"Wow! I guess I made a mistake. This must be where hunters or soldiers live. This is no place for me!" And away he went, taking his double-jointed tail with him.
"Crackie," said Professor Rat, "you saved us all from the alligator by seeing him in time for me to scare him away. I guess, after all, it's a good thing you came to school, even if you did talk."
"And may I have something to eat?" asked the little beaver girl. "If I may I don't want to go home."
"Give her some of that ginger-bread cake," said Mr. Rat to Toodle. "I guess it won't hurt to let her eat in school, and she is so little, and she was so brave."
So Crackie ate some cake, and she felt better, and all the other animal children wished they had some. Then they had more lessons, and soon school was out, and, after all, Crackie was glad she came.
So, on the next page, if the peanut man doesn't take away our refrigerator to roast his chestnuts on at the moving picture show, I'll tell you about Toodle's roller skates.
[STORY XXI]
TOODLE AND HIS ROLLER SKATES
"Mamma," said Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy one afternoon as he came in from school, and looked around in the ice box to see if there was any cake left over from dinner, "would you do me a favor, mamma?"