Chapter 2

"Because," replied the little frog boy, "my brother, Bawly, has just made up a new song, and I know he'll give us no peace until he sings it. He's coming along now. Let him sing the song, and then we'll play ball." So they agreed to that, and in a minute Bawly came hopping along.

"Do you want to hear my new song?" he asked.

"Yes--hurry up," they all cried. So Bawly sang this:

Oh, wiggily, waggily, wheelery, I wish that I was rich. I'd buy an automobilery, And ride it in our ditch. I wouldn't hop at all again. I'd ride the whole day long. But I haven't got an auto, And so I sing this song.

"I don't call that much of a song," said the old circus dog, Percival. "You ought to do a dance after it. That's what the clowns always do."

"Thank you, I'm not a clown," answered Bawly. "But could you make up a song like that, and sing it yourself? That's what I want to know," he asked.

"I don't s'pose I could," answered Percival. "But if we're going to the ball game, let's go." So they hurried on, and pretty soon they met Uncle Wiggily Longears.

"Oh, will you umpire for us?" asked Sammie.

"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, as he leaned on his crutch. "I ought to go on to the office, but--ah!--er--well, as long as you have no one else to umpire for you, I suppose I will have to do it, but I really ought to go to the office. Who is going to play?" he asked, and he seemed real anxious to know.

So they told him, and pretty soon they got to the baseball field, and began the game. Buddy Pigg and his players were last at the bat, and Sammie and his players came up first.

Well, it was a great game. Sammie struck out, but Jackie Bow Wow made a nice home run, and Jimmie Wibblewobble almost did, only he got put out at the home plate, and then Johnnie Bushytail, he got put out, trying to steal to second base, which means getting there on the sly, you know; and then it came the turn of Buddy and his friends to bat the ball all over if they could.

Well, Johnnie Bushytail was the pitcher, and he threw in such fine curves, and so many of them, that it was hard for Buddy and his friends to strike the ball.

They did manage to hit it a little, and got three runs. Then it came the turn of Sammie Littletail's team again, and they got four runs, and so it went along until at the close of the game Sammie's team was eight runs and Buddy's only seven.

"We've got to get two runs to win," cried Billie Bushytail, "everybody work hard."

"We will," cried Bully, the frog. Now you girls just listen carefully, something wonderful will happen in about a minute.

Well, Peetie Bow Wow made one run, and then Bully and Billie got put out, and it was Buddy's turn to bat the ball. It all depended on him now. If he could make a home run his side would win.

Well, I just wish you could have seen how bravely Buddy walked up to the home plate, and stood there, while Johnnie Bushytail almost tied himself into a bow knot in throwing a double-jointed up-and-down-sideways curve.

Buddy Pigg swung at it, and--no, he didn't miss it, he hit it good and proper, and away sailed the ball. Off Buddy started for first base, hoping he could make a home run, but alas! before he got to second base the ball he had knocked was coming down, and was almost in the webbed foot of Jimmie Wibblewobble, who was waiting to catch it, and if it was caught that would mean that Buddy would be out, and his side would not win that inning.

But Jimmie didn't catch the ball! No, sir! The strangest thing happened! At that moment if along didn't fly the kind fish hawk; and he swooped down and caught that ball up in his strong bill, and sailed away up in the air with it, and Buddy ran on and on as fast as he could go, around the bases, and toward home plate, and he got there in time to win the game. And then the fish hawk dropped the ball, and Jimmie caught it, but it was too late to put Buddy out.

"That's not fair!" cried Sammie Littletail. "The bird took the ball up in the air." All his side said it wasn't fair, but Uncle Wiggily, the umpire, decided that it was fair, and Buddy's side won the game, but they wouldn't have if it hadn't been for the fish hawk, and they were very thankful to him.

Now I think I'm going to tell you in the next story about Brighteyes and Sister Sallie--that is if no one takes our door mat to use for a pen wiper.

STORY V

BRIGHTEYES PIGG AND SISTER SALLIE

Brighteyes Pigg had finished doing the dishes, and had put on her clean dress, her new tan shoes, which matched her brown and white fur, and her hair was tied with a pink ribbon--you know the kind--the ones that stick out so with a bow on each side. Well, she looked just too nice for anything, and she asked her mother:

"May I go out and take a walk?"

"Yes," replied Mrs. Pigg. "Where are you going? Is Buddy going with you?"

