Part 2

And I hope with all my heart that if you ever pass by Uncle Lucky's house on Carrot street he'll ask you, too. And in the next story, if the pepper box doesn't fall into the ice cream freezer so that the little mouse in the pantry sneezes his head 'most off. I'll tell you another story to-morrow.

STORY IX--BILLY BUNNY AND MR. DRAKE

The next day after Billy Bunny arrived at Uncle Lucky's house the good, kind old gentleman rabbit said: "Let's go out for a ride in the Luckymobile, for that was the name of Uncle Lucky's new car, you know."

So off they started, and this time you can well believe the old gentleman rabbit filled his lamps full of electricity oil, for he hadn't forgotten the time some million stories ago he had been caught without any lights on his automobile.

Well, as I was just going to say when my typewriter had to go and explain all about how poor Uncle Lucky had once been arrested for not having his lamps lit, they started off--not the lamps, but Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky, and by and by they came across an old Drake.

And if you don't know what a Drake is, I'll tell you; he's the husband of a duck and spends most of his time swimming on the pond while she stays at home to look after the little ducks. Well, if Uncle Lucky hadn't stopped the automobile just where he did, Mrs. Duck would have been a widow.

"What do you mean by not seeing where you're going?" shouted Uncle Lucky, getting very red in the face.

"Why didn't you toot your horn?" said Mr. Drake with an angry quack, and then he waddled into the water and swam away.

"What can you expect from an old ferryboat like that?" laughed Uncle Lucky, watching Mr. Drake paddle away. "He's an old-fashioned side-wheeler. Let him go!" and the kind old gentleman rabbit leaned out of the automobile and handed a stick of candy to a little goose who had stood by listening with eye and bill wide open to all he had said.

Then the old gentleman rabbit took off his wedding stovepipe hat and bowed to Mrs. Duck, who stood in the doorway of her house, and tooted his horn and drove off.

And by and by Billy Bunny asked Uncle Lucky to let him run the automobile, so the old gentleman rabbit changed seats with his little nephew, and after that he fell asleep. For the road was very smooth and the wind was soft and warm, and Billy Bunny didn't talk all the time the way some boys do.

And as Billy Bunny didn't want to wake him up, he kept on going farther and farther away from home until after a while he found himself in a thick woods. And then the automobile came to a stop and Uncle Lucky, of course, woke up with a bump.

"Gracious me! Have I been asleep?" he exclaimed, rubbing his right eye with his left hind foot. And just then a little flower struck 4 o'clock, just like a little clock, and that's the reason they call this little flower "Four o'Clock" I guess. "Gracious me! I have been asleep!" cried Uncle Lucky, and then he took out the lunch basket and he and Billy Bunny ate a lot of nice things.

But, goodness me, it's so late that I must stop now, for there isn't time for the two little rabbits to get home. But I guess they'll cuddle up in the Luckymobile and sleep until to-morrow morning.

STORY X--BILLY BUNNY AND THE FROG KING

Well, when Billy Bunny and good, kind Uncle Lucky woke up the next morning, for they had slept all night in the Luckymobile as I told you in the last story, they ate their breakfast and then they started off and by and by they had an adventure.

A gypsy camp stood close to the roadside and just as they came up, an old woman walked out of a tent and said, "Don't you want your fortunes told?" Well, as Billy Bunny had never had his fortune told and Uncle Lucky had forgotten whether he had or not, they got out of the automobile and sat down on a log while the old gypsy woman looked at their paws.

"You have a very long life line, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, and lots of money," she said with a grin, "and you're going to have lots more."

"That's very nice," said the old gentleman rabbit, "for I want to build a library in Rabbitville where all the little bunnies can read nice stories and grow very wise."

"And you will grow up to be a great soldier," she said to Billy Bunny, and then Uncle Lucky gave her two carrot nickels and said good-by.

"I wonder where all that money is coming from," said the good, kind old gentleman rabbit, and then they heard a deep voice singing:

"Oh, I am king of the Bullfrog Pond, Ker-plunk, ker-chunk, ker-plunk!

And I'll never stir a foot beyond, Ker-plunk, ker-plunk, ker-plunk!

