LET
US
GO!”
“THAT’S
ENOUGH!”
Even the terrible Tiger Khan ran away
with his tail between his legs. Holey
boulders!
On the other paw, the baby mammoth that
the tigers had captured was thrilled — he
was finally back with his herd!
88
As soon as the tigers were all out of sight, I
scampered over and hugged the leader
of the mammoths as hard as I could. Bones
and stones, our mammoth friends were true
heroes!
What
would
we
have
done
without
them?
Thank you, my friend!
I’M PROUD OF YOU,
UNCLE GERONIMO!
What a mouserific moment!
And to make it even better, the storm
stopped. The sun finally started shining again!
We climbed back onto the mammoths and
made our triumphant entrance into the city.
“Hooray! Long live the heroes of Old
Mouse City!” We were surrounded by cheering rodents, led by the village leader, Ernest Heftymouse.
Holey boulders, how exciting!
My mammoth signaled for me to climb
down. Then he ran to the baby and
surrounded him with cuddles.
90
Hooray!
Yippee!
Wait one whisker-loving minute!
Bones and stones — that mammoth was the
little one’s dad!
What a fabumouse surprise!
I let out a sigh of relief. It was marvemouse
to be home again after that long, FUR-
RAISING night.
“What a megalithic triumph! You
saved Old Mouse City, and you brought
the mammoths back!” Ernest Heftymouse
proclaimed, turning to me and my friends.
“Now we can restock our mammoth
milkshake reserves!”
“Hooray for the Stiltonoots! Hooray
for the mammoths!” all the Old Mouse City
rodents squeaked at the tops of their lungs.
To celebrate, they lifted each of us
HIGH into the air, one by one.
When it was my turn, however, Ernest
Heftymouse began to squeak again. “In the
name of everyone in Old Mouse City, I want
to officially thank Geronimo, Thea, Trap,
Hercule, and all our mammoth friends!”
The rodents who had tossed me in the air
turned to applaud — and forgot to catch
me!
93
SPLAT!
I ended up whisker-deep in a giant mud
puddle!
Why do things like this always happen to
me?
I lifted my snout from the mud and wiped
my paws across my eyes.
“You were great, Uncle!” a little voice
squeaked just then.
Oof!
94
Huh?
Massive meteorites, it was my nephew
Benjamin!
Even though I was soaking wet and
covered in mud, Benjamin leaped into my
arms.
“You saved Old Mouse City! I’m
so proud of you, Uncle!”
At that moment, I forgot all about the mud
and my bumps and bruises. I just melted
into Benjamin’s hug like Jurassic Brie left
out in the sun!
95
SPRIIITTTZZZ!
After this crazy adventure, the friendship
between the mammoths and the cavemice
was stronger than ever.
Papa mammoth, who had brought me to
Old Mouse City, seemed like he wanted to
say something.
“bhruah
. . .
bhruah
. . .
bhruah,
bhruah!
“Did I get that right? You mammoths
want to give us a gift?” I asked. “You’ll
give us a double ration of curdled milk
until we get our reserves back?” I went on
translating. “Well, that’s . . . rattastic!”
96
Papa mammoth nodded happily, waving
his trunk.
Fossilized feta, in just a few days we could
restore our reserves of mammoth milk!
What a mousetastic relief!
Papa mammoth smiled. Then, before I
knew what was happening, he sucked up a
pool of muddy water with his trunk . . . and
sprayed it at me!
SPLASSSSSSH!
Gulp!
Overwhelmed by the super-powerful
stream of water and mud, I was knocked
off my paws
and splatted on the ground
twenty tails away. Holey rolling boulders!
“Wow, Geronimo, I think he likes you!”
Hercule exclaimed, laughing under his
whiskers. “Didn’t you know that spraying
water is a sign of affection for mammoths?”
“Oh . . . well . . . thanks a lot!” I
responded, wringing out my soaked tail.
A few days later, the mammoths returned
to graze on the plateaus near the city.
Thanks to their generosity, our mammoth
milk reserves were full again!
Ernest Heftymouse called for a day of
celebration. “We will thank our heroes with
a lavish banquet in their honor!”
His wife, Chattina Heftymouse, held up a
paw to stop Ernest. “Quit your squeaking!
98
Good-bye,
friends!
This is just an excuse for you to stuff
your snout with food!”
Ernest turned red in the snout. “But I . . .
the banquet . . . the mammoths . . .”
“Not another squeak! Look at that big
belly
of yours,” Chattina said. “A village
leader who respects himself should be agile,
All you
think
about
is
food!
But
I
. . .
100
quick, and in good shape. He should set a
fabumouse example for his fellow mice!”
It was too bad, because a banquet would
have been marvemouse! We were all
starting to feel a bit sorry for poor Ernest,
too.
“Oh, come on, Chattina,” Trap said. “Be
reasonable!”
“Jurassic Jarlsberg, we earned a
banquet!” Hercule added.
“Plus,” Thea said, “a party with everyone
all together sounds pretty fabumouse,
doesn’t it?”
“Oh, all right . . .” Chattina conceded.
“We’ll have the party, but on a few
conditions.”
Here were Chattina’s rules:
1
The party wouldn’t be held right
away; we’d have it two days later.
