Part 6

"Oh, it would be of no use," said Uncle Wiggily. "Haven't we looked all over in these woods? And we didn't even find a diamond ring. No, we must travel on."

"Why don't you dig a hole here by this old stump?" asked the grasshopper. "Perhaps there is a gold mine here. It is nice and shady, and you can dig deep and keep cool. I will sit on the stump and watch you, and also sing a song now and then."

"Perhaps that will be a good plan," agreed Uncle Wiggily, after thinking it over. "I believe I will dig here. It can do no harm and it may be of some use." So, laying aside his crutch and his valise, he began to dig in the earth with his sharp feet.

"My! I'm making a regular mine!" thought Uncle Wiggily, after a while. "But there doesn't seem to be any gold here. However, I'll go down a little deeper."

And then, all of a sudden he heard the grasshopper cry:

"Look out, Uncle Wiggily! Look out! The alligator is coming!"

"Oh, me! Oh, my!" shouted the rabbit, as he tried to jump up out of the hole he had dug. But it was too deep and he only fell back to the bottom. He heard the whirr of the grasshopper's wings as that hopping chap flew away, and as the grasshopper skipped over the daisies he cried out:

"I'll go get help, Uncle Wiggily!" for he knew he couldn't fight the alligator all alone.

"Oh, whatever shall I do?" thought the rabbit. "I must get out." So he gave another jump, but it was of no use, and then before Uncle Wiggily could twinkle his nose twice, over the edge of the hole leaned the skillery-scalery alligator.

"Ah, ho! So there you are!" cried the scaly creature, smiling such a big smile that it is a wonder the top of his head didn't fly off. "So you are in a hole? Well, that suits me, for you can't get away, and I can take you whenever I please. I guess I'll wait until I am a little more hungry. Meanwhile I'll sit here and look at you."

And the alligator did this, perched on the edge of the hole, with his mouth grinning from ear to ear and his tail slowly switching to and fro, to keep off the flies from his scaly hide.

"Are you really going to bite me?" asked the rabbit, sad-like.

"I am," replied the alligator, in a nutmeg-grater voice.

"Would you let me go if I gave you my barber-pole crutch and my valise filled with cherry pie?" asked Uncle Wiggily, sorrowful-like.

"Not for worlds!" cried the alligator, smacking his jaws. "I'm going to bite you now." And with that he started to crawl down into the hole to get the rabbit.

But don't worry. Some one is on the way to save Uncle Wiggily. All of a sudden, just as the alligator was almost down to Uncle Wiggily, and only the tip of his tail was sticking out over the edge, there was a movement on the other side of the hole, and, looking up, the rabbit saw a curious sight.

There was some sort of an animal peering down at him. But such an animal! His tail was all stuck up with stickery burrs, and it had a lump of mud on the end. On one ear was stuck a big green leaf, and on the other ear was a piece of red paper from a Chinese lantern. And on his back were chestnut burrs and bits of briar bushes; and this animal grinned and showed his teeth and shook himself so that mud was scattered all over. Then this animal cried:

"Here, you bad alligator! Get away and let that rabbit alone!"

"What for; do you want to bite him yourself?" asked the skillery-scalery alligator creature, grinning from ear to ear.

"No, I don't," answered the dreadful looking animal. "But you get away from here or I'll eat you!" And, my! you should have heard that muddy creature growl. No, perhaps it's just as well you didn't hear him, or you might have bad dreams. Anyhow, that new, queer animal growled so that even the alligator was frightened, and Uncle Wiggily said to himself:

"Oh, worse and worse! If the alligator doesn't get me this terrible creature will!"

Then the terrible creature growled some more and showed his teeth and the alligator crawled out of the hole and scurried away, taking his scaly tail with him.

"Ha! Ha! That's the time I fooled you!" cried the terrible looking animal, and then he burst out laughing and took the paper and leaf from his ears, shook out the burrs from his tail, and whom do you s'pose it was? Why none other than Peetie Bow Wow, the nice puppy dog.

"Oh, you saved my life!" cried Uncle Wiggily, thankfully.

"Yes, he certainly did," said the grasshopper, perching himself on the edge of the hole. "I met Peetie in the woods and told him about you, and he rolled in the mud and water and stuck himself all up with burrs, so as to make himself look as terrible as possible and scare the alligator. It was a good trick; wasn't it?"

