"Thank you, most kindly," said the angle worm, as he sat up on the end of his tail and ate the cherry pie, juice and all. "But why are you digging in the earth, Uncle Wiggily?"
"To find my fortune," answered the rabbit, and he told how long he had been looking for gold or diamonds and how he hadn't found any yet. "Is there any gold down under the ground where you live?" asked the rabbit, sad-like.
"Not a bit, I'm sorry to say," answered the worm. "I live down there with numbers of my friends, but there is no gold. You had better dig somewhere else. But you have been very kind to me, and if ever I can do you a favor I will."
"Thank you," said Uncle Wiggily, so he hopped out of the hole he had made, and, after saying good-bye to the worm, he traveled on to find another place where he might dig for his fortune.
He came to a place in the woods, where the ground was nice and soft, and there he started to make another hole. Well, he hadn't gone down very far before, all of a sudden, he heard a growling voice behind him calling out:
"Here! Who said you could dig in my land?"
"Oh, I beg your pardon. Is this your land?" asked the rabbit, and he looked up to see the skillery-scalery alligator glaring down at him.
"Yes, this is my land, and these are my woods, and because you were so bold as to dig here I'm going to eat you up!" shouted the 'gator, lashing his double-jointed tail around in the dried leaves. "Here I come!" he cried.
Then he made a dive, with his big, wide-open jaws, down into the hole Uncle Wiggily had dug, but the rabbit didn't wait for him. Out he jumped, and away he hopped, and the 'gator crawled after him. Faster and faster ran the rabbit, and faster and faster came the alligator.
"Oh, I know he'll catch me!" thought poor Uncle Wiggily. "Oh, help! Will no one help me?" he cried.