"I have it! I can swim out with the rope in my bill, for my head will be above the water."

He did it too, in about two quacks and a quarter. Then he helped Buddy fasten the rope to the side of the boat, and those on land, including Percival, the two Bow Wows and Mamma Pigg and Brighteyes, soon pulled the boat and Buddy in it ashore.

Buddy said he was never going sailing again, and I guess he never did, for he was very much frightened, but he soon got over it and played with Jimmie and Jackie and Peetie, while Mamma Pigg had to go home to take something for her nerves.

Now, if I have rhubarb pie for supper, and the ham sandwich doesn't squeal when they put mustard on it, I'll tell you about Brighteyes and the peanut candy in the next story.



STORY XIV

BRIGHTEYES AND THE PEANUT CANDY

It happened, once upon a time, that Brighteyes and Buddy Pigg were walking through the woods together, not far from their home. They had been over to see Sammie and Susie Littletail, and they had had a very nice time. In fact, there had been a little party at the Littletail home.

It was Sammie's or Susie's birthday, I forget just whose, and after games had been played, there were good things to eat; nuts of various kinds for the squirrels who came; candy, lemonade, ice cream flavored with turnips and carrots, and oh! lots of cake, and I don't know what else besides. There was so much that Buddy and Brighteyes couldn't eat all their share, and they were bringing it home to their papa and mamma.

Well, as they were walking along, thinking what a good time they had had, the two guinea pig children heard a rustling sound in the bushes, and two big, round, staring eyes peered out at them, and there was a noise like a dog growling.

"Oh, quick! Hurry up, Buddy!" cried Brighteyes. "Something will catch us sure!" and she began to run as fast as fast could be, or even faster, maybe.

"Oh, I don't think it's anything but old Percival, the circus dog," said Buddy. "He won't hurt us."

And he was going to stand still and look in those bushes; yes, sir, that's what Buddy was going to do, only he happened to see a big, bushy tail sticking out, and then he knew it was a bad fox there, and not the good, kind dog, so Buddy ran as fast as he could run, if not faster, right after Brighteyes.

And the fox ran, too, only he had stepped on a piece of glass and cut his foot and couldn't run very fast. He was the same fox who lighted the firecracker in Dr. Pigg's house, and I'm glad to say that he didn't catch Buddy or Brighteyes, for they ran faster than the fox did.

Well, they hurried on for quite a distance further, and all at once, just as they were getting tired, and when they knew the fox had stopped chasing them, they happened to look down on the path, and what should they see but a white box; yes, indeed, a white box, tied with pink string.

"Oh, I wonder what can be in there?" asked Brighteyes.

"I don't know, but I'll go see," said Buddy.

"Oh, no, don't go too close," begged his sister. "It might be a trap, or perhaps the bad fox is hidden inside it."

"It's too small for a fox to get in," declared the boy guinea pig. "I'll take a smell, anyhow."

So he crept slowly, slowly, slowly up to the white box, and sniffed, and sniffed and sniffed.

"Oh! Ah! Um! La-la! Um! Um!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg, and he laid down the packages of candy, nuts, cakes and other things he had carried home from the Littletails' party, so that he might smell the better.

"What is it?" asked Brighteyes Pigg. "What's in the box?"

"I don't know," replied her brother, "but whatever it is, it smells the nicest of anything I ever smelled. It's just like when mamma bakes a ginger cake in the oven. I'm going to open it and see."

So, with his sharp teeth, Buddy loosened the pink string around the box, and off came the cover. Then, what do you suppose was in the box? Why, a whole lot of peanut candy, all nice and fresh, shining, golden brown, with just enough peanuts in, and not a bit more, really and truly!

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Brighteyes in delight, as she saw it. "Peanut candy, Buddy! If there's anything I love it's peanut candy! Some good fairy must have left this for us. Come on, we'll take it over here, under a bush, where the bad fox won't see us, and we'll eat some of it, and save some to take home. Oh, how lovely!"

"I don't think I care for peanut candy very much," said Buddy. "When I smelled it I thought it was going to be chocolate caramels."

"Don't you want any?" asked Brighteyes.

"No," answered her brother, "but I'll help you carry it into the bushes. I'll eat some of the things we brought from the party. I'm getting hungry again."

So he and Brighteyes carried the box of peanut candy into the bushes, and the little girl guinea pig began to eat the sweet stuff.

Well, she had eaten almost all of it up, before she thought, because it tasted so good, when all of a sudden, who should come along the path in the woods, but a little girl. Yes, a little girl in a red dress, and she was crying as hard as she could cry, that little girl was.

"Oh, dear!" she sobbed, "I have lost my box of peanut candy, that I bought in the store, and I can't find it, and I'm so miserable! Nobody in the world is so miserable as I am. Oh, dear! Boo! Hoo!"

Well, you should have seen how sorry Brighteyes was for eating that little girl's candy, but Brighteyes didn't know, of course, whose it was. She and Buddy just hid down in the bushes, and didn't know what to do, until Buddy whispered:

"Listen! I'll fill the box full of our candy, nuts and things that we brought from the party, and maybe that will stop the little girl crying."

So he did that, filling the box real full, and putting the pink string around it again. Then, when the little girl wasn't looking, Buddy slipped out of the bushes, put the box back on the path again and slipped under a leaf to hide. Then, pretty soon, when the little girl stopped crying, she saw her box, and she thought a fairy had brought it back.

Then she opened it, and she saw the peanut candy had been turned into a different kind, and that there were nuts with it and she surely thought it was magical, but it wasn't, it was only Buddy Pigg, who did it.

So Buddy and Brighteyes went home happy, and so did the little girl, with her white box which she had found again after she had lost it.

Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Buddy and the June bug, that is if some one sends me some peanut candy with a lot of red postage stamps on it.



STORY XV

BUDDY AND THE JUNE BUG

One night Dr. Pigg and Mrs. Pigg and Brighteyes went to a nice moving-picture show that Percival, the old circus dog, had gotten up, and they left Buddy at home alone. The reason for that was this: Buddy wasn't feeling well. He had eaten too many ice cream cones, and too much lemonade on a hot day, and he had to have some medicine that his papa fixed for him.

It was bitter, sour medicine, too, and Buddy didn't like it, and he didn't like to be ill, either, but one always is when one eats too many ice cream cones and drinks too much lemonade on a hot day; yes, indeed, and a bottle of paregoric besides.

Well, Buddy was sick, and couldn't go to the moving-picture show, but his mamma and papa thought it would be all right to leave him home alone, as he was getting better by that time.

"I'll tell you all about the show when we come back," promised Brighteyes. "There is going to be a fairy play in it."

"Oh!" cried Buddy, "how I wish I could go! I love fairy plays!"

"You will be much better in bed," said Dr. Pigg, "and if you keep quiet you won't have to take any more medicine."

There was no help for it, and Dr. Pigg and his wife and daughter started off. They knew Buddy would be much more comfortable in bed than at the show, or they would never have left him, and right next door lived a family of chickens, who would come over in case anything happened.

Buddy felt a little lonesome when his folks had gone, but after awhile he fell asleep. He dozed off for some time, and, all of a sudden, he was awakened by hearing something going "thumpity-thump-bump-bump-bump! Humpity-hump-bump-bump!" on the ceiling and walls of his room. Then it went "bangity-bung-bung," and before Buddy knew what was happening, if something didn't go slam-bang-crack into the lamp, and put it out, leaving the poor little guinea pig boy in the dark.

Then how frightened he was! He shivered, and crept down with his head beneath the bed clothes, but all the while he kept hearing that "thumpity-thump-bump-hump-lump-dump!" against the ceiling. First he thought it was the bad fox, who had gotten in to eat him up, and then he knew the fox couldn't fly around the room that way, or, if it could, it would make ever so much more noise. Then he thought it might be an owl, with big, round, staring, yellow eyes, but when he peeped out from under the clothes the least bit, he didn't see any eyes, so he knew it couldn't be the owl.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Buddy, when he was so frightened he couldn't keep still any longer, "Oh, dear! I wish my papa and mamma would come home; and Brighteyes, too!"

"What for?" asked a voice, away high up on the ceiling.

"Because I'm—I'm lonesome—and afraid—and—and—" but Buddy was almost crying, so he couldn't finish what he had started to say.

"What are you afraid of?" asked the voice, and this time it was on the side wall, close to Buddy.

"I'm afraid of you!" cried the little boy guinea pig, and he got farther under the bed clothes.

"Nonsense! Afraid of me!" exclaimed the voice, and this time, bless me; if it wasn't on the blanket, right over Buddy's nose. "Don't be afraid, little boy," the voice went on. "I wouldn't hurt you for the world. Why, I'm only a harmless, old June bug, you know. I blundered in here by mistake, somehow, because I saw your light, but now it's dark, and I can't see to get out. But land sakes, goodness me, and some buttermilk! Don't be afraid of me! I wouldn't hurt you for the world and the moon too."

"Well, I—I don't exactly know if I'm afraid of you or not," went on Buddy. "First I thought you were a fox or an owl. I—I guess I'm a little afraid of the dark, too."

"Nonsense! The dark can't hurt anyone," said the June bug. "The dark is good for sleeping. But if you're afraid, how would you like me to tell you a story? And that will pass the time until your papa and mamma come home."

"Oh, fine!" cried Buddy, and he wasn't afraid any more, for he loved to hear stories. So the June bug perched upon the bed clothes, where they were nice and soft, and he told lots of stories to Buddy.

He told about the cow that went to school, and about the bear who was bitten by a big, black bug, and about two good boys, and about three bad boys, who lived in a cave, and about an elephant, and about a horse that had four legs and, oh, I don't know how many stories.

Then the June bug sang this little verse, only, as I have a cold in my head you'll have to get some one else to sing it for you. Anyhow this is how it goes:

"I love to flip and flop and flap, And buzz around the room, I leap up to the ceiling high, And hit it with a boom! I turn a double somersault. My wings they play a tune. It's lots of fun to be a bug, Especially in June."

And then, land sakes, and a feather pillow; if Buddy Pigg wasn't fast asleep. Then the kind old June bug sang his song over again, softly, and was about to fly away, when he saw a mosquito going to bite the little guinea pig boy.

And what did that bug do but grab the mosquito and throw him out of the window. And the June bug stayed until he heard Dr. Pigg and his wife coming back, and then he flew away, for he had managed to find the place where he had come in, and crawled out again.

Buddy woke up when his mamma came in his room to see how he was, and he told her all about the June bug, and how kind it had been, and how it had told stories.

"You must have had a lovely dream," said Mrs. Pigg, but Buddy knew it had actually happened, and wasn't a dream at all. Now if my typewriter doesn't fall down and sprain its hair ribbon we'll next have a story soon about Brighteyes and a bad boy.



STORY XVI

BRIGHTEYES AND THE BAD BOY

Brighteyes Pigg was coming home from the grocery store one day. She didn't have much to carry because, you see, her mamma had sent her for only a yeast cake, and, as that wasn't very large, Matilda put it in her apron pocket.

She was walking along, thinking what a good time she would have when she got home, for Jennie Chipmunk had promised to come over as soon as she got her dishes washed and play house with the little guinea pig girl.

"We'll have a lovely time," thought Matilda, who was called Brighteyes for short. "We'll dress up all our dolls and have a play-party, and maybe mamma will give us real things to eat."

Well, Brighteyes was thinking so much about the party, and about Jennie Chipmunk, whom she had not seen in some time, that she didn't pay much attention to anything else. She was going along, hippity-hop, just as Sister Sallie went to the barber shop, when all of a sudden something whizzed right past the nose of Brighteyes and almost hit her.

"My goodness me, sakes alive and a tin dishpan! What's that?" she exclaimed. "I wonder if it could have been that June bug who told Buddy stories so nicely?"

Then she looked all around and she didn't see anything of a bug, and she didn't hear his wings buzzing, so she thought it couldn't have been him.

Then, bless me! if something more didn't shoot right past Brighteyes with a whizz and a whozz, making a funny noise, you know. And this time she saw what it was. It was an arrow, the kind that are shot from bows, you understand.

"Oh, the Indians are after me! The Indians are after me!" cried poor Brighteyes in fright, for you see she had read in her school reader about the Indians shooting arrows.

Then the little guinea pig girl started to run, but before she had taken three steps and a half, if another arrow didn't come whizzing through the bushes at her, and this time it was so close that it just touched her left ear.

This frightened her so that she fell down, and before she could get up to run away, if out from behind a tree didn't leap a bad boy.

So it wasn't an Indian shooting the arrows, after all, which, perhaps, was a good thing, as Indians can shoot very straight and might have hurt Brighteyes. No, it was a bad boy.

I call him bad because he shot at Brighteyes, and I guess before I'm through with this story that you'll call him bad also.

Well, that boy ran right at Brighteyes, and before she knew what was happening he had grabbed her.

"Wow!" cried the boy. "I've got it! I shot it! I've got a rabbit!"

"Ha! That ain't a rabbit!" exclaimed another boy, coming out of the bushes, "that's a guinea pig. Where did you hit it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere. But I was sure I hit it. But, maybe, the arrow only stunned it. Anyhow, I've got it. Now we'll take it home, and put it in a cage, and charge five cents for all the other boys to see it."

"Sure," said the second boy. "You're a good shot with your bow and arrow. Come on, let me carry the guinea pig."

"No," replied the first boy, "I'm going to carry it myself. I wonder if you carry 'em by their ears, like you do rabbits?" Then he tried to get hold of Brighteyes' ears, and he could hardly find them, as they were so small, and, of course, he couldn't take hold of them.

But, oh, dear! how roughly he handled that poor little guinea pig girl! When he couldn't get hold of her ears he grabbed her by the hind legs and actually turned her upside down, and then what should happen but that the yeast cake fell out of her apron pocket.

"Ha! That's funny!" cried the boy who held Brighteyes. "I never knew that guinea pigs ate yeast cakes. This must be a smart one. We'll teach it to do tricks, and then we can charge ten cents to see it. Oh, I'm glad I caught it."

And he held on more tightly to Brighteyes, for she was wiggling and squirming, trying to get away.

Oh, how frightened she was, when she heard the boys say that they were going to shut her up in a cage! She thought she would never see her mamma, and papa, and Buddy again. Big tears came into her eyes, and she trembled all over.

But do you s'pose that bad boy and the other one cared? Not the least bit! First one held Brighteyes, and then the other, to see how heavy she was, and then they took her up, first by one leg and then by the other, and, if she had had a tail, they would have held her up by that, and probably pulled it, too, for all I know.

You see those two boys had been playing they were Indians in the woods with their bows and arrows, and perhaps that made them act so cruelly.

"Let's hurry home now and put it in a cage," said the bad boy, and he and the other boy started off, carrying Brighteyes. But wait, don't be frightened, or worried, for something is going to happen immediately, which is very soon.

All at once there was a whizzing and a whozzing in the air, and a buzzing, bizzing sound, and that kind old June bug came sailing along. He saw those bad boys taking Brighteyes away, and the bug knew at once that she was Buddy's sister.

So what did he do but wiggle his wings about a thousand times a minute, I guess, and fly right at the boy who held the guinea pig girl!

Right at the bad boy flew the bug, and he hit him first in one eye and then the other and scared him so that the bad chap was glad enough to let go of poor Brighteyes in a hurry.

Then the other boy stepped on the yeast cake, and it flattened out, and he slipped on it, and fell down, and he thought a bear was after him, and he yelled, and the other boy yelled, and then they both ran away, and Brighteyes was saved.

She thanked the June bug, and he said he was glad he could help her, and he flew back to the grocery and got another yeast cake for her. Then Brighteyes hurried home.

Now the next story is going to be about Buddy Pigg's great run—that is, if we have peaches and cream for supper and the rag man doesn't take my rubber boots for his goat to wear to the party.



STORY XVII

BUDDY'S GREAT RUN

Well, I didn't have peaches and cream for supper last night, but I had strawberry shortcake, which is almost as good, so I can tell you a story, anyhow.

Once upon a time, Oh, I guess it must have been about two weeks after Brighteyes was caught by the bad boys, and rescued by the June bug, Buddy Pigg was sitting on his front steps, wishing he had something to do.

"Mother," he asked, "can I go down in the brook, paddling? Jimmie Wibblewobble is down there."

"No," said Mrs. Pigg kindly, "you are not quite well enough to go in the water, Buddy. But you may have five cents for an ice cream cone."

Well, Buddy walked up to the store, got a vanilla ice cream cone, and had just finished the last of it, even down to the sharp point of the cone, where there wasn't any ice cream, when who should come along but Billie and Johnnie Bushytail. They had their catching gloves, and a ball and a bat, and when the squirrel boys saw Buddy they called out:

"Come on, let's have a game of baseball."

"All right," agreed Buddy. "But who else will play?"

"Oh! we'll get Sammie Littletail, and Bully and Bawly, the frogs, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, and Jimmie Wibblewobble, and we'll have a fine game," said Billie Bushytail.

So they walked along, and pretty soon they met Sammie Littletail, and then a little while after that they met the two Bow Wows, and then who should come hopping along, but Bully and Bawly, the two frogs, and, if you'll believe me, a moment after that, along came Jimmie Wibblewobble.

Then they had enough for a fine baseball game, and they went to a nice, green meadow where they could play. Well, Johnnie Bushytail was up at the bat first, and he knocked the ball so far that Bully, who was playing out in the far-off part of the field, had to take about sixteen and a half hops before he could get it. But by that time Johnnie was back at home plate safe.

Then it came Sammie Littletail's turn, and he knocked the ball so high that it went up in a tree and stayed there, and didn't come down.

"Oh, that's no way to play!" exclaimed Jimmie Wibblewobble. "Now we haven't any ball. What did you do that for, Sammie?"

"Well, I couldn't help it; could I?" asked Sammie, and he threw the bat up, trying to knock down the ball.

But it wouldn't come down, and then they all threw up stones and sticks, but still that ball wouldn't come down, and then Billie and Johnnie Bushytail climbed up and they had it down in about two frisks of their big, long tails.

Well, they said that Sammie Littletail was out for knocking the ball up in the tree, and he didn't like it, but he gave in, and the game went on. Then Jimmie Wibblewobble knocked a ball, oh! so far and so high that it was almost out of sight.