"It was, indeed!" cried the rabbit, as the grasshopper and the puppy dog helped him out of the hole; "even if I didn't find my fortune."

So the alligator didn't get the rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily had another adventure next day. I'll tell you what it was very soon for the following story will be about Uncle Wiggily and Jackie Bow-Wow--that is, if the picture on the wall doesn't turn upside down and scare the parlor lamp so that it goes out on the porch to sit on the door mat.

STORY XVIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACKIE

Uncle Wiggily, with the grasshopper, and Peetie Bow-Wow, the little puppy dog, were traveling along the road together, and the old gentleman rabbit was looking on both sides for his fortune. It was the day after Peetie had saved Uncle Wiggily from the bad alligator, and the three friends had spent the night in a hollow stump in the woods. Then they had breakfast, eating some cherry pie that the rabbit had left in his valise.

"Tell me, Peetie," said Uncle Wiggily, as they tramped along, "how does it happen that you are so far from home; and what were you doing in the woods just before you scared the alligator away?"

"Oh, my brother Jackie and I came to visit our grandpa, who lives somewhere around here," said the puppy dog. "Yesterday Jackie and I went for a walk in the woods, and I got lost. It was then that the grasshopper found me and asked me to come and help you."

"Which you kindly did," said the old gentleman rabbit, as he brushed a mosquito off his twinkling nose. "But I didn't know you were lost, Peetie. Why didn't you say something about it? And here you've been away from your grandpa's house all night and he and your brother Jackie may be very much worried. Why didn't you tell me about this yesterday?"

"Well, I thought you had troubles enough of your own," said Peetie politely, as he looked down in a puddle of water to see if his tail was fastened on straight. "But I would like very much, Uncle Wiggily, to find my way back to grandpa's house, and see Jackie," he went on. "And I know he'll be glad to see you."

"Then we must start off at once and look for your grandpa's house," decided the old gentleman rabbit. "I will let my fortune go for to-day, and we will take care of you."

So off they started, looking for the house of Peetie's grandpa. The puppy dog helped them look, of course, but he was too small to be of much use. Every once in a while he would find a nice juicy bone, and he would stop to gnaw that instead of looking for the path back home.

"Oh, you mustn't do that," said Uncle Wiggily, as he leaned on his crutch to rest himself. "There will be time enough to eat bones after you are home. Trot along now, Peetie."

"Well, I'll just bury this bone here, where Jackie and I can get it later," said Peetie. So he dug a hole for the bone and carefully covered it with earth, where it would keep just as good as if it was in a refrigerator or an ice-box.

Well, the rabbit and the grasshopper and the puppy dog looked in all the places they could think of, and around corners and up and down the middle and on both sides, for a sight of the house of Peetie's grandpa, but they couldn't seem to find it.

And then, all of a sudden, and so quickly that it happened before you could roll a popcorn ball on top of the piano, there was a growling in the bushes, and a shaking of the leaves, and out popped a big, black bear. My! Oh, my! But he was a big, savage bear, and as soon as he saw Uncle Wiggily he cried out:

"Now I have you, my fine rabbit friend! And a puppy dog also, to say nothing of a grasshopper, with which to finish off. Oh, this is a lucky day for me!"

"You--you don't mean to say that you are going to eat us, do you?" asked Uncle Wiggily, turning pale around the ears.

"That's exactly what I do mean," said the bear in a grillery-growlery voice. "And how very lucky! It's just my dinner time," and he looked at his watch to make sure, and then shut the cover with a bang.

"Well, you can't eat me!" cried the grasshopper and with that he gave a spring and landed inside of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing on top of a high rock, and he pulled the cover of the plant over him so the bear couldn't see him.

"Well, the grasshopper got away," said the bear in a disappointed voice, "but I have you two yet, anyhow," and with that he made a jump, and grabbed Uncle Wiggily in one paw and Peetie Bow-Wow in the other paw. Then he hugged them tight, just like a little girl hugs, her two dollies, and the bear looked down at them, first at Uncle Wiggily and then at Peetie. And that bear showed his ugly teeth, and said in his grillery-growlery voice:

"Let me see; which one of you shall I eat first?"

Well, you can just imagine how frightened Uncle Wiggily and the puppy dog were. They didn't know what to do.

