Chapter II: Part 2

"I did!" cried the Pelican bird, snapping his bill together just like a big pair of scissors. "I ate the first one after it fell to the ground near me, and I ate the second one that you shot over here. They're good--marbles are! I like 'em. Give me some more!"

The bird snapped his beak again, and Bully jumped back. As he did so the marbles in his pocket rattled, and the Pelican heard them.

"Ha! You have more!" he cried: "Hand 'em over. I'll eat 'em all up. I just love marbles!"

"No, you can't have mine!" exclaimed Bully, backing away. "I want to play some more games with Billie and Johnnie with these," and he looked to see where his two friends were. They were quite some distance off, shooting marbles as hard as they could.

Then, all of a sudden, that Pelican bird made a swoop for poor Bully, and before the frog boy could get out of the way the bird had gobbled him up in his big bill. There Bully was, not exactly swallowed by the bird, you understand, but held a prisoner in the big pouch, or skin laundry-bag that hung down below the bird's lower beak.

"Oh, let me out of here!" cried Bully, hopping about inside the big bag on the bird's big bill. "Let me out! Let me out!"

"No, I'll not," said the big bird, speaking through his nose because his mouth was shut. "I'll keep you there until you give me all your marbles, or until I decide whether or not I'll eat you for my supper."

Well, poor Bully was very much frightened, and I guess you'd be, too. He tried to get out but he couldn't, and the bird began walking off to his nest, taking the frog boy with him. Then Bully thought of his bag of marbles, and, inside the big bill, he rattled them as loudly as he could.

"Billie and Johnnie Bushytail may hear me, and help me," he thought.

And, surely enough the squirrel boys did. They heard the rattle of Bully's marbles inside the Pelican's beak, and they saw the big bird, and they guessed at once where Bully was. Then they ran up to the Pelican, and began hitting him with their marbles, which they threw at him as hard as they could. In the eyes and on his ears and on his wiggily toes and on his big beak they hit him with marbles, until that Pelican bird was glad enough to open his bill and let Bully go, marbles and all. Then the bird flew away to its nest, and Bully and his friends could play their game once more.

The Pelican didn't come back to bother them, but he had Bully's two shooters, that he had swallowed. So Johnnie, the squirrel, lent the boy frog another shooter, and it was all right. And, in case the rain doesn't come down the chimney and put the fire out, so I can't cook some pink eggs with chocolate on for my birthday, I'll tell you in the following story about Bawly and the soldier hat.

STORY VIII

BAWLY AND THE SOLDIER HAT

Susie Littletail and Jennie Chipmunk were having a play party in the woods. They had their lunch in little birch-bark baskets, and they used a nice, big, flat stump for a table. They took an old napkin for a tablecloth, and they had pieces of carrots boiled in molasses and chocolate, and cabbage with pink frosting on, and nuts all covered with candy, and some sugared popcorn, and all nice things like that, to eat.

"Oh, isn't this lovely!" exclaimed Susie. "Please pass me the fried lolly-pops, Jennie, aren't they lovely?"

"Yes, they're perfectly grand!" spoke Jennie as she passed over some bits of turnip, which they made believe were fried lolly-pops. "I'll have some sour ginger snaps, Susie."

So Susie passed the plate full of acorns, which were make-believe sour ginger snaps, you know, and the little animal girls were having a very fine time, indeed. Oh, my, yes, and a bottle of horseradish also!

Now, don't worry, if you please. I know I did promise to tell about Bawly and the soldier hat, and I'm going to do it. But Susie's and Jennie's play party has something to do with the hat, so I had to start off with them.

While they were playing in the woods, having a fine time, Bawly No-Tail, the frog boy, was at home in his house, making a big soldier hat out of paper. I suppose you children have often made them, and also have played at having a parade with wooden swords and guns. If you haven't done so, please get your papa to make you a soldier hat.

Well, finally Bawly's hat was finished, and he put a feather in it, just as Yankee Doodle did, only Bawly didn't look like macaroni.

"Now, I'll go out and see if I can find the boys and we'll pretend there's a war, and a battle, and shooting and all that," went on the frog chap, who loved to do exciting things. So Bawly hopped out, and Grandpa Croaker, who was asleep in the rocking chair didn't hear him go. Anyhow, I don't believe the old gentleman frog would have cared, for Bawly's papa was at work in the wallpaper factory and his mamma had gone to the five and ten cent store to buy a new dishpan that didn't have a hole in it. As for the other frog boy, Bawly's brother Bully, he had gone after an ice cream cone, I think, or maybe a chocolate candy.

On Bawly hopped, but he didn't meet any of his friends. He had on his big, paper soldier hat, with the feather sticking out of the top, and Bawly also had a wooden gun, painted black, to make it look real, and he had a sword made out of a stick, all silvered over with paint to make it look like steel.

Oh, Bawly was a very fine soldier boy! And as he marched along he whistled a little tune that went like this:

"Soldier boy, soldier boy,
Brave and true,
I'm sure every one is
Frightened at you.
Salute the flag and
Fire the gun,
Now wave your sword
and Foes will run.
Your feathered cap
gives Lots of joy,
Oh! you're a darling
Soldier boy!"

