Uncle Wiggily's Adventures Read online

  Produced by Clare Boothby, David Newman, Emmy and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team.(https://www.pgdp.net)

  UNCLE WIGGILY'SADVENTURES

  ByHOWARD R. GARIS

  _Author of "Sammie and Susie Littletail," "Johnnie and BillieBushytail." "Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble,""Jackie and Peetie Bow-Wow," "Those SmithBoys," "The Island Boys" etc._

  Illustrations by

  LOUIS WISA

  A.L. BURT COMPANY

  PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

  THE FAMOUS

  BED TIME SERIES

  Five groups of books, intended for readingaloud to the little folks each night. Eachvolume contains 8 colored illustrations, 31stories, one for each day of the month. Handsomelybound in cloth. Size 6-1/2 x 8-1/4.

  HOWARD R. GARIS

  =Bed Time Animal Stories=

  No. 1. SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAILNo. 2. JOHNNY AND BILLY BUSHYTAILNo. 3. LULU, ALICE & JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLENo. 5. JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOWNo. 7. BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGGNo. 9. JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KATNo. 10 CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICKNo. 14 NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAILNo. 16 BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAILNo. 20 NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAILNo. 28 JOLLIE AND JILLIE LONGTAIL

  =Uncle Wiggily Bed Time Stories=

  No. 4 UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURESNo. 6 UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELSNo. 8 UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNENo. 11 UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILENo. 19 UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORENo. 21 UNCLE WIGGILY'S AIRSHIPNo. 27 UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE COUNTRY

  * * * * *

  For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receiptof price by the publishers

  =A.L. BURT CO., 114-120 East 23d St., New York=

  * * * * *

  COPYRIGHT, 1912 ByR.F. FENNO & COMPANY_Uncle Wiggily's Adventures_

  =UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES=

  STORY I

  UNCLE WIGGILY STARTS OFF

  Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, hopped out of bedone morning and started to go to the window, to see if the sun wasshining. But, no sooner had he stepped on the floor, than he cried out:

  "Oh! Ouch! Oh, dear me and a potato pancake! Oh, I believe I stepped on atack! Sammie Littletail must have left it there! How careless of him!"

  You see this was the same Uncle Wiggily, of whom I have told you in theBedtime Books--the very same Uncle Wiggily. He was an Uncle to Sammie andSusie Littletail, the rabbit children, and also to Billie and JohnnieBushytail, the squirrel boys, and to Alice and Lulu and JimmieWibblewobble, the duck children, and I have written for you, books aboutall those characters. Now I thought I would write something just aboutUncle Wiggily himself, though of course I'll tell you what all his nephewsand nieces did, too.

  Well, when Uncle Wiggily felt that sharp pain, he stood still for amoment, and wondered what could have happened.

  "Yes, I'm almost sure it was a tack," he said. "I must pick it up so noone else will step on it."

  So Uncle Wiggily looked on the floor, but there was no tack there, onlysome crumbs from a sugar cookie that Susie Littletail had been eating thenight before, when her uncle had told her a go-to-sleep story.

  "Oh, I know what it was; it must have been my rheumatism that gave me thepain!" said the old gentleman rabbit as he looked for his red, white andblue crutch, striped like a barber pole. He found it under the bed, andthen he managed to limp to the window. Surely enough, the sun was shining.

  "I'll certainly have to do something about this rheumatism," said UncleWiggily as he carefully shaved himself by looking in the glass. "I guessI'll see Dr. Possum."

  So after breakfast, when Sammie and Susie had gone to school, Dr. Possumwas telephoned for, and he called to see Uncle Wiggily.

  "Ha! Hum!" exclaimed the doctor, looking very wise. "You have therheumatism very bad, Mr. Longears."

  "Why, I knew that before you came," said the old gentleman rabbit,blinking his eyes. "What I want is something to cure it."

  "Ha! Hum!" said Dr. Possum, again looking very wise. "I think you need achange of air. You must travel about. Go on a journey, get out and seestrange birds, and pick the pretty flowers. You don't get exerciseenough."

  "Exercise enough!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Why, my goodness me sakes aliveand a bunch of lilacs! Don't I play checkers almost every night withGrandfather Goosey Gander?"

  "That is not enough," said the doctor, "you must travel here and there,and see things."

  "Very well," said Uncle Wiggily, "then I will travel. I'll pack my valiseat once, and I'll go off and seek my fortune, and maybe, on the way, I canlose this rheumatism."

  So the next day Uncle Wiggily started out with his crutch, and his valisepacked full of clean clothes, and something in it to eat.

  "Oh, we are very sorry to have you go, dear uncle," said Susie Littletail,"but we hope you'll come back good and strong."

  "Thank you," said Uncle Wiggily, as he kissed the two rabbit children andtheir mamma, and shook hands with Papa Littletail. Then off the oldgentleman bunny hopped with his crutch.

  Well, he went along for quite a distance, over the hills, and down theroad, and through the woods, and, as the sun got higher and warmer, hisrheumatism felt better.

