"I'll promise! I'll promise!" he cried, and then Billy Bunny went to the telephone and called up the hospital and they sent an ambulance around.
And the doctor-the man in white, you know, who sits on the back seat of the ambulance-tied up the weasel's knee so he couldn't bend it, and his ankle so he couldn't wiggle it, and then he placed him in the ambulance, while the Policeman Dog stood by to keep the crowds away, only of course there wasn't any crowds there, for it was midnight, you know.
And in the next story I will tell you more about the two little rabbits if they only get up in time, for they've stayed up pretty late to-night and may not hear the alarm clock in the morning.
STORY XXIX-BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN DOG
"Well, that's a great relief," exclaimed Uncle Lucky, as the ambulance drove away with Old Man Weasel, who had tried to eat up Billy Bunny and his kind uncle in the story before this, and would have swallowed them both if the little rabbit hadn't hit him with a cork bullet from his popgun, you remember.
Of course, it was very kind of Billy Bunny to call up the ambulance to take away the wicked weasel, after he had sprained his ankle, but it was also very wise. For who wants a wicked weasel around, even if he has a sprained ankle and can't do you any harm?
Well, after everything was quiet and the Policeman Dog had taken a drink of cider and a cigar, the two little rabbits sat down on the front porch, for it was too late to go to bed, or maybe it was too early, for the first faint streaks of daylight were spreading over the sky, and by the time Uncle Lucky could unlace his shoes and untie his red cravat and wind his gold watch, it would be time to get dressed again.
So he and Billy Bunny sat down and waited for breakfast, and by and by the Japanese cook came out to sweep off the front porch, and when he saw Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and his nephew, Billy Bunny, sitting there, he ran back into the kitchen and dropped two eggs on the floor and put the tea into the coffee grinder and the salt into the sugar bowl, he was so excited because he thought it must be 'way past breakfast time.
And then the old gentleman rabbit began to sing:
"Never hurry-makes worry; Worry makes you thin.
If you're clever you'll endeavor Never to begin."
And I guess the Japanese cook heard him, for in a few minutes breakfast was ready, and this time the eggs were dropped on toast instead of the floor.
By and by, after Uncle Lucky had smoked his cigar, he and Billy Bunny went out to the garage and cranked up the Luckymobile and went for a ride. And when they had gone for a mile or less they came across their old friend the Circus Elephant.
But, oh, dear me! He was an awful sight. His left eye had a bandage over it and his trunk was rolled up in cotton and his left hind foot had an old carpet slipper on and his tail was done up in splints and he was weeping great big tears, for he felt dreadfully miserable.
"What is the matter?" asked Billy Bunny, as Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sobbed the big animal. "I was in a Fourth of July celebration and the roman candles got mixed up with the sky-rockets and the cannon crackers with the pin wheels, and the first thing I knew I was hit in two million, nine hundred and a few dozen places, and if it hadn't been for a pink cross nurse I'd be a dead elephant by this time."
"Get into the automobile," said Uncle Lucky, "and we'll take you home with us," and in the next story, if the catbird doesn't scratch the dogfish, I'll tell you who broke the springs in the automobile, unless you guess who did before to-morrow night.
STORY XXX-BILLY BUNNY AND THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT
Let me see. I left off in the last story when the Circus Elephant stepped into the Luckymobile, didn't I? You remember he had been injured in a Fourth of July celebration, and good, kind Uncle Lucky offered to take him home.
Well as soon as he sat down the tires burst and then, of course, the automobile wouldn't go, for the cabaret wouldn't work and the engine wouldn't whistle. So Billy Bunny got out the sticking plaster and fixed the tires and then he made the elephant blow them up with his trunk, but he wouldn't let him get in again.
No, sir. He said, "Now look here, Elly. You're too heavy for the Luckymobile, so you'll have to walk, but you can put your trunk in the back seat if that will help any." So the Circus Elephant lifted his trunk into the automobile and ran along behind until they came to Uncle Lucky's house.
