The Wonderful Bed | Page 5

weak voice, "don't you
know what this is? This is an adventure."
"I don't care," sniffed Ann, "I don't want an adventure. I want to go
back--back to Aunt Jane!" And the sniff developed into a flood of tears.
"Peter is not crying, and he is only six."
This rebuke told on Ann, for she was almost eight. "But what are we
go--going to do?" she asked, her sobs decreasing into sniffs again.
"We'll just have to go on, I suppose, and see what happens."
"Well, I think--I think Aunt Jane ought to be ashamed of herself to put
us in such a big bed we could get lost in it!"
"Maybe"--came the voice of Peter cheerfully from behind
them--"maybe she wanted to lose us, like bad people does kittens."
"Peter, don't be silly," ordered Rudolf sternly. "There isn't really
anything that can happen to us," he went on, speaking slowly and
thoughtfully, "because we all know that we really are in bed. We know
we didn't get out, so of course we must be in."
This was good sense, yet somehow it was not so comforting as it ought
to have been, not even to Rudolf himself who now began to be troubled
by a disagreeable kind of lump in his throat. Luckily he remembered, in
time to save himself from the disgrace of tears, how his father had once
told him that whistling was an excellent remedy for boys who did not
feel quite happy in their minds. He began to whistle now, a poor, weak,
little whistle at first, but growing stronger as he began to feel more
cheerful. Grasping his sword, he started ahead, calling to the others to

follow him.
The white passage was so narrow that the children had to walk along it
one behind another in Indian file. The floor was no longer soft and
yielding but firm and hard under their feet, and by stretching out their
hands they could almost touch the smooth white walls on either side of
them. At first the way was perfectly straight ahead, but after they had
walked what seemed to them a long, long time, the passage curved
sharply and widened a little. The children noticed, much to their relief,
that it was growing lighter around them.
"I'm getting tired," Ann announced at last. "See, Ruddy, there is a nice
flat black rock. Let's sit down and rest on it."
There was room for them all on the large flat rock, and when they were
settled on it, Peter remarked: "I'm hungry!" Now this was a thing Peter
was used to saying at all times and on all occasions, so it was just like
him to bring it out now as cheerfully and confidently as if Betsy had
been at his elbow with a plate of bread and butter.
"Oh, dear," Ann exclaimed, "what a long, long while it seems since we
had our tea! I suppose it will soon be time to think about starving." And
she took her little handkerchief out of the pocket of her nighty and
began to wipe her eyes with it.
"Not yet," said Rudolf hastily. "I put some candy into my pajamas
pocket when I went to bed, because the time I like to eat it best is just
before breakfast--if people only wouldn't row so about my doing it. Let
me see--it was two chocolate mice I had--I hope they didn't get
squashed when we were playing! No, here they are." The chocolate
mice were a little the worse for wear, in fact there were white streaks
on them where the chocolate had rubbed off on the inside of Rudolf's
pocket, but the children didn't mind that. They thought they had never
seen anything that looked more delicious.
"I will cut them in three pieces with my sword," said Rudolf. "You may
have the heads, Ann, and me the middle parts, and Peter the tails
because he is the youngest."

This arrangement did not suit Peter. "I will not eat the tails," he
screamed, kicking his heels angrily against the rock,--"the tails is made
out of nassy old string!" And, I am sorry to say, Peter made a snatch at
both chocolate mice and knocked them out of Rudolf's hand. This, of
course, made it necessary for Rudolf to box Peter's ears, and a tussle
quickly followed, in the middle of which something dreadful happened.
The large flat rock they were sitting on gave several queer shakes and
heaves and then suddenly rose right up under the three children and
threw them head over heels into the air. They were not a bit hurt, but
they were very, very much surprised when they scrambled to their feet
and saw the rock erect on a long kind of tail it