"Nobody can catch that!" cried Jimmie, as he started for first base.

But just you wait and see. Buddy Pigg was out in the field, waiting for a nice ball to come along so he could catch it, and now was his chance. He had such bright eyes, almost like his sister's, and he could see the ball away up in the white clouds, even though none of the other players could.

He kept his eyes on it, and got his paws all ready to catch it when it came down. And pretty soon it did begin to come down, for you know it couldn't stay up there in the air, with nothing to hold it. Of course not, and I know you understand how that is.

Well, Buddy managed to catch that ball, though it came down very swiftly, and Jimmie Wibblewobble was out.

"Fine catch, Buddy! Fine!" cried Billie Bushytail.

"Yes, and now it's Buddy's turn to bat," said Bawly, the frog. "Get up, Buddy. I'll pitch you a nice one."

So Buddy got up to home plate, which was a flat stone, you know, and he held his bat ready to knock the ball out of sight, if possible.

Bawly threw him a nice, easy ball, and Buddy struck at it. He hit, too, which is better. Oh! such a hit as he gave that ball! It's a good thing balls don't have feelings, I think, or bats either, for that matter.

Well, as soon as he hit the ball Buddy started to run for the bases. Oh, how fast he ran, but something happened. The ball didn't go as far as he thought it would. No, it fell down right near Sammie Littletail, and Sammie picked it up and ran toward Buddy with it.

He knew if he could touch Buddy with the ball before Buddy got back to home plate, that Buddy would be out and then Sammie could bat again.

So Sammie ran after Buddy, and Buddy ran all around the bases, hoping he could make a home run and get there safe. But it was hard work. Faster and faster he ran, and faster and faster hopped Sammie after him.

"Run, Buddy! Run!" cried Bully the frog.

"I—am—running!" panted Buddy.

"Catch him, Sammie! Catch him!" cried Bawly, and Sammie gave three tremendous hops to catch Buddy.

But by this time Buddy was nearly at home plate, where he would be safe. And the worst of it was that Sammie was almost there, too.

Then, with his last breath, and giving a spring and a hop that was so big that it took him close to Buddy, Sammie stretched out his paw with the ball in and tried to touch Buddy. But do you s'pose he did? No, sir, he didn't, and Buddy got home safe, and wasn't put out after all.

"Well," said Sammie, after he had gotten his breath, "if you had had a tail sticking out behind you I would have touched that, and you'd have been out."

"I'm glad I haven't a tail," said Buddy, as he sat down on the grass to rest, and then, after a while the game went on, and lasted until dark, everybody having a fine time.

Now, I'm going to tell you in the story after this one about Brighteyes, Buddy and the turnip—that is, in case I hear a potato bug sing a song that puts the rag doll to sleep, so she won't cry and wake up the pussy cat.



STORY XVIII

BRIGHTEYES, BUDDY AND THE TURNIP

One day when Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg were out walking in the fields, they saw, close beside a big stone, a fine, large turnip. Oh, it was the nicest, ripest, juiciest turnip that ever a guinea pig boy or girl smelled of, and it just made their mouths water, and water even came into their eyes.

"Oh, what a lovely turnip!" exclaimed Brighteyes. "I wonder who it belongs to?"

"Let's look and see if it has any one's name on it," suggested Buddy.

So, after peering carefully about to see that there were no traps near, the two guinea pig children went closer, and gazed on all sides of the turnip, and even turned it over to look on the bottom.

They couldn't see a single name, and then they came to the conclusion that the turnip didn't belong to any one in particular.

"I wonder if it would be right for us to take it home?" asked Brighteyes. "Mamma and papa would just love to have some of it."

"Why certainly, take it right along, children!" exclaimed a voice from under a burdock leaf, and then out flew the kind, old June bug.

"May we really have it?" asked Buddy.

"Of course," answered the June bug. "You see I was hiding under that leaf, thinking it was about time for me to go South, for June bugs oughtn't really to fly in July, when I heard a rumbling noise. First I thought it was thunder, and then I saw that it was a big farm wagon loaded with turnips.

"Well, one of the turnips fell off, and a boy, who was riding on the wagon, called to the man who was driving, and told him about the turnip falling. Then the man said that didn't matter, as he had more turnips than he knew what to do with. So that's how I know that you can have the turnip if you wish."

"Well, we certainly do wish!" cried Brighteyes. "Isn't it grand, Buddy? We'll take it right home."

"Yes, but how can we carry it?" asked her brother. "I don't believe we can lift it."

He went up to the big, round turnip, and tried and tried, with all his might, to lift it, but it wouldn't come up as high even as a pin head from the ground.

"Perhaps I can lift it," suggested Brighteyes, so she tried, but she couldn't.

"Maybe if you both try together you can," said the June bug.

Well, they both pulled and hauled, but it was of no use. There that turnip was, just as if it was stuck fast in the ground.

"I'm not very strong myself," went on the June bug, "but I'll do my best. Come on, now, all together."

So he took hold, with Buddy and Brighteyes, and he buzzed his wings as hard as they would buzz, and he cracked his legs, and he strained and he tugged and pulled, but, no sir, that turnip wouldn't move the least bit.

"I guess we'll have to leave it here," said Buddy sorrowful-like, "but I did so want to take it home to mamma and papa."

And he looked at the big vegetable as if it would, somehow, move itself.

"I know a way," said the June bug, at length.

"How?" asked Brighteyes.

"Why you and your brother must eat as much of it as you can, and then it will be lighter, and easier to lift, you see. Just gnaw a lot off the turnip, and you can carry it, then."

"Oh, but that would spoil the turnip," objected Buddy. "We want to take it home all in one piece, so papa and mamma can see it." Now wasn't that good of him? Especially when he and his sister were just as hungry as they could be, and would have loved to have had some? But they wanted to have their folks see it first, without a bite being taken from it.

"Well," said the June bug, "maybe you can roll it along, if you can't lift it."

"The very thing!" cried Buddy. "If we can just get it started it will roll along easily, for it is down hill to our pen, and it will bounce along just as the cabbage did, that I was once in. That's a good plan."

Well, by hard work the three of them did manage to get the turnip started, and it rolled along, first slowly and then more quickly, and then with a rush, and land sake! if all at once it didn't roll down into a big hole.

"Oh, now we'll never get it up!" cried Buddy, much disappointed, and he and his sister felt very sorrowful. But not for long, for in a little while along hopped Uncle Wiggily Longears, with his crutch. It didn't take him any time, with the aid of the June bug, and Buddy and Brighteyes, to pry that turnip up out of the hole.

"Now I'll show you how to get the turnip home," said Uncle Wiggily. "You need some way to steer it, so it won't run away from you and get into a hole again."

Then he took his crutch and punched a hole through that turnip, and put a stick through the hole, so the turnip was just like the wheel of a wheelbarrow.

Then he fastened long pieces of strong grass to the stick that was stuck through the turnip, and he and Buddy and Brighteyes and the June bug took hold of the grass, and they rolled that turnip along and steered it just as you pull your sled or wheel the baby carriage or guide a horse with a bit in his mouth.

And pretty soon they were safely at the pen, and Dr. Pigg and his wife were much surprised and delighted when they saw the big turnip which their children had found. They gave Uncle Wiggily Longears some, but the June bug said he would rather have a ginger snap, and he got it.

Now the next story will be about Buddy and the burglar fox, in case the milkman isn't late to school, and if he brings a bottle of water for teacher to sprinkle the blackboards with.



STORY XIX

BUDDY AND THE BURGLAR FOX

"We must lock all the windows and doors very tightly to-night," said Mrs. Pigg to her husband, one evening, when they were getting ready for bed.

"Yes," agreed Dr. Pigg, "we must. I'll see to it, my dear, and you put the children to bed."

"Why do you have to lock up so carefully, mamma?" inquired Buddy.

"Because," said Mrs. Pigg, "I heard that there have been a number of tramps and burglars around lately."

"Indeed, that's true," added Dr. Pigg. "Mr. Cock A. Doodle, the rooster next door, was telling me that he thinks some one tried to get in his coop last night. The door rattled and some one shook the window."

"Perhaps it was the wind," suggested Brighteyes.

"It may have been," agreed her father. "I hope it was, for I don't like burglars at all. Now go to bed and don't be afraid, for I'll lock up carefully, and I have a pail of water right beside my bed and I'll throw it on a burglar if he dares to come in."

So Buddy and Brighteyes went up stairs to bed with their mother, while Dr. Pigg put out the cat, locked the doors and windows and set the alarm clock to wake him up at five o'clock, for he had to go downtown to attend to some business in the morning.

"I wish the June bug would come again," said Brighteyes, as she was falling asleep.

"Why?" asked her mother from the next room.

"Oh, so he could tell us some stories, and then I wouldn't think about burglars."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Pigg. "How silly! Burglars will never hurt you. Go to sleep now."

"If any burglars come in I'll fix 'em'!" cried Buddy, bravely, from his room. Then Brighteyes went to sleep, and so did Dr. Pigg and his wife.

