Chapter II: Part 2

Dr. Pigg said Billie was very smart to think of such a thing, and I believe so myself. Now in case you don't burn yourself with a firecracker and lose your penny down a hole in the sidewalk, I'm going to tell you in the next story about Buddy and Brighteyes' Fourth of July.

STORY VIII

BUDDY'S AND BRIGHTEYES' FOURTH OF JULY

One day, when Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg were playing out in front of their pen, Buddy suddenly exclaimed:

"Why, just think of it! Day after to-morrow is Fourth of July, Brighteyes. Won't we have lots of fun?"

"What will we do?" asked his sister.

"Oh, shoot off firecrackers and torpedoes, and make lots of noise, and at night we'll send up Roman candles and skyrockets; and oh! it will be better than a circus."

"Oh, you boys!" exclaimed Brighteyes. "You always want to make a racket and have excitement. It's horrid, I think."

"Oh, I s'pose you'll play with your dolls, or something like that," said Buddy, laughing at his sister, who was very serious.

"Yes, that's what I'm going to do," replied Brighteyes. "I'm going to play with Sister Sallie, and Alice and Lulu Wibblewobble, and Jennie Chipmunk, and we're going for a picnic in the woods."

"Look out that a big fox or a bad dog doesn't get you," said Buddy. "Well, I'm going off to find Sammie and Billie and Johnnie and Jimmie and Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, and Bully and Bawly Frog, and we'll have a fine time on the Fourth."

"Where are you going to get your firecrackers and things?" asked Brighteyes.

"You'll see," answered Buddy, as he ran off.

Well, Fourth of July came at last, just as it always does, and early in the morning Buddy Pigg awoke.

"Where are you going?" called his papa.

"Out to shoot off some firecrackers," answered Buddy.

"Be careful you don't get burned," cautioned his mother. "Oh dear! I don't like the Fourth of July. If you do get burned. Buddy, run right in and let papa attend to you."

"I can't get burned with the kind of firecrackers and torpedoes I'm going to use," answered the little boy guinea pig, and he laughed as he ran out.

Well, pretty soon, along came all his friends, Billie and Johnnie and Sammie, and all the rest. They were so excited that Bawly, the frog, didn't think to sing a song, or recite any poetry.

"What shall we do first?" asked Buddy.

"Let's play war," suggested Sammie. "We'll divide up into two armies, and have a battle. It will be great!"

So they divided into two sides, and Buddy was the general on one side, and Billie Bushytail on the other. Then the fight began--not real, you understand--but make-believe.

First the loud cannons shot off; and what do you suppose the cannons were? Why big stones, that the squirrels and rabbits and the other animal boys held and clapped together as loud as anything. You know stones can make a terrible racket when they are hit together real hard. Well, it sounded like regular cannon, and the birds in the wood got awfully scared.

"Now fire your guns!" cried General Buddy Pigg, and his soldiers took sticks, and snapped them in two pieces and broke them, until they sounded like real guns, or a lot of firecrackers going off.

Oh, it was fine, and the best of it was nobody could get hurt, or burned, either.

"Now shoot them with your torpedoes!" cried General Billie Bushytail, and all at once his side began firing off torpedoes at a great rate; until you would have thought the woods were on fire. And you would never guess what the torpedoes were, so I'll tell you. They were big, rose petals, blown up with air until they were like little pink and red balloons, and tied around with a string, just as you tie a paper bag around the neck, after you've blown it up, to burst it, and when those rose-torpedoes were cracked down on a flat stone--my! you should have heard the noise!

Well, lots of them were fired off, and then Buddy Pigg got some empty bags, and his soldiers blew them up, and they cracked 'em down, and they went off "Boom! Boom!" like great, big cannons. They blew dust up in the air, to pretend it was smoke, and there was the most terrible make-believe battle you ever heard of. But nobody was hurt, and they had lots of fun, and the best of it was that neither side won, which made everybody happy.

"Now we'll take a rest," said Buddy Pigg. "I wonder what Brighteyes and the others are doing?"

"Let's go see," proposed Billie Bushytail.

So they all marched off through the woods, just like real soldiers, and pretty soon they came to the place where Brighteyes and Sister Sallie and all the girls were having a picnic.

"You're just in time," called Brighteyes.

"Come and have some lunch, and some lemonade. You must be tired after all that fighting." Now wasn't she kind, even after Buddy had laughed at the idea of a picnic being better than a battle? Well, I just guess! Those soldiers were glad enough to eat the lunch, and drink the lemonade, I can tell you.

So the soldiers and the girls sat there in the woods under the trees and had a fine time--almost as good as at the make-believe battle, I think--and after a while, just as Buddy and his chums were getting ready to go back and shoot some more stick-firecrackers and roseleaf torpedoes, what should happen but that bad fox and that mean, old, yellow, shaggy dog ran right out of the woods.

"Let's eat everything up!" cried the fox, waving his big tail.

"Yes, and then we'll eat the squirrels and rabbits and guinea pigs all up!" cried the dog, gnashing his teeth and blinking his eyes as bold as bold could be.

At first even the soldiers were so frightened that they hardly knew what to do, and they were about to run away, when Buddy called out:

"Come on! Let's get our guns and our cannon and shoot them!"