101
2
3
During the two days of preparation,
Ernest would eat only prehistoric salad and Paleozoic fresh fruit.
During these two days, Ernest would
also have to keep in shape by RUNNING
around Old Mouse City from dawn until
dusk.
4
Thea, Trap, Hercule, and I would
run with Ernest to make sure that he didn’t
stuff his snout in secret!
Hercule tried to protest. “But that’s not
fair! So we also have to run and eat only
fruit and vegetables?”
“Well, it certainly won’t hurt you!”
Chattina said. “That’s the deal — take it
or leave it.”
“Don’t worry, Chattina,” Thea said with a
wink. “I’ll make sure that they’re all training
properly!”
102
Humph, humph . . .
So as we waited for the banquet, we began
to RUN and eat healthy foods under the
supervision of our trainer, Thea.
Huff, huff . . .
TRAINING
PUSH-UPS
Pant, pant . . .
RUN
Huff, huff . . .
SIT-UPS
STRETCH
“Come on, lazypaws!” my fabumousely
fit sister squeaked. “Move those legs! A nice
run will do you good!”
One, two . . . one, two . . . one, two!
FOSSILIZED
FETA,
HOW
EXHAUSTING!
104
Come on, you lazypaws!
Look . . .
what we have to do . . .
just for a banquet!
A SPECIAL REWARD
At the end of two intense days of dieting and
training, I was basically mousemeat.
And I wasn’t the only one — Trap, Hercule, and Ernest Heftymouse were all
megalithically tired, too!
Thea, on the other paw, was full of
energy. “Come on, musclemice! It’s time
to celebrate!”
After we bathed and changed, we joined
our fellow citizens for the banquet.
HOLEY BOULDERS —
IT WAS ABOUT TIME!
106
Just as it was about to begin, we all heard
a
STRANGE SOUND
coming from the
entrance to the city.
PETRIFIED
PARMESAN,
WHO
COULD
IT
BE?
Had the tigers come back?
“Don’t get your tails in a twist!” Thea
said, peeking through
a hole in the city
wall. “It’s nothing
dangerous.”
We opened the
doors to find an
exhausted, filthy,
shaken, and singed
balloonosaurus!
“That’s our
balloonosaurus!” I exclaimed.
Puff! Pant!
107
It was the same balloonosaurus that had
brought me, Thea, Trap, and Hercule to
search for the mammoths!
The poor dinosaur stepped toward us, but
a moment later . . .
THUD!
He collapsed to the ground.
Holey boulders, we had completely
forgotten about him! He’d had to return to
the city alone. Poor guy!
“We have to help him!” Thea declared.
“Pawsitively,” I said. “Thanks to him, we
were able to save Old Mouse City from the
saber-toothed tigers!”
“Just a minute,” Trap protested, holding
up a paw. “What about the party?”
“Patience, Trap,” Thea said with a sigh.
“Don’t be selfish!”
108
So before the banquet began, we all
put our paws together to give our heroic
balloonosaurus a fabumouse scented bath!
We massaged his tired wings and filled
his belly with a special reward: a triple serving of super-spicy bean fuel, of course!
Without him, how would we have found
the mammoths? How would we have saved
Old Mouse City from the clutches of the
saber-toothed tigers?
Once we’d properly thanked him, the
banquet could finally begin!
When we reached the enormouse table,
we found Ernest Heftymouse about to sink
his teeth into a giant round of Volcanico
cheese, the most delicious — and stinky —
cheese in the prehistoric world.
“Ernest Heftymouse!” Chattina squeaked.
“What are you doing?”
109
The village leader looked at his wife with
BIG, innocent eyes.
Chattina rolled her own eyes. “You just
want to stuff your snout!”
As they continued to argue, Thea, Trap,
Hercule, and I sat down at the table and enjoyed all the cavemice specialties — along with bowls and bowls and bowls of mammoth milkshakes!
PALEOZOIC
PROVOLONE,
WHAT
A
RATTASTIC
PARTY!
And not just because of the great food.
The banquet stood for so much more than
that!
Old Mouse City had been saved, we had
reinforced our historic friendship with the
mammoths, and my whole family was there
to celebrate with me. What more could
110
I possibly want? Nothing, dear rodent
friends! Everything was pawsitively perfect
the way it was.
But just in case, I’ll always be ready for
my next adventure in the Stone Age, or I’m
not
Geronimo
Stiltonoot,
Cavemouse!
111
Don’t miss
any of my
special edition
adventures!
Be sure to
read all my
fabumouse
adventures!
Meet
Geronimo Stiltonix
He is a spacemouse — the Geronimo
Stilton of a parallel universe! He is
captain of the spaceship MouseStar 1.
While flying through the cosmos, he visits
distant planets and meets crazy aliens.
His adventures are out of this world!
Meet
Geronimo Stiltonord
He is a mouseking — the Geronimo Stilton
of the ancient far north! He lives with his
brawny and brave clan in the village of
Mouseborg. From sailing frozen waters
to facing fiery dragons, every day is an
adventure for the micekings!
Dear
mouse
friends,
thanks
for
reading,
and
good-bye
until
the
next
book!
A Mammoth Mystery (Geronimo Stilton Cavemice #15) Page 4