cows, and maybe he wasn't surprised to see them coming. But he was glad,
too, let me tell you, for he didn't have to walk any farther with his
cut foot.
Then Brighteyes and Buddy ran and hid, for they did not want to be seen,
and the man jumped upon the back of a gentle cow, and rode her all the
way home, and told his wife how the whole herd, in some strange manner,
had come all the way from the back of the field alone. You see he didn't
know Buddy and Brighteyes had driven them.
Well, in a few days the man's foot was well, so he could drive the cows
himself, and the farmer's wife gave Dr. Bigg's family lots of
buttermilk; for, somehow, she guessed that the little guinea pig boy and
girl had done the farmer a kindness, as their papa had told them to.
Now the following story will be about Buddy on horseback--that is,
providing no cats get into our coalbin to scratch the furnace and make
it go out.
[Illustration]
STORY XXV
BUDDY RIDES HORSEBACK.
One night Buddy Pigg's mamma came into his room, where he was sleeping
soundly and dreaming he was playing a ball game with Bully and Bawly,
the frogs, and Mrs. Pigg gently shook her little boy by the shoulder.
"Wake up, Buddy!" she called. "Wake up!"
"What's the matter, mother?" Buddy exclaimed, as he sat up in bed. "Is
the house on fire?"
"No," she answered, "but your papa is very sick, and I want you to go
for Dr. Possum." Then Buddy jumped up very quickly and began to dress,
for he loved his papa very much, and would do anything in the world for
him. When Buddy was ready to start he heard Dr. Pigg groaning very hard,
and saying:
"Oh, dear, what a pain I have! Oh, dear! When will Dr. Possum come?"
"Buddy is going for him at once," Mrs. Pigg said. "He will soon be here.
But have you no medicine that you can take?" For Dr. Pigg had once
worked in a hospital, and generally had some medicine in the house, but
this time he had none that would stop his pain. So Buddy had to get
ready to go for the doctor, while Mrs. Pigg and Brighteyes made mustard
plasters for Dr. Pigg.
Well, when Buddy was all dressed, he happened to look out of the window,
and he saw how dark it was, for there was no moon that night, and the
stars were all hidden behind clouds. But do you s'pose Buddy was going
to stay home on that account? No, sir-ee! He was frightened, and I guess
you'd have been, too, but he was brave, and he made up his mind he'd go
for Dr. Possum.
So Buddy put on his hat and coat and went out of the front door and into
the dark night, where, for all he knew, a bad fox might be waiting to
grab him. But Buddy took a long stick, and he filled his pockets with
stones, and he made up his mind he would throw them at the fox if he saw
him.
The little guinea pig boy went on, and on, through the woods, toward Dr.
Possum's home, and, after a while, he was not so frightened as he had
been at first. Then, all of a sudden, as he was passing a big, black
bush, he heard a funny noise. First he thought it was a wolf or a bear,
and then he heard a voice say:
"Oh, come on down into the burrow, Waddy."
Then Buddy knew it was the two groundhog boys, Woody and Waddy, who had
made the funny noises, but they didn't mean to scare him, and he wasn't
at all frightened now. Woody and Waddy had heard Buddy coming along,
and, a moment later, they saw him and asked where he was going.
"I'm going after Dr. Possum, because my papa is sick," said Buddy.
"Wait and we'll let you take our lantern," said Woody, and he hurried
down into the burrow, and came back with a large bottle, filled with
lightning bugs, which gave plenty of light. And it had a string on, to
carry it by. As Buddy took it, very thankfully, Waddy said he hoped he
would find the doctor at home.
Then Buddy started off again, but he hadn't gone much farther through
the woods before he heard another noise. This noise was a real loud one,
like some giant tramping up and down, and stamping his feet, and
suddenly there came a great snort, and the earth seemed to shake, and a
big, black thing jumped up in front of Buddy, scaring him frightfully.
He trembled so that the cork nearly came out of the bottle of lightning
bugs, and, if it had, the fireflies would have been spilled all over the
ground, worse than when you spill your ice cream cone--only it didn't
happen, I'm glad to say, but almost. Then the black shape stood still,
and a great voice called out:
"Where are you going with that lantern?"
"If you please, kind sir," answered the little boy guinea pig, "I'm
going for Dr. Possum for my papa, who has a terrible pain. The groundhog
boys lent me this lantern. But who are you, if you please, kind sir?"
"Why, I am Gup, the horse," was the answer. "So you are going for Dr.
