Part 2

"Now, you get right out of this tent, and don't you dare to harm the birds!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and that rat went right out, taking his long thin tail with him, but forgetting his lightning bug lantern, which he left on the ground.

So Uncle Wiggily looked out to make sure that the rat didn't go near the birds' nest and the bad creature didn't, but he scurried back to his hole in the rocks, feeling quite savage-like and more disappointed than ever.

Next the rabbit took the cork out of the rat's bottle-lantern and he let the poor lightning bugs go, and they were very thankful. And then the rabbit stretched out on the leaves again, and went to sleep until morning and nothing more disturbed him.

Now if the knives and forks don't jump up and down on the table, and upset the sugar bowl, so that it scares the vinegar bottle, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily on a raft.

Illustration: Uncle Wiggily and the Big River Rat

STORY IV

UNCLE WIGGILY ON A RAFT

"Well, I think I will be traveling along now," said Uncle Wiggily to the bird family the next morning after he had had the adventure with the rat. "I must have another try at finding my fortune. And, perhaps, since you sang such a nice song for me yesterday, you little birds will sing another as I am leaving."

"Of course they will," said their mamma, so she gave a few trills and chords to start them off, and the birdies sang this:

"Dear old Uncle Wiggily, We wish that you could stay And live near our nest always, To drive the rats away.

"But if you now must leave us, Then we will wish for you, That you may have much happiness Whatever you may do."

"I'm sure that's very nice," said the rabbit, "and now I'll bid you good-bye and travel on."

"But you must take some lunch with you," said the mamma bird, and she gave him some more cherry pie to make up for the piece he had thrown at the rat.

Uncle Wiggily went on and on, and pretty soon he came to a place in the woods where there was a tall tree. And some distance up from the ground there was a hole in this tree trunk.

"Ha, hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "perhaps there may be gold in that tree hole. Now if I could only climb up to see, I might find my fortune."

Well, you know how it is with rabbits. They can't climb a tree even as well as a girl can, and, of course, Uncle Wiggily had to remain on the ground.

"If only Johnnie or Billie Bushytail were here now," thought the rabbit, "those squirrel boys could climb the tree for me. But I know what I'll do, I'll tie a stone to a string, and I'll put some molasses on the stone and throw it up into the hole in the tree. Then, if there is any gold there, it may stick to the molasses on the stone, and I can pull some down."

So he did this, and he made the string fast to the stone, and was all ready to throw it up when he happened to remember that he had no molasses.

"How careless of me! What shall I do?" he exclaimed. And a voice answered:

"I will give you some molasses, Uncle Wiggily."

The old gentleman rabbit looked around, and there was a nice, green grasshopper, and, as she had some molasses with her, she put quite a lot on the stone. Then the rabbit threw it up at the hole in the tree, but a most surprising thing happened.

For, instead of being gold in the hole there were two unpleasant old owls there, and when the molasses-covered stone popped in on them it awakened them from their sleep, for owls sleep in the day time, and fly about at night, you know.

"Who threw that stone?" cried one owl.

"I don't know," answered the other owl, and she gnashed her sharp beak, "but whoever it was I'm going to bite him!"

"Oh, run! Run for your life, Uncle Wiggily!" cried the grasshopper, as the two owls stuck their heads out of the hole in the tree. "Hop away!"

So Uncle Wiggily hopped off, and the grasshopper hopped also, and the two owls flopped down after them. But the savage birds could not see very well in the day time, and one went ker-bunk into a tree, and the other went ker-thump into a briar bush, and they were all tangled up, and so Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper got safely away.

"Well, I didn't get any fortune that time," said the rabbit sorrowfully as he hopped down a hill. "But perhaps I may find it soon."

The next place he came to was a big river, and, as he stood on the bank and looked across, it seemed to Uncle Wiggily that he could see a big field of gold on the other side.

"I must get over there," he said to himself, "and I am sure I will find my fortune. But how am I going to do it? That river is too wide for me to jump across, and it is too wide for me to swim. If I only had a boat I would be all right."

The old gentleman rabbit looked around for a boat, but none was at hand. Then he happened to think of something that Sammie and Susie Littletail once did.

