STORY XIX

TOODLE SAVES BULLY

Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy, was coming home from school all alone. The reason of this was that his brother, Noodle, and all his other friends had gone on ahead, not waiting for Toodle.

No, Toodle didn't have to stay in—don't think it! He hadn't whispered, or chewed gum in school, or anything like that. Still he didn't get out when the others did because, you see, he happened to lose a penny out of his pocket, and he stayed to find it—find the penny, not the pocket, you understand, for the pocket was still fast in his little spotted trousers.

The penny which Toodle lost was one Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all had given him with which to buy a birch bark lollypop. Toodle had not had time to buy the candy on a stick before school, and so kept his penny in his pocket all that afternoon, while he said his lessons.

And, every once in a while, he would put his paw in his pocket to see if his money were safe. And it was—all except the last time.

Toodle was just feeling of his penny when Professor Rat, who kept school, called out:

"Toodle Flat-tail, please stand up and spell me the word 'fox!'"

Well, if you will kindly believe me, Toodle was so excited when he heard that word "fox," thinking, for all I know, that maybe a fox was trying to get in a window, that he jumped up quickly, pulled his paw out of his pocket, and, alas! the penny came with it. Away rolled the money, over the schoolroom floor, rattle-te-bang! and down a crack it went.

"Oh, dear!" cried Toodle, and all the other animal children laughed.

"Never mind," said Professor Rat, kindly. "You did not mean to do it, Toodle. Now you may recite your lesson, and after school you may stay in and look for your penny."

So that is why the little beaver boy had to stay in to find his penny. His brother Noodle said he'd stay and help him hunt for it, but Toodle said:

"No, you had better go along home and tell mamma that I will be a little late. Then she won't worry."

You see it's too bad to make mammas worry, and if ever we can do anything to stop that it's a good thing. Toodle knew that.

So, as I said, he stayed in after school to hunt for his penny, when all the other pupils went home. And when Professor Rat had finished cleaning off the blackboard, he helped Toodle look for the lost money.

And, all of a sudden, as they were looking for it, and when the kind old rat gentleman teacher was partly under a desk, Toodle cried:

"Oh, I see it!"

"Where?" asked Professor Rat, and he jumped up so quickly that his head bumped on the underside of the desk, and jiggled the ink bottle, and the ink ran all over his collar, and made it all striped black and white like a zebra in the circus.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" cried Toodle, when he saw what had happened.

"Oh, never mind," spoke Professor Rat, wiping the ink out of his left ear with the end of his tail. "Where did you see your penny, Toodle?"

"It rolled down a crack," said the little beaver boy. "I can see it, but I can't get it."

"Then we will call Jillie Longtail, the little mouse girl, to get it for you," said Professor Rat. Jillie Longtail lived near the school, and she was at her house helping her mamma get supper. She soon came over, and, being very small, she could get into little cracks. She quickly slipped into this one and brought up Toodle's lost penny.

"Oh, thank you, so much!" said the little beaver boy. "I'll give you some of my lollypop."

Off Toodle hurried to the candy store that was kept by an old gentleman duck who lived in a molasses barrel, and the little beaver boy bought the nicest birch bark flavored lollypop he could see. Then he went back to Jillie's house to give her a bite. And by this time it was getting rather late, so Toodle thought he had better hurry home.

As he was walking along he heard a rustling in the bushes and, before he could run away, out jumped a bad old fox, who cried:

"Give me that lollypop!" And he was going to take it away from poor Toodle, when, all of a sudden, a big, deep, bass voice cried:

"Here! You let my friend Toodle alone! Don't you dare take his candy, or I'll bite you!"

And that fox was so frightened that he ran away, taking his tail with him, and he never touched Toodle or the lollypop either. The little beaver boy wondered who it was that had saved him, when, out from behind a stump came Bully, the frog boy, laughing as hard as he could.

"Did you hear me?" asked Bully. "Did you hear me scare him?"

"I surely did," said Toodle. "I'm much obliged to you. How did you do it?"

"Why, I have a bad cold," said Bully, "and my voice is very deep and hoarse, just like an automobile horn. I guess when that bad fox heard it he thought maybe I was a giant, and so he ran away."

"I'm glad he did," said Toodle, "for he might have bitten me. Here, Bully, have a bit of my lollypop. It will be good for your sore throat."

So Toodle broke off, with a stone, a bit of his nice lollypop, and gave Bully some. And Bully liked it very much. He said it made him feel better.

Well, the frog boy and the beaver boy walked on through the woods together, talking of many things, such as how to keep out of traps, and how to get away from hunters and dogs, and all like that. Pretty soon, they came to the beaver pond, where Toodle's house was built.

"Come on," cried Toodle. "Let's see who can swim across this pond, Bully."

Into the water sprang the frog and the beaver boy, and they were swimming away, first one and then the other being ahead, when all of a sudden, Bully saw something red in the water.

"Oh, here is a cinnamon lollypop," cried Bully. "Wait until I get it."

"Maybe it's a trap," said Toodle, careful like.

"No, I'm sure it's a lollypop," spoke Bully, who, like all frogs, liked very much anything that was red. Up Bully swam to it, and as quick as a wink, he bit it, intending to carry it away with him. But a second later he cried:

"Oh, dear! I'm caught. You're right, Toodle! It was a trap!"

And, what do you think? That red thing was a piece of red flannel, and it was fast to a hook that a boy had thus baited, and put into the water, hoping to catch a frog. And he had caught Bully. Oh, dear!

Poor Bully squirmed and twisted, and tried to get loose from the hook, but he could not. It had fastened itself in his mouth when he bit on the red flannel that he thought was a cinnamon lollypop.

"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Bully.

"Hold on! I'll save you!" shouted Toodle, swimming as fast as he could toward Bully. The boy, up on the bank of the pond, where he had his pole and hook and line, was trying to pull Bully out of the water. But Toodle took a tight hold of the frog in his paws and then with his big tail, Toodle splashed a whole lot of water in that boy's face, as he sat near the edge of the beaver pond.

"Oh, dear!" cried the boy, surprised like. "It's raining! I guess I'd better go home before I get wet!" You see, he never knew it was Toodle who had splashed him, for he could not see the little beaver chap.

So the boy ran home to his mamma, leaving his pole there. Of course poor Bully was still fast to the hook, but when the boy was gone he and Toodle swam out on the bank, and then Toodle hurried off and got Dr. Possum, who soon took the hook out of Bully's mouth.

Of course it hurt some, just as when you have a tooth pulled, but it's better to have a hook or an aching tooth, out of your mouth than in. And Bully was very much obliged to Toodle for saving him, and he said he'd never bite on anything red again, unless he was sure what it was.

Then Toodle gave Bully some more lollypop, and the two friends got home just in time for their suppers and that's all there is to this story.

But in the next one, if the potato masher doesn't fall on the doll's toes so she can't go roller skating with the sewing machine, I'll tell you about Crackie Flat-tail going to school.