Along the wall near the entrance ran a ledge about ten feet high, and up and down this a gigantic Leopard prowled restlessly, as if he were in a cage.

At length, when the stream of shadowy creatures had ceased to flow through the entrance, he came to a stop in the middle of the ledge, and, raising his head, cried in a horrible, snarling voice:

'What news of those tame sheep in the plain?'

'Meaning us!' whispered the Rabbit behind his paw.

'n.o.body seems to know anything. I'd better give him a little news myself'; and then, to the horror of Baby Jane, he stood up and snapped his fingers to attract the Leopard's attention. For some moments the Leopard's eye, roving over the dim a.s.sembly, did not catch the little figure. The Rabbit gave a shrill whistle between his fingers, and shouted 'Hi, Mister!'

Then the Leopard turned his head haughtily towards the little beast, and the many thousand green eyes in the depths of the cavern also turned slowly altogether upon the impertinent animal, whom no one had eaten merely because he was thought to be the big Bear's supper.

'Here you are!' squeaked the Rabbit, 'extry special news from our own correspondent'; and then he struck a fine att.i.tude, and went on: 'Disguised as a duck-billed platypus, coolly I strolled into the enemy's camp. I thought they were the most trumpery tadpoles that ever I saw until I met their generals. They were ten times worse. First there was that girl Baby Jane, funniest thing you ever saw! Those freckles on her nose, oh my!'

'There are only two,' whispered Baby Jane fiercely, 'and they are little ones!'

'Then there was a Bear. Well, ha, ha! it called itself a Bear. I thought it was a moth-eaten hearthrug come to life. And as for the Horse, her bones stick out so they catch in the creepers and things, as she goes along, and they have to stop every minute to unhook her. But the Rabbit--he's the one bright spot in that shabby lot, a well set up young fellow, and clever as he is good-looking; yet they say that that Baby Jane slaps him cruelly at times.'

'And will slap him twice as cruelly when she gets him outside,'

whispered Baby Jane again.

Here the Leopard made an impatient movement.

'How many are there?' he snarled.

'Oh, say half each for the ladies and gentlemen present,' said the Rabbit, affecting to count off the steady green eyes with his paw; 'and they are just ready for the table!'

[Ill.u.s.tration: Baby Jane slaps him cruelly at times.]

'That horse--think of grilled bones, your lordship, a splendid lot of bones for grilling she has! And that Bear, fat as pork. Think of the crackling! But mind that Rabbit. Fried, frica.s.seed, roast or raw, don't you have nothing to do with him. He lives on cod liver oil and crumpets, and tastes even worse!'

'To-morrow I give a banquet in the plain!' roared the Leopard, and in answer, from the depths of the cavern came a great juicy, 'Thlap, thlap!' of smacking lips.

'Drop in at tea-time!' said the Rabbit. 'They can't move then. You should just see the amount they put away. That Horse always has six cups!'

'I never did!' said Mary.

There was an ominous silence. Baby Jane trembled in her bear-skin as she saw the Black Leopard's glittering green eyes fixed upon the little band. The Rabbit then seemed to see that there was something wrong. But it was too late! It was done! They were betrayed!

CHAPTER IX

THE RESCUE

A dreadful stillness fell upon the dim a.s.semblage, and the thousand green eyes turned together slowly upon Mary and her comrades. But the eyes of the Leopard were more dreadful than all. Grinning savagely, with his head stretched out towards them and his ears flat back, he glared at them for some minutes as if about to spring.

Suddenly he uttered a yelling laugh that echoed a hundred times among the distant pillars of the cave.

'They are not spies,' he whined mockingly. 'The fat Bear and the thin Horse have come to enter my army; and so they shall to-morrow at breakfast-time. But I have been a fool, and for a penance I will eat that ill-flavoured Rabbit--_now!_'

'First catch your Rabbit,' said that animal, and, nimbly dodging the heavy paws that slapped at him, he vanished through the entrance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Kicked savagely at all who tried to seize her.]

The Leopard was in a foaming rage.

'Seize the spies,' he howled. 'Away with them to the high camp.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: She was hurried after the others.]

At that moment the awfulness of her mistake dawned upon Mary, and she set up a loud 'Boo-hoo!' and, still weeping, struggled and kicked savagely at all who tried to seize her--jumped in the air, and kicked with all four legs at once. But in the end she was firmly clutched, and, with a strong beast holding each leg and three more pushing behind, she was hurried after the others. The big Bear had gone quietly, for fear of damage to the little black bear whom he carried tight in his arms.

Then, to the melancholy accompaniment of Mary's wailing--and she gave an awful yell whenever they pushed her on to her nose--surrounded by a glowering throng of wolves and hyaenas and hippopotamuses, they were hustled upwards in the deepening dusk by steep ravines and precipice paths, until, through a narrow pa.s.s, they entered a wide gra.s.sy plain, walled on three sides by encircling spurs, and on the fourth by the steep snow-slope of the mountain summit itself.

From the snow-slope a stream sprang, and twisted through the plain until it slid, deep, transparent, ice-green, down beside the entrance path.

After the prisoners poured the whole of the Black Mountain Army, who, having set a guard at the entrance, all lay down to sleep, covering the plain closely with their dark forms.

Baby Jane was usually a hungry child, and liked sometimes to fall asleep thinking of breakfast, but now she did not like the idea at all. It was horrid to think that she was now, as it were, a little sausage waiting on the pantry shelf; indeed, the idea was so uncomfortable that she could not sleep, but nestled close to the Bear and watched the stars come out from behind the faintly glowing snow peak.

But what had happened to the Rabbit? If only he could come and take a message to her army! He would not leave her of his own accord, but would wait about near her.

At that moment she felt a curious heaving of the ground beneath her back; it was like a tiny earthquake. What could it be? She moved away from that spot, and with her hand felt the earth rise in a little mound higher and higher. Then the mound divided, there was a sound of a sneeze, and the Rabbit's head emerged. He brushed the earth off his ears and whiskers, and then remarked, complacently:

'If you know a rabbit who thinks he can burrow, fetch him along, and I'll teach him what proper burrowing's like. Down I went just outside the entrance, and up I come here!'

Baby Jane was so overcome with delight that she hugged the Rabbit's head in her arms and nearly smothered him with kisses. Then she quietly wakened the Bear and Mary, and the whole party held a whispered council of war.

After sitting with a puckered forehead for some minutes, Mary sagely suggested:

'Of course, all we've got to do is to burrow back after the Rabbit.'

The Rabbit sn.i.g.g.e.red behind his paw:

'I'd like to see you burrowing about in a hedgerow, you beauty. Fancy a warren of cab-horses!'

'You mustn't all be silly,' said Baby Jane. 'You won't laugh when you find yourself being laid for breakfast to-morrow morning. Run, Rabbit, as hard as you can, and tell my army to march here faster than ever an army marched before.'

But even at this desperate moment that wild Rabbit must play his pranks, and, instead of at once departing down his hole, he went loping off into the darkness among the sleeping beasts.

'I must wish my little Leopard good-night,' he explained over his shoulder as he went.

In a few minutes they heard a shrill voice at some distance singing: