Part 9

Uncle Wiggily was walking along under a green tree, looking for some gold or diamonds when, all of a sudden something jumped out of the bushes and grabbed his crutch away from him. Then Uncle Wiggily saw that it was a wolf, and the wolf sprang down into a big hole in the ground, taking the crutch with him.

"Now," called the wolf, showing his ugly teeth, "if you want your crutch, Mr. Rabbit, you'll have to come down this hole after it. Come on down."

But Uncle Wiggily knew better than that, for just as surely as he jumped down into that hole the wolf would have eaten him all up. And the rabbit didn't know what to do, for he couldn't walk without his crutch on account of being lame with the rheumatism.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried the rabbit. "Whatever shall I do? I can't stay in these woods forever."

And just then there was a rustling in the leaves, and out walked a big black, pinching beetle. In front of his head he had two things just like fire tongs, or a crab's claws, with which to pinch.

"What is the trouble?" asked the black beetle politely.

"The wolf, down the hole, has my crutch, and he won't give it to me," said the rabbit.

"Ha! we will very soon fix that," spoke the beetle. "Just tie a string around me, Uncle Wiggily, and lower me down into the hole. Then I'll pick up the crutch in my strong pincers, and you can haul me up again as I hold fast to it."

"But the wolf may get you," said the rabbit.

"I'll fix that wolf," replied the beetle, winking his two little eyes, real jolly-like.

So Uncle Wiggily tied a string around the black insect, and lowered him down into the hole. The wolf saw him coming and cried out:

"Oh! You can't get this crutch, for I'm sitting on it, and I'll bite you."

"Just you watch," spoke the black beetle, winking one eye this time. So he looked down, and, surely enough, the wolf was sitting on the crutch. But the beetle knew a good trick. He swung himself around on the end of the string, which the rabbit held, and, as he got near to the wolf, the beetle suddenly pinched the savage creature on the tail.

"Oh, my! Ouch!" cried the wolf, and he jumped up in a hurry. And that was just what the beetle wanted, for now he could reach the crutch as the wolf was not sitting on it any more. In his strong pincers he took hold of it.

"Pull me up!" called the beetle to the rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily did so, crutch and all, by the string, and they left the wolf down in the hole as angry as a mud pie. So that's how the beetle got back the rabbit's crutch for him, and that's the end of this story.

But there'll be another one soon, about Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat--that is if the puppy dog across the street doesn't chew a hole in the milk bottle and scare the iceman all to pieces so that he goes roller skating with the jumping rope.

STORY XXVIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND KITTIE KAT

"Well," said Uncle Wiggily, as he and the black beetle went along through the woods, after the rabbit's crutch had been taken away from the savage wolf, "don't you want to come along with me, Mr. Beetle, and help me look for my fortune?"

"Indeed, I would like to very much," said the funny little insect, "but the truth of the matter is that I have to go to work to-morrow, and so I can't come."

"Work--what work do you do?" inquired Uncle Wiggily.

"Oh, I am going to punch holes in trolley car transfers with my strong pincers," answered the beetle. "Now, I will have to bid you good-by, but if ever any one takes your crutch down a hole again, send for me and I'll get it back for you."

So the beetle said good-by to the old gentleman rabbit, and went his way, and Uncle Wiggily, after looking at his crutch to be sure the wolf had not bitten a piece out of it, went on looking for his fortune.

"My! It's quite lonesome going by yourself," said the rabbit, as he hopped along through the woods. "I miss the red monkey and the grasshopper and the black beetle. But then they can't always be with me, so I'll have to travel on alone."

On and on he went. Sometimes in the fields he stopped to hear the birds sing, and he heard them talking among themselves about how they must soon get ready to go down South, for cold weather was coming. That made the old gentleman rabbit feel a little sad, and he wished that he could soon go back home, where Sammie and Susie Littletail were waiting for him.

"But I can't go until I find my fortune," he said. "I must look harder than ever for it."

Then, sometimes, when he went through the woods, he heard the little brooks whispering to the ferns, how that soon there would be ice and snow all over, with boys and girls skating and sliding down hill.

