Mittens flew into a terrible passion. "I have it," he roared, "I'll
send you adrift! Here, boys, get that boat ready!"

Then the Hare began to cry, to sob, to beg for mercy, till the
children felt actually ashamed of him. "Look here, Mittens," Rudolf
began.

"_Captain_ Mittens," corrected the pirate coldly.

It was hard for Rudolf, but he dared not anger the pirate cat any
further. "Don't hurt him, please, Captain Mittens," he begged. "He's
only a--" Then he stopped, for the False Hare was making a terrible
face at him behind the handkerchief with which he was pretending to
wipe his eyes.

"Tie his paws!" commanded Mittens, without so much as a look at
Rudolf. "There--that's a nice bit of string hanging out of his
pocket--take that. Now--chuck him in the boat!"

In a trice the black and white spotted cats, who seemed to be common
sailors, had tied the False Hare's paws behind him with his own
string, lowered him into the mice's little boat from which they had
already removed the oars, gave it a push, and sent him cruelly adrift!

"Oh, Rudolf," cried tender-hearted Ann, "what will become of him? Poor
old Hare!"

"Po-o-o-r old Hare," came back a dismal echo from the little boat
already some distance away. Then they saw that the False Hare had
freed his paws--that string must have been made of paper like his