Marley and Dogwood were already in the human’s village. Marley had wasted no time in instructing Dogwood on where he wanted the camera set up and now the pair were hidden behind a long ceramic planter in a quiet garden.

Dogwood trembled slightly, nervous at being so close to a human dwelling whilst Marley surveyed the scene for any signs of a cat. He was well prepared to run should anything go amiss.

“Boss!” whispered Dogwood urgently, tugging Marley’s paw. “Boss!”

Marley snatched his paw away from the rat and glared at him. It wasn't the first time Dogwood had spooked at some sound or another. “What is it now?”

Dogwood pointed across to the other side of the garden. A hedge trembled as something sought to push its way through. Marley indicated to his camera-rat to start filming and watched the hedge apprehensively.

Suddenly, Fiddler burst through the hedge, shaking leaves and twigs from his fur. The mouse leaned forward, grabbed something and with a heave Delta and the camera rolled out onto the lawn.

Marley slapped Dogwood across the head. “Idiot! Do those two fools look like cats to you?”

Dogwood refrained from mentioning that Marley had thought the same and watched quietly as Fiddler and Delta made a mad dash towards the safety of the ceramic planter.

“Made it, Delta, ha, ha!” yelled Fiddler, ever excitable.

Marley pushed his way over to the young mouse and berated him. “Shush your loud mouth or you’ll get us all killed. What are you doing here anyway? This is our filming ground.”

Delta set his camera up next to Dogwood’s and grinned good naturedly at his fellow camera-rat. “We can film wherever we like.”

“That’s right,” agreed Fiddler, enjoying the scowl he was causing on Marley’s face. “And we’ve chosen the occupants of this house to be our subjects.”

Marley controlled his temper and forced himself to smile at the younger mouse. “Of course. Well, a cat lives here too and if you don’t mind being quiet we’ll continue to film. Thank you.”

Fiddler shrugged, then turned away from his opponent and looked over Delta’s shoulder down the camera lens. “All set?”

Delta nodded silently. Fiddler placed himself in front of the camera and much to Marley’s annoyance, started talking.

“Here we are in the garden of a human dwelling,” he announced grandly to the camera. “We believe humans use their gardens to play, rest and enjoy the great outdoors. Humans are very territorial creatures and many gardens are fenced or surrounded, like this one, by hedging.”

Marley groaned audibly, Fiddler ignored him and continued his narrative as Delta panned the scenery behind him. Suddenly, Marley caught sight of one of his own subjects and urged Dogwood to roll the camera. Clearing his voice importantly, Marley began his own report.

“At last we have a sighting of a domestic short haired cat,” he whispered expressively. “We’ve been following this particular male for a while now and have decided to call him One-Ear, due to the fact that he only has one ear . . .”

“That’s it!” cried Fiddler. “I can’t concentrate when you’re prattling away in the background.”

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Marley rounded on Fiddler aggressively. Both Dogwood and Delta turned their cameras to the two mice. “Go away, you jumped up young fool. Before I knock you out with my mike!”

Fiddler backed off, slightly over whelmed by the older mouse. “Now calm yourself, old chap. No need to get violent, is there?”

Marley twirled his microphone and yelled madly. Fiddler bolted, straight into the path of the oncoming cat. Laughing wildly, Marley stopped still and watched in satisfaction as his adversary rushed headlong into the cat.

As Delta screamed a warning to his friend it was too late. Marley smiled to himself and nodded to Dogwood to carry on filming as Fiddler bumped into the cat’s foot-paws. Fiddler gulped and smiled nervously up at the cat.

“Well, well. Look what we have here,” said the cat, sitting down with a bemused look on his face and flexing his claws. “A little mouse person.”

Fiddler backed away hastily, apologising, “Sorry, sir, didn’t mean to, sir, did I hurt you, sir?”

The cat laughed heartily to himself. “It asks if it hurt me! It, hurting me?” The cat’s eyes narrowed and he put out a paw, stopping Fiddler from escaping. “Come to me, little friend,” he purred.

As Fiddler gasped and struggled under the weight of the cat’s paw, Marley could hardly contain his excitement from behind the planter. He jumped up and down giggling happily. “Great stuff! Keep filming, Dogwood. I must thank you, Fiddler, for providing me with such great footage!”

Delta angrily knocked Dogwood’s camera over and grabbed Marley roughly under the chin. “You’d better hope that Fiddler’s okay or I’ll . . .”

Marley glared at the rat. “Or you’ll what? Try anything, my friend, we’ll have it all on camera.” He waved his paws behind his back to Dogwood who obediently picked his camera back up and pointed it at Delta.

Delta dropped the mouse and looked back to where the cat now had hold of his friend by the tail. “Fiddler!” he yelled. “Fiddler!”

From his upside-down position dangling from the cat’s paw Fiddler looked desperate. “Deltaaaaaaa!”

The cat threw Fiddler violently forward and watched in amusement as his prey tried to scrabble away. With a graceful leap, the cat was in front of poor Fiddler once more. “Now, now, my friend, I’m only playing.”

But Fiddler wasn’t in the mood for games. All his previous confidence had fled and he stared at the cat in wide-eyed horror. His heart raced. Picking himself up off the ground, he turned tail and tried to head back towards the hedge. The cat followed.

Delta made a move. Leaving his camera equipment behind, he raced after the cat, all thoughts for his own safety gone. Marley and Dogwood watched on, delighted with the way things were going.

“Fiddleeeeeeeeeer!” yelled Delta, pounding across the lawn towards the cat. “Leave my friend alone, cat!”

The cat half-turned and saw a very large and angry wild rat closing in on him. He smiled to himself and, deciding the rat was better game than the mouse he was chasing, he left Fiddler and turned to face Delta.

Reaching the hedge, Fiddler dived in. He sat huddled amongst the foliage for a moment trying to control his breathing. He didn’t realise Delta had charged after him until he saw the cat turn. “Delta, no!”

Delta skidded along the grass as he tried to stop himself. “Delta!” Fiddler reached out and grabbed the cat’s tail. Closing his eyes and hoping for the best, he bit into the animal’s fur.

The cat opened his mouth wide in agony as sudden pain shot up his tail.

“Quickly!” yelled Fiddler, spitting cat hair from his mouth. “Here!”

Delta dashed through the cat's legs quickly and tumbled into the hedge alongside his friend. Both creatures laughed joyously and hugged one another as the cat hissed angrily nearby.

“That showed him.” Delta grinned. “You bit ‘im good an’ ‘ard!”

Fiddler blew a sigh of relief as the cat grew bored and turned away. He looked at his rat friend in admiration. “I can’t believe you came after me. He could’ve killed you!”

Delta turned serious. “Maybe now I hope you’ve changed your mind about filming humans. We’ve still got time to start with something else.”

With paws on hips Fiddler was his old self again. “Absolutely not. Humans haven’t posed a threat yet. We’ll leave the cats to Marley and concentrate our efforts elsewhere.”

Delta put a paw to his head and groaned. “There’ll be cats everywhere we go around humans, Fiddler, they work together. And it’s not only cats, there are dogs too. You never listen to reason.”

Fiddler pretended not to hear the camera-rat and settled down. “We’ll wait until night fall,” he said, “then we’ll go back for your equipment. Rest, Delta, you look knackered.”

Delta, knowing it was useless to argue, settled down for a long wait.