"No, he has gone off to play ball again. I guess he thinks the fish hawk will catch up the ball once more and help him to make a home run. No, I'm not going with Buddy. I thought I'd go over and see Sister Sallie, I haven't called on her in some time."

"Very well," said Mrs. Pigg, and Dr. Pigg called to his little girl:

"Give my regards to Mr. Bushytail, and tell him that if he sees Uncle Wiggily Longears to mention that I have a new cure for rheumatism, that I will send him."

"I'll be sure to tell him," said Brighteyes Pigg. "Poor Uncle Wiggily, his rheumatism bothers him a great deal." Well, she went on through the woods to see Sister Sallie, who, I hope you remember, was the little sister that Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the two boy squirrels, once found at the foot of the tree where their nest was.

Brighteyes found Sister Sallie just finishing helping Mrs. Bushytail do up the housework, and Sister Sallie was singing:

Hippity-hop to the barber-shop, To buy a lolly-pop lally. One for me, and one for thee And one for Sister Sallie.

"Can you come out and play?" asked Brighteyes.

"Indeed I can," replied the little squirrel. "Shall I bring my doll?"

"Yes, but I haven't any," answered the little guinea pig girl, as Sallie brought out the corncob doll, that her brothers and Grandma Lightfoot had made for her.

"Never mind, I'll help you make one," promised Sister Sallie, so the two little friends walked on through the woods.

"What will you make my doll of?" asked Brighteyes.

"I don't just know yet," said Sallie. "I will look around for something." So she looked first on one side of the woodland path, and then on the other, and Brighteyes did the same, but they couldn't seem to find anything out of which to make a doll.

Then, all at once, oh, I guess in about two wiggles and a wag, if Sallie didn't see a nice, long, smooth, yellow carrot.

"That will make a fine doll!" she cried. "We will use some cornsilk for hair, and some little stones for the eyes, nose and mouth, and for dresses----"

"Well, what will we make dresses from?" asked Brighteyes, for she noticed that Sister Sallie was at a loss what to say.

"Oh, I know--leaves," cried the little squirrel. "We will pretend that green is fashionable for ladies with a sort of carroty complexion," and she laughed, and so did Brighteyes, whose nose twinkled just like the diamond in mother's ring, or baby's eyes, when he is happy.

So the two little friends sat down on a grassy bank, in the shade of an oak tree, and they made the carrot doll. Oh, it was such fun!

First they stuck two little pebbles in for eyes, and they looked as real as anything; then they stuck a little larger stone in the carrot for a nose, and then Brighteyes found a nice, long stone, sort of curled up around the ends, and when that was put in the carrot, just beneath the nose, why it looked exactly as if that carrot doll was smiling as hard as she could smile; she was so happy, I s'pose.

"Now for some dresses!" exclaimed Sister Sallie, who had put her own corncob doll under some grass to sleep. So they got some beautiful green leaves from the tree, and fastened them together with grass and needles from the pine tree, and they made the nicest dresses you ever saw.

Let me see, there was one made in princess style, and one empire gown, and one that had a pull-back in the skirt, and one was a tub dress, whatever that is, and there was a crepe de chine and a basque and peau de soie effect and--and--er--well, I know you'll excuse me from mentioning any others, as I don't know very much about dresses; it took me quite a while to look those up, and I must get on with the story.

Well, when they had the dresses all made they tried them on the carrot doll, and they fitted perfectly, believe me, they did!

"Oh, isn't this lovely," cried Brighteyes. "Now let's play house," so they played house, and each one had a room, there on the grass, with sticks and stones for furniture, and they put the dollies to bed, and woke them up, and took them for a walk, and they made believe wash dishes and get meals, and, oh, I don't know what they didn't do.

But, all of a sudden, just as they were putting their dolls to sleep, they heard a sort of growling in the bushes, and a big, shaggy, yellow dog, with glaring eyes, jumped out at them! Oh, how frightened Brighteyes and Sister Sallie were!

"What are you doing on my nice, green grass?" growled the dog, real savage-like.

"If you please, Mr. Dog, we didn't know this was your grass," said Sister Sallie, timidly.

"Of course it is!" snapped the dog. "I go to sleep here on it every day. Anyway what do you mean by taking the leaves off my trees?" he growled again.

"If you please, kind sir," spoke Brighteyes, "we didn't know they were your trees."

