== The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking
anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and pov/s heard
it muttering to itself “The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my
fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are
ferrets! Where #emph[can] I have dropped them, I wonder?” Pov/S guessed
in a moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid
gloves, and pov/s very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but
they were nowhere to be seen---everything seemed to have changed since
pov/p swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the
little door, had vanished completely.

Very soon the Rabbit noticed pov/O, as pov/s went hunting about, and
called out to pov/o in an angry tone, “Why, Mary Ann, what #emph[are]
you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves
and a fan! Quick, now!” And pov/S was so much frightened that pov/s ran
off at once in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain
the mistake it had made.

“He took me for his housemaid,” pov/s said to pov/r as pov/s ran. “How
surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him
his fan and gloves---that is, if I can find them.” As pov/s said this,
pov/s came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright
brass plate with the name “W. RABBIT,” engraved upon it. Pov/s went in
without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest pov/s should
meet the real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before pov/s had
found the fan and gloves.

“How queer it seems,” pov/S said to pov/r, “to be going messages for a
rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!” And pov/s
began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: “‘Miss Y/n! Come
here directly, and get ready for your walk!' ‘Coming in a minute, nurse!
But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out.' Only I don't
think,” pov/S went on, “that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it
began ordering people about like that!”

By this time pov/s had found pov/p way into a tidy little room with a
table in the window, and on it (as pov/s had hoped) a fan and two or
three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: pov/s took up the fan and a pair
of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when pov/p eye fell
upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no
label this time with the words “DRINK ME,” but nevertheless pov/s
uncorked it and put it to pov/p lips. “I know #emph[something]
interesting is sure to happen,” pov/s said to pov/r, “whenever I eat or
drink anything; so I'll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll
make me grow large again, for really I'm quite tired of being such a
tiny little thing!”

It did so indeed, and much sooner than pov/s had expected: before pov/s
had drunk half the bottle, pov/s found pov/p head pressing against the
ceiling, and had to stoop to save pov/p neck from being broken. Pov/s
hastily put down the bottle, saying to pov/r “That's quite enough---I
hope I shan't grow any more---As it is, I can't get out at the door---I
do wish I hadn't drunk quite so much!”

Alas! it was too late to wish that! Pov/s went on growing, and growing,
and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there
was not even room for this, and pov/s tried the effect of lying down
with one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round pov/p
head. Still pov/s went on growing, and, as a last resource, pov/s put
one arm out of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to
pov/r “Now I can do no more, whatever happens. What #emph[will] become
of me?”

Luckily for pov/O, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect,
and pov/s grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there
seemed to be no sort of chance of pov/o ever getting out of the room
again, no wonder pov/s felt unhappy.

“It was much pleasanter at home,” thought poor pov/S, “when one wasn't
always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole---and
yet---and yet---it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do
wonder what #emph[can] have happened to me! When I used to read
fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I
am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that
there ought! And when I grow up, I'll write one---but I'm grown up now,”
pov/s added in a sorrowful tone; “at least there's no room to grow up
any more #emph[here];.”

“But then,” alt/first and second or third/pov/S thought/thought pov/S/,
“shall I #emph[never] get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort,
one way---never to be an old prn/N---but then---always to have lessons
to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like #emph[that!];”

“Oh, you foolish Y/n!” pov/s answered pov/r. “How can you learn lessons
in here? Why, there's hardly room for #emph[you];, and no room at all
for any lesson-books!”

And so pov/s went on, taking first one side and then the other, and
making quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few minutes
pov/s heard a voice outside, and stopped to listen.

“Mary Ann! Mary Ann!” said the voice. “Fetch me my gloves this moment!”
Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Pov/S knew it was
the Rabbit coming to look for pov/o, and pov/s trembled till pov/s shook
the house, quite forgetting that pov/s vrb/be/ now about a thousand
times as large as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.

Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; but, as
the door opened inwards, and pov/P elbow was pressed hard against it,
that attempt proved a failure. Pov/S heard it say to itself “Then I'll
go round and get in at the window.”

“#emph[That] you won't!” alt/first and second or third/pov/S
thought/thought pov/S/, and, after waiting till pov/s fancied pov/s
heard the Rabbit just under the window, pov/s suddenly spread out pov/p
hand, and made a snatch in the air. Pov/s did not get hold of anything,
but pov/s heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass,
from which pov/s concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into
a cucumber-frame, or something of the sort.

Next came an angry voice---the Rabbit's---“Pat! Pat! Where are you?” And
then a voice pov/s had never heard before, “Sure then I'm here! Digging
for apples, yer honour!”

“Digging for apples, indeed!” said the Rabbit angrily. “Here! Come and
help me out of #emph[this!];” (Sounds of more broken glass.)

“Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?”

“Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!” (He pronounced it “arrum.”)

“An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole
window!”

“Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.”

“Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!”

There was a long silence after this, and pov/S could only hear whispers
now and then; such as, “Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at
all!” “Do as I tell you, you coward!” and at last pov/s spread out pov/p
hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were
#emph[two] little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass. “What a
number of cucumber-frames there must be!” alt/first and second or
third/pov/S thought/thought pov/S/. “I wonder what they'll do next! As
for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they #emph[could!] I'm
sure #emph[I] don't want to stay in here any longer!”

