Lulu and Alice heard him, and were much frightened.  They started to go to the aid of their brother, but Grandfather Goosey-Gander warned them not to.

“But who will save Jimmie?” they cried.

“I will try to,” answered the old gentleman duck.

So he got a rope and threw it to Jimmie, but the rope wasn’t long enough, and the poor little boy duck kept getting closer and closer to the edge of the falls, and the big millwheel.  Oh, how hard he was swimming, but the water was stronger than he was.

“Get a board!” cried Bully, the frog, who came hopping along just then.  So the ducks and the geese got a board and threw it to Jimmie, but it floated past him, and he couldn’t get upon it.  Then it surely did look as if he were going to be carried right over the falls, for he was being swept nearer and more near, and he could hear the water making a terrible roaring, splashing sound on the rocks.  You have no idea how scared Jimmie was, and he wished he had never gone near the falls.

Then the other ducks got a long stick and Grandfather Goosey-Gander held it out, so the little boy duck could grasp it in his bill, but the stick broke, and every one said it was too bad!  Then, just as Jimmie was almost to the edge of the falls, if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy didn’t call out:  “Stand aside, everybody!  I am a good swimmer and I will save him!”

Then what do you think happened?  Why that good, kind muskrat jumped right into the water, and hurried to where Jimmie was.  She dived down, and got hold of his yellow legs in her teeth, but she took hold very gently, so as not to hurt him.  Then she was such a fine swimmer that she managed to get to shore, towing and pulling Jimmie with her, for the water could not hurt Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, no matter how hard the millwheel splashed.

So that is how Jimmie was saved from the waterfall, and when his papa and mamma came home they were very glad, of course, and why shouldn’t they be?  But, all the same Lulu and Jimmie had to be punished for disobeying, and going too near the falls when they had been told not to, and their punishment was that they could not go in swimming for three days.  And if you ever were a duck you know that was very severe punishment indeed, very severe.

But I’m not going to say that Jimmie and Lulu didn’t deserve it, no indeed I’m not; not if you were to offer me an orange and a half; and I’m very fond of oranges; very.  Well, that’s how things will sometimes happen in this world, won’t they? do the best that you can.  But now I suppose you want to know what the story will be about to-morrow night.  Well, if I see a pink grasshopper, I shall tell you about a visit the Wibblewobble children paid to poor, sick, Billie Bushytail.

STORY V

A VISIT TO BILLIE BUSHTAIL

You remember how Lulu and Jimmie had to be punished for disobeying their papa and mamma, and going too near the waterfall, I suppose?  They couldn’t go in swimming for three days.  Well, the three days were very nearly up; that is there was just one day left, so Lulu said: