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"We must do it now, then"

"Do what, Roderick?"

Roderick took a deep breath "It won't be easy," he said

"What won't?"

Roderick hiccuped again, excused himself politely, then said in a determined voice, "Weto be easy Hildegarde and Roderick quickly gathered a group of stealthy, strong helpers Frederick and Marvin ell known for having once gnawed through the base of the pantry door They h that it went unnoticed by the huireat many peanut butter crackers that had been stored there for use on a Sunday School hiking trip

Jere chewed access, once, through the base of a heavy polyurethane trash can at a tiether had deposited many leftover crusts still daubed with cheese--quite a find

There were twelve of theether,ability, and a few, such as Nor skills It was important not to leave any evidence, and so somethat Father Murphy, next door at the rectory, atching a football ga a beer, which would make hiathered in the narthex The church was ee So, boldly, they arde and Roderick, down the center aisle, singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" as loudly as their squeaky little voices could ht at the chancel and passed through the south transept into a hallway, they stopped singing At the end of the hall they entered Father Murphy's office silently in single file The rooed His cache of candy ell hidden, and the solitaire ga cards neatly in their box Magazines were stacked and the newspaper was folded

Good Hildegarde had worried that it ht there on his desk

"It's huge," squeaked Frederick

"Huood"

One by one, Hildegarde leading the way, they jumped first onto Father Murphy's chair and then to the desktop They surrounded the thick book, eyeing it with apprehension "I have a thought," Hildegarde said suddenly

They waited, listening

"If we could open it" she began

"I think we can!" Marvin said Marvin was the strongest of all the mice He moved forward and put his front paws on the side of the book He riffled the edges of the pages "If we all push at once, it will open, I think"

"Well," Hildegarde explained, "if we can push it open to the Xs--"

"Brilliant!" interrupted Roderick "Why bother eating the As or Bs or Cs? We just need to find--"

"THE GREAT X!" the e of the book "Count of three," Frederick said "One, two"

"Three!" Everyone shouted squeakily, and pushed The thick book opened slightly at the !" Frederick directed Huffing and puffing, the"I'arde complained But she held her own

"Now push!" Frederick co with the effort, they all pushed and the book opened wider "Don't let go, or we'll be squashed!" called Jeremiah Determinedly they pushed and pushed, and finally the book fell coarde fell back in exhaustion Around her, the eleven others all collapsed on the open pages, panting but triu down "We opened to the Ps"

"How far is that from X?" asked Norma "I can never rearde said She stood up "But froes at a tie with her paw and they could see how light it was But there were such a lot of theested He took a se, and made a face "It tastes awful," he said

"Hey!" Frederick shouted "Look!" He aie open with it "We can do it with our tails! Are all of your tails in good shape?"

There were squeaks and nods

"All right then Line up"

It took the of it But after a bit of practice, and with Hildegarde calling directions (her own tail was a little weak, having once been caught in a door), thetheir tails as tools

"Q!"

"R!"

"S!"

They es until finally they arrived at X There they stopped to rest

"My tail is tired," Charles said

"Mine too," echoed several other o to the hot water pipe by the arde said "A little heat treate "You knoe don't even really need to eat all the X pages We just need to find the Great X and destroy that page If we do it carefully, and then close the book again--"

The other e pushing effort

"Well, maybe we could leave it open He'll probably think he left it that way We'll just have to nibble the edges so carefully that he won't notice the e"

"Norood at that"