The Robber Mice

THE ROBBER MICE

For M & K,
the pumpkins of my eye


CHAPTER 1 – KIDNAPPED!


                   You could have blamed the pumpkins for starting it all.  Innocent though they appeared, if it had not been for them none of it would have happened.  Then all the things I'm about to tell you would be might-have-beens left over from a summer day.

         It began in late September on the top of Butterfly Hill.  I lived there on the shores of Chezzetcook Inlet surrounded by brambles and apple trees long gone wild.  All around the house were fields where the horse and pony grazed drowsily. On one side a long, winding path ran back to Petit Lac.  In the summer the lake was a carpet of lilies where we swam under the watchful eyes of eagles, but in winter it became a private ice rink surrounded by lonely pines.

         Right behind our house was the garden.  Most of it was vegetables, long rows of sugar peas and carrots dotted with the occasional clump of broccoli and a whole corner given over to tomatoes. One end belonged to my sister and me and that’s where the pumpkins grew.

         That’s me by the pumpkins, Marena with an E, and that’s Kaleigh, my sister, hiding behind the wheelbarrow. The pumpkins were ours - planted, watered, weeded and soon to be picked. We loved and tended them until they grew so large I could barely hug them even with Kaleigh's help.

         They grew on a mound where everything was big and lush. I suppose we really
should have protected them more they were sooo big.  But we didn't and so, when it
happened, it came as a complete surprise.

         I woke up one morning and all the pumpkins were gone! The mound was stripped of everything: our precious pumpkins, pumpkin leaves, pumpkin vines, all gone except for a small sign near the top.  I rushed outside, my bare feet in boots still wet from the day before. The sign read:

                   DON'T COME LOOKING, YOU WON'T FIND
                   DON'T COME PRYING, NEVER MIND
                   PUMPKINS ARE NOT WORTH THE PRICE
                   YOU'LL PAY TO CATCH THE ROBBER MICE!


         Around the sign, all over the still moist soil of the mound, were hundreds of tiny paw prints. But on one side, near the hedgerow that wound down the road, they gathered and set off in a line towards the sea.

         I yelled to Kaleigh, who was feeding the chickens, "Kaleigh, the pumpkins have been kidnapped! We've got to go after them."

She ran up, and without hesitation, we set off in pursuit.

CHAPTER 2 – CHASE TO THE SEA

         The brambles were still heavy with dew as we pushed into the hedgerow. All around the sun sparkled like diamonds on spider webs. The going was rough as we followed the remains of an old stone wall down the hill towards the inlet. Every now and again Kaleigh or I would spot a pumpkin leaf, or a piece of vine, that had fallen to the ground or been snagged by a rosebush. Occasionally we’d see more footprints in a muddy hollow, hundreds all on top of one another.  We knew we were on the right path.

         Soon we burst into a clearing where the slope to the sea grew steep and rocky.  I scrambled up an old hoary apple tree and looked down into the inlet. The rising tide was  turning the salt hay into a maze of silvery highways. From high in the branches I could see the hedgerow disappear into a small wood below the slope and emerge again to end by a jetty that jutted out into the marsh. On the jetty, clear as day, were our pumpkins.

         “Kale!” I called, but she wasn’t listening.  I dropped an apple on her head.

         “What?”

         "I can see them!" I called down, "They're on a jetty".

         "Can I see?” she yelled back, but there was no time. Even as I watched, a pumpkin was being lowered gently into a small boat tied alongside.

         "No time Kale, they're taking them to sea", I replied leaping to the ground.

         We set off again, scrambling down the lichen covered stones and racing for the wood. Scratched and puffing we broke into the clear. The jetty was dead ahead.

         The last and biggest pumpkin had just been lowered into the boat.  Hundreds of mice swarmed aboard. Just as the last of their paws hit the deck a green sail broke from the mast.  It caught the wind, fluttered, then billowed out pulling the boat away from the jetty.  I could see it clearly.  It bore a great pumpkin that shone like a rising sun. From the masthead snapped a slender pennant and beneath, one paw resting on the most glorious orange pumpkin, was a mouse.  It stood proudly at the stern,  scarlet cloaked, a golden crown resting on its head. On the stern was the ship's name:



         "STOP!" we screamed, "Those are our pumpkins," but it was no use. As we ran onto the jetty the boat, now just ten meters away, turned. At the stern the crowned mouse stared at me with glittering black eyes and raised its sword high over head where it glinted threateningly. Our eyes met and I knew that I was looking the Queen of the Robber Mice. Then the wind grew.  The boat picked up speed and slipped past a muddy bend in the salt marsh taking with it the Queen, her army and OUR PUMPKINS!

