STORY XII

DR. PIGG AND THE FIRECRACKER

Once upon a time it happened that, as Buddy Pigg was coming home from having played baseball with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and all his friends, he saw, lying beside the road, something long and round and red, with a little string dangling from it.

"Aha!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg; "there is a stick of red candy? Oh, fine! Oh, dandy! I'll take it home, and give Brighteyes some."

That was because she had managed to bring him home some of the molasses that was in the can, in which the little girl guinea pig got stuck fast. So Buddy picked up the long, round, red thing, with a string dangling from it, and took a big bite. That is, he tried to, but he found his teeth wouldn't go through it.

"Wow!" he cried. "That isn't a stick of candy at all."

And the funny part of it was that it wasn't a stick of candy. No, not in the least, I do assure you. What it was Buddy couldn't guess, though I suppose some of you children can.

Well, anyhow, he picked it up, and carried it in one paw, and his bat and catching glove in the other. And pretty soon whom should he meet hopping along but Bawly, the frog—Bully's brother, you know. And Bawly was singing away for dear life, this little song, which you will have to get some one to sing for you, as I am as hoarse as two crows and a cricket. Well, anyhow, this is the song:

"As I was hopping along one day,Hi diddle um diddle I!A grasshopper sat in a greenwood tree,Tum-tum-tum tiddle di!"Oh, where are you going?" the grasshopper asked."Oh, not very far," I said."May I go along?" asked the funny bug.And he stood right up on his head."Why yes," I told him, "come along,"Tu ri lum diddle day."The weather is certainly fine just now,"Fum lum dum skiddle fay.But the grasshopper fell in a deep, dark bog,And I pulled him out on a sunken log,And then came along a bad, savage dog,And we both ran away."

"As I was hopping along one day,

Hi diddle um diddle I!

A grasshopper sat in a greenwood tree,

Tum-tum-tum tiddle di!

"Oh, where are you going?" the grasshopper asked.

"Oh, not very far," I said.

"May I go along?" asked the funny bug.

And he stood right up on his head.

"Why yes," I told him, "come along,"Tu ri lum diddle day."The weather is certainly fine just now,"Fum lum dum skiddle fay.But the grasshopper fell in a deep, dark bog,And I pulled him out on a sunken log,And then came along a bad, savage dog,And we both ran away."

"Why yes," I told him, "come along,"

Tu ri lum diddle day.

"The weather is certainly fine just now,"

Fum lum dum skiddle fay.

But the grasshopper fell in a deep, dark bog,

And I pulled him out on a sunken log,

And then came along a bad, savage dog,

And we both ran away."

"Oh, ho! So that's the way it was, eh?" asked Buddy, who had never heard that song before.

"That's exactly how it was, and not a bit different, I give you my word for it," said Bawly, the frog. "But what have you there, Buddy? Peppermint candy, as sure as I can sing! May I have a bit?"

"You could have it if it was candy," promised Buddy, real politely, "only it isn't," and he looked at the queer red thing from all sides, and he couldn't make out what it was, and neither could Bawly.

Well, I'll tell you what it was, so you can understand the story better. It was a firecracker. Yes, sir, a big, red firecracker that, somehow or other, hadn't gone off on Fourth of July when it ought to have done so.

I presume some boy had lighted it, tossed it into the bushes and it had gone out and stayed out until Buddy found it. At any rate, he didn't know what it was, and he took it home. Neither did Mr. Pigg know what it was, but Buddy's mother and sister thought it was quite a pretty ornament, and Mrs. Pigg put it on the parlor mantle, where company could see it.

Well, one day, not long after this, Dr. Pigg was home all alone, for his wife and the children had gone to a moving-picture show. He was dozing away in his easy chair, with a newspaper over his face to keep away the flies, when, all of a sudden, there came a knock on the door.

"My goodness alive! Who's there?" cried Dr. Pigg.

"It's me," answered a voice.

"And who, pray tell, may you be?" asked Dr. Pigg.

"I'm a bad tramp fox," was the answer, "and I want you to give me something to eat. Quick! I'm in a hurry!"

Now that wasn't a nice way to speak, and Dr. Pigg knew it, and, what is more, that bad fox knew it, too. But, do you s'pose he cared? Not a bit of it. He was as impolite as he could be, and he took pride in it.

"I want something to eat in a hurry," he went on, in a coarse, grumbly voice, and he was such a big fox, and Dr. Pigg was such a nice, gentle kind of a creature that he didn't dare refuse him.

"Very well," said Buddy's papa, "step into the parlor, Mr. Fox, and I'll see what I can do for you. There ought to be something in the pantry."

So he went to look in the pantry for a bone, or something like that, just as Mother Hubbard would have done, you know, and when the fox went in the parlor what do you suppose he saw? Why, that big, red firecracker on the mantle, of course. And when he saw it a wicked plan came into his head.

