“bully,” said the frog boy’s mamma to him one saturday morning, when there wasn’t any school, “i wish you would go on an errand for me.”
“of course i will, mother,” he said. “do you want me to go to the store for some lemons, or some sugar?”
“neither one, bully. i wish you would go to mrs. wibblewobble’s house and tell the nice duck lady i can’t come over to-day to help her sew carpet rags, and piece-out the bedquilt. i have to put away the winter flannels so the moths won’t get in them, and then, too, it is so rainy and foggy that we couldn’t see to sew carpet rags very well. tell her i’ll be over the first pleasant day.”
“very well,” answered bully, “and may i stay a while and play with jimmie wibblewobble?”
“you may,” said his mother, and off bully hopped all alone, for his brother bawly had gone fishing.
it was a very unpleasant day for any one except ducks or frogs. for sometimes it rained, and when it wasn’t rainy it was misty, and moisty, and foggy. and it was wet all over. the water dripped down off the trees and bushes, and even the ponds and little brooks were wetter than usual, for the rain rained into them, and splished and splashed.
but bully didn’t mind, not in the least. away he hopped in his rubber suit, that water couldn’t hurt, and he felt very fine. soon he was at mrs. wibblewobble’s house, and he delivered the message his mother had given him.
“and now i’ll go play with jimmie,” said bully. “where is he, and where are lulu and alice, mrs. wibblewobble?”
“oh! the girls went over to see grandfather goosey gander,” replied their mamma. “as for jimmie, you’ll find him out somewhere on the pond. but be careful you don’t get lost, for the fog is very thick to-day.”
“i should think it was,” replied bully as he hopped away, “it’s almost as thick as molasses.” well, pretty soon he came to the edge of the pond, and in he plumped, and began swimming about.
“jimmie! hey, jimmie! where are you, jimmie?” he called.
“over here, making a water wheel,” answered the boy duck, and though the frog chap couldn’t see him, he could tell, by jimmie’s voice, where he was, and soon he had hopped to the right place.
well, bully and jimmie had a fine time, making the water wheel, that went splash-splash around in the water. and when they became tired of playing that, they played water-tag with the water-spiders, and then they played hop-skip-and-jump, at which game bully was very good.
“now let’s go up to the house,” proposed jimmie, “and i’m sure mother will give us some cornmeal sandwiches with jam and bread and butter on.”
off they went through the fog, and it was now so thick that they couldn’t see their way, and by mistake they went to the barn instead of the house. i don’t know what they would have done, only just then along came old percival, the circus dog, and he could smell his way through the misty fog up to the house. maybe he could smell the sandwiches, with jam and bread and butter on. i don’t know, but anyhow mrs. wibblewobble gave him one when she made some for bully and jimmie.
well, now i’m coming to the alice part of the story. as jimmie and bully were eating their sandwiches on the back porch, not minding the rain in the least, all at once lulu wibblewobble came waddling along. as soon as she got to the steps she called out:
“oh, is alice home yet?”
“alice home?” exclaimed mrs. wibblewobble. “why, didn’t she come from grandfather goosey gander’s house with you?”
“no, she started on ahead, some time ago,” said lulu. “she said she wanted to put on her new hair ribbon for dinner. she ought to have been here some time ago. are you sure she isn’t here?”
“no, she isn’t,” answered jimmie. “she must be lost in the fog!”
“oh, dear! that’s exactly what has happened!” cried the mamma duck. “oh, this dreadful fog! what shall i do?”
“don’t worry, mrs. wibblewobble,” spoke bully. “jimmie and i will go and hunt her. we can find her in the fog.”
“oh, you may get lost yourselves!” said the duck lady. “it’s bad enough as it is, but that would be dreadful. oh, what shall i do?”
“i’ll tell you,” said lulu. “we’ll all hunt for her, and so that we will not become lost in the fog, we’ll tie several strings to our house, and then each of us will keep hold of one string, and when we go off in the fog we can follow the string back again, and we won’t get lost.”
“that’s a good idea!” cried bully, and they all thought it was. so they each tied a long string to the front porch rail, and, keeping hold of the other end, started off in the fog, mrs. wibblewobble, jimmie, bully and lulu. off into the fog they went, and the white mist was now thicker than ever; thicker than molasses, i guess.
mrs. wibblewobble looked one way, and jimmie another, and lulu another, and bully still another. and for a long time neither one of them could find alice.
“i’m going to call out loud, and perhaps she’ll hear me,” said bully. “she probably wandered off on the wrong path coming from grandfather goosey gander’s house.” so he cried as loudly as he could: “alice! alice! where are you, alice?”
“oh, here i am!” the duck girl suddenly cried, though bully couldn’t see her on account of the fog. “oh, i’m so glad you came to find me, for i’ve been lost a long time.”
“walk right over this way!” called bully, “and i’ll take you home by the string. come over here!”
“yes, come over here!” called another voice, and bully looked and what should he see but a savage alligator, hiding in the fog, with his mouth wide open. the alligator hoped alice would, by mistake, walk right into his mouth so he could eat her. and he kept calling right after bully, and poor alice got so confused with the two of them shouting that she didn’t know what to do.
bully was afraid the alligator would get her, so what did he do but take up a big stone, and, hiding in the fog, he threw the rock into the alligator’s mouth.
“there! chew on that!” called bully, and the alligator was so angry that he crawled right away, taking his scaly, double-jointed tail with him.
then bully called again, and this time alice found where he was in the fog, and she waddled up to him, and she wasn’t lost any more, and bully took her home by following the string. then the fog blew away and they were all happy, and had some more jam sandwiches.
now, in case it doesn’t rain and wet my new umbrella so that the pussy cat can go to school, and learn how to make a mouse trap, i’ll tell you next about bawly no-tail and lulu wibblewobble.
