DR. PIGG AND UNCLE WIGGILY
DR. PIGG AND UNCLE WIGGILY
Some one knocked on the door of the pen where Dr. Pigg and his wife and Buddy and Brighteyes lived one day. "Rat-a-tat-tat," went the rapping.
"My! I wonder who that can be?" exclaimed Mrs. Pigg. "Run and see, will you, Buddy, like a good boy?"
So Buddy hurried to the door, and whom should be see standing there but Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit; and Uncle Wiggily had rapped with his crutch, which had made the funny sound.
"Why, how d'do!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg as soon as he saw who it was. "Come right in Uncle Wiggily! This is an unexpected pleasure. Brighteyes, get a chair for Uncle Wiggily. Buddy, you take his crutch. Mrs. Pigg, haven't we some of that new cabbage preserved in maple sugar? Bring out a bit for our friend!"
My! you should have seen what a bustling about there was in the pen, and all because Uncle Wiggily had come and because every one was fond of him. Buddy started to take the old gentleman rabbit's crutch, but Uncle Wiggily cried:
"Oh, no! Don't! Not for worlds! Oh, my, no! and an ice cream cone besides! Oh, lobster salad, no!"
"Why, whatever is the matter?" exclaimed Dr. Pigg.
"Oh, my! Ouch! Oh, shingles!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he stepped up over the doorsill. "Oh, dear me, and a baseball bat! It's my rheumatism, as usual. It's something awful, these days."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," cried Brighteyes Pigg.
"And so am I," added Buddy, and they all were, for that matter.
"Rheumatism, eh?" remarked Dr. Pigg, thoughtful-like.
"Yes," went on Uncle Wiggily, as he hobbled over to a chair. "In fact, I came to see you about it, Doctor," and the old rabbit rubbed his leg very, very softly.
"Ah! ha! Ahem!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg, as he puffed himself up, and looked as important as possible. "Of course, I remember now. I sent word to you that I had a new cure for rheumatism. I heard the doctors mention it in the hospital, and I thought I would try it on you."
"That's very kind of you," said Uncle Wiggily, "and you can't try it any too soon, for I am in great pain," and he made such a funny face, with his nose wiggling, and his ears waving back and forth, like fans on a hot night, and his eyes—one looking up and the other down—altogether it was so funny that Buddy and his sister wanted to laugh, only they didn't, for they knew it wouldn't be polite, and might hurt Uncle Wiggily's feelings.
"I will have some medicine for you in a jiffy!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg; a jiffy, you know, being almost as quick as half a wink.
So the guinea pig doctor got a bottle of red medicine, and one of blue, and one of pink, and another bottle of green medicine, and he got some red pills and some black pills and some white powder and some yellow powder and then he took some molasses and maple sugar, and stirred them all up together. Oh, it was a funny-looking mixture I can tell you, all colors of the rainbow, just as when Sammie fell into the pot of Easter dye.
"Now Mrs. Pigg, you stir that up well, and we'll give Uncle Wiggily some as soon as it is cool," said Dr. Pigg, for he had cooked the medicine on the stove.
"It doesn't look very nice," observed Uncle Wiggily sort of anxious-like.
"Rheumatism medicine never does," said Dr. Pigg.
"And it doesn't smell very nice," went on Uncle Wiggily.
"Rheumatism medicines never do," cheerfully said Dr. Pigg, "and, what is more, it doesn't taste very nice, either, Uncle Wiggily; but you must take it, if you are to get well."
"I suppose I must," remarked the old rabbit with a sigh, as Mrs. Pigg kept on stirring the mixture. Well, pretty soon it was cool enough to take.
"Now, Buddy, you bring a spoon," ordered Dr. Pigg, and when the little boy guinea pig brought one, his father poured into it some of the medicine.
"Brighteyes, you get a napkin so he won't spill any of it on his clothes," went on her papa, "and Mrs. Pigg you please be ready with a glass of water, for Uncle Wiggily will want a drink right after he takes this."
Well everything was all ready, and Buddy stood there to help, and so did Brighteyes.
"One, two, three! Take it!" suddenly cried Dr. Pigg, and he poured the teaspoonful of the many-colored mixture down Uncle Wiggily's throat. Brighteyes held the napkin so none of it would get on the rabbit's coat, and Mrs. Pigg was there with the glass of water, which Uncle Wiggily took very quickly.