"I'll just light that," he thought to himself, "and it will blow this pen up, and Dr. Pigg with it. Then I can take anything I want. That's what I'll do. I'll blow the place up!"

Then he lighted the string of the firecracker, standing up on his hind legs to reach it, you see, and, as it was a long string, the fox knew it would burn some time before it would explode the firecracker. So the fox ran out into the kitchen, where Dr. Pigg was getting him something to eat, and he cried:

"Here, give me what you have ready, I can't wait."

"You must be in a hurry," replied Dr. Pigg, as he gave the fox some bread and meat and cold potatoes. And of course the fox was in a hurry, for he wanted to get out of the way before that firecracker went off and blew the house up.

Then the fox ran and hid in the bushes, waiting for the house and Dr. Pigg to be blown up, so he could go in and take whatever he wanted. The string on the firecracker burned slowly, but surely. And the fox knew it would be a perfectly tremendous explosion, for the firecracker was as big as a hundred lead pencils made into one.

But now watch and see what happens. After Dr. Pigg had put away the bread and meat, left over after giving the fox some, who should come along but Percival, the old, circus dog. He came to pay a friendly call on Dr. Pigg, but, no sooner had he reached the front door than he cried out:

"Oh, I smell something burning," and, sure enough it was the firecracker string sizzling away.

"Maybe the house is afire," said Dr. Pigg. "Let's look!" So he and Percival went all through the pen, and the first object they saw was the long, rod thing burning on the mantlepiece. And Percival knew at once what it was, for he was a smart dog, let me tell you.

"Oh!" he cried, "that is a cannon firecracker, and if it goes off it will blow the place to pieces, and me and you, too!"

"Then, for mercy sakes, don't let it go off!" cried Dr. Pigg, and that brave dog Percival jumped up, grabbed the cannon cracker in his mouth, dashed out of the house, and leaped into a pond of water with it, which put out the burning string, and wet the firecracker so it wouldn't explode.

And when the fox saw Percival, he sneaked away with his tail hanging down, I can tell you. So that's the story of Dr. Pigg and the firecracker, and when his family came home he told them of of his narrow escape.

Now, in case I hear a June bug buzz like an electric fan blowing soap bubbles, I'll tell you in the next story about Buddy Pigg in a boat.

BUDDY PIGG IN A BOAT

After Percival, the old circus dog, had been so kind to Dr. Pigg, in the matter of jumping into the pond with the big firecracker, which the bad fox had lighted, the old gentleman guinea pig said:

"I wish, Percival, you would spend a few days with us. I'm afraid that ugly tramp fox will come back."

"Of course I will," agreed the dog. "The Bow Wows are going down to Asbury Park for the summer, and I don't much care for the seashore, so I'll stay home and spend a few days with you. And in case that fox does come back—"

Well, Percival didn't say what he would do, but land sakes, flopsy dub! Oh me, and a potato pancake! You should have seen him show his teeth and growl.

Well, it was a few days after Percival had come to pay a little visit to the Pigg family that something happened to Buddy, and I'm going to tell you about it.

You see, it had been raining pretty hard for a week or more—yes, nearly two weeks, and it didn't seem as if it was ever going to stop. There had been thunder showers and lightning showers and hail showers and just plain rain showers, and they were all more or less wet; and when it did finally stop raining there was a lot of water all over.

One day, the first day, in fact, after it stopped raining, Buddy was taking a walk, and glad enough he was to be out of the pen. He strolled along, letting the warm sun and the gentle wind dry his black and white fur, and he was thinking of, oh! ever so many things, when, all at once, he came to a little pond; only this time it was a great big pond, because it had so much water in it. And on the shore of the pond was a boat that some boys had been playing with.

"Oh, fine!" cried Buddy Pigg. "I'll get in and make believe I'm a sailor, just as Billie and Johnnie Bushytail and Jennie Chipmunk did once. I've always wanted a ride in a boat, and now's my chance!"

So he climbed into the boat, and he made believe he was sailing away off to China, where they make firecrackers and fans, and then, when he was half-way there (make believe, you know), why, he turned around and sailed for India, where it's very hot; but all this while the boat was partly on the bank and partly in the water, and Buddy only rocked it from side to side, pretending it was moving.

Well, after he reached India, what did he do but find it so hot there that he turned around at once and sailed for the North Pole, so he could be nice and cool.

Then, all at once, as quickly as you can eat an ice cream cone on a hot day, if something didn't happen. Buddy looked up, after reaching the North Pole, and he found that the boat was adrift, floating off across the big pond, with the wind blowing it faster, and faster, and faster.

