Basil's American Tail - Chapter 1Basil's American TailNew York City, 1886 Puffing upon his wooden pipe, Basil of Baker Street, England's premier mouse detective, exited the gangplank of the ship docked at Castle Garden carrying a large suitcase, careful to dodge the feet of the much larger human immigrants and tourists from London. Basil wasn't here as an immigrant of course, he fancied jolly ol' England just fine. Nor was he here on vacation either; he had very little time for such extravagances when there were criminals lurking about. No, it was a case which had led him to take the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The case, as it were, involved several valuable
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 2 Officer Bob Rodentstein huffed and strained carrying Basil's large suitcase as they made their way up the stairs to Basil's temporary apartment, the mouse-sized steps hidden within the walls of the much larger human-sized building. To someone of their size a two-story building might as well have been a sky scraper. It took several flights of stairs to make it all the way up. "Please do hurry up, Bob. We haven't got all day and I want to begin my investigation immediately." Basil said, thinking the less time spent in this depressing city the better. "Honestly, what did you put in this thing?" Rodentstein asked irritably as she trailed beh
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 3 When Basil and Nellie came back they both carried bags with them. After buying some food at the market Nellie had taken Basil to a British-themed pub downtown that served cheese crumpets as appetizers, and they'd bought a stockpile of them. There was an ice box in the tiny kitchen for them to keep their food in, and a stove with which to heat it up later. Basil had also purchased a nice tea pot. "Very well then, I think you've proven yourself a worthy partner." Basil said. "The honor is all mine." replied Nellie as she removed her fake beard. "So, as per our agreement, you help me wrap up this case and show me the ins and outs of New Y
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 4 Miss Kitty walked into her dressing room with the purse, giving Nellie and Basil a bumpy ride. The smell of perfume inside the bag was intoxicating, but Basil explained that it would be useful for masking their smell. Cats could smell mice from anywhere. "What are we going to do when she opens the bag?" Nellie asked in a whisper, "I really don't like this idea." "Relax, we'll be out of here before she opens it. We just need to wait for the right instant." Basil assured her. Miss Kitty finally placed the purse down on a desk and opened a drawer for some lipstick to apply it in front of the mirror. Basil deduced upon hearing the
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 5 The nightclub was full of rowdy, drunken cats, noisily talking, laughing, getting into fights. The bar consisted of some wooden crates stacked together, and the rest of the nightclub used spare tables and chairs from the human bar upstairs. The alcohol came from the spare supply the humans kept in the basement. Some catnip was available for a good price as well. In the midst of all this, Cat R. Waul and his posse were seated at a table, engaged in a high stakes game of poker with some cats from the Mott Street Maulers. Warren himself wasn't in attendance, having business elsewhere. "I hope we don't die of smoke inhalation up there."
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 6"So you're gonna snoop on Warren, huh?" Miss Kitty asked, back in her dressing room. Basil and Nellie were atop her desk. It was 2 in the morning, and all the cats had left but Miss Kitty. "Yes, we believe he is our number one suspect." Basil said. "Ya know how dangerous dats gonna be, don't ya?" she asked. "Yes we do, we're well aware." Nellie said, "I think it might be best to come up with some way we can meet him in a safe environment, like Tammany Hall the next time he goes to Honest John for his protection money." "Tell me Miss Kitty, is there anything you might know about Warren that could help us?" Basil asked. Miss Kitty t
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 7 Basil's ears perked up upon hearing a knock on the door. "Aha, that must be Nellie now." he said, putting his violin down and sipping the last of his tea before getting up to answer the door. When he opened the door he was in for a shock. Nellie's dress was torn and dirty, her face was scraped, her hair was unkempt, the bun coming undone and her hair's true length flowing down off her shoulders. She wore a pained expression, holding her wounded arm where the sleeve had been torn. "Great scott, Nellie, what on Earth happened to you?! Please come in, sit down, or lie down, whichever." Nellie walked past Basil, panting after making it d
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 8 Once Honest John was able to spare a moment for the two of them, Basil and Nellie approached him, moving around the mourners for Mickey O'Hare. It did seem a tad disrespectful to have all this going on at a wake, but Gussie Mausheimer's appearance was what started it, so it didn't seem to matter at least to Honest John. "Ah, Basil of Baker Street! How's the case been goin'?" he asked drunkenly, "Care for a drink?" "No thank you dear sir. I thought I would brief you on my progress and try to get some information from you." Basil replied, "Could we go somewhere a bit more private?" Basil gazed about the room. Warren's spies could
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 9Basil examined the cigar ashes under a microscope at a desk in the living room as the clacking keys of Nellie's typewriter filled the air from the other room. "Hm, yes the tobacco used to make this was surely grown somewhere in the southern United States, so that tells me it wasn't imported and probably wasn't too expensive." Basil said to himself. He could try to trace the cigar to where it was purchased, but the task might not be very productive. There were stores all over the city that the cigar could have come from, and Basil still didn't know New York that well. He was finding that his style of detecting was far more effective in Lon
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 10 Warren puffed on a cigar, stopping to admire himself in the mirror as his accountant Digit counted a bag of cash; protection money from all of the mice. "So eh, how are my profits doin' today?" he asked Digit, "Betta be up from yesterday. Those pesky street rats, escaping Moe's, who do they think they are? I'll get 'em all back." "W-well boss, with Moe out of the picture w-we're losing upwards of twenty dollars a day. We haven't taken a hit like this since Nellie Brie exposed that other sweatshop." Digit replied fearfully, hiccupping as his antennae buzzed, "We still have the Cheese Factory and a couple other sweatshops around the city t