Well, I wish you could have seen the face Uncle Wiggily made when he swallowed the rheumatism medicine! It was just like a clown in the circus, only funnier. But Brighteyes and Buddy didn't even giggle, which was very kind of them.
"Do you feel any better?" asked Dr. Pigg, after Uncle Wiggily had stopped making faces. "Is the pain gone?"
"No, I can't say that it is," answered the rabbit. "It seems to be worse than ever," and he rubbed his leg and tried to get up, but he couldn't leave the chair, even with his crutch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed for him out of a cornstalk.
"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Dr. Pigg. "I must try a new kind of medicine."
"No, don't!" cried the rabbit. "I had rather have the rheumatism."
"Suppose we try some horse radish leaves, like we did for my toothache?" proposed Buddy, and Mrs. Pigg said that would be good. So they got some leaves, and put them on Uncle Wiggily's leg, but they didn't do any good, neither did mustard, nor nettles, nor any of the other burning things that they tried.
"Oh, dear, I guess I'll have to stay in this chair forever!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he tried to get up and couldn't. "Oh, dear me, and a piece of chewing gum! This is terrible!"
Well, every one was wondering how Uncle Wiggily was ever going to walk again, when all of a sudden, as Buddy looked from the window, he cried out:
"Oh, here comes the big, shaggy yellow dog that was going to eat up Brighteyes and Sister Sallie when they were playing with their dolls! He's coming right this way! Run everybody!"
"Wow!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "A dog! Goodness me!" and, land sakes, if he didn't jump up, seize his crutch and run home as fast as if he never had any rheumatism at all.
You see he was so frightened he forgot all about it for the time being, which was a good thing. But do you s'pose that dog dared to come in the pen and hurt the guinea pigs? No, sir, not a bit of it! The first he knew, Percival, the kind, old circus dog had him by the ear and the bad dog ran away and didn't hurt anybody.
Now, in the next story, if an auto horn doesn't scare me so that I lose my typewriter ribbon I'll tell you about Buddy Pigg being caught by a boy.
BUDDY PIGG IS CAUGHT
BUDDY PIGG IS CAUGHT
Buddy Pigg was sent to the store by his mother, one fine summer day, to get a pound of butter, a loaf of bread and three-and-a-half pounds of granulated sugar, and as that made quite a load to carry Buddy had a basket to put the things in.
"Now don't drop the loaf of bread in the water," said his mamma, "and don't let the butter melt and, above all, don't tear a hole in the bag of sugar, and have it spill out."
"I won't, mother," promised Buddy. "I'll be real careful." So he set out on his journey to the store, while Brighteyes, his sister, stayed home to make the beds and mend the stockings.
Well, Buddy got to the store all right, and bought the things for which his mother had sent him. Then the storekeeper wanted to know how Dr. Pigg and his family were, and he inquired about Uncle Wiggily's rheumatism, and Buddy told about the scare the old gentleman rabbit had had when the big, shaggy yellow dog appeared, and how the old gentleman rabbit ran, and how Percival bit the bad dog.
"That's very interesting," said the storekeeper, and he gave Buddy a whole carrot for himself.
Placing his basket of groceries carefully on his arm, Buddy Pigg started for home. He walked along through the woods, and over the fields, thinking how nice everything was, and what fun he would have when he got home, playing ball with Sammie Littletail, and the Bushytail brothers, when, all at once, what should he hear but a noise in the bushes.
Now Buddy Pigg was always a little afraid when he heard noises, especially in the woods, where he couldn't see what made them, so he crouched down under a burdock leaf in case there might be any danger. And, sure enough, there was.
It wasn't more than a second or, possibly a second and a squeak, before a great, big, bad boy stepped out from behind a tree. And he had a gun with him, and he was looking for birds, or rabbits, or squirrels, or, maybe, guinea pigs to shoot.
That's why I know he was a bad boy, but of course he may have turned out to be a good boy before he got to be so very old. Well, this boy looked up, and he looked down, and he looked first to one side, and then to the other, and then—flopsy-dub, and wiggily-waggily! if he didn't spy poor Buddy Pigg hiding under the burdock leaf, and trembling as hard as he could tremble.
"Ah, ha!" cried that boy, "I have you now, little guinea pig! I'll take you home with me, that's what I'll do! My, to think of catching a live guinea pig! I certainly am a lucky chap!"
Then, before Buddy could run away, which he couldn't have done anyhow, on account of the basket of groceries on his arm, if that boy didn't grab him up in his hands, and hold him tight!
