Part 7

Then, in a little while, the grasshopper and the red monkey and Old Dog Percival came back with some ice and they gave the rabbit a cool drink, and the butterfly kept on fanning him. And soon Dr. Possum came in, and he said:

"Well, I do declare! Uncle Wiggily is all well again. The butterfly with his cool wings and cold songs has cured him."

Then the rabbit thanked the beautiful winged creature very kindly and got ready to go on seeking his fortune again next day. He had quite an adventure, too, and I'll tell it to you on the next page, when, in case the little boy across the street doesn't lose his mittens inside a watermelon and freeze his rubber boots, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and roast potatoes.

STORY XXI

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE POTATOES

"Well, how are you feeling this beautiful morning, Uncle Wiggily?" asked the red monkey, as he knocked on the door of a hollow stump where the rabbit had spent the night. "Are you all better?" the red monkey went on, as he took a cocoanut out of his pocket and looked inside the shell to see what time it was.

"Oh, yes, I am much better, thank you kindly for asking," said the rabbit. "But how comes it that you are here? I thought you were off in the woods."

"So I was," answered the monkey, as he nibbled a little bit of the cocoanut. "But I came here to keep you company and help you look for your fortune."

"Ha! But where is my friend the grasshopper?" asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of anxious-like.

"Oh, he had to hop away in the night to see a sick cousin of his," spoke the red monkey, "and on his way he jumped past my house and asked me if I wouldn't come and stay with you while he was gone. He said you might be lonesome. So I came."

"It is very kind of you, I'm sure," said the rabbit. "I like company. I think I am all well and strong again, for the butterfly, who pretended he was an electric fan, made me nice and cool and I am much better. I am ready to start off now and look once more for my fortune. Are you coming?"

"I am," said the red monkey, looking at his tail to see if a pink cow had stepped on it. But no pink cow was there, so after Uncle Wiggily had put some cherry pie in his valise he and the monkey started off together.

And, on the way, the red monkey--who was red, you know, because some red ink which he made from raspberry juice splashed on him--this red monkey, as he and Uncle Wiggily walked along, tossed the cocoanut up in the air and caught it as it came down. Sometimes the monkey would catch the cocoanut in his left paw and sometimes in his right, and again in his left foot, and still again in his right foot. So altogether he had quite an exciting time, you see.

Well, Uncle Wiggily looked on all sides for his fortune, but he couldn't seem to find it. The red monkey helped him, too, but it was of no use. On and on they went, over the hills and through the woods and across the fields, until finally they came to a place where there were a whole lot of stones made into a sort of a fireplace, as if some boys had built it to play camp, and hunt the Indians, only, of course, you know, there aren't really any Indians to hunt any more.

"Hum suz dud!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he sat down on a log, and looked at the stone fireplace, "I wonder what this is for?"

"I don't know," said the monkey, as he made the cocoanut whiz about like a merry-go-round, "I don't know what it is for, but I should say it was very lucky for us."

"Why so!" asked Uncle Wiggily, and he wiped the dust off his red-white-and-blue-barber-pole crutch on his fuzzy ears. "Why is this lucky for us?"

"Because," answered the monkey, "here are some potatoes growing in this field next door, and here is a place to make a fire. It is nearly dinner time, so there is nothing to stop us from having some roast potatoes for our lunch."

"Fine!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I don't believe the man who owns the potatoes will mind if we take a few. I'll dig them with my paws, and we'll cook some."

"And I'll make the fire," said the red monkey as he looked about for a puddle of water. You know, he wanted the water puddle to use as a looking-glass, in order to see if any of the red had come off him yet. But there was no water, so he didn't bother, but instead he gathered the wood, and soon he had made a fine fire in the stone fireplace. Then along came Uncle Wiggily with some potatoes which he had dug, and they were put in to roast.

My! how the fire did blaze when the monkey kept putting sticks of wood on it. And how the potatoes roasted and crackled there in the heat! Oh, how nice they smelled, too! It makes me hungry for some, and as soon as I finish this story I'm going out and roast some just as Uncle Wiggily did.