Possum, eh? He is a friend of mine. I'm sorry if I frightened you. Yes,
I'm only Gup, the horse. You see, my name is Gup because there is a
little boy at our house, and he can't talk very plainly, and he calls me
'Gup' when he wants to say 'get up,' you see. However, it doesn't much
matter, and I don't mind.
"But, speaking of doctors, I know where Dr. Possum lives, and I'll take
you right to his house in less than no time. Besides, you and your
sister were so kind as to drive the cows home for the man who cut his
foot, and as he is a friend of mine I want to return your kindness to
him. Jump upon my back, Buddy."
"Oh, I'm afraid I'll fall," said Buddy, when he saw how high up Gup's
back was from the ground.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the horse. "I wouldn't let you fall for the
world. Here, hold up your firefly lantern so you can see, climb upon
that low stump, and then you can jump on my back. I'll stand still, and
then I'll take you right to Dr. Possum's house."
So Buddy got up on Gup's back. It was the first time he had ever ridden
a horse or been up so high, and, of course, for a while, he was
frightened. But Gup told him just how to cling tightly to his big neck
and how to hold the lantern so the lightning bugs would shine on the
path, and then Gup started off.
Oh, how fast he went! Right through the woods, he galloped, and he never
bumped into a tree or a bush even once. He went gently, too, so that
Buddy would not fall off, and, my goodness sakes alive! in a short time
the little guinea pig boy was at Dr. Possum's house. He knocked on the
door, rat-a-tat-tat, and, luckily, the doctor was at home. He got right
out of bed, took his satchel of medicines and was just going to get into
his automobile to go to Dr. Pigg's house, when he found that his auto
was broken. Either the spark was off the plug or the plug was off the
spark, I forget which. Then Gup said:
"Get right up on my back, doctor. I can carry you and Buddy, too. It's
no great weight, I assure you. Never mind the automobile. They are
always making trouble."
So Dr. Possum, with his medicine box, climbed upon Gup's back, behind
Buddy, and he helped hold the little guinea pig on during the ride home.
Faster and faster went Gup through the dark woods his hoofs going
"tat-a-tat-too," and he didn't bump into a tree or a bush, and he did
not jar off Buddy or Dr. Possum, and pretty soon there they were safe at
Dr. Pigg's house, and Dr. Possum gave Buddy's papa some medicine that
soon made him better. Then Gup, the kind horsie, took Dr. Possum safely
back through the dark woods as straight as a string.
In the morning Dr. Pigg was all well again, and he said Buddy was very
brave to go off for a doctor in the night, and I think so, too.
Now, in case it doesn't thunder too hard and scare the chimney so that
it falls off the roof, I'll tell you next about Buddy and Brighteyes
tumbling down hill.
STORY XXVI
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES FALL DOWN HILL
Not far from where Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg lived in the pen with their
papa and mamma, there was a big, tall hill. Oh, ever so much taller than
a house, but not quite so high as the church steeple, and it was a very
hard hill to climb, but, once you had gotten to the top, you could see
off, ever so far; farther than from here to the end of the rainbow,
which is very far indeed.
Now, though Buddy and Brighteyes, the two little guinea pig children,
had lived near the hill ever since they were mere babies, they had never
climbed to the top of it. There were two reasons for this. One was
because the hill was so high and the other was because it was so steep.
It seemed as if no one would ever be able to scramble up the sides of
this hill, or, if they did, very likely they would tumble down again,
just like a boy sliding over the ice and snow on his sled.
But one fine morning when the sun was shining and the birds were
singing Buddy said to Brighteyes:
"Let's climb up to the top of the hill to-day?"
"What for?" asked his sister, as she tied her hair ribbon in a double
bow knot, very pretty indeed to look at, let me tell you.
"Why, so we can see away off where the sky and the mountains come
together beyond the hill," said Buddy. "You can see beautiful scenery
from the tip-top, you know."
"What good will that do?" asked Brighteyes, who was very fond of asking
questions that were hard to answer. "What is the good of looking at the
scenery?" she wanted to know.
"Because," answered her brother, "every one does that where there is a
high hill. I heard some of the summer boarders at the farmhouse, near
our pen, telling each other what a beautiful view there was to be had
from the hill. We must see it for ourselves. There is no one around now,
and we can climb to the top."
"I don't care very much about it," spoke Brighteyes. "I would rather
find another box of peanut candy;" but because she loved Buddy, and did
not want him to start off alone, she consented to climb the big hill
with him. So they started off. At first it was rather easy, and they
went up quite fast. At the foot of the hill were blackberry bushes and
the guinea pig children gathered as many berries as they could eat.
