"Will you—er—have a cup—I mean a washtub of tea?" the muskrat lady asked, well knowing that so big a creature must drink a lot of everything.
"Some water is all I need, thank you," answered the elephant. "I had something to eat in the forest before I met Uncle Wiggily."
Then the big chap put his trunk down in the brook and sucked up a great quantity of water. Uncle Wiggily put the box of matches down on the bench at the side of the bungalow, where the sun shone bright and hot, and watched the elephant drink.
"Well, now I'll travel along and go back to the circus," said the big chap with the large trunk and little tail. "I'll tell the lion and tiger I met you."
"Please do." begged the bunny, and then, all of a sudden Nurse Jane cried:
"Fire! Fire! Fire! Oh, the sun has set off the box of matches, and the bungalow is burning! Fire! Fire! Fire!"
Surely enough, this had happened. The box of matches, fizzing and spluttering, was burning Uncle Wiggily's bungalow.
"Turn in an alarm; Get the firemen! Call out the water bugs!" cried the bunny gentleman.
"Just a moment! Don't get excited!" spoke the elephant calmly. "I will put out that fire in a second!"
He sucked up more water from the brook in his trunk and squirted it on the blaze. The fire hissed and spluttered and died out in a puff of smoke.