For it's cool and nice in the water here, And the cat-tails wave in the atmosphere, And this old dead log is a throne for me. Oh yes, I'm as happy as I can be!"

Then Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile and he and Billy Bunny got out to make the acquaintance of this happy frog king. And weren't they surprised to find that he was the brother of Uncle Bullfrog, who lived in the Old Mill Pond. He had heard all about the two rabbits, and was delighted to see them.

"Sit down on the bank and I'll get you a watercress sandwich and some pond-lily milk," cried the Frog King, and he waved a bullrush wand up and down and whistled through his fingers, and then a dozen tadpoles swam up.

And then they swam off again and when they came back they had watercress sandwiches and pond-lily milk enough to go around and some besides to give to the Luckymobile, only automobiles don't drink anything but gasoline, so they gave what was left to a nice friendly duck who happened to pass by.

And then Uncle Lucky took off his stovepipe hat and bowed to the Frog King and Billy Bunny took a chocolate eclaire out of his knapsack and said, "Give this to your Queen with my compliments," which tickled the Frog King so he fell off his log throne into the water with a terrible splash.

And if the lawn mower doesn't run over our white poodle dog and cut off all his hair, I'll tell you to-morrow another story about Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky.

STORY XI--BILLY BUNNY AND THE TURKEY GOBBLER

Well, as I was saying in the last story, Billy Bunny and his good, kind Uncle Lucky said good-by to the Frog King. And the frog was very sorry to see them go, for although he was a king, his kingdom was only a frog pond.

But then, when you come to think of it, he couldn't have his kingdom any place else, so of course he was contented, and that's the chief thing in life, whether you're a king or a poor man.

"Now what are we going to do?" said Uncle Lucky as he and his rabbit nephew rolled along as nicely as you please in the Luckymobile.

"Oh, just roll along," answered the little bunny, slipping his knapsack off his shoulder and laying his striped candy cane down on the bottom of the automobile, "I'm just glad to be riding with you, dear Uncle Luck."

And this so tickled the old gentleman rabbit that he turned to smile at Billy Bunny, and then of course he didn't see where he was going, and the first thing you know and the first thing he knew, the Luckymobile ran right into a baker's shop and knocked over the counter, which was full of pies and cakes.

"Oh, please excuse me!" cried kind Uncle Lucky to the bakerman, who was a big, red-faced Turkey Gobbler. But, oh, dear me! As soon as that Turkey Gobbler saw Uncle Lucky's red tie he made a rush at the old gentleman rabbit, for turkeys, you know, get terribly mad when they see anything red, and if Uncle Lucky hadn't jumped out of the way that Turkey Gobbler would have picked the diamond pin right out of the tie.

Yes, sir, I'm sure he would, and Uncle Lucky was very fond of his diamond pin because little Billy Bunny had given it to him, you remember, some seventeen or more stories ago.

Well, while the ugly red-faced turkey was chasing dear Uncle Lucky all around the back yard, Billy Bunny backed the automobile out of the bake shop, and after he had scraped custard pie off the cabaret and lemon pie off the left front wheel and squash pie off the right front wheel and a dozen other kinds of pie off the two front lights, Uncle Lucky came hopping around the corner of the bake shop with the ugly red-faced turkey gobbler baker close behind him.

"Start her up! Start her up!" yelled the old gentleman rabbit. And Billy Bunny did, and Uncle Lucky jumped into the automobile just in time, too, for the Turkey Gobbler almost had him by the tail.

"Here's some money to pay for your pies," cried the honest old gentleman bunny, and he threw twenty or less carrot cents at the turkey gobbler, who gobbled them up, I mean picked them up, in a hurry for fear they might take root in the ground and grow into plain ordinary carrots if he let them lie there a minute.

And by this time of course the two rabbits were far away in their automobile, and if the next story has to be written to-night, as I know it must, I'll stop right here and wish you pleasant dreams and happy wakening.

STORY XII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE DONKEY

"That certainly was a lucky escape," said Uncle Lucky to Billy Bunny as they sped away in their Luckymobile after overturning all the pies in the bake shop, as I told you in the last story.