But, somehow, Buddy couldn't sleep. Why it was he didn't know, only he couldn't. He thought of everything he could think of; ice cream cones and turnips and baseball games, and being in the boat that time, and going to the North Pole and then he thought of the stories the June bug had told him, but still he couldn't go to sleep.

"I guess I'll get up and sit by the window a while," he said to himself. "Then maybe I'll feel sleepy."

So he got up and sat down in a comfortable chair and looked out. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and he could see things almost as well as if it was day.

Well, Buddy hadn't sat there very long, before he saw something long and black and shadowy creeping along, as softly and as gently as a mouse.

First he thought it was a cat, but when he looked again he saw that it was a fox. And the fox had a bag over his shoulder, and he was sneaking along, looking around to be sure no policeman dogs saw him.

Well, sir, as true as I'm telling you, if that fox didn't come softly up to Dr. Pigg's house, right to the front door, as Buddy could see by leaning out of his window, which was open, and looking down, as his window was right over the front door.

Then that fox took a screw-driver out of his bag, and he began to work at the door to force it open, in spite of the lock on it. Oh, how softly and quietly he worked! But Buddy looked down and saw him, and he knew right away that it was a burglar fox, who was coming in the house.

At first Buddy was frightened, and then he knew that he ought to do something. He thought of awakening his papa and mamma, and then he feared that this would scare Brighteyes, and so he decided to drive that burglar fox away all by himself.

Then he tried to think of the best way to do it. He moved softly about his room, looking for something with which to scare the fuzzy old fox, and what do you think he found? Why, his baseball, to be sure!

"That will be as good as a bullet!" thought Buddy.

Then he moved softly to the window, leaned out, where he could see the fox, who was still trying to force open the front door, and raising the ball in his hand, Buddy threw it down with all his might, just as if he was throwing to first base.

Well, sir, the ball hit that bad fox right on the head, and it bounced up almost into Buddy's hands again, but not quite.

My, how surprised that fox was! In fact he was so surprised that he fell down, and when he got up and saw Buddy looking at him from the window, he was more amazed than ever.

"Get right away from here, you bad burglar fox you!" cried Buddy, "or I'll throw forty-seven more big bullets at you!"

Of course he really couldn't, because he didn't have any other baseballs to throw, but the fox didn't know that, and really thought the one baseball was a big bullet.

Then, without even stopping to pick up his bag, the fox ran away, and so he didn't get in at all in Dr. Pigg's house, and Buddy went to sleep.

Well, when Buddy told his papa and mamma and Brighteyes the next morning what he had done, maybe they weren't proud of him. Yes, indeed!

I wish I could say that the fox was arrested, but he wasn't, and made lots more trouble later. But he never broke into Dr. Pigg's house and I'm glad of it.

Now, do you think you'd like to hear, in the next story, about a queer adventure which Brighteyes had? Well, I'll tell it to you if the water sprinkler man gives us a nice big piece of ice to bake in the oven for a pudding.



STORY XX

BRIGHTEYES HAS AN ADVENTURE

It was a very hot day. It was as hot, in fact, as some of the days we have had around here lately, and when Brighteyes, the little guinea pig girl, saw the yellow sun beaming down as she looked out of the pen in the morning, she said to her papa:

"Now, be very careful not to get overheated to-day, daddy, dear."

"I will," replied Dr. Pigg. "It is so very warm that I shall walk on the shady side of the street, and keep a handkerchief, wet in ice water, on my head."

"I was cool enough the other night," remarked Buddy Pigg. "In fact, I shivered when I saw the burglar fox trying to get in," and he actually shivered again when he thought of it, and of how he had scared the bad fox away, as I told you in the story just before this one.

But, after a bit, it got so warm that even the thought of the fox could not make Buddy shiver. Neither could his mother nor Brighteyes shiver, and when you can't shiver, you know, it's a sure sign that it's going to be very hot.

At last Brighteyes said:

"Oh, I think I'll go for a walk in the woods. Don't you want to come along, Buddy?" and she looked at her brother, who was whittling a stick with his new knife.

But Buddy decided it was too hot even to go off in the woods, so Brighteyes said she would go alone. She put on her coolest dress. I think it was a white swiss or a blue organdie, or a challis, or a bombazine, I can't just exactly remember. Anyway, it was nice and cool, and freshly washed and ironed and starched, and Brighteyes looked just as pretty in it as a picture in a gold frame.

Well, she walked along for some time, and, pretty soon, oh, I guess in about three squeaks, or, maybe, four, she came to the woods. It was nice and cool and shady in there, with a little breeze blowing through the trees, and, frisking about in the branches, were several chipmunks, who were cousins of Jennie Chipmunk, and a number of squirrels, besides, most of them relations of Johnnie and Billie Bushytail.

So Brighteyes sat down on a mossy log, and thought how nice and cool it was, and pretty soon, she heard water running and splashing over the stones. That made her cooler than ever and she was feeling very happy, and wishing Buddy was with her, when she began to feel thirsty.

And the more she heard the water running the more thirsty she became, until she said, right out loud: "I'm going to get a drink!"

You've no idea how funny it sounded to hear Brighteyes speak out loud that way, for it was so still and quiet in the woods, that it was just as if she had spoken out loud in church, after the minister has stopped praying. Then Brighteyes got up from the mossy log, and went toward the running water. And what do you s'pose is going to happen? Why, she's going to have an adventure in about a minute, or, maybe, less time.

Well, the little guinea pig girl found where a little brook ran through the woods, over the stones and under green banks where the long ferns grew, and she was more thirsty than ever, and when she got down to the edge of the brook, there was a little plank stretched across the water for a bridge.

Brighteyes walked out on the middle of the plank, looked down into the brook, which was just like a looking-glass, and she saw how well her dress fitted. Then she kneeled, dipped her paws in the water and scooped up some to drink, taking care not to splash any on her clothes.

"Oh!" exclaimed the little guinea pig girl, "that is very fine water!" Then she took another drink and stood up. She was just going to walk back to shore when she happened to hear a funny noise, and, lo! and behold, at either end of the plank bridge there was a funny brown, furry creature, about as big as a small dog. They stood up on their hind legs, one at one end of the plank and one at the other, and when they saw Brighteyes looking at them the larger creature cried out:

"Ha! Ha! Now we have you! You can't get ashore unless you give us all your money!"

"I haven't very much," said poor Brighteyes, beginning to tremble, and wondering if the brown creatures were burglars.

"Well, we want whatever money you have," declared the creature at the right-hand end of the plank.

"Yes, indeed!" cried the creature on the left end.

"Who—who are you?" stammered Brighteyes, thinking to make friends with the creatures.

"We're groundhogs!" they both cried together, "and we want your money."

"What for?" asked Brighteyes, wondering what question she could ask next.

"We're going to buy firecrackers," answered the one on the right end.

"Fourth of July is past," said Brighteyes.

"No matter. Give us all your money, or we'll push you into the brook!" declared the two groundhogs together, and when Brighteyes said she hadn't any change, for there was no pocket in her dress, you see, to carry any money in, what did those bad groundhogs do, but begin to teeter-tauter up and down, with the little guinea pig girl on the middle of the plank.

Up and down she went, faster and faster, and pretty soon the water began to splash upon her new dress. And oh, how terrible she felt.

First she thought she would run across the plank, but she was afraid of the groundhog at either end. Then she thought she would jump over their heads, but she couldn't jump very well, not being a grasshopper, you see, and she didn't know what to do, and she was crying the least bit, when, all of a sudden, who should come along but the three Wibblewobble children—Lulu and Alice and Jimmie—and when they saw how the two groundhogs had made Brighteyes a prisoner in the middle of the plank bridge, those three ducks just stretched out their long necks, and cried, "Quack! Quack! Quack!" as loudly as they could.

That so frightened the groundhogs that they jumped into the brook and swam away, leaving Brighteyes free. Then she went home with the Wibblewobbles, and told Buddy her adventure, and he said it was a good one.

Now, the next story will be about Buddy in a deep hole—that is if the trolley car doesn't run off the track, and break all the eggs in the grocery store window.



STORY XXI

BUDDY IN A DEEP HOLE

Once upon a time it happened that Buddy Pigg was out taking a walk over the fields and through the woods. He often used to do this, sometimes taking a stroll for pleasure, and again to see if he could find anything to eat. This time he was looking for something to eat, and so he walked very slowly, looking from side to side, and sniffing the air from time to time.

"For," he said, "who knows but what I may find a nice cabbage or a turnip, or a radish, or a bit of molasses cake, or a ginger snap, or even an ice cream cone. Any of those things would be very good," thought Buddy to himself, "especially an ice cream cone on a hot day."

But, though he looked and he looked and he looked, oh, I guess maybe about a dozen times, he couldn't find a single thing that was good to eat, and he was beginning to get discouraged.

"I'll go a little bit farther," he thought, "and then if I don't find anything I'll turn around, go back home, and get some bread and butter, for that is better than nothing; and I am getting hungry."

So he walked on a little farther, and, as he walked along, he sang this little song which no one is allowed to sing unless they are very, very hungry.