Then he grabbed up some stick-firecrackers and began to break and snap them, and Sammie shot off some roseleaf torpedoes and Billie and Johnnie clapped stones together, and Jimmie and Bully and Bawly threw dust in the air until it looked like smoke, and there was a terrible racket, until--well, sir, if that dog and that fox weren't so frightened that they ran away and didn't even get so much as a crumb of cracker or a drop of lemonade; and it served them right, I think.

Then how thankful the girls were to the brave soldiers. Oh, everything turned out just right, I'm glad to say. That afternoon Buddy and his chums had more Fourth of July fun, and Brighteyes and her friends played with their dolls.

Then at night Buddy and the boys sent up skyrockets and Roman candles (which were sticks covered with lightning bugs), and prettier ones you never saw. And they even had a lightning-bug pinwheel. Oh, it was the nicest Fourth of July that ever was! I hope you children have as nice a one and that none of you get burned or hurt when you celebrate Independence Day. And, if none of you do, why, in the next story I'll tell you about Buddy Pigg trying to buy a tail for himself, because he didn't have any. That is, I will if the lollypop doesn't fall down stairs and break his stick.

STORY IX

BUDDY PIG WANTS A TAIL

The day after the Fourth of July, when he and his sister had had such fun, Buddy Pigg came into the pen, where his mamma was baking tea biscuits for supper, and sat down in a chair by the table where she was working.

He didn't say anything, but just watched his mamma rolling out the crust, or whatever it is they make tea biscuits of, and pretty soon Mrs. Pigg noticed that Buddy didn't seem very happy. His face was all twisted up into a funny sort of a scowl, and every once in a while he would give a long sigh, as though he hadn't a friend in all the world.

"Why, Buddy," Mrs. Pigg asked, when the tea biscuits were ready for the oven, "whatever in the wide, wide world is the matter? Are you sick, or did you burn yourself with a firecracker?"

"No, mother," Buddy answered, "I'm not sick and I didn't burn myself with a firecracker, but I wish--I wish--" and then he stopped, and sort of wiggled his nose.

"Well," asked his mother with a smile, "what do you wish? Remember, though, that I am not a fairy and can't give you anything you want."

"Oh," answered the little boy guinea pig, "this is very easy, mamma. All I want is a tail."

"A tail?" exclaimed his mamma in great surprise, and she wondered if, after all, Buddy wasn't ill, for that was a very strange request. And she began to wish that his papa was home, or that Brighteyes, who was Buddy's sister, was in the house, to help look after him, but Brighteyes had gone to see her aunt, and wouldn't be back till night.

"Yes," went on Buddy, "I want a tail. All the other boys and girls who are friends of mine have them, and I don't see why I can't."

For you see guinea pigs never have tails. Why that is I don't know, except, maybe, it's better that way in hot weather, but, anyhow, they have no tails.

"You don't need a tail," said Buddy's mamma.

"Yes, I do, mother dear," he answered. "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow have tails, and so have Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and the three Wibblewobbles, and--"

"But Bully and Bawly, the frogs, have no tail," said Mrs. Pigg, "and they are happy, Buddy."

"Well, they are in the water so much it doesn't show whether they have a tail or not," went on Buddy.

"And Sammie and Susie Littletail haven't much of a tail, Buddy," said Mrs. Pigg, as she looked in the oven to see if the biscuits were burning.

"I know it, mother, but they have something of a tail," spoke Buddy, "and maybe it will grow longer in time. I'd be glad if I had even as much as Sammie has."

"Well," said Mrs. Pigg, "I'm sorry, Buddy, but I don't see how you are ever going to get a tail. I haven't any, your father hasn't any, and we get along very well. None of your relations have tails and they are happy. They never had any. In fact there has never been a tail in our family and I don't see why you want to start. Now run out and play, like a good boy, and when Brighteyes comes back it will be supper time, and we'll have hot biscuits and honey."

But, though Buddy ran out, he was not happy. There was a frown on his face, and, as he walked through the woods, he kept thinking how nice it would be to have a tail.

Pretty soon, oh, I guess in about a whisper and a squeak, Buddy Pigg heard a rustling in the tree over his head. Then he saw two big, yellow eyes peering down at him from the darkness of the woods, and a voice called out:

"What's the matter, little boy? Why are you so sad?"

"Oh, I feel bad because I haven't a tail," answered Buddy, wondering who was speaking.

"What's the matter? Did some one cut your tail off?" the voice asked.

"No," replied Buddy, "I never had one; but I want one, awfully bad."

"Oh, don't worry about a little thing like that," went on the voice. "I can get a fine tail for you."

"Oh, can you?" cried Buddy, his face lighting up, "are you a fairy?"

"Well, not exactly," was the answer, "but you just run along after me, and I'll get a tail for you, in less than no time."

Then there was a rustling in the branches, and a great, big owl, with ears that looked like horns, flew out, and Buddy was frightened. But the owl said:

"Oh, don't be alarmed, little boy. Just follow me, and I'll see that you get a tail."

So the owl flew along through the dark, dismal woods, going slowly, and close to the ground so Buddy could follow, and pretty soon, the owl stopped in front of a hole in the side of a hill.

