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Title: Bully and Bawly No-Tail

Author: Howard R. Garis

Illustrator: Louis Wisa

Release Date: June 16, 2006 [EBook #18599]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_BEDTIME STORIES_

BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL
(THE JUMPING FROGS)

BY
HOWARD R. GARIS

Author of "Sammie and Susie Littletail,"
"Uncle Wiggily's Automobile," "Daddy Takes Us Camping,"
"The Smith Boys," "The Island Boys," etc.

_ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS WISA_

A. L. BURT COMPANY
PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK




THE FAMOUS
BED TIME SERIES

Five groups of books, intended for reading aloud to the little
folks each night. Each volume contains 8 colored illustrations,
31 stories, one for each day of the month. Handsomely bound in
cloth. Size 6-1/2 x 8-1/4.

Price 60 cents per volume, postpaid

HOWARD R. GARIS'
Bed Time Animal Stories

No. 1. SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
No. 2. JOHNNY AND BILLY BUSHYTAIL
No. 3. LULU, ALICE & JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
No. 5. JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW
No. 7. BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG
No. 9. JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT
No. 10 CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK
No. 14 NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL
No. 16 BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL
No. 20 NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL
No. 28 JOLLIE AND JILLIE LONGTAIL

Uncle Wiggily Bed Time Stories

No. 4 UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
No. 6 UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
No. 8 UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
No. 11 UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE
No. 19 UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE
No. 21 UNCLE WIGGILY'S AIRSHIP
No. 27 UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE COUNTRY

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

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




Copyright, 1915, by
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY




BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL


The stories herein contained appeared originally in the Evening News, of
Newark, N. J., where (so many children and their parents were kind
enough to say) they gave pleasure to a number of little folks and
grown-ups also. Permission to issue the stories in book form was kindly
granted by the publisher and editor of the News, to whom the author
extends his thanks.




Contents

STORY I      BULLY AND BAWLY GO SWIMMING       9
STORY II     BULLY MAKES A WATER WHEEL         15
STORY III    BAWLY AND UNCLE WIGGILY           21
STORY IV     BULLY'S AND BAWLY'S BIG JUMP      26
STORY V      GRANDPA CROAKER DIGS A WELL       34
STORY VI     PAPA NO-TAIL IN TROUBLE           40
STORY VII    BULLY NO-TAIL PLAYS MARBLES       46
STORY VIII   BAWLY AND THE SOLDIER HAT         52
STORY IX     GRANDPA CROAKER AND THE UMBRELLA  58
STORY X      BAWLY NO-TAIL AND JOLLIE LONGTAIL 65
STORY XI     BULLY AND THE WATER BOTTLE        71
STORY XII    BAWLY NO-TAIL GOES HUNTING        77
STORY XIII   PAPA NO-TAIL AND THE GIANT        83
STORY XIV    BAWLY AND THE CHURCH STEEPLE      90
STORY XV     BULLY AND THE BASKET OF CHIPS     97
STORY XVI    BAWLY AND HIS WHISTLES            104
STORY XVII   GRANDPA CROAKER AND UNCLE WIGGILY 110
STORY XVIII  MRS. NO-TAIL AND MRS. LONGTAIL    117
STORY XIX    BAWLY AND ARABELLA CHICK.         123
STORY XX     BAWLY AND ARABELLA CHICK.         128
STORY XXI    GRANDPA AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG       135
STORY XXII   PAPA NO-TAIL AND NANNIE GOAT      141
STORY XXIII  MRS. NO-TAIL AND NELLIE CHIP-CHIP 148
STORY XXIV   BULLY AND ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE      154
STORY XXV    BAWLY AND LULU WIBBLEWOBBLE       161
STORY XXVI   BULLY NO-TAIL AND KITTIE KAT      168
STORY XXVII  HOW BAWLY HELPED HIS TEACHER      174
STORY XXVIII BULLY AND SAMMIE LITTLETAIL       180
STORY XXIX   BULLY AND BAWLY AT THE CIRCUS     186
STORY XXX    BULLY AND BAWLY PLAY INDIAN       194
STORY XXXI   THE FROGS' FAREWELL HOP           200




BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL

STORY I

BULLY AND BAWLY GO SWIMMING


Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there were two little frog
boys who lived in a little pond near a nice big farm. It wasn't very far
from where Peetie and Jackie Bow-Wow, the puppy dogs, had their home,
and the frogs' house was right next door to the pen where Lulu and Alice
and Jimmie Wibblewobble the ducks lived.

There was Bully No-Tail, and his brother Bawly No-Tail, and the reason
Bawly had such a funny name was because when he was a little baby he
used to cry a good bit. And once he cried so much that he made a lot
more water in the pond than should have been there, and it ran over,
just like when you put too much milk in your glass, and made the ground
all wet.

The last name of the frogs was "No-Tail," because, being frogs, you see,
they had no tails.

But now Bawly was larger, and he didn't cry so much, I'm glad to say.
And with the frog boys lived their papa and mamma, and also a nice, big,
green and yellow spotted frog who was named Grandpa Croaker. Oh, he was
one of the nicest frogs I have ever known, and I have met quite a
number.

One day when Bully and Bawly were hopping along on the ground, close to
the edge of the pond, Bully suddenly said:

"Bawly, I think I can beat you in a swimming race."

"I don't believe you can," spoke Bawly, as he thoughtfully scratched his
left front leg on a piece of hickory bark.

"Well, we'll try," said Bully. "We'll see who can first swim to the
other side of the pond, and whoever does it will get a stick of
peppermint candy."

"Where can we get the candy?" asked Bawly. "Have you got it? For if you
have I wish you'd give me a bite before we jump in the water, Bully."

"No, I haven't it," replied his brother. "But I know Grandpa Croaker
will give it to us after the race. Come on, let's jump in."

So the next minute into the pond jumped those two frog boys, and they
didn't take off their shoes or their stockings, nor even their coats or
waists, nor yet their neckties. For you see they wore the kind of
clothes which water couldn't hurt, as they were made of rubber, like a
raincoat. Their mamma had to make them that kind, because they went in
the water so often.

Into the pond the frogs jumped, and they began swimming as fast as they
could. First Bully was a little distance ahead, and then Bawly would
kick out his front legs and his hind legs, and he would be in the lead.

"I'm going to win! I'll get the peppermint candy!" Bawly called to his
brother, winking his two eyes right in the water, as easily as you can
put your doll to sleep, or play a game of marbles.

"No. I'll beat!" declared Bully. "But if I get the candy I'll give you
some."

So they swam on, faster and faster, making the water splash up all
around them like a steamboat going to a picnic.

Well, the frogs were almost half way across the pond, when Lulu and
Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, came out of their pen. They had just
washed their faces and their yellow bills, and had put on their new hair
ribbons, so they looked very nice, and proper.

"Oh, see Bully and Bawly having a swimming race!" exclaimed Lulu. "I
think Bully will win!"

"I think Bawly will!" cried Alice. "See, he is ahead!"

"No, Bully is ahead now," called Lulu, and surely enough so Bully was,
having made a sudden jump in the water.

And then, all of a sudden, before you could take all the seeds out of an
apple or an orange, if you had one with seeds in, Bawly disappeared from
sight down under the water. He vanished just as the milk goes out of
baby's bottle when she drinks it all up.

"Oh, look!" cried Lulu. "Bawly is going to swim under water!"

"That's so he can win the race easier, I guess," spoke Alice.

"What's that?" asked Bully, wiggling his two eyes.

"Your brother has gone down under the water!" cried the two duck girls
together.

"So he has!" exclaimed Bully, glancing around. And then, when he had
looked down, he cried out: "Oh, a great big fish has hold of Bawly's
toes, and he's going to eat him, I guess! I must save my brother!"

Bully didn't think anything more about the race after that. No, indeed,
and some tomato ketchup, too! Down under water he dived, and he swam
close up to the fish who was pulling poor Bawly away to his den in among
a lot of stones.

"Oh, let my brother go, if you please!" called Bully to the fish.

"No, I'll not," was the answer, and then the big fish flopped his tail
like a fan and made such a wave that poor Bully was upset, turning a
somersault in the water. But that didn't scare him, and when he had
turned over right side up again he swam to the fish once more and said:

"If you don't let my brother go I'll call a policeman!"

"No policeman can catch me!" declared the fish, boldly, and in a saucy
manner.

"Oh, do something to save me!" cried poor Bawly, trying to pull his toes
away from the fish's teeth, but he couldn't.

"I'll save you!" shouted Bully, and then he took a stick, and tried to
put it in the fish's mouth to make him open his jaws and let loose of
Bawly. But the stick broke, and the fish was swimming away faster than
ever. Then Bully popped his head out of the water and cried to the two
duck girls:

"Oh, run and tell Grandpa Croaker! Tell him to come and save Bawly!"

Well, Alice and Lulu wibbled and wobbled as fast as they could go to the
frog house, and told Grandpa Croaker, and the old gentleman gave one
great big leap, and landed in the water right down close to where the
fish had Bawly by the toes.

"Boom! Boom! Croak-croak-croaker-croak!" cried Grandpa in his deepest
bass voice. "You let Bawly go!" And, would you believe it, his voice
sounded like a cannon, or a big gun, and that fish was so frightened,
thinking he was going to be shot, that he opened his mouth and let Bawly
go. The frog boy's toes were scratched a little by the teeth of the
fish, but he could still swim, and he and his brother and Grandpa were
soon safe on shore.

"Well, I guess we won't race any more to-day," said Bawly. "Thank you
very much for saving me, Grandpa."

"Oh, that's all right," said Mr. Croaker kindly. "Here is a penny for
each of you," and he gave Bully and Bawly and Lulu and Alice each a
penny, and they bought peppermint candy, so Bully and Bawly had
something good to eat, even if they didn't finish the race, and the bad
fish had nothing. Now, in case I see a green rose in bloom on the pink
lilac bush, I'll tell you next about Bully making a water wheel.




STORY II

BULLY MAKES A WATER WHEEL


Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was sitting out in the yard in front of his
house, with his knife and a lot of sticks. He was whittling the sticks,
and making almost as many chips and shavings as a carpenter, and as he
whittled away he whistled a funny little tune, about a yellow
monkey-doodle with a pink nose colored blue, who wore a slipper on one
foot, because he had no shoe.

Pretty soon, along came Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy, and he
perched on the fence in front of Bully, put his head on one side--not on
one side of the fence, you know, but on one side of his own little
feathered neck--and Dickie looked out of his bright little eyes at Bully,
and inquired:

"What are you making?"

"I am making a water-wheel," answered the frog boy.

"What! making a wheel out of water?" asked the birdie in great surprise.
"I never heard of such a thing."

"Oh, no indeed!" exclaimed Bully with a laugh. "I'm making a wheel out
of wood, so that it will go 'round and 'round in the water, and make a
nice splashing noise. You see it's something like the paddle-wheel of a
steamboat, or a mill wheel, that I'm making."

"And where are you going to get the water to make it go 'round?" asked
Dickie.

"Down by the pond," answered Bully. "I know a little place where the
water falls down over the rocks, and I'm going to fasten a wooden wheel
there, and it will whizz around very fast!"

"Does the water hurt itself when it falls down over the rocks?" asked
Dickie Chip-Chip. "Once I fell down over a little stone, and I hurt
myself quite badly."

"Oh, no, water can't hurt itself," spoke Bully, as he made a lot more
shavings. "There, the wheel is almost done. Don't you want to see it go
'round, Dickie?"

The little sparrow boy said that he did, so he and the frog started off
together for the pond. Dickie hopping along on the ground, and Bully
flying through the air.

What's that? I'm wrong? Oh, yes, excuse me. I see where I made the
mistake. Of course, Dickie flew through the air, and Bully hopped along
on the ground. Now we're all straight.

Well, pretty soon they came to the pond and to the little place where
the water fell over the rocks and didn't hurt itself, and there Bully
fastened his water-wheel, which was nearly as large as he was, and quite
heavy. He fixed it so that the water would drop on the wooden paddles
that stuck out like the spokes of the baby carriage wheels, and in a
short while it was going around as fast as an automobile, splashing the
drops of water up in the sunlight, and making them look like the
diamonds which pretty ladies wear on their fingers.

"That's a fine wheel!" cried Dickie. "I wonder if we could ride on it?"

"I guess we could," spoke Bully. "It's like a merry-go-round, only it's
turned up the wrong way. I'll see if I can ride on it, and if it goes
all right with me you can try it."

So Bully hopped on the moving water-wheel, and, surely enough, he had a
fine ride, only, of course, he got all splashed up, but he didn't care.

"Do you mind getting your feathers wet?" he asked of Dickie as he hopped
off, "because if you don't mind the wet, you can ride."

"Oh, I don't mind the wet a bit," said the sparrow boy. "In fact, I take
a bath every morning and I wet my feathers then. So I'll ride on the
wheel and get wet now."

Well, he got on, and around the wheel went, splashing in the water, and
then Bully got on, and they both had a fine ride, just as if they were
in a rainstorm with the sun shining all the while.

But listen. Something is going to happen, I think. Wait a minute--yes,
it's going to happen right now. What's that animal sneaking along
through the woods, closer and closer up to where Bully and Dickie are
playing? What is it, eh? A cat! I knew it. A bad cat, too! I could just
feel that something was going to happen.

You see that cat was hungry, and she hoped to catch the sparrow and the
frog boy and eat them. Up she sneaked, walking as softly as a baby can
creep, and just then Dickie and Bully got off the wheel, and sat down on
the bank to eat a cookie, which Bully found in his water-proof pocket.