Pov/s waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a
rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all
talking together: pov/s made out the words: “Where's the other
ladder?---Why, I hadn't to bring but one; Bill's got the other---Bill!
fetch it here, lad!---Here, put 'em up at this corner---No, tie 'em
together first---they don't reach half high enough yet---Oh! they'll do
well enough; don't be particular---Here, Bill! catch hold of this
rope---Will the roof bear?---Mind that loose slate---Oh, it's coming
down! Heads below!” (a loud crash)---“Now, who did that?---It was Bill,
I fancy---Who's to go down the chimney?---Nay, #emph[I] shan't!
#emph[You] do it!---#emph[That] I won't, then!---Bill's to go
down---Here, Bill! the master says you're to go down the chimney!”

“Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?” said pov/S to
pov/r. “Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in
Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but
I #emph[think] I can kick a little!”

Pov/s drew pov/p foot as far down the chimney as pov/s could, and waited
till pov/s heard a little animal (pov/s couldn't guess of what sort it
was) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above pov/o:
then, saying to pov/r “This is Bill,” pov/s gave one sharp kick, and
waited to see what would happen next.

The first thing pov/s heard was a general chorus of “There goes Bill!”
then the Rabbit's voice along---“Catch him, you by the hedge!” then
silence, and then another confusion of voices---“Hold up his
head---Brandy now---Don't choke him---How was it, old fellow? What
happened to you? Tell us all about it!”

Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, (“That's Bill,” alt/first
and second or third/pov/S thought/thought pov/S/,) “Well, I hardly
know---No more, thank ye; I'm better now---but I'm a deal too flustered
to tell you---all I know is, something comes at me like a
Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes like a sky-rocket!”

“So you did, old fellow!” said the others.

“We must burn the house down!” said the Rabbit's voice; and pov/S called
out as loud as pov/s could, “If you do, I'll set Dinah at you!”

There was a dead silence instantly, and pov/S thought to pov/r, “I
wonder what they #emph[will] do next! If they had any sense, they'd take
the roof off.” After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and
pov/S heard the Rabbit say, “A barrowful will do, to begin with.”

“A barrowful of #emph[what?];” thought pov/S; but pov/s had not long to
doubt, for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in
at the window, and some of them hit pov/o in the face. “I'll put a stop
to this,” pov/s said to pov/r, and shouted out, “You'd better not do
that again!” which produced another dead silence.

Pov/S noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into
little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into pov/p
head. “If I eat one of these cakes,” pov/s thought, “it's sure to make
#emph[some] change in my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger,
it must make me smaller, I suppose.”

So pov/s swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that
pov/s began shrinking directly. As soon as pov/s was small enough to get
through the door, pov/s ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of
little animals and birds waiting outside. The poor little Lizard, Bill,
was in the middle, being held up by two guinea-pigs, who were giving it
something out of a bottle. They all made a rush at pov/O the moment
pov/s appeared; but pov/s ran off as hard as pov/s could, and soon found
pov/r safe in a thick wood.

“The first thing I've got to do,” said pov/S to pov/r, as pov/s wandered
about in the wood, “is to grow to my right size again; and the second
thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be
the best plan.”

It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply
arranged; the only difficulty was, that pov/s had not the smallest idea
how to set about it; and while pov/s vrb/be/ peering about anxiously
among the trees, a little sharp bark just over pov/p head made pov/o
look up in a great hurry.

An enormous puppy was looking down at pov/o with large round eyes, and
feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. “Poor little thing!”
alt/first and second or third/pov/S said/said pov/S/, in a coaxing tone,
and pov/s tried hard to whistle to it; but pov/s vrb/be/ terribly
frightened all the time at the thought that it might be hungry, in which
case it would be very likely to eat pov/o up in spite of all pov/p
coaxing.

Hardly knowing what pov/s did, pov/s picked up a little bit of stick,
and held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air
off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the
stick, and made believe to worry it; then pov/S dodged behind a great
thistle, to keep pov/r from being run over; and the moment pov/s
appeared on the other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick,
and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get hold of it; then pov/S,
thinking it was very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and
expecting every moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the
thistle again; then the puppy began a series of short charges at the
stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long way back,
and barking hoarsely all the while, till at last it sat down a good way
off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great
eyes half shut.

This seemed to pov/O a good opportunity for making pov/p escape; so
pov/s set off at once, and ran till pov/s was quite tired and out of
breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.

“And yet what a dear little puppy it was!” alt/first and second or
third/pov/S said/said pov/S/, as pov/s leant against a buttercup to rest
pov/r, and fanned pov/r with one of the leaves: “I should have liked
teaching it tricks very much, if---if I'd only been the right size to do
it! Oh dear! I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again! Let me
see---how #emph[is] it to be managed? I suppose I ought to eat or drink
something or other; but the great question is, what?”

The great question certainly was, what? Pov/S looked all round pov/o at
the flowers and the blades of grass, but pov/s did not see anything that
looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances.
There was a large mushroom growing near pov/o, about the same height as
pov/r; and when pov/s had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and
behind it, it occurred to pov/o that pov/s might as well look and see
what was on the top of it.

Pov/s stretched pov/r up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the
mushroom, and pov/p eyes immediately met those of a large blue
caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly
smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of pov/o or of
anything else.