So in case it happens that you have just had an ice cream cone, or something good like that, and are not hungry, you must not sing this song until just before dinner or breakfast or supper. Anyhow here's the song and you can put it aside until you are nearly starving. This is how it goes:

"I wish I had some candy Or a peanut lolly-pop. I'd eat an ice-cream cone so quick You could not see me stop. If I had two big apples, An orange or a peach. I'd give my little sister A great big bite from each.

"But there is nothing here to eat— Not even cherry pie. Though we had one at our house once, And some got in my eye. Oh! how I'd like a cocoanut! And watermelon, too. I'd eat two slices off the ice— Now, really, wouldn't you?"

No sooner had Buddy finished singing this song, than he came to a place in the woods, where there was a big hole going down into the ground. Oh, it was quite a large hole, not quite so big as the one going down to China, but pretty large and it looked just as if some animal were in the habit of going in and out of it.

"Ha, ho!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg. "This looks like something; it surely does," and, my dear children, the funny part of it was that the hole did look like something.

"I guess I'll go down there and see if there's anything to eat at the bottom," went on the little guinea pig boy, "for I certainly am hungry."

Then he stood and peeped down into the hole, and, though it looked quite far to the bottom of it, and though it seemed pretty dark, Buddy decided to go in. Now, that was rather foolish of him, for it's never safe to go in a hole until you know where you're coming out, especially a hole in the woods; but Buddy didn't stop to think. So he looked all around, to see that there were no bad foxes in sight, and then he entered the hole.

First he crept along very slowly and carefully. Oh my, yes, and a banana peeling in addition! and then, all of a sudden, land sakes flopsy dub! if Buddy didn't slip and fall and stumble, and roll over and over, sideways, and head over heels, and he kept on going down, until finally he came to a stop in a place that was as dark as a pocket in a fur overcoat on a winter day.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried poor Buddy Pigg. "Whatever has happened; and where am I?"

He tried to see where he was, but, my goodness sakes alive! he might as well have tried to look through the blackboard at school, for all he could see was just nothing.

"I—I guess I must have fallen all the way through to China!" whispered Buddy, as he lay there in the darkness, and then he happened to remember that if he was in China he would see some little Chinese boys and girls, and he could not see any, so he knew he wasn't in China.

"Oh, dear!" cried Buddy again. "Where am I, anyhow?"

Then, all of a sudden, out of the darkness, there sounded a voice, and when Buddy heard it he trembled.

"Who are you?" cried the voice, "and what are you doing in here?"

"If you please," answered the little guinea pig boy, "I am Buddy, and I fell down this hole. Whose is it?"

"It belongs to us," said two voices at once. "We are groundhogs, and you must get right out of here!"

"Groundhogs!" exclaimed Buddy, and then he remembered the two who had teeter-tautered Brighteyes up and down on the plank bridge, and wet her dress, and he was frightened for fear they would harm him.

"Oh, please, Mr. Groundhogs!" went on Buddy, "I didn't mean to come here! I fell in when I was looking for something to eat. Please help me out, and I'll never come again. I was looking for something to take home to Brighteyes, my sister."

"What! Is Brighteyes Pigg your sister?" cried the two groundhogs, rustling around in the dark hole, and when Buddy said she was, they said they were very sorry for having frightened her on the plank. They were only playing a joke, they said, and they promised never to bother her again.

"And besides," went on the larger groundhog, "we'll give you something to eat, and help you out of this hole."

So they went and got their lantern, which was a bottle filled with fireflies, and they showed Buddy where there was another hole leading up out of their underground house, and he crawled out, after they had given him some clover preserved in molasses candy, and they promised to come and play with him and Brighteyes some day.

Then Buddy was happy again, and almost glad he had fallen down the big hole, because he had something good to take home to eat.

Now, in case I have cherry pie for supper and the juice doesn't get on my red necktie and turn it green, I'll tell you soon about a trick the groundhogs played.



STORY XXII

A TRICK THE GROUNDHOGS PLAYED

One day, oh, I guess it must have been about a week after Buddy Pigg fell down the groundhogs' hole, he and Brighteyes were out walking in the woods. They had been over to pay a visit to Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs, you know, and were on their way back.

As they walked along, they both heard a queer little rustling sound in the bushes, but at first they didn't pay any attention to it, but they kept on, talking about what a nice time they had had, when, all of a sudden, the noise sounded more plainly. It was just as if some big animal had taken hold of the bushes in his teeth, and had shaken them—shaken the bushes, I mean, of course, for he couldn't shake his teeth unless they were false, and animals don't have false teeth, thank goodness.

"My land sakes! What's that?" exclaimed Brighteyes.

"Maybe it's a bad fox," said Buddy, and he looked around for a stick or a stone with which to defend his sister, for Buddy was brave, let me tell you.

Then the noise seemed to sort of go away, just like when the teacher rubs the figures and sentences off the blackboard in school, and Buddy and Brighteyes weren't so frightened. So they kept on, and just as they were coming to the path that led to their pen, what did they hear but the rustling noise in the bushes again. This time they were very much frightened, and Buddy picked up a stick, almost as large as himself. Then Brighteyes said:

"Oh, Buddy, I'm afraid to go home that way. Let's take the other path."

"But that is so much longer," objected her brother.

"No matter," answered the little guinea pig girl, "it is better to take a longer path, than to go on a short one and be eaten up by a fox or a wolf," and I suppose Brighteyes was right. Anyhow they took the other path, and as they went along it, they heard a noise in the bushes as if some one was laughing, only they didn't see how a fox could laugh. So they hurried on.

Well, it wasn't very long before they came to something. I was going to let you guess what it was, but as it might take you some time to think, and then, maybe, you wouldn't get it right, I have decided to tell you.

What Buddy and Brighteyes saw on the path in front of them was a small box—the kind that soap comes out of, you know—and it was standing up on one edge. And sort of underneath the box were two, big toadstools, made into tables, and beside each table was a smaller toadstool for a seat. And, would you believe me? on each toadstool-table there were a lot of nice things to eat! Believe me, there was, really! There were bits of cabbage, some red clover tops with marshmallow-chocolate on them, and candied cherries, and red raspberries with strawberry sauce, and oh, I don't know what all!

"Why!" exclaimed Brighteyes, "that is a regular little play-party, Buddy."

"To be sure it is," he answered. "And look, there is a sign fastened to the box. Let's go closer, and read what it says on it." So they went a little closer, watching on all sides to make sure there was no danger, and they read the sign. This is what it said:

"Come in and eat whate'er you wish. Taste each dainty in the dish. Make a bow, and wipe your feet, Fold your napkins nice and neat."

"Come on," cried Buddy to his sister. "Let's go in and eat."

"Do you s'pose it's meant for us?" asked Brighteyes.

"Of course," was his answer. "Come on! See, there's a mat to wipe your feet on, and there are napkins at each plate. There is a table for you, and one for me."

So Buddy and Brighteyes, thinking no harm, went in and, after making their very best double-jointed bows, and wiping their feet until there was no more mud on them than on a postage stamp, they sat down to the tables and tucked in their napkins around their necks.

Then they began to eat, and oh, how good everything tasted! Just like when you go visiting to the country, you know, and eat, and eat, and keep on eating. Well, that's just the way it was, believe me, if you please.

Now, something is going to happen. I can't help it, and it's not my fault. You see that box, with the nice things to eat on the toadstool tables, was only a trap. No sooner had the two guinea pigs begun eating than some one hiding in the bushes pulled on a long string, and the string snapped out a piece of wood that was holding up the box, and the box fell down, and Brighteyes and Buddy were caught under it—prisoners—just like a mouse in the trap.

They stopped eating pretty quickly then, let me tell you. Buddy was just going to have a second helping of marshmallow-chocolate clover when the box fell over, and it was so dark inside that he couldn't find his mouth.

"Oh, dear!" cried Brighteyes. "What has happened?"

"We're in a trap!" shouted Buddy. "The bad fox has us in a trap! Come, we must get out!"

They jumped down from the toadstool seats and upset the toadstool tables, and the dishes fell on the floor, but they didn't care. Then the two guinea pig children tried to lift up the box, but they couldn't, and they tried to dig under it, but they couldn't, and they didn't know how in the world they were going to get out.

Then, all of a sudden they heard some one whispering outside the box. Buddy thought it was the fox, so he cried: "You had better let us out of here, Mr. Fox, or we'll have you arrested!"

"Why, that's Buddy Pigg!" cried the voice, and all of a sudden the box was lifted and there stood the two groundhog boys; Woody and Waddy Chuck were their names. "We didn't mean to catch you," said Woody. "We were only going to play a joke on our big brother, but you got in the box by mistake. We're very sorry."

But they couldn't help laughing, and I really think the groundhog boys meant to play a joke on Buddy and Brighteyes and had followed them through the woods and hid in the bushes and put the things under the box and all that just on purpose; I really do.

But, anyhow, Buddy and Brighteyes weren't hurt a bit, and Woody and Waddy gave them all the good things they could eat before the guinea pigs ran home.

Now, in case it should happen that all the ice in our refrigerator isn't melted, so we can fry some for pancakes, I'll tell you next about Buddy in the berry bush.



STORY XXIII

BUDDY IN THE BERRY BUSH

Buddy Pigg didn't know what to do. You see he was home all alone, for his mother and Brighteyes had gone calling on Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot, the squirrels and Dr. Pigg was downtown, playing checkers or dominoes with Uncle Wiggily Longears, so Buddy didn't have any one to keep him company.