"That's what I'll do!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "I'll make a raft." So he got some planks and boards and sticks, and he laid them crossways one upon the other, and tied them together with strong pieces of wild grape vine. Then he had a raft on which he could sit and push himself across the river, almost as well as if he had a rowboat.

"Now, I'll put my valise on board, and hop on myself, and away we'll go!" he cried, and he was very much pleased with the raft that he had made. Into the water he shoved it, and in the middle of the raft he placed his valise. Then he got on, and shoved off, using his crutch for a pushing pole.

Out into the middle of the river went Uncle Wiggily on the raft, and he was having a fine sail. Then all at once he felt hungry, so he stopped pushing the raft, opened his valise and took out a piece of cherry pie.

Well, as true as I'm telling you, just as he was eating it he heard a swirling noise in the water behind him and a savage voice cried out:

"Ha! Now I have you! Give me that piece of cherry pie or I'll upset the raft and you'll get all wet!"

Uncle Wiggily looked around, and there, swimming right up to him was a big, snicky-snooky water rat--a second cousin to the rat that got into Uncle Wiggily's tent the night before.

"Give me that pie!" cried the rat, as she put her claws on the raft. "Give it to me."

"No, indeed, I will not," replied Uncle Wiggily, as politely as one can speak to a rat.

Then the bad creature tried to climb up on the raft, but the rabbit took his crutch and put it down in the water and pushed along on the bottom of the river, sending the raft along very swiftly.

"Oh, I'll get you yet!" cried the rat, as she swam on after the raft. Faster and faster she swam, and faster and faster did Uncle Wiggily push, until he was all tired out, and he felt sure he would be caught and carried away by the bad rat. And then a voice in the air overhead suddenly cried out:

"Take your handkerchief, Uncle Wiggily, and make a sail out of it. Then the wind will blow you along so fast that the rat can't catch you. Make a sail!"

And Uncle Wiggily did so. He stuck the crutch up for a mast on the raft, and then he fastened his largest red handkerchief to the crutch. And the wind caught it, and blew upon that red handkerchief sail and the raft skimmered over the river so fast that the bad rat was left far, far behind, and so couldn't catch the rabbit.

It was the kind mamma bird who had called to the rabbit gentleman to tell him what to do.

And in a little while Uncle Wiggily was safe on the other shore and he hopped off the raft and ran toward the field that looked as if it was filled with gold.

Whether he found any or not, and what happened to him, I'll tell you on the next page, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily in a boat--that is if our puppy dog doesn't sit down in the fly-paper and get so stuck up so he can't gnaw a bone when he goes to the kitten's party.

STORY V

UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BOAT

When Uncle Wiggily got to the edge of the yellow golden-colored field after jumping off the raft, as I told you in the story before this one, the old gentleman rabbit rubbed his eyes, and then rubbed them again, for he wasn't quite sure of what he saw.

"Why!" he exclaimed, as he put on his spectacles in order to see better. "I have made quite a mistake. This isn't a field of gold at all, it is only a field of golden rod, which is a flower."

"Ah, if it is golden rod, perhaps if you wait long enough it will turn into chunks of gold," said a little voice down on the ground, and, glancing there, Uncle Wiggily saw a little ant with a tiny loaf of bread on her back. "Why don't you wait for that to happen, Mr. Rabbit?" she asked.

"Oh, it would never happen," said Uncle Wiggily. "This golden rod is a flower, and it will always remain a flower. I am disappointed once more about finding my fortune. I thought when I saw this shining yellow color from my raft, after I got away from the rat, that I had found the gold for which I am looking. But, never mind, this flower is very pretty," and he picked a bunch of it and smelled of it.

And some of the yellow dust of the posy-blossom got up the rabbit's twinkling nose, and he sneezed so hard that his glasses fell off. But the ant kindly picked them up for the old gentleman though he had to reach over to take them from her, as she was so small that she hardly came up to the rabbit's knee.

"Well, I must get home to my little ones," said the ant with a loaf of bread. "I hope you have good luck, Uncle Wiggily."