Well, Bawly felt finer than ever after that, and though he still didn't meet any of his friends, with whom he might play, he was hoping he might see a savage fox or wolf, that he might do battle with the unpleasant creature. But perhaps you had better wait and see what happens.

All this while, as Bawly was marching along through the woods with his soldier cap on, Susie and Jennie were playing party at the old stump. They had just eaten the last of the sweet-sour cookies, and drank the last thimbleful of the orange-lemonade when, all at once, what should happen but that a great big alligator crawled out of the bushes and made a jump for them! Dear me! Would you ever expect such a thing?

"Oh, look at that!" cried Susie as she saw the alligator.

"Yes. Let's run home!" shouted Jennie in fright.

But before either of them could stir a step the savage alligator, who had escaped from the circus again, grabbed them, one in each claw, and then, holding them so that they couldn't get away, he sat up on the end of his big tail, and looked first at Susie and then at Jennie.

"Oh, please let us go!" cried Susie, with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, yes, do; and I'll give you this half of a cookie I have left," spoke Jennie kindly.

"I don't want your cookie, I want you," sang the alligator, as if he were reciting a song. "I'm going to eat you both!"

Then he held them still tighter in his claws, and fairly glared at them from out of his big eyes.

"I'm going to eat you all up!" he growled, "but the trouble is I don't know which one to eat first. I guess I'll eat you," and he made a motion toward Susie. She screamed, and then the alligator changed his mind. "No, I guess I'll eat you," and he opened his mouth for Jennie. Then he changed his mind again, and he didn't know what to do. But, of course, this made Jennie and Susie feel very nervous and also a big word called apprehensive, which is the same thing.

"Oh, help! Help! Will no one help us?" cried Susie at last.

"No, I guess no one will," spoke the alligator, real mean and saucy like.

But he was mistaken. At that moment, hopping through the woods was Bawly No-Tail, wearing his paper soldier hat. He heard Susie call, and up he marched, like the brave soldier frog boy that he was. Through the holes in the bushes he could see the big alligator, and he saw Susie and Jennie held fast in his claws.

"Oh, I can never fight that savage creature all alone," thought Bawly. "I must make him believe that a whole army of soldiers is coming at him."

So Bawly hid behind a tree, where the alligator couldn't find him, and the frog boy beat on a hollow log with a stick as if it were a drum. Then he blew out his cheeks, whistling, and made a noise like a fife. Then he aimed his wooden gun and cried: "Bang! Bang! Bung! Bung!" just as if the wooden gun had powder in it. Next Bawly waved his cap with the feather in it, and the alligator heard all this, and he saw the waving soldier cap, and he, surely enough, thought a whole big army was coming after him.

"I forgot something," the alligator suddenly cried, as he let go of Susie and Jennie. "I have to go to the dentist's to get a tooth filled," and away that alligator scrambled through the woods as fast as he could go, taking his tail with him. So that's how Bawly saved Susie and Jennie, and very thankful they were to him, and if they had had any cookies left they would have given him two or sixteen, I guess.

Now if our gas stove doesn't go out and dance in the middle of the back yard and scare the cook, so she can't bake a rice-pudding pie-cake, I'll tell you next about Grandpa Croaker and the umbrella.

STORY IX

GRANDPA CROAKER AND THE UMBRELLA

One day, as Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was coming home from school he thought of a very hard word he had had to spell in class that afternoon. It began with a "C," and the next letter was "A" and the next one was "T"--CAT--and what do you think? Why Bully said it spelled "Kitten," and just for that he had to write the word on his slate forty-'leven times, so he'd remember it next day.

"I guess I won't forget it again in a hurry," thought Bully as he hopped along with his books in a strap over his shoulder. "C-a-t spells--" And just then he heard a funny noise in the bushes, and he stopped short, as Grandfather Goosey Gander's clock did, when Jimmy Wibblewobble poured molasses in it. Bully looked all around to see what the noise was. "For it might be that alligator, or the Pelican bird," he whispered to himself.

Just then he heard a jolly laugh, and his brother Bawly hopped out from under a cabbage leaf.

"Did I scare you, Bully?" asked Bawly, as he scratched his right ear with his left foot.

"A little," said Bully, turning a somersault to get over being frightened.

"Well, I didn't mean to, and I won't do it again. But now that you are out of school, come on, let's go have a game of ball. It'll be lots of fun," went on Bawly.

So the two brothers hopped off, and found Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, and Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, and some other animal friends, and they had a fine game, and Bawly made a home run.

Now, about this same time, Grandpa Croaker, the nice old gentleman frog, was hopping along through the cool, shady woods, and he was wondering what Mrs. No-Tail would have good for supper.

"I hope she has scrambled watercress with sugar on top," thought Grandpa, and just then he felt a drop of rain on his back. The sun had suddenly gone under a cloud, and the water was coming down as fast as it could, for April showers bring May flowers, you know. Grandpa Croaker looked up, and, as he did so a drop of rain fell right in his eye! But bless you! He didn't mind that a bit. He just hopped out where he could get all wet, for he had on his rubber clothes, and he felt as happy as your dollie does when she has on her new dress and goes for a ride in the park. Frogs love water.

