And even then the Light-Horse, calm almost to sadness, was ready for another cool hundred.
The Rabbit's favourite was a clockwork mouse, but unfortunately he used its powers for bad purposes.
Among the presents that Baby Jane had taken from the greedy Rabbit and had given to Patsey was a wooden Dutch doll, and it was the darling of Patsey's heart. Now the Rabbit cast jealous eyes on that Dutch doll, so while the others were playing he decoyed Patsey into a quiet place and then whispered in a tone of cold, cruel ferocity:
'The very worst pain in the world is to be gnawed by mad clockwork mice. Now you will give me back my Dutch doll, or I'll set my mouse on you!'
Patsey made no answer, but burst into a roar of terror and grief, and holding the doll above his head for safety, he pattered away as fast as his little legs could carry him.
After him, straight and swift as a motor-car, with a cruel gleam in its bead eyes, hissed the clockwork mouse, with the Rabbit racing behind, holding it by a string.
[Illustration: The Rabbit racing behind, holding it by a string.]
But when Patsey already felt the mouse's whiskers tickling his legs, a strange thing happened. There was a click inside it and it suddenly wheeled round, and, to the Rabbit's horror, made straight for _him_. He dropped the string and ran faster than he had ever run before, because, to his guilty conscience, it seemed that it was some spirit of Justice and not clockwork that propelled that mouse.
While this was going on, the Lion and the Crocodile were learning how to use their new roller skates upon a smooth hard patch of sand, and soon were swaying round and round like swallows on the wing. To see them link arms and, with the other hand on the hip, sweep along on the outside edge was wonderful, and Miss Crocodile's slender and flexible figure was shown to great advantage.
[Illustration: Miss Crocodile's slender and flexible figure was shown to great advantage.]
Baby Jane and the Piccaninny also had the very presents they had wanted, but Baby Jane had no time to play with hers just then.
The creatures played with their things all the morning until the time for dinner, which was as fine as you ever saw. In fact, the only thing wanting was a sprig of holly to stick in the rich fruit of the plum-pudding plant. And the cooking? Oh, there is no difficulty about cooking in a place where you use your window-sill for an oven and where you only use dish-covers to keep the food from being burned.