CHAPTER XIV
IN THE HOLLOW TREE
At first it seemed perfectly dark inside the tree, but after thechildren had rubbed out of their eyes the soft powdery dust whichtheir fall had stirred up, they made out the dull glow of a dyingfire, a real one in a real fireplace this time, and no plum-puddingaffair. From the amount of furniture they knocked against in movingabout they knew they must be in somebody's house.
"Oh, dear," whispered Ann, "I hope the owner is not at home!"
Rudolf said nothing, for he was groping about after the poker. Hefound it presently and stirred the embers into quite a cheerful blaze.By this light the children were able to see dimly what the room waslike. It was circular in shape and the walls and ceiling were coveredwith rough bark. The floor was of earth, covered with a thick carpetof dry leaves. There were several chairs and a round table all made ofboughs with the bark left on and the mantel-piece was built ofcuriously twisted branches. On it stood a round wooden clock and apair of wooden candlesticks. A pair of spectacles lay on the top of apile of large fat books upon the table.
"I'd like to know whose house this is," said Rudolf.
"It's Manunderthebed's house," said Peter calmly.
"How do you know?" cried Ann and Rudolf.
"'Cause I _do_ know," said Peter.
"Oh, Peter, you naughty boy, you are so provoking!" exclaimed Ann,hugging him. "Tell sister what you mean, and what you've been doingand why you ran away to find those horrid creatures!"
"Aren't horrid," said Peter, wriggling away from her, "and '_tis_Manunderthebed's house, 'cause he came out by the little door when theBad Dreams brought me. He came out of his little door, and he said'Peter, will you come to my party?'"
"But there isn't any little door now," interrupted Rudolf, "anyway,_I_ can't find it." He had taken a candle from the mantel-piece, hadlighted it at the fire, and was making a careful search of the walls.No trace of a door or any opening except the fireplace could be seen.
"It's a magic door," said Peter cheerfully. "Manunderthebed touchedsomething with his foot and that opened it and then he pushed you andyou pushed me and I bumped into Ann, and here we are."
"He's shut us up on purpose!" cried Ann. "It's just like him."
"He's shut us up to starve us into submission, like they do in books,"said Rudolf gloomily.
"I'm starved now," began Peter, "and that was the very _nicest_ pie!"But the other two were much provoked with Peter for having led theminto such a fix, and they would not listen to him any longer. ByRudolf's orders, Ann lighted the other candle and both searched againwith the greatest care for some trace of the secret door. At lastAnn's sharp eyes spied not a door, but a small opening in the wall farabove their heads, like a little round window not much bigger than aknothole. Rudolf climbed upon the table, but found he was hardly tallenough to look through, so he was obliged to hoist Peter upon hisshoulders and let him have first look. When the little boy got hiseye to the window he gave such a shout of surprise that he nearlyknocked Rudolf and himself completely off the table.
"Hush," warned his brother, "you mustn't make a noise! Can you seewhat the Bad Dreams are doing?"
"Yes, I can see 'em," whispered Peter.
"They're all sitting round the fire and Manunderthebed is making aspeech."
"What's he saying?" asked Ann anxiously.
"I can't hear, but he's awful cross. Now the Little Black Man hasgone--now he's come back again, and--oh!"
"What is it? What is it?" cried Ann and Rudolf.
"He's got three animals on a chain--a bear, an'--an'--a lion--an' agreat big white wolf!"
"Oh, Peter, darling, you _know_ they're only dream animals!" Annhastily reminded him.
"Well, they're most as nice as real ones, they're awful fierce--"
"What's the Little Black Man doing with 'em?" interrupted Rudolf.
"He's letting them loose," said Peter, "and they're smelling round--"
"He's putting them by the tree to guard us--that's what he's doing,"broke in Rudolf.
"To swallow us up if we ever do escape!" wailed Ann, now thoroughlyfrightened. "Oh, Rudolf, whatever shall we do?"
Rudolf hastily lowered Peter to the floor and got down off the table."Ann," said he, "there must be another way out. In books there alwaysare two ways out of secret rooms, and this," he added cheerfully, "isthe bookiest thing that's happened to us yet. Come, let's look againfor it."
He and Ann began the search once more, going over and over the wallsby the light of their candles, but without any success. Peter wasnosing about by himself in a little recess by the fireplace, and soonthe other two heard him give a gleeful chuckle.
"What is it? Have you found the spring of the secret door?" criedRudolf, running to him.
"Nope," said Peter. "It's nicer than that, it's a cake. I found itright here on this little shelf that you went past and never noticed."
"Oh, Peter," Ann scolded, "I think you are the very greediest littleboy I ever knew!"
"That cake belongs to Manunderthebed, and you know it," said Rudolfsternly. "It's a dream cake, of course, a Bad-dream cake, so you can'teat it."
Peter clasped the small round cake tightly to his breast.
"It's a nice seed-cake like Cook makes," he said stubbornly, "and I_must_ eat it."
"The seeds in it are poppy-seeds," explained Rudolf, "and you'll goto sleep and dream Bad Dreams forever, like the Knight-mare said, soyou _sha'n't_ eat it!" He tried to get the cake away from his naughtylittle brother who only grasped it the more tightly. There would havebeen a quarrel, and a fierce one, if it had not been for Ann.
"I tell you," said she, "let's try it on the animals!"
This seemed a really bright idea, and Rudolf agreed at once, thoughPeter considered it wasteful. Ann had to coax some time, but at lastshe persuaded him to part with his cake. Rudolf would not trust Peterwith the distributing, so he piled three fat dictionaries that lay onthe table one on top of another and climbed upon them himself,managing in this way to bring his eye to the level of the littlewindow. The plum-pudding fire was burning very low by this time, andRudolf could barely make out the forms of some of the Bad Dreams whowere stretched on the ground around it.
Suddenly he gave a great start and nearly tumbled off thedictionaries, for he found himself staring down into the yellow hungryeyes of the big white wolf. Peter had described him truly, he was veryfierce, wolfier-looking, Rudolf thought, than any of his kind the boyhad seen in the dens at the park. Now the beast gave a low growl andopened his great red mouth. Rudolf dropped a generous bit of cakestraight into it. The big jaws closed with a snap, and the white wolflooked up for more. By this time the other beasts had discovered thepresence of refreshments, and came slinking forward, squattingthemselves one on either side of their companion.
Rudolf could hardly help a squeal of surprise at the sight of theyellow lion and the big shambling bear. He remembered in time, though,to smother it, and hastily divided the rest of the cake between thetwo animals. When they had licked it up greedily, Rudolf turned hisattention again to the white wolf, and this time he could not suppressan exclamation of delight.
"Oh, what _is_ it, tell us," cried Ann, while Peter jumped up and downimpatiently, begging to be allowed to see.
"He's going to sleep--the white wolf is," whispered Rudolf. "He'srocking from side to side--he can hardly stand up--his red tongue ishanging out of his mouth--he looks too silly for anything--now he'srolled over on his back--now he's snoring!"
"And the other animals--the lion and the bear?"
"They are lying down, too, they will be asleep in a moment! There,Peter, didn't I tell you it was a dream cake?"
But even then Peter did not appear grateful. He went back to the shelfwhere he had found the cake and stood looking at it wistfully, as ifhe hoped he would find another. Rudolf came up behind him and lookedover his shoulder.
"It's no use," said Peter mournfully, "there isn't any more."
"There's this!" cried Rudolf triump
hantly, and reaching over Peter hepressed a little round knob of wood half hidden under the shelf.Instantly the whole shelf, together with a large piece of the wall,swung aside, and the children were standing on the threshold of justsuch another little door as that by which they had entered, only onthe other side of the tree. For a moment the three childrenhesitated, half afraid to believe in their good luck, and then,taking hold of hands they stepped softly out of their prison. Almostat their feet lay the great white wolf, the yellow lion, and theshaggy bear, all snoring in concert. Carefully avoiding them, thechildren made for the thick woods ahead, not caring where they went solong as they could escape from their enemies. The big tree was nowbetween them and the plum-pudding fire around which the Bad Dreams layasleep, so it really seemed as if they had a good chance of gettingaway unseen.
"Hurry, hurry," Rudolf whispered, dragging Ann by the hand. "If we canonly get to those thick trees I am sure we shall be safe."
"If they only don't wake up!" she panted.
Just at that exciting moment Peter had to make trouble--as usual. Hestumbled and fell over a twisted root, hurt his knee, and gave a loudangry squeal. Rudolf clapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him tohis feet, but it was too late--they were discovered. A tall form shotup out of the grass just behind them, and instantly a loud war-whooprang through the woods.
"It's Thunder-snorer--it's the Indian," Rudolf cried. "Run for yourlives!"