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Shetland Pony, by Laura Lee Hope
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Title: Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony
Author: Laura Lee Hope
Illustrator: Thelma Gooch
Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #19565]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER ***
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy and the Online
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BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY
TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR
GIRLS SERIES, ETC.
Illustrated by
Thelma Gooch
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
* * * * *
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 50 cents, postpaid._
* * * * *
=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES=
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP-REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
* * * * *
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES=
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSE BOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
* * * * *
=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN WAR SERVICE
* * * * *
=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK=
Copyright, 1918, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
* * * * *
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony_
[Illustration: TOBY WAS RINGING THE BELL.
_Frontispiece._ (_Page 135._)
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony._]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. IN THE ARK 1
II. THE FRIGHTENED PONY 11
III. MR. TALLMAN 24
IV. LOOKING FOR A PONY 32
V. THE SHORT TALLMAN 40
VI. BUNNY, SUE AND TOBY 51
VII. THE FIRST RIDE 61
VIII. SUE'S HANDKERCHIEF 69
IX. TOBY'S NEW TRICK 80
X. TOBY WALKS AWAY 92
XI. OFF TO THE FARM 102
XII. THE WRONG ROAD 111
XIII. TOBY FINDS THE WAY 121
XIV. TOBY'S OTHER TRICK 129
XV. RED CROSS MONEY 139
XVI. IN THE WOODS 148
XVII. THE DARK MAN 159
XVIII. TOBY IS GONE 166
XIX. THE SEARCH 176
XX. IN A STORM 184
XXI. THE GYPSY CAMP 194
XXII. "THERE'S TOBY!" 204
XXIII. PRISONERS 216
XXIV. THE RED-AND-YELLOW BOX 226
XXV. TO THE RESCUE 236
BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
CHAPTER I
IN THE ARK
"Oh, Bunny! Here comes Bunker Blue!"
"Where is he? I don't see him!"
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were playing on the shady side porch of
their house one morning, when the little girl, looking up from a cracker
box which had been made into a bed--where she was putting her doll to
sleep--saw a tall boy walking up the path.
"There's Bunker!" went on Sue to her brother, Bunny, at the same time
pointing. "Maybe he's come to take us for a ride in one of daddy's
fishing boats!"
"Have you, Bunker?" asked Bunny, standing up and brushing some shavings
from his little jacket, for he had been using a dull kitchen knife,
trying to whittle out a wooden boat from a piece of curtain stick. "Oh,
Bunker, have you?"
"Have I what?" asked the tall boy, who worked on the dock where Mr.
Brown, the father of Bunny and Sue, carried on a boat and fish business.
"Have I what?" Bunker asked again, and he stood still and gazed at the
two small children who were anxiously looking at him.
"Have you come to take us for a ride?" asked Bunny.
"In one of daddy's boats?" added Sue, who generally waited for her
brother to speak first, since he was a year older than she.
"Not this time, messmates," answered Bunker Blue with a laugh, calling
the children the name one sailor sometimes gives to another. "Not this
time messmates. I've come up to get the ark."
"Oh, the ark!" cried Bunny. "Did you hear that, Sue? Bunker has come up
to get the ark!"
"Oh! Oh!" and Sue fairly squealed in delight. "Then we'll have a nice
ride in that. Wait, Bunker, till I put my doll away, and I'll come with
you. Wait for me!"
"And I'll come, too," added Bunny. "I can bring my boat with me. 'Tisn't
all done yet," he added, "but I can whittle on it when we ride along,
and then I can sail it when we get to the dock."
"Now avast there and belay, messmates!" cried Bunker Blue with a laugh,
using some more of the kind of talk he heard among the sailors that came
to Mr. Brown's dock with boats of fish. "Wait a minute! I didn't say I
had come to give you a ride in the ark. I just came to get it."
"But you will let us ride, won't you, Bunker?" asked Bunny, smiling at
the tall boy.
"'Cause we'll sit just as still as anything," added Sue.
"And I won't touch the steering wheel--not once!" promised Bunny.
"I guess you'd better not--not after you once got almost run away with
in the big ark," said Bunker. "I should say not!"
"Oh, please let us come with you!" begged Sue. "We want awful much to
ride in the ark, Bunker!"
While the two children were talking to the tall boy another little girl
had crawled under the fence from the street, and was now standing near
Bunny and his sister. She was Sadie West, one of Sue's chums, and when
she heard Bunny's sister begging for a ride in the "ark" Sadie said:
"Oh, Sue! is he going to take your Noah's ark away? I wouldn't let him
if I were you!"
"It isn't Noah's ark at all," Sue explained. "We call the big
automobile, that we had such a long ride in, the ark. It looks a little
like a Noah's ark, but it's bigger, and we can all get in it," she
added.
"Oh!" exclaimed Sadie. "I thought Bunker meant he was going to take your
little ark, and all the wooden animals, away," she added.
"Not this time," said Bunker Blue. "Your father sent me up, Bunny, to
get the big auto--the ark, as you call it. It's got to be fixed, and I'm
to drive it to the shop over at East Milford. That's why I came up.
Where's your mother? I want to tell her I'm taking away the ark, so she
won't think some tramps or some gypsies have run off with it."
"I'll call her," Sue said, while Bunny kept on brushing the tiny
whittlings from his jacket and short trousers. And there was a queer
look on the face of Bunny Brown.
"What are you making, Bunny?" asked Bunker, as he waited for Sue to go
into the house and give her mother the message.
"Boat," Bunny answered.
"Pretty small one, isn't it?" inquired Bunker, who knew a lot about
boats and fish, from having worked at Mr. Brown's dock a number of
years. "Awful small boat."
"It's a lifeboat that I'm going to put on my big sailboat," explained
Bunny, for he had a large boat, with a real sail on it that could be
raised and lowered. It was not a boat large enough for him and Sue to
ride on, though Sue sometimes gave one of her dolls a trip on it. "I
have to have a lifeboat on my sailboat," Bunny went on, "'cause maybe a
scrumbarine might sink my big ship."
"That's so," agreed Bunker. "Well, Bunny, you go in and tell your mother
I'm going to take the ark, will you? I'm in a hurry, and I guess Sue
forgot what she went after. You go in and tell your mother."
"Yes, I'll do that," Bunny promised. "But can't we have a ride in the
ark with you, Bunker?"
"Not this time, Bunny!"
"Please, Bunker!"
"No, your father didn't say anything about taking you over to the East
Milford auto shop with me, and I don't dare do it unless he says so."
"Well, we can ask him," went on Bunny eagerly.
"No, I haven't time to run down to the dock again, and your father is
busy there. A big load of fish came in, and he has to see that they get
iced, so they won't spoil. Hurry and tell your mother--Oh, here she
comes now!" exclaimed Bunker Blue, as Mrs. Brown came to the door. Sue
and Sadie West stood behind her.
"Did you want to see me, Bunker?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes'm," answered the boy. "Mr. Brown sent me up to get the ark. He
wants me to drive it over to Simpson's garage, in East Milford, to have
it looked over and fixed. I thought if I went into the barn and took the
machine out without telling you, maybe you'd think some gypsies ran away
with it."
"Why! are there any gypsies around now, Bunker?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, I heard the other day that a band of them was camping up along the
creek. But I guess they won't come bothering around here."
"If they do I'll sic Splash, my dog, on 'em," said Bunny.
"Yes, I guess Splash will scare off the gypsies," agreed Bunker Blue
with a laugh. Then he added: "So, now I've told you what I'm going to
do, Mrs. Brown, I'll go and get the ark and drive it over."
"All right, Bunker," said Mrs. Brown. "Is my husband very busy?"
"Yes'm. A big boatload of fish just came in, and he's seeing to having
'em iced."
"Oh, then he can't come up. I was just going to telephone that I want
the sideboard moved to the other end of the room, and it's too heavy for
Uncle Tad to manage alone. I thought Mr. Brown might run up and help,
but if he's so busy with the fish----"
"I'll help," offered Bunker. "I'm not in such a hurry as all that. I'll
help Uncle Tad move the sideboard, and then I'll get the auto."
"Can't we go with you?" begged Sue. "Can't we have a ride in the ark,
Mother?"
"Oh, my, no!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Bunker can't be bothered with you
children."
"I wouldn't mind taking them, ma'am," said the fish boy. "In fact, I'd
like to, but their father didn't say anything about it. Besides, I'll
have to walk back from East Milford after I leave the ark there to be
fixed. It'd be too far for them to walk back."
"Of course it would. Run along now, Bunny and Sue, and have some fun by
yourselves. Don't bother Bunker."
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue stood on the side porch looking at one
another as Bunker went in the house to help Uncle Tad move the
sideboard. Uncle Tad was an old soldier who lived with the Brown family.
He was Mr. Brown's uncle, but Bunny and Sue thought they owned just as
much of the dear old man as did their father. Sadie West, who had
crawled in under the fence instead of going around by the gate, ran home
again, leaving Bunny and Sue by themselves.
"Say, Sue," began Bunny in a low voice, looking toward the house to make
sure his mother and Bunker Blue had gone inside.
"What, Bunny?" asked the little girl.
"I know what we can do," went on Bunny.
"What?"
This time Bunny whispered.
"We can go out to the barn," he said in a low voice, his lips close to
his sister's ear, "an' get in the ark when Bunker doesn't see us. He
can't see us 'cause he's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the
sideboard. We can easy get in the ark."
"What for?" Sue wanted to know. "Bunker said he wouldn't give us a
ride."
"Yes. But if we're in there he'll have to!"
"Why?" asked Sue.
"'Cause," whispered Bunny, "he won't know we're in there at all, Sue!"
"Won't he?" asked Sue, her eyes shining.
"Nope! While Bunker's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the sideboard,
we'll crawl in the back end of the ark. And we'll keep awful still, and
we'll have a nice ride over to East Milford, and Bunker won't know a
thing about it!"
"Oh, let's do it!" cried Sue, always ready to take part in the tricks
Bunny thought of. "Let's do it! I'll take my doll!"
"And I'll take my little lifeboat. 'Tisn't all made yet, but that won't
hurt! Come on!"
Quietly the two children tiptoed down off the side porch. Through the
open dining-room windows they could hear Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad
moving the sideboard.
Out to the barn went Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue. In the barn was the
ark--the big auto--as large as a moving van. In it the whole Brown
family had made a tour the previous summer. It really was like an ark,
for it had rooms in it where the children and grown-ups could sleep,
and a place to cook and eat meals.
"Now don't make any noise!" whispered Bunny to his sister. "We'll just
crawl inside the ark and cover up with blankets, and Bunker won't know
we're here. Then he'll start off and when we get to East Milford we
can----"
"Oh, we can jump out and holler 'boo!' at him an' scare him!" laughed
Sue, clapping her chubby hands in delight.
"Yes, we can do that. But not now!" whispered Bunny. "Hurry up an' crawl
in, an' don't make any noise!"
So the two children entered the ark by the rear door, and found some
blankets with which they covered themselves in two of the bunks, built
on the sides of the big auto.
What would happen next?
CHAPTER II
THE FRIGHTENED PONY
Bunker Blue came whistling out of the house. He and Uncle Tad had moved
the sideboard to the other end of the room, and now Mrs. Brown and the
hired girl were putting the place to rights.
"Well, I wonder where Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue have gone?" said
Bunker, aloud, as he stopped whistling. "I don't see them," and he
looked around. "I'd like to give them a ride in the ark," he went on,
"but their father didn't say anything about it, and he might not like
it. When the big auto gets fixed then I can take them for a ride."
Then Bunker went out to the barn and took his seat at the steering wheel
of the ark.
"Well, here I go!" he said, still talking aloud to himself, as he often
did, and he put his foot on the self-starter, which made the engine of
the auto go without any one having to get out in front and turn the
handle, like the crank of a hand organ. "Here I go, but I do wish I
could give Bunny and Sue a ride."
And back in the auto, under some blankets in the bunks, sounded two
snickering noises.
"Hello! I wonder what that is?" exclaimed Bunker, as he heard them. "Is
that you, Splash?" he called, for sometimes, he knew, the big dog that
Bunny and Sue so often played with, crawled into the auto to sleep. "Is
that you, Splash?"
No answer came.
"I guess it was just the wind," said Bunker Blue, as he steered the auto
out through the big barn doors. "It was only the wind."
And inside the ark Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had to stuff their
chubby fists into their mouths to keep from laughing. Oh, if Bunker Blue
should hear them!
As Bunker steered the big auto down the driveway past the house, Mrs.
Brown came running to the door, waving her hand.
"Bunker! Bunker Blue!" she cried. "Wait a minute!"
The auto was making such a noise that the fish boy could not hear what
Mrs. Brown was saying, but he could see her.
"Whoa!" he called, just as if the big auto were a horse; and then he
put on the brakes and brought it to a stop.
"Bunker," went on Mrs. Brown, "Mr. Brown just telephoned me to tell you
to drive down to the dock and stop for him. He's going to East Milford
with you. He wants to talk to the garage man about fixing the auto," for
the big machine needed some repairs after its long tour.
"All right. I'll stop at the dock and get Mr. Brown," said Bunker. "I
guess he must have got the fish iced and put away sooner than he
expected. Now if I had Bunny and Sue I could take them with me," he went
on.
"Take Bunny and Sue with you? What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, when they heard I was going to East Milford with the ark they
wanted to come along. But I said I didn't believe their father would let
them, and I didn't have time to go back and ask him. But now, as long as
I have to go to the dock to get him, I could take them with me, and ask
him now. Maybe he'd let them go."
"Yes, it is too bad," said Mrs. Brown. "But I don't know where the
children went. I guess they ran over to Sadie West's house to play. But
you haven't time to stop for them if Mr. Brown is in a hurry. They can
ride some other time. Drive along, Bunker."
Now if Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had heard this talk they might,
then and there, have called out that they were already in the auto. And,
if they had done so, perhaps a whole lot of things that happened
afterwards might not have happened.
But you never can tell what is going to take place next in this world.
The reason Bunny and Sue didn't hear what their mother and Bunker said
was because they had their heads covered with the blankets, so their
snickers and laughter wouldn't be heard outside the ark.
And there they stayed, inside the big auto, as Bunker started off once
more, driving first to the boat and fish dock to get Mr. Brown, who was
going to East Milford with him.
"It's too bad the children aren't here," said Mrs. Brown as she went
back into the house. "They could have a nice ride. I wonder where they
ran off to?"
If Mrs. Brown could have seen Bunny and his sister then, I think she
would have been surprised. But she did not see them, and, for a little
while, she gave them no further thought, as she was so busy
straightening the room, after Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue had moved the
sideboard to its new place.
On rumbled the big auto, and Bunny and Sue lay in the bunks having a
nice ride. They did not know just where they were going, and they
certainly never thought they were on their way to the boat and fish
dock, for they had not heard what their mother said. They kept covered
with the blankets for some little time, afraid lest their occasional
snickers and laughter might be heard by Bunker Blue.
"Hi, Sue!" called Bunny, after a while, during which the auto had rolled
down the road some little way.
"What is it?" Sue asked.
"It's too hot to keep under the covers. If we make only a little noise
now Bunker can't hear us."
"All right," Sue agreed. "But we mustn't make too much noise."
"No," said Bunny, and he threw off the covers and sat up in the bunk.
His sister did the same thing, and then they went out in the main "room"
of the ark. Of course, it was not a very large room, but it was pretty
big for being inside an auto. It had a little table and some stools in
it, and when the Browns were on their tour they often ate in that room,
when it was too rainy to have their meals outside.
After a time the auto stopped, and then, to the surprise of Bunny Brown
and his Sister Sue, they heard the voice of their father. He was talking
to Bunker Blue.
"So you got my telephone message, did you, Bunker?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Yes, sir. Mrs. Brown told me just as I was coming out with the ark. So
I came here before going over to East Milford."
"That's what I wanted you to do. I want to ride over with you. I had the
men ice the fish, so they'll be all right. Is every one well up at my
house--Bunny and Sue?"
"Yes, they're all right," answered Bunker, as Mr. Brown climbed up to
the seat of the big auto. "Bunny and Sue wanted to come with me," Bunker
went on, "but I didn't know whether you'd want 'em to, so I didn't let
'em come."
"Well, that's too bad," said Mr. Brown. "If I had known they wanted to
come, and that I was going myself, I'd have let you bring them. But it's
too late now and----"
"Oh, no, Daddy! It isn't too late!" cried Bunny, who had listened to
what his father and Bunker were saying. "It isn't too late! Please take
us with you!"
"'Cause we're here now!" added Sue.
And as her brother opened the big, rear doors of the auto, he and Sue
stepped out.
"Well, I do declare!" cried Mr. Brown, running around to the back of the
big car and seeing his two little children. "Where did you come from?"
"We hid in the auto!" came from Bunny.
"We wanted a ride, and we didn't let Bunker know we got in," added Sue.
"Well, I certainly didn't know you were there!" cried Bunker.
"We got in when you and Uncle Tad were moving the sideboard," explained
Bunny.
"That wasn't just the right thing to do," said Mr. Brown, shaking his
head. "However, as I would have taken you if I had been there, we'll
forgive you this time. Open the little front window, Bunker, and the
children can ride in the front part of the auto, where they can look out
and where I can talk with them."
In the front part of the ark, just back of the seat, was a window cut in
the end of the big car. It opened into a room near the bunks, and
chairs could be placed under the window so those who sat in them could
look out, just as in a regular auto.
Mr. Brown and Bunker Blue took their places on the front seat, and once
more the auto started off, and this time Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue
did not have to stuff their fists in their mouths to keep from
snickering and giggling. It was all right for them to have a ride in the
ark.
Down the road they went, toward East Milford, where the ark was to be
left for repairs.
"Will we have to walk back?" asked Bunny, talking through the front
window to his father.
"No, I guess we can come back by train. It's too far to walk on a warm
day."
"I like to ride in a train," said Sue, as she held her doll in her lap,
while Bunny put aside his little wooden boat. The auto was no place to
do any whittling, he found.
As the big ark went around a bend in the road the children, looking
ahead, suddenly saw something at which they cried:
"Oh, look!"
"What a dandy little pony!" added Bunny.
"And it's afraid!" said Sue.
Coming down the road toward the big ark was a small Shetland pony,
hitched to a basket cart, and in the cart sat a little man. He was not
as large as Bunker Blue, who wasn't a grown-up man yet.
Something certainly seemed to be the matter with the pony. He reared on
his hind legs, and tried to turn around and run back. The man stood up
in the cart and shouted something, but the children could not tell what
it was.
"Stop the ark, Bunker!" cried Mr. Brown. "The big auto is frightening
the little pony! Stop!"
But it was too late, for, a moment later, the Shetland pony broke loose
from the cart, turned around and started to run back up the road.
The man, again shouting something, leaped out of the cart and ran back
after the pony.
"Come on, Bunker!" cried Mr. Brown. "This was partly our fault! We must
help the man catch the pony!"
"And we'll help!" said Bunny and Sue, as they, too, got out of the ark.
So, while this is happening, I'll take just a moment to tell my new
readers something about the two children, whose adventures I am to
relate to you in this book. This volume is the eighth one in the
series. The first, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," introduced
you to the two children. In that first book I told you that they lived
with their father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brown in the seaport
town of Bellemere, on Sandport Bay. Mr. Brown was in the boat and fish
business, and hired a number of men and boys, of whom Bunker was one.
With the family also lived Uncle Tad, of whom I have spoken, and then
there was the hired girl, and Splash, the dog. The children loved them
both, and they also loved Jed Winkler, an old sailor of the town, but
Miss Euphemia Winkler, his sister, they did not love so well, though
they liked the funny antics of Wango, a monkey, that Mr. Winkler had
brought back from one of his many voyages.
Bunny Brown was about six years old, and Sue was a year younger. She had
brown eyes and curly hair, and Bunny's eyes were blue, and his hair had
once been curly, but now was getting straighter. Bunny and Sue were
always having fun, and if you want to read about some of it just look in
the second book, which tells about them on Grandpa's farm. There Bunny
Brown and his Sister Sue played circus and had even better times, as
related in that volume. In Aunt Lu's city home they--well, I guess it
will be best if you read that book for yourselves, instead of having me
telling you partly about it here.
In Camp-Rest-a-While the two children had more good times, and also when
they went to the big woods. And just before the things that I am going
to tell you about in this book, Bunny and his sister, with their
parents, went on an auto tour in the ark. They traveled, ate, and slept
in the big moving van that Mr. Brown had had put on an automobile frame
and there were no end of good times.
And now, from the same ark, which was being taken to the shop, Bunny and
Sue had seen the Shetland pony so frightened that he ran away.
"Oh, Daddy! do you s'pose he'll be hurt?" asked Bunny, as he and his
sister hurried after their father and Bunker Blue.
"Who, the man or the pony?" asked Mr. Brown, for both were now out of
sight.
"The pony," answered Sue. "Oh, how I could love him!"
"So could I!" exclaimed Bunny. "He was a dandy!"
"I didn't think our ark could scare anything as much as it scared the
little horse," said Bunker Blue. "I guess he'd never seen a big auto
before."
"Perhaps not," replied Mr. Brown. "Well, we must try to help the man
catch the pony."
The children, their father and Bunker passed in the road the little
basket cart from which the Shetland pony had broken loose. The cart did
not seem to be damaged any, but part of the broken harness was fast to
it.
"He must be a strong pony to get loose that way," said Bunny.
"Maybe he was only tied with string, and he could easy break that," said
Sue.
"Maybe," agreed Bunker Blue.
They went around a turn in the road, and, looking down a straight
stretch, they could see that the man had caught the pony near a clump of
willow trees.
"There! He's all right!" said Mr. Brown. "But we had better go and ask
the man if we can help him any. He may blame us for the running away of
the pony."
And as they all walked down the road Bunny whispered something to Sue.
Sue looked quickly at her brother and exclaimed:
"Oh, if he only would!"
Now what did Bunny whisper to Sue?
CHAPTER III
MR. TALLMAN
Mr. Brown, followed by Bunker Blue and the two children, went down the
road toward the little, short man who was standing with the Shetland
pony. For, after walking back with him a little way, the man had stopped
to let the pony drink from a brook that ran beneath the willow trees.
"I'm afraid we caused you some trouble, my friend," said Mr. Brown,
politely.
"Trouble?" repeated the short man. "You say you caused me trouble?"
"Yes. We were riding in the big auto which we have left just around the
turn of the road. Was it our auto that frightened your pony and made him
run away?" asked Mr. Brown, while Bunny and his Sister Sue looked with
eager eyes at the pretty pony, which did not seem frightened now.
"Oh, yes, I guess your big moving van of an auto did scare my pony,"
answered the man. "I waved my hand, and tried to call to you to stop, so
we could drive past, but I guess you didn't hear me."
"No," said Bunker Blue, "we didn't. The engine made so much noise, I
guess."
"And then my pony ran away before I could stop him," went on the little
man, who, as Bunny and Sue could now see, was not as tall as Bunker
Blue. "You see, he is a trick pony, and used to be in a circus. But the
men there did not treat him kindly, so I heard. I guess maybe he thought
your big auto was a circus wagon, and when he remembered those wagons he
thought of the unkind men and wanted to run away."
"I'm sorry for that," said Mr. Brown. "We surely would not hurt your
pony. In fact, my children would love him. Did he break the harness when
he turned to run away?"
"I guess he did," answered the short man. "But it was an old harness,
and easily broken. In fact, part of it was tied with bits of string. I
knew it was strong enough for Toby unless he should cut up a little, and
that's just what he did, and broke some of the straps and strings."
"Is Toby the name of your pony?" asked Sue.
"Yes, little girl, Toby is his name. And he is a nice little Shetland
pony," and he stroked the fluffy mane and rubbed the velvety nose of the
little animal, that seemed to be all right now.
"Oh, Daddy! will you?" suddenly exclaimed Bunny.
"Will I what?" asked Mr. Brown, rather surprised and puzzled.
"Will you buy that pony for us?" eagerly begged Sue. "Bunny whispered to
me that we could have a lot of fun with him if you would buy him."
So that was what Bunny whispered to his Sister Sue!
"Buy this pony for you?" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Is that what you mean?"
"Yes, please," said Bunny. "We--we'd love it!"
Bunker Blue went up to the little horse and patted its back. The
Shetland pony seemed to like the fish boy.
"Is he tame?" asked Bunny.
"Very tame," answered the short man.
"Could I pat him?" Sue questioned.
"Of course you could!" said the man. "Come right up to him, Toby loves
children. It's only big autos, which remind him of circus wagons, that
scare him."
"We had a circus once," went on Bunny, as he and Sue approached the
pony. "But we didn't have any little horses in it."
"We had our dog, Splash," added Sue.
"Well, I guess that was nice," the man said.
The children patted Toby, who rubbed his velvety nose against them.
"I'm sorry your harness broke," said Mr. Brown. "You must let me pay for
having it fixed, since it was the fault of my big auto that your pony
ran away, Mr.----" and the children's father waited for the other man to
tell his name. "I am Mr. Brown," went on the fish and boat dealer, after
a moment of silence.
"Oh, yes, I have heard of you," replied the other. "Well, I guess you'll
laugh when you hear my name."
"Why?" asked Mr. Brown. "Why should we laugh?"
"Because it's so different from what I am. You see, I am very short, do
you not?"
"You are certainly not a very tall man," said Mr. Brown, with a smile.
"And yet I am," observed the other.
"You are _what_?"
"I am Vera Tallman," was the answer. "That really is my name, strange as
it may sound," he went on, smiling at Mr. Brown, who was smiling at him.
"Vera is the last name of my grandfather, and I am called after him.
Tallman is my own last name, and I had to be called that though I am
very short. It is quite a joke with my friends. I say to them I am a
short Tallman or a short man who is Vera Tallman."
"Oh, I see!" laughed Mr. Brown. "Well, it's a good thing you can be so
jolly about it."
"There is no good in finding fault with what can't be helped," said the
man with a kind smile, as he patted the pony. "I can't make myself tall
by wishing, even though I have a long name. So I let it go at that. And,
when any one says to me, 'You are not very tall,' I answer, 'Oh, yes, I
am Vera Tallman,' and then I have a joke on them."
"Yes, I should think you would," said Mr. Brown. "But let us get back to
the broken harness. How much shall I pay you?"
"Nothing at all," answered Mr. Tallman. "It was my fault for driving
Toby in a harness mended with bits of string. I should have known
better, but I did not think Toby would meet with a moving van, that
would make him think of the circus where he was so badly treated. You
need not pay me anything."
"But perhaps the cart is broken also," said Mr. Brown.
"I hardly think so," returned Mr. Tallman, who was such a short man.
"Toby just twisted around and tore himself loose out of the harness.
Then he ran back along the road and I ran after him. He did not run far,
as soon as he was out of sight of your big auto he stopped."
"I am glad of that," said Mr. Brown. "Now I will tell you what we had
better do."
"What?" asked Mr. Tallman, still patting the pony, a thing which Bunny
Brown and his Sister Sue were also doing. "What had we better do?"
"One of us had better go back and get the pony cart," went on Mr. Brown.
"Bunker Blue can easily haul it here, and you can hitch Toby to it out
of sight of our big auto. Then he won't be frightened any more. And
perhaps you had better drive him around another road, or wait until we
can take the auto another way. I wouldn't want to have Toby break loose
again."
"Well, maybe that would be a good plan," agreed Mr. Tallman. "If you
will let Bunker, as you call him, bring the pony cart here, I will
harness Toby to it. Then I'll drive over the short-cut road and get past
your auto without letting my pony see it."
