seek
his fortune.

He slept and he slept, and then he slept a little more, and all of a
sudden he awakened and it was nearly night. My! how he did jump up then
and rub his eyes with his paws, and he couldn't think, for a minute or so,
just where he was.

"Oh, now I remember!" he exclaimed. "I'm in the cave. Oh, dear me! but
it's coming on night. The yellow bird must have forgotten to wake me up. I
wonder what I shall do?"

So he went out of the cave to look for the bird, but he couldn't find her.
The savage hawk was there, however, but when he saw Uncle Wiggily and
noted how brave he was, even if he did have the rheumatism, that hawk just
gnashed his beak and flew away.

Then it got darker and darker, and poor Uncle Wiggily didn't know what to
do, for he didn't know whether or not it would be safe to stay in the
cave.

"A bear might come along and eat me," he thought. "This cave might be a
bear's den. I guess I will travel ahead and look for some other place
where I can spend the night. But I don't like traveling in the dark."

However, there was no help for it, so the old gentleman rabbit, after
eating a lettuce sandwich, took up his satchel, grasped his crutch firmly,
and started away.

He traveled on through the woods, and it kept getting darker and darker,
until at last Uncle Wiggily couldn't see anything in front of him but just
blackness.

"Oh, this will never do!" he cried. "I can't go on this way. If I only
had a lantern it would be all right."

Then, all at once, he heard a sort of growling noise in the bushes, and
then he heard a sniffing-snuffling noise, and pretty soon a voice cried:

"Oh, ha! Oh, hum! I smell fresh rabbit. Now, I will have a good supper!"

"That must be a savage bear or a fox!" cried the rabbit. "I guess this is
the last of me!"

Then he saw two round circles shining in the darkness, two flashing,
bright, shining things, and he was more frightened than ever.

"Oh, those are the glaring eyes of the fox or bear!" thought Uncle
Wiggily. "I'm done for, sure!"

Then something made a jump for him, out of the bushes, but the rabbit
crouched down, and the beast jumped over him. Then, would you ever believe
it? those two shining things flew nearer, and instead of being the eyes of
a fox or bear they were two, good, kind, lightning bugs, who were flitting
about.

"Oh, you'll be a lantern for me, won't you?" cried the rabbit, anxiously.
"Will you please light me out of these woods