it got dark.

Well, he found a nice, soft place under a pile of hay, and there he
stretched out to slumber as nicely as if he were in his bed at home. He
even snored a little bit, I believe, or else it was Bully Frog croaking
one of his songs.

The day passed, and the sun went down, and it got all ready to be night,
and still Uncle Wiggily slept on soundly. But all of a sudden he heard
voices whispering:

"Now you go that way and I'll go this way, and we'll catch that rabbit and
put him in a cage and sell him!"

Well, you can just believe that Uncle Wiggily was frightened when he
awakened suddenly and saw two bad boys softly creeping up and making ready
to catch him.

"Oh, this is no place for me!" the rabbit cried, and he grabbed up his
crutch and his valise and hopped away so fast that the boys couldn't catch
him, no matter how fast they could run, even bare-footed.

"Let's throw stones at him!" they cried. And they did, but I'm glad to say
that none of them hit Uncle Wiggily. Isn't it queer how mean some boys can
be? But perhaps they were never told any better, so we'll forgive them
this time.

"Well, it is now night," said the rabbit gentleman as he hopped on through
the woods, "so I think I will sit under this tree and wait for the moon to
come up. And while I'm waiting I'll eat my supper."