CHAPTER 3 - IN THE MARSH

         "Nuts!" said Kaleigh, and we flopped down onto the warm boards of the jetty. It seemed hopeless; we'd lost the pumpkins for good!  I kicked the jetty in frustration and a heron that had been hiding in the salt hay nearby leapt into the air.  It climbed with great, slow wing beats as it flew off.

         "If only we could do that" I muttered, but Kaleigh wasn't listening. She'd slid off the jetty and was wading waist deep into the water to where the heron had just stood. There, hidden in the tall grass, was a boat resting on a mud flat.

         "Way to go Kale!" I called, following quickly. We had to hurry or the mice would disappear for good inside the maze of passages that formed Chezzetcook Inlet. The boat was an old gundalo, built flat bottomed to harvest salt hay as winter fodder for animals.  Inside was a tin can and a pole used for pushing the boat through the muddy shallows. On the transom, in black paint, was the gundalo’s name:   

  WALLOW

         We checked her for holes, but she looked sound so, grabbing her gunnels, we began to tug her free from the mud. The gundalo was heavy and we thought we’d never move it, but the tide was still rising and finally, just as we were about to collapse, there came a great squelching belch and the mud gave up the fight.  Kaleigh fell face first into the ooze as the boat slid gently into the water.  Moments later we were both aboard; time was running out!

         As we poled along we kept a close lookout for signs of the SNATCHER. Where she had disappeared the waterway opened onto a main branch of the marsh. All was quiet. Around us stretched miles of empty marsh grass. The SNATCHER had been swallowed up and we were completely alone.

         "What now?," said Kale, "I'm hungry."

I just growled in frustration.  On each side of us small inlets opened only to disappear quickly in a tangle of mud and grass. We poled slowly, looking for any sign of disturbance, but saw only herons, still as statues in the shallows, and the occasional swirl of a fish surfacing in the muddy waters. Finally, after what seemed like hours of poling in and out of backwaters, we got a break! At the mouth of a small inlet I spotted something floating on the surface.

         "Look Kale, what’s that?" I said hopefully.

         "Lunch?" Kale suggested, looking up eagerly.

Large, flat and green it looked like a lily pad from the lake, definitely out of place in this marshy mud flat.  As we drifted by Kaleigh grabbed it and brought it dripping into the boat.  A pumpkin leaf! They had come this way! We slipped into the opening.

Above us the salt hay closed in until it seemed we were gliding down a long green tunnel. Strange sounds and scurryings came out of the grass and we huddled down pushing with the pole as best we could. The banks grew closer until the sides of the WALLOW were almost touching.  The water got shallower and shallower until we felt the bottom of the gundalo sliding on the mud.  One of us would have to get out and push. 

“Stay here and pole hard Kale,” I ordered as I slipped over the gunnels into the thick mud. Visions of long, red worms wriggled behind my eyes as I sunk slowly, my hands clenched on the gundalo in case the mud was over my head.  Knee deep it held and I began to strain and push as Kaleigh heaved on the pole.  The sweat was running into my eyes and small flies kept landing on my face.  It was too much! I wanted to scream and roll in the mud to get rid of them. The pumpkins would be lost for good and we might never escape the clutching mud.  Then, on the verge of despair, there came a sudden rush and we shot out of the tunnel and found ourselves in clear water.

         I clambered aboard dripping with mud.  To the left of us a wide waterway led deeper into the marsh. We were in the riganeau, the main waterway hay harvesters followed to their plots.  To the right the riganeau opened into the sea, grey and ominous.  Dead ahead lay an island. It was small and half shrouded in mist through which scrub pines scratched at the sky. There, on a rocky shore, the SNATCHER lay totally deserted.

         As we watched, the mist swirled and the island slowly disappeared from view except for the tops of its highest tress. We poled carefully on skirting the island shore and hoping to pass unseen.  The SNATCHER passed out of side as we rounded the island and soon after the Wallow’s flat bottom scraped on the pebbles of a small cove on the far side of the island.


CHAPTER 4 - MOUSE ISLAND
         
         Silence met us as we beached the WALLOW . The tide was high, so
we left the gundalow near the water’s edge and quickly made our way towards the trees that ringed the small cove.

         "We have to be quiet" I whispered, "they might be watching".

          "OK!" Kaleigh  said in a loud voice.

          "Shhhhhhh!!"