At first Buddy thought it was fun; then, as he saw that he was getting farther and farther from shore, he became frightened. He looked for something with which to send the boat back to land, but there was no sail in it, and no oars; and, if there had been, the little guinea pig boy couldn't have used them, I don't suppose. Well, there he was, really sailing off to some unknown country this time, in earnest, and not make believe.

Then he began to cry, and he called out as loudly as he could:

"Help! Help! Help!" and who should come running down to the shore but Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs. They hadn't gone to Asbury Park yet, you see, but they were going soon.

"What's the matter?" asked Peetie.

"The boat is taking me away off," answered Buddy.

"Jump out and swim to shore!" cried Peetie.

"I can't swim," called back Buddy.

"Oh, we'll show you how," went on Jackie, and then he and Peetie jumped into the water and began to show Buddy how to swim, but he was too frightened to learn, and, besides, the two puppy dogs were too far off for him to see them plainly. Then they swam out, and they tried to pull the boat back to shore, but they were not strong enough.

"Oh, I'll be drowned! I'll be drowned!" cried Buddy. "What shall I do? Tell my mamma good-by for me," he said to Jackie.

"We'll tell her you're in trouble, and maybe she will know of a way to save you," called Peetie and Jackie.

So they ran and told Mrs. Pigg, and she and Brighteyes came running down to the shore of the pond.

"Oh, my poor little boy," cried Mamma Pigg, when she saw Buddy being carried farther and farther away.

"Oh, how can we reach him?" wailed Brighteyes, wringing her paws. "We must save him, somehow!"

Just then along came Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels.

"Stick up your tail like a sail and the wind will blow you ashore!" they cried to Buddy. "That's what we did."

"I haven't any tail," answered Buddy, real sorrowful-like.

"That's so," said the little squirrel boys, and it began to look pretty bad for poor Buddy, let me tell you.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Mamma Pigg. "I'll never see my poor boy again," for he was quite far off by this time.

Then, all of a sudden, down to the edge of the pond, came rushing Percival, the old circus dog.

"I'll save Buddy!" he cried. "I'll carry a rope out to him, and he can fasten it to the boat, and then we can pull him ashore."

Well, Percival took a rope in his mouth and started to swim out, but a funny thing happened. The water got in his mouth and washed the rope away, and he couldn't carry it, though he tried a number of times.

Then everybody felt sorry, and Jackie Bow Wow was just suggesting that they build a raft and float out on it to Buddy, when who should come along but Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck. They all told him what the trouble was, and he said, "Quack! Quack! Quack!" three times, just like that, and exclaimed:

"I have it! I can swim out with the rope in my bill, for my head will be above the water."

He did it too, in about two quacks and a quarter. Then he helped Buddy fasten the rope to the side of the boat, and those on land, including Percival, the two Bow Wows and Mamma Pigg and Brighteyes, soon pulled the boat and Buddy in it ashore.

Buddy said he was never going sailing again, and I guess he never did, for he was very much frightened, but he soon got over it and played with Jimmie and Jackie and Peetie, while Mamma Pigg had to go home to take something for her nerves.

Now, if I have rhubarb pie for supper, and the ham sandwich doesn't squeal when they put mustard on it, I'll tell you about Brighteyes and the peanut candy in the next story.

BRIGHTEYES AND THE PEANUT CANDY

It happened, once upon a time, that Brighteyes and Buddy Pigg were walking through the woods together, not far from their home. They had been over to see Sammie and Susie Littletail, and they had had a very nice time. In fact, there had been a little party at the Littletail home.

It was Sammie's or Susie's birthday, I forget just whose, and after games had been played, there were good things to eat; nuts of various kinds for the squirrels who came; candy, lemonade, ice cream flavored with turnips and carrots, and oh! lots of cake, and I don't know what else besides. There was so much that Buddy and Brighteyes couldn't eat all their share, and they were bringing it home to their papa and mamma.

Well, as they were walking along, thinking what a good time they had had, the two guinea pig children heard a rustling sound in the bushes, and two big, round, staring eyes peered out at them, and there was a noise like a dog growling.

"Oh, quick! Hurry up, Buddy!" cried Brighteyes. "Something will catch us sure!" and she began to run as fast as fast could be, or even faster, maybe.

"Oh, I don't think it's anything but old Percival, the circus dog," said Buddy. "He won't hurt us."

And he was going to stand still and look in those bushes; yes, sir, that's what Buddy was going to do, only he happened to see a big, bushy tail sticking out, and then he knew it was a bad fox there, and not the good, kind dog, so Buddy ran as fast as he could run, if not faster, right after Brighteyes.

And the fox ran, too, only he had stepped on a piece of glass and cut his foot and couldn't run very fast. He was the same fox who lighted the firecracker in Dr. Pigg's house, and I'm glad to say that he didn't catch Buddy or Brighteyes, for they ran faster than the fox did.

