'
"Now that the panic was over, the fowls felt heartily ashamed of
themselves for having been deceived by the fox, and done Flaps such
great injustice. So they all asked his pardon, and the feast which they
held to celebrate their deliverance from the fox was even more
magnificent than the last, and it went on for two whole days.
"Hencastle was _en fete_ for a time, but it was a very short time. For
the mice were no less glad than the fowls that their enemy was dead; and
now that both he and the owl had disappeared, they came out fearlessly
at all hours of the day, and lived a life quite free from trouble and
care.
"Not so the fowls. What was to be done with the ever-increasing colony
of corn-stealers? The more the fowls meditated, the more the mice
squeaked and played about, and the more corn they dragged away into
their holes. There was even a rumour that some one meddled with the
eggs.
"There was nothing for it but to dispatch the three messengers a third
time, with directions to be more vigilant and careful than before. Away
they flew, farther than ever. The first chance of help that arose was
from a couple of cats and a kite, who seemed likely to perform the
required work, but the cocks declined to accept their aid, feeling that
the Hencastle had suffered too much already from two-winged and
four-legged protectors.
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