"Now's my chance!" thought the cat. "I'll grab 'em both, and eat 'em!"
So she made a spring, but she didn't jump quite far enough and she
missed both Bully and Dickie. Dickie flew up into a tree, and so he was
safe, but Bully couldn't fly, though he hopped away.

After him jumped the cat, and she cried:

"I'll get you yet!"

Bully hopped some more, but the cat raced toward him, and nearly had the
froggie. Then began quite a chase. The cat was very quick, and she kept
after Bully so closely that she was making him very tired. Pretty soon
his jumps weren't as long as they had been at first. And the cat was
keeping him away from the pond, too, for she knew if he jumped into that
he would get away, for cats don't like water, or rain.

But finally Bully managed to head himself back toward the pond, and the
cat was still after him. Oh, how savage she looked with her sharp teeth,
and her glaring eyes! Poor Bully was much frightened.

All of a sudden, as he hopped nearer and nearer to the pond, he thought
of a trick to play on that cat. He pretended that he could hardly hop
any more, and only took little steps. Nearer and nearer sneaked the cat,
lashing her tail. At last she thought she could give one big spring, and
land on Bully with her sharp claws.

She did spring, but Dickie, up in the tree, saw her do it, and he called
to his friend Bully to look out. Then Bully gave a great big hop and
landed on the water-wheel, and the cat was so surprised that she jumped,
too, and before she knew it she had leaped on the wheel also. Around and
around it went, with Bully and the cat on it, and water splashed all
over, and the cat was so wet and miserable that she forgot all about
eating Bully. But Bully only liked the water, and didn't mind it a bit.

Then the frog boy hopped off the wheel to the shore and hurried away,
with Dickie flying overhead, and the cat, who was now as wet as a
sponge, and very dizzy from the wheel going around so fast, managed to
jump ashore a little while afterward. But her fur was so wet and
plastered down that she couldn't chase after Bully any more, and he got
safely home; and the cat had to stay in the sun all day to dry out. But
it served her right, I think.

Now in case the little boy next door doesn't take our baby carriage and
make an automobile of it, I'll tell you next about Bawly and Uncle
Wiggily.




STORY III

BAWLY AND UNCLE WIGGILY


Bawly No-Tail, the frog boy, was hopping along through the woods one
fine day, whistling a merry tune, and wondering if he would meet any of
his friends, with whom he might have a game of ball. He had a baseball
with him, and he was very fond of playing. I just wish you could have
seen him stand up on his hind legs and catch balls in his mouth. It was
as good as going to the best kind of a moving picture show. Perhaps some
day you may see Bawly.

Well, as I said, he was hopping along, tossing the ball up into the air
and catching it, sometimes in his paw and sometimes in his mouth, when,
all of a sudden he heard a funny pounding noise, that seemed to be in
the bushes.

"Gracious, I wonder what that can be!" exclaimed Bawly, looking around
for a good place to hide.

He was just going to crawl under a hollow stump, for he thought perhaps
the noise might be made by a bad wolf, or a savage fox, sharpening his
teeth on a hard log, when Bawly heard some one say:

"There, I've dropped my hammer! Oh, dear! Now I'll have to climb all the
way down and get it, I s'pose."

"Well, that doesn't sound like a wolf or a fox," thought Bawly. "I guess
it's safe to go on."

So he didn't hide under the stump, but hopped along, and in a little
while he came to a place in the woods where there were no trees, and,
bless you! if there wasn't the cutest little house you've ever seen! It
wasn't quite finished, and, in fact, up on the roof was Uncle Wiggily
Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, putting on the shingles to keep out
the rain if it came.

"Oh, hello, Uncle Wiggily!" called Bawly, joyfully.

"Hello," answered the rabbit carpenter. "You are just in time, Bawly.
Would you mind handing me my hammer? It slipped and fell to the ground."

"Of course I'll throw it up to you," said Bawly, kindly. "But you had
better get behind the chimney, Uncle Wiggily, for I might hit you with
the hammer, though, of course, I wouldn't mean to. You see I am a very
good thrower from having played ball so much."

"I see," answered Uncle Wiggily. "Well, I'll get behind the chimney."

So Bawly picked up the hammer and he threw it carefully toward the roof,
but, would you believe me, he threw it so hard that it went right over
the house, chimney and all, and fell down on the other side.

"My! You are too strong!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily laughing so that his
fur shook. "Try again, Bully, if you please."

"Oh, I'm Bawly, not Bully," said the frog boy.

"Excuse me, that was my mistake," spoke the old gentleman rabbit. "I'll
get it right next time, Peetie--I mean Bawly."

Well, Bawly threw the hammer again, and this time it landed right on the
roof close to the chimney, and Uncle Wiggily picked it up and began
nailing on more shingles.

"If you please," asked Bawly, when he had watched the rabbit carpenter
put in about forty-'leven nails, "who is this house for?"

"It is for Sammie and Susie Littletail," answered Uncle Wiggily. "They
are going to have rabbit play-parties in it, and I hope you and Bully
will come sometimes."

"We'll be glad to," spoke Bawly. Then Uncle Wiggily drove in another
nail, and the house was almost done.

"How do you get up and down off the roof?" asked Bawly, who didn't see
any ladder.

"Oh, I slide up and down a rope," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I have a
strong cord fastened to the chimney, and I crawl up it, just like a
monkey-doodle, and when I want to come down, I slide down. It's better
than a ladder, and I can climb a rope very well, for I used to be a
sailor on a ship. See, here is the rope."

Well, he took hold of it, near where it was fastened to the chimney, to
show the frog boy how it was done, but, alas, and also alack-a-day! All
of a sudden that rope became untied, it slipped out of Uncle Wiggily's
paw and fell to the ground! Now, what do you think about that?

"Oh, my! Now I have gone and done it!" exclaimed the elderly rabbit, as
he leaned over the edge of the roof and looked down. "Now I am in a
pickle!--if you will kindly excuse the expression. How am I ever going to
get down? Oh, dear me, suz dud and a piece of sticking-plaster likewise.
Oh, me! Oh, my!"

"Can't you jump, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Bawly.

"Oh, my, no! I might be killed. It's too far! I could never jump off the
roof of a house."

"Perhaps you can climb down from one window shutter to the other, and so
get to the ground," suggested Bawly.

"No," said Uncle Wiggily, looking over the edge of the house again.
"There are no window shutters on as yet. So I can't climb on 'em."

Well, it did seem as if poor Uncle Wiggily would have to stay up there
on the roof for a long, long time, for there was no way of getting down.

"If there was a load of hay here, you could jump on that, and you
wouldn't be hurt," said Bawly, scratching his nose.

"But there is no hay here," said the rabbit carpenter, sadly.

"Well, if there was a fireman here with a long ladder, then you could
get down," said Bawly, wiggling his toes.

"But there is no fireman here," objected Uncle Wiggily. "Ah, I have it,
Bawly! You are a good jumper, perhaps you can jump up here to the roof
with the rope and I can fasten it to the chimney again and slide down as
I did before."

"I'll try," said Bawly, and he did; but bless you! He couldn't jump as
high as the house, no matter how many times he tried it. And the dinner
bell rang and Uncle Wiggily was very hungry and very anxious to get off
the roof and eat something.

"Oh, I know how to do it!" cried Bawly at length, when he had jumped
forty-sixteen times. "I'll tie a string to my baseball, and I'll throw
the ball up to you. Then you catch it, untie the string, which I'll keep
hold of on this end, and I'll tie the rope to the cord. Then you can
haul up the rope, fasten it to the chimney, and slide down."

"Good!" cried Uncle Wiggily, clapping his front paws together in
delight.

Well, if you'll believe me, Bawly did tie the string to his baseball and
with one big throw he threw it right up to Uncle Wiggily, who caught it
just as if he were on first base in a game. And then with the little
cord, which reached down to the ground, he pulled up the big rope,
knotted it around the chimney, and down he slid, just in time for
dinner, and he took Bawly home with him and gave him a penny.

Now if it should happen that I don't lose my watch down the inkwell so I
can see when it's time for my pussy cat to have his warm soup, I'll tell
you in the story after this about Bully's and Bawly's big jump.




STORY IV

BULLY'S AND BAWLY'S BIG JUMP


One day Mrs. No-Tail, the frog lady, looked in the pantry to see what
there was to eat for dinner and there wasn't a single thing. No, just
like Mother Hubbard's cupboard, the pantry was bare, though there was a
bone in it that was being saved for some time when Peetie and Jackie Bow
Wow, the puppie-dog boys, might come on a visit.

"Oh, some one will have to go to the store to get something for supper,"
said Mrs. No-Tail. "Do you feel able to go, Grandpa Croaker?"

"Well, I could go," said the old frog gentleman, in his deepest bass
voice, which sounded like the rumble of thunder over the hills and far
away, "but I promised I would go over and play a game of checkers with
Uncle Wiggily Longears. He has just finished the playhouse for Sammie
and Susie, and he wants to show me that. So I don't see how I can go to
the store very well."

"If Bully and Bawly were here they'd go," said their mamma. "I wish
they'd come. Oh, here they are now," she went on, as she looked out of
the window and saw the two frog boys coming home from school. "Hurry!"
she called to them. "I want you to go to the store."

"All right," they both answered, and they were so polite about it that
Mrs. No-Tail gave them each a penny, though, of course, they would have
gone without that, for they always liked to help their mamma.

"I want some sugar, and molasses, and bread, and butter, and some corn
meal, and bacon and watercress salad," said the mother frog, and Bully
and Bawly each took a basket in which to carry the things. Then they
hopped on toward the store.

"I'm going to buy marbles with my penny," said Bully.

"And I'm going to buy a whistle with mine," said Bawly.

Well, they got to the grocery, all right, and the cow lady who kept it
gave them the things their mamma wanted. Then they went to the toy store
and Bully got his marbles, and Bawly his whistle, which made a very loud
noise.

Now I'm very sorry to be obliged to tell it, but something is going to
happen to Bully and Bawly very soon. In fact, I think it is going to
take place at once. Just excuse me a moment, will you, until I look out
of the window and see if the alligator is coming. Yes, there he is. He
just got off the trolley car. The conductor put him off because he had
the wrong transfer.

So, all at once, as Bully and Bawly were hopping along through the
woods, this alligator that I was telling you about jumped out at them
from under a prickly briar bush. Right at them he jumped, and he was a
very savage alligator, for he had gotten loose out of the circus, where
he belonged, and he had been tramping around without anything to eat for
a long time, so he was very hungry.

"Now, I see where I'm going to have a nice dinner," the alligator said
to himself, as he jumped out at Bully and Bawly.

But those two frog boys were smart little fellows, and they were always
looking around for danger. So, as soon as the alligator made a jump at
them, they also leaped to one side, and the unpleasant creature didn't
get them.

"Oh, you just wait! I'll have you in a minute!" the alligator cried, and
he opened his mouth so wide that it went all the way back to his ears,
and the top of his head nearly flew off.

"We haven't time to wait," said Bully with a laugh, as he hopped on with
his basket of groceries.

"No, we must get back home in time for supper," spoke Bawly. "So we'll
have to leave you," and on he hipped and skipped and hopped with his
basket.

Those frog boys didn't really think that that alligator could reach
them, for he was so big and clumsy-looking that it didn't seem as if he
could run very fast. But he could, and the first thing Bully and Bawly
knew, that most unprepossessing creature, with a smile that went away
around to his ears, was close behind them and gnashing his teeth at
them.

"Oh, hop, Bully, hop!" cried Bawly in great fright.

"Sure, I'll hop!" answered his brother. "You hop, too!"

Well, they both hopped as fast as they could, but on account of the
baskets of groceries which they had they couldn't hop as fast as usual.
The alligator saw this, and after them he crawled, and several times he
nearly had them by their tails. Oh, no, excuse me, if you please, frogs
don't have tails. I was thinking of tadpoles.

"Oh, just wait until I catch you!" cried the alligator, snapping his
teeth together.

But Bully and Bawly didn't wait. On they hopped, as fast as they could,
hoping to get away. And would you ever believe that an alligator could
be so mean as this one was? For he chased Bully and Bawly right up a
steep hill. You know it's hard to walk up hill, and harder still to hop,
so Bully and Bawly were soon tired. But do you s'pose that alligator
cared? Not a bit of it!

Right after them he kept crawling, faster and faster.

Bully and Bawly hopped as swiftly as they could, but the alligator kept
getting nearer and nearer to them, for he was big and strong, and didn't
mind the hill. They could hear his savage jaws gnashing together, and
they trembled so that Bully almost spilled the molasses out of his
basket and Bawly nearly dropped the granulated sugar.

Well, finally the two frog boys were at the top of the hill, and they
were very thankful, thinking that they could now get away from the
alligator, when they suddenly saw that the hill came to an end, and fell
over the edge of a great precipice just like the Niagara waterfall, only
there wasn't any water there, of course.

"Oh, we can't go any farther," cried Bully, coming to a stop.

"No," said his brother, "we can't jump down that awful gully. But look,
Bully, there is another hill over there," and he pointed across the big,
open space. "If we could jump across from this hill to that hill, the
alligator couldn't get us."

"Oh, but it's a terrible big jump," said Bully, and indeed it was; about
as wide as a big river. "But we've got to do it!" cried Bully, "for here
comes the terrible beast!"

