Chapter 8

"Oh, pray don't be frightened, little ones. I wouldn't hurt you for the world. I was just looking for a frog and a duck, and here you are."

"Are--are you going to eat us?" asked Bawly, blinking his eyes.

"No, indeed," replied the man, kindly.

"Are you going to carry us away in a bag?" asked Lulu, wiggling her feet.

"Oh, never, never, never!" cried the man, quickly. "I will put you in my pockets if you will let me, and I will do a funny trick with you."

"A trick?" asked Bawly, for he was very fond of them. "What kind?"

"A good trick," replied the man. "You see, I am a magician in a show--that is I do all sorts of funny tricks, such as making a rabbit come out of a hat, or shutting a pig up in a box and changing it to a bird, and making a boy or girl disappear.

"I also do tricks with ducks and frogs, but the other day the pet frog and duck which I have got sick, and I can't do any more tricks with them until they are better. But if you would come with me, I could do some tricks with you in the show, and I wouldn't hurt you a bit, and I'd give you each ten cents, and you could have a nice time. Will you come with me? I took a walk out in the woods specially to-day, hoping I could find a new duck or frog to use in my tricks."

Well, Lulu and Bawly thought about it, and as the man looked very kind they decided to go with him. So he put Lulu in one of his big pockets and Bawly in the other, and off he started through the woods.

And pretty soon he came to the place where he did the tricks. It was a big building, and there was a whole crowd of people there waiting for the magician--men and women and boys and girls.

"Now, don't be afraid, Bawly and Lulu," said the man kindly, for he could talk duck and frog language. "No one will hurt you."

So he put Bawly and Lulu down on a soft table, where the people couldn't see them, and then that man did the most surprising and extraordinary tricks. He made fire come out of a pail of water, and he opened a box, and there was nothing in it, and he opened it again, and there was a rabbit in it. Then he took a man's hat, and he said:

"Now, there is nothing in his hat but in a moment I am going to make a little frog come in it. Watch me closely."

Well, of course, the people hardly believed him, but what do you think that man did? Why, he took the hat and turned around, and when nobody was looking he slipped Bawly off from the table and put him inside it--inside the hat, I mean, and then the magician said:

"Presto-changeo! Froggie! Froggie! Come into the hat!"

Then he put his hand in, and lifted out Bawly, who made a polite little bow, and the frog wasn't a bit afraid. And, my! How those people did clap their hands and stamp their feet!

"Now if some lady will lend me her handbag, I'll make a duck come in it," said the magician. So a lady in the audience gave him her handbag, and after the magician had taken out ten handkerchiefs, and a purse with no money in it, and a looking-glass, and some feathers all done up in a puff ball, and some peppermint candies, and two postage stamps and some chewing gum and five keys, why he went back on the stage. And as quick as a wink, when no one was looking, with his back to the people, he slipped Lulu Wibblewobble into the empty handbag, and she kept very quiet for she didn't want to spoil the trick.

And then the magician turned to the audience, and he said:

"Behold! Behold!" and he lifted out the duck girl. Oh my! how those people did clap; and the lady that owned the handbag was as surprised as anything. Then the man did lots more tricks, and he called a boy, and told him to take Lulu and Bawly back home, after he had given them each ten cents. For his regular trick duck and frog were all well again, and he could do magic with them. So that's how Lulu and Bawly were in a magical show, and they told all their friends about it and everyone was so surprised that they said: "Oh! Oh! Oh!" more than forty-'leven times.

And next, if our new kitten, whose name is Peter, doesn't fall into a basket of soap bubbles and wet his tail so he can't go to the moving picture show, I'll tell you about Bully No-Tail and Kittie Kat.

STORY XXVI

BULLY N

"Bully, what are you doing?" the frog boy's mother called to him one day, as she heard him making a funny noise.

"Oh, mother, I am just counting to see how many marbles I have," he answered.

"Well, would you mind going to the store for me?" asked Mrs. No-Tail. "I was going to make a cake, but I find I have no cocoanut to put on top."

"Oh, indeed, I'll go for you, mother, right away!" cried Bully, quickly, for he was very fond of cocoanut cake. But I guess he would have gone to the store anyhow, even if his mamma had only wanted vinegar, or lemons, or a yeast cake.