Well, they hurried on for quite a distance further, and all at once, just as they were getting tired, and when they knew the fox had stopped chasing them, they happened to look down on the path, and what should they see but a white box; yes, indeed, a white box, tied with pink string.

"Oh, I wonder what can be in there?" asked Brighteyes.

"I don't know, but I'll go see," said Buddy.

"Oh, no, don't go too close," begged his sister. "It might be a trap, or perhaps the bad fox is hidden inside it."

"It's too small for a fox to get in," declared the boy guinea pig. "I'll take a smell, anyhow."

So he crept slowly, slowly, slowly up to the white box, and sniffed, and sniffed and sniffed.

"Oh! Ah! Um! La-la! Um! Um!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg, and he laid down the packages of candy, nuts, cakes and other things he had carried home from the Littletails' party, so that he might smell the better.

"What is it?" asked Brighteyes Pigg. "What's in the box?"

"I don't know," replied her brother, "but whatever it is, it smells the nicest of anything I ever smelled. It's just like when mamma bakes a ginger cake in the oven. I'm going to open it and see."

So, with his sharp teeth, Buddy loosened the pink string around the box, and off came the cover. Then, what do you suppose was in the box? Why, a whole lot of peanut candy, all nice and fresh, shining, golden brown, with just enough peanuts in, and not a bit more, really and truly!

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Brighteyes in delight, as she saw it. "Peanut candy, Buddy! If there's anything I love it's peanut candy! Some good fairy must have left this for us. Come on, we'll take it over here, under a bush, where the bad fox won't see us, and we'll eat some of it, and save some to take home. Oh, how lovely!"

"I don't think I care for peanut candy very much," said Buddy. "When I smelled it I thought it was going to be chocolate caramels."

"Don't you want any?" asked Brighteyes.

"No," answered her brother, "but I'll help you carry it into the bushes. I'll eat some of the things we brought from the party. I'm getting hungry again."

So he and Brighteyes carried the box of peanut candy into the bushes, and the little girl guinea pig began to eat the sweet stuff.

Well, she had eaten almost all of it up, before she thought, because it tasted so good, when all of a sudden, who should come along the path in the woods, but a little girl. Yes, a little girl in a red dress, and she was crying as hard as she could cry, that little girl was.

"Oh, dear!" she sobbed, "I have lost my box of peanut candy, that I bought in the store, and I can't find it, and I'm so miserable! Nobody in the world is so miserable as I am. Oh, dear! Boo! Hoo!"

Well, you should have seen how sorry Brighteyes was for eating that little girl's candy, but Brighteyes didn't know, of course, whose it was. She and Buddy just hid down in the bushes, and didn't know what to do, until Buddy whispered:

"Listen! I'll fill the box full of our candy, nuts and things that we brought from the party, and maybe that will stop the little girl crying."

So he did that, filling the box real full, and putting the pink string around it again. Then, when the little girl wasn't looking, Buddy slipped out of the bushes, put the box back on the path again and slipped under a leaf to hide. Then, pretty soon, when the little girl stopped crying, she saw her box, and she thought a fairy had brought it back.

Then she opened it, and she saw the peanut candy had been turned into a different kind, and that there were nuts with it and she surely thought it was magical, but it wasn't, it was only Buddy Pigg, who did it.

So Buddy and Brighteyes went home happy, and so did the little girl, with her white box which she had found again after she had lost it.

Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Buddy and the June bug, that is if some one sends me some peanut candy with a lot of red postage stamps on it.

BUDDY AND THE JUNE BUG

One night Dr. Pigg and Mrs. Pigg and Brighteyes went to a nice moving-picture show that Percival, the old circus dog, had gotten up, and they left Buddy at home alone. The reason for that was this: Buddy wasn't feeling well. He had eaten too many ice cream cones, and too much lemonade on a hot day, and he had to have some medicine that his papa fixed for him.

It was bitter, sour medicine, too, and Buddy didn't like it, and he didn't like to be ill, either, but one always is when one eats too many ice cream cones and drinks too much lemonade on a hot day; yes, indeed, and a bottle of paregoric besides.

Well, Buddy was sick, and couldn't go to the moving-picture show, but his mamma and papa thought it would be all right to leave him home alone, as he was getting better by that time.

"I'll tell you all about the show when we come back," promised Brighteyes. "There is going to be a fairy play in it."

"Oh!" cried Buddy, "how I wish I could go! I love fairy plays!"

"You will be much better in bed," said Dr. Pigg, "and if you keep quiet you won't have to take any more medicine."

There was no help for it, and Dr. Pigg and his wife and daughter started off. They knew Buddy would be much more comfortable in bed than at the show, or they would never have left him, and right next door lived a family of chickens, who would come over in case anything happened.