"Certainly they are," replied the dog, snapping his eyes open and shut. "Those leaves keep the sun off me while I sleep. Now I'm going to eat you all up for taking my things!" and he jumped right at them.

But land sakes, flopsy dub! Before he could bite either Brighteyes or Sister Sallie, who should appear, but Percival, the good, old circus dog.

"Here, you let my friends alone!" he barked, and he jumped on that bad dog, and nipped both his ears well, let me tell you. Then the bad dog ran away, howling, and Percival took care of Sister Sallie and Brighteyes until it was time for them to go home. Now in the story after this one I'm going to tell you about Dr. Pigg and Uncle Wiggily--that is if my furnace fire doesn't go out in the street roller-skating with the coal man.

STORY VI

DR. PIGG AND UNCLE WIGGILY

Some one knocked on the door of the pen where Dr. Pigg and his wife and Buddy and Brighteyes lived one day. "Rat-a-tat-tat," went the rapping.

"My! I wonder who that can be?" exclaimed Mrs. Pigg. "Run and see, will you, Buddy, like a good boy?"

So Buddy hurried to the door, and whom should be see standing there but Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit; and Uncle Wiggily had rapped with his crutch, which had made the funny sound.

"Why, how d'do!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg as soon as he saw who it was. "Come right in Uncle Wiggily! This is an unexpected pleasure. Brighteyes, get a chair for Uncle Wiggily. Buddy, you take his crutch. Mrs. Pigg, haven't we some of that new cabbage preserved in maple sugar? Bring out a bit for our friend!"

My! you should have seen what a bustling about there was in the pen, and all because Uncle Wiggily had come and because every one was fond of him. Buddy started to take the old gentleman rabbit's crutch, but Uncle Wiggily cried:

"Oh, no! Don't! Not for worlds! Oh, my, no! and an ice cream cone besides! Oh, lobster salad, no!"

"Why, whatever is the matter?" exclaimed Dr. Pigg.

"Oh, my! Ouch! Oh, shingles!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he stepped up over the doorsill. "Oh, dear me, and a baseball bat! It's my rheumatism, as usual. It's something awful, these days."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," cried Brighteyes Pigg.

"And so am I," added Buddy, and they all were, for that matter.

"Rheumatism, eh?" remarked Dr. Pigg, thoughtful-like.

"Yes," went on Uncle Wiggily, as he hobbled over to a chair. "In fact, I came to see you about it, Doctor," and the old rabbit rubbed his leg very, very softly.

"Ah! ha! Ahem!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg, as he puffed himself up, and looked as important as possible. "Of course, I remember now. I sent word to you that I had a new cure for rheumatism. I heard the doctors mention it in the hospital, and I thought I would try it on you."

"That's very kind of you," said Uncle Wiggily, "and you can't try it any too soon, for I am in great pain," and he made such a funny face, with his nose wiggling, and his ears waving back and forth, like fans on a hot night, and his eyes--one looking up and the other down--altogether it was so funny that Buddy and his sister wanted to laugh, only they didn't, for they knew it wouldn't be polite, and might hurt Uncle Wiggily's feelings.

"I will have some medicine for you in a jiffy!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg; a jiffy, you know, being almost as quick as half a wink.

So the guinea pig doctor got a bottle of red medicine, and one of blue, and one of pink, and another bottle of green medicine, and he got some red pills and some black pills and some white powder and some yellow powder and then he took some molasses and maple sugar, and stirred them all up together. Oh, it was a funny-looking mixture I can tell you, all colors of the rainbow, just as when Sammie fell into the pot of Easter dye.

"Now Mrs. Pigg, you stir that up well, and we'll give Uncle Wiggily some as soon as it is cool," said Dr. Pigg, for he had cooked the medicine on the stove.

"It doesn't look very nice," observed Uncle Wiggily sort of anxious-like.

"Rheumatism medicine never does," said Dr. Pigg.

"And it doesn't smell very nice," went on Uncle Wiggily.

"Rheumatism medicines never do," cheerfully said Dr. Pigg, "and, what is more, it doesn't taste very nice, either, Uncle Wiggily; but you must take it, if you are to get well."

"I suppose I must," remarked the old rabbit with a sigh, as Mrs. Pigg kept on stirring the mixture. Well, pretty soon it was cool enough to take.

"Now, Buddy, you bring a spoon," ordered Dr. Pigg, and when the little boy guinea pig brought one, his father poured into it some of the medicine.