"Thank you very kindly," spoke the rabbit, and then he put a golden rod flower in his button-hole and hopped on to look for his fortune.

Pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, the rabbit came to a nice smooth rock which was long and slanting, just like a hill down which you slide on your sleds in the winter time. Only, of course, there was no snow or ice now, as it was summer.

"Ha! Now if I was a little younger, and didn't have the rheumatism, I'd slide down that rock!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I wish Sammie and Susie Littletail were here, for they would enjoy this very much. And so would Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, not to mention the puppy dogs."

Then the rabbit looked at the nice, smooth rocky slide, and all of a sudden he heard a voice singing:

"Lumps of pudding and pieces of pie My mamma gave me when I was a boy, And for those things I used to cry-- For lumps of pudding and pieces of pie!"

"Hum! I wonder who that can be?" asked Uncle Wiggily, and then he heard some one laugh and shout, and a great big boy, about as big as two barrels of molasses, burst out of the bushes.

"Why, it's the giant's little boy!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily in great surprise.

"Yes, that's who I am!" cried the boy who was as large as two barrels of molasses, and a can of condensed milk besides. "How are you, Uncle Wiggily? Have you found your fortune yet?"

"No," said the rabbit a bit sadly, "I have not."

"Never mind," spoke the giant's little boy, "come on and have a slide, it's lots of fun," and with that the big boy threw himself down on the smooth rock, just as if he were on a sled, and away he whizzed down the hill as nicely as a cake of soft soap slips into the bathtub.

"I believe I will try it!" exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, so, taking a firm hold of his crutch and valise he sat down on the smooth rock, and away he whizzed down after the boy who was as big as two barrels of sweet molasses and an ice-cream cone also.

Faster and faster went the rabbit, and faster and faster went the giant's little boy, until, all of a sudden, the boy slipped off the stone and landed in a big pile of hay, and wasn't hurt at all.

"I wonder if that's what will happen to me?" thought Uncle Wiggily, and he was just looking to see where he would land, and he was hoping it would be in a feather bed, when, as quickly as you can catch an alligator, if ever there's one to catch, the old gentleman rabbit slid off the rock, and down he came, plump on top of a big toadstool, and he wasn't hurt a bit; only sort of jounced up and down like.

"My! That was a fine slide," he said. Then he looked up and he saw that he was right on the shore of a little lake, and close at hand was a rowboat with oars in, and on the boat was a sign which read:

"PLEASE TAKE A RIDE IN ME ON THE LAKE."

"Ha! That is very polite of some one," said the rabbit. "I believe I will take a ride in the boat. And perhaps I may find my fortune in it."

Then he looked more carefully, and he saw that there was a box in the boat, and on the box was a sign which read:

"PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS BOX."

"Hum! Perhaps there is gold in there. But I won't open it to see until some one tells me I may," thought the rabbit.

So he got into the boat, and he stuck the oars through the oarlocks, which are places made for them, then he dipped the wide part of the oar into the water and pulled on the handle part and, my land sakes, flopsy-dub! Uncle Wiggily was rowing as nicely as you please.

Well, he rowed on and on, until he was out in the middle of the lake, and then, all of a sudden, he heard a funny noise inside the box. It was a sort of scratching, growling noise, and before the rabbit could do anything, the top of the box flew open and out stepped a little black bear. Oh, but Uncle Wiggily was frightened!

"Ah, ha! Now I have you, just where I want you, Mr. Rabbit," said the bear. "This is the last of you. Burr-r-r-r!"

Well, Uncle Wiggily was so frightened that he didn't know what to do, for he surely thought his end had come. Then he happened to remember that he had some cherry pie in his valise, and he knew that bears are very fond of sweet stuff.

"I know what I'll do," thought the rabbit. "I'll give the bear some pie, and when he isn't looking I'll row toward shore, and perhaps I can get away from him." So he quickly opened his satchel, took out the pie and gave it to the bear most politely.

"Ha! this is very good," said the bear in a grillery, growlery voice, as he took the pie. "I will eat this first and afterward I'll attend to your case!"