The alligator was almost upon them. He opened his mouth to grab them
with his teeth, when Bully, spreading out his legs, and taking a firm
hold of his grocery basket, gave a great, big jump. Through the air he
sailed, over the deep valley, and he landed safely on the other hill.
Then Bawly did the same, and with one most tremendous, extemporaneous
and extraordinary jump, he landed close beside his brother, and the
alligator couldn't get either of them because he couldn't jump across
the chasm.

Oh, but he was an angry alligator though! He gnashed his teeth and
wiggled his tail and even cried big round tears. Nearly all alligators
cry little square tears, but even round ones didn't do a bit of good.
Then Bully threw a marble at the savage creature, and hit him on the
nose, and Bawly blew his whistle so loud, that the alligator thought a
policeman, or postman, was coming, and he turned around and ran away,
and the frog boys went on safely home with their baskets of groceries
and had a good supper.

Now in case that alligator doesn't chase after me, and chew up my
typewriter to make mincemeat of it for the wax doll, I'll tell you in
the next story about Grandpa Croaker digging a well.




STORY V

GRANDPA CROAKER DIGS A WELL


It happened, once upon a time when Mrs. No-Tail, the frog lady, went to
the pump to get some water for supper, that a little fish jumped out of
the pump spout and nearly bit her on the nose.

"Ha! That is very odd," she said. "There must be fish in our well, and
in that case I think we had better have a new one."

So that night, when Mr. No-Tail came home from the wallpaper factory,
where he stepped into ink and then hopped all over white paper to make
funny patterns on it--that night, I say, Mrs. No-Tail said to her
husband:

"I think we will have to get a new well." Then she told him about the
fish from the pump nearly biting her, and Mr. No-Tail remarked:

"Yes, I think we had better have a new place to get our water, for the
fish in the old well may drink it all up."

"Well, well!" exclaimed Grandpa Croaker in such a deep bass voice that
he made the dishpan on the gas stove rattle as loudly as if Bully or
Bawly were drumming on it with a wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey.
"Let me dig the well," went on the old gentleman frog. "I just love to
shovel the dirt, and I can dig a well so deep that no fish will ever get
into it."

"Very well," said Mr. No-Tail. "You may start in the morning, and Bully
and Bawly can help you, as it will be Saturday and there is no school."

Well, the next morning Grandpa Croaker started in. He marked a nice
round circle on the ground in the back yard, because he wanted a round
well, and not a square one, you see; and then he began to dig. At first
there was nothing for Bully and Bawly to do, as when he was near the top
of the well their Grandpa could easily throw the dirt out himself. But
when he had dug down quite a distance it was harder work, to toss up the
dirt, so Grandpa Croaker told the boys to get a rope, and a hook and
some pails.

The hook was fastened to one end of the rope, and then a pail was put on
the hook. Then the pail was lowered into the well, down to where Grandpa
Croaker was working. He filled the pail with dirt, and Bully and Bawly
hauled it up and emptied it.

"Oh, this is lots of fun!" exclaimed Bully, as he and his brother pulled
on the rope. "It's as much fun as playing baseball."

"I think so, too," agreed Bawly. Then Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy,
came along, and so did Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dogs. They
wanted to help pull up the dirt, so Bully and Bawly let them after
Sammie had given the frog brothers a nice marble, and Peetie and Jackie
each a stick of chewing gum.

Grandpa Croaker kept on digging the well, and the frog boys and their
friends pulled up the dirt, and pretty soon the hole in the ground was
so deep and dark that, by looking up straight, from down at the bottom
of it, the old gentleman frog could see the stars, and part of the moon,
in the sky, even if it was daylight.

Then he dug some more, and, all of a sudden, his shovel went down into
some water, and then Grandpa Croaker knew that the well was almost
finished. He dug out a little more earth, in came more water, wetting
his feet, and then the frog well-digger cried:

"I've struck water! I've struck water!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Bawly.

"Hurray! Hurray!" exclaimed Bully, and they were so happy that they
danced up and down. Then Sammie Little-Tail and Peetie and Jackie Bow
Wow grew so excited and delighted that they ran off to tell all their
friends about Grandpa Croaker digging a well. That left Bully and Bawly
all alone up at the edge of the big hole in the ground, at the bottom of
which was their grandpa.

"Let's have another little dance!" suggested Bully.

"No," replied Bawly, "let's jump down the well and have a drink of the
new water that hasn't any fishes in it."

So, without thinking what they were doing, down they leaped into the
well, almost failing on Grandpa Croaker's bald head, and carrying down
with them the rope, by which they had been pulling up the pails of dirt.
Into the water they popped, and each one took a big drink.

"Well, now you've done it!" cried Grandpa Croaker, as he leaned on his
shovel and looked at his two grandsons.

"Why, what is the matter?" asked Bully, splashing some water on Bawly's
nose.

"Yes. All we did was to jump down here," added Bawly. "What's wrong?"

"Why that leaves no one above on the ground to help me get up," said the
old gentleman frog. "I was depending on you to haul me up by the rope,
and here you jump down, and pull the rope with you. It's as bad as when
Uncle Wiggily was on the roof, only he was up and couldn't get down, and
we're down and can't get up."

"Oh, I think I can jump to the top of the well and take the rope with
me. If I can't take this rope I'll get another and pull you both up,"
said Bully. So he hopped and he hopped, but he couldn't hop to the top
of the well. Every time he tried it, he fell back into the water,
ker-slash!

"Let me try," said his brother. But it was just the same with Bawly.
Back he sploshed-splashed into the well-water, getting all wet.

"Now we'll never get out of here," said Grandpa Croaker sadly. "I wish
you boys would think a little more, and not do things so quickly."

"We will--next time," promised Bawly as he gave another big jump, but he
came nowhere near the top of the well.

Then it began to look as if they would have to stay down there forever,
for no one came to pull them out.

"Let's call for help," suggested Bully. So he and Bawly called as loud
as they could, and so did Grandpa Croaker. But the well was so deep, and
their voices sounded so loud and rumbling, coming out of the hole in the
ground, that every one thought it was thunder. And the animal people
feared it would rain, so they all ran home, and no one thought of
grandpa and the two frog boys in the deep well.

But at last along came Alice Wibblewobble, and, being a duck, she didn't
mind a thunder storm. So she didn't run away, and she heard Grandpa
Croaker and Bully and Bawly calling for help at the bottom of the well.
She asked what was the trouble, and Bully told her what had happened.

"Oh, you silly boys, to jump down a well!" exclaimed Alice. "But never
fear, I'll help you up." So they never feared, and Alice got a rope and
lowered it down to them, and then, with the help of her brother Jimmie
and her sister Lulu, she pulled all three frogs up from the well, and
they lived happy for ever after, and drank the water that had no fishes
in it.

Now if the faucet in the kitchen sink doesn't turn upside down, and
squirt the water on the ceiling and into the cat's eye, I'll tell you
next about Papa No-Tail in trouble.




STORY VI

PAPA N


Papa No-tail, the frog gentleman, was working away in the wallpaper
factory one day, when something quite strange happened to him, and if
you all sit right nice and quiet, as my dear old grandmother used to
say, I'll tell you all about it, from the beginning to the end, and I'll
even tell you the middle part, which some people leave out, when they
tell stories.

Papa No-Tail would dip his four feet, which were something like hands,
in the different colored inks at the factory. There was red ink, and
blue ink, and white ink, and black ink, and sky-purple-green ink, and
also that newest shade, skilligimink color, which Sammie Littletail once
dyed his Easter eggs. After he had his feet nicely covered with the ink,
Papa No-Tail would hop all over pieces of white paper to make funny
patterns on them. Then they would be ready to paper a room, and make it
look pretty.

"I think that is very well done," said the old gentleman frog to himself
as he looked at one roll of paper on which he had made a picture of a
mouse chasing a big lion. "Now I think I will make a pattern of a doggie
standing on his left ear." And he did so, and very fine it was, too.

"Now, while I'm waiting for the ink to dry," said Mr. No-Tail, "I'll lie
down and take a nap." So he went fast, fast asleep on a long piece of
the wall paper that was stretched out on the floor, and this was the
beginning of his trouble.

For, all at once, a puff of wind--not a cream puff, you understand, but a
wind puff--came in the window, and rolled up the wallpaper in a tight
little roll, and the worst of it was that Papa No-Tail was asleep
inside. Yes, fast, fast asleep, and he never knew that he was wrapped
up, just like a stick of chewing gum; only you mustn't ever chew gum in
school, you know.

Well, time went on, and the clock ticked, and Papa No-Tail still slept.
Then a man looked in the window of the wallpaper factory and, seeing no
one there, he thought he would take a roll of paper home with him, to
paste on his little boy's bedroom.

"The next time I come past here, perhaps some one will be in the
office," the man said, "and then I can pay them for the paper," for he
wanted to be very honest, you see. "I'll get Uncle Butter, the goat, to
paste the paper on the wall for me," said the man. Then he reached
inside the room, and what do you think? Why he picked up the very piece
of wallpaper that was wrapped around Papa Chip-Chip--Oh, no, excuse me! I
mean Papa No-Tail. Yes, the man picked up that roll, with Bully's and
Bawly's papa inside, and away he went with it, and the old gentleman
frog was still sound asleep.

Now this is about the middle of his trouble, just as I said I'd tell
you, but we haven't gotten to the end yet, though we will in a little
while.

Home that man went, as fast as he could go, and on his way he stopped at
Uncle Butter's office.

"I have a little wallpapering I want done at my house," the man said to
the old gentleman goat, "and I wish you'd come right along with me and
do it. I have the paper here."

"To be sure I will," said Uncle Butter. So he got his pail of paste, and
gave Billie and Nannie Goat a little bit on some brown paper, just like
jam, and they liked it very much. The goat paper-hanger took his shears,
and his brushes, and his stepladders, tying them on his horns, and away
he went with the man.

Pretty soon they came to the house where the man lived, and his little
boy was there, and very delighted he was when he heard that he was to
have some new paper on his room.

"May I watch you put it on?" he asked Uncle Butter.

"Yes," answered the old gentleman goat, "if you don't step in the paste,
and spoil the carpet."

The little boy promised that he wouldn't, and Uncle Butter went to work.
First he got his sticky stuff all ready, and then he made a little table
on which to lay out and paste the paper.

"Now, we'll cut the roll into strips and fasten it on the wall good and
tight, so that it won't fall off in the middle of the night and scare
you," said Uncle Butter. Then he reached for the roll of paper, and,
mind you, Papa No-Tail was still asleep inside of it. But all at once,
just as the paper-hanger goat was about to pick up the roll, Mr. No-Tail
awakened and was quite surprised to discover where he was.

"My, I never would have believed it," he said, and he wiggled his legs
and arms and made a great rustling sound inside the roll of paper like a
fly in a sugar bag.

"Hello! What's that?" cried Uncle Butter, jumping back so quickly that
he upset his paste-pot.

"What's the matter?" asked the little boy in glad surprise.

"Why, there's something inside that paper!" cried the goat. "See, it's
moving! There must be a fairy inside!"

Surely enough, the paper was rolling and twisting around on the floor in
a most remarkable manner, for Papa No-Tail inside was wriggling and
twisting, and trying his best to get out. But the paper was wound around
him too tightly, and he couldn't get loose.

"Oh, do you think it's a fairy?" asked the little boy eagerly, for he
loved the dear creatures, and wanted to see one.

"Let me out! Oh, please let me out!" suddenly cried Papa No-Tail just
then.

"Of course it's a fairy, my boy!" exclaimed Uncle Butter. "Didn't you
hear it call? Oh, I'm going right away from here! I've pasted all kinds
of paper, but never before have I handled fairy paper, and I'm afraid to
begin now."

He started to run out of the room but his foot slipped in the paste, and
down he fell, and his little table fell on top of him, and the
stepladder was twisted in his horns. And Papa No-Tail was trying harder
than ever to get loose, and the roll of wallpaper rolled right toward
Uncle Butter.

"Don't catch me! Please, don't catch me!" the goat called to the fairy
he supposed was inside. "I never did anything to you!"

Faster and faster rolled the paper, for Mr. No-Tail was wiggling quite
hard now, and he was crying to be let out. Then, all of a sudden, the
paper with the frog in, rolled close to the little boy. The boy was
brave, and he loved fairies, so he opened the roll, and out hopped Mr.
No-Tail, being very glad indeed to get loose, for it was quite warm
inside there.

"Oh my! Was that you in the paper?" asked Uncle Butter, solemnly,
sitting in the middle of the floor, on a lot of paste.

"It was," said Papa No-Tail, as he helped the goat to get up.

"Well, I never heard tell of such a thing in all my life! Never!"
exclaimed the goat, when the frog gentleman told him all about it. Then
Uncle Butter pasted the paper on the wall, and Papa No-Tail hopped home,
and that's the end of the story, just as I promised it would be.

Now in case the pussy cat doesn't wash the puppy dog's face with the
cork from the ink bottle and make his nose black, I'll tell you on the
next page about Bully playing marbles.




STORY VII

BULLY N


It happened one day that, as Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was walking
along with his bag of marbles going clank-clank in his pocket, he met
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels.

"Hello, Bully!" called the two brothers. "Do you want to have a game of
marbles?"

"Of course I do," answered Bully. "I just bought some new ones. 'First
shot agates!'"

"First shot!" yelled Billie, right after Bully.

"First shot!" also cried Johnnie, almost at the same time.

"Well, I guess we're about even," spoke Bully, as he opened his marble
bag to look inside. "Now, how are we going to tell who will shoot
first?"

"I'll tell you," proposed Billie. "We'll each throw a marble up into the
air, and the one whose comes down first will shoot first."