"Burr-r-r-r-r-r! That makes me shiver!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I, too, must get ready for winter. Oh, if I could only find that gold and those diamonds I'd go right straight home, and never travel about any more."

So he looked under stones and down in hollow stumps, but not a piece of gold nor a sparkling diamond could he find. Then it began to get late, and the sun was darkened behind the clouds.

"I wonder where I can stay to-night?" thought Uncle Wiggily. "I must pick out a nice, big stump, fill it with leaves, and sleep in there."

Well, it didn't take him long to find what he wanted, and he prepared his bed for the night. Then he built a little fire in front of the stump and cooked his supper. He ate some carrots and a turnip sandwich with peanut butter on it, and the last thing he ate was a large piece of cherry pie. Then he washed the dishes and, curling up on the soft leaves, he was soon asleep, dreaming of his little nephew and niece, Sammie and Susie.

Now, about midnight, the savage alligator, who hadn't had anything to eat in a long time, started out to find something. And pretty soon he came to the stump where Uncle Wiggily was sleeping.

"Ah, there is a good meal for me!" cried the skillery-scalery creature, as he reared up on the end of his double-jointed tail and put his long nose down in the hollow stump.

"Hey! What's this? Who is it? Has the red monkey come back?" cried the rabbit, suddenly awakening. "I'm glad to see you, Mr. Monkey. Here is some cherry pie for you."

And then, being only half awake, Uncle Wiggily took a large piece of the pie and held it out, thinking he was giving it to the monkey. But it slipped from his hand and it fell right into the alligator's face.

And the cherry juice ran down into the eyes of the skillery-scalery creature, and tickled him so that he sneezed, and then he ran away, for he thought the red monkey might possibly be in the stump, and the alligator was afraid the monkey might throw hot potatoes down his throat.

Uncle Wiggily looked out of the stump, and by the light of the silvery moon he saw the alligator running away, and that was the first time he knew it was the skillery creature, and not the monkey, who had come in so suddenly.

"My! That was a narrow escape!" cried the rabbit. "It's a good thing I took that cherry pie to bed with me. I must be on the watch, for the alligator may come back." But the skillery-scalery creature, with the double-jointed tail, didn't return, though Uncle Wiggily didn't sleep very good the rest of the night on account of being so anxious and worrying so much.

And in the morning when he awakened from a little nap the old gentleman rabbit felt very strange. He tried to get up, but he found that he couldn't. He was as dizzy as if he had been on a merry-go-round and he felt very ill.

"It must have been the fright the alligator gave me," he thought. "Oh, dear, what shall I do? Here I am, all alone in this stump in the woods, and no one to help me. Oh, I'm a poor, forsaken old rabbit, and nobody loves me! Oh, if Sammie or Susie were only here. I'm sure----"

And just then there was a scratching sound outside the stump.

"Hark! What's that?" whispered the rabbit. "That must be the alligator coming back to get me! And I can't even get up to throw some cherry pie at him. Oh, if the red monkey or the black beetle would only come!"

Then the scratching noise sounded some more, and Uncle Wiggily was getting so frightened that he didn't know what to do. And then, all of a sudden, he saw something white at the top hole of the stump, and a voice exclaimed:

"Well, if there isn't my dear old Uncle Wiggily! And you are ill, I know you are. I can tell by the way your nose twinkles."

"Indeed, I am ill," said the poor rabbit, "but who are you?" For you know he couldn't see well, as his glasses had fallen off.

"Oh, I am Kittie Kat," said the voice, and there, surely enough, was the little pussy girl. She had been away on her summer vacation, and was just coming back to get ready for school when she happened to walk through the woods. There she heard a voice in the stump, and, going to look, she saw Uncle Wiggily.

"Oh, how glad I am to see you, Kittie Kat," said the rabbit.

"And how sorry I am to see you ill," said the pussy girl. "But don't worry. I'm going to make you well. Just keep quiet."

Then that brave little pussy girl scurried around, and gathered some leaves from a plant called catnip.

"For," said Kittie, "if catnip is good for cats, it must be good for rabbits." So she made some hot catnip tea, and gave it to Uncle Wiggily, and in an hour he was all better and could sit up. Then Kittie made him some toast with some slices of yellow carrots on it, and he felt better still, and by noon he was as good as ever.