But you children mustn't do it unless your papa, or mamma, or big brother or sister is near, in case any sparks got on you and burned you. But the red monkey and Uncle Wiggily were very careful. To be sure some smoke got in the monkey's eyes, and he looked as if he were crying, and some smoke got up Uncle Wiggily's twinkling nose and made him sneeze, but they didn't mind that.

"I guess the potatoes are cooked now," said the monkey after a while, and he took out on a sharp-pointed stick a big potato and broke it open. "Yes, it's done," he went on, as he saw how mealy and flaky-white the potato was, even if the outside was burned black. Then he and Uncle Wiggily took out some more of the potatoes, and when they were cool the two friends put salt on them, and ate them all up. Then the monkey played ball with his cocoanut again.

And, all of a sudden, as he threw the cocoanut quite high up in the air, it came down in the middle of a prickly briar bush. Then, all at once, there was a terrible roaring sound and a savage voice cried out from the middle of the bushes:

"Hi, there! Who is throwing stones at me?"

Then, before Uncle Wiggily or the red monkey could move, out sprang the skillery-scalery alligator with his double-jointed tail. Right at the red monkey and poor Uncle Wiggily he rushed, and he cried:

"Who threw that stone?"

"Please, Mr. Alligator," said the monkey, "it wasn't a stone. It was my cocoanut, and I didn't mean to hurt you."

"A cocoanut, eh?" roared the alligator. "So much the worse for you! I'm going to eat you both. Here I come! Get ready!"

And with that he opened his mouth as wide as a big paper bag, and fairly jumped for the red monkey.

"Oh, I'm gone, sure, this time!" cried the monkey, sadly-like.

"No, you're not!" shouted brave Uncle Wiggily. "I'll save you!" And what do you s'pose that rabbit gentleman did? Why, he just put on a pair of gloves, as quickly as a cat can wash her face on a rainy day, and he reached in the hot ashes, and he pulled out three hot, roast potatoes. Then, taking careful aim, he threw one hot potato right into the alligator's open mouth, which was as wide as two paper bags now, ready to eat the red monkey.

"Oh, wow!" cried the alligator, as he felt the hot potato slipping down his throat like a roast marshmallow candy.

"Wait, I'm not done yet," shouted the rabbit, and he threw hot potato number two down the alligator's throat.

"Wow! Wow!" cried the skillery-scalery creature as he felt the blistering heat on his forty-'leven sharp teeth.

"Wait! I have something more for you!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, and then with slow and careful aim, he threw hot roast potato number three down the alligator's throat.

"Wow! Wow! Wow!" yelled the skillery-scalery creature, and then, fairly boiling inside, he turned a big backward somersault, standing up on the end of his double-jointed tail, and he ran off to find some iced water with which to cool himself.

"Ha! That's the time you saved my life with the roast potatoes. They were just fine!" cried the red monkey. Then he and Uncle Wiggily traveled on, and the alligator didn't bother them any more that day, being so busy drinking iced water.

But they had another adventure soon, and I'll tell it to you a little later, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and Buddy Pigg--that is if the goldfish doesn't get caught in the mosquito net and tear a hole in it for the June bugs to come in and read the fly-paper.

Illustration: Uncle Wiggily and the Potatoes

STORY XXII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND BUDDY PIGG

Uncle Wiggily and the red monkey were going slowly along through the woods. It was the day after the alligator had started to eat up the little red monkey, but he had to stop when the old gentleman rabbit threw hot roast potatoes down his skillery-scalery throat.

"Do you think you will find your fortune to-day?" asked the monkey, as he tossed up a stone and caught it as it came down. You see he had lost the cocoanut he used to have that time when it hit the alligator.

"Well, I can't say for sure," replied Uncle Wiggily. "I hope I may find some gold or diamonds, so I can get rich and go back home. But you can never tell what is going to happen in this world, not even whether you are going to have an ice-cream cone or not; no, indeed, and a stick of peppermint candy besides."

"I tell you what it is," said the red monkey, slow and thoughtful-like, as he scratched his stubby black nose with a piece of straw. "I don't believe you have looked in the right places for your fortune, Uncle Wiggily."

"Why, nonsensicalness!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit. "I look in every place I can think of. I look on the ground, and under stones, and behind stumps, and down holes, and alongside of rail fences. But I haven't found any gold or diamonds yet."

