CHAPTER III
THE BAD CAT
"What a pretty Candy Rabbit!" said Dorothy to Madeline. "Where did you get him?"
"He's one of my Easter presents," answered Madeline. "Herbert and I have just finished hunting for our baskets."
"Did you find them all, and all the eggs?" inquired Dick. "Dorothy and I got up early to hunt for ours."
"I think I found every one," replied Herbert. "But last year, I remember, I missed one big candy egg, and I didn't find it until a week later."
The children showed each other their holiday presents, and the Candy Rabbit was much admired. Dorothy and Dick took him up in their hands so they might see him better.
"Goodness! I hope they don't drop me," thought the Rabbit "There isn't any rubber ball here for me to fall on, as there was in the store. I certainly hope they don't drop me!"
But Dorothy and Dick were very careful, and, after they had looked at and admired the Rabbit, he was put down on a chair not far from Dorothy's Sawdust Doll. The Candy Rabbit kept wishing that the children would go out of the room for a while, so he might talk to the Doll, whom he had not seen for a long time.
And, after a while, Madeline's mother called the children to show them an Easter present which she had received. Out of the room trooped the four children, leaving the Candy Rabbit and the Sawdust Doll together, with no one to watch what they said or did.
"Now I have a chance to talk to you!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. "I've just been waiting to ask how all my friends are at the toy store. And how are you? How did you get here? Do you like living in a house with children more than in the store? Tell me all about it!"
"Goodness!" laughed the Candy Rabbit. "You talk as fast as a phonograph Doll when she has been wound up tight."
"Well, we'll have to talk fast if we want to tell each other anything before those children get back," said the Sawdust Doll. "Now you tell me your adventures, and then I'll tell you mine."
The two toy friends talked for some time, the Candy Babbit relating the latest news of the toy store, and the Sawdust Doll speaking of the nice home she had with Dorothy, and how kind Dick was to the White Rocking Horse.
Then the Rabbit wanted to know about the Lamb on Wheels and the Bold Tin Soldier, and, as the Sawdust Doll had heard from them lately, she told some of their adventures.
"I do wish I could see the Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick once more," sighed the Sawdust Doll. "They were certainly the jolliest toys I ever knew."
"Yes, they were," agreed the Candy Rabbit. "And I don't believe the Clown has yet found any one to answer his riddle about what makes more noise than a pig under a gate."
"Hush! Here come the children!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll in a low voice.
Madeline and Herbert, Dorothy and Dick, having seen the present Madeline's mother had received, had come back into the room again.
"What shall we do now?" asked Madeline.
"Let's play with your Rabbit and my Doll," suggested Dorothy.
Madeline thought this would be nice, but as Dick did not care much about such fun he said he and Herbert would go back home and get out his Rocking Horse.
"And I'll get Arnold and his Tin Soldiers and we'll have some fun," he added. "Come on, Herb."
"If you see Mirabell, send her over here to play with us," called Dorothy to her brother, and Dick said he would do so. "Tell her to bring her Lamb on Wheels," she added.
The two little girls had good times playing with the Sawdust Doll and the Candy Rabbit, and, after a while, Madeline's mother brought in a plate of cookies for the little girls to eat.
"We'll have a play party," said Madeline. "I'll set my Candy Rabbit up here on the goldfish stand where he can watch us, for he can't eat anything, you know."
"And I'll set my Sawdust Doll over in this chair where she can see us," said Dorothy. "My Doll can eat make-believe things when I have a play party, but we won't pretend that now. We'll just eat the cookies ourselves."
"Yes," agreed Madeline. So she put her Candy Rabbit on the goldfish stand.
This was a round table on which stood a bowl of real, live goldfish. The fish swam around in the water, and now and then they stopped swimming to look out through the glass with their big, round eyes. The top of the goldfish globe was open, and sometimes Madeline was allowed to feed the fish, when her mother stood by. The fish ate tiny bits of biscuit bought for them at the fish, bird and dog store.
Dorothy's Sawdust Doll was propped up in a chair not far from the goldfish. Then the two little girls began to eat the cookies.
While this was going on a bad cat had sneaked into the room. The cat was a big fellow, and he often got into mischief. He sometimes chased birds, and, more than once, Patrick, the gardener at Dick and Dorothy's house, had driven him away from the coops where the little chickens lived with the old hen.
"Goodness, I hope that cat isn't after me!" thought the Candy Rabbit.
"Mercy! I hope the cat doesn't carry me off, the way the dog Carlo once did," thought the Sawdust Doll.
But the bad cat was paying no attention to either the Doll or the Rabbit. The cat's eyes were on the live goldfish in the glass bowl, and, when I tell you that cats are very fond of fish, you can guess what is going to happen.
With a quick, silent spring, making no noise on his soft, padded paws, the cat first jumped into the chair beside the Sawdust Doll.
"Oh, dear me, he certainly is going to carry me off!" thought the Doll. "I wish I dared scream!"
But the cat was not after the Doll. With another jump Tom landed on the table beside the bowl of goldfish.
"Goodness sakes alive! my time has come," thought the poor frightened Candy Rabbit. "The cat is going to eat me!"
But Tom was not after a Candy Rabbit. His greedy eyes were on the swimming goldfish in the open glass bowl. Dorothy and Madeline sat with their backs to the little table on which stood the bowl of fish and the Candy Rabbit. The little girls were busy talking.
All of a sudden Tom stood up on his hind legs and put his forepaws on the edge of the bowl. As he did this the fish began swimming around swiftly, very much frightened, indeed, just as you may have seen a canary bird flutter in a cage when some cat came too close.
"Oh, he isn't after me—he's after the fish!" thought the Candy Rabbit. "Oh, the poor fish! I wish I could save them!"
Tom was switching his tail to and fro, as cats always do when they are about to catch a bird, a fish or anything alive. The fish were swimming about faster and faster inside their bowl of water. They could make no noise. Some fish, such as catfish, can make a little sound out of water, and so can the fish called grunters, but I never heard of any other fish making any noise. Though of course they may be able to talk among themselves, for all I know.
Standing with his forepaws on the edge of the glass bowl, Tom dipped one paw down toward the water to get a fish. His tail kept on switching to and fro, and, all at once, it switched against the Candy Rabbit and tilted the Bunny over toward the glass bowl.
"Tinkle-tinkle! Tink!" went the hard ears of the Candy Rabbit against the glass, making a noise like the ringing of a little bell.
"What's that?" suddenly cried Madeline, turning from the table where she sat with Dorothy eating cookies.
Dorothy also turned and looked. The two little girls saw Tom up on the goldfish table.
"Oh, you bad cat, get down from there!" cried Madeline, and she looked for something to throw at Tom. "Get away from our fish!" she cried.
The cat paused a moment, and then, seeing he would be caught if he tried to get a fish, down he jumped, with a last, angry switch of his tail at the Candy Rabbit.
"That was all your fault!" hissed the cat to the Bunny in a whisper. "If you hadn't made a noise they wouldn't have seen me. I'll fix you for that, Mr. Candy Rabbit!"