less a person than his Uncle Wattleberry bounding and plunging about the road with Bill hanging on to his whiskers, and Sam hanging on to one leg.

[Pg 74]

'I've got him,' shouted Bill. 'Catch a hold of his other leg and give me a chance to get his whiskers off.'

'But why are you taking his whiskers off?' inquired Bunyip Bluegum.[Pg 75]

[Pg 75]

'Because they're stuck on with glue,' shouted Bill. 'I saw it at a glance. It's Watkin Wombat, Esq., disguised as a company promoter.'

'Dear me,' said Bunyip, hurriedly, 'you are making a mistake. This is not a puddin'-thief, this is an Uncle.'

'A what?' exclaimed Bill, letting go the whiskers.

'An Uncle,' replied Bunyip Bluegum.

'An Uncle,' roared Uncle Wattleberry. 'An Uncle of[Pg 76] the highest integrity. You have most disgracefully and unmercifully pulled an Uncle's whiskers.'

[Pg 76]

'I can assure you,' said Bill, 'I pulled them under the delusion that you was a disguised Wombat.'

'That is no excuse, sir,' bellowed Uncle Wattleberry. 'No one but an unmitigated ruffian would pull an Uncle's whiskers.

'Who but the basest scoundrel, double-eyed,

Would pluck an Uncle's whiskers in their pride,

What baseness, then, doth such a man disclose

Who'd raise a hand to pluck an Uncle's nose?'

'If I've gone too far,' said Bill, 'I apologize. If I'd known you was an Uncle I wouldn't have done it.'

'Apologies are totally inadequate,' shouted Uncle Wattleberry. 'Nothing short of felling you to the earth with an umbrella could possibly atone for the outrage. You are a danger to the whisker-growing public. You have knocked my hat off, pulled my whiskers, and tried to remove my nose.'

'Pullin' your nose,' 

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