Uncle Wiggilys Travels | Page 9

looked at it. And
pretty soon, as he was still looking, a big, buzzing bumble bee buzzed
along and stopped to take a sip of the dewdrop.
"Ha! That is a regular violet ice cream soda for me!" said the bee to

Uncle Wiggily. And just as he was taking another drink a big, ugly
snake made a spring and tried to eat the bee, but Uncle Wiggily hit the
snake with his crutch and the snake crawled away very much surprised.
"Thank you very much," said the bee to the rabbit. "You saved my life,
and if ever I can do you a favor I will," and with that he buzzed away.
Well, pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, Uncle Wiggily
came to a place in the woods where there were a whole lot of packages
done up in paper lying on the ground. And there was a tent near them,
and it looked as if people lived in the white tent, only no one was there
just then.
[Illustration]
"I guess I'd better keep away," thought the old gentleman rabbit, "or
they may catch me." And just then he saw something like a long,
straight stick, standing up against a tree. "Ha, that will be a good stick
to take along to chase the bears away with," he thought. "I think no one
wants it, so I'll take it."
Well, he walked up and took hold of it in his paws, but, mind you, he
didn't notice that on one end of the stick was a piece of powder string,
like the string of a firecracker, sticking down, and this string was
burning. No, the poor old gentleman, rabbit never noticed that at all. He
started to take the stick away with him when, all of a sudden,
something dreadful happened.
With a whizz and a rush and a roar that stick shot into the air, carrying
Uncle Wiggily with it, just like a balloon, for he hadn't time to let go of
it.
Up and up he went, with a roar and a swoop, and just then he saw a
whole lot of boys rushing out of the woods toward the white tent. And
one boy cried:
"Oh, fellows, look! A rabbit has hold of our sky-cracker and it's on fire
and has gone off and taken him with it! Oh the poor rabbit! Because

when the sky-cracker gets high enough in the air the firecracker part of
it will go off with a bang, and he'll be killed. Oh, how sorry I am. The
hot sun must have set fire to the powder string."
You see those boys had come out in the woods to have their Fourth of
July, where the noise wouldn't make any one's head ache.
Well, Uncle Wiggily went on, up and up, with the sky-cracker, and he
felt very much afraid for he had heard what the boys said.
"Oh, this is the end of me!" he cried, as he held fast to the sky-cracker.
"I'll never live to find my fortune now. When this thing explodes, I'll be
dashed to the ground and killed."
The sky-cracker was whizzing and roaring, and black smoke was
pouring out of one end, and Uncle Wiggily thought of all his friends
whom he feared he would never see again, when all of a sudden along
came flying the buzzing bumble bee, high in the air. He was much
surprised to see Uncle Wiggily skimming along on the tail of a
sky-cracker.
"Oh, can't you save me?" cried the rabbit.
"Indeed I will, if I can," said the bee, "because you were so kind to me.
You are too heavy, or I would fly down to earth with you myself, but
I'll do the next best thing. I'll fly off and get Dickie and Nellie
Chip-Chip, the sparrow children, and they'll come with a big basket and
catch you so you won't fall."
No sooner said than done. Off flew the bee. Quickly he found Dickie
and Nellie and told them the danger Uncle Wiggily was in.
"Quick," called Dickie to Nellie. "We must save him."
Off they flew like the wind, carrying a grocery basket between them.
Right under Uncle Wiggily they flew, and just as the sky-cracker was
going to burst with a "slam-bang!" the old gentleman rabbit let go, and
into the basket he safely fell and the sparrow children flew to earth with

him. Then the sky-cracker burst all to pieces for Fourth of July, but
Uncle Wiggily wasn't on it to be hurt, I'm glad to say.
He spent the Fourth visiting the Bumble bee's family, and had ice
cream and cake and lemonade for supper, and at night he heard the
band play, and he gave Nellie and