"Oh, thank you!" said the mother of the puppy dog boys. "I'm glad toget my thimble back, but I was really looking for Peetie and Jackie."
"You don't mean to say they have run away, do you?" asked UncleWiggily, in surprise.
"No, not exactly run away. But they have not come home from school,though the lady mouse, who teaches in the hollow stump, must have letthe animal children out long ago."
"She did," Uncle Wiggily said. "I came past the hollow stump school onmy way here, and every one was gone."
"Then where can Jackie and Peetie be keeping themselves?" asked Mrs.Bow Wow. "Oh, I'm so worried about them!"
"Don't be worried or frightened," said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "I'll golook for them for you."
"Oh, if you will I'll be so glad!" cried Mrs. Bow Wow. "And if youfind them please tell them to come home at once."
"I will," promised the bunny uncle.
Giving the dog lady her thimble, Uncle Wiggily set off through thewoods to look for Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow. On every side of thewoodland path he peered, under trees and bushes and around the cornersof moss-covered rocks and big stumps.
But no little puppy dog chaps could he find.
All at once, as Mr. Longears was going past an old log he heard arustling in the bushes, and a voice said:
"Well, we nearly caught them, didn't we?"
"We surely did," said another voice. "And I think if we race afterthem once more we'll certainly have them. Let's rest here a bit, andthen chase those puppy dogs some more. That Jackie is a good runner."
"I think Peetie is better," said the other voice. "Anyhow, they bothgot away from us."
"Ha! This must be Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow they are talking about,"said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "This sounds like trouble. So thepuppy dogs were chased, were they? I must see by whom."
He peeked through the bushes, and there he saw two big, bad foxes,whose tongues were hanging out over their white teeth, for the foxeshad run far and they were tired.
"I see how it is," Uncle Wiggily thought. "The foxes chased the littlepuppy dogs as they were coming from school and Jackie and Peetie haverun somewhere and hidden. I must find them."
Just then one of the foxes cried:
"Come on. Now we'll chase after those puppies, and get them. Come on!"
"Ha! I must go, too!" thought Uncle Wiggily. "Maybe I can scare awaythe foxes, and save Jackie and Peetie."
So the foxes ran and Uncle Wiggily also ran, and pretty soon the rabbitgentleman came to a place in the woods where grew a tree with big whiteblossoms on it, and in the center the blossoms were colored a dark red.
"Ha! There are the puppy boys under that tree!" cried one fox, and,surely enough, there, right under the tree, Jackie and Peetie werecrouched, trembling and much frightened.
"We'll get them!" cried the other fox. "Come on!"
And then, all of a sudden, as the foxes leaped toward the poor littlepuppy dog boys, that tree began to hark and growl and it cried out loud:
"Get away from here, you bad foxes! Leave Jackie and Peetie alone!Wow! Bow-wow! Gurr-r-r-r!" and the tree barked and roared so like alion that the foxes were frightened and were glad enough to run away,taking their tails with them. Then Jackie and Peetie came safely out,and thanked the tree for taking care of them.
The tree barked and roared so like a lion that the foxeswere frightened and were glad enough to run away.]
"Oh, you are welcome," said the tree. "I am the dogwood tree, youknow, so why should I not bark and growl to scare foxes, and take careof you little puppy chaps? Come to me again whenever any bad foxeschase you." And Peetie and Jackie said they would.
So Uncle Wiggily, after also thanking the tree, took the doggie boyshome, and they told him how the foxes had chased them soon after theycame from school, so they had to run.
But everything came out all right, you see, and if the black catdoesn't dip his tail in the ink, and make chalk marks all over thepiano, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the hazel nuts.
STORY XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE HAZEL NUTS
"Going out again, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, onemorning, as she saw the rabbit gentleman taking his red, white andblue-striped rheumatism crutch down off the clock shelf.
"Well, yes, Janie, I did think of going out for a little stroll in theforest," answered the bunny uncle, talking like a phonograph. What hemeant was that he was going for a walk in the woods, but he thoughthe'd be polite about it, and stylish, just for once.
