Part 8 (1/2)

Grandpa Grumbles then said loudly,

”Speak into my better ear, I am so deaf I cannot hear.”

Bushy-Tail cried out as loud as he could, ”Oh, Grandpa Grumbles, we are going down into the lake! Look out, look out! We shall be drowned!”

Grandpa Grumbles shouted,

”Speak a little louder, please, Shall we sail above the trees?”

Bushy-Tail got so excited he did not know what he was doing. He got right out of the umbrella and went splash, dash, into the lake.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”BUSHY-TAIL WENT SPLASH, DASH, INTO THE LAKE”]

Grandpa Grumbles, as he sailed homeward, said,

”Sink or swim, just as you please, For I have no desire to tease.”

He left poor Bushy-Tail to swim to sh.o.r.e.

When Grandpa Grumbles got home he saw smoke coming out of his chimney.

He grumbled,

”It seems to me quite like a bore, To have to enter by the door.”

He was so used to sailing down the chimney!

The door opened for him and there stood Bunny and Susan. Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes danced up to him and told him how Bushy-Tail had tried to get in.

Grandpa Grumbles shook his green umbrella fiercely and said,

”He will not come this way again, Either in suns.h.i.+ne or in rain.”

Then Bunny and Susan and Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes begged Grandpa Grumbles to tell what had become of Bushy-Tail, but Grandpa Grumbles would only say,

”I am so deaf 'tis hard to hear, Come, speak a little louder, dear.”

Then Bunny spoke into his right ear, and Susan spoke into his left ear, and asked him to tell where he had left Bushy-Tail.

Grandpa Grumbles shook his head and said,

”Bunny and Susan, what do you say?

I am so old and deaf to-day.”

Then Snubby Nose cried into his right ear, and Tippy Toes cried into his left ear, but Grandpa Grumbles only said,

”I can't hear, my deafness grows; Ask the umbrella, for it knows.”

Then the Cotton-Tails asked the umbrella what had become of Bushy-Tail and the umbrella said,