Bunker ran back, and soon came trotting along the road with the basket
cart, pretending he was a pony himself, which made Bunny and Sue laugh.
It was found that only the string part of the harness was broken, and as
Bunker had some strong fish cords in his pocket, the straps were soon
mended.
"It is better than before," said Mr. Tallman, when Toby was once again
hitched to the basket cart. "I don't believe Toby could break loose
now."
"And won't you let me pay you for the damage?" asked the fish merchant.
"Oh, no, indeed!" cried Mr. Tallman. "You have done more than your share
now."
Bunny and Sue were again whispering together. Then Bunny stepped forward
and said:
"Daddy, we'll give you all the money in our banks."
"All the money in your banks, Bunny? What do you mean?" asked Mr.
Brown.
"To help you buy the pony for us," went on the little boy. "Please,
Daddy, buy Toby for us. Sue and I would like him awful much!"
"Well, he certainly is a nice pony," said Mr. Brown, "and I remember,
once I did half promise to get you a Shetland pony. Is Toby for sale?"
asked Mr. Brown.
Mr. Tallman shook his head, while Bunny and Sue looked anxiously at him.
"No," said the owner of Toby, "I don't want to sell my trick pony. I am
going to take him to the fair, and I think I shall win prizes with him,
and get a lot of money when I show what tricks he can do. I wouldn't
sell Toby--not for anything!"
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny Brown.
"Oh, dear!" sighed his Sister Sue.
And just then, along the road came driving a man in a light carriage.
The man had a dark face and a very black beard. He scowled as he looked
at Mr. Tallman and the Shetland pony. Then the black-bearded man said:
"Well, I've found you, have I? Now, I want you to give me that pony!
Give him to me at once and have no more nonsense about it! I want that
pony!"
CHAPTER IV
LOOKING FOR A PONY
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue hardly knew what to make of the
black-bearded man who seemed so angry about something. He jumped from
his wagon and went up close to the Shetland pony. The little animal was
again harnessed to the basket cart.
"Give him to me!" exclaimed the black-whiskered man.
"No, I will not!" answered Mr. Tallman. "He is not your pony, and you
have no right to him."
"Well, if he isn't mine he soon will be!" said the dark man. "You owe me
a lot of money, and if you don't pay pretty soon I'll take that pony
away from you and sell him. Then I'll get the money in that way."
"Perhaps you will," said the pony's owner. "But before you do that I may
be able to pay you what I owe you, and then I can keep my little Toby."
"Why don't you pay me now?" asked the black-whiskered man, whose name
was Mr. Tang.
"Because I haven't the money," answered Mr. Tallman.
"Then give me the pony! Come, now!" went on Mr. Tang, for such was his
name. "If you will let me have your trick pony I'll not bother you about
the money you owe me. I'll let you have a long while in which to pay me
the last part of it. Give me that pony!" and he seemed about to take
Toby away.
"No, I'll not give him up!" said Mr. Tallman. "I'll try to get your
money in some other way. I never can part with Toby; especially to you."
"Why won't you let me have him?" asked Tang.
"Because I'm afraid you wouldn't be kind to him."
"I'd sell him, that's what I'd do!" said the dark man. "I'd sell him,
after you gave him to me, and in that way I'd get back a part of the
money you owe me. I'd sell Toby, that's what I'd do!"
"That's what I'd be afraid of," went on Mr. Tallman. "I'd be afraid
you'd sell him back to the cruel men in the circus. No, sir! I'll not
let you have my pony. I'll get your money in some other way, and pay you
back."
"Well, see that you do!" growled Mr. Tang. "If you don't pay me soon,
I'll come and take Toby away from you! That's what I'll do!"
With that he got back in his wagon, and, with a last look at Toby, the
Shetland pony, the unpleasant man drove away.
"Oh," said Bunny in a low voice, "I'm glad that man didn't buy the
pony."
"So am I," said Sue.
"And I'm glad I didn't give him up," added Mr. Tallman. "I'd never feel
happy if I knew he had my pet pony."
"He does not look like a kind man," said Mr. Brown, "and I saw him
strike his horse with the whip. Still he might not hurt the pony."
"Well, if he didn't hurt him he might send him back to the circus, where
Toby would be beaten," remarked Mr. Tallman. "Of course, I know that in
most circuses the ponies and other animals are kindly treated. But Toby
was not treated well in the circus where he was, and he'd never like to
go back there. That's why I want to keep him."
"If you sold him to me, for my children, we would treat him kindly,"
said Mr. Brown.
"Yes, I know that," said Mr. Tallman. "But I don't want to sell
Toby--least of all to Mr. Tang."
"Do you owe him money?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Yes. More, I fear, than I can ever pay. And if I don't pay him he may
come and take Toby away from me."
"That would be too bad," said Mr. Brown, and Bunny and his sister
thought the same thing.
"Yes, it would," agreed Mr. Tallman. "I was on my way, just now, to see
a friend, to get him to lend me some money to pay Mr. Tang," went on the
pony's owner. "I'll go there now."
"And if he can't help you, perhaps I can," called Mr. Brown to Mr.
Tallman, as the latter drove away in the basket cart. "Whatever happens,
if you decide to sell Toby, come to me first."
"I will," Mr. Tallman promised, and then he drove along on another road,
where the little horse would not see the big auto and be frightened
again.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue, as she and Bunny walked back to the ark. "I did
love that pony so!"
"I did, too," added Bunny. "Don't you s'pose we can ever get him,
Daddy?"
"Well, I don't know," answered Mr. Brown. "If we can't buy that Toby
pony, though, perhaps we can find another."
"Really?" cried Sue.
"Will you truly buy us another?" asked Bunny.
"If we can find one as nice as Toby," promised Mr. Brown.
Bunny and Sue sighed again.
"What's the matter?" asked their father.
"There won't ever be another pony as nice as Toby," said the little
girl.
"Never!" added Bunny.
"But he ran away," said Mr. Brown, not wishing the two children to fall
too deeply in love with a pet they could not have. "I might find another
pony that wouldn't do such a thing."
"He didn't run away very _much_," stated Bunny. "And that was only
'cause he thought our auto was a circus wagon. We could keep the auto in
the barn, and then Toby wouldn't be skeered."
"Yes, we might do that," said Mr. Brown, smiling. "But I'm afraid Toby
isn't for sale. We'll have to look for another pony."
"And will you?" asked Sue.
"Yes; I'll ask about one when we get to East Milford," her father
promised. "There aren't any Shetland ponies for sale in Bellemere; that
I know. Maybe we can find one in East Milford."
Bunny, his sister, his father and Bunker Blue walked back to the ark.
Getting in, once more they set off, and then, without anything much
happening, they rode to East Milford. The big auto was left at a garage
to be fixed, and then Mr. Brown said:
"Well, now we will go and get something to eat, for it is dinner time,
and too far to wait until we get back home."
"And after that shall we go and look for a pony?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, after that I'll see if I can find a Shetland pony for you," his
father promised.
They ate their lunch in a restaurant, and before coming out Sue said:
"Ask the man if he knows where we can get a pony, Daddy!"
"What man, Sue?"
"The man in the restaurant. The man that brought us such nice things to
eat."
"Oh, you mean the waiter! Well, I will," said Mr. Brown with a smile.
And, as he paid the bill, the fish dealer did ask the waiter if he knew
whether any one in the town of East Milford had ponies for sale.
"Well, there's a livery stable over in the next street," was the answer.
"They might have some ponies."
"Oh, let's go and see!" begged Bunny.
"Let's!" said Sue, in a sort of chorus.
As Bunker Blue was needed back on the fish dock, he did not go with
Bunny, Sue and their father to the stable. Instead he took a train back
to Bellemere, promising to telephone to Mrs. Brown so that she would
know Bunny and his sister were with their father, and were all right.
"A Shetland pony, is it?" repeated the livery stable keeper, when Mr.
Brown had told what he wanted--a pet for his children. "No, I'm sorry,
but I haven't any. In fact, I don't believe you'll find one in town."
"Do you know where I could find one?" asked Mr. Brown.
The livery stable keeper thought for a few seconds, and then he said:
"Well, there's a farmer, living in the country about ten miles from
here, who used to own one or two Shetland ponies which his children
drove. They are getting too big for ponies now. Maybe that farmer would
have some Shetlands for sale."
"Oh, Daddy! let's go and see!" begged Bunny.
"Very well, we'll try," replied Mr. Brown.
They hired an automobile in the village, and drove out to Cardiff, where
the livery man said the farmer, who might have some ponies for sale,
lived.
But alas for the hopes of Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue! When they
reached the farm the man said:
"Well, now, I'm sorry! but I sold both my ponies last week! If I'd known
you wanted them for your children, Mr. Brown, I might have kept them.
But they're gone."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny. "I don't believe we'll _ever_ get a Shetland
pony!"
But you just wait and see what happens.
CHAPTER V
THE SHORT TALLMAN
Mr. Brown talked with the farmer a little while longer, asking him if he
knew any other place where Shetland ponies might be bought.
"Well, I don't know that I do," answered Mr. Bascomb, the farmer. "Not
many of us around here keep 'em. But if I hear of any I'll let you
know."
"I wish you would," said Mr. Brown. "I didn't know my little boy and
girl were so eager for a pony."
"We _always_ liked them!" said Bunny.
"But we didn't know how really-truly nice they were until we saw Toby
to-day," added Sue. "Please get us a pony, Daddy!"
"I will if I can find one," promised her father.
But, though he inquired at many places in East Milford, Mr. Brown could
find no one who had ponies to sell. Finally Bunny and Sue became tired,
even with riding about in an auto looking for a possible pet, and Mr.
Brown said:
"Well, we'll go back home now. Your mother will be getting anxious about
you. We'll try again to-morrow to find a Shetland pony."
"Maybe we'll meet Mr. Tallman on our way back," remarked Sue.
"What good would that do?" asked Bunny.
"Well, maybe he'd sell us Toby now," went on his sister. "I like Toby
awful much!"
"So do I," said Bunny. "But I don't guess we'll get him."
"I'm afraid not," put in Mr. Brown. "Mr. Tallman is too fond of his pet
to part with him."
Riding home in the train from East Milford to Bellemere, Bunny Brown and
his Sister Sue talked of little but the pony they had seen, and the one
they hoped to get. They talked so much about ponies, in fact, that Mr.
Brown feared they would dream about one perhaps, so he said:
"To-night we will all go to a moving-picture show. That will take your
mind off ponies and basket carts."
"Oh, it'll be fun to go to the movies!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
"And maybe we'll see a picture of a pony!" added Bunny, eagerly.
Mr. Brown smiled and shook his head.
"I'll certainly have to get them one," he thought.
Bunny and Sue fairly rushed into the house when they reached home. They
saw their mother telling Tressa, the good-natured cook, what to get for
supper.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny, "did Bunker Blue tell you about us?"
"Do you mean about you and Sue hiding away in the ark, when I didn't
know it, and taking a ride?" asked Mrs. Brown, with a smile at the
children, and a funny look at her husband. "Yes, he told me that, Bunny.
And please don't do it again. I know you didn't mean to do wrong, but
you did."
"Oh, I don't mean about our going away in the ark," said Bunny. "I mean,
did Bunker tell you about the pony our auto scared, and how it ran
away?"
"The pony ran away, not our auto," explained Sue, for fear her mother
might not understand what Bunny was talking about.
"I know," said Mrs. Brown with another smile. "You saw a little pony,
did you?"
"Oh, such a sweet little pony!" cried Sue.
"He was a dandy!" said her brother.
"And daddy is going to get us one!" went on Sue.
Mrs. Brown looked at her husband.
"Bunker Blue didn't tell me anything about that," she said.
"No, he didn't know about it," replied Mr. Brown. "But I think we shall
have to get the children a new pet, Mother. Otherwise they'll never be
happy."
Then he told about trying to buy a pony in East Milford, but there was
none to be had.
"I don't believe there are any in Bellemere, either," said the
children's mother. "Where did this Mr. Tallman, who is so short, live?"
"Over in Wayville," answered Mr. Brown, naming the town next to the one
where he lived. "But I'm afraid he won't sell. I'll have to find some
one else with a Shetland pony."
"What makes 'em call them Shetland ponies, Daddy?" asked Sue, as they
sat down to the table for supper. "Are they all named Shetland?"
"They are called that," answered Mr. Brown, "because many of the little
horses, for they are really that, come from the island of Shetland,
which is near Scotland, many, many miles from here.
"The island of Shetland is rather cold and rugged, and the little horses
that live there are small and rugged like the island. They have thick
hair to keep them warm in winter, and, though the Shetland ponies are so
small, they are strong. That is why Toby was able to draw Mr. Tallman in
the cart, even though the pony was not much larger than a big
Newfoundland dog.
"Sometimes Shetland ponies are called Shelties, which means the same
thing," went on Mr. Brown.
"Well, we'd like a Shelty," said Sue, with a smile.
"And you shall have one, if I can find him for you," promised her
father.
"Do _all_ ponies come from Shetland?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, no, not all of them," answered the children's father.
For two or three days after that Mr. Brown made inquiries in and about
Bellemere for Shetland ponies. But there seemed to be none for sale. Mr.
Brown even wrote Mr. Tallman a letter, asking if the owner of Toby knew
any one else who had ponies for sale. But the letter was not answered.
"I guess Mr. Tallman has so much trouble about the money he owes Mr.
Tang that he has no time to write letters," said the children's father.
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue often talked about the pony they hoped to
have. And one day, about a week after they had seen Toby, Bunny said:
"Come on, Sue. Let's go down and see."
"Go down where?" the little girl wanted to know.
"Down to daddy's wharf."
"What for? To see the boats? I'd rather play with my doll."
"No, not to see the boats," went on Bunny. "Let's go down and see if
daddy has found a Shetland pony for us yet."
"Oh, let's!" cried Sue, and, hand in hand, she and her brother went down
to their father's dock.
Though the wharf was near the bay, where the water was deep, Bunny and
his sister were allowed to go there if they first stopped at the office,
on the land-end of the dock, and told their father they had come to see
him. In that way Mrs. Brown knew they would not fall into the water, for
Mr. Brown would have Bunker Blue, or some of his other helpers, stay
with the children until they were ready to go home again.
Bunny and his sister always liked to go to their father's dock. There
were many things to see--the boats coming in or going out, sometimes big
catches of fish being unloaded, to be afterward packed in barrels with
ice, so they would keep fresh to be sent to the big city. Once a boat
came in with a big shark that had been caught in the fish nets, and once
Bunker Blue was pinched by a big lobster that he thought was asleep on
the dock.
So down to their father's office went Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue,
but when they looked in the room where Mr. Brown was usually to be
found, he was not there. However, Bunker Blue was.
"Hello, messmates!" called the boy in greeting.
"Hello," answered Bunny. "Is my father here?"
"No, he just went home," said Bunker. "Didn't you meet him?"
"No," answered Sue, with a shake of her head. "We didn't see him, and we
just came from home."
"Well, maybe he had to stop at a store first," said Bunker.
"Did he have our pony?" asked Bunny eagerly. "Maybe he stopped in a
store to get the harness, Sue!"
"Or the cart!" added Bunny's sister.
Bunker Blue smiled and shook his head.
"No," he said slowly. "I'm sorry, but your father didn't get any pony.
He had a letter from a man he wrote to about one, but this man didn't
have any to sell."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny. "I don't guess we're ever going to have that
pony!"
"I don't guess so, too," added the little girl. "What'll we do now,
Bunny?"
"Let's go home and ask daddy about it," suggested her brother. "Maybe
he's heard _something_ about a pony."
"Be sure to go straight home!" warned Bunker Blue. "Else I'll have to go
with you."
"We'll go straight home," promised Bunny, as he started off, his
sister's hand in his.
When they promised this Bunny and Sue were allowed to go back and forth
between their father's office and their home alone. For the street was
almost a straight one, and, as they knew the way and many persons living
along it knew the children, Mrs. Brown felt no harm would come to them.
So, after a little look about the dock, and not seeing anything to amuse
them, Bunny and his sister started back home again. They had hardly left
their father's office, where Bunker Blue stayed to do some work, before
the two children heard a voice saying:
"Hello there, little ones! Can you tell me where Mr. Walter Brown
lives?"
Bunny and Sue turned quickly around. They saw a small man smiling at
them, and they knew they had seen him before.
"Why, it's my two little friends that were in the big auto!" cried the
short man in surprise. "You're Mr. Brown's children, aren't you?" he
asked.
"Yes, sir," Bunny answered.
"And is your father here?" the man went on.
"No, sir," said Bunny. Then he added: "You're Mr. Shortman; aren't you?"
"Ha-ha! Not quite right," was the laughing answer. "Sometimes my friends
call me that in fun. But my right name is Tallman."
"Oh, yes, now I 'member!" exclaimed Bunny. "Do you want to see my
father?" he asked.
"I'd like to," replied Mr. Tallman.
"He's just gone home," said Sue. "We came down to see him ourselves,
but he's gone. We came to see if he had a pony."
"But he didn't," Bunny said. "So we're going home ourselves to see him.
You could come with us if you wanted to see my father," he added.
"Well, I will," returned the man who had been driving Toby the day the
big auto frightened the little pony. "I'll go home with you two little
tots, and see your father."
Bunny and Sue wanted very much to ask why Mr. Tallman wanted to see Mr.
Brown, but they did not think that would be polite, so they did not do
it.
Hand in hand Bunny and Sue started off again, Mr. Tallman following. In
a little while, so fast did the children go, even with their short legs,
all three were at the Brown home.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny, running into the room where Mrs. Brown was
sitting, "where's daddy?"
"He's out in the barn, little son," answered Mrs. Brown. "But why are
you so excited, and why do you want daddy?"
"'Cause there's a short man to see him!" gasped Bunny.
"No, it's a tall man," added Sue. "I mean his name is Tallman, but he is
a little, short man."
"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "What is it all about? I don't
understand. Does some one want to see your father?"
"Yes," answered Bunny. "A Tallman."
"And he's such a short man," went on Sue.
"Excuse me, ma'am," said Mr. Tallman himself, following the children
into the room. "But I guess they get mixed up about me. You see, I am
really short, though I have a tall name. I'm the one who owned the
little pony which I guess your children have told you about, and I would
like to see Mr. Brown. I came with the children up from the dock. Is
your husband at home?"
"He is out in the barn. Won't you have a chair?"
"Thank you, I will," and Mr. Tallman sat down and looked at Bunny and
Sue, while Mrs. Brown went to call her husband. At last Bunny could keep
still no longer.
"Mr. Tallman," he asked, "did you come to tell daddy about a pony?"
"That's what I did, little man! That's what I did!" was the answer, and
the hearts of Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue beat high with hope.
Were they going to get a pony at last?
CHAPTER VI
BUNNY, SUE AND TOBY
"Well, Mr. Tallman, I see you haven't grown any shorter," said Mr. Brown
with a laugh, as he came in and shook hands with the visitor.
"No, I'm thankful to say I haven't shrunk much," was the answer. "I
stopped down at your dock, but you weren't there, and your two little
children kindly led me here. Piloted me, would be a better word, I
suppose, since we are so near the ocean where men pilot the ships."
"Yes, Bunny and Sue are good little pilots between our house and the
dock," agreed Mr. Brown. "I wouldn't want them to navigate all alone
much farther than that, though. I'm glad to see you, Mr. Tallman!"
Bunny and Sue could keep quiet no longer. They just couldn't wait! They
must hear about that pony!
So, as soon as there was a chance, when Mr. Tallman and Mr. Brown
stopped speaking for a moment, Bunny burst out with:
"Oh, Daddy! he's come about the pony!"
"The pony?" asked Mr. Brown, in some surprise, for he thought perhaps
Mr. Tallman had called to see about buying some fish, or hiring a boat.
"Yes," added Sue, her eyes shining as did Bunny's. "He's come about the
pony--_our_ pony, Daddy! Toby! Don't you 'member?"
"Oh, yes; Toby. The little pony that was frightened by our big auto!"
said Mr. Brown. "Well, Mr. Tallman, what about Toby?"
"I've come to see if you want to buy him for your children."
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue.
"Wait a minute," said Mr. Brown with a smile. "Let me hear what Mr.
Tallman has to say. You tell me," he went on, "that you want to sell me
your pony, Toby, for my children?"
"Yes. I've got to sell him, and I'd rather sell him to you, who I know
will be kind to him, than any one else."
"But I thought you didn't want to part with him."
"I didn't," said Mr. Tallman. "And I wouldn't sell Toby now, only I just
have to. You see it's this way, Mr. Brown. I owe a lot of money I can't
pay. I owe some to that Mr. Tang we met the other day, and he's a hard
man. He wants every penny, and I don't blame him for that. I'd pay if I
could, but I can't.
"I thought everything was going nicely, after I met you, and some
friends let me take money to pay some of my debts. Then I had bad luck.
That's what I had, bad luck."
"Was it about Toby?" asked Bunny eagerly. "Is he hurt?"
"No, Toby is all right," answered Mr. Tallman. "The only bad luck about
him is that I have to sell him. I hope he brings you good luck.
"No, the bad luck I speak of is that I have lost a lot more money. In
fact, I have been robbed," said Mr. Tallman.
"Robbed!" cried Mrs. Brown, and she looked at the doors and windows as
if to make sure they were fastened, though it was broad daylight, when
no burglars would come.
"Yes, burglars, or thieves of some sort, got in my house the other
night," went on Mr. Tallman, "and took a box of valuable papers. They
were stocks and bonds on which I could have raised money, but which I
was saving to the last minute," he said. "Of course, you little tots
don't know what stocks and bonds are," he added, speaking to Bunny and
Sue, "so I'll just say that the thieves took away a box of papers that I
owned. And the papers could have been sold for money."
"Oh, Mr. Tallman!" burst out Bunny. "I know where there's a lot of
paper. It's down at the printing office, where they make the _Journal_
daddy reads every night."
"Yes, but the kind of paper the burglars took away from my house isn't
that kind," said Mr. Tallman. "Never mind about that. I want to tell you
about the pony."
And it was about the pony that Bunny and Sue most wanted to hear.
"To make a long story short," went on Mr. Tallman, "the taking of my box
of valuable papers has left me so poor that I've got to sell my house,
and nearly everything else I own. And I've got to sell the pony, Toby. I
thought you would buy him, Mr. Brown."
"Indeed, I will!" cried the children's father. "I have been trying
everywhere to find a Shetland pony for Bunny and Sue." Then Mr. Brown
and Mr. Tallman talked about the price to be paid for Toby. "Yes, I'll
gladly buy Toby, Mr. Tallman," finished Mr. Brown.
"I thought you would. That makes me feel easier, for I know Toby will
have a good home."
"We'll just love him!" cried Bunny.
"And we'll give him lots of nice things to eat!" added Sue. "And I'll
let my dollie ride on his back."
"He'll like that, I'm sure," said Mr. Tallman with a smile. "Well,
that's what I came to see you about, and as long as it's all settled
I'll be getting back. I must see if the police have caught any of the
robbers."
"But when shall we have Toby?" asked Bunny.
"Can't we go with you and get him?" asked Sue.
"What sort of box was it that your papers were in?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Excuse us asking so many questions," he went on, "but I'd like to help
you, if I can, and, of course, the children are eager to have the pony."
"I don't blame them," said Mr. Tallman. "So I'll answer their question
first. I'll bring Toby over to-morrow. I'd do it to-day, but it's
getting late now, and I have lots to do. So, little ones, you may expect
Toby to-morrow. I'll drive over in the basket cart with him, and after
that he's yours."
"For ever?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, for ever."
"Won't you _ever_ want him back, even when you're rich again, and catch
the burglars that took your things?" asked Sue, wishing to make sure.
"Well, I don't believe I'll ever be rich," said Mr. Tallman with a
smile, "even though the police may catch the burglars and get back my
papers. But I promise that I'll never take Toby away from you. When your
daddy buys the pony he's yours as long as you want to keep him."
"Then we want to keep him for ever and ever!" exclaimed Bunny.
"And the next day after that!" added Sue, as if for ever and ever were
not long enough.
"And now to answer your question, Mr. Brown," went on Mr. Tallman, "I'll
say that I kept my stocks and bonds--those are the valuable papers," he
told the children--"I kept them in a queer old box that used to belong
to my grandfather. It was a brass box, but it was painted with red and
yellow stripes. Why it was my grandfather had the box painted that way I
don't know. He used to tell me, when I was a boy like Bunny here, and
went out to his house, that he bought the box from an old gypsy man, and
gypsies, you know, like bright colors.
"Anyhow, I kept my papers in that red-and-yellow-painted brass box. And
the other day, when no one was at home at our house, some one got in and
took the box. So now I'm very poor."
"Didn't a policeman see them take it?" asked Bunny.
"No, I'm sorry to say no one saw them. We don't know who it was,"
answered Mr. Tallman. "But never mind my troubles. I'll have to get out
of them the best way I can. It makes me feel better, though, to know
that Toby will have a good home. I'll bring him over in the morning."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
"Now, we'll have a real pony and we can go for rides!" laughed Bunny
Brown. "Oh, I'm so glad!"
Mr. Brown and Mr. Tallman talked a little longer, and Mr. Brown gave the
man who had been robbed of the red-and-yellow box some money--part
payment for Toby. Then Mr. Tallman went away, Bunny and Sue waving
good-bye to him.
"Oh, I'm so glad we're going to have a Shetland pony, aren't you,
Bunny?" asked Sue.
"Terrible glad," he answered. "But I'm sorry Mr. Tallman lost his
papers."
"So'm I," said Sue. "Oh, Bunny!" she cried, "wouldn't it be just fine if
we could get Mr. Tallman's papers for him?"
"How? What you mean?" asked Bunny, for sometimes he did not think quite
as fast as Sue did, even though he was quicker in running about and
getting into mischief. "What do you mean, Sue?"
"I mean, maybe when we're ridin' around with Toby, in the basket cart,
we could find the robbers that took his red-and-yellow box."
"Oh, yes, that would be nice," agreed Bunny. "And we could ride back
home to Mr. Tallman, just like in a fairy story, and tell him we found
his box and his--and his--oh, well, whatever there was in it," said
Bunny, not able to think of "stocks and bonds."
"It would be dandy!" cried Sue, using a word of which her brother was
very fond. "But, Bunny, if we found all the things Mr. Tallman lost he'd
be rich again--I mean partly rich."
"Well, wouldn't that be good?"
"Yes, but then he'd have a lot of money and he could buy back Toby from
daddy."
Bunny shook his head.
"Nope!" he exclaimed. "Didn't you hear Mr. Tallman say that Toby would
belongs to us for ever and for ever, amen."
"He didn't say amen!" declared Sue.
"Well, that goes with it, anyhow," was Bunny's answer. "We always say
for ever and for ever, amen. So Toby's going to belongs to us that way."
"All right," agreed Sue. "Then we'll find Mr. Tallman's red-and-yellow
box for him and make him rich again. And now let's go and tell Bunker
Blue that we're going to have a pony."
The children were so excited about what was going to happen that they
hardly knew what they did. They told all their friends about their good
luck, and promised every one a ride in the pony cart.
"And you may have as many as ever you want," said Bunny to Bunker Blue.
"'Cause you like ponies, don't you?"
"Oh, I just love 'em!" laughed the fish boy.
Bunny and Sue thought the next day would never come! But it did, and
they were up bright and early. After breakfast they sat out on the
porch, waiting for Mr. Tallman to drive over with Toby. Every now and
then they would run to the gate to look down the road. At last Bunny
cried:
"Here he comes, Sue!"
