"I must get over there," he said to himself, "and I am sure I will find my fortune. But how am I going to do it? That river is too wide for me to jump across, and it is too wide for me to swim. If I only had a boat I would be all right."
The old gentleman rabbit looked around for a boat, but none was at hand. Then he happened to think of something that Sammie and Susie Littletail once did.
"That's what I'll do!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "I'll make a raft." So he got some planks and boards and sticks, and he laid them crossways one upon the other, and tied them together with strong pieces of wild grape vine. Then he had a raft on which he could sit and push himself across the river, almost as well as if he had a rowboat.
"Now, I'll put my valise on board, and hop on myself, and away we'll go!" he cried, and he was very much pleased with the raft that he had made. Into the water he shoved it, and in the middle of the raft he placed his valise. Then he got on, and shoved off, using his crutch for a pushing pole.
Out into the middle of the river went Uncle Wiggily on the raft, and he was having a fine sail. Then all at once he felt hungry, so he stopped pushing the raft, opened his valise and took out a piece of cherry pie.
Well, as true as I'm telling you, just as he was eating it he heard a swirling noise in the water behind him and a savage voice cried out:
"Ha! Now I have you! Give me that piece of cherry pie or I'll upset the raft and you'll get all wet!"
Uncle Wiggily looked around, and there, swimming right up to him was a big, snicky-snooky water rat--a second cousin to the rat that got into Uncle Wiggily's tent the night before.
"Give me that pie!" cried the rat, as she put her claws on the raft. "Give it to me."
"No, indeed, I will not," replied Uncle Wiggily, as politely as one can speak to a rat.