Bully and Bawly No-Tail | Page 5

game of ball. He had a
baseball with him, and he was very fond of playing. I just wish you
could have seen him stand up on his hind legs and catch balls in his
mouth. It was as good as going to the best kind of a moving picture
show. Perhaps some day you may see Bawly.
Well, as I said, he was hopping along, tossing the ball up into the air
and catching it, sometimes in his paw and sometimes in his mouth,
when, all of a sudden he heard a funny pounding noise, that seemed to
be in the bushes.
"Gracious, I wonder what that can be!" exclaimed Bawly, looking
around for a good place to hide.
He was just going to crawl under a hollow stump, for he thought
perhaps the noise might be made by a bad wolf, or a savage fox,
sharpening his teeth on a hard log, when Bawly heard some one say:
"There, I've dropped my hammer! Oh, dear! Now I'll have to climb all
the way down and get it, I s'pose."
"Well, that doesn't sound like a wolf or a fox," thought Bawly. "I guess
it's safe to go on."
So he didn't hide under the stump, but hopped along, and in a little
while he came to a place in the woods where there were no trees, and,
bless you! if there wasn't the cutest little house you've ever seen! It
wasn't quite finished, and, in fact, up on the roof was Uncle Wiggily
Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, putting on the shingles to keep out
the rain if it came.

"Oh, hello, Uncle Wiggily!" called Bawly, joyfully.
"Hello," answered the rabbit carpenter. "You are just in time, Bawly.
Would you mind handing me my hammer? It slipped and fell to the
ground."
"Of course I'll throw it up to you," said Bawly, kindly. "But you had
better get behind the chimney, Uncle Wiggily, for I might hit you with
the hammer, though, of course, I wouldn't mean to. You see I am a very
good thrower from having played ball so much."
"I see," answered Uncle Wiggily. "Well, I'll get behind the chimney."
So Bawly picked up the hammer and he threw it carefully toward the
roof, but, would you believe me, he threw it so hard that it went right
over the house, chimney and all, and fell down on the other side.
"My! You are too strong!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily laughing so that
his fur shook. "Try again, Bully, if you please."
"Oh, I'm Bawly, not Bully," said the frog boy.
"Excuse me, that was my mistake," spoke the old gentleman rabbit. "I'll
get it right next time, Peetie--I mean Bawly."
Well, Bawly threw the hammer again, and this time it landed right on
the roof close to the chimney, and Uncle Wiggily picked it up and
began nailing on more shingles.
"If you please," asked Bawly, when he had watched the rabbit carpenter
put in about forty-'leven nails, "who is this house for?"
"It is for Sammie and Susie Littletail," answered Uncle Wiggily. "They
are going to have rabbit play-parties in it, and I hope you and Bully will
come sometimes."
"We'll be glad to," spoke Bawly. Then Uncle Wiggily drove in another
nail, and the house was almost done.

"How do you get up and down off the roof?" asked Bawly, who didn't
see any ladder.
"Oh, I slide up and down a rope," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I have a
strong cord fastened to the chimney, and I crawl up it, just like a
monkey-doodle, and when I want to come down, I slide down. It's
better than a ladder, and I can climb a rope very well, for I used to be a
sailor on a ship. See, here is the rope."
Well, he took hold of it, near where it was fastened to the chimney, to
show the frog boy how it was done, but, alas, and also alack-a-day! All
of a sudden that rope became untied, it slipped out of Uncle Wiggily's
paw and fell to the ground! Now, what do you think about that?
"Oh, my! Now I have gone and done it!" exclaimed the elderly rabbit,
as he leaned over the edge of the roof and looked down. "Now I am in a
pickle!--if you will kindly excuse the expression. How am I ever going
to get down? Oh, dear me, suz dud and a piece of sticking-plaster
likewise. Oh, me! Oh, my!"
"Can't you jump, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Bawly.
"Oh, my, no! I might be killed. It's too far! I could never jump off the
roof of a house."
"Perhaps you can climb down from one window shutter to the other,
and so get to the ground," suggested Bawly.
"No,"