"I wish some of the boys would come along," he said, as he sat on the front steps and threw stones out in the dusty road. "I'd like to have a ball game, or some sort of fun."

But, though he sat there quite a while, none of the boys came along, and, at last, Buddy remarked:

"Oh, I'm going off and see if I can't find Billie or Johnnie Bushytail, or Sammie Littletail, or some one, to play with." So he locked the front door, and put the key under the mat, where his mother would find it when she came home, and off he started, almost as fast as when Sister Sallie went hippity-hop to the barber shop.

Pretty soon Buddy came to the woods, and he opened his mouth real wide and began to yell, not because he was hurt, you understand, but because he wanted to call some of the boys. He yelled, and he hollered, and he hooted, and then, all of a sudden, he heard some one yelling back at him, and he saw Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the two squirrel boys, bounding along on the low branches of the trees.

"Hello, fellows!" cried Buddy. "Glad to see you! Let's have some fun."

"What'll we do?" asked Billie.

"I know," suggested Johnnie. "Let's make a see-saw. Here is a nice plank, and we can put it across that old stump and have a dandy time."

So they got the plank and put it across the stump. Then Buddy got on one end and Billie and Johnnie on the other, as they were a little smaller than Buddy, and did not weigh so much. Then they began to go up and down, first slowly, and then faster and faster, until they were jiggling up and down as fast as the teakettle boils when there's company coming to supper.

"Hi, yi!" yelled Billie and Johnnie. "Isn't this fun?"

"Wow, yow! It certainly is," agreed Buddy. "Only don't jump off too suddenly when I'm in the air, or I'll fall and be hurt."

Well, of course, Billie and Johnnie promised that they would be careful, and they really meant to keep their word; only, just as they were close down to the ground on the plank, and Buddy was high up, what should happen but that a new, green, little acorn fell off an oak tree.

It was one of the first acorns of the season, and Billie and Johnnie each wanted to get it, so, without thinking what they were doing, they jumped off the teeter-tauter plank, when Buddy was high up, and, of course, down he came, with a slam-bang!

My! how it did jar him up, and shake him, like pepper in the caster, but that wasn't the worst. No, indeed, and some chocolate cake besides! When Buddy came down he landed right on an old rubber boot that some one had thrown away in the woods, and it was so bouncy and springy that he was tossed high up in the air again, and he curved sideways, just like a baseball, when he came down this time, and where on earth do you s'pose he landed? Why, right in the middle of a big, scratchy, blackberry bush!

Yes, sir, that's where it was! Down poor Buddy went, right into the midst of the bush, and of course he got scratched some, only not as much as he might, for he happened to go down through a thin place, where there were not so many briars.

Well, at first he was too surprised to speak, and, besides, the breath was sort of knocked out of him, but, when he did gather himself together, he saw that he was in a bad place to get out of. By this time Johnnie and Billie had found the green acorn and had divided and eaten it, so they came back to find Buddy.

"Why, where has he gone to?" asked Billie, looking around.

"Maybe he got mad, because we jumped off the plank so quickly and he has run home," suggested Johnnie. "We shouldn't have done it."

"No," cried Buddy, suddenly. "I haven't gone home! I'm in the blackberry bush over here!"

"Why, how in the world did you get there?" asked Johnnie, and Buddy told him.

"I think it would be more polite to ask him how he's going to get out," suggested Billie.

"That's so," agreed Buddy. "It's going to be hard work. But I guess I can crawl through."

So he tried to crawl through the bush, but you know how it is when you go after berries, the briars seem to stick into you all over. That's the way it was with Buddy. He couldn't crawl out, no matter how hard he tried, for the stickers caught into his fur and held him fast.

"Can't you jump out through the same hole you fell in through?" asked Billie, and Buddy tried to do so, but he was scratched more than ever.

Then Billie and Johnnie tried to open up a place through the bottom part of the briars for Buddy to slide out, but they couldn't do it, and they were very sorry they had jumped off the plank so quickly, for that made all the trouble.

Well, it began to look as though Buddy would never get out, and he felt like crying, only he was brave, and didn't shed a single tear. Then Johnnie suggested that he and Billie go up a tall tree, and lower a string down to Buddy in the bush, and try to pull him up that way. They tried it, but it wouldn't work, for the stickers still caught in the little guinea pig's fur.

So they didn't know what to do, and were just going to give up, when who should come bounding along but Sammie Littletail. He knew what to do in a second.

He dug a burrow, beginning outside the berry bush, and slanting it up under the roots, so that it came out inside, right near where Buddy was crouched down inside the clump of briars. The burrow was like a tunnel, and was big enough for Buddy to crawl out through, which he did, never getting scratched once. They all said Sammie was very smart to think of that, and I agree with them. Then they all played sea-saw some more, until it was time to go home.

Now in case there is a cool breeze, to blow the dust out of the poor coalman's eyes, I'll tell you next about Buddy and Brighteyes bringing home the cows.



STORY XXIV

BRINGING HOME THE COWS.

Not far from where Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg lived, there was a man who had a farm, and on the farm were a number of cows that gave milk. Out of the milk butter was made, and sometimes, when the butter was all churned, the farmer's wife would take some of the buttermilk that remained in a pail and set it down where Dr. Pigg and his family could get it.

They thought this was very kind of the farmer's wife, and Dr. Pigg told his children that if they could ever do her a favor, they must be sure to do so. They promised, though for some time they had no chance to do any kindness to the farmer or his wife either. But just you wait and see what happens.

One day, in the middle of summer, when it was very hot every place, except in the cool and shady woods, Buddy and Brighteyes were strolling along under the trees near a brook, throwing pebbles in the water and floating down bits of bark and chips, which they pretended were boats sailing off to distant countries.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Buddy at last, "I wish I had something to do. There's nothing to do here."

"Why do you always want to be doing something?" asked his sister. "Why aren't you content to sit here in the shady woods, and sail the boats?"

"Because," answered Buddy, and that was the only reason he could give. Then Brighteyes thought of a new game to play. She took a piece of bark for her boat, and she found a nice, white chip for Buddy, and they made believe their boats were having a race down stream, and Buddy's boat won, which made him feel quite happy.

Well, pretty soon, the sun began to go down behind the hills, and the two guinea pig children knew it was time to go home, so they started off. But they had not gone very far before they came to a field, with a fence around it, and the field was quite hilly and stony and very large. Near the fence sat a man, and he had one shoe off, and he was looking at his foot.

"Oh dear!" Buddy and Brighteyes heard him say, for they could understand the man's language, if they couldn't talk it. "Oh dear! I've cut my foot on a sharp stone," the man said, "and I don't see how I can walk away over through the field and climb the hills after the cows. Oh dear; this is bad luck, and it's almost milking time, and the cows are sure to be away back in the far end of the pasture, and I can't go after them. I'll call them, and maybe they'll come to me, for I surely can't walk after them."

So the man stood up on one foot and called: "Co Boss! Co Boss! Co Boss! Co! Co! Co!" Then he waited quite some time, but the cows didn't come, and he called again: "Co Boss! Co Boss! Co Boss!" and he waited some more, but still the cows didn't come. "Oh, I guess I'll have to go after them, no matter if I have cut my foot," said the man at last, and he put on his shoe, though it hurt him, and he began to limp over the hilly field, very slowly and painfully.

All at once Brighteyes said to Buddy: "Oh, Bud, that man is the farmer, and it's his wife who gives us the buttermilk! Wouldn't it be nice if we could do him a favor, and go and drive the cows home for him?"

"How, could we?" asked Buddy. "The cows are big and we are little. We never could drive them home."

"We can try," said Brighteyes cheerfully. "Come, we'll hurry on ahead of the farmer and perhaps I shall think of a plan."

So the two little guinea pig children slipped under the fence and ran up across the hilly field, and the farmer, who was limping along, calling "Co Boss!" every once in a while, never saw them. His foot was hurting him very much and he had to go slowly.

Well, Buddy and Brighteyes kept on, bounding over the stories and stopping now and then to eat some blackberries or huckleberries or raspberries or a few late, wild strawberries, and pretty soon they came to the back part of the field, where, resting in the shade of some trees, were all the cows.

Oh, I guess there was a dozen and a half of them—big, nice mooley cows, with brown eyes and long tongues, and they were all chewing their cuds like gum, you know, and wondering why the farmer didn't come to drive them home to milk, for they hadn't heard him calling them, you see.

"How are we ever going to drive them home?" asked Buddy of his sister.

"Let me think a minute," said Brighteyes, so she thought real hard for a minute, or, possibly a minute and a little longer, and then she exclaimed: "We must each take a long, leafy tree branch, and go up behind the rows, and wave the branches, and tickle the cows with the leaves, and they'll think it's a boy driving them home, and they'll march right along, and the poor farmer, with his sore feet, won't have to come after them."

And that's exactly what Buddy and Brighteyes did. They got some branches, gnawing them off a tree with their sharp teeth, and with the leaves they tickled the cows until they almost made them sneeze.