"Exactly," spoke the red monkey. "But did you ever look up a tree for them?"

"Once I did," said the rabbit. "I threw up a stone with some molasses and a string to it to get some gold. But the stone went in an owl's hole, I think. That's all the luck I ever had."

"Then I'm going to look up some more trees for you," went on the monkey. "I am a good climber, and perhaps I may have better luck. Hop along lively now and maybe we will find your fortune before breakfast."

So the two friends went along together, and every once in a while the monkey would climb a tree. The first one he scrambled up was a maple tree, and he hoped he might find some maple sugar hanging on the branches, but it wasn't time for maple sugar. Anyhow, you remember that this kind of sugar comes from the inside of a tree and not the outside. They take the tree juice and boil it in the spring of the year, you know, and that makes maple sugar.

The next tree the monkey went up was a hickory nut tree, and there were some nuts on it, but they weren't ripe yet, and when he ate one it was so bitter that he had to make a funny face. And Uncle Wiggily, who was on the ground, happened to see the monkey's funny face, and the old gentleman rabbit laughed so hard that he dropped his valise.

The valise came open and out fell a piece of cherry pie, and when the monkey saw this he laughed. He laughed so hard that he shook the tree, and a whole lot of green hickory nuts fell down, and two of them struck Uncle Wiggily on the end of his twinkling nose, making him sneeze forty-'leven times.

Then the monkey was sorry, and he scrambled to the ground without having found any gold or diamond fortunes. He said he was sorry that Uncle Wiggily was hurt.

"Pray do not mention it," spoke the rabbit, politely. "It was partly my fault. Let us hurry on."

"No, let's eat breakfast first," suggested the monkey; so they sat down and ate the cherry pie, after brushing off the dirt, and really it wasn't damaged hardly any.

Well, then they traveled on again, and the next tree which the monkey climbed was a pine tree, and on it were long pine cones, something like brown bananas, but not very good to eat. The monkey began picking them, and Uncle Wiggily called out:

"Have you found any fortune for me?"

"No," said the red monkey, sadly, "I haven't, but we can have a game of baseball with these cones when I come down. Look out, I'm going to toss some to you."

Uncle Wiggily got safely out of the way behind a big stone, and the red monkey tossed down a number of the long, brown pine cones. And just as the first of them were nearing the ground a most surprising thing happened. Out from the woods came a big black bear, and he walked toward the tree in which the monkey was, just in time to be hit on the end of his soft and tender nose by the sharp pine cones which the monkey threw.

"Wow!" cried the bear. "Who did that?"

Well, of course, Uncle Wiggily wasn't going to say that he had done it, for he hadn't, so the rabbit just crouched down behind the rock, and waited to see what would happen.

And the monkey hadn't seen the bear, so he threw down some more pine cones, and land sakes flopsy dub and a potato pancake! one of the cones hit the bear on his soft nose again!

"Wow! Wow!" cried the bear once more. "Who did that?"

And this time he happened to look up, and there he saw the poor red monkey up in the pine tree.

"Ah, ha! It's you, is it?" growled the bear. "Now, just for that I'm going to climb up there and eat you."

"Oh, please don't!" begged the monkey. "It was all a mistake. I didn't mean to do it!"

"Well, there won't be any mistake about this!" growled the bear. "Here I come!" And up he climbed, for bears can climb a tree better than can a cat.

Well, you can just imagine how scared that monkey was. He was so frightened that he didn't think to run to the top of the pine tree, and jump into another, so he could get away. Instead he just sat there on a limb, shivering. And Uncle Wiggily was also frightened as he hid behind the stone.

"The poor monkey will be eaten up," thought the rabbit, "and it will be my fault, because he was looking for my fortune. Oh! what can I do?"

And just then Uncle Wiggily heard a rustling in the leaves at his feet. He jumped back, thinking it might be a little baby bear, but, instead out pounced a tiny brown and white chap without any tail.

"Why, Buddy Pigg!" exclaimed the rabbit. "How does it happen that you are here?"

"I'm just walking about for exercise," said the guinea-pig boy, for he it was. "But what is the trouble, Uncle Wiggily?"

