I didn't look, because I didn't want to mess up my things, but I should gather from the way it's jumping about that it's pretty hungry." [Pg 134] "Oh, I'll see to it," said Eustace, "while you and the Captain earn an honest penny." Dinner over and Saunders gone, Eustace went into the library. Though the fire had been lit the room was by no means cheerful. "We'll have all the lights on at any rate," he said, as he turned the switches. "And, Morton," he added, when the butler brought the coffee, "get me a screwdriver or something to undo this box. Whatever the animal is, he's kicking up the deuce of a row. What is it? Why are you dawdling?" "If you please, sir, when the postman brought it he told me that they'd bored the holes in the lid at the post-office. There were no breathin' holes in the lid, sir, and they didn't want the animal to die. That is all, sir." "It's culpably careless of the man, whoever he was," said Eustace, as he removed the screws, "packing an animal like this in a wooden box with no means of getting air. Confound it all! I meant to ask Morton to bring me a cage to put it in. Now I suppose I shall have to get one myself." [Pg 135] [Pg 135] He placed a heavy book on the lid from which the screws had been removed, and went into the billiard-room. As he came back into the library with an empty cage in his hand he heard the sound of something falling, and then of something scuttling along the floor. "Bother it! The beast's got out. How in the world am I to find it again in this library!" To search for it did indeed seem hopeless. He tried to follow the sound of the scuttling in one of the recesses where the animal seemed to be running behind the books in the shelves, but it was impossible to locate it. Eustace resolved to go on quietly reading. Very likely the animal might gain confidence and show itself. Saunders seemed to have dealt in his usual methodical manner with most of the correspondence. There were still the private letters. What was that? Two sharp clicks and the lights in the hideous candelabra that hung from the ceiling suddenly went out. "I wonder if something has
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