So off he started, whistling a little tune about a fuzzy-wuzzy pussy cat, who drank a lot of milk and had a crinkly Sunday dress, made out of yellow silk.

"Well, I feel better after that!" exclaimed Bully, as he hopped along, sailing high in the air, above the clouds. Oh, there I go again! I was thinking of Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow. No, Bully hopped along on the ground, and pretty soon he came to the store and bought the cocoanut for the cake.

He was hopping home, hoping his mamma would give him and his brother Bawly some of the cake when it was baked, when, just as he came near a pond of water he heard some one crying. Oh, such a sad, pitiful cry as it was, and at first Bully thought it might be some bad wolf, or fox, or owl, crying because it hadn't any dinner, and didn't see anything to catch to eat for supper.

"I must look out that they don't catch me," thought Bully, and he took tight hold of the cocoanut, and peeked through the bushes. And what did he see but poor Kittie Kat--you remember her, I dare say; she was a sister to Joie and Tommie Kat--there was Kittie Kat, crying as if her heart would break, and right in front of her was a savage fox, wiggling his bushy tail to and fro, and snapping his cruel jaws and sharp teeth.

"Now I've caught you!" cried the fox. "I've been waiting a good while, but I have you now."

"Yes, I--I guess you have," said poor Kittie, for the fox had hold of the handle of a little basket that Kittie was carrying, and wouldn't let go. In the basket was a nice cornmeal pie that Kittie was taking to Grandfather Goosey Gander, when the fox caught her. "Will you please let me go?" begged poor Kittie Kat.

"No," replied the bad fox. "I'm going to eat you up--all up!"

Well, Kittie cried harder than ever at that, but she still kept hold of the basket with the cornmeal pie in it, and the fox also had hold of it. And Bully was hiding behind the bushes where neither of them could see him--hiding and waiting.

"Oh, I must save Kittie from that fox!" he thought. "How can I do it?"

So Bully thought and thought, and thought of a plan. Then he leaned forward and whispered in Kittie's ear, so low that the fox couldn't hear him:

"Let go of the basket, Kittie," he told her, "and then give a big jump and run up a tree."

Well, Kittie was quite surprised to hear Bully whispering out of the bushes to her, for she didn't know that he was around, but she did as he told her to. She suddenly let go of the basket handle, and the fox was so surprised that he nearly fell over sideways. And before he could straighten himself up Kittie Kat jumped back, and up a tree she scrambled before you could shake a stick at her, even if you wanted to. You see, she never thought of going up a tree until Bully told her to.

"Here! You come back!" cried the fox, real surprised like.

"Tell him you are not going to," whispered Bully, and that's what Kittie called to the fox from up in the tree, for, you see, he couldn't climb up to her, and he still had hold of her basket.

"If you don't come down I'll throw this basket of yours in the water!" threatened the bad fox, gnashing his teeth.

"Oh, I don't want him to do that!" said Kittie.

"Never mind, perhaps he won't," suggested Bully. "Wait and see."

"Are you coming down and let me eat you?" asked the fox of the little kitten girl, for the savage animal did not yet know that Bully was hiding there. "Are you coming down, I ask you?"

"No, indeed!" exclaimed Kittie.

"Then here goes the basket!" cried the fox, and, just to be mean he threw the nice basket, containing the cornmeal pudding--I mean pie--into the pond of water.

"Oh! Oh! Oh dear!" cried Kittie Kat. "What will Grandfather Goosey Gander do now?"

"Never mind, I'll get it for you, as I don't mind water in the least," spoke Bully, bravely.

So he started to hop out, to jump into the water to save the kittie girl's basket, for he knew the fox wouldn't dare go in the pond after him, as the fox doesn't like to wet his feet and catch cold.

Well, Bully was just about to hop into the pond, when he happened to think of the package of cocoanut his mamma had sent him to get at the store.

"Oh, dear! I never can get that wet in the water or it will be spoiled!" he thought. "What can I do? If I leave it on the shore here while I go after Kittie's basket the fox will eat it, and we'll have no cake. I guess I'm in trouble, all right, for I must get the basket."

Well, he didn't know what to do, and the fox was just sneaking up to eat him when Kittie Kat cried out:

"Oh, be careful, Bully. Jump! Jump into the water so the fox can't get you!"