"There is where the tail is," said the owl. "Just wait and I'll have it out to you in a jiffy and a half," and bless me, if that owl didn't go in that hole. He stayed there some time, and Buddy could hear voices inside, talking, and land sakes, goodness me alive, and a cherry pie! out of that hole was thrust a great, big, bushy tail. A tail, and nothing else, believe me, if you please.

"Oh, what a fine tail!" cried Buddy in delight.

"Do you think so?" asked a voice. "Then just grab hold of it, hold tight, and it's yours!"

Well, Buddy didn't think there was any danger, so he grabbed hold of the tail, and held on tight, but oh, dear me! instead of pulling the tail out, he found himself being pulled in. Yes, sir, right into that hole, and land knows what would have happened if Buddy's sister, Brighteyes, hadn't come along just then on her way home from her aunt's house. She saw right away that the bushy tail was fast to something inside the hole.

"That's a fox's tail!" she cried, "and he's pulling you into his den! Let go, quickly! Let go, Buddy!"

So Buddy let go just in time, though the fox and the owl rushed out and tried to grab him, but they fell down, and couldn't get up in time, and he and his sister ran home. You see it was just a trick of that owl and fox, to get Buddy into the den, and eat him up, but they didn't, I'm glad to say. And after that Buddy never wanted a tail. Now if it doesn't rain in the dishpan and turn the umbrella inside out, I'll tell you in the next story about Buddy walking a tight rope.

STORY X

BUDDY WALKS A TIGHT ROPE

One day after Buddy Pigg had been on a visit to Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs, who were once in a circus, he came home all excited. He ran out in the yard, began pawing over in the woodpile, and soon he ran into the house, where Brighteyes, his sister, was washing the potatoes for dinner.

"Do you know where there is any wire, Brighteyes?" the little boy guinea pig asked.

"Wire? No, I haven't seen any around the house. What do you want of it? Are you going to wire a tail on to yourself?" and Buddy's sister smiled just the least bit.

"Please don't remind me of that," said Buddy, for he felt a little ashamed of the time he had tried to get a tail for himself and had been nearly dragged into a fox's den, as I told you in the story before this one. "No, Brighteyes, I'm not going to make a tail. I am going to do a circus trick, and you can see me if you want to," he said.

"Oh, Buddy! are you really?" she cried, and she was interested all of a sudden, you see, for she had never seen much of a circus.

"Yes, I'll do the trick, if I can find a bit of wire," went on Buddy. "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow told me how to do it; and I'm sure I can. It's walking a tight rope, and it's very hard to do."

"Oh! then you want rope, not wire," went on Brighteyes, as she put the pan of potatoes on the table.

"Wire is what the circus performers use," insisted her brother, "but if you can't find any I suppose rope will do."

"I saw some up in the attic," said Brighteyes. "I'll get it for you. But, Buddy, isn't it dangerous? Do you s'pose mamma and papa would let you do it?"

"There's not much danger," answered Buddy. "I'll not put the rope up very high, and I'll put some pillows on the ground underneath, so that if I fall I won't get hurt much."

Well, Brighteyes found a long rope, and she helped Buddy tie it from one clothes post to the other, across the yard, so that it looked like a real tight rope in a circus.

"Oh, you can never get on that!" she cried to her brother, as she saw how high up it was.

"Yes, I can," he replied. "You just watch me. But first I must put some pillows underneath, in case I fall."

So he ran into the house and got a lot of feather pillows and put them on the ground under the rope, Brighteyes helping him.

Then Buddy got some old soap boxes, piled them one on top of the other, and, by climbing up on them, he was able to step to the rope.

"Oh, how thin and slender and shaky it is!" cried Brighteyes. "You never can walk across that, Buddy!"

"Yes, I think I can," he answered. "But I must get a pole to balance myself with," so he got off the boxes and ran to the woodpile, got a piece of an old broom handle, and ran back to the rope again. He stepped one foot out on it, to try it, and it seemed quite strong, though it wabbled a bit from side to side, like a duck's tail.

"Oh! are you really going to walk on it?" cried Brighteyes in delight.

"I really am," answered her brother.

"Then you ought to have an audience to applaud you and clap when you do it," she went on. "Wait, and I'll run and get Johnnie and Billie Bushytail and Sammie and Susie Littletail, and--"

"No, don't!" cried Buddy, quickly. "Better wait until I walk across a few times, first, so as to sort of practise. Then I'll do the trick before folks."

So he got up on the rope, standing up on his hind legs, and balancing the pole with his front paws and he steadied himself for a moment and then took a step. My! but that rope wiggled, though, from side to side, almost like a hammock, only, of course, not as safe as a hammock. But Buddy kept bravely on, and took another step--and land sakes laddy-da! if that rope didn't wiggle more than ever.

"Oh, take care! You'll fall!" cried Brighteyes, and she screamed.

"Oh, Brighteyes, don't do that, please!" begged Buddy. "You make me nervous, and then I can't walk the tight rope."

So Brighteyes, whose real name was Matilda, you know, kept real still and quiet, just like a little mouse when it wants a bit of cheese, and Buddy took another step out on the tight rope.

He held his balancing pole by the middle, and he went slowly and cautiously, and he was actually walking that slender rope!

