16-IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT That NIGHT, I went to sleep with my clothes on. I put my flashlight next to my sleeping bag. I wasn't taking any chances. What if a snake slithered under the door? What if a scorpion crawled through the window? What if my cousin put ITCHING POWDER in my sleeping bag? Trap loves to play pranks on me. Once he tied a bell to my tail. When I took a step, I sounded just like a cheese ice cream truck. Rodents came running from all over town! I was sleeping soundly when I was woken up by a noise. It was the same MYSTERIOUS noise from the night before. I woke up Thea, Trap, Benjamin, and

Professor von Volt. Quiet as mice, we went to investigate. We discovered a horrifying scene. A team of rodents was busy cutting down trees. They put the trees on a BIG TRUCK. Soon there would be no trees left! The professor was furious. "Scoundrels!" he whispered, enraged. "They have no respect for the forest!" We decided we'd better keep quiet. I mean, these were rotten rodents. Rotten to the core. One chubby mouse appeared to be the boss. The others called him Mastgtail. His fur

was slicked back on his head. He wore a huge gold medal around his neck. It said, I'M NASTY— AND PROUD OF IT! He had a thick gold watch on his wrist. A glittering diamond hung from his ear. "Bones, do this! Bones, do that!" he shrieked at a mouse as thin as string cheese. The mouse was wearing a black shirt decorated with skeleton heads. He had an evil expression on his snout. I shivered. "OK, Boss, we're done here," he told Nastytail. "Tomorrow NIGHT we'll change campsites. But we'd better watch out for those natives. We don't want them getting any funny ideas."

Just then, an enormouse rodent with a crewcut came strutting over. His paws were as big as my aunt Ratilda's ten-pound cheddar logs. His teeth looked like they were made out of steel. His name was MIKE MICESON. "Don't worry, I'll handle them," he sneered, grinning at Nastytail. "If they get out of line, I'll just squash 'em!" He jumped up and down, punching the air. Then he punched a tree. It split in two. Part of the trunk fell on his foot. A big hairy spider crawled out of the trunk and bit his toe.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" the big mouse screamed. Bones giggled under his whiskers. Nastytail just rolled his eyes. "Miceson!" he squeaked. "You may be big, but you have the brain of a BUG!"