Then he fastened long pieces of strong grass to the stick that was stuck through the turnip, and he and Buddy and Brighteyes and the June bug took hold of the grass, and they rolled that turnip along and steered it just as you pull your sled or wheel the baby carriage or guide a horse with a bit in his mouth.

And pretty soon they were safely at the pen, and Dr. Pigg and his wife were much surprised and delighted when they saw the big turnip which their children had found.  They gave Uncle Wiggily Longears some, but the June bug said he would rather have a ginger snap, and he got it.

Now the next story will be about Buddy and the burglar fox, in case the milkman isn’t late to school, and if he brings a bottle of water for teacher to sprinkle the blackboards with.

STORY XIX

BUDDY AND THE BURGLAR FOX

“We must lock all the windows and doors very tightly to-night,” said Mrs. Pigg to her husband, one evening, when they were getting ready for bed.

“Yes,” agreed Dr. Pigg, “we must.  I’ll see to it, my dear, and you put the children to bed.”

“Why do you have to lock up so carefully, mamma?” inquired Buddy.

“Because,” said Mrs. Pigg, “I heard that there have been a number of tramps and burglars around lately.”

“Indeed, that’s true,” added Dr. Pigg.  “Mr. Cock A. Doodle, the rooster next door, was telling me that he thinks some one tried to get in his coop last night.  The door rattled and some one shook the window.”

“Perhaps it was the wind,” suggested Brighteyes.

“It may have been,” agreed her father.  “I hope it was, for I don’t like burglars at all.  Now go to bed and don’t be afraid, for I’ll lock up carefully, and I have a pail of water right beside my bed and I’ll throw it on a burglar if he dares to come in.”

So Buddy and Brighteyes went up stairs to bed with their mother, while Dr. Pigg put out the cat, locked the doors and windows and set the alarm clock to wake him up at five o’clock, for he had to go downtown to attend to some business in the morning.

“I wish the June bug would come again,” said Brighteyes, as she was falling asleep.

“Why?” asked her mother from the next room.

“Oh, so he could tell us some stories, and then I wouldn’t think about burglars.”

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Mrs. Pigg.  “How silly!  Burglars will never hurt you.  Go to sleep now.”

“If any burglars come in I’ll fix ’em’!” cried Buddy, bravely, from his room.  Then Brighteyes went to sleep, and so did Dr. Pigg and his wife.

But, somehow, Buddy couldn’t sleep.  Why it was he didn’t know, only he couldn’t.  He thought of everything he could think of; ice cream cones and turnips and baseball games, and being in the boat that time, and going to the North Pole and then he thought of the stories the June bug had told him, but still he couldn’t go to sleep.