And when the bear was eating the pie, and licking the sweet, red juice off his clawy paws, Uncle Wiggily rowed toward shore. But he wasn't yet quite near enough to jump out of the boat, so he gave the bear another piece of pie and rowed a little closer to shore.

The bear was so interested in eating the cherries from the pie, and sucking the juice off his paws, that he never noticed what was going on. But finally he glanced up, and when he saw how near the shore the rabbit had rowed the boat the bear cried:

"Ah! ha! So that's your trick, eh? Well, I'll scratch you, anyhow."

And with that he made a spring for the rabbit, but Uncle Wiggily was too quick for him. Grabbing up his crutch and valise, the rabbit jumped out of the boat and landed on shore, and then the wind suddenly sprang up and blew the boat and bear in it out into the middle of the lake, and Uncle Wiggily was safe, I'm glad to say, for the bear couldn't swim to shore that day on account of having no bathing suit.

Then, hopping on, Uncle Wiggily looked all over for his fortune. But he did not find it right away. And he had another adventure soon. What it was I'll tell you almost immediately, which is very soon, when in case the pink cow doesn't eat the chocolate pudding from off the back stoop where the cook sets it to cool, the next story will be about Uncle Wiggily at the seashore.

STORY VI

UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE

One morning Uncle Wiggily was hopping along a dusty road. It was the day after he had gotten away from the bad black bear in the boat, and the old gentleman rabbit was thinking of what great danger he had been in.

"I must certainly be more careful," he thought, "and not get in every boat I see. Why, just think of it! If that bear had eaten me up I couldn't search for my fortune any more," and this so frightened Uncle Wiggily that he looked all around and behind the bushes, fearing the bear might, after all, have come ashore and be chasing after him.

But no bear was there, for he had fallen out of the boat and caught cold and had gone to bed, after drinking some hot honey lemonade. The old gentleman rabbit felt better, when he saw there was no bear, but it was so hot that he was thirsty, so he looked for a place to get a drink. Pretty soon he saw a nice, cold spring, and he took three drinks of water and part of another one.

And just as the rabbit was drinking the last drop of water he heard a funny noise out in the road, and, looking up, he saw a whole lot of children going past. Some of them were barefooted, and some had little tin pails and shovels in their hands, and some had red balloons and some blue or green ones. Some of the children had on bathing suits and a few had their little dresses tucked up as far as they could go, and they were dancing along on their slim white legs, as happy as happy could be.

"Why, this certainly is very strange," thought the rabbit. "I wonder where they can all be going? Perhaps it is to a circus parade. I must go see, for I might meet my friend the elephant there. Oh, this will be some fun! Is it a circus parade?" he called aloud.

"No, it isn't a circus parade," said a voice at Uncle Wiggily's side, and, looking down, the old gentleman rabbit saw the kind grasshopper who had once given him some molasses.

"If it isn't a circus parade, what is it?" asked the rabbit.

"These children are going to the seashore to bathe and paddle in the salty ocean waves," went on the grasshopper, "and some of them will build sand houses, or dig wells for the water to fill up. Why don't you go, Uncle Wiggily? Perhaps you may find your fortune there."

"I believe I will," said the rabbit. "Won't you come along?" Well, the grasshopper said he would, so off they hopped together, the hoppergrass--I beg your pardon,--I mean the grasshopper--and the rabbit.

Pretty soon they heard the noise of the waves pounding on the sandy shores, and they could smell the salt breeze and it made them hungry for clam chowder and lobsters and crabs and things like that. Then they saw ever so many more children running along and in a little while they were at the seashore.

"Well, now to look for my fortune," said the rabbit, as he watched the waves rush up on the sand with a big noise and lots of foam, and then they would tumble out to the sea again. "How do you think I had better go about it, Mr. Grasshopper?"

"If I were you I would dig in the sand," said the grasshopper. "Sometimes men, who were called pirates, used to bury gold in the sand, and perhaps there is some of their money left. You dig and I will watch you."

"But I have nothing with which to dig," said the rabbit.

"Oh, you may take my shovel," said a little girl with her dress tucked up high so that it would not get wet. "I am going in wading, so I won't need it."

