Susie," he said, "I will show you how to jump rope. I used to do
it when I was a boy, but I am not so lively and nimble now as I was
then."

"But I have no rope," objected Susie, though she felt a little more
happy. "I can't jump without a rope."

"Tut! tut! Do not think about such a little thing as that," went on her
uncle. "I will have a rope for you in a few minutes. Come with me."

Just then Sammie came along, and, after he had had some corn bread with
preserved sweet cabbage leaves on, he went with his sister and uncle in
the woods.

"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie, quite proudly. "Don't
you want to learn, Sammie?"

"No," he said, "that's only for girls. I'd rather play marbles and fly a
kite, but I'll turn for you, if we can find a rope," for, you see,
Sammie was always kind to his sister.

"We will have a rope in a minute," remarked Uncle Wiggily. "I know where
to find it."

Just then who should come walking along but Possum Pinktoes, and, as
soon as he saw the rabbits, he pretended to go to sleep.

"Oh, you do not need to go to sleep, and make believe that you are
dead," spoke Sammie. "We would not hurt you for the world."

Then Possum Pinktoes, who was only pretending to sleep, as he always did
when he thought he was in danger, opened first one eye, then the other.

"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie to him.

"Ha! Jump rope, eh?" exclaimed Possum Pinktoes. "I know the very thing
for you. A wild grapevine! It will make a fine rope."

"That's just what I was going to say," called out Uncle Wiggily.

"Come with me, and I'll show you where there are plenty of vines," went
on the possum, so they followed him, and pretty soon they came to the
place. Sammie and Uncle Wiggily cut a long piece, and then they took
hold of each end and began to turn the rope for Susie. At first she
could not do very well, even though there was a nice, smooth, grassy
place to learn on. Then out of a pond jumped Bully, the frog, and, as he
was one of the best jumpers in the woods, or, for that matter, on Orange
Mountain, he showed Susie just how to do it.

So she learned to jump "salt," which is slow, and "pepper," which is
fast, and "double pepper," which is very fast indeed. Then she learned
to jump with two ropes, one going one way and one the other, and finally
she could skip as well as any little rabbit girl in the owl's school.
Uncle Wiggily tried to jump, but he was so stiff and his rheumat