"The bear is going to eat up the red monkey," said the old gentleman rabbit, sadly. "Look!"

Buddy Pigg looked, and by this time the bear had almost climbed up to where the monkey was sitting and shivering.

"Oh, I must stop that!" exclaimed Buddy. "Wait a minute and watch. You know how I can whistle, don't you? so listen."

Now, you know all guinea pigs can make a funny, squeaking noise just like some one whistling, and that's exactly what Buddy did. He whistled loudly and he whistled softly through his teeth. Then he whistled double and single and next he whistled like a man calling to his dog.

And that's exactly what the bear thought it was--a man whistling for the dogs to come and bite the bear. Louder whistled Buddy through his teeth, hiding down behind the rock with Uncle Wiggily, and the bear was very much frightened.

"I guess the dogs are coming for me!" the bear exclaimed, and he stopped climbing up the tree. Then he called to the monkey: "I'll get you some other time." Then the bear slid down the tree and ran off in the woods, while Buddy whistled louder than ever. And then the monkey came safely down, and he wasn't eaten by the bear, after all, and that's all to this story, if you please.

The next one will be about Uncle Wiggily and Munchie Trot, the pony boy--that is if the automobile horn doesn't stick in the lace curtains and scare the fish cakes so that they bite the mashed potatoes.

STORY XXIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND MUNCHIE TROT

"Weren't you frightened when you were up in the tree and the bear was coming after you?" asked Buddy Pigg of the red monkey, as he and Uncle Wiggily were walking along, after the adventure that I told you about last night.

"Frightened? I should say I was!" exclaimed the monkey. "I thought I'd never get down again to help look for Uncle Wiggily's fortune. I never can thank you enough for whistling and scaring that savage bear. How do you do it?"

"Oh, it is very simple," said the guinea pig boy, as he modestly looked down at the ground. "It's this way."

Then he whistled through his teeth again, slowly and faster, just to show how it was done.

"I wish I could learn how to do that," said the monkey. "If I ever get caught up a tree again by a bear I could whistle for myself, and make believe some hunter's dogs were coming to help me."

"I'll show you," said Buddy Pigg, and he told the monkey how to put his tongue against his teeth and how to blow through his lips. Well, the red monkey tried it, and he tried again, but he couldn't seem to whistle.

"Perhaps if I stand on my head I could do better," he said, and in a moment there he was standing on his head and trying to whistle upside down. But still he couldn't do it.

"Try hanging by your tail," suggested Buddy Pigg, and the little red chap did so, but still it was of no use. He hung there by his tail so long that Uncle Wiggily was afraid the monkey's head might fall off, so he made him get down.

Then the red chap tried again and again, but he couldn't whistle a bit, and at last the old gentleman rabbit said:

"I believe I know what the trouble is."

"What?" asked Buddy.

"Why, you see you have no tail, Buddy, and you are a good whistler," went on the rabbit, for you know it's really so--guinea pigs have no tails--though I'm not allowed to tell you the reason just yet.

"You have no tail, and you are a good whistler," said the rabbit again, "but the monkey has a long tail, and he can't seem to whistle a bit. The tail must make all the difference. Just cut off your tail, red monkey, and you'll whistle."

"Yes, I guess I would!" exclaimed the monkey, surprised-like. "I'd cry too, and feel very badly. No, if I have to lose my tail to whistle I'll never do it. I know what I can do instead."

"What?" asked Buddy Pigg.

"I can hire a green parrot to whistle for me," said the monkey. "Parrots can whistle for real or make-believe dogs as good as a man can. I'll take a parrot with me, and he'll scare the bears."

"Very good," said Uncle Wiggily, "for I would not like to see you lose your tail."

So, the three friends traveled on for some distance until it was time for Buddy Pigg to go home. And with him Uncle Wiggily sent his love to all his friends and to Sammie and Susie Littletail also.

"Well, we don't seem to be finding your fortune very fast," spoke the red monkey after they had climbed up one hill, and part of another one, and had looked under a lot of stones and behind several stumps.

"No, I guess we won't find it to-day," said the rabbit. It was now getting on toward afternoon, and Uncle Wiggily began thinking of where he would spend the night.