"But I don't know what I would have done, only for you, Kittie Kat," said the rabbit. "Thank you, very much. Now I can travel on and seek my fortune."

"And I'll come with you," spoke Kittie Kat. So they traveled on together, and they had an adventure the next day. I'll tell you about it right away, for the next story will be of Uncle Wiggily and Jennie Chipmunk--that is, if the green trunk up in the attic doesn't go off on a vacation all by itself down to Asbury Grove, and hide in the sand to scare the popcorn man.

STORY XXIX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND JENNIE

"Now, Uncle Wiggily," said Kittie Kat, as she and the old gentleman rabbit went along, the day after he had been cured by the catnip tea, "you must take good care of yourself. Keep in the shade, and walk slowly, for I don't want you to get sick again."

"And I don't want to myself," spoke Uncle Wiggily, "for I want to find my fortune."

"Oh, I think you will, and very soon," said Kittie. "I dreamed last night of a pile of gold and diamonds, and I'm sure you will soon be rich, so that you can come back home, and live with us all again."

"Where was the pile of gold of which you dreamed?" asked the rabbit. "Was it at the end of the rainbow? Because, if it was, there is no use to think of it. I once looked there and found nothing."

"No, it wasn't there," said Kittie, shaking her head. "I don't know where it was because I awakened before my dream was over, but I'm sure you will soon find your fortune. Now remember to walk slowly, and keep in the shade."

So she and Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on. Once they came to a big hill, which they could hardly climb, and they didn't know what to do. But they happened to meet a friendly mud turtle, who was very strong, and who had a large, broad shell.

"Get on my back," said the turtle, "and I will take you up the hill. I go slowly, but I am very sure. You will have time to rest yourselves while I am climbing up."

So Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat got on the turtle's back, and in time he took them up the hill. Then, after traveling on a little farther, they came to a broad river.

"Oh, how shall we ever get across?" asked Kittie.

"Perhaps I can make a boat," said the rabbit. He was looking for some wood and some broad leaves with which to make a sail, when along came swimming a big goldfish.

"Just perch upon my back," the fish said, "and I will be very glad to take you across."

"But you swim under water, and we will get all wet," objected Uncle Wiggily.

"No, I will swim with my back away up out of water," said the goldfish, and this he did, so that the rabbit and the pussy girl were taken safely over to the other side of the river and they never even so much as wet their eyelashes.

"Perhaps I may find my fortune over here," spoke Uncle Wiggily, as he hopped along after thanking the goldfish. He looked on the ground, and up in the air, but no fortune could he find.

"There is a little house, made of leaves and bark over there," said Kittie, pointing through the woods, "let us go and see who is in it."

"Perhaps a bear lives there," said the rabbit.

"It is too small for a bear's house," decided Kittie.

But as they came close to it they heard a scratching noise inside, and they thought perhaps it might be the fuzzy fox. And then, all of a sudden, they heard a voice singing this song:

"I sweep, I sew, I dust, I mend, From morning until night. And then I wash the plates and cups. And scrub the table white.

"I love to make a pudding, Also a pie and cake. And when I do my ironing, Potatoes do I bake.

"Now I must hurry--hurry, To get a meal for you, And then I'll go and gather A hickory nut or two."

"Why, I know who that is!" cried Kittie Kat.

"Who?" asked Uncle Wiggily, making his nose twinkle like three stars and a moon on a frosty night.

"It's Jennie Chipmunk!" cried Kittie. "I just know it is. Oh, Jennie!" she called. "Is that you?"

"Yes, who is it that wants me?" asked a voice, and out from the tiny house stepped the little chipmunk girl. She had on her sweeping cap, and her apron, and in one hand was a cloth and in the other a plate she was drying.

"Well, well, Jennie, you're as busy as ever, I see!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "But are you living here?"

"Hush! No," answered Jennie Chipmunk. "I don't live here, but in this house is a dear old lady squirrel, who is so feeble that she can't get around and do all her work. So every day I come over and clean up for her, and get her meals. Oh, I just love to work!" cried Jennie.

"I believe you," spoke the rabbit. "But can't we help?"