Oh, how frightened poor Buddy was! He was so scared that he could only squeak very faintly, but he did manage to ask the boy to let him go, only the boy didn't understand guinea pig language, as I do, and, even if he had, I doubt very much if he would have let Buddy go, for he was a bad boy as I have explained.
Well, the boy didn't care any more about hunting rabbits or squirrels with his gun that day, as he had caught Buddy, so off he started to take the little guinea pig home with him, and, maybe, he intended to shut him up in a box, or put him in a cage, or do something dreadful like that.
But, listen, pretty soon—oh, I guess in about four jumps and a hop—something is going to happen to that boy. Watch carefully and you'll see it.
On through the woods he went, holding poor Buddy tightly in his hands, and, would you believe me, that boy never noticed that Buddy had a basket of groceries! You see, the basket, of course, was guinea pig size, and so was the loaf of bread and the butter and the sweet sugar. They were so small that the boy didn't notice them, but this was partly because Buddy hid the basket under his paws, for he didn't want anything to happen to the things for which his mother had sent him to the store, you know.
Well, as the boy kept going on through the woods, carrying Buddy farther and farther away from his home, the poor little guinea pig was more frightened than ever.
"Oh, how will I ever get away!" he thought, "I'll never see my mamma, nor Brighteyes, nor my papa, Dr. Pigg, any more! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
No sooner had Buddy said this than he heard a funny little noise in the trees above his head, and, looking up, he saw Billie Bushytail bounding along. There was the squirrel, and he saw right away what the trouble was. And he could talk to Buddy without the boy knowing it, you see; so Billie said:
"Hey, Buddy, take some of the bread, crumble it all up, and toss the crumbs up in the air."
"What for?" asked Buddy.
"Do it, and you'll see," answered Billie. "That will help you to escape."
Now Buddy didn't like to spoil the nice, new loaf of bread he had bought for his mamma, but he thought maybe it would do some good, and he didn't want to be carried away by that boy.
So he broke open the loaf, crumbled some of the white part in his paws, and tossed it high up in the air, so that it fell down in a shower, all around the boy's head, and listen, the boy hadn't noticed Buddy toss up the crumbs.
"My!" exclaimed the boy. "Why, I do declare, if it isn't snowing! Who ever heard of such a thing!" and he really thought the falling bread crumbs were snow flakes. So he turned up his coat collar to keep warm, and began to run, for he didn't want to get snowed under in the woods. But Buddy kept on tossing up the bread crumbs, until the loaf was all gone.
"What shall I do next?" the guinea pig called to Billie Bushytail, who was following along in the trees overhead.
"Open the bag of sugar and throw that up in the air the same way," directed the squirrel, and when Buddy did this the boy heard the sugar rattling down on the leaves and some of it got down his neck, and scratched him.
"Why, I do declare. It's hailing!" he cried. "Who ever heard of such a thing!" So he hurried on faster than ever.
Well, when the sugar was all tossed up, and the boy was running real fast, Billie Bushytail called to Buddy:
"Now throw the pound of butter down in front of the boy!" Which Buddy did as quick as a wink, and lossy-me and a pancake! if that boy didn't slip down in the slippery butter, and fall and hurt his nose, and he had to let go of Buddy Pigg.
"Now's your chance. Run, Buddy, run!" cried Billie, and my, how Buddy Pigg did run; and he got safely away from that bad boy, and was soon at home, where his mother forgave him for throwing away the groceries when she heard the story.
Dr. Pigg said Billie was very smart to think of such a thing, and I believe so myself. Now in case you don't burn yourself with a firecracker and lose your penny down a hole in the sidewalk, I'm going to tell you in the next story about Buddy and Brighteyes' Fourth of July.
BUDDY'S AND BRIGHTEYES' FOURTH OF JULY
BUDDY'S AND BRIGHTEYES' FOURTH OF JULY
One day, when Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg were playing out in front of their pen, Buddy suddenly exclaimed:
"Why, just think of it! Day after to-morrow is Fourth of July, Brighteyes. Won't we have lots of fun?"
"What will we do?" asked his sister.
"Oh, shoot off firecrackers and torpedoes, and make lots of noise, and at night we'll send up Roman candles and skyrockets; and oh! it will be better than a circus."
"Oh, you boys!" exclaimed Brighteyes. "You always want to make a racket and have excitement. It's horrid, I think."
"Oh, I s'pose you'll play with your dolls, or something like that," said Buddy, laughing at his sister, who was very serious.
