So Johnnie Bushytail and Uncle Wiggily got ready to run. And it was a good thing they did, for just then the bear gave a growl, like a lollypop when it falls off the stick, and the bear said:
"Ah, ha! And oh, ho! A rabbit and a squirrel! Fine for me!
Tag--your it!" he cried, and he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily and Johnnie.
But do you s"pose the bunny uncle and the squirrel boy stayed there to be caught? Indeed, they did not!
"Over this way! Quick!" cried Johnnie. "Here is a hazel nut bush, Uncle Wiggily. We can hide under that and the bear can"t get us!"
"Good!" said the bunny uncle. And he and Johnnie quickly ran and hid under the hazel nut bush, which was nearby.
The bear looked all around as he heard Uncle Wiggily and Johnnie running away, and when he saw where they had gone he laughed until his whiskers twinkled, almost like the rabbit gentleman"s pink nose, and then the bear said:
"Ha, ha! and Ho, ho! So you thought you could get away from me that way, did you? Well, you can"t. I can see you hiding under that bush almost as plainly as I can see the sun shining. Here I come after you."
"Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "What shall we do, Johnnie? I don"t want the bear to get you or me."
"And I don"t either," spoke the little squirrel boy.
"I wonder if I could scare him away with my umbrella, Johnnie?" went on Uncle Wiggily. "I might if I could make believe it was a gun. Have you any talc.u.m powder to shoot?"
"No," said Johnnie, sadly, "I have not, I am sorry to say."
"Have you any bullets?" asked the bunny uncle.
"No bullets, either," answered Johnnie, more sadly.
"Then I don"t see anything for us to do but let the bear get us,"
sorrowfully said Mr. Longears. "Here he comes, Johnnie."
"But he sha"n"t get us!" quickly cried the squirrel boy, as the bear made a jump for the bush under which the bunny and Johnnie were hiding.
"He sha"n"t get us!"
"Why not?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Because," said Johnnie, "I have just thought of something. You asked me for bullets a while ago. I have none, but the hazel nut bush has.
Come, good Mr. Hazel Bush, will you save us from the bear?" asked Johnnie.
"Right gladly will I do that," the kind bush said.
"Then, when he comes for us!" cried Johnnie, "just rattle down, all over on him, all the hard nuts you can let fall. They will hit him on his ears, and on his soft and tender nose, and that will make him run away and leave us alone."
"Good!" whispered the hazel nut bush, rustling its leaves. "But what about you and Uncle Wiggily? If I rattle the nuts on the bear they will also fall on you two, as long as you are hiding under me."
"Have no fear of that!" said the bunny uncle. "I have my umbrella, and I will raise that and keep off the falling nuts."
Then the bear, with a growl, made a dash to get Uncle Wiggily and Johnnie. But the hazel bush shivered and shook himself and "Rattle-te-bang! Bung-bung! Bang!" down came the hazel nuts all over the bear.
"Oh, wow!" he cried, as they hit him on his soft and tender nose. "Oh, wow! I guess I"d better run away. It"s hailing!"
And he did run. And because of Uncle Wiggily"s umbrella held over his head, the nuts did not hurt him or Johnnie at all. And when the bear had run far away the squirrel boy gathered all the nuts he wanted, and he and Uncle Wiggily went safely home. And the bear"s nose was sore for a week.
So if the hickory nut cake doesn"t try to sit in the same seat with the apple pie and get all squeezed like a lemon pudding, I"ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Susie"s dress.
STORY XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND SUSIE"S DRESS
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was reading the paper in his hollow stump bungalow, in the woods, while Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady house-keeper, was out in the kitchen washing the dinner dishes one afternoon.
All of a sudden Uncle Wiggily fell asleep because he was reading a bed-time story in the paper, and while he slept he heard a noise at the front door, which sounded like:
"Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!"
"My goodness!" suddenly exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, awakening out of his sleep. "That sounds like the forest woodp.e.c.k.e.r bird making holes in a tree."
"No, it isn"t that," spoke Nurse Jane. "It"s some one tapping at our front door. I can"t answer because my paws are all covered with soapy-suds dishwater."
"Oh, I"ll go," said Uncle Wiggily, and laying aside the paper over which he had fallen asleep, he opened the door. On the porch stood Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl.
"Why, h.e.l.lo Susie!" exclaimed the bunny uncle. "Where are you going with your nice new dress?" for Susie did have on a fine new waist and skirt, or maybe it was made in one piece for all I know. And her new dress had on it ruffles and thing-a-ma-bobs and curley-cues and insertions and Georgette crepe and all sorts of things like that.
"Where are you going, Susie?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"I am going to a party," answered the little rabbit girl. "Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, are going to have a party, and they asked me to come. So I came for you."
"But I"m not going to the party!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I haven"t been invited."
"That doesn"t make any difference," spoke Susie with a laugh. "You know they"ll be glad to see you, anyhow. And I know Lulu meant to ask you, only she must have forgotten about it, because there is so much to do when you have a party."
"I know there is," Uncle Wiggily said, "and I don"t blame Lulu and Alice a bit for not asking me. Anyhow I couldn"t go, for I promised to come over this afternoon and play checkers with Grandfather Goosey Gander."
"Oh, but won"t you walk with me to the party?" asked Susie, sort of teasing like. "I"m afraid to go through the woods alone, because Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, said you and he met a bear there yesterday."
"We did!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "But the hazel bush drove him away by showering nuts on his nose."
"Well, I might not be so lucky as to have a hazelnut bush to help me,"
spoke Susie. "So I"d be very glad if you would walk through the woods with me. You can scare away the bear if we meet him."
"How?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "With my red, white and blue crutch or my umbrella?"
"With this popgun, which shoots toothpowder," said Susie. "It belongs to Sammie, my brother, but he let me take it. We"ll bring the popgun with us, Uncle Wiggily, and scare the bear."
"All right," said the bunny uncle. "That"s what we"ll do. I"ll go as far as the Wibblewobble duck house with you and leave you there at the party."
This made Susie very glad and happy, and soon she and Uncle Wiggily were going through the woods together. Susie"s new dress was very fine and she kept looking at it as she hopped along.