But he kept looking down and wondering whether he would fall or not, and he got to thinking about the feather pillows, and wondering if they were thick enough and soft enough, so that he wouldn't get hurt if he should fall, when all at once, quicker than you can wheel the baby carriage down hill, when he was right in the middle, Buddy's foot slipped, and down he went, right a straddle across the tight rope, and the pole fell with a bang!

And Brighteyes screamed, for she couldn't help it, but Buddy didn't dare call out. No, all he could do was to cling there with his teeth and his paws to that swaying rope.

"Oh!" cried Brighteyes, "you're going to fall, Buddy!"

"I've fallen already," he panted. "But I'm going to land on the ground in a minute, for I can't hold on any longer!"

And he looked down, picking out a soft spot to fall on, but, oh, dear me, and a sour pickle! If the pole, when it fell down, hadn't knocked the pillows to one side, and there was only hard ground for Buddy to land on. Well, maybe he wasn't frightened, and Brighteyes was also frightened, too flabbergasted, you see, to go and fix the pillows in place again, and they didn't either of them know what in the world to do.

I don't know what might have happened, for Buddy couldn't hold on much longer, but, just as he was going to let go, along came Uncle Wiggily Longears. He saw what the trouble was at once, and up he rushed and with his crutch he piled the pillows in a soft heap right under Buddy, and then Buddy let go the tight rope and down he came, just like in a feather bed.

And he wasn't hurt the least mite, but he was very thankful to Uncle Wiggily, the old rabbit gentleman, and Buddy never tried to walk a tight rope, nor a loose one again.

Now, in case there is no salt in the ice cream to make the rag doll sneeze, I'll tell you in the following story about Brighteyes Pigg in a tin can.

STORY XI

BRIGHTEYES IN A TIN CAN

Of course, when Mamma Pigg came home the afternoon that Buddy tried to walk a tight rope (for she had been away visiting Mrs. Wibblewobble when it happened) she had to hear about it. Buddy and Brighteyes would have told her, anyhow, for they always did, but, as it was, Mrs. Pigg saw a scratch on Buddy's leg, where the rope had hurt him when he fell, and she wanted to know all about it. Then Buddy told her of the trick he had tried to perform.

"Little guinea pigs are safer on the ground," she said. "Leave such things to Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, or the Bow Wows, who were once in a circus. Now get washed for supper, for your papa will soon be here, and I think he'll fetch a quart of carrot ice cream, as it is so hot."

And sure enough, Dr. Pigg did, and the carrot ice cream was the best Brighteyes and Buddy had ever tasted, they thought.

Well, it was about two days after this that Brighteyes Pigg was sent to the store for her mother, to get a nutmeg, a yeast cake, and a bottle of blueing. Brighteyes started off, hurrying through the woods, where once the owl had tried to get Buddy into the den of the old fox, and soon the little guinea pig girl was at the grocery.

She got the things, and the storekeeper put them in a paper bag for her, and back she started.

It was so warm that, after Brighteyes had reached a cool place in the woods, near where a little brook ran over the stones, making a gurgling noise, very pleasant to hear, she sat down to rest. And she hadn't been sitting there more than about ten long breaths, when she saw, beside the stream, a tin can.

"Now I wonder what is in that can?" thought Brighteyes. "I'm going to see. Perhaps it's something good to eat, and I can take some home to Buddy," for she was very kind to her brother, you understand.

So she went up to the can, but wasn't she disappointed when she saw that it was empty! The open end was on the side that was turned away from her, and that's why at first she thought it was full. But she smelled of the opening, and oh, what a delicious perfume there was, sweet and sugary, and in a minute Brighteyes knew what it was.

"There has been molasses in that can!" she exclaimed. "Oh, if there's anything I dearly love it's molasses! I wonder if there is any left inside? Sometimes people don't quite empty the cans before they throw them away. I'm going to look."

So Brighteyes went closer, and, would you believe me? if she didn't see, away down in the lower edge of that can, as it rested on its side, a lot of nice molasses.

"Oh, I must have that!" cried Brighteyes, and, without thinking of what she was doing, she put her head and her forepaws inside that can. She found she could reach the molasses with her tongue, and she began to lick it up, wishing she had some way of taking part of it to Buddy.

She was so excited over it that she even had taken her things from the grocery store inside the can with her. There she was, with only part of her body and her hind legs sticking out, and she was eating the molasses as fast as she could.

It kept tasting better and better, but, after a while, Brighteyes thought she had enough, and she started to pull her head out of the can. But, oh dear me! She found she couldn't do it. The sharp edges of the tin caught in her fur, and there she was, stuck fast with the can over her head, and the nutmeg, the bottle of blueing and the yeast cake in there with her.

"Oh, dear me suz-dud!" she cried. "I'm fast!"

She tried to shake the can off, but it wouldn't shake. Then she tried to pull herself out, but the can was still on her head, and went everywhere she went, like Mary's little lamb. Then poor Brighteyes tried to stand up on her hind legs, and hit the can against a tree or a stone, thinking she could knock it off, but it wouldn't come off, and then she turned a somersault, thinking that would help, but, though she even stood on her head in the can, and wiggled her hind legs, it did no good.

