"Hello, Billie and Johnnie Bushytail!" he cried, as he saw the two little squirrel boys. "You're just in time! Come on and help me build this sand house!"

"Sure!" agreed Billie and Johnnie, as they frisked their tails, just as the cook sometimes frisks the dusting brush when she wants to knock the crumbs from the table to the floor. "Can you stay long?" asked Buddy.

"As long as papa and mamma do," answered Johnnie. "They are in your house now, and so is Sister Sallie. We're going to stay to dinner, but first we'll help you build the sand house."

So they all three got busy. They piled and scooped the sand up around the upright sticks, and, pretty soon, believe me, if it really didn't begin to look like a real house. It was about as big as a big box, and nearly as high; and the cellar was quite large.

"What will we do with the house when we've finished it?" asked Billie Bushytail.

"We'll go in it and play we're robbers," suggested Johnnie, as he patted the sand with his paws, to make it smooth.

"No, we'll be pirates," decided Buddy. "Pirates always stay near salt water, and this is salt water, because Percival emptied a whole bag of salt in it."

"All right," agreed the squirrel boys, so they went on building the house. They put little pebbles all around it for a fence, and laid a gravel walk up from the pond to the front door, and stuck up little sticks for trees in the front yard, and made a garden, because Buddy said, even if they were pirates, they would have to have something to eat, and they planted duck-weed in the garden and made believe it was radishes and lettuce and cabbage and ever so many things; even apples and pears and peaches.

Well, pretty soon the sand house was finished; that is, all but the top.

"What will we have for a roof?" asked Billie.

"I'll show you," said Buddy, so he laid sticks across the top of the sand walls, and on top of the sticks he placed duck-weed. Then, on top of the weed he and the squirrel boys put sand, until it was really the nicest house of its kind you could find if you walked a mile, or, maybe even two miles.

"That certainly is one fine, dandy house!" exclaimed Johnnie, as he stepped back to admire it.

"Yes, and now let's get inside and pretend we're robbers," proposed Billie. "I'll be the head robber and you two can work for me."

"No, we're going to be pirates, and I'm the chief one," insisted Buddy. "We must begin to pirate right away and do all sorts of things."

"First, let's see if we can get in the house," said Johnnie. "Go in very carefully."

So they went in, very slowly and carefully through the front door, so as not to knock the sand down, and honestly the sand house was just big enough for those three, and not a bit bigger. They even had to hold their breaths, and not all breathe at once, or they never would have fitted in it.

"Now," said Buddy, "we'll pretend we're pirates, and we'll bury all the gold and diamonds we have."

So they played that game, and buried gold (make-believe you know) in the cellar, and they were having a lovely time, when all at once, without a word of warning, the roof of the sand house fell right in on top of them! I suppose it was because Pirate Chief Buddy gave such a loud shout.

Anyway, the roof caved in, and part of the walls, and there those three pirates were, buried under the sand. They tried to yell, and call for help, but their mouths were full of the dirt, and they couldn't speak. Then they tried to scramble out, and they couldn't do that, and I really don't know what would have happened to them, if at that moment Brighteyes Pigg and Sister Sallie hadn't come out of the pen where their mammas and papas were talking, to see what the boys were doing.

The two girls saw the sand house, all caved in, and they guessed that Buddy and Billie and Johnnie were under it.

"We must dig them out!" cried Sister Sallie.

So she and Brighteyes got some pieces of shingle, and my goodness me, sakes alive! how they did make that sand fly! Percival, the old circus dog, helped them, and pretty soon Buddy and his friends were safely rescued. They were pretty well scared, I can tell you, but they were soon all right again, and then it was time to go to dinner, and after dinner they all went in bathing and had lots of fun.

Now, I'm going to tell you next about Buddy helping Sammie Littletail, that is if the man comes to cut our grass and lets our puppy dog hide under the door-mat to scare the parrot next door.



