Buster waved both paws.
"Well, Buster, how many?"
"Not any; he"d eat "em up," said Buster.
"But if he did not eat them?" laughed Dot.
Webbie Spider raised his paw.
"You may tell us, Webbie."
"One and one are two pieces of candy," answered Webbie.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Webbie Spider raised his paw_.]
"Right. You are a smart scholar, Webbie."
"Then please, Miss Dot, don"t give the candies to Hopsy--give "em to me."
"Now here is a harder problem," went on Dot. "If Bunny Rabbit had two red apples, and I took one away from him, how many red apples would he have?"
"You couldn"t do it, Miss Dot!" cried Bunny. "I wouldn"t give it to you, so you better not try."
Wiggle Squeaky hopped up excitedly.
"Bunny was saucy. Why don"t you get the willow stick, Dot?" he cried.
Bunny turned around and wrinkled his funny pink nose and stuck out his tongue at Wiggle. All the kiddies shouted and laughed.
"Hush! hush!" said Dot sternly. "You must learn not to laugh in school.
Wiggle must not meddle. And Bunny--if I had my looking-gla.s.s here, so he could see how he looked, I know he wouldn"t make such a silly face again.
Bunny did not mean to be saucy. He just said what he thought was the truth.
"Now," continued Dot with a smile, "if I had two apples and Bobsey Rabbit took one away from me, how many apples would I have?"
Molly Gra.s.shopper stood up quickly.
"Not any apple, Miss Squeaky!" she cried, ""cause Bunny would grab the other one."
"Now once more; how many are one and one?"
"One and one are two!" they recited in a shrill chorus.
"Right. You all remember very nicely," praised Dot.
So the lessons went merrily on all that long summer day.
"I shall need you to help me, Silvy," said Dot after school when the cousins were strolling together among the wild blossoms. "I have a big cla.s.s and they are such lively youngsters that it will take some time to tame them. But it is real fun."
"I"ll love to come if Doctor Grand-daddy doesn"t find any patients for me to nurse," agreed Silver Ears. "Let"s ask Limpy-toes to take us over to Gray Rock Bungalow in the automobile tonight. Mammy and Aunt Squeaky will wish to hear about your school."
"I must ask Pa Squeaky to fetch his fiddle and teach the kiddies some new music. Mrs. Cricket wants Sammie and Fidelia to have lessons on their fiddles."
Dot entertained the whole family that evening with her school stories.
They laughed heartily over Bunny and Bobsey.
"They must be real baby clowns!" chuckled Uncle Squeaky. "Never mind, Dot, keep at "em until they all learn their A, B, C"s and remember to keep your willow walloping stick handy."
CHAPTER V
A WOODS FIRE
"Mercy on us, Hezekiah! It seems as if I could smell smoke!" cried Aunt Squeaky one hot summer afternoon.
"Now, Belindy, please don"t begin sniffing for smoke," grinned Uncle Squeaky. "I haven"t heard you mention smoke for quite a spell."
"I can smell smoke, Pa," said Wink.
"So can I," agreed Wiggle.
"Bless my stars, I guess you can!" exclaimed Uncle Squeaky as he went to the door. "Is the whole village afire?" Off he started without even s.n.a.t.c.hing up his cap. The smoke rolled up in great, choking clouds.
"Oh, dearie me!" moaned Granny, "the woods are all afire. We shall all be burned. Why didn"t we stay safely in our dear attic home? Oh, dearie me!"
"I hope Wild Rose Cottage and Dot"s schoolroom down in Gra.s.shopper Lane will not burn," sighed Aunt Squeaky. "This is a play day, so the kiddies are not in school."
"I"m going to the fire," decided Mother Gray-mouse. "Perhaps I can help.
Get some buckets, Limpy-toes. I will call Scamper, Buster, Wink, and Wiggle. We cannot let the village burn up."
Most of the woodfolk were at the fire. Some poured on pails of water from the Lake; other groups stood talking wildly as they watched the leaping flames.
"I wish we had engines and hose-reels like the Giant fire-men used when the barn was on fire," sighed Silver Ears.
Uncle Squeaky ran here, there, and everywhere; filling pails, pouring water, beating burning bushes with Mother Graymouse"s best broom, and shouting excited orders to the crowd of scared woodland folk.
The fire crept nearer to Wild Rose Cottage.
"It will be a shame if Dr. Whiskers loses his new house," said Sir Spider.
"He shall not lose it," replied Uncle Squeaky. "I"ll set a back fire." He rushed into the house and got a pawful of matches. Then he set fire to the little bushes behind Grand-daddy"s house.
"Neighbor Squeaky has gone crazy!" declared Sir Spider to Daddy Gra.s.shopper. But as they watched him beat the burning bushes to a blackened ma.s.s, they saw that Uncle Squeaky knew what he was doing.
"Neighbor Squeaky has saved Dr. Whisker"s house. That burned patch cannot burn again, Sir Spider," cried Daddy Gra.s.shopper. "Come on. We will make a little fire around Pa Field-Mouse"s cottage."