STORY VI
UNCLE WIGGILY GOES CHESTNUTTING
"Where are you going this morning, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Johnnie Bushytail of the old gentleman rabbit the day after the Hallowe'en fun.
"Oh, I am going to take a ride and see if I can find any more adventures," said Uncle Wiggily, as he went out in the barn to look and see if his auto had any holes in the rubber tires, or if the what-you-may-call-it had gotten twisted around the whose-this-cantankerum.
"May I go with you?" asked Billie Bushytail, as he followed Uncle Wiggily. "We don't want you to go away from our house so soon. We'd like to have you pay us a nice, long visit."
"Hum, well, I'll think about it," said Uncle Wiggily, slowly, and careful-like. "I'll stay as long as I can. But as for you squirrel boys going for a ride in my auto, why I guess you may come if your mamma will let you. Yes, it's all ready for a spin," he went on, as he saw that the tiddle-taddleum was on straight, and that the wheels had no holes in them.
"Oh, goody! Come on!" cried Billie to Johnnie; so into the house they hurried to ask their mamma, and she said they might go.
A little later, with the squirrel boys sitting in the back part of the auto, away they went, Uncle Wiggily steering here and there and taking care not to run over any puppy-dogs' tails or over any alligators' noses.
"Are you going off in the woods?" asked Johnnie, as he saw the old gentleman rabbit steering toward the tree-forest.
"I think I will," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I want to see Grandfather Goosey Gander, and if we go through the woods that is the shortest way to his house."
"Then, perhaps, we can stop and gather some chestnuts," said Johnnie. "There may be a few left that the other squirrels haven't yet picked up, and I heard papa saying to mamma the other night that we need a whole lot more than we have, so we wouldn't be hungry this winter."