Part 8 (2/2)
And, what do you think! It rained that very night. It rained so hard that the pond rose higher and higher, until the water began to run in the hole Sammie had dug. It awakened the Littletail family in the middle of the night, and when Uncle Wiggily Longears saw the water creeping nearer and nearer to him, and felt the rheumatism worse than ever, he cried out:
”A flood! A flood! We must swim out, or we shall all be drowned.” Now you will have to be patient until to-morrow night to hear what took place. But they were not drowned; I'll tell you that much.
XV
SAMMIE AND SUSIE AT THE CIRCUS
Of course, you remember how Sammie Littletail dug a tunnel from the burrow to the pond, and how the water came in. Of course. Well, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made a raft of cornstalks, and on this the whole rabbit family floated out of the burrow. Bully, the frog, who was a playmate of Sammie's, helped them. They had to go right out into the rain, and it was not very pleasant.
”Whatever are we going to do?” asked Mamma Littletail, but she did not scold Sammie for digging the tunnel and making all the trouble.
”Yes, we must get in out of the wet, or my rheumatism will be so bad I shall not be able to walk,” complained Uncle Wiggily Longears.
”I know what we can do,” proposed the muskrat nurse.
”What?” asked Susie Littletail.
”We can ask Mr. Groundhog to let us stay all night in his burrow,”
suggested the nurse. ”I'm sure he will let us, for he has plenty of room.”
Mr. Groundhog, who was an elderly creature, very fond of sleep in the winter, welcomed the rabbits to his burrow, and there they stayed out of the rain. In the morning the sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly, and before very long the water all dried out of the bunnies' underground house, so that they could go back in it.
One day, about a week after this, when Uncle Wiggily Longears was out walking with Sammie and Susie, going quite slowly, because he was a trifle lame from rheumatism, Bully, the frog, came hopping up to them.
”Are you going to the circus?” he asked.
”Circus? What circus?” asked Sammie, who was interested very quickly, you may be sure.
”Why, the animal circus that is always held in the woods every spring.
They do all sorts of queer things to get ready for the summer. I'm going. It's lots of fun. Better come.”
”I haven't seen any circus posters up,” remarked Susie.
”Of course not,” answered Bully. ”The animals never put them up, because they don't want a lot of people coming to look on and bother them. Don't you want to come? It's not very far.”
”But we have no one to take us,” spoke Susie.
”Yes, you have!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily Longears quickly. ”I will take you myself. It would never do for you children to go to a circus alone.
I will take you.”
”But your rheumatism is so bad you can hardly walk,” objected Susie.
”Besides, it will be worse if you sit in the woods.”
”Never mind about that,” answered the uncle bravely. ”I'll manage to stand it. I am determined you children shall not go to that circus alone. Of course, I don't care anything about a circus myself, but I must take care of you,” and the elderly rabbit looked very brave, though the pain of his rheumatism was quite bad.
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