"Yes, that's what I'm going to do," replied Brighteyes. "I'm going to play with Sister Sallie, and Alice and Lulu Wibblewobble, and Jennie Chipmunk, and we're going for a picnic in the woods."
"Look out that a big fox or a bad dog doesn't get you," said Buddy. "Well, I'm going off to find Sammie and Billie and Johnnie and Jimmie and Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, and Bully and Bawly Frog, and we'll have a fine time on the Fourth."
"Where are you going to get your firecrackers and things?" asked Brighteyes.
"You'll see," answered Buddy, as he ran off.
Well, Fourth of July came at last, just as it always does, and early in the morning Buddy Pigg awoke.
"Where are you going?" called his papa.
"Out to shoot off some firecrackers," answered Buddy.
"Be careful you don't get burned," cautioned his mother. "Oh dear! I don't like the Fourth of July. If you do get burned. Buddy, run right in and let papa attend to you."
"I can't get burned with the kind of firecrackers and torpedoes I'm going to use," answered the little boy guinea pig, and he laughed as he ran out.
Well, pretty soon, along came all his friends, Billie and Johnnie and Sammie, and all the rest. They were so excited that Bawly, the frog, didn't think to sing a song, or recite any poetry.
"What shall we do first?" asked Buddy.
"Let's play war," suggested Sammie. "We'll divide up into two armies, and have a battle. It will be great!"
So they divided into two sides, and Buddy was the general on one side, and Billie Bushytail on the other. Then the fight began—not real, you understand—but make-believe.
First the loud cannons shot off; and what do you suppose the cannons were? Why big stones, that the squirrels and rabbits and the other animal boys held and clapped together as loud as anything. You know stones can make a terrible racket when they are hit together real hard. Well, it sounded like regular cannon, and the birds in the wood got awfully scared.
"Now fire your guns!" cried General Buddy Pigg, and his soldiers took sticks, and snapped them in two pieces and broke them, until they sounded like real guns, or a lot of firecrackers going off.
Oh, it was fine, and the best of it was nobody could get hurt, or burned, either.
"Now shoot them with your torpedoes!" cried General Billie Bushytail, and all at once his side began firing off torpedoes at a great rate; until you would have thought the woods were on fire. And you would never guess what the torpedoes were, so I'll tell you. They were big, rose petals, blown up with air until they were like little pink and red balloons, and tied around with a string, just as you tie a paper bag around the neck, after you've blown it up, to burst it, and when those rose-torpedoes were cracked down on a flat stone—my! you should have heard the noise!
Well, lots of them were fired off, and then Buddy Pigg got some empty bags, and his soldiers blew them up, and they cracked 'em down, and they went off "Boom! Boom!" like great, big cannons. They blew dust up in the air, to pretend it was smoke, and there was the most terrible make-believe battle you ever heard of. But nobody was hurt, and they had lots of fun, and the best of it was that neither side won, which made everybody happy.
"Now we'll take a rest," said Buddy Pigg. "I wonder what Brighteyes and the others are doing?"
"Let's go see," proposed Billie Bushytail.
So they all marched off through the woods, just like real soldiers, and pretty soon they came to the place where Brighteyes and Sister Sallie and all the girls were having a picnic.
"You're just in time," called Brighteyes.
"Come and have some lunch, and some lemonade. You must be tired after all that fighting." Now wasn't she kind, even after Buddy had laughed at the idea of a picnic being better than a battle? Well, I just guess! Those soldiers were glad enough to eat the lunch, and drink the lemonade, I can tell you.
So the soldiers and the girls sat there in the woods under the trees and had a fine time—almost as good as at the make-believe battle, I think—and after a while, just as Buddy and his chums were getting ready to go back and shoot some more stick-firecrackers and roseleaf torpedoes, what should happen but that bad fox and that mean, old, yellow, shaggy dog ran right out of the woods.
"Let's eat everything up!" cried the fox, waving his big tail.
"Yes, and then we'll eat the squirrels and rabbits and guinea pigs all up!" cried the dog, gnashing his teeth and blinking his eyes as bold as bold could be.
At first even the soldiers were so frightened that they hardly knew what to do, and they were about to run away, when Buddy called out:
"Come on! Let's get our guns and our cannon and shoot them!"