"Of course we can," decided Kittie. "You get some wood for the fire, Uncle Wiggily, and Jennie and I will do the housework."

Then the rabbit and Kittie went in the little house, and Jennie Chipmunk introduced them to the old lady squirrel, who had to lie down in bed most of the time.

"Oh, I am very glad to see you," she said in her gentle voice. "I don't know what I would do without Jennie. She is such a help; aren't you, Jennie?"

But Jennie wasn't there to answer, for she had skipped out into the kitchen to finish the dishes, and she was singing away as she hurried along as happy as a grasshopper.

Then Uncle Wiggily brought in a lot of wood, and with Kittie to help with the sweeping and dusting, the house was soon as neat as a piece of apple pie on a Sunday morning.

"Now we must go out and gather some nuts for the old lady squirrel," said Jennie.

"What will we carry them in?" asked Kittie.

"Oh, there is a basket for you, and Uncle Wiggily can use his valise, and as for me," said Jennie, "I have little pockets in each side of my cheeks, you know." And it's really true, a chipmunk has little pouches or pockets one on each side of its face. You look the next time you see one, and notice how a chipmunk's cheeks stick out when it has a lot of nuts to carry.

So the nuts were soon gathered for the old lady squirrel, and then Jennie made a cup of tea for Uncle Wiggily and Kittie. And as they sat in the house drinking it, and talking cheerfully to the old lady squirrel, all of a sudden the fuzzy old fox came along and tried to get in. But Uncle Wiggily saw him through the window, and quickly shut and locked the door.

"Never mind," cried the fox, as he sat down outside and licked his lips. "I'll wait until you come out, Mr. Rabbit, and then I'll get you."

"Oh! what shall we do?" cried Kittie Kat in great fright.

"I'll show you," said Jennie Chipmunk. So she took the big dusting brush down off the nail, and she stuck the brush out of the window, and she waved it at the fox--waved the brush, not the window you know.

And when that fox saw the fuzzy brush waving, he thought it was the bushy tail of Old Dog Percival. And the fox was so afraid of dogs that then and there he gave three separate and distinct howls, and away he ran as fast as his legs would take him and so Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat could come out.

"My! But you are a smart little girl, Jennie Chipmunk," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I never would have thought of that."

Then Jennie sang her song again, and made a cherry pie for the rabbit, and he and Kittie traveled on, and the next day something else happened. I'll tell you about it right soon, when the story will be of Uncle Wiggily going berrying; that is, if the peanut man doesn't put a watermelon in the baby carriage and break the wheels so the rag doll can't eat her sawdust cake.

STORY XXX

UNCLE WIGGILY GOES BERRYING

"Well, this is a beautiful day," said Kittie Kat, as she and Uncle Wiggily walked along through the woods one morning.

"Yes, this weather is very nice," agreed the old gentleman rabbit. "I ought to find my fortune to-day. I have been traveling after it a long time, and I am getting quite tired."

Kittie Kat looked at him, and she was sorry to see that Uncle Wiggily appeared quite old. He was bending over as he walked, and he had to go very slowly, for his rheumatism was quite painful, even though he had his crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made for him out of a cornstalk.

"Poor old rabbit," thought the pussy girl. "I hope that he finds his fortune soon, or it will not be of much use to him. I must look as hard as I can."

So, as they went along Kittie Kat looked under all the stones and behind the bushes and down in hollow stumps. And once, when she lifted up a stone with her claws, she saw something glittering under it.

"Oh, here is a diamond!" she cried, but it was only a piece of glass.

And, a little later Uncle Wiggily saw something shining under a big log. He cried out:

"Oh, joy! I have found some gold." But it was only a shining piece of tin. They were both much disappointed, but they kept on, still searching.

At last they came to a house that was built just on the edge of a deep, dark, dismal wood, and there was some smoke coming from the chimney of this house.

"I'm going there and ask if they know where I can find my fortune," said Uncle Wiggily.

"Better not," spoke Kittie Kat. "There may be a wolf or a fox in there. Better not."