"Don't forget your umbrella," went on Nurse Jane. "It looks to me verymuch as though there would be a storm."
"I think you're right," Uncle Wiggily said. "Our April showers are notyet over. I shall take my umbrella."
So, with his umbrella, and the rheumatism crutch which Nurse Jane hadgnawed for him out of a cornstalk, off started the bunny uncle, hoppingalong over the fields and through the woods.
Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily met Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy.
"Where are you going, Johnnie?" asked the rabbit gentleman. "Are youhere in the woods, looking for an adventure? That's what I'm doing."
"No, Uncle Wiggily," answered the squirrel boy. "I'm not looking foran adventure. I'm looking for hazel nuts."
"Hazel nuts?" cried the bunny uncle in surprise.
"Yes," went on Johnnie. "You know they're something like chestnuts,only without the prickly burrs, and they're very good to eat. Theygrow on bushes, instead of trees. I'm looking for some to eat. Theyare nice, brown, shiny nuts."
"Good!" cried the rabbit gentleman. "We'll go together looking forhazel nuts, and perhaps we may also find an adventure. I'll take theadventure and you can take the hazel nuts."
"All right!" laughed Johnnie, and off they started.
On and over the fields and through the woods went the bunny uncle andJohnnie, until, just as they were close to the place where some extraearly new kind of Spring hazel nuts grew on bushes, there was a noisebehind a big black stump--and suddenly out pounced a bear!
"Oh, hello, Neddie Stubtail!" called Johnnie. And he was just going upand shake paws when Uncle Wiggily cried:
"Look out, Johnnie! Wait a minute! That isn't your friend Neddie!"
"Isn't it?" asked Johnnie, surprised-like, and he drew back.
"No, it's a bad old bear--not our nice Neddie, at all! And I think heis going to chase us! Get ready to run!"
So Johnnie Bushytail and Uncle Wiggily got ready to run. And it was agood thing they did, for just then the bear gave a growl, like alollypop when it falls off the stick, and the bear said:
"Ah, ha! And oh, ho! A rabbit and a squirrel! Fine for me!Tag--your it!" he cried, and he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily andJohnnie.
But do you s'pose the bunny uncle and the squirrel boy stayed there tobe caught? Indeed, they did not!
"Over this way! Quick!" cried Johnnie. "Here is a hazel nut bush,Uncle Wiggily. We can hide under that and the bear can't get us!"
"Good!" said the bunny uncle. And he and Johnnie quickly ran and hidunder the hazel nut bush, which was nearby.
The bear looked all around as he heard Uncle Wiggily and Johnnierunning away, and when he saw where they had gone he laughed until hiswhiskers twinkled, almost like the rabbit gentleman's pink nose, andthen the bear said:
"Ha, ha! and Ho, ho! So you thought you could get away from me thatway, did you? Well, you can't. I can see you hiding under that bushalmost as plainly as I can see the sun shining. Here I come after you."
"Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "What shall we do, Johnnie? I don'twant the bear to get you or me."
"And I don't either," spoke the little squirrel boy.
"I wonder if I could scare him away with my umbrella, Johnnie?" went onUncle Wiggily. "I might if I could make believe it was a gun. Haveyou any talcum powder to shoot?"
"No," said Johnnie, sadly, "I have not, I am sorry to say."
"Have you any bu
llets?" asked the bunny uncle.
"No bullets, either," answered Johnnie, more sadly.
"Then I don't see anything for us to do but let the bear get us,"sorrowfully said Mr. Longears. "Here he comes, Johnnie."
"But he sha'n't get us!" quickly cried the squirrel boy, as the bearmade a jump for the bush under which the bunny and Johnnie were hiding."He sha'n't get us!"
"Why not?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Because," said Johnnie, "I have just thought of something. You askedme for bullets a while ago. I have none, but the hazel nut bush has.Come, good Mr. Hazel Bush, will you save us from the bear?" askedJohnnie.
"Right gladly will I do that," the kind bush said.