Then he grabbed up some stick-firecrackers and began to break and snap them, and Sammie shot off some roseleaf torpedoes and Billie and Johnnie clapped stones together, and Jimmie and Bully and Bawly threw dust in the air until it looked like smoke, and there was a terrible racket, until—well, sir, if that dog and that fox weren't so frightened that they ran away and didn't even get so much as a crumb of cracker or a drop of lemonade; and it served them right, I think.
Then how thankful the girls were to the brave soldiers. Oh, everything turned out just right, I'm glad to say. That afternoon Buddy and his chums had more Fourth of July fun, and Brighteyes and her friends played with their dolls.
Then at night Buddy and the boys sent up skyrockets and Roman candles (which were sticks covered with lightning bugs), and prettier ones you never saw. And they even had a lightning-bug pinwheel. Oh, it was the nicest Fourth of July that ever was! I hope you children have as nice a one and that none of you get burned or hurt when you celebrate Independence Day. And, if none of you do, why, in the next story I'll tell you about Buddy Pigg trying to buy a tail for himself, because he didn't have any. That is, I will if the lollypop doesn't fall down stairs and break his stick.
BUDDY PIG WANTS A TAIL
BUDDY PIG WANTS A TAIL
The day after the Fourth of July, when he and his sister had had such fun, Buddy Pigg came into the pen, where his mamma was baking tea biscuits for supper, and sat down in a chair by the table where she was working.
He didn't say anything, but just watched his mamma rolling out the crust, or whatever it is they make tea biscuits of, and pretty soon Mrs. Pigg noticed that Buddy didn't seem very happy. His face was all twisted up into a funny sort of a scowl, and every once in a while he would give a long sigh, as though he hadn't a friend in all the world.
"Why, Buddy," Mrs. Pigg asked, when the tea biscuits were ready for the oven, "whatever in the wide, wide world is the matter? Are you sick, or did you burn yourself with a firecracker?"
"No, mother," Buddy answered, "I'm not sick and I didn't burn myself with a firecracker, but I wish—I wish—" and then he stopped, and sort of wiggled his nose.
"Well," asked his mother with a smile, "what do you wish? Remember, though, that I am not a fairy and can't give you anything you want."
"Oh," answered the little boy guinea pig, "this is very easy, mamma. All I want is a tail."
"A tail?" exclaimed his mamma in great surprise, and she wondered if, after all, Buddy wasn't ill, for that was a very strange request. And she began to wish that his papa was home, or that Brighteyes, who was Buddy's sister, was in the house, to help look after him, but Brighteyes had gone to see her aunt, and wouldn't be back till night.
"Yes," went on Buddy, "I want a tail. All the other boys and girls who are friends of mine have them, and I don't see why I can't."
For you see guinea pigs never have tails. Why that is I don't know, except, maybe, it's better that way in hot weather, but, anyhow, they have no tails.
"You don't need a tail," said Buddy's mamma.
"Yes, I do, mother dear," he answered. "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow have tails, and so have Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and the three Wibblewobbles, and—"
"But Bully and Bawly, the frogs, have no tail," said Mrs. Pigg, "and they are happy, Buddy."
"Well, they are in the water so much it doesn't show whether they have a tail or not," went on Buddy.
"And Sammie and Susie Littletail haven't much of a tail, Buddy," said Mrs. Pigg, as she looked in the oven to see if the biscuits were burning.
"I know it, mother, but they have something of a tail," spoke Buddy, "and maybe it will grow longer in time. I'd be glad if I had even as much as Sammie has."
"Well," said Mrs. Pigg, "I'm sorry, Buddy, but I don't see how you are ever going to get a tail. I haven't any, your father hasn't any, and we get along very well. None of your relations have tails and they are happy. They never had any. In fact there has never been a tail in our family and I don't see why you want to start. Now run out and play, like a good boy, and when Brighteyes comes back it will be supper time, and we'll have hot biscuits and honey."
But, though Buddy ran out, he was not happy. There was a frown on his face, and, as he walked through the woods, he kept thinking how nice it would be to have a tail.
Pretty soon, oh, I guess in about a whisper and a squeak, Buddy Pigg heard a rustling in the tree over his head. Then he saw two big, yellow eyes peering down at him from the darkness of the woods, and a voice called out:
"What's the matter, little boy? Why are you so sad?"
"Oh, I feel bad because I haven't a tail," answered Buddy, wondering who was speaking.
"What's the matter? Did some one cut your tail off?" the voice asked.
"No," replied Buddy, "I never had one; but I want one, awfully bad."