"Brighteyes, you get a napkin so he won't spill any of it on his clothes," went on her papa, "and Mrs. Pigg you please be ready with a glass of water, for Uncle Wiggily will want a drink right after he takes this."

Well everything was all ready, and Buddy stood there to help, and so did Brighteyes.

"One, two, three! Take it!" suddenly cried Dr. Pigg, and he poured the teaspoonful of the many-colored mixture down Uncle Wiggily's throat. Brighteyes held the napkin so none of it would get on the rabbit's coat, and Mrs. Pigg was there with the glass of water, which Uncle Wiggily took very quickly.

Well, I wish you could have seen the face Uncle Wiggily made when he swallowed the rheumatism medicine! It was just like a clown in the circus, only funnier. But Brighteyes and Buddy didn't even giggle, which was very kind of them.

"Do you feel any better?" asked Dr. Pigg, after Uncle Wiggily had stopped making faces. "Is the pain gone?"

"No, I can't say that it is," answered the rabbit. "It seems to be worse than ever," and he rubbed his leg and tried to get up, but he couldn't leave the chair, even with his crutch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed for him out of a cornstalk.

"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg. "I must try a new kind of medicine."

"No, don't!" cried the rabbit. "I had rather have the rheumatism."

"Suppose we try some horse radish leaves, like we did for my toothache?" proposed Buddy, and Mrs. Pigg said that would be good. So they got some leaves, and put them on Uncle Wiggily's leg, but they didn't do any good, neither did mustard, nor nettles, nor any of the other burning things that they tried.

"Oh, dear, I guess I'll have to stay in this chair forever!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he tried to get up and couldn't. "Oh, dear me, and a piece of chewing gum! This is terrible!"

Well, every one was wondering how Uncle Wiggily was ever going to walk again, when all of a sudden, as Buddy looked from the window, he cried out:

"Oh, here comes the big, shaggy yellow dog that was going to eat up Brighteyes and Sister Sallie when they were playing with their dolls! He's coming right this way! Run everybody!"

"Wow!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "A dog! Goodness me!" and, land sakes, if he didn't jump up, seize his crutch and run home as fast as if he never had any rheumatism at all.

You see he was so frightened he forgot all about it for the time being, which was a good thing. But do you s'pose that dog dared to come in the pen and hurt the guinea pigs? No, sir, not a bit of it! The first he knew, Percival, the kind, old circus dog had him by the ear and the bad dog ran away and didn't hurt anybody.

Now, in the next story, if an auto horn doesn't scare me so that I lose my typewriter ribbon I'll tell you about Buddy Pigg being caught by a boy.

STORY VII

BUDDY PIGG IS CAUGHT

Buddy Pigg was sent to the store by his mother, one fine summer day, to get a pound of butter, a loaf of bread and three-and-a-half pounds of granulated sugar, and as that made quite a load to carry Buddy had a basket to put the things in.

"Now don't drop the loaf of bread in the water," said his mamma, "and don't let the butter melt and, above all, don't tear a hole in the bag of sugar, and have it spill out."

"I won't, mother," promised Buddy. "I'll be real careful." So he set out on his journey to the store, while Brighteyes, his sister, stayed home to make the beds and mend the stockings.

Well, Buddy got to the store all right, and bought the things for which his mother had sent him. Then the storekeeper wanted to know how Dr. Pigg and his family were, and he inquired about Uncle Wiggily's rheumatism, and Buddy told about the scare the old gentleman rabbit had had when the big, shaggy yellow dog appeared, and how the old gentleman rabbit ran, and how Percival bit the bad dog.

"That's very interesting," said the storekeeper, and he gave Buddy a whole carrot for himself.

Placing his basket of groceries carefully on his arm, Buddy Pigg started for home. He walked along through the woods, and over the fields, thinking how nice everything was, and what fun he would have when he got home, playing ball with Sammie Littletail, and the Bushytail brothers, when, all at once, what should he hear but a noise in the bushes.

Now Buddy Pigg was always a little afraid when he heard noises, especially in the woods, where he couldn't see what made them, so he crouched down under a burdock leaf in case there might be any danger. And, sure enough, there was.

It wasn't more than a second or, possibly a second and a squeak, before a great, big, bad boy stepped out from behind a tree. And he had a gun with him, and he was looking for birds, or rabbits, or squirrels, or, maybe, guinea pigs to shoot.

