PETER, PATTY, AND MR PIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 4014, 17 February 1931, Page 72

PETER, PATTY, AND MR PIP.

RUB-A-DUB-DUB.

(Special fob the Otago Witness.).

Rub-a-dub-dub! Rub-a-dub-dub! Rub-a-dub-dub! “ listeiU” tty Sat UP bed early ° ne morning > awakcn ed by the sound of rub-a-dub-dub! “Peter,” she whispered, They both listened. It was the sound of drums. ran t ' | H ° W s P lendid! ” cried Pcter > putting on his slippers and running to the window. Patty, Mr Pip, and Kitty “What about getting dr.esscd and going out to see the drummers?” suggested Patty. “Perhaps we’d be able co get a arum or two. “Of course we will,” agreed Peter. “ Hurry up, you two,” he went on, turning to Pip and Kittv “ We’re going to have some fun this morning! ” z e> x «

v “We’d better go out through the window,” Peter said, “else we’ll wake lip the whole house. ' Ready, Patty?” Ready laughed Patty, and they both flopped down together, Kitty going first, and Mr Pip following after. Kitty didn t like the look of the drummers, so she very rudely hissed at them: but Pip thought them good sportsmen, so he yapped cheerily as they approached. b “I say,” said Peter, when they got within hearing, “lend us a couple of drums, will you?” “Certainly not!” bellowed the drummer boys above the din. “A greedy lot,” remarked Mr Pip. “Might have spared a couple of drums!” Glad they didn t, hissed Kitty, “I can’t stand the noise. When they have passed, perhaps we’ll get a bit of peace. I’m still sleepy!” - . But the drummers didn’t pass—not just then! V

All the drummers stopped playing and put down their drums—except two. And those two went on rub-a-dub-dubbing by themselves. ■ “Let’s ask them,” suggested Peter, “I believe they’re the captains. “ Please may we borrow two drums,” pleaded Patty. “ Quite impossible, madam,” replied one captain politely, “ we’re not allowed to lend them. You see, they might get broken.” _ “Why—why!” Peter interrupted, “all the drummers have gone away and left their drums! How very strange! ” The captains only smiled.

■D « “ the ,y’ ve , left thc drums behind, so they have only themselves to blame if we borrow them,” whispered .Fatty. But we’ll ask the captains once more.” And once more the captains refused. Peter and Patty had their backs turned to the row of drums, so thev didn’t see the row of little faces that popped up behind them. Pop! Pop! Pop! Bang! Bang! Bang! Peter jumped, Patty jumped, Mr Pip jumped, and Kitty jumped! Whatever could that noise mean? They soon found out! The wicked little drummer boys had fired a volley with their wicked little guns.

How perfectly horrid of them,” said Peter. Then he had a bright idea. “Quick, Patty,” he whispered, while the smoke cloud is over us, lie down and pretend to be dead. That’ll teach them a lesson! ” Peter flopped down, Patty flopped down beside him, and Mr Pip and Kitty flopped down too. And when the smoke cloud cleared away,, four motionless figures were stretched on tho ground before the horrified eyes of the wicked little drummer boys. “ I do believe we’ve killed them,” muttered one. “Then we’d better run way at once,” said another, “before a policeman comes and locks us up!” “You needn’t trouble,” laughed Patty, sitting up suddenly, “we’re only pretending.” But the sight of those “dead” figures sitting up and smiling was too much for the drummer boys! They fell over backwards, and went right through the drums! The two little captains were so upset over the whole business that they crept quietly away.

And now the drummer boys were in a pretty fix. They fought and struggled to get out of the drums—but do you think they could do it? Not a bit! And so they crept quietly away after their captains. “ You might have lent us a coupje,” chuckled Peter. “ You see we couldn’t have broken more than two; but you have broken half a dozen.” Rub-a-dub-dub! What could that be? The two little captains were returning to see what had happened. They were in a terrible rage when they discovered the drummer boys firmly wedged into their own drums, and they threatened all sorts of punishments. But Peter, Patty, Mr Pip, and Kitty just caught up a bucket, a tin tray, and a couple of tin cans, grabbed four of the drumsticks which the drummer boys had left behind, and banged away happily’, completely drowning the rub-a-dub-dub of the drummer captains. - . . o “You wouldn’t lend us your silly old drums,” shouted Peter, “ but we’ve got the drumsticks, and we mean to keep them.” Which was very wrong of him—but, after all, it served the drummer boys right, didn’t it?