“I can get all those!” exclaimed Flop Ear, and he did.  Then Uncle Butter took the roller skate apart at the place where it slid together to be made smaller or larger.  Right apart he took it, and there were two wheels on one part and two on the other.

The goat gentleman used the string to fasten two wheels on one end of the long narrow board and two wheels on the other end.  Then he nailed the box on the front end of the board, right over the front wheels, and on top of the box he nailed the stick for a handle, just as on a bicycle, only this handle was straight and not curved.

“There is your skate wagon,” he said to Flop Ear.  “You take it to some street that runs down hill and you start at the top.  Stand up on the board, near the box, and lean against it so you won’t fall off.  Take hold of the handles, and then push yourself off.  Down the hilly street you will roll on the skate wheels, just like a coaster wagon.”

“Fine!” cried Flop Ear, as he thanked Uncle Butter.  Then he ran to the top of a hilly, smooth street to try his skate wagon.

He stood up in the middle of the long narrow board, took hold of the handles on top of the box, and steadied himself.  Then, with one foot he gave himself a good push, and down the hill he went as fast as anything, making a noise just like a real roller skater boy only louder.

“Oh, this is great!” he cried as he reached the bottom of the hill, and ran back for another coast down it.  Then Flop Ear forgot all about being sick, and he had lots of fun riding on his skate wagon, so you see that even one roller skate may be good for something.

Well Flop Ear was just going to coast down the hill for about the forty-’leventh time when, all of a sudden, he heard a voice calling: 

“Save me!  Save me!  Oh, help me!”

He looked around and there he saw a poor old lady cat being chased by a bad dog that had once caught Uncle Butter to pull out his horns.  The lady cat was running as fast as she could with her tail all swelled up like a bologna sausage.

“Save me from the bad dog!” she cried.

“Bow-wow!  Woof!  Woof!  Bur-r-rr!” barked the dog.  “I’ll get you!”

“No you won’t!” cried Flop Ear.  “Get on my skate wagon!” he called to the old lady cat, and with one jump she landed in the box.  Flop Ear gave a good push, jumped on the wagon himself, and down the hill he went faster and faster, with the dog coming after him.

“Oh, he’ll get us!” cried the lady cat.

“No he won’t!” shouted Flop Ear.  Faster and faster went the skate wagon down the hill, and the bad dog tried so hard to catch up to it that, all of a sudden, his legs got tied up in a hard knot—­yes, sir, just as hard a knot as if a sailor had made it.  And, of course, that dog turned a somersault, and went head over heels and he couldn’t run any more until one of his friends untied the knots in his legs.