"What about the cocoanut?" asked Bully.

"Here, give it to me, and I'll hold it," said Kittie, and she reached down with her sharp claws, and hooked them into the pink string around the package of cocoanut and pulled it up on the tree branch where she sat, and then the fox couldn't get it. And oh! how disappointed he was and how he did gnash his teeth.

And then, before he could grab Bully and eat him up, the frog boy leaped into the pond and swam out and got Kittie's basket and the cornmeal pie before it sank. And then Bully swam to a floating log, and crawled out on it with the basket, which wasn't harmed in the least, nor was the pie, either.

And the fox sat upon the shore of the pond, and first he looked at Bully, and wished he could eat him, and then he looked at Kittie, and he wished he could eat her, and then he looked at the cocoanut, which Kittie held in her claws, and he couldn't eat that, and he couldn't eat the cornmeal pie--in fact, he had nothing to eat.

Then, all of a sudden, along came Percival, the kind old circus dog, and he barked at that fox, and nipped his tail and the fox ran away, and Kittie and Bully were then safe. Bully came off the log, and Kittie came down out of the tree and they both went on home after thanking Percival most kindly.

Now, in case my little girl's tricycle doesn't roll down hill and bunk into the peanut man and make him spill his ice cream, I'll tell you next about Bawly helping his teacher.

STORY XXVII

HOW BAWLY HELPED HIS TEACHER

It was quite warm in the schoolroom one day, and the teacher of the animal children, who was a nice young lady robin, had all the windows open. But even then it was still warm, and the pupils, including Bully and Bawly No-Tail, the frog boys, and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, weren't doing much studying.

Every now and then they would look out of the window toward the green fields, and the cool, pleasant woods, where the yellow and purple violets were growing, and they wished they were out there instead of in school.

"My, it's hot!" whispered Bully to Bawly, and of course it was wrong to whisper in school, but perhaps he didn't think.

"Yes, I wish we could go swimming," answered Bawly, and the teacher heard the frog brothers talking together.

"Oh, Bully and Bawly," she said, as she turned around from the blackboard, where she was drawing a picture of a house, so the children could better learn how to spell it, "I am sorry to hear you whispering. You will both have to stay in after school."

Well, of course Bully and Bawly didn't like that, but when you do wrong you have to suffer for it, and when the other animal boys and girls ran out after school, to play marbles and baseball, and skip rope, and jump hop-scotch and other games, the frog boys had to stay in.

They sat in the quiet schoolroom, and the robin teacher did some writing in her books. And Bawly looked out of the window over at the baseball game. And Bully looked out of the window over toward the swimming pond. And the teacher looked out of the window at the cool woods, where those queer flowered Jack-in-the-pulpits grew, and she too, wished she was out there instead of in the schoolroom.

"Well, if you two boys are sorry you whispered, and promise that you won't do it again, you may go," said the teacher after a while, when she had looked out of the window once more. "You know it isn't really wicked to whisper in school, only it makes you forget to study, and sometimes it makes other children forget to study, and that's where the wrong part comes in."

"I'm sorry, teacher," said Bully.

"You may go," said the young robin lady with a smile. "How about you, Bawly?"

"I'm not!" he exclaimed, real cross-like, "and I'll whisper again," for all the while Bawly had been thinking how mean the teacher was to keep him in when he wanted to go out and play ball.

The robin lady teacher looked very much surprised at the frog boy, but she only said, "Very well, Bawly. Then you can't go."

So Bully hurried out, and Bawly and the teacher stayed there.

Bawly kept feeling worse and worse, and he began to wish that he had said he was sorry. He looked at the teacher, and he saw that she was gazing out of the window again, toward the woods, where there were little white flowers, like stars, growing by the cool, green ferns. And Bawly noticed how tired the teacher looked, and as he watched he was sure he saw a tear in each of her bright eyes. And finally she turned to him and said:

"It is so nice out of doors, Bawly, that I can't keep you here any longer, no matter whether you are sorry or not. But I hope you'll be sorry to-morrow, and won't whisper again. For it helps me when boys and girls don't whisper. Run out now, and have a good time. I wish I could go, but I have some work to do," and then with her wing she patted Bawly on his little green head, and opened the door for him.

