"Here, you leave those apples alone!" and goodness sakes alive, and a can of tomato soup! from behind the apple tree, there appeared the bad, ugly, old burglar fox! Oh, how frightened Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk were! They fairly trembled and shivered, though it was a hot day!
"Ah! ha!" cried the fox, curling back his lip, to show his ugly teeth, and blinking his eyes as fast as a moving picture goes when it skips along very quickly. "Ah! ha! Now I have caught you! Do you know what I am going to do to you for taking my apples?"
"We--we didn"t know they were your apples," said Jennie.
"No matter about that," said the bad fox. "Do you know what I am going to do to you?"
"No," answered Brighteyes. "What are you going to do to us, good Mr.
Fox?"
"I"m not good Mr. Fox; I"m bad Mr. Fox," he answered, "and what I"m going to do is to eat you all up--all up--all up!" and he smacked his lips and gnashed his teeth something terrible.
But don"t be afraid. Just you wait and see what Brighteyes did to that fox. All the while she was thinking how she could save herself and Jennie, for she knew those apples didn"t belong to the fox.
First Brighteyes thought maybe Buddy would come along and help her, or maybe the farmer, but no one came, and the fox was creeping nearer and nearer to Jennie, getting ready to grab her first, when what did Brighteyes do but pull up some horseradish leaves that grew nearby and throw them right in the eyes of that bad fox.
Now, horseradish leaves are very smarty and peppery, you know, almost like mustard, and when they got in the fox"s eyes they made him so he couldn"t see, and they hurt him, too.
Then I wish you could have heard him howl. No, on second thought, I"m glad you couldn"t hear him, for it might scare you. Anyhow, he jumped up and down and sideways, and he whirled around, and he howled and he yowled and he jowled, and then Brighteyes called:
"Come on, Jennie, now is our chance. We can get away before he sees us!"
So they ran away, taking all the apples they could carry, and the fox couldn"t see for ever so long, for he couldn"t get his eyes open. So that is how Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk were saved, and they went home, and nothing happened to them on the way. Now, the next story will be about Buddy and Brighteyes in the mountains--that is, providing I catch some fish the next time I go fishing and don"t lose my watch in the water for the alligator to tell time by.
STORY x.x.xI
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES IN THE MOUNTAINS
One day Dr. Pigg came home from paying a visit to Uncle Wiggily Longears, and said:
"Well, children, get ready, we are going away for a vacation to-morrow."
"Oh goody!" cried Brighteyes, jumping up and down in the middle of the floor, until her pink hair ribbon flopped up and down, like the wings of a b.u.t.terfly.
"Are we going to the seash.o.r.e?" asked Buddy, while Brighteyes went over and kissed her father, standing on her tiptoes to reach him.
"No," said Dr. Pigg, "we are not going to the seash.o.r.e. We are going to the mountains, where there is a nice lake. The salt air of the seash.o.r.e does not agree with me. I have asked Uncle Wiggily Longears to go with us, and he does not like the salt air, either. It is bad for his rheumatism, which is a little better now, and he does not want it to get worse."
"Oh, that"s fine, if Uncle Wiggily is coming!" said Buddy. "He"ll take us all over the mountains, into caves and out rowing on the lake, and show us how to have lots of fun."
Well, the Pigg family began to pack up, and, in a few hours they were ready to go. Uncle Wiggily came to help them, as he had all his things packed. He brought along his crutch, in case he might happen to need it, but he hoped he would not.
"Couldn"t Sammie and Susie Littletail come, too?" asked Buddy.
"No, they have gone to Belmar, at the seash.o.r.e, for the summer,"
answered Uncle Wiggily. "But now we must hurry off to the mountains."
So they hurried off, and in a little while, oh, not so very long, Dr.
Pigg and his family, and Uncle Wiggily arrived at a nice pen, right on the side of a mountain, at the foot of which was a large lake.
There were so many things to see that Buddy and Brighteyes did not know at which to look first, and they ran all about, now to one place, and now to another. Then, when they had had their supper, Uncle Wiggily said:
"Come now, we will take a walk. I think I know where there is a cave, and we will see if a giant lives in it."
"A real giant?" asked Buddy.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"No, only a make-believe one," answered Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh.
So he and the two guinea pig children started off up the side of the mountain toward the cave. All around them were other mountains, and it was a lovely place, with the red sun sinking down behind the hills, just like it does in poetry.
"Ha, here we are at the cave!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, at length, as they came to a big hole in the side of the mountain. "Now, Buddy and Brighteyes, be very careful. Keep close to me, and don"t go in very far, or you may get lost."
Then they started to go in, but just at that moment Uncle Wiggily stepped on a stone and twisted his ankle, the one that had some rheumatism still left in it, and he had to sit down and rub his foot with a bottle of liniment which he carried in his pocket.
While he was doing this Buddy and Brighteyes wandered a little way into the cave. It looked perfectly safe, and it was so pretty, with the sun shining in, and reflecting back from the crystals that hung down from the roof, and those that stuck up from the floor, that, almost before they knew what they were doing, the two children had gone some distance inside.
And, once they were in, it was so pretty that they kept on going farther and farther, until, land sakes, if, in about ten minutes they weren"t away inside that cave, and they had forgotten all about what Uncle Wiggily Longears had told them about keeping close to him.
"Oh, we mustn"t go any further!" cried Brighteyes at length. "It"s getting quite dark, Buddy. We"ll have to go back."
"All right," agreed her brother. "Uncle Wiggily will take us farther in I guess. We"ll go and get him."
So they started back, but, would you believe it, they couldn"t find their way! No, sir, there they were lost in that big cave! the more they tried to get out, the more lost they became.
Outside, Uncle Wiggily was in great distress. When his foot ceased hurting he looked for the children, but he couldn"t see them. Then he knew they must have gone into the cave, and he was much frightened.
"Here it is, night coming on," he remarked, "and soon it will be very dark in there. Then I never can find Buddy and Brighteyes, and they"ll be lost in there all night--and--oh dear--why did they go in without me?"
But in they had gone, and now Uncle Wiggily had to get them out. But he was a wise old rabbit, and, to make sure he would not get lost himself, he took a string, and tied it to his crutch, and left the crutch outside the cave. Then he took the ball of string and started in the cave, unrolling the cord as he went along, and keeping tight hold of it, so he could find his way back in the dark.
Then he tramped on, though it was hard work without his crutch, looking for Brighteyes and Buddy. I don"t believe he ever would have found them, but for a kind old lightning bug, who flew on ahead, to light the way for him.
Then, after a while, by the gleam of the firefly, Uncle Wiggily did come upon Buddy and Brighteyes fast asleep in a corner. They had tried, and tried to find their way out, until they were so tired that they fell asleep.
Uncle Wiggily awakened them, and then, keeping tight hold of the string that was fast to his crutch, he led them out of the cave. And, oh, how thankful they were! They promised never to go in the mountain cave alone again, and they never did.
Well, Buddy and Brighteyes stayed in the mountains for quite awhile, and had lots of fun, which I may tell you about later, but now I think I will start some new stories--some that you have never heard, and, what do you think? they"re going to be about some kittie cats.
I know most of you children must love cats, for I do, and it isn"t so very long ago that I was a little chap myself.
So, if you please, the next book of Bedtime Stories will be called "Joie, Tommie and Kittie Kat." Their names are spelled with a "K" you may notice, but they are not at all proud, or stuck-up, on that account.
I hope you will like them as well as you have Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg.
So now, for a little while we will say good-by, and it will not be long before you can read about the funny things the Kat children did, and about the walnut sh.e.l.ls, and all that.