         The mist grew thicker masking our movements from anyone, man or mouse, that might have been watching. At the edge of the woods we found a small pathway leading in land. The swirling mist and scraggly pine trees made it look haunted and scary. We decided not to use it, afraid it would be watched, and set off through the pines just to its left. We’d been walking for some minutes with not a whisper, when Kaleigh spotted the first sentry.

         "Look," she hissed, "there’s a mouse in that tree".

She was right. Beside the path, sitting astride a narrow tree branch almost six feet up was a mouse. He wore a green cape trimmed in gold and was armed with a longbow.  On his back was a quiver of small arrows. His eyes were fixed on the path and did not see us.

         We moved more slowly, careful to tread only on the soft carpet of fallen pine needles as we slipped by.  Even a broken twig might alert the sentries to our presence. Gradually the forest began to thin out. Then, all at once, the trees were gone. We stood on bare rock, fully exposed were it not for the mist which was now so thick that Kaleigh had to grab my shorts to stop us from being separated.

"Kale! Not so tight”, I hissed trying to pull free.

As I did I stepped out into the mist only to find that the rock stopped abruptly!  I teetered on the brink of a cliff, arms wind-milling as I tried not to fall. Just in time Kaleigh grabbed my shorts and hauled me back. We fell panting onto the rock.

         "Thanks Kale," I gasped.

         "Your welcome," came the reply from somewhere in the mist at my side.

         When my heart stopped leaping we inched forward, belly down, to the cliff edge and peered over.  Our eyes strained to pierce the mist that swirled below.

          "Can you see anything Kale," I whispered.

          "Nope."

         "Neither can I.”

         Then, like a veil suddenly pulled back to reveal the face beneath, the wind blew, and for an instant the scene was clear.  We had found the heart of the Robber Queen's realm. It lay in a depression about ten feet below.  A city, if you could call it that, for it was made entirely from pumpkins.  Large and small, each pumpkin had windows and doors and from most smoke wafted from a chimney carved out of the dried pumpkin stem. In the centre was a group of carefully piled pumpkins. They were joined with delicate trellises and winding stairways. Many windows were cut in the sides. Flags snapped from several turrets and from the highest one, nearly level with Kaleigh and me, flew the golden pumpkin standard of the Robber Queen.

         As we watched there came a great squeaking, and from every pumpkin swarmed mice, each finely dressed, all heading for a square on the opposite side of the city.  Some of the mice wore puffy pantaloons of velvet, others long gowns of shear fabric.  Their tails were gilt, and most wore ornate hats.  Then, to the sound of horns and trumpets, the mouse army appeared. They marched by the hundred in close order, all clad in green capes with bows slung over their shoulders. At their head strode the Robber Queen waving to the crowd. In their midst, each borne by squads of burly mouse foot soldiers, were OUR pumpkins. I nudged Kaleigh and pointed.

         “Look, there they are," I whispered, quivering at the effort it took not to leap out into their midst.

         The army marched forwarded and halted. Each pumpkin was carefully placed in the square as the crowd roared and cheered their approval. My eyes narrowed at the site of our beloved pumpkins in such dire straits. But anger wasn't the answer. Kaleigh and I need a plan.

         "Come on Kale", I muttered and, like mice ourselves, we crept back into the woods to plot a rescue.


CHAPTER 5 - THE RESCUE

         Back in the woods we crouched down and scratched out a plan in the dirt with a twig. Success depended on surprise. Kaleigh would sneak down to the WALLOW and start yelling and screaming until the mice ran down to investigate. I would wait until the mice were gone then run into the town, grab the biggest of our pumpkins, and roll it back to where the SNATCHER was moored.  I would roll it aboard and shove off. Meanwhile, Kaleigh would have poled around the island in the WALLOW to meet me and the pumpkin on the opposite side. It was foolproof.

         Kaleigh snuck off into the woods one way, while I crawled back to the cliff and peered over. Ten minutes later the celebration, complete with speeches and awards for gallant soldiers, was interrupted by a great yammering and screeching  from the woods behind the city.  I got ready to spring into action as Kaleigh's screams made the mice turn and stream off down the path to where the WALLOW was beached.  As soon as the screaming stopped I sprang up.  In an instant I had scrambled down into the depression and moved, jumping over pumpkin houses left and right, to the large square. The few mice that remained scurried into their houses; I could hear their doors slam as I rushed past.  I grabbed the biggest pumpkin and began to roll it to the path that led down to where the SNATCHER lay moored.  Slowly the pumpkin and I gained momentum until we were both rocketing down towards the sea.

