nd the reason was because he had given
it to a Chinaman the day before, but he didn't remember that, for he
was so miserable at leaving the beautiful mermaid.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed the old gentleman rabbit,

"'Tis sad to part.
My poor old heart
Is nearly, nearly breaking;
Alas! alas! that mermaid lass
Has set my head a-shaking!"

And after that his old wedding stovepipe hat almost fell off his head,
and it would have, I'm sure, if it hadn't been for the blue polka-dot
handkerchief which he had tied over the top of it.

And just then, all of a sudden, the Whaleship bumped into a motor
boat, and nearly upset it.

"What's the matter with your pilot?" screamed the man who was in the
motor boat, and when Uncle Lucky looked over the side of the Whale he
saw it wasn't a man at all, but the old Billygoat who owned the
Ferryboat I told you about some umpty-leven stones ago.

"Excuse us, please," said the kind old gentleman rabbit, but what the
Billygoat said I'll have to tell you in the next story, for there's no
more room in this one.

STORY XXVII.

BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEANSTALK.

Seeing it's you," answered the Billygoat, who, you remember in the
last story, had gotten very angry because Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
had bumped into his motor boat with their whaleship.

"I'll forgive you," and then he raced the Whale all the way to the
shore and would have beaten him, too, if he had gone faster.

And as soon as the whaleship ran up on the beach, the two little
rabbits hopped off and got into their automobile and drove away, and
the Whale went back and told the Mermaid that the two little rabbits
had a beautiful Luckymobile, and she felt dreadfully sorry that she
hadn't gone with them.

Well, after a little while, not so very far, they came across a
wonderful beanstalk, which was growing up so high that you couldn't
see the top, and if Billy Bunny had only known the story about "Jack
and the Beanstalk," I guess he would have thought that the story had
come true.

"My gracious!" exclaimed Uncle Lucky. "My lima beans at home grow
pretty high but never as high as this," and he took out of his
waistcoat pocket his spyglass and tried to find the top of the
beanstalk; but he couldn't, for it was hidden in the clouds. Just
think of that!

"I'm going to climb up that beanstalk," said the little bunny. "Maybe
I'll find my fortune at the top."

"And I'll go with you," said the o