The rain came down harder and harder and the water was running about, all over in the woods, playing tag, and jumping rope, and everything like that, when, all at once, Grandpa Croaker heard a little voice crying:

"Oh, dear! I'll never get home in all this rain without wetting my new dress and bonnet! Oh, what shall I do?"

"Ha, I wonder if that can be a fairy?" said Grandpa.

"No, I'm not a fairy," went on the voice. "I'm Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrow girl, and I haven't any umbrella."

"Oh, ho!" exclaimed Grandpa Croaker as he saw Nellie huddled up under a big leaf, "why do you come out without an umbrella when it may rain at any moment? Why do you do it?"

"Oh, I came out to-day to gather some nice wild flowers for my teacher," said Nellie. "See, I found some lovely white ones, like stars," and she held them out so Grandpa could smell them. But he couldn't without hopping over closer to where the little sparrow girl was.

"I was so interested in the flowers that I forgot all about bringing an umbrella," went on Nellie, and then she began to cry, for she had on a new blue hat and dress, and didn't want them to get spoiled by the rain that was splashing all over.

"Oh, don't cry!" begged Grandpa.

"But I can't get home without an umbrella," wailed Nellie.

"Oh, I can soon fix that," said the old gentleman goat--I mean frog. "See, over there is a nice big toadstool. That will make the finest umbrella in the world. I'll break it off and bring it to you, and then you can fly home, holding it over your head, in your wing, and then your hat and dress won't get wet."

Nellie thanked Grandpa Croaker very kindly and thought what a fine frog gentleman he was. Off he hopped through the rain, never minding it the least bit, and just as he got to the toadstool what do you s'pose he saw? Why, a big, ugly snake was twined around it, just as a grapevine twines around the clothes-post.

"Hello, there!" cried Grandpa. "You don't need that toadstool at all, Mr. Snake, for water won't hurt you. I want it for Nellie Chip-Chip, so kindly unwind yourself from it."

"Indeed, I will not," spoke the snake, saucily, hissing like a steam radiator on a hot day.

"I demand that you immediately get off that toadstool!" cried Grandpa Croaker in his hoarsest voice, so that it sounded like distant thunder. He wanted to scare the snake.

"I certainly will not get off!" said the snake, firmly, "and what's more I'm going to catch you, too!" And with that he reached out like lightning and grabbed Grandpa, and wound himself around him and the toadstool also, and there the poor gentleman frog was, tight fast!

"Oh! Oh! You're squeezing the life out of me!" cried Grandpa Croaker.

"That's what I intend to do," spoke the snake, savagely.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?" asked Nellie. "Shall I bite his tail, Mr. Frog?"

"No, stay there. Don't come near him, or he'll grab you," called Grandpa Croaker in a choking voice. "Besides you'll get all wet, for it's still raining. I'll get away somehow." But no matter how hard he struggled Grandpa couldn't get away from the snake, who was pressing him tighter and tighter against the toadstool.

Poor Grandpa thought he was surely going to be killed, and Nellie was crying, but she didn't dare go near the snake, and the snake was laughing and snickering as loud as he could. Oh, he was very impolite! Then, all of a sudden, along hopped Bully and Bawly, the frog boys. The ball game had been stopped on account of the rain, you know.

"Oh, look!" cried Bully. "We must save Grandpa from that snake!"

"That's what we must!" shouted Bawly. "Here, we'll make him unwind himself from Grandpa and the toadstool and then hit him with our baseball bats."

So those brave frog boys went quite close to the snake, and that wiggily creature thought he could catch them, and so put out his head to do it. Then Bully and Bawly hopped around the toadstool in a circle, and the snake, keeping his beady, black eyes on them, followed them with his head, around and around, still hoping to catch them, until he finally unwound himself, just like a corkscrew out of a bottle.

Then Bully and Bawly hit him with their baseball bats, and the snake ran away, taking his tail with him, and Grandpa Croaker was free. Then, taking a long breath, for good measure, the old gentleman frog broke off the toadstool and gave it to Nellie Chip-Chip for an umbrella, and the sparrow girl could go home in the rain without getting wet. And Grandpa thanked Bully and Bawly and hopped on home with them. So that's the end of this story.

But in case the little dog next door doesn't take our doormat and eat it for supper with his bread and butter I'll tell you in the story after this one about Bawly and Jollie Longtail.

STORY X

BAWLY N

For a few days after Grandpa Croaker, the old frog gentleman, had been wound around the toadstool by the snake, as I told you in the story before this one, he was so sore and stiff from the squeezing he had received, that he had to sit in an easy chair, and eat hot mush with sugar on. And, in order that he would not be lonesome, Bawly and Bully No-Tail, the frog boys, sat near him, and read him funny things from their school books, or the paper, and Grandpa Croaker was very thankful to them.

The frog boys wanted very much to go away and play ball with their friends, for, it being the Easter vacation, there was no school, but, instead, they remained at home nearly all the while, so Grandpa wouldn't feel lonesome.

But at last one day the old gentleman frog said:

"Now, boys, I'm sure you must be very tired of staying with me so much. You need a little vacation. I am almost well now, so I'll hop over and see Uncle Wiggily Longears. Then you may go and play ball, and here is a penny for each of you."

Well, of course Bully and Bawly thanked their Grandpa, though they really hadn't expected anything like that, and off they hopped to the store to spend the money. For they had saved all the pennies for a long time, and they were now allowed to buy something.

