olly Woodchuck nodded her head wisely.

"I thought so," she said. "It sounds to me like chills-and-fever.
I'll go right back with you and see what I can do to help her."

So Aunt Polly and Billy started off together. Though he carried her
basket of herbs, they could not go very fast, for the dear old lady
was half blind.

But at last they reached Billy's home. And there they found his
mother, sweeping the floor as spryly as if she had never known a
sick day in her whole life.

"I see you're feeling better," said Aunt Polly. "Your son told me
you were ill and I came right over."

Mrs. Woodchuck thanked her. And then she sent all the children out
to play. As soon as they had left the room she said to Aunt Polly:

"I wasn't ill at all. I am ashamed to say that I was just angry.
And since you are a near relation of ours, I'll tell you the
reason. I'll tell you what happened.

[Illustration: Billy Carried Her Basket of Herbs]

"Yesterday Johnnie Green dropped a big stone through our front
door. It almost filled the end of my hall, so I could hardly
squeeze past it. And this morning I asked Mr. Woodchuck to help me
dig around the stone. But he said his rheumatism was so bad that he
couldn't do a bit of work. And then he went off and stayed away all
the rest of the day.

"After I had done the work myself I went out to get a little fresh
air and a bite to eat. And over in the meadow, what do you suppose
I saw? There was a baseball game going on. And Mr. Woodchuck was
playing so hard that he never noticed me at all.... Do you wonder I
was angry?"

Old Aunt Polly said it was a shame. And she found a bit of celery
in her basket, which she gave to Billy's mother.

"Just eat that!" Aunt Polly said. "It's good for the nerves."

Mrs. Woodchuck thanked her again.

"I wish you could give my husband something that would make him
work," she said.

But for once old Aunt Polly Woodchuck didn't have the right sort of
medicine.

"Laziness," she said, "is terribly hard to cure."

XVIII

A WONDERFUL STICK

Now, Billy Woodchuck knew that he must beware of boys like Johnnie
Green. And more than that, he had learned that boys with sticks are
even worse than boys without them. Still, if he did not let Johnnie
come too near him, there was not much danger.

So he was not at all frightened when he happened to catch sight of
Johnnie Green crossing the pasture with a long stick over his
shoulder. He was so far away tha