"I shall be more careful the next time and see where I'm going," and the old gentleman rabbit settled his stovepipe hat firmly on his head and held on tighter to the steering wheel, and then he honked the horn three times and a half to let everybody hear him coming before he ran over them; and then, all of a sudden, quicker than a lightning bug, a little gray donkey ran right in the middle of the road and kicked up his heels and brayed, which is the way a donkey talks, you know.

"Get out of the way!" yelled Uncle Lucky, and he put on the brake, but, oh dear me, and oh dear donkey! the brake wouldn't work. It just got obstinate, I guess, when it saw that donkey's heels, or else it thought the donkey would stop the automobile just as well, which he did, I'm sorry to say.

Yes, Siree, and Yes, Siree Man! That donkey kicked his shoes right off and the Luckymobile stopped and Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny got out so quickly that they rolled over and over on the ground for maybe a block and a half and then they wouldn't have stopped, only a policeman grabbed them.

But he let the little rabbits go just as soon as they told him what had happened.

"I'm getting tired of always having an accident," said the old gentleman rabbit when they reached the Luckymobile.

"Don't be a grumbler," said the donkey.

"Well, then, don't you be a kicker," replied the old gentleman rabbit angrily, for Uncle Lucky had a temper, only he seldom used it because he was so kind and good. "If you hadn't kicked, there would have been no accident, and as I said before, I'm getting sick and tired of accidents."

Well, this made the donkey so ashamed he said he was sorry he had kicked the Luckymobile, and then dear Uncle Lucky told him to climb in and he would take him down to the seashore to pick up pretty shells. So off they went again, the two little rabbits on the front seat and the donkey in the back, and by and by they came to the seashore.

"Let's all go in bathing," said Billy Bunny, so they went up to the bathing houses and put on bathing suits.

Well, after they were all dressed, I mean undressed, they hopped into the water and swam out to the raft. And Uncle Lucky stood on Billy Bunny's shoulders and dived into the water and then the donkey stood on Uncle Lucky's shoulders and slipped and fell onto the raft and sprained his tail, so that they all had to hurry out and get dressed and then go for the doctor.

And in the next story you shall hear how the doctor cured the donkey with a little sugar pill.

STORY XIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE LITTLE SUGAR PILLS

I wonder if you remember where we left off in the last story? Well, in case you don't, I'll tell you. Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky were taking the donkey to the doctor, for the donkey had sprained his tail while in bathing with the two little rabbits, you know.

Well, when they reached the doctor's house he wasn't in, but his wife was. So Uncle Lucky thought he'd tell her what was the matter with the donkey, for the donkey was feeling pretty miserable and wouldn't get out of the automobile, but just sat there braying every once in a while in a mournful way.

"Why don't you give him a sugar pill?" asked the kind doctor's wife. "I haven't got any sugar pills," said Uncle Lucky, and neither had Billy Bunny, although he looked all through his knapsack and in the cabaret of the Luckymobile.

"I'll get you some," said the doctor's wife, and presently she brought out a little round box just full of sugar pills.

"The directions are on the cover," she said, handing the box to Billy Bunny, who ran back to the automobile to give some to the poor donkey, who was braying dreadfully just then.

Well, the little rabbit gave him one at once and then he read over the directions.

"One every minute until the patient feels worse and then one every second until the box is empty!"

"Gracious me!" exclaimed the little rabbit, "that's enough to cure one of ever getting sick again," and I guess you'd have thought the same thing if you had bitten one of those little sugar pills, for they were dreadfully bitter inside.

Well, Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny took turns giving those pills to that obstinate braying donkey. Uncle Lucky held the watch and Billy Bunny held the donkey. You see, it took almost a minute to get a pill down that obstinate donkey so that as soon as one was down it was time to start with another, and as Uncle Lucky said it was dangerous not to follow directions exactly when giving medicine, it was just about all the two little rabbits could do to take care of that obstinate donkey.

"Oh, let me go, I humbly bray. I'll never be sick again, I say. Don't make me take another pill; They're only sugared on the sill.

"Inside they're bitter as can be. You'll surely end in killing me. Oh, let me go, I humbly bray, I'll never be sick again, I say."