"Then, when he comes for us!" cried Johnnie, "just rattle down, allover on him, all the hard nuts you can let fall. They will hit him onhis ears, and on his soft and tender nose, and that will make him runaway and leave us alone."
"Good!" whispered the hazel nut bush, rustling its leaves. "But whatabout you and Uncle Wiggily? If I rattle the nuts on the bear theywill also fall on you two, as long as you are hiding under me."
"Have no fear of that!" said the bunny uncle. "I have my umbrella, andI will raise that and keep off the falling nuts."
Then the bear, with a growl, made a dash to get Uncle Wiggily andJohnnie. But the hazel bush shivered and shook himself and"Rattle-te-bang! Bung-bung! Bang!" down came the hazel nuts all overthe bear.
"Oh, wow!" he cried, as they hit him on his soft and tender nose. "Oh,wow! I guess I'd better run away. It's hailing!"
And he did run. And because of Uncle Wiggily's umbrella held over hishead, the nuts did not hurt him or Johnnie at all. And when the bearhad run far away the squirrel boy gathered all the nuts he wanted, andhe and Uncle Wiggily went safely home. And the bear's nose was sorefor a week.
So if the hickory nut cake doesn't try to sit in the same seat with theapple pie and get all squeezed like a lemon pudding, I'll tell you nextabout Uncle Wiggily and Susie's dress.
STORY XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND SUSIE'S DRESS
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was reading thepaper in his hollow stump bungalow, in the woods, while Nurse JaneFuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady house-keeper, was out in the kitchenwashing the dinner dishes one afternoon.
All of a sudden Uncle Wiggily fell asleep because he was reading abed-time story in the paper, and while he slept he heard a noise at thefront door, which sounded like:
"Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!"
"My goodness!" suddenly exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, awakening out of hissleep. "That sounds like the forest woodpecker bird making holes in atree."
"No, it isn't that," spoke Nurse Jane. "It's some one tapping at ourfront door. I can't answer because my paws are all covered withsoapy-suds dishwater."
"Oh, I'll go," said Uncle Wiggily, and laying aside the paper overwhich he had fallen asleep, he opened the door. On the porch stoodSusie Littletail, the rabbit girl.
"Why, hello Susie!" exclaimed the bunny uncle. "Where are you goingwith your nice new dress?" for Susie did have on a fine new waist andskirt, or maybe it was made in one piece for all I know. And her newdress had on it ruffles and thing-a-ma-bobs and curley-cues andinsertions and Georgette crepe and all sorts of things like that.
"Where are you going, Susie?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"I am going to a party," answered the little rabbit girl. "Lulu andAlice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, are going to have a party, and theyasked me to come. So I came for you."
"But I'm not going to the party!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I haven'tbeen invited."
"That doesn't make any difference," spoke Susie with a laugh. "Youknow they'll be glad to see you, anyhow. And I know Lulu meant to askyou, only she must have forgotten about it, because there is so much todo when you have a party."
"I know there is," Uncle Wiggily said, "and I don't blame Lulu andAlice a bit for not asking me. Anyhow I couldn't go, for I promised tocome over this afternoon and play checkers with Grandfather GooseyGander."
"Oh, but won't you walk with me to the party?" asked Susie, sort ofteasing like. "I'm afraid to go through the woods alone, becauseJohnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, said you and he met a bear thereyesterday."
"We did!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "But the hazel bush drove him away byshowering nuts on his nose."
"Well, I might not be so lucky as to have a hazelnut bush to help me,"spoke Susie. "So I'd be very glad if you would walk through the woodswith me. You can scare away the bear if we meet him."
"How?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "With my red, white and blue crutch or myumbrella?"
"With this popgun, which shoots toothpowder," said Susie. "It belongsto Sammie, my brother, but he let me take it. We'll bring the popgunwith us, Uncle Wiggily, and scare the bear."
"All right," said the bunny uncle. "That's what we'll do. I'll go asfar as the Wibblewobble duck house with you and leave you there at theparty."