"Thank you kindly," said the rabbit gentleman to the little girl, and then she went in wading, and a wave splashed up all over her, no matter if her dress was above her knees, and her mamma called to her to be more careful, and not to get so wet.

So Uncle Wiggily began to dig. Deeper and deeper he dug in the sand, while the grasshopper watched him. And every few minutes Uncle Wiggily would look down the hole to see if there was any gold among the grains of sand, but there wasn't any.

All around were children having lots of fun. One boy made a tunnel, and then he played that some sticks of wood were steam cars and he pushed them through the tunnel and puffed out his cheeks to pretend it was the engine choo-chooing.

And a little girl made a garden in the sand, with seaweed for flowers and clam-shells for a house, and she and another little girl had a play-party. Oh, it was great fun!

Then a big boy stretched out on the sand, and another boy covered him all up, from the tips of his toes to the tips of his nose, and he left his nose out so the boy could breathe. Well, the grasshopper and Uncle Wiggily looked at all this fun going on and they were happy as they could be. And the rabbit kept on digging the hole down in the sand, hoping he would soon come to the gold.

And then all of a sudden, before you could count up to forty-'leven, the hole which Uncle Wiggily was digging filled up with water, just like a well.

"Oh, my!" exclaimed the rabbit. "This is certainly bad luck. Now I can't find any gold. What am I to do?"

"I guess you'll have to dig another hole," said the grasshopper. "But perhaps there is gold at the bottom of this one, after all. Let's get a pail and dip out the water, then we may see the gold."

So the little girl who had loaned the rabbit her shovel let Uncle Wiggily take her pail to dip out the water. But the funny part of it was that the faster he dipped out the water the more came in, until there was enough for two wells. Then even the grasshopper helped dip out the water with another little pail, but it did no good.

The rabbit and the grasshopper were both so interested in what they were doing that they didn't notice a big crab crawling up behind them, and the first thing they knew Uncle Wiggily felt some one pinch him on his little short tail.

"Ha! What is that?" he cried, turning around quickly, and then he saw the crab, with its big blue claws pinching him.

"Ouch! Oh, my!" cried the rabbit. "Whatever shall I do?"

"I'll help pull him off!" shouted the grasshopper, but he was not strong enough, and the crawly crab still clung to the rabbit's tail.

"Why are you pinching me?" asked the rabbit, as he tried to reach around and pull off the crab, only he found he could not do it.

"I am pinching you because you dug a hole down in my sandy beach," said the crab, "and I'm going to hold on to you until you give me a thousand pieces of cheese for my supper."

"Oh, I can never get that many!" cried the rabbit. "Will no one help me get away from this crab?" But all the children had run home to dinner and there was no one to help the rabbit, until all of a sudden, a big wave washed up, and almost covered Uncle Wiggily.

He could just manage to breathe, and he sprang up on the beach to get beyond the water, and the grasshopper hopped out of the way also. But the wave was a good one after all, for as soon as the crab felt the water sloshing up around him he let go of the rabbit's tail to swim away, and that's how Uncle Wiggily was saved from the crab, even if he didn't find any gold, and he was very glad his tail wasn't pinched off.

The old gentleman rabbit remained at the seashore for several days, and he had many adventures. And, in case I find a peanut shell with a red popcorn ball inside of it, the next bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the big lobster.

STORY VII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LOBSTER

"Where are you going to stay to-night, Uncle Wiggily?" asked the grasshopper of the old gentleman rabbit, after the wave had rolled up and washed away the crab that had hold of the bunny's tail, I told you about last, you remember. "Are you going to stay at the seashore?" asked the grasshopper, as he looked at his left hind leg and blinked his two eyes, sort of thoughtful-like.

"Oh, yes, I like it here very much," said Uncle Wiggily, "and I'm going to stay, but as true as I live I don't know where I can sleep to-night."

"Couldn't you build a sand house, such as we see the children making?" asked the grasshopper.

"Oh, no, for in the night it might fall down on me, and the sand would get in my ears. Or a big wave might roll up on the shore and wash me out to sea. Oh, dear, isn't it a puzzle what to do when you are seeking your fortune?"