Now the third place he came to was a little house, made out of clothespins, where a p.u.s.s.y cat lived, and the p.u.s.s.y wasn't home, for she had just gone to the store to get some milk.

But the rabbit didn't know this, so he went inside the house to see if there was any fortune there. And the first thing he saw on the mantelpiece was a tin bank, and when he shook it something inside of it rattled, and when he peeped in Uncle Wiggily saw a whole lot of pennies in the tin bank.

"Oh fine!" he cried, "now I have my fortune at last. Some one has gone away and left all this money, so I might as well take it."

Well, he was just putting the bank full of pennies into his valise, when the p.u.s.s.y came back with the bottle of milk.

"Oh! are you going to take my bank away from me?" she cried, very sadly.

"I have been saving up my pennies for a long time, and now you have them."

"Oh, I wouldn't take them for the world!" cried the rabbit. "I didn't know they were yours, it's all a mistake," and he placed the bank right back on the mantel. "But perhaps you could tell me where to find my fortune,"

said Uncle Wiggily, and he told the p.u.s.s.y all about his travels.

"First we will have a drink of milk," said the p.u.s.s.y, and she poured out some for the rabbit. "Then I will go into the woods a little way with you and help you look for your fortune."

"Perhaps we had better take some lunch with us," said the rabbit, so he went to the store and got a nice lunch, which he put up in his valise, and then he and the p.u.s.s.y started off together to the woods.

They looked here and there and everywhere and even around corners, but no fortune could they find, and pretty soon it began to get a little dark.

And then suddenly it got all dark.

"Oh, I can never find my way back home!" cried the p.u.s.s.y. "And I am afraid in these lonesome woods."

"Oh! don't be frightened," said Uncle Wiggily, who was very brave. "I will build a camp fire and we can stay here all night. I will cook some supper and in the morning I will take you home."

Then the p.u.s.s.y wasn't afraid any more. She helped the rabbit to gather up some dry leaves and little sticks, and also some big sticks, and soon Uncle Wiggily had a fine fire merrily blazing away in the woods, and it was nice and light. Then he took some leafy branches and made a little house for himself and the p.u.s.s.y and then they cooked supper, making some coffee in an old empty tomato can they found near a wrinkly-crinkly stump.

"Oh, this is real jolly!" cried the p.u.s.s.y, as she warmed her paws and her nose at the blaze. "It is much better than drinking milk out of a bottle."

"I think so myself," said the rabbit. "Now, if I could only find my fortune I would be happy. But, perhaps, I shall to-morrow."

Well, pretty soon Uncle Wiggily and the p.u.s.s.y became sleepy so they thought they would go to bed. They made their beds in the little green bower-house on some soft, dried leaves.

"And I must have plenty of wood to put on the camp fire," said the rabbit, "for in the night some bad animal might try to eat us, but when they see the blaze they will be afraid and run away."

So he gathered a big pile of wood, and then he and the p.u.s.s.y went to sleep. And in the middle of the night, as true as I'm telling you, yes, indeed, along came sneaking the wushky-woshky with his three heads and two tails and his one crinkly leg.

"Now, I'll have a fine meal," thought the wushky-woshky as he saw the rabbit and the p.u.s.s.y sleeping. "Which one shall I take first?"

But all of a sudden his foot slipped on a stone and he made a noise, and Uncle Wiggily awakened in an instant and cried out:

"Some one is after us!" Then the brave rabbit threw some wood on the camp fire, and it blazed up so quickly that it burned the whiskers of the wushky-woshky and he gave three howls, one with each of his mouths, and away he hopped on his one leg, taking his two tails with him.

"My!" cried the p.u.s.s.y, "it's a good thing we had the camp fire, or we would have been eaten up."

"Indeed it is," said the rabbit. "I'll keep it blazing all night." So he did this, and no more wushky-woshkys came to bother them. And in the morning the p.u.s.s.y and the rabbit traveled on together and they had quite an adventure.

What it was I'll relate to you almost immediately, when, in case a little girl named Elizabeth learns how to swim by standing on one toe and holding a red balloon under water, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the cowbird.

STORY x.x.x

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE COWBIRD

"Do you think you can help me find my way back home again?" asked the p.u.s.s.y of Uncle Wiggily as they awakened the next morning, after having spent the night in the woods by the camp fire.

"Oh, I'm sure I can," answered the rabbit. "As soon as we have our breakfast we'll start off to look for your clothespin house."

Then Uncle Wiggily made up the camp fire again, putting on some more wood, and he boiled the coffee, in a tomato can, and fried some pieces of bacon he had in his valise. The way he cooked them was to take a sharp stick and put a piece of bacon on the end of it, and then he held the bacon up in front of the blaze, where it sizzled away, and got nice and curly and brown, and oh! how good it did smell, and so did the coffee! Oh! it's great to cook over a camp fire when the smoke doesn't get in your eyes and when it doesn't rain.

"Now we must put out the fire," said the rabbit, as he and the p.u.s.s.y were ready to go look for the clothespin house.

"Why must we do that, Uncle Wiggily?"

"Oh, so that it will not set fire to the woods, and burn down the nice trees after we are gone. Always put out your camp fire when you leave it,"

said the rabbit, as he threw water on the blaze, making clouds of steam.

Well, he and the p.u.s.s.y traveled on for some time longer together, but somehow or other they couldn't seem to find the place where the p.u.s.s.y lived, and the little cat was beginning to be sorry that she had gone camping in the woods.

"Oh, I know I'll never find my home again!" she cried.

"Oh, yes, we will," said the rabbit kindly. "Don't worry."

And just then they heard some one else crying, a little, tiny, sobbing voice.

"What's that?" exclaimed the p.u.s.s.y. "Perhaps it is one of the skillery-scalery alligator's children."

"No, I do not think so," said the rabbit. "It sounds to me as if some one else were lost in the woods, and I may have to find their home, too. We'll take a look."

So they looked all around, but they couldn't seem to find any one, though the crying was still to be heard.

"That's queer," said the rabbit, "I'll call to them."

So he called as loudly as he could like this:

"Is any one lost? Do you want me to help you find your home?"

"Oh, I'd be very glad to have you help me," said the crying voice, "but I am not lost."

"Then who are you, and what is the matter?" asked the rabbit.

"Oh, I am a robin bird," was the answer, "and I am in this bush over your heads."

"Ha, no wonder we couldn't see you," said the rabbit, as he and the p.u.s.s.y looked up, and there, sure enough, was the nice mamma robin bird, and she was crying, as she sat in the bush.

"What is the matter?" asked the rabbit.