This made Susie very glad and happy, and soon she and Uncle Wiggilywere going through the woods together. Susie's new dress was very fineand she kept looking at it as she hopped along.
All of a sudden, as the little rabbit girl and the bunny uncle weregoing along through the woods, they came to a mud puddle.
"Look out, now!" said Uncle Wiggily. "Don't fall in that, Susie."
"I won't," said the little rabbit girl. "I can easily jump across it."
But when she tried to, alas! Likewise unhappiness. Her hind pawsslipped and into the mud puddle she fell with her new dress. "Splash!"she went.
"Oh, dear!" cried Susie.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"Look at my nice, new dress," went on Susie. "It isn't at all nice andnew now. It's all mud and water and all splashed up, and--oh, dear!Isn't it too bad!"
"Yes, besides two it is even six, seven and eight bad," said UncleWiggily sadly. "Oh, dear!"
"I can't go to the Wibblewobble party this way," cried Susie. "I'llhave to go back home to get another dress, and it won't be my newone--and oh, dear!"
"Perhaps I can wipe off the mud with some leaves and moss," UncleWiggily spoke. "I'll try."
But the more he rubbed at the mud spots on Susie's dress the worse theylooked.
"Oh, you can't do it, Uncle Wiggily!" sighed the little rabbit girl.
"No, I don't believe I can," Uncle Wiggily admitted, sadly-like andsorry.
"Oh, dear!" cried Susie. "Whatever shall I do? I can't go to a partylooking like this! I just must have a new dress."
Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then, through the woods, he spieda tree with white, shiny bark on, just like satin.
"Ha! I know what to do!" he cried. "That is a white birch tree.Indians make boats of the bark, and from it I can also make a new dressfor you, Susie. Or, at least, a sort of dress, or apron, to go overthe dress you have on, and so cover the mud spots."
"Please do!" begged Susie.
"I will!" promised Uncle Wiggily, and he did.
He stripped off some bark from the birch tree and he sewed the piecestogether with ribbon grass, and some needles from the pine tree. Andwhen Susie put on the bark dress over her party one, not a mud spotshowed!
"Oh, that's fine, Uncle Wiggily!" she cried. "Now I can go to theWibblewobbles!"
And so she went, and the bad bear never came out to so much as growl,nor did the fox, so the popgun was not needed. And all the girls atthe party thought Susie's dress that Uncle Wiggily had made was justfine.
So if the rain drop doesn't fall out of bed, and stub its toe on therocking chair, which might make it so lame that it couldn't dance, I'lltell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Tommie's kite.
STORY XX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE'S KITE
"Uncle Wiggily, have you anything special to do today?" asked TommieKat, the little kitten boy, one morning as he knocked on the door ofthe hollow stump bungalow, where Mr. Longears, the rabbit gentleman,li
ved.
"Anything special to do? Why, no, I guess not," answered the bunnyuncle. "I just have to go walking to look for an adventure to happento me, and then--"
"Didn't you promise to go to the five and ten cent store for me, andbuy me a pair of diamond earrings?" asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, themuskrat lady housekeeper.
"Oh, so I did!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I had forgotten about that. ButI'll go. What was it you wanted of me?" he asked Tommie Kat, who wasmaking a fishpole of his tail by standing it straight up in the air.
"Oh, I wanted you to come and help me build a kite, and then come withme and fly it," said the kitten boy. "Could you do that, UncleWiggily?"
"Well, perhaps I could," said the bunny uncle. "I will first go to thestore and get Nurse Jane's diamond earrings. Then, on the way back,I'll stop and help you with your kite. And after that is done I'll goalong and see if I can find an adventure."
"That will be fun!" cried Tommie. "I have everything all ready to makethe kite--paper, sticks, paste and string. We'll make a big one andfly it away up in the air."
So off through the woods started Uncle Wiggily and Tommie to the fiveand ten cent store. There they bought the diamond earrings for NurseJane, who wanted to wear them to a party Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the henlady, was going to have next week.
"And now to make the kite!" cried Tommie, as he and Uncle Wiggilyreached the house where the Kat family lived.