“That certainly is one fine, dandy house!” exclaimed Johnnie, as he stepped back to admire it.

“Yes, and now let’s get inside and pretend we’re robbers,” proposed Billie.  “I’ll be the head robber and you two can work for me.”

“No, we’re going to be pirates, and I’m the chief one,” insisted Buddy.  “We must begin to pirate right away and do all sorts of things.”

“First, let’s see if we can get in the house,” said Johnnie.  “Go in very carefully.”

So they went in, very slowly and carefully through the front door, so as not to knock the sand down, and honestly the sand house was just big enough for those three, and not a bit bigger.  They even had to hold their breaths, and not all breathe at once, or they never would have fitted in it.

“Now,” said Buddy, “we’ll pretend we’re pirates, and we’ll bury all the gold and diamonds we have.”

So they played that game, and buried gold (make-believe you know) in the cellar, and they were having a lovely time, when all at once, without a word of warning, the roof of the sand house fell right in on top of them!  I suppose it was because Pirate Chief Buddy gave such a loud shout.

Anyway, the roof caved in, and part of the walls, and there those three pirates were, buried under the sand.  They tried to yell, and call for help, but their mouths were full of the dirt, and they couldn’t speak.  Then they tried to scramble out, and they couldn’t do that, and I really don’t know what would have happened to them, if at that moment Brighteyes Pigg and Sister Sallie hadn’t come out of the pen where their mammas and papas were talking, to see what the boys were doing.

The two girls saw the sand house, all caved in, and they guessed that Buddy and Billie and Johnnie were under it.

“We must dig them out!” cried Sister Sallie.

So she and Brighteyes got some pieces of shingle, and my goodness me, sakes alive! how they did make that sand fly!  Percival, the old circus dog, helped them, and pretty soon Buddy and his friends were safely rescued.  They were pretty well scared, I can tell you, but they were soon all right again, and then it was time to go to dinner, and after dinner they all went in bathing and had lots of fun.

Now, I’m going to tell you next about Buddy helping Sammie Littletail, that is if the man comes to cut our grass and lets our puppy dog hide under the door-mat to scare the parrot next door.

STORY XXIX

BUDDY HELPS SAMMIE LITTLETAIL

When Johnnie and Billie Bushytail went home, after having paid a visit to Buddy Pigg that time when they built the sand house that fell in on them, they told Sammie and Susie Littletail, the two rabbits, of what a nice time they had had.

“Oh, I am going over to see Buddy some day, and go in bathing,” declared Sammie.

“You had better be careful about bathing in salt water,” said Susie, his sister, “it might take all the color out of your eyes, or out of your fur, or your fur might even fall out.”