Bawly felt rather queer as he hopped out, and he didn't feel like playing ball, after all. Instead he hopped off to the woods, and sat down under a big Jack-in-the-pulpit to think. And he thought of how his teacher couldn't live in the nice green country as he did, for she had to stay in a boarding-house in the city, to be near her school, and she couldn't see the flowers growing in the woods as often as could Bawly, for she nearly always had to stay in after school to write in the report-books.

"I--I wish I hadn't whispered," Bawly said to himself. "I--I'm going to help teacher after this. I'll tell her I'm sorry, and--and I guess I'll bring her some flowers for her desk."

Every one wondered what made Bawly so quiet that evening at home. He studied his lessons, and he didn't want to go out and play ball with Bully.

"I hope he isn't going to be sick," said his mamma, anxious-like.

"Oh! I guess maybe he's got a touch of water-lily fever," said Grandpa Croaker. "A few days of swimming will make him all right again."

Bawly got up very early the next morning, and without telling any one where he was going he hopped over to the woods, and gathered a lot of flowers.

Oh, such a quantity as he picked! There were purple violets, and yellow ones, and white ones, and some wild, purple asters, and some blue fringed gentian, and some lovely light-purple wild geraniums, and several Jacks-in-the-pulpit, and many other kinds of flowers. And he made them into a nice bouquet with some ferns on the outside.

Then, just as he was hopping to school, what should happen but that a great big alligator jumped out of the bushes at him.

"Ha! What are you doing in my woods," asked the alligator, crossly.

"If--if you please, I'm getting some flowers for my teacher, because I whispered," said Bawly.

"Oh, in that case it's all right," said the alligator, smacking his jaws. "I like school teachers. Give her my regards," and would you believe it? the savage creature crawled off, taking his double-jointed tail with him, and didn't hurt Bawly a bit. The flowers made the alligator feel kind and happy.

Well, Bawly got to school all right, before any of the other children did, and he put the flowers on teacher's desk, and he wrote a little note, saying:

"Dear teacher, I'm sorry I whispered, but I'm going to help you to-day, and not talk."

And Bawly didn't. It was quite hard in school that day, but at last it was over. And, just when the children were going home, the robin lady teacher said:

"Boys and girls, you have all helped me very much to-day by being good, and I thank you. And something else helped me. It was these flowers that Bawly brought me, for they remind me of the woods where I used to play when I was a little girl," and then she smelled of the flowers, and Bawly saw something like two drops of water fall from the teacher's eyes right into one of the Jacks-in-the-pulpit. I wonder if it was water?

And then school was over and all the children ran out to play and Bawly thought he never had had so much fun in all his life as when he and Bully and some of the others had a ball game, and Bawly knocked a fine home run.

Now, in case the cuckoo clock doesn't fall down off the wall and spatter the rice pudding all over the parlor carpet, I'll tell you in the story after this one about Bully and Sammie Littletail.

STORY XXVIII

BULLY AND SAMMIE LITTLETAIL

One day when the nice young lady robin school teacher, about whom I told you last night, called the roll of her class, to see if all the animal children were there, Samuel Littletail, the rabbit boy, didn't answer.

"Why, I wonder where Sammie can be?" asked the teacher. "Has anyone seen him this morning?"

They all shook their heads, and Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, answered:

"If you please, teacher, perhaps his sister, Susie, knows."

"Oh, of course! Why didn't I think to ask her?" said the teacher. So she looked over on the girls' side of the room, but, would you believe it? Susie, the rabbit girl, wasn't there either.

"That is very odd," said the teacher, "both Sammie and Susie out! I hope they haven't the epizootic, or the mumps, or carrot fever, or anything like that. Well, we'll go on with our lessons, and perhaps they will come in later."

So the first thing the pupils did was to sing a little song, and though I can't make up very nice ones, I'll do the best I can to give you an idea of it. This is how it went, to the tune, "Tum-Tum-Tum, Tiddle De-um!"

Good morning! How are you? We hope you're quite well. We're feeling most jolly, So hark to us spell.

C-A and a T, with A dot on the eye. Makes cat, dog or rat, Or a bird in the sky.

Take two and two more. What have you? 'Tis five! What? Four? Oh, of course, See the B in the hive.

