"Where did it come from?" inquired Peetie, making his tail go round like a pin wheel.
"It"s our papa"s hat!" suddenly cried Flop. "I can tell because it"s got his initials inside," and, surely enough there were the letters "A.T." inside the hat, standing for "Archibald Twistytail."
"Our papa"s hat!" exclaimed Curly. "Is it possible?"
"Of course, it is," said Floppy, as he picked it up. "Papa has lost his hat."
"But it rolled out of that hole," said Curly, "and it isn"t lost, for we have found it."
"Then if papa"s hat came out of that hole, our papa must be in there," said Flop.
"Why, of course," agreed Jackie Bow Wow.
"But what is he doing in there?" asked Curly, "and what sort of a place is it? I can"t see him," he added, as he stooped down and tried to look into the hole.
"I don"t know what he"s doing in there," said Flop, "but I know what sort of a place that hole is. It"s a wolf"s den, and the wolf has our papa, Most likely he"s eating him now, and he threw the hat out because he couldn"t chew it--the wolf, I mean."
"Oh!" cried Curly, jumping up and down, he felt so badly.
"Oh; oh!" barked Jackie Bow Wow.
"Oh! oh! Double Oh!" growled Peetie Bow Wow. "What shall we do?"
"We must get him out of there!" exclaimed Flop as quickly as a rubber band can play the "Annie Laurie" song. "There are four of us here, and we have our wooden guns. I guess we are a match for one wolf. We must save our papa."
"Of course!" agreed Curly, bravely.
"But how?" asked Jackie Bow Wow.
"Listen," said Flop, just like a telephone girl.
"A wolf always have two doors to his den--a back one and a front one. This is the front one--where our papa"s hat rolled out. Now, Jackie, you and Curly go to the back door, and make a noise like a soup bone. The wolf will think some company has come to supper with him, and he"ll run to the back door. As soon as he gets there, Jackie, you bark like anything, and, Curly, you fire off your wooden gun."
"But what will you do?" asked Curly of his brother.
"Peetie and I will stay at the front door," said Flop. "As soon as we hear you making the noise we"ll rush in the den by the front door and get papa and help him out. Then we"ll all run away."
Well, every one thought that was a fine plan, and they did just as Flop said. The wolf came rushing to his back door when he heard the noise there, and maybe he wasn"t surprised to see Curly and the puppy dog! Then Flop and Peetie rushed in the front door, and there, inside the den, they found poor Mr. Twistytail tied to the table leg.
"Quick!" cried Flop. "Bite the ropes, Peetie." And the puppy dog did, and Mr. Twistytail was free. "Now, come with us!" cried Flop, and he and his papa and Peetie ran out of the wolf"s den just in time, for the bad creature, seeing he had been fooled at his back door, rushed up to bite the pig gentleman.
But he was too late, that wolf was, for the piggie boys and their papa and the puppy dog boys got safely away, and the wolf didn"t dare follow because he was afraid of the wooden guns. Then when they were all safe home, including the hat, Mr. Twistytail told how the wolf caught him as he was coming back from work, and how his hat accidently rolled out of the den. And if it hadn"t been for the hat maybe Mr. Twistytail would not have been saved.
Anyway, he was not hurt a bit, and in the next story, in case the bicycle doesn"t roll over the egg basket and make an omelet out of the pin cushion, I"ll tell you about Mamma Twistytail"s new bonnet.
STORY XVIII
MOTHER TWISTYTAIL"S NEW BONNET
"Archibald," said Mrs. Twistytail, the lady pig, to her husband at the breakfast table one morning, "I think I shall have to have some money today."
"Money? What for?" he asked. "Do the children need new shoes, or have we no more coal left?"
"No, I want the money for myself," said the pig lady. "I need a new bonnet, and I am going down town this morning and get it at the five and ten dollar store."
"Very well," said Mr. Twistytail, good-naturedly, so he put his foot in his pocket and took out a lot of money, which he gave to his wife. Then he kissed Baby Pinky, and Curly and Flop good-by and went to work in the phonograph factory where he put the squeaks in the wheels.
"Oh, if you are going shopping for a new bonnet, mamma!" exclaimed Flop, "may I come with you?"
"Yes, and may I?" asked Curly, as he spun around on his front paws like a top under a Christmas tree. "And if you have any money left, mamma, after getting your bonnet, maybe you will buy us each a hot ice cream soda."
"Oh you boys!" cried Mrs. Twistytail with a laugh. "No, I am afraid I can"t take you two with me, for it is Baby Pinky"s turn. You boys had a nice time the other day, playing in the woods, when you saved your papa and his hat from the wolf"s den, and so now it is Pinky"s turn to have some fun. I"ll take her shopping with me."
"Oh goodie!" cried Baby Pinky, and she jumped into her go-cart and out again, making the springs jounce up and down like anything.
"But I"ll give you and Flop each a penny," said Mrs. Twistytail to Curly, "and you can buy some corn candy with sour milk on top."
That pleased the boy piggies very much, and they ran off to school with their pennies, while Mrs. Twistytail got ready to go shopping after her bonnet with Baby Pinky. Pretty soon they went down town and in the five and ten dollar bonnet store.
"Have you any bonnets?" asked Mrs. Twistytail.
"Indeed I have," said the nice lady frog who kept the store. "I have all kinds of bonnets," and then she sang a little song that went something like this, to the tune "High diddle-diddle:"
"I"ve bonnets of ribbon, and bonnets of paper, I"ve bonnets both red, white and blue.
Some bonnets of leather, for cold stormy weather, And bonnets of feathers and glue.
"I"ve bonnets becoming, and some that are stunning; I"ve bonnets to wear upside down.
And if you will try one, I"m sure you will buy one, To go with your new party gown."
"I"m sure I will, too," said Mrs. Twistytail, as the frog lady finished and made a little bow to the looking-gla.s.s. "You may show me the blue one," she went on, and frog lady did.
"Oh, mamma! That is lovely!" cried Baby Pinky. "But I think one with more flowers on would be nicer."
"I think so, too," spoke the pig lady, and so she bought a bonnet with a lot of flowers on it that looked as real as those which grow in the woods and fields. Then Pinky and her mamma started for home, Mrs. Twistytail wearing her new bonnet.
"We"ll take the short cut through the woods," said the pig lady when they had alighted from the trolley car on which a nice toad gentleman was the conductor, because he could hop on and off so quickly, and not step on any one"s toes.
So through the woods went Mrs. Twistytail and Pinky, and they had not gone very far when, just as they got to the wolf"s hollow log den out of which Mr. Twistytail"s hat rolled that day, up sprang the bad, impolite old animal himself and grabbed the pig lady and her little daughter.
"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" cried the wolf. "Your husband got away from me, Mrs. Twistytail, but I have you, and you can"t get away, and I have Pinky, too!" and he held them both tightly, in his paws.
"Oh, please let us go!" begged Pinky.
"No," growled the wolf, sticking out his red tongue because he was so hungry.