g old gentleman, he
crawled out of the window, and slid down the cord.

And Uncle Wiggily got out just as the bear opened the closet door to grab
him, and put him in the pot, and when the savage black creature saw his
fine rabbit dinner getting away he was as angry as anything, really he
was.

"Here! Come back here!" cried the bear, but of course Uncle Wiggily knew
better than to come back. He slid down the rope to the ground, and then he
cut off as much of the rope as he could, and put it in his pocket, for he
didn't know when he might need it again. Then, catching up his valise, he
ran on and on, before the bear could get to him.

It was still quite a dark place in which Uncle Wiggily was, for you see he
was underground, down by the roots of the stump. But he looked ahead and
he saw a little glimmer of light, and then he knew he could get out.

Limping on his crutch, and carrying his valise, he went on and on, and
pretty soon he came out of a dark cave and found himself on the bank of a
nice little brook, that was running over mossy, green stones.

"Ha! This is better than being in a bear's den!" exclaimed the old
gentleman rabbit. "My, I was so frightened that I forgot about my
rheumatism hurting me. That was an adventure all right, and Sammie was a
good boy to think of that strong cord. Now what shall I do next?"

Well, Uncle Wiggily sat down on the bank of the brook, and he looked in
the water. Then he happened to see a fish jump up to catch a bug, so he
said to himself:

"I guess I will go fishing, just for fun. But if I do happen to catch any
fish I'll put them right back in the water again. For I don't need any
fish, as I have some lettuce and cabbage sandwiches, and some
peanut-butter cakes, that Susie's mamma put up in a cracker-box for me."

Well, Uncle Wiggily looked in his valise, to make sure his lunch was safe,
and then, taking a bent pin from under his vest, he fastened it to a part
of the string Sammie had given him. Then he fastened the string to a pole,
and he was ready to fish, but he needed something to make the fishes
bite--that is, bite the pinhook, not bite him, you know.

"Oh, I guess they'll like a bit of sweet cracker," Uncle Wiggily thought;
so he put some on the end of the pin-hook, and threw it toward the water.

It fell in with a splash, and made a lot of little circles, like
ring-around the rosies, and the rabbit sat there looking at them, sort of
nodding, and half asleep and wo