"I think I'll eat you first, Mr. Rabbit," said the bear at length, and he was just getting ready to eat Uncle Wiggily, as you would eat a strawberry, when there was a rushing sound in the bushes back of that bear, and a brave voice called out:

"No, Mr. Bear, you're not going to eat either one of them. Put Uncle Wiggily down at once and let go of Peetie Bow-Wow. At once, I say!"

"Ha! Who are you?" cried the bear, turning around quickly in order to see better. "Who are you, if I may ask?"

"I'm Jackie Bow-Wow," was the answer, "and if you don't at once do as I say I'll shoot you with my gun!"

Well, you can just imagine how surprised Uncle Wiggily and Peetie were to see Jackie standing there as brave as a lion, pointing a black gun at the black bear.

"I'm not going to let them go!" cried the bear, savagely, and he hugged the rabbit and the puppy dog tighter than ever.

"Then I'm going to shoot!" cried Jackie. "One--two--three!" he counted. "Here I go! Bang!"

"Oh, don't shoot! Don't shoot!" begged the bear, and he quickly dropped the rabbit and the doggie and then he ran away through the bushes, taking his little stubby tail with him. Then Jackie burst out laughing as hard as he could.

"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, in surprise.

"Ha! Ha!" laughed Jackie. "What a joke on that bear! I didn't have a real gun at all. It's only a wooden one, with which I was playing hunt Indians. But he thought it was a real one, and he was so scared that he let you go. Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!"

"It's a good thing you came along when you did," said his brother Peetie. "We were just looking for grandpa's house. I was lost, you know, and couldn't find my way back."

"I know you were and I was looking for you," spoke Jackie. Then Peetie told him about the alligator and where he had been with Uncle Wiggily, and Jackie was very glad to see his brother and the old gentleman rabbit again, and he was soon ready to show them the way to his grandpa's house.

But they had forgotten about the grasshopper in the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and a very curious thing happened to that poor insect. I'll tell you about it on the next page, when the Bedtime Story will be named "Uncle Wiggily and the Red Monkey;" that is, if the rubber ball doesn't bounce into the rice pudding and scatter it all over the clean tablecloth.

STORY XIX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MONKEY

Uncle Wiggily, with Peetie and Jackie Bow-Wow, was walking along the road toward the puppy dogs' grandpa's house, and they were talking how Jackie had made the black bear run away by pointing a make-believe wooden gun at the savage creature. All at once the old gentleman rabbit exclaimed:

"That grasshopper!"

"What about the grasshopper?" asked Jackie. "Did one bite you, Uncle Wiggily?"

"No, but my friend, the green grasshopper, jumped into a Jack-in-the-Pulpit when the bear came, and here we have come away and forgotten all about him. We must go right back."

So back they started, and on the way the rabbit told what a kind friend the grasshopper had been to him on his travels. Well, they got to the place where the bear had scared them, but when they looked up on the rock no Jack-in-the-Pulpit was to be seen, and there was no sign of the grasshopper.

Illustration: Uncle Wiggily and the Monkey

"I'm sure it was here that the grasshopper made his jump," said Uncle Wiggily, looking carefully about.

"Yes," said Jackie, "but there is no Jack-in-the-Pulpit on this rock at all."

"Here is a pile of dirt, though," spoke Peetie. "Perhaps there is a bone under it. Let's dig, Jackie."

So those two puppy dogs dug in the earth while Uncle Wiggily looked all around for the grasshopper. Then, all of a sudden, Peetie cried out:

"Oh! Look here! The Jack-in-the-Pulpit is under this pile of earth! The top is just sticking out. Now, we'll find the hoppergrass."

"I see how it is," said the rabbit. "When the bear ran away so fast from Jackie's wooden gun the toenails of the savage creature scattered up the earth, and it went in a shower all over the Jack where the grasshopper was hidden. No wonder we couldn't find him, for he was buried. But please dig very carefully, Peetie and Jackie, or you might scratch him with your paws."

"We will be careful," said Jackie. So he and his brother dug and dug, until the Jack-in-the-Pulpit was almost uncovered. Then they didn't dig any more, but, with their tails, which were like dusting brushes, they dashed off the earth very gently, until the plant was all clear, and out popped the grasshopper, not a bit harmed, though he was somewhat frightened.