"Oh, has he got Toby?"
"Yep! He's driving him and the cart! Oh! Oh!"
"Oh! Oh!" shouted Sue, and then the two children ran down the street,
and when they reached the pony, which Mr. Tallman brought to a stop,
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue threw their arms around Toby's neck and
hugged him.
"Oh, we're so glad!" they said. "Now, we're going to ride and look for
your red-and-yellow box, Mr. Tallman."
"Well, I hope you find it, but I'm afraid you won't. Anyhow, here's Toby
for you, and now----"
Just then there was a sound of carriage wheels, grating in a sudden
stop, near the little basket cart, while a harsh voice said:
"Ha! So, I've found you; have I? Now give me that pony and don't make
any more fuss about it!"
And who do you suppose it was that said that?
CHAPTER VII
THE FIRST RIDE
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue looked quickly up at hearing the harsh
voice. They had been looking at Toby, thinking how nice he was, and how
glad they were to have him, but now----
There they saw standing near the little horse Mr. Tang, the cross man
who had said Mr. Tallman owed him money.
"I am just in time, I see!" went on Mr. Tang. "I went over to your house
to get this pony, Mr. Tallman, but they said you had driven here with
him. I see you had."
"Yes, I brought the pony over to Bunny and his sister," stated Mr.
Tallman. "I have sold Toby to their father."
"You have?" cried Mr. Tang. "Why, you shouldn't have done that! You
should have given that pony to me in part payment of the money you owe
me. When are you going to pay me?"
"I can pay you something as soon as Mr. Brown gives me the money for
Toby," was the answer.
"Then, I am too late. I can't have Toby, can I?" asked Mr. Tang.
And, oh! how anxiously Bunny and Sue waited for the answer. Suppose,
after all, they could not have the pony?
But the next words of Mr. Tallman made them feel better. He said:
"Indeed, you are too late. I have sold Toby, and Bunny and Sue are going
to have him after this. I will pay you as soon as I can, but I have been
robbed, Mr. Tang. Some burglars took my red-and-yellow box that had in
it some valuable papers, and I can't pay you all I owe you until I get
that box back."
"But if you'd give me the pony you wouldn't have to pay me so much,"
went on Mr. Tang.
Mr. Tallman shook his head.
"It is too late," he said. "Toby goes to Bunny and Sue."
The little boy and girl were very glad, but Mr. Tang was angry.
"I've got to have my money!" he exclaimed. "If I can't get it one way
I'll get it another. You watch out, Mr. Tallman!" and with that he
turned his horse and drove away, giving a last look toward Toby, Bunny
and Sue.
"Oh, he won't take Toby, will he?" asked Bunny.
"No, indeed," answered Mr. Tallman. "The pony is yours now."
Mr. Brown, who had not yet gone down to his fish dock, now came out of
the house and paid Mr. Tallman for the Shetland pony. And when Bunny and
Sue saw that done they felt sure the pet was their very own.
"For," said Bunny to Sue, as they stood patting Toby, "when you buy
anything at the store, and give your pennies for it, the storekeeper
can't take it back."
"Yes, I guess that's so," said Sue, as though not quite sure. "But Mr.
Tallman isn't a storekeeper."
"Well, Toby's ours now; isn't he, Daddy?" asked the little boy.
"Yes, he surely is," said Mr. Brown.
Mr. Tallman told Bunny and Sue what to feed the little horse, and how to
treat him.
"Bunker Blue will look after Toby in the stable," said Mr. Brown.
"Bunker knows a lot about horses as well as about boats, and he'll
harness the pony for the children until they get big enough to do it
themselves. We have a nice little box-stall in the stable where Toby
can make himself at home."
"And we'll put some soft straw in for his bed," added Bunny.
"And we'll pull grass and give it to him to eat," said Sue. "Will he
like green grass, Mr. Tallman?"
"Oh, yes, very much. But he likes hay, too, and now and then a bit of
apple or a lump of sugar."
"We'll give him them, too!" cried Bunny. "Oh, we'll have lots of fun
with our pony, won't we, Sue?"
"Yes," answered the little girl, again patting Toby. "We'll have heaps
of fun!"
"Well, good-bye, little horse," said Mr. Tallman finally, when it was
time for him to go. "Good-bye! I'm sorry to have to sell you, but I need
the money, and I'm sure you'll have a good home with Bunny and Sue. They
will be kind to you. Good-bye!"
Toby bowed his head up and down. It may be that he was saying
"Good-bye!" also, or perhaps he only happened to do that. But the two
children thought it must be that he was bowing because Mr. Tallman was
going away.
Bunny and Sue looked down the road to make sure the cross Mr. Tang was
not in sight, and they were glad when they did not see him. For, even
though they knew their father had paid for Toby, still they felt that,
in some way, the gruff man might come and take him away.
"When may we have a ride, Daddy?" asked Bunny as he saw his father
getting ready to go down to the dock. He was going to walk along with
Mr. Tallman, who would have to take a train back to his home, since he
could no longer ride in the pony cart.
"Oh, so you want to _ride_, do you?" asked Mr. Brown with a smile, and a
wink at Mr. Tallman. "Why, I thought you wanted to have Toby just to
_look_ at."
"Oh, no, we want a ride! Don't we, Sue?" Bunny cried.
"Lots of rides!" exclaimed the little girl. "When may we have one,
Daddy?"
"I'll send Bunker Blue up as soon as I get to the dock," promised Mr.
Brown. "He can take you for a ride in the pony cart."
"Oh, shall we have to wait _that_ long?" Bunny cried. "Couldn't we go
for a ride by ourselves?"
"Not at first," Mr. Brown answered. "But after a while, when Bunker has
shown you how to drive, then I expect you and your sister will go off on
little trips by yourselves--not too far, though. I suppose Toby will be
safe for the children to drive?" Mr. Brown asked Mr. Tallman.
"Oh, yes, of course," said that gentleman. "There is one nice thing
about Toby--he is very gentle and kind and he likes children very much.
In fact, he's like a big dog.
"But, Mr. Brown, if Bunny and Sue want a ride so much, why not let me
drive them down to your dock? I know where it is, for I was there the
other day. Then they can take Bunker Blue in with them and he can teach
them how to hold the reins, and other things they need to know about the
pony and cart. I'll drive them down."
"Will you?" returned Mr. Brown. "That is kind. Jump in, Bunny and Sue!
Get ready for your first pony ride! Tell Bunker Blue I'll soon be there,
and then you can all three go off together. Get in!"
"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Bunny and Sue, filled with joy. "Oh! Oh!"
Mr. Tallman helped them into the basket cart, and then got in himself.
Toby looked around as if to make sure that the children were safely
seated before starting off, and he switched his long tail.
"Isn't his tail beautiful?" exclaimed Sue.
"Awful nice," agreed Bunny. "I guess no flies 'd better get on Toby, or
they'll wish they hadn't when he switches 'em off!"
"Get along, Toby!" called Mr. Tallman to the little creature. "You are
going to give Bunny and Sue their first ride. We could take you in the
pony cart if you'd like it," he said to Mr. Brown. "Toby can easily pull
all four of us, as the road is smooth and down hill."
"No," said Mr. Brown. "I have to stop at two or three places on my way
to the dock. Besides, it seems too much for one little pony to pull two
men and two children."
"Oh, Toby is strong!" replied Mr. Tallman. "He has often pulled heavier
loads than that."
"Well, thank you, I'll not get in," again said Mr. Brown. "Ride along,
Bunny and Sue, and wait for me at the dock. Then you and Bunker may have
a good time."
Off started Toby, drawing Mr. Tallman, Bunny and Sue. The children
looked with eager eyes at their new pony, whose little feet went
"clap-clap!" on the hard road. And Toby went quite fast, too, trotting
so rapidly that his feet seemed to "twinkle," as Sue said.
"Oh, I just love a pony!" said Sue, as she sat beside Bunny. "I just
love Toby!"
"So do I!" agreed her brother. "We're going to keep him for ever and
ever!"
But neither Bunny nor Sue knew what was shortly going to happen to
Toby.
CHAPTER VIII
SUE'S HANDKERCHIEF
"Well, well! What's all this?" cried Bunker Blue, as he saw Bunny and
Sue sitting in the pony cart, being driven along the dock by Mr.
Tallman. "What's all this?"
"We got a pony!" said Sue.
"And he's all ours! To keep for ever! Daddy bought him from Mr.
Tallman," added Bunny.
"And daddy says you're going to show us how to drive him and hitch him
up and all like that," went on Sue.
"Oh, I'll like that!" exclaimed Bunker Blue. He had been painting a
small boat, but he wiped the paint off his hands and came over to pat
Toby.
"Isn't he nice?" asked Bunny.
"Very nice, indeed," answered Bunker Blue. "Well, I think taking you
children for a ride on such a fine day as this will be more fun than
painting boats. Am I to start off with the children at once?" he asked
Mr. Tallman.
"No, I believe Mr. Brown wants you to wait for him," answered the man
who had sold the pony. "I'll get out now, as I need to hurry back home.
I'll leave the pony with you."
"I'll take good care of him, and Bunny and Sue also," promised Bunker
Blue.
"Good-bye!" called Mr. Tallman for the second time, and now he really
started away by himself. Once more Toby seemed to bow his head up and
down.
"Good-bye!" answered Bunny.
"I hope you find your red-and-yellow box," added Sue.
"And all your money in it," went on her brother.
"Oh, it wasn't exactly money in the box that was taken from me," said
Mr. Tallman. "The papers could be sold for money if I had them. But
they're gone!"
"If we find them, when we're riding around with Toby, we'll save 'em for
you," promised Bunny.
"All right," answered Mr. Tallman with a laugh. "I hope you do find
them, but I'm afraid you won't."
While Bunker went to wash himself, in readiness for taking Bunny and Sue
for a ride, having first tied the pony's strap to a post on the dock,
Bunny and Sue sat in the basket cart, looking at their new pet.
"Oh, look! There's a fly on him!" suddenly exclaimed Sue. "Shall I shoo
it off with my handkerchief, Bunny?"
"Maybe Toby can knock it off himself," replied Bunny.
And, surely enough, while the children watched, Toby gave his tail a
flicker and a twist, and the fly, which had been biting him, flew away.
"Isn't he cute?" cried Sue.
"Yes," said Bunny. "And his tail is so long that he can switch flies
'most anywhere on him."
"His tail won't reach up to his front legs," said Sue, leaning over the
edge of the cart to look and make sure. "How does he get the flies off
his front legs, Bunny, when he can't reach 'em with his tail?"
"I don't know," answered the little boy.
"Let's get out and watch," suggested Sue. "Daddy isn't here yet, and
Bunker can't take us for a ride till daddy comes. Let's get out and see
how Toby makes the flies get off his front legs."
"Oh, yes, let's!" agreed Bunny.
Out of the basket cart climbed the two children. They walked around
where they could stand in front of Toby, and stooped down so they could
see his legs better.
"There's a fly!" suddenly exclaimed Bunny.
"Where?" asked Sue eagerly.
"Right on his--his elbow," Bunny answered, pointing to the middle part
of Toby's leg, where it bent. "There's a fly right on his elbow."
"'Tisn't his elbow," said Sue. "That isn't!"
"What is it then?"
"It's his--his knee!"
"Well, it would be his elbow if his front legs were arms," insisted
Bunny. "And, anyhow, there's a fly!"
Surely enough, there was a fly on Toby's leg, and it was out of reach of
his tail, long as that was.
"How'll he get the fly off?" asked Sue.
"Let's watch and see," suggested Bunny.
They did not have long to wait. Pretty soon the fly began to bite, as
flies always do when they get on horses or ponies. But the fly did not
bite very long, for Toby stretched his leg out a little way in front of
him, where he could reach it more easily, and then he leaned down his
head and with his nose drove the fly away.
"Oh, look!" cried Bunny. "He's scratching the itchy place with his
nose!"
And that is just what Toby was doing. When he found that his tail would
not reach the biting fly he drove the insect off another way.
Then, while Bunny and Sue still watched, a third fly, or perhaps it was
the same one, lighted on Toby's front leg in a place where he could
neither reach it with his tail nor with his nose.
"What'll he do now?" asked Sue.
"Let's watch and see," said her brother.
Again they did not have long to wait. When Toby found that the fly was
biting him, he gave a queer wiggle to his skin, and the fly flew off.
"Oh, he shivered him away!" cried Sue. "He just shivered him away!"
And really it did seem as if Toby had done that very thing. Bunny and
Sue were laughing at the queer way their pony had got rid of the fly
when they saw their father coming along the dock.
"Well, youngsters!" called Mr. Brown, "you haven't sold Toby yet, I
see!"
"And we're not going to!" cried Bunny. "We're never going to sell Toby!"
"All right," said Mr. Brown, laughing. "But where is Bunker?"
"He's washing so he can take us for a ride," answered Sue. "And, Daddy!
you ought to see Toby chase flies!"
"Does he run after them?" asked her father, smiling.
"Oh, Daddy! Of _course_ not!" cried Sue. "But when a fly gets on the
back part of our pony he switches his tail and knocks him off."
"And when a fly gets on his front leg he scratches it off with his
nose."
"What?" cried Mr. Brown. "Does Toby scratch his leg off?"
"No! The _fly_!" said Bunny, laughing at the funny way his father spoke.
"He brushes the fly off, and then he scratches the itchy place with his
nose."
"My! he's quite a pony!"
"And when a fly gets on the back part of his front leg, how do you
s'pose he gets the fly off then, Daddy?" asked Sue.
"Does he ask you to drive the fly off for him?" Mr. Brown wanted to
know.
"Oh, Daddy! Course not! Toby can't talk!" Sue said. "But he just shivers
his leg and the fly goes right away! What do you think of that?"
"Well, I think your pony is smarter than we knew," said Mr. Brown.
"Think of shivering off flies!"
"And sometimes he stamps his feet and shakes them off," added Bunny.
"That's another way. How many does that make, Sue? How many ways can
Toby drive off the flies?"
Bunny and Sue counted up on their fingers, Bunny saying:
"He can switch 'em off with his tail, he can scratch 'em off with his
nose, he can stamp 'em off and he can shiver 'em off!"
"Four ways," said Sue, who was keeping track on her chubby fingers.
"My! Toby is a regular trick pony!" said Mr. Brown. "Well, here comes
Bunker, and I guess he's ready to take you for a ride."
The boat and fish boy had cleaned off some of the paint that had
splattered on him, and now, with freshly washed hands and face, and with
his hair nicely combed, he was ready to take charge of Bunny and Sue.
"Please, could we drive a little?" asked Bunny.
"I want to hold the reins," added Sue.
"I guess it will be all right," said Mr. Brown. "When you get on a quiet
road, Bunker, show the children how to drive, and let them take the
reins."
"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Sue.
"Lots of fun!" echoed Bunny.
Bunker had to go to the end of the dock to tell another boy something
about a boat that had been taken out by a fishing party, and Bunny and
Sue waited for their friend to come back before getting into the pony
cart.
"'Member how we used to go out in the boats, Bunny?" asked Sue.
"Course I 'member. But I don't want to go out now. I'd rather go for a
ride with our Shetland pony."
"Oh, so'd I," went on Sue. "I was just 'memberin'. Maybe some day we
could take Toby for a ride on a boat."
"Maybe," agreed Bunny. "He wouldn't have to jiggle any flies off his
skin then, if we had him in a boat."
"But maybe he wouldn't like a boat," went on Sue. "He might kick and
fall overboard. Then we wouldn't have any pony."
"That's so," Bunny agreed. "Lessen we fished him out."
"We couldn't!" said Sue. "I don't guess we'd better take him out in a
boat."
"Maybe not," agreed Bunny. "Course, maybe daddy or Bunker Blue could
fish him out, but I guess we won't take him. I wish Bunker would hurry
up and come back so we could go for a ride. Let's go and see where he
is."
The two children, leaving Toby hitched to the cart and tied by a strap
to a post, walked a little way down to look for Bunker. They saw him
coming, and the fish and boat boy waved his hand to the children.
"I'll be with you in a minute," he said. "Tommy lost an oar off the dock
and I had to get it for him."
As Bunny and Sue turned to walk back toward Toby they saw a funny sight.
The little Shetland pony started to come toward them, and in his mouth
was a white rag.
"Oh, look what Toby has!" cried Bunny. "It's a piece of paper!"
"No, it's my handkerchief!" exclaimed Sue, "I dropped it out of my
pocket," and, on looking, surely enough, her handkerchief was gone.
"And Toby picked it up and he's bringing it to you!" said Bunny. "Oh,
Sue! he's just like Splash, isn't he? He brings things back to you!"
The little pony walked as far toward the children as the strap would
let him, and there he stood, holding Sue's handkerchief in his teeth.
[Illustration: TOBY WAS HOLDING SUE'S HANDKERCHIEF.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony. Page 78._]
"It's just like he was handing it to me!" cried Sue.
"I wonder if he did it on purpose," said Bunny.
"We can find out," Sue said. "I could drop it again, and we could see if
he picked it up. Shall we do it, Bunny?"
"Oh, yes, let's!" said the little boy.
"What is it you're going to do?" Bunker Blue asked, as he came along
just then. "I thought you were going for a ride with me."
"So we are," answered Bunny. "But look! Toby picked up Sue's
handkerchief that she dropped, and he started to bring it over to her,
but he couldn't go any farther on account of the strap. Do you s'pose he
did it on purpose, Bunker?"
The fish boy scratched his head.
"I shouldn't wonder but what he did," he answered. "Didn't Mr. Tallman
say Toby was once in a circus?"
"Yes," answered Bunny and Sue together.
"That settles it then!" cried Bunker. "Toby is a trick pony, and picking
up handkerchiefs is one of his tricks."
"Honest?" asked Bunny.
"I think so," replied Bunker. "But it's easy to tell for sure."
"How?" asked Sue.
"We'll just loosen the strap, and you can drop your handkerchief again,
Sue, and see if he picks it up. Here, Toby," went on Bunker, "I'll just
take that handkerchief now, thank you, and we'll see if you can do the
trick again--if it _is_ a trick. I'll loosen your strap."
And as he was doing this Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were wondering
what Toby would do. Would he pick up the handkerchief again?
CHAPTER IX
TOBY'S NEW TRICK
"We didn't know we had a trick pony, did we, Bunny?" asked Sue, as
Bunker Blue got ready to see what Toby would do next.
"Maybe we haven't," replied Bunny. "He doesn't _look_ like a trick
pony."
"But he's terrible nice!" Sue said. "And the way he picked up my
handkerchief was nice, too. Maybe he'll do it again."
"Maybe," said Bunny.
By this time Bunker had loosed the strap by which the pony was fastened
to the post on the dock. Toby shook his head up and down, as well as
sideways, as though showing how glad he was to be free again.
"Now, little pony!" called the fish boy, "let's see if you can really do
this trick."
Bunker, who still held Sue's handkerchief, walked back a little way, and
dropped the bit of white cloth on the dock. Toby looked at it a moment,
as if to make sure what it was, and then he walked over to it, picked
it up as he had done before, and then, to the surprise and delight of
the children, walked with the handkerchief straight to Bunker Blue.
"Oh, he did it! He did it!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "He _is_ a
trick pony, Bunny!"
"Yes, but didn't he ought to bring the handkerchief to _you_, Sue?"
asked her brother.
"He saw me drop it," explained Bunker, "so he thought it must be mine.
Maybe if you were to drop it, Sue, he would bring it back to you."
"Oh, let me!" she cried.
Bunker gave the little girl her handkerchief, and after Sue had put her
arms around Toby, and patted him on the head, at the same time calling
him pet names, she backed away and dropped her handkerchief where the
Shetland pony could see it on the dock.
For a moment or two Toby did nothing. He stood looking at the white rag
and then he shook his head. But he shook it up and down, and not
sideways, and, seeing this, Sue cried:
"Oh, he's saying that he'll do it! He says he'll bring me the
handkerchief!"
And, whether or not Toby really meant this, or whether it was the way he
always did the trick, I don't know, but, anyhow, he stepped out, walked
over to the handkerchief, pulling the basket cart after him, and then he
picked up the white cloth and walked straight to Sue with it, holding it
out to her in his mouth.
"Oh, he did it!" cried the little girl, clapping her hands. "He brought
the handkerchief to me, Bunny! Now, isn't he a trick pony?"
"Yes," said Bunny, slowly, "I guess he is. I wonder if he'd bring me my
handkerchief?"
"Try him and see," suggested Bunker Blue. "But I thought you wanted to
go for a ride."
"So we do," returned Bunny, "but we can ride after we see if Toby does
the handkerchief trick for me."
"Yes, I guess we'll have time for that," said Bunker Blue.
So Bunny dropped his handkerchief on the dock, and, surely enough, Toby
picked it up and carried it to the little boy.
"Now," said Sue, "we know for sure he's a trick pony. Maybe he did that
in a circus, Bunker."
"Maybe he did," agreed the fish boy.
"I wonder if he can do any more tricks," went on Bunny.
"We'll try him after a while," went on Bunker. "If I'm going to take you
for a ride, and show you how to drive your little horse, we'd better
start, as I don't know when your father may want me back here on the
dock. Come on, we'll go out on the road, and, later on, we can try Toby
with some more tricks."
So Bunny and Sue climbed into the basket cart, taking seats on either
side, and Bunker climbed up after them, to hold the reins. They drove
down the wooden dock toward Mr. Brown's office, the feet of Toby, the
Shetland pony, going: "Plunk! Plunk! Plunk!" on the boards.
"Well, you've started I see!" called Mr. Brown to Bunny and Sue, as he
looked out of the door of his office. "But what kept you so long?"
"Oh, Toby was doing tricks," answered Bunny.
"Doing tricks?" asked Mr. Brown.
"He picked up my handkerchief," added Sue, and she told her father all
about it.
"My! he certainly is a trick pony!" said Mr. Brown. "We must ask Mr.
Tallman if Toby can do anything else besides the handkerchief trick."
Then, as Mr. Brown watched, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue and their
Shetland pony went off down the road, Bunker Blue driving.
"Doesn't he go nice?" cried Sue to her brother. "And doesn't his tail
switch off the flies quick?"
"Terrible quick," agreed Bunny, and he added: "Oh, Bunker Blue! you
ought to see how many ways Toby can wiggle the flies off his legs."
"How many?" asked the fish boy.
"Five," answered Bunny. "Course not all five flies off his legs, but
some off his back he switches with his tail, and----"
"You talk just like a Dutchman!" laughed Bunker.
"Well, anyhow, he can wiggle flies off lots of ways," Bunny said.
Down the road they drove, and many a person, and not a few children,
turned to look after the pony cart in which Bunny and Sue were having
such a good time.
As they drove past old Miss Hollyhock's cottage she came to the door and
waved to them. A little farther on Bunny saw Charlie Star, with whom he
sometimes played.
"Oh, Bunker!" cried Bunny, "couldn't we take Charlie for a ride?"
"Well, yes, but not just now. I want to give you children a little
lesson in driving, and we don't want to be crowded. Some other time
we'll take Charlie," said the fish boy.
So, as he drove past his chum, Bunny leaned out of the cart and called:
"We'll give you a ride to-morrow, Charlie!"
"All right--thanks!" shouted the little boy in answer.
A little later Sue saw some of her girl playmates--Mary Watson and Sadie
West--and to them she said the same thing--that she would take them for
a ride the next day.
"Don't promise too much," warned Bunker Blue. "We don't want to make
Toby too tired."
But I guess the Shetland pony liked to draw children about, at least as
long as the roads were level, and he did not have to haul the cart
uphill.
Coming to a quiet part of the road, just outside the village, where
automobiles seldom came, Bunker Blue gave the two children their first
lesson in driving. He showed Bunny and Sue how to hold the reins, and
how to pull gently on the left one when they wanted the pony to turn
that way.
"And when you want him to go to the right just pull on the right-hand
line," said the fish boy. "But be careful in turning all the way around
that you don't turn too quickly, or you may upset the cart and spill
out."
"I spilled off my sled once," said Bunny. "And I rolled all the way
downhill. But I didn't get hurt, for I rolled into a bank of snow."
"Well, there aren't any snow banks here, now, to fall into," said
Bunker, "so be careful about rolling out."
Then the fish boy showed the children how to hold the reins gently, but
firmly, when Toby was trotting straight along, and he showed them how to
pull in when they wanted the pony to stop.
Then, after a while, Bunker let Bunny take the reins himself, for a
little while, and drive Toby. The little boy was delighted to do this.
He even guided the pony first to the right and then to the left, and
then brought him to a stop.
"Fine!" cried Bunker. "That's the way to do it, Bunny!"
"Can't I do it, too?" asked Sue, for she always liked to do the things
her brother did.
"Yes, it's your turn now," said the fish boy, and the little girl took
the reins. And Toby was so gentle, and seemed so eager to do everything
he could to make it easy for Sue, that she soon learned to drive a
little bit.
Then Bunker showed them how to turn around, and how to make Toby back
up, in case they got to such a narrow place in the road that there was
not room to turn. Bunker knew a lot about horses and ponies, and he was
the best teacher Bunny and Sue could have had.
"Now, let's drive back and show mother!" said Bunny after a while.
"Let's drive past the house, Bunker."
"All right," agreed the fish boy. "I'll drive until we get there, for I
see some automobiles coming, and we don't want them to run into us. But
when we get near the house I'll let you take the reins, Bunny."
"Couldn't I take 'em, too?" asked Sue.
"Well, we'll let Bunny do it first," suggested Bunker. "And then, when
we drive down to the dock, you can show your daddy how you drive, little
girl."
"Oh, I'll love that!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
And you can imagine how surprised Mrs. Brown was when she saw the pony
cart coming up the drive, with Bunny holding the reins, as though he had
known for a long while how to make Toby go.
"Look, Mother! Look!" cried the little boy. "I'm driving Toby!"
"So I see, Bunny," said Mrs. Brown. "Isn't it wonderful?"
"And I can drive, too," added Sue. "I'm going to show daddy down at the
dock!"
"Oh, won't that be nice!" laughed her mother. "I'm sure you two children
ought to be very happy with such a fine pony and cart!"
And indeed Bunny and Sue were happy. Bunny drove all around the house
and out into the road again, and then Bunker took the reins to guide the
pony down to the fish and boat dock, for the children had not yet been
taught enough about the pony to make it safe for them to drive him on
the main street.
"Now, you take hold, Sue," said Bunker, as they turned into the yard
that led to the dock. "There's your father at the window of the office,
and he can see you drive."
Sue's cheeks glowed rosy in delight as she took the reins; and as she
guided the pony past the little house on the end of the dock, where
Daddy Brown had his office, the little girl cried:
"See what I can do! See what I can do!"
"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Well, Toby didn't run away with you,
did he?"
"Oh, no! He'll never do that!" said Bunny. "We had a dandy ride!"
The children, with Bunker Blue, took turns telling Mr. Brown about their
first ride, and then, not wishing to tire them out, or make Toby too
tired, either, Mr. Brown sent them home in the pony cart, with Bunker to
drive.
"To-morrow you may go out again," said Bunny's father.
And so, for several days after that, Bunker Blue took the children out
for rides in the pony cart. Each day he let them drive alone for longer
and longer times, until at last Bunny and Sue were very good at it.
They learned how to keep to the right, out of the way of other wagons or
automobiles, and as Toby did not now seem to be afraid of anything he
met, one night Mr. Brown said:
"Well, I guess Bunny and Sue are good enough drivers now to go out by
themselves without Bunker Blue."
