The Wind in the Willows
The noise, as they emerged from the passage, was simply deafening. At last, as the cheering and hammering slowly subsided, a voice could be made out saying, ‘Well, I do not propose to detain you much longer’—(great applause)—‘but before I resume my seat’—(renewed cheering)—‘I should like to say one word about our kind host, Mr. Toad. We all know Toad!’—(great laughter)—‘Good Toad, modest Toad, honest Toad!’—(shrieks of merriment).
‘Only just let me get at him!’ muttered Toad, grinding his teeth.
‘Hold hard a minute!’ said the Badger, restraining him with difficulty. ‘Get ready, all of you!’
‘—Let me sing you a little song,’ went on the voice, ‘which I have composed on the subject of Toad’—(prolonged applause).
Then the Chief Weasel—for it was he—began in a high, squeaky voice:
‘Toad he went a-pleasuring
Gaily down the street—’
The Badger drew himself up, took a firm grip of his stick with both paws, glanced round at his comrades, and cried:
‘The hour is come! Follow me!’
And flung the door open wide.
My!
What a squealing and a squeaking and a screeching filled the air!