Bully bought a picture post card to send to Aunt Lettie, the nice old lady goat, and Bawly bought a bean shooter. That is a long piece of tin, with a hole through it like a pipe, and you put in a bean at one end, blow on the other end, and out pops the bean like a cork out of a soda water bottle.

"What are you going to do with that bean shooter?" asked Bully of his brother.

"Oh, I'm going to carry it instead of a gun," said Bawly, "and if I see that bad alligator, or snake, again I'll shoot 'em with beans."

"Beans, won't hurt 'em much," spoke Bully.

"No, but maybe the beans will tickle 'em so they'll laugh and run away," replied his brother. Then they hopped on through the woods, and pretty soon they met Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dogs.

"Let's have a ball game," suggested Peetie, as he wiggled his left ear.

"Oh, yes!" cried Jackie, as he dug a hole in the ground to see if he could find a juicy bone, but he couldn't I'm sorry to say.

Well, they started the ball game, and Bawly was so fond of his bean shooter that he kept it with him all the while, and several times, when the balls were high in the air, he tried to hit them by blowing beans at them. But he couldn't, though the beans popped out very nicely.

But finally the other players didn't like Bawly to do that, for the beans came down all around them, and tickled them so that they had to laugh, and they couldn't play ball.

Then Bawly said he'd lay his shooter down in the grass, but before he could do so his brother Bully knocked such a high flying ball that you could hardly see it.

"Oh, grab it, Bawly! Grab it!" cried Peetie and Jackie, dancing about on the ends of their tails, for Bawly was supposed to chase after the balls. Away he went with his bean shooter, almost as fast as an automobile.

Farther and farther went the ball, and Bawly was chasing after it. All of a sudden he found himself in the back yard of a house where the ball had bounced over the fence, and of course, being a good ball player, Bawly kept right on after it. But he never expected to find himself in the yard, and he certainly never expected to see what he did see.

For there was a great, big, ugly, cruel boy, and he had something in his hand. At first Bawly couldn't tell what it was, and then, to his surprise, he saw that the boy had caught Jollie Longtail, the nice little mousie boy, about whom I once told you.

"Ah ha! Now I have you!" cried the boy to the mouse. "You went in the feed box in my father's barn, and I have caught you."

"Oh, but I only took the least bit of corn," said Jollie Longtail. But the boy didn't understand the mouse language, though Bawly did.

"I'm going to tie your tail in a knot, hang you over the clothes line and then throw stones at you!" went on the cruel boy. "That will teach you to keep away from our place. We don't like mice."

Well, poor Jollie Longtail shivered and shook, and tried to get away from that boy, but he couldn't, and then the boy began tying a knot in the mousie's tail, so he could fasten Jollie to the clothes line in the yard.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried Bawly, and he forgot all about the ball that was lying in the grass close beside him. "How sorry I am for poor Jollie," thought Bawly.

"There's one knot!" cried the boy as he made it. "Now for another!"

Poor Jollie squirmed and wiggled, but he couldn't get away.

"Now for the last knot, and then I'll tie you on the clothes line," spoke the boy, twisting Jollie's tail very hard.

"Oh, if he ever gets tied on the clothes line that will be the last of him!" thought Bawly. "I wonder how I can save him?"

Bawly thought, and thought, and thought, and finally he thought of his bean shooter, and the beans he still had with him.

"That's the very thing!" he whispered. Then he hid down in the grass, where the boy couldn't see him, and just as that boy was about to tie Jollie to the line, Bawly put a bean in the shooter, put the shooter in his mouth, puffed out his cheeks and "bango!" a bean hit the boy on the nose!

"Ha!" cried the boy. "Who did that?" He looked all around and he thought, maybe, it was a hailstone, but there weren't any storm clouds in the sky. Then the boy once more started to tie Jollie to the line.

"Bungo!" went a bean on his left ear, hitting him quite hard.

"Stop that!" the boy cried, winking his eyes very fast.

"Cracko!" went a bean on his right ear, for Bawly was blowing them very fast now.

"Oh, wait until I get hold of you, whoever you are!" shouted the boy, looking all around, but he could see no one, for Bawly was hiding in the grass.

"Smacko!" went a bean on the boy's nose again, and then he danced up and down, and was so excited that he dropped poor Jollie in the soft grass, and away the mousie scampered to where he saw Bawly hiding.

Then Bawly kindly loosened the knots in the mousie's tail, picked up the ball, and away they both scampered back to the game, and told their friends what had happened. And maybe Jollie wasn't thankful to Bawly! Well, I just guess he was! And that boy was so kerslastrated, about not being able to find out who blew the beans at him, that he stood right up on his head and wiggled his feet in the air, and then ran into the house.

Now, if it should happen that our pussy cat doesn't go roller skating and fall down and hurt its little nose so he can't lap up his milk, I'll tell you next about Bully and the water bottle.

STORY XI

BULLY AND THE WATER BOTTLE

Well, just as I expected, my little cat did go roller skating, and skated over a banana skin, and fell down and rubbed some of the fur off his ear. But anyhow I'll tell you a story just the same, and it's going to be about what happened to Bully No-Tail, the frog, when he had a water bottle.

Do you know what a water bottle is? Now don't be too sure. You might think it was a bottle made out of water, but instead it's a bottle that holds water. Any kind of a bottle will do, and you can even take a milk bottle and put water in it if the milkman lets you.

Well, one day, when Bully didn't know what to do to have some fun, and when Bawly, his brother, had gone off to play ball, Bully thought about making a water bottle, as Johnnie Bushytail had told him how to do it.

Bully took a bottle that once had held ink, and he cleaned it all out. Then he got a cork, and, taking one of his mamma's long hatpins, he made, with the sharp point, a number of holes through the cork, just as if it were a sieve, or a coffee strainer. Then Bully filled the bottle with water, put in the cork, and there he had a sprinkling-water-bottle, just as nice as you could buy in a store.

"Now I'll have some fun!" exclaimed Bully, as he jiggled the bottle up and down quite fast, with the cork end held down. The water squirted out from it just like from the watering can, when your mamma waters the flowers.

"I guess I'll go water the garden first," thought Bully. So he hopped over to where there were some seeds planted and the little green sprouts were just peeping up from the ground. Bully sprinkled water on the dry earth and made it soft so the flowers could come through more easily.

"Oh, this is great!" cried the frog boy, as he held the water bottle high in the air and let some drops sprinkle down all around on his own head and clothes.

But please don't any of you try that part of the trick unless you have on your bathing suit, for your mamma might not like it. As for Bully, it didn't matter how wet he got, for frogs just like water, and they have on clothes that water doesn't harm.

So Bully watered all the flowers, and then he sprinkled the dust on the sidewalk and got a broom, and swept it nice and clean.

"Ha! That's a good boy!" said Grandpa Croaker, in his deepest voice, as he hopped out of the yard to go over and play checkers with Uncle Wiggily Longears. "A very good boy, indeed. Here is a penny for you," and he gave Bully a bright, new one.

"I'm going to buy some marbles, as I lost all mine," said Bully, as he thanked his Grandpa very kindly and hopped off to the store.

But before Bully had hopped very far he happened to think that his water bottle was empty, so he stopped at a nice cold spring that he knew of, beside the road, and filled it--that is, he filled his water bottle, you know, not the spring.

"For," said Bully to himself, "I might happen to meet a bad dog, and if he came at me to bite me I could squirt water in his eyes, almost as well as if I had a water pistol, and the dog would howl and run away."

Well, the frog boy hopped along, and pretty soon he came to a store where the marbles were. He bought a penny's worth of brown and blue ones, and then the monkey-doodle, who kept the store, gave him a piece of candy.

"Now I'll find some of the boys, and have a game of marbles," thought Bully, as he took three big hops and two little ones. Then he hopped into the woods to look for his friends.

Well, Bully hadn't gone on very far before, just as he was hopping past a big stump, he heard a voice calling:

"Now I have you!"

Well, you should have seen that frog boy jump, for he thought it was a savage wolf or fox about to grab him. But, instead he saw Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel, and right in front of Johnnie was a great big horned owl, with large and staring eyes.

"Now I have you!" cried the owl again, and this time Bully knew the bad bird was speaking to poor Johnnie Bushytail and not to him. And at that the owl put out one claw, and, before the squirrel could run away the savage creature had grabbed him. "Didn't I tell you I had you?" the bird asked, sarcastic like.

"Yes, I guess I did," answered Johnnie, trembling so that his tail looked like a dusting brush. "But please let me go, Mr. Owl. I never did anything to you."

"Didn't you climb up a tree just now?" asked the owl, real saucy like.

"Yes. I guess I did," answered Johnnie. "I'm always climbing trees, you know. But that doesn't hurt you; does it?"

"Yes, it does, for you knocked down a piece of bark, and it hit me on the beak. And for that I'm going to take you home and cook you for dinner," the owl hooted.

"Oh, please, please don't!" begged poor Johnnie, but the owl said he would, just the same, and he began to get ready to fly off to his nest with the squirrel.

"Ha, I must stop that, if it's possible," thought Bully, the frog, who was still hiding behind the stump. "I mustn't let the owl carry Johnnie away. But how can I stop him?" Bully peeked around the edge of the stump and saw the owl squeezing poor Johnnie tighter and tighter in his claws.

"Ah, I have it!" cried Bully. "My water bottle and my marbles!" And with that he hopped softly up on top of the stump, and leaning over the edge he saw below him the owl holding Johnnie. Then Bully took the water bottle, turned it upside down, and he sprinkled the water out as hard as he could on that savage owl's back. Down it fell in a regular shower.

"My goodness me!" cried the owl. "It's raining and I have no umbrella! I'll get all wet!"

Then Bully squirted out more water, shaking it from the bottle as hard as he could, and he rattled his bag of marbles until they sounded like thunder and hailstones, and the owl looked up, but couldn't see Bully on the stump for the water was in his eyes. Then, being very much afraid of rain and thunder storms, that bad owl bird suddenly flew away, leaving Johnnie Bushytail on the ground, scared but safe.

"Ha! That's the time the water bottle did a good trick!" cried Bully, as he went to see if Johnnie was hurt. But the squirrel wasn't, very much, and he could soon scramble home, after thanking Bully very kindly.

