“Not if I know it you won’t catch me,” said Uncle Wiggily bravely, and off he hopped down the hill.

“Yes, I will catch you!” cried the wushky-woshky, and off he hopped on his one crinkly leg after the rabbit.  Faster and faster hopped Uncle Wiggily, but still faster and faster hopped the wushky-woshky.

“Oh, he’ll surely catch me!” thought the rabbit.  “I wonder what I can do?  I know.  I’ll open my valise, and I’ll scatter on the ground my nice lunch that Aunt Lettie put up for me, and the wushky-woshky will stop to eat the good things, and then I can get away.”

So the rabbit did this.  Out on the ground from the valise tumbled all the nice carrot and lettuce sandwiches.  But the savage wushky-woshky gobbled them up with three mouthfuls, and didn’t stop hopping after Uncle Wiggily on his one crinkly leg.

“Oh, he’ll surely catch me now!” cried the rabbit.

“No, he won’t!  Jump up in the air, and come down inside of me!” cried a voice, and Uncle Wiggily saw a nice blackberry bush waving its long arms at him.  “Jump down inside of me, where there are no thorns to scratch you,” said the berry bush, “but if the wushky-woshky tries to come after you I’ll scratch his six eyes out.  I’ll save you.  Jump down inside me!”

“Thank you, I will,” said the rabbit, and he gave a big spring and a hop, over the outer edge of the bush, and down he landed safely inside of it, not scratched a bit.  Up came the three-headed, two-tailed and one crinkly-legged wushky-woshky, but when he saw the prickly briar berry bush he stopped short, for he did not want his six eyes scratched out.

“Come out of there!” cried the wushky-woshky to the rabbit.

“Indeed, I will not,” said Uncle Wiggily, politely.

“Then I’ll stay here forever and you can’t ever come out,” said the savage creature.  “For if you come out I’ll eat you!”

“Don’t let him scare you,” said the briar berry bush to Uncle Wiggily, “I’ll fix him,” so the berry bush reached out a long arm all covered with stickers, and she stickered and prickered the wushky-woshky on his three heads and two tails and one leg, so that the savage creature ran away howling, and Uncle Wiggily was safe, and not hurt a bit, I’m glad to say.

So he stayed in the briar bush that night and had berries for breakfast, and the next day he had another adventure.  What it was I will tell you on the page after this one, when the bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the camp fire—­that is, if the cat across the street doesn’t untie the pink ribbon off our pussy’s neck and put it on his ice cream cone.

STORY XXIX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CAMP FIRE

“Well, how do you find yourself this morning?” asked the berry bush of Uncle Wiggily as the old gentleman rabbit peeped out to see if the bad three-headed wushky-woshky had come back.  “Are you all right?”