"I know what to do," said the red monkey. "I'll make a little house here in the woods, and we'll stay in that. We'll build a fire, and make believe we are camping out. And, while I am making the house out of sticks and leaves, you can walk around and look for your fortune."

"Very good," said the old gentleman rabbit, and so he started off, leaving the monkey to make the house in the woods. Uncle Wiggily walked on and on, but he didn't find his fortune, and it was getting rather late. He was just about to start back to where he had left the red monkey, when all of a sudden he heard a crying in the woods.

"Ha! I know what that is!" exclaimed the rabbit. "That is a baby fox, and near him is the old papa fox, who wants to catch and eat me. I'll not go near him, but I'll hurry home."

So he started toward the monkey's house, but the crying became louder, and the rabbit thought that perhaps, after all, it might not be a baby fox. And then, before he could twinkle his nose more than seven times, there was a rustling in the bushes, and out came a little boy squirrel. One of his legs was broken, and he was limping along on a piece of wood for a crutch.

"Oh, you poor little fellow!" cried the rabbit. "You look just like Billie or Johnny Bushytail after a football game. What has happened?"

"Oh, a boy threw a stone at me, and hurt me!" answered the little squirrel. "I'm lost and I can't walk home, and I don't know what to do."

"I'll help you," spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, but when he tried to, he found that his own rheumatism was so bad that he could hardly move. And the little boy squirrel was so stiff that he could barely walk, and there they were, both in the woods, with night coming on, and no way to get home.

"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Uncle Wiggily, and he wished the monkey would come along. And just then, if you will believe me, there was another rustling in the bushes, and out galloped Munchie Trot, the strong pony boy.

"Ha! What is the trouble here?" he asked, switching his tail, just like a wooden horse on the merry-go-round.

"Oh, we are both so lame that we can't walk," said Uncle Wiggily, "and we are a long way from the monkey's house. What shall we do?"

"Yes!" cried the little lame squirrel boy, "Boo-hoo! Hoo-boo what shall we do?"

"Don't say another word!" cried Munchie. "I'll take care of you. Just get on my back and I'll soon take you to the monkey's house in the woods." Then the pony boy knelt down so that Uncle Wiggily and the squirrel could get up on his back.

And when they got there and the cupboard was bare--oh, please excuse me, that belongs in another story--when they got up on Munchie's back and were holding tightly to the saddle, off the pony boy started through the woods, galloping to the monkey's house.

Then a whole lot of mosquitoes swarmed out of the bushes and tried to bite Uncle Wiggily and the squirrel, but Munchie switched his tail at the stinging insects, and away they scattered.

Then a big owl flew down out of a tree and tried to grab the squirrel, but the pony trotted so fast that the owl was left behind. And next a wolf tried to pull the rabbit off the horse, but Munchie tickled the savage creature in the ribs with his hoof, and the wolf ran away, sneezing.

Then the pony came safely to the house that the monkey had built in the woods, and he and Uncle Wiggily and the squirrel stayed there in peace and quietness all night, and they put some salve and a bandage on the squirrel's hurt leg to make it well.

And the next day there was another adventure. I'll tell you what it was on the next page, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the green parrot--that is, if the piano key doesn't unlock the front door and let in a red, white and blue mosquito to bite the baby's toes.

STORY XXIV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PARROT

Uncle Wiggily was the first one to awaken in the little house that the monkey had built in the woods. It was the morning after the day when Munchie Trot had brought the rabbit and the little squirrel boy home on his back.

"Well, my rheumatism is somewhat better to-day," said the old gentleman rabbit to himself as he stretched out first one leg and then the other to see if they hurt him. He didn't have much pain, so he started to make the fire to boil the coffee.

And some of the wood which he put on the fire was wet so that it smoked. And the smoke got up the monkey's nose, and made him sneeze, so that he was awakened, and he helped to get the breakfast in a hurry.

Then, in turn, Munchie Trot woke up, and next the squirrel boy. His leg hurt him very much, but Uncle Wiggily and the monkey bound it up with some splints, and some soft bark, tying it with ribbon grass, and then they all had breakfast, and felt better.

"But how am I to get home?" asked the little squirrel boy. "My mamma and papa will worry about me, I know."