And that owl was so wet that he caught cold and had the epizootic for a week, and it served him right. Now in case the baby's rattle box doesn't bounce into the pudding dish and scare the chocolate cake, I'll tell you next about Bawly going hunting.

STORY XII

BAWLY N

"Oh, Grandpa, will you please tell us a story?" begged Bully and Bawly No-Tail one evening after supper, when they sat beside the old gentleman frog, who was reading a newspaper. "Do tell us a story about a giant."

"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed Grandpa Croaker. "I'm afraid I don't know any giant stories, but I'll tell you one about how I once went hunting and was nearly caught myself."

"Oh, that will be fine!" cried the two frog boys, so their Grandpa took one of them up on each knee, and in his deepest, bass, rumbling, stumbling, bumbling voice he told them the story.

It was a very good story, and some day perhaps I may tell it to you. It was about how, when Grandpa was a young frog, he started out to hunt blackberries, and got caught in a briar bush and couldn't get loose for ever so long, and the mosquitoes bit him very hard, all over.

"And after that I never went hunting blackberries without taking a mosquito netting along," said the old frog gentleman, as he finished his story.

"My but that _was_ an adventure!" cried Bully.

"That's what!" agreed his brother. "You were very brave, Grandpa, to go off hunting blackberries all alone."

"Yes, I was considered quite brave and handsome when I was young," admitted the old gentleman frog, in his bass voice. "But now, boys, run off to bed, and I'll finish reading the paper."

The next morning when Bully got up he saw Bawly at the side of the bed, putting some beans in a bag, and taking his bean shooter out from the bureau drawer where he kept it.

"What are you going to do, Bawly?" asked Bully.

"I'm going hunting, as Grandpa did," said his brother.

"But blackberries aren't ripe yet. They're not ripe until June or July," objected Bully.

"I know it, but I'm going to hunt mosquitoes, not blackberries. I'm going to kill all I can with my bean shooter, and then there won't be so many to bite the dear little babies this summer. Don't you want to come along?" asked Bawly.

"I would if I had a bean shooter," answered Bully. "Perhaps I'll go some other time. To-day I promised Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow I'd come over and play ball with them."

So Bully went to play ball, with the puppy dogs, and Bawly went hunting, after his mamma had said that he might, and had told him to be careful.

"I'll put up a little lunch for you," she said, "so you won't get hungry hunting mosquitoes in the woods."

Off Bawly hopped, with his lunch in a little basket on one leg and carrying his bean shooter, and plenty of beans. He knew a deep, dark, dismal stretch of woodland where there were so many mosquitoes that they wouldn't have been afraid to bite even an elephant, if one had happened along. You see there were so many of the mosquitoes that they were bold and savage, like bears or lions.

"But just wait until I get at them with my bean shooter," said Bawly bravely. "Then they'll be so frightened that they'll fly away, and never come back to bother people any more."

On and on he hopped and pretty soon he could hear a funny buzzing noise.

"Those are the mosquitoes," said the frog boy. "I am almost at the deep, dark, dismal woods. Now I must be brave, as my Grandpa was when he hunted blackberries; and, so that I may be very strong, to kill all the mosquitoes, I'll eat part of my lunch now."

So Bawly sat down under a toadstool, for it was very hot, and he ate part of his lunch. He could hear the mosquitoes buzzing louder and louder, and he knew there must be many of them; thousands and thousands.

"Well, here I go!" exclaimed the frog boy at length, as he wrapped up in a paper what was left of his lunch, and got his bean shooter all ready. "Now for the battle. Charge! Forward, March! Bang-bang! Bung-bung!" and he made a noise like a fife and drum going up hill.

"Well, I wonder what that can be coming into our woods?" asked one mosquito of another as he stopped buzzing his wings a moment.

"It looks like a frog boy," was the reply of a lady mosquito.

"It is," spoke a third mosquito, sharpening his biting bill on a stone. "Let's sting him so he'll never come here again."

"Yes, let's do it!" they all agreed.

So they all got ready with their stingers, and Bawly hopped nearer and nearer. They were just going to pounce on him and bite him to pieces when he suddenly shot a lot of beans at them, hitting quite a number of mosquitoes and killing a few.

"My! What's this? What's this?" cried the mosquitoes that weren't killed. "What is happening?" and they were very much surprised, not to say startled.

"This must be a war!" said some others. "This frog boy is fighting us!"

"That's just what I'm doing!" cried Bawly bravely. "I'm punishing you for what you did to Grandfather Croaker! Bang-bang! Bung-bung! Shoot! Fire! Aim! Forward, March!" and with that he shot some more beans at the mosquitoes, killing hundreds of them so they could never more bite little babies or boys and girls, to say nothing of papas and mammas and aunts and uncles.

Oh, how brave Bawly was with his bean shooter! He made those mosquitoes dance around like humming birds, and they were very much frightened. Then Bawly took a rest and ate some more of his lunch, laying his bean shooter down on top of a stump.

"Now the battle will go on again!" he cried, when he had eaten the last crumb and felt very strong. But, would you believe me, while he was eating, those mosquitoes had sneaked up and taken away his bean shooter.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried Bawly, as he saw that his tin shooter was gone. "Now I can't fight them any more."

