Bless this Mouse by Lois Lowry Page B

sighed. "No, the others will see you and start asking questions. We'll just stay here. Wait! What's that sound?" She stood on tiptoe and parted the ferns. Through the dark of the cloudy night, she squinted and could see shrubbery moving. She could see a familiar-looking ear. Her nose and tail both twitched. "Marvin?" she whispered loudly. Then she turned to the others. "I think it's Marvin!"
    Indeed it was he. Marvin had been one of the fifty-two volunteers. Now he stumbled forward, panting, and collapsed in the little mossy glade. He looked completely exhausted. But his whiskers were vibrating triumphantly. "We did it!" he whispered.
    "All fifty-two? Are you all safe?" Hildegarde's heart was beating rapidly.
    "Not sure," he told her. "I finished first and there wasn't time to check on everyone. But most were right behind me, I know. Listen!"

    They could hear the approaching mice now, and could tell from the stumbling sound of the small paws that they were no longer marching warriors. They were spent. Depleted. Breathing hard. Some even whimpering. But one after another they appeared and reported in. In a few minutes the area at the base of the statue was crowded with sprawled, panting church mice.
    "Count them!" Hildegarde instructed Ignatious and Roderick.
    "One, two, three..." She could hear them muttering the numbers as they moved among the heaps of heavy-breathing mice. "Twenty-nine, thirty..."
    Finally they came back to her. "Fifty-one," Ignatious reported. "Maybe I counted wrong," he added, uncertainly. "I'm getting old."
    Then Roderick returned, looking sad. "Fifty-one," he said. "I counted twice. I'm sorry."
    "Who's missing?" Hildegarde felt she must ask, though she didn't want to hear the answer.
    "Trina," they said together.
    Oh, no! It couldn't be! Brave, strong Trina!
Hildegarde leapt to her feet and strode out among the recovering mice. "Who saw Trina last? Where was she?" she demanded.
    Many didn't know. "It was so confusing in there! I couldn't tell one mouse from another!" one said. "So dangerous!" added another. "And dark!" several murmured.
    "Jean?" Hildegarde asked. "Where's Jean?"
    "She's over here," someone called. She followed the voice. Mice pointed with their paws, and she found Jean huddled on the edge of the crowd, weeping.
    "Did you see her caught in a glue trap?" Hildegarde asked Jean. She was remembering that Ignatious said there was a way—a difficult way—to rescue one mouse from a glue trap. He had even described the method to her. It sounded awful.
    Jean shook her head. "No. She was so careful! She didn't get caught in a trap."
    "Where did you see her last, then?"
    "She was right behind me. We were all finished, and we were headed out to return here, but—" She lowered her head and sobbed slightly.
    "But what?"
    "She went back! She said she had remembered one important thing we should do! And before I could stop her, she scurried back! I thought she'd catch up, but..." Jean looked up and peered around the group in the darkness. "She didn't make it, did she?"
    "She hasn't made it
yet,
that's all!" Hildegarde patted Jean on the head. "Listen, all of you!" she called. Regaining their strength gradually, the mice looked up toward her.
    "We have several hours of night left," she told them. "I'm going to look for Trina. If the sky begins to lighten—"
    "Yes?" they asked.
    "That's the time that all of the mice must move back into Saint Bartholemew's. If I'm not back, then..." She looked over at her two friends. "Roderick and Ignatious will call for the gathering and give instructions. Then they'll lead you back in."
    "Excuse me?" A haughty voice came from the nearby ferns. "I believe I'll be the one to do that!"
    "Don't count on it, Lucretia!" Hildegarde told her. Then she dashed as fast as she could to the church, to find and perhaps rescue Trina.
    ***
    After wriggling in under the door and entering the narthex, Hildegarde paused and listened. No sound. "Trina?" she called, in as