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 11The day wore on painfully slow. Basil swore he was getting carpal tunnel by the time the ever-so-brief lunch break rolled around, where they were given cheese soup with bread crumbs and water, a meager meal probably more well suited for a Siberian prison. The break was twenty minutes before McNibble forced everyone back to work. It was no wonder this place had broken most everyone's spirits, no one seemed to hold any hope of ever getting out of here. Obviously the news of the other sweatshop breakout at Moe's had never reached them, for if it had they might have banded together and tried to hatch up a similar scheme. The rest of the day wen
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 12The three of them took their time and slept in the next morning, Basil being the first one up. He was already enjoying tea and crumpets over the day's issue of the Daily Nibbler, sitting in his robe in the living room, when Nellie awoke and came out around a half hour later, still in her nightgown, her hair down. Hakan lay resting on a sofa in the room. "So, have they heard about the breakout at the sweatshop yet?" Nellie asked, coming over to read over Basil's shoulder. "It doesn't look like it, maybe it will make the evening edition." Basil said, sipping some tea, "If anyone of the former employees recognized us and tell the press what
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 13 Basil and Nellie were soon taken to separate tents and dressed up in the local garb as the rest of the tribe prepared a welcoming ceremony; the Chief's daughter Cholena braided Nellie's hair into pigtails as one of the other tribal women fitted her for a buckskin dress and painted Nellie's face, giving her a bead necklace that Cholena made herself. Meanwhile Basil was given buckskin pants and moccasins to wear, going shirtless like all men in the tribe did, as he was painted with ceremonial war paint on his face and chest, and given a bandanna with a feather in it to wear. From what Basil could gather the makeover was part of a ceremon
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 14 After about one more hour, once Basil and Nellie had changed back into their regular attire (though Nellie hadn't bothered to unbraid her pigtails), the tribe gathered around to see off these new foreign guests at the opening of the tunnel out of their sanctuary from the upper-world. The Chief and Hakan joined them. "The journey should not take very long." said the Chief, "The tunnel to the den of the cats is just down the underground river from which we get our water." 'I hope that water is from a storm drain and not a sewer…' Basil thought. "Alright, thank you for coming with to show us the way." Nellie said gratefully, "Our s
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 15The sound of the violin became louder, it's screeches making Basil's fur stand on end. "Whoever that is, playing a violin that way ought to be a criminal offense itself!" Basil said, making Nellie giggle. As they came closer, they noticed messages painted on the walls. One read "No dogs allowed." The other, "The Mott Street Maulers". "Well, certainly was nice of them to label their hideout for us, wasn't it?" Nellie asked in amusement. "That is rather foolish of them. That noisy violin is probably an even worse idea if they don't want others knowing where they are." They stayed low and walked forward, peeking behind a brick wall int
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 16"I think I'm finally getting it…" Basil strained and gritted his teeth as he twisted his tail in the lock, trying to get it open. "Basil don't hurt yourself, you could break your tail." Nellie warned, putting a hand on his shoulder. The unfortunate prisoners were locked up in a chamber filled with a huge pile of discarded bird cages. Basil had to wonder where it all came from, but this secret lair was a strange place as it was with its pianos and mirrors and stolen artifacts, not to mention the salamander thing. Fievel was in a separate cage, curled up and sobbing in a way that Basil had to admit pulled at his heartstrings, just a
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 17The mice of New York gathered in a crowd above the museum as below, Warren's gang of marauding cats stood menacingly, carrying wooden clubs and licking their teeth hungrily. In front of them stood Warren, still in his night gown but having had time to put his rat disguise back on. Basil sneered. Why did anyone fall for that thing? Fievel stood near Gussie, Nellie and Basil. While coming up to the roof he'd found Tony Toponi as well, though he and Bridget had gotten separated in the crowd. "What's all this then? Was I not invited to da slumber party?" Warren asked. "What do you want, you wat?" Gussie asked. "He's not a rat, he's a cat! H
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 18"So you say our son has been searching for us, all this time?" Papa still couldn't believe it. "Yeah, I first met him in a sweat shop. He's da one who helped bust me outta there. I figured I owed him one." said Tony, "Me and Bridget have been takin' care of him since then, we was lookin' all over for you." "And how did you two meet him?" Papa asked Basil and Nellie. "I first met the boy when he wandered into my room, led there by my violin. Nellie and I have been having chance encounters with the boy ever since, most recently when we went to find Warren's lair." Basil explained. "We wanted to help reunite him with you as soon as we we
Basil's American Tail - Chapter 19"Basil, Basil wake up!" Nellie said, shaking Basil gently. "Ugh…oh, we…we fell asleep?" Basil said, blinking and rubbing his head. He looked up at the sky, the dark blue tinge of early dawn reflected on the clouds. The rain was letting up. "Far longer than we were supposed to. It's almost morning." Nellie said in disappointment. "And not long enough to cure my drowsiness either." Basil groaned, grabbing his violin, "We might as well take advantage of what time we have, before heading back to Tammany Hall." "Alright. I know we still haven't looked everywhere." Nellie said, unfolding her umbrella and holding her hand out to
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