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diff --git a/old/bnnbr10.txt b/old/bnnbr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd44f4a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bnnbr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6356 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, by Laura Lee Hope +#6 in our series by Laura Lee Hope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5732] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE + +BY + +LAURA LEE HOPE +AUTHOR OF +THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY +TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLS +SERIES, ETC. + +Illustrated by +Florence England Nosworthy + +NEW YORK +1916 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. AUNT LU ARRIVES +II. THE LOST RING +III. WANGO, THE MONKEY +IV. THE EMPTY HOUSE +V. LOCKED IN +VI. ADRIFT IN A BOAT +VII. BUNNY GOES FISHING +VIII. SUE FALLS IN +IX. THE RESCUE DOG +X. A TROLLEY RIDE +XI. LOST +XII. FOUND +XIII. SUE AND THE GOAT +XIV. A LITTLE PARTY +XV. GEORGE WATSON'S TRICK +XVI. THE LEMONADE STAND +XVII. THE MOVING PICTURES +XVIII. WANGO AND THE CANDY +XIX. BUNNY IN A QUEER PLACE +XX. SPLASH RUNS AWAY +XXI. HOW SUE FOUND THE EGGS +XXII. AUNT LU IS SAD +XXIII. AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE +XXIV. THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW +XXV. THE LOBSTER CLAW + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AUNT LU ARRIVES + + +"Bunny! Bunny! Wake up! It's time!" + +"Wha--what's matter?" sleepily mumbled little Bunny Brown, making his +words all run together, like molasses candy that has been out in the hot +sun. "What's the matter, Sue?" Bunny asked, now that he had his eyes +open. He looked over the side of his small bed to see his sister +standing beside it. She had left her own little room and had run into +her brother's. + +"What's the matter, Sue?" Bunny asked again. + +"Why, it's time to get up, Bunny," and Sue opened her brown eyes more +widely, as she tried to get the "sleepy feeling" out of them. "It's time +to get up!" + +"Time to get up--so early? Oh, Sue! It isn't Christmas morning; is it, +Sue?" and with that thought Bunny sat up suddenly in his bed. + +"Christmas? No, of course not!" said Sue, who, though only a little over +five years of age (a year younger than was Bunny), sometimes acted as +though older than the blue-eyed little chap, who was now as widely awake +as his sister. + +"Well, if it isn't Christmas, and we don't have to go to the +kindergarten school, 'cause it's closed, why do I have to get up so +early?" Bunny wanted to know. + +Bunny Brown was a great one for asking questions. So was his sister Sue; +but Sue would often wait a while and find things out for herself, +instead of asking strangers what certain things meant. Bunny always +seemed in a hurry, and his mother used to say he could ask more +questions than several grown folks could answer. + +"Why do you want me to get up so early?" Bunny asked again. He was wide +awake now. + +"Why, Bunny Brown! Have you forgotten?" asked Sue, with a queer look in +her brown eyes. "Don't you remember Aunt Lu is coming to visit us to- +day, and we're going down to the station to meet her?" + +"Oh yes! That's so! I did forget all about it!" Bunny said. "I guess it +was because I dreamed so hard in the night, Sue. I dreamed I had a new +rocking-horse, and he ran away with me, up-hill--" + +"Rocking-horses can't run away," Sue said, shaking her head, the hair of +which needed brushing, as it had become "tousled" in her sleep. + +"Well, mine ran away, in my dream, anyhow!" declared Bunny. + +"They can't run up hill, even in dreams," insisted Sue. "Horses have to +walk up hill. Grandpa's always do." + +"Maybe not in dreams," Bunny said. "And I really did dream that, Sue. +And I'm glad you woke me up, for I want to meet Aunt Lu." + +"Then let's hurry and get dressed," Sue went on. "Maybe we can run down +to the station before breakfast. Aunt Lu will be hungry, and we can show +her the way to our house." + +"That's so," agreed Bunny. "But maybe we'd better take a piece of bread +and butter down to the station for her," he added, after thinking about +it for a few seconds. + +"Or a piece of cake," added his sister. + +"We'll take both!" exclaimed the blue-eyed, chubby little chap. Then he +began to dress. Sue, who had gone back into her own little room, had +almost finished putting on her clothes, but, as her dress buttoned up +the back, she had to come in and ask Bunny to fasten it for her. This he +was ready to do as soon as he had pulled on his stockings and little +knickerbockers. + +"Shall I start at the top button, or the bottom one, Sue?" he asked, as +he stood behind his sister. + +"It doesn't matter," said Sue, "as long as you get it buttoned. But +hurry, Bunny. We don't want the train to get in, and Aunt Lu get off, +with us not there to meet her. Hurry!" + +"All right--I will," and Bunny began buttoning the dress. But soon a +queer look came over his face. "Aren't you done?" asked Sue, as he +stopped using his fingers. + +"Yes, I'm done, Sue, but I've got two buttons left over, and there's +only one buttonhole to put 'em in! What'll I do?" Bunny was quite +puzzled. + +"Oh, you must have buttoned me wrong, Bunny," Sue said. "But never mind. +Nobody will notice so early in the morning. Now come on down stairs, and +we'll get the bread and cake." + +The children went to the dining room, where the table was set for +breakfast, and Sue was cutting off a rather large slice from a cake she +had found in the pantry, while Bunny was putting twice as much butter on +a slice of bread as was needed, when their mother's voice exclaimed: + +"Why, Bunny Brown! Sue! What in the world are you children doing? Up so +early, too, and not properly dressed! Why did you get up? The idea!" + +"We're going to the station," Sue said. It really was her idea. She had +thought of it the night before, when their mother had told them her +sister (the children's Aunt Lu) would arrive in the morning. "We're +going to the station," said Sue. + +"To meet Aunt Lu," added Bunny. + +"And we're taking her some cake so she won't be hungry for breakfast," +went on Sue. + +"And bread," Bunny continued. "Maybe she don't like cake, so I'm taking +bread." + +"If she doesn't eat the cake, we can," Sue said, as if that was the +easiest way out. + +"Of course," Bunny echoed. + +Mrs. Brown sat down in a chair and began to laugh. She had to sit down, +for she laughed very hard indeed, and when she did that she used to +shake in such a jolly fashion that, perhaps, she would have fallen if +she had not been sitting in a chair. + +"Oh, you children!" she said, when she had wiped the tears from her eyes +with the corner of her apron. She was not exactly crying, you know. Only +she laughed so hard that tears came into her eyes. "You queer, dear +little children!" she said. "What are you going to do next?" + +"Why, we're going to the station as soon as I get the bread buttered, +and Sue puts the cake in a bag," Bunny said. He did not seem to feel +that anything was wrong. + +"Oh, my dears, Aunt Lu's train won't be in for some time--two or three +hours," said Mrs. Brown. "And you know I've told you never to go down to +the station alone." + +"Couldn't you come with us?" asked Sue, eating a few of the cake crumbs. + +"Or maybe papa," added Bunny. "If he can't Bunker can. Bunker knows the +way to the station." + +"And Bunker likes cake, too," Sue said. "We might give him a piece, if +Aunt Lu doesn't want it." + +"No, no! You musn't give away my cake like that," said Mrs. Brown. "Now +listen to me. It will be hours before Aunt Lu will get here. Then, +perhaps, I may take you to the station to meet her. But now I must dress +you right and give you your breakfast. Papa had his some time ago, as he +had to go down to the bay to see about some boats. I wondered why you +were getting up so early. Now put back the bread and cake and wait until +I give you something to eat." + +A little later, rather disappointed at not being allowed to go off alone +to meet their aunt, Bunny and Sue sat at the breakfast table. + +"I wish the time would hurry up and come for Aunt Lu to be here," Bunny +said. + +"So do I," chimed in Sue. "What fun we'll have when Aunt Lu comes." + +"Indeed we will!" Bunny exclaimed. + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue lived with their father and mother, Mr. +and Mrs. Walter Brown, in the town of Bellemere. That town was on +Sandport Bay, which was part of the Atlantic Ocean, and the bay was a +good place to catch fish, lobsters, crabs and other things that live in +salt water. + +Mr. Brown was in the boat business. That is he owned many boats, some +that sailed, some that went by steam or gasoline, and some that had to +be rowed with oars. These boats he hired out, or rented, to fishermen, +and others who had to go on the bay, or even out on the ocean, when it +was not too rough. + +Mr. Brown had a number of men to help him in his boat business; and one +of the men, or, rather, an extra-large size boy, was Bunker Blue, of +whom Bunny and Sue were very fond. And Bunker liked the two children' +fully as much as they liked him. He often took them out in a boat, or +went on little land-trips with them. Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not worry +when Bunny and Sue were with Bunker. + +The two Brown children were good company for each other. You seldom saw +Bunny without seeing Sue not far away. They played together nearly all +the while, though often they would bring other children to their yard, +or would go to theirs, to play games, and have jolly times. Bunny was a +boy full of fun and one who sometimes took chances of getting into +mischief, just to have a "good time." And Sue was not far behind him. +But they never meant to do wrong, and everyone loved them. + +Uncle Tad lived with the Browns. He was an old soldier, rather stiff +with the rheumatism at times, but still often able to take walks with +the children. He was their father's uncle, but Bunny and Sue thought of +Uncle Tad as more their relation than their father's. + +In the distant city of New York lived Miss Lulu Baker, who was Mrs. +Brown's maiden sister, and the Aunt Lu whom the children were so eagerly +expecting this morning. She had written that she was coming to spend a +few weeks at the seashore place, and, later on, she intended to have +Bunny and Sue and their mother visit her in the big city. Bunny and Sue +looked eagerly forward to this. But just now they wanted most to go to +the depot, and watch for the train to come in, bringing dear Aunt Lu to +them. + +"Isn't it most time to go?" asked Sue, as she pushed back her chair from +the breakfast table. + +"Oh, no, not for a long while," said their mother. "You run out and +play, and when it's time, I'll call you." + +"And can't we take Aunt Lu anything to eat?" asked Bunny. + +"Oh dear me, no!" laughed Mrs. Brown. "She won't want anything until she +gets here. Run along now." + +Bunny and Sue went out in the yard, where they had a little play-tent, +made of some old pieces of sails from one of Mr. Brown's boats. It was a +warm spring day, and, as Bunny had said, there was no kindergarten +school for them to go to, as it had closed, to allow a new roof to be +put on the school building. + +"Let's go down and see Wango," suggested Sue, after a bit. + +"No, because it's so far away that mother couldn't call to us," objected +Bunny. "We'll stay here in the yard until it's time to go to the train." + +"All right," agreed Sue. + +Wango was a queer little monkey, belonging to Jed Winkler, an old sailor +of the town. I'll tell you more about Wango later. + +Bunny and Sue played a number of games, and, after a while, a boy named +Charlie Star, and a girl, named Sadie West, came over from across the +street and joined Bunny and Sue in their fun. Then, a little later, Mrs. +Brown came to the door and said: + +"Come now, Bunny--Sue! It's almost train time. I can't go with you, but +I'll let Bunker take you. I telephoned down to the dock, and daddy is +sending him up with the pony cart. You may drive down to meet Aunt Lu. +But come in and wash first!" + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Bunny, and he was so pleased at the idea of going to +the depot in the pony cart that he did not make a fuss when his mother +washed his hands and face. + +"Hello, Bunker!" cried Sue, as the big, red-haired lad drove up. + +"Hello, Sue! Hello, Bunny!" he greeted them. "Hop in and away we'll go!" + +Off they started to the station. It was not far from the Brown home, and +soon, with the pony safely tied, so he would not run away, Bunny, Sue +and Bunker waited on the platform for the cars to arrive. + +With a toot, a whistle and a clanging of the bell, in puffed the train. +Several passengers got off. + +"Oh, there she is! I see Aunt Lu!" cried Sue, darting off toward a lady +in a brown dress. + +"Here, come back!" cried Bunker, reaching out a hand to catch Sue. He +was afraid she might go too near the train. But he was too late. Sue +raced forward, and then, suddenly, she slipped and fell right into a +puddle of water, left from a rain-storm the night before. Down into the +muddy pool went Sue, all in her clean white dress. + +"Oh--Oh!" gasped Bunny. + +"I might a'knowed suthin' like that would happen," complained Bunker. +"Now her ma'll blame me!" + +Aunt Lu saw what had happened, and, before any one else could reach Sue, +she had picked up the little girl, in whose eyes were tears all ready to +fall. And with her handkerchief Aunt Lu wiped the tears away. As she did +this Bunny saw a ring on his aunt's hand--a ring with a stone that +sparkled like snow in the sun--red, green, golden and purple colors. + +"There, Sue! Don't cry!" murmured Aunt Lu. "You're not hurt, and the mud +will wash off." + +"Oh, I--I'm not crying for that," said Sue. bravely keeping back her +sobs. "I--I'm crying just--just because I'm--I'm so glad to see you!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LOST RING + + +Aunt Lu laughed when she heard Sue say that. And it was such a nice, +kind, jolly laugh that Sue could not help joining in. So she was really +laughing and crying at the same time, which is funny, I suppose you +think. + +"Well, I'm glad you are so happy to see me, dear," said Aunt Lu. "Oh, +don't mind about your dress," she went on, as she saw Sue trying to rub +away some of the muddy spots with her tiny handkerchief. "Your mother +will know you couldn't help it." + +"I'll tell her it wasn't Sue's fault," cried Bunny. "The railroad +oughtn't to have puddles where people will fall into 'em!" + +"That's right," chimed in Bunker Blue. "It ought to be filled up with +dirt, and then it wouldn't hold water. You're to ride back with us in +the pony cart, Miss Baker." + +"Oh, so you drove over for me; did you? That's very nice," said Aunt Lu +with a smile. "My! How large Bunny has grown!" she went on, as she bent +over and kissed him, having already done that to Sue, when she wiped +away the little girl's tears. + +"I'll go and get the cart," Bunker said. + +"Yes, and I think I'll take Sue inside the station, and see if I can get +a towel to clean off the worst of the mud stains," said Miss Baker. + +"She can sit away back in the pony cart, and I'll sit in front of her, +so nobody will see the dirt on her dress," offered Bunny. + +"That's very kind of you," his aunt remarked. "We'll be all right soon. +Bunker, will you see after my trunk, please?" she asked as she gave him +the brass check. "It can be sent up later," she went on, "as I guess +there is hardly room for it in the pony cart." + +"No'm, not scarcely," answered Bunker with a smile that showed his big, +white teeth. "I'll have the expressman bring it up, or I can come down +for it later," and he went away to the baggage room. + +The ticket agent in the station gave Aunt Lu a towel, with which she +took some of the dirt from Sue's dress. The little girl was smiling now. + +"I like you, Aunt Lu," she said. "We're awful glad you came, and you'll +play with us; won't you?" + +"Oh, yes, of course, dear. Well, what is it, Bunny?" she went on, as she +saw the little boy looking closely at her hands. "Do you see something?" +Aunt Lu asked. + +"It--it's that," and Bunny pointed to the shining ring. + +Aunt Lu's eyes sparkled, almost as brightly as the glittering stone in +the ring, and her cheeks became red. + +"I know what it is--it's a diamond!" exclaimed Sue. "Isn't it, Aunt Lu?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Did you find it?" asked Bunny. "Or did you dig it out of a gold mine?" + +"Diamonds don't come from gold mines; they make 'em out of glass!" said +Sue. + +"Yes they do dig 'em; don't they, Aunt Lu?" insisted Bunny. + +"Yes, dear, they do dig them." + +"Where did you dig it?" Sue wanted to know. Perhaps she hoped she could +dig one for herself. + +"I did not dig it," their aunt said. "It was given me by a very dear +friend. I love it very much," and she held up the diamond ring, so that +it sparkled more than ever in the sun. + +"Well, Sue," she went on, as she finished scrubbing away at the muddy +dress. "I think that is the best I can do. It will need washing to make +it clean again. But here comes Bunker with the pony cart, so we will +start for your house. Your mother will be wondering what has become of +us." + +Aunt Lu had been on a visit to the Brown's several times before, and as +she sat in the pony cart with the children, with Bunker driving, she +bowed to several persons whom she knew and who knew her. There was Mr. +Sam Gordon, who kept the grocery, Jacob Reinberg, who sold drygoods and +notions, and little Mrs. Redden, who kept a candy and toy store. + +"Stop here a minute, Bunker," said Miss Baker, when the pony cart +reached the toy store. "I want to get something for Bunny and Sue." + +"Candy?" asked Bunny eagerly. + +"Yes, just a little," his aunt answered, and soon Bunny and Sue were +nibbling the sweets Mrs. Redden brought out to them. + +Just as he had said he would do, Bunny sat in front of his sister, so no +one would see her soiled dress. But Sue did not much mind about it now. +Her mother only said she was sorry, when she heard about the accident, +and did not blame her little daughter. + +Mrs. Brown and her sister were glad to see one another, and after Aunt +Lu had taken off her hat, and was seated In the cool dining room, +sipping a cup of tea, Bunny called to her: + +"Aunt Lu, won't you come out and play with us?" + +"Please do!" begged Sue. "I have a new doll." + +"And I have a new top," added Bunny. "It hums and whistles. I'll let you +spin it, Aunt Lu." + +"Oh, dears, your aunt can't come out now," said Mrs. Brown. "She must +rest. Some other time she may. She and I want to sit and talk now. You +run off and play by yourselves." + +"Don't you want to come down and see the fish boat come in?" went on +Bunny, wondering why it was that grown folks would rather sit and talk +than play out of doors and have fun. + +"Oh, yes, let's take her down to the dock and see the fish boats come +in!" exclaimed Sue, for this was one of their delights. Some of the +boats were those which the fishermen hired from Mr. Brown, and it was at +his dock, where he had an office, that the boats landed, the fish being +taken out, put in barrels, with ice, and sent to the city. + +"No, Aunt Lu can't go to the dock with you now," Mrs. Brown said. "Some +other time, my dears." + +"Then may we go?" asked Bunny. + +Mrs. Brown hesitated. Then, as she saw Bunker Blue coming in with Aunt +Lu's trunk, which he had gone down to get, instead of sending it up by +an expressman, the children's mother said: + +"Yes, Bunny, you and Sue may go down to the dock with Bunker. But stay +with him, and don't fall in; you especially, Sue, as I don't want to put +another clean dress on you." + +"Oh, I'll be careful, Mother," Sue promised, and away she and her +brother hurried, calling to Bunker to wait for them. Bunker was very +glad to do this, because he liked to be with Bunny and Sue. + +"Have the fish boats come in yet, Bunker?" asked Bunny, as he trudged +along, holding one of the red-haired lad's hands, while Sue had the +other. + +"No, Bunny, they're not in yet, but maybe they will be coming soon after +we get to the dock," Bunker answered. And so it happened. Bunny and Sue +went into their father's office for a moment, to tell him that Aunt Lu +had arrived, and then, with Bunker to look after them, they went out on +the end of the dock. + +Soon one of the big fish boats came in. It was loaded with several kinds +of fish, some big flat ones, white on one side, and black on the other. +These were flounders. There were some blue fish, large and small, and +some long-legged "fiddler" crabs. But they were not the kind that is +good to eat. + +"Oh, look at that big lobster!" exclaimed Bunny, pointing to a dark +green fellow, with big claws, and a tail curled up underneath. + +"Isn't he big!" Sue said. She and her brother often saw many strange +fish, but they never failed to be interested in them, and this lobster +was a fine one. + +"Yes," said a fisherman, "he was in our nets, and we brought him in with +us. Your father, the other day, said he'd like to have one, and maybe he +will want this." + +"I'll go and ask him," said the little chap. + +"And maybe Aunt Lu likes lobsters, too," Sue said. Neither she nor Bunny +cared for lobster, as they did for other fish. But grown folks are very +fond of the big, clawy creatures. + +Perhaps some of you children have never seen a lobster. They are a sort +of fish, though they have no scales. They live inside a shell that is +dark green when the lobster is alive. But when he is cooked it turns a +bright red. + +Lobsters have two big claws, and a number of little ones, and with these +claws they walk around, backward, on the bottom of the ocean or bay, and +pick up things to eat. In some inland rivers and streams there are what +are called crayfish, or crabs. They are very much like lobsters, only, +of course, a lobster is much larger. + +Mr. Brown came out of his office when the fish were being unloaded from +the boat, into barrels of ice. He saw the big lobster and said he would +buy it, to take home to cook for supper. + +"We'll have a fine salad from him," said Bunny's father to the +fisherman. + +The lobster was still alive and the fisherman picked it up just back of +the big, pinching claws, so he would not get nipped, and put the lobster +in a basket for Mr. Brown to carry. Bunny and Sue leaned over, looking +at the green shellfish, when a voice behind them asked: + +"What is it?" + +The children turned to see George Watson, a boy older than Bunny, who +lived near him. George often played little tricks on Bunny and Sue. + +"What is it?" he asked again. "A whale?" + +"A big lobster," Bunny answered. + +"I guess he could almost pinch your nose off in one of his claws," Sue +said, not going too close to the basket. + +"Pooh! I'm not afraid of him," George declared. "I'll let him pinch this +stick," he went on, picking up one, and holding it out toward the +lobster, which was slowly waving its "feelers" to and fro, and moving +its big eyes, that looked like shoe buttons sticking out from its head. + +"Better look out!" was Bunker's warning, seeing what George was doing. +"He'll nip you!" + +"I'm not afraid!" boasted George. "I can----" + +And just then something happened. George got his finger too near the +lobster's claw and was at once caught. + +"Ouch!" cried George. "Oh dear! He's got me! Make him let go, Bunker! +Oh, dear!" + +Bunker did not stop to say: "I told you so!" He took out his big knife, +and put the blade between the teeth of the lobster's claw, forcing it +open so George could pull out his finger. Then, with a howl of pain and +fright, the boy ran home. He was not much hurt, as a lobster can not +shut his claws very tightly when out of water. Just as does a fish, a +lobster soon dies when taken from the ocean. + +"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Brown, running up when he heard George's +cries. "Are you hurt, Bunny--Sue?" + +"No, it was George," Bunker explained. "He thought he could fool the +lobster, but the lobster fooled him." + +"I guess I'd better take it home and have mother cook it," said the +children's father, and home they started, Mr. Brown carrying the big +lobster in the basket. + +"Oh, what a fine large one!" Aunt Lu cried, when she saw it. "And what a +fine salad it will make." + +"May I have one of the claws--the big one?" begged Bunny. + +"What for?" asked his mother. + +"I want to put a string in it and tie it on my face, over my own nose," +the little boy explained. "Then I'll look just like Mr. Punch, in Punch +and Judy. May I have the claw?" + +"I guess so," replied Mrs. Brown. + +"And when you clean it out, and put it on your nose, I'll be Mrs. Judy," +said Sue. "We'll have fun." + +A lobster's claw, I might say, is filled with meat that is very good to +eat. When the lobster is boiled and the meat picked out with a fork, the +claw is hollow. It is shaped just like the nose of Mr. Punch, with a +sort of hook on the end of it, where the claw curves downward. Bunny and +Sue often played with empty lobster claws. + +The children went out in the yard while Mrs. Brown cooked the lobster. +Then, when it was cool, Aunt Lu helped pick out the meat which was to be +mixed up into a salad. + +"Is my big lobster claw ready now?" asked Bunny, coming up just before +the supper bell was to ring. + +"Yes, here it is," his aunt told him. "I cleaned it out nicely for you." + +Bunny held it over his own nose and went toward the mirror to see how he +would look. + +"Oh, you're just exactly like Mr. Punch!" Sue cried, clapping her hands. + +"Isn't he!" agreed Aunt Lu. And then she gave a sudden cry. + +"Oh dear!" she gasped. "Oh dear! It's gone! I've lost it!" + +"What?" asked Bunny. + +"My ring! My beautiful diamond ring is lost!" And Aunt Lu's cheeks +turned pale. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WANGO, THE MONKEY + + +Aunt Lu hurried over to the kitchen table, at which she had been helping +Mrs. Brown make the lobster salad. She looked among the dishes, and +knives and forks, but shook her head. + +"No, it isn't there," she said, quite sadly. + +"What isn't? What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, who came in from the +dining room just then. "Can't you find the big lobster claw that Bunny +wanted? I laid it----" + +"Oh, I have it, Mother, thank you," the little boy said. "But Aunt Lu +has lost----" + +"It's my diamond ring--Jack's engagement ring," said Mrs. Brown's +sister. "It must have slipped off my finger, and----" + +"Oh dear! That's too bad!" said Mrs. Brown. "But it must be around here +somewhere. We'll find it!" + +Bunny and Sue hardly knew what to make of it all. They had never seen +their Aunt Lu so worried. + +"Mother, what's an engagement ring?" asked Sue, in a whisper, as Aunt Lu +kept on looking among the things on the table, hoping her diamond might +have dropped off there. Then she looked on the floor. + +"An engagement ring, my dear," said Sue's mother, "is a ring that means +a promise. A very dear friend of Aunt Lu's has promised to marry her, +and he gave her the diamond ring to be a sort of reminder--a most +beautiful present. Now we must help her find it." + +"It can't be far away," Mrs. Brown said to her sister. "You were not out +of this room, were you?" + +"No, I've been here ever since I began to pick the meat out of the +lobster, and I had my ring on then." + +"Oh, then we'll find it," said Bunny's mother. + +But it was not so easy to do that as it was to say it. They looked all +over the kitchen--on the floor, under the table, among the dishes, the +pots and pans--but no diamond ring could be found. Papa Brown came in +from the front porch, where he had been reading the evening paper, and +he helped search, but it seemed of no use. + +"Oh, where can my beautiful ring have dropped?" asked Aunt Lu, and Sue +thought she saw signs of tears in her aunt's eyes. + +"Perhaps it fell into the lobster salad," suggested Mr. Brown. + +"Then you can find it when you eat," called Bunny. "Only don't bite on +the diamond. It might break." + +"We'll look in the salad now," Mrs. Brown said. + +They did so, looking in the dish that held the chopped-up bits of +lobster meat, but no diamond ring was to be found. Then the floor was +looked over again, most carefully, the empty dishes were turned upside +down in the hope that the ring might drop out of one of them. But it did +not. + +Aunt Lu looked sad and worried, and so did Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The cook, +who had been out for the afternoon, came in and she helped search for +the diamond ring, but it could not be found. + +"I'm sure I had it, when I began making the lobster salad," said Aunt +Lu, "but when I handed Bunny the empty claw I looked on my finger, and +the ring was gone." + +"Perhaps it dropped out of doors," suggested Papa Brown. + +They looked near the side porch where Bunny had been standing when his +aunt gave him the claw with which he was going to play Punch, but the +ring was not found there. + +"Oh dear! I feel so sorry!" Aunt Lu said, "If only I could find my +lovely ring. Bunny--Sue, you must help me. To whomever finds it I'll +give a nice present---anything he wants. That will be a reward, +children." + +"Yes, you must help Aunt Lu look for her ring," said Mrs. Brown. "Come +now, we will have supper, and look afterward. We may find it when we +least expect it." + +But even after supper, the ring was not found. The whole family +searched. Aunt Lu did not eat much supper, much as she liked lobster +salad. She was too worried, I guess. Even Bunny did not feel like +playing Mr. Punch with the big hollow lobster claw that fitted over his +nose in such a funny way. Neither he nor Sue felt like making jokes when +their aunt felt so unhappy. + +That night, when he and Sue went to bed, Bunny put the lobster claw +away. + +"We'll play with it some other time," he said to his sister. + +"Yes," she agreed. "Some day when Aunt Lu finds her ring, and then +she'll play with us, and be the audience. You will be Mr. Punch, and +I'll be Mrs. Judy. Only I don't want to wear a lobster claw on my nose." + +"No, I'll be the only one to wear a claw," said Bunny in a sleepy voice, +and then he dreamed of sailing off to "by-low land." + +Aunt Lu was up early the next morning, down in the kitchen, and out in +the yard, looking for her lost ring. But it was not found, and Aunt Lu's +face seemed to grow more sad. But she smiled at Bunny and Sue, and said: + +"Oh, well, perhaps some day I shall find it." + +"We'll look all over for it," said Bunny. + +"Indeed we will," added Sue. "Let's look out in the yard now, Bunny." + +The children looked, but had no luck Then, as it was not time for +dinner, they wandered down the street. + +"Don't go too far away," their mother called after them. "Don't go down +to the fish dock unless some one is with you." + +"No, Mother, we won't!" Bunny promised. + +They had each a penny that Aunt Lu had given them the day before, and +now they wandered toward the little candy store kept by Mrs. Redden. She +smiled at Bunny and Sue as they entered. Nearly every one did smile at +the two children, who wandered about, hand in hand. + +"Well, what is it to-day?" asked the store-lady. "Lollypops or +caramels?" + +"I want a penny's worth of peanuts," said Bunny. + +"And I'll take some little chocolate drops," said Sue. + +Soon, with their little treat, the brother and sister walked on toward +the corner, the candy store being half way between that and their house. + +As they passed a little dark red cottage, in front of which was an old +boat, filled with flowers and vines, Bunny and Sue heard some one inside +screaming and crying: + +"Oh dear! Stop it I tell you! Let go my hair! Oh, if I get hold of you +I'll make you stop! Oh dear! Jed! Jed! Where are you?" + +Bunny and Sue looked at one another. + +"That's Miss Winkler yelling!" said Bunny. + +"But what makes her?" asked Sue. + +"I don't know. We'll go and see," suggested Bunny. + +Into the yard of the little red house ran the two children. Around to +the kitchen they went, and, looking in through the open door they saw a +strange sight. + +Standing in front of a window was an elderly woman, wearing glasses +which, just now, hung down over one ear. But, stranger still, there was +a monkey, perched up on the pole over the window. One of the monkey's +brown, hairy paws was entangled in the lady's hair, and the monkey +seemed to be pulling hard, while the lady was screaming and trying to +reach the fuzzy creature. + +"Oh, it's Wango, the monkey, and he's up to some of his tricks!" cried +Bunny. + +"He'll pull out all her hair!" Sue exclaimed. + +"Oh, Bunny--Sue--run for my brother! Go get Jed!" begged Miss Winkler. +"Tell him Wango is terrible! He must come at once. Wango is such a bad +monkey he won't mind me!" + +And Wango kept on pulling her hair! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EMPTY HOUSE + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to do. They just stood +there, looking at the monkey pulling and tugging on the rather thin hair +of Miss Winkler, and she, poor lady, could not reach up high enough to +get hold of Wango, who was perched quite high up, on the window pole. + +"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "We must do something--but what?" + +Sue felt that her brother, as he was a whole year older than she, ought +to know what to do. + +"I--I'll get him down!" cried Bunny, who, as had Sue, had, some time +before, made friends with the old sailor's queer pet. + +"How can you get him down?" Sue wanted to know. + +"I--I can stand on a chair and reach up to him," went on the small, +blue-eyed boy, looking around for one to step on. + +"No, no!" exclaimed Miss Winkler, as she heard what Bunny said. "You +musn't go near him, Bunny. He might bite or scratch you. He is very bad +and ugly to-day. I don't know what ails him. Stop it, Wango!" she +ordered. "Stop it at once! Come down from there, and stop pulling my +hair!" + +But the monkey did nothing of the sort. He neither came down, nor did he +stop pulling the lady's hair, as Sue and Bunny could easily tell. For +they could see Wango give it a yank now and then, and, when he did, poor +Miss Winkler would cry out in pain. + +"Oh, go for my brother! He's down on the fish dock I think," Miss +Winkler begged. + +"No, we can't go there," replied Bunny slowly. "Our mother told us not +to go there unless Bunker Blue or Aunt Lu was with us." + +"Then the monkey will never let go of my hair," sighed Miss Winkler. + +"Yes, he will," Bunny said. "I'll make him." + +"How?" Sue wanted to know. + +"This way!" exclaimed her brother, as he held out some of the peanuts he +had bought at Miss Redden's store. "Here, Wango!" he called. "Come and +get some peanuts!" + +"And I'll give him some caramels," cried Sue, as she held out some of +her candy. + +I do not know whether or not Wango understood what Bunny and Sue said, +but I am sure he knew that the candy and peanuts were good to eat. For, +with a chatter of delight, he suddenly let go of Miss Winkler's hair and +scrambled down to the floor near Bunny. + +"Look out that he doesn't bite you," Miss Winkler said. "Be careful, +Sue!" + +"I'm not afraid," said Bunny Brown. + +"Nor I," added Sue. + +Wango was very tame, however. The way he acted, after he saw the good +things to eat, would have made anyone think he was always kind and +gentle. For he carefully took the peanuts from Bunny in one paw, and a +caramel from Sue in another, and then, making a bow, as the old sailor +had taught him, the mischievous monkey scrambled into his cage in one +corner of the room. + +The next minute Miss Winkler had shut the cage door and fastened it. + +"There!" she exclaimed, "the next time I let you out of your cage you'll +know it, Wango!" + +"What happened?" asked Bunny. + +"I don't know, child," the elderly lady answered, as she began to coil +up her hair. "He is usually good, though he minds my brother better than +he does me. When Jed was here, a while ago, he was playing with Wango +out in the room, and, I suppose, when he put the saucy creature back in +the cage, the door did not fasten well. + +"Anyhow, when I was making some cookies awhile ago I suddenly felt +something behind me, and, as I tumid around, I saw the monkey. He made a +grab for a cookie, and I had to slap his paws for I won't have him doing +tricks like that. + +"Then he got mad, snatched my comb out of my hair, and, when I ran after +him, he got up on the window pole, grabbed my hair and stayed up there +where I couldn't reach him. Oh, what a time I've had!" + +"It's too bad," said Sue kindly. + +"I don't know what I would have done if you children hadn't come along," +went on Miss Winkler, "for I had called and called, and no one heard me. +I'll make Jed put a good lock on the monkey-cage after this. Now come +out to the kitchen and I'll give you each a cookie." + +Wango seemed to want a cookie also, for he chattered and made queer +faces as he shook the door of his cage. + +"No, indeed! You sha'n't have a bit!" scolded Miss Winkler. "You were +very bad." + +Wango chattered louder than ever. Perhaps he was saying he was sorry for +what he had done, but he got no cookie. + +Bunny and Sue each had a nice brown one, though, with a raisin in the +centre, and, after Miss Winkler had thanked them again, they kept on +with their walk down the street. + +"Wasn't Wango funny?" asked Sue, as she nibbled her cookie. + +"That's what he was," Bunny said. "'Member the time when he pulled the +cat's tail?" + +"Yes," agreed Sue. "And when he sat down in the fly paper! That was +funnier than this time." + +"I guess Miss Winkler didn't think this was funny," commented Bunny. "I +guess the monkey doesn't like her." + +"But he minds Mr. Winkler," Sue said. "I've seen him make the monkey +stand on his head." + +The old sailor, who had brought Wango home, after one of his many ocean +voyages, had taught the furry little creature many tricks. But though +Wango minded Mr. Winkler very well, he did not always do what Miss +Winkler told him to do. + +As Sue walked on, still nibbling her cookie, she kept looking down at +the ground, until at last Bunny asked her: + +"What are you looking at Sue--trying not to step on ants?" For this was +a game the children often played. + +"Not this time," Sue answered. "I was looking to see if I could find +Aunt Lu's ring." + +"Why, she didn't lose it down here!" Bunny said, in surprise. + +"Maybe she did," returned Sue. "She thought she lost it around our +house, but she looked, and we all looked, and we didn't find it, so +maybe it was lost down here. I'm going to look, and if we find it we'll +get a present." + +"I'll help you look," said Bunny kindly, "but I don't believe it's down +here." + +The two children walked along a little farther, with their eyes +searching the ground, but they saw no golden ring. + +"Oh, I tell you what let's do!" suddenly exclaimed Bunny. + +"What?" asked Sue, eager to have some fun. + +"Let's go back home, and I'll put the lobster claw on my nose, and we'll +play Punch and Judy. We haven't done that yet." + +"All right, we'll do it!" Sue agreed. "And I'll let you take my sawdust +doll. You have to hit her with a stick you know, if you're Mr. Punch, +and it won't hurt a sawdust doll." + +"All right," Bunny cried. "And when I hit her I'll call out, the way Mr. +Punch does: 'That's the way to do it! That's the way I do it!'" + +He said this in the funny, squeaky voice which is always heard at Punch +and Judy shows, and Sue laughed. She thought her brother was very funny. + +Bunny and Sue were about to turn around and go back home, but, as they +came to a stop in front of the last house on their block Bunny said: + +"Oh, Sue, look! They're painting this house, and maybe we can get some +red or blue paint, to put on my face, when I play Mr. Punch." + +"Oh, Bunny Brown! You wouldn't put paint on your face; would you?" +demanded Sue. + +"Just a little," said Bunny. "Why not?" + +"S'posin' you couldn't get it off again?" Sue wanted to know. + +"Oh, I could wash it off when I got through playing," Bunny replied. +"Come on in, and we'll see if the men will give us a little paint; red, +or blue or green." + +Outside the house, in front of which the children then stood, were a +number of pots of differently colored paint, and some ladders. But there +was no paint yet on the outside of the house. + +"I guess they're painting inside," Bunny said. "I don't see any of the +men out here. Come on, we'll go in; the door is open, Sue." + +The front door was open a little way, as the two children could see as +they went up the walk. Bunny and Sue knew every house in that part of +town, and also knew the persons who lived in them. All the neighbors +knew the children, making them welcome every time they saw them. + +"There's no one in this house, I 'member now," Sue said. "Miss Duncan +used to live here, but she moved away." + +"Then I guess the men are painting it over all nice inside to get it +ready for someone else to live in," remarked Bunny. "There isn't anyone +here, Sue," he added, as his voice echoed through the empty house. "Even +the painters have gone." + +"We'd better go out," said Sue. "Maybe they wouldn't like us to be in +here." + +"Pooh! Nobody will care!" exclaimed Bunny, who was rather a daring +little fellow. "Besides, I want to get some paint. Come on, we'll go +upstairs. Maybe they're painting up there, or pasting new paper on the +walls." + +Bunny started up the front hall stairs, and, as Sue did not want to be +left alone on the first floor of the empty house, and as she did not +want to go out, and leave Bunny there, she followed him. + +Their footsteps sounded loud and queer in the big, vacant rooms. As they +reached the top of the stairs they heard behind them a loud banging +noise. + +"What--what was that?" asked Sue, looking quickly over her shoulder. + +"I--I guess the front door blew shut," said Bunny. "Never mind, we can +open it again. I want to get some red paint for my face, so I can play +Mr. Punch." + +But if Bunny and Sue knew what had happened when that banging noise +sounded, they would not have felt like walking on through the empty +rooms, even to get red paint. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LOCKED IN + + +"On, say, Bunny!" suddenly called Sue, as she followed her brother +through the upstairs rooms, "wouldn't it be fun for us to live here?" + +"Do you mean just us two?" the little boy asked. + +"Yes," answered Sue. + +Bunny shook his head. + +"I'd like mother, and daddy, and Aunt Lu, too," he said. "It would be +nicer, then." + +"Oh, but sometimes they don't want us to make a noise," went on Sue. +"And if we were here all alone we could yell and holler, and slide down +the banister, all we wanted to. Let's slide down now," she said, as she +went to the head of the stairs, and looked at the long, smooth hand- +rail. + +"Say, that will be fun," Bunny cried. "I'll go first, Sue, but don't +come after me too close, or you might bump into me and knock me over." + +"I won't," promised the little girl. + +It did not take much to cause Bunny to change his mind or his plans when +there was any fun to be had. For a while he forgot about looking for red +paint to put on his face to make him look funny when he played Mr. +Punch, with the hollow lobster claw on his nose. Just now the joy of +sliding down the banister rail seemed to be the best in the world. + +"Here I go!" cried Bunny, and down the rail he went, ending with a +little bump on the big, round post at the bottom. + +"Now it's my turn," Sue said, and down she came. Though she was a girl +Sue could slide down a rail almost as well as could Bunny. In fact, she +had played with her brother so much that she could do many of the things +that small boys do. And Bunny surely thought that Sue was as good a chum +as any of his boy playmates. + +"Now it's my turn again!" exclaimed the little blue-eyed chap, as he +went up the stairs, his feet making a loud noise in the empty house. For +some time Bunny and Sue played at sliding down the banister rail, and +then Bunny remembered what they had first come into the house for. + +"Let's go to look for that red paint," he said. + +"All right," agreed Sue. Her little legs were beginning to get tired +from running up the stairs so often. + +Back up to the second floor went the children, looking through the +vacant rooms. But no paint pots did they see. + +"I guess all the paint is outside," said Bunny. "We'll go down and get +some." + +"Maybe the man wouldn't like us to take it," said Sue. + +"We'll pay him for it, if he wants money," Bunny replied, as though he +had plenty. "Mother or Aunt Lu will give us pennies soon," he said, "and +I can give the man mine. I only want about a penny's worth of red paint +Come on, we'll go out, Sue, and get some." + +"Yes, and then we'd better go home," Sue went on. "I guess it's going to +be dark pretty soon," and she looked out of a window. It was getting on +toward evening, but the children had been having so much fun that they +had not noticed this. + +Bunny and Sue walked through all the upstairs rooms of the empty house. +In one Bunny saw something that made him call out: + +"Oh, Sue, look! A lot of picture books! Let's sit down and read them!" + +Of course Bunny and Sue could not read, though the little boy knew some +of his letters. So when he said "read" he meant look at the pictures. +The books were some old magazines that the family, in moving away from +the house, had left behind. Bunny and Sue made each a little pile of the +paper books for seats and then they sat there looking at the pictures in +another pile of magazines on the floor beside them. + +"Oh, look at this dog, riding on a horse's back!" exclaimed Bunny, +showing Sue a picture he had found in his book. + +"Yes, it's like in a circus," Sue agreed. "And see, here's a colored +picture of a cow. Oh, I wish I had a drink of milk, Bunny. I'm hungry! +It must be pretty near supper time." + +"I guess it is," the little fellow agreed, as he patted his own stomach. +"We'll go home, Sue. I wonder if we couldn't take some of those books +with us?" + +"I guess so," Sue said. "Nobody wants 'em." + +"And, anyhow, we didn't get any red paint, though maybe I can find some +outside," Bunny said. "We'll each take a book." + +It took a little time for Bunny and Sue each to pick out the book, with +the pictures in it, that was most liked. But finally, each with a +magazine held tightly, the children started to go down stairs. + +"Here I go!" cried Bunny again, as he straddled the banister railing. +Down he slid, but this time Sue did not wait until her brother had +reached the bottom post. + +She put her own fat little legs over the rail, and down she went, +bumping right into Bunny and knocking him off the post on to the floor. +And, that was not all, for she fell right on top of him. + +"Ugh!" grunted Bunny, for Sue was rather heavy and she took his breath +away. + +"Oh, Bunny, did I hurt you?" asked the little girl, as she got up. "Did +I, Bunny?" + +"Nope, you didn't hurt me, Sue. Falling down did--a little, but I fell +on something soft, I guess." + +Bunny stood up and looked. He had fallen on a pile of cloth bags which +the painters had left inside the house. It was lucky for Bunny that the +bags were there, or he might have been badly bruised. As it was he and +Sue were not hurt, and, having picked themselves up, and brushed off +their clothes, they were ready to go back home. + +And it was quite time, too, for the shadows were getting longer and +longer out in the street, as the sun went down. + +"It was the front door that blew shut with such a bang," Bunny said, as +he and Sue went down the long, front hall. "It was open when we came in, +but it's shut now." + +"The wind blew it, I guess," said Sue. "I wonder if you can get it open, +Bunny?" + +"Sure!" her brother said. + +But when Bunny tried to open the front door he could not. Either it was +too tightly shut, or else some spring lock had snapped shut. There was +no key in the hole, but Bunny turned and twisted the knob, this way and +that. But the door would not open. + +"Let me try," said Sue, seeing that Bunny was not getting the door to +swing open so they could get out. "Let me try." + +"Pooh! If I can't do it, you can't," Bunny said. He did not exactly mean +to be impolite, but he meant that he was stronger than his little sister +and so she could hardly hope to do what he could not. + +"Oh, but Bunny, what will we do if we can't get the door open?" Sue +asked, and she seemed almost as frightened as the day when she had +fallen down in the mud puddle when she and Bunny went to meet Aunt Lu. + +"Well, if I can't get the front door open, maybe I can get the back one +or the side one open," Bunny said. "Come on, we'll try them." + +But the back door was also locked and there was no key in that to turn. +Neither was there a side door. Both the front and back doors were +locked. + +Bunny looked at Sue, and Sue looked at her little brother. Her eyes were +bright and shiny, as though she were going to cry. Bunny tried to speak +bravely. + +"Sue--we--we're locked in!" he said. + +"Oh, Bunny!" she exclaimed. "What are we going to do? Oh! Oh! Oh dear!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ADRIFT IN A BOAT + + +Bunny Brown was a brave little chap, even though he was only a bit over +six years old, "going on seven," as he always proudly said. And one of +the matters in which he was braver than anything else was about his +sister Sue. + +His mother had often spoken to him about his sister when he and Sue were +allowed to walk up and down in the street, but not to go off the home +block. + +"Now, Bunny," Mrs. Brown would say, "take good care of little Sue!" + +And Bunny would answer: + +"I will, Mother!" + +Now was a time when he must look after her and take special care of her. +The first thing he said to Sue was: + +"Don't cry, Sister!" Sometimes he called her that instead of Sue. + +"I--I'm not going to cry," Sue answered, but, even then, there were +tears in her eyes. "I'm not going to cry, but oh, Bunny, we're locked +in, and there's nobody here----" + +"I'm here!" said Bunny quickly. + +"Yes, of course," answered Sue. "But you can't get the doors open, +Bunny, and we can't get out when the doors are shut." + +Bunny thought for a moment. What Sue said was very true. One could not +go through a locked door. + +"If we were only fairies now," said Bunny slowly, "it would be all +right." + +"How would it be?" Sue asked, opening her eyes wide. + +"Why, if we were fairies," Bunny explained, "all we would have to do +would be to change ourselves into smoke and we could float right out +through the keyhole." + +"Oh, but I wouldn't like to be smoke!" cried Sue. "That wouldn't be any +fun. Why we couldn't play tag, or eat ice cream cones or--or anything. +And the wind would blow us all away, if we were smoke." + +"Oh, we wouldn't be smoke all the while," Bunny said. "Only just while +we were going through the keyhole. Once we were on the other side we +could change back into our own selves again." + +"Oh, that would be all right," Sue said. She went up close to the +keyhole of the front door and peeped through. Maybe she was trying to +wish herself small enough to crawl out of the locked, empty house, +without changing into smoke. + +But of course Bunny and Sue were not fairies, and of course they could +not turn into smoke, so there they had to stay, locked in. + +"But, Bunny, what are we going to do?" asked Sue, as they went back and +forth from the front to the back door. + +"Maybe I can open a window," Bunny said. But he was not tall enough to +reach more than past the window sill. The middle of the sash was far +away, and he could see that the catch was on. If there had been a chair +in the house, perhaps Bunny might have stood on it and opened a window, +but there was none. + +In one of the rooms Bunny did find an empty box. Moving this up to the +window to stand on he found he could reach the middle of the sash, and +turn the fastener. + +"Now if I can only push up the window, Sue!" he cried. + +"I'll help you," the little girl said. "Here's a stick, I can push with +that." + +So with Bunny standing on the box, and Sue, on the floor, pushing with +the stick, they tried to put up the window in order to get out of the +empty house. + +But the window would not go up, and all of a sudden Sue's stick slipped +and banged against the glass. + +"Oh! Look out!" cried Bunny. "You nearly broke it." + +"I didn't mean to." + +"No. But I guess we'd better not try to raise the window. We might break +the glass." + +Bunny knew a boy who, when playing ball, broke a window, and he had to +save up all his pennies for a month to pay for the new glass. Bunny did +not want to do that. + +So the children went away from the window. + +"Say, Sue," said Bunny, after a bit, "we can play we are camping out +here. That would be fun, and we can make a bed of the pieces of bags +that I fell on off the banister, and--" + +"But I'm hungry, and there's nothing to eat!" Sue exclaimed. "When we +camp out, or go on a picnic, there are things to eat." + +"That's so," agreed Bunny. "This isn't as much fun as I thought it was. +I wish I hadn't tried to get any red paint." + +"So do I," Sue said, but she was not blaming her brother. She had been +just as anxious to go into the vacant house as he had been. + +The children did not know what to do. They were both ready to cry, but +neither Wanted to. It was getting dark now. + +"Let's holler!" exclaimed Sue. "Maybe somebody will hear us and come and +let us out." + +"All right," said Bunny. They both called together. But the vacant house +was not near any other, and none of the neighbors heard the childish +voices. + +"I--I guess I'd better get the bags and make a bed, for we'll have to +stay here all night," said Bunny, when they were quite tired from +calling aloud. + +"Then make my bed near yours, Bunny," said Sue. "I--I don't want to be +alone." + +"I'll take care of you," promised the little blue-eyed chap, as he +remembered what his mother had told him. + +Bunny went to the front hall to get the cloth bags. Sue went with him, +for she did not want to be left alone in the room that was now getting +quite dark. + +But Bunny and Sue did not have to stay all night in the empty house. +Just as they were picking up the bags, they heard a noise at the front +door and a voice called: + +"Bunny! Sue! Are you in there?" + +For a moment they did not answer, they were so surprised with joy. Then +Bunny cried: + +"Oh, it's Uncle Tad! It's Uncle Tad!" + +While Sue exclaimed: + +"We're here! Yes, we're here, Uncle Tad! Oh, please let us out!" + +There was a squeaking noise and the front door was pushed open. In came +the old soldier, and Bunny and Sue made a jump for his arms. He caught +them up and kissed them. + +"Well, little ones, I've found you!" he cried. "I thought maybe you were +in here. My, but what a fright you've given your mother and all of us!" + +"We came in for some red paint," explained Bunny, "and we got locked +in." + +"No, the door wasn't locked," Uncle Tad explained. "It was just stuck +real hard. You weren't strong enough to pull it open, I suppose. But +don't ever do anything like this again." + +"We won't," promised Bunny. He was always pretty good at making +promises, was Bunny Brown. "We just wanted to get some red paint so I +could play Mr. Punch with the lobster claw," he went on. + +"And we slid down the banister," added Sue, "and I bumped Bunny off the +post." + +"But she didn't hurt me," Bunny said. + +"How did you find us, Uncle Tad?" asked Sue, as their uncle led them +along the now almost dark street toward their home. + +"Why, when you didn't come back your mother was worried," the old +soldier said. "So your Aunt Lu started out one way after you, and I went +the other. As I passed this old house I saw a blue ribbon down by the +gate and I thought it looked like yours, Sue. So I thought you might +have come in here." + +"Oh, did I lose my hair ribbon?" Sue asked, putting her hand to her +head. The big, pretty bow was gone, but Uncle Tad had found it. + +"It's a good thing you lost it," said Bunny. "If you hadn't, Uncle Tad +wouldn't have known where to look for us." + +"Oh, I guess I should have found you after a bit," Uncle Tad said, with +a smile. "But now we must hurry home, so the folks will know you are all +right." + +And my, how Bunny and Sue were kissed and cuddled by their mother and +Aunt Lu when Uncle Tad brought them back! "I was beginning to be +afraid," said Mrs. Brown, "that you had gone down to the boat-dock, +after I told you not to, and I was going to have your father and Bunker +Blue look for you." + +"We didn't mean to get locked in. Mother," explained Bunny. "It was the +wind." + +"Well, don't go in empty houses again," Aunt Lu said. + +"Nope--never!" promised Sue, "But we were looking for your ring, Aunt +Lu, though we didn't find it." + +"No, I'm afraid it's gone forever," said Miss Baker with a sigh, and a +sad look. "But it was very good of you to try to find it for me." + +The children sat down to supper, telling the big folks all about the +adventure, and how they had become fastened in, and were afraid they +would have to make a bed on the bags and stay all night. + +"And if we had I'd have taken good care of Sue," Bunny remarked. + +"I know you would, my dear," his mother answered, as she kissed him and +his sister, before putting them to bed. + +For a few days after this Bunny and Sue did nothing to make any trouble. +They went on little trips with Aunt Lu, showing her the many wonderful +sights at the seaside. With her they watched the fish boats come in, and +once they went sailing with her and their mother, Bunker Blue taking +charge of the boat. They gathered pretty shells and pebbles on the beach +and had many good times. + +One day Bunny and Sue played Punch and Judy, Bunny wearing the big red +lobster claw on his nose. Aunt Lu laughed at the funny tricks of the +children. + +"Some day we'll get up a real show, and charge money," said Bunny, as he +put away the lobster claw to use another time. + +Not far from the Brown's house was a small river that flowed into the +bay. Part of the Brown land was right on the edge of this river and at a +small dock Mr. Brown kept, tied up, a rowboat which he sometimes used to +go fishing in, or to go after crabs, which are something like lobsters, +only smaller. They are just as good to eat when they are cooked, and +they turn red when you boil them. + +One day Bunny and Sue went down to the edge of the river. They asked +Aunt Lu to go with them, but she said she had a headache, and wanted to +lie down. + +"Don't go far away, children," called Mrs. Brown after the two tots, as +they wandered down near the little stream. + +"We won't," promised Bunny, and he really meant it. But neither he nor +Sue knew what was going to happen. + +It was quite warm that day, and, as Bunny and Sue sat in the shade of a +tree on the bank of the river, the little boy said: + +"Oh, Sue, wouldn't it be nice if we could go on the river in the boat?" + +"Yes," said his sister, "but mother said we weren't to." + +"I guess she meant we weren't to go ROWING in a boat--I mean a loose +boat--one that isn't tied fast," said Bunny. "I guess it would be all +right if we sat in the boat while it was tied fast to shore." + +"Maybe," said Sue. She wanted, as much as did Bunny, to sit in the boat, +for it was cooler down there. + +"Let's do it!" proposed Bunny. "The boat is tied fast, but we can make +believe we are rowing. We'll pretend we are taking a long trip." + +Neither of the children meant to do wrong, for they thought it would be +all right to sit in the boat as long as it was tied fast. So into it +they climbed. Then such fun as they had! They took sticks and made +believe to row. They tied their handkerchiefs on other sticks and +pretended to be sailing. They rocked the boat gently to and fro, and +Bunny called this "being out in a storm." + +Then they lay down on the broad seats and made believe it was night and +that, when they awakened, they would be in a far-off land where coconuts +grew on trees and where there were monkeys to toss them down. + +And, before they knew it, both children were fast asleep, for the sun +was shining warmly down on them. Bunny awoke first. He felt the boat +tossing to and fro: + +"Don't do that, Sue!" he called. "You'll tip us over." + +"Don't do what?" asked Sue, sleepily. + +"Don't jiggle the boat," said Bunny. Then he opened his eyes wider and +looked all about. The boat was far from shore and was drifting down the +river. It had become untied while the children slept. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BUNNY GOES FISHING + + +"On, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "We're having a sail! +We're sailing!" + +"Yes," answered her brother, "that's what we are, but--" + +He looked toward the shore and wondered if it were too far away for him +to wade to it. The river looked quite deep, though, and Bunny decided he +had better not try it. + +"Don't you like sailing," asked his sister Sue. + +"Oh, yes, I like it all right," was the reply, "but mother told us not +to go out in the boat and we've done it." + +"But we didn't mean to," came from the little girl. "The boat did it all +by itself, and it isn't our fault at all." + +"That's so," and Bunny smiled now and seemed happier. + +"I wonder how it happened?" asked Sue. + +"I guess we jiggled it so much, making believe we were sailing, that the +rope got loose," Bunny explained. "And now we're sailing!" + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue really were sailing down the river and +the boat was bobbing up and down and swinging from side to side, for it +was not steered. And it was not exactly "sailing" either, for it was +only a row-boat and there was no sail to hoist. + +But the river was flowing down hill to the sea and it was the river that +was carrying the boat along. + +"I like it; don't you?" asked Sue, after a bit. + +"Yes," answered Bunny. "Only we musn't go too far away. Mother wouldn't +like that even if it wasn't our fault that the boat got loose. I wonder +if there's anything to eat here." + +"Let's look," proposed Sue, so the two children looked under the boat +seats and lifted the oars over to one side. Sometimes they were allowed +to go with their father or mother for a row or sail, and, once in a +while, Mrs. Brown would take with her some sandwiches or cake for a +little lunch. Bunny and Sue thought something to eat might have been +left over since the last time, but there was nothing. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Sue. "I'm terrible hungry, Bunny!" + +"So am I!" + +"Don't you s'pose you could catch a fish, so we could eat that?" + +"I might,' Bunny answered, "if I had a fish line." + +"I have a piece of string," and Sue put her chubby hand in her pocket. +She had had her mother sew two pockets in her dress, almost like the +ones Bunny had in his little trousers. For Sue said she wanted to carry +things in her pockets, just as her brother and the other boys did. + +She now pulled out a tangled bit of string, white cord that had come off +some bundles from the grocery. + +"There's a fish line, Bunny," said Sue. + +"Yes, if I only had a hook," and the little fellow pulled the tangles +out of the cord, "You can't catch fish without a hook, Sue." + +"I know that. And here's a pin. You can bend that into a hook. Sadie +West and I did that one day up at the frog pond." + +"Did you get any fish?" Bunny asked. + +"No," answered Sue slowly. "But there wasn't any fish in the pond. Mr. +Winkler came along and told us so, and we didn't fish any more. We +caught frogs." + +"How?" + +"In a tin can." + +"We haven't any tin can now," went on Bunny, looking about the boat, as +if he would, perhaps, rather catch frogs than fishes. + +"Don't try to get any frogs," Sue begged him. "They aren't any good to +eat." + +"Their legs are!" + +"Oh, they are not! I wouldn't eat frogs' legs. I'd eat chickens' legs +though, if they were cooked." + +"So would I. But some folks do eat frogs legs. I heard Aunt Lu telling +mother so the other day." + +"They must be funny people to eat frogs' legs," Sue exclaimed. + +"But I won't catch any now," Bunny promised. "Where's the pin, Sue? So I +can make a hook." + +"I'll take one out of my dress where a button's off," offered the little +girl. "Only you'll have to give the pin back to me after you stop +fishing, 'cause I'll have to pin my dress up again." + +"S'posin' a fish swallers it?" Bunny asked. + +"Swallers what?" + +"Swallers the hook!" Bunny explained. "If a fish eats the bent pin hook +I can't give it back to you; can I?" + +"No," said Sue slowly. "But we could get it out when we cook the fish," +she said, after thinking about it a little while. + +"Yes," agreed Bunny. "But I guess they don't cook pins in fish. Anyhow +we haven't got a fire to cook with." + +"Oh, well, then we'll pretend. Here's the pin, Bunny," and Sue took it +from a place on her dress where, as she had said, a button was off. "Try +and catch a big fish with it." + +Bunny had the piece of string untangled now and he bent the pin into a +sort of hook. All this while the boat was slowly drifting down the +river, but Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had talked so much about +fishing that they had not noticed where they were going. They were not +so frightened as they had been at first. + +Bunny tied the bent pin on the end of his piece of string and was about +to toss it over the side of the boat into the water when he happened to +think. + +"I'll have to have a sinker," he said to Sue. "You can't catch fish if +you don't have a sinker to take the hook down to the bottom of the +water. Fish only bite near the bottom. I must have a sinker." + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "Fishing is a lot of work; isn't it, Bunny?" + +"It's fun," said the little boy. "I like it, but I have to have a +sinker." + +"I could give you a button from my dress," Sue said. "One's almost off, +and I could pull it the rest of the way. Only I haven't another pin to +fasten me up with. This is an old dress, anyhow. That's what makes it +have one button gone and another almost off," she explained. + +"Never mind. Don't pull off the button, Sue," Bunny said. "I guess it +wouldn't be heavy enough to sink. Maybe I can find a regular sinker. Oh, +yes, here's one!" he cried, as he picked up from the bottom of the boat +a piece of lead. It had been dropped there when Mr. Brown, or perhaps +Bunker Blue, had used the boat for fishing a few days before. + +"This will be just the thing!" cried Bunny, as he fastened it to his +line. "Now I can fish real," and he tossed the bent pin over the side of +the drifting boat into the water. The bent pin sank out of sight, and +both children watched eagerly, wondering how long it would be before +they would catch a fish. + +But suddenly their boat bumped against something, and stopped moving. +The bump was so hard that Bunny was knocked over against Sue. + +"Oh, Bunny, don't!" she exclaimed. "You hurt my arm!" + +"I--I couldn't help it," Bunny said. + +"Was it a fish?" asked Sue, hopefully, "Did he pull you over?" + +Bunny shook his head. Nothing had taken hold of the pin-hook. Then he +turned his head and looked around. + +"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "We've run ashore on an island. Now we can get out +and have some fun! This is great!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SUE FALLS IN + + +The boat, in which Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had gone adrift, had +really "bunked into an island," as Bunny told about it afterward. He +said "bunked," and he meant bumped, for that is what the boat had done. + +There were a number of islands in the river, some small and some larger, +and it was at one of the larger ones that Bunny and Sue now found +themselves. Their boat swung around in the shallow water, and did not +move any more. It was fast aground on the edge of the island. + +"Let's get out," suggested Bunny, and he did so, followed by Sue. As +Bunny pulled his fish line from the water, his sister saw the dangling +bent-pin hook, and cried out: + +"Oh, Bunny, you didn't get a fish after all!" + +"No," the little fellow answered. "I guess I can fish better from the +island, anyhow. We'll fish here now, and if we catch anything we can +build a fire and cook it. That is, we could if we had any matches." + +"Mother told us we musn't play with fire," remarked Sue. + +"That's so," her brother agreed. "Well, we can wait till we get home to +cook the fish. But we've got to fasten the boat, or it may go away and +leave us." + +Bunny's father was in the boat business and the little fellow had often +heard how needful it was to tie boats fast so they would not drift away +or be taken out by the tide. So it was one of the first things he +thought of when he and Sue landed on the island. + +There was a rope in the front part, or bow of the rowboat, and Bunny +tied one end of this rope to a tree that grew near the edge of the +island. + +"Now I can fish," he said. + +"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I wish I had one of my dolls with me--even +the old sawdust one, with the sawdust coming out. I could play house +with her. What can I do, Bunny?" + +"Well, you can watch me fish, and then I'll let you have a turn. If you +had another pin I could make you a hook." + +"Nope, I haven't anymore," and Sue looked carefully over her dress, +thinking she might find another pin. But there was none. + +Bunny was about to cast in the line from the shore of the island, near +the boat, where he and Sue were standing, when he suddenly thought of +something. + +"Oh, I forgot! I haven't any bait on my hook!" he said. "No wonder I +didn't get a bite. I'll have to get a worm, or something the fish like +to eat. Come on, Sue, you can help at that--hunting for worms." + +"I--I don't want to," and Sue gave a little shiver. + +"You don't like to hunt worms?" asked Bunny, as if very much surprised. +"I like it--it's fun!" + +"Oh, but worms--worms are so--so squiggily!" stammered Sue. "They make +me feel so ticklish in my toes." + +"You don't pick up worms in your toes!" cried Bunny. "You pick 'em up in +your hands!" + +"I know," and Sue smiled at her brother, "but they are so squiggily that +they make me feel ticklish away down to my toes, anyhow." + +"All right," Bunny agreed. "I'll pick up the worms, but you can have a +turn fishing just the same." + +"Thank you," answered Sue. + +Mrs. Brown had taught the children to be kind and polite to each other, +just as well as to strangers and to "company." Though of course Bunny +Brown and his sister Sue had little troubles and "spats" and +differences, now and then, just like other children. + +Bunny began looking for worms, and he dug in the soft dirt of the +island, near the edge of the water, with a stick. But either there were +no worms there, or Bunny did not dig deep enough for them, for he found +none. + +"Guess I'll have to fish without any bait," he said, after a while. But, +as I suppose you all know, fish hardly ever bite on an empty hook, +especially when it is made from a bent pin; so, after he had dangled the +line in the water for quite a while, Bunny said: + +"Here, Sue. It's your turn now. Maybe you'll have better luck than I +had." + +"Maybe there aren't any fish in this river." + +"Oh, yes there are. Bunker Blue caught a lot one day. But he had worms +for bait." + +However Sue did not mind fishing without any worms on the pin-hook, and +she sat down on a log, near the water and let the line dangle in it, +while Bunny walked about the island. He had never been on this one +before, though there was a larger one, farther down the river, where he +and his sister Sue had often gone on little picnics with their mother +and father. + +Walking back a little way from the edge of the water, Bunny saw a place +where a tangle of vines, growing over an old stump, had made a place +like a little tent, or bower. All at once Bunny remembered a story his +mother had read to him. Back he ran to where Sue was fishing. + +"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he exclaimed. "I know what we can do!" + +"What?" + +"We can play Robinson Crusoe!" cried Bunny. + +"Is that like tag, or hide-and-go-to-seek?" the little girl wanted to +know. + +"Neither one," answered her brother. "Robinson Crusoe was a man who was +shipwrecked on an island, and he lived there a long time with his man +Friday. We can play that." + +"But we aren't shipwrecked," Sue said. Living near the sea the children +had often heard of shipwrecks, and had once seen one, when a big sail +boat had beep blown up on the beach and broken to pieces by the heavy +waves. The sailors were taken off by the life-savers. "We're not +shipwrecked," said Sue. "There's our boat all right," and she pointed to +the one in which they had gone adrift. + +"Oh, well, we can pretend we've been shipwrecked," Bunny said. + +"Oh, yes!" and Sue understood now. "What is the rest of the game?" she +asked. + +"Well, mother read the story to me out of a book," explained Bunny. +"Robinson Crusoe was wrecked, and he had to live on this island, and he +had a man named Friday." + +"What a funny name! Who named him that?" asked Sue. + +"Robinson Crusoe did. You see, Friday was a colored man, very nice, too, +and he helped Robinson a lot. Robinson called him that name because he +found him on Friday." + +"But this isn't Friday," objected Sue. "It's Thursday." + +"Well, it's only pretend," went on Bunny. + +"Oh, yes. I forgot. So Robinson had a colored man named Friday to help +him," + +"Yes," Bunny said, "and we'll play that game. I'll be Robinson." + +"But who is going to be Friday?" Sue wanted to know. + +"You can be." + +"But I'm not a man, and I'm not colored, Bunny." + +"We'll have to pretend that, too. You'll be my man Friday, and we'll go +to live in the little tent over there," and Bunny pointed toward the +leafy bower he had found. "And you can be colored, too, if you want, +Sue," he said. "You could rub some mud on your face and hands." + +"Oh, let's! That's what I'll do!" and Sue laid aside the stick to which +Bunny had tied the fishline and the bent pin. "That will be fun!" Sue +said. "It will be better than the Punch and Judy show with the lobster +claw on your nose." + +"But you mustn't get your dress muddy," Bunny cautioned his sister. +"Mother wouldn't like that." + +[Illustration with caption: FOR A MOMENT SUE LAY THERE, STILL CHOKING +AND GASPING] + +"I won't," promised Sue. "And when we get through playing I can wash the +mud off my face and hands." + +"Yes," said Bunny. "Now I'll go over to my cave--we'll call the place +where the vines grow over the stump a cave," he went on, "and I'll be +there just like Robinson Crusoe Was in the cave on his island. Then I'll +come out and find you, all blacked up with mud, and I'll call you +Friday." + +Sue clapped her hands in delight, and, when Bunny went off to the cave, +which, he remembered, was the sort of place where the real Robinson +Crusoe lived, in the story book, Sue found a place where there was some +soft, black mud. + +Very carefully, so as not to soil her dress, the little girl blackened +her hands and face, rubbing on the dirt as well as she could. + +"Bunny! Bunny!" she called after a bit. + +"Well, what is it?" asked her brother, as he was sitting in his make- +believe cave. + +"Come and look at me," said Sue, "and see if I'm black enough to be +Friday." + +Bunny came and looked. + +"You need a little more mud around behind your ears," he said. "I'll put +it on for you," and he did so. + +Then the two children played the Robinson Crusoe game; that is, as much +of it as Bunny could remember, which was not a great deal. But they had +good fun, walking about the island, and going into the green vine-bower +now and then to get out of the sun, which was very hot. + +But even as much fun as it was playing at being shipwrecked on an +island, like Robinson, in the story book, the children soon tired of it. + +"I guess we'd better go home," said Sue after awhile. "I'm terribly +hungry, Bunny." + +"So'm I." + +"And if we can't catch any fish, and can't find any place to get things +to eat from, we'd better go home." + +"Yes, I guess we had. I wonder if I can row the boat?" + +Bunny had often seen his father, or Bunker Blue, or sometimes his +mother, row a boat, so he knew how it was done. But he knew the oars in +the boat in which he and Sue had gone adrift were heavy, and he was not +very strong, though a sturdy little chap for his years. + +"I'll help you," Sue said. "But first I'll have to un-Friday myself. I +must wash off this mud." + +"I'll help you--around behind your ears where you can't see," offered +Bunny. + +Sue went to a place near the water, where there was a flat rock, and +leaned over to dip her handkerchief in. She was going to use it as a +washcloth. + +But, whether she slipped, or leaned over too far, Sue never knew. At any +rate, soon after she had washed off the first bit of mud from her hands +and wrists, she suddenly toppled, head first, right into the river! + +"Oh! Oh! Bunny!" Sue cried, as she found herself in the water. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RESCUE DOG + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often been in the water bathing. They +had even been allowed to go in the ocean, a little way, when their +father or mother was with them, and they were just beginning to learn to +swim. + +But to fall suddenly into the water, with all one's clothes on, is +enough to frighten anybody, even someone older than Sue; so it is no +wonder she began splashing about, instead of trying to swim, as her +father had told her to do, + +Bunny, for a moment, did not know what to do, but he had one great +thought, and that was that he must help his sister. He was a little +distance away from her, and he called out: + +"I'm coming, Sue! I'll get you out! Don't be afraid!" + +But Sue was afraid. Her head went under water, and she had swallowed +some, for she had forgotten another thing her father had told her, and +this was: + +"When your head goes under water, hold your breath--don't breathe--and +then the water won't get in your mouth and nose." + +But Sue forgot this, and she was choking and gasping in the river. +Luckily it was not deep, and he might easily have stood up at the place +where she had fallen in. The water would not have been quite up to her +waist. + +"I'll get you out, Sue! I'll get you!" cried Bunny. + +He ran toward Sue, but before he reached her there was heard a loud +barking, and a big, shaggy dog rushed down to the edge of the island. +Right into the water the dog jumped, and, getting hold of Sue's dress, +he pulled her up on the shore. + +For a moment Sue lay there, still choking and gasping, while the dog +stood over her, wagging his tail, and barking as hard as he could bark. +He seemed to know that everything was all right now. + +"Oh, Sue! Sue!" cried Bunny, rushing up to his sister, and putting his +arms around her. "You aren't drowned now; are you, Sue?" + +"I--I don't--don't know--Bun-Bunny!" she stammered. "I--I guess I'm +'most drowned, anyhow. Oh, take me home! I want my mamma!" + +"I'll take you home right away!" Bunny promised. "But wasn't the dog +good to pull you out?" + +The dog shook the water from himself, and wagged his tail harder than +ever. He jumped about, barking, and then, with his big red tongue, he +licked first Sue's face, and then Bunny's. + +Sue was much better now. She could sit up, and, as the river water was +not salty, as is the water of the ocean, what she had swallowed of it +did not hurt her. + +"I guess the dog will lick all the Friday-mud off my face," she said, +smiling at Bunny through her tears. + +"The mud's all off anyhow," said her brother. "Falling in the river +washed you clean." + +"But it got my dress all wet. I don't care, it's an old one." + +"That's good," said her brother. "Now we'll go home. Maybe you will be +all dry when we get there," he added hopefully, "and your dress won't +show any wet at all." + +"But I'll have to tell mother I fell in." + +"Oh, of course!" + +"But it was a--a accident," Sue said, speaking the big word slowly. "Now +take me home, Bunny. I don't want to play Friday any more, and I'm +hungry." + +The dog jumped about the children, but he kept nearer to Sue. Maybe he +thought she belonged to him, now that he had pulled her from the water. +Perhaps he had saved Sue's life, though the little girl might have +gotten out herself, or Bunny might have pulled her from the water. + +"He's a nice dog," said Sue. "I wish we could keep him." + +"Maybe we can. He doesn't seem to belong to anybody, and nobody lives on +this island." + +"He was shipwrecked too," said Sue. "Or maybe he wanted to play Robinson +Crusoe with us." + +"Robinson didn't have a dog--anyhow, mother didn't read about any in the +story," replied Bunny. ''But he had a goat." + +"We can pretend this dog is a goat," remarked Sue, as she patted the big +shaggy fellow, who barked in delight, and wagged his tail. + +"We'll take him home in the boat with us," decided Bunny. "I hope mother +lets us keep him." + +Getting into the boat was easy enough for Bunny and Sue, for they only +had to step over the side, the boat being partly on shore. And the dog +jumped in after them. He seemed very glad Indeed that he had found two +such nice children to love, and who would love him. + +But when Bunny tried to push the boat away from the island, as he had +seen his father and Bunker Blue often do, he found it was not easy. The +boat was stuck fast in the soft mud of the edge of the island. + +"I--I can't do it," Bunny said, puffing, as he pushed on the oar, with +which he was trying to shove off the boat. "I can't do it, Sue." + +"Will we have to stay here forever?" + +"No, not forever. Maybe papa, or somebody will come for us. But I can't +push off the boat." + +"I'll help you," offered Sue. The oar was too heavy for her, however, so +Bunny got her a long stick. But, even with what little help Sue could +give, the boat would not move. + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny, sitting down on a seat. He looked worried, and +so did Sue. + +"If we had a harness for our new dog we could hitch him to the boat, and +maybe he could pull it into the water," remarked Bunny, after a bit. + +"Oh, that would be fine!" cried the little girl. "And maybe he could +swim, and pull us all the way home." + +"But we haven't any harness," said Bunny with another sigh. + +"Couldn't we use the fish line? I've got another piece of string." + +"We can try." + +With the string, which he knotted together, Bunny made a sort of +"harness," putting one end around the dog's neck, and tying the other +end to the bow, or front of the boat. + +"Now pull us, Towser!" Bunny cried. + +"Is his name Towser?" Sue wanted to know. + +"Well, we'll call him that until we can think of a better name. Go on, +pull!" ordered Bunny. + +But the dog only barked and stood still. He did not seem to mind being +"hitched up." It seemed as though he had often had children play with +him. + +"Oh, I know how to make him pull us!" Sue exclaimed. + +"How?" + +"Throw a stick in the water, and he'll chase after it." + +"Fine!" cried Bunny, and he tossed a chip out into the river. With a +bark the dog rushed after it. But I think you can guess what happened. +Instead of the dog's pulling the boat, the string broke, and, of course, +that was the end of the harness. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "We'll never get home, Bunny!" + +The little boy did not know what to do next. But, all at once, as he and +his sister looked at each other, quite worried and anxious, they heard a +voice shouting: + +"Bunny! Sue! Are you there? Where are you? Bunny! Sue!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A TROLLEY RIDE + + +"Who--who is that?" asked Sue of her brother in a whisper. "Oh, it's +papa come for us!" + +"That isn't papa," Bunny answered, for well he knew his father's voice. + +"Well, it's SOMEBODY, anyhow," and Sue smiled now, through her tears. +"It's somebody, and I'm so glad!" + +"Bunny! Sue!" called the voice again, and the big dog barked. Perhaps he +was also glad that "somebody" had come for him, as glad as were the +children. But, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked all about, +they could see no one. Then, all of a sudden, Sue thought of something. + +"Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "Do you s'pose it could be him?" + +"Be who?" + +"Robinson Crusoe's man Friday. Here on the island, you know. Maybe he +heard we were here, and came to help us catch fish, or make a fire. Oh, +Bunny, if it should be Mr. Friday!" + +"Pooh! It couldn't be," said Bunny. "Mr. Friday was only make-believe, +and we were only pretending, anyhow. It couldn't be!" + +"No, I 'spose not," and Sue sighed. "Anyhow, it's somebody, and they +know us, and I'm glad!" + +Bunny was also glad, and a few seconds later, while the dog kept on +barking, and running here and there, Bunny and Sue raw, coming around +the end of the island, a boat, and in it was Jed Winkler, the old sailor +who owned Wango, the monkey. Only, of course, the old sailor did not +have the monkey with him this time. + +"Bunny! Sue! Oh, there you are!" called Mr. Winkler as he saw the two +children. + +"Oh, Mr. Winkler!" cried Bunny. "We're so glad to see you!" + +"Yes, and I guess your folks will be glad to see YOU!" answered the old +sailor. "They've been looking all over for you, and only a little while +ago I noticed that your boat was gone. I thought maybe you had gone on a +voyage down the river, so I said I'd come down and look, as far as the +island, anyhow. And here you are! + +"I wonder what you'll do next? But there's no telling, I reckon. What +have you been doing, anyhow, and whose dog is that?" + +"He's mine," said Sue quickly. "He pulled me out of the water." + +"He's half mine, too," said Bunny. "I saw him before you did, Sue. You +couldn't see him 'cause your head was under the water," he went on, "and +when a feller sees a dog first, half of it is his, anyhow; isn't it, Mr. +Winkler?" + +"Oh, you may have half of him," agreed Sue kindly. "Do you want the head +half, or the tail hall, Bunny?" + +"Well," said Bunny slowly, "I like the tail end, 'cause that wags when +he's happy, but I like the head end too, because that barks, and he can +wash our hands with his tongue." + +Bunny did not seem to know which half of the dog to take. Then a new +idea came to him. + +"I'll tell you what we can do, Sue!" he exclaimed. "We can divide him +down the middle the other way. Then you'll have half his head end, and +half his tail end, and so will I." + +"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed, "and we can take turns feeding him." + +"Say, I never see two such youngsters as you!" declared the old sailor, +laughing. "What happened to you, anyhow?" + +"Well, we didn't mean to go off in the boat, but we did," Bunny +explained. "Then we got wrecked on this island, just like Robinson +Crusoe did." + +"Only we didn't find Mr. Friday," put in Sue. + +"But we found a cave--a make-believe one," Bunny said quickly. + +"And I fell in, but we didn't get any fish," added the sister. + +"And the dog did pull her out, and we're going to keep him," went on +Bunny. "And will you take us home, Mr. Winkler? 