"Oh, I'm caught fast!" cried the poor little creature, and she rolled around and around on the ground, thinking that would help some, but it didn't.

Then she heard some one coming along through the woods, and she called out: "Who's there? Please help me out of this can!"

"I'm Johnnie Bushytail," answered a voice. "Who are you?"

"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she said. "Please help me."

But her voice sounded so queer and hollow, shut up as it was in the can, and the nutmeg rattled around so, like thunder, that Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel, was frightened, and ran away, without helping Brighteyes. Then she felt like crying, but, in a little while she heard some one else coming along through the woods, and she called: "Oh, please help me! Who is there?"

"I'm Sammie Littletail," was the answer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she replied. "Help me, please!"

But her voice sounded so strange and hollow in the can, and just then the yeast cake came bouncing out, where there was a little space near Brighteyes' neck and the tinfoil was all shining so that Sammie thought some one was shooting square, silver bullets at him, and away he ran.

Then Brighteyes was going to give up in despair, and she thought she would never, never get out, and she wished she had never eaten the molasses, when, all of a sudden, she heard some one else coming along, and between her sobs she cried out:

"Oh, please, whoever you are, don't run away! Help me out of this can! Who are you?"

"I am Alice Wibblewobble, the duck," was the answer. "Who are you?"

"I am Brighteyes Pigg," said the little creature in the molasses can, and just then the bottle of blueing broke inside and the blue stuff ran out, trickling to one side.

"Oh, you must be the blue fairy!" cried Alice, and she took her strong bill and bent back the edges of the tin can so that Brighteyes could get out, which she soon did, and was not hurt in the least.

Of course Alice was surprised to see a guinea pig instead of a blue fairy, but she was glad she had saved Brighteyes, who had to go back to the store for another bottle of blueing. But the nutmeg and the yeast cake were all right.

Then Alice Wibblewobble poured the rest of the molasses out of the can into an empty acorn cup and Brighteyes took it home to Buddy, who liked it very much, and I almost wish I had some molasses candy; don't you?

Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Dr. Pigg and the firecracker; that is if the mosquitoes don't sing so loudly that they wake up the baby's rattle box.

STORY XII

DR. PIGG AND THE FIRECRACKER

Once upon a time it happened that, as Buddy Pigg was coming home from having played baseball with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and all his friends, he saw, lying beside the road, something long and round and red, with a little string dangling from it.

"Aha!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg; "there is a stick of red candy? Oh, fine! Oh, dandy! I'll take it home, and give Brighteyes some."

That was because she had managed to bring him home some of the molasses that was in the can, in which the little girl guinea pig got stuck fast. So Buddy picked up the long, round, red thing, with a string dangling from it, and took a big bite. That is, he tried to, but he found his teeth wouldn't go through it.

"Wow!" he cried. "That isn't a stick of candy at all."

And the funny part of it was that it wasn't a stick of candy. No, not in the least, I do assure you. What it was Buddy couldn't guess, though I suppose some of you children can.

Well, anyhow, he picked it up, and carried it in one paw, and his bat and catching glove in the other. And pretty soon whom should he meet hopping along but Bawly, the frog--Bully's brother, you know. And Bawly was singing away for dear life, this little song, which you will have to get some one to sing for you, as I am as hoarse as two crows and a cricket. Well, anyhow, this is the song:

"As I was hopping along one day,
Hi diddle um diddle I!
A grasshopper sat in a greenwood tree,
Tum-tum-tum tiddle di!
"Oh, where are you going?" the grasshopper asked.
"Oh, not very far," I said.
"May I go along?" asked the funny bug.
And he stood right up on his head.

"Why yes," I told him, "come along,"
Tu ri lum diddle day.
"The weather is certainly fine just now,"
Fum lum dum skiddle fay.
But the grasshopper fell in a deep, dark bog,
And I pulled him out on a sunken log,
And then came along a bad, savage dog,
And we both ran away."

"Oh, ho! So that's the way it was, eh?" asked Buddy, who had never heard that song before.

"That's exactly how it was, and not a bit different, I give you my word for it," said Bawly, the frog. "But what have you there, Buddy? Peppermint candy, as sure as I can sing! May I have a bit?"

"You could have it if it was candy," promised Buddy, real politely, "only it isn't," and he looked at the queer red thing from all sides, and he couldn't make out what it was, and neither could Bawly.

Well, I'll tell you what it was, so you can understand the story better. It was a firecracker. Yes, sir, a big, red firecracker that, somehow or other, hadn't gone off on Fourth of July when it ought to have done so.

I presume some boy had lighted it, tossed it into the bushes and it had gone out and stayed out until Buddy found it. At any rate, he didn't know what it was, and he took it home. Neither did Mr. Pigg know what it was, but Buddy's mother and sister thought it was quite a pretty ornament, and Mrs. Pigg put it on the parlor mantle, where company could see it.

Well, one day, not long after this, Dr. Pigg was home all alone, for his wife and the children had gone to a moving-picture show. He was dozing away in his easy chair, with a newspaper over his face to keep away the flies, when, all of a sudden, there came a knock on the door.

"My goodness alive! Who's there?" cried Dr. Pigg.

"It's me," answered a voice.

