ow do you do!" spoke Uncle Wiggily, making a bow as well as he
could. "Can you really help me down?'

"Yes," said the crow, "I can. Wait until I get my market basket. I was
just going to the grocery, but I'm in no hurry. I'll save you first."

So that crow flew off, and in a moment he came back with a big basket in
its bill.

"Hop in!" the black crow called to Uncle Wiggily, "and I'll fly down to
the ground with you, and you can run off before the alligator comes out of
the water. I saw what you did to him with those toothache drops, and it
served him right. Come on, hop in the basket."

So Uncle Wiggily got in the basket, and the crow, taking the handle in his
strong beak, flew safely to the ground with him. And that's how the old
gentleman rabbit got down out of the tree, just as I told you he would.

So he and the crow walked on some distance through the woods together,
after Uncle Wiggily had picked up his crutch and valise, which had fallen
out of the basket, and they got safely away before the alligator came out
of the water. And wasn't he the provoked old beastie, though, when he saw
that his rabbit supper was gone?

"Where are you going?" asked the crow of Uncle Wiggily, after a bit, when
they got to a nice big stone, and sat down for a rest.

"I am seeking my fortune," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "and trying
to get better of my rheumatism. Dr. Possum told me to travel, and have
adventures, and I've had quite a few already."

"Well, I hope you find your fortune and that it turns out to be a very
good one," said the kind crow. "But it is coming on night now. Have you
any place to stay?"

"No," replied the rabbit, "I haven't. I never thought about that. What
shall I do?"

"Oh, don't worry," said the crow. "I'd let you stay in my nest, but it is
up a high tree, and you would have trouble climbing in and out. But near
my nest-house is an old hollow stump, and you can stay in that very
nicely."

"Are there any bears in it?" asked Uncle Wiggily, careful-like.

"Oh, no; not a one. It is very safe."

So the crow showed Uncle Wiggily where the hollow stump was, and he slept
there all night, on a soft bed of leaves. And when he awakened in the
morning he had breakfast with the crow and once more started off to seek
his fortune.

Well, pretty soon, in a short while, not so very long, he came to a little
house made of bark, standing in the middle of a deep, dark, dismal woods.
And on the door of the h