"Well, if you'll promise," said Uncle Lucky, "you may go." And would you believe it, that donkey jumped out of the automobile and whisked his tail and started for home as fast as you please, just as though he had never been sick. Wasn't that wonderful? And if I can get that pill box from Billy Bunny, I'll tell you the name of those pills in the next story.

STORY XIV--BILLY BUNNY AND THE BILLY GOAT

I'm sorry, but Billy Bunny threw away the pill box after the donkey was cured, so I can't tell you the name of those little sugar coated pills, but if you call up Dr. Quack, one, two, three, down goes she, I'm sure he will prescribe for you over the wire, and perhaps then you won't have to take any medicine at all.

Well, it's time now to tell about Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot, his dear, kind, generous rabbit uncle.

"I'm never going to give anybody any medicine as long as I live," said the old gentleman rabbit, taking out his blue polka-dot handkerchief and wiping his spectacles and then the back of his neck and the tip of his nose.

"You never even get thanked for it." And then Uncle Lucky put his handkerchief on his nose and his spectacles in his pocket. Oh, dear me! I mean he did just what I didn't say he did, and after that he climbed into the Luckymobile beside Billy Bunny and drove away.

"Hip hurrah! Hip hurray! I'm going to join the colors to-day. Maybe I'll be a soldier gay, Or a sailor boy on the ocean spray. It all depends what they're going to say When I tell them I want to join the fray."

"Who's singing?" asked Uncle Lucky, holding his right paw behind his left ear and wiggling his nose up and down and sideways so fast that it made a little fly dizzy to look at it. And just then they came across a Billy Goat standing outside a tent dressed in khaki with a gun over his shoulder.

"Halt! Who goes there?" cried the sentry. "Halt!" and of course Uncle Lucky put on the brakes and made the Luckymobile stop right then and there.

"Friend or foe?" asked the sentry, looking into the automobile and lifting the cushions off the seats and opening the cabaret and lighting the lamps and honking the horn, and, oh, dear me! doing anything and everything he could to annoy good, kind Uncle Lucky.

"What do you think we are?" asked Billy Bunny. "We are U. S. A. Bunnies. Don't you make any mistake about that!"

"I beg your pardon," said the sentry, saluting the two rabbits most respectfully, "I only wanted to make sure. These are war times, you know, and we must be on the lookout every minute of the day and every second of the night!"

And then he saluted again and turned away. And then, all of a sudden, the band began playing, but it must have been off in the woods, somewhere, for the little bunnies couldn't see it.

Hurrah for Uncle Samuel, King of the U. S. A. Three cheers for the Blue, And the Red and White, too, And the Silver Stars, I say. And here's to the sailor lad in blue And the soldier boy in brown, From the farm and the mine, And the big steel mills, Or the little old home town.

STORY XV--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BRUIN

In the last story I left off very suddenly while the band was playing, you remember, and I will tell you the reason why.

My typewriter got so excited over the song about the sailor lad in blue and the soldier boy in town, I mean in brown, that it began dancing to the music and of course then I couldn't write another word.

Well, anyway, you remember that Billy Bunny and his good, kind Uncle Lucky were just leaving the Billy Goat Sentry who had stopped them in their automobile, to continue their journey of adventure. So off they started down the road and by and by they came across a big black bear with two little cubs.

"Now there's going to be more trouble, I know it," said little Billy Bunny, but good, kind Uncle Lucky didn't think so. You see, he was always looking on the bright side of things, so he called out to Mrs. Bruin, which was the lady bear's name, I believe, "Won't you get into the Luckymobile and we'll take you to town?" and of course the little bears said yes right away, for they had never ridden in an automobile in all their lives.

Well, in they climbed and after Uncle Lucky had leaned over and closed the door, for the bears were so excited they had forgotten to do it, he started up the automobile and away they went to Rabbitville, for that was the nearest town.

And pretty soon the two little bears began to sing:

"Uncle Lucky is so kind To take us for a drive, That we will get some honey From out the big beehive. We'll put it in a little box, To keep it clean and neat, And then the flies won't eat it Nor touch it with their feet."

