Well, he went along through the woods, Grandpa Croaker did, and pretty soon, after a while, not so very long, he came to where Uncle Wiggily lived, with Sammie and Susie Littletail, and their papa and mamma and Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat nurse. But to-day only Uncle Wiggily was home alone, for every one else had gone to the circus.

So the old gentleman goat-I mean frog-and the old gentleman rabbit sat down and played a game of checkers. And after they had played one game they played another, and another still, for Uncle Wiggily won the first game, and Grandpa Croaker won the second, and they wanted to see who would win the third.

Well, they were playing away, moving the red and black round checkers back and forth on the red and black checker board, and they were talking about the weather, and whether there'd be any more rain, and all things like that, when, all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily heard a noise at the window.

"h.e.l.lo! What's that?" he cried, looking up.

"It sounded like some one breaking the gla.s.s," answered Grandpa Croaker.

"I hope it wasn't Bawly and Bully playing ball."

Then he looked up, and he saw the same thing that Uncle Wiggily saw, and the funny part of it was that Uncle Wiggily saw the same thing Grandpa Croaker saw. And what do you think this was?

Why it was that savage skillery, scalery alligator chap who had poked his ugly nose right in through the window, breaking the gla.s.s!

"Ha! What do you want here?" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he made his ears wave back and forth like palm leaf fans, and twinkled his nose like two stars on a frosty night.

"Yes, get right away from here, if you please!" said Grandpa Croaker in his deepest, hoa.r.s.est, rumbling, grumbling, thunder-voice. "Get away, we want to play checkers."

But he couldn't scare the alligator that way, and the first thing he and Uncle Wiggily knew, that savage creature poked his nose still farther into the room.

"Oh, ho!" the alligator cried. "Checkers; eh? Now, do you know I am very fond of checkers?" And with that, what did he do but put out his long tongue, and with one sweep he licked up the red checkers and the black checkers and the red and black squared checker board at one swallow, and down his throat it went, like a sled going down hill.

"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the alligator. "Those were very fine checkers. I think I won that game!" he said, smiling a very big smile.

"Yes, I guess you did," said Uncle Wiggily, sadly, as he looked for his cornstalk crutch. When he had it he was just going to hop away, and Grandpa Croaker was going with him, for they were afraid to stay there any more, when the alligator suddenly cried:

"Where are you going?"

"Away," said Uncle Wiggily.

"Far, far away," said Grandpa Croaker, for it made him sad to think of all the nice red and black checkers, and the board also, being eaten up.

"Oh, no! I think you are going to stay right here," snapped the alligator. "You'll stay here, and as soon as I feel hungry again I'll eat you."

And with that the savage creature with the double-jointed tail put out his claws, and in one claw he grabbed Uncle Wiggily and in the other he caught Grandpa Croaker, and there he had them both.

Now, it so happened that a little while before this, Bully and Bawly No-Tail, the frog boys, had started out for a walk in the woods.

"Dear me," said Bully, after a while, "do you know I am afraid that something has happened to Grandpa Croaker."

"What makes you think so?" asked his brother.

"Because I think he went past the pond where the alligator was, and that the bad creature got him."

"Oh, I hope not," replied Bawly. "But let's walk along and see." So they walked past the pond, and they saw that it was all calm and peaceful, and they knew the alligator wasn't in it.

So they kept on to Uncle Wiggily's house, thinking they would walk home with Grandpa Croaker, and when they came to where the old gentleman rabbit lived, they saw the alligator standing on his tail outside with his head in through the window.

"I knew it!" cried Bully. "I knew that alligator would be up to some tricks! Perhaps he has already eaten Grandpa Croaker and Uncle Wiggily."

Just then they heard both the old animal gentlemen squealing inside the house, for the alligator was squeezing them.

"They're alive! They're still alive!" cried Bawly. "We must save them!"

"How?" asked Bully.

"Let's build a fire under the alligator's tail," suggested Bawly. "He can't see us, for his head is inside the room."

So what did those two brave frog boys do but make a fire of leaves under the alligator's long tail. And he was so surprised at feeling the heat, that he turned suddenly around, dropped Uncle Wiggily and Grandpa Croaker on the table cloth, and then, pulling his head out of the window, he turned it over toward the fire, and he cried great big alligator tears on the flames and put them out. Oh, what a lot of big tears he cried.

Then he tried to catch Bully and Bawly, but the frog boys hopped away, and the alligator ran after them. Just then the man from the circus came, with a long rope and caught the savage beast and put him back in the cage and made him go to sleep, after he put some vaseline on his burns.

So that's how Bully and Bawly saved Uncle Wiggily and Grandpa Croaker, by building a fire under the alligator's long tail.

And in case some one sends me a nice ring for my finger, or thumb, with a big orange in it instead of a diamond, I'll tell you next about Mrs.

No-Tail and Mrs. Longtail.

STORY XVIII

MRS. N

"Now, boys," said Mrs. No-Tail, the frog lady, to Bully and Bawly one day, as she put on her best bonnet and shawl and started out, "I hope you will be good while I am away."

"Where are you going, mamma?" asked Bully.

"I am going over to call on Mrs. Longtail, the mouse," replied Mrs.

No-Tail. "She is the mother of the mice children, Jollie and Jillie Longtail, you know, and she has been ill with mouse-trap fever. So I am taking her some custard pie, and a bit of toasted cheese."

"Oh, of course we'll be good," promised Bawly. "But if you don't come home in time for supper, mamma, what shall we eat?"

"I have made up a cold supper for you and your papa and Grandpa Croaker," said Mrs. No-tail. "You will find it in the oven of the stove.

You may eat at 5 o'clock, but I think I'll be back before then."

Poor Mrs. No-Tail didn't know what was going to happen to her, nor how near she was to never coming home at all again. But there, wait, if you please, I'll tell you all about it.

Away hopped Mrs. No-Tail through the woods, carrying the custard pie and the toasted cheese for Mrs. Longtail in a little basket. And when she got there, I mean to the mouse house, she found the mouse lady home all alone, for Jollie and Jillie and Squeaky-Eaky, the little cousin mouse, had gone to a surprise party, given by Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrow girl.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you," said Mrs. Longtail. "Come right in, if you please, Mrs. No-Tail. I'll make you a cup of tea."

"Oh, are you able to be about?" asked Bully's mamma.

"Yes," replied Jollie's mamma. "I am much better, thank you. I am so glad you brought me a custard pie. But now sit right down by the window, where you can smell the flowers in the garden, and I'll make tea."

Well in a little while, about forty-'leven seconds, Mrs. Longtail had the tea made, and she and Mrs. No-Tail sat in the dining-room eating it-I mean sipping it-for it was quite hot. And they were talking about spring housecleaning, and about moths getting in the closets, and eating up the blankets and the piano, and about whether there would be many mosquitoes this year, after Bawly had killed such numbers of them with his bean shooter. They talked of many other things, and finally Mrs.