Buddy felt a little lonesome when his folks had gone, but after awhile he fell asleep. He dozed off for some time, and, all of a sudden, he was awakened by hearing something going "thumpity-thump-bump-bump-bump! Humpity-hump-bump-bump!" on the ceiling and walls of his room. Then it went "bangity-bung-bung," and before Buddy knew what was happening, if something didn't go slam-bang-crack into the lamp, and put it out, leaving the poor little guinea pig boy in the dark.

Then how frightened he was! He shivered, and crept down with his head beneath the bed clothes, but all the while he kept hearing that "thumpity-thump-bump-hump-lump-dump!" against the ceiling. First he thought it was the bad fox, who had gotten in to eat him up, and then he knew the fox couldn't fly around the room that way, or, if it could, it would make ever so much more noise. Then he thought it might be an owl, with big, round, staring, yellow eyes, but when he peeped out from under the clothes the least bit, he didn't see any eyes, so he knew it couldn't be the owl.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Buddy, when he was so frightened he couldn't keep still any longer, "Oh, dear! I wish my papa and mamma would come home; and Brighteyes, too!"

"What for?" asked a voice, away high up on the ceiling.

"Because I'm—I'm lonesome—and afraid—and—and—" but Buddy was almost crying, so he couldn't finish what he had started to say.

"What are you afraid of?" asked the voice, and this time it was on the side wall, close to Buddy.

"I'm afraid of you!" cried the little boy guinea pig, and he got farther under the bed clothes.

"Nonsense! Afraid of me!" exclaimed the voice, and this time, bless me; if it wasn't on the blanket, right over Buddy's nose. "Don't be afraid, little boy," the voice went on. "I wouldn't hurt you for the world. Why, I'm only a harmless, old June bug, you know. I blundered in here by mistake, somehow, because I saw your light, but now it's dark, and I can't see to get out. But land sakes, goodness me, and some buttermilk! Don't be afraid of me! I wouldn't hurt you for the world and the moon too."

"Well, I—I don't exactly know if I'm afraid of you or not," went on Buddy. "First I thought you were a fox or an owl. I—I guess I'm a little afraid of the dark, too."

"Nonsense! The dark can't hurt anyone," said the June bug. "The dark is good for sleeping. But if you're afraid, how would you like me to tell you a story? And that will pass the time until your papa and mamma come home."

"Oh, fine!" cried Buddy, and he wasn't afraid any more, for he loved to hear stories. So the June bug perched upon the bed clothes, where they were nice and soft, and he told lots of stories to Buddy.

He told about the cow that went to school, and about the bear who was bitten by a big, black bug, and about two good boys, and about three bad boys, who lived in a cave, and about an elephant, and about a horse that had four legs and, oh, I don't know how many stories.

Then the June bug sang this little verse, only, as I have a cold in my head you'll have to get some one else to sing it for you. Anyhow this is how it goes:

"I love to flip and flop and flap,And buzz around the room,I leap up to the ceiling high,And hit it with a boom!I turn a double somersault.My wings they play a tune.It's lots of fun to be a bug,Especially in June."

"I love to flip and flop and flap,

And buzz around the room,

I leap up to the ceiling high,

And hit it with a boom!

I turn a double somersault.

My wings they play a tune.

It's lots of fun to be a bug,

Especially in June."

And then, land sakes, and a feather pillow; if Buddy Pigg wasn't fast asleep. Then the kind old June bug sang his song over again, softly, and was about to fly away, when he saw a mosquito going to bite the little guinea pig boy.

And what did that bug do but grab the mosquito and throw him out of the window. And the June bug stayed until he heard Dr. Pigg and his wife coming back, and then he flew away, for he had managed to find the place where he had come in, and crawled out again.

Buddy woke up when his mamma came in his room to see how he was, and he told her all about the June bug, and how kind it had been, and how it had told stories.

"You must have had a lovely dream," said Mrs. Pigg, but Buddy knew it had actually happened, and wasn't a dream at all. Now if my typewriter doesn't fall down and sprain its hair ribbon we'll next have a story soon about Brighteyes and a bad boy.

BRIGHTEYES AND THE BAD BOY

Brighteyes Pigg was coming home from the grocery store one day. She didn't have much to carry because, you see, her mamma had sent her for only a yeast cake, and, as that wasn't very large, Matilda put it in her apron pocket.

She was walking along, thinking what a good time she would have when she got home, for Jennie Chipmunk had promised to come over as soon as she got her dishes washed and play house with the little guinea pig girl.

"We'll have a lovely time," thought Matilda, who was called Brighteyes for short. "We'll dress up all our dolls and have a play-party, and maybe mamma will give us real things to eat."

Well, Brighteyes was thinking so much about the party, and about Jennie Chipmunk, whom she had not seen in some time, that she didn't pay much attention to anything else. She was going along, hippity-hop, just as Sister Sallie went to the barber shop, when all of a sudden something whizzed right past the nose of Brighteyes and almost hit her.