"My! I thought I'd never get out!" exclaimed the jumping chap, taking a long breath, and blowing the dust off his legs.

Then he was introduced to Jackie Bow-Wow, whom he had not met before, and the four friends trudged along the road together. Pretty soon they came to the house of Grandpa Bark, and the old gentleman dog was very glad to see Peetie, who had been lost, and had stayed away all night.

"And I am very glad to see you also, Uncle Wiggily," said Grandpa Bark, "and likewise the grasshopper. Come in and have something to eat, and stay awhile to rest yourself."

So Uncle Wiggily did this, and after a bit he said:

"Well, now, I must be off once more to seek my fortune. When I find it I am going back home, and I hope that soon comes to pass, for I am tired of traveling about."

So he said good-by to Peetie and Jackie Bow-Wow, and he and the grasshopper hopped off together. On and on they went, over the hills and dales, through the woods and fields, and pretty soon they came to a place in the woods where there was a big box. It was almost as large as a small house, and it had a front door to it, but no windows. The front door was open and over it was a card reading:

"COME IN, IF YOU WANT TO."

"Ha, hum! I wonder if that means me?" said Uncle Wiggily. "Perhaps I may find my fortune in there. I'm going inside."

"I wouldn't if I were you," spoke the grasshopper. "It may be a trap."

"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, quick-like. "Come along. We'll go in."

So he and the grasshopper went inside, but no sooner had they entered, than slam-bang! down came the sliding door with a crash, catching them fast there just like mice in a trap.

"Oh, what did I tell you!" cried the grasshopper, sadly. "This is a trap! We're in it."

"Yes, I see we are," spoke Uncle Wiggily, much puzzled. "It was all my fault. I should have been more careful."

"Never mind," said the grasshopper, kindly, as he wiped away his tears on a piece of green leaf. "I see a crack between the boards that I can crawl through. It is too small for you, but I can get out, and I'll go for help."

So out he crawled, leaving Uncle Wiggily there. The old gentleman rabbit was thinking of the dreadful things that might happen to him, when, all of a sudden, he heard some one unlocking the front door that had fallen shut.

"I must see who that is!" whispered the rabbit to himself. So he peered out of a crack, and he saw something red and fuzzy-like at the door. "Oh, it's a red bear!" thought the rabbit, and he was looking for a place to hide, when all at once the door opened and there stood a nice, kind red monkey, with a red cap on.

"Oh, I've got company, I see!" cried the red monkey in delight. "I'm glad of that, Uncle Wiggily. I've been waiting some time to see you. How did you get here?"

"Isn't--isn't this a trap?" asked the rabbit.

"Not a bit of it!" cried the red monkey with a jolly laugh. "This is my house. I went out this morning and left the door open. It must have blown shut by mistake. I'm sorry you were frightened. Wait, I'll do some tricks to make you laugh."

So the red monkey stood on his nose, and then on one ear, and then he made all the letters of the alphabet on his tail, all except the letter "X," which is very hard for a monkey to make. Then the monkey took two apple pies and made them into one, and he and Uncle Wiggily ate it, and my! how good it was. By this time the rabbit wasn't frightened any more, and he told the red monkey all about his travels to find a fortune. And then the grasshopper came hopping back with Old Dog Percival to help Uncle Wiggily get out of the trap, but there wasn't any need, for it was no trap at all, you see.

So the red monkey and the dog and the grasshopper and the old gentleman rabbit had a nice time at the house of the red monkey, who told them many stories, and one was how he came to be colored red.

I'll tell you about that as soon as I can, when, in case the fishpole doesn't go out in the rain and catch cold, the Bedtime Story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the butterfly.

STORY XX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTTERFLY

"You have a very nice house here," said Uncle Wiggily to the red monkey after they had all sat down, and Old Dog Percival had been told that there was no need to rescue his rabbit friend from a trap.

"Yes, it is a fine little house," said the red monkey. "I built it away off in the woods so as to be nice and quiet. You see I used to live with the monkey who plays five hand organs at once, but finally it got so that I couldn't stand the music any longer, so I went off by myself and made this little house."

"But how did you happen to get splashed with that lovely red color?" asked the grasshopper, "that is if you will excuse me asking you such a personal question."