The cows looked around, expecting to see some boys driving them, but Buddy and Brighteyes hid behind their big branches, and the cows were none the wiser. So they swallowed their cuds, blinked their eyes, switched their tails, and started up and down the hills, over the field, toward the barnyard to be milked.

Now, before the farmer-man had come very far from the fence, he met the cows, and maybe he wasn't surprised to see them coming. But he was glad, too, let me tell you, for he didn't have to walk any farther with his cut foot.

Then Brighteyes and Buddy ran and hid, for they did not want to be seen, and the man jumped upon the back of a gentle cow, and rode her all the way home, and told his wife how the whole herd, in some strange manner, had come all the way from the back of the field alone. You see he didn't know Buddy and Brighteyes had driven them.

Well, in a few days the man's foot was well, so he could drive the cows himself, and the farmer's wife gave Dr. Bigg's family lots of buttermilk; for, somehow, she guessed that the little guinea pig boy and girl had done the farmer a kindness, as their papa had told them to.

Now the following story will be about Buddy on horseback—that is, providing no cats get into our coalbin to scratch the furnace and make it go out.



STORY XXV

BUDDY RIDES HORSEBACK.

One night Buddy Pigg's mamma came into his room, where he was sleeping soundly and dreaming he was playing a ball game with Bully and Bawly, the frogs, and Mrs. Pigg gently shook her little boy by the shoulder.

"Wake up, Buddy!" she called. "Wake up!"

"What's the matter, mother?" Buddy exclaimed, as he sat up in bed. "Is the house on fire?"

"No," she answered, "but your papa is very sick, and I want you to go for Dr. Possum." Then Buddy jumped up very quickly and began to dress, for he loved his papa very much, and would do anything in the world for him. When Buddy was ready to start he heard Dr. Pigg groaning very hard, and saying:

"Oh, dear, what a pain I have! Oh, dear! When will Dr. Possum come?"

"Buddy is going for him at once," Mrs. Pigg said. "He will soon be here. But have you no medicine that you can take?" For Dr. Pigg had once worked in a hospital, and generally had some medicine in the house, but this time he had none that would stop his pain. So Buddy had to get ready to go for the doctor, while Mrs. Pigg and Brighteyes made mustard plasters for Dr. Pigg.

Well, when Buddy was all dressed, he happened to look out of the window, and he saw how dark it was, for there was no moon that night, and the stars were all hidden behind clouds. But do you s'pose Buddy was going to stay home on that account? No, sir-ee! He was frightened, and I guess you'd have been, too, but he was brave, and he made up his mind he'd go for Dr. Possum.

So Buddy put on his hat and coat and went out of the front door and into the dark night, where, for all he knew, a bad fox might be waiting to grab him. But Buddy took a long stick, and he filled his pockets with stones, and he made up his mind he would throw them at the fox if he saw him.

The little guinea pig boy went on, and on, through the woods, toward Dr. Possum's home, and, after a while, he was not so frightened as he had been at first. Then, all of a sudden, as he was passing a big, black bush, he heard a funny noise. First he thought it was a wolf or a bear, and then he heard a voice say:

"Oh, come on down into the burrow, Waddy."

Then Buddy knew it was the two groundhog boys, Woody and Waddy, who had made the funny noises, but they didn't mean to scare him, and he wasn't at all frightened now. Woody and Waddy had heard Buddy coming along, and, a moment later, they saw him and asked where he was going.

"I'm going after Dr. Possum, because my papa is sick," said Buddy.

"Wait and we'll let you take our lantern," said Woody, and he hurried down into the burrow, and came back with a large bottle, filled with lightning bugs, which gave plenty of light. And it had a string on, to carry it by. As Buddy took it, very thankfully, Waddy said he hoped he would find the doctor at home.

Then Buddy started off again, but he hadn't gone much farther through the woods before he heard another noise. This noise was a real loud one, like some giant tramping up and down, and stamping his feet, and suddenly there came a great snort, and the earth seemed to shake, and a big, black thing jumped up in front of Buddy, scaring him frightfully.

He trembled so that the cork nearly came out of the bottle of lightning bugs, and, if it had, the fireflies would have been spilled all over the ground, worse than when you spill your ice cream cone—only it didn't happen, I'm glad to say, but almost. Then the black shape stood still, and a great voice called out:

"Where are you going with that lantern?"

"If you please, kind sir," answered the little boy guinea pig, "I'm going for Dr. Possum for my papa, who has a terrible pain. The groundhog boys lent me this lantern. But who are you, if you please, kind sir?"

"Why, I am Gup, the horse," was the answer. "So you are going for Dr. Possum, eh? He is a friend of mine. I'm sorry if I frightened you. Yes, I'm only Gup, the horse. You see, my name is Gup because there is a little boy at our house, and he can't talk very plainly, and he calls me 'Gup' when he wants to say 'get up,' you see. However, it doesn't much matter, and I don't mind.

"But, speaking of doctors, I know where Dr. Possum lives, and I'll take you right to his house in less than no time. Besides, you and your sister were so kind as to drive the cows home for the man who cut his foot, and as he is a friend of mine I want to return your kindness to him. Jump upon my back, Buddy."

"Oh, I'm afraid I'll fall," said Buddy, when he saw how high up Gup's back was from the ground.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the horse. "I wouldn't let you fall for the world. Here, hold up your firefly lantern so you can see, climb upon that low stump, and then you can jump on my back. I'll stand still, and then I'll take you right to Dr. Possum's house."

So Buddy got up on Gup's back. It was the first time he had ever ridden a horse or been up so high, and, of course, for a while, he was frightened. But Gup told him just how to cling tightly to his big neck and how to hold the lantern so the lightning bugs would shine on the path, and then Gup started off.

Oh, how fast he went! Right through the woods, he galloped, and he never bumped into a tree or a bush even once. He went gently, too, so that Buddy would not fall off, and, my goodness sakes alive! in a short time the little guinea pig boy was at Dr. Possum's house. He knocked on the door, rat-a-tat-tat, and, luckily, the doctor was at home. He got right out of bed, took his satchel of medicines and was just going to get into his automobile to go to Dr. Pigg's house, when he found that his auto was broken. Either the spark was off the plug or the plug was off the spark, I forget which. Then Gup said:

"Get right up on my back, doctor. I can carry you and Buddy, too. It's no great weight, I assure you. Never mind the automobile. They are always making trouble."

So Dr. Possum, with his medicine box, climbed upon Gup's back, behind Buddy, and he helped hold the little guinea pig on during the ride home. Faster and faster went Gup through the dark woods his hoofs going "tat-a-tat-too," and he didn't bump into a tree or a bush, and he did not jar off Buddy or Dr. Possum, and pretty soon there they were safe at Dr. Pigg's house, and Dr. Possum gave Buddy's papa some medicine that soon made him better. Then Gup, the kind horsie, took Dr. Possum safely back through the dark woods as straight as a string.

In the morning Dr. Pigg was all well again, and he said Buddy was very brave to go off for a doctor in the night, and I think so, too.

Now, in case it doesn't thunder too hard and scare the chimney so that it falls off the roof, I'll tell you next about Buddy and Brighteyes tumbling down hill.



STORY XXVI

BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES FALL DOWN HILL

Not far from where Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg lived in the pen with their papa and mamma, there was a big, tall hill. Oh, ever so much taller than a house, but not quite so high as the church steeple, and it was a very hard hill to climb, but, once you had gotten to the top, you could see off, ever so far; farther than from here to the end of the rainbow, which is very far indeed.

Now, though Buddy and Brighteyes, the two little guinea pig children, had lived near the hill ever since they were mere babies, they had never climbed to the top of it. There were two reasons for this. One was because the hill was so high and the other was because it was so steep.

It seemed as if no one would ever be able to scramble up the sides of this hill, or, if they did, very likely they would tumble down again, just like a boy sliding over the ice and snow on his sled.

But one fine morning when the sun was shining and the birds were singing Buddy said to Brighteyes:

"Let's climb up to the top of the hill to-day?"

"What for?" asked his sister, as she tied her hair ribbon in a double bow knot, very pretty indeed to look at, let me tell you.

"Why, so we can see away off where the sky and the mountains come together beyond the hill," said Buddy. "You can see beautiful scenery from the tip-top, you know."

"What good will that do?" asked Brighteyes, who was very fond of asking questions that were hard to answer. "What is the good of looking at the scenery?" she wanted to know.

"Because," answered her brother, "every one does that where there is a high hill. I heard some of the summer boarders at the farmhouse, near our pen, telling each other what a beautiful view there was to be had from the hill. We must see it for ourselves. There is no one around now, and we can climb to the top."

"I don't care very much about it," spoke Brighteyes. "I would rather find another box of peanut candy;" but because she loved Buddy, and did not want him to start off alone, she consented to climb the big hill with him. So they started off. At first it was rather easy, and they went up quite fast. At the foot of the hill were blackberry bushes and the guinea pig children gathered as many berries as they could eat.

But, as they went farther and farther up, the bushes grew more scarce, until there were none. Then came a place where there was tall grass and many stones, so that it was hard to walk. But Buddy and Brighteyes kept on, and pretty soon they met a grasshopper.

"Where are you going?" asked the grasshopper.

"To the top of the hill, to see the view," answered Buddy.

