when people burnt logs of wood upon

the hearth.
The chimney stack stood up above

the roof like a little stone tower, and
the daylight shone down from the top,

under the slanting slates that kept out
the rain.

Tom Kitten was getting very
frightened! He climbed up, and up,

and up.
Then he waded sideways through

inches of soot. He was like a little
sweep himself.

It was most confusing in the dark.
One flue seemed to lead into another.

There was less smoke, but Tom
Kitten felt quite lost.

He scrambled up and up; but
before he reached the chimney top he

came to a place where somebody had
loosened a stone in the wall. There

were some mutton bones lying about.
"This seems funny," said Tom

Kitten. "Who has been gnawing bones
up here in the chimney? I wish I had

never come! And what a funny smell?
It is something like mouse, only

dreadfully strong. It makes me
sneeze," said Tom Kitten.

He squeezed through the hole in
the wall and dragged himself along a

most uncomfortably tight passage
where there was scarcely any light.

He groped his way carefully for
several yards; he was at the back of

the skirting board in the attic, where
there is a little mark * in the picture.

All at once he fell head over heels in
the dark, down a hole, and landed on

a heap of very dirty rags.
When Tom Kitten picked himself up

and looked about him, he found
himself in a place that he had never

seen before, although he had lived all
his life in the house. It was a very

small stuffy fusty room, with boards,
and rafters, and cobwebs, and lath

and plaster.
Opposite to him--as far away as he

could sit--was an enormous rat.
"What do you mean by tumbling

into my bed all covered with smuts?"
said the rat, chattering his teeth.

"Please, sir, the chimney wants
sweeping," said poor Tom Kitten.

"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!"
squeaked the rat. There was a

pattering noise and an old woman rat
poked her head round a rafter.

All in a minute she rushed upon
Tom Kitten, and before he knew what

was happening. . .
. . . his coat was pulled off, and he

was rolled up in a bundle, and tied
with string in very hard knots.

Anna Maria did the tying. The old
rat watched her and took snuff. When

she had finished, they both sat staring
at him with their mouths open.

"Anna Maria," said the old man rat
(whose name was Samuel Whiskers),

"Anna Maria, make me a kitten
dumpling roly-poly pudding for my

dinner."
"It requires dough and a pat of

butter and a rolling pin," said Anna
Maria, considering Tom Kitten with

her head on one side.
"No," said Samuel Whiskers, "make

it properly, Anna Maria, with
breadcrumbs."

"Nonsense! Butter and dough,"
replied Anna Maria.

The two rats consulted together for
a few minutes and then went away.

Samuel Whiskers got through a
hole in the wainscot and went boldly

down the front staircase to the dairy
to get the butter. He did not meet

anybody.
He made a second journey for the

rolling pin. He pushed it in front of
him with his paws, like a brewer's

man trundling a barrel.
He could hear Ribby and Tabitha

talking, but they were too busy
lighting the candle to look into the

chest.
They did not see him.

Anna Maria went down by way of
skirting board and a window shutter

to the kitchen to steal the dough.
She borrowed a small saucer and

scooped up the dough with her paws.
She did not observe Moppet.

While Tom Kitten was left alone
under the floor of the attic, he

wriggled about and tried to mew for
help.

But his mouth was full of soot and
cobwebs, and he was tied up in such

very tight knots, he could not make
anybody hear him.

Except a spider who came out of a
crack in the ceiling and examined the

knots critically, from a safe distance.
It was a judge of knots because it

had a habit of tying up unfortunate
bluebottles. It did not offer to assist

him.
Tom Kitten wriggled and squirmed

until he was quite exhausted.
Presently the rats came back and

set to work to make him into a
dumpling. First they smeared him

with butter, and then they rolled him
in the dough.

"Will not the string be very
indigestible, Anna Maria?" inquired

Samuel Whiskers.
Anna Maria said she thought that it

was of no consequence; but she
wished that Tom Kitten would hold

his head still, as it disarranged the
pastry. She laid hold of his ears.

Tom Kitten bit and spit, and
mewed and wriggled; and the rolling

pin went roly-poly, roly; roly-poly,
roly. The rats each held an end.

"His tail is sticking out! You did not
fetch enough dough, Anna Maria."

"I fetched as much as I could
carry," replied Anna Maria.

"I do not think"--said Samuel
Whiskers, pausing to take a look at

Tom Kitten--"I do NOT think it will be
a good pudding. It smells sooty."

Anna Maria was about to argue the
point when all at once there began to

be other sounds up above--the
rasping noise of a saw, and the noise

of a little dog, scratching and yelping!
The rats dropped the rolling pin

and listened attentively.
"We are discovered and interrupted,

Anna Maria; let us collect our
property--and other people's--and

depart at once.
"I fear that we shall be obliged to

leave this pudding.
"But I am persuaded that the knots

would have proved indigestible,
whatever you may urge to the

contrary."
"Come away at once and help me

to tie up some mutton bones in a
counterpane," said Anna Maria . "I

have got half a smoked ham hidden in
the chimney."

So it happened that by the time
John Joiner had got the plank up--

there was nobody here under the floor
except the rolling pin and Tom Kitten

in a very dirty dumpling!
But there was a strong smell of

rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of
the morning sniffing and whining,

and wagging his tail, and going round
and round with his head in the hole

like a gimlet.
Then he nailed the plank down

again and put his tools in his bag, and
came downstairs.

The cat family had quite recovered.
They invited him to stay to dinner.

The dumpling had been peeled off
Tom Kitten and made separately into

a bag pudding, with currants in it to
hide the smuts.

They had been obliged to put Tom
Kitten into a hot bath to get the butter

off.
John Joiner smelt the pudding; but

he regretted that he had not time to
stay to dinner, because he had just

finished making a wheelbarrow for
Miss Potter, and she had ordered two

hen coops.
And when I was going to the post

late in the afternoon--I looked up the
land from the corner, and I saw Mr.

• daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
• kitten [´kitn] n.小猫 (初中英语单词)
• enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
• bundle [´bʌndl] n.包，捆；包袱(裹) (初中英语单词)
• properly [´prɔpəli] ad.适当地；严格地 (初中英语单词)
• spider [´spaidə] n.蜘蛛；三角架 (初中英语单词)
• consequence [´kɔnsikwəns] n.结果；后果；推断 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• mutton [´mʌtn] n.羊肉 (高中英语单词)
• stuffy [´stʌfi] a.不通气的；闷热的 (高中英语单词)
• pudding [´pudiŋ] n.布丁 (高中英语单词)
• happening [´hæpəniŋ] n.事件，偶然发生的事 (英语四级单词)
• considering [kən´sidəriŋ] prep.就...而论 (英语四级单词)
• staircase [´steəkeis] n.楼梯 =stairway (英语四级单词)
• saucer [´sɔ:sə] n.茶托；浅碟 (英语四级单词)
• separately [´sepəritli] ad.分离地；孤独地 (英语四级单词)