"And drive all alone?" asked Bunny, eagerly.
"Yes," his father said. "But keep on the more quiet streets, and don't
go too far."
The children promised they would be careful, and the next day they went
for a ride by themselves. Their mother was a little anxious about them
at first, and watched them go up and down the street in front of the
house. Splash, the dog, ran along, too, barking and wagging his tail, as
though having just as much fun as anybody. Then, after a while, Bunny
and Sue went a little farther away from the house.
But they did not go too far at first, and as they were turning around to
drive back, it being Bunny's turn to hold the reins, they saw, walking
toward them, Mr. Tallman.
"Oh, hello!" cried Bunny. "Don't you want a ride, Mr. Tallman?"
"Why, yes, thank you," he answered. "And so you are out all by
yourselves? This is fine! I didn't think you'd learn so soon how to
drive Toby."
"Oh, he's easy to drive!" Bunny said.
"And he can do tricks!" added Sue. "He picked up my handkerchief and
brought it back to me!"
"Yes, I knew he could do that trick," said Mr. Tallman. "And that's what
I came over to tell you about. I forgot it when I was here before, for
I was thinking so much about my red-and-yellow box that was stolen."
"Have you got it back yet?" asked Bunny, as the man who used to own Toby
got in the cart with the children.
"No, I'm sorry to say I haven't," was the answer. "I'm afraid I shall
never see it again. But how do you like Toby?"
"He's dandy!" declared Bunny.
"And we just love him!" added Sue.
"I'm glad you do," said Mr. Tallman. "But did you know he can do another
trick besides the handkerchief one?"
"Oh, can he?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, indeed! I'll tell you about his new trick. It's one I taught him."
"Oh, please show us!" begged Bunny.
"Wait until we get back to his stable," said Mr. Tallman. "This trick
has to be done in the stable where there's a bin of oats. There I can
show you what else Toby can do."
And how Bunny and Sue wondered what it was their pony was going to do!
CHAPTER X
TOBY WALKS AWAY
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue drove Mr. Tallman in the pony cart along
the road, and up the driveway that led to the stable back of their
house.
"Why, you two children have learned to drive quite well," said the man
who used to own Toby.
"Oh, yes, Bunker Blue showed us how," answered Bunny.
Mrs. Brown looked from the window and saw the pony cart.
"Oh, you have brought back company!" she called, as she noticed Mr.
Tallman.
"I came over for a little while only," he said. "I forgot to tell the
children about a trick Toby can do, and I thought they might like to
know of it. They told me that he picked up Sue's handkerchief."
"Yes, I thought that was very smart of him," said Mrs. Brown with a
smile. "Is the other trick as nice as that?"
"I think so," answered Mr. Tallman. "But I need some lumps of sugar to
make Toby do it right."
"Yes, I guess all ponies like sugar," said the children's mother, as she
brought some out. Then she went to the barn with Mr. Tallman and Bunny
and Sue.
Bunny knew something about unharnessing his pet, and did so with the
help of Mr. Tallman. Then, as Toby stood loose in the middle of the barn
floor, Mr. Tallman gave him a lump of sugar.
"Is that the trick?" asked Bunny.
"No, that is only the start of it. Now show me where your oat bin is and
give me a wooden measure with which you dip out the oats you sometimes
feed to Toby."
Bunny ran to the box, or bin, where the oats were kept, and from it he
took a little round measure, such as grocers, at the store, use for
measuring two quarts of potatoes.
"Now," said Mr. Tallman, "I'll just put another lump of sugar in this
wooden measure. Then I'll put the measure under this basket," and this
he did, letting Toby see all that went on.
"Now," went on the man who used to own the pony, "I'll see if he'll do
as I want him to. I want him to go over to the basket, lift it off the
measure, and then carry the measure over to the oat bin. Then I want him
to open the top of the bin with his nose, and drop the measure inside,
as though he wanted to take some oats out to eat."
"Will he do it?" asked Bunny.
"I think so," answered Mr. Tallman. "He used to do it for me, in his
other stable. This one may be a bit strange to him. But we'll see what
he does."
The lump of sugar had been put in the measure, and the measure was
covered with a bushel basket, turned upside down. Then, stepping back,
Mr. Tallman said:
"Now, Toby, go and get your oats! Go and get your oats!"
The little Shetland pony bobbed his head up and down, just as if he were
saying that this is just what he would do. Then he took a few steps
toward the oat bin, which had a hinged cover like the boxes in the
grocery where the coffee is kept.
"No! No! Don't go to the oat bin yet," said Mr. Tallman. "First, get the
wooden measure, Toby! I have to have that first, before I can dish you
out any oats. Take the measure over to the box."
Whether Toby knew all that Mr. Tallman said to him, or whether the pony
had learned to go for the measure because he knew there was a lump of
sugar in it, I can't exactly say. Perhaps it was a little of both. At
any rate, he walked over to the bushel basket that covered the wooden
measure.
With a quick motion of his head Toby knocked the basket to one side.
Then he reached down and took out the lump of sugar, which he chewed.
"Oh, he did it! He did it!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
"But this isn't all," said Mr. Tallman. "This is only half the trick.
Watch and see if he does the rest."
The children and Mrs. Brown waited until Toby had chewed down the lump
of sugar. And then, with a little whinny, which seemed as if he tried to
talk, Toby picked the two-quart measure up in his mouth.
Over to the oat bin he walked with it, and Bunny and Sue could hardly
keep still, they were so excited.
Would Toby open the box, as Mr. Tallman wanted him to?
And that is just what the Shetland pony did. Dropping the wooden
measure at one side of the wooden box where his oats were kept, Toby
lifted the cover with his nose. Then he picked up the measure again, and
dropped it in the box, on top of the oats that filled it nearly to the
brim.
"Ha! that's the way to do it!" cried Mr. Tallman. "Now you have done the
trick, Toby, and you shall have another lump of sugar!"
And he gave the pony a large one.
"Was that what you wanted him to do?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, that was the trick I taught him in his own stable. I was afraid
perhaps he might have forgotten it here, but I see he hasn't."
"Aren't you going to give him some oats now?" asked Bunny.
"Well, I thought maybe you or Sue would like to have him do the trick
over again before he had any oats. Usually I didn't let him have any
until after I had made him do the trick three or four times. He has the
habit of doing it like that. So you children take a turn. Here is more
sugar for him."
Bunny took a lump, and put it in the measure. Then he hid it under the
bushel basket, and, surely enough, Toby went over to it again, took the
measure out from under and dropped it into the oat bin. Then Bunny gave
him the second lump of sugar.
Toby did the trick for Sue, as well as for Mrs. Brown, and then the
children's mother said:
"Well, now I am sure Toby has earned his oats."
"Yes, now we'll give him some," agreed Mr. Tallman, and the little horse
seemed to like them very much.
"Did he do this trick in the circus?" asked Bunny.
"No, I taught him this after that time," answered Mr. Tallman. "In the
circus, though, Toby used to stand on his hind legs with a lot of other
ponies in a ring, and a monkey used to ride around on his back. We
haven't any monkey now, so we can't do that trick."
"Mr. Winkler has a monkey!" exclaimed Bunny. "His name is Wango--the
monkey's name is, I mean. Maybe we could get him to ride on Toby's
back."
"Not unless the monkey is taught to do it," replied Mr. Tallman. "I
guess we hadn't better try that just yet."
"No, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.
"Wango is always getting into mischief, too. I don't want him around."
"But could you make Toby stand on his hind legs?" asked Sue.
"I think so," answered the visitor. And when the pony had finished his
oats Mr. Tallman stood in front of him, and, holding out a broom handle,
as the ring-master in a circus holds out his whip, called:
"Up, Toby! Up!"
Then, to the surprise and delight of Bunny and Sue, Toby rose on his
hind legs, and pranced around the barn floor, almost as well as Splash,
the dog, could stand on his hind legs.
"Oh, that's three tricks he can do!" cried Bunny. "Our pony can do three
tricks! He can stand on his hind legs, he can open his oat box, and he
can bring back a handkerchief."
"And he can let a monkey ride on his back," added Mr. Tallman. "But we
won't do that trick now."
Bunny and Sue rather wished they could see Wango riding on Toby's back,
but they knew, as well as did their mother, that Mr. Winkler's pet
sometimes did mischievous as well as funny tricks. Perhaps it was better
not to have him ride Toby.
"Well, I'm glad you like my pony, or, rather, the pony that used to be
mine," said Mr. Tallman, as he was leaving. "If you are kind and good to
him, as I know you will be, perhaps you can teach him other tricks."
"Oh, yes! That's what I'm going to do!" cried Bunny. "And then we can
take him to the circus!"
"No!" cried Sue. "You can't take my pony to the circus! I own half of
Toby, don't I, Mother?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so. But I don't believe Bunny would really take
him to any circus."
"Oh, no, I only meant a make-believe circus, like we played once
before," said the little boy.
"Oh, yes, we can do that," agreed Sue.
Mr. Tallman told Bunny and Sue some other simple tricks they might teach
Toby to do, and then he said good-bye to the pony and started back home.
"And we hope you'll find your red-and-yellow box," said Sue, as she
waved her hand.
"So do I," added the man who had been robbed, so that he was made poor
and had to sell Toby. "I hope so, too!"
"Every time we go out riding in our pony cart we'll look for your box,"
promised Bunny, and Mr. Tallman said that was very kind of them.
After the visitor had gone Bunny and Sue wanted to hitch Toby up again,
and drive down to their father's dock to tell him about the new trick
the pony could do. But Mrs. Brown said it would be better to let the
pony rest awhile and tell Mr. Brown about him when he came home in the
evening.
This Bunny and Sue did, and they took their father out to the barn and
showed him how Toby could take the measure out from under the bushel
basket, and drop it in the oat box.
"And maybe you can make him stand on his hind legs," added Bunny.
"I'll try," said Mr. Brown. And he did. And, surely enough, when the
broomstick was held crosswise in front of him, up rose Toby on his hind
legs, just as when Mr. Tallman had told him to.
It was about a week after this, and Bunny and Sue had learned to drive
Toby quite well, that their mother called to them:
"Children, will you go to the store for me in your pony cart? I need
some sugar for a cake."
"We'll get it, Mother!" answered Bunny, and he and Sue hurried out to
the barn. With the help of the hired girl they hitched Toby to the
cart, and soon they were driving down the street to the store, Splash,
their dog, who was called that because he had once splashed into the
water after Sue, who had fallen in, and pulled her out--But there! you
can read all about that in the first volume of this series. So to go on:
Splash went with them, now running on ahead and again lagging behind,
barking and wagging his tail.
Bunny and Sue went in the store together to get the sugar, and, as they
did not think they would stay very long, they did not fasten Toby's
strap to a hitching post, as their father had told them they must always
do. But as there were quite a number of customers in the store it was
some little time before Bunny got what he wanted.
Then, as he and Sue started out to ride back home in their pony cart,
they heard some one say:
"Where is that Bunny Brown boy?"
"Here I am," he answered, stepping from behind one of the clerks that
had asked the question. "What's the matter?" Bunny asked.
"Why, your pony has walked away from in front of the store," the clerk
replied. "There he goes down the street!"
CHAPTER XI
OFF TO THE FARM
At first Bunny and Sue were so surprised at what the grocery store clerk
told them that they did not know what to do. Bunny almost dropped the
bag of sugar he was carrying.
"What about my pony?" asked the little boy.
"I just happened to look out and noticed your pony walking away," went
on the clerk. "I knew he was yours, Bunny Brown, for I saw you and Sue
drive up in the little cart. It's a good thing he isn't running away. If
you hurry you can catch him."
"Come on!" cried Bunny to his sister. "We've got to get Toby 'fore maybe
an automobile runs into him and smashes our cart."
"Oh, yes! Get him!" begged Sue. "Oh, what made Toby walk away?"
"Maybe he got tired of waiting," said the clerk, "or perhaps something
frightened him. If you can't get him I'll run after him for you as soon
as I wait on Miss Winkler."
"Land sakes! what's the matter now? Has that monkey got loose again?"
asked the woman who was sister to the sailor who owned the tricky
monkey.
"No, it isn't your monkey that's loose--it is our pony," said Bunny, as
he and Sue hurried out of the door.
They saw going slowly down the street, their Shetland pony. Toby did not
appear to be in a hurry. He was just walking.
"I guess he just got tired of waiting--there didn't anything frighten
him," announced Bunny.
"But we must get him," said Sue.
"Of course!" said her brother. "Come on!"
They started to run down the street, on which there were not many wagons
or automobiles just then, and, as there were only a few persons on the
sidewalk, Bunny and Sue could easily keep their pony and cart in sight.
But before they could reach it something queer happened. With a bark and
a wag of his tail, their dog Splash came rushing along. Straight down
the street he trotted, and up into the pony cart he jumped, for the back
door had been left open, when Bunny and Sue got out.
Into the cart jumped Splash and he barked:
"Bow-wow!"
It was just as if he said:
"Whoa, now!"
I don't know whether or not Toby understood dog talk. But he did
understand the next thing that happened. For Splash reached over and
took hold of the reins in his teeth, pulling back on the lines.
Toby had been taught to stop whenever he felt a pull on the reins,
whether any one said "whoa!" or not. And this time, feeling himself
being pulled back, and not knowing it was only Splash who was doing it,
Toby stopped.
"Bow-wow!" barked Splash again, sort of down in his throat, for he was
still keeping his place in the cart, and holding to the reins.
"Bow-wow!"
It was as if he said:
"See what I did now!"
Bunny and Sue, hurrying down the street after their pony that had walked
away, saw what their dog had done.
"Oh, he stopped Toby for us!" cried Bunny, and he was so excited that he
almost dropped the bag of sugar.
"That's what he did!" exclaimed Sue. "Oh, isn't he a good dog?"
"He's smart, and so's Toby!" said Bunny. "But next time we'll fasten our
pony."
"Yes, that's what you'd better do," said the clerk from the store who
had, after waiting on Miss Winkler, run down the street to see if the
children needed help. "Even a tame pony had better be tied when he is
left to stand in the street," the clerk said. "Are you all right now?"
"Yes, thank you, we're all right," answered Bunny. "Our dog Splash
stopped Toby for us."
"Indeed? He's a smart dog!" said the clerk with a laugh, as he patted
the shaggy head. "Here's a sweet cracker for him, and one for your
pony."
Splash quickly chewed down the treat the clerk gave him, and Bunny let
Toby take another cracker off the palm of his hand.
"And here are some for yourselves," went on the clerk, taking some more
from his pocket.
"Oh, thank you!" said Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue.
They got into the pony cart, and they let Splash stay in, too, because
he had been so smart as to catch Toby, and then the children drove back
past the store. Miss Winkler was just coming out.
"Land sakes!" she cried, "what's goin' to happen next? Have you
youngsters a pony cart?"
"And he's a trick pony!" exclaimed Bunny. "He can let a monkey ride on
his back."
"Maybe some day we could take Wango, your monkey," added Sue.
"Land sakes, child! Don't call him _my_ monkey!" exclaimed Miss Winkler.
"I wish I'd never seen the beast! Only this morning he knocked down a
jar of my strawberry preserves, and the pantry looks as if I'd spilled
red ink all over it! I wish to goodness Jed Winkler would put him on
some pony's back and ride him to the Land of Goshen!"
"Is that very far from here?" asked Bunny. "'Cause if it isn't too far
maybe we could ride Wango away for you on Toby's back."
"Land sakes, child! No, I wouldn't want that good-for-nothing monkey
Wango to have a ride on the back of such a nice pony as yours. I'll make
Jed sell him to a hand-organ man--that's what I will!"
Wango was a mischievous little chap, but Jed Winkler used to say this
was so because Miss Winkler never treated him kindly. The truth was that
Miss Winkler didn't like monkeys.
"Maybe some day Mr. Winkler will let us take Wango to do a circus trick
on Toby's back," said Sue to her brother, as they turned Toby around and
started for home.
"Maybe," agreed Bunny. "Anyhow, I'm glad Toby didn't walk away very far
this time."
"So'm I," added Sue.
"And Splash is an awful good dog, isn't he?" went on Bunny, as he turned
down a side street and let Sue take the reins.
"Yes, he caught Toby just as good as a policeman could," Sue said, as
she guided the Shetland pony along the road. "We love you, Splash," she
went on, and the dog wagged his tail so hard that he brushed all the
dust off Bunny's shoes. Then he tried to "kiss" Sue, but she hid her
face down in her arms, for she didn't like the wet tongue of the dog on
her face, even if he only did it to show how much he liked her.
"Hi, Bunny! Hi! Give me a ride!" called a voice from the yard at the
side of a house as the children passed. "Give me a ride."
"It's Charlie Star!" exclaimed Bunny, looking back. "Shall we give him a
ride, Sue?"
"Yes, we promised, and we've room if Splash gets out."
"We've room anyhow," Bunny said, as Sue pulled on the reins and called:
"Whoa!"
Toby stopped. Splash must have been tired of riding in the cart, for out
he jumped, and Charlie got in.
"Our pony walked away, but Splash caught him," Bunny explained, telling
what had happened in front of the store.
"He did!" cried Charlie. "Say, your dog's smart all right."
"An' so's our pony!" added Bunny. "You ought to see him do tricks!"
"I'd like to," said Charlie.
"You can, when we have another play circus," went on Bunny.
"And maybe we'll get Mr. Winkler's monkey, Wango, and let him ride on
Toby's back--maybe," said Sue, who now let her brother take the reins
again.
"Say, that'd be great!" cried Charlie with sparkling eyes.
"But maybe Mr. Winkler won't let us take his monkey," said Bunny, who
didn't want Charlie to count too much on seeing that trick. "But if he
won't, we can tie one of Sue's dolls on Toby's back, and make believe
that's a monkey."
"No, you can't!" exclaimed Sue. "None of my dolls is going to be a
monkey!"
"Oh, I mean only make believe," said Bunny.
"Oh, well, if it's just make believe that's different," agreed Sue.
"I'll let you take my old rag doll for that."
Bunny and Sue gave Charlie a ride around the block in which his house
was, and then he jumped out, after thanking them. Back home they drove
with the sugar, Splash running on ahead.
"After this, you must always tie your pony when you let him stand in
front of a store," said Mrs. Brown, when the children told her what had
happened.
Bunny and Sue had many nice rides behind their Shetland pony. Sometimes
Uncle Tad went with them. They learned to manage him quite well, and
Mrs. Brown was not afraid to let the children go even on rather long
drives. One day she said to them:
"Do you think you could drive Toby to the farm, and bring me back some
new butter?"
"Oh, yes, Mother!" cried Bunny. "We'd love to!"
The farm, of which the children's mother spoke, was a place about two
miles out of town, where a man sold butter, eggs and chickens. Mrs.
Brown often sent there for fresh things for the table.
"Well, if you're sure it won't be too far for you, you may go," she said
to the children. "But be very careful of autos and wagons."
"We will," they promised.
"We'll keep on one side of the road all the way," Bunny added.
He and Sue knew the road to the farm quite well, or they thought they
did, and they were quite delighted to start off, not knowing what was
going to happen to them.
"I'll put you up a little lunch to eat on the way," said Mrs. Brown,
"for it may take you some time to go and come."
"Won't Toby get hungry, too?" asked Sue.
"Yes, but he can eat the grass alongside the road while you are taking
your lunch. I won't have to put up any for the pony. But you might have
a lump of sugar or a sweet cracker for him."
"That's what we will," said Bunny.
Then he and Sue got ready to start for the farm.
And what do you suppose happened to them before they got home again?
CHAPTER XII
THE WRONG ROAD
Toby, the Shetland pony, stamped his feet in the soft grass in front of
the home of Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue. Then he "shivered" off some
flies that were biting his legs, and switched some off his back with his
long tail.
"And now we're ready to start!" cried Sue, as she sat on the cushion
near her brother, who was to drive the first part of the way.
"And don't drop the butter when you're coming back," said Mrs. Brown, as
she saw that the children's lunch was safely put in the cart, together
with a few lumps of sugar and some sweet crackers for Toby.
"We won't," promised Bunny. "Gidap, Toby!" he called, and away trotted
the pony.
Down the village street went Toby, and Bunny and Sue smiled and waved
their hands to some of their boy and girl friends who watched them
driving away, wishing they were going.
"We'll give you a ride when we come back," promised Sue.
She turned to wave her hand to Sadie West, and then Sue saw Splash, the
big dog, trotting along behind the pony cart.
"Oh, Bunny!" exclaimed Sue, "do we want to take Splash along?"
"No, I don't guess we do," Bunny answered. "There's a big dog at the
farm, and he might fight our dog like he did once before."
This had happened. For once, when Mr. Brown took Bunny and his sister to
the place to get some fresh eggs and butter, Splash had trotted along
with them. And Splash and the other dog at the farm did not seem to be
friends, for they fought and bit one another, and Mr. Brown and Mr.
Potter, the man who owned the farm, had hard work to make the animals
stop.
"Whoa, Toby!" called Bunny to the pony, and he stopped. "Now you go on
back, Splash!" ordered his little master.
But Splash did not want to go back. He sat down on the grass, thumped
his tail up and down, and then sort of looked off to one side, as though
to see how tall the trees were. He didn't look at Bunny or Sue at all,
and when their dog didn't do this the children knew he didn't want to
mind them.
"Go back home, Splash!" ordered Bunny.
"'Cause we don't want you fighting with that other dog," added Sue. "Go
home like a nice doggie."
But Splash didn't seem to want to be a nice dog. He just sat thumping
his tail and looking off at the trees.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Bunny, with a sort of sigh. "What'll we do? I
guess I'll have to get out and take him back."
"If you do that," said Sue, "maybe Toby will walk away again."
"You could stay in the cart and hold the lines," said Bunny.
"I don't want to stay here if you're not going to," went on Bunny's
sister.
"Then we can both get out and take Splash home," decided the little boy,
after a while. "He'll go back if we go back a little way with him. He
likes to be with us. And we can tie Toby to something so he can't walk
away."
"What could we tie him to?" asked Sue.
Bunny looked all around. There were no hitching posts near by--only some
big trees.
"We could tie him to one of them," he said. "Or to a stone."
"Toby could pull a stone right along with him," objected Sue. "You'd
better tie him to a tree."
"Maybe he could pull up a tree, too," said Bunny. "Once I saw a picture
of an elephant pulling up a tree."
"Toby isn't as strong as an elephant," Sue said. Then she exclaimed:
"Oh, Bunny, I know what we can do!"
"What?"
"We can throw a stick for Splash to run after. And when he goes back
after the stick we can drive on with Toby and get so far away that
Splash can't find us."
"That's so! We can do that!" exclaimed Bunny. "I'll do it. I'll throw a
stick for Splash to go after, and you hold the reins," and he passed the
pony reins to his sister.
As Bunny got down out of the pony cart Splash jumped up and ran toward
his little master, wagging his tail.
"No, I'm not going to play with you!" Bunny said, trying to speak
crossly, but finding it hard work, for he loved Splash. "You've got to
go on back home! Next time we'll take you with us, but now we're going
to the farm, and there's a bad dog there that'll bite you. You've got to
go back, Splash!"
Of course, Bunny's dog did not understand all the little boy said. But
Splash knew what it meant when Bunny stooped and picked up a stick.
Splash was used to running after sticks and stones that the children
threw, and he would bring them back, to have them thrown over again.
"Now go and get this, Splash!" ordered Bunny, as he got ready to toss
the stick. At the same time the boy looked to make sure he did not have
to run too far to get back to the cart and drive off with Sue. "Go get
it, Splash!" cried Bunny, as he threw the stick.
"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and away he ran as the stick sailed through
the air. Then Bunny turned and raced back toward the cart, where Sue was
waiting for him.
"We must hurry," said the little girl. "Splash is a terrible fast
runner."
"Gidap, Toby!" cried Bunny, as he took the reins, and once more away
trotted the little pony. Then Sue looked back, and she cried:
"Oh, Bunny! It's no good! Here comes Splash after us!"
And, surely enough, the dog was coming after them. He had found the
stick Bunny had thrown, and then, taking it in his mouth, had started
back after the pony cart.
"You didn't throw it far enough," said Sue.
"I threw it as far as I could," said Bunny.
"Well, here comes Splash. What are we going to do now?" Sue asked. "I
guess we've got to drive back and take him home."
"That'll take a long time," Bunny said, "and we ought to be going after
the butter. Oh, Splash! you're a bad dog!" he exclaimed.
Splash sat down on the grass, near where Toby had come to a second stop,
and flopped his tail up and down on the grass. That's what Splash did.
And he dropped the stick at his feet and looked down at it, every now
and then, as if he were saying:
"Well, that was a pretty good throw, Bunny. But throw it again. I like
to run after sticks and bring 'em back to you."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "What are we going to do now?"
"What's the matter?" asked a voice the children knew, and there was
Bunker Blue, walking along with an axe over his shoulder. He was going
to the woods to cut some stakes for the big fish nets. "What's the
matter, Bunny and Sue?" asked the boat boy.
"Oh, Splash is following us, and we're going to the farm, and there's a
big dog there that bites him," explained Bunny. "We can't make Splash go
back home."
"And Bunny threw a stick and--and everything," added Sue.
"Well, I'll take him with me," offered Bunker Blue. "He always likes to
go to the woods. I'll take him with me and then he won't bother you.
Here, Splash!" he called.
With a bark and a joyful wag of his tail, Splash sprang up and ran
toward Bunker.
"Come on now! Off to the woods!" cried the fish boy.
Splash turned once to look back at Bunny and Sue in the pony cart, and
then he glanced at Bunker. It was as if he said:
"Well, I like you both, and I don't know which one to go with."
"Go on with Bunker!" said Bunny to his dog. And, with a final wag of his
tail and a good-bye bark, Splash did.
"I'll take care of him. He won't follow you any more," said Bunker, and
then he marched off toward the woods, the big dog tagging after.
"Now we can go to the farm," said Bunny, and he and Sue drove on.
They knew the way to the farm, for they had been there many times
before, though this was their first visit in the pony cart. Mr. Potter
saw them coming up the drive, and called out:
"My! you certainly are coming in style this time. Are you going to buy
my place?"
"No, only some butter, if you please," replied Bunny. And while it was
being wrapped up he hitched Toby to a post, and then the little boy and
girl went into the house, where Mrs. Potter gave them each a glass of
sweet milk.
"We have some cookies and things to eat that mother gave us," said
Bunny, "but we're going to have a little lunch in the woods going home.
We've a lump of sugar for Toby, too."
"My! you're well off!" laughed Mrs. Potter. "Now, there's your butter.
Don't spill it on the way home."
"We won't," promised the children, and soon they were driving back
again.
"When are we going to eat our lunch?" asked Sue, after a bit.
"We can eat it now," said Bunny. "I was just looking for a shady place."
"There's some shade over there," went on Sue, pointing to a clump of
trees a little distance away. "We can drive off on that other road and
have a picnic."
"All right," Bunny agreed. And then, forgetting that his mother had told
him not to get off the straight road between the farm and home, Bunny
turned the pony down a lane and along another highway to the wood.
There, finding a place where a little spring of water bubbled out near a
green, mossy rock, the children sat down to eat their lunch. But first
they tied Toby to a tree and gave him his piece of sugar and the
crackers. After that he found some grass to nibble.
Bunny and Sue had a good time playing picnic in the woods. They sat
under the trees and made believe they were gypsies traveling around.
