So Neddie went out to the woodpile again, and it was darker than ever. The little bear boy piled his paws full of the firesticks and started for the house. It was quite a distance, and before Neddie got there some one stepped up behind him and grabbed him tightly.
“Oh, dear!” cried the little bear boy. “Who is it?”
“It is I! The skillery-scalery alligator!” was the answer, given in a shivery sort of voice. “At last I have you! I have been waiting until it was dark enough for me to carry you off without any one seeing me. Now I’ve got you. Come along!”
“No, I’m not going!” cried Neddie, and he struggled to get loose. But he couldn’t, for the ’gator held him too tightly.
“Oh, help! help!” cried poor Neddie.
“Hush! No more of that!” snarled the skillery alligator, and he held one paw over Neddie’s mouth so the little bear boy couldn’t call for help.
“Come along!” cried the alligator, and he started to drag Neddie away.
And then the little bear cub thought of something. In his paws were a lot of sharp, jagged sticks of wood. As quickly as a flash Neddie dropped all but one of these sticks of wood. This one he grasped tightly in his paws, and with that stick he gave that bad alligator such a whack on his nose that tears came into his eyes.
“Oh, wow! Trolley cars, and ice cream cones! What happened to me?” cried the alligator. “Did it thunder and lightning?”
“No! I did it with my little stick!” cried Neddie and he gave the ’gator another whack, if you will excuse my saying so. Then the alligator cried “Wow!” again, and more tears came into his eyes, and he could not see through so much salt water, and then Neddie managed to wiggle loose and run into the house. And the ’gator had too much of a toothache to follow, so the little bear boy got away after all. And the skillery-scalery alligator went to the dentist’s, to have his tooth fixed.