But, as they went farther and farther up, the bushes grew more scarce,
until there were none. Then came a place where there was tall grass and
many stones, so that it was hard to walk. But Buddy and Brighteyes kept
on, and pretty soon they met a grasshopper.
"Where are you going?" asked the grasshopper.
"To the top of the hill, to see the view," answered Buddy.
"You will never get there, the way you are going," said the grasshopper.
"You should jump as I do," and he gave three big hops and a little one
to show how well he could do it.
"We cannot hop," remarked Brighteyes, "but we have a friend who can."
"Who?" asked the grasshopper, as he scratched his two big hind legs
together, like a man playing the fiddle.
"Sammie Littletail, the rabbit," said Buddy. "He can hop."
"Yes, Sammie is a good jumper," admitted the grasshopper, and he hid
under a stone, for just then he saw a big bird looking hungrily at him.
Well, Buddy and Brighteyes went on and on, and up and up, and pretty
soon they met an ant.
"Where are you going?" asked the ant.
"To the top of the hill, to see the fine view," replied Brighteyes, as
she paused to get her breath, which she had nearly lost.
"You will never get up the way you are going," said the ant. "You should
crawl, as I do," and she crawled over a stone to show how it should be
done. But Buddy and Brighteyes could not crawl, and they told the ant
so. Still they kept on, and pretty soon they met a bird.
"You had better fly to the top of the hill as I do," said the bird.
"It's much easier than walking," only, of course, Buddy and Brighteyes
could not fly.
But the two guinea pig children were not discouraged, and they kept on
and on, and pretty soon, really and truly honestly, they were at the
very top of the hill--a place where they had never been before.
They could look off to the mountains, and they saw a lake, and they
could see the place where the end of the rainbow was, whenever there was
a rainbow, and they felt happy, because everything was so lovely, and
Buddy said:
"I feel so glad, I must sing a little song." So he sang this one, which
can only be sung on top of a hill:
"It's very hard to climb a hill,
But when you're at the top,
You feel so very fine and good
Because it's there you stop.
If you should still keep on and on,
I wonder where you'd land?
By sliding down the other side
With sandals full of sand?"
Then Buddy tried to do a little dance, but what do you s'pose happened?
Why, he lost his balance, and toppled over, and then he grabbed hold of
Brighteyes, who was looking at the fine view, and she toppled over, and
then, wiggily-waggily, woggily-wee! they both tumbled down that steep
hill, head over heels like Jack and Jill.
And they went down faster, and faster, and faster, rolling over and
over, and they saw stars, and several different lakes, and lots of
clouds and ever so many things. They were both frightened, and they
thought surely they were going to be hurt, for they were nearing the
bottom, when all of a sudden what should come along but a big load of
hay!
Buddy and Brighteyes hit a stone, bounced up in the air, and then came
down, flippity-flop! right on top of the soft hay, and they weren't hurt
the least bit. Then they slid down off the hay, before the man who was
driving it saw them, and ran home. And they didn't climb a hill again
for ever and ever so long.
Now, if I hear a potato bug whistle a tune on a cornstalk fiddle, I'm
going to tell you next about Buddy and Brighteyes going in bathing.
STORY XXVII
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES GO BATHING
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg one day. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear me suz
dud!"
"Why, Buddy, dear, whatever in the world is the matter?" asked his
mamma, and Brighteyes, who was mending some stockings, looked up at her
brother in much surprise.
"Oh, dear!" cried the little guinea pig boy again, "I wish I had
something to do. It's so hot and dry and dusty here. I wish some of the
fellows would come around or--or I even wish school would begin again,
so I would have something to do."
Now when a boy wishes for school, in the middle of vacation, you may be
sure something serious is the matter. Mrs. Pigg knew this at once, so
she asked:
"What would you like to do, Buddy?"
"I don't know," he answered, rather cross and fretful-like, which wasn't
very nice, I suppose.
"All the boys have gone to Asbury Park or Ocean Grove," said Brighteyes,
"and I guess you are lonesome, Buddy. It must be lovely at the
seashore," and Brighteyes sighed the least bit, and took such a big
stitch in the stocking she was mending that she had to rip it out and do
it over again.
"Well, we can't go to the seashore this season because the salt air
doesn't agree with your father," said Mrs. Pigg. "If all goes well, we
shall soon be in the country, however. But now, what do you like best
about the seashore, Buddy?"
"Going in bathing," he answered.
"You can do that right here at home," said his mamma. "I will get out
your bathing suits, and you and Brighteyes can go swimming in the pond
back of our house."
"That will be lovely!" cried Brighteyes, and she jumped up so quickly
that she dropped the basket of stockings, and her pink hair ribbon came
off, and she was all confused-like.
"There are no waves in the pond, like down in the ocean at Asbury,"
complained Buddy. "It is no fun to go in bathing where there are no
waves."
"Ha! What's that?" cried a voice, and then Percival, the old circus dog,
who was staying with the Piggs while the Bow Wow family, with whom he
lived, was away for the summer--Percival, I say, got up from where he
had been sleeping under a mosquito net to keep off the flies. "No waves,
eh? So you want waves, do you, when you go in bathing, Buddy?" asked
Percival.
"Yes," answered Buddy Pigg, "I do, Percival."
"Then," exclaimed the old circus dog, "you and Brighteyes shall have
them. Get on your bathing suits and come down to the pond. When you get
there you'll find waves enough; I'll guarantee that! Oh, my, yes, and a
life-preserver besides!"
"How?" asked Buddy. "There are never any waves in that pond."
"Just you wait and see," said Percival.
Mrs. Pigg smiled, but she didn't say anything, and went after the
bathing suits, while Buddy and Brighteyes wondered what was going to
happen. Percival ran out, winking first one eye and then the other, and
not both together, like some dollies do when they go to sleep, and he
gave three short barks and a long one, just to show how glad he felt to
be doing something.
Well, it didn't take Buddy and Brighteyes very long to put on their
bathing suits. Then they hurried out of the back of the house and went
toward the pond.
"Do you really s'pose there'll be waves?" asked Buddy.
"I don't know," answered his sister. "Percival is a very smart dog, you
know."
Well, they ran down to the pond, and the first thing they saw when they
got there were cords fastened to sticks driven down into the ground,
just like the ropes at Asbury Park, you know--if you've ever been there.
The ropes are for the bathers to take hold of when the waves come.
"Well," remarked Buddy, "I see the ropes, but I don't see any waves."
But, no sooner had he spoken than a big wave rolled,
splish-splash-splosh, right up the shore of the pond, which was rather
sandy, and it sprayed itself over the toes of Buddy and Brighteyes--the
wave splashed, you understand--not the sand, of course.
"Whee!" cried Buddy, all excited-like. "There's a wave!"
"Yes, and here comes another!" cried his sister, and, sure enough,
another wave came sizzling and sloshing up out of the pond. And then
another, and another, and another, until there were a dozen, or, maybe a
dozen and a half of waves, one after the other.
"Oh, this is grand!" cried Buddy. "It's almost as good as Asbury Park!"
and, really it was, I'm not fooling a bit. Of course the waves weren't
as big as those at the seashore, but they were pretty good size. Well,
Buddy and Brighteyes rushed into the water, keeping hold of the ropes,
and the waves splashed all around them, and they splashed around in the
waves, and pretty soon Buddy cried:
"Oh, I got a mouthful of water, and it's salty, just like the ocean!"
"Sure enough it is!" agreed Brighteyes, taking a small mouthful to
taste. "I wonder what makes it?"
"And I wonder what makes the waves, and I wonder where Percival is?"
went on Buddy, and just then there came such a big wave that it almost
knocked him over, and he had to cling to the ropes. Then what should
happen, but that at the far end of the pond, up rose old dog Percival,
laughing as hard as he could laugh.
"I told you I would make waves!" he cried, and how do you s'pose he did
it?
Why, he had a big, empty box, and he would raise that up and down in the
water of the pond, as hard as he could, and this splashed, and made the
waves; and Percival had a bag of salt, to make the water salty. Now,
wasn't he the smart dog though?
Well, he went on, making more salty waves, and Buddy and Brighteyes
paddled around in them, and yelled and hollered, and held on to the
ropes, and ducked each other, and splashed and had as good a time as if
they had been at the seashore; and so did Percival, too, I guess. Then,
after a while they came out of the water and dried off, after thanking
Percival.
Now, if our bathtub doesn't freeze up so the canary bird can't go in
swimming I'll tell you presently about Buddy building a sand house.
STORY XXVIII
BUDDY BUILDS A SAND HOUSE
The little guinea pig children had so much fun bathing in the pond,
where Percival, the circus dog, made the salty waves for them, as I told
you about in the previous story, that they went in swimming as many
times as their mamma would let them.