Now sing the last verse, Ah, isn't it pretty? We're glad that you like Our dear little kittie.

Well, after the children had sung that they all looked around to see if Sammie or Susie had come in, but they hadn't, and then the lessons began, and everyone got a perfect mark. Still the rabbit children didn't come, and after school Bully No-Tail said:

"I think I'll stop at Sammie's house and see what is the matter."

"I wish you would," spoke the teacher, "and then you can tell us to-morrow. I hope he is not ill."

But Sammie was worse than ill, as Bully very soon found out when he got to the house. He found Mr. and Mrs. Littletail very much excited. Mrs. Littletail was crying, and so was Susie, and as for Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, she was washing up the dishes so fast that she broke a cup and saucer and dropped a knife and spoon. And Uncle Wiggily Longears was limping around on his crutch, striped red, white and blue like a barber pole, and saying: "Oh dear! Oh dear me! Oh hum suz dud."

"Why, whatever has happened?" asked Bully. "Is Sammie dead?"

"Worse than that," said Susie, wiping her eyes on her apron.

"Much worse," chimed in Uncle Wiggily. "Just think, Bully, when Sammie was starting off for school this morning, he went off in the woods a little way to see if he could find a wild carrot, when a big boy rushed up, grabbed him, and put him in a bag before any of us could save him! And now he's gone! Completely gone!"

"So that's why he didn't come to school to-day," said Nurse Jane sadly.

"And I didn't feel like coming either," spoke Susie, crying some more. "I tried to find Sammie, but I couldn't. Oh dear! Boo hoo!"

"We all tried to find him," said Mr. Littletail sadly.

"But we can't," added Mrs. Littletail still more sadly. "Our Sammie is gone! The bad boy has him!"

"Oh, that is awful!" cried Bully. "But I'll see if I can't find him for you."

So Bully hopped off through the woods, hoping he could find where the boy lived who had taken Sammie away with him.

"And if I find him I'll help Sammie to get away," thought Bully. So he went on and on, but for a long time he couldn't find Sammie. For, listen, the boy who had caught the little rabbit had taken Sammie home, and had made a cage for him.

"I'm going to keep you forever," said the boy, looking in through the wire cage at Sammie. "I've always wanted a rabbit and now I have one." Well, poor Sammie asked the boy to let him go, but the boy didn't understand rabbit language, and maybe he wouldn't have let the bunny go, anyhow.

Well, it was getting dark, and Sammie was very much frightened in his cage, and he was wondering whether any of his friends would find him, and help him escape.

"I'll call out loud, so they'll know where to look for me," he said, and he grunted as loudly as he could and whistled through his twinkling nose.

Well, it happened that just then Bully was hopping up a little hill, and he heard Sammie calling.

"That's Sammie!" exclaimed Bully. "Now, if I can only rescue him!"

So the frog boy hopped on farther, and pretty soon he came to the yard of the house where the boy lived. And Bully peeped in through a knothole in the fence, and he saw Sammie in the cage.

"I'm here, Sammie!" cried Bully through the hole. "Don't be afraid, I'll get you out of there."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Sammie, clapping his paws.

But, after he had said it, Bully saw that it wasn't going to be very easy to get Sammie out, for the cage was very strong. The boy was in the house cutting up some cabbage for the rabbit, and the little frog knew he would have to work very quickly if he was to rescue Sammie.

So Bully hunted until he found a place where he could crawl under the fence, and he went close up to the cage, and what did he do but hop inside, thinking he could unlock the door for Sammie. For Bully was little enough to hop through between the holes in the wire, but Sammie was too big to get out that way.

But Bully couldn't open the door because the lock was too strong, and the frog boy couldn't break the wire.

"Oh, if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy were only here!" he exclaimed, "she could get us out of this trap very soon. But she isn't."

"Let's both together try to break it," proposed Sammie, but they couldn't do it. I don't know what they would have done, and perhaps Sammie would have had to stay there forever, but at that moment along came the old alligator. He looked through the knothole in the fence, and he saw Sammie and Bully in the cage.

"Ah, here is where I get a good dinner!" thought the alligator, so with one savage and swooping sweep of his big, scaly tail, he smashed down the fence and broke the cage all to pieces, but he didn't hurt Bully or Sammie, very luckily, for they were in a far corner.