“Ah! ha!” cried the fox, curling back his lip, to show his ugly teeth, and blinking his eyes as fast as a moving picture goes when it skips along very quickly.  “Ah! ha!  Now I have caught you!  Do you know what I am going to do to you for taking my apples?”

“We—­we didn’t know they were your apples,” said Jennie.

“No matter about that,” said the bad fox.  “Do you know what I am going to do to you?”

“No,” answered Brighteyes.  “What are you going to do to us, good Mr. Fox?”

“I’m not good Mr. Fox; I’m bad Mr. Fox,” he answered, “and what I’m going to do is to eat you all up—­all up—­all up!” and he smacked his lips and gnashed his teeth something terrible.

But don’t be afraid.  Just you wait and see what Brighteyes did to that fox.  All the while she was thinking how she could save herself and Jennie, for she knew those apples didn’t belong to the fox.

First Brighteyes thought maybe Buddy would come along and help her, or maybe the farmer, but no one came, and the fox was creeping nearer and nearer to Jennie, getting ready to grab her first, when what did Brighteyes do but pull up some horseradish leaves that grew nearby and throw them right in the eyes of that bad fox.

Now, horseradish leaves are very smarty and peppery, you know, almost like mustard, and when they got in the fox’s eyes they made him so he couldn’t see, and they hurt him, too.

Then I wish you could have heard him howl.  No, on second thought, I’m glad you couldn’t hear him, for it might scare you.  Anyhow, he jumped up and down and sideways, and he whirled around, and he howled and he yowled and he jowled, and then Brighteyes called: 

“Come on, Jennie, now is our chance.  We can get away before he sees us!”

So they ran away, taking all the apples they could carry, and the fox couldn’t see for ever so long, for he couldn’t get his eyes open.  So that is how Brighteyes and Jennie Chipmunk were saved, and they went home, and nothing happened to them on the way.  Now, the next story will be about Buddy and Brighteyes in the mountains—­that is, providing I catch some fish the next time I go fishing and don’t lose my watch in the water for the alligator to tell time by.

STORY XXXI

BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES IN THE MOUNTAINS

One day Dr. Pigg came home from paying a visit to Uncle Wiggily Longears, and said: 

“Well, children, get ready, we are going away for a vacation to-morrow.”

“Oh goody!” cried Brighteyes, jumping up and down in the middle of the floor, until her pink hair ribbon flopped up and down, like the wings of a butterfly.

“Are we going to the seashore?” asked Buddy, while Brighteyes went over and kissed her father, standing on her tiptoes to reach him.

“No,” said Dr. Pigg, “we are not going to the seashore.  We are going to the mountains, where there is a nice lake.  The salt air of the seashore does not agree with me.  I have asked Uncle Wiggily Longears to go with us, and he does not like the salt air, either.  It is bad for his rheumatism, which is a little better now, and he does not want it to get worse.”