much annoyed, fanned itself with its long leg. "I don't believe that's
fair," the heron went on. "It's in all the books," and then, with a
great flapping of wings, the tall creature flew away, and Bully, the
frog, came out.

"You had a narrow escape," said Sammie.

"Oh, I'm used to that," replied the frog. "Now, let's practice jumping."

Which they did, only the frog always jumped into the water and Sammie
remained on dry land, so they never could tell who was the best at it.
Then they played other games, and became very good friends. The frog
pond was very near the new burrow where Sammie lived, and the two used
to meet quite often. One day the frog said:

"I think it would be very nice if you would dig a way from your burrow
to my pond. Then, when it rained, I could come to see you without
getting wet, and you could come to see me."

"That is a fine idea," declared Sammie. "I'll do it."

So, without saying anything to his mother or sister or Uncle Wiggily
Longears, Sammie began to dig under ground to reach the pond. It took
him some time, but at last he came out just above the top of the water,
near where Bully lived.

"This is great!" cried the frog, as he looked in the hole. "Now when it
rains we will not get wet."

And, what do you think! It rained that very night. It rained so hard
that the pond rose higher and higher, until the water began to run in
the hole Sammie had dug. It awakened the Littletail family in the middle
of the night, and when Uncle Wiggily Longears saw the water creeping
nearer and nearer to him, and felt the rheumatism worse than ever, he
cried out:

"A flood! A flood! We must swim out, or we shall all be drowned." Now
you will have to be patient until to-morrow night to hear what took
place. But they were not drowned; I'll tell you that much.

XV

SAMMIE AND SUSIE AT THE CIRCUS

Of course, you remember how Sammie Littletail dug a tunnel from the
burrow to the pond, and how the water came in. Of course. Well, Nurse
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made a raft of cornstalks, and on this the whole rabbit
family floated out of the burrow. Bully, the frog, who was a playmate of
Sammie's, helped them. They had to go right out into the rain, and it
was not very pleasant.

"Whatever are we going to do?" asked Mamma Littletail, but she did not
scold Sammie for digging the tunnel and making all the trouble.

"Yes, we must get in out of the wet, or my rheumatism will be so bad I
shall not be a