"Bur-r-r-r! What are you calling me names for?" he asked, and he showed his teeth something frightful, yes, indeed! Now cuddle up close to me if you want to, and you won"t be a bit afraid, because, in a few minutes Lulu is going to be saved in a wonderful way. Just you wait and see.
"Why do you call me names?" asked the dog again.
"I--I--If you please," said Lulu, "I thought you said your name was Bad Dog, sir."
"Bur-r-r-r!" cried the dog. "I didn"t at all. No matter what my name is. I am a bad dog, however, and I"m proud of it!" Oh, wasn"t he the bold, ugly dog, though? Then he looked at Lulu some more, and growled even louder, and he asked her:
"What are you, a chicken or a turkey?"
"Neither," replied Lulu, "I"m a duck, if you please."
"Ha!" exclaimed the bad dog. "A duck! The very idea! Of all things I love ducks! I just dote on "em! I love "em just like you love jam tarts, I expect. But why aren"t you larger, Lulu? I like big ducks."
"Oh!" cried the little duck girl, "are you going to eat me up?"
"Yes," replied the dog, "I am."
"Then," went on Lulu, very bravely, for she was trying to think of a way to get out of the deep, dark woods, "if you will wait a year or two, I will be larger."
"No," said the dog. "I can"t wait. I"m in a hurry. I must have you now."
Then he growled some more, and rushed right at Lulu, and I suppose he would have eaten her up, feathers and all, only for what happened.
Now, what do you suppose prevented him? Why, just as he was about to grab the little duck girl there was a crashing and a smashing in the bushes and who should appear but dear Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat! As soon as she laid eyes on that dog she knew what he was going to do, and without speaking a word, she rushed right at him and lowered her horns.
Now, it"s a good thing for that dog that the sharp ends of Aunt Lettie"s horns had been sawed off. So, you see, when she stuck them in that dog"s ribs, they only tickled him and he had to laugh, instead of sticking right through him. Oh, how hard he laughed! But he didn"t want to, not a bit.
Then Aunt Lettie just lowered her head, and then she raised it up, and over her back that bad dog went, right up in the air, and he was tossed in some briars and brambles that scratched him well.
But he wasn"t satisfied yet, and he rushed back at Lulu, but Aunt Lettie tickled him in the ribs again, and he laughed: "Ha! Ho!" though he didn"t want to at all, and over into the briars and brambles he was tossed once more.
Then he had had enough, and he ran off, howling instead of laughing, and that"s the way it was that Aunt Lettie saved Lulu. You see the old lady goat happened to be walking in the woods, when she heard the dog growl and she ran up just in time. Then she went home with Lulu, and Jimmie said if he ever saw that dog he would throw a stone at him, and I wouldn"t blame him, would you?
Now to-morrow night I think the story is going to be about how Alice cut her foot, and what happened after it. But I can"t tell it unless I happen to see a gra.s.shopper standing on his head and eating jam tarts.
STORY XXII
HOW ALICE CUT HER FOOT
Did you ever go barefooted in the summer time? I suppose you have, and I don"t blame you a bit, especially on hot days, or when you are at Asbury Park or Ocean Grove. Now, to go barefooted, you know, you have to take off your shoes and stockings, and that"s quite a bother at times.
Well, Alice Wibblewobble didn"t have to do this when she wanted to go barefooted, for, you know, she never wore shoes and stockings in summer.
You see it would be too much trouble to take them off every time she went in swimming with Lulu and Jimmie, so that"s why it was arranged that she never had to wear any.
Now it happened one day, oh, I guess it must have been about a week and a minute after Lulu had been frightened by that big dog, that Alice was going to the store for her mother. The store was kept by Mr. Drake, who had a little round door k.n.o.b on the top of his head, so his hat wouldn"t blow off in windy weather.
"Bring me a pound of b.u.t.ter and some cornmeal, Alice," her mother had said to her, "and be sure the cornmeal is fresh. I am going to fry some for your father"s supper."
So Alice said she would be sure about it, and she started off.
"Want me to come, Alice?" asked Lulu.
"No, dear," replied her sister. "I think it is too hot for you to-day.
I"ll soon be back again."
"Better take Jimmie," went on Lulu. "You may meet the bad dog or an ugly fox."
"No," spoke Alice again, "I think I"ll go alone. Besides, Jimmie is off with Sammie Littletail, playing leapfrog. I"ll go alone."
So off she went. Now I"m going to tell you why she wanted to go alone, but don"t whisper it to any one. You see, Alice thought maybe she might meet the fairy prince, for she still hoped that some day he would change into a king with a golden diamond crown on his head.
But, as she walked on toward Mr. Drake"s store she saw nothing of the fairy prince, though she kept a sharp lookout. Well, she got the pound of b.u.t.ter and the cornmeal, and to make sure it was fresh she ate a little, for that"s the surest way to tell. Then she started for home, with the b.u.t.ter under one wing and the cornmeal under the other.
Well, all of a sudden, just as she got past the weeping willow tree, if she didn"t step on a sharp stone and cut her foot, because, you see, she had no shoes on, and the stone was very, very sharp, almost as sharp as an exclamation point; yes, indeed! There, I had the printer put one in (!) so you could see how very sharp it is. Always be careful of exclamation points, children.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Alice, as she felt the sharp stone go in her foot, and she had to sink down to the ground, it hurt her so. Then the cornmeal fell from under her wing and the bag burst and it spilled all over. Then the b.u.t.ter fell from under the other wing, but that didn"t get hurt any. It only got some dents in it, and you know that doesn"t matter, for b.u.t.ter.
"Oh, dear! Whatever shall I do?" cried Alice again. "I--I can"t walk on my sore foot, and I can"t carry the cornmeal and the b.u.t.ter! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! My foot"s bleeding, too!" and, sure enough it was. Poor Alice! How sorry I feel for her.
"Ah, if only the fairy prince would appear now," she went on. "He would cause a golden chariot to take me home!"
You see, Alice hadn"t gotten over being romantic, even if she had cut her foot. Oh, my, no, and a diamond earring besides!
Well, as true as I"m telling you, no sooner had she made that wish about the fairy prince than a voice called out:
"Who is crying? Does any one need help?"
"Yes," replied Alice, "I do. I"ve cut my foot, and I"ve dented the b.u.t.ter in several places, but that doesn"t matter much, and I"ve spilled the cornmeal."
"Oh, what a lot of troubles for one poor little duck girl!" cried the voice again. "Perhaps, I can help you," and who should come along but Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit. "Let us see what"s the trouble," he went on, and he put his strongest spectacles over his nose and he looked at the cut in Alice"s foot. Then he cried:
"Oh, I should say that was a cut! Oh, my, yes! No doubt about it whatever!
But there, don"t cry," he added, for he saw some tears running down Alice"s yellow bill. "I"ll fix it for you."
So he got some nice, soft leaves, and he tied them on her sore foot with some stout gra.s.s. Then she felt better, but she couldn"t walk, and she didn"t know how she was ever going to get home. So she asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Why, the easiest thing in the world!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "All I have to do is to say a little verse, and I"ll think of a way." So he said this little verse:
"Wiggily, waggily, woggily wome, How shall I get Alice home?
She has hurt herself quite much And she"ll have to use my crutch."
Of course, Uncle Wiggily knew that wasn"t a very good verse, but it was the best he could do.
"You shall use my cornstalk crutch, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made for me," he went on. "It will be just the thing."