Well, the other two animal boys thought that was fair, so they tossed
their marble shooters up into the air. Billie only sent his up a little
way, for then he knew it would come down first, but Johnnie and Bully
didn't think of this, and they threw their shooters up as high as they
could. And, of course, their marbles were so much longer coming down to
the ground again.

"Oh, ho! Here's mine!" cried Billie. "I'm to shoot first."

"And here's mine," added Johnnie, a little later, as his marble came
down.

"Yes, but where's mine?" asked Bully, and they all listened carefully to
tell when Bully's shooter would fall down. But the funny part of it was
that it didn't come.

"Say, did you throw it up to the sky?" asked Billie surprised like.

"Because, if you did, it won't come down until Fourth of July," added
Johnnie.

"No, I didn't throw it as high as that," replied the frog boy. "But
perhaps Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy, is flying around up there,
and he may have taken it in his bill for a joke."

So they looked up toward the clouds as far as they could, but no little
sparrow boy did they see.

"Well, we'll have a game of marbles, anyhow," said Bully at length. "I
have another shooter."

So he and Billie and Johnnie made a ring in the dirt, and put some
marbles in the centre.

Then they began to play, and Billie shot first, then Johnnie, and last
of all Bully. And all the while the frog boy was wondering what had
happened to his first marble. Now, a very queer thing had happened to
it, and you'll soon hear all about it.

Billie and Johnnie had each missed hitting any marbles, and when it came
Bully's turn he took careful aim, with his second-best shooter, a red
and blue one.

"Whack-bang!" That's the way Bully's shooter hit the marbles in the
ring, scattering them all over, and rolling several outside.

"Say, are you going to knock 'em all out?" asked Billie.

"That's right! Leave some for us," begged Johnnie.

"Wait until I have one more trial," went on Bully, for you see he had
two shots on account of being lucky with his first one and knocking some
marbles from the ring.

Then he went to look for his second-best shooter, for it had rolled
away, but he couldn't find it. It had completely, teetotally,
mysteriously and extraordinarily disappeared.

"I'm sure it rolled over here," said Bully as he poked around in the
grass near a big bush. "Please help me look for it, fellows."

So Billie and Johnnie helped Bully look, but they couldn't find the
second shooter that the frog boy had lost.

"You two go on playing and I'll hunt for the marble," said Bully after a
while, so he searched along in the grass, and, as he did so, he dropped
a nice glass agate out of his bag. He stooped to pick it up, but before
he could get his toes on it something that looked like a big chicken's
bill darted out of the prickly briar bush and gobbled up the marble.

"Oh!" cried Bully in fright, jumping back, "I wonder if that was a
snake?"

"No, I'm not a snake," was the answer. "I'm a bird," and then out from
behind the bush came a great, big Pelican bird.

"Did--did you take my marble?" asked Bully timidly.

"I did!" cried the Pelican bird, snapping his bill together just like a
big pair of scissors. "I ate the first one after it fell to the ground
near me, and I ate the second one that you shot over here. They're
good--marbles are! I like 'em. Give me some more!"

The bird snapped his beak again, and Bully jumped back. As he did so the
marbles in his pocket rattled, and the Pelican heard them.

"Ha! You have more!" he cried: "Hand 'em over. I'll eat 'em all up. I
just love marbles!"

"No, you can't have mine!" exclaimed Bully, backing away. "I want to
play some more games with Billie and Johnnie with these," and he looked
to see where his two friends were. They were quite some distance off,
shooting marbles as hard as they could.

Then, all of a sudden, that Pelican bird made a swoop for poor Bully,
and before the frog boy could get out of the way the bird had gobbled
him up in his big bill. There Bully was, not exactly swallowed by the
bird, you understand, but held a prisoner in the big pouch, or skin
laundry-bag that hung down below the bird's lower beak.

"Oh, let me out of here!" cried Bully, hopping about inside the big bag
on the bird's big bill. "Let me out! Let me out!"

"No, I'll not," said the big bird, speaking through his nose because his
mouth was shut. "I'll keep you there until you give me all your marbles,
or until I decide whether or not I'll eat you for my supper."

Well, poor Bully was very much frightened, and I guess you'd be, too. He
tried to get out but he couldn't, and the bird began walking off to his
nest, taking the frog boy with him. Then Bully thought of his bag of
marbles, and, inside the big bill, he rattled them as loudly as he
could.

"Billie and Johnnie Bushytail may hear me, and help me," he thought.

And, surely enough the squirrel boys did. They heard the rattle of
Bully's marbles inside the Pelican's beak, and they saw the big bird,
and they guessed at once where Bully was. Then they ran up to the
Pelican, and began hitting him with their marbles, which they threw at
him as hard as they could. In the eyes and on his ears and on his
wiggily toes and on his big beak they hit him with marbles, until that
Pelican bird was glad enough to open his bill and let Bully go, marbles
and all. Then the bird flew away to its nest, and Bully and his friends
could play their game once more.

The Pelican didn't come back to bother them, but he had Bully's two
shooters, that he had swallowed. So Johnnie, the squirrel, lent the boy
frog another shooter, and it was all right. And, in case the rain
doesn't come down the chimney and put the fire out, so I can't cook some
pink eggs with chocolate on for my birthday, I'll tell you in the
following story about Bawly and the soldier hat.




STORY VIII

BAWLY AND THE SOLDIER HAT


Susie Littletail and Jennie Chipmunk were having a play party in the
woods. They had their lunch in little birch-bark baskets, and they used
a nice, big, flat stump for a table. They took an old napkin for a
tablecloth, and they had pieces of carrots boiled in molasses and
chocolate, and cabbage with pink frosting on, and nuts all covered with
candy, and some sugared popcorn, and all nice things like that, to eat.

"Oh, isn't this lovely!" exclaimed Susie. "Please pass me the fried
lolly-pops, Jennie, aren't they lovely?"

"Yes, they're perfectly grand!" spoke Jennie as she passed over some
bits of turnip, which they made believe were fried lolly-pops. "I'll
have some sour ginger snaps, Susie."

So Susie passed the plate full of acorns, which were make-believe sour
ginger snaps, you know, and the little animal girls were having a very
fine time, indeed. Oh, my, yes, and a bottle of horseradish also!

Now, don't worry, if you please. I know I did promise to tell about
Bawly and the soldier hat, and I'm going to do it. But Susie's and
Jennie's play party has something to do with the hat, so I had to start
off with them.

While they were playing in the woods, having a fine time, Bawly No-Tail,
the frog boy, was at home in his house, making a big soldier hat out of
paper. I suppose you children have often made them, and also have played
at having a parade with wooden swords and guns. If you haven't done so,
please get your papa to make you a soldier hat.

Well, finally Bawly's hat was finished, and he put a feather in it, just
as Yankee Doodle did, only Bawly didn't look like macaroni.

"Now, I'll go out and see if I can find the boys and we'll pretend
there's a war, and a battle, and shooting and all that," went on the
frog chap, who loved to do exciting things. So Bawly hopped out, and
Grandpa Croaker, who was asleep in the rocking chair didn't hear him go.
Anyhow, I don't believe the old gentleman frog would have cared, for
Bawly's papa was at work in the wallpaper factory and his mamma had gone
to the five and ten cent store to buy a new dishpan that didn't have a
hole in it. As for the other frog boy, Bawly's brother Bully, he had
gone after an ice cream cone, I think, or maybe a chocolate candy.

On Bawly hopped, but he didn't meet any of his friends. He had on his
big, paper soldier hat, with the feather sticking out of the top, and
Bawly also had a wooden gun, painted black, to make it look real, and he
had a sword made out of a stick, all silvered over with paint to make it
look like steel.

Oh, Bawly was a very fine soldier boy! And as he marched along he
whistled a little tune that went like this:

    "Soldier boy, soldier boy,
      Brave and true,
    I'm sure every one is
      Frightened at you.
    Salute the flag and
      Fire the gun,
    Now wave your sword
      and Foes will run.
    Your feathered cap
      gives Lots of joy,
    Oh! you're a darling
      Soldier boy!"

Well, Bawly felt finer than ever after that, and though he still didn't
meet any of his friends, with whom he might play, he was hoping he might
see a savage fox or wolf, that he might do battle with the unpleasant
creature. But perhaps you had better wait and see what happens.

All this while, as Bawly was marching along through the woods with his
soldier cap on, Susie and Jennie were playing party at the old stump.
They had just eaten the last of the sweet-sour cookies, and drank the
last thimbleful of the orange-lemonade when, all at once, what should
happen but that a great big alligator crawled out of the bushes and made
a jump for them! Dear me! Would you ever expect such a thing?

"Oh, look at that!" cried Susie as she saw the alligator.

"Yes. Let's run home!" shouted Jennie in fright.

But before either of them could stir a step the savage alligator, who
had escaped from the circus again, grabbed them, one in each claw, and
then, holding them so that they couldn't get away, he sat up on the end
of his big tail, and looked first at Susie and then at Jennie.

"Oh, please let us go!" cried Susie, with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, yes, do; and I'll give you this half of a cookie I have left,"
spoke Jennie kindly.

"I don't want your cookie, I want you," sang the alligator, as if he
were reciting a song. "I'm going to eat you both!"

Then he held them still tighter in his claws, and fairly glared at them
from out of his big eyes.

"I'm going to eat you all up!" he growled, "but the trouble is I don't
know which one to eat first. I guess I'll eat you," and he made a motion
toward Susie. She screamed, and then the alligator changed his mind.
"No, I guess I'll eat you," and he opened his mouth for Jennie. Then he
changed his mind again, and he didn't know what to do. But, of course,
this made Jennie and Susie feel very nervous and also a big word called
apprehensive, which is the same thing.

"Oh, help! Help! Will no one help us?" cried Susie at last.

"No, I guess no one will," spoke the alligator, real mean and saucy
like.

But he was mistaken. At that moment, hopping through the woods was Bawly
No-Tail, wearing his paper soldier hat. He heard Susie call, and up he
marched, like the brave soldier frog boy that he was. Through the holes
in the bushes he could see the big alligator, and he saw Susie and
Jennie held fast in his claws.

"Oh, I can never fight that savage creature all alone," thought Bawly.
"I must make him believe that a whole army of soldiers is coming at
him."

So Bawly hid behind a tree, where the alligator couldn't find him, and
the frog boy beat on a hollow log with a stick as if it were a drum.
Then he blew out his cheeks, whistling, and made a noise like a fife.
Then he aimed his wooden gun and cried: "Bang! Bang! Bung! Bung!" just
as if the wooden gun had powder in it. Next Bawly waved his cap with the
feather in it, and the alligator heard all this, and he saw the waving
soldier cap, and he, surely enough, thought a whole big army was coming
after him.

"I forgot something," the alligator suddenly cried, as he let go of
Susie and Jennie. "I have to go to the dentist's to get a tooth filled,"
and away that alligator scrambled through the woods as fast as he could
go, taking his tail with him. So that's how Bawly saved Susie and
Jennie, and very thankful they were to him, and if they had had any
cookies left they would have given him two or sixteen, I guess.

Now if our gas stove doesn't go out and dance in the middle of the back
yard and scare the cook, so she can't bake a rice-pudding pie-cake, I'll
tell you next about Grandpa Croaker and the umbrella.




STORY IX

GRANDPA CROAKER AND THE UMBRELLA


One day, as Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was coming home from school he
thought of a very hard word he had had to spell in class that afternoon.
It began with a "C," and the next letter was "A" and the next one was
"T"--CAT--and what do you think? Why Bully said it spelled "Kitten," and
just for that he had to write the word on his slate forty-'leven times,
so he'd remember it next day.

"I guess I won't forget it again in a hurry," thought Bully as he hopped
along with his books in a strap over his shoulder. "C-a-t spells--" And
just then he heard a funny noise in the bushes, and he stopped short, as
Grandfather Goosey Gander's clock did, when Jimmy Wibblewobble poured
molasses in it. Bully looked all around to see what the noise was. "For
it might be that alligator, or the Pelican bird," he whispered to
himself.

Just then he heard a jolly laugh, and his brother Bawly hopped out from
under a cabbage leaf.

"Did I scare you, Bully?" asked Bawly, as he scratched his right ear
with his left foot.

"A little," said Bully, turning a somersault to get over being
frightened.

"Well, I didn't mean to, and I won't do it again. But now that you are
out of school, come on, let's go have a game of ball. It'll be lots of
fun," went on Bawly.

So the two brothers hopped off, and found Billie and Johnnie Bushytail,
the squirrels, and Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, and some other
animal friends, and they had a fine game, and Bawly made a home run.

Now, about this same time, Grandpa Croaker, the nice old gentleman frog,
was hopping along through the cool, shady woods, and he was wondering
what Mrs. No-Tail would have good for supper.

"I hope she has scrambled watercress with sugar on top," thought
Grandpa, and just then he felt a drop of rain on his back. The sun had
suddenly gone under a cloud, and the water was coming down as fast as it
could, for April showers bring May flowers, you know. Grandpa Croaker
looked up, and, as he did so a drop of rain fell right in his eye! But
bless you! He didn't mind that a bit. He just hopped out where he could
get all wet, for he had on his rubber clothes, and he felt as happy as
your dollie does when she has on her new dress and goes for a ride in
the park. Frogs love water.

The rain came down harder and harder and the water was running about,
all over in the woods, playing tag, and jumping rope, and everything
like that, when, all at once, Grandpa Croaker heard a little voice
crying:

"Oh, dear! I'll never get home in all this rain without wetting my new
dress and bonnet! Oh, what shall I do?"

