Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog | Page 7

gray bonnet with a bit of ribbon on it, and tied the
strings under her chin, and put on her black silk mitts and her gold
locket breastpin with the picture of Mr. Mousie inside.
"You don't mind if we invite the red rooster to go along, too, do you?"
asked Billy Bunny, and then he told her how the rooster had scared
away the old owl. And of course Mrs. Mousie didn't care, so the rooster
got in and sat on the back seat with Mrs. Mousie.
Well, after they had gone for maybe a mile, and maybe some more,
they came to a beautiful candy store, where the windows were full of
peppermint sticks and a brown sugar monkey did all sorts of tricks.
"Stop right here," said the red rooster, "and I'll get out and buy you a
bag of candy." And when he came back he had four bags of candy. Just
think of that! In one bag was sugar-coated carrots for Billy Bunny, and
another bag was full of candied carrots for Uncle Lucky, and in the bag
he gave to Mrs. Mousie were two little chocolate mice.
"What have you got in your bag?" asked Uncle Lucky as he made the
Luckymobile jump over a high ditch and run along through a lovely
green meadow spread all over with buttercups.
"Sugared peanuts," answered the red rooster. "I just love them. The last
time I went to the circus I ate forty-nine bags and a half and drank
twenty-three glasses of pink lemonade and a bushel of popcorn."
"Wait a minute," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I've got a stomach

ache listening. How did you do it?" And in the next story I'll tell you
what the rooster said, that is, if nothing happens to prevent it, for he
certainly was a wonderful rooster, to be able to eat all that.

STORY X.
BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. COW.
Well, something did happen to prevent the red rooster from telling
Billy Bunny how he had been able to eat forty-nine bags and a half of
peanuts at the circus, as I mentioned in the last story.
You see, as the Luckymobile galloped along over the meadow, all of a
sudden, just like that, it ran right into the Babbling Brook, and then of
course it stopped so suddenly that Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky didn't
stop at all, neither did Mrs. Mousie and the red rooster.
They just kept right on going, and the first thing they knew and the first
thing you know, they all landed in the long grass beside Mrs. Cow.
"My, how you startled me!" she exclaimed, and she rang the little bell
at her neck and up ran her little calf, who was only two weeks old, and
had never seen Billy Bunny and his friends before.
After that she walked down to the Babbling Brook--but oh, dear me! all
the electricity oil had spilled out of the cabaret and she couldn't drink
the water, and all the little fish were covered with it just like sardines,
you know, and the watercress had salad dressing all over it, so of
course she couldn't eat the watercress.
"Never mind," said kind little Billy Bunny, and he took out of his
knapsack a big yellow lemon lollypop and gave it to her, and then she
didn't care, for she just loved candy.
"I'll help you get the automobile out," said Mrs. Cow gratefully, for she
liked anybody who was kind to her little calf. So she put her horns
under the front of the Luckymobile and then she said, "Heave ho,

e-ho!" and pushed and shoved and lifted that big heavy automobile
right out of the brook without even cracking her two long horns.
"If you don't mind," said the red rooster, "I'll leave you two little rabbits
and make a call on Cocky Docky up at the Old Farm. "And if you don't
care," squeaked little Mrs. Mousie, "I'll call on Dickey
Meadowmouse." So Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny hopped into the
automobile and drove off, while Mrs. Cow tinkled her bell and sang:
"Moo, moo, moo. I'm glad I helped you two. One good turn deserves
another. When you see your bunny mother, Tell her how your car I
took Safely from the Babbling Brook."
"It's a puzzle to me," said Uncle Lucky, "why we are always having so
many accidents. Maybe I had better get a chauffeur." "You won't need
any chauffeur after I'm done with you," said a deep growly voice, and
out from behind a clump of bushes jumped a wicked wildcat and bit
one of the front tires, she was so hungry.
And what do you suppose happened then? Why the tire burst with such
a loud noise,