So Uncle Wiggily looked carefully on the ground all about the little house, and then he said:

"No, Kittie Kat, a fox or a wolf can't live in here, or I could see the marks of their feet in the mud. I think a man or a woman lives in that house, and I am going to knock on the door, for they surely will be kind to us."

So, with the pussy girl following behind, Uncle Wiggily went up to the door of the little house, and knocked: "Rat-a-tat-tat!"

"Ha! Who is there?" asked a quivering-quavering voice.

"It is I--Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and I am looking for my fortune," he said.

Then the door suddenly opened, and there stood a little old woman, in a green dress, and she had such a long nose and such a long chin that they almost touched, and if she had been strong enough she could have cracked a nut between them.

"Oh, that's an old witch!" cried Kittie Kat.

"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "There are no such things as witches. Besides, it isn't polite to call names, Kittie Kat."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the pussy girl, looking at her tail.

"That's all right," said the old lady kindly, and she smiled. And when she did this she wasn't at all bad looking, but instead, very nice. "Lots of people think I'm a witch," she said, "and they won't come near me. But I'm not, and I love boys and girls and animals."

"I am so old, however, that I can't go very far from home, and I would like to go off in the woods, and get some berries to make a berry pie. But alas! and alack-a-day! I cannot. But what was it you wanted, Uncle Wiggily?"

"I wanted to know if you could tell me where to find my fortune," said the rabbit.

"Yes," answered the old lady in the green dress, "I think I can tell you where to find your fortune. If you will travel on for three days more you will come to a little hill. Go up this hill, and down the other side, and there, at the bottom, you will find your fortune."

"Oh, joy!" cried the rabbit gentleman.

"How lovely!" exclaimed Kittie Kat. "Oh, how glad I am. Let's start off at once, Uncle Wiggily."

"No, not at once," said the old gentleman rabbit. "First I must do a kindness to this good old lady. I heard you say you would like some berries," he went on, "so I will go and get them."

"And I will come also," said Kittie Kat.

"It is very kind of you," spoke the old lady with the long nose and the pointed chin. So she gave them a basket in which to put the berries, and away went Uncle Wiggily and the pussy girl.

Soon they came to where there were a whole lot of bushes and they began picking the berries. The basket was almost full, and the rabbit was wondering if the lady would give him some of the berry pie after she made it, when, all of a sudden, there was a rustling in the bushes and out sprang a savage wolf.

"Ah, ha!" he growled, as he showed his sharp teeth, "now I have you both! Oh, what a good meal I will have!"

"Oh, please do not eat us!" begged the rabbit. "I am just about to find my fortune; can't you wait until after that?"

"No!" growled the wolf. Then he crouched down, ready for a spring. Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat were too frightened to move. They looked all around for help, but all they could see were the berry bushes. And one bush seemed redder than the others. In fact, it was as red as red ink, and, as the rabbit looked at it this bush seemed to move.

"Here I come!" cried the wolf, and he jumped up into the air. But, as he did so the very red bush seemed to leap also, and then this bush grabbed the wolf by his tail, swung him around and around and tossed him away up in the top of a tall tree.

"There! I'll teach you to play tricks on Uncle Wiggily," cried a voice, and then the red bush came over to the rabbit, and instead of being a bush it was the red monkey, and he had come along just in time to save the rabbit and the pussy. You see he looked so much like a berry bush, as he crouched down, that the wolf didn't know him, and neither did Uncle Wiggily.

"Well, this is a joyful surprise!" cried the rabbit, as he and Kittie Kat thanked the red monkey. "I'm glad to see you once more."

Then the wolf ran howling away through the woods, and the monkey helped the rabbit and the pussy girl to fill the basket with berries and they took them to the old lady, who made a pie as big as the wash basin.

And the next day the rabbit started off after the gold and diamonds. And, in case the lead pencil doesn't crawl up the white wall and make a funny picture of a man riding on an elephant, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily finding his fortune.

STORY XXXI

UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE

The little old lady in the green dress, whose nose and chin nearly touched, was very glad to get the berries which Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat gathered. She was very sorry that the wolf had frightened them, but she thought it was just fine of the red monkey to come along when he did.

"And I just wish you could have seen him toss the wolf over the tree-tops by his tail," said the old gentleman rabbit. "It was as good as going to the circus."