"My goodness me, sakes alive and a tin dishpan! What's that?" she exclaimed. "I wonder if it could have been that June bug who told Buddy stories so nicely?"

Then she looked all around and she didn't see anything of a bug, and she didn't hear his wings buzzing, so she thought it couldn't have been him.

Then, bless me! if something more didn't shoot right past Brighteyes with a whizz and a whozz, making a funny noise, you know. And this time she saw what it was. It was an arrow, the kind that are shot from bows, you understand.

"Oh, the Indians are after me! The Indians are after me!" cried poor Brighteyes in fright, for you see she had read in her school reader about the Indians shooting arrows.

Then the little guinea pig girl started to run, but before she had taken three steps and a half, if another arrow didn't come whizzing through the bushes at her, and this time it was so close that it just touched her left ear.

This frightened her so that she fell down, and before she could get up to run away, if out from behind a tree didn't leap a bad boy.

So it wasn't an Indian shooting the arrows, after all, which, perhaps, was a good thing, as Indians can shoot very straight and might have hurt Brighteyes. No, it was a bad boy.

I call him bad because he shot at Brighteyes, and I guess before I'm through with this story that you'll call him bad also.

Well, that boy ran right at Brighteyes, and before she knew what was happening he had grabbed her.

"Wow!" cried the boy. "I've got it! I shot it! I've got a rabbit!"

"Ha! That ain't a rabbit!" exclaimed another boy, coming out of the bushes, "that's a guinea pig. Where did you hit it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere. But I was sure I hit it. But, maybe, the arrow only stunned it. Anyhow, I've got it. Now we'll take it home, and put it in a cage, and charge five cents for all the other boys to see it."

"Sure," said the second boy. "You're a good shot with your bow and arrow. Come on, let me carry the guinea pig."

"No," replied the first boy, "I'm going to carry it myself. I wonder if you carry 'em by their ears, like you do rabbits?" Then he tried to get hold of Brighteyes' ears, and he could hardly find them, as they were so small, and, of course, he couldn't take hold of them.

But, oh, dear! how roughly he handled that poor little guinea pig girl! When he couldn't get hold of her ears he grabbed her by the hind legs and actually turned her upside down, and then what should happen but that the yeast cake fell out of her apron pocket.

"Ha! That's funny!" cried the boy who held Brighteyes. "I never knew that guinea pigs ate yeast cakes. This must be a smart one. We'll teach it to do tricks, and then we can charge ten cents to see it. Oh, I'm glad I caught it."

And he held on more tightly to Brighteyes, for she was wiggling and squirming, trying to get away.

Oh, how frightened she was, when she heard the boys say that they were going to shut her up in a cage! She thought she would never see her mamma, and papa, and Buddy again. Big tears came into her eyes, and she trembled all over.

But do you s'pose that bad boy and the other one cared? Not the least bit! First one held Brighteyes, and then the other, to see how heavy she was, and then they took her up, first by one leg and then by the other, and, if she had had a tail, they would have held her up by that, and probably pulled it, too, for all I know.

You see those two boys had been playing they were Indians in the woods with their bows and arrows, and perhaps that made them act so cruelly.

"Let's hurry home now and put it in a cage," said the bad boy, and he and the other boy started off, carrying Brighteyes. But wait, don't be frightened, or worried, for something is going to happen immediately, which is very soon.

All at once there was a whizzing and a whozzing in the air, and a buzzing, bizzing sound, and that kind old June bug came sailing along. He saw those bad boys taking Brighteyes away, and the bug knew at once that she was Buddy's sister.

So what did he do but wiggle his wings about a thousand times a minute, I guess, and fly right at the boy who held the guinea pig girl!

Right at the bad boy flew the bug, and he hit him first in one eye and then the other and scared him so that the bad chap was glad enough to let go of poor Brighteyes in a hurry.

Then the other boy stepped on the yeast cake, and it flattened out, and he slipped on it, and fell down, and he thought a bear was after him, and he yelled, and the other boy yelled, and then they both ran away, and Brighteyes was saved.

She thanked the June bug, and he said he was glad he could help her, and he flew back to the grocery and got another yeast cake for her. Then Brighteyes hurried home.

Now the next story is going to be about Buddy Pigg's great run—that is, if we have peaches and cream for supper and the rag man doesn't take my rubber boots for his goat to wear to the party.

BUDDY'S GREAT RUN

Well, I didn't have peaches and cream for supper last night, but I had strawberry shortcake, which is almost as good, so I can tell you a story, anyhow.

Once upon a time, Oh, I guess it must have been about two weeks after Brighteyes was caught by the bad boys, and rescued by the June bug, Buddy Pigg was sitting on his front steps, wishing he had something to do.

"Mother," he asked, "can I go down in the brook, paddling? Jimmie Wibblewobble is down there."

