Uncle Wiggilys Adventures | Page 4

of a dark cave and found himself on the bank
of a nice little brook, that was running over mossy, green stones.
"Ha! This is better than being in a bear's den!" exclaimed the old
gentleman rabbit. "My, I was so frightened that I forgot about my
rheumatism hurting me. That was an adventure all right, and Sammie
was a good boy to think of that strong cord. Now what shall I do next?"
Well, Uncle Wiggily sat down on the bank of the brook, and he looked
in the water. Then he happened to see a fish jump up to catch a bug, so
he said to himself:
"I guess I will go fishing, just for fun. But if I do happen to catch any

fish I'll put them right back in the water again. For I don't need any fish,
as I have some lettuce and cabbage sandwiches, and some peanut-butter
cakes, that Susie's mamma put up in a cracker-box for me."
Well, Uncle Wiggily looked in his valise, to make sure his lunch was
safe, and then, taking a bent pin from under his vest, he fastened it to a
part of the string Sammie had given him. Then he fastened the string to
a pole, and he was ready to fish, but he needed something to make the
fishes bite--that is, bite the pinhook, not bite him, you know.
"Oh, I guess they'll like a bit of sweet cracker," Uncle Wiggily thought;
so he put some on the end of the pin-hook, and threw it toward the
water.
It fell in with a splash, and made a lot of little circles, like ring-around
the rosies, and the rabbit sat there looking at them, sort of nodding, and
half asleep and wondering what adventure would happen to him next,
and where he would stay that night. All of a sudden he felt something
tugging at the hook and line.
"Oh, I've got a fish! I've got a fish!" he cried, as he lifted up the pole.
Up out of the water with a sizzling rush flew the string and the sweet
cracker bait, and the next minute out leaped the big, savage alligator
that had escaped from a circus.
"Oh, ho! So you tried to catch me, eh?" the alligator shouted at Uncle
Wiggily.
"No--no, if you please," said the rabbit. "I was after fish."
"And I'm after you!" cried the alligator, and, scrambling up the bank, he
made a jump for Uncle Wiggily, and with one sweep of his kinky, scaly
tail he flopped and he threw the old gentleman rabbit and his crutch and
valise right up into a big tree that grew near the brook.
"There you'll stay until I get ready to eat you!" exclaimed the alligator,
as he stood up on the end of his tail under the tree, and opened his
mouth as wide as he could so that if Uncle Wiggily fell down he'd fall
into it, just like down a funnel, you know.
Well, the poor gentleman rabbit clung to the topmost tree branch,
wondering how in the world he was going to escape from the alligator.
Oh, it was a dreadful position to be in!
But please don't worry or stay awake over it, for I'll find a way to get
him down safely. And in the story after this, if the milkman doesn't
leave us sour cream for our lemonade, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily

and the black crow.

STORY III
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACK CROW
Let me see, where did I leave off in the last story? Oh! I remember. It
was about Uncle Wiggily Longears being up in the top of the tall tree,
and the alligator keeping guard down below, ready to eat him.
Well, the old gentleman rabbit was wondering how he could ever
escape, and he felt quite badly about it.
"I guess this is the end of my adventures," he said to himself. "It would
have been much better had I stayed at home with Sammie and Susie."
And as he thought of the two rabbit children he felt still sadder, and
very lonely.
"I wonder if Susie could have put anything in my satchel with which to
scare an alligator," thought Uncle Wiggily. "I guess I'll look." So he
looked, and what should he find but a bottle of toothache drops. Yes,
there it was, and wrapped ground it was a little note Susie had written.
"Dear Uncle Wiggily," she said in the note, "if you ever get the
toothache on your travels, this will stop it."
"Ha! That is very kind of Susie, I'm sure," said the rabbit, "but I don't
see how that is going to make the alligator go away. And, even if he
does go,