"Ha, I wonder if that can be a fairy?" said Grandpa.

"No, I'm not a fairy," went on the voice. "I'm Nellie Chip-Chip, the
sparrow girl, and I haven't any umbrella."

"Oh, ho!" exclaimed Grandpa Croaker as he saw Nellie huddled up under a
big leaf, "why do you come out without an umbrella when it may rain at
any moment? Why do you do it?"

"Oh, I came out to-day to gather some nice wild flowers for my teacher,"
said Nellie. "See, I found some lovely white ones, like stars," and she
held them out so Grandpa could smell them. But he couldn't without
hopping over closer to where the little sparrow girl was.

"I was so interested in the flowers that I forgot all about bringing an
umbrella," went on Nellie, and then she began to cry, for she had on a
new blue hat and dress, and didn't want them to get spoiled by the rain
that was splashing all over.

"Oh, don't cry!" begged Grandpa.

"But I can't get home without an umbrella," wailed Nellie.

"Oh, I can soon fix that," said the old gentleman goat--I mean frog.
"See, over there is a nice big toadstool. That will make the finest
umbrella in the world. I'll break it off and bring it to you, and then
you can fly home, holding it over your head, in your wing, and then your
hat and dress won't get wet."

Nellie thanked Grandpa Croaker very kindly and thought what a fine frog
gentleman he was. Off he hopped through the rain, never minding it the
least bit, and just as he got to the toadstool what do you s'pose he
saw? Why, a big, ugly snake was twined around it, just as a grapevine
twines around the clothes-post.

"Hello, there!" cried Grandpa. "You don't need that toadstool at all,
Mr. Snake, for water won't hurt you. I want it for Nellie Chip-Chip, so
kindly unwind yourself from it."

"Indeed, I will not," spoke the snake, saucily, hissing like a steam
radiator on a hot day.

"I demand that you immediately get off that toadstool!" cried Grandpa
Croaker in his hoarsest voice, so that it sounded like distant thunder.
He wanted to scare the snake.

"I certainly will not get off!" said the snake, firmly, "and what's more
I'm going to catch you, too!" And with that he reached out like
lightning and grabbed Grandpa, and wound himself around him and the
toadstool also, and there the poor gentleman frog was, tight fast!

"Oh! Oh! You're squeezing the life out of me!" cried Grandpa
Croaker.

"That's what I intend to do," spoke the snake, savagely.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?" asked Nellie. "Shall I bite his
tail, Mr. Frog?"

"No, stay there. Don't come near him, or he'll grab you," called Grandpa
Croaker in a choking voice. "Besides you'll get all wet, for it's still
raining. I'll get away somehow." But no matter how hard he struggled
Grandpa couldn't get away from the snake, who was pressing him tighter
and tighter against the toadstool.

Poor Grandpa thought he was surely going to be killed, and Nellie was
crying, but she didn't dare go near the snake, and the snake was
laughing and snickering as loud as he could. Oh, he was very impolite!
Then, all of a sudden, along hopped Bully and Bawly, the frog boys. The
ball game had been stopped on account of the rain, you know.

"Oh, look!" cried Bully. "We must save Grandpa from that snake!"

"That's what we must!" shouted Bawly. "Here, we'll make him unwind
himself from Grandpa and the toadstool and then hit him with our
baseball bats."

So those brave frog boys went quite close to the snake, and that wiggily
creature thought he could catch them, and so put out his head to do it.
Then Bully and Bawly hopped around the toadstool in a circle, and the
snake, keeping his beady, black eyes on them, followed them with his
head, around and around, still hoping to catch them, until he finally
unwound himself, just like a corkscrew out of a bottle.

Then Bully and Bawly hit him with their baseball bats, and the snake ran
away, taking his tail with him, and Grandpa Croaker was free. Then,
taking a long breath, for good measure, the old gentleman frog broke off
the toadstool and gave it to Nellie Chip-Chip for an umbrella, and the
sparrow girl could go home in the rain without getting wet. And Grandpa
thanked Bully and Bawly and hopped on home with them. So that's the end
of this story.

But in case the little dog next door doesn't take our doormat and eat it
for supper with his bread and butter I'll tell you in the story after
this one about Bawly and Jollie Longtail.




STORY X

BAWLY N


For a few days after Grandpa Croaker, the old frog gentleman, had been
wound around the toadstool by the snake, as I told you in the story
before this one, he was so sore and stiff from the squeezing he had
received, that he had to sit in an easy chair, and eat hot mush with
sugar on. And, in order that he would not be lonesome, Bawly and Bully
No-Tail, the frog boys, sat near him, and read him funny things from
their school books, or the paper, and Grandpa Croaker was very thankful
to them.

The frog boys wanted very much to go away and play ball with their
friends, for, it being the Easter vacation, there was no school, but,
instead, they remained at home nearly all the while, so Grandpa wouldn't
feel lonesome.

But at last one day the old gentleman frog said:

"Now, boys, I'm sure you must be very tired of staying with me so much.
You need a little vacation. I am almost well now, so I'll hop over and
see Uncle Wiggily Longears. Then you may go and play ball, and here is a
penny for each of you."

Well, of course Bully and Bawly thanked their Grandpa, though they
really hadn't expected anything like that, and off they hopped to the
store to spend the money. For they had saved all the pennies for a long
time, and they were now allowed to buy something.

Bully bought a picture post card to send to Aunt Lettie, the nice old
lady goat, and Bawly bought a bean shooter. That is a long piece of tin,
with a hole through it like a pipe, and you put in a bean at one end,
blow on the other end, and out pops the bean like a cork out of a soda
water bottle.

"What are you going to do with that bean shooter?" asked Bully of his
brother.

"Oh, I'm going to carry it instead of a gun," said Bawly, "and if I see
that bad alligator, or snake, again I'll shoot 'em with beans."

"Beans, won't hurt 'em much," spoke Bully.

"No, but maybe the beans will tickle 'em so they'll laugh and run away,"
replied his brother. Then they hopped on through the woods, and pretty
soon they met Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dogs.

"Let's have a ball game," suggested Peetie, as he wiggled his left ear.

"Oh, yes!" cried Jackie, as he dug a hole in the ground to see if he
could find a juicy bone, but he couldn't I'm sorry to say.

Well, they started the ball game, and Bawly was so fond of his bean
shooter that he kept it with him all the while, and several times, when
the balls were high in the air, he tried to hit them by blowing beans at
them. But he couldn't, though the beans popped out very nicely.

But finally the other players didn't like Bawly to do that, for the
beans came down all around them, and tickled them so that they had to
laugh, and they couldn't play ball.

Then Bawly said he'd lay his shooter down in the grass, but before he
could do so his brother Bully knocked such a high flying ball that you
could hardly see it.

"Oh, grab it, Bawly! Grab it!" cried Peetie and Jackie, dancing about on
the ends of their tails, for Bawly was supposed to chase after the
balls. Away he went with his bean shooter, almost as fast as an
automobile.

Farther and farther went the ball, and Bawly was chasing after it. All
of a sudden he found himself in the back yard of a house where the ball
had bounced over the fence, and of course, being a good ball player,
Bawly kept right on after it. But he never expected to find himself in
the yard, and he certainly never expected to see what he did see.

For there was a great, big, ugly, cruel boy, and he had something in his
hand. At first Bawly couldn't tell what it was, and then, to his
surprise, he saw that the boy had caught Jollie Longtail, the nice
little mousie boy, about whom I once told you.

"Ah ha! Now I have you!" cried the boy to the mouse. "You went in the
feed box in my father's barn, and I have caught you."

"Oh, but I only took the least bit of corn," said Jollie Longtail. But
the boy didn't understand the mouse language, though Bawly did.

"I'm going to tie your tail in a knot, hang you over the clothes line
and then throw stones at you!" went on the cruel boy. "That will teach
you to keep away from our place. We don't like mice."

Well, poor Jollie Longtail shivered and shook, and tried to get away
from that boy, but he couldn't, and then the boy began tying a knot in
the mousie's tail, so he could fasten Jollie to the clothes line in the
yard.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried Bawly, and he forgot all about the ball
that was lying in the grass close beside him. "How sorry I am for poor
Jollie," thought Bawly.

"There's one knot!" cried the boy as he made it. "Now for another!"

Poor Jollie squirmed and wiggled, but he couldn't get away.

"Now for the last knot, and then I'll tie you on the clothes line,"
spoke the boy, twisting Jollie's tail very hard.

"Oh, if he ever gets tied on the clothes line that will be the last of
him!" thought Bawly. "I wonder how I can save him?"

Bawly thought, and thought, and thought, and finally he thought of his
bean shooter, and the beans he still had with him.

"That's the very thing!" he whispered. Then he hid down in the grass,
where the boy couldn't see him, and just as that boy was about to tie
Jollie to the line, Bawly put a bean in the shooter, put the shooter in
his mouth, puffed out his cheeks and "bango!" a bean hit the boy on the
nose!

"Ha!" cried the boy. "Who did that?" He looked all around and he
thought, maybe, it was a hailstone, but there weren't any storm clouds
in the sky. Then the boy once more started to tie Jollie to the line.

"Bungo!" went a bean on his left ear, hitting him quite hard.

"Stop that!" the boy cried, winking his eyes very fast.

"Cracko!" went a bean on his right ear, for Bawly was blowing them very
fast now.

"Oh, wait until I get hold of you, whoever you are!" shouted the boy,
looking all around, but he could see no one, for Bawly was hiding in the
grass.

"Smacko!" went a bean on the boy's nose again, and then he danced up and
down, and was so excited that he dropped poor Jollie in the soft grass,
and away the mousie scampered to where he saw Bawly hiding.

Then Bawly kindly loosened the knots in the mousie's tail, picked up the
ball, and away they both scampered back to the game, and told their
friends what had happened. And maybe Jollie wasn't thankful to Bawly!
Well, I just guess he was! And that boy was so kerslastrated, about not
being able to find out who blew the beans at him, that he stood right up
on his head and wiggled his feet in the air, and then ran into the
house.

Now, if it should happen that our pussy cat doesn't go roller skating
and fall down and hurt its little nose so he can't lap up his milk, I'll
tell you next about Bully and the water bottle.




STORY XI

BULLY AND THE WATER BOTTLE


Well, just as I expected, my little cat did go roller skating, and
skated over a banana skin, and fell down and rubbed some of the fur off
his ear. But anyhow I'll tell you a story just the same, and it's going
to be about what happened to Bully No-Tail, the frog, when he had a
water bottle.

Do you know what a water bottle is? Now don't be too sure. You might
think it was a bottle made out of water, but instead it's a bottle that
holds water. Any kind of a bottle will do, and you can even take a milk
bottle and put water in it if the milkman lets you.

Well, one day, when Bully didn't know what to do to have some fun, and
when Bawly, his brother, had gone off to play ball, Bully thought about
making a water bottle, as Johnnie Bushytail had told him how to do it.

Bully took a bottle that once had held ink, and he cleaned it all out.
Then he got a cork, and, taking one of his mamma's long hatpins, he
made, with the sharp point, a number of holes through the cork, just as
if it were a sieve, or a coffee strainer. Then Bully filled the bottle
with water, put in the cork, and there he had a sprinkling-water-bottle,
just as nice as you could buy in a store.

"Now I'll have some fun!" exclaimed Bully, as he jiggled the bottle up
and down quite fast, with the cork end held down. The water squirted out
from it just like from the watering can, when your mamma waters the
flowers.

"I guess I'll go water the garden first," thought Bully. So he hopped
over to where there were some seeds planted and the little green sprouts
were just peeping up from the ground. Bully sprinkled water on the dry
earth and made it soft so the flowers could come through more easily.

"Oh, this is great!" cried the frog boy, as he held the water bottle
high in the air and let some drops sprinkle down all around on his own
head and clothes.

But please don't any of you try that part of the trick unless you have
on your bathing suit, for your mamma might not like it. As for Bully, it
didn't matter how wet he got, for frogs just like water, and they have
on clothes that water doesn't harm.

So Bully watered all the flowers, and then he sprinkled the dust on the
sidewalk and got a broom, and swept it nice and clean.

"Ha! That's a good boy!" said Grandpa Croaker, in his deepest voice, as
he hopped out of the yard to go over and play checkers with Uncle
Wiggily Longears. "A very good boy, indeed. Here is a penny for you,"
and he gave Bully a bright, new one.

"I'm going to buy some marbles, as I lost all mine," said Bully, as he
thanked his Grandpa very kindly and hopped off to the store.

But before Bully had hopped very far he happened to think that his water
bottle was empty, so he stopped at a nice cold spring that he knew of,
beside the road, and filled it--that is, he filled his water bottle, you
know, not the spring.

"For," said Bully to himself, "I might happen to meet a bad dog, and if
he came at me to bite me I could squirt water in his eyes, almost as
well as if I had a water pistol, and the dog would howl and run away."

Well, the frog boy hopped along, and pretty soon he came to a store
where the marbles were. He bought a penny's worth of brown and blue
ones, and then the monkey-doodle, who kept the store, gave him a piece
of candy.

"Now I'll find some of the boys, and have a game of marbles," thought
Bully, as he took three big hops and two little ones. Then he hopped
into the woods to look for his friends.

Well, Bully hadn't gone on very far before, just as he was hopping past
a big stump, he heard a voice calling:

"Now I have you!"

Well, you should have seen that frog boy jump, for he thought it was a
savage wolf or fox about to grab him. But, instead he saw Johnnie
Bushytail, the squirrel, and right in front of Johnnie was a great big
horned owl, with large and staring eyes.

