01-THE ROARING RAT

Geronimo Stilton WATCH YOUR WHISKERS, STILTON!

THE ROARING RAT It was a sunny July morning. The sun was so HOT, you could grill a cheese sandwich on the sidewalk. I went to have breakfast at the corner diner (as usual). I ordered a coffee and a CHEESE DANISH (as usual). Then I went to the newsstand (as usual). I wanted to get a freshly printed copy of my newspaper...

...oh, but I haven't told you yet. My name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton. I run The Rodent's Gazette. It's the most popular newspaper here on Mouse Island. As I was saying, I went to get a copy of my newspaper (as usual). But something unusual was going on. I could not find a copy of the paper. Not a single one! I was so puzzled, I had to ask the newsdealer about it. "Excuse me, INKYPAWS," I said. "I am looking for my usual copy of The Rodent's Gazette. INKYPAWS looked uncomfortable. He scratched his whiskers. " Er... um... I don't have one!" he said. Now I was even more puzzled. "Why not? Are you sold out?" INKYPAWS shook his head. He stared at his

paws. "Mr. Stilton, the truth is... I do not sell The Rodent's Gazette anymore!" he blurted out. I couldn't believe my big mouse ears. "Since when?" INKYPAWS pointed to the piles of newspapers. They all had the same title on the masthead —THE ROARING RAT! "A ONE-EYED rat came by this morning," he explained. "He offered me an enormouse amount of money to sell nothing but The Roaring Rat. Then he took away all the copies of The Rodent's Gazette." I stared at INKYPAWS, unable to squeak. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stilton," INKYPAWS

said. "Business is business!" He waved a check in front of my snout. It was from The Roaring Rat. And it had more zeroes than a hunk of Swiss has holes. "THIS STINKS WORTH THAN A MOUND OF MOLOY CHEESE!" I fumed. I grabbed a copy of The Roaring Rat. I wanted to see what this one-eyed rat was up to. As I read the front-page story, my whiskers started to twitch.