STORY XXIX

BUDDY HELPS SAMMIE LITTLETAIL

When Johnnie and Billie Bushytail went home, after having paid a visit to Buddy Pigg that time when they built the sand house that fell in on them, they told Sammie and Susie Littletail, the two rabbits, of what a nice time they had had.

"Oh, I am going over to see Buddy some day, and go in bathing," declared Sammie.

"You had better be careful about bathing in salt water," said Susie, his sister, "it might take all the color out of your eyes, or out of your fur, or your fur might even fall out."

"Oh, I guess not," answered Sammie. "I have heard that salt water keeps hair from falling out. Anyway, if there's any danger of such a thing, Percival, the old circus dog, doesn't need to hold the bag of salt in the water when we go in bathing."

"That's so," agreed Susie, and just then along came Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and he was eating some peppermint-flavored cabbage, and he gave Sammie and Susie some.

Well, it wasn't very many days after this before Sammie asked his mamma if he couldn't go over and play with Buddy Pigg, and, as Sammie had been a very good rabbit boy lately, his mother allowed him to go.

"I am so glad you came, Sammie," said Buddy, "what shall we do, go in bathing, or build a sand house?"

"Let's do both," answered Sammie. So first he and Buddy went in bathing and, for fear the salt water would make the red color fade out of Sammie's eyes, Percival didn't hold the bag of salt in the pond when he made the waves. Sammie and Buddy had a good time splashing around, and then they built a sand house. But they took care to make it strong enough so that it would not cave in. They played together for a long time and then Buddy asked: "What shall we do next?"

"I know," replied Sammie, as he looked at the pond of water which was sparkling in the sun, "let's play soldier, and we'll make a plank bridge across the pond and run over it and have lots of fun."

"All right," agreed Buddy, "come on, and help me lift the plank." So they placed a long board across one end of the pond, where it was quite deep, and began to play soldier, while Percival went to sleep in the shade.

Buddy got a tin can, and tied it around his neck with a string. That was for the drum, and when he beat upon the tin can with two sticks, believe me, it did sound just like a drum in the army, when the soldiers beat it softly.

Then Sammie got a long stick, pretending it was a gun, and the two of them marched around and around, and sideways, and up and down, and through the middle, and across the plank, and back again, several times. Then, Sammie would fire the gun, yelling, "Boom-Boom!" as loudly as he could, and shooting maybe a dozen bad Indians or pirates or robbers, or maybe more, for all I know, and Buddy would beat on the drum louder than ever, and he would cry:

"Charge! Charge on the enemy! Hurrah! Hurrah! The victory is ours!" and he would wave a flag he had made out of a piece of white cloth, red flannel and a bit of Brighteyes' blue hair ribbon, that she had lost.

Oh, it wag great fun, I tell you! But the best of all was rushing across the plank over the deep part of the pond, for then it sounded exactly as if horses and cannon were coming over the bridge, and the plank teetered and tautered up and down, and sometimes Buddy and Sammie almost fell off. But they didn't mind this; they only thought it all the more fun.

Then, at last, something did happen. Buddy was ahead, waving the flag with one hand, and beating the drum with the other, and Sammie was firing his wooden gun as fast as he could fire it, with ever so many "Boom-Booms!" real loud ones, too, and shooting, oh, ever so many make-believe Indians, when, all of a sudden, poor Sammie Littletail slipped off the plank, and fell into the deep part of the pond!

"Oh, save me; save me, Buddy!" cried Sammie, splashing around.

"I'll save you!" cried Buddy, and he got so excited that he threw away his drum, and the drumsticks and the flag, only he tossed the flag safely on shore, where it wouldn't get wet, for he loved the flag, even if it was only a make-believe one. "I'll save you," he cried. "Can you swim any, Sammie?"

"A—a—lit-tle—bit!" gasped the rabbit boy, as he floundered around in the water. "But I could swim more if nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was here to show me," and then he couldn't talk any more, for his mouth was full of water.

