e cried, snapping his jaws at the poor old gentleman
rabbit. And really it did seem as if Uncle Wiggily would be eaten up. But
you never can tell what is going to happen in this world; never indeed.

All of a sudden, just as the paper boat was melting all to pieces, and
Uncle Wiggily was trying, as best he could, to swim to shore with his
crutch and valise, and just as the alligator was going to grab him, along
came the big, kind goldfish.

"Jump on my back, Uncle Wiggily!" cried the fish, and the rabbit did so,
in the twinkling of an eye. And before the alligator could grab Uncle
Wiggily, the goldfish swam to shore with him, and he was safe. And the
alligator got some soap in his eye, from washing his face too hard, and
went sloshing away as mad as could be, but it served him right. And Uncle
Wiggily slept safely in the wooden house all night, and dreamed about
finding a gold dollar.

Now in case the banana man brings me some pink oranges for the elephant's
little boy, I'll tell you in another story about Uncle Wiggily and the mud
pie.[Transcriber's Note: in the above sentence, the word "tell" was
omitted in the original text.]

STORY XXII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MUD PIE

Uncle Wiggily slept very soundly that night in the little wooden house,
across on the other side of the brook, where the alligator tried to catch
him, but didn't. And when he awakened in the morning the rabbit traveler
wondered what he was going to have for breakfast. But he didn't wonder
very long.

For, as soon as he had gotten up, and had washed his paws and face, and
combed out his ears--oh, dear me--I mean his whiskers--as soon as he had
done that, he heard a knock on the door.

"Oh, my, suz dud and a bottle of milk!" exclaimed the old gentleman
rabbit. "I hope that isn't the scary-flary alligator again."

So he peeped out of the window, but to his surprise, he didn't see any
one.

"I'm sure I heard a knock," he said, "but I guess I was mistaken."

Well, he was going over to his valise to see if it had in it anything to
eat, when the knock again sounded on the door.

"No, I wasn't mistaken," said Uncle Wiggily. "I wonder who that can be?
I'll peep, and find out."

So he hid behind the window curtain, and kept a close watch, and the first
things he saw were some little stones flying through the air. And they hit
against the front door with a rattlety-bang, and it was these stones that
had made the sound that was like a knock