Then the mosquitoes knew that the frog boy didn't have his bean-gun with him, for they had hid it, and they stung him, so much that maybe, they would have stung him to death if it hadn't happened that Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrows, flew along just then. Into the swarm of mosquitoes the birds flew, and they caught hundreds of them in their bills and killed them, and the rest were so frightened that they flew away, and in that manner Bawly was saved.

So that's how he went hunting all alone, and when he got home his Grandpa Croaker and all the folks thought him very brave. Now, in case I see a red poodle dog, with yellow legs, standing on his nose while he wags his tail at the pussy cat, I'll tell you next about Papa No-Tail and the giant.

STORY XIII

PAPA NO-TAIL AND THE GIANT

Did you ever hear the story of the giant with two heads, who chased a whale, and caught him by the tail, and tickled the terrible monster with a big, crooked hickory fence rail?

Well, I'm not going to tell you a story about that giant, but about another, who had only one head, though it was a very large one, and this giant nearly scared Papa No-Tail, the frog gentleman, into a conniption fit, which is almost as bad as the epizootic.

It happened one day that there wasn't any work for Mr. No-Tail to do at the wallpaper factory, where he dipped his feet in ink and hopped around to make funny black, and red, and green, and purple splotches, so they would turn out to be wallpaper patterns. The reason there was no work was because the Pelican bird drank up all the ink in his big bill, so they couldn't print any paper.

"I have a holiday," said Papa No-Tail, as he hopped about, "and I am going to have a good time."

"What are you going to do?" asked Grandpa Croaker as he started off across the pond to play checkers with Uncle Wiggily Longears.

"I think I will take Bully and Bawly and go for a swim, and then we'll take a hop through the woods and perhaps we may find an adventure," answered Mr. No-Tail.

So he went up to the house, where Bully and Bawly, the two boy frogs, were just getting ready to go out roller skating, and Mr. No-Tail asked them if they didn't want to come with him instead.

"Indeed we do!" cried Bully, as he winked both eyes at his brother, for he knew that when his papa took them out hopping, he used often to stop in a store and buy them peanuts or candy.

Well, pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, Papa No-Tail and the two boys got to the edge of the pond, and into the water they hopped to have a swim. My! I just wish you could have seen them. Papa No-Tail swam in ever so many different ways, and Bully and Bawly did as well as they could. And, would you believe me? just as Bully was getting out of the water, up on the bank, ready to go hopping off with Bawly and his papa through the woods, a big fish nearly grabbed the little frog boy by his left hind leg.

"Oh my!" he cried, and his papa hopped over quickly to where Bully was, and threw a stick at the bad fish to scare him away.

"Ha! hum!" exclaimed Mr. No-Tail, "that was nearly an adventure, Bully, but I don't like that kind. Come on into the woods, boys, and we'll see what else we can find."

So into the woods they went, where there were tall trees, and little trees, and bushes, and old stumps where owls lived. And the green leaves were just coming out nicely on the branches, and there were a few early May flowers peeping up from under the leaves and moss, just as baby peeps up at you, out from under the bedclothes in the morning when the sun awakens her.

"Oh, isn't it just lovely here in the woods!" cried Bully.

"It is certainly very fine," agreed Bawly, and he looked up in the treetops, where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, were frisking about, and then down on the ground, where Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbits, were sitting beside an old stump, in which there were no bad owls to scare them.

"Now I think we'll sit down here and eat our lunch," said Papa No-Tail after a while, as they came to a nice little open place in the woods, where there was a large flat stump, which they could use as a table. So they opened the baskets of lunch that Mamma No-Tail had put up for them, and they were eating their watercress sandwiches, and talking of what they would do next, when, all of a sudden, they heard a most startling, tremendous and extraordinary noise in the bushes.

It was just as if an elephant were tramping along, and at first Papa No-Tail thought it might be one of those big beasts, or perhaps an alligator.

"Keep quiet, boys," he whispered, "and perhaps he won't see us." So they kept very quiet, and hid down behind the stump.

But the noise came nearer and nearer, and it sounded louder and louder, and, before you could spell "cat" or "rat," out from under a big, tall tree stepped a big, tall giant. Oh, he was a fearful looking fellow! His head was as big as a washtub full of clothes on a Monday morning, and his legs were so long that I guess he could have hopped, skipped and jumped across the street in about three steps.

"Oh, look!" whispered Bully.

"Oh, isn't he terrible!" said Bawly, softly.

"Hush!" cautioned their papa. "Please keep quiet and maybe he won't see us."

So they kept as quiet as they could, hoping the giant would pass by, but instead he came right over to the stump, and the first any one knew he had sat down on the top of it. I tell you it's a good thing Bully and Bawly and their papa had hopped off or they would have been crushed flat. But they weren't, I'm glad to say, for they were hiding down behind the stump, and they didn't dare hop away for fear the giant would see, or hear them.

The big man sat on the stump, and he looked all about, and he saw some bread and watercress crumbs where Bully and Bawly and their papa had been eating their lunch.

"My!" exclaimed the giant. "Some one has been having dinner here. Oh, how hungry I am! I wish I had some dinner. I believe I could eat the hind legs of a dozen frogs if I had them!"

Well, you should have seen poor Bully and Bawly tremble when they heard that.

