Frisky Squirrel. "If you
weren't my best friend I'd never think of such a thing. And you mustn't
expect I'm going to let you do this often----"

"Do what?" Frisky asked.

"Why, wheel my wheelbarrow!" said Jimmy.

Frisky Squirrel jumped high up in the air, he was so pleased.

"Hurrah!" he cried. "May I push it now, before you fill it with
vegetables?"

"Well--no! It's getting late," said Jimmy. "My mother will be expecting
me soon. I'll let you wheel the vegetables home for me. But first, you
must gather them."

Frisky Squirrel was more than willing. And he filled the barrow with
cabbages and turnips, lettuce and peas, while Jimmy Rabbit looked on and
ordered him about.

"There!" said Jimmy, when the wheelbarrow was full. "Now we'll go home."
And then, to Frisky Squirrel's surprise, Jimmy climbed on top of the
load and sat himself down.

"What's that for?" asked Frisky.

"Why, to keep the vegetables from falling out!" Jimmy explained. "You
see, you don't know how to wheel a wheelbarrow. You'll be tipping it,
first one side and then the other. And we'd have to stop every few
steps and pick up a turnip or a cabbage."

"But I don't want to wheel _you_!" said Frisky. "You're too heavy!"

"Oh, very well, then!" Jimmy answered. "If you don't care to wheel the
wheelbarrow, it's all the same to me." And he started to jump down from
his seat on top of the load.

"No, no!" Frisky cried. "Don't get off! I can manage all right!" After
gathering all those vegetables, he didn't want to lose the fun of
pushing the wheelbarrow.

"Walk fast, now!" Jimmy said. "We're late already."

[Illustration]

[Illustration: 6 A Narrow Escape]

6

A Narrow Escape

Frisky Squirrel had a hard time pushing the wheelbarrow home with Jimmy
Rabbit on top of the load of vegetables. He puffed and groaned. And he
had to stop every little while to catch his breath.

"You see, you're not used to wheeling a wheelbarrow," Jimmy told him.
"For me, it's no trouble at all. But then, I'm stronger than you are."

Now, Frisky had been almost ready to tell Jimmy that he might trundle
the barrow the rest of the way. But when he heard that he made up his
mind that he would get that wheelbarrow up the hill to Jimmy's house if
he didn't do another thing that day.

So he started on again. And at last he stopped in front of Jimmy
Rabbit's door.

Jimmy hopped nimbly to the ground. But poor Frisky was so tired that he
lay right down and we