"Now I have you!" cried the owl again, and this time Bully knew the bad
bird was speaking to poor Johnnie Bushytail and not to him. And at that
the owl put out one claw, and, before the squirrel could run away the
savage creature had grabbed him. "Didn't I tell you I had you?" the bird
asked, sarcastic like.

"Yes, I guess I did," answered Johnnie, trembling so that his tail
looked like a dusting brush. "But please let me go, Mr. Owl. I never did
anything to you."

"Didn't you climb up a tree just now?" asked the owl, real saucy like.

"Yes. I guess I did," answered Johnnie. "I'm always climbing trees, you
know. But that doesn't hurt you; does it?"

"Yes, it does, for you knocked down a piece of bark, and it hit me on
the beak. And for that I'm going to take you home and cook you for
dinner," the owl hooted.

"Oh, please, please don't!" begged poor Johnnie, but the owl said he
would, just the same, and he began to get ready to fly off to his nest
with the squirrel.

"Ha, I must stop that, if it's possible," thought Bully, the frog, who
was still hiding behind the stump. "I mustn't let the owl carry Johnnie
away. But how can I stop him?" Bully peeked around the edge of the stump
and saw the owl squeezing poor Johnnie tighter and tighter in his claws.

"Ah, I have it!" cried Bully. "My water bottle and my marbles!" And with
that he hopped softly up on top of the stump, and leaning over the edge
he saw below him the owl holding Johnnie. Then Bully took the water
bottle, turned it upside down, and he sprinkled the water out as hard as
he could on that savage owl's back. Down it fell in a regular shower.

"My goodness me!" cried the owl. "It's raining and I have no umbrella!
I'll get all wet!"

Then Bully squirted out more water, shaking it from the bottle as hard
as he could, and he rattled his bag of marbles until they sounded like
thunder and hailstones, and the owl looked up, but couldn't see Bully on
the stump for the water was in his eyes. Then, being very much afraid of
rain and thunder storms, that bad owl bird suddenly flew away, leaving
Johnnie Bushytail on the ground, scared but safe.

"Ha! That's the time the water bottle did a good trick!" cried Bully, as
he went to see if Johnnie was hurt. But the squirrel wasn't, very much,
and he could soon scramble home, after thanking Bully very kindly.

And that owl was so wet that he caught cold and had the epizootic for a
week, and it served him right. Now in case the baby's rattle box doesn't
bounce into the pudding dish and scare the chocolate cake, I'll tell you
next about Bawly going hunting.




STORY XII

BAWLY N


"Oh, Grandpa, will you please tell us a story?" begged Bully and Bawly
No-Tail one evening after supper, when they sat beside the old gentleman
frog, who was reading a newspaper. "Do tell us a story about a giant."

"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed Grandpa Croaker. "I'm afraid I don't know any giant
stories, but I'll tell you one about how I once went hunting and was
nearly caught myself."

"Oh, that will be fine!" cried the two frog boys, so their Grandpa took
one of them up on each knee, and in his deepest, bass, rumbling,
stumbling, bumbling voice he told them the story.

It was a very good story, and some day perhaps I may tell it to you. It
was about how, when Grandpa was a young frog, he started out to hunt
blackberries, and got caught in a briar bush and couldn't get loose for
ever so long, and the mosquitoes bit him very hard, all over.

"And after that I never went hunting blackberries without taking a
mosquito netting along," said the old frog gentleman, as he finished his
story.

"My but that _was_ an adventure!" cried Bully.

"That's what!" agreed his brother. "You were very brave, Grandpa, to go
off hunting blackberries all alone."

"Yes, I was considered quite brave and handsome when I was young,"
admitted the old gentleman frog, in his bass voice. "But now, boys, run
off to bed, and I'll finish reading the paper."

The next morning when Bully got up he saw Bawly at the side of the bed,
putting some beans in a bag, and taking his bean shooter out from the
bureau drawer where he kept it.

"What are you going to do, Bawly?" asked Bully.

"I'm going hunting, as Grandpa did," said his brother.

"But blackberries aren't ripe yet. They're not ripe until June or July,"
objected Bully.

"I know it, but I'm going to hunt mosquitoes, not blackberries. I'm
going to kill all I can with my bean shooter, and then there won't be so
many to bite the dear little babies this summer. Don't you want to come
along?" asked Bawly.

"I would if I had a bean shooter," answered Bully. "Perhaps I'll go some
other time. To-day I promised Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow I'd come over
and play ball with them."

So Bully went to play ball, with the puppy dogs, and Bawly went hunting,
after his mamma had said that he might, and had told him to be careful.

"I'll put up a little lunch for you," she said, "so you won't get hungry
hunting mosquitoes in the woods."

Off Bawly hopped, with his lunch in a little basket on one leg and
carrying his bean shooter, and plenty of beans. He knew a deep, dark,
dismal stretch of woodland where there were so many mosquitoes that they
wouldn't have been afraid to bite even an elephant, if one had happened
along. You see there were so many of the mosquitoes that they were bold
and savage, like bears or lions.

"But just wait until I get at them with my bean shooter," said Bawly
bravely. "Then they'll be so frightened that they'll fly away, and never
come back to bother people any more."

On and on he hopped and pretty soon he could hear a funny buzzing noise.

"Those are the mosquitoes," said the frog boy. "I am almost at the deep,
dark, dismal woods. Now I must be brave, as my Grandpa was when he
hunted blackberries; and, so that I may be very strong, to kill all the
mosquitoes, I'll eat part of my lunch now."

So Bawly sat down under a toadstool, for it was very hot, and he ate
part of his lunch. He could hear the mosquitoes buzzing louder and
louder, and he knew there must be many of them; thousands and thousands.

"Well, here I go!" exclaimed the frog boy at length, as he wrapped up in
a paper what was left of his lunch, and got his bean shooter all ready.
"Now for the battle. Charge! Forward, March! Bang-bang! Bung-bung!" and
he made a noise like a fife and drum going up hill.

"Well, I wonder what that can be coming into our woods?" asked one
mosquito of another as he stopped buzzing his wings a moment.

"It looks like a frog boy," was the reply of a lady mosquito.

"It is," spoke a third mosquito, sharpening his biting bill on a stone.
"Let's sting him so he'll never come here again."

"Yes, let's do it!" they all agreed.

So they all got ready with their stingers, and Bawly hopped nearer and
nearer. They were just going to pounce on him and bite him to pieces
when he suddenly shot a lot of beans at them, hitting quite a number of
mosquitoes and killing a few.

"My! What's this? What's this?" cried the mosquitoes that weren't
killed. "What is happening?" and they were very much surprised, not to
say startled.

"This must be a war!" said some others. "This frog boy is fighting us!"

"That's just what I'm doing!" cried Bawly bravely. "I'm punishing you
for what you did to Grandfather Croaker! Bang-bang! Bung-bung! Shoot!
Fire! Aim! Forward, March!" and with that he shot some more beans at the
mosquitoes, killing hundreds of them so they could never more bite
little babies or boys and girls, to say nothing of papas and mammas and
aunts and uncles.

Oh, how brave Bawly was with his bean shooter! He made those mosquitoes
dance around like humming birds, and they were very much frightened.
Then Bawly took a rest and ate some more of his lunch, laying his bean
shooter down on top of a stump.

"Now the battle will go on again!" he cried, when he had eaten the last
crumb and felt very strong. But, would you believe me, while he was
eating, those mosquitoes had sneaked up and taken away his bean shooter.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried Bawly, as he saw that his tin shooter was
gone. "Now I can't fight them any more."

Then the mosquitoes knew that the frog boy didn't have his bean-gun with
him, for they had hid it, and they stung him, so much that maybe, they
would have stung him to death if it hadn't happened that Dickie and
Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrows, flew along just then. Into the swarm of
mosquitoes the birds flew, and they caught hundreds of them in their
bills and killed them, and the rest were so frightened that they flew
away, and in that manner Bawly was saved.

So that's how he went hunting all alone, and when he got home his
Grandpa Croaker and all the folks thought him very brave. Now, in case I
see a red poodle dog, with yellow legs, standing on his nose while he
wags his tail at the pussy cat, I'll tell you next about Papa No-Tail
and the giant.




STORY XIII

PAPA NO-TAIL AND THE GIANT


Did you ever hear the story of the giant with two heads, who
chased a whale, and caught him by the tail, and tickled the terrible
monster with a big, crooked hickory fence rail?

Well, I'm not going to tell you a story about that giant, but about
another, who had only one head, though it was a very large one, and this
giant nearly scared Papa No-Tail, the frog gentleman, into a conniption
fit, which is almost as bad as the epizootic.

It happened one day that there wasn't any work for Mr. No-Tail to do at
the wallpaper factory, where he dipped his feet in ink and hopped around
to make funny black, and red, and green, and purple splotches, so they
would turn out to be wallpaper patterns. The reason there was no work
was because the Pelican bird drank up all the ink in his big bill, so
they couldn't print any paper.

"I have a holiday," said Papa No-Tail, as he hopped about, "and I am
going to have a good time."

"What are you going to do?" asked Grandpa Croaker as he started off
across the pond to play checkers with Uncle Wiggily Longears.

"I think I will take Bully and Bawly and go for a swim, and then we'll
take a hop through the woods and perhaps we may find an adventure,"
answered Mr. No-Tail.

So he went up to the house, where Bully and Bawly, the two boy frogs,
were just getting ready to go out roller skating, and Mr. No-Tail asked
them if they didn't want to come with him instead.

"Indeed we do!" cried Bully, as he winked both eyes at his brother, for
he knew that when his papa took them out hopping, he used often to stop
in a store and buy them peanuts or candy.

Well, pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, Papa No-Tail and
the two boys got to the edge of the pond, and into the water they hopped
to have a swim. My! I just wish you could have seen them. Papa No-Tail
swam in ever so many different ways, and Bully and Bawly did as well as
they could. And, would you believe me? just as Bully was getting out of
the water, up on the bank, ready to go hopping off with Bawly and his
papa through the woods, a big fish nearly grabbed the little frog boy by
his left hind leg.

"Oh my!" he cried, and his papa hopped over quickly to where Bully was,
and threw a stick at the bad fish to scare him away.

"Ha! hum!" exclaimed Mr. No-Tail, "that was nearly an adventure, Bully,
but I don't like that kind. Come on into the woods, boys, and we'll see
what else we can find."

So into the woods they went, where there were tall trees, and little
trees, and bushes, and old stumps where owls lived. And the green leaves
were just coming out nicely on the branches, and there were a few early
May flowers peeping up from under the leaves and moss, just as baby
peeps up at you, out from under the bedclothes in the morning when the
sun awakens her.

"Oh, isn't it just lovely here in the woods!" cried Bully.

"It is certainly very fine," agreed Bawly, and he looked up in the
treetops, where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, were
frisking about, and then down on the ground, where Sammie and Susie
Littletail, the rabbits, were sitting beside an old stump, in which
there were no bad owls to scare them.

"Now I think we'll sit down here and eat our lunch," said Papa No-Tail
after a while, as they came to a nice little open place in the woods,
where there was a large flat stump, which they could use as a table. So
they opened the baskets of lunch that Mamma No-Tail had put up for them,
and they were eating their watercress sandwiches, and talking of what
they would do next, when, all of a sudden, they heard a most startling,
tremendous and extraordinary noise in the bushes.

It was just as if an elephant were tramping along, and at first Papa
No-Tail thought it might be one of those big beasts, or perhaps an
alligator.

"Keep quiet, boys," he whispered, "and perhaps he won't see us." So they
kept very quiet, and hid down behind the stump.

But the noise came nearer and nearer, and it sounded louder and louder,
and, before you could spell "cat" or "rat," out from under a big, tall
tree stepped a big, tall giant. Oh, he was a fearful looking fellow! His
head was as big as a washtub full of clothes on a Monday morning, and
his legs were so long that I guess he could have hopped, skipped and
jumped across the street in about three steps.

"Oh, look!" whispered Bully.

"Oh, isn't he terrible!" said Bawly, softly.

"Hush!" cautioned their papa. "Please keep quiet and maybe he won't see
us."

So they kept as quiet as they could, hoping the giant would pass by, but
instead he came right over to the stump, and the first any one knew he
had sat down on the top of it. I tell you it's a good thing Bully and
Bawly and their papa had hopped off or they would have been crushed
flat. But they weren't, I'm glad to say, for they were hiding down
behind the stump, and they didn't dare hop away for fear the giant would
see, or hear them.

The big man sat on the stump, and he looked all about, and he saw some
bread and watercress crumbs where Bully and Bawly and their papa had
been eating their lunch.

"My!" exclaimed the giant. "Some one has been having dinner here. Oh,
how hungry I am! I wish I had some dinner. I believe I could eat the
hind legs of a dozen frogs if I had them!"

Well, you should have seen poor Bully and Bawly tremble when they heard
that.

"This must be a terrible giant," said Mr. No-Tail. "Now I tell you what
I am going to do. Bully, I will hide you and Bawly in this hollow stump,
and then I'll hop out where the giant can see me. He'll chase after me,
but I'll hop away as fast as I can, and perhaps I can get to some water
and hide before he catches me. Then he'll be so far away from the stump
that it will be safe for you boys to come out."

