They had quite an adventure, too, as I shall have the pleasure of telling you in the next story which will be about Uncle Wiggily and the crawly snake—­that is if the baby doesn’t drop his bread and butter down the stovepipe and make the rice pudding laugh.

STORY XV.

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRAWLY SNAKE

“Do you feel all right to travel to-day?” asked Uncle Wiggily of the elephant the next morning, after the hot-peanut-man had cured the big chap.

“Oh, yes, I feel very fine!” said the elephant.  “We will travel along together again, and perhaps we may find your fortune this time.”

“Hadn’t we better take some extra peanuts with us, in case you become ill again?” asked the rabbit, as he looked in the satchel to see if he had any sandwiches, in case he got hungry.

“Oh, to be sure, we must have peanuts!” exclaimed the elephant.  “Take as many as we can carry, for I just love ’em!”

So they hunted up the hot-peanut-man, and bought all the rest of his peanuts, besides paying for those the elephant had eaten to make himself get well.

“Good luck to you!” cried the peanut man, as he wheeled away his empty wagon, “I wish I had elephants for customers every day, then I would soon get rich,” and away he went singing: 

    “I sell peanuts good and hot,
    Five cents buys you quite a lot. 
    Get your money and come here,
    Buy my peanuts, children dear.

    “My peanuts are hot and brown,
    Finest ones in all the town. 
    Nice and juicy—­good to chew,
    I have some for all of you.”

“Well, come on,” said the elephant to Uncle Wiggily, “put some peanuts in your valise, and I will carry the rest.”

“How; in your trunk?” asked the rabbit.

“No, I’m going to wrap them up in a bundle, and tie them on my back.  I want my trunk to squirt water through when it gets hot, as I think the sun is going to be very scorchy to-day.”

So he tied the bundle of peanuts on his back, and then the two friends journeyed on together.  Well, it did get very hot, and it kept on getting hotter, and there wasn’t much shade.

“Oh my, I wish it would rain a little shower!” said Uncle Wiggily, as he wiped his ears with his handkerchief.  “I am as hot as an oven.”

“I can soon fix that part of it,” said the elephant.  And pretty soon he came to a spring of cold water, and he sucked a lot of it up in his hollow trunk, and then he squirted a nice cool, fine spray of it over the rabbit, just as if it came out of a hose with which papa waters the garden or lawn.

“My!  That feels fine!” said the rabbit.  Then the elephant squirted some water on himself, and they went on, feeling much better.

But still they were warm again in a short time, and then the elephant said: 

“I know what I am going to do.  I am going to get some more ice cream cones.  They will cool us off better than anything else.  I’ll go for them and bring back some big ones.  You stay here in the shade, Uncle Wiggily, but don’t walk on ahead, or you may tumble into the water again.”