"Oh, don't worry about a little thing like that," went on the voice. "I can get a fine tail for you."
"Oh, can you?" cried Buddy, his face lighting up, "are you a fairy?"
"Well, not exactly," was the answer, "but you just run along after me, and I'll get a tail for you, in less than no time."
Then there was a rustling in the branches, and a great, big owl, with ears that looked like horns, flew out, and Buddy was frightened. But the owl said:
"Oh, don't be alarmed, little boy. Just follow me, and I'll see that you get a tail."
So the owl flew along through the dark, dismal woods, going slowly, and close to the ground so Buddy could follow, and pretty soon, the owl stopped in front of a hole in the side of a hill.
"There is where the tail is," said the owl. "Just wait and I'll have it out to you in a jiffy and a half," and bless me, if that owl didn't go in that hole. He stayed there some time, and Buddy could hear voices inside, talking, and land sakes, goodness me alive, and a cherry pie! out of that hole was thrust a great, big, bushy tail. A tail, and nothing else, believe me, if you please.
"Oh, what a fine tail!" cried Buddy in delight.
"Do you think so?" asked a voice. "Then just grab hold of it, hold tight, and it's yours!"
Well, Buddy didn't think there was any danger, so he grabbed hold of the tail, and held on tight, but oh, dear me! instead of pulling the tail out, he found himself being pulled in. Yes, sir, right into that hole, and land knows what would have happened if Buddy's sister, Brighteyes, hadn't come along just then on her way home from her aunt's house. She saw right away that the bushy tail was fast to something inside the hole.
"That's a fox's tail!" she cried, "and he's pulling you into his den! Let go, quickly! Let go, Buddy!"
So Buddy let go just in time, though the fox and the owl rushed out and tried to grab him, but they fell down, and couldn't get up in time, and he and his sister ran home. You see it was just a trick of that owl and fox, to get Buddy into the den, and eat him up, but they didn't, I'm glad to say. And after that Buddy never wanted a tail. Now if it doesn't rain in the dishpan and turn the umbrella inside out, I'll tell you in the next story about Buddy walking a tight rope.
BUDDY WALKS A TIGHT ROPE
BUDDY WALKS A TIGHT ROPE
One day after Buddy Pigg had been on a visit to Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs, who were once in a circus, he came home all excited. He ran out in the yard, began pawing over in the woodpile, and soon he ran into the house, where Brighteyes, his sister, was washing the potatoes for dinner.
"Do you know where there is any wire, Brighteyes?" the little boy guinea pig asked.
"Wire? No, I haven't seen any around the house. What do you want of it? Are you going to wire a tail on to yourself?" and Buddy's sister smiled just the least bit.
"Please don't remind me of that," said Buddy, for he felt a little ashamed of the time he had tried to get a tail for himself and had been nearly dragged into a fox's den, as I told you in the story before this one. "No, Brighteyes, I'm not going to make a tail. I am going to do a circus trick, and you can see me if you want to," he said.
"Oh, Buddy! are you really?" she cried, and she was interested all of a sudden, you see, for she had never seen much of a circus.
"Yes, I'll do the trick, if I can find a bit of wire," went on Buddy. "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow told me how to do it; and I'm sure I can. It's walking a tight rope, and it's very hard to do."
"Oh! then you want rope, not wire," went on Brighteyes, as she put the pan of potatoes on the table.
"Wire is what the circus performers use," insisted her brother, "but if you can't find any I suppose rope will do."
"I saw some up in the attic," said Brighteyes. "I'll get it for you. But, Buddy, isn't it dangerous? Do you s'pose mamma and papa would let you do it?"
"There's not much danger," answered Buddy. "I'll not put the rope up very high, and I'll put some pillows on the ground underneath, so that if I fall I won't get hurt much."
Well, Brighteyes found a long rope, and she helped Buddy tie it from one clothes post to the other, across the yard, so that it looked like a real tight rope in a circus.
"Oh, you can never get on that!" she cried to her brother, as she saw how high up it was.
"Yes, I can," he replied. "You just watch me. But first I must put some pillows underneath, in case I fall."
So he ran into the house and got a lot of feather pillows and put them on the ground under the rope, Brighteyes helping him.
Then Buddy got some old soap boxes, piled them one on top of the other, and, by climbing up on them, he was able to step to the rope.
"Oh, how thin and slender and shaky it is!" cried Brighteyes. "You never can walk across that, Buddy!"
