d
ran away, taking their big tails with them.

So that is how the July bug saved everybody from being eaten up, and then
the picnic was over and every one said it was lovely.

"Well, I'll start on my travels again to-morrow," said Uncle Wiggily, as
his friends told him good-by.

Now what happened to him the next day I'll tell you very soon, for, in
case I see a chipmunk with a blue tail and a red nose climbing up the
clothes pole, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and
Jack-in-the-pulpit.

STORY VIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT

Uncle Wiggily was slowly hopping along through the woods, sometimes
leaning on his crutch, when his rheumatism pained him, and again skipping
along when he got out into the warm sunshine. It was the day after the
picnic, and the old gentleman rabbit felt a bit lonesome as all his
friends had gone back to their homes.

"I do declare!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he walked slowly along by a
little lake, where an August rabbit was running his motor boat, "if I
don't find my fortune pretty soon I won't have any vacation this year. I
must look carefully to-day, and see if I can't find a pot full of gold."

Well, he looked as carefully as he could, but my land sakes and a pair of
white gloves! he couldn't seem to find a smitch of gold and not so much as
a crumb of diamonds.

[Illustration]

"Hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "at this rate I guess I'll have to keep on
traveling for several years before I find my fortune. But never mind,
I'm having a good time, anyhow. I'll keep on searching."

So he kept on, and all of a sudden when he was walking past a prickly
briar bush, he heard a voice calling:

"Hey, Uncle Wiggily, come on in here."

"Ha! Who are you, and why do you want me to come in there?" asked the old
gentleman rabbit.

"Oh, I am a friend of yours," was the answer, "and I will give you a lot
of money if you come in here."

"Let me see your face," asked the rabbit, "I want to know who you are."

"Oh! I have a dreadful toothache," said the creature hiding in the bushes.
"I don't want to stick my face out in the cold. But if you will take my
word for it I am a good friend of yours. I would like very much for you to
come in here."

"Well, perhaps I had better," said the old gentleman rabbit, "for I
certainly need money."

And he was just going to crawl in under the prickly briar bush when all of
a sudden he happened to look, and he saw the skillery-scall