"You will never get there, the way you are going," said the grasshopper. "You should jump as I do," and he gave three big hops and a little one to show how well he could do it.

"We cannot hop," remarked Brighteyes, "but we have a friend who can."

"Who?" asked the grasshopper, as he scratched his two big hind legs together, like a man playing the fiddle.

"Sammie Littletail, the rabbit," said Buddy. "He can hop."

"Yes, Sammie is a good jumper," admitted the grasshopper, and he hid under a stone, for just then he saw a big bird looking hungrily at him. Well, Buddy and Brighteyes went on and on, and up and up, and pretty soon they met an ant.

"Where are you going?" asked the ant.

"To the top of the hill, to see the fine view," replied Brighteyes, as she paused to get her breath, which she had nearly lost.

"You will never get up the way you are going," said the ant. "You should crawl, as I do," and she crawled over a stone to show how it should be done. But Buddy and Brighteyes could not crawl, and they told the ant so. Still they kept on, and pretty soon they met a bird.

"You had better fly to the top of the hill as I do," said the bird. "It's much easier than walking," only, of course, Buddy and Brighteyes could not fly.

But the two guinea pig children were not discouraged, and they kept on and on, and pretty soon, really and truly honestly, they were at the very top of the hill—a place where they had never been before.

They could look off to the mountains, and they saw a lake, and they could see the place where the end of the rainbow was, whenever there was a rainbow, and they felt happy, because everything was so lovely, and Buddy said:

"I feel so glad, I must sing a little song." So he sang this one, which can only be sung on top of a hill:

"It's very hard to climb a hill, But when you're at the top, You feel so very fine and good Because it's there you stop. If you should still keep on and on, I wonder where you'd land? By sliding down the other side With sandals full of sand?"

Then Buddy tried to do a little dance, but what do you s'pose happened? Why, he lost his balance, and toppled over, and then he grabbed hold of Brighteyes, who was looking at the fine view, and she toppled over, and then, wiggily-waggily, woggily-wee! they both tumbled down that steep hill, head over heels like Jack and Jill.

And they went down faster, and faster, and faster, rolling over and over, and they saw stars, and several different lakes, and lots of clouds and ever so many things. They were both frightened, and they thought surely they were going to be hurt, for they were nearing the bottom, when all of a sudden what should come along but a big load of hay!

Buddy and Brighteyes hit a stone, bounced up in the air, and then came down, flippity-flop! right on top of the soft hay, and they weren't hurt the least bit. Then they slid down off the hay, before the man who was driving it saw them, and ran home. And they didn't climb a hill again for ever and ever so long.

Now, if I hear a potato bug whistle a tune on a cornstalk fiddle, I'm going to tell you next about Buddy and Brighteyes going in bathing.



STORY XXVII

BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES GO BATHING

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg one day. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear me suz dud!"

"Why, Buddy, dear, whatever in the world is the matter?" asked his mamma, and Brighteyes, who was mending some stockings, looked up at her brother in much surprise.

"Oh, dear!" cried the little guinea pig boy again, "I wish I had something to do. It's so hot and dry and dusty here. I wish some of the fellows would come around or—or I even wish school would begin again, so I would have something to do."

Now when a boy wishes for school, in the middle of vacation, you may be sure something serious is the matter. Mrs. Pigg knew this at once, so she asked:

"What would you like to do, Buddy?"

"I don't know," he answered, rather cross and fretful-like, which wasn't very nice, I suppose.

"All the boys have gone to Asbury Park or Ocean Grove," said Brighteyes, "and I guess you are lonesome, Buddy. It must be lovely at the seashore," and Brighteyes sighed the least bit, and took such a big stitch in the stocking she was mending that she had to rip it out and do it over again.

"Well, we can't go to the seashore this season because the salt air doesn't agree with your father," said Mrs. Pigg. "If all goes well, we shall soon be in the country, however. But now, what do you like best about the seashore, Buddy?"

"Going in bathing," he answered.

"You can do that right here at home," said his mamma. "I will get out your bathing suits, and you and Brighteyes can go swimming in the pond back of our house."

"That will be lovely!" cried Brighteyes, and she jumped up so quickly that she dropped the basket of stockings, and her pink hair ribbon came off, and she was all confused-like.

"There are no waves in the pond, like down in the ocean at Asbury," complained Buddy. "It is no fun to go in bathing where there are no waves."

"Ha! What's that?" cried a voice, and then Percival, the old circus dog, who was staying with the Piggs while the Bow Wow family, with whom he lived, was away for the summer—Percival, I say, got up from where he had been sleeping under a mosquito net to keep off the flies. "No waves, eh? So you want waves, do you, when you go in bathing, Buddy?" asked Percival.

"Yes," answered Buddy Pigg, "I do, Percival."

"Then," exclaimed the old circus dog, "you and Brighteyes shall have them. Get on your bathing suits and come down to the pond. When you get there you'll find waves enough; I'll guarantee that! Oh, my, yes, and a life-preserver besides!"

"How?" asked Buddy. "There are never any waves in that pond."

"Just you wait and see," said Percival.

Mrs. Pigg smiled, but she didn't say anything, and went after the bathing suits, while Buddy and Brighteyes wondered what was going to happen. Percival ran out, winking first one eye and then the other, and not both together, like some dollies do when they go to sleep, and he gave three short barks and a long one, just to show how glad he felt to be doing something.

Well, it didn't take Buddy and Brighteyes very long to put on their bathing suits. Then they hurried out of the back of the house and went toward the pond.

"Do you really s'pose there'll be waves?" asked Buddy.

"I don't know," answered his sister. "Percival is a very smart dog, you know."

Well, they ran down to the pond, and the first thing they saw when they got there were cords fastened to sticks driven down into the ground, just like the ropes at Asbury Park, you know—if you've ever been there. The ropes are for the bathers to take hold of when the waves come.

"Well," remarked Buddy, "I see the ropes, but I don't see any waves." But, no sooner had he spoken than a big wave rolled, splish-splash-splosh, right up the shore of the pond, which was rather sandy, and it sprayed itself over the toes of Buddy and Brighteyes—the wave splashed, you understand—not the sand, of course.

"Whee!" cried Buddy, all excited-like. "There's a wave!"

"Yes, and here comes another!" cried his sister, and, sure enough, another wave came sizzling and sloshing up out of the pond. And then another, and another, and another, until there were a dozen, or, maybe a dozen and a half of waves, one after the other.

"Oh, this is grand!" cried Buddy. "It's almost as good as Asbury Park!" and, really it was, I'm not fooling a bit. Of course the waves weren't as big as those at the seashore, but they were pretty good size. Well, Buddy and Brighteyes rushed into the water, keeping hold of the ropes, and the waves splashed all around them, and they splashed around in the waves, and pretty soon Buddy cried:

"Oh, I got a mouthful of water, and it's salty, just like the ocean!"

"Sure enough it is!" agreed Brighteyes, taking a small mouthful to taste. "I wonder what makes it?"

"And I wonder what makes the waves, and I wonder where Percival is?" went on Buddy, and just then there came such a big wave that it almost knocked him over, and he had to cling to the ropes. Then what should happen, but that at the far end of the pond, up rose old dog Percival, laughing as hard as he could laugh.

"I told you I would make waves!" he cried, and how do you s'pose he did it?

Why, he had a big, empty box, and he would raise that up and down in the water of the pond, as hard as he could, and this splashed, and made the waves; and Percival had a bag of salt, to make the water salty. Now, wasn't he the smart dog though?

Well, he went on, making more salty waves, and Buddy and Brighteyes paddled around in them, and yelled and hollered, and held on to the ropes, and ducked each other, and splashed and had as good a time as if they had been at the seashore; and so did Percival, too, I guess. Then, after a while they came out of the water and dried off, after thanking Percival.

Now, if our bathtub doesn't freeze up so the canary bird can't go in swimming I'll tell you presently about Buddy building a sand house.



STORY XXVIII

BUDDY BUILDS A SAND HOUSE

The little guinea pig children had so much fun bathing in the pond, where Percival, the circus dog, made the salty waves for them, as I told you about in the previous story, that they went in swimming as many times as their mamma would let them.

Percival was only too glad to make the waves, and hold the bag of salt in the pond, to make it salty, just like the ocean. Sometimes the old dog would jounce a box up and down, to make the waves, and again, when he wanted larger ones, he would use a barrel. Then the waves of the pond would be over the heads of Buddy and Brighteyes, and they had to cling to the ropes with all their might.

One day Buddy was sitting in the sand, on the banks of the pond, when, all at once, he had an idea.

"I know what I'm going to do!" he exclaimed. "I'm gong to build a sand house. I wish Brighteyes was here to help me," but his sister had gone in the pen to help her mamma get dinner ready, for Mrs. Pigg expected company that day; Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail were coming. So Buddy had to start to build the house all alone. He piled a lot of sand in a heap, together with stones, and sticks and bits of duck-weed, and then he started in.

First he scooped out a hollow place, and that was for the cellar. Then he stuck sticks up around the edges of the hole, and began to pile up the sand, to make the walls of the house. Just as he was doing this, what should he hear but footsteps running along the sand. He looked, up and gave a shout of delight.