"And who, pray tell, may you be?" asked Dr. Pigg.

"I'm a bad tramp fox," was the answer, "and I want you to give me something to eat. Quick! I'm in a hurry!"

Now that wasn't a nice way to speak, and Dr. Pigg knew it, and, what is more, that bad fox knew it, too. But, do you s'pose he cared? Not a bit of it. He was as impolite as he could be, and he took pride in it.

"I want something to eat in a hurry," he went on, in a coarse, grumbly voice, and he was such a big fox, and Dr. Pigg was such a nice, gentle kind of a creature that he didn't dare refuse him.

"Very well," said Buddy's papa, "step into the parlor, Mr. Fox, and I'll see what I can do for you. There ought to be something in the pantry."

So he went to look in the pantry for a bone, or something like that, just as Mother Hubbard would have done, you know, and when the fox went in the parlor what do you suppose he saw? Why, that big, red firecracker on the mantle, of course. And when he saw it a wicked plan came into his head.

"I'll just light that," he thought to himself, "and it will blow this pen up, and Dr. Pigg with it. Then I can take anything I want. That's what I'll do. I'll blow the place up!"

Then he lighted the string of the firecracker, standing up on his hind legs to reach it, you see, and, as it was a long string, the fox knew it would burn some time before it would explode the firecracker. So the fox ran out into the kitchen, where Dr. Pigg was getting him something to eat, and he cried:

"Here, give me what you have ready, I can't wait."

"You must be in a hurry," replied Dr. Pigg, as he gave the fox some bread and meat and cold potatoes. And of course the fox was in a hurry, for he wanted to get out of the way before that firecracker went off and blew the house up.

Then the fox ran and hid in the bushes, waiting for the house and Dr. Pigg to be blown up, so he could go in and take whatever he wanted. The string on the firecracker burned slowly, but surely. And the fox knew it would be a perfectly tremendous explosion, for the firecracker was as big as a hundred lead pencils made into one.

But now watch and see what happens. After Dr. Pigg had put away the bread and meat, left over after giving the fox some, who should come along but Percival, the old, circus dog. He came to pay a friendly call on Dr. Pigg, but, no sooner had he reached the front door than he cried out:

"Oh, I smell something burning," and, sure enough it was the firecracker string sizzling away.

"Maybe the house is afire," said Dr. Pigg. "Let's look!" So he and Percival went all through the pen, and the first object they saw was the long, rod thing burning on the mantlepiece. And Percival knew at once what it was, for he was a smart dog, let me tell you.

"Oh!" he cried, "that is a cannon firecracker, and if it goes off it will blow the place to pieces, and me and you, too!"

"Then, for mercy sakes, don't let it go off!" cried Dr. Pigg, and that brave dog Percival jumped up, grabbed the cannon cracker in his mouth, dashed out of the house, and leaped into a pond of water with it, which put out the burning string, and wet the firecracker so it wouldn't explode.

And when the fox saw Percival, he sneaked away with his tail hanging down, I can tell you. So that's the story of Dr. Pigg and the firecracker, and when his family came home he told them of of his narrow escape.

Now, in case I hear a June bug buzz like an electric fan blowing soap bubbles, I'll tell you in the next story about Buddy Pigg in a boat.

STORY XIII

BUDDY PIGG IN A BOAT

After Percival, the old circus dog, had been so kind to Dr. Pigg, in the matter of jumping into the pond with the big firecracker, which the bad fox had lighted, the old gentleman guinea pig said:

"I wish, Percival, you would spend a few days with us. I'm afraid that ugly tramp fox will come back."

"Of course I will," agreed the dog. "The Bow Wows are going down to Asbury Park for the summer, and I don't much care for the seashore, so I'll stay home and spend a few days with you. And in case that fox does come back--"

Well, Percival didn't say what he would do, but land sakes, flopsy dub! Oh me, and a potato pancake! You should have seen him show his teeth and growl.

Well, it was a few days after Percival had come to pay a little visit to the Pigg family that something happened to Buddy, and I'm going to tell you about it.

You see, it had been raining pretty hard for a week or more--yes, nearly two weeks, and it didn't seem as if it was ever going to stop. There had been thunder showers and lightning showers and hail showers and just plain rain showers, and they were all more or less wet; and when it did finally stop raining there was a lot of water all over.

One day, the first day, in fact, after it stopped raining, Buddy was taking a walk, and glad enough he was to be out of the pen. He strolled along, letting the warm sun and the gentle wind dry his black and white fur, and he was thinking of, oh! ever so many things, when, all at once, he came to a little pond; only this time it was a great big pond, because it had so much water in it. And on the shore of the pond was a boat that some boys had been playing with.

"Oh, fine!" cried Buddy Pigg. "I'll get in and make believe I'm a sailor, just as Billie and Johnnie Bushytail and Jennie Chipmunk did once. I've always wanted a ride in a boat, and now's my chance!"

So he climbed into the boat, and he made believe he was sailing away off to China, where they make firecrackers and fans, and then, when he was half-way there (make believe, you know), why, he turned around and sailed for India, where it's very hot; but all this while the boat was partly on the bank and partly in the water, and Buddy only rocked it from side to side, pretending it was moving.