'Cause we're hungry, and +maybe our dog is, too, and it's getting dark, and we couldn't make our +boat go, even if we did hitch the dog up to it." + +"Bless your hearts, of course I'll take you home, and the dog, too!" the +old sailor cried, "though I didn't expect to find a dog here. Come now, +get in my boat, and I'll fasten yours to mine, and pull it along after +me. Come along!" + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon in the old sailor's boat, the +dog following them, and, a little later, they were safely at their own +dock, where their father and mother, as well as Aunt Lu and Bunker Blue, +were waiting to greet them. + +"Oh, Bunny! Oh, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she gathered them both into +her arms. "Why did you do it? Oh, such a fright as you have given all of +us!" + +"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Bunny, himself a little frightened at +what had happened. "The boat came untied, and floated off with us, and +then we played Robinson Crusoe, just like you read to me out of the +book, and--" + +"But we didn't find Mr. Friday," interrupted Sue, who seemed to feel +this was quite a disappointment. + +"Never mind," remarked Aunt Lu, "you had plenty of other adventures, I +should think. Why, Sue!" she exclaimed, "your dress is quite damp!" + +"She fell in," explained Bunny, "and--" + +"Mercy! Where did that dog come from?" cried Mrs. Brown, for the big +shaggy animal had been lying quietly in the bottom of Mr. Winkler's +boat, and now, with a bark, he suddenly sprang up, and jumped out on the +dock. + +"It's our dog," said Sue. "He pulled me out." + +"Pulled you out, child? Out of where?" Mrs. Brown wanted to know. "What +happened? Tell me all about it!" + +Which Bunny and Sue did, taking turns. Then they begged to be allowed to +keep the dog, and Mr. Brown said they might, if no one came to claim it. + +"I guess it must be a lost dog," said the old sailor. "Maybe it jumped +off some boat that was going down the river, and swam to the island. I +guess it's glad enough to get off, though, for there's nothing there for +a dog to eat." + +"We couldn't find anything, either," said Bunny, "and we're hungry now, +Mother." + +"And we're going to take turns feeding the dog," came from Sue. "I own +one half, down the middle, and so does Bunny." + +"Bless your hearts!" Mrs. Brown cried. "She was very glad the children +had been found, and Mr. Brown told Bunny and Sue they must not get in +the boat again, unless some older person was with them, even if the boat +was tied to the dock. Then it was supper time, and the big, shaggy dog +ate as much as Bunny and Sue together, which showed how hungry he was. + +"What are you going to call the dog?" asked Aunt Lu. + +"I called him Towser," Bunny said, "but we can take another name, if we +don't like that." + +"Oh, let's call him Splash!" exclaimed Sue. + +"Splash? What a funny name!" her mother remarked. + +"Well, he did splash in the water after me, and pulled me out. Maybe we +could call him Pull, but I like Splash better," and Sue shook her curly +head. + +"Call him Splash, then," agreed Mr. Brown, and so the big dog was called +that name. He did not seem to mind how funny it was, but wagged his +tail, and barked happily whenever he was spoken to. + +For two or three days after they had gone off in the boat, Bunny Brown +and his sister Sue did not go far from home. They remained about the +house, playing different games with some of the children who lived near +them. Now and then they would go down the street with Aunt Lu, or to the +dock, to see the fish boats come in. And, often, as she walked along, +Aunt Lu would look down at the ground. + +"Are you looking for your lost diamond ring?" Bunny or Sue would ask. + +"Well, not exactly," Aunt Lu would say. "I'm afraid I shall never find +it," she would add, in rather a sad voice. "I am afraid it is gone +forever." + +"We'll keep on looking," promised Bunny. "And maybe we'll find it." + +Splash, the big dog, proved to be very gentle and kind. He seemed to +love the two children very much, and went everywhere with them. No one +came to claim him. There was only one place Bunny and Sue could not take +him, and that was to Mr. Winkler's house, and it was on account of the +monkey. + +"I'm afraid Splash might scare Wango," the old sailor said. "Monkeys are +easily frightened, and Wango might try to get out of his cage and hurt +himself. So, much as I love your dog, children, please don't bring him +where Wango is." "We won't," promised Bunny and Sue. So, whenever they +paid a little visit to their friend, the old sailor, Splash was chained +outside the gate, and the poor dog did not seem to understand why this +was done. But he would lie down and wait until Bunny and Sue came out. +Then how glad he was to see them! + +One day Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each five cents. They said they +wanted to buy some toy balloons, which they had seen in the window of +Mrs. Redden's store. + +"Maybe we could tie two balloons together, and fasten them to a basket +and have a ride, like in an airship," Sue said to Bunny, for they had +been looking at some pictures of airships in a magazine. + +"Maybe we could," Bunny agreed. + +But Bunny and Sue did not buy the toy balloons. They were on their way +to get them, with Splash, the dog, walking along the street behind them, +when a trolley car came along. The trolley ran from Bellemere, where +Bunny and Sue lived, to Wayville, the next town. In Wayville lived Uncle +Henry, who was a brother of Mrs. Brown's. + +"Oh, Sue! I know what let's do!" Bunny suddenly cried, as the trolley +car stopped to take on some passengers at the street corner. + +"What shall we do, Bunny?" Sue was always ready to follow where her +brother led. + +"Let's take our five cents and have a trolley ride! We can go to +Wayville and see Uncle Henry. He'd like to see us." + +"But if we go on the trolley it costs five cents," Sue objected, "and we +can't buy the balloons." + +"Maybe Uncle Henry will give us some pennies when we tell him we had to +spend our five cents to come to see him," Bunny suggested. + +"Maybe. All right, let's go!" + +Hand in hand, never thinking that it was in the least wrong, Bunny and +Sue ran for the trolley. The conductor, though perhaps he thought it +strange to see two such small children traveling alone, said nothing, +but helped them up the high step. Often the people of Wayville or +Bellemere would put their children on the car, and ask the conductor to +look out for them, and put them off at a certain place. But no one was +with Bunny and Sue. + +"We want to go to Wayville, to our Uncle Henry's," explained the blue- +eyed little boy. + +"All right," answered the conductor. "I'll let you off at Wayville, +though I don't know your Uncle Henry." He rang the bell twice, and off +went the trolley car, carrying Bunny and Sue to new adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LOST + + +Bunny and Sue leaned back in the trolley car seat, and felt very happy. +They loved to ride and travel, and they did not think they were doing +wrong to take a trolley ride without asking their mother or father. If +they had asked, of course, Mrs. Brown would not have let them go alone. +But that is the way matters generally went with Bunny and Sue. + +Faster and faster went the trolley car. Bunny looked at Sue and smiled, +and she smiled at him. The conductor came along the step of the car, +which was an open one, to collect the fares. Bunny and Sue each handed +him a five cent piece, and he handed them each back two pennies. + +"Oh, I didn't know we got any change!" exclaimed Bunny, in surprise + +"The fare to Wayville is only three cents, for such little tots as you," +the conductor said. "Are you sure you know where you are going?" he +asked. + +"We're going to our Uncle Henry's," replied Bunny. "And he lives near +the big, white church." + +"Well, I can let you off there all right. Now be careful, and don't lean +over out of your seats. You're pretty small to be taking trolley rides +alone." + +"We went alone in a boat the other day," Bunny told the conductor, "and +we got shipwrecked." + +"On an island in the river," added Sue, so the conductor would know what +her brother meant. + +"Well, if you've been shipwrecked, I guess you are able to take a +trolley ride," laughed the motorman, for Bunny and Sue were riding in +the front seat. + +"Hey, conductor!" called a man in the back seat of the car, "there's a +dog chasing after us!" + +"Why, so there is!" The conductor seemed much surprised as he looked +back. + +Bunny and Sue stood up and also looked behind them. There, indeed, was a +big shaggy dog, running after the car, his tongue hanging out of his +mouth. He seemed very tired and hot. + +"Why--why!" cried Sue, "that's our dog--it's Splash, and he splashed in +and pulled me out of the water when I fell in, the time Bunny and I were +shipwrecked!" + +"Oh, we forgot all about him, when we got on the car," Bunny cried. He +felt very sorry for Splash. + +"I thought he'd come right on the car with us," Sue said. "And we'd have +money enough to pay his fare, too," she added, looking at the two +pennies in her chubby fist. "Is it three cents for dogs, too, mister?" +she asked the conductor. + +The conductor laughed, and some of the passengers did also. Then Bunny, +who had been looking at poor Splash, racing along after the trolley car, +which was now going quite fast, called out: + +"Please stop the car, Mr. Conductor. We want our dog!" + +"But you can't take a dog on the car, my boy. It isn't allowed. I'm +sorry." + +Bunny thought for a minute. Then he said: + +"Well, if we can't bring our dog on the car, We'll get off and walk; +won't we, Sue?" + +"Yes, that's what we will." + +"All right," agreed the conductor. "I'm sorry, for I'd like to do you +the favor, but I'm not allowed." He rang the bell, and the car slowed +up. Splash barked joyfully, for he Was very tired from running after his +little friends, who went so fast and so far ahead of him. + +The conductor helped Bunny and Sue down. The car had stopped along a +country road, near a patch of woods, in rather a lonesome place. + +"Here, youngsters," went on the trolley man, while Splash rushed up to +Bunny and Sue, barking happily, "here, youngsters, take your money back. +You didn't ride three cents' worth, hardly, and I'll fix it up all right +with the company. You'd better take the next car back home. Your dog can +find his way all right." + +And then the car rattled off again, leaving Bunny and Sue, still with +five cents each, Standing in the road, with their dog Splash. + +"Poor fellow," said Bunny, putting his arms around the shaggy neck of +his pet, "you must be awful tired!" + +"He is," Sue agreed. "We'll sit down in the shade with him, and let him +rest." + +They found a nice place, where the grass was green, and where some trees +made a shade, and near by was a spring of cool water. + +Bunny made a little cup, from an oak leaf, and gave Sue a drink. Then he +took some himself, and, a little later, Splash lapped up some water +where it ran in a tiny stream down the grassy side of the road. + +"Now he's rested, and we can go on," Sue remarked after a bit. "Where +shall we go, Bunny--to Uncle Henry's?" + +"Well, it's too far to walk, and we don't want to ride in the car, and +make Splash run, so maybe we'd better go back home. We can get the +balloons now. The conductor was good not to take our money." + +"Yes, I like him," and Sue looked down the track on which, a good way +off, could be seen the trolley car they had left. + +"We can walk back home," went on Bunny. "It isn't far. Come on, Sue!" + +Down the country road started the two children, Splash following, or, +now and then, running off to one side, to bark at a bird, or at a +squirrel or chipmunk that bounded along the rail fence. + +Bunny and Sue thought they would have no trouble at all in going back +home, but they did not know how far away it was. + +"All we'll have to do will be to keep along the trolley track," said +Bunny. "If we had my express wagon now, and a harness for Splash, he +could pull us." + +"Oh, that would be fun!" Sue cried. "It would be just like a little +trolley car of out own. You could be the motorman and I Would be the +conductor." + +"We'll play that when we get home," her brother decided. "Oh, look! +What's Splash barking at now?" + +The dog had found something beside the road, and was making quite a fuss +over it. It looked like a black stone, but Bunny and Sue could see that +it was moving, and stones do not move unless someone throws them. + +"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" and Sue hung back as Bunny ran toward the dog. + +"Snakes aren't big and round like that," her brother answered. "They're +long and thin, like worms, only bigger. Oh, it's a mud-turtle!" Bunny +exclaimed as he came closer, "A great big mud-turtle, Sue," + +"Will he--will he bite?' + +"He might. He's got a head like a lobster's claw," replied Bunny. "But +he won't bite me 'cause I won't let him get hold of my finger." + +"He might bite our dog! Come away, Splash!" Sue cried. + +But the dog knew better than to get too near the turtle, which really +could bite very hard if he wanted to. Bunny got a stick, and poked at +Mr. Turtle, who at once pulled his head and legs up inside his shell. +Then he was more like a stone than ever. + +And, as it was not much more fan than looking at a stone, to watch the +closed-up turtle, Bunny and Sue soon grew tired of watching the slow- +moving creature. Splash, too, seemed to think he was wasting time +barking at such a thing, so he ran off to find something new. + +Once more the two children walked along the road. The sun grew warmer +and warmer, and finally Bunny spoke, saying: + +"Let's walk in the woods, Sue. It will be cooler there." + +"Oh, yes" agreed the little girl. "I love it in the woods." + +So into the cool shade they went, Splash following. They found another +spring of water, and drank some. They gathered flowers, and found some +cones from a pine tree. With these they built two little houses, doll +size. + +Pretty soon Sue said she was hungry, and Bunny also admitted that he +was. + +"We'll coon be home now," he said. "And we'll stop at Mrs. Redden's, and +get our balloons." + +"Then we'll have lots of fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. + +But the patch of woods through which the children had started to walk +was larger than they thought. There seemed to be no end to it, the trees +stretching on and on. + +"Where's home?" Sue asked, after a bit. She was tired of walking. + +Bunny stopped and looked about him. + +"I can't see our house from here," he said. "but it's only a little way +now. I guess maybe we'd better go out on the road, Sue. We can see +better there." + +But the road, too, seemed to have disappeared. Bunny and Sue went this +way and that, but no road could they find. They listened, but they could +not hear the clanging of the trolley car gong. It was very still and +quiet in the woods, except, now and then, when Splash would run through +the dried leaves, looking for another mud-turtle, perhaps. + +"I'm hungry!" Sue exclaimed. "I want to go home, Bunny!" + +"So do I," said the little fellow, "but I don't seem to know where our +home is." + +"Oh! Are we--are we lost?" whispered Sue. + +Bunny nodded. + +"I--I guess so," he answered. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FOUND + + +Getting lost in the woods is different from getting lost in the city. In +the city, or even in a little country town, there is someone of whom you +can ask the way to your house. But in the woods there is no one to talk +to. + +Bunny and Sue thought of this when they had looked around through the +trees, trying to find some way to, at least, get back to the road. + +"If I could find the trolley car tracks we'd be all right," Bunny said. +"We could wait for a car and ride home." "But what could we do with +Splash?" asked Sue. + +"Oh, he could run along after us. It isn't far, and he's had a good rest +now." + +"Well, I wish I were home," sighed the little girl. "I'm awful hungry!" + +Bunny Brown did not know what to do. He wanted to be brave, and help his +sister, but he, himself, felt much like crying, and he thought he could +see tears in Sue's eyes. + +Where was their home, anyhow? Where were their papa and mamma and dear +Aunt Lu? Bunny felt he would give all of his five cents if he could see +the house where he and Sue lived. But all around them were only trees. + +"Will we have to stay here all night?" Sue wanted to know. + +"Well, if we do, we can make believe we have a camp here, and live in +the woods. And we've got Splash with us." + +"Yes, I guess I wouldn't be much afraid," agreed Sue. "But it would be +dark; wouldn't it, Bunny?" + +"Maybe there'd be a moon--or--or lightning bugs." + +"I--I'd rather have a real light," said the little girl. "And even if +I'm not very much afraid in the dark, I can't stop being hungry, Bunny. +What do you eat when you camp in the woods?" + +"Why--er--you eat--I guess you have to have sandwiches, or ice cream +cones, or something like that." + +"I want a sandwich now!" Sue insisted. + +Bunny shook his head. + +"We can make-believe," he began. + +"But my hungry isn't make-believe!" cried Sue. "It's real--I'm awful +hungry. Can't you find our house, Bunny?" + +Her brother shook his head. Then, somehow or other, he decided that he +must do something besides stand there in the woods. + +"Let's look for a path and walk along it," he said. "Maybe we can get +home that way." + +There were several paths through the woods, and the children soon came +to one of them. They walked along it a little way, but it came to an end +in a place where the trees and bushes grew thick, making it quite dark. + +"Our house isn't here," said Sue, sadly, and she cried a few tears. + +"No, it isn't here," answered Bunny. "We'll go back and find another +path." + +Back they went. But the next path they tried was no better than the +first one. It came to an end in a swamp, in which, on logs, were a +number of big frogs and turtles, that jumped, or fell in, with much +spattering of water as the children and the dog came near. + +"I--I'm never going to take a trolley ride again," Sue said, as she and +Bunny turned back. + +"I'm not, either," her brother agreed. "But if we had kept on to Uncle +Henry's we'd have been all right. It was Splash's fault that we had to +come back." + +The dog barked, as he heard his name spoken. And then Sue suddenly +thought of something. + +"Oh, Bunny!" she exclaimed, "if Splash knew the way home he could take +us. Maybe he does. Mother read to us about a dog that found his way home +from a long way off. Splash, can you take us home?" she asked, patting +the big dog on the head. + +Splash barked, and started off on a path which the children had not yet +tried. + +"That's so. I never thought maybe Splash could show us the way," said +Bunny. "We'll try it! Home, Splash!" he cried. "Home!" + +The dog barked again, and wagged his tail. He ran along the path a short +distance, and then stopped, looking back at Bunny and Sue as if asking: + +"Well, why don't you come with me if you want to get home?" + +"Oh, Bunny, I believe he does know the way!" Sue cried. "Come on, we'll +follow him!" + +On ran Splash, turning every now and then to look around and bark, as if +telling the children not to worry--that he would lead them safely home. + +And he did, or, if not exactly all the way home, the faithful dog made +his way out of the woods, until he came to the main road, along which +ran the trolley track. + +"Oh, now I know where we are!" cried Bunny, in delight, as he saw +several houses ahead of them. "Why, Sue, we're right on our own street. +We weren't much lost!" + +"Well, I'm glad we're found," Sue said. + +It was easy to get home now. All the while Bunny and Sue had been only a +little way from the road which led to their home, but the trees were so +thick they could not find the right path. And Splash had never thought +his two little friends were anxious to get home, until Bunny had told +him so. Then he led them. + +On walked Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, happy now that they were no +longer lost. Splash seemed to think he had done all that was needed, for +now he ran here, there, everywhere--across the road, back and forth, +trying to find something with which to amuse himself. He no longer +watched to see that the children followed him. He must have known that +they were on the right road at last--that he had led them there. + +Bunny and Sue passed Mrs. Redden's store. In the window were the red, +blue, green, yellow and other colored toy balloons that they had set out +to buy. Bunny and Sue still each had five cents, though it was in +pennies now. + +"Let's get the balloons," proposed Bunny. + +"Oh, yes; let's!" agreed Sue. + +So they went in and bought them, letting them float in the air, high +above their heads, by the strings to which the balloons were fastened. + +Down the street came Aunt Lu. + +"Well, children!" she cried. "We were just getting worried about you. +Mother sent me to find you. Where have you been?" + +"We had a trolley ride," explained Sue, "but Splash couldn't get on the +car, so we got off, and we were lost, and Splash found the path for us, +and I'm hungry!" + +"Bless your heart! I should think you would be!" cried Aunt Lu. "Come +right home with me and I'll get you some jam and bread and butter." + +And, a little later, Bunny and Sue were telling of their adventure. + +"Oh, but you must never do that again!" said their mother. "Never get in +the trolley cars alone again!" + +"We won't!" promised Bunny and Sue. But you just wait and see what +happens. + +Bunny Brown was out in the yard, a few days after the funny trolley +ride, digging a hole. Bunny had heard his father talk about a queer +country called China, which, Mr. Brown said, was right straight down on +the other side of the world, so that if one could possibly dig a hole +all the way through the earth, one would come to China. + +"I guess I'll dig a hole," thought Bunny Blown. "Maybe I won't go all +the way to China, but I'll dig a big hole, and see where it ends. I'd +like some China boys to play with." + +A little while before Bunny started to dig the hole his sister Sue had +been playing in the yard with her dolls. But, somehow or other, Bunny +forgot all about Sue now. He was taking the dirt out of the hole with +his sand shovel when his mother came to the door and called: + +"Bunny, where is Sue?" + +Bunny looked up from the pile of dirt in front of him. He was standing +down in the hole, throwing out the sand and the gravel, and wondering +when he would get his first sight of that queer land of China. + +"Why, Mother," the little fellow answered, "Sue was here just now. Maybe +she has gone down to show Wango her new doll." + +"Oh, no, Sue wouldn't go down there alone, Bunny. See if you can find +her." + +Bunny went to the front gate and looked up and down the street. + +"I don't see her, Mother," he called back. + +"Oh, dear! I wonder where she can be?" said Mrs. Brown. + +"I'll find her," Bunny said. "Come on, Splash!" he called to his dog. +"We're going to find Sue; she's lost!" + +"Wait! Wait! Come back!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Don't you run off and get +lost again, Bunny! I'll go with you, and we'll both find little sister." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SUE AND THE GOAT + + +Bunny Brown and his mother walked out of the front yard to the street. +As they passed the side dining room window, Aunt Lu saw them, and asked: + +"Where are you going?" + +"To look for Sue," explained Mrs. Brown. "She seems to have wandered off +somewhere all by herself, and I don't want her lost again. It isn't so +bad when Bunny and Sue both get lost," the mother went on, "for they can +help find one another. But if Sue is all alone she may get frightened." + +"Do you really think she is lost again?" asked Aunt Lu. "If she is I'll +come and help look for her. Or, perhaps, we'd better get Bunker Blue." + +"Oh, no, I really don't think she is lost," said Mrs. Brown. "She has, +most likely, just walked down the street. Bunny and I will find her." + +"Lots of things get lost here," Bunny remarked. "Sue and I got lost, but +we found a dog; didn't we, Splash?" he asked, and the dog barked. + +"Yes, and my lovely ring is lost, and it hasn't been found," and Aunt Lu +looked at the finger on which used to sparkle the diamond. + +"I wish I could find it for you," said Bunny. "But Sue and I have looked +everywhere." + +"I know you have, my dear." + +As Bunny and his mother reached the street they saw Jed Winkler walking +along, carrying a long chain that rattled. + +"Oh, Jed, have you seen Sue?" asked Mrs. Brown. "She was here a while +ago, but she went off by herself, and I'm afraid she's lost." + +"Don't worry, ma'am," said the old sailor. "She's just down the street a +few houses. I saw her as I came past. She's playing with Sadie West, in +her yard." + +"Oh, that's all right, then!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Sue often goes +there. Is anyone else with her, Jed?" + +"Yes, a lot of children." + +"May I go down there and play, too?" asked Bunny. "Are there any boys +there, Mr. Winkler?" + +"Some. I saw Charlie Star and Harry Bentley," and the old sailor laughed +as he rattled the chain. + +Bunny did not mind playing with his sister Sue, but he did not want to +take part in games with too many girls, for sometimes the older boys +called him "sissy." And Bunny did not like that. + +"Well, if there are other fellers there, I'll go and play," said Bunny, +as he started off to join Sue. Then he happened to think of the chain +the old sailor was carrying. + +"What's it for?" asked the small boy. + +"It's a new chain for Wango, my monkey," explained the sailor. "He +hasn't been very well, lately, and I had the horse-doctor look him +over." + +"That's funny," said Bunny. "To have a horse-doctor for a monkey." + +"Well, if there had been a monkey-doctor in town I'd have had him for +Wango," went on Mr. Winkler, "but as there wasn't any I had to do the +next best thing. The horse-doctor said my monkey was being kept in the +cage too much. + +"So I got this long chain, and I'm going to fasten one end of it to a +collar, to go around Wango's neck, and tie the other end of the chain to +the porch railing, so he can't get away. Then I can let Wango stay +outdoors when the weather is good, and he will get well. At night I will +put him in his cage again." "And the chain won't let him run away," +commented Bunny. + +"That's it, little man, the chain won't let Wango run away," said the +sailor. "That is, I hope it won't, though he often gets out of his cage. +He's quite a tricky monkey." + +Mr. Winkler went on down the street, rattling the monkey-chain, and Mrs. +Brown, no longer worried about Sue, turned back into the yard, while +Bunny hurried on, as fast as his little legs would take him, to Sadie +West's yard, where he found his sister and several of their chums having +a good time. + +They had made a see-saw, by putting a plank over a box, and were swaying +up and down on this, some children on one end of the plank and some on +the other. As soon as Bunny came running in the yard, Sue called out: + +"Oh, goodie! Here's my brother. Now he can teeter-tauter up and down. +Come on, Bunny, you can have my place!" + +Sue was so eager to give Bunny her place, and a chance to ride, that she +slid off the board suddenly. Then that left too many little ones on the +other end, and they went down, all at once, with a bump! + +Sadie West was spilled off, and so was Charlie Star and Harry Bentley. +They all fell in a heap, but as the green grass was long, and soft, no +one was hurt. + +"Don't do that again, Sue!" called Charlie, "You upset us all." + +"I won't," Sue promised. "Come on, Bunny. It's your turn now." + +"I don't want any turn at falling," Bunny said, with a laugh. + +Once more the plank over the box swayed up and down, giving the children +a ride. After a while, getting tired of that, they played in a swing and +also in a hammock, having more fun. + +Then it was dinner time, and Sadie's mother told her to come in and wash +before going to the table. The other children knew it must be time for +their meals also, so, calling good-byes to one another, they scattered. + +"Come over again," Sadie invited them. + +"We will!" promised Bunny. + +"Let's go home this way, across the lot," suggested Sue, as she and +Bunny started out. + +"Oh, I don't want to," Bunny answered. "It's quicker to go by the +street, and around the corner. And I want to look in Mrs. Redden's +window, and see what she's got new." + +"Well, you go that way," Sue agreed, "and I'll go across lots, and we'll +see who gets there first." + +"That's just like little Red Riding Hood and the wolf," said Bunny with +a laugh. Sue looked quickly over her shoulder. + +"But there's no wolf here," Bunny went on quickly. "You go ahead, Sue, +over the lot, and I'll go by the street." + +There was a large vacant lot, near where Sadie West lived, and by +crossing it, and going out at the far end, the Brown children could +reach their home. So Sue started across the lot, crawling through a hole +in the fence. + +Bunny started down the street, going quite fast, for he wanted to spend +a few minutes looking in the window of the toy shop, and he also wanted +to get home first, ahead of Sue. + +But he had not gone far before he heard his sister calling: + +"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! Oh, dear! He's coming after me!" + +Bunny turned and ran back. Looking through the fence that was built +around the lot, he saw a big goat, with long horns, walking toward Sue. +And the little girl, who had picked a few daisies, was standing in the +tall grass, too frightened to run back and crawl through the fence. + +"Bunny! Bunny! Take the goat away!" Sue cried. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A LITTLE PARTY + + +"Sue! Sue! I'm coming! Don't be afraid!" + +Bunny cried this as he hurried up to the fence, through the pickets of +which he could see the goat walking toward his sister. Sue was screaming +now. + +But, after he had said this, Bunny did not know exactly what to do. He +did not know much about goats, and this was a big one, with long, sharp +horns. The goat belonged to an Italian family in town, and the Italian +man used to ask those who owned vacant lots to let his goat go into them +and eat the grass. That was how the goat happened to be in this lot. If +Sue had known the animal was there, she would not have taken the short +cut, but would have gone, with her brother, along the street. + +"Bunny! Bunny!" Sue cried. "He's coming closer!" + +Bunny began to crawl through the hole in the fence as his sister had +done. As he did so, he saw, lying on the ground, several stones. He +picked up two, one in each fist. + +"I won't let him hurt you, Sue!" he called, but, even as he said that, +Bunny did not know what he was going to do. "I wish I had a red rag," he +thought, "I could wave it at the goat and maybe scare him." + +Bunny had heard his mother read from a book how bulls and turkey +gobblers do not like red rags waved at them, and Bunny thought a goat +was something like a bull. They both had horns, at any rate. + +"And if I could wave a red rag at him, maybe it would make him so mad +that he'd run away and leave Sue alone," thought Bunny as he found +himself in the vacant lot with his sister. + +Bunny was not quite right about the red rag, so perhaps it is just as +well he did not have one. For bulls run TOWARD a red rag, instead of +AWAY from it, and perhaps goats might do the same; though I am not sure +about this. + +But, at any rate, Bunny had no red rag; and the goat, instead of running +away, was coming toward Sue, who was too frightened to move. She just +stood there, crying: + +"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! Make him go away." + +"I will," said her brother. "Go on away, you old goat you!" he cried. +"Go away or I'll throw a stone at you. I don't want to hurt you, but I'm +not going to let you hook my sister with your horns. Go on away!" + +But the goat only bleated, like a sheep, and came on. Seeing Bunny +coming toward her made Sue a little braver. At least she found that she +could run, so she did, hiding behind her brother. + +"I'll take care of you," he said bravely. + +On came the goat. Bunny's heart was beating fast. He raised one hand in +which he held a stone. + +"Look out! I'm going to throw it, you old goat!" cried the little blue- +eyed boy. + +"Whizz!" went the stone toward the goat. It struck him on the horn, and +of course it did not hurt, for a goat's horns have no feeling on the +outside, any more than have your finger-nails. + +"Bounce!" went the stone off the goat's horn. The animal shook his head, +as if he did not like that. + +"Go on away!" called Bunny. "I got another stone for you if you don't +go!" + +But the goat still came on. Bunny threw the second stone, but it did not +hit the goat. The little boy was looking around for another stone, when +he and Sue heard a loud barking behind them, and up rushed Splash, their +big dog. + +"Oh, good! Now he'll drive the goat away!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny; aren't +you glad!" + +"That's what I am!" Bunny answered. "Drive him away, Splash!" + +Splash rushed, barking, at the goat, and the horned animal at once +turned about and ran to the other end of the lot, kicking up his heels. +Splash kept on after him, barking, but not trying to bite, for the dog +was gentle. + +"Splash! Splash!" called Bunny. "Come back! Come back!" + +Splash minded very well and back he came, quite proud, no doubt, at +having driven off the goat. + +"Hurry and get out of here!" begged Sue, as she ran toward the hole in +the fence. Bunny turned to follow her. He looked back to see if the goat +was coming, feeling not half afraid, now that Splash was with them. + +In another minute Bunny, Sue and their dog were safely out in the +street. The goat, at the far end of the lot, looked toward them and made +his queer, bleating noise. + +Afterward Bunny Brown and his sister Sue learned that the goat was a +very kind one, and used to playing with children. It would not have hurt +Sue at all, and the reason it walked up to her was because it thought +she was going to feed it, as the little Italian children often did. So +Bunny and Sue had their fright for nothing, though of course, at the +time, Bunny thought the goat might hurt his sister. + +"And I'm sorry I hit him with a stone," said Bunny, when, afterward, he +was told how gentle the goat was. + +"Oh, well, you didn't hurt him," said Aunt Lu. + +Bunny, Sue and Splash were late for their dinner that day. + +"My! What kept you?" asked Mrs. Brown, as they entered the house. "I did +not want you to stay so long away." + +"It was the goat that made me," Sue said, and then she and Bunny told of +their adventure. + +"Well, of course you couldn't help that," Mrs. Brown said with a smile. +"Something new always seems to be happening to you children. Now wash +and come to your meal." + +There were jam tarts for dessert that day, and as Bunny ate his, the +raspberry jam coming up through the three small holes in the top crust, +the little fellow said: + +"These are so good! Who made them?" + +"Aunt Lu did," answered his mother. '"Aren't they nice?" + +"Lovely!" murmured Sue. "May I have another, Mother?" + +"I think so, as they are small." + +"And I want one!" Bunny exclaimed. "They taste just like--just like a +play-party!" he finished. + +"So they do!" cried Sue. "I was trying to think what it was they tasted +like--but it's a party!" + +"What a queer way for jam tarts to taste!" laughed Aunt Lu. "But I am +glad you like them. I'll make some more some day." + +"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Bunny. "And oh, Mother! Maybe we could have one!" +His eyes were shining brightly. + +"Have one what?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"Why, one party," Bunny replied. "Could Sue and I have a little party, +and would Aunt Lu bake some jam tarts for us?" + +"I'll bake the tarts, if your mother wants you to have the party," Aunt +Lu answered. + +Mrs. Brown thought for a moment. + +"Well," she said slowly, "I suppose you could have a little party. Not a +very big one, as I am so busy. Just a few of your friends to eat on the +lawn under the trees." + +"Oh, that would be lovely!" Sue cried. + +"And we'll have some boys, and not all girls!" Bunny declared. + +"Half girls and half boys," Aunt Lu suggested. "And I'll make half jam +tarts and half jelly ones, so they may take their choice." + +"And I'll bake a cake for Splash!" exclaimed Sue. "He likes cake. We +might give the party for him," she went on. "That would be fun!" + +"And they could all bring our dog presents--bones and things like that," +laughed Bunny. + +And so it was decided. The party would be for Splash, though of course +he would not be allowed to eat all the good things. Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue wanted those for themselves and their playmates. + +The next day Bunny and Sue went around to the different houses, where +their little friends lived, and each one was asked to come to the party. +"Oh, I'm so glad you asked me!" cried Sadie West, when Sue told about +the fun they would have. + +"I want you more than anyone," was Sue's reply. + +"And how funny to have the party for Splash!" Sadie went on. + +"Well, dogs like nice things." + +"Of course they do. I think it's just fine!" and Sadie clapped her +hands. "I'll tie a little pink ribbon on the bone I bring your dog." + +Helen Newton said she would bring Splash a dog-biscuit. + +"You buy them in a store," she said. "Papa buys them for our dog, and +you can get puppy cakes, too. Only of course Splash is too big for a +puppy cake." + +"You could bring him a lot of little puppy cakes, and they would be the +same as one big dog-biscuit, maybe," said Sue. + +"No, I'll bring him a regular cake, and I'll put a blue ribbon on it," +decided Helen, and then the little girls laughed to think what fun they +would have at the party. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +GEORGE WATSON'S TRICK + + +The day of the party for Splash, the dog, came at last, though Bunny +Brown and his sister Sue were so anxious for the time to arrive that it +seemed very long indeed. But everything comes if you wait long enough, +so they say, and finally the time for the party came. + +"Oh, what a fine day!" cried Bunny, as he ran to the window on the +morning of the day of the party. "The sun is shining, Sue!" + +"That's good," answered his sister from her room. "A party is no fun in +the rain." + +"And there's wind enough to fly the kites," went on Bunny. He and some +of his little boy friends had talked over what they would do at the +party. + +"The girls will want to play with their dolls," said Harry Bentley. + +"Well, we don't want to do that," observed Charlie Star. "What can we +do?" + +"We can make kites, and fly 'em," Bunny said, and so this was what he +and the boys at the party would do while the girls were playing with +their dolls. So Bunny was now glad to notice, as he looked from the +window, that the wind was blowing; not too hard, but enough to fly +kites. + +The two children were soon dressed, and down at the breakfast table. But +they did not eat as much as usual, and Bunny left more than half his +oatmeal in his dish. + +"Why, Bunny! What is the matter?" asked his mother. + +"I guess they are thinking so much about the party that they can't eat +as they ought," Aunt Lu said. + +"Oh, but that isn't right!" Mother Brown exclaimed. "Come, Bunny--Sue, +eat a nice breakfast, and then you may fix up the lawn in any way you +like for your party." + +"I've a big bow for Splash's neck," said Sue. + +"And I'm going to make a harness, and hitch him up to the express wagon, +so he can pull us around the yard," remarked Bunny. + +"Now please eat your breakfast!" begged their mother, and Bunny and Sue +did their best. But it was hard work not to talk or think about their +party. + +Aunt Lu helped them get the lawn in readiness. All about the Brown house +was a big grass plot, and in the back were a number of shade trees. The +tables, which were made from boxes, with boards across the top, were to +be set out there. + +There were to be sandwiches, cake, lemonade and ice cream, with Aunt +Lu's lovely jam and jelly tarts besides. + +"It was the tarts that made us think about the party, so of course we +want them," announced Sue. + +Splash, the dog, seemed quite proud of the big bow that Sue tied on his +neck, to make him look pretty. But Splash did not care so much for the +harness that Bunny made. The little boy took some ropes and straps, and +tied them about the dog's neck and front legs. Then some ends of the +ropes were made fast to the little express wagon, and Bunny got in it, +calling to Splash to "giddap!" That was the way Grandpa Brown made his +horses go, and so, of course, a dog ought to go when you said that to +him. + +Splash went all right, but just as when Bunny had hitched him to the +boat, that was stuck on the island, the harness was not strong enough, +and it broke, so that Splash ran off, with the straps and ropes dangling +from him. + +"I guess I'm too heavy for him to pull," said Bunny, as he got out of +the wagon. + +"You could have one of my dolls to ride in the wagon," offered Sue. +"Take an old one, and I don't care if she falls out. She wouldn't be too +heavy for Splash to pull." + +"I'll try it," Bunny said. + +Once again he tied the ropes about Splash, and the little express wagon, +and this time, when Bunny walked along beside the dog, Splash really did +pull the wagon along, giving the doll a ride. + +But Bunny did not think this was much fun. He wanted to ride in the +wagon himself. + +"I'm going to make a big, strong harness," he said, and off he went to +look for more rope. + +"Well, I'm going to get the tables ready," Sue said. "I'm going to pick +some flowers for them." + +Aunt Lu, with the help of the cook, had made the wooden tables, which +were boards over boxes. White cloths were now spread on them, for it was +nearly time for the party. The things to eat would not be set out until +the party guests came. + +Sue loved flowers, and she picked them from the fields and woods +whenever she saw any to gather. Not far from the Brown home, in fact in +the next lot to the lawn, was a field in which grew daisies, buttercups, +clover and other wild flowers. + +Sue picked many of these, and then she and Aunt Lu put them in pitchers +and vases of water, and set them on the tables. There were two tables, +one for the girls and one for the boys. + +Bunny had asked that this be done. + +"'Cause the girls will bring their dolls to the table," he said, "and we +fellows don't want to eat with a lot of dolls." + +"Oh, you funny boy!" laughed his mother, but she had let him have his +way. So Aunt Lu and Sue had two tables to decorate with flowers. + +While they were doing this Bunny was trying to make another harness for +Splash, so the dog could pull the express wagon with the little boy in +it. But Bunny did not have very good luck, or else Splash pulled too +strongly, for one harness after another broke, until Bunny gave up. + +"I'll save my money and buy a harness at the store," he said. + +"There, I think we have flowers enough, Sue!" exclaimed her aunt, as she +looked at the tables. Indeed they were very pretty, and they would look +even better when the dishes, and the good things to eat, were put on. + +"Isn't it 'most time?" asked Bunny, after a bit. "I'm getting hungry." + +"Oh, you must wait for the company," his mother told him. "They will +soon be here." + +And, a little later, Sadie West and Helen Newton came. When they saw how +pretty the flowers looked on the table they exclaimed: + +"Oh, how nice!" + +"Where is Splash?" asked Sadie. "I've brought him a bone," and so she +had, all wrapped in waxed paper from the inside of a cracker package, +and on the bone, just as she had promised, was a pink ribbon. + +"Here, Splash! Splash!" called Bunny, who had given up trying to make +his pet pull the express wagon. + +The dog came running up from the far end of the yard. + +"See what Sadie has brought for your party!" laughed Bunny. + +Splash took the bone, but the ends of the ribbon got up his nose and he +sneezed in the queerest way, which made the children laugh. + +"I guess Splash doesn't like too much style," said Sadie, who was older +than Bunny and Sue. + +"I wonder how he'll like my dog-biscuit," remarked Helen Newton, as she +unwrapped it from the paper. "I put a red bow on it. Do you like red +better than pink, Splash?" + +The dog, who was gnawing the bone Sadie had brought him, looked up and +wagged his tail. He must have thought it was fine to have so many good +things to eat, even though he did not understand about the party. He +sniffed at the dog-biscuit, which is a sort of cake, with ground-up +meat, and other good things in it that dogs like. Then Splash would gnaw +a little on the bone, and, afterward, nibble at the hard biscuit. + +"Well, Splash is enjoying himself anyhow," said Aunt Lu, as she came out +to begin setting the tables. + +Soon after this a number of the boys and girls came. There were ten +girls and six boys, though ten boys had been invited. But though all the +girls came to the party given for Splash, all the boys did not. It often +is that way at parties; isn't it? More girls than boys. But the boys +don't know what fun they sometimes miss. + +"Play some games, children," said Mrs. Brown. "Run about and play, and +then it will be time to eat. Aunt Lu and I will put on the cake, and +other goodies." + +"Let's play tag!" said Sue. + +"And after that hide-and-go-to-seek," Bunny called. + +"And puss-in-the-corner," added Sadie West. + +One after the other they played the games, running about on the grassy +lawn, and having great fun. Splash dug a hole and hid his bone, after +gnawing on it as long as he cared to. He ate all the dog-biscuit, and +then Bunny got a ball which Splash would run after when it was thrown. + +Bunny and his boy friends played the ball game with the dog, while the +girls, after having tired themselves with the lively games, like tag, +brought out their dolls and dressed and undressed them. + +"When are we going to fly the kites?" asked Charlie Star. + +"We can do it now," Bunny answered. + +Each boy had made himself a kite, which he brought with him. Bunny got +his from the house, and, going to an open place, where the trees would +not catch the strings, the boys put up their air-toys. + +The wind was good, as Bunny had said, and soon there were six kites +floating in the air. That is there were six for a time, and then Bunny's +string broke, and away flew his kite. + +"Oh, dear!" he cried. + +"That's too bad!" exclaimed Charlie Star. "Come on, boys, we'll haul +down our kites and chase after Bunny's!" + +They were just going to do this when Mrs. Brown came out to say that it +was time to eat. + +"You can look for the kite, afterward," she said; "if you go now all the +ice cream may melt, as we have taken it out of the freezer." + +Of course the boys did not want anything like that to happen, so they +said they would wait. Down they sat at the tables, the boys at theirs +and the girls at the one made ready for them. Aunt Lu, Mrs. Brown and +the cook passed the good things, and, for a time, there was not much +talking done. The children were too busy eating. + +"Don't forget Aunt Lu's jam and jelly tarts!" called out Bunny. "They're +fine!" + +And when they had been passed around, all the guests at the party said +Bunny was right, and that the tarts were just fine! + +"I'm so glad you like them," said Aunt Lu, very much pleased. + +Bunny wanted to give a Punch and Judy show, with Sue, after the meal was +over. He said he could wear the big, hollow lobster claw, and make +himself look very funny. + +"But I think I wouldn't--not now," his mother remarked. "You would have +to build a little booth, or place for you and Sue to get inside of, and +we haven't time for that. Just play some easy games." + +"All right," agreed Bunny. + +Aunt Lu had all the children sit in a ring on the grass while she told +them a story. And it was just after the story was finished that George +Watson played his trick. + +George had not been invited to the party, because he was too old, Mrs. +Brown said. + +Perhaps this had made George rather angry. At any rate, when the +children were thanking Aunt Lu for the nice story she had told them, +there was suddenly tossed over the fence, right into the midst of them, +a paste-board shoe box. It fell near Bunny's feet, and he jumped back, +he was so startled. + +"Who threw that?" Bunny asked. + +"George Watson did," said Charlie Star. "I saw him walk up along the +fence, and throw it over." + +"What is it?" asked Sue. + +"Maybe it's a present for Splash," suggested Sadie. + +"George Watson would rather pull Splash's tail, than give him a +present," declared Bunny. And indeed George often played rather mean +tricks on animals, and little children. + +"Open the box, and see what's in it," suggested Helen Newton. + +"I'll open it," offered Bunny. + +The cover of the box was tied on, but Bunny slipped off the string. As +he lifted the cover, Sue, who stood behind her brother, looking over his +shoulder, exclaimed: + +"Oh, it's alive! It's alive! Look out, Bunny! There's something alive in +that box, and it might bite you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LEMONADE STAND + + +Bunny Brown tried to clap the cover quickly back on the box, but he did +not quite do it. It went on crooked, and when Charlie Star tried to help +he only made it worse, so that the cover went spinning to one side. + +Suddenly some little green animals began hopping from the box. Out they +hopped, and then they began jumping in all directions, among the little +boys and girls. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed the girls, as they started to run. + +Some of the boys--the smaller ones--also ran, but they did not scream. + +Bunny Brown and Charlie Star were the only boys who did not run. + +"Oh, Bunny! What is it? What are they?" cried Sue, looking over her +shoulder as she ran toward the house. + +"It's snakes! I saw 'em! Big green snakes," insisted Sadie West. + +"Oh, what a mean boy George is, to scare us so!" said Helen. + +Then Bunny Brown laughed, and so did Charlie. Hearing this the girls +stopped screaming, and the boys stopped running. + +"What is it?" asked Sue again. "Did they bite you, Bunny?" + +"Nope" he answered, still laughing, "they can't bite me!" + +"Why not?" his sister wanted to know. + +"'Cause they're only frogs. They won't hurt anybody!" + +And that is what was in the box that George had tossed over the fence +into the midst of the party-guests--a box of big, green frogs that he +had caught at the mill pond. George wanted to scare Bunny and Sue for +not asking him to their dog's party. But the little scare was soon over, +and the children only laughed at the frogs. + +The green hoppers jumped this way and that, through the grass, and Bunny +and his friends did not try to catch them. + +"They're looking for water," Bunny said. + +Splash saw that something queer was going on, and he ran up to see what +it was. He barked at some of the frogs, as they hopped through the +grass, but did not try to bite them. + +"And to think George fooled us with frogs," laughed Charlie. "When I see +him I'll tell him we just like frogs, and they didn't scare us a bit." + +"I thought they were snakes, at first," Sue said. "That's why I ran +away." + +"It was not a very nice trick," said Aunt Lu. "But still it did no harm. +Now for another game, and I think there are a few more tarts left." + +"Oh, goodie!" cried the children. + +There were enough tarts for each one to have another, and, when they had +been passed around, after a lively game of Puss-in-the-corner, the party +was over. Everyone said he had had a fine time, and when Bunny Brown and +his sister Sue asked their guests to come again, each one said: + +"I surely will!" + +"I guess everybody would be glad to come to another party like it," said +Sadie West to Helen Newton, as they walked home together. + +"I'm sure of it," answered Helen. "And wasn't Splash nice!" + +"Yes, he's a lovely dog. I wish I had one I could have a party for." + +"You could give a party for your cat, some day," said Helen. + +"Oh, so I could! And I will, too--maybe next week. I wish Sue's Aunt Lu +would bake some tarts for me." + +"Maybe she will." + +"I wonder if it would be polite to ask her?" inquired Sadie. "I'll speak +to mother about it." + +"Well, did you like your party, Splash?" asked Bunny, as he patted the +shaggy dog on the head, when all the little guests had gone. + +Splash did not say anything, of course. But he wagged his tail, and +walked over to where he had buried the bone Sadie had brought him. So I +guess Splash did like the party as much as did the children. And he had +several good things to eat, which, after all, is what most parties are +for. + +One day Aunt Lu read a story from a magazine to Bunny and Sue. It told +about some boys who, on a warm day, set up a lemonade stand under a +shady tree, in front of their house, and sold lemonade at a penny a +glass. The money they made they sent to a church society, that took poor +children out of the hot city to the cool country for a week or so. + +Sue noticed that Bunny was very quiet after Aunt Lu had read the story, +and, as the two children went out into the yard, the little girl asked: + +"What are you thinking about, Bunny?" + +"Lemonade," he answered. + +"Were you thinking you'd like some? 'Cause I would." + +"Well, I would like some to drink," Bunny admitted, "but I was thinking +we could make a stand, and sell lemonade ourselves. I could fix up a box +for a stand, and I could squeeze the lemons." + +"I'd put the sugar in," Sue said. She was always willing to help. "But +where would we get the ice and the lemons and the sugar?" + +"Oh, mother would give them to us. I'm going to ask her." + +"And what would we do with the money, Bunny?" + +The little fellow thought for a minute. There was in his town no church +society, such as Aunt Lu had read about. The money made from selling +lemonade must go to the poor, Bunny was sure of that. All at once his +eyes grew bright. + +"We could give all the money to Old Miss Hollyhock!" he said. "She is +terribly poor." + +"Old Miss Hollyhock," as she was called, was an aged woman who lived in +a little house down near the fish dock. Her husband had been a soldier, +and when he died the old lady was given money from the government--a +pension, it was called. Still she was very poor, and she was called "Old +Miss Hollyhock," because she had so many of those old-fashioned +hollyhock flowers in her garden. Her real name was Mrs. Borden. + +"We could give the money to her," Bunny said. + +"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed. "She needs it." + +"Then we'll have a lemonade stand," decided Bunny. + +Mrs. Brown said she did not mind if Bunny and Sue did this. A number of +the children in Bellemere had done this, at different times, and some of +the larger boys and girls had made even as much as five dollars, giving +the money to the church, or to the Sunday school. + +"Of course you won't make as much as that, Bunny," his mother said, "but +you may take in a few pennies, and it won't do you any harm to sit in +the shade and sell lemonade." + +"Will you buy some?" asked Sue. + +"Oh, I guess so," Mrs. Brown answered, smiling. + +So she gave the children the ice, sugar and lemons, and they made a big +pitcher of lemonade. Bunny set up a box under a tree in front of the +house, covering the box with a clean white cloth. Then with the pitcher +and glasses on a serving tray, he and Sue were ready for business. + +"Lemonade! Lemonade!" they called, just as had done the children in the +story. "Lemonade, in the shade, nice and cold, just fresh made!" + +One man did stop and buy some. + +"My, that's good!" he said, as he finished the glass. "How much is it?" + +"A penny," Bunny said. + +"Oh, only a penny? Why, that glass of lemonade was worth five cents +anywhere! It was just sweet enough, and just cold enough. Here!" and the +man laid a five cent piece down on the stand and walked off. + +"Oh, isn't that good!" cried Bunny, his eyes fairly dancing with joy as +he looked at Sue. + +"It's just fine!" she answered. "What a lot of money!" + +But few were as generous as the kind man, and most of those who drank at +the lemonade stand just laid down pennies. + +Bunny and Sue had taken in quite a few pennies, and the pitcher was +nearly empty of lemonade. + +"I'll go in and make more as soon as we sell it all," Bunny said. + +"We'll have a lot of money for Old Miss Hollyhock," observed Sue. "She +will be rich, then, won't she, Bunny?" + +"I guess sixteen cents isn't rich. But we did better than I thought we +would. Oh, look!" suddenly cried Bunny. "There's a dog, and some one has +tied a tin can to his tail!" + +Down the street, yelping and barking, came a small yellow dog, and, +bounding after him, bumping about and scaring him, was a big, empty tin +can, tied to the dog's tail. + +"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, "he's coming right here. He'll upset our +lemonade stand!" + +"That's what he will," Bunny agreed. "Hi, there! Stop! Go the other way! +Shoo!" he cried, waving his arms at the dog, while Sue took up the +nearly empty lemonade pitcher. + +On came the frightened dog, straight for the stand and the two children. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MOVING PICTURES + + +"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! What are we going to do?" cried his sister Sue. + +Bunny swallowed a sort of lump in his throat that always seemed to come +when he was a bit frightened. Then he looked around. Next he glanced at +Sue. + +"Get under the box, Sue!" he cried. "Then the dog can't get you!" + +"But what will you do?" asked the little girl. "I don't want you to get +hurt, Bunny." + +"I--I won't be afraid," said the little boy. "I--I'll pour lemonade on +the dog, and that will make him run away." + +"Oh--Oh!" gasped Sue. "Throw away our good lemonade?" + +"We can make more," said Bunny. "There's only a little left, anyhow." + +He reached for the pitcher. At the same time Sue started to crawl under +the empty box they had made into a lemonade stand. + +But the yelping, yellow dog, with the tin can tied to his tail, was +coming faster than either Bunny or Sue thought. Before Bunny could take +up the nearly empty pitcher of lemonade, or before Sue could crawl under +the box, the dog was upon them. + +Right under the box the poor, frightened creature ran, thinking, I +suppose, that it would be a good place to hide and get away from that +terrible tin can that was pounding after him, no matter how fast he +went. + +So into the box he ran, and I think you can guess what happened. The dog +was going so fast, and the box, not being held down to the ground, was +so easily pushed over, that it toppled to one side. + +And, as Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were standing near the box, it +fell over on them, and the lemonade pitcher upset, and the lemonade in +it splashed all over the little boy and his sister. The glasses bounced +off into the grass, and the dog suddenly turned a somersault, and fell +on top of Bunny, Sue, the box and the lemonade pitcher. + +And that's what happened, just as you must have guessed. + +For a few seconds there was such a tangle of dog, lemonade, pitcher, +lemonade stand, to say nothing of Bunny and Sue, that if any one had +been there to see he would hardly have known which was the dog, and +which was Bunny and Sue. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried the little girl. + +"What--what's the matter?" gasped Bunny. + +The dog howled, barked and whined, and then the box rolled to one side, +and so did the now empty pitcher of lemonade. Sue found herself sitting +on the grass, holding what she thought was her doll, but which was +really one of Bunny's chubby legs. + +Bunny lay on his back, and in his arms he held--what do you think? Why +the little yellow dog, to be sure! + +And now the dog stopped howling and barking, for he must have known that +Bunny and Sue would be his friends, and he was not afraid any more. And +that is the way they were when Aunt Lu and Splash, the big dog, came out +to see how the two little lemonade sellers were getting along. + +"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Aunt Lu. "Oh my goodness! What has +happened?" + +At first she was a bit frightened, but when she saw that Sue was +smiling, and that Bunny was just ready to laugh, Aunt Lu laughed also. + +"Well, if none of you is hurt, and nothing broken, I think this is very +funny!" Aunt Lu exclaimed. "Oh, but what a mix-up!" + +Splash, the big dog, seemed to think so too, for he barked--not a cross, +ugly bark, but a sort of laughing kind--as if, he, also, felt that it +was jolly fun. + +Then Splash saw the little yellow dog in Bunny's arms, and the big dog +went up to him, wagging his tail, while the two sort of rubbed noses-- +you know the way dogs do instead of shaking hands, or paws, I suppose I +should say, and right away they were friends. + +"Oh, look! look!" Sue exclaimed, now laughing herself. "I thought I had +my doll, and--it's Bunny's leg!" + +"Huh! I wondered what was holding me." exclaimed the little boy. + +Sue let go of him, and Bunny got up. Then he rolled the lemonade box +away from Sue, for it was resting partly on her, and by this time the +little yellow dog (which Bunny had put down) was making better friends +than ever with Splash. + + [Illustration: "GET UNDER THE BOX, SUE!" HE CRIED.] + +Then Aunt Lu saw the tin can tied to the yellow dog's tail, and she +cried out: + +"Oh, what a shame! Who did that?" + +"We didn't!" Bunny answered quickly. + +"Oh, of course not! I know you wouldn't do such a thing," returned his +aunt. "Here, little dog, I'll cut it off for you," and she took her +scissors out of her apron pocket, for she had been sewing just before +coming out to look at the lemonade stand. "I'll cut it off for you," +said Aunt Lu. + +"Oh, don't cut off his tail!" begged Sue. + +"Of course not!" laughed Aunt Lu. "I meant I'd cut off the tin can. You +poor little doggie! No wonder you were frightened. And now tell me all +how it happened," she went on, as she snipped, with her scissors, the +string around the little yellow dog's tail. He seemed very happy to be +free of the tin can. + +"Well, it just happened--that's all," said Bunny. "He ran into our +lemonade stand, and upset it." + +"But I guess he didn't mean to," remarked Sue, who had, by this time, +found her real doll in the long grass. + +"No, he was so scared that he didn't know where he was running," decided +Aunt Lu. "Well, now I'll help you pick things up, and then you had +better come to the house. Haven't you sold enough lemonade for one day?" + +"I guess so," answered Bunny. + +"Did you lose the money?" asked Sue anxiously. "Where is the money we +got?" + +"In my pocket," Bunny replied. It was lucky he had put it there, or, +when the box was knocked over, the pennies and five cent pieces might +have been scattered in the grass and lost. + +But everything was all right, and not a glass was broken, for they fell +in soft, grassy places. The lemonade was spilled, of course, a little of +it going on Bunny and Sue. But they did not mind that. And, best of all, +the little dog no longer had a tin can tied to his tail. + +"I wonder who did it?" asked Sue. + +"Oh, some bad boys, I suppose," answered her aunt. "Boys who tie cans to +dogs' tails don't stop to think how frightened the poor animals may get. +But I'm glad this was no worse. Now, little yellow dog, you had better +run home, that is if you have a home." + +The yellow dog seemed to have some place to go. For, after he had once +more rubbed noses with Splash, had barked, as if saying good-bye, and +had wagged his tail joyfully, away he trotted down the street. + +Now and then he looked back, as if to thank Bunny and Sue, and their +aunt, for what they had done for him, or perhaps he was looking to make +sure the banging, dangling tin can was no longer fast to his tail. + +But it was not, for Aunt Lu had tossed it away. Then she helped Bunny +and Sue carry in the pitcher and glasses, and put away the box that had +been used for a stand. + +"We'll sell some more lemonade to-morrow," Bunny said. + +"Yes," agreed Sue. "We want to get a lot of money for poor folks." + +"How much did you take in?" Aunt Lu wanted to know. + +Bunny gave it to her to count, as he could not go higher than ten, and +there was more money than that. + +"Why you have twenty-one cents!" Aunt Lu exclaimed. "That's fine, +children! I'll keep it for you, and if you do get more I'll put it all +together, and give it to Old Miss Hollyhock for you." + +But Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not sell lemonade next day. One +reason was because it rained, and, for another, they found something +else to do. + +The Brown house was the nicest place you could think of in which to +spend a rainy day, that is the big attic was, and it was up there that +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were always allowed to play. + +The day after they had had the lemonade stand the rain came down very +hard. Bunny and Sue stood with their noses pressed flat against the +window panes. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Sue. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Bunny. + +"Tut! Tut!" exclaimed their mother. "I know what that means. Up to the +attic with you, and play some of your games!" + +"Oh yes!" cried Bunny joyfully. + +"We'll play trolley car with the spinning wheel!" said Sue. + +This was only one of the games they played. There was a big spinning +wheel up in the attic. It had belonged to Mrs. Brown's grandmother, and +in the olden days, before yarn for socks and mittens was made by +machinery, it was spun on a spinning wheel. This was a big wheel, as +large as one on a wagon, but not so heavy. And it went around and +around, very easily. + +Bunny and Sue would sit on a trunk, spin the wheel, and make believe +they were in a trolley car. They would take turns being the motorman. +Sometimes Bunny would have that place, while Sue would be the conductor, +and again Bunny would collect the fare and let Sue spin the wheel. + +All that rainy day Bunny and Sue played in the attic, making up many new +games about which I shall tell you another time. They had so much fun +that they could hardly believe it when night came, and it was time to go +to bed. + +"And maybe the sun will shine to-morrow," said Bunny. + +It did, the rain having gone somewhere else to water the flowers and +trees. + +The next afternoon Aunt Lu promised to take Bunny and Sue down to their +father's office, on the dock. They wanted to see the fish boats come in, +and Aunt Lu had some shopping to do. + +Bunny and Sue, nicely dressed, freshly washed and combed, went out on +the front porch to wait for Aunt Lu. She had said she would be down as +soon as she changed her dress. + +But Bunny and Sue grew tired of waiting. + +"Let's walk on a little way," said Bunny. "We can go down to the corner, +and back again, and Aunt Lu will be down then." + +Sue was always ready to do just what Bunny said, and soon the two +children, hand in hand, went walking down the street. They did not +intend to go far, but something happened, as it often did with them. + +Just beyond the corner there was a moving picture theatre, lately +opened. Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had taken Bunny and his sister there once +or twice, when there was a fairy play, or something nice to see, so +Bunny and Sue knew what the moving pictures were like. + +"Oh, let's just go down and look at the picture posters outside," said +Bunny, as they stood on the corner, from where they could see the +theatre. + +"All right," said Sue quickly. + +In front of the moving picture place were some big boards, and on them +were pasted brightly colored posters, almost like circus ones, telling +about the moving pictures that were being shown inside. There was a +picture of a man falling in the water, and another of a railroad train. +Bunny loved cars and locomotives. + +Not thinking anything wrong, the two tots ran across the street, looking +carefully up and down first, to see that no automobiles were coming. +They crossed safely. + +A little later they were standing in front of the moving picture +theatre, looking at the gay posters. + +"Wouldn't you like to go in?" asked Bunny. + +Sue nodded her curly head. + +"Maybe Aunt Lu will take us," she said. + +"We'll ask her," decided Bunny. + +Then they heard, from down the side street, the sound of a piano. It +came from the moving picture place, and the reason Bunny and Sue could +hear it so plainly was because the piano was near a side door, which was +open to let in the fresh air. + +"Let's go down there and listen to the music a minute," Bunny said. +"Then we'll go back and tell Aunt Lu." + +"All right!" agreed Sue. + +A little later the two were standing at the open, side door of the +place. They could hear the piano very plainly now, and, what was more +wonderful, they could look right in the theatre and see the moving +pictures flashing on the white screen. + +"Oh! oh!" murmured Bunny. "Look, Sue." + +"Oh! oh!" whispered Sue. And then Bunny had a queer idea. + +"We can walk right in," he said. "The door is open. I guess this is for +children like us--they don't want any money. Come on in, Sue, and we'll +see the moving pictures!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WANGO AND THE CANDY + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue walked right into the moving picture +theatre. The door, as I have told you, was open, there was no one +standing near to take tickets, or ask for money, and of course the +children thought it was all right to go in. + +No one seemed to notice them, perhaps because the place was dark, except +where the brilliant pictures were dancing and flashing on the white +screen. And no one heard Bunny and Sue, for not only did they walk very +softly, but just then the girl at the piano was playing loudly, and the +sound filled the place. + +Right in through the open side door walked Bunny and Sue, and never for +a moment did they think they were doing anything wrong. I suppose, after +all, it was not very wrong. + +Bunny walked ahead, and Sue followed, keeping hold of his hand. Pretty +soon she whispered to her brother: + +"Bunny! Bunny! I can't see very good at all here. I want to see the +pictures better." + +"All right," Bunny whispered back. "I can't see very good, either. We'll +find a better place." + +You know you can't look at moving pictures from the side, they all seem +to be twisted if you do. You must be almost in front of them, and this +time Bunny and Sue were very much to one edge. + +"We'll get up real close, and right in front," Bunny went on. Then he +saw a little pair of steps leading up to the stage, or platform; only +Bunny did not know it was that. He just thought if he and Sue went up +the steps they would be better able to see. So up he went. + +The screen, or big white sheet, on which the moving pictures were shown, +stood back some distance from the front of the stage. And it was a real +stage, with footlights and all, but it was not used for acting any more, +as only moving pictures were given in that theatre now. + +Sue followed Bunny up the steps. The pictures were ever so much clearer +and larger now. She was quite delighted, and so was her brother. They +wandered out to the middle of the stage, paying no attention to the +audience. And the people in the theatre were so interested in the +picture on the screen, that, for a while, they did not see the children +who had wandered into the darkened theatre by the side door. + +The music from the piano sounded louder and louder. The pictures became +more brilliant. Then suddenly Bunny and Sue walked right out on the +stage in front of the screen, where the light from the moving picture +lantern shone brightly on them. + +"What's that?" cried several persons. + +"Look! Why they're real children!" said others. + +Bunny and Sue could be plainly seen now, for they were exactly in the +path of the strong light. There was some laughter in the audience, and +then the man who was turning the crank of the moving picture machine +began to understand that something was wrong. + +He stopped the picture film, and turned on a plain, white light, very +strong and glaring, Just like the headlights of an automobile. Bunny and +Sue could hardly see, and they looked like two black shadows on the +white screen. + +"Look! Look! It's part of the show!" said some persons in front. + +"Maybe they're going to sing," said others. + +"Or do a little act." + +"Oh, aren't they cute!" laughed a lady. + +By this time the piano player had stopped making music. She knew that +something was wrong. So did the moving picture man up in his little iron +box, and so did the usher--that's the man who shows you where to find a +seat. The usher came hurrying down the aisle. + +"Hello, youngsters!" he called out, but he was not in the least bit +cross. "Where did you get in?" he asked. + +By this time the lights all over the place had been turned up, and Bunny +and Sue could see the crowd, while the audience could also see them. +Bunny blinked and smiled, but Sue was bashful, and tried to hide behind +her brother. This made the people laugh still more. + +"How did you get in, and who is with you?" asked the usher. + +"We walked in the door over there," and Bunny pointed to the side one. +"And we came all alone. We're waiting for Aunt Lu." + +"Oh, then she is coming?" + +"I don't guess so," Bunny said. "We didn't tell her we were coming +here." + +"Well, well!" exclaimed the usher-man. "What does it all mean? Did your +Aunt Lu send you on ahead? We don't let little children in here unless +some older person is with them, but--" + +"We just comed in," Sue said. "The door was open, and we wanted to see +the pictures, so we comed in; didn't we Bunny?" + +"Yes," he said. "But we'd like to sit down. We can't see good up here." + +"No, you are a little too close to the screen," said the usher. "Well, +I'd send you home if I knew where you lived, but--" + +"I know them!" called out a woman near the front of the theatre. "That +is Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They live just up the street. I'll +take them home." + +"Thank you; that's very kind of you," said the man. "I guess their folks +must be worrying about them. Please take them home." + +"We don't want to go home!" exclaimed Sue. "We want to see the pictures; +don't we, Bunny?" + +"Yes," answered the little fellow, "but maybe we'd better go and get +Aunt Lu." + +"I think so myself," laughed the usher. "You can come some other time, +youngsters. But bring your aunt, or your mother, with you; and don't +come in the side door. I'll have to keep some one there, if it's going +to be open, or I'll have more tots walking in without paying." + +"Come the next time, with your aunt or mother," he went on, "and I'll +give you free tickets. It won't cost you even a penny!" + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue. She was willing to go home now, and the lady +who said she knew them--who was a Mrs. Wakefield, and lived not far from +the Brown home--took Bunny and Sue by the hands and led them out of the +theatre. + +The lights were turned low again, and the moving picture show went on. +Bunny and Sue wished they could have stayed, but they were glad they +could come again, as the man had invited them. + +As Mrs. Wakefield led them down the street, toward their home, they saw +Aunt Lu running to meet them. + +"Oh, Bunny! Sue!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been? I've looked all +over for you!" + +"We went to the moving pictures," said Bunny. + +"By the side door," added Sue. "And we were on the stage, and the people +all laughed; didn't they Bunny?" + +"Yes, they did. And the man said we could come back for nothing, and you +are to bring us. When will you, Aunt Lu?" + +"Why--why I don't know what to think of it all!" their aunt exclaimed. +"In a moving picture show--by the side door--on the stage--to go again +for nothing--I never saw such children, never!" + +"Well, it all happened, just that way," said Mrs. Wakefield, and she +told how surprised she, and all the others in the theatre were to see +Bunny and Sue wander out on the stage into the strong light. + +"But you musn't do it again," Aunt Lu said, and of course Bunny and Sue +promised they would not. + +"Now come on down to the fish dock, and we'll see the boats come in," +Bunny begged, and off they started. + +There was much going on at Mr. Brown's, dock that day. Some boats were +getting dressed up in new suits of sails, and others were being painted. +Then, too, a number of fishing boats came in, well filled with different +kinds of fish. Some had lobsters in them and there was one big one, with +very large claws. + +"That one's claws are bigger than the claw you have, to play Punch and +Judy with, Bunny," said Sue. + +"Yes," agreed her brother, "but that claw is too big for my nose." + +"I should think so!" laughed Aunt Lu. "Your whole little face would +almost go in it, Bunny. Oh dear!" she went on. "I don't like lobsters as +much as I used to." + +"Why not?" asked Mr. Brown, who came out of his office to see his +children and their aunt. "I was going to have you take one up to the +house to make into salad for dinner. Why don't you like lobsters any +more, Aunt Lu?" + +"Oh, because whenever I see them, and remember the one we had for supper +the first night I came here, I think of my lost diamond ring, that I +never shall find." + +"Yes, it is too bad," agreed Mr. Brown. "I thought you were going to +find it, Bunny?" + +"Well, Sue and I looked and looked and looked," said the little fellow, +"but we couldn't find it anywhere!" + +"Yes, they have tried," said Aunt Lu. "But never mind, we won't talk +about it." + +They looked into the other fishing boats, and then Bunker Blue came +along. As he had nothing much to do just then he took Aunt Lu and the +children for a little ride in a motor boat, that went by gasoline, the +same as does an automobile. Only, of course, a boat goes in the water, +and an automobile runs on land. + +Bunny and Sue had a pleasant afternoon with Aunt Lu, and when she told +their father about the children having wandered into the moving picture +show, he laughed so hard that tears came into his eyes. + +"If this keeps on," he said, "we'll have either to keep them home all +the while, or else you'll have to be with them every minute, Aunt Lu. +You can't tell what they are going to do next." + +It was a day or two after this that, as Bunny and Sue were going down +the street, to buy a little candy at Mrs. Redden's store, something +queer happened. + +They each had five cents, that Aunt Lu had given them, but they were +allowed to spend only one penny of it this day, as their mother did not +wish them to eat too much candy. + +"I'm going to buy a lollypop--they last longer," Bunny announced. + +"I'll get one, too," agreed Sue, as they entered the toy place. The door +swung open, a bell over it ringing to call Mrs. Redden, for she lived in +rooms back of the store, where she kept house. + +"How are you, Bunny and Sue?" asked the candy-lady as she smiled at +them. "I was beginning to think you had forgotten me." + +"Oh, no," Bunny said. + +"We'd never forget you," declared Sue. "I want a lollypop and so does +Bunny." + +Mrs. Redden opened the glass show-case in which the candy was kept. As +she reached in her hand, to take out the lollypops, Bunny and Sue, +standing in front, saw a brown, hairy paw also put into the case. And +the brown paw, which was close to Mrs. Redden's hand, caught up a bunch +of lollypops and quickly pulled them out. + +"Oh! oh! oh, dear!" screamed Mrs. Redden. "Oh, what is it?" + +A second later a brown, furry animal jumped up from back of the counter, +and scrambled from shelf to shelf, until it was on the very top one. And +there the animal sat, peeling the wax paper off a lollypop. + +"Oh, what is it? What is it?" cried Mrs. Redden. "Oh, take it away!" + +Bunny and Sue were not a bit frightened. They looked up at the furry +figure, on the top shelf of the candy store, and Bunny said: + +"Why, it's only Wango, Mr. Winkler's monkey! I guess he broke loose from +his chain." + +"Yes, it's Wango!" echoed Sue. "Come down, Wango!" she called, for both +children had often petted the queer little monkey. + +Wango accidentally dropped one of the lollypops he held. He had so many +in his paws that it was hard to hold them all. He quickly reached for +the falling candy, but he accidentally hit a glass jar filled with jelly +beans. It crashed down to the floor, spilling the candy beans all over. + +"Oh! oh, dear! what a mess!" cried Mrs. Redden, and she ran to get the +broom to drive Wango away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BUNNY IN A QUEER PLACE + + +Wango was a queer monkey in more ways than one. He liked to make +mischief, or what others called mischief, though to him perhaps it was +only fun. And he did not seem to like ladies. He would let boys and +girls and men pet him, and make a fuss over him, but he would very +seldom allow ladies to do this. + +Miss Winkler, the sister of the sailor who had brought Wango from a far- +off land, was one of the ladies the monkey did not like. But then she +did not like Wango, and perhaps he knew this. And now it seemed that +Wango was not going to like Mrs. Redden, who kept the candy shop. + +And it was certain that, just then, Mrs. Redden did not like Wango; at +least she did not like to have him take her candy, break the jar and +scatter the jelly beans all over the shop. + +"Get down, Wango!" she cried, shaking the broom at him. "Get down off +that shelf right away! And give me back my lollypops!" + +But Wango did not get down, and he did not give back the lollypops. He +had dropped one, and this made him hold, all the more tightly, to the +others. He was very fond of candy, Wango was. + +"Oh dear! I'm afraid of him!" exclaimed Mrs. Redden. + +"Why, he won't hurt you," said Bunny. "He's a good monkey. He lets me +and Sue pet him; don't you, Wango?" + +"You can't pet him now," said Sue, "he's too high up." + +"Oh, but look at the funny faces he makes!" exclaimed the lady who kept +the toy and candy shop. + +Wango was certainly making very odd faces just then. But perhaps it was +because he liked the taste of the lollypops. He had taken the paper off +two of them, and had them both in his mouth at once, while his busy paws +were peeling the wax covering off a third one. + +Of course it was not right for Wango to put two lollypops in his mouth +at once; at least it would not be nice for children to do so. But +perhaps monkeys are different. + +"Come down from there! Come down from that shelf!" cried Mrs. Redden, +reaching up and trying to touch the monkey with the broom. I think she +did not intend to hit him hard, and, anyhow, a blow from a broom does +not hurt very much. Mrs. Redden thought she simply must drive Wango +down. He might spoil a lot of candy. + +And now, instead of making faces Wango chattered at the candy-shop lady. +Oh! what a queer noise he made, showing his white teeth. + +"Oh dear! oh dear!" Mrs. Redden cried. "Isn't this terrible? I never had +a monkey in my candy shop before. At least not one that was loose, +though an Italian organ grinder did come in with one once, on a string. +But he was a good monkey." + +"Wango is good, too," said Bunny. "Only I guess he is scared, now. Come +on down, Wango!" called Bunny, "and I'll give you a peanut." + +"Oh, yes, he'll come down for a peanut, or maybe two peanuts!" exclaimed +Sue. "Wango loves peanuts. Have you any, Mrs. Redden?" + +"Yes," answered the store-lady. "But I'm not going to give him peanuts, +after all the candy he has taken and spoiled. Nearly half the jelly +beans will be wasted, and the glass jar is broken, and he will spoil all +those lollypops, too. Oh dear!" + +"Just give him two peanuts," said Bunny, "and that will make him come +down. Then maybe he'll give back the lollypops." + +"Well, child, we can try it," the candy-lady said. "I can't hit him with +the broom, that's sure, unless I stand on a chair, and if I do that he +may reach down and pull my hair, as he did Mrs. Winkler's one day. I'll +get the peanuts." + +She brought a handful from another show case, and gave them to Bunny, +who held them up so the monkey could see them. + +"Come and get the nuts, Wango!" Bunny called. + +The monkey chattered, and made funny faces, but he did not come down. He +seemed to like the lollypops better, and, also, his perch on the shelf, +he thought, was safer than one on the floor. + +"What shall we do?" asked Mrs. Redden. + +"Bunny, could you run down the street, and ask Mr. Winkler to come and +take his monkey away?" + +"Yes'm, I'll do it," the little boy answered politely. + +But just then something else happened. + +Wango, trying to peel the wax paper from another lollypop, dropped a +second one. He reached for it, but he did keep hold of the shelf, and, +the next second down he himself fell, knocking over several more candy +jars. + +They crashed to the floor, smashing and spilling the candy all over. +Wango turned a somersault, and landed lightly on his feet, close beside +Mrs. Redden. + +"Oh, you bad monkey! You bad monkey!" she cried. "Shoo! Get out of here! +Out of my shop!" + +She brushed at Wango with the broom, and the lively monkey made a rush +for the back door of the store, as the front one was closed. + +"Here! Don't you dare go into my kitchen!" cried Mrs. Redden, as she ran +after the monkey. "You'll upset everything there!" + +Wango chattered, and made funny faces. Then he turned and ran back, +sliding right under Mrs. Redden's skirts, and nearly upsetting Bunny. + +At that moment the front door opened, and there stood Jed Winkler, the +old sailor, who owned the monkey. + +"Have you seen anything of Wango?" began Mr. Winkler, but there was no +need for him to ask such a question. There was Wango, in plain sight, +holding some lollypops in one paw, and in the other some jelly beans and +coconut candies he had grabbed up from the floor. And in his mouth, with +the stick-handles pointing out, were three other lollypops! + +"Take him away! Oh, take him away!" begged Mrs. Redden. "He will spoil +all the candy in my shop!" + +"This is too bad!" exclaimed the sailor, "Wango, behave yourself! You +are a bad monkey! Up with you!" + +Wango jumped up on his master's shoulder, and hung his head. I really +think he was ashamed of what he had done. + +"He broke loose from his new chain," said the old sailor, "and I have +been looking all over for him. I am glad I have found him, and I will +pay for all the candy he spoiled." + +"Well, if you do that I can't find any fault," said the store-lady. "But +he certainly gave me a great fright." + +"And he wouldn't even come down for peanuts," cried Bunny. + +"Wango isn't very good to-day," said Mr. Winkler. "I must get a stronger +chain for him, I think. Now I'll take him home, and, Mrs. Redden, when +you find out how much candy he spoiled, and how many jars he broke, I +will come and pay you." + +"All right," answered Mrs. Redden. Then the sailor took his monkey home, +and the store-lady, after she had given Bunny and Sue the lollypops they +came for, began to clean up her place. Certainly Wango had upset it very +much. + +"He must have come in the store by the back way, when I was out hanging +up the clothes," said the candy-shop lady. "He hid under the counter +until he saw me open the showcase for you, Bunny. Then he put in his +paw, and grabbed the lollypops." + +"Yes, that's what he did--I saw him," said Sue, who was now taking the +paper off her candy. But she did not put two in her mouth, at once, as +the monkey had done. Of course Sue wouldn't do anything like that. + +Bunny and Sue made all the folks at home laugh, as they told of Wango's +funny tricks. + +"Well, it was quite an adventure," said Aunt Lu, "wasn't it?" + +"What's an ad--adventure?" Sue wanted to know. + +"It's something that happens," her aunt explained. + +"Then Wango must be an adventure," said Bunny, "for lots happened to +him." + +It was two days after the monkey had gotten in the candy-store that +Harry Bentley, Charlie Star, Sadie West and Helen Newton came over to +play with Bunny and his sister Sue. + +"What shall we play?" asked Bunny. + +"Hide-and-go-to-seek," said Sadie. + +The others liked this game, so they began to play it. Helen covered her +eyes with her arms, so she could not see where the others hid, and began +counting. + +"When I count up to fifty, I'm coming to find you," she said, "and +whoever I find first will have to blind next time, and hunt for the rest +of us." + +Off they all ran to hide. Sue stooped down to hide behind a lilac bush, +near "home," which was the side porch. Whoever reached "home" before +Helen did, after she had started on her search, would be "in free." + +"Ready or not, I'm coming!" called Helen, after she had counted fifty, +and she began to look for the hiding ones. + +"She'll not find me," said Bunny Brown to himself. "I'm going to hide in +a funny place. She'll never find me!" + +And where do you think he hid? It was in a queer place--down in an empty +rain-water barrel, that stood back of the house. Bunny climbed up into +it by standing on a box, and, once inside, he crouched down on the +bottom, where anyone would have had to come very close, and look over +the edge, to see him. And there Bunny hid. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +SPLASH RUNS AWAY + + +"Where is Bunny?" + +"Bunny! Bunny Brown!" + +"Come on in! The game is over and Charlie Star is it. He's going to +blind next time, you won't have to!" + +"Come on in, Bunny Brown!" + +Thus called Helen, Sue and the others who were playing the game of hide- +and-go-to-seek. For Bunny had not been found, and he had not run up to +touch "home," and be "in free." + +Helen had not been able to find the little fellow, so well was he +hidden. + +"I can't think where he is," she said. "I looked all over." + +"But you didn't find ME!" cried Sue, clapping her hands in fun. + +"No, you were so close to me, back of the lilac bush, that I never +thought of looking there," said Helen. Sue had run "in free," as soon as +Helen's back was turned. + +"But where is Bunny?" everyone asked. + +"Come on in!" they called. + +But Bunny did not come. + +"Let's all look for him," suggested Charlie Star. "Maybe he went away +off down the street, or maybe he is out in the barn." + +There was a barn back of the Brown house, in which Bunny's father kept +some horses used in his business. The children often played in the barn, +especially on rainy days, when they did not go up to the attic. + +"Let's look in the barn," Charlie went on. + +"It wasn't fair to hide out there," Helen said. "That is too far away." + +"Maybe Bunny didn't," suggested Sue. + +"Well, we'll look, anyhow," went on Sadie. + +Out to the barn trooped the children, but though they looked in the +haymow, and in the empty stalls (for most of the horses were out at +work) no Bunny could be found. + +Then they went back to look around the house, in some of the nooks and +corners near which the others had hidden. + +"Bunny! Bunny!" they called. "Why don't you come in, so we can have +another game? You won't have to blind." + +But Bunny did not answer. + +Pretty soon Sue began to get a little frightened, and her playmates, +too, thought it queer that they could not find Bunny, and that he did +not answer. + +"Maybe we'd better tell your mother, Sue," Sadie said. + +"Yes, for maybe he fell down a hole, and can't get up," suggested Helen. + +They called once more, and looked in many other places, but Bunny was +not to be found. Then into the house they went. + +"Oh, Mother!" cried Sue, her eyes opening wide, "we can't find Bunny +anywhere, and he won't answer us." + +"Can't find him!" + +"Won't answer you!" + +Mother Brown and Aunt Lu spoke thus, one after the other. + +"We were playing hide-and-go-to-seek," explained Helen, "and Bunny hid +himself in such a queer place that we can't find him." + +"Maybe it's just one of his tricks," said Aunt Lu. + +"No, it can't be a trick," Charlie Star explained, "because Bunny likes +to play the game, and he doesn't have to blind this time. We've hollered +that at him, but he won't come in." + +Seeing that the children were really worried, Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu +said they would come out and help search. They looked in all the places +they could think of, and called Bunny's name, as did the others, but the +little fellow was not found. + +Even Mrs. Brown was beginning to get a little anxious now, and she was +thinking of telephoning for Mr. Brown to come home, when Bunny was +suddenly found. And it was the cook who found him. + +The cook came out to the back door, near which stood the empty rain- +water barrel, into which Bunny had climbed to hide. She took from the +open top a large towel which, a little while before, she had thrown over +the barrel to dry, and, looking down in, she cried out: + +"Why here he is! Here's Bunny now!" + +And so he was! Curled up on the bottom of the barrel, in a little round +ball, and fast asleep, was Bunny Brown. + +"Oh, we never looked in there!" exclaimed Sadie West. + +"I thought of it," said Helen, "but I saw the towel spread over the top +of the barrel, and I didn't see how Bunny could be under it, so I didn't +look" + +"Well, he's found, anyhow," said his mother, smiling. + +They had all gathered around the barrel to look into it, the littler +ones standing up on the box, by which Bunny had climbed in. Then Bunny, +suddenly awakened, opened his eyes and saw his mother, his Aunt Lu, the +cook and his playmates staring down at him. + +"Why--why what's the matter?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. + +"Oh, Bunny, we couldn't find you!" cried Sue. + +"Why, I was right here all the while," Bunny answered. "I climbed in the +barrel to hide." + +"And didn't you hear us calling that you could come in free?" asked +Sadie. + +Bunny shook his head. + +"He was asleep," said Aunt Lu. "He must have fallen asleep as soon as he +curled up inside the barrel. That's why he didn't hear. Oh, you funny +Bunny boy!" and she laughed and hugged Bunny, who was helped out of the +barrel by his mother. + +"I never saw him down in there when I came to the door a while ago, and +threw the cloth over the barrel," explained the cook. "I thought the +barrel would be a good place to dry the towel. And to think I covered +Bunny up with it!" + +"If it hadn't been for the towel we'd have looked in the barrel +ourselves," said Charlie Star. + +"I guess it was so nice and quiet and warm in the barrel that I went to +sleep before I knew it," Bunny remarked. + +"I guess you did," laughed his mother. + +"Shall we play some more?" asked Helen. + +"Oh, yes!" cried Bunny. "And I won't hide in the barrel again." + +So the game went on, the children hiding in different places, some of +which were easily found, while others were so well hidden that it was a +long while before the one who "blinded" discovered them. + +"Now let's play tag!" cried Sue, after a while. She liked this game very +much, though her legs were so short that she could not run very fast, +and she was often "tagged" and made "it." + +"No, don't play any more just now," called Aunt Lu, coming down to the +yard where the children were. "Come up on the porch. I have a little +treat for you." + +"Oh, is it ice cream?" asked Bunny eagerly. "I hope it is. I'm so hot!" + +"You'll have to wait and see," his aunt answered, with a smile. + +"Oh, it's just as good as ice cream!" cried Sue, when she saw where her +aunt had spread a little table, on the shady side of the porch. + +"Lemonade!" murmured Bunny, as he saw the big pitcher which he and Sue +had used at their street stand. + +"And tarts--jam tarts and jelly tarts!" added Sue. "Oh! oh! oh!" + +And that was the treat Aunt Lu had made for the children. There were two +plates of tarts, one with jam coming up through the three little round +holes in the top crust, and others in which jelly showed. Both were very +good. And the cool lemonade was good also. + +"Oh, I just love to come over to your house to play, Sue!" said Sadie +West. + +"So do I!" chorused the other children. + +"We do have such good times!" added Charlie Star. + +"And such good things to eat," came from Harry Bentley. "Those tarts +are--awful good!" and he sighed. + +"Would you like another?" asked Aunt Lu, with a laugh in her eyes and a +smile on her lips. + +"If you please," answered Harry, as he passed his plate. + +Then, after the children had rested, they played more games, until it +was time to go home. + +One day, when Bunker Blue came to the Brown home, to bring up some fish +Mr. Brown had sent, Bunny, who was out in the yard with Splash, the big +shaggy dog, said to the red-haired youth: + +"Bunker, you know lots of things; don't you?" + +"Well, I wouldn't want to say that, Bunny. There's lots and lots of +things I don't know." + +"But you can sail a boat; can't you?" + +"Oh, yes, I can do that," + +"Well, I wish I could. And do you know how to make a dog harness, +Bunker? Do you know how to harness up a dog so he could pull an express +wagon?" + +"Yes, I guess I know how to do that, Bunny." + +"Then I wish you'd harness Splash to my wagon," Bunny went on. "I've +tried and tried, and I can't do it. The harness breaks all the while, +and when I put the handle of the wagon between Splash's legs he falls +down--it trips him up." + +"Of course," Bunker said. "You ought to have two handles to the wagon, +and Splash could stand in between them, just as a horse is hitched to a +wagon." + +"Oh, could you fix my wagon that way, Bunker?" + +"I might, if your mother said it was all right." + +"I'll ask her. And will you make me a harness for Splash?" + +"I'll try, Bunny." + +Mrs. Brown said she did not mind if Bunker fixed the wagon and made a +harness so Bunny could hitch Splash to the express wagon, for the big +dog was kind and gentle. + +"Oh, what fun Sue and I will have!" cried Bunny. "We'll get lots of +rides in the wagon." + +It did not take Bunker long to make two handles, or "shafts," as they +are called, for Bunny's wagon. Then he made a harness for the dog--a +harness strong enough not to break. One day, when all was finished, +Splash was hitched to the wagon, and Bunny was given the reins. They +went around the neck of Splash, for of course you can not put in a dog's +mouth an iron bit, as you can in that of a horse. + +Bunny found that he could guide his dog from one side to the other by +pulling on either the right or left rein. And Splash did not seem to +mind pulling the wagon with Bunny in it. He went around the yard very +nicely. + +"Oh, give me a ride, Bunny!" begged Sue, who came in just then from +having been down to Sadie West's house, having a dolls' party. + +"Yes, I'll give you a ride, Sue," Bunny said. "Get in! Whoa, Splash!" he +called. The dog did not "whoa" very well, but finally he stopped, and +Sue got in the wagon, sitting behind Bunny. + +They drove around the yard for a while, and then Sue said: + +"Oh, Bunny, let's go out on the sidewalk, where it's nice and smooth. It +will be easier for Splash to pull us then." Bunny thought this would be +fun, so he guided the dog out through the gate. The wagon did go more +smoothly on the sidewalk, and Splash trotted a little faster. + +"Oh, this is fun!" cried Bunny. + +"I like it!" laughed Sue, who had her arms around Bunny's waist, so she +would not fall out backwards. + +They had not gone very far before Sue cried: + +"Oh, Bunny! Look! There's that yellow dog--the one that had the tin can +tied to his tail--the one that upset our lemonade stand!" + +"So it is!" said Bunny. + +And, just at that moment, Splash also saw the yellow dog. + +With a bark and a wag of his tail, Splash gave a big jump, nearly +throwing Bunny and Sue out of the wagon. Then the big dog began to run +after the little one. + +"Whoa! Whoa!" cried Bunny, pulling on the reins. But Splash would not +stop. Faster and faster he ran. He only wanted to see his little yellow +dog friend again, and rub noses with him. But I guess the yellow dog was +frightened when he saw the express wagon, with the two children in it, +following after Splash. + +Maybe the yellow dog thought the wagon was tied to the tail of Splash, +as the tin can had once been to his own. And maybe the little yellow dog +thought some one would now tie an express wagon to his tail. At any rate +he ran on faster and faster, And Splash, who just wanted to speak to +him, in dog language, ran on faster too. + +"Bumpity-bump-bump!" went the wagon with Bunny and Sue in it. + +"Whoa! Whoa!" called Bunny. + +But Splash would not stop. He was running away, but he did not mean to. +He just wanted to catch up to the little yellow dog who was running on +ahead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HOW SUE FOUND THE EGGS + + +"Oh, Bunny! Can't you make him stop?" cried Sue, as she clung with her +arms about her brother's waist, while the wagon swayed from side to +side. + +"I--I'm trying to," answered Bunny, pulling as hard as he could on the +reins. "But he won't stop. Whoa! Whoa!" and Bunny called as loudly as he +could. + +Down the street Splash kept running. He was getting nearer to the little +yellow dog, for this dog had only short legs, and Splash had long ones, +and, of course, anyone with long legs can run faster than anyone with +short legs. + +"I--I'm going to fall out!" Sue cried. "I--I'm slipping, Bunny! I'm +falling!" + +"Hold on! Hold on tight!" Bunny begged his sister, for the wagon was +going very fast, and he knew if she fell out on the hard sidewalk she +would get a hard bump. + +Sue clasped her arms as tightly as she could about her brother's waist, +but her arms were short, and Bunny was rather fat, so it was not easy +for her to hold fast. Still she did her best. + +Several persons on the other side of the street saw Bunny and Sue having +a fast ride in the toy express wagon, drawn by the big dog, but they did +not think the Brown children were in a runaway, which is just what they +were. + +"My! what fun Bunny Brown and his sister Sue are having!" said one man, +as he watched the express wagon bump along. + +"Yes, they always seem to be having good times," replied a lady. + +If they had only known it was a runaway, they might have run across the +street and stopped Splash from going so fast. + +On and on went the big dog. He was almost up to the yellow one now, and +the yellow dog began to yelp. Perhaps he thought he was going to be +caught and hurt. Or maybe he feared Bunny or Sue would try to make him +pull the big wagon, with them in it. + +But of course they wouldn't think of such a thing, and as for Splash, I +have told you that all he wanted to do was to rub noses with his little +yellow friend. + +As the wagon rumbled past the house where lived Mr. Jed Winkler, the old +sailor, who owned Wango, the monkey, came out to the front gate. I mean +Mr. Winkler came out, not Wango, for he had been tightly chained, after +the fun he had had in Mrs. Redden's candy shop. + +"My! What a fine ride you are having!" called Mr. Winkler. + +"Oh! It's not a nice ride at all!" answered Sue. "We're being runned +away with! Please stop Splash!" + +"Goodness me!" exclaimed Mr. Winkler. "A runaway! Well, I must stop it, +of course!" + +Out he ran from his yard to race after Splash, but there was no need for +the old sailor to catch the big dog. For, just then, the little yellow +dog stumbled, and turned a somersault. And before he could pick himself +up, and run on again, Splash had caught up to him. + +Now, this was all that Splash wanted to do--catch up to the yellow dog +and rub noses with him. And as soon as Splash saw that the little dog +had stopped, Splash stopped also. + +But he stopped so suddenly that the wagon almost ran up on his back. It +turned around, and then it went over on one side, so that Bunny and Sue +were spilled out. But they fell on some soft grass, so they were not +hurt a bit, though Sue's dress was stained. + +And as soon as the little yellow dog found that he was not going to be +hurt, but that Splash was just going to be friends with him, why the two +animals just sat down in the grass find rubbed noses and, I suppose, +talked to each other in dog language, if there is any such thing. + +Bunny helped Sue get up, and then Mr. Winkler came running along. He +could not go very fast, for he was aged, and he was a little lame, +because of rheumatism, from having been out so many cold and wet nights +when he was a sailor on a ship. + +"Well, well, youngsters!" exclaimed Mr. Winkler. "You had quite a spill; +didn't you?" + +"But we didn't get hurt," said Bunny, who was looking at the wagon and +harness to see that it was not broken. Everything seemed to be all +right. "We're not hurt a bit," Bunny laughed. + +"Well, I'm glad of that," went on Mr. Winkler, as he helped Bunny put +the wagon right side up and straight once more. "How did it happen?" + +"Splash just runned away," replied Sue, "He runned after the yellow +dog." + +"And he caught him all right," laughed Mr. Winkler. "But they seem to be +great friends now. Who made your harness, Bunny?" + +"Bunker Blue did. He can make lots of things." + +"Yes, I guess he can," agreed the old sailor. "But I hope, after this, +that Splash won't run away with you when you go for a ride." + +"Well, it didn't hurt much, to fall out," laughed Bunny. "Now we'll ride +back again." + +Splash went back very slowly. Perhaps he was tired, or he may have been +sorry that he had run so fast at first, and had upset the wagon. The +yellow dog went off by himself, and he was glad, I guess, that he did +not have to pull a wagon with two children in it. But Splash seemed to +enjoy it. + +Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had not seen the runaway, or they might not have +wanted Bunny and Sue to take any more rides in the express wagon. But +the two children had lots of fun the rest of the morning, riding up and +down, and Splash acted very nicely, stopping when Bunny called "Whoa!" +and going on again when the little boy said, "Giddap!" + +"Oh, it's just like a real horse!" exclaimed Sue, clapping her hands. +"Will you let me hold the lines, Bunny?" + +"Yes," answered her brother, and soon Sue could drive Splash almost as +well as Bunny could. + +For several days after that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had many good +times with their dog and express wagon. They gave their playmates rides +up and down the sidewalk, and never once again did Splash run away. But +then he did not see his friend, the little yellow dog, or he might have +raced after him just as at first. + +When Bunny and Sue were eating breakfast one morning, Mrs. Gordon, whose +husband kept the grocery store, came in to see Mrs. Brown. + +"I wonder if your children could not help me?" said Mrs. Gordon, as she +sat down in a chair in the dining room, and fanned herself with her +apron. She lived next door to the Brown home. + +"Well, Bunny and Sue are always glad to help," said their mother, +smiling at them. "What is it you want them to do?" + +"Do you want a ride in our express wagon, Mrs. Gordon?" asked Bunny. + +"Or maybe have us sell lemonade for you?" added Sue. + +"Bless your hearts! It isn't either of those things," answered Mrs. +Gordon, with a laugh. "I just want you to help me hunt for a hen's nest. +That's all." + +"Look for a hen's nest!" exclaimed Bunny. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Gordon. "One of my hens has strayed off by herself and +is laying her eggs in a nest I can't find. I've looked all over our yard +for it, but perhaps it is in your barn," she went on to Mrs. Brown. "And +if it is, maybe Bunny and Sue could find it." + +"Oh, maybe we could!" Bunny cried. + +"It will be fun to look!" said Sue. "Come on, Bunny." + +"Be careful you don't fall," their mother cautioned them, as they ran +out, hardly waiting to finish their breakfast. + +Hens, you know, often like to go quietly off by themselves, and lay +their eggs in a nest that no one can find. And this is what one of Mrs. +Gordon's hens had done. + +Into the barn ran Bunny and Sue. + +"We'll see who'll find the nest first!" Bunny shouted. + +"I think I shall," cried Sue. + +And now you wait and see what happens. + +There were many places in the barn where a hen might lay her eggs. There +were nooks under wagons, or under wheelbarrows, corners behind boxes, +and any number of holes in the place where the hay for the horses was +kept--the haymow, as it is called. + +Bunny and Sue looked in all the places they could think of. But they did +not see a hen sitting in her hidden nest, nor did they find the white +eggs she might have laid. + +"I guess the nest isn't here," said Bunny after a while. + +"No, I guess not, too," echoed Sue. "Let's slide down the hay." + +The hay in the mow was quite high in one place, and low in another, like +a little hill. Bunny and Sue could climb to the top, or high place of +the hay, and slide down, for it was quite slippery. + +Up they climbed, and down they slid, quite fast. They had done this a +number of times, when finally Sue said: + +"Oh, Bunny, I'm going to slide down in a new place!" + +She went over to one side of the hay-hill, and down she slid. And then +something funny happened. + +There was a sort of crackling sound, and Sue called out: + +"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! I've found the hen's nest, and I'm right in it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AUNT LU IS SAD + + +Bunny Brown quickly slid down on his side of the hay-hill. He could see +his sister Sue, who was sitting in a little hollow place. + +"What--what's the matter?" Bunny asked, for Sue had a funny look on her +face. + +"I found Mrs. Gordon's hen's nest," answered the little girl, "and I'm +right in it!" + +"In what?" Bunny wanted to know. + +"In the nest. I'm sitting in it--right on the eggs, just like a hen. +Only," said Sue, and the funny look on her face changed into a sort of +smile, "only I--I've broken all the eggs!" + +And that is just what she had done. + +Oh! how Sue was covered with the whites and yellows of the eggs! + +She had slid down the haymow on a side where she and Bunny did not often +play, and she had slid right into the hen's nest. The children had not +thought of looking there for it. + +But Sue had found it. + +Slowly she stood up. She and Bunny looked into the nest And, just as Sue +had said, all the eggs were broken. + +"Oh, it's too bad!" the little girl exclaimed. "Mrs. Gordon will be so +sorry." + +"You couldn't help it," declared Bunny, "You--you just slid into 'em!" + +"Yes," went on Sue. "I didn't see the nest at all, but I heard the eggs +break, and there I was, sitting there on them just like a hen. Oh, dear! +Look at my dress!" + +"It will wash out," said her brother. "You might go down and wade in the +brook. But we couldn't, without asking mother, and then she'd see you +anyhow." + +"Oh, I'll tell her!" exclaimed Sue. "We'd better go in, 'cause if egg- +stuff dries on you it's awful hard to get off. Aunt Lu said so when she +baked a cake yesterday." + +"Well, we can come back and slide some more." + +"Yes, after I get clean. And we'll have to tell Mrs. Gordon, too; won't +we, Bunny?" + +"Oh, yes. But she has lots of hens and eggs, so she won't care." + +Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu were much surprised when Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue came in, Sue all white and yellow from the eggs. But Sue's +mother knew it was something that could not be helped, so she did not +scold. She changed Sue's dress, and then she said: + +"Now you and Bunny run over and tell Mrs. Gordon." + +When the grocery-store-keeper's wife saw Bunny and Sue coming over to +her house she thought perhaps their mother had sent them on an errand, +as Mrs. Brown often did. For the time Mrs. Gordon had forgotten about +the hidden hen's nest. In fact, she had not thought that Bunny and Sue +would really spend much time looking for it. So when Sue said: + +"I--I found it, Mrs. Gordon!" + +Mrs. Gordon asked: + +"What did you find, Sue, a penny rolling up hill?" + +That was the way Mrs. Gordon sometimes joked with Bunny and Sue. + +"No'm. I found your hen's nest, and I sat in it and broke all the eggs," +said Sue. "I--I'm sorry." + +"And I'm sorry with her," added Bunny. + +"Bless your little hearts! What's it all about?" asked Mrs. Gordon with +a laugh. Then Bunny and Sue told her, and she laughed harder than ever. +Bunny and Sue smiled, for now they knew Mrs. Gordon did not mind about +the broken eggs. + +"Well, I'm glad you found the nest, anyhow, if you did break the eggs," +said the storekeeper's wife. "Maybe now my hen will not go over into +your barn, but will make her nest in our coop, where she ought to make +it. So it's all right, Sue, and here are some cookies for you and +Bunny." + +The two children were very glad they had gone to tell Mrs. Gordon about +the eggs, for they liked cookies. + +That afternoon, when Sadie West, Helen Newton, Charlie Star and Harry +Bentley came over to play with Bunny and Sue, they had to be shown the +place in the hay where Sue "found" the eggs. One of Mr. Brown's stable +men had taken out the broken shells, for he did not want them to get in +the hay that the horses ate. The inside of the eggs did not matter, for +horses like them anyhow. + +The children saw a hen walking around on the hay, near the place where +Sue had slid into the eggs. + +"I guess that's the hen that had her nest here," said Sadie. + +"And she is wondering where it is now," added Bunny. "Go on away, Mrs. +Hen!" he exclaimed. "Go lay your eggs in Mrs. Gordon's coop." + +And the hen, cackling, flew away. + +"Let's all slide down," said Charlie Star. "Let's slide in the hay." + +"Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And maybe we'll find some more nests. But I don't +want to slide in any if we do find some," she said. "I don't want to get +this dress dirty." + +The children had great fun sliding down the hay-hill, but they found no +more eggs. They played at this for some time, and then Charlie Star +called: + +"Let's go out and climb trees!" + +"Girls can't climb trees," objected Sadie. + +"Some girls can," answered Charlie. "I have a girl cousin, and she can +climb a tree as good as I can. But she lives in the country," he went +on. + +"Oh, of course if a girl lives in the country she can climb a tree," +Helen Newton said "But we live in a town. I don't want to climb trees." + +"I like it," said Bunny Brown. "I'm glad I know how to climb a tree, +'cause if a dog chased after me I could climb up, and he couldn't get +me. Dogs can't climb trees." + +"Cats can," said Sadie. "I saw our cat climb a tree once." + +"But cats don't chase after you," remarked Charlie. + +"Our cat chased a mouse once," observed Sue. "Can a mouse climb a tree, +Bunny?" + +"No, a mouse can't climb a tree," answered Sue's brother. "But we +fellows will go out and climb, though there aren't any dogs to chase us. +Splash won't, but he'll play tag with us." + +"Well, if you are going to climb trees, we'll play dolls," said Sue. +"Come on," she added to her two little girl friends. "We'll get our +dolls, and have a play party." + +Sadie and Helen, who did not live far away, ran home and got their +dolls. Sue brought out hers, and the girls had a nice time on the shady +side of the porch. Mrs. Brown gave them some cookies, and some crackers, +which were cut in the shapes of different animals, and with these, and +some lemonade in little cups, Sue and her chums had lots of fun. + +Bunny, Charlie and Harry went to the back yard, where there were some +old apple trees, with branches very close to the ground, so they were +easy to climb. Bunny had often done it, and so had his two little boy +friends. + +As they were near the trees George Watson passed through the next lot, +on the other side of the fence from the Brown land. + +"I can climb trees better than any of you," George said. "If you let me +come into your yard, Bunny, I'll show you how to climb." + +"Oh, don't let him in!" exclaimed Charlie. "He threw the box of frogs at +us the time you had your party. Don't you let him in!" + +"No, I wouldn't, either," added Harry. + +"Oh, please!" begged George. "I won't throw any more frogs at you." + +"Go on away!" ordered Charlie. + +But Bunny Brown was kind-hearted. He had forgiven George for the trick +about the frogs. And Bunny wanted to learn all he could about climbing +trees. + +"Yes, you can come in, George," said Sue's brother. + +George was very glad to do so, for he liked to play with these boys, +though he was older than they were. And since his trick with the jumping +frogs, in the box, George had been rather lonesome. + +"Now I'll show you how to climb trees!" he said. + +"I can climb this one," declared Bunny, going over to one in which he +had often gone up several feet. + +"Oh, that's an easy one," said George with a laugh. "You ought to try +and climb a hard one, like this." + +Up went George, quite high, in a larger tree. Charlie and Harry also +each got into a bigger tree than the one Bunny had picked out. And of +course Bunny, like any boy, wanted to do as he saw the others doing. + +"Pooh! I can climb a big tree, too," he said. He got down from the one +he had picked out, and started up another. He watched how George put +first one foot on a branch and then the other foot, at the same time +pulling himself up by his hands. Bunny did very well until his foot +slipped and went down in a hole in the tree, where the wood had rotted +away, leaving a hollow place. + +Down into this hollow, that might some day be a squirrel's nest, went +Bunny's foot and leg. Then he cried out: + +"Oh, I'm caught! I'm caught! My foot is fast, and I can't pull it +loose!" + +And that was what had happened. Bunny's foot had gone so deep down in +the hollow place of the tree, and the hollow was so small, that the +little boy's foot had become wedged fast. Pull as he did, he could not +get it up. "Wait--I'll help you!" called George. + +He scrambled from his tree, and ran over to where Bunny was caught. +Bunny could not get down, but had to stand with one foot on a branch, +and the other in the hole, holding on to the trunk, or body, of the tree +with both hands. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Charlie, "s'posin' he can't ever get loose!" + +"We could chop the tree down," said Harry. + +But George thought he could get Bunny loose easier than that. George got +a box, so he could stand on it and reach up to Bunny's leg without +getting up in the tree himself. Then George pulled and tugged away, +trying to lift up Bunny's foot. + +But it would not come. It was caught, as if in a trap, and the longer +Bunny stood up, pressing down on his foot, the more tightly it was +wedged. + +"Now for a good pull!" cried George, and he gave a hard tug. + +"Ouch! You hurt!" said Bunny, and George had to stop. + +"Well, I don't know what to do," he said. "I'll have to get you loose +some way. Come on," he called to Charlie and Harry. "You get hold of his +leg and we'll all pull." + +"Then you'll hurt me more," said Bunny. "Go tell mamma. She will know +what to do!" + +"Yes, I guess that's best," George said. + +Mrs. Brown came running out when the three boys, who were a little +frightened, told her Bunny was caught in a tree. + +"Oh, is he hanging head down?" asked Aunt Lu, as she hurried out after +Bunny's mother. + +"No, he's standing up, but his leg is down in a hole," said George. "We +can't get him out." + +But Mrs. Brown easily set matters right. + +She put her hand down in the tree-hole, beside Bunny's leg, the hole +being big enough for this. Then, with her fingers, Mrs. Brown unbuttoned +Bunny's shoe, and said: + +"Now pull out your foot." + +Bunny could easily do this, as it was his shoe that was caught, and not +his foot. His foot was smaller than his shoe, you see. + +Carefully he lifted his foot and leg out of he hole of the tree, and +then his mother helped him to the ground. + +"But what about my shoe?" Bunny asked, with a queer look on his face. +"Has my shoe got to stay in the tree, Mother?" + +"No, I think I can get it out," said Mrs. Brown. Once more she put her +hand down in the hollow, and, now that Bunny's foot was out of his shoe, +it could easily be bent and twisted, so that it came loose. + +"There you are!" exclaimed Aunt Lu, as she buttoned Bunny's shoe on him +again, using a hairpin for a buttonhook. "Now don't climb any more +trees." + +"I'll just climb my own little tree," Bunny said. "That hasn't any hole +in it." + +And while the tree-climbing fun was going on Bunny only went up his own +little tree, where he was in no danger. + +After a time the boys became tired of this play, and when Sue, Sadie and +Helen invited them to come to the "play-party," Bunny and his friends +were pleased enough to come. + +"And we're going to have real things to eat, and not make-believe ones, +Bunny," said Sue. + +"That's good!" laughed George. "I'm glad you let me play with you." + +The others were glad also, for George said he was sorry about the frogs, +and would not play any more tricks. + +Mrs. Brown gave the girls some more cookies, and Aunt Lu handed out some +of her nice jam and jelly tarts. Then the girls set a little table, made +of a box covered with paper, and the boys sat down to eat, pretending +they were at a picnic. + +On several days after this the children had good times in the yard of +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. It was now almost summer, and one +morning Aunt Lu said: + +"Well, children, this is my last week here." + +"Oh, where are you going?" asked Bunny. + +"Back home, dear. To New York. And I want you to come and see me there. +Will you?" + +"If mamma will let us," said Sue. + +"I'll think about it," promised Mrs. Brown. + +So Aunt Lu got ready to go back home. And as she walked about with Bunny +and Sue, paying last visits to the fish dock, the river and the other +nice places, Aunt Lu seemed sad. She looked down at the ground, and +often glanced at her finger on which she had worn the diamond ring. + +"Sue," said Bunny one day, "I know what makes Aunt Lu so sad." + +"What is it?" + +"Losing her ring. And I know a way that might make her glad, so she +would smile and be happy again." + +"What way?" + +"Let's give a Punch and Judy show for her," said Bunny. "We'll get Sadie +and Helen, and George and Charlie and Harry to help us. We'll give a +Punch and Judy show!" + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often talked about giving a Punch and +Judy show. They had often seen one, at picnics or at church sociables, +and Bunny knew by heart a few of the things Mr. Punch had to say. He did +not stop to think that perhaps he could not get behind the curtain, and +make the little wooden figures do the funny things they were supposed to +do. And he did not know where he could get the queer little doll-like +figures. + +"But I can do something, anyhow," said Bunny, who was a very ambitious +little boy. Ambitious means he was always willing to try to do things, +whether or not he was sure he could really do them. + +"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I want to make Aunt Lu happy." + +"Well, you can be Mrs. Judy part of the time," her brother answered, +"and you can pull the curtains over when Mr. Punch has to change his +clothes, and things like that. I'm going to be Mr. Punch." + +"And wear the lobster claw?" asked Sue. + +"Yes, on my nose. That's what I got it for. I can make little holes in +each side, and put strings in them, and tie the lobster claw on my nose +with the string around my head." + +"It will be fun, Bunny. I wish it were time for the show now." + +"Oh, we've got lots to do," said the little boy. "We've got to tell +Sadie and the rest of 'em, and we've got to get tickets, and put up a +tent." + +"A tent!" cried Sue. "Where is a tent?" + +"That's so," admitted Bunny, looking puzzled, "We haven't got a tent. +But we can have the Punch and Judy show in our barn," he went on +quickly, "and you can stand at the door and take the money, and sell +tickets--that is, when you aren't being Mrs. Punch." + +"Aunt Lu won't have to buy a ticket, will she?" Sue wanted to know. + +"Course not!" Bunny cried. "She's company. 'Sides, we're making the show +for her, so she won't be so sad about her ring." + +"I wish we could find it for her," Sue sighed. + +"So do I," came from Bunny. "But I guess we never shall. Now we must go +and tell Sadie and Helen and the others about the show." + +"Are they going to be in it?" asked his sister. + +"No, they won't be Mr. or Mrs. Punch, but we want them to buy tickets +and come." + +"How much are tickets?" + +Bunny thought for a moment. + +"We'll charge pins and money--money for the big folks, pins for +children." + +"That will be nice," said Sue, "'cause children can always get pins off +their mothers' cushions, but they can't always get money. What will we +do with the pins, Bunny?" + +"Sell 'em. Mother will buy 'em, or maybe Aunt Lu will. No," he said +quickly, "Aunt Lu is company, and we don't want her to buy pins. We'll +give her all she wants for nothing." + +"And what will we do with the money, Bunny?" + +"We'll give it to Old Miss Hollyhock, same as we did the lemonade money. +Then she'll sure be rich." + +"That will be nice," Sue murmured. + +The first thing to do was to tell the other children about the coming +Punch and Judy show. This Bunny and Sue did, going to the different +houses of their playmates. Everyone thought the idea was just too fine +for anything. + +"I'll lend you some of my old dresses, Sue, so you can look real funny, +like Mrs. Punch," said Sadie. + +"And I have a red hat I got at a surprise party," said Helen. "You can +have that." + +"Thanks," laughed Sue. "Oh, I know we'll have fun." + +Harry and Charlie said they would help Bunny. + +"But making the box-place, like a little theatre, where Mr. Punch +stands, is going to be hard," Harry said, shaking his head. + +"I'll get Bunker Blue to help us," said Bunny. "We could ask Uncle Tad, +but we don't want any of the folks to know what it is going to be until +it's time for the show." + +"Oh, Bunker can make the little theatre, all right," Charlie said. "And +we can help him." + +"George Watson would like to help," suggested Harry. "He has been real +nice since he let the frogs loose on us." + +"We'll ask him, too," decided Bunny. + +Bunker Blue was very glad to help the children build a Punch and Judy +show. + +"And I won't tell anyone a thing about it," he promised. "We'll keep it +for a surprise." + +Bunker was just the best one Bunny could have thought of to help. For +Bunker worked around Mr. Brown's boats, and could get pieces of wood, +boards, nails and sail-cloth, to make a little curtain for the tiny +theatre where Bunny would pretend to be Mr. Punch. + +The day after Bunny and Sue had thought of the plan to make Aunt Lu not +so sad, by giving a little entertainment for her, the children went out +in the barn to practise. Their playmates came over to help, though there +was not much for them to do, since Bunny and Sue (and more especially +Bunny) were to be the "whole show." + +Banker had not yet made the tall, narrow box, inside of which Bunny was +to stand, and pretend to be Mr. Punch, but they did not need it for +practice. + +Bunny and Sue had told their mother they were going to have a "show" out +in the barn, but they did not say what kind, nor tell why they wanted +it. But they had to say something, so Mrs. Brown would let them play +there, and also let them take some of their old clothes, in which to +"dress-up." + +"Have as much fun as you like," said Mrs. Brown, "but don't slide down +in any hens' nests with eggs in them," she added to Sue. + +"I won't, Mother." + +Bunny fixed the hollow lobster claw, with a string in a hole on either +side of it, so he could tie it on his nose. Bunker bored the holes for +him with a knife, and cut the claw so it would fit, and when Bunny put +the queer red claw, shaped just like Mr. Punch's nose, on his face, the +little boy was so funny that all his playmates laughed. + +Then, too, when Bunny talked, his voice sounded very different from what +it did every day. If you will hold your nose in your hand, and talk, you +will know just how Bunny's voice sounded. + +"Oh, it's too funny!" laughed Sadie. "I know it is going to be a lovely +show! Your Aunt Lu will be very much surprised." + +When Bunny practised in the barn he did not wear the lobster claw on his +nose, except the first time, to see how it looked. + +"It's too hot to wear it all the while," he said, "and it makes me want +to scratch my nose, and when I do that I can't talk. So I'll put the +claw away, and I'll only wear it the day of the show." + +Of course Bunny and Sue could not give a Punch and Judy play like the +real one, which, perhaps, you have seen. They did not have the wooden +figures, like dolls, to use, and they were too small to know all the +things the real Mr. Punch says and does. + +But Bunny knew some of them, and really, for a little boy, he did very +well. At least all his playmates said so. + +In a few days Bunker Blue had the little theatre made, and as he brought +it up to the Brown barn in a wagon, carefully covered over, no one could +see what it was. George Watson had been asked to help, and he had made +tickets for the play. The tickets, which George printed with some rubber +type, read: + + FINE BIG SHOW + BY + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE + In Their Barn + Five Pins or Five Cents To Come In + Pins Are for Children + PLEASE COME + +"They're fine tickets," said Bunny, when George showed them to him. "I +hope we sell a lot." + +And several persons did buy them, paying real money for them. Bunny and +the others said they were trying to help Old Miss Hollyhock, which was +one reason for giving the show. The other was to make Aunt Lu feel more +happy. And when the people heard what Bunny and Sue planned to do, they +gladly bought one ticket, and some even more. Though not all of them +would really go to the show. + +One day Bunny and Sue went down to Mrs. Redden's toy shop. She bought a +ticket from them, and Sue and Bunny each bought a penny's worth of +candy. Coming out of the store, the children saw an automobile, +belonging to Mr. Reinberg, who kept the dry-goods store. He was just +getting out of the automobile. + +"Oh, Mr. Reinberg, please give us a ride!" begged Bunny. + +"All right," answered the store-keeper. "Get in, and I'll give you a +ride; that is if your mother will let you go," and he hurried into the +post-office, which was near Mrs. Redden's store. + +"Get in, Sue," said Bunny. "We'll have a fine ride." + +"Oh, but he said if mamma would let us. We'll have to ask her." + +"Well, we can ask him to ride us up to our house, and we can tell mamma, +there, that we're going," said Bunny. "Then it will be all right." + +So he and Sue got in the back part of the automobile, the door of which +was open. The children sat up on the seat, waiting for Mr. Reinberg to +come out of the post-office, but he stayed there for some time. Bunny +and Sue thought it would be fun to sit down in the bottom of the car, +and pretend they were in a boat. Down they slipped, making a soft nest +for themselves with the robes, or blankets, which they pulled from the +seat. + +Mr. Reinberg came out of the post-office. He was in such a hurry that he +never thought about Bunny and Sue's having asked him for a ride. He just +shut the door of the car, took his place at the steering wheel and away +he went. He did not see the children sitting down in the bottom, partly +covered with the robe. For Bunny and Sue, just then, were pretending +that it was night on their make-believe steamer, and they had "gone to +bed." + +And there they were, being given an automobile ride, and Mr. Reinberg +didn't know a thing about it. Wasn't that funny? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, sitting down in the back part of the +automobile, with the blanket around them, got through pretending they +were asleep on a make-believe ship, and "woke up." + +They had felt the car moving, but they thought nothing of this, for they +imagined Mr. Reinberg was taking them to their house so they might ask +their mother if they could go for a ride. + +Bunny looked at Sue and said: + +"It takes this auto a good while to get to our house." + +"Yes," Sue agreed, "but maybe he is going around the block to give us a +longer ride." + +"Oh, maybe! That would be fun!" + +Bunny stood up and looked over the side door of the back part of the +car. He could not see his house, and, in fact, he could see no houses at +all, for they were out on a country road. + +"Why! Why!" exclaimed Bunny to his sister. "Look, Sue! We're lost +again!" + +"Lost?" + +"Yes. We're away far off from our house. I don't know where we are; do +you?" + +"No," and Sue looked at the road along which they were moving in the +automobile. "Oh, Bunny! Are we really lost again?" + +Sue spoke so loudly that Mr. Reinberg, who was at the steering wheel, +turned around quickly. Up to now Bunny and Sue had talked in such low +voices, and the automobile had rattled so loudly, that the dry-goods man +had not heard them. But when he did he turned quickly enough. + +"Why, bless my heart!" he exclaimed. "You here--Bunny and Sue--in my +automobile?" and he made the machine run slowly, so it would not make so +much noise. He wanted to hear what Bunny and Sue would say. + +"You here?" he asked again. "How in the world did you come here?" + +"Why--why," began Bunny, his eyes opening wide. "You said we could have +a ride, Mr. Reinberg. Don't you remember?" + +"That's so. I do remember something about it," the man said. "I declare, +I was so busy thinking about my store, and some post-office letters, +that I forgot all about you. But I thought you were to ask your mother +if you could have a ride." + +"Why--why, we thought you would take us around to our house, in the +automobile, so we could ask her," Bunny said. + +Mr. Reinberg laughed. + +"Well, well!" he cried. "This is a joke! You thought one thing and I +thought another. After you spoke to me, and I went in the post-office, I +supposed you had run home to ask your folks." + +"No," said Bunny, "we didn't. We got in your auto 'cause we thought you +wanted us to." + +"Ha! Ha!" laughed the dry-goods-store man. "This is very funny! And when +I came out of the post-office, and didn't see anything of you, I thought +your folks wouldn't let you go, as you hadn't come back." + +"And we were in your auto all the while!" exclaimed Sue, in such a queer +little voice that Mr. Reinberg laughed again. + +"And have you been in there ever since?" he asked. + +"Yes," Bunny replied. "We were playing steamboat, and we lay down to go +to sleep while we went over the make-believe ocean waves. Then, when we +woke up, and couldn't see our house--" + +"Or any houses," added Sue. + +"Or any houses," Bunny went on, "why--why, we thought we were--" + +"Lost!" exclaimed Sue. "We don't like to be lost!" + +"You're not lost," Mr. Reinberg said, laughing again. "You're quite a +way from home, though, for I have been going very fast. But I'll take +care of you. Now let me see what I had better do. I have to go on to +Wayville, and I don't want to turn around and go back with you +youngsters. And if I take you with me your folks will worry. + +"I know what I'll do. I'll telephone back to your mother, tell her that +you're with me, and that I'll take you to Wayville, and bring you safely +back again. How will that do?" + +"Will you take us in the auto?" asked Bunny. + +"Of course." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue. "We'll have a ride, after all, Bunny." + +"Yes," agreed her brother. "Thank you, Mr. Reinberg." + +The dry-goods man found a house in which there was a telephone, and he +was soon talking to Mrs. Brown in her home. He told her just what had +happened; how, almost by accident, he had taken Bunny and Sue off in his +automobile. Then he asked if he might give them a longer ride, and bring +them home later. + +"Your mother says I may," Mr. Reinberg said, when he came back to the +automobile, in which Bunny and Sue were waiting. "I'll take you on to +Wayville." + +"Our Uncle Henry lives there," Bunny told the dry-goods man. + +"Well, I don't know that I shall have time to take you to see him, but +we'll have a ride." + +"We 'most went to Uncle Henry's once," said Sue. "On a trolley car, only +Splash couldn't come, and we had to go back and we got lost and--and--" + +"Splash found the way home for us," finished Bunny, for Sue was out of +breath. + +"Well, we won't get lost this time," Mr. Reinberg said. "Now off we go +again," and away went the automobile, giving Bunny and Sue a fine ride. + +They soon reached Wayville, where Mr. Reinberg went to see some men. +Bunny and Sue did not have time to pay a visit to their Uncle Henry, but +Mr. Reinberg bought them each an ice cream soda, so they had a fine time +after all. Then came a nice ride home. + +"Well, well!" cried Mrs. Brown, when Bunny and Sue, their cheeks red +from the wind, came running up the front walk. "Well! well! But you +youngsters do have the funniest things happen to you! To think of being +taken away in an automobile!" + +"But we didn't mean to, Mamma," protested Bunny. + +"No, you never do," said Aunt Lu, smiling. + +"Oh, Bunny!" Sue exclaimed a little later that day, "we didn't sell any +tickets for the Punch and Judy show." + +"Well, never mind," answered Bunny. "I guess enough will come anyhow." + +You see he and Sue had such a good time on the automobile ride that they +forgot all about the tickets they had set out to sell. + +In three days more the Punch and Judy show would be held in the Brown +barn. Everything was ready for it, Bunny had gone over his part again +and again until he did very well indeed. Sue, also, was very, very good +in what she did, so the other girls said. Sadie West, who was older, +helped Sue. + +By this time, of course, the grown folks knew that some sort of a show +was going on in the Brown barn, and they had promised to come. And there +were so many children who wanted to see what it was going to be like +that Bunny and Sue did not know where they were all going to sit. + +"And oh! what a lot of pins we'll have," said Sue, for all the children +paid pins for their tickets. + +But Bunker Blue and George Watson made seats by putting boards across +some boxes, so no one would have to stand up. + +Then came the day of the show. Bunny was dressed up in some old clothes, +and so was Sue. She did not put hers on, though, until after she had +helped take tickets, and sell them, at the barn door. Then Bunker Blue +took her place, and Sue dressed to help Bunny. + +Bunny was inside the little theatre that Bunker had made. It had a +curtain that opened when Bunny pulled the string. He had his funny +lobster claw with him. + +"And am I to come in for nothing?" asked Aunt Lu, as she walked into the +barn. + +"Yes," said Bunny, putting his head out between the curtains, for he was +not all dressed yet. "The show is for you, Aunt Lu. So you will not feel +so sad." + +"About your lost diamond ring," added Sue. + +"Bless your hearts! What dear children you are!" said Aunt Lu, and +something glistened in her eyes as bright as a diamond--perhaps it was a +tear--but if so it was a tear of joy. + +"All ready for the show now!" cried Bunker. "Please all sit down!" + +Down they sat on the benches, some men and some ladies, but mostly +children, friends of Bunny and Sue. + +"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Bunker, going close to the little +theatre. + +"Yes, I'm all ready." + +"Have you got your lobster claw on?" + +"Yes. I'm going to open the curtain now." + +The curtain opened in the middle, and there stood Bunny. You could only +see down to his waist, but such a funny face as he had! The lobster +claw, tied over his nose, made him look exactly like the pictures of Mr. +Punch. + +Bunny made a bow, and then, instead of saying some of the funny things +that Mr. Punch in the show always says, Bunny sang a little song, while +Bunker Blue played on a mouth organ. This is what Bunny sang: + +"This little show is for Aunt Lu. + Of course we're glad of others, too. + We want to cheer, and make her glad, + So she won't feel so very sad. + We hope she finds her diamond ring, + And this is all that I can sing!" + +That was what Bunny sang, in his queer, "nosey" voice, to a queer little +tune that Bunker played on the mouth organ. And, when Bunny had +finished, he made a funny little bow, and said: + +"I didn't make up that song. Bunker did!" + +Then how everybody clapped their hands, and George Watson called out: + +"Three cheers for Bunker Blue!" + +Then began the real Punch and Judy show--that is, as much of it as Bunny +and Sue could manage. + +"I wonder where Mrs. Punch is?" asked Bunny, twisting his head around. + +"Here I is!" cried Sue, and up she popped. She had been stooping down so +she would not be seen until just the right time. + +"And where is the baby?" asked Mr. Punch, looking first on one side and +then the other, of his big lobster claw nose. + +"Here she is!" and Sue held up one of her old dolls. + +"Ah, ha! Ah, ha!" said Mr. Punch. "She is a bad baby, and I am going to +whip her!" + +And then, with a stick, he hit the doll until some of the sawdust came +flying out. + +"Don't do that!" begged Sue. "You mustn't spoil my doll, Bunny!" + +"I've got to do it," said Bunny in a whisper. "I have to, Sue, it's part +of the show." But Sue took her doll away from her brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE LOBSTER CLAW + + +"Don't, Sue, don't!" begged Bunny Brown. "I must have the doll. You said +I could take her," and he tried to pull the doll away from his sister. + +But Sue did not want to give up even an old doll. + +"You mustn't knock out all her sawdust," she said. "She'll get sick." + +Bunny did not know what to do. It seemed as if his Punch and Judy show +would be spoiled, and he did so want to make Aunt Lu feel jolly about +it. + +Sue had really said, at first, that he could beat her old doll with a +stick, just as Mr. Punch does in the real show, but now Sue had changed +her mind. + +"Oh, dear!" said Bunny, and he said it in such a funny way that everyone +laughed again. + +"Let him take your doll, Sue dear," said her mother, from where she sat +on a box in the barn. "If he spoils it I will get you a new one. It's +only in fun, Sue," for Mrs. Brown did not want to see Bunny +disappointed. + +"All right. You can take her, but don't hit her too hard," said Sue. + +"I won't," promised her brother. And then the little show went on. + +Mr. and Mrs. Punch had great times with the "baby," which was the +sawdust doll. Then Sue stooped down, out of sight, and turned herself +into a make-believe policeman, by putting on a hat, made out of black +paper, with a golden star pasted on in front. George Watson had made +that for her. Up popped Sue, the pretend policeman, to make Mr. Punch +stop hitting the sawdust doll baby. + +"Go 'way! Go 'way!" cried Bunny Punch, in his squeaky voice, as he +tossed the doll out on the barn floor. "That's the way to do it! That's +the way I do it!" + +Then Sue sang a little song, that Bunker had made up for her, and he +played the mouth organ. And next Bunny and Sue sang together. The +children thought it was fine, and the grown folks clapped their hands, +and stamped with their feet, which is what people do in a real theatre +when they like the play. + +When Bunny and Sue made their bow, after singing the song together, they +both bobbed out of sight behind the curtain. + +"Is that--is that all?" asked Tommie Tracy, in his shrill little voice, +from where he sat in the front row. + +"Yep. That's all," answered Bunny. "The show is over, and we hope you +all like it; 'specially Aunt Lu." + +"Oh, I just loved it," she answered. "And to think you got it all up for +me! It was just fine!" + +"Do it all over again!" said Tommie. "I liked it too, but I want some +more. Do it again, Bunny!" + +"I--I can't," Bunny answered, as he came out from inside the box that +Bunker Blue had made into a theatre. Bunny had taken off his lobster +claw nose, and held it dangling from the strings by which it had been +tied around his head. + +Suddenly one of the planks, across two boxes, broke, and some of the +boys, who had been sitting on it, fell down in a heap. But no one was +hurt. + +Then all the children crowded around Bunny and Sue to look at the funny +things the two children were wearing--old clothes, pinned up, and with +make-believe patches on them. + +"Let me take your funny nose, Bunny," begged Charlie Star. "I want to +see how it looks on me." + +Bunny handed over the lobster claw, but it dropped to the barn floor, +and before either he or Charlie could pick it up, some one had stepped +on it. + +"Crack!" it went, for it was made of thin shell, not very strong. And +there it lay in pieces on the floor. + +"Oh, dear" cried Charlie. "I've broken your nose, Bunny!" + +"Well, I'm glad it wasn't my real one," and Bunny put his hand up to his +face, while Charlie stooped over to pick up the pieces of the lobster +claw, hoping there was enough left to make a little nose for the next +time. + +And then suddenly Bunny, who was watching Charlie, gave a cry, and +reached for something that glittered among the pieces of the red lobster +claw. + +"Oh, look! look!" fairly shouted the little fellow. "It's Aunt Lu's +diamond ring. It was in the lobster claw, and it came out when the claw +broke. Oh, Aunt Lu! I've found your diamond ring!" + +Aunt Lu fairly rushed over to Bunny. She took from his hand the shiny, +glittering thing he had picked up from the barn floor. + +"Yes, it IS my lost diamond ring!" she cried. "Oh, where was it?" + +"Down inside the lobster claw, that I had on my nose," Bunny said. "Only +I didn't know it was there." + +"And no one would have known it if it had not broken," said Mrs. Brown. +"How lucky to have found it." + +Aunt Lu slipped the diamond ring on her finger. It glittered brighter +than ever. + +"I see how it all happened," she said. "That day when I was helping pick +the meat out of the big lobster, my ring must have slipped from my hand, +and fallen down inside the empty claw. It went away down to the small +end, and there it was held fast, just as Bunny's foot was caught in the +hollow tree one day." + +"Are you glad, Aunt Lu?" asked Bunny. + +"Glad? I'm more glad than I ever was in my life!" and she hugged and +kissed him, and Sue also. + +And everyone was glad Aunt Lu had found her ring. The show was over now, +and the children and grown folks went out of the barn. They all said +they had had a fine time. + +That night Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each a dollar, for she said Sue +had done as much to find the ring as Bunny had. + +"Oh, what a lot of money!" cried Sue, as she looked at her dollar. +"We're rich now; aren't we, Bunny? As rich as Old Miss Hollyhock?" + +"We're richer!" answered Bunny. + +"Well, save some of your money, and when you come to New York to visit +me you can spend part of it in the city," said Aunt Lu. + +"We will," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. + +But, before they visited Aunt Lu, the two children had other adventures. +I will be glad to tell you about them in the next book, which will be +named: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm." In that you +may read what the two children did in the country, how they had a long +automobile ride, and how they saw the Gypsies. + +Aunt Lu went home the day after the Punch and Judy show. + +"Did you like it?" asked Bunny, as she kissed him and Sue good-bye at +the station. + +"Indeed I did, my dear!" she answered. + +"I said we'd find your diamond ring, and we did," declared Sue. + +"Yes," agreed Bunny, "but we didn't know it was in the lobster's claw." + +"No one would ever have dreamed of its being there," said Aunt Lu. "But +oh! I am so glad I have it!" + +And then, with the diamond ring sparkling on her finger, Aunt Lu got on +the train and rode away, waving a good-bye to Bunny Brown and his sister +Sue. And we will say good-bye, too. + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, by Laura Lee Hope + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN *** + +This file should be named bnnbr10.txt or bnnbr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, bnnbr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, bnnbr10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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