Well, after he reached India, what did he do but find it so hot there that he turned around at once and sailed for the North Pole, so he could be nice and cool.

Then, all at once, as quickly as you can eat an ice cream cone on a hot day, if something didn’t happen.  Buddy looked up, after reaching the North Pole, and he found that the boat was adrift, floating off across the big pond, with the wind blowing it faster, and faster, and faster.

At first Buddy thought it was fun; then, as he saw that he was getting farther and farther from shore, he became frightened.  He looked for something with which to send the boat back to land, but there was no sail in it, and no oars; and, if there had been, the little guinea pig boy couldn’t have used them, I don’t suppose.  Well, there he was, really sailing off to some unknown country this time, in earnest, and not make believe.

Then he began to cry, and he called out as loudly as he could: 

“Help!  Help!  Help!” and who should come running down to the shore but Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs.  They hadn’t gone to Asbury Park yet, you see, but they were going soon.

“What’s the matter?” asked Peetie.

“The boat is taking me away off,” answered Buddy.

“Jump out and swim to shore!” cried Peetie.

“I can’t swim,” called back Buddy.

“Oh, we’ll show you how,” went on Jackie, and then he and Peetie jumped into the water and began to show Buddy how to swim, but he was too frightened to learn, and, besides, the two puppy dogs were too far off for him to see them plainly.  Then they swam out, and they tried to pull the boat back to shore, but they were not strong enough.

“Oh, I’ll be drowned!  I’ll be drowned!” cried Buddy.  “What shall I do?  Tell my mamma good-by for me,” he said to Jackie.

“We’ll tell her you’re in trouble, and maybe she will know of a way to save you,” called Peetie and Jackie.

So they ran and told Mrs. Pigg, and she and Brighteyes came running down to the shore of the pond.

“Oh, my poor little boy,” cried Mamma Pigg, when she saw Buddy being carried farther and farther away.

“Oh, how can we reach him?” wailed Brighteyes, wringing her paws.  “We must save him, somehow!”

Just then along came Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels.

“Stick up your tail like a sail and the wind will blow you ashore!” they cried to Buddy.  “That’s what we did.”

“I haven’t any tail,” answered Buddy, real sorrowful-like.

“That’s so,” said the little squirrel boys, and it began to look pretty bad for poor Buddy, let me tell you.

“Oh, dear!  Oh, dear!” cried Mamma Pigg.  “I’ll never see my poor boy again,” for he was quite far off by this time.

Then, all of a sudden, down to the edge of the pond, came rushing Percival, the old circus dog.

“I’ll save Buddy!” he cried.  “I’ll carry a rope out to him, and he can fasten it to the boat, and then we can pull him ashore.”