"This must be a terrible giant," said Mr. No-Tail. "Now I tell you what I am going to do. Bully, I will hide you and Bawly in this hollow stump, and then I'll hop out where the giant can see me. He'll chase after me, but I'll hop away as fast as I can, and perhaps I can get to some water and hide before he catches me. Then he'll be so far away from the stump that it will be safe for you boys to come out."

Well, Bully and Bawly didn't want their papa to do that, fearing he would be hurt, but he said it was best, so they hid inside the stump, and out Mr. No-Tail hopped to where the giant could see him. Papa No-Tail expected the big man would chase after him, but instead the giant never moved and only looked at the frog and then he laughed and said:

"Hello, Mr. Frog! Let's see you hop!" And then, what do you think that giant did? Why he took off his head, which wasn't real, being hollow and made of paper, like a false face, so that his own head went inside of it. And there he was only a nice, ordinary man after all.

"What! Aren't you a giant?" cried Papa No-Tail, who was so surprised that he hadn't hopped a single hop.

"No," said the man; "I am only a clown giant in a circus, but I ran away to-day so I could see the flowers in the woods. I was tired of being in the circus so much and doing funny tricks."

"But--but--what makes you so tall?" asked Mr. No-Tail.

"Oh, those are wooden stilts on my legs," said the giant. "They make me as tall as a clothes post, these stilts do."

And, surely enough, they did, being like wooden legs, and the man wasn't a real giant at all, but very nice, like Mr. No-Tail, only different: and he left off his big hollow paper head, and Bully and Bawly came out of the stump, and the circus clown-giant, just like those you have seen, told the frog boys lots of funny stories. Then they gave him some of their lunch and showed him where flowers grew. Afterward the make-believe giant went back to the circus, much happier than he had been at first.

So that's all now, if you please, but if the rose bush in our back yard doesn't come into the house and scratch the frosting off the chocolate cake I'll tell you next about Bawly and the church steeple.

STORY XIV

BAWLY AND THE CHURCH STEEPLE

After Bully and Bawly No-Tail, the frogs, and their papa, reached home from the woods, where they met the make-believe giant, as I told you in the story before this one, they talked about it for ever so long, and agreed that it was quite an adventure.

"I wish I'd have another adventure to-morrow," said Bawly, as he went to bed that night.

"Perhaps you may," said his papa. "Only I can't be with you to-morrow, as I have to go to work in my wallpaper factory. We made the Pelican bird give back the ink, so the printing presses can run again."

Well, the next day the frog boys' mamma said to them:

"Bully and Bawly, I wish you would go to the store for me. I want a dozen lemons and some sugar, for I am going to make lemonade, in case company comes to-night."

"All right, we'll go," said Bully very politely. "I'll get the sugar and Bawly can get the lemons."

So they went to the store and got the things, and when they were hopping out, the storekeeper, who was a very kind elephant gentleman, gave them each a handful of peanuts, which they put in the pockets of their clothes, that water couldn't hurt.

Well, when Bully and Bawly were almost home, they came to a place where there were two paths. One went through the woods and the other across the pond.

"I'll tell you what let's do," suggested Bully. "You go by the woodland path, Bawly, and I'll go by way of the pond and we'll see who will get home first."

"All right," said Bawly, so on he hopped through the woods, going as fast as he could, for he wanted to beat. And Bully swam as fast as he could in the water, carrying the sugar, for it was in a rubber bag, so it wouldn't get wet. But now I'm going to tell you what happened to Bawly.

He was hopping along, carrying the lemons, when all at once he heard some one calling to him:

"Hello, little frog, are you a good jumper?"

Bawly looked all around, and there right by a great, big stone he saw a savage, ugly fox. At first Bawly was going to throw a lemon at the bad animal, to scare him away, and then he happened to think that the lemons were soft and wouldn't hurt the fox very much.

"Don't be afraid," said the fox, "I won't bite you. I wouldn't hurt you for the world, little frog," and then the fox came slowly from behind the stone, and Bawly saw that both the sly creature's front feet were lame from the rheumatism, like Uncle Wiggily's, so the fox couldn't run at all. Bawly knew he could easily hop away from him, as the sly animal couldn't go any faster than a snail.

"Oh, I guess the reason you won't hurt me, is because you can't catch me," said Bawly, slow and careful-like.

"Oh, I wouldn't hurt you, anyhow," went on the fox, trying not to show how hungry he was, for really, you know, he wanted to eat Bawly, but he knew he couldn't catch him, with his sore feet, so he was trying to think of another way to get hold of him. "I just love frogs," said the fox.

"I guess you do," thought Bawly. "You like them too much. I'll keep well away from you."

"But what I want to know," continued the fox, "is whether you are a good jumper, Bawly."

"Yes, I am--pretty good," said the frog boy.

"Could you jump over this stone?" asked the fox, slyly, pointing to a little one.

"Easily," said Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Could you jump over that stump?" asked the fox, pointing to a big one.

"Easily," answered Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Ha! Here is a hard one," said the fox. "Could you jump over my head?"

"Easily," replied Bawly, and he did it, lemons and all.

"Well, you certainly are a good jumper," spoke the fox, wagging his bushy tail with a puzzled air. "I know something you can't do, though."

"What is it?" inquired Bawly.

"You can't jump over the church steeple."