Oh, dear me. I just hate to start this story, for I must tell you something very unpleasant. You remember in the last one Little Jack Rabbit and Uncle John Hare were skating away as fast as they could from Mr. Wicked Wolf. But, oh, dear me. All of a sudden, just like that, Uncle John Hare’s skate came off. And of course that wasn’t lucky, let me tell you. Oh, my, no. It was simply dreadful. And when Mr. Wicked Wolf saw the predicament, which means a dreadful fix, you know, which the dear old gentleman rabbit was in, he kicked up his heels and pretty soon he was so close that even if Uncle John Hare could have fastened on his skate again he never would have been able to get away.
“Ha ha, ho ho, now I’ve got you two,
And I’ll skate you both till you’re black and blue,
And then I’ll take you home for a stew.
For Mrs. Wolf knows how to make
A rabbit stew and a big pancake.”
And, oh, dear me again, and maybe once more, for I don’t know what’s going to happen, and maybe it will happen before I can write it, and then what will we all do, I should like to know? Maybe there won’t be any more stories.
“Wait just a minute, Mr. Wicked Wolf,” said the old gentleman rabbit, and he took out his gold watch and chain. “It’s just 13 o’clock, and that’s a very unlucky number.” Mr. Wicked Wolf scratched his head, for he didn’t know what to do, and neither would I and neither would you if we had been there.
“I’ll wait till five minutes past 13,” said the wicked old wolf with a grin, which showed all his white teeth, and the gold one which Dr. Dentist Duck had put in after the railroad accident, which I’ll tell you about some day if I don’t forget it.
“Now put on your thinking cap,” said Uncle John Hare. So Little Jack Rabbit opened his knapsack and took out a little pink worsted thinking cap and put it on his head and pretty soon, not so very long, before the five minutes were up, of course, he said: