“We won’t have any fun like the hardware store shelf falling down on you,” laughed Sue, as she remembered the queer accident.

“No, I don’t want anything like that,” said Bunny.  “Once is enough.”

Early the next morning the children were ready for school.  But, almost at the last minute, Bunny could not find his large pencil box.

“Where did you have it last?” his mother asked him.

“Oh, I remember!  I saw it in the barn!” exclaimed Sue.

“That’s right—­we were playing school there day before yesterday,” said Bunny.  “I’ll get it!”

He ran to the barn, got the pencil box, thrust it into his bag with his books, and trotted along with Sue.

Having to hunt for his pencil box at almost the last moment nearly made Bunny and Sue late for school.  But they slipped into their seats just as the last bell was ringing.  After the morning exercises, Bunny placed his pencil box and the books he did not need to use right away in his desk and went to his reading class.

It was when Bunny was doing his turn at reading up near the front platform that Sadie West, who sat in the seat next to Bunny, gave a sudden little cry.

“What is the matter, Sadie?” asked Miss Bradley, the teacher.

“Oh!  Oh, if you please, Teacher, there’s something in Bunny Brown’s desk making faces at me!” exclaimed Sadie.

“Something making faces at you?  What do you mean, Sadie?” asked Miss Bradley in surprise.  “What is it?”

“It—­it’s a—­a mouse!” cried the little girl.

“A mouse?” repeated the teacher.

“Yes’m!  A mouse in Bunny Brown’s desk!” and Sadie screamed.

At this some of the other children screamed, and there was much noise and confusion in the schoolroom.

CHAPTER IV

THE CORNER STORE

“Quiet, children!  Quiet!” ordered Miss Bradley.  “This is school, not the playground at recess.  Now, Sadie,” she went on, as soon as there was a little quiet in the room, “tell me again, and be careful what you say.  What did you see?”

“Please, teacher, I saw a mouse in Bunny Brown’s desk, and he made a face at me.  I mean the mouse made a face at me—­not Bunny!” Sadie made haste to explain, for she saw Bunny look at her when she made the statement about his desk and the mouse.

Sadie had left her seat beside Bunny’s desk, and was now up front.

“How many other girls saw the mouse in Bunny’s desk?” asked Miss Bradley.

No one answered.

“Raise your hands if you are afraid to speak,” said the teacher, with a smile.  She was beginning to believe that Sadie had imagined it all, or else that an edge of a book had looked like a mouse.

None of the girls raised her hands except Sadie West.

“Did any boy see the mouse?” Miss Bradley next asked.

“No, but I wish I had!” exclaimed Charlie Star.  “If I’d see it I’d grab it!”