Well, Bully and Bawly didn't want their papa to do that, fearing he
would be hurt, but he said it was best, so they hid inside the stump,
and out Mr. No-Tail hopped to where the giant could see him. Papa
No-Tail expected the big man would chase after him, but instead the
giant never moved and only looked at the frog and then he laughed and
said:

"Hello, Mr. Frog! Let's see you hop!" And then, what do you think that
giant did? Why he took off his head, which wasn't real, being hollow and
made of paper, like a false face, so that his own head went inside of
it. And there he was only a nice, ordinary man after all.

"What! Aren't you a giant?" cried Papa No-Tail, who was so surprised
that he hadn't hopped a single hop.

"No," said the man; "I am only a clown giant in a circus, but I ran away
to-day so I could see the flowers in the woods. I was tired of being in
the circus so much and doing funny tricks."

"But--but--what makes you so tall?" asked Mr. No-Tail.

"Oh, those are wooden stilts on my legs," said the giant. "They make me
as tall as a clothes post, these stilts do."

And, surely enough, they did, being like wooden legs, and the man wasn't
a real giant at all, but very nice, like Mr. No-Tail, only different:
and he left off his big hollow paper head, and Bully and Bawly came out
of the stump, and the circus clown-giant, just like those you have seen,
told the frog boys lots of funny stories. Then they gave him some of
their lunch and showed him where flowers grew. Afterward the
make-believe giant went back to the circus, much happier than he had
been at first.

So that's all now, if you please, but if the rose bush in our back yard
doesn't come into the house and scratch the frosting off the chocolate
cake I'll tell you next about Bawly and the church steeple.




STORY XIV

BAWLY AND THE CHURCH STEEPLE


After Bully and Bawly No-Tail, the frogs, and their papa, reached home
from the woods, where they met the make-believe giant, as I told you in
the story before this one, they talked about it for ever so long, and
agreed that it was quite an adventure.

"I wish I'd have another adventure to-morrow," said Bawly, as he went to
bed that night.

"Perhaps you may," said his papa. "Only I can't be with you to-morrow,
as I have to go to work in my wallpaper factory. We made the Pelican
bird give back the ink, so the printing presses can run again."

Well, the next day the frog boys' mamma said to them:

"Bully and Bawly, I wish you would go to the store for me. I want a
dozen lemons and some sugar, for I am going to make lemonade, in case
company comes to-night."

"All right, we'll go," said Bully very politely. "I'll get the sugar and
Bawly can get the lemons."

So they went to the store and got the things, and when they were hopping
out, the storekeeper, who was a very kind elephant gentleman, gave them
each a handful of peanuts, which they put in the pockets of their
clothes, that water couldn't hurt.

Well, when Bully and Bawly were almost home, they came to a place where
there were two paths. One went through the woods and the other across
the pond.

"I'll tell you what let's do," suggested Bully. "You go by the woodland
path, Bawly, and I'll go by way of the pond and we'll see who will get
home first."

"All right," said Bawly, so on he hopped through the woods, going as
fast as he could, for he wanted to beat. And Bully swam as fast as he
could in the water, carrying the sugar, for it was in a rubber bag, so
it wouldn't get wet. But now I'm going to tell you what happened to
Bawly.

He was hopping along, carrying the lemons, when all at once he heard
some one calling to him:

"Hello, little frog, are you a good jumper?"

Bawly looked all around, and there right by a great, big stone he saw a
savage, ugly fox. At first Bawly was going to throw a lemon at the bad
animal, to scare him away, and then he happened to think that the lemons
were soft and wouldn't hurt the fox very much.

"Don't be afraid," said the fox, "I won't bite you. I wouldn't hurt you
for the world, little frog," and then the fox came slowly from behind
the stone, and Bawly saw that both the sly creature's front feet were
lame from the rheumatism, like Uncle Wiggily's, so the fox couldn't run
at all. Bawly knew he could easily hop away from him, as the sly animal
couldn't go any faster than a snail.

"Oh, I guess the reason you won't hurt me, is because you can't catch
me," said Bawly, slow and careful-like.

"Oh, I wouldn't hurt you, anyhow," went on the fox, trying not to show
how hungry he was, for really, you know, he wanted to eat Bawly, but he
knew he couldn't catch him, with his sore feet, so he was trying to
think of another way to get hold of him. "I just love frogs," said the
fox.

"I guess you do," thought Bawly. "You like them too much. I'll keep well
away from you."

"But what I want to know," continued the fox, "is whether you are a good
jumper, Bawly."

"Yes, I am--pretty good," said the frog boy.

"Could you jump over this stone?" asked the fox, slyly, pointing to a
little one.

"Easily," said Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Could you jump over that stump?" asked the fox, pointing to a big one.

"Easily," answered Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Ha! Here is a hard one," said the fox. "Could you jump over my head?"

"Easily," replied Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Well, you certainly are a good jumper," spoke the fox, wagging his
bushy tail with a puzzled air. "I know something you can't do, though."

"What is it?" inquired Bawly.

"You can't jump over the church steeple."

"I believe I can!" exclaimed Bawly, before he thought. You see he didn't
like the fox to think he couldn't do it, for Bawly was proud, and that's
not exactly right, and it got him into trouble, as you shall soon see.

You know that fox was very sly, and the reason he wanted Bawly to try to
jump over the church steeple was so the frog boy would fall down from a
great height and be hurt, and then the fox could eat him without any
trouble, sore feet or none. I tell you it's best to look out when a fox
asks you to do anything.

"Yes, I can jump over the church steeple," declared Bawly, and he hopped
ahead until he came to the church, the fox limping slowly along, and
thinking what a fine meal he'd have when poor Bawly fell, for the fox
knew what a terrible jump it was, and how anyone who made it would be
hurt, but the frog boy didn't.

Bawly tucked the bag of lemons under his leg, and he took a long breath,
and he gave a jump, but he didn't go very far up in the air as his foot
slipped.

"Ha! I knew you couldn't do it!" sneered the fox.

"Watch me!" cried Bawly, and this time he gave a most tremendous and
extraordinary jump, and right up to the church steeple he went, but he
didn't go over it, and it's a good thing, too, or he'd have been all
broken to pieces when he landed on the ground again. But instead he hit
right on top of the church steeple and stayed there, where there was a
nice, round, golden ball to sit on.

"Jump down! Jump down!" cried the fox, for he wanted to eat Bawly.

"No, I'm going to stay here," answered the frog boy, for now he saw how
far it was to the ground, and he knew he'd be killed if he leaped off
the steeple.

Well, the fox tried to get him to jump down, but Bawly wouldn't. And
then the frog boy began to wonder how he'd ever get home, for the
steeple was very high.

Then what do you think Bawly did? Why, he took a lemon and threw it at
the church bell, hoping to ring it so the janitor would come and help
him down. But the lemon was too soft to ring the bell loudly enough for
any to hear.

Then Bawly thought of his peanuts, and he threw a handful of them at the
church bell in the steeple, making it ring like an alarm clock, and the
janitor, who was sweeping out the church for Sunday, heard the bell, and
he looked up and saw the frog on the steeple. Then the janitor, being a
kind man, got a ladder and helped Bawly down, and the fox, very much
disappointed, limped away, and didn't eat the frog boy after all.

"But you must never try to jump over a steeple again," said Bawly's
mamma when he told her about it, after he got home with the lemons, and
found Bully there ahead of him with the sugar.

So Bawly promised that he wouldn't, and he never did. And now, if the
postman brings me a pink letter with a green stamp on from the playful
elephant in the circus, I'll tell you next about Bully and the basket of
chips.




STORY XV

BULLY AND THE BASKET OF CHIPS


One nice warm day, as Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was hopping along
through the woods, he felt so very happy that he whistled a little tune
on a whistle he made from a willow stick. And the tune he whistled went
like this, when you sing it:

    "I am a little froggie boy,
      Without a bit of tail.
    In fact I'm like a guinea pig,
      Who eats out of a pail.

    "I swim, I hop, I flip, I flop,
      I also sing a tune,
    And some day I am going to try
      To hop up to the moon.

    "Because you see the man up there
      Must very lonesome be,
    Without a little froggie boy,
      Like Bawly or like me."

"Oh, ho! I wouldn't try that if I were you," suddenly exclaimed a voice.

"Try what?" asked Bully, before he thought.

"Try to jump up to the moon," went on the voice. "Don't you remember
what happened to your brother Bawly when he tried to jump over the
church steeple? Don't do it, I beg of you."

"Oh, I wasn't really going to jump to the moon," went on Bully. "I only
put that in the song to make it sound nice. But who are you, if you
please?" for the frog boy looked all around and he couldn't see any one.

"Here I am, over here," the voice said, and then out from behind a clump
of tall, waving cat-tail plants, that grew in a pond of water, there
stepped a long-legged bird, with a long, sharp bill like a pencil or a
penholder.

"Oh ho! So it's you, is it?" asked Bully, making ready to hop away, for
as soon as he saw that long-legged and sharp-billed bird, he knew right
away that he was in danger. For the bird was a heron, which is something
like a stork that lives on chimneys in a country called Holland. And the
heron bird eats frogs and mice and little animals like that.

"Yes, it is I," said the heron. "Won't you please sing that song on your
whistle again, Bully? I am very fond of music." And, as he said that,
the heron slyly took another step nearer to the frog boy, intending to
grab him up in his sharp beak.

"I--I don't believe I have time to sing another verse," answered Bully.
"And anyhow, there aren't any more verses. So I'll be going," and he
hopped along, and hid under a stone where the big, big savage bird
couldn't get him.

Oh, my! how angry the heron was when he saw that he couldn't fool Bully.
He stamped his long legs on the ground and said all sorts of mean
things, just because Bully didn't want to be eaten up.

"Now I wonder how I'm going to get away from here without that bird
biting me?" thought poor Bully, after a while.

Well, it did seem a hard thing to do, for the heron was there waiting
for Bully to come out, when he would jab his bill right through the frog
boy. Then Bully thought and thought, which you must always do when you
are in trouble, or have hard examples at school, and finally Bully
thought of a plan.

"I'll hop along and go from one stone to another," he said to himself,
"and by hiding under the different rocks the heron can't get me."

So he tried that plan, hopping very quickly, and he got along all right,
for every time the heron tried to stick the frog boy with his sharp
bill, the bird would pick at a stone, under which Bully was hidden, and
that would make him more angry than ever. I mean it would make the heron
angry, not Bully.

Well, the frog boy was almost home, and he knew that pretty soon the
heron would have to turn back and run away, for the bird wouldn't dare
go right up to Bully's house. Then, all of a sudden, Bully saw a poor
old mouse lady going along through the woods, with a basket of chips on
her arm. She had picked them up where some men were cutting wood, and
the mouse lady intended to put the chips in her kitchen stove, and boil
the teakettle with them.

She walked along, when, all of a sudden, she stumbled on an acorn, and
fell down, basket and all, and she hurt her paw on a thorn, so she
couldn't carry the basket any more.

"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Bully. "I must help the poor mouse
lady." So, forgetting all about the savage, long-billed bird, waiting to
grab him, out from under a stone hopped Bully, and he picked up the
basket of chips for the poor mouse lady.

"Oh, thank you kindly, little frog boy," she said, and then the heron
made a rush for Bully and the mouse lady and tried to stick them both
with his sharp beak.

"Oh, quick! Quick! Hop in here with me!" exclaimed the mouse lady, as
she pointed to a hole in a hollow stump, and into it she and Bully went,
basket of chips and all, just in time to escape the bad heron bird.

"Oh, I'll get you yet! I'll get you yet!" screeched the bird, hopping
along, first on one leg and then on the other, and dancing about in
front of the stump. "I'll eat you both, that's what I will!" Then he
tried to reach in with his bill and pull the frog boy and the mouse lady
out of the hollow stump, but he couldn't, and then he stood on one leg
and hid the other one up under his feathers to keep it warm.

"I'll wait here until you come out, if I have to wait all night," said
the bird. "Then I'll get you."

"I guess he will, too," said Bully, peeping out of a crack. "We are safe
here, but how am I going to get home, and how are you going to get home,
Mrs. Mouse?"

"I will show you," she answered. "We'll play a trick on that heron. See,
I have some green paint, that I was going to put on my kitchen cupboard.
Now we'll take some of it, and we'll paint a few of the chips green, and
they'll look something like a frog. Then we'll throw them out to the
heron, one at a time, and he'll be so hungry that he'll grab them
without looking at them. When he eats enough green chips he'll have
indigestion, and be so heavy, like a stone, that he can't chase after us
when we go out."

"Good!" cried Bully. So they painted some chips green, just the color of
Bully, and they tossed one out of the stump toward the bird.

"Now I have you!" cried the heron, and, thinking it was the frog boy, he
grabbed up that green chip as quick as anything. And, before he knew
what it was, he had swallowed it, and then Mrs. Mouse and Bully threw
out more green chips, and the bad bird didn't know they were only wood,
but he thought they were a whole lot of green frogs hopping out, and he
gobbled them up, one after another, as fast as he could.

And, in a little while, the sharp chips stuck out all over inside of
him, like potatoes in a sack, and the heron had indigestion, and was so
heavy that he couldn't run. Then Bully and Mrs. Mouse came out of the
stump, and went away, leaving the bad bird there, unable to move, and as
angry as a fox without a tail. Bully helped Mrs. Mouse carry the rest of
the chips home, and then he hopped home himself.

Now that's the end of this story, but I know another, and if the little
boy across the street doesn't throw his baseball at my pussy cat and
make her tail so big I can't get her inside the house, I'll tell you
about Bawly and his whistles.




STORY XVI

BAWLY AND HIS WHISTLES


Did you ever make a willow whistle--that is, out of a piece of wood off a
willow tree?

