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Ignatious," Hildegarde said sternly.
    He harrumphed and became quiet, though he muttered something about the thirteenth-century fountain in Perugia.
    Hildegarde ignored him and continued. "I know most of you have never been Outdoors before. We are not, after all, field mice!"
    The audience tittered.
Field mice! Of course they weren't field mice!
    "And we will not be here long. Probably two days. But I myself have traveled a bit from time to time, and have learned to appreciate some of the dangers of the Outdoors. So I want to alert you.
    "There are things to enjoy, of course. The grass is fun. And there are still some tasty flowers, in the fall.
    "Do not nibble rhododendron leaves! Mothers, warn your mouselets! Rhododendron leaves are poisonous!"
    Ignatious looked up. "From the Greek," he said. "
Rhodos—rose;
and
dendron—tree.
"
    "Thank you, Ignatious."
    "When I—"
    "We know, Ignatious. You nibbled a lot of Greek at the university library."
    He nodded with satisfaction. Hildegarde resumed her speech.

    "Stay hidden in daytime. You're accustomed to that. And we're fortunate that they are no longer mowing the lawn. They stop mowing in mid-September, so our timing is perfect. A mowing machine is deadly! Many, many field mice are lost to mower blades every summer."
    There was a low murmur of sympathy for field mice.
    "You may come out of your nests and find food after dark. Or, yes, Harvey—you young ones may play after dark. But beware of
owls!
"
    "Owls?"
    "What are owls?"
    Hildegarde looked down. "Ignatious? Are you spry enough to jump up here? And did you nibble your way through ... what section of the library would
owls
be?"
    "Ornithology. Yes. I know a great deal about owls. Can you give me a paw?"
    Hildegarde reached down and helped him, while Jeremiah gave a boost to the old mouse's rear.
    Ignatious stood, finally, on the fountain rim. He whispered to Hildegarde, "Do you want the Latin?"
    "No, no. Just warn them."
    "Owls are nocturnal!" Ignatious said in his biggest voice. "They operate at night!"
    "Oooh," said the mice.
    "There are many kinds!"
    "Oooh."
    "They are birds of prey!"
    "Oooh."
    "What's
prey?
" asked a little one.
    "Prey is
us!
" Ignatious said loudly.
    "Ooooooh!"
    Hildegarde could see the mice looking around nervously.
    "They swoop down out of trees! Almost without sound! And they snatch unsuspecting mice!"
    "I want to go back to Saint Bartolemew's!" wailed Harvey. "I don't like Outdoors!"
    "Thanks, Ignatious," Hildegarde said. "That's warning enough. We'll all be alert, and on the lookout, now, won't we?"
    She could see that many, many pairs of wide mouse eyes were looking toward the trees nervously.
    "There are two hundred species of Strigiformes—that's Latin—" Ignatious began.
    "Enough!" Hildegarde said, and grudgingly he hopped down from the fountain.
    "The sun is starting to rise," she pointed out, and they could see that there, in the east, behind the church steeple, the sky was lightening. Somewhere nearby, a bird twittered. "Time to get to your nests, cuddle in, get some sleep. Today the Great X will come. His truck will come right up the driveway. Do
not
jump up to look at it! Stay hidden!
    "That's all for now," she said, and the mice applauded with their soft little paws, then scampered away in every direction.

    Hildegarde jumped down and headed toward her own nest at the base of the statue. Lucretia passed her, waddling along with a kind of strut. "You're such an alarmist, Hildegarde," she said, looking down her pointed nose and twitching her whiskers. "There was no need for such fear tactics!"
    At that moment, from deep in the foliage of a nearby spruce tree, came a throaty repeated hoot.
Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.
    "Oh my lord!" squeaked Lucretia in terror, and she dashed away.
    Hildegarde chuckled and made her way to the mossy bed she would share tonight with Roderick.

Chapter 8
Ignatius Explains the Horrors

    The mice slept soundly during the day, exhausted from the lengthy