At the Meeting
- Mrs. Frisby wakes up happy, secure in the knowledge that she will be able to keep her home and her family safe.
- But she realizes with a start that she needs to make sure the rats know all about what she overheard the night before.
- Brutus calls her name outside and asks if she can come to a meeting that Nicodemus is holding about the exterminators.
- Two rats guard the colony when they arrive and all the rest are in the main hall.
- Nicodemus offers Mrs. Frisby a public thank you for giving them the information about the men, and asks her to repeat again everything that she overheard.
- After a bit of debate, the rats conclude that it's highly likely these government stooges are, in fact, from NIMH.
- Yikes. That means they've gotta hit the road. And fast.
- They talk for a moment about how they wish Jenner had stayed with them, because then he would still be alive.
- Nicodemus explains that they will have to leave without as much food as they wanted to bring with them and that they will have to convince the men that they are just normal, average rats.
- The plan for starting the Plan early is this: most of the rats will leave for Thorn Valley in the morning, but a few will stay behind as decoys.
- The men will gas the rats off their exit. However, the rats have a second, secret exit that the decoy rats will flee out of, tricking the men.
- When Mrs. Frisby gets home, she is sad and quiet at dinner because the rats are going away.
- She tells the children that she will go say good-bye to the rats and decides that soon, she'll tell them the whole crazy story.