And wasn't he tired when they reached the front gate! He was so tired that he lay down in the hammock and went sound to sleep and snored so loud that everybody thought the janitor had put on the steam, although it was July.
"Goodness me!" exclaimed the kind old gentleman rabbit, "that elephant makes so much noise that nobody will be able to sleep to-night!" And Uncle Lucky scratched his left ear with his right hind leg and tried to think what was best to do, for he just hated to wake up that poor tired elephant.
Well, just then, who should come along but a man with a piano organ, and as soon as Uncle Lucky saw him he asked him to play the loudest tune and play it just as fast as he could.
Of course the poor, tired Circus Elephant woke up, and when he saw that organ man, he jumped out of the hammock and ran down the front walk and grabbed the piano and threw it clear across the road into a pond.
And when the organ man saw that he started off as fast as he could and never came back, for he had always been dreadfully afraid of elephants, because when he was a boy he had given one a piece of chewing gum instead of a peanut, and he never forgot what the elephant did to him when he found it out.
"Look here, Elly," said Uncle Lucky, "if you'll promise not to snore I'll let you sleep in my bed to-night; but if you don't, you'll have to sleep out in the field, for nobody can stand the noise you make."
"Well, I can't stay all night, anyway," said the elephant, "for the circus comes to town to-day and I'll be in the performance this evening.
Thank you, just the same." And then he said good-by to Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky and walked down the road, but before he left he gave them each two tickets with his compliments.
And if the trolley car doesn't swim across the river and splash the conductor so that he can't ring up the fares, I'll tell you next time whether Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny went to the circus.
STORY XXXI-BILLY BUNNY AND THE CHEERFUL LITTLE BIRD
You remember in the last story that the Circus Elephant gave Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny tickets to go to the show. Well, I'm awfully sorry to tell you they didn't go, and the reason was because the tent caught fire, and before the firemen in Bunnytown could put out the flames the spangles were all burnt off the circus queen's dress and the ice cream cones were all melted and the peanuts roasted blacker than a coal, and the lemonade boiled over and burnt the alligator's tail so that he wouldn't stand on his head.
And oh, dear me! The circus folk all had to sleep with the animals, and the fat lady couldn't get into the monkey cage, so she had to lie down on the grass underneath for the night, and she caught an awful cold and almost had the chickenpox.
Of course Billy Bunny and his good, kind uncle were dreadfully disappointed, and when they got home they played on the victrola a new song called: "If you want to borrow money don't you ever come to me,"
and after that they went to bed, and when they woke up they heard the little sparrow singing on the front porch:
Sing a song of summer, And the happy flowers; Sing a song of sunshine Through the golden hours
Always sing of gladness Through the live-long year Even in December, When it's cold and drear.
"I'm going to take some crumbs out to that cheerful little bird," and kind Uncle Lucky sprinkled sponge cake crumbs all over the porch, and the sparrow and her little birdies had a scrumptious feast.
And after that the telephone rang and Mrs. Bunny called up to find out how Billy Bunny was. And when Uncle Lucky said he was very well she said she was glad, because if he had been sick she would have wanted him brought home im-me-die-ate-ly.
But as long as he wasn't she wanted him back anyway, because she was so lonely without him. And then of course the little rabbit had to say good-by to his dear kind uncle and start right oft for the Old Brier Patch.
Well, sir! He hadn't gone for more than a million hops, and maybe a few skips and jumps, when he came across his old friend the Brown Horse.
"Hello, there!" said the good-natured animal; "how is your Bunny Highness?"
"I'm all right," said the little rabbit, "but what are you doing here in the woods?"
"Ssh!" whispered the Brown Horse. "I ran away to-day and I'm afraid the policeman will catch me for exceeding the speed limit."
"So I'm hiding here." And just then they heard a whistle, but you'll have to wait to find out whether it's a policeman or a locomotive engine until the next story, for I've no more room in this one.