Well, Sammie was terribly frightened, as he floundered around in the pond, with his wooden gun, and so was Buddy frightened, up on the plank bridge. Buddy looked all around, to see if there was any one coming to help him save Sammie, but there wasn't. Percival had gone in the house, and Brighteyes and her mother had gone berrying. Then Buddy made up his mind that he would have to save Sammie all by himself.

First he tried to kneel down on the plank, and reach his hand to his little rabbit chum, but he couldn't reach far enough. Then he called to Sammie to hold up the wooden gun, thinking maybe he could get hold of that, and so drag the rabbit boy out, but the gun wiggled so, when Sammie splashed around that Buddy couldn't get hold of it.

Then it began to look as if Sammie would drown, but Buddy had one more thing to try. On shore there was a rope. Buddy ran and got it, and in one end he made a loop, just like the cowboys do when they lasso a wild steer, or a horse.

Buddy took good aim, tossed the loop of rope over Sammie's head, and Sammie grabbed hold with his front paws, and then Buddy braced his feet in the sand and gave a long, strong pull, and pulled Sammie safely out of the water, and saved him; just in time, too, let me tell you, for his breath was nearly gone. Well, Sammie soon got over being scared, and when he was dried off the two friends played soldier some more, only they kept off the plank.

Now the next story is going to be about Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk—that is, if our hired girl doesn't leave and make me wash the dishes so I can't typewrite.



STORY XXX

BRIGHTEYES AND JENNIE CHIPMUNK

It happened one day that after Brighteyes Pigg had finished combing her hair, and had put on a nice, pink ribbon, which she tied in two, big bows, that she heard a knock at the door. There was no one home, for her mamma had gone down to the five and ten cent store to get a wash boiler; Dr. Pigg was seeing some friends in the hospital, and Buddy was off playing ball with Bully and Bawly, the two frogs, and some others of his friends. So Brighteyes went to the door herself.

And whom do you suppose she found there?

Well, I don't believe you'd guess in sixteen minutes, so I'll tell you. It was Jennie Chipmunk, the little girl who lived with Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot, the squirrel grandparents of Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, you know.

Jennie was smiling so that she showed her pretty white teeth, and she was humming a little song, one of those she always sang when she washed the dishes. This is the song, and you are allowed to sing it if you have helped your mamma dry the dishes. It goes to the tune of "Oh fie lum diddle daddy de dum," which is a very nice tune if you can sing it. Anyhow, Jennie Chipmunk sang:

"I love to wash the dishes, And also dry them, too. It makes your paws so soft and white, I really think—don't you? Some folks are awful fussy, When e'er they dust or sweep. They'd rather pile the dirt all up In corners, in a heap.

"But I just love my housework, For making beds I sigh. I love to wash the tablecloth And make a cherry pie. I knead the bread and bake it, I starch and iron the clothes, I wash the windows Saturday—"

"That's enough, my goodness knows!" finished Brighteyes for Jennie, with a laugh. "Land sakes! Jennie Chipmunk," the little guinea pig girl went on, "I should think you'd be tired with all that work! Come on and we'll take a walk in the woods."

So the two started, after Brighteyes had locked the door and put the key under the mat, where her mother could find it when she came back from the five and ten cent store, where she had gone to get a diamond ring—no, I mean a dishpan—no, a wash boiler—there, I've got it right at last.

Well, Jennie and Brighteyes walked on through the woods and sometimes they found huckleberries to eat, or they found pennyroyal, which is a nice plant to smell, and it keeps the mosquitoes away, when they want to stay away. And the two children found some blackberries, and they found spearmint and peppermint and then they got in a field where there was a lovely apple tree and they were just eating a few of the apples and putting some in their pockets, to take home, when, all of a sudden they heard a voice calling to them from behind the tree.

"Here, what are you doing with those apples?" cried the voice, and oh, such a harsh, ugly, cross voice as it was! It fairly made Brighteyes and Jennie shiver.