No? Well, it's lots of fun, and when I was a boy I used to make lots of
them. Big ones and little ones, and the kind that would almost make as
much noise as some factory whistles. If you can't make one yourself, ask
your big brother, or your papa, or some man, to make you one.

Maybe your big sister can, for some girls, like Lulu Wibblewobble, the
duck, can use a knife almost as good as a boy.

Well, if I'm going to tell you about Bawly No-Tail, the frog, and his
whistles I guess I'd better start, hadn't I? and not talk so much about
big brothers and sisters.

One afternoon Bawly was hopping along in the woods. It was a nice, warm
day, and the wind was blowing in the treetops, and the flowers were
blooming down in the moss, and Bawly was very happy.

He came to a willow tree, and he said to himself:

"I guess I'll make a whistle." So he cut off a little branch, about
eight inches long, and with his knife he cut one end slanting, just like
the part of a whistle that goes in your mouth. Then he made a hole for
the wind to come out of.

Then he pounded the bark on the stick gently with his knife handle, and
pretty soon the bark slipped off, just as mamma takes off her gloves
after she's been down to the five-and-ten-cent store. Then Bully cut
away some of the white wood, slipped on the bark again, and he had a
whistle.

"My! That's fine!" he cried, as he blew a loud blast on it. "I think
I'll make another."

So he made a second one, and then he went on through the woods, blowing
first one whistle and then the other, like the steam piano in the circus
parade.

"Hello!" suddenly cried a voice in the woods, "who is making all that
noise?"

"I am," answered Bawly. "Who are you?"

"I am Sammie Littletail," was the reply, and out popped the rabbit boy
from under a bush. "Oh, what fine whistles!" he cried when he saw those
Bawly had made. "I wish I had one."

"You may have, Sammie," answered Bawly kindly, and he gave his little
rabbit friend the biggest and loudest whistle. Then the two boy animals
went on through the woods, and pretty soon they came to a place where
there was a pond of water.

"Excuse me for a minute," said Bawly. "I think I'll have a little swim.
Will you join me, Sammie?" he asked, politely.

"No," answered the rabbit, "I'm not a good swimmer, but I'll wait here
on the bank for you."

"Then you may hold my whistle as well as your own," said Bawly, "for I
might lose it under water." Then into the pond Bawly hopped, and was
soon swimming about like a fish.

But something is going to happen, just as I expected it would, and I'll
tell you all about it, as I promised.

All of a sudden, as Bawly was swimming about, that bad old skillery,
scalery alligator, who had escaped from a circus, reared his ugly head
up from the pond, where he had been sleeping, and grabbed poor Bawly in
his claws.

"Oh, let me go!" cried the boy frog. "Please let me go!"

"No, I'll not!" answered the alligator savagely. "I had you and your
brother once before, and you got away, but you shan't get loose this
time. I'm going to take you to my deep, dark, dismal den, and then we'll
have supper together."

Well, Bawly begged and pleaded, but it was of no use. That alligator
simply would not let him go, but held him tightly in his claws, and made
ugly faces at him, just like the masks on Hallowe'en night.

All this while Sammie Littletail sat on the bank of the pond, too
frightened, at the sight of the alligator, to hop away. He was afraid
the savage creature might, at any moment, spring out and grab him also,
and the rabbit boy just sat there, not knowing what to do.

"I wish I could save Bawly," thought Sammie, "but how can I? I can't
fight a big alligator, and if I throw stones at him it will only make
him more angry. Oh, if only there was a fireman or a policeman in the
woods, I'd tell him, and he'd hit the alligator, and make him go away.
But there isn't a policeman or a fireman here!"

Then the alligator started to swim away with poor Bawly, to take him off
to his deep, dark, dismal den, when, all of a sudden, Sammie happened to
think of the two willow whistles he had--his own and Bawly's.

"I wonder if I could scare the alligator with them, and make him let
Bawly go?" Sammie thought. Then he made up a plan. He crept softly to
one side, and he hid behind a stump. Then he took the two whistles and
he put them into his mouth.

Next, the rabbit boy gathered up a whole lot of little stones in a pile.
And the next thing he did was to build a little fire out of dry sticks.
Then he hunted up an old tin can that had once held baked beans, but
which now didn't have anything in it.

"Oh, I'll make that alligator wish he'd never caught Bawly!" exclaimed
Sammie, working very quickly, for the savage reptile was fast swimming
away with the frog boy.

Sammie put the stones in the tin can, together with some water, and he
set the can on the fire to boil, and he knew the stones would get hot,
too, as well as the water. And, surely enough, soon the water in the can
was bubbling and the stones were very hot.

Then Sammie took a long breath and he blew on those whistles, both at
the same time as hard as ever he could. Then he took some wet moss and
wrapped it around the hot can, so it wouldn't burn his paws, and he
tossed everything--hot water, hot stones, hot can and all--over into the
pond, close to where the alligator was. Then Sammie blew on the whistles
some more. "Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot!"

"Splash!" Into the water went the hot stones, hissing like snakes.

"Buzz! Bubble! Fizz!" went the hot water all over the alligator.

"Toot! Toot!" went the whistles which Sammie was blowing.

"Skizz! Skizz!" went the hot fire-ashes that also fell into the pond.

"Oh, it's a fire engine after me! It's a terrible fire engine after me!
It's spouting hot water and sparks on me!" cried the alligator, real
frightened like, and then he was so scared that he let go of Bawly, and
sank away down to the bottom of the pond to get out of the way of the
hot stones and the hot water and the hot sparks, and where he couldn't
hear the screechy whistles which he thought came from fire engines. And
Bawly swam safely to shore, and he thanked Sammie Littletail very kindly
for saving his life, and they went on a little farther and had a nice
game of tag together until supper time.

So that's how the whistles that Bawly made did him a good service, and
next, if it stops raining long enough so the moon can come out without
getting wet, and go to the moving pictures, I'll tell you about Grandpa
Croaker and Uncle Wiggily Longears.




STORY XVII

GRANDPA CROAKER AND UNCLE WIGGILY


After the trick which Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, played on the
alligator, making him believe a fire engine was after him, it was some
time before Bully or Bawly No-Tail, the frogs, went near that pond
again, where the savage creature with the long tail lived, after he had
escaped from the circus.

"Because it isn't safe to go near that water," said Bawly.

"No, indeed," agreed his brother. "Some day we'll get a pump and pump
all the water out of the pond, and that will make the alligator go
away."

Well, it was about a week after this that Grandpa Croaker, the old
gentleman frog, put on his best dress. Oh, dear me! Just listen to that,
would you! I mean he put on his best suit and started out, taking his
gold-headed cane with him.

"Where are you going?" asked Mrs. No-Tail.

"Oh! I think I'll go over and play a game of checkers with Uncle Wiggily
Longears," replied the old gentleman frog. "The last game we played he
won, but I think I can win this time."

"Well, whatever you do, Grandpa," spoke Bully, "please don't go past the
pond where the bad alligator is."

"No, indeed, for he might bite you," said Bawly, and their Grandpa
promised that he would be careful.

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.

"Hello! What's that?" he cried, looking up.

"It sounded like some one breaking the glass," 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 glass!

"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, hoarsest, 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.
Longtail said:

"Let me get you another cup of tea, Mrs. No-Tail."

So the lady mouse went out in the kitchen to get the tea off the stove,
and when she got there, what do you think she saw? Why, a great, big,
ugly, savage cat had, somehow or other, gotten into the room and there
he sat in front of the fire, washing his face, which was very dirty.

"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the cat, blinking his yellow eyes, "I was wondering
whether anybody was at home here."

"Yes, I am at home!" exclaimed the mouse lady, "and I want you to get
right out of my house, Mr. Cat."

"Well," replied the cat, licking his whiskers with his red tongue, "I'm
not going! That's all there is to it. I am glad I found you at home, but
you are not going to be at home long."

"Why not?" asked Mrs. Longtail, suspicious like.

"Because," answered that bad cat, "I am going to eat you up, and I think
I'll start right in!"

"Oh, don't!" begged Mrs. Longtail, as she tried to run back into the
dining-room, where Mrs. No-Tail was sitting. But the savage cat was too
quick for her, and in an instant he had her in his paws, and was glaring
at her with his yellowish-green eyes.

"I don't know whether to eat you head first or tail first," said the
cat, as he looked at the poor mouse lady. "I must make up my mind before
I begin."

Now while he was making up his mind Mrs. No-Tail sat in the other room,
wondering what kept Mrs. Longtail such a long time away, getting the
second cup of tea.

"Perhaps I had better go and see what's keeping her," Mrs. No-Tail
thought. "She may have burned herself on the hot stove, or teapot." So
she went toward the kitchen, and there she saw a dreadful sight, for
there was that bad cat, holding poor Mrs. Longtail in his claws and
opening his mouth to eat her.

"Oh, let me go! Please let me go!" the mouse lady begged.

"No, I'll not," answered the cat, and once more he licked his whiskers
with his red tongue.

"Oh, I must do something to that cat!" thought Mrs. No-Tail. "I must
make him let Mrs. Longtail go."

So she thought and thought, and finally the frog lady saw a sprinkling
can hanging on a nail in the dining-room, where Mrs. Longtail kept it to
water the flowers with.

"I think that will do," said Mrs. No-Tail. So she very quietly and
carefully took it off the nail, and then she went softly out of the
front door, and around to the side of the house to the rain-water
barrel, where she filled the watering can. Then she came back with it
into the house.

"Now," she thought, "if I can only get up behind the cat and pour the
water on him, he'll think it's raining, and as cats don't like rain he
may run away, and let Mrs. Longtail go."

So Mrs. No-Tail tip-toed out into the kitchen as quietly as she could,
for she didn't want the cat to see her. But the savage animal, who had
made his tail as big as a skyrocket, was getting ready to eat Mrs.
Longtail, and he was going to begin head first. So he didn't notice Mrs.
No-Tail.

Up she went behind him, on her tippiest tiptoes, and she held the
watering can above his head. Then she tilted it up, and suddenly out
came the water--drip! drip! drip! splash! splash!

Upon the cat's furry back it fell, and my, you should have seen how
surprised that cat was!

"Why, it's raining in the house," he cried. "The roof must leak. The
water is coming in! Get a plumber! Get a plumber!"

Then he gave a big jump, and bumped his head on the mantelpiece, and
this so startled him that he dropped Mrs. Longtail, and she scampered
off down in a deep, dark hole and hid safely away. Then the cat saw Mrs.
No-Tail pouring water from the can, and he knew he had been fooled.

"Oh, I'll get you!" he cried, and he jumped at her, but the frog lady
threw the sprinkling can at the cat, and it went right over his head
like a bonnet, and frightened him so that he jumped out of the window
and ran away. And he didn't come back for a week or more. So that's how
Mrs. No-Tail saved Mrs. Longtail.

Now in case the baker man doesn't take the front door bell away to put
it on the rag doll's carriage, I'll tell you next about Bawly and
Arabella Chick.




STORY XIX

BAWLY AND ARABELLA CHICK.


Bawly No-Tail, the frog boy, had been kept in after school one day for
whispering. It was something he very seldom did in class, and I'm quite
surprised that he did it this time.

You see, he was very anxious to play in a ball game, and when teacher
went to the blackboard to draw a picture of a cat, so the pupils could
spell the word better, Bawly leaned over and asked Sammie Littletail,
the rabbit boy, in a whisper:

"Say, Sammie, will you have a game of ball after school?"

Sammie shook his head "yes," but he didn't talk. And the lady mouse
teacher heard Bawly whispering, and she made him stay in. But he was
sorry for it, and promised not to do it again, and so he wasn't kept in
very late.

Well, after a while the nice mouse teacher said Bawly could go, and soon
he was on his way home, and he was wondering if he would meet Sammie or
any of his friends, but he didn't, as they had hurried down to the
vacant lots, where the circus tents were being put up for a show.

"Oh, my, how lonesome it is!" exclaimed Bawly. "I wish I had some one to
play with. I wonder where all the boys are?"

"I don't know where they are," suddenly answered a voice, "but if you
like, Bawly, I will play house with you. I have my doll, and we can have
lots of fun."

Bawly looked around, to make sure it wasn't a wolf or a bad owl trying
to fool him, and there he saw Arabella Chick, the little chicken girl,
standing by a big pie-plant. It wasn't a plant that pies grow on, you
understand, but the kind of plant that mamma makes pies from.

"Don't you want to play house?" asked Arabella, kindly, of Bawly.

"No--no thank you, I--I guess not," answered Bawly, bashfully standing
first on one leg, and then on the other. "I--er--that is--well, you know,
only girls play house," the frog boy said, for, though he liked Arabella
very much, he was afraid that if he played house with her some of his
friends might come along and laugh at him.

"Some boys play house," answered the little chicken girl. "But no
matter. Perhaps you would like to come to the store with me."

"What are you going to get?" asked Bawly, curious like.

"Some kernels of corn for supper," answered Arabella, "and I also have a
penny to spend for myself. I am going to get some watercress candy,
and--"

"Oh, I'll gladly come to the store with you," cried Bawly, real excited
like. "I'll go right along. I don't care very much about playing ball
with the boys. I'd rather go with you."

"I'll give you some of my candy if you come," went on Arabella, who
didn't like to go alone.

"I thought--that is, I hoped you would," spoke Bawly, shyly-like. Well,
the frog boy and the chicken girl went on to the store, and Arabella got
the corn, and also a penny's worth of nice candy flavored with
watercress, which is almost as goo