"No," said Mrs. Pigg kindly, "you are not quite well enough to go in the water, Buddy. But you may have five cents for an ice cream cone."

Well, Buddy walked up to the store, got a vanilla ice cream cone, and had just finished the last of it, even down to the sharp point of the cone, where there wasn't any ice cream, when who should come along but Billie and Johnnie Bushytail. They had their catching gloves, and a ball and a bat, and when the squirrel boys saw Buddy they called out:

"Come on, let's have a game of baseball."

"All right," agreed Buddy. "But who else will play?"

"Oh! we'll get Sammie Littletail, and Bully and Bawly, the frogs, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, and Jimmie Wibblewobble, and we'll have a fine game," said Billie Bushytail.

So they walked along, and pretty soon they met Sammie Littletail, and then a little while after that they met the two Bow Wows, and then who should come hopping along, but Bully and Bawly, the two frogs, and, if you'll believe me, a moment after that, along came Jimmie Wibblewobble.

Then they had enough for a fine baseball game, and they went to a nice, green meadow where they could play. Well, Johnnie Bushytail was up at the bat first, and he knocked the ball so far that Bully, who was playing out in the far-off part of the field, had to take about sixteen and a half hops before he could get it. But by that time Johnnie was back at home plate safe.

Then it came Sammie Littletail's turn, and he knocked the ball so high that it went up in a tree and stayed there, and didn't come down.

"Oh, that's no way to play!" exclaimed Jimmie Wibblewobble. "Now we haven't any ball. What did you do that for, Sammie?"

"Well, I couldn't help it; could I?" asked Sammie, and he threw the bat up, trying to knock down the ball.

But it wouldn't come down, and then they all threw up stones and sticks, but still that ball wouldn't come down, and then Billie and Johnnie Bushytail climbed up and they had it down in about two frisks of their big, long tails.

Well, they said that Sammie Littletail was out for knocking the ball up in the tree, and he didn't like it, but he gave in, and the game went on. Then Jimmie Wibblewobble knocked a ball, oh! so far and so high that it was almost out of sight.

"Nobody can catch that!" cried Jimmie, as he started for first base.

But just you wait and see. Buddy Pigg was out in the field, waiting for a nice ball to come along so he could catch it, and now was his chance. He had such bright eyes, almost like his sister's, and he could see the ball away up in the white clouds, even though none of the other players could.

He kept his eyes on it, and got his paws all ready to catch it when it came down. And pretty soon it did begin to come down, for you know it couldn't stay up there in the air, with nothing to hold it. Of course not, and I know you understand how that is.

Well, Buddy managed to catch that ball, though it came down very swiftly, and Jimmie Wibblewobble was out.

"Fine catch, Buddy! Fine!" cried Billie Bushytail.

"Yes, and now it's Buddy's turn to bat," said Bawly, the frog. "Get up, Buddy. I'll pitch you a nice one."

So Buddy got up to home plate, which was a flat stone, you know, and he held his bat ready to knock the ball out of sight, if possible.

Bawly threw him a nice, easy ball, and Buddy struck at it. He hit, too, which is better. Oh! such a hit as he gave that ball! It's a good thing balls don't have feelings, I think, or bats either, for that matter.

Well, as soon as he hit the ball Buddy started to run for the bases. Oh, how fast he ran, but something happened. The ball didn't go as far as he thought it would. No, it fell down right near Sammie Littletail, and Sammie picked it up and ran toward Buddy with it.

He knew if he could touch Buddy with the ball before Buddy got back to home plate, that Buddy would be out and then Sammie could bat again.

So Sammie ran after Buddy, and Buddy ran all around the bases, hoping he could make a home run and get there safe. But it was hard work. Faster and faster he ran, and faster and faster hopped Sammie after him.

"Run, Buddy! Run!" cried Bully the frog.

"I—am—running!" panted Buddy.

"Catch him, Sammie! Catch him!" cried Bawly, and Sammie gave three tremendous hops to catch Buddy.

But by this time Buddy was nearly at home plate, where he would be safe. And the worst of it was that Sammie was almost there, too.

Then, with his last breath, and giving a spring and a hop that was so big that it took him close to Buddy, Sammie stretched out his paw with the ball in and tried to touch Buddy. But do you s'pose he did? No, sir, he didn't, and Buddy got home safe, and wasn't put out after all.

"Well," said Sammie, after he had gotten his breath, "if you had had a tail sticking out behind you I would have touched that, and you'd have been out."

"I'm glad I haven't a tail," said Buddy, as he sat down on the grass to rest, and then, after a while the game went on, and lasted until dark, everybody having a fine time.

Now, I'm going to tell you in the story after this one about Brighteyes, Buddy and the turnip—that is, in case I hear a potato bug sing a song that puts the rag doll to sleep, so she won't cry and wake up the pussy cat.

