Then the rabbit and the dogs talked together, and the rabbit told of his travels, and what had happened to him so far.

“Wonderful!  Wonderful!” exclaimed the old dog Rover.  “You should write a book about your fortune.”

“I haven’t found it yet, but perhaps I may, and then I’ll write the book,” said Uncle Wiggily, combing out his whiskers.

That night the boy put a soft rag and some salve on the rabbit’s sore foot, and he also gave him some liniment for his rheumatism, and in the morning Uncle Wiggily was much better.  He and the boy and the dogs had lots of fun playing together on the smooth, green, grassy lawn.  They played tag, and hide-and-go-seek, and a new game called “Don’t Let the Ragman Take Your Rubber Boots.”  And the dog Rover pretended he was the ragman.

“Now, then, we’ll all go out in my motor boat,” said the boy, so he and Uncle Wiggily and the dogs went down to the lake and, surely enough, there was the boat, the nicest one you could wish for.  There was a little cabin in it, and seats out on deck, and a little engine that went “choo-choo!” and pushed the boat through the water.

In the boat they all had a fine ride around the lake, which was almost like the one where you go to a Sunday-school picnic, and then it was time for dinner.  And, as a special treat, when they got on shore, Uncle Wiggily was given carrot ice cream, with chopped-up turnips in it.  And oh, how good it was to him!

Well, the days passed, and Uncle Wiggily was getting so he could walk along pretty well, for his foot was all cured, and he began to think of going on once more to seek his fortune.  And then something happened.  One day the boy went out alone in a rowboat to see if he could find any fish.  And before he knew it his boat had tipped over, spilling him out into the water, and he couldn’t swim.  Wasn’t that dreadful?

“Oh!  Help!  Help!” he cried, as the water came up to his chin.

My, but it’s awful to be tipped over in a boat! and I and I hope if you can’t swim you’ll never go out in one alone.  And there was that poor boy splashing around in the water, and almost drowned.

“Save me!  Save me!” the boy cried.  “Oh, save me!”

Well, as it happened, Uncle Wiggily was walking along the shore of the lake just then.  He saw the little boy fall out of the boat, and he heard him cry.

“I’ll save you if I can!” exclaimed the brave old rabbit.  “Come on, Rover, we’ll go out in the motor boat and rescue him.”

“Bow-wow!  Bow-wow!  Sure!  Sure!” cried Cover, wagging his tail.

So he and Uncle Wiggily ran down, and jumped into the motor boat.  And they knew just how to start the engine and run it, for the boy had showed them.

“Bang-bang!” went the engine.  “Whizz-whizz!” went the boat through the water.

“Faster!  Faster!” cried Uncle Wiggily, who was steering the boat, while Rover ran the engine.  “Go faster!”