something dreadful had happened, even before he asked the shopkeeper, for right upon the counter lay the wire cage, broken and bent, its door gone, and the whirling wheel wrenched from its socket. The man told him that the cat had done it; had been shut into the store over night by mistake. So the boy, feeling very sad, just bought sweets with his money, instead of saving up any longer for the mice, and went to school.

Now this is actually what did happen the night before, only the shopkeeper knew nothing about it, of course. When the great wooden shutters had been put up for the night, and all lights put out in the shop, it became very dark and still; to be sure the tortoise-shell cat had skulked between the shopkeeper's legs somehow, and slipped in slyly without his being aware of it. But as it happened, she had not sneaked in for white mice; behind a certain barrel, over in the corner, she knew of a rat hole. That was what she had in mind all the time. She was not specially interested in white mice; she thought them freaks, at best.

So darker and darker grew the shop, and very silent, until finally a rasp, rasping sound came from behind the barrel. The cat crept stealthily across the floor on velvet padded feet, and crouched expectantly. But the sly old rat did not come out just then; in fact he appeared to be moving something beneath the floor, dragging it noisily about. So the cat waited patiently; she meant to have the rat if she waited there all night. “Pat, pat, pat,” sounded a scurry of footsteps; it was the rat. He was getting ready to come out of his hole, and pussy gathered herself together for a quick leap. Boldly the old rat came forth, just as he had done night after night for weeks. A swift flash, and the cat had landed upon his back. “Squeak, squeak,” shrilled the rat angrily, burying its sharp teeth in the cat’s nose, and causing her to lose her hold a second. Then, before she could recover herself, the old brown rat was off and away. She covered his retreat toward the barrel, but the rat flew in another direction, up over the high counters, with pussy after him. In and out among the jars of pickled limes, lollipops and gum-drops he doubled, the cat following, always managing to head him off when he made for the barrel. Over among the gold-fish globes into the shop window he scratched his why, and finally tried to hide behind a great glass jar. No use; the cat’s great, yellow eyes, blazing like motor lamps, found him. Right over the cage of white mice leaped the rat in a perfect frenzy. Just then Fluff and Muff, almost frightened out of their wits at the dreadful commotion in their window, came out of their nest, and Fluff instantly began to whirl madly about in the creaking wheel, and pussy in her eagerness and haste mistook the moving wheel for the rat, and sprang with all her weight upon the wire cage, giving the old rat just the right chance to slip off to kis retreat behind the barrel.

Topsy-turvy turned the wire cage; the wire door was wrenched off its hinges, and instead of the old brown rat which the cat expected to grab, she found herself with a little bit of a white mouse in her claws. What she did with Muff I am not quite certain; at any rate Fluff managed to escape, and off he tore across the shop floor, sliding in and out between boxes and barrels, half mad with fear, his little heart beating so when he paused that it shook his whole body. Finally he reached a green door; there was a little crack beneath the door, and Fluff decided to squeeze through. He came to a long dark passage next, then another door slightly itjar, and he entered the kitchen. The room was so large, silent and lonely that he was afraid; to his joy, he spied a little hole close beside 'the hearth and instantly slipped into it. To his surprise it was not so small as it had first appeared to be, but it led into a narrow, mustysmelling passage, which seemed to be very long, for he could not even see the end of it. The white mouse sat up on his little haunches, peering curiously about him, and even taking time to comb out his white silken whiskers, for strangely enough he felt very safe, somehow. The strange, musty odour was quite familiar to him; he sniffed at it with trembly pink nose. He recognised the trail of his kindred in that scent, and knew that the smooth runway had been worn by the travel of many pattering feet. Perhaps even Muff, his little mate, had passed over the trail.

Off scurried the white mouse at this delicious thought; he determined to follow the new trail to its very end. Suddenly a stranger, a little brown mouse, poked its head inquisitively out of a side track, took just one brief look at the white mouse, and instantly whisked out of sight. Fluff could hear her shrill squeaks of consternation and fear growing fainter and fainter as she hurried away. He stood stock-still waiting; perhaps she would return; but she never did. Instead, she went squeaking along the trail telling, in mouse language, no doubt, of the ghostly thing which she had met on her way to the kitchen larder.

This particular track, as it happened, was quite a favourite one and led for a long distance behind the wainscot. It had many turnings and secret passageways; even into the attic and down into the cellar it led. The rats often cantered over it at night with burdens of eggs or apples which they filched from the cellar; no wonder then the track was well-worn and smooth with the passing of so many pattering feet. The white mouse, although he had never before seen a brown mouse, was anxious to make the acquaintance of the one he had met; perhaps she could show him the way to find Muff, whom he was beginning to miss terrigly. So he boldly took the same road which the brown mouse had taken. He had not gone very far, however, before he heard a dragging sound ahead of him,

and right in his path he saw a great grey rat dragging a large ear of corn. The white mouse stood stock-still, too frightened to run; he was so afraid of this monster. He trembled and shook so that his small teeth fairly chattered together. But he need not have been so very frightened, for the instant that old rat caught sight of the white thing crouching in his path it gave one long, terrified squeak, turning about in its tracks and scuttling madly off, even forgetting all about the ear of corn in its haste to get away form the ghostlike vision, the like of which it had never before encountered, in the wainscot passageway.

The white mouse gained courage at last, and being very hungry it ate the ear of corn itself, daintily pulling off each grain of corn, and eating out just the heart of the kernel.

For days and weeks the white mouse roamed through the wainscot solitary and alone, shunned by every rat and mouse in the place, vainly travelling over the secret passageways, always

hoping to turn some corner and meet Muff, his lost mate. How he longed for company, but he never could manage to get close enough to a brown mouse to become acquainted. One day he met a little company of very young mice; they halted and stared at him several seconds with their bright, bulging eyes. Fluff even ventured to give a pleading little squeak which meant to reassure them, but it was no use, evidently they took him for a ghost, for like a flash they were off, and all he saw of them was five vanishing brown tails.

One day the white mouse chanced tu discover quite a new runway which ht hastened to explore. As he followed it the way’ seemed not quite so musky as the old trails, and soon he sniffer with delight a whiff of clear, outside air. The bright sunshine which me: him as he poked lxis nose outside the hole almost blinded his little pink eyes, and the soft spring breeze ruffled his white fur coat, but Fluff enjoyed it. Peering warily ..about he leaped to a beam in the woodshed, followed it until he had reached a knot-hole which led through the cowshed; and from there he scuttled as fast as he could run right into the old red barn, and diving deep into the hay* he lay r there bidder until he regained his courage anci

spent breath. Now all through the fragrant hay run many secret passages, and as the white mouse entered one of them, ahead of him he saw a familiar figure; it was a mouse, and as as she turned toward him, he caught a glimpse of white fur. and, strangely enough, the little mouse did not turn and flee away from him in

terror, as the house mice had done. Fluff saw that she w ore a coat of light brown fur, but that her breast was as white as his own fur coat, as were also her silken whiskers. At first he had thought it might be his lost mate, but as he came closer he saw that the stranger had large, bat-like ears, arid bright, beady brown eyes;; riot P ,nK ones, like his mate’s. Oh, it was pleasant not to be shunned, to be taken for a ghost. The lone *- white mouse drew a trifle nearer to' tne mouse with the w’hite fur vest, until at last they had actually touched noses, which, in mouse circles, means tne> had become fast friends. The strange happened to be a little field-mouse who had wintered in the haystack, and ha only come back to the barn in searen of a few’ soft wisps of corn silk begin her new nest with, for she ha begun to think of building one out » the cornfield, just as she did summer, so as to be close at hand wn the milky sweet corn was ripeningbecause very small baby mice are ion of sweet corn in the milk. , And so, just because the little nei - mouse was very lonely, she took. P»*> upon the solitary white mouse an JL ie him help build the new' nest. Tiw* carried corn-husks together, then unea it deftly \With the soft silk, and be J OI \, the corn had ripened and turned yellow there were five wee mice in the nes, and three of them w’ore brown coats, with white vests, exactly their mother’s, and the other two wer pure white w'ith pink eyes and nose®* As for the cowardly rats and w» who still live behind the wainscot, aa> and night, they always peer ahead them w’hen they turn a sudden corn J exactly like a boy who is foolish to be afraid of the dark, because tney always expect to meet the ghost wn once haunted the wainscot, and ar them nearly all mad with fright.

’Tis ever sweet through pines to the sky . k#>r Blushing a deeper gold or aar* blue. ’Tis ever sweet to lie On the dry carpet of the needi brown, And though the fanciful green 1 And windy odours light as thistle down Breathe from the lavdanon and lavender, j Half to forget the wandering Half to remember days that have gon® And dream and dream that I *** home again. _ —James Elroy Flecker.