That's why I know he was a bad boy, but of course he may have turned out to be a good boy before he got to be so very old. Well, this boy looked up, and he looked down, and he looked first to one side, and then to the other, and then--flopsy-dub, and wiggily-waggily! if he didn't spy poor Buddy Pigg hiding under the burdock leaf, and trembling as hard as he could tremble.

"Ah, ha!" cried that boy, "I have you now, little guinea pig! I'll take you home with me, that's what I'll do! My, to think of catching a live guinea pig! I certainly am a lucky chap!"

Then, before Buddy could run away, which he couldn't have done anyhow, on account of the basket of groceries on his arm, if that boy didn't grab him up in his hands, and hold him tight!

Oh, how frightened poor Buddy was! He was so scared that he could only squeak very faintly, but he did manage to ask the boy to let him go, only the boy didn't understand guinea pig language, as I do, and, even if he had, I doubt very much if he would have let Buddy go, for he was a bad boy as I have explained.

Well, the boy didn't care any more about hunting rabbits or squirrels with his gun that day, as he had caught Buddy, so off he started to take the little guinea pig home with him, and, maybe, he intended to shut him up in a box, or put him in a cage, or do something dreadful like that.

But, listen, pretty soon--oh, I guess in about four jumps and a hop--something is going to happen to that boy. Watch carefully and you'll see it.

On through the woods he went, holding poor Buddy tightly in his hands, and, would you believe me, that boy never noticed that Buddy had a basket of groceries! You see, the basket, of course, was guinea pig size, and so was the loaf of bread and the butter and the sweet sugar. They were so small that the boy didn't notice them, but this was partly because Buddy hid the basket under his paws, for he didn't want anything to happen to the things for which his mother had sent him to the store, you know.

Well, as the boy kept going on through the woods, carrying Buddy farther and farther away from his home, the poor little guinea pig was more frightened than ever.

"Oh, how will I ever get away!" he thought, "I'll never see my mamma, nor Brighteyes, nor my papa, Dr. Pigg, any more! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"

No sooner had Buddy said this than he heard a funny little noise in the trees above his head, and, looking up, he saw Billie Bushytail bounding along. There was the squirrel, and he saw right away what the trouble was. And he could talk to Buddy without the boy knowing it, you see; so Billie said:

"Hey, Buddy, take some of the bread, crumble it all up, and toss the crumbs up in the air."

"What for?" asked Buddy.

"Do it, and you'll see," answered Billie. "That will help you to escape."

Now Buddy didn't like to spoil the nice, new loaf of bread he had bought for his mamma, but he thought maybe it would do some good, and he didn't want to be carried away by that boy.

So he broke open the loaf, crumbled some of the white part in his paws, and tossed it high up in the air, so that it fell down in a shower, all around the boy's head, and listen, the boy hadn't noticed Buddy toss up the crumbs.

"My!" exclaimed the boy. "Why, I do declare, if it isn't snowing! Who ever heard of such a thing!" and he really thought the falling bread crumbs were snow flakes. So he turned up his coat collar to keep warm, and began to run, for he didn't want to get snowed under in the woods. But Buddy kept on tossing up the bread crumbs, until the loaf was all gone.

"What shall I do next?" the guinea pig called to Billie Bushytail, who was following along in the trees overhead.

"Open the bag of sugar and throw that up in the air the same way," directed the squirrel, and when Buddy did this the boy heard the sugar rattling down on the leaves and some of it got down his neck, and scratched him.

"Why, I do declare. It's hailing!" he cried. "Who ever heard of such a thing!" So he hurried on faster than ever.

Well, when the sugar was all tossed up, and the boy was running real fast, Billie Bushytail called to Buddy:

"Now throw the pound of butter down in front of the boy!" Which Buddy did as quick as a wink, and lossy-me and a pancake! if that boy didn't slip down in the slippery butter, and fall and hurt his nose, and he had to let go of Buddy Pigg.

"Now's your chance. Run, Buddy, run!" cried Billie, and my, how Buddy Pigg did run; and he got safely away from that bad boy, and was soon at home, where his mother forgave him for throwing away the groceries when she heard the story.

Dr. Pigg said Billie was very smart to think of such a thing, and I believe so myself. Now in case you don't burn yourself with a firecracker and lose your penny down a hole in the sidewalk, I'm going to tell you in the next story about Buddy and Brighteyes' Fourth of July.

STORY VIII

BUDDY'S AND BRIGHTEYES' FOURTH OF JULY