Percival was only too glad to make the waves, and hold the bag of salt
in the pond, to make it salty, just like the ocean. Sometimes the old
dog would jounce a box up and down, to make the waves, and again, when
he wanted larger ones, he would use a barrel. Then the waves of the pond
would be over the heads of Buddy and Brighteyes, and they had to cling
to the ropes with all their might.
One day Buddy was sitting in the sand, on the banks of the pond, when,
all at once, he had an idea.
"I know what I'm going to do!" he exclaimed. "I'm gong to build a sand
house. I wish Brighteyes was here to help me," but his sister had gone
in the pen to help her mamma get dinner ready, for Mrs. Pigg expected
company that day; Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail were coming. So Buddy had to
start to build the house all alone. He piled a lot of sand in a heap,
together with stones, and sticks and bits of duck-weed, and then he
started in.
First he scooped out a hollow place, and that was for the cellar. Then
he stuck sticks up around the edges of the hole, and began to pile up
the sand, to make the walls of the house. Just as he was doing this,
what should he hear but footsteps running along the sand. He looked, up
and gave a shout of delight.
"Hello, Billie and Johnnie Bushytail!" he cried, as he saw the two
little squirrel boys. "You're just in time! Come on and help me build
this sand house!"
"Sure!" agreed Billie and Johnnie, as they frisked their tails, just as
the cook sometimes frisks the dusting brush when she wants to knock the
crumbs from the table to the floor. "Can you stay long?" asked Buddy.
"As long as papa and mamma do," answered Johnnie. "They are in your
house now, and so is Sister Sallie. We're going to stay to dinner, but
first we'll help you build the sand house."
So they all three got busy. They piled and scooped the sand up around
the upright sticks, and, pretty soon, believe me, if it really didn't
begin to look like a real house. It was about as big as a big box, and
nearly as high; and the cellar was quite large.
"What will we do with the house when we've finished it?" asked Billie
Bushytail.
"We'll go in it and play we're robbers," suggested Johnnie, as he patted
the sand with his paws, to make it smooth.
"No, we'll be pirates," decided Buddy. "Pirates always stay near salt
water, and this is salt water, because Percival emptied a whole bag of
salt in it."
"All right," agreed the squirrel boys, so they went on building the
house. They put little pebbles all around it for a fence, and laid a
gravel walk up from the pond to the front door, and stuck up little
sticks for trees in the front yard, and made a garden, because Buddy
said, even if they were pirates, they would have to have something to
eat, and they planted duck-weed in the garden and made believe it was
radishes and lettuce and cabbage and ever so many things; even apples
and pears and peaches.
Well, pretty soon the sand house was finished; that is, all but the top.
"What will we have for a roof?" asked Billie.
"I'll show you," said Buddy, so he laid sticks across the top of the
sand walls, and on top of the sticks he placed duck-weed. Then, on top
of the weed he and the squirrel boys put sand, until it was really the
nicest house of its kind you could find if you walked a mile, or, maybe
even two miles.
"That certainly is one fine, dandy house!" exclaimed Johnnie, as he
stepped back to admire it.
"Yes, and now let's get inside and pretend we're robbers," proposed
Billie. "I'll be the head robber and you two can work for me."
"No, we're going to be pirates, and I'm the chief one," insisted Buddy.
"We must begin to pirate right away and do all sorts of things."
"First, let's see if we can get in the house," said Johnnie. "Go in very
carefully."
So they went in, very slowly and carefully through the front door, so as
not to knock the sand down, and honestly the sand house was just big
enough for those three, and not a bit bigger. They even had to hold
their breaths, and not all breathe at once, or they never would have
fitted in it.
"Now," said Buddy, "we'll pretend we're pirates, and we'll bury all the
gold and diamonds we have."
So they played that game, and buried gold (make-believe you know) in
the cellar, and they were having a lovely time, when all at once,
without a word of warning, the roof of the sand house fell right in on
top of them! I suppose it was because Pirate Chief Buddy gave such a
loud shout.
Anyway, the roof caved in, and part of the walls, and there those three
pirates were, buried under the sand. They tried to yell, and call for
help, but their mouths were full of the dirt, and they couldn't speak.
Then they tried to scramble out, and they couldn't do that, and I really
don't know what would have happened to them, if at that moment
Brighteyes Pigg and Sister Sallie hadn't come out of the pen where their
mammas and papas were talking, to see what the boys were doing.
The two girls saw the sand house, all caved in, and they guessed that
Buddy and Billie and Johnnie were under it.
"We must dig them out!" cried Sister Sallie.