Uncle Wiggilys Adventures | Page 7

they went, like hailstones in an ice cream can.
"Ah, there are my friends, sure, this time!" thought the owl, and once
more he peered out, but no one was there. "It must have been a tree
branch hitting against the door," said the owl, as he sharpened a big
knife with which to make the sandwiches. Then Johnnie threw some
more acorns, and the owl now thought positively his friends were there,
and when he opened it and saw no one he was real mad.
"Some one is playing tricks on me!" exclaimed the savage bird. "I'll
catch them next time!"
Now this was just what Johnnie Bushytail wanted, so he threw a whole
double handful of acorns at the door, and when the owl heard them
pattering against the wood he rushed out.
"Now, I've got you!" he cried, but he hadn't, for Johnnie was up a tree.
And, for the moment, the owl forgot about Uncle Wiggily, and there
the door was wide open.
"Run out, Uncle Wiggily! Run out!" cried Johnnie, and out the old
gentleman rabbit hopped, catching up his valise, and away into the
woods he ran, with Johnnie scurrying along in the tree tops above him,
and laughing at the owl, who flew back to his house, but too late to
catch the bunny.

"That's what you get for fooling people so they'll come into your
house," called the squirrel boy. "It serves you right, Mr. Owl. Come on,
Uncle Wiggily, we'll get away from here."
So they went on together until it was time for Johnnie to go home, and
he said he'd tell Uncle Wiggily's friends that he had met the old
gentleman rabbit, and that he hadn't found his fortune yet, but that he
was looking for it every minute, and had had many adventures.
Well, Uncle Wiggily went on some more, for quite a distance, until it
was noon time, and then he sat down in the cool, green woods, where
there were some jacks-in-the-pulpit growing near some ferns, and there
Uncle Wiggily ate his lunch of lettuce sandwiches, with carrot butter on
them, and gnawed on a bit of potato. Just as he was almost through, he
heard a rustling in the bushes, and a voice exclaimed:
"Oh, dear!"
"Why, what's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, thinking perhaps an
adventure was going to happen to him. "Who are you?"
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed the voice again.
Then, before the old rabbit could jump up and run away, even if he had
wanted to, out from under a big bush came a little white poodle dog,
with curly, silky hair. He walked right up to Uncle Wiggily, that dog
did, and the rabbit wasn't a bit afraid, for the dog wasn't much bigger
than he was, and looked very kind.
"What do you want, doggie?" gently asked Uncle Wiggily.
The dog didn't answer, but he gave a little short bark, and then he began
turning somersaults. Over and over he went, sometimes backward and
sometimes frontward, and sometimes sideways. And when he was
finished, he made a low bow, and walked around on his two hind legs,
just to show he wasn't proud or stuck up.
"There!" exclaimed the poodle doggie. "Is that worth something to eat,
Mr. Rabbit?"
"Indeed it is," answered Uncle Wiggily, "but I would have given you
something to eat without you doing all those tricks, though I enjoyed
them very much. Where did you learn to do them?"
"Oh, in the circus where I used to be, I always had to do tricks for my
dinner," said the doggie.
"What is your name?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Fido Flip-Flop," was the answer. "You see they call me that because I

turn so many flip-flops," and then Uncle Wiggily gave him some lunch,
and told the dog about how he, himself, was traveling all over in search
of his fortune.
"Why, that's just what I'm doing, too," exclaimed Fido Flip-Flop.
"Suppose we travel together? and maybe we'll each find a fortune."
"That's just what we'll do," agreed Uncle Wiggily.
And then, all of a sudden, before you could open your eyes and shut
them again, two savage foxes jumped out from behind a big stump.
"You grab the dog and I'll grab the rabbit," called the biggest fox, and
right at Uncle Wiggily and Fido they sprang, gnashing their teeth.
But don't worry. I'll find a way to save them, and if the canary bird
doesn't take my lead pencil and stick it in his seed dish I'll tell you in
the following story about Uncle Wiggily doing some tricks.

STORY V
UNCLE WIGGILY DOES SOME TRICKS
When those two savage ducks--oh, I mean foxes--when those two
savage foxes jumped out of the bushes at Uncle Wiggily Longears