  "I do believe Dr. Possum was right!" said Uncle Wiggily. "Traveling isjust the thing for me," and he felt so very jolly that he whistled alittle tune about a peanut wagon, which roasted lemonade, and boiled andfrizzled Easter eggs that Mrs. Cluk-Cluk laid.

  "Ha! Where are you going?" suddenly asked a voice, as Uncle Wiggilyfinished the tune.

  "I'm going to seek my fortune," replied Uncle Wiggily. "Who are you,pray?"

  "Oh, I'm a friend of yours," said the voice, and Uncle Wiggily looked allaround, but he couldn't discover any one.

  "But where are you?" the puzzled old gentleman rabbit wanted to know. "Ican't see you."

  "No, and for a very good reason," answered the voice. "You see I have veryweak eyes, and if I came out in the sun, without my smoked glasses on, Imight get blind. So I have to hide down in this hollow stump."

  "Then put on your glasses and come out where I can see you," invited theold gentleman rabbit, and all the while he was trying to remember where hehad heard that voice before. At first he thought it might be GrandfatherGoosey Gander, or Uncle Butter, the goat, yet it didn't sound like eitherof them.

  "I have sent my glasses to the store to be fixed, so I can't wear them andcome out," went on the voice. "But if you are seeking your fortune I knowthe very place where you can find it."

  "Where?" asked Uncle Wiggily, eagerly.

  "Right down in this hollow stump," was the reply. "There are all kinds offortunes here, and you may take any kind you like Mr. Longears."

  "Ha! That is very nice," thought the rabbit. "I have not had to travel farbefore finding my fortune. I wonder if there is a cure for rheumatism inthat stump, too?" So he asked about it.

  "Of course, your rheumatism can be cured in here," came the quick answer."In fact, I guarantee to cure any disease--measles, chicken-pox, mumps andeven toothache. So if you have any friends you want cured send them tome."

  "I wish I could find out who you were," spoke the rabbit. "I seem to knowyour voice, but I can't think of your name."

  "Oh, you'll know me as soon as you see me," said the voice. "Just hopdown inside this hollow stump, and your fortune is as good as made, andyour rheumatism will soon be gone. Hop right down."

  Well, Uncle Wiggily didn't like the looks of the black hole down insidethe stump, and he peered into it to see what he could see, but it was soblack that all he could make out was something like a lump of coal.

  "Well, Dr. Possum said I needed to have a change of scene, and someadventures," said the rabbit, "so I guess I'll chance it. I'll go d
own,and perhaps I may find my fortune."

  Then, carefully holding his crutch and his satchel, Uncle Wiggily hoppeddown inside the stump. He felt something soft, and furry, and fuzzy,pressing close to him, and at first he thought he had bumped into Dottieor Willie Lambkin.

  But then, all of a sudden, a harsh voice cried out:

  "Ha! Now I have you! I was just wishing some one would come along with mydinner, and you did! Get in there, and see if you can find your fortune,Uncle Wiggily!" And with that what should happen but that big, black bear,who had been hiding in the stump, pushed Uncle Wiggily into a dark closet,and locked the door! And there the poor rabbit was, and the bear wasgetting ready to eat him up.

  But don't worry, I'll find a way to get him out, and in case we have icecream pancakes for supper I'll tell you, in the next story, how UncleWiggily got out of the bear's den, and how he went fishing--I mean UncleWiggily went fishing, not the bear.

  STORY II

  UNCLE WIGGILY GOES FISHING

  At first, after he found himself shut up in the bear's dark closet, wherewe left him in the story before this, poor Uncle Wiggily didn't know whatto think. He just sat there, on the edge of a chair, and he tried to lookaround, and see something, but it was too black, so he couldn't.

  "Perhaps this is only a joke," thought the old gentleman rabbit, "though Inever knew a black bear to joke before. But perhaps it is. I'll ask him."

  So Uncle Wiggily called out:

  "Is this a joke, Mr. Bear?"

  "Not a bit of it!" was the growling answer. "You'll soon see what's goingto happen to you! I'm getting the fire ready now."

  "Getting the fire ready for what; the adventure, or for my fortune?" askedthe rabbit, for he still hoped the bear was only joking with him.

  "Ready to cook you!" was the reply. "That's what the fire is for!" andthe bear gnashed his teeth together something terrible, and, with hissharp claws, he clawed big splinters off the stump, and with them hestarted the fire in the stove, with the splinters, I mean, not his claws.

  The blazing fire made it a little brighter in the hollow stump, which wasthe black bear's den, and Uncle Wiggily could look out of a crack in thedoor, and see what a savage fellow the shaggy bear was. You see, that bearjust hid in the stump, waiting for helpless animals to come along, andthen he'd trick them into jumping down inside of it, and there wasn't aword of truth about him having sore eyes, or about him having to wear darkspectacles, either.

  "Oh, my! I guess this is the end of my adventures," thought the rabbit. "Ishould have been more careful. Well, I wish I could see Sammie and Susiebefore he eats me, but I'm afraid I can't. I shouldn't have jumped downhere."