"Yes, I think I can," he answered. "But I must get a pole to balance myself with," so he got off the boxes and ran to the woodpile, got a piece of an old broom handle, and ran back to the rope again. He stepped one foot out on it, to try it, and it seemed quite strong, though it wabbled a bit from side to side, like a duck's tail.
"Oh! are you really going to walk on it?" cried Brighteyes in delight.
"I really am," answered her brother.
"Then you ought to have an audience to applaud you and clap when you do it," she went on. "Wait, and I'll run and get Johnnie and Billie Bushytail and Sammie and Susie Littletail, and—"
"No, don't!" cried Buddy, quickly. "Better wait until I walk across a few times, first, so as to sort of practise. Then I'll do the trick before folks."
So he got up on the rope, standing up on his hind legs, and balancing the pole with his front paws and he steadied himself for a moment and then took a step. My! but that rope wiggled, though, from side to side, almost like a hammock, only, of course, not as safe as a hammock. But Buddy kept bravely on, and took another step—and land sakes laddy-da! if that rope didn't wiggle more than ever.
"Oh, take care! You'll fall!" cried Brighteyes, and she screamed.
"Oh, Brighteyes, don't do that, please!" begged Buddy. "You make me nervous, and then I can't walk the tight rope."
So Brighteyes, whose real name was Matilda, you know, kept real still and quiet, just like a little mouse when it wants a bit of cheese, and Buddy took another step out on the tight rope.
He held his balancing pole by the middle, and he went slowly and cautiously, and he was actually walking that slender rope!
But he kept looking down and wondering whether he would fall or not, and he got to thinking about the feather pillows, and wondering if they were thick enough and soft enough, so that he wouldn't get hurt if he should fall, when all at once, quicker than you can wheel the baby carriage down hill, when he was right in the middle, Buddy's foot slipped, and down he went, right a straddle across the tight rope, and the pole fell with a bang!
And Brighteyes screamed, for she couldn't help it, but Buddy didn't dare call out. No, all he could do was to cling there with his teeth and his paws to that swaying rope.
"Oh!" cried Brighteyes, "you're going to fall, Buddy!"
"I've fallen already," he panted. "But I'm going to land on the ground in a minute, for I can't hold on any longer!"
And he looked down, picking out a soft spot to fall on, but, oh, dear me, and a sour pickle! If the pole, when it fell down, hadn't knocked the pillows to one side, and there was only hard ground for Buddy to land on. Well, maybe he wasn't frightened, and Brighteyes was also frightened, too flabbergasted, you see, to go and fix the pillows in place again, and they didn't either of them know what in the world to do.
I don't know what might have happened, for Buddy couldn't hold on much longer, but, just as he was going to let go, along came Uncle Wiggily Longears. He saw what the trouble was at once, and up he rushed and with his crutch he piled the pillows in a soft heap right under Buddy, and then Buddy let go the tight rope and down he came, just like in a feather bed.
And he wasn't hurt the least mite, but he was very thankful to Uncle Wiggily, the old rabbit gentleman, and Buddy never tried to walk a tight rope, nor a loose one again.
Now, in case there is no salt in the ice cream to make the rag doll sneeze, I'll tell you in the following story about Brighteyes Pigg in a tin can.
BRIGHTEYES IN A TIN CAN
BRIGHTEYES IN A TIN CAN
Of course, when Mamma Pigg came home the afternoon that Buddy tried to walk a tight rope (for she had been away visiting Mrs. Wibblewobble when it happened) she had to hear about it. Buddy and Brighteyes would have told her, anyhow, for they always did, but, as it was, Mrs. Pigg saw a scratch on Buddy's leg, where the rope had hurt him when he fell, and she wanted to know all about it. Then Buddy told her of the trick he had tried to perform.
"Little guinea pigs are safer on the ground," she said. "Leave such things to Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, or the Bow Wows, who were once in a circus. Now get washed for supper, for your papa will soon be here, and I think he'll fetch a quart of carrot ice cream, as it is so hot."
And sure enough, Dr. Pigg did, and the carrot ice cream was the best Brighteyes and Buddy had ever tasted, they thought.
Well, it was about two days after this that Brighteyes Pigg was sent to the store for her mother, to get a nutmeg, a yeast cake, and a bottle of blueing. Brighteyes started off, hurrying through the woods, where once the owl had tried to get Buddy into the den of the old fox, and soon the little guinea pig girl was at the grocery.
She got the things, and the storekeeper put them in a paper bag for her, and back she started.