"I wonder if they is any gypsies around here?" asked Sue.
"George Watson said there were some camping over near Springdale,"
answered Bunny.
"Let's don't go there," suggested Sue.
"No, we won't," agreed her brother. "And I guess we'd better start for
home now. Mother told us not to be late."
They fed Toby some cookie crumbs left in one of the boxes, and then
started to drive out of the wood. But they had not gone very far before
they came to a bridge over a noisy, babbling brook.
"Why, Bunny," cried Sue, "this isn't the way we came! We didn't cross
over this bridge before!"
"Whoa!" called Bunny. He looked at the bridge and at the brook. Then he
said: "That's right, Sue. We didn't. I guess we're on the wrong road."
"Does that mean we--we're lost, Bunny?" asked Sue.
CHAPTER XIII
TOBY FINDS THE WAY
Bunny Brown did not at once answer his Sister Sue. He sat in the pony
cart, looking around. It was a pretty spot. Behind them were the woods,
and, on either side, green fields. Before them ran the brook. But there
were no houses in sight.
"Are we lost, Bunny?" asked Sue again.
That seemed to wake Bunny up from his daydream.
"Lost! No, of course not!" he exclaimed. "How could anybody be lost in
the day time?"
"Well, Sadie West was lost once in the day time," said Sue. "She was in
a big city, and she couldn't find her mamma nor her house nor anything!"
"Well, this isn't a city," said Bunny. "This is the country and I know
how to get home."
"Oh, do you?" asked Sue, much relieved. "How, Bunny?"
"Why--why, all I've got to do is turn around and go back," he said. "We
came the wrong way after we drove out of the woods, that's all. Now
I'll turn around and go back. Come on, Toby!" he called to the Shetland
pony. "Back up and we'll go home."
But Toby did not seem to want to back up. He pulled the cart and the
children in it, on toward the brook. At one side of the bridge was a
little slope, leading down to the water. There were marks to show that
horses and wagons had crossed there, driving through the stream.
"Whoa, Toby!" cried Bunny. "Where are you going?"
The little pony was headed straight for the brook.
"Oh, I guess he wants a drink of water," said Sue.
"Maybe he does," agreed Bunny, as he saw that the pony was not going to
stop. "He pulls terrible hard on the reins," he went on. "I guess he
does want a drink, Sue. We'll let him have it, and then we'll turn
around and drive back."
Toby walked along until his front feet were in the water. Then, as he
did not have on a cruel check-rein, which hurts horses and ponies, Toby
could lean his nose right down into the water and take a drink. When
horses have a check-rein on they can't lower their heads to drink or
eat until the strap is loosened. So if ever you have a horse or pony,
don't put a check-rein on him. Toby's neck was free to bend any way he
wanted it to, which is as it should be.
"Oh, Bunny, I know what let's do!" cried Sue, as Toby raised his head,
having drunk enough water.
"What'll we do?" asked Bunny.
"Let's drive right on through the water! It won't come up over our cart,
and it will wash the wheels nice and clean."
"All right. We'll do it," agreed Bunny.
He remembered that once, when he and Sue were at Grandpa's farm, the old
gentleman had driven his horses and the wagon, with the children in it,
through a shallow brook, after letting the horses drink. This was at a
place called a "ford," and Bunny and Sue were at a ford in this brook.
"Gidap, Toby!" called Bunny, and the pony waded on into the water,
pulling the cart after him. He seemed to like it, as the day was warm
and there had been a lot of dust in the road.
The water washed and cooled the pony's legs, and also cleaned the wheels
of the basket cart. The brook was not deep, not coming up to the hubs
of the wheels, and the bottom was a smooth, gravel one, so Toby did not
slip.
"Oh, that was fun!" cried Sue, as Bunny drove out on the other side of
the ford. "And now we can cross back over on the bridge and go home,
can't we, Bunny?"
"Yep. That's what we'll do," said her brother.
There was plenty of room to turn around on the other side of the stream,
and soon Toby was clattering over the bridge, under which the stream
ran. Down the road he went, and along a patch of woods, Bunny and Sue
talking over what a good time they had had.
But, pretty soon, the little girl said:
"Bunny, I don't see any houses."
Bunny looked around. He didn't see any either.
"Maybe we'll come to some pretty soon," he told his sister.
But, as they drove on, the trees on either side of the road became
thicker. They grew more closely together, and were larger, their leafy
tops meeting in an arch overhead, making the road quite dusky. The road,
too, instead of being hard and smooth as it had been, was now soft sand,
in which Toby could not pull the cart along very fast.
"Bunny," said Sue, and her voice sounded as though she were a little
frightened, "are we lost yet?"
Bunny did not answer for a moment or two. He looked all around while the
Shetland pony plodded slowly on. Then he called:
"Whoa!"
"What are you stopping for?" asked Sue.
"I guess this is the wrong road again," Bunny answered. "We didn't go
right, even after we came back from the brook."
"Oh, Bunny! are we really lost?" cried Sue.
"I guess so," her brother answered. "But we're not lost very much. We
can easy find our way back again."
"How?" Sue demanded.
"We can turn around."
"But we turned around once before, Bunny, and we didn't get where we
wanted to! I want to go home!"
"Well, I don't guess this way is home," said the little boy. "We never
came through so much sand before. Toby can hardly pull us. We've got to
go back, out of this."
"But where shall we go after this?" Sue wanted to know. "Oh, dear! I
wish we'd let Splash come along!"
"Why?" asked Bunny.
"'Cause then he could show us the way home. Dogs don't ever get lost,
Bunny Brown!" and Sue seemed ready to cry.
"Maybe ponies don't, either," said Bunny, feeling he must do something
to make his sister feel better. "I guess Toby can find his way home as
easy as Splash could."
"Oh, do you really think so?" asked Sue, smiling again, and seeming much
happier. "Can Toby find the way home, Bunny?"
"I guess so. Anyhow, I'm going to let him try. But first I'll turn
around so we can get out of this sand."
Toby seemed glad enough of this, for it was hard pulling with the soft
ground clinging to the wheels. In a little while the cart was back on
the hard soil again, though still the trees met overhead in an arch and
made the place dark.
"Do you know where we are, Bunny?" asked Sue.
Her brother shook his head.
"Do you know where our home is?" Sue went on.
Once more Bunny shook his head.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue.
"But I guess Toby knows," said the little boy. "I'm going to let him
take us home. Go on home, Toby!" he called, and let the reins lie
loosely on the pony's back.
The Shetland looked around at the children in the cart, which he could
easily do, having no "blinders" on the sides of his head. Blinders are
almost as bad as check-reins for horses and ponies. Never have them on
your pets, for a pony needs to see on the sides of him as well as in
front.
Toby looked back at the cart and then he gave a little whinny.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, "what do you s'pose he looked at us that way
for?"
"I guess he wanted to see if we had fallen out," said Bunny. "But we
haven't. We're here, Toby!" he called to the pony. "Now take us home,
please!"
Whether Toby understood or not, I cannot say. Probably the little pony
was hungry, and he wanted to go on to his stable where the oats and hay
were. Crackers and sugar might be all right, he may have thought, but he
needed hay and oats for a real meal.
And perhaps he really did know the way home. Lots of horses do, they
say, even on a dark night, so why shouldn't a pony in the day time?
That's what Bunny and Sue thought.
Bunny never touched the reins. He let them rest loosely on Toby's back,
and on the pony went. When he came to a hard, level road Toby began to
trot. And pretty soon Sue cried:
"Oh, Bunny! Toby has found the way out! We're not lost any more!"
"How do you know?" asked Bunny.
"'Cause I can see Miss Hollyhock's house, and we both know the road home
from there! See it!" and Sue pointed down the road.
CHAPTER XIV
TOBY'S OTHER TRICK
Bunny Brown stood up in the pony cart and looked to where Sue pointed.
Across a little green valley he could see another road, at one point was
a small cottage, nestled among the trees, and with vines growing about
it.
"Yes, that's where Miss Hollyhock lives," he said.
"And then we aren't lost any more, are we?" asked Sue.
"No, I guess not," Bunny said. "But we have to get on that other road."
This the children soon did, taking a highway that cut across the valley.
Toby had taken them out of the woods on a new path, but it was just as
good as the one they had driven on in going to the farm, though longer.
And in a little while they were going past the cottage where lived the
elderly woman, known all around as "Old Miss Hollyhock." This was
because so many of those flowers blossomed near her cottage.
"Well, my dears, where have you been?" she asked.
"Oh, we went to the farm to get some butter for mother," answered Bunny,
"but we got lost."
"We're found now, though," went on Sue. "Now we know the way home."
"Are you sure?" asked Miss Hollyhock.
"Oh, yes," said Bunny. "We've been on this road lots of times."
"Well, trot along home then," said Miss Hollyhock. "If you've been lost
you must have been away from home quite a long while, and your mother
may be worried about you. Trot along home, pony!"
And Toby trotted along home with Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue.
Mrs. Brown, standing at the gate, and looking down the road, saw them
coming.
"Where have you children been?" she asked, coming out to meet them. "I
have been quite worried about you! Where were you?"
"We were lost, Mother!" answered Bunny.
"Lost? Couldn't you find your way to the farm?"
"Oh, yes," he answered. "But coming home we took the wrong road. But
Toby found the right one for us."
"He's as good as Splash," added Sue. "Splash wanted to come with us, but
Bunker took him to the woods. Oh, we had such a good time!"
"Even with getting lost?" asked Mrs. Brown, with a smile. She felt
better, now that the children were safe at home.
"Oh, we weren't lost very long," explained Sue. "It was only a little
while, and then Toby brought us home, but it was on a new road," and,
taking turns, she and Bunny told what had happened.
"Well, I'll feel better about having you go out for rides, if I know
that Toby can always bring you back," said Mrs. Brown. "But don't try
too many new roads. Stick to the old paths that you know until you get a
little older. Did you bring my butter?"
"Yes, here it is," and Bunny handed it out, nicely wrapped up as Mrs.
Potter had given it to him.
"Has Splash come home yet?" Sue asked.
The dog had not. He was off in the woods having a good time with Bunker.
At least he looked as though he had had a good time when he did come
home, for he was covered with mud and water, and there were a lot of
"stickery" briars and brambles on his back and legs.
"He ran into every bush and every puddle of water he could find," said
Bunker Blue. "I couldn't stop him."
"Well, he can come with us next time," said Bunny. "It's only when we go
to the farm, where the cross dog lives, that we can't take Splash."
The next day Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were "playing house" in
their side yard. They made a sort of tent under the trees with an old
carriage cover they found in the barn, and Sue pretended she was the
housekeeper.
"And you must come to call on me," she said to Bunny.
"All right, I will," he agreed. "But there isn't any door to knock on,
nor any bell to ring when I call. You ought to have a bell to your
house, Sue."
"That's so--I ought," she agreed.
"I know how I can make one," went on Bunny, after a while.
"How?" asked Sue.
"Well, there's an old bell that the milkman used to have--the milkman
who kept his horse and wagon in our barn," explained the little boy.
"The bell is in the barn now."
"Oh, yes, I 'member," Sue said.
About a year before a milkman, whose barn had burned, had asked Mr.
Brown for permission to stable his horse and keep his wagon in the barn
back of the house where Bunny and Sue lived. And, as they then had no
pony and the barn was nearly empty, Mr. Brown had said the milkman might
use it.
He did, for a time, and then he gave up the milk business, and sold his
horse and wagon. But he left the bell behind--the bell he used to ring
in front of people's houses to let them know he was there with milk and
cream.
"We can take his bell for your house," went on Bunny.
"You mean set it outside on a box, and ring it when you come to call?"
asked Sue.
Bunny thought for a moment.
"Maybe I can make it better than that," he said. "I could fasten the
bell up in the tree back of your tent-house, and then tie a string to
it--to the bell, I mean. I can let the string hang down outside here,
and when I come I can yank on the string, and that will jingle the
bell."
"Oh, let's do it!" cried Sue.
So Bunny got the milkman's bell, and fastened it to a low limb in a tree
back of the tent-house where Sue pretended she was living.
Then Bunny tied a string to the bell handle and ran the string out in
front, letting it hang loose, so that a pull on it would set the bell to
swaying and jingling. To make it easier to take hold of the string,
Bunny fastened to it a piece of wood. Then he and Sue began the
playing-house game.
They had lots of fun at it. The bell rang just like a "truly-really"
one, as Sue said, and when Bunny jingled it, and came in to sit down on
a box (which was a chair), Sue would give him cookies.
They were sitting like this, wondering what next to play when, all at
once, there came a loud jingle on the bell that was hung in a tree back
of the tent.
"Are you doing that?" asked Sue of her brother.
"No!" he answered. "How could I? The bell string is outside and I'm in
here."
"I thought maybe you had hold of the string in here," went on Sue. Then
the bell was rung again.
"Oh, it's some of the boys and girls come to play with us--I mean
they've come to call," said Sue, remembering that she was supposed to be
a housekeeper.
"I'll let 'em in," said Bunny.
He went to the flap of the tent, which, being down, did not give a view
outside. And what Bunny saw made him cry:
"Oh, Sue! It isn't anybody at all!"
"It isn't anybody?" repeated the little girl. "How could _nobody_ ring
the bell?"
"I mean it isn't George Watson, or Sadie West, or any of the boys or
girls," added Bunny. "Oh, Sue, it's--it's----"
"What is it? Who is it?" asked the little girl. "Who is it if it isn't
anybody to play with us? Who is it, Bunny?"
"It's Toby!" he answered.
"What, Toby? Our pony?"
"Yes, it's Toby. And, oh, Sue! He's ringing the bell!"
"Oh, how can he?" asked Sue, wonderingly.
Bunny, who was looking out of the tent, answered:
"He's got hold of the stick I tied on the end of the bell string, and
he's shakin' his head up and down, and that rings the bell. Oh, come
and look, Sue!"
Then Sue went out from under the carriage-cloth, which was the
tent-house, to look.
Surely enough, there stood Toby, and in his mouth was the piece of wood
that Bunny had tied to the string that was fast to the bell which hung
in a tree back of the tent. Every time Toby raised and lowered his
head--"bowing" Bunny and Sue called it--he pulled on the string and rang
the bell.
"Oh, how do you s'pose he came to do it?" asked Sue.
"I don't know," Bunny answered. "We never told him, and we never showed
him. I guess it's a new trick he's learned!"
"But how did he get out of his stable to come to do it?" Sue went on.
That was easy to answer. Bunker Blue, who came up every day from the
dock to clean out the stall and brush Toby down, had left the door open,
and, as the pony was not tied in his box-stall, he easily walked out. He
strolled over to where the children were playing, and rang the bell.
"Just zactly like he was coming to call," Sue said afterward.
When Toby saw the children come out of the tent he went up to them and
rubbed his velvety nose against them. That was his way of asking for
sugar or other things that he liked.
"I haven't any sugar," said Bunny, "but I can give you a piece of
cookie. Maybe you'll like that."
And Toby seemed to like it very much.
"Maybe he'll do the bell-ringing trick again, if you put a piece of
cookie on the stick," said Sue.
"Maybe," agreed Bunny.
He fastened a bit of cookie on the wooden handle, and, surely enough,
Toby nibbled it off, ringing the bell as he did so.
"But what made him ring it first, when there wasn't any cookie on?"
asked Sue.
Bunny did not know this, but he said:
"We'll ask Mr. Tallman, the next time we see him, if he taught Toby this
trick."
"Maybe he did," said Sue. "Anyhow, we love you, Toby!" and she put her
arms around the pony's neck.
Bunny and Sue were wondering how Toby learned to ring the bell, and they
were just going to make him do it again, when Sadie West came running
into the yard.
"Oh, Sue!" exclaimed the little girl. "There's a great, big, shiny wagon
out in the front of your house!"
"A shiny wagon!" exclaimed Bunny. "What do you mean?"
"I mean it's got all looking glasses on it! Come and see!"
The three children, forgetting all about Toby for the moment, hurried
around the side path. What were they going to see?
CHAPTER XV
RED CROSS MONEY
Surely enough, in front of the Brown house was a wagon, painted red and
yellow, and, as little Sadie West had said, it had on the sides many
bright pieces of looking glass, which glittered in the sun.
"I wonder what it's for?" asked Bunny.
"It makes your eyes hurt," added Sue, shading hers with her hand as she
looked at the bright wagon.
"Maybe it's your grandpa or your Aunt Lu come to see you," suggested
Sadie, for she had heard Bunny and Sue tell about their relations.
"They wouldn't come in a wagon like _that!_" Bunny exclaimed.
"But who is in it?" asked Sue.
"Maybe it's a circus!" ventured Sadie.
"Nope! 'Tisn't a circus," Bunny said. "'Cause if it was a circus there'd
be an elephant or a camel, and you don't see any of them, do you?"
"No," said Sue, "I don't."
"I don't, either," agreed Sadie.
Just then a tall, dark man, whose face looked like that of Tony, the
bootblack down at the cigar store, came from the wagon, the back of
which opened with a little door, and from which a flight of three steps
could be let down.
"Oh, I know what it is!" cried Bunny.
"What?" asked Sue.
"It's gypsies," Bunny went on, as the tall, dark man, who had a red
handkerchief around his neck, walked slowly toward the Brown home.
"That's a gypsy wagon!"
"How do you know?" Sadie questioned.
"'Cause I see the earrings."
"A wagon hasn't got earrings!" exclaimed Sue.
"I didn't mean the _wagon_, I mean the _man_--that man that looks as
dark as Tony the bootblack," said Bunny. "See 'em!"
Then, indeed, the two little girls noticed the shiny rings of gold in
the man's ears. And when he smiled, which he did at the children, they
saw his white teeth glisten in the sun.
"That wagon's red and yellow," said Sue in a whisper. "It's just like
Mr. Tallman's box, isn't it, Bunny?"
"What box?" asked Sadie West.
"The one he lost with all his money in," explained Sue. "No, it wasn't
money, it was--it was--oh, well, he lost something, anyhow," she said,
"and he had to sell Toby to us."
"Yes, and I'm glad he did," said Bunny. "Yes, his box was red and
yellow, I 'member he said so. Maybe it's some relation to this gypsy
wagon."
"Are you sure it's a gypsy cart?" asked Sadie, as the dark man kept on
walking from his gaily painted wagon toward the Brown front gate.
"Sure, it's a gypsy wagon," said Bunny. "Charlie Star, or one of the
boys, I forget who, told me some gypsies were camping over by the pond
at Springdale, and maybe this is some of them."
"I'm not afraid," said Sue.
"Pooh! Course not! Nobody need be skeered of gypsies," said Bunny in a
low voice, so the dark man could not hear him. But perhaps it was
because he was in his own yard that Bunny was so brave.
The dark man--he really was a gypsy, as Bunny and Sue learned
later--came up to the fence, and touched his cap, almost as a soldier
might salute. He smiled at the children, showing his white teeth, and
asked:
"Excuse me, but has your father, maybe, some horses he wants to sell?"
"My father doesn't sell horses, he sells fish, and he rents boats," said
Bunny.
"Oh, yes, I saw the fish dock," went on the gypsy. "And you must be the
Brown children."
"Yes, I'm Bunny, and this is my Sister Sue," said the little boy. "And
her name's Sadie West," he added, pointing to their playmate.
"How'd he know your name was Brown?" asked Sadie in a whisper of Sue.
"He saw it painted on my father's boat house," said Bunny. "Everybody
knows our name--I mean our last name," and this was true, at least of
the folks in Bellemere. They all knew Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue.
"I know your father does not sell horses for a business," went on the
gypsy with the gold rings in his ears; "but perhaps, maybe, he has a
horse he drives, and would like to get another for it, or sell it. We
gypsies, you know, buy and sell horses as your father buys and sells
boats and catches fish."
"Do you ever catch any horses?" asked Sue. "And do you catch them in a
net?"
"Well, no, not exactly," and the gypsy smiled at her. "We get them in
different ways--we trade for them. Perhaps your father has a horse he
wants to trade."
"No, he hasn't any horse, except the one that pulls the fish wagon down
to the depot," said Bunny, for Mr. Brown did own a slow, old horse, that
took the iced fish to the train. "But I don't guess he'd sell him,"
Bunny went on.
"All right, I ask next door," said the gypsy, and he was turning away
when, back in the yard, sounded the ringing of a bell. The gypsy turned
quickly, and looked at the children.
"Oh, that's Toby, and he's ringing for us to come back and play with
him!" cried Sue.
"Is Toby your brother?" asked the gypsy.
"No, he isn't our brother," Bunny answered, and he was laughing at the
funny idea when Toby, the Shetland pony himself, came walking around the
corner of the house.
"This is Toby--he's our pony!" explained Sue, as she put her arms around
her pet, who came up to her, rubbing his velvety nose against her
sleeve, as though asking for a lump of sugar or a bit of sweet cracker.
"Oh, ho! So that is Toby!" cried the gypsy, and his eyes seemed to grow
brighter. "Ah, he is a fine little horse. Perhaps you will want to sell
him?"
"Sell Toby? I guess not!" cried Bunny.
"Not for anything!" added Sue.
"He can ring a bell," remarked Sadie, for she felt that she wanted to
say something about the pet pony.
"Oh, ho! So he can ring a bell, can he?" asked the gypsy. "Well, that's
nice. And did he ring the bell I just heard?"
"That's who it was," said Bunny, a bit proud of his pony. "And he can
stand on his hind legs and he can pick up a handkerchief."
"Ah, he is one fine trick pony then," the gypsy said. "Of course, you do
not want to sell him then. But, if you ever do, come to me and I will
give you good money for him. My name is Jaki Kezar, and I have my tent
over at a place called Springdale. Bring me the trick pony there if ever
you sell him."
"We will never sell him," declared Bunny.
"Never!" added Sue.
"Well, good-bye!" said the gypsy, and with another touch of his cap,
like a soldier saluting, he turned back to his red-and-yellow wagon, and
drove off.
"Wasn't he nice?" asked Bunny. "I'd like to be a gypsy and live in a
wagon like that."
"He wasn't nice to want our pony," declared Sue.
"It was funny to see a man with rings in his ears," remarked Sadie. "I
thought only ladies wore them."
"Gypsies are different," said Bunny. "Anyhow, he can't have our Toby."
"Never!" cried Sue.
They watched the gypsy wagon driving down the street. Mrs. Brown saw the
children in the front yard with Toby, and she came to the door of the
house.
"Haven't I told you children," she began, "that you mustn't bring Toby
around here? He might trample on my flower beds."
"We didn't bring him, Mother," said Bunny. "We ran out to look at the
gypsy wagon, and Toby came out himself."
"Was there a gypsy wagon here?" asked Mrs. Brown quickly.
"Yes. And he wanted to buy Toby--I mean the gypsy man did," explained
Bunny. "But we wouldn't sell him."
"And he can do a new trick, Mother!" cried Sue. "I mean our pony can. He
can ring a bell, and he rang it and the gypsy man heard it, and then
Toby came running around to find us."
"Well, better take him around back where there aren't any flower beds,"
said Mrs. Brown.
By this time the red-and-yellow wagon, which was painted the same colors
as was the box Mr. Tallman had lost, had been driven out of sight around
the corner of the street. And, having nothing more to look at, Bunny,
Sue and Sadie went back to their play-tent with Toby.
That evening, after Daddy Brown had been told about the call of the
gypsy, he said to his children:
"Have you two youngsters thought anything about earning any money for
the Red Cross?"
"Money for the Red Cross? What do you mean, Daddy?" asked Bunny.
"Well, you know we are going to raise a lot of money here in Bellemere
for the Red Cross. It's to help our soldiers, and the men and women in
charge want boys and girls, as well as grown-ups, to help. And they want
boys and girls to give their own money--not the pennies or dollars they
might get from their fathers or mothers."
"But we haven't any money, 'ceptin' what's in our savings banks," said
Sue.
"No, they don't want you to take that," said her father with a smile.
"The Red Cross wants some money--it needn't be much--from every boy and
girl in Bellemere, and they want the boys and girls to earn that money.
Now, can you two think of a way to earn money for the Red Cross?"
Bunny looked at Sue and Sue looked at Bunny. Then the little boy
exclaimed:
"Oh, Sue! I know a dandy way to earn Red Cross money!"
"How?" asked his sister.
And what do you suppose Bunny told her?
CHAPTER XVI
IN THE WOODS
Mr. Brown was quite surprised when he heard his little boy Bunny say he
knew how to earn money for the Red Cross.
"How are you going to do it, Bunny?" he asked.
"With Toby," Bunny answered. "And Sue can help me."
"What do you mean, Bunny?" asked the little girl. "I've some money in my
bank for the Red Cross, but that's all I have."
"No, you mustn't take that money," her father said. "Let us hear what
Bunny has to say. How can you and Sue earn money with your Shetland
pony?" he asked.
"We can give rides," answered Bunny. "Don't you 'member once, in a park,
we saw a boy giving children rides in his goat wagon, and he charged
five cents a ride."
"Yes, I 'member that," Sue said.
"Well, that's how we can make money for the Red Cross," went on Bunny.
"Lots of times the boys and girls around here ask us for rides, and
once Georgie Watson said he'd give me a penny for a ride."
"Did you give it to him?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, I did," answered Bunny.
"Did you take the penny?" Mr. Brown inquired, smiling at his little boy.
"No," Bunny said. "I had a penny then, and I didn't need another, 'cause
I want only one lollypop at a time. So I gave Georgie a ride for
nothing. But if we want to make money for the Red Cross I wouldn't give
anybody a ride for nothing. Me and Sue could drive Toby up and down, and
let boys and girls get in the cart and make 'em give us five cents
apiece!"
"And maybe ten cents!" added Sue.
"Yes, and maybe ten cents if we gave 'em a longer ride," Bunny agreed.
"Couldn't we do that, Daddy, and make money for the Red Cross?"
Mr. Brown thought for a moment. Then he said:
"Well, yes, I think maybe you could. I have seen goat wagons in parks,
and the children paid five and ten cents to ride in them. There are
plenty of children in Bellemere, and I don't see why they wouldn't pay
money, too, for pony rides. Are you really going to do it, Bunny?"
"Yep!" answered the little boy. "Me and Sue--we'll give pony rides to
the children and save the money for the Red Cross!"
"I think that's just splendid, Daddy!" said Mother Brown. "It's good of
Bunny to think of it, isn't it? But don't you think you had better say
'Sue and I,' Bunny?" and she smiled at the excited little boy.
"Indeed, it is a good idea," said Mr. Brown. "I'll tell the lady who
asked me what my children were going to do to raise money, that they're
going to give pony rides, and all the boys and girls in Bellemere will
hear about it and you'll have lots of patrons."
"When does it start?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I mean--when do the children
have to begin earning money for the Red Cross?"
"Oh, they can start to-morrow, if they like," answered Mr. Brown.
"Then we will!" cried Bunny.
"And can I drive part of the time?" asked Sue.
"We'll take turns," promised Bunny, who was hardly ever selfish with his
sister.
The next day, when they had had their breakfast, Bunny Brown and his
Sister Sue started out with Toby, their Shetland pony, to give rides to
boys and girls to earn money for the Red Cross.
They had not ridden far down the street, sitting in the cart, the upper
part of which was woven like a basket, when they met Georgie Watson. He
was on his way to the store, and he called, as he often did:
"Give us a ride, Bunny?"
"Whoa!" said Bunny to the pony, and Toby stopped.
Georgie was just going to get in the pony cart when Bunny asked:
"Have you got five cents, Georgie?"
"Five cents? No, I've got two cents. That's all a yeast cake is--two
cents--and I'm going to the store to get my mother a yeast cake."
"Well, you must pay five cents for a ride in our pony cart to-day," said
Bunny. "It's five cents a ride."
[Illustration: "IT'S FIVE CENTS A RIDE. IT'S FOR THE RED CROSS."
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony._ _Page 151._]
"Five cents a ride!" cried Georgie in surprise. "Five cents!"
"Yes," said Bunny. "It's for the Red Cross you know. Sue and I are
earning money that way."
"Oh, yes! For the Red Cross!" cried Georgie.
"I see. I'm going to earn some money for that, too. But I'm going to
sell peanuts."
"That's a good way," said Bunny.
"We'll ask our mother to buy some peanuts of you," added Sue.
"Will you?" cried Georgie. "Then I'll ask my mother to give me five
cents for a ride in your pony cart."
"That's dandy!" cried Bunny. "Say," he went on, "you get in our cart
now, Georgie, and we'll take you down to the store to get the yeast
cake."
"But I haven't five cents to pay you for the ride," Georgie replied.
"I've only two cents for the yeast cake."
"That's all right," said Bunny, as he had heard his father say at the
dock, when some man, wanting fish, did not have the money just ready to
pay for it. "Get in, Georgie. It's all right. We'll drive you down to
the store, and then we'll take you home. And you can ask your mother for
five cents to pay for a Red Cross ride."
"I'll do it!" Georgie exclaimed.
Into the pony cart he scrambled, and sat down beside Bunny. They drove
toward the store to get a yeast cake, and on the way they met Charlie
Star.
"Hi!" cried Charlie. "Give us a ride, will you, Bunny?"
"Whoa!" said Bunny, and Toby came to a stop, switching his long tail.
"You want a ride?" Bunny asked of Charlie.
"Sure I do," answered Charlie.
"Got five cents?" Bunny went on.
"Five cents? No. What for?"
"To pay for the ride. It's for the Red Cross," went on Bunny.
Charlie shook his head.
"I've only a penny," he said, "and I was going to buy some gum with
that."
"Well, give me the penny," said Bunny, "and then you can go up to your
house and get four pennies more from your mother. Me and Sue--Sue and
I--we're earning Red Cross money with our pony."
"Did Georgie pay you?" Charlie wanted to know.
"He's going to," said Bunny. "But he's only got two cents now for a
yeast cake."
"A yeast cake!" cried Charlie. "You can't eat a yeast cake!"
"It's for my mother," explained Georgie. "I'm going home and get five
cents for a Red Cross ride."
"All right. I won't get any gum," decided Charlie. "I'll ride up home
and get four cents for a ride myself."
"Get in," said Bunny, and now, as the pony cart had four children in it,
and was comfortably filled (though it would hold six) Bunny made Toby
trot, and along they went to the store to get a yeast cake, not stopping
again, though several other children begged for rides.
"You can ride after us!" said Charlie. "This is for the Red Cross, and
it costs five cents."
Some of the other boys and girls said they'd try to get the money later
and have a ride in the pony cart.
Toby stopped in front of the store, and Georgie got out and went in
after his yeast cake. Then he came back and Bunny and Sue drove Toby,
their Shetland pony, on again until they came to the house where Georgie
lived.
"Oh, Ma!" he cried, running into the kitchen. "Here's your yeast cake,
and I want five cents for a Red Cross ride!"
"A Red Cross ride?" exclaimed Mrs. Watson. "Is that anything like a hot
cross bun?"
"Oh, no'm! It's a ride in a pony cart--Bunny Brown's pony Toby. And
Charlie Star has a penny and he's got to get four cents more, and please
hurry up and give me five cents--it's for the Red Cross!"
Mrs. Watson looked out of the window and saw the pony cart in front,
with Bunny and his Sister Sue and Charlie Star in it. Then she began to
understand, for she, too, was helping raise money for Red Cross work.
"Here's your five cents," she said to her little boy. "And wait a
minute!" she cried, as Georgie was about to rush away.
"Wait? What for?" he asked.
"You can take your sister Mary with you. She's little and won't crowd
you any, and that will be five cents more for Bunny's Red Cross. Come
on, Mary, have a pony ride!" called Mrs. Watson, and down came a little
girl, somewhat younger than Sue.
The time had been when Bunny and George were not such good friends, for
George used to play tricks on Bunny and Sue. But he had gotten over that
and was now very good, and the children played together and had good
times.
Georgie and Mary, each with five cents, ran out to the pony cart. "Is
there room for five in it?" asked Mrs. Watson.
"Oh, yes, lots of room," said Bunny.
"I'm glad you came, Mary," said Sue to the other little girl.
"Say, we'll make a lot of money!" went on Bunny, as he took the five
cent pieces Georgie and Mary handed him. "When I get your five, cents,
Charlie, I'll have fifteen."
"Here's my one cent now," said Charlie. "I'll get four more when I go
home."
Then they drove to Mr. Star's house, and Mrs. Star gave her little boy a
five-cent piece, so he got his penny back from Bunny, and could buy the
gum after all.
"Now, I'll give you a long ride," said Bunny to his passengers, and he
did, up and down the village streets. Several other boys and girls saw
what was going on, and said they'd get five-cent pieces and have rides,
too. And they did, later that day and the next day.
"We'll earn a lot of money for the Red Cross!" cried Bunny.
"It's lots of fun," said Sue.
The two Brown children with their Shetland pony took in almost a dollar
during the week, and they gave it to their father to keep for the Red
Cross. The boys and girls had two weeks in which to make money to help
the soldiers, and they must really earn the money--not beg it from their
fathers, mothers, uncles or aunts.
Some sold cakes of chocolate, and others peanuts, while some of the
larger boys ran errands or did other work to earn dimes and nickles.
One day Bunny and Sue got in the pony cart and started off.
"Where are you going?" asked their mother.
"To get more Red Cross money," Bunny answered.
"That will be nice," said Mrs. Brown.
Instead of going along the main street, as he had done before when he
gave the children rides for money, Bunny soon turned Toby down a side
street, that led to the woods.
"Where are we going?" asked Sue.
"I'll show you," Bunny answered.
"But this is the woods," went on Sue, when, in a little while, she saw
trees all about them. "We're in the woods, Bunny."
"Yes, I know we are," he said. "And we're going to get some money here
for the Red Cross."
Sue thought for a moment. Then she exclaimed:
"Oh, Bunny! You're not going to sell Toby to the gypsies, are you, and
give that money to the Red Cross?"
"Course not!" exclaimed Bunny. "You just wait and see!"
I wonder what Bunny Brown was going to do?
CHAPTER XVII
THE DARK MAN
Even though Bunny had said he was not going to sell Toby to the
gypsies--who Sue knew were in the woods--the little girl could not be
sure but what her brother was going to do something strange. He had a
queer look on his face--as though he had been thinking up something to
do quite different from anything he had done before, and was going to
carry it through. Bunny was sometimes this way.
Sue looked around, up at the trees and down at the green moss, which was
on both sides of the woodland path along which Bunny was driving Toby.
"How are you going to get any Red Cross money here, Bunny?" she asked.
"There aren't any children to take five-cent rides."
"You just wait and see," said Bunny with a laugh.
Sue did not quite know what to make of it. Bunny was acting very
strangely.
Suddenly, through the quiet forest, where, up to this time had only been
heard the chirping of the birds, sounded another noise. It was the
shouting and laughter of children.
"What's that, Bunny?" asked Sue in surprise.
"That's a Sunday-school picnic," answered her brother.
"What Sunday school?" Sue wanted to know.
"The Methodist Church," Bunny went on. "They're having their picnic
to-day. Our picnic is next Saturday. Harry Bentley told me about this
one--he goes to the Methodist Church--and he said if we came here with
Toby we could maybe make a lot of money for the Red Cross, giving rides
in the woods."
Then Sue knew what Bunny's plan was.
"Oh, that's fine!" she cried. "I guess we can make a lot of money. But
is there a smooth place where you can drive Toby? It's kinder rough in
the woods, if there's a lot of children in the cart."
"There's a smooth path around the place where you eat the picnic lunch,"
said Bunny. And then Sue remembered. The woods, in which she and her
brother were now riding along in the pony cart, were the ones where all
the Sunday-school picnics of Bellemere were held. In the middle of the
woods was a little lake, and near the shore of it was a large open-sided
building where there were tables and benches, and where the people ate
the lunches they brought in boxes and baskets.
Around this building ran a smooth path, and it was on this path that
Bunny was going to drive Toby, giving rides to the children so he could
make Red Cross money.
As Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue drove along under the trees the
shouting and laughter of the children sounded more plainly. Then some of
them could be seen, running back and forth over the dried leaves and
green moss.
Soon the pony cart was near the picnic ground, and some of the laughing,
playing boys and girls saw it.
"Oh, look!" they cried.
"Give us a ride!" others shouted.
"Rides are five cents apiece!" said Bunny. "I'd give you all rides for
nothing," he added, for Bunny was never stingy, "only I'm making money
for the Red Cross, and so is Sue. Five cents apiece for a Red Cross
ride!"
Some of the children turned away, on hearing that pony rides cost money,
but others ran to find their fathers or mothers, or uncles or aunts, to
beg the nickel from them.
"Well, you came, just as I told you to, didn't you, Bunny?" said Harry
Bentley.
"Yep, we're here," said Bunny.
"Well, I'll take a ride with you," Harry went on. "I got five cents on
purpose to have a pony ride."
He got into the basket cart, and so did another boy and a girl.
"That's all we can take now," said Bunny. "This road isn't as smooth as
the one in town."
He did not want to tire his pony, you see.
"I'll get out," offered Sue. "That'll make room for one more, Bunny. I
don't want a ride very much, and I see Sadie West. I can go over and
play with her."
"All right," agreed Bunny. "You can get out and wait for me, Sue.
That'll make room for one more."
And as Sue got out another girl got in, so there were four besides Bunny
in the cart, and this meant twenty cents for the Red Cross.
Around the woodland path Bunny drove his Shetland pony, and the boys and
girls, who had each paid five cents, had a good time. They laughed and
shouted, and that made others inquire what was going on, so that soon
quite a number were ready to take their turn riding.
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had done well to come to the
Sunday-school picnic in the woods to make money. They made more than if
they had gone up and down the streets, looking for passengers.
Toby did not seem to mind how many times he went around the pavilion
where the picnic lunches were to be eaten. It was cool and shady in the
woods, and though the path was not particularly smooth, it was not up
hill. And Toby didn't mind anything so much as he did hills.
Bunny did not drive the pony too fast, and several times he let him rest
and have a drink of water from the lake. Some of the boys and girls had
bits of sweet crackers or cookies which they fed to Toby, and he liked
them very much.
When noon-time came Bunny and Sue were going home to dinner, for they
had not brought a lunch. But one of the Sunday-school teachers said:
"It will take you quite a while, Bunny, to go home and come back. And it
will tire your pony, too. I like to see you and Sue earn money for the
Red Cross, so you stay and I'll give you part of my lunch. I have more
than I need. My little nephew and niece were coming, but, at the last
minute, they had to stay at home."
"Is there enough for Sue to have some lunch?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, of course," answered the Sunday-school teacher. "Tie Toby in a
shady place, and come and have lunch with me."
There was grass for the pony to eat, and soon he was enjoying his meal,
while Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were having a nice one with the
teacher.
"After dinner you can give our boys and girls more rides," she said,
"and earn more money for the soldiers."
Bunny liked this very much. At first he was afraid his mother would be
worried because he and Sue did not come back home. But the man who
brought the ice-cream to the picnic said he would stop when he went
back, and tell Mrs. Brown where her children were, and that Miss Seaman,
the teacher, was looking out for them and seeing that they were well
fed. So Mrs. Brown did not worry, knowing where they were.
The lunch was almost over, and Bunny was thinking about putting the
bridle back on Toby and starting his riding business again, when some
boys and girls, who had gone over to a little spring in the woods, came
running back, very much excited.
"Oh! Oh!" one of the girls cried. "We saw him! We saw him!"
"Whom did you see?" asked a teacher. "Be quiet and tell us what it was."
"Was it a snake?" asked one excited little girl.
"No, it wasn't a snake," said a boy somewhat older than Bunny. "It was a
great big man--awful dark-looking--and he had a red handkerchief on his
neck, and gold rings in his ears, and he was asleep by the spring."
I wonder who the man was?
CHAPTER XVIII
TOBY IS GONE
Three or four of the Sunday-school teachers gathered around the boys and
girls who had come back from the spring and were so excited about having
seen a dark man asleep under a bush.
"What did he look like?" asked one teacher.
"Oh, he--he was _terrible_!" said one little girl.
"He looked like an organ grinder only he was--was--sort of nicer,"
observed a little boy.
"And he had gold rings in his ears," added another.
"Maybe he was an organ grinder," suggested Miss Mason, who was the
superintendent in charge of the infant class of the Sunday school.
"But he didn't have an organ or a monkey," objected a little girl.
"Maybe the monkey was up in a tree," said Bunny Brown. "That's where
monkeys like to go. Mr. Winkler's monkey, named Wango, goes up in trees.
Let's look and see if this monkey is climbing around while the man's
asleep."
"Oh, yes, let's!" exclaimed Sue, always ready to do what her brother
suggested.
"Oh, let's!" cried all the other boys and girls, who thought it a fine
idea.
Miss Mason smiled at the other teachers, but, as Bunny, Sue and some of
the boys and girls started toward the spring, they were called back by
the superintendent.
"Better not go unless some of us are with you," she said. "You can't
tell what sort of man that might be. Wait a minute, children."
The children turned back, and Bunny said:
"I guess I know who that man is."
"What makes you think so?" asked Miss Mason.
"I can't tell until I see him," went on Toby's little master.
"Well, we'll go and look," Miss Mason said. "But I think I'll call one
of the men teachers. It might be better to have a man with us."
Some of the men who taught the Sunday-school classes came up at this
moment, wanting to know what was going on, and Miss Mason told them:
"Some of the children saw a dark-complexioned man, with gold rings in
his ears, asleep by the spring. We thought perhaps we had better see
who it is. Bunny Brown, who has been giving pony rides for the Red
Cross, thinks he might know who he is."
"Oh, ho!" cried Mr. Baker, a very jolly teacher, "so it's a dark man,
with gold rings in his ears, is it?"
"And a red handkerchief around his neck," said a little boy who had seen
the sleeping person.
"Oh, ho! once again then I say!" cried the jolly teacher. "This man must
be a pirate; don't you think so, Bunny Brown? Pirates always have gold
rings in their ears and red handkerchiefs on their necks, or on their
heads, don't they? Do you think you know this pirate, Bunny?"
"No, sir," answered the little boy, shaking his head. "But I don't guess
he's a pirate, 'cause pirates are always on ships. Anyhow, in all the
pictures I ever saw of them they were always on ships."
"I believe Bunny is right," said another man. "Pirates are only on
ships. And though there may be some land-pirates, they are not regular
ones, and can't be counted. And surely there can't be a ship in these
woods."
"There are boats on the lake," said a little girl.
"Yes, my dear, but they're not regular pirate-boats," went on Mr.
Baker. "No, I don't believe we can count this sleeping man as a regular
pirate. But we'll go and see who it is."
"I wish you would," said Miss Mason. "You men are laughing, I know, but
we don't want the children frightened by a tramp, and probably that's
what this man is."
"Perhaps," said Mr. Baker. "Well, we will go and have a look at him.
Come, gentlemen, we'll go and capture the man with the gold rings in his
ears."
The men Sunday-school teachers walked on ahead, and after them came the
women. Then marched Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, and a number of
other boys and girls. Toby, the Shetland pony was left tied to a tree.
In a little while the party came to the spring. Mr. Baker pushed aside
the bushes and looked in. At first he could see nothing, but soon the
sun came out from behind a cloud, making the little glen light, and then
the Sunday-school teacher could see a big man, his face very dark, as
though tanned by years of living at the seashore. In his ears were gold
rings, and around his neck was a red handkerchief.
"Hello, there!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. Baker.
And, just as suddenly, the man awakened and sat up. For a moment he
stared at the circle of men, women and children standing about him, and
then, as he caught sight of Bunny and Sue, he smiled at them, showing
his white teeth.
"Hello, pony-children!" he called to them, "Have you come to sell me
your little horse?"
"We're never going to sell Toby! Are we, Bunny," asked Sue.
"No;" said Bunny, "we never are."
"Oh, then you children know this--this----" and Mr. Baker did not seem
to know just what to call the dark man.
"He's a gypsy," said Bunny. "But I don't know him very well. His wagon
stopped in front of our house one day, and he wanted to buy our pony.
He's a gypsy."
"Ah, that's what makes him look so much like a pirate," said Mr. Baker
in a low voice to one of his friends.
"Yes, I am a gypsy," said the man, as he shook the leaves out of his
clothes and stood up. "My name is Jaki Kezar, and my camp is over near
Springdale. We have permission to camp there, and have done so for a
number of years. I was walking about the country, looking for horses to
buy, as that is our business, and when I reached here I felt tired. So I
took a drink from the spring, sat down and must have fallen asleep
before I knew it."
"Yes, you--you were asleep an'--an' you _snored_," said one little girl,
who felt quite brave, now that so many Sunday-school teachers were near
her.
"Oh, I snored, did I?" asked Jaki Kezar with a smile, and some of the
men smiled, too. This gypsy did not seem at all cross or ugly, and his
face was pleasant when he smiled.
"I hope I didn't scare any of the little ones," the gypsy went on. "I
wouldn't have done that for anything. I thought this was a quiet place
to rest."
"Oh, you didn't scare them very much," said Mr. Baker. "They just saw
you asleep and we didn't know who you might be. This part of the woods
is not the picnic ground, and you have a perfect right here."
"But I must be walking on," said Jaki Kezar. "I must try to find some
horses to buy. You are sure you will not sell me your pony?" he asked
Bunny again.
"We will never sell Toby!" exclaimed the little boy.
"Never!" added Sue. "He is a trick pony."
"And he was in a circus," added Bunny, "but he is never going there
again because they did not treat him nice, Mr. Tallman said."
"Well, if you won't sell me your pony I must go and see if I can find
another to buy," said Jaki Kezar, the gypsy. "Good-bye, boys and girls,
and ladies and gentlemen," he added, as he walked away. "I hope I didn't
frighten any of you. And if ever you come to our camp at Springdale we
will tell your fortunes."
Then, taking off his hat and making a bow to Miss Mason and the others,
the gypsy walked off through the woods.
"There! I'm glad he's gone!" exclaimed one of the older children. "He
made me nervous!"
"But he was a polite gypsy," said Mr. Baker. "I think he would have made
a nice pirate, too. Don't you, Bunny?"
"I guess so," agreed the little boy. "But he can't have my pony."
"I should say _not_!" cried Mr. Baker. "You want that pony for yourself,
and to make money for the Red Cross."
This reminded Bunny that he ought to start in again giving rides to the
picnic children. Toby had had his dinner and a good rest, and was once
more ready to trot along the shady paths of the picnic lake.
Not so many took rides in the afternoon as did in the morning, for some
of the children went home. But Bunny, who did most of the driving,
though Sue did some also, took in a little over a dollar after lunch.
And this, with the dollar and eighty-five cents which he had taken in
during the morning, made almost three dollars for Red Cross.
"My, you did well," cried Miss Mason, when Bunny and Sue told her they
were going, and showed her their money.
"I should say they did!" said Mr. Baker. "No wonder that gypsy wanted
their pony. He could start in business for himself. Be careful you don't
lose that money, Bunny."
"I will," promised the little boy.
Calling good-byes to their friends, the Sunday-school teachers and the
children, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue started off through the woods
on their way home. They were a little tired, but happy.
"Did you think we'd make so much money for the Red Cross, Bunny?" asked
Sue, as they drove along.
"No," said Bunny, "I didn't. But I knew this Sunday-school picnic was in
the woods. And it was a good place for us, wasn't it?"
"Fine," agreed Sue.
And when they got home they found their father and mother waiting for
them, as it was late in the afternoon.
"And you made three dollars! That's fine!" said Daddy Brown.
During the rest of the week Bunny and Sue made another dollar by giving
children rides in the pony cart. And they drove on an errand for Uncle
Tad who gave them a quarter, so they had a nice sum to turn over to the
Red Cross Society when the time was up.
It was about a week after the picnic, when one morning, Bunny, who was
up first, ran out to the barn to see Toby, as he often did before
breakfast. But, to the surprise of the little boy, the pony was not in
his stall, though the barn door was locked, Bunny having to open it with
a key before he could get in.
Greatly excited, when he did not see his pet in the box-stall, Bunny ran
back to the house.
"Oh, Mother! Mother!" he cried. "Toby's gone!"
"What?"
"Toby's gone!" cried Bunny again. "He isn't in his stable! Oh, come out
and look!"
And I wonder where the Shetland pony was?
CHAPTER XIX
THE SEARCH
Mrs. Brown hurried out of the house after Bunny, who ran back to the
stable. Sue, looking out of the window of her room upstairs, saw her
brother and called:
"What's the matter, Bunny?"
"Oh, Sue," he answered, not stopping even to look back, "Toby is gone!
Our nice pony isn't in his stable!"
"Oh! Oh!" cried Sue, and she could think of nothing else to say just
then. But you can guess that she very quickly finished dressing in order
to go down and look for herself to see what had happened to Toby.
Meanwhile Mrs. Brown and Bunny reached the stable.
"Are you sure Toby isn't here?" asked Bunny's mother.
"I--I looked everywhere for him," answered the little boy, who was
slightly out of breath from running. "I looked all over and I can't see
him anywhere."
Mrs. Brown looked, but no Toby was to be seen. The barn was not a large
one, and there were not many places where a horse, or even a small pony,
could be hidden. Bunny and his mother looked in all the places they
could think of--in the harness room and wagon room, and they even went
upstairs to the haymow.
"For Toby is a trick pony, and he might have walked upstairs," said
Bunny. "I didn't look there."
"I hardly think he would climb up where the hay is, but still he might,"
said Mrs. Brown. But no Toby was to be seen. And, really, being a trick
pony, he _might_ have walked up the stairs, which were strong, and
broad, and not very steep. I have seen a big horse, in a circus, go up a
flight of steps, so why couldn't a pony go upstairs?
But, anyhow, Toby was not in the haymow.
"Was the barn door locked when you first came out to see Toby?" asked
Mrs. Brown of Bunny.
"Yes, Mother, it was," he answered. "I took the key from off the nail in
the kitchen, and I opened the lock and the door. But Toby wasn't
there!"
"Are you sure you locked him in the stable last night?" went on Mrs.
Brown.
"Oh, yes, of course, Mother!" said Bunny. "Don't you 'member Bunker Blue
was up here and looked at Toby, and said he'd have to take him to the
blacksmith shop to-day to have new shoes put on--I mean new shoes on
Toby."
"Oh, yes, I do remember that!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And that is just
what has happened, I think."
"What has happened, Mother?"
"Why, Bunker Blue came up here early, and took Toby out of the stable
and down to the blacksmith shop to have the new shoes nailed on. That
must be it," said Mrs. Brown. "I'll telephone down to your father's
office, and ask him if he didn't send Bunker up to get Toby. Daddy went
down before breakfast this morning in order to get some letters off on
the early mail."
"Oh, I hope Bunker has our pony!" exclaimed Bunny with a sigh, and,
though he very much wanted to believe that this was what had happened,
still he could hardly think that it was so. Bunker Blue, thought Bunny,
would have said something before taking Toby away, even if it was
early.
"Did you find Toby?" asked Sue, as she ran out, tying her hair ribbon on
the way. She was in such a hurry that she had not waited to do that in
her room.
"No, he isn't in the stable," answered Bunny.
"But Bunker must have taken him to the blacksmith's shop," said Mrs.
Brown. "I'm going to telephone to find out."
And just what Bunny feared would happen did happen. Mr. Brown said
Bunker had not been up to the house, and he had not taken Toby away.
"And is Toby really gone?" asked Mr. Brown over the telephone wire.
"He can't be found," answered Mrs. Brown.
"I'll come right up and see what I can do," said Bunny's father. And
then the only thing to do was to wait.
Bunny and Sue, with tears in their eyes, looked again in the barn and
all around the house.
"But where can Toby be?" asked Sue, over and over again.
"Maybe he ran away," said Tressa, the maid.
"He couldn't run away, 'cause the barn was locked," declared Bunny.
"Well, maybe he could open the lock, being a trick pony," went on
Tressa, who wanted to say something so the children would not feel so
bad.
"No, he couldn't do that," said Bunny. "Toby could do lots of tricks,
but there wasn't any hole in the barn door so he could reach out and
open the lock. Besides, the key was hanging in your kitchen all night,
Tressa."
"Yes, that's so. Well, maybe he jumped out of a window," went on the
kind-hearted maid. "I see one of the barn windows is open, and it is
near Toby's stall."
"Oh, maybe he did get out that way, and he's off playing in the woods!"
exclaimed Sue, who felt very sad about the pet pony's being gone.
"Oh, but he couldn't," said Bunny, after thinking it over a bit.
"There's a mosquito wire screen over the window, and if Toby had jumped
out the screen would be broken."
"Yes, that's so," admitted Tressa. "Well, I guess you'll find him
somewhere. Maybe he'll come home, wagging his tail behind him, as
Bo-Peep's sheep did."
Bunny shook his head.
"I guess somebody took our pony," he said.
"But how could they when the door was locked?" asked Sue.
Bunny did not know how to answer.
Mr. Brown came up from the fish and boat dock, and with him was Bunker
Blue.
"Did you find him?" asked Mr. Brown, meaning Toby, of course.
"No, he isn't to be found around here," answered Mrs. Brown. "We have
looked everywhere, but there is no Toby!"
"Oh, Daddy! do you think you can find him?" asked Sue, and there were
tears in her eyes.
"Of course I'll find him!" said Daddy Brown, and, somehow, it did the
children good just to hear their father say that. "Now, we'll begin at
the beginning," went on the fish merchant, "and have a look at the barn
door. You know there's an old saying not to lock the stable door after
the horse is stolen, but this time the door was locked before Toby was
taken away. We are sure of that. Now, I'll have a look at the lock and
key."
Mr. Brown looked carefully at these and also at the door of the stable.
There was nothing to show that any one had gotten in, and yet the lock
must have been opened or the door could not have been swung back to let
Toby out. And Toby was surely gone.
"He couldn't have gotten out, or been taken out, any way but through
the door," said Mr. Brown, as he walked around the stable. "The window
is too small, even if there wasn't any wire screen over it to keep out
the flies and mosquitoes."
"What do you think happened?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Well," answered her husband, "I think some one, with another key, must
have opened the lock and have taken the pony away in the night."
"But who could it be?"
"Oh, some thief. Perhaps a tramp, though I don't believe tramps would do
anything like that. They are generally too lazy to go to so much work.
And whoever took Toby did it very quietly. They took him out of his
stable without waking any of us up, and then they carefully locked the
door again."
"I never heard a sound all night," declared Mrs. Brown.
"Nor did I," added her husband. "It's funny, though, that Splash didn't
bark. He sometimes sleeps in the shed near the stable, and if strange
men had come around one would think the dog would be sure to make a
fuss."
"Unless it was some one he knew," added Mrs. Brown, "or some one that
knew how to be friendly with a dog."
"Yes, some horse thieves might be like that," admitted Mr. Brown. "They
could make friends with our dog, and he wouldn't bite them or growl at
them to make a noise. Then they could walk off with Toby."
"I haven't seen Splash around this morning," said Tressa. "Generally he
comes early to get his breakfast, but I haven't seen him this morning."
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Bunny, "do you s'pose they stole Splash, too?"
CHAPTER XX
IN A STORM
Mr. Brown hardly knew what to say. It was certainly strange that the dog
should be missing as well as the pet pony. Certainly something out of
the ordinary had been going on during the night.
"Maybe Splash has just run away for a little while, to play with some
other dogs," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny and Sue, take a look around and
see. Call him, and perhaps he'll come."
So Bunny and Sue did this, walking up and down the road and calling for
Splash. They went a little way into the meadow, and over toward a clump
of trees where, sometimes, the dog played with others.
But there was no sign of Splash or Toby.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue. "I wonder where they can be?"
And then, suddenly, Bunny gave a loud cry.
"Oh, do you see him?" eagerly asked Sue. "Do you see Toby and Splash?"
"No," answered Bunny, his eyes shining with eagerness, "but I think I
know who took him. Come on, we'll go and tell daddy!"
Sue did not quite understand what Bunny meant, but she trotted after him
as fast as her little legs would take her. The children found their
father and mother, with Bunker Blue, still looking in and around the
stable, for any signs of the person who must have taken Toby away.
"Did you find Splash?" asked Mr. Brown.
"No, Daddy, we didn't," Bunny answered. "We couldn't find our dog
anywhere. But I came to tell you I know where Toby is!"
"You do!" cried Mr. Brown, greatly excited. "Did you see Toby under the
trees?"
"Oh, I didn't exactly _see_ him," Bunny explained, "but I think I know
who took him. I just thought of it."
"Who took him?" asked the little boy's father.
"That gypsy man!" exclaimed Bunny. "Don't you 'member--the one with the
funny name? He liked Toby terrible much, and I guess maybe he took him."
"Say!" cried Mr. Brown, "I shouldn't be surprised but what you are
right, Bunny. Maybe that gypsy man did come and take Toby, when he
found we wouldn't sell him the pony. Gypsies are great for horses and
ponies! I must see about this right away."
"What are you going to do?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"I am going over to the gypsy camp, and see if they have Toby," answered
Mr. Brown. "That would be just the very place where I'd expect to find
him. I'm glad you thought of it, Bunny. How did you do it?"
"It--it just sort of came to me," explained the little boy. "I saw a red
flower and a yellow one in the woods when we went to look for Splash,
and then I thought red and yellow was the color of the gypsy wagon. And
then I thought of the man with the funny name."
"Jaki Kezar was the name," said Mrs. Brown. "I remember, now, hearing
the children speak of it. Well, it's too bad if he took the pony, but
I'd be glad to find Toby even at the gypsy camp. There's one thing sure,
if he did take the pony that man would treat him kindly, for gypsies are
good to their horses."
"Well, Bunny," went on Mr. Brown, "we'll see how nearly you have guessed
it. I'll go to the gypsy camp."
"May I come?" asked Bunny.
"And I want to come, too," begged Sue.
"Oh, no, I'm afraid you're too little," said the little girl's father.
"I'll take Bunny and Bunker Blue. We'll go in the motor boat across the
bay, as it's shorter than going around by land."
"We can't bring Toby home in the boat, though, can we?" asked Bunny.
"Well, hardly," answered his father with a smile. "I'm afraid he'd kick
overboard. But don't count too much on finding Toby at the gypsy camp,
Bunny. He may not be there at all."
"You mean they'll take him away to some other place?" asked the little
boy.
"Well, maybe not that so much, as it is that we're not sure this Mr.
Jaki Kezar really has taken your pet," answered Mr. Brown. "We'll just
_hope_ Toby is at the camp, Bunny, but we mustn't be too sure about it."
"No," said Bunny, "I s'pose not."
"Though perhaps if the pony isn't exactly with the gypsies they may know
where he is," said Mrs. Brown. "Will you have that dark man arrested,
Daddy, for taking the children's pony?"
"I don't know just what I will do, yet," answered Mr. Brown with a
smile. "First I want to find out where Toby is."
"And I'm coming with you in the boat!" cried Bunny.
Sue wanted, very much, to go with her father and brother, but her mother
told the little girl there might be a long walk to take in the woods to
get to the gypsy camp, and that she would get tired.
"I wouldn't be tired if I could see Toby," she said, tears still in her
eyes. "And, anyhow, if I did get tired I could ride on Toby's back."
"That is if they find him," remarked Mrs. Brown. "No, Sue, dear, I think
you'd better stay with me. How will you get the pony back if you go in
the boat?" she asked her husband.
"Oh, Bunker can walk him back, and Bunny can ride. I'll come back in the
boat," said Mr. Brown. "They didn't take the pony cart, did they?"
"No, that's in the barn all right. It will be all ready for Toby when he
comes back," said Bunny.
There was nothing more that could be done at the Brown home toward
finding the lost or stolen pony, so Mr. Brown, with Bunker Blue and
Bunny, after eating a very hasty breakfast, got ready to take a motor
boat trip across the bay to Springdale.
This was a town, somewhat smaller than Bellemere, and it could be
reached by going around a road that led along the shores of Sandport
Bay. But a shorter journey was by water across the bay itself. And it
was in this way that Mr. Brown had decided to go this time.
The fish merchant owned a number of boats, some of which had sails,
others oars, and some were moved with gasolene engines.
"We'll go in the _Spray_," said Bunny's father, that being the name of
the boat.
"We could go faster in the _Wave_," said Bunker Blue, naming a smaller
boat.
"Yes, but it wouldn't be quite so safe," said Mr. Brown, who was always
very careful about the water, especially if any of the children were
with him. "There is quite a sea on, and the wind is blowing hard."
"It looks a little like a storm," observed Bunker Blue.
"Yes, it does," agreed Mr. Brown. "And that's another reason we ought to
take the _Spray_."
Bunny Brown did not care much in which boat they went as long as he had
a ride and was on the way to find Toby. He was almost sure the Shetland
pony would be at the gypsy camp, and he had no doubt but that his father
could easily take the little horse away from the bad men who had stolen
him.
As they went down to the dock, leaving Sue at home with her mother,
Bunny said:
"As soon as I saw the red and yellow flowers, which was just the color
of the gypsy wagon, I thought the dark man might have taken Toby."
"And, very likely he did," said Mr. Brown. "Only we must not be too
sure."
"Red and yellow are nice colors," said Bunker Blue. "Didn't you tell me,
Bunny, that the box of papers Mr. Tallman lost was painted that way?"
"Yes, it was," said the little boy. "It had red and yellow stripes on
it. But Mr. Tallman isn't a gypsy."
"Oh, I know that," replied Bunker Blue.
When they reached the dock and were getting ready to go aboard the
_Spray_, Mr. Brown looked across the bay, and, noting the rather high
waters and the way the wind blew, said:
"I wonder if, after all, we hadn't better go by land?"
"Oh, no, Daddy!" cried Bunny. "Let's go in the boat! It's nicer, and
we'll get to the gypsy camp quicker to find Toby."
"Yes, we'll get there more quickly," said Mr. Brown. "But that isn't
saying we'll find the pony, though I hope we shall. Anyhow, I guess we
can go and come before the storm breaks. Get aboard, Bunny. Have we
plenty of gasolene, Bunker?"
"The tank is full," answered the fish and boat boy.
"Well, then I guess we'll be all right. Ready, Bunny?"
"Yes, Daddy!" and the little boy looked eagerly across the bay toward
Springdale, where, in the gypsy camp, he hoped to find Toby.
"All aboard, then!" announced Mr. Brown, and one of his men pushed the
_Spray_ away from the dock. Bunker Blue started the gasolene motor, and
the boat went out into the bay, with Mr. Brown at the steering wheel.
"Oh, I do hope we'll find Toby! I do hope we will!" said Bunny over and
over again to himself.
As the motor boat went out beyond the dock the full force of the wind
and waves was felt. The _Spray_ bobbed up and down, but Mr. Brown was a
good sailor, and Bunker Blue had lived most of his life on and about
salt-water, so he did not mind it. Nor did Bunny, for he, too, had often
been on fishing trips with his father, and he did not get seasick even
in rough weather.
"Like it, Bunny?" asked his father, as the little boy stood beside him
in the cabin, while Mr. Brown turned the steering wheel this way and
that.
"Lots, Daddy!" was the answer. "Shall we get there pretty soon?"
"Yes, if the storm doesn't hold us back."
But that is just what the storm seemed going to do. The wind began to
blow harder and harder, and the waves, even in the sheltered bay, were
quite high. But the _Spray_ was a fairly large boat, and stout; able to
meet any weather except the very worst out on the open ocean.
On and on she chugged across the bay toward Springdale, and as they got
farther and farther out in the middle, the storm grew much worse.
"I don't know about this, Bunker!" called Mr. Brown to the fish boy,
who was looking after the motor. "I don't know whether we can get across
or whether we hadn't better turn back for our dock."
"Oh, Daddy! don't go back! You're not going back before you get Toby,
are you?" Bunny asked.
CHAPTER XXI
THE GYPSY CAMP
Anxiously Bunny Brown waited for his father's answer. The little boy
looked out of the cabin windows at the storm which was roughing-up the
waters of Sandport Bay. But Bunny was very much concerned about losing
Toby, or not going on to find the pony.
"Well, I guess as long as we have come this far," said Mr. Brown, "we
might as well keep on. You're not afraid, are you, Bunny?"
"Not a bit, Daddy! I like it!"
"You're a regular old sea-dog!" cried the fish merchant.
"And maybe we'll find our dog, Splash, at the gypsy camp, too," Bunny
added.
"Maybe," agreed Mr. Brown. Then he asked Bunker Blue:
"What do you think of it?"
"Oh, I've seen it blow worse and rain harder," answered the boy who was
attending to the motor. "I guess we can keep on."
It was raining very hard now, and the big drops, mixed with the salty
spray blown up from the water of the bay, were being driven against the
glass windows of the cabin.
"It's a good thing we brought the big boat," said Bunker Blue, as he put
some oil on the motor.
"Yes," said Mr. Brown. "I'm glad we didn't try to come in the small one.
We surely would have had to turn back."
Bunny Brown did not say anything for quite a while. He stood looking out
of the cabin windows.
"What are you thinking of, Bunny?" asked his father, as he steered the
_Spray_ to one side to get out of the way of a fishing boat and was
coming in, to get away from the storm.
"Oh, I was thinking of Toby," answered the little boy. "I hope he isn't
out in the rain."
"Well, it won't hurt him very much," returned Mr. Brown. "The rain is
warm, and Toby has a good thick coat of hair. All ponies have. But I
guess the gypsies have some sort of barn for their horses--the ones they
own and the ones they take from other people."
"I don't believe they have a barn," said Bunker. "They travel around so
much they don't have time to build barns. All I ever saw 'em have was
some wagons that looked as if they had come from a circus and a few
tents."
"Oh, well, maybe if they have Toby they'd let him stay in one of the
tents," said Mr. Brown, for he did not want Bunny to feel bad about Toby
being out in the storm.
"Yes, they could do that," agreed Bunny. "Toby isn't much bigger than a
great big dog, and he could get in a tent. Anyhow, I hope the gypsies
will be nice to him."
"I guess they will be," said Bunny's father. "Well, we'll soon know, for
we'll be there shortly."
Though the storm was a hard one, the motor boat kept on making her way
over, or through, the waves toward the landing on the other side of the
bay, where Mr. Brown, Bunny, and Bunker were to get out and walk to the
place where the gypsies were camped.
"Did you bring any umbrellas?" asked Bunny of his father.
"Yes, there are some in one of the lockers. Also rain coats and rubbers.
I put them in when I saw that it was likely to rain."
Mr. Brown kept everything needed in stormy weather at his office on the
dock, for often Mrs. Brown, or Bunny and Sue would go for a ride in one
of the boats, and a storm would come up while they were out on the bay.
Mr. Brown was always ready for all sorts of weather.
At last, after some hard work on the part of the gasolene motor, the
_Spray_ got close to the other side of the bay. Here she was somewhat
sheltered from the wind, and it was easier to get along.
Mr. Brown headed for a public dock, and, a little later, the boat was
made fast and the fish merchant, Bunker, and Bunny got out, ready to go
to the gypsy camp. It was well that umbrellas, coats and rubbers were in
the boat, or the little party would have soon been wet through. As it
was, the wind blew so hard that one umbrella was turned inside out.
"I guess we'd better leave them in the boat," said Mr. Brown. "I think
if we wear our coats and sou'westers we'll be dry enough."
A southwester, which is usually pronounced and sometimes spelled
"sou'wester," is a hat made from yellow oilskin, waterproof, and it can
be tied on under the chin so it won't blow off.
And so, with yellow caps on their heads, with yellow coats which came
almost to their feet, and with rubber boots, Bunny Brown, his father
and Bunker Blue set off through the rain to find the camp of the
gypsies, and, if possible, to get Toby. Bunny had a special set of
"oilskins," as they are called, for himself. Sue had a set also, but, of
course, she was not along this time.
"And I'm glad we left her at home," said Mr. Brown. "She is a stout
little girl, but this storm would have been too much for her. I'm afraid
it is almost too much for you, Bunny."
"Oh, no, it isn't," said Sue's brother. "I like it!"
And I really believe he did.
The _Spray_ was left tied to the dock, and a watchman there said he
would look after her until Mr. Brown and the others came back. The boat
was dry inside, though the outside, like everything else around her, was
dripping wet, for the rain still came down hard.
"Hello!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, as he looked at his watch when they were
walking up the dock. "It took us longer to come across the bay than I
thought it would. It is almost noon. We had better stop in town and have
some dinner. I don't believe the gypsies will feel like feeding us if we
take Toby away from them."
"Do the gypsies eat in the rain?" asked Bunny.
"Of course," his father answered. "They have to eat then the same as a
sailor does. And I suppose they know how to keep dry in their tents and
wagons as well as we do in our boats. But we won't depend on them for
our meal. We'll get it in the restaurant."
There was a small one on the shore, at the end of the dock, where
fishermen and boatmen, many of whom Mr. Brown knew, took their meals.
There Bunny, his father and Bunker Blue had some hot clam chowder, with
big crackers called "pilot biscuit," to eat with it. After they had
eaten the chowder and the other good things the keeper of the restaurant
set before them, they were ready to start out in the rain again.
"The gypsy camp; eh?" remarked a farmer of whom they asked how to get to
the place. "Well, you go along this road about a mile, and then turn
into the woods at your right. You can't miss it, for you'll see their
tents and wagons. But take my advice, mister, and don't buy any horses
of the gypsies. You can't trust 'em."
"I'm not going to buy any horses," said Mr. Brown with a smile. "We're
only going to try to get back this little boy's pony which we think the
gypsies may have taken."
"Oh, that's different. Well, I wish you luck!"
"Did you see my pony?" asked Bunny. "He was awful nice, and he could do
tricks!"
"No, little man, I'm sorry to say I haven't seen your pony," answered
the farmer of whom Mr. Brown inquired the way. "I haven't been to the
gypsy camp, but a friend of mine bought a horse and it was no good. I
don't like gypsies."
"Well, perhaps some of them are good," suggested Mr. Brown. "Did you
happen to see, among them, one tall, dark man, who wears a red
handkerchief around his neck, has gold rings in his ears and when he
smiles he shows his white teeth."
"A lot of the men are like that, and some of the women," said the
farmer.
"Is that so?" asked Mr. Brown. "I hoped you might know this particular
man. He called himself Jaki Kezar, and he wanted to buy our pony."
"Only I wouldn't sell Toby to him," put in Bunny.
"And so," went on Mr. Brown, "we think this man may have come to our
stable in the night and taken away the children's pet."
"Well, that's too bad," said the farmer. "I hope you get the pony back.
Just go on for about a mile, and then turn into the woods. You can't
miss the place, but you'll find it terribly muddy and wet."
"Well, we're ready for that sort of thing," said Mr. Brown with a smile
from under his yellow hat.
Bunny's father took hold of his little boy's hand on one side, and
Bunker Blue on the other, and together the three plodded along through
the storm, the mud, and the rain.
It was rather hard walking for little Bunny Brown, but he was a brave,
sturdy chap, and he was not going to complain or find fault, especially
after he had begged to be taken. But his legs did get tired, for the
rubber boots were heavy, and, at last, with a sigh, he said:
"I'm glad we didn't bring Sue along."
"Why?" asked Mr. Brown, with a smile at Bunker Blue.
"Because she'd get awful tired, and she'd have to be carried," said
Bunny. "I guess you or Bunker would have to carry Sue, if she was with
us, Daddy."
"Maybe we would," said Mr. Brown with another smile. "Maybe you would
like to be carried yourself, Bunny?"
"Me? Oh, no. I'm a _boy_!" said Bunny quickly.
But, all the same, his father noticed that the little fellow's legs were
moving more and more slowly, and finally Mr. Brown said:
"I'll carry you a little way, Bunny boy! It will rest you!"
And how glad Bunny Brown was to hear his father say that! Though he
never, never would have _asked_ to be carried. But, of course, if daddy
offered to do it that was different; wasn't it?
Picking his little boy up in his arms, Mr. Brown carried him along the
road, perhaps for five minutes, and then Bunker Blue, peering through
the mist, exclaimed:
"I see some tents and wagons over in a field near some woods!"
He pointed, and Mr. Brown said:
"I guess that's the gypsy camp all right! Yes, that's what it is!"
"Then please let me walk," said Bunny quickly. "I'm not tired now."
He did not want the gypsies to see him in his father's arms.
Mr. Brown, Bunker and Bunny turned into a field, and walked toward the
tents. They could be seen more plainly now, with some wagons drawn up
among them. As the three walked along they saw a tall man come from one
of the tents toward them.
"That's the gypsy!" exclaimed Bunny in a whisper. "That's the man that
wanted to buy our pony!"
It was, indeed, Jaki Kezar, and he smiled his pleasant smile.
"Ah, ha!" he said, as he caught sight of Bunny. "It is the little boy
who owns the trick pony! Have you come to sell him to me?" he asked.
Bunny Brown did not know what to say. Was Toby in the gypsy camp?
CHAPTER XXII
"THERE'S TOBY!"
Standing in the storm, at the edge of the gypsy camp, Bunny Brown, his
father and Bunker Blue looked at the dark man with the gold rings in his
ears. This man--a gypsy with white teeth--did not seem to mind the rain,
though he had on no yellow coat, "sou'wester," cap or rubber boots. But
then, perhaps, he had just come out of the tent.
"Did you come to tell me you would sell me the little trick pony?" he
asked again. "If you did I am glad, for I would like to have him. But I
am sorry you came in such a storm."
Bunny did not know what answer to make, and so turned to his father. Mr.
Brown did not smile as did the gypsy man. Maybe Bunny's father felt a
bit angry.
"Is your name Kezar?" asked Mr. Brown of the gypsy man.
"It is, yes, sir, Mr. Brown. My name is Jaki Kezar, and I am the chief
of these gypsies. Sometimes they call me the gypsy king, but we have no
kings. I am just a leader, that is all."
"You are, then, the man I am looking for," went on Mr. Brown. "We have
come all the way through the storm to find my little boy's pony. It's
name is Toby and it has been stolen from the stable--it was taken some
time in the night, and a dog, named Splash, seems to be gone also. I
don't say you, or any of your gypsies, took the dog and pony, but I
would like to know if you know anything about them.
"You were once at my house, asking to be allowed to buy the trick pony,"
went on Bunny's father, "and we have come a long way to ask if you have
seen it."
Jaki Kezar seemed quite surprised. He looked first at Mr. Brown and then
at Bunny and Bunker.
"Your pony stolen?" he exclaimed.
"He's gone," Bunny answered. "And I guess he was stolen. For he was
locked in the barn, but when I went out to look at him, as I always do,
he wasn't there."
"That's too bad!" exclaimed the gypsy. "I am sorry. And let me tell you,
Mr. Brown," he went on, "that I did not steal Toby, and nobody in my
camp did. I know that some gypsies are not honest, and they may take
things that do not belong to them. But _we_ do not. Come, you shall look
all through our camp and see for yourself that Toby is not here, nor the
dog, Splash, either. We do not steal things! Come and look for
yourselves. You shall see that Toby is not here!"
"Then where is he?" asked Bunny, whose heart seemed to sink away down in
his rubber boots when he heard the gypsy say this.
"I don't know where he is, little man," the gypsy replied. "But he is
not here. I wish he was. That is, I wish you had sold him to me, but I
would never take your pony from you if you did not want me to have him.
Come and see that he is not here."
The gypsy turned to lead the way up along the path toward the wagons and
tents, and, as he did so, the barking of dogs was heard.
"Maybe one of them is Splash," said Bunker Blue.
"No," answered the gypsy, "those are all our dogs. There is not a
strange one among them. If there was, our dogs would fight him--at least
they would until they made friends. No, neither your pony nor dog is
here, I'm sorry to say, though I would like to own that pony for
myself. But come and see!"
So Bunny, his father and Bunker Blue went up to the gypsy camp. They saw
the tents and wagons, in which lived the dark-skinned men, women and
children who traveled about from place to place, buying and selling
horses, baskets and other things, and telling fortunes; which last, of
course, they don't really do, it being only make-believe.
The wagons, gay in the red, golden and yellow paint, seemed bright and
fresh in the rain, and the backs of some of them were open, showing
little bunks, like those in a boat, where the people slept. Some wagons
were like little houses--almost like the ark--only not as large, and in
them the gypsies could eat and sleep.
But most of the dark-skinned travelers lived in tents which were put up
among the trees, alongside the wagons. Some of the tent flaps were
folded back, and in one or two of the white, canvas houses oil stoves
were burning, for the day was chilly. There were chairs, tables and beds
in the tents, and all seemed clean and neat.
"We keep all our horses at the back of the camp," said Jaki Kezar as he
led the way. "You shall see them all, and be sure that your pony is not
with them."
As he walked on, followed by Bunny, Mr. Brown and Bunker Blue, gypsy
men, women and children came to the entrance of the tents, or to the
back doors of the wagons, and looked out. They stared at the visitors,
in the shiny, yellow oilskins, but said nothing.
A little way back in the woods were a number of horses tied to the
trees. They were under a sort of shed, made by cut, leafy branches of
trees put over a frame-work of poles, and this kept off some of the
rain. The horses seemed to like the cool and wet, for it kept the flies
from biting them.
Eagerly Bunny looked for a sight of Toby, but the pony was not there.
Neither was Splash among the dogs, some of which barked at the visitors
until Jaki Kezar told them to be quiet. Then the dogs sneaked off into
the woods.
Mr. Brown and Bunny looked carefully among the horses, thinking,
perhaps, that Toby might be hidden between two of the larger steeds. But
the pony was not there.
"I tell you true," said the gypsy man, earnestly, "we have not your
pony!"
"But where is he?" asked Bunny, almost ready to cry.
"That I do not know, little man," answered the gypsy. "If I did I would
tell you. But he is not here."
And it was evident that he was not. There was no sign of the trick pony
at the gypsy camp, and, after looking about a little more, Mr. Brown and
Bunny, followed by Bunker Blue, turned away.
"Perhaps there are more gypsies camped around here," said Mr. Brown to
Jaki Kezar.
"Perhaps," admitted the man with the gold rings in his ears. "But I do
not know of any. If I hear I will tell you. I am sorry about your little
boy's pony."
"Yes, he and his Sister Sue feel bad about losing their pet," said Mr.
Brown.
Then he and Bunny and Bunker tramped back through the mud and rain to
the motor boat. Bunny felt so bad he did not know what to do, but his
father said:
"Never mind. If we don't find Toby I'll get you another pony."
"No other would be as nice as Toby," said Bunny, half sobbing.
"Oh, yes, I think we could find one," said his father. "But we will not
give up yet. I'll write to the police in several of the towns and
villages around us, and ask them if any gypsies are camped near them. If
there are we'll go and see if any of them have Toby."
Bunny felt better after hearing this, though he was still sad, and did
not talk much on the way home across the bay. The storm was not so bad
now, and, as the wind blew toward Bellemere, the _Spray_ went home
faster than she had gone away.
"Did you get Toby?" cried Sue, running to the door as she heard the
steps of Bunny and her father on the porch, late that afternoon.
Mr. Brown shook his head to say "No."
"He--he wasn't there!" said Bunny, hardly able to keep back his tears.
And Sue didn't keep hers back at all. She just let them splash right
down on the floor, until her mother had to pick the little girl up in
her arms--perhaps to keep her feet from getting wet.
"Never mind, Sue," said Mrs. Brown. "We'll get you another pony."
"I want Toby!" sobbed Sue.
"Maybe we can find him," said Bunny, who felt that he must be brave,
when he saw how sorry his little sister felt. "Maybe there are more
gypsy camps, and we'll look in some of them; won't we, Daddy?"
"That's what we will, Son! We'll find Toby yet."
It rained during the night, and all that Bunny and Sue could think of,
until they fell asleep, was that Toby and Splash might be out in it,
cold, wet, and hungry. They even put something in their prayers about
wanting to find the lost dog and pony.
The next day, down at his office, Mr. Brown wrote a number of letters to
the police in neighboring cities, asking if there were any camps of
gypsies in their neighborhood, and, if there were, to let him know.
"Then we'll go there and see if we can find Toby," he said to the
children.
Bunny and Sue did not know what to do. There was no school, so they took
walks in the woods and fields. Without Splash and Toby they were very
lonesome.
Uncle Tad said, one day, that perhaps Mr. Tang, the very cross man to
whom Mr. Tallman owed money, might have taken Toby. But when asked about
it Mr. Tang said:
"Indeed, I'd like to have that trick pony very much, but I'd never
steal him. And, much as I wanted him from Mr. Tallman, I wouldn't take
him from Bunny and Sue."
So Toby was not found in Mr. Tang's stable.
It was about three days after the pony had been taken away that, as
Bunny and Sue were walking on a hill, about a mile from their house,
they saw a boy coming toward them. The boy seemed to know them, but, at
first, Bunny and his sister did not know him.
"Hello!" said the boy. "Where's your pony?"
"Pony?" repeated Bunny. "Do you know anything about him?"
"Know anything about him?" asked the boy in turn. "Why, I saw you giving
rides with him at the Sunday-school picnic to make Red Cross money. My
little brother had a ride. Don't you remember? He was red-headed, and he
wanted to hold the lines himself."
"Oh, yes, I 'member him!" said Sue.
"So do I," added Bunny.
"But where's your pony now?" asked the boy. "Why aren't you riding in
the cart with your pony to pull you along."
"Because he's been stolen!" exclaimed Bunny Brown.
"What! Your pony stolen?"
"Yep! And our dog Splash, too!" added Sue.
"Whew!" whistled the boy. "How'd it happen?"
Then Bunny and Sue told about what had taken place.
"We went to one gypsy camp looking for Toby," said Bunny, "but he wasn't
there. Now daddy is trying to find more gypsy camps."
"Does he know about the one over near Pickerel Pond?" asked the boy,
naming a place about three miles from Bellemere.
"Is there a gypsy camp at Pickerel Pond?" Bunny asked.
"Sure there is--a big one, too. Maybe that's where your pony is, Bunny.
Why don't you look there?"
"I--I guess I will," declared the little boy. "Come on, Sue. We'll go to
Pickerel Pond."
"But we don't know the way," objected Sue.
"I can show you," offered the boy. "I'm going that way myself. Not all
the way, but pretty near. I can show you the camp from the top of the
hill, and all you'll have to do will be to go down to it and ask if they
have your pony."
