"Oh, now is my chance! If I could only get down out of the tree!"
exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "But with my rheumatism I"m afraid I"ll fall. Oh dear! What shall I do?"
"Don"t be afraid, I"ll help you!" exclaimed a kind voice, and then the voice went on: "Caw! Caw! Caw!" and Uncle Wiggily, looking up, saw a big black crow perched on a limb over his head.
"Oh, how do you do!" spoke Uncle Wiggily, making a bow as well as he could. "Can you really help me down?"
"Yes," said the crow, "I can. Wait until I get my market basket. I was just going to the grocery, but I"m in no hurry. I"ll save you first."
So that crow flew off, and in a moment he came back with a big basket in its bill.
"Hop in!" the black crow called to Uncle Wiggily, "and I"ll fly down to the ground with you, and you can run off before the alligator comes out of the water. I saw what you did to him with those toothache drops, and it served him right. Come on, hop in the basket."
So Uncle Wiggily got in the basket, and the crow, taking the handle in his strong beak, flew safely to the ground with him. And that"s how the old gentleman rabbit got down out of the tree, just as I told you he would.
So he and the crow walked on some distance through the woods together, after Uncle Wiggily had picked up his crutch and valise, which had fallen out of the basket, and they got safely away before the alligator came out of the water. And wasn"t he the provoked old beastie, though, when he saw that his rabbit supper was gone?
"Where are you going?" asked the crow of Uncle Wiggily, after a bit, when they got to a nice big stone, and sat down for a rest.
"I am seeking my fortune," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "and trying to get better of my rheumatism. Dr. Possum told me to travel, and have adventures, and I"ve had quite a few already."
"Well, I hope you find your fortune and that it turns out to be a very good one," said the kind crow. "But it is coming on night now. Have you any place to stay?"
"No," replied the rabbit, "I haven"t. I never thought about that. What shall I do?"
"Oh, don"t worry," said the crow. "I"d let you stay in my nest, but it is up a high tree, and you would have trouble climbing in and out. But near my nest-house is an old hollow stump, and you can stay in that very nicely."
"Are there any bears in it?" asked Uncle Wiggily, careful-like.
"Oh, no; not a one. It is very safe."
So the crow showed Uncle Wiggily where the hollow stump was, and he slept there all night, on a soft bed of leaves. And when he awakened in the morning he had breakfast with the crow and once more started off to seek his fortune.
Well, pretty soon, in a short while, not so very long, he came to a little house made of bark, standing in the middle of a deep, dark, dismal woods.
And on the door of the house was a sign which read:
"If you want to be surprised, open this door and come in."
"Perhaps I can find my fortune in there, and get rid of the rheumatism,"
thought Uncle Wiggily, so he hopped forward. And just as he did so he heard a voice calling to him:
"Don"t go in! Don"t go in there, Uncle Wiggily!"
The rabbit looked up, and saw Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, waving his paws at him. Well, Uncle Wiggily started to jump back away from the door of the little house, but it was too late. Out came a scraggily-raggily claw, which grabbed him, while a voice cried out:
"Ah, ha! Now I have you! Come right in!"
And then, before you could shake a stick at a bad dog, the door was slammed shut and locked, and there Uncle Wiggily was inside the house, and Johnnie Bushytail was crying outside.
"That"s the end of poor Uncle Wiggily!" said Johnnie. But it wasn"t. For I"ll not leave the old gentleman rabbit alone in the house with that clawy creature. And in the next story, providing our wash lady doesn"t put my new straw hat in the soap suds, and take all the color out of the ribbon, I"ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and Fido Flip-Flop.
STORY IV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND FIDO FLIP-FLOP
Well, as soon as Uncle Wiggily found himself inside the bear"s den--oh, just listen to me! That was in the other story, wasn"t it? Yes, we left him in the funny little house in the woods, with the clawy creature grabbing him.
Now, what do you suppose that clawy creature was? Why, a great, big owl, to be sure, with round, staring, yellow eyes, and he had grabbed Uncle Wiggily in his claws, and pulled him inside the house.
"Now, I"ve got you!" cried the owl. "I was just wishing some one would come along, and you did. Some of my friends are coming to tea this afternoon, and you"ll do very nicely made up into sandwiches."
Wasn"t that a perfectly dreadful way to talk about our Uncle Wiggily?
Well, I guess yes!
"Now you"re here, make yourself at home," went on the owl, sarcastic-like, as he locked the front door and put the key in his pocket. "Did you see the sign?"
"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, "I did. But I don"t call it fair. I thought I would find my fortune in here."
"The sign says you"ll be surprised, and I guess you are surprised, aren"t you?" asked the owl.
"Yes," answered the rabbit, "very much so. But I"d rather have a nice surprise party, with peanuts and lemonade, than this."
"No matter," said the owl, snapping his beak like a pair of shears, "here you are and here you"ll stay! My friends will soon arrive. I"ll now put the kettle on, to boil for tea."
Well, poor Uncle Wiggily didn"t know what to do. He couldn"t look in his valise to see if there was anything in it by which he might escape, for he had dropped the satchel outside when the owl grabbed him, and he only had his barber-pole crutch.
"Oh, this is worse and worse!" thought the poor old rabbit.
But listen, Johnnie Bushytail is outside the owl"s house, and he"s going to do a wonderful trick.
As soon as he saw the door shut on Uncle Wiggily, that brave squirrel boy began to plan how he could save him, and the first thing he did was to gather up a lot of acorns.
Then he perched himself in a tree, right in front of the owl"s door, and Johnnie began throwing acorns at it. "Rat-a-tat-tat!" went the acorns on the wooden panels.
"Ha! Those must be my friends!" exclaimed the bad owl, opening the door a little crack so he could peek out, but taking care to stand in front of it, so that Uncle Wiggily couldn"t slip out. But, of course, the owl saw no one. "It must have been the wind," he said as he shut the door.
Then Johnnie Bushytail threw some more acorns at the door.
"Pitter-patter-patter-pit!" they went, like hailstones in an ice cream can.
"Ah, there are my friends, sure, this time!" thought the owl, and once more he peered out, but no one was there. "It must have been a tree branch hitting against the door," said the owl, as he sharpened a big knife with which to make the sandwiches. Then Johnnie threw some more acorns, and the owl now thought positively his friends were there, and when he opened it and saw no one he was real mad.
"Some one is playing tricks on me!" exclaimed the savage bird. "I"ll catch them next time!"
Now this was just what Johnnie Bushytail wanted, so he threw a whole double handful of acorns at the door, and when the owl heard them pattering against the wood he rushed out.