“Come on, old Hennypennies!” she said, and went out of the coop with the two old hens clucking at her heels.

Marcella called Daddy and Daddy rolled two barrels out under one of the trees and made a nice bed in each.  Then he nailed slats across the front, leaving a place for a door.  Each Hennypennie was then given ten little chickies and shut up in the barrel.  And all the dolls were happy when they heard of Raggedy’s adventure and they did not have to wait long before they were all taken out to see the new chickies.

[Illustration]

RAGGEDY ANN AND THE MOUSE

Jeanette was a new wax doll, and like Henny, the Dutch doll, she could say “Mamma” when anyone tipped her backward or forward.  She had lovely golden brown curls of real hair.  It could be combed and braided, or curled or fluffed without tangling, and Raggedy Ann was very proud when Jeanette came to live with the dolls.

But now Raggedy Ann was very angry—­in fact, Raggedy Ann had just ripped two stitches out of the top of her head when she took her rag hands and pulled her rag face down into a frown (but when she let go of the frown her face stretched right back into her usual cheery smile).

And you would have been angry, too, for something had happened to Jeanette.

Something or someone had stolen into the nursery that night when the dolls were asleep and nibbled all the wax from Jeanette’s beautiful face—­and now all her beauty was gone!

“It really is a shame!” said Raggedy Ann as she put her arms about Jeanette.

“Something must be done about it!” said the French doll as she stamped her little foot.

“If I catch the culprit, I will—­well, I don’t know what I will do with him!” said the tin soldier, who could be very fierce at times, although he was seldom cross.

“Here is the hole he came from!” cried Uncle Clem from the other end of the nursery.  “Come, see!”

All the dolls ran to where Uncle Clem was, down on his hands and knees.

“This must be the place!” said Raggedy Ann.  “We will plug up the hole with something, so he will not come out again!”

The dolls hunted around and brought rags and pieces of paper and pushed them into the mouse’s doorway.

“I thought I heard nibbling last night,” one of the penny dolls said.  “You know I begged for an extra piece of pie last evening, when Mistress had me at the table and it kept me awake!”

While the dolls were talking, Marcella ran down-stairs with Jeanette and told Daddy and Mamma, who came up-stairs with Marcella and hunted around until they discovered the mouse’s doorway.

“Oh, why couldn’t it have chewed on me?” Raggedy Ann asked herself when she saw Marcella’s sorrowful face, for Raggedy Ann was never selfish.

“Daddy will take Jeanette down-town with him and have her fixed up as good as new,” said Mamma, so Jeanette was wrapped in soft tissue paper and taken away.