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  They were very pretty little Neighbors]

 

  BUDDY JIM GOES SWIMMING AND MEETS A QUEER LITTLE NEIGHBOR

  _The sun came climbing up the hills As red as red could be, And not a leaf was moving on Any shrub or tree; The little birds forgot to sing, The winds forgot to roam; "There's nothing to do," said Buddy Jim, "But stay around at home."_

  Just then Old Bob the gardener came along, mopping his brow with hisold, red bandana handkerchief which he wore tied around his neck, likea cowboy in a wild west movie.

  "O Bob," said Buddy Jim, "Isn't it hot? I don't feel as though I'd_ever_ be cool again!"

  "It is, _so_," said Old Bob the gardener, "for the last week in June,it is about as hot as I've ever seen it; you look a bit peaked, Son,seems to me," said he, sympathetically, "has the heat got hold of you?"

  "Oh, I don't think so, Bob," said the little fellow. "But it just seemsas though there were not a thing in the world to _do_!"

  "Old Dog Sandy seems a bit tuckered out, too," said Old Bob thegardener. Old Dog Sandy, stretched out flat under a lilac bush, didn'tbother to open his eyes. He just thumped the ground feebly with histail. It was too hot to _move_, if one didn't have to, but one mustalways be polite!

  "Now let's see," said Old Bob the gardener, "there _should_ besomething that a boy could do on a hot day, and get some fun out of it?Can you swim?"

  "Some," said Buddy Jim. "I learned in the pool at the gymnasium, athome--I mean in the city."

  "_Pool!_" said Old Bob the gardener, contemptuously, "run and get yourbathing suit and I'll take you down to the old swimming hole, where Iused to swim when I was your age, and where I've been swimming everyyear since! I think I would enjoy a swim myself, this morning," headded. Buddy Jim forgot all about the weather, but went tearing like asmall whirl-wind to Mother, asking _where_ was his bathing suit, andhopping excitedly around until she had found it. He was so enthusiasticthat he could hardly wait until Old Bob the gardener had found hisown suit and was ready to go. Even Old Dog Sandy waked up and decidedto go along, and it was a happy little procession which went, Indianfile, along the narrow path which led through the alder bushes to theswimming hole.

  Someone who loved boys must have made that swimming hole. The sand hadbeen scooped out from the bed of the brook, and used to make a fine,wide beach; the brook had been made deeper and wider, and a big oldtree had been felled in just the right place for a clean, high dive.The alders grew thickly around the beach, and made the nicest dressingroom imaginable, and very soon, all three, the old man, the little boy,and the old dog were splashing happily around in the cool water.

  Old Bob the gardener taught Buddy Jim many things that he had notlearned at the gymnasium; how to tread water like a dog, how to keephis eyes open under water, and how to lie on his back and just float;it was great fun, and they were soon as cool as though jolly old Mr.Sun had not tried to see how hot he could _make_ a day in June.

  After awhile Old Bob the gardener said that they had been in the waterlong enough for one day, and that he had some work to do, and must goback, but Buddy Jim said that he was going to stay and lie on the beachfor a while; it was cooler there.

  Old Bob the gardener said, all right, if he wouldn't go in the wateralone, because he couldn't yet swim well enough to go in alone, andBuddy Jim promised that he would not. Old Bob knew that when Buddy saidhe would do a thing, that it was just as good as done, because he wasvery careful to _always_ keep his word. Mother said that a real manalways did. And Buddy Jim meant to be a _real_ man.

  It was so cool and comfy there under the alder bushes that Buddy Jimfell fast asleep, and then he was aware of voices, and that Old DogSandy was grumbling and complaining that "a fellow never could getforty winks, but that _someone_ had to chatter and wake him up."

  "Lie down, Sandy," whispered Buddy Jim, "and keep quiet." The old dogobeyed, though he did not want to, and Buddy Jim _crawled_ quietly overtowards the voices and lay _very_ still until they began again.

  "I saw it first," said a queer lispy little voice. It was not a verygood-natured sounding voice either.

  "Why the very idea," said a calm, quiet, little voice, "how can you sayso, when we were already here when you arrived? _We_ saw it first, andwe intend to keep it; isn't that so, Brother?"

  "Of course," answered another little voice, "that's what we intend todo. You go and find another nest if you are hungry."

  "No, no," lisped the first voice, "this nest is mine and I'm going tohave it."

  "Well now, Mrs. Garter Snake," said the first little voice, "you knowwell enough it's no good wrangling; we are not going to give up ourrights to you; finding's keepings; anyway Mrs. Snapping Turtle lays somany eggs that very likely there will be some left, after we have hadenough, and we don't mind sharing them with you; you are quite welcometo what we cannot use."

  "All right," said Mrs. Garter Snake, "go on and dig them out, then,because I want to get back home to my children."

  Buddy Jim crawled a bit nearer to see if he could discover who thelittle neighbors were who were not a bit afraid of Mrs. Garter Snake.

  They were very pretty Little Neighbors indeed, in cool-lookingblack-and-white suits and they were as frisky as kittens. It was onlythe work of a moment for them to dig open Mrs. Snapping Turtle's nestin the sand, where she had trustingly laid her eggs to be hatched outby kind Mr. Sun while she was cool and happy in the bed of the brook,or swam around catching frogs for her dinner.

  It did not take them long to eat their lunch, either, and when theywere no longer hungry, they ran away together, laughing, leaving whatwas left of the eggs to Mrs. Garter Snake, who immediately ate them andthen rustled away out of sight among the bushes.

  "I guess that's the last of Mrs. Snapping Turtle's children," saidBuddy Jim as he dressed, "it does seem too bad, that her eggs are alllost, but she could not expect anything else to happen. Let's go,Sandy," he called to the old dog.

  Old Dog Sandy made believe that he didn't hear; he knew that the LittleNeighbors must live somewhere near, and he wished very much to call onthem; they had spoiled his nap, and he wanted to give them a chance toapologize.

  "Come along, Sandy," said his little master, who knew his tricks, "Iknow what you want to do; you want to find our Little Neighbors, andyou know I do not allow _that_!"

  After lunch Buddy Jim went out to the tool house to find Old Bobthe gardener. "Feel better, Son?" asked the old man kindly. "I feelfine, Bob, thank you," said the little fellow, "but I want to askyou something. Who were the Little Neighbors that I saw digging Mrs.Snapping Turtle's eggs out of the sand this morning? They were blackand white and looked something like Peter the Prowler, only muchprettier. Old Dog Sandy wanted to go after them," he added, "but I madehim keep away."

  Old Bob the gardener laughed. "It's a good thing for him that you did,"said he, "and for all the rest of us, too; that was Brother and SisterSkunk!"

  "_Why_ is it a good thing, Bob?" asked Buddy Jim. "They were just asgood-natured as could be, and generous also; they let Mrs. Garter Snakehave part of the eggs."

  "O yes, they're _generous_," said Old Bob the gardener, "and easy toget along with, too, if you let them alone; I hope Old Dog Sandy wasnot enough interested in them to go back and try to find them, because,in the matter of perfume, now, they're _more_ than generous."

  "O yes," said Buddy Jim, laughing, "Now I remember!"

  But Old Dog Sandy didn't remember; he just couldn't forget; and he toldhimself that he knew the way back there, and that no black-and-whitekitteny looking things like that could wake him up without explainingwhy; and _some_ day,--_well_ they'd _see_.