First they thought it was the man who owned the tree, and then Brighteyes remembered that he was the kind farmer whose cows she and Buddy had once driven home, when he had cut his foot, and she knew he wouldn't speak so cross to her. Then she thought it was a bad boy, but she looked, and so did Jennie, and they couldn't see any boy. Then the voice growled out again:

"Here, you leave those apples alone!" and goodness sakes alive, and a can of tomato soup! from behind the apple tree, there appeared the bad, ugly, old burglar fox! Oh, how frightened Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk were! They fairly trembled and shivered, though it was a hot day!

"Ah! ha!" cried the fox, curling back his lip, to show his ugly teeth, and blinking his eyes as fast as a moving picture goes when it skips along very quickly. "Ah! ha! Now I have caught you! Do you know what I am going to do to you for taking my apples?"

"We—we didn't know they were your apples," said Jennie.

"No matter about that," said the bad fox. "Do you know what I am going to do to you?"

"No," answered Brighteyes. "What are you going to do to us, good Mr. Fox?"

"I'm not good Mr. Fox; I'm bad Mr. Fox," he answered, "and what I'm going to do is to eat you all up—all up—all up!" and he smacked his lips and gnashed his teeth something terrible.

But don't be afraid. Just you wait and see what Brighteyes did to that fox. All the while she was thinking how she could save herself and Jennie, for she knew those apples didn't belong to the fox.

First Brighteyes thought maybe Buddy would come along and help her, or maybe the farmer, but no one came, and the fox was creeping nearer and nearer to Jennie, getting ready to grab her first, when what did Brighteyes do but pull up some horseradish leaves that grew nearby and throw them right in the eyes of that bad fox.

Now, horseradish leaves are very smarty and peppery, you know, almost like mustard, and when they got in the fox's eyes they made him so he couldn't see, and they hurt him, too.

Then I wish you could have heard him howl. No, on second thought, I'm glad you couldn't hear him, for it might scare you. Anyhow, he jumped up and down and sideways, and he whirled around, and he howled and he yowled and he jowled, and then Brighteyes called:

"Come on, Jennie, now is our chance. We can get away before he sees us!"

So they ran away, taking all the apples they could carry, and the fox couldn't see for ever so long, for he couldn't get his eyes open. So that is how Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk were saved, and they went home, and nothing happened to them on the way. Now, the next story will be about Buddy and Brighteyes in the mountains—that is, providing I catch some fish the next time I go fishing and don't lose my watch in the water for the alligator to tell time by.



STORY XXXI

BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES IN THE MOUNTAINS

One day Dr. Pigg came home from paying a visit to Uncle Wiggily Longears, and said:

"Well, children, get ready, we are going away for a vacation to-morrow."

"Oh goody!" cried Brighteyes, jumping up and down in the middle of the floor, until her pink hair ribbon flopped up and down, like the wings of a butterfly.

"Are we going to the seashore?" asked Buddy, while Brighteyes went over and kissed her father, standing on her tiptoes to reach him.

"No," said Dr. Pigg, "we are not going to the seashore. We are going to the mountains, where there is a nice lake. The salt air of the seashore does not agree with me. I have asked Uncle Wiggily Longears to go with us, and he does not like the salt air, either. It is bad for his rheumatism, which is a little better now, and he does not want it to get worse."

"Oh, that's fine, if Uncle Wiggily is coming!" said Buddy. "He'll take us all over the mountains, into caves and out rowing on the lake, and show us how to have lots of fun."

Well, the Pigg family began to pack up, and, in a few hours they were ready to go. Uncle Wiggily came to help them, as he had all his things packed. He brought along his crutch, in case he might happen to need it, but he hoped he would not.

"Couldn't Sammie and Susie Littletail come, too?" asked Buddy.

"No, they have gone to Belmar, at the seashore, for the summer," answered Uncle Wiggily. "But now we must hurry off to the mountains."