BRIGHTEYES, BUDDY AND THE TURNIP

One day when Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg were out walking in the fields, they saw, close beside a big stone, a fine, large turnip. Oh, it was the nicest, ripest, juiciest turnip that ever a guinea pig boy or girl smelled of, and it just made their mouths water, and water even came into their eyes.

"Oh, what a lovely turnip!" exclaimed Brighteyes. "I wonder who it belongs to?"

"Let's look and see if it has any one's name on it," suggested Buddy.

So, after peering carefully about to see that there were no traps near, the two guinea pig children went closer, and gazed on all sides of the turnip, and even turned it over to look on the bottom.

They couldn't see a single name, and then they came to the conclusion that the turnip didn't belong to any one in particular.

"I wonder if it would be right for us to take it home?" asked Brighteyes. "Mamma and papa would just love to have some of it."

"Why certainly, take it right along, children!" exclaimed a voice from under a burdock leaf, and then out flew the kind, old June bug.

"May we really have it?" asked Buddy.

"Of course," answered the June bug. "You see I was hiding under that leaf, thinking it was about time for me to go South, for June bugs oughtn't really to fly in July, when I heard a rumbling noise. First I thought it was thunder, and then I saw that it was a big farm wagon loaded with turnips.

"Well, one of the turnips fell off, and a boy, who was riding on the wagon, called to the man who was driving, and told him about the turnip falling. Then the man said that didn't matter, as he had more turnips than he knew what to do with. So that's how I know that you can have the turnip if you wish."

"Well, we certainly do wish!" cried Brighteyes. "Isn't it grand, Buddy? We'll take it right home."

"Yes, but how can we carry it?" asked her brother. "I don't believe we can lift it."

He went up to the big, round turnip, and tried and tried, with all his might, to lift it, but it wouldn't come up as high even as a pin head from the ground.

"Perhaps I can lift it," suggested Brighteyes, so she tried, but she couldn't.

"Maybe if you both try together you can," said the June bug.

Well, they both pulled and hauled, but it was of no use. There that turnip was, just as if it was stuck fast in the ground.

"I'm not very strong myself," went on the June bug, "but I'll do my best. Come on, now, all together."

So he took hold, with Buddy and Brighteyes, and he buzzed his wings as hard as they would buzz, and he cracked his legs, and he strained and he tugged and pulled, but, no sir, that turnip wouldn't move the least bit.

"I guess we'll have to leave it here," said Buddy sorrowful-like, "but I did so want to take it home to mamma and papa."

And he looked at the big vegetable as if it would, somehow, move itself.

"I know a way," said the June bug, at length.

"How?" asked Brighteyes.

"Why you and your brother must eat as much of it as you can, and then it will be lighter, and easier to lift, you see. Just gnaw a lot off the turnip, and you can carry it, then."

"Oh, but that would spoil the turnip," objected Buddy. "We want to take it home all in one piece, so papa and mamma can see it." Now wasn't that good of him? Especially when he and his sister were just as hungry as they could be, and would have loved to have had some? But they wanted to have their folks see it first, without a bite being taken from it.

"Well," said the June bug, "maybe you can roll it along, if you can't lift it."

"The very thing!" cried Buddy. "If we can just get it started it will roll along easily, for it is down hill to our pen, and it will bounce along just as the cabbage did, that I was once in. That's a good plan."

Well, by hard work the three of them did manage to get the turnip started, and it rolled along, first slowly and then more quickly, and then with a rush, and land sake! if all at once it didn't roll down into a big hole.

"Oh, now we'll never get it up!" cried Buddy, much disappointed, and he and his sister felt very sorrowful. But not for long, for in a little while along hopped Uncle Wiggily Longears, with his crutch. It didn't take him any time, with the aid of the June bug, and Buddy and Brighteyes, to pry that turnip up out of the hole.

"Now I'll show you how to get the turnip home," said Uncle Wiggily. "You need some way to steer it, so it won't run away from you and get into a hole again."

Then he took his crutch and punched a hole through that turnip, and put a stick through the hole, so the turnip was just like the wheel of a wheelbarrow.

Then he fastened long pieces of strong grass to the stick that was stuck through the turnip, and he and Buddy and Brighteyes and the June bug took hold of the grass, and they rolled that turnip along and steered it just as you pull your sled or wheel the baby carriage or guide a horse with a bit in his mouth.

And pretty soon they were safely at the pen, and Dr. Pigg and his wife were much surprised and delighted when they saw the big turnip which their children had found. They gave Uncle Wiggily Longears some, but the June bug said he would rather have a ginger snap, and he got it.

Now the next story will be about Buddy and the burglar fox, in case the milkman isn't late to school, and if he brings a bottle of water for teacher to sprinkle the blackboards with.

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