         Meanwhile Kaleigh was having problems. After screaming till her head hurt, she turned towards the WALLOW only to find that the tide had gone out. The WALLOW was high and dry a full boat length from the water's edge. She pushed and shoved at it until the sound of the mouse army rushing closer told her it was no use. Giving up on the gundalo, she ran for a pile of nearby rocks jutting out into the inlet.  Just as she slid behind them, the mouse army burst onto the beach.

         They swarmed over the WALLOW looking for intruders. Angry squeaks filled the air when they found nothing, but then came a shrill cry - footprints!  Kaleigh saw the mice coming and quickly began making her way toward the water’s edge, using rocks and driftwood for cover, but there wasn’t enough.  In a flash she was spotted.

         Back at the SNATCHER I felt that something had gone wrong. I managed to roll the pumpkin up the gang plank where it flattened the sentry dozing in the summer sun. I unfurled the sail and cast off. The vessel began running before the wind back to the cove where, for all I knew, Kaleigh was captured or worse!  Turning the point I saw an incredible sight.  Kale was standing on a rock at the very tip of the point, surrounded by water.  A few feet away the mouse army covered the rocks firing flight after flight of tiny arrows at my sister!  Kaleigh was using a large ball of seaweed to protect herself, but still her legs were covered in little spines where the arrows had struck home.

         "KALEIGH, I'M COMING" I yelled at the top of my lungs, "HOLD ON!"

She turned and saw me in the SNATCHER, then flung the seaweed at the mouse army and leapt into the sea. I saw her head bobbing in the waves as the SNATCHER bore down upon her and, moments later, I hauled her aboard dripping and cold, but safe.


CHAPTER 6 - PURSUIT!

         With Kaleigh and the pumpkin safely aboard I turned the SNATCHER towards
Butterfly Hill. I could see the spire of St. Anslem’s church sticking up over the marsh, and steered for it as I maneuvered around the mud flats.  Kaleigh sat in the bilge plucking arrows from her legs, and it wasn't until I heard her quiet "Oh-oh" that I looked back.

         Not more than 200 meters behind us was the WALLOW, every inch of her crammed with mice. A crude sail bulged from a pole stepped amidships and on the bow I could see the Robber Queen shouting orders to her crew.  At the stern hundreds of mice were swimming, their tails corkscrewing  in the water as they drove the gundalo forward!

         "Come on Kale," I yelled, "we're nearly there. Its not deep, we can make it."

We heaved the pumpkin overboard and jumped over the side sinking waist deep in muddy water.  Before we left the SNACHER I turned her to block the gundalow’s passage, then began to push the floating pumpkin towards shore. Ahead lay a small beach at the foot of Butterfly Hill near where our driveway met the road. Cracker the pony could be seen grazing next to the nearby barn.

         "I'll get Cracker" said Kaleigh, and she was off splashing ahead to the shore.

By the time I'd pushed the pumpkin to the water’s edge she was back with the pony and a large horse blanket from the barn.

         "How will we move the pumpk...," I began, but Kaleigh was way ahead of me.
She tied the blanket to Cracker's halter with long pieces of string. Then, after I'd pushed the pumpkin onto the blanket, she folded it over and tied it firmly shut. Shouting "OK, let’s go", she leapt onto Cracker and starting trotting up the hill. I raced after her.

         We'd gone only a few meters when we heard the crunch of the gundalo on the beach. The mice swarmed ashore and began to make their way up the long hill to the house. I was amazed how quickly they came, leaping over stones and around the fence posts that skirted the drive.

          "We won't make the house Kale" I yelled. "Go for the tree fort".

         We changed direction and entered the pine grove that sheltered the fort. At the bottom of the rope ladder we stopped.

         "Quickly, Kale, hook the blanket up, I’ll go in", I said and scrambled up into the fort.

We had a hook and pulley system for hauling up sandwiches and books to read, but it worked just as well for a giant pumpkin. Kaleigh untied Cracker who ran off into the upper pasture, then hooked the blanket on and climbed up to help me heave it inside. The trap door slammed shut just in time. Seconds later the ground beneath the fort was lost in a sea of angry mouse faces, eyes staring up to where we lay panting on the fortress floor.

CHAPTER 7 - THE BATTLE

         We peeked down between the cracks in the floor boards and could see the mice crowding around each of the four trees that supported the fort. They were clearly up to something. The Robber Queen stood in the centre shouting orders in a high squeaky voice.

         "Archers to the perimeter, Guardsmen take the left flank."

We really didn't understand what she was planning, but gradually, as the swarm of mice began to form up in a ring surrounding the fort, it became clear. We were trapped and the mice intended to fight!