"Pray do not mention it, I beg of you," said the red monkey as he tossed up a lump of coal and caught it on his nose. "I will gladly tell you how I became colored red. It was this way: I was writing a letter to a friend of mine and I had no more black ink left. I didn't know what to do until I happened to think that out in the yard back of my house on a bush were some red raspberries. I gathered some of them and put them in a teacup.

"Then, with the potato-masher, I crushed them all up until the red juice ran out. Then I had the loveliest red ink you ever saw. But just then a fly lit on the end of my nose. I went to brush him off with the potato-masher when I happened to hit the cup full of red juice by mistake.

"Well, you can imagine what happened. The raspberry juice splashed all over me until I looked like a strawberry ice-cream cone, and I've been red ever since."

"It's a very fine color," said Uncle Wiggily.

"Yes," agreed the monkey with a sigh "but sometimes it's quite a trouble. All the turkey gobblers and the bulls in the fields chase me whenever they see me, for they don't like red. I'm thinking of taking some dandelions and coloring myself yellow next year. But, now tell me of your travels, Uncle Wiggily."

So the old gentleman rabbit did so, mentioning how he was searching for his fortune, but couldn't find it. Then Percival told about when he used to be in a circus and do tricks, and the grasshopper told how he made his music by playing the fiddle with his left hind leg, and then the red monkey gave them all some chocolate-cocoanut pudding and it was time to go to bed.

Now, I have something sad to tell you, but please don't get alarmed, for I'll make it come out right at the end. In the middle of the night poor Uncle Wiggily was taken ill. He had a dreadful pain, and he was as hot with a fever as a stove with a fire in it.

"I am afraid you have been traveling about too much," said the red monkey, as he lighted a lamp and gave the rabbit a drink of cool water. "We must have Dr. Possum see you in the morning."

"Perhaps I ate too much chocolate-cocoanut pudding," said Uncle Wiggily. "Oh, how I suffer, and how hot I am."

Well, they did all they could for him by putting his paws in mustard water and giving him sweet spirits of nitre, but it didn't seem to do any good.

"Yes, he is a very sick rabbit," said Dr. Possum, who came in the morning. "He ought to be home in bed, but we can't move him now. He'll have to stay here."

"Oh, the grasshopper and Old Dog Percival and I will take good care of him," said the red monkey, kindly.

"Yes, I guess you will," agreed Dr. Possum. So he left some bitter medicine for Uncle Wiggily and the old gentleman rabbit took it without even wrinkling up his nose--and it was very, very bitter--the medicine I mean, and not his nose.

"Oh, how hot I am!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as the sun got higher and higher in the sky and beat down on the house where the red monkey lived. "I wish I had some ice." Then he fell asleep.

"We will see if we can't find some," said the grasshopper, so he and the monkey and Old Dog Percival started off to look for an ice-house, leaving Uncle Wiggily asleep. Pretty soon he awakened.

"Oh, I wish I had an electric fan to cool me!" cried the poor sick old gentleman rabbit. "Oh, how hot I am! Oh, dear!"

Well, he kept getting hotter and hotter, and tossed to and fro on the bed, and he wished for ice, and ice-cream cones and all such cool things as those. Then, all of a sudden, when he was so warm he couldn't seem to stand it any longer he heard a little voice singing this song:

"Away up North in the ice and snow, That's the place for you to go. Where wintry winds do always blow, And the polar bear's on a big ice floe.

"Where seals dive down in the icy sea, Where it's far too cold for a bug like me, Where snowflakes fall so you cannot see, That is the place for you to be."

"Oh, I'm sure it is," cried poor Uncle Wiggily. "I wish I was up there in the Arctic regions. But I can't go. Oh, if I only had an electric fan to cool me off!"

"I'll be an electric fan for you," said the voice, and turning his head, Uncle Wiggily saw, perched on the window-sill, a beautiful big butterfly, with red and yellow wings. Then the splendid creature flew right up on the rabbit's pillow, and began to wave his wings. Faster and faster the butterfly's wings went until you couldn't see them move--just like an electric fan. And a cool breeze swept over poor, hot Uncle Wiggily, and made him feel much better.

Then the butterfly fluttered harder than ever, and he sang another song about ice-cream freezers and blizzards and snow and hail and icebergs and polar bears and all cool things like that, and he kept on fanning the rabbit with his wings, and before he knew it Uncle Wiggily went fast asleep again.