Though the Siamese-Twin Cats were now only two small points on the horizon,
Alice continued to run along the shore, which, far from being deserted, was
getting quite crowded with animals and birds of every description. She had never
known such an assortment of creatures except in picture-books or at the Zoo,
"but in picture-books," as she said, "they're usually given one picture each to
themselves, and in the Zoo they're kept behind bars." The thought of being
trampled underfoot made her a little nervous, and remembering the poem which
Ping and Pang had just recited to her, she particularly decided to stay clear of
any hippopotami.

Alice's nearest neighbours were an auk, a barn-owl, a camel, and a dromedary.
Not that she would have been able to identify either of the first two, however;
and as for the last two, she found herself rather uncertain as to which was
which. "A camel has two humps, I know - or is that a dromedary? How confusing it
is," she sighed and she began to repeat a lesson she had learn in the
schoolroom: " 'The Camel is the ship of the desert and has two funnels.' No, no
I mean - Dear me, everything seems to be coming out wrong. Anyway, it most
likely is a camel," she concluded, "which arrived here the same way I did. For
I'm sure I've read somewhere that a camel can pass through the eye of a needle."

On she sped. Overhead there buzzed a swarm of spelling bees: the birds, on the
other hand, were all scurrying across the sand, causing Alice to remark - not
for the first time, either - that, for creatures which do after all possess
wings, birds seem to be tremendously fond of walking. "Now if I had wings," she
said to herself, "I should think I'd want to fly everywhere - even on quite
short errands.  `Please excuse me,' I'd say, 'but I just must flutter over to
the haberdasher's for a fitting!' " And day-dreaming thus, Alice tore along,
hoping that by following the crowd of animals, she would eventually arrive at
the election.

Everything had been happening so queerly that she was not too surprised to see,
out of the corner of her eye, an Elephant raised up on its hind legs on a little
grassy knoll which formed the crest of the beach. At first, she thought it must
be dancing, so wildly did it shake, but she soon realise it that something had
terrified it, though from where she was standing (she had stopped running, you
see, and was very glad indeed of the rest) she could not see what.  So she began
to move forward stealthily, only to discover the Country Mouse reclining on a
makeshift bed of reeds and grinning at the effect it was having on the poor
Elephant.  Alice, who could not bear to see any creature tremble (even one so
much larger than herself), considered shouting in the Country Mouse's ear in
order to frighten it off, but decided, after their earlier conversation, that
that would be unnecessary: and she only whispered "Boo!" very softly.

The result was just as if she had shouted, though, for the startled Mouse leapt
several inches clear into the air, crying out in a squeaky voice, " 'Eaven save
us! It's that there 'Alley's Comet come again! It's all h'exploding now!"