Well, after he reached India, what did he do but find it so hot there that he turned around at once and sailed for the North Pole, so he could be nice and cool.

Then, all at once, as quickly as you can eat an ice cream cone on a hot day, if something didn't happen. Buddy looked up, after reaching the North Pole, and he found that the boat was adrift, floating off across the big pond, with the wind blowing it faster, and faster, and faster.

At first Buddy thought it was fun; then, as he saw that he was getting farther and farther from shore, he became frightened. He looked for something with which to send the boat back to land, but there was no sail in it, and no oars; and, if there had been, the little guinea pig boy couldn't have used them, I don't suppose. Well, there he was, really sailing off to some unknown country this time, in earnest, and not make believe.

Then he began to cry, and he called out as loudly as he could:

"Help! Help! Help!" and who should come running down to the shore but Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs. They hadn't gone to Asbury Park yet, you see, but they were going soon.

"What's the matter?" asked Peetie.

"The boat is taking me away off," answered Buddy.

"Jump out and swim to shore!" cried Peetie.

"I can't swim," called back Buddy.

"Oh, we'll show you how," went on Jackie, and then he and Peetie jumped into the water and began to show Buddy how to swim, but he was too frightened to learn, and, besides, the two puppy dogs were too far off for him to see them plainly. Then they swam out, and they tried to pull the boat back to shore, but they were not strong enough.

"Oh, I'll be drowned! I'll be drowned!" cried Buddy. "What shall I do? Tell my mamma good-by for me," he said to Jackie.

"We'll tell her you're in trouble, and maybe she will know of a way to save you," called Peetie and Jackie.

So they ran and told Mrs. Pigg, and she and Brighteyes came running down to the shore of the pond.

"Oh, my poor little boy," cried Mamma Pigg, when she saw Buddy being carried farther and farther away.

"Oh, how can we reach him?" wailed Brighteyes, wringing her paws. "We must save him, somehow!"

Just then along came Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels.

"Stick up your tail like a sail and the wind will blow you ashore!" they cried to Buddy. "That's what we did."

"I haven't any tail," answered Buddy, real sorrowful-like.

"That's so," said the little squirrel boys, and it began to look pretty bad for poor Buddy, let me tell you.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Mamma Pigg. "I'll never see my poor boy again," for he was quite far off by this time.

Then, all of a sudden, down to the edge of the pond, came rushing Percival, the old circus dog.

"I'll save Buddy!" he cried. "I'll carry a rope out to him, and he can fasten it to the boat, and then we can pull him ashore."

Well, Percival took a rope in his mouth and started to swim out, but a funny thing happened. The water got in his mouth and washed the rope away, and he couldn't carry it, though he tried a number of times.

Then everybody felt sorry, and Jackie Bow Wow was just suggesting that they build a raft and float out on it to Buddy, when who should come along but Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck. They all told him what the trouble was, and he said, "Quack! Quack! Quack!" three times, just like that, and exclaimed:

"I have it! I can swim out with the rope in my bill, for my head will be above the water."

He did it too, in about two quacks and a quarter. Then he helped Buddy fasten the rope to the side of the boat, and those on land, including Percival, the two Bow Wows and Mamma Pigg and Brighteyes, soon pulled the boat and Buddy in it ashore.

Buddy said he was never going sailing again, and I guess he never did, for he was very much frightened, but he soon got over it and played with Jimmie and Jackie and Peetie, while Mamma Pigg had to go home to take something for her nerves.

Now, if I have rhubarb pie for supper, and the ham sandwich doesn't squeal when they put mustard on it, I'll tell you about Brighteyes and the peanut candy in the next story.

STORY XIV

BRIGHTEYES AND THE PEANUT CANDY

It happened, once upon a time, that Brighteyes and Buddy Pigg were walking through the woods together, not far from their home. They had been over to see Sammie and Susie Littletail, and they had had a very nice time. In fact, there had been a little party at the Littletail home.

It was Sammie's or Susie's birthday, I forget just whose, and after games had been played, there were good things to eat; nuts of various kinds for the squirrels who came; candy, lemonade, ice cream flavored with turnips and carrots, and oh! lots of cake, and I don't know what else besides. There was so much that Buddy and Brighteyes couldn't eat all their share, and they were bringing it home to their papa and mamma.

Well, as they were walking along, thinking what a good time they had had, the two guinea pig children heard a rustling sound in the bushes, and two big, round, staring eyes peered out at them, and there was a noise like a dog growling.

"Oh, quick! Hurry up, Buddy!" cried Brighteyes. "Something will catch us sure!" and she began to run as fast as fast could be, or even faster, maybe.

"Oh, I don't think it's anything but old Percival, the circus dog," said Buddy. "He won't hurt us."

And he was going to stand still and look in those bushes; yes, sir, that's what Buddy was going to do, only he happened to see a big, bushy tail sticking out, and then he knew it was a bad fox there, and not the good, kind dog, so Buddy ran as fast as he could run, if not faster, right after Brighteyes.

And the fox ran, too, only he had stepped on a piece of glass and cut his foot and couldn't run very fast. He was the same fox who lighted the firecracker in Dr. Pigg's house, and I'm glad to say that he didn't catch Buddy or Brighteyes, for they ran faster than the fox did.