So they hurried off, and in a little while, oh, not so very long, Dr. Pigg and his family, and Uncle Wiggily arrived at a nice pen, right on the side of a mountain, at the foot of which was a large lake.

There were so many things to see that Buddy and Brighteyes did not know at which to look first, and they ran all about, now to one place, and now to another. Then, when they had had their supper, Uncle Wiggily said:

"Come now, we will take a walk. I think I know where there is a cave, and we will see if a giant lives in it."

"A real giant?" asked Buddy.



"No, only a make-believe one," answered Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh. So he and the two guinea pig children started off up the side of the mountain toward the cave. All around them were other mountains, and it was a lovely place, with the red sun sinking down behind the hills, just like it does in poetry.

"Ha, here we are at the cave!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, at length, as they came to a big hole in the side of the mountain. "Now, Buddy and Brighteyes, be very careful. Keep close to me, and don't go in very far, or you may get lost."

Then they started to go in, but just at that moment Uncle Wiggily stepped on a stone and twisted his ankle, the one that had some rheumatism still left in it, and he had to sit down and rub his foot with a bottle of liniment which he carried in his pocket.

While he was doing this Buddy and Brighteyes wandered a little way into the cave. It looked perfectly safe, and it was so pretty, with the sun shining in, and reflecting back from the crystals that hung down from the roof, and those that stuck up from the floor, that, almost before they knew what they were doing, the two children had gone some distance inside.

And, once they were in, it was so pretty that they kept on going farther and farther, until, land sakes, if, in about ten minutes they weren't away inside that cave, and they had forgotten all about what Uncle Wiggily Longears had told them about keeping close to him.

"Oh, we mustn't go any further!" cried Brighteyes at length. "It's getting quite dark, Buddy. We'll have to go back."

"All right," agreed her brother. "Uncle Wiggily will take us farther in I guess. We'll go and get him."

So they started back, but, would you believe it, they couldn't find their way! No, sir, there they were lost in that big cave! the more they tried to get out, the more lost they became.

Outside, Uncle Wiggily was in great distress. When his foot ceased hurting he looked for the children, but he couldn't see them. Then he knew they must have gone into the cave, and he was much frightened.

"Here it is, night coming on," he remarked, "and soon it will be very dark in there. Then I never can find Buddy and Brighteyes, and they'll be lost in there all night—and—oh dear—why did they go in without me?"

But in they had gone, and now Uncle Wiggily had to get them out. But he was a wise old rabbit, and, to make sure he would not get lost himself, he took a string, and tied it to his crutch, and left the crutch outside the cave. Then he took the ball of string and started in the cave, unrolling the cord as he went along, and keeping tight hold of it, so he could find his way back in the dark.

Then he tramped on, though it was hard work without his crutch, looking for Brighteyes and Buddy. I don't believe he ever would have found them, but for a kind old lightning bug, who flew on ahead, to light the way for him.

Then, after a while, by the gleam of the firefly, Uncle Wiggily did come upon Buddy and Brighteyes fast asleep in a corner. They had tried, and tried to find their way out, until they were so tired that they fell asleep.

Uncle Wiggily awakened them, and then, keeping tight hold of the string that was fast to his crutch, he led them out of the cave. And, oh, how thankful they were! They promised never to go in the mountain cave alone again, and they never did.

Well, Buddy and Brighteyes stayed in the mountains for quite awhile, and had lots of fun, which I may tell you about later, but now I think I will start some new stories—some that you have never heard, and, what do you think? they're going to be about some kittie cats.

I know most of you children must love cats, for I do, and it isn't so very long ago that I was a little chap myself.

So, if you please, the next book of Bedtime Stories will be called "Joie, Tommie and Kittie Kat." Their names are spelled with a "K" you may notice, but they are not at all proud, or stuck-up, on that account. I hope you will like them as well as you have Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg.

So now, for a little while we will say good-by, and it will not be long before you can read about the funny things the Kat children did, and about the walnut shells, and all that.

THE END