  But as Uncle Wiggily happened to think of Sammie Littletail, the boyrabbit, he also thought of something else. And this was that Sammie hadput something in the old gentleman rabbit's valise that morning, beforehis uncle had started off.

  "If you ever get into trouble, Uncle Wiggily," Sammie had said, "this maycome in useful for you." Uncle Wiggily didn't look at the time to seewhat it was that his nephew put in the valise, but he made up his mind hewould do so now. So he opened his satchel, and there, among other things,was a long piece of thin, but strong rope. And pinned to it was a notewhich read:

  "Dear Uncle Wiggily. This is good to help you get out of a window, in caseof fire."

  "My goodness!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "that's fine. There the bear ismaking a fire to cook me, and with this rope I can get away from it. Nowif there's only a window in this closet I'm all right."

  So he looked, and sure enough there was a window. And with his crutchUncle Wiggily raised it. Then he threw out his satchel, and he tied therope to a hook on the window sill, and, being a strong old gentleman, hecrawled out of the window, and slid down the cord.

  And Uncle Wiggily got out just as the bear opened the closet door to grabhim, and put him in the pot, and when the savage black creature saw hisfine rabbit dinner getting away he was as angry as anything, really hewas.

  "Here! Come back here!" cried the bear, but of course Uncle Wiggily knewbetter than to come back. He slid down the rope to the ground, and then hecut off as much of the rope as he could, and put it in his pocket, for hedidn't know when he might need it again. Then, catching up his valise, heran on and on, before the bear could get to him.

  It was still quite a dark place in which Uncle Wiggily was, for you see hewas underground, down by the roots of the stump. But he looked ahead andhe saw a little glimmer of light, and then he knew he could get out.

  Limping on his crutch, and carrying his valise, he went on and on, andpretty soon he came out of a dark cave and found himself on the bank of anice little brook, that was running over mossy, green stones.

  "Ha! This is better than being in a bear's den!" exclaimed the oldgentleman rabbit. "My, I was so frightened that I forgot about myrheumatism hurting me. That was an adventure all right, and Sammie was agood 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 inthe water. Then he happened to see a fish jump up to catch a bug, so hesaid to himself:

  "I guess I will go fishing, just for fun. But if I do happen to catch anyfish I'll put them right back in the water again. For I don't need anyfish, as I have some lettuce and cabbage sandwiches, and somepeanut-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 partof 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 fishesbite--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, likering-around the rosies, and the rabbit sat there looking at them, sort ofnodding, and half asleep and wondering what adventure would happen to himnext, and where he would stay that night. All of a sudden he feltsomething tugging at the hook and line.

  "Oh, I've got a fish! I've got a fish!" he cried, as he lifted up thepole. Up out of the water with a sizzling rush flew the string and thesweet cracker bait, and the next minute out leaped the big, savagealligator that had escaped from a circus.

  "Oh, ho! So you tried to catch me, eh?" the alligator shouted at UncleWiggily.

  "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, hemade a jump for Uncle Wiggily, and with one sweep of his kinky, scalytail he flopped and he threw the old gentleman rabbit and his crutch andvalise 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 mouthas 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 gethim down safely. And in the story after this, if the milkman doesn't leaveus sour cream for our lemonade, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and theblack crow.

  STORY III

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACK CROW

  Let me see, where did I leave off in the last story? Oh! I remember. Itwas about Uncle Wiggily Longears being up in the top of the tall tree, andthe alligator keeping guard down below, ready to eat him.

  Well, the old gentleman rabbit was wondering how he could ever escape, andhe felt quite badly about it.

  "I guess this is the end of my adventures," he said to himself. "It wouldhave been much better had I stayed at home with Sammie and Susie." And ashe thought of the two rabbit
children he felt still sadder, and verylonely.

  "I wonder if Susie could have put anything in my satchel with which toscare an alligator," thought Uncle Wiggily. "I guess I'll look." So helooked, 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 thetoothache on your travels, this will stop it."

  "Ha! That is very kind of Susie, I'm sure," said the rabbit, "but I don'tsee how that is going to make the alligator go away. And, even if he doesgo, I wonder how I'm to get down out of this tall tree, with my crutch, myvalise and my rheumatism?"

  Well, just then the alligator got tired of standing on the end of histail, with his mouth open, and he began crawling around. Then he thoughtof what a good supper he was going to have of Uncle Wiggily, and thatalligator said:

  "I guess I'll sharpen my teeth so I can eat him better," and with that thesavage and unpleasant creature began to gnaw on a stone, to sharpen histeeth. Then he stood up on the end of his tail once more, under the tree,and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

  "Come on now!" he called to Uncle Wiggily. "Jump down and have it overwith."

  "Oh, but I don't want to," objected the rabbit.

  "You'll have to, whether you want to or not," went on the alligator. "Ifyou don't come down, I'll take my scaly, naily tail, and I'll saw down thetree, and then you'll fall."

  "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "What shall I do?"

  Then he happened to think of the bottle of toothache medicine that he heldin his hand, and, taking out the cork, he dropped the bottle, medicine andall, right into the open mouth of the alligator, who was again up on histail.