         We looked around the fort.  At the rear was a bag of pine cones we used to bombard people when they passed within range.  It was half full.  Beside it was a bucket for the water pistols.  I was glad I'd filled it the day before but there was only one pistol lying by its side.  On the opposite side of the fort lay Kaleigh's large green rubber snake.  Just then the first flight of tiny arrows began to rain down on us and we heard squeaky shouts as the mouse foot soldiers began to scratch their way up the support trees.

         "Come on Kale," I shouted, "let' em have it!”

I grabbed the pine cones and began to fling them at the rows of mouse archers. Kaleigh took the pistol and began to fire furiously first at one tree, then another, then another as the mice climbed higher. The arrows kept flying, most getting caught in our hair, and some sticking into our precious pumpkin. But we fought on, shielding our eyes as best we could, and the mice gradually fell back. In the lull we took stock.

         "I've got lots of water", panted Kale.

         "Yeah, but I'm almost out of pine cones," I whispered back. "There's just too many of them, and we're trapped here. We have to get to the house!"
We starred at each other for a moment as the truth of our situation finally sunk in. If we stayed we were goners; if we tried for the house there was no way we could save our pumpkin.

         "We can grow more pumpkins,” I said at last, "but we have to save ourselves first.”

         We decided on a bold frontal attack. Kaleigh would dump the rest of the water on the mice below while I fired down the remaining pine cones. Then I'd throw down the snake. Hopefully in the confusion we could jump down and get enough of a start to make it to the house. Suddenly there was a great cry from the hoard below us as, to a mouse, the army charged forward. We hugged each other and stood to face the onslaught.

         As the mice surged forward Kale lifted the bucket and flung the water down on their leading ranks. At the same time I sent a furious barrage of pine cones crashing into them. They fell back, colliding with those to the rear. Their feet churned the soil to mud in their confusion, and they began to slip and slide falling under the weight of their wet cloaks and dragging more and more down with them. Soon the ground was covered in muddy mice struggling to get up, but slipping each time and falling back into the quagmire. It was then that I spotted the Robber Queen. She stood on a rock in the midst of her struggling army trying to get them reorganized.  She was fully occupied and didn't see me as I aimed carefully and flung the green rubber snake.

         The snake spun through the air then dropped in a coil around the Robber Queen. Its gapping mouth stopped barely an inch from her quivering whiskers. She shrieked once and collapsed.  Instantly the struggling mouse army froze. All they could see was their Queen's paws sticking out above the coils of a huge serpent.

         Kaleigh and I climbed quickly down the ladder and stepped cautiously through their stunned ranks. They were muddy and bedraggled, too frozen with fear to fight. As I reached the rubber snake I looked down. The Robber Queen was completely still, her paws sticking straight up. I thought she was dead.


CHAPTER 8 - PEACE. PROMISES AND PUMPKIN PIE

         “Kale look,” I whispered, “she’s not really so fierce.” 

I stooped and gently picked up the small fuzzy body. Her crown was still firmly on her brow.  I slipped it off and wiped her muddy nose with the corner of my shirt.  Then I felt a stir, and her bright little eyes opened.

         Kaleigh meanwhile, had picked up the rubber snake and flung it back into the tree fort. The mice were stunned to she her touch the awful serpent and when their Queen stood shakily in my hand they cheered and begun to throw their hats in the air.
         The Queen looked up at me, steadied herself on my thumb, and said, “Though we sought to punish you for daring to raid our city, we are grateful to you for saving us from that terrible serpent. Your bravery is worthy of a mouse, thus we will no longer seek revenge, but name you and your sister, Mouse Friend and Serpent Slayer. We will not raid your pumpkin patch again.”

         I was touched by her words, and looked at Kaleigh. She knew what I wanted to do and nodded.

         “Noble Queen,” I said, “we are happy to be your friend and would be pleased
to give you your choice of pumpkins from our patch each year. But now your army is wet and cold, and we are all hungry. Join us for supper and we will celebrate our new pumpkin peace treaty.”

         The Queen nodded and her army cheered with gusto. Several ran up Kaleigh's legs and perched joyfully on her head, as we all marched out of the woods. That night we danced around a giant bonfire in the garden telling stories of bravery and daring and munching on pie freshly made from the rescued pumpkin ( which was looking a bit ragged after its adventures).  From that day forth, every 30th of September, the Queen of the Robber Mice visits with a great delegation from her court and chooses a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. Then we scoop it out, make pumpkin pie, and dance round a bonfire under the starry sky. 

THE END