him, he went out with Mother
Goose.

Uncle Wiggily rode in his airship, made of a clothes-basket, with
toy circus balloons on top, and Mother Goose rode on the back of a
big gander, who was a brother to Grandfather Goosey Gander. Soon
they were at the hen coop where Higgledee Piggledee lived.

"Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I am so glad you came!" cackled the black hen.
"Did Mother Goose tell you about the egg trouble?"

"She did, Higgledee Piggledee, and I will see if I can stop it. Now,
you go on the nest and lay some eggs and then we will see what
happens," spoke Uncle Wiggily.

So Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, laid some eggs for gentlemen,
and then she went out in the yard to get some corn to eat, just as
she always did. And, while she was gone, Uncle Wiggily hid himself
in some straw in the hen coop. Pretty soon the old gentleman heard a
gnawing, rustling sound and up out of a hole in the ground popped
two big rats, with red eyes.

"Did Higgledee Piggledee lay any eggs today?" asked one rat, in a
whisper.

"Yes," spoke the other, "she did."

"Then we will take them," said the first rat. "Hurray! More eggs for
us! No gentlemen will get these eggs because we'll take them
ourselves. Hurray!"

He got down on his back, with his paws sticking up in the air. Then
the other rat rolled one of the black hen's eggs over so the first
rat could hold it in among his four legs. Next, the second rat took
hold of the first rat's tail and began pulling him along, egg and
all, just as if he were a sled on a slippery hill, the rat sliding
on his back over the smooth straw. And the eggs rode on the rat-sled
as nicely as you please.

"Ha!" cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping suddenly out of his hiding-place.
"So this is where Higgledee Piggledee's eggs have been going, eh?
You rats have been taking them. Scatt! Shoo! Boo! Skedaddle! Scoot!"

And the rats were so scared that they skedaddled away and shooed
themselves and did everything else Mr. Longears told them to do, and
they took no eggs that day. Then Uncle Wiggily showed Mother Goose
the rat hole, and it was stopped up with stones so the rats could
not come in the coop again. And ever after that Higgledee Piggledee,
the black hen, could lay eggs for gentlemen, sometimes nine and
sometimes ten, and there was no more trouble as there had been
before Uncle Wiggily caught the rats and made them skedaddle.

So Mother Goose and the black hen thanked Uncle Wiggily very much.
And if th