And after that Mrs. Bruin said: "Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, if you will stop at the next cross road I'll get out and see if I can't find the honey for you." Well, when they came to the place, Mrs. Bruin climbed out and went into the woods. But before she left she told the two little bears not to move and not to annoy Uncle Lucky nor Billy Bunny, but to be quiet until she came back.

Well, I don't know exactly what happened in the woods, but pretty soon Mrs. Bruin came tearing back with the whole swarm of bees after her. Some had got under her bonnet and were stinging her ears and some had crawled inside her silk mitts and were stinging her hands, and oh, dear me, it was just dreadful!

And when Uncle Lucky saw what was the matter he told her to hurry up and get into the automobile. And then he made it go so fast that one of the bees lost his stinger because he couldn't keep up with it, and he didn't have time to take it out of Mrs. Bruin's ear.

Well, wasn't it too bad? And in the next story I'll tell you how Mrs. Bruin said good-by to Billy Bunny.

STORY XVI--BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEAR CUBS

You remember in the last story what a dreadful time Mrs. Bruin had to get away from the stinging bees, and how if it had not been for dear, kind Uncle Lucky she never would have gotten away?

Well, the bees were soon left far behind, for the automobile went very fast, and by and by they came to Mrs. Bruin's cave. So she invited the two little rabbits in, for by this time everybody was hungry, and the two little bears were almost starved.

Now, Mrs. Bruin had a big closet where she kept all sorts of nice things to eat and before long cake and milk and lettuce leaves and apple pie were on the table and the feast commenced.

And after that they wound up the graphophone and heard a lovely song, which I'm going to tell to you because it was so pretty. And this is the way the words went and you can make up any kind of music to go with it, if you wish:

By-o-by, little bear cub, In your cave on the windy hill. Safe in the care of dear mother bear Cuddle up tight and be still. Father is out in the woods, and soon he Will be coming home safe to baby and me. So cuddle up tight for the shadows of night Are creeping o'er meadow and lea.

And do you know, those dear little Bear cubs went sound to sleep and were put to bed without waking up. Wasn't that nice? And that's the way little boys and girls should behave.

Never give mother a worry or care, but be good like a dear little fuzzy wool bear. Goodness me! I'm making up poetry myself only my typewriter didn't make the lines go just the way they should.

Well, after this Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky got into the automobile and drove away, and by and by the stars came out and the big round moon, and they were still far from home. But they didn't care. No, sirreemam.

Billy Bunny hopped out and lighted the lamps, and Uncle Lucky turned up his coat collar for the night wind was chilly, and then they started off again. And by and by, not so very long, they came to a little hotel called "Cuddle Inn." "That's the place for your uncle," said the kind old gentleman rabbit. "Let's inquire," which means to find out, "if they will take us for the night."

So Billy Bunny hopped out and went into the hotel office, and the landlord, who was a nice-looking squirrel, with a beautiful gray bushy tail, said, "I have a nice room with two beds," and then he put the Luckymobile in the barn and the two little rabbits went to sleep before they took off their watches; they were so tired, and if the old cow doesn't blow her horn to wake me up before it's morn, I'll tell you in the next story what happened after that.

STORY XVII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE SQUIRREL INNKEEPER

Wake up! Wake up! It's early morn, The cock is tooting his little tin horn. The morning wind is singing a tune About the roses that bloom in June. It's time to be up, for the day is here, And the sky is shining bright and clear.

So out of bed hopped Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky, and then they wound their watches, for they were so tired the night before that they had gone to bed with them on, as I told you in the last story.

Well, when they got downstairs they found the squirrel who owned "Cuddle Inn" already up and dressed. A most delicious smell of hot coffee and rolls came from the kitchen, so the little rabbits went into the dining room and read the menu card.

And what do you think they ordered? Lettuce leaves, with cream all over them, and carrot candies, with maple syrup, and corn flake muffins and warm milk, and, let me see, oh, yes! oh, yes! apple pie! For Uncle Lucky loved apple pie, and Billy Bunny loved it just as much, although he couldn't eat as many as the old gentleman rabbit could, for the reason that he ate so many candy carrots!

"And now that we are through breakfast," cried little Billy Bunny, "let's go fishing, for I heard a boy say outside the window that the trout in the forest brook were nibbling at pieces of cheese, they were so hungry." Just think of that!