It was so warm that, after Brighteyes had reached a cool place in the woods, near where a little brook ran over the stones, making a gurgling noise, very pleasant to hear, she sat down to rest. And she hadn't been sitting there more than about ten long breaths, when she saw, beside the stream, a tin can.
"Now I wonder what is in that can?" thought Brighteyes. "I'm going to see. Perhaps it's something good to eat, and I can take some home to Buddy," for she was very kind to her brother, you understand.
So she went up to the can, but wasn't she disappointed when she saw that it was empty! The open end was on the side that was turned away from her, and that's why at first she thought it was full. But she smelled of the opening, and oh, what a delicious perfume there was, sweet and sugary, and in a minute Brighteyes knew what it was.
"There has been molasses in that can!" she exclaimed. "Oh, if there's anything I dearly love it's molasses! I wonder if there is any left inside? Sometimes people don't quite empty the cans before they throw them away. I'm going to look."
So Brighteyes went closer, and, would you believe me? if she didn't see, away down in the lower edge of that can, as it rested on its side, a lot of nice molasses.
"Oh, I must have that!" cried Brighteyes, and, without thinking of what she was doing, she put her head and her forepaws inside that can. She found she could reach the molasses with her tongue, and she began to lick it up, wishing she had some way of taking part of it to Buddy.
She was so excited over it that she even had taken her things from the grocery store inside the can with her. There she was, with only part of her body and her hind legs sticking out, and she was eating the molasses as fast as she could.
It kept tasting better and better, but, after a while, Brighteyes thought she had enough, and she started to pull her head out of the can. But, oh dear me! She found she couldn't do it. The sharp edges of the tin caught in her fur, and there she was, stuck fast with the can over her head, and the nutmeg, the bottle of blueing and the yeast cake in there with her.
"Oh, dear me suz-dud!" she cried. "I'm fast!"
She tried to shake the can off, but it wouldn't shake. Then she tried to pull herself out, but the can was still on her head, and went everywhere she went, like Mary's little lamb. Then poor Brighteyes tried to stand up on her hind legs, and hit the can against a tree or a stone, thinking she could knock it off, but it wouldn't come off, and then she turned a somersault, thinking that would help, but, though she even stood on her head in the can, and wiggled her hind legs, it did no good.
"Oh, I'm caught fast!" cried the poor little creature, and she rolled around and around on the ground, thinking that would help some, but it didn't.
Then she heard some one coming along through the woods, and she called out: "Who's there? Please help me out of this can!"
"I'm Johnnie Bushytail," answered a voice. "Who are you?"
"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she said. "Please help me."
But her voice sounded so queer and hollow, shut up as it was in the can, and the nutmeg rattled around so, like thunder, that Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel, was frightened, and ran away, without helping Brighteyes. Then she felt like crying, but, in a little while she heard some one else coming along through the woods, and she called: "Oh, please help me! Who is there?"
"I'm Sammie Littletail," was the answer. "Who are you?"
"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she replied. "Help me, please!"
But her voice sounded so strange and hollow in the can, and just then the yeast cake came bouncing out, where there was a little space near Brighteyes' neck and the tinfoil was all shining so that Sammie thought some one was shooting square, silver bullets at him, and away he ran.
Then Brighteyes was going to give up in despair, and she thought she would never, never get out, and she wished she had never eaten the molasses, when, all of a sudden, she heard some one else coming along, and between her sobs she cried out:
"Oh, please, whoever you are, don't run away! Help me out of this can! Who are you?"
"I am Alice Wibblewobble, the duck," was the answer. "Who are you?"
"I am Brighteyes Pigg," said the little creature in the molasses can, and just then the bottle of blueing broke inside and the blue stuff ran out, trickling to one side.
"Oh, you must be the blue fairy!" cried Alice, and she took her strong bill and bent back the edges of the tin can so that Brighteyes could get out, which she soon did, and was not hurt in the least.
Of course Alice was surprised to see a guinea pig instead of a blue fairy, but she was glad she had saved Brighteyes, who had to go back to the store for another bottle of blueing. But the nutmeg and the yeast cake were all right.
Then Alice Wibblewobble poured the rest of the molasses out of the can into an empty acorn cup and Brighteyes took it home to Buddy, who liked it very much, and I almost wish I had some molasses candy; don't you?
Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Dr. Pigg and the firecracker; that is if the mosquitoes don't sing so loudly that they wake up the baby's rattle box.