"Oh dear! Oh dear!" sighed Uncle Wiggily, wondering who was going to save him, for he knew the tired old cat peddler couldn't.
And then, all of a sudden, the circus camel finished his long drink, and, with a jolly snarl, he cried:
"Here! You let Uncle Wiggily alone!" Then with his broad foot, made big and wide so it would not sink into the soft sand of the desert, the camel stepped on the tail of the Pipsisewah, holding him back so he couldn't chase Uncle Wiggily.
"Wow! Wow!" howled the Pip.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed the peddler cat. "Oh, mew!"
"Just wait until I get loose, and I'll chase you, too!" cried the Pipsisewah to the cat. "Just wait!"
"Don't be afraid!" said the camel, with a smile which made him look more homely than before, though this didn't matter. "Here, Uncle Wiggily, hop up on my back, between my two humps! You, too, Mr. Cat, jump up on my back. You and the bunny gentleman can sit there as the people of the desert used to ride me before I joined the circus. Hop up, my kind friends, and I'll soon carry you safe out of these woods. I can go fast, now that I have had a big drink of water. Hop up!"
Uncle Wiggily, with the cat's pack, hopped up on the back of the camel. The cat, too, sprang up. All the while the camel kept his broad foot on the tail of the Pipsisewah, so the bad animal couldn't get loose. And when the bunny and cat were safe in place, snuggled down in between the camel's humps, the queer creature started off, letting go the tail of the Pip.
"Ha! Now you can't get us!" mewed the cat, looking down from the camel's back.
"Just you wait! I'll get Uncle Wiggily yet, and you too!" the Pip howled. "And I'll fix you, Mr. Camel, for stepping on my tail!"