Well, they hurried on for quite a distance further, and all at once, just as they were getting tired, and when they knew the fox had stopped chasing them, they happened to look down on the path, and what should they see but a white box; yes, indeed, a white box, tied with pink string.

"Oh, I wonder what can be in there?" asked Brighteyes.

"I don't know, but I'll go see," said Buddy.

"Oh, no, don't go too close," begged his sister. "It might be a trap, or perhaps the bad fox is hidden inside it."

"It's too small for a fox to get in," declared the boy guinea pig. "I'll take a smell, anyhow."

So he crept slowly, slowly, slowly up to the white box, and sniffed, and sniffed and sniffed.

"Oh! Ah! Um! La-la! Um! Um!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg, and he laid down the packages of candy, nuts, cakes and other things he had carried home from the Littletails' party, so that he might smell the better.

"What is it?" asked Brighteyes Pigg. "What's in the box?"

"I don't know," replied her brother, "but whatever it is, it smells the nicest of anything I ever smelled. It's just like when mamma bakes a ginger cake in the oven. I'm going to open it and see."

So, with his sharp teeth, Buddy loosened the pink string around the box, and off came the cover. Then, what do you suppose was in the box? Why, a whole lot of peanut candy, all nice and fresh, shining, golden brown, with just enough peanuts in, and not a bit more, really and truly!

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Brighteyes in delight, as she saw it. "Peanut candy, Buddy! If there's anything I love it's peanut candy! Some good fairy must have left this for us. Come on, we'll take it over here, under a bush, where the bad fox won't see us, and we'll eat some of it, and save some to take home. Oh, how lovely!"

"I don't think I care for peanut candy very much," said Buddy. "When I smelled it I thought it was going to be chocolate caramels."

"Don't you want any?" asked Brighteyes.

"No," answered her brother, "but I'll help you carry it into the bushes. I'll eat some of the things we brought from the party. I'm getting hungry again."

So he and Brighteyes carried the box of peanut candy into the bushes, and the little girl guinea pig began to eat the sweet stuff.

Well, she had eaten almost all of it up, before she thought, because it tasted so good, when all of a sudden, who should come along the path in the woods, but a little girl. Yes, a little girl in a red dress, and she was crying as hard as she could cry, that little girl was.

"Oh, dear!" she sobbed, "I have lost my box of peanut candy, that I bought in the store, and I can't find it, and I'm so miserable! Nobody in the world is so miserable as I am. Oh, dear! Boo! Hoo!"

Well, you should have seen how sorry Brighteyes was for eating that little girl's candy, but Brighteyes didn't know, of course, whose it was. She and Buddy just hid down in the bushes, and didn't know what to do, until Buddy whispered:

"Listen! I'll fill the box full of our candy, nuts and things that we brought from the party, and maybe that will stop the little girl crying."

So he did that, filling the box real full, and putting the pink string around it again. Then, when the little girl wasn't looking, Buddy slipped out of the bushes, put the box back on the path again and slipped under a leaf to hide. Then, pretty soon, when the little girl stopped crying, she saw her box, and she thought a fairy had brought it back.

Then she opened it, and she saw the peanut candy had been turned into a different kind, and that there were nuts with it and she surely thought it was magical, but it wasn't, it was only Buddy Pigg, who did it.

So Buddy and Brighteyes went home happy, and so did the little girl, with her white box which she had found again after she had lost it.

Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Buddy and the June bug, that is if some one sends me some peanut candy with a lot of red postage stamps on it.

STORY XV

BUDDY AND THE JUNE BUG

One night Dr. Pigg and Mrs. Pigg and Brighteyes went to a nice moving-picture show that Percival, the old circus dog, had gotten up, and they left Buddy at home alone. The reason for that was this: Buddy wasn't feeling well. He had eaten too many ice cream cones, and too much lemonade on a hot day, and he had to have some medicine that his papa fixed for him.

It was bitter, sour medicine, too, and Buddy didn't like it, and he didn't like to be ill, either, but one always is when one eats too many ice cream cones and drinks too much lemonade on a hot day; yes, indeed, and a bottle of paregoric besides.

Well, Buddy was sick, and couldn't go to the moving-picture show, but his mamma and papa thought it would be all right to leave him home alone, as he was getting better by that time.

"I'll tell you all about the show when we come back," promised Brighteyes. "There is going to be a fairy play in it."

"Oh!" cried Buddy, "how I wish I could go! I love fairy plays!"

"You will be much better in bed," said Dr. Pigg, "and if you keep quiet you won't have to take any more medicine."

There was no help for it, and Dr. Pigg and his wife and daughter started off. They knew Buddy would be much more comfortable in bed than at the show, or they would never have left him, and right next door lived a family of chickens, who would come over in case anything happened.

Buddy felt a little lonesome when his folks had gone, but after awhile he fell asleep. He dozed off for some time, and, all of a sudden, he was awakened by hearing something going "thumpity-thump-bump-bump-bump! Humpity-hump-bump-bump!" on the ceiling and walls of his room. Then it went "bangity-bung-bung," and before Buddy knew what was happening, if something didn't go slam-bang-crack into the lamp, and put it out, leaving the poor little guinea pig boy in the dark.