"Oh, come on, Bunny! Let's go!" cried Sue.
"All right," agreed her brother. "We'll get Toby back, maybe."
"I don't know if he's there," went on the boy, "'cause I didn't see him.
But I know there are gypsies there."
Then he started off, leading the way, and Bunny and Sue followed, never,
for one instant, thinking they were doing wrong to go off and try to
find the lost Toby pony by themselves.
It was rather a long way from the hill near their house to the one from
which the boy had said the gypsy camp could be seen, but Bunny and Sue
never thought of getting tired. On and on they went and, after a bit,
the boy stopped and said:
"This is as far as I'm going. But you can see the gypsy tents and wagons
down there in the hollow. You go down and see if Toby is there. I'll
stop on my way back and help you drive him home if you find him. I have
to go on an errand for my mother, but I'll stop at the camp on my way
back. I'm not afraid of the gypsies."
"I'm not, either," said Bunny.
Then, as the boy turned away, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, hand in
hand, darted down toward this other gypsy camp. And, as they came closer
to the tents and wagons, Sue gave a sudden cry.
"Look, Bunny!" she exclaimed. "There's Toby!" and she pointed to a
little pony that was eating grass under a clump of trees where some
other horses were tied.
Was it their missing pet?
CHAPTER XXIII
PRISONERS
Their eyes shining bright in anticipation and hope, Bunny Brown and his
Sister Sue walked down the grassy hillside to the little glen, in which
was the gypsy camp. The nearer they came to where they saw the pony
grazing the more sure were they that it was Toby himself.
"Oh, we've found him! We've found him!" cried Sue.
"Yes, it _is_ him!" added Bunny. "Won't daddy be s'prised when he sees
us coming home with Toby?"
"And maybe Splash, too," went on Sue. "Do you see him anywhere, Bunny?"
"No," answered her brother, "I don't."
Bunny did not look around very carefully for Splash. He loved the dog,
of course, but, just then, he was more interested in Toby.
At first the children did not see any of the gypsies themselves--the
men, women or boys and girls. But there were the groups of horses, and
with them a pony--their pony, they hoped.
And, when they were within a short distance of the little horse, Bunny
gave a cry of delight.
"Oh, Sue!" he exclaimed. "It _is_ Toby! It _is_! I can see his one white
foot!"
"And I can see the white spot on his head," added the little girl. "It
is our Toby!"
And then they ran up to the Shetland pony and threw their arms around
its neck, and Sue even kissed Toby, while Bunny patted his glossy neck.
"Oh, Toby! we've found you! We've found you!" said Bunny in delight.
"And we're never going to let you be tooken away again!" added Sue.
As for Toby--and it really was the children's pet--he seemed as glad to
see them as they were to see him. He rubbed his velvety nose first on
Bunny and then against Sue's dress, and whinnied in delight.
"Now, we'll take you right home!" declared Bunny.
"But we'll find Splash first," added his sister.
"Oh, yes, we want our dog, too," said Bunny.
He was trying to loosen the knot in the rope by which Toby was tied to a
stake in the ground, and Sue was helping, when a shadow on the grass
told the children that some one was walking toward them. They looked up
quickly, to see a ragged gypsy man, with a straggly black moustache,
scowling at them. In his hand he held a knotted stick.
[Illustration: A RAGGED GYPSY MAN WAS SCOWLING AT THEM.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony._ _Page 218._]
"Here! What you young'uns doin' with that pony?" he fairly growled.
"If you please," answered Bunny politely, "he's our pony, and we're
taking him home. His name is Toby and he was in our stable, but some one
took him away. Now we've found him, and we're going to take him home
again."
"Oh, you are, are you?" asked the man, and his voice was not very
pleasant. "Well, you just let that pony alone; do you hear?"
"But he's _ours_!" said Sue, not understanding why they could not take
their own pet.
"He's my pony--that's whose he is!" growled the gypsy man, who was not
at all nice like Jaki Kezar. "Let him alone, I tell you!" and he spoke
in such a fierce voice that Bunny and Sue shrank back in fright.
Just then the barking of some dogs was heard, and Bunny took heart.
Perhaps Splash was coming, and might drive away the bad gypsy man as
he once had driven off a tramp.
"This is our pony," said Bunny again, "and we want to take him. He isn't
yours. Our father bought him from Mr. Tallman for us. Mr. Tallman's
red-and-yellow box was stolen and he got poor so he had to sell the
pony."
"What was stolen?" asked the gypsy quickly.
"Mr. Tallman's red-and-yellow box," repeated Bunny. "It didn't have
money in it, but it had papers, like money. And it made Mr. Tallman
poor. But this is our pony. His name is Toby and he can do tricks."
"And we're a dog named Splash," added Sue. "Is he here?"
"I don't know anything about your dog," growled the man. "And I don't
know anything about a red-and-yellow box, either," and as he said this
he looked around, as though in fear lest some one would hear what he was
saying.
"But this is our Toby pony," insisted Bunny. "We want him."
"What makes you think he's your pony?" growled the gypsy, and as he
turned to look back toward the tents and wagons Bunny and Sue saw a
gypsy woman coming toward them.
"I know he's our pony, 'cause he's got a white spot on his head,"
answered Sue.
"And he's got one white foot," added Bunny. "And he can do tricks. If I
had a handkerchief I'd show you how he can pick it up."
"Here's my handkerchief!" offered Sue.
Bunny took it and dropped it on the grass near Toby. At once the little
Shetland pony picked it up and held it out to Bunny, as he had been
taught to do.
"And here's a lump of sugar for you!" cried Bunny, as he gave Toby a
piece, for the little boy had lately always carried some in his pocket,
hoping Toby might be found.
"See!" went on Bunny. "He _is_ our pony, and he can do more tricks than
this. He can ring a bell."
By this time the gypsy woman had come up. She did not smile as she asked
the man:
"What's the matter here?"
"Oh, these children think this is their pony," he said, and he laughed,
but it was not a nice laugh.
"Their pony! Why, the very idea!" cried the woman. "This is _my_ pony,
and I'm going to keep him."
"But he's our Toby!" exclaimed Sue. "Our daddy bought him from Mr.
Tallman."
The man and woman talked in a low voice. What they said Bunny and Sue
could not hear, but soon the woman remarked:
"Perhaps this may look like your pony, my dears, but he can't be,
because he's mine. Lots of ponies look alike, even with white feet and
white marks on their heads. This one isn't yours. Now you run along
home. Maybe your pony will be in your stable when you get there."
"No, this is our pony!" said Bunny in a brave voice, "and we're going to
take him with us. A boy showed us where your camp was, and he's going to
stop for us on his way back and help us take Toby home. This is our pony
and we're going to have him."
"And we want Splash, our dog," added Bunny's Sister Sue. "And if you
don't let us take Toby maybe Splash will bite you!"
Nothing could have made Bunny and Sue braver than to think they were not
going to have their pony after they had found him. They did not feel at
all afraid of the scowling gypsies.
And the gypsies were scowling now, and seemed angry. Again they talked
together in low voices. Bunny walked close to Toby once more, and took
hold of the rope that tied him.
"Here! what are you doing?" cried the gypsy.
"I'm going to take our pony," said the little boy. "He's ours, and you
can't have him! Did you take him out of our stable? If you did my daddy
will send the police after you. He wrote to some policemen to find our
pony, but we've found him ourselves and we want him!"
Suddenly the gypsy woman smiled at the children. She said something
quickly to the man--what it was Bunny and Sue could not hear--and then
she spoke to the little boy and girl.
"Well, perhaps this is your pony," she said. "But, of course, you may be
wrong. We have some other ponies back of the tents. Will you come and
look at them? Maybe one of them is yours."
"No, I'm sure this is our Toby," said Bunny.
"Oh, well, come and look at the other ponies," said the woman, and her
voice seemed much kinder in tone now. "This pony may look like yours,
and you may find another that looks more like your Toby. Come and see,"
she invited.
And, though Bunny and Sue were sure this pony was theirs, still the
gypsy woman spoke so nicely, and seemed so kind, they did not know just
what to do.
"Come on," she invited, holding out her hands to Bunny and Sue. "I'll
show you the other ponies, and the dogs, too. Maybe you can find your
dog."
"Oh, I hope we can!" cried Sue. "Come on, Bunny!"
"But I'm sure this is Toby," said the little boy. "We'll go and look at
the other ponies," he agreed, "but we'll come back to this one, for he's
Toby."
"All right--you can come back," said the woman, and she made a sign with
her head at the gypsy man, who turned away.
"Come," urged the woman, and Bunny and Sue walked with her.
"We'll come back to you, Toby!" promised Bunny.
The pony looked after them as the children walked away, as though
wondering why they left him. Through the woods, under the trees of which
were tents and wagons, the gypsy woman led the children. Other gypsies
came out to look at them, and none seemed very friendly.
"Where are the other ponies?" asked Bunny. "I don't see any."
"Oh, just over here," answered the woman. "Here, come through this tent
with me. They're just beyond here!"
Before Bunny and Sue knew what was happening they had followed the
dark-faced woman inside a tent. It was like the ones at Jaki Kezar's
camp.
"There! Sit down!" said the woman, and she suddenly pushed Bunny and Sue
into some chairs. "Sit down here awhile!"
"Where are the ponies?" asked Bunny. "We don't want to sit down. We want
to see the other ponies, but I'm sure the first one was Toby."
"Never mind about the other ponies!" growled the woman, and her voice
suddenly changed and was ugly and harsh again. "You'll just stay here
for a while!"
Bunny and Sue did not know what to make of it. They had felt so sure
they could take Toby and go home with their pony. And now to be all
alone in a tent with a gypsy woman! It was too bad!
"I--I don't want to stay here!" said Sue, almost ready to cry.
"Well, you've got to stay whether you want to or not!" snapped the gypsy
woman. "We can't let you go to bring the police after us. You'll have to
stay here! We'll just keep you prisoners awhile until we can pack up and
move! Now don't be afraid, for I won't hurt you! You'll just have to
stay until we can get away, that's all!"
What was going to happen to Bunny and his Sister Sue?
CHAPTER XXIV
THE RED-AND-YELLOW BOX
The gypsy woman sat down in a chair in front of the two children and
looked at them. And Bunny and Sue, their hearts beating fast, and not
knowing what was going to happen to them, looked at the woman. They did
not like her at all. She did not smile as Jaki Kezar had done, and her
teeth, instead of being white and shining, were black.
"If you don't cry nothing will happen to you," she said.
"We--we're not going to cry!" said Bunny, as bravely as he could.
"We--we're not afraid and we want our pony!"
To tell the truth, Bunny had been on the point of crying, and there were
tears in Sue's eyes. But when the little girl heard her brother say
that, she just squeezed the tears back again where they belonged--that
is all except two, and they "leaked out," as she said afterward.
As for Bunny, the gypsy woman had hurt him a little when she shoved him
down into the chair, and he had been going to cry a bit for that, but,
when she told him not to, he just made up his mind that he would not.
"We--we want to go home and take our pony," said Sue, and she gave a
twist as though she was going to get up. "And we want our dog, too," she
added.
"Now, you just sit still where you are!" exclaimed the woman. "If you're
good maybe you can have your dog--that is, if I can find him."
"And our pony, too? Can we have Toby?" asked Bunny eagerly.
"I don't know anything about your pony," said the woman, in a sort of
growling voice. "That wasn't your pony you saw--he belongs to me and my
husband. We bought him!"
"But he is our pony!" said Bunny. "He knows us and we know him, and he's
got white spots on, just like Toby."
"Lots of ponies have white spots," answered the gypsy woman. "That one
isn't yours, I tell you."
"But he knows us," went on Bunny, "and he did the handkerchief trick. We
want our pony and we want to go home!" and, for just a moment, Bunny
felt very much like crying.
"You can go home after a bit," said the woman, as she looked out of the
tent. "Now be good and don't make a fuss. If you're good you can have a
dog. And then I'll let you look at some other ponies, and you can tell
which is yours--maybe. Just keep still!"
There was nothing else for Bunny and Sue to do. The gypsy woman looked
so big and tall and so fierce that they were afraid of her. And she sat
in front of them so they could not run past her to get out of the tent.
Something strange seemed to be going on in the gypsy camp. There was the
sound of men's voices shouting, and the rattle of wagons and carts could
be heard. There was also the sound of pans and dishes being packed up,
for all the world, as Bunny said afterward, as though the camp was
moving--and it really was.
For perhaps an hour the woman sat in front of the children in the tent,
and then she got up and looked out.
"I'm going to leave you here awhile," she said. "If you'll promise to be
good, and not make a fuss, I won't tie you to your chairs. But if you
act bad, I'll tie you up. Now will you be good?"
Bunny and Sue were nearly always good, and it did not take this threat
to make them promise now. They just nodded their heads at the woman. She
started out of the tent, but turned to shake her finger at them and say:
"Now, I'm going to tie the tent flaps shut, and don't you try to come
out. If you do I'll see you, or some of us gypsies will, and if we don't
the dogs will. So you'd better stay right here. You needn't be afraid,
nobody is going to hurt you, and we're only going to keep you here until
we can get away. We don't want the police after us. We haven't done
anything, but we don't like the police. So don't you dare to run out of
this tent. Remember, I'll be watching, and so will the dogs!"
With that she slipped out, and Bunny and Sue could see her shadow in
front. She was tying the flaps as they had often seen their father or
mother tie the tent at night in Camp-Rest-a-While.
Then Bunny and Sue were left to themselves. They looked at one another
for a moment and then Bunny said:
"That _is_ our pony Toby!"
"I know it is!" exclaimed Sue. "Oh, Bunny, how are we going to take him
home?"
"I--I'll think of a way--maybe," said Bunny. The little boy felt that he
must be brave and not let Sue know he was afraid. Really he was not as
much afraid as some other boys of his age might have been, because he
was thinking so much about Toby. He was so anxious to get his pony and
take the pet home that he did not think about himself.
"Can we get out of here without her seeing us--or the dogs?" asked Sue,
after a while.
"I don't know," answered Bunny, and he whispered, as his sister had
done. "I--I'll take a look," he went on.
Slipping softly from his chair he peeped out through a little crack
between the tent flaps.
"Is she there?" Sue asked.
"No, but that man is--the one that wouldn't let us take Toby. He's lying
on the grass right in front of the tent."
"Can you see Toby?" asked Sue.
Bunny peered out a little longer.
"No, I can't see the pony," he answered. "You come and look, Sue. The
crack's big enough for both of us."
Sue stood beside her brother. She, too, saw the gypsy man stretched on
the grass, and near him were some dogs.
"Splash isn't there," she said.
"No, maybe he's tied up in the woods," said Bunny. "I wish we could find
him. Oh, I wish daddy knew we were here. He'd make the gypsies let us
go, and he'd take Toby for us."
"Maybe he'll come and get us," suggested Sue, hopefully.
"Maybe," agreed her brother. "Oh, I wish we could see Toby!"
The children looked out as well as they could between the tent flaps.
They dared not make the crack any wider for fear the man in front might
see them. They saw gypsy men, women and children hurrying to and fro,
and loading wagons. Some tents were being taken down.
"I guess they're moving," said Sue.
"They're afraid we'll tell the police on them--that's what the woman
said," remarked Bunny. "I guess they did steal our pony, and they're
afraid they'll be arrested. Yes, they are moving the camp, Sue."
And this was just what the gypsies were doing. They were going away in a
hurry, too. Every one, except the man on the grass in front of the tent
where the children were held prisoners, seemed to be busy.
"Do you think they'll take us with them when they go?" asked Sue, after
a bit.
"No, they wouldn't take us along," said Bunny.
"But gypsies do take children," went on Sue. "Don't you 'member that
story about the little boy and girl that were tooken by the gypsies and
had to live with them a long while, until they looked just like gypsies
themselves?"
"That was in a book!" said Bunny. "They won't take us away. But I'd like
to get out of this tent."
"Maybe we could, without the man seeing us," suggested Sue.
"If he didn't the dogs might," Bunny answered. "Oh, I wish we were in
our pony cart now! We could ride away from the gypsies."
"I wish so, too!" said Sue, with a sigh.
Bunny looked out of the crack again.
"There's a dog with the man now," said the little boy. "But it isn't our
Splash. We wouldn't dast go out the front of the tent, Sue. But I could
untie the flap ropes; I know I could."
"Oh, maybe we could go out the _back_ of the tent!" suddenly cried Sue.
"There's nobody out there to watch us, maybe, and we could get out that
way. Come on, Bunny! Let's do it!"
"Say! That's right!" Bunny quickly cried. "Come on, we'll try the back
of the tent!"
As in Camp-Rest-a-While, there was a board floor in the gypsy tent, and
the canvas sides, as well as the back and front, were fast to nails
driven in the edges of the board floor. It was not very hard work for
Bunny and Sue to slip off some of the rope loops from the nails. Then
the cloth back of the tent could be raised and they could slip out.
"Come on, Sue!" whispered Bunny, when he had made a place big enough for
him and his sister to get through. "Now we can get out and they won't
see us!"
He went first, and Sue followed. But, to the surprise of the children,
instead of finding themselves outside the tent, they saw that they were
in a little wooden room which was built right against the tent. In fact,
it was part of the tent, there being no wooden side against the back of
the cloth house. Bunny and Sue had slipped underneath the tent and were
in a little slab-sided room which had a door, and through the chinks and
cracks of it the sunlight streamed.
"Why, we didn't get out at all!" said Sue in surprise.
"No," said Bunny. "We didn't. But maybe we can get out of this cabin."
"Look out of the door and see if there is a man there, or any dogs,"
suggested Sue in a whisper.
Bunny looked through one of the cracks.
"It's right near the woods," he said. "I guess we can get out if we can
open the door."
He pushed on it, and so did Sue, but, to their disappointment, they
found it was locked on the outside.
"There's a window," Sue said, pointing to one rather high up, on one
side of the cabin. "Maybe we can open that and crawl out, Bunny."
"Yes, we could, if we had something to stand on," said the little boy.
"Let's look for something."
He went over to a pile of blankets in one corner of the cabin and lifted
one. As he did so he gave a cry of surprise.
For there, in plain view, was a small red-and-yellow-striped box, and,
at the sight of it, Sue exclaimed:
"Oh, is that the one Mr. Tallman had? Oh, Bunny, maybe it is!"
"Maybe!" cried the little boy. "Maybe it is!"
As he and his sister leaned over it they heard some one at the door of
the cabin. There was a rattle of a key in a lock, and a voice said:
"I'll bring the box out, and then we can hurry away!"
Who was coming into the place where Bunny and Sue were?
CHAPTER XXV
TO THE RESCUE
Suddenly the door of the cabin opened, and in came the same gypsy man
who had stopped Bunny from loosening the rope by which Toby was fastened
to the stake.
"Hello!" cried the man, in great surprise. "What are you young'uns doing
here? Trying to run off, eh? Well, we'll soon stop that! Here, Sal!" he
called, and the woman come running up.
"Ha! So they crawled out of the tent, did they?" she exclaimed. "I
didn't think they'd be smart enough for that."
"And look what they uncovered!" added the man, as he pointed to the
red-and-yellow box.
"That--that's Mr. Tallman's box!" said Bunny boldly. "He was looking all
over for it. That's what made him poor and he had to sell his
pony--'cause some one took his red-and-yellow box. Now we can tell him
where it is."
"Oh, you can, can you?" asked the woman. "Well, maybe you can if we let
you, but I guess you won't! We'll have to take 'em with us now," she
said to the man. "Otherwise they'll have the police right after us."
"Yes, take 'em along, though it's going to be a bother!" growled the
man. "Come on, you!" he cried to some one outside the tent. "Get this
place cleared out and pack the stuff on a wagon! Then take down the last
tent. Leave the shack stand.
"Here Sal, you take the young'uns!" he added. "We'll have to keep 'em
out of sight for a while!"
"Now you come with me!" ordered the woman, and she roughly caught Bunny
and Sue by the hands. "I told you we'd let you go if you kept still, but
you didn't," she said, "and now you'll have to be kept a while longer."
"We're not going with you!" suddenly cried Bunny, pulling his hand away
from the woman's. "We're not going with you! We want our Toby pony and
we want to go home!"
"And we want our dog Splash!" sobbed Sue, for she was crying in earnest
now. "We're not going with you!" and she, also, pulled away from the
gypsy woman.
"Say, they're plucky little tykes!" said the man. "Don't be too rough
with 'em, Sal. But keep 'em quiet until we can get away. Put 'em in a
wagon and shut the door! Lively now!"
"Here! you carry one and I'll carry the other!" said the woman who was
called "Sal."
Then she lifted Sue up in her arms, in spite of her screams, kicks and
struggles, and ran with her out of the shack. The gypsy man caught Bunny
up in the same way, though the little fellow tried to strike with his
fists, and carried him out.
Then, as the two children were carried toward one of the gaily painted
wagons, Bunny caught sight of a man running out of the wooden cabin with
the red-and-yellow box under his arm.
"There! I guess you won't get out of that place in a hurry!" snapped the
woman, as she thrust Sue into the wagon. Bunny was shoved in after his
sister, and the door slammed shut. It was not altogether dark inside the
wagon, which was fitted up something like the ark, and Bunny and Sue
could dimly see chairs, tables, sleeping bunks and a little stove.
The next moment the wagon started off, and they could hear the thud-thud
of the feet of the horses that were drawing it.
"Oh, Bunny!" sobbed Sue, "the gypsies are taking us away and we'll
never see daddy, or mother, or Toby again! Oh, dear!"
Bunny wanted to sob as Sue was doing, but he felt that he must not. He
must be brave and see if he could not get out and help his sister to get
out also.
So he held back his tears, and pounded on the doors of the gypsy wagon.
"Let us get out! Let us get out of here!" he cried.
But no one answered, the doors were locked, and the wagon rumbled on
faster than before.
"What are we going to do?" asked Sue.
"I don't know," answered Bunny Brown.
On and on rumbled and swayed the wagon, with the two children inside.
They found some chairs to sit on, and kept close to one another. Bunny
made his way to a window in the side, and tried to look out. But the
window was of frosted glass, and he could not see through it. Nor could
he push it back or open it. He could hear the horses' feet plainer now,
and they seemed to be on a road, and not on the soft grass of the fields
or the leafy mould of a forest.
"Where are they taking us?" asked Sue.
"I don't know," answered Bunny Brown again.
After what seemed like many hours to the children, they suddenly heard
loud shouts and calls. Who made them they could not tell. Then Bunny,
creeping close to the front of the wagon heard the driver snapping his
whip, as though trying to make the horses go faster. And then, all at
once, Bunny heard a voice say:
"Hold on there! Stop now! Don't try to get away, we've got you!"
A thrill of hope came to Bunny's heart.
"Oh, Sue!" he said, "maybe it's somebody arresting the gypsies!"
"Is it daddy, do you think?" asked the little girl, whose face was
streaked with dirt from the tears she had shed and tried to wipe away.
"Maybe," said Bunny hopefully. "Anyhow, this wagon is stopping!"
And so it was. They could feel and hear the horses going more and more
slowly, until the gypsy van at last came to a stop. Then some one
pounded on the doors and cried:
"Here now, I'll break these doors open if you don't unlock 'em. I guess
the children are in here!"
There was a sort of growling answer, and then the doors flew open,
letting in the light of the setting sun. A kindly-faced man--not a
gypsy--looked in at Bunny and Sue, and cheerfully cried:
"Are you the Brown children?"
"Yes--that's who we are," said the little boy. "I'm Bunny Brown and this
is my Sister Sue."
"Then you're the ones we've come to rescue!" was the man's reply. "Hold
those gypsies, boys. Don't let any of 'em get away! You are all right
now," he told Bunny and Sue. "Come on out of the wagon. You're with
friends, and these gypsies will soon be in jail!"
"Is--is our daddy here?" asked Sue, ready to cry again, but this time
from joy.
"Well, he isn't here just this minute," said the kind-faced man, "but
he'll be here pretty soon. He's on his way. He telephoned us to stop
this gypsy caravan and see if you weren't in one of the wagons and, sure
enough, you were!"
"And have you got our pony Toby, and our dog Splash?" asked Bunny, who
was smiling now.
"Well, we've captured a lot of dogs, ponies and horses, as well as
gypsies," said another man, "and I guess if any of yours are with 'em
you can have 'em back. Land sakes! to think that these gypsies tried to
kidnap the children!"
"No, no! We would not have taken them away far!" exclaimed a voice, and
Bunny and Sue saw the woman called "Sal."
"What were you going to do with 'em?" asked one of the rescuers.
"Just going to keep them with us until we could get away."
"Well, you didn't get away, and it will be some time before you do,
after this," said the kind-faced man. "You gypsies will all go to jail."
Bunny and Sue got out of the wagon and looked about them. They were on
the edge of a little village, and quite a crowd had gathered. There were
a number of gypsy wagons, and the dark-faced men, women and children,
who had been in them, seemed to be in charge of the village police.
"Oh, there's Toby!" cried Bunny, as he saw the pet trick pony tied
behind one of the wagons. "There's Toby, Sue!" and he rushed up to the
Shetland pony and threw his arms around its neck.
"And here's Splash!" cried Sue, laughing now, as a dog scrambled out of
another wagon and fairly leaped on her and Bunny. "We got our dog and
pony back!"
And so they had.
"Take these gypsies to the jail," said the man who had first looked in
on Sue and Bunny when the locked doors were opened. "Take 'em to
jail--every one of 'em--and we'll store their wagons, horses and stuff
until we see who it belongs to."
"There's a red-and-yellow box!" cried Bunny, from where he stood beside
Toby. "It's Mr. Tallman's and he won't be poor if he gets it back. It's
in one of the wagons. Mr. Tallman wants it!"
"Well, then we'll see that he gets it back," said the constable. "Search
the wagons, boys, for a red-and-yellow box," he ordered, "and hold on to
it for this Mr. Tallman, whoever he is. Then lock up the gypsies. And
bring the children to my house. They can stay there until their father
comes for them."
"And can we take Toby and Splash?" asked Bunny.
"Sure, you can!" cried Mr. Roscoe, the constable. "They're yours to do
what you like with, now that we've got them away from the gypsies for
you."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Sue.
"So am I," said Bunny Brown.
And, as the gypsy band was led away to jail, and when Bunny and Sue were
leading Toby toward Mr. Roscoe's house, with Splash following, along
came an automobile, in a cloud of dust, and, before it had quite
stopped, out jumped Mr. Brown.
"Did you get my children?" he cried.
"Here we are, Daddy!" answered Bunny and Sue for themselves. "Here we
are and we got back Toby and Splash!"
And then a woman's voice cried:
"Oh, I'm so glad!"
And Mrs. Brown quickly followed her husband, clasping Bunny and Sue in
her arms.
"What happened to you, Bunny?" asked his mother. "Where were you? What
did you do and where did you go?"
"We went to find Toby," answered the little boy. "A boy told us where
the gypsy camp was, and we went there, and we found Toby. But the man
and woman wouldn't let us come away,--and we saw Mr. Tallman's
red-and-yellow box and----"
"Good gracious, Bunny Brown!" cried his father. "If you tell any more
you won't have breath enough left to eat your supper!"
"But how did you find us, Daddy?" asked Sue. "How did you and mother
know where to come for us and take us away from the gypsies?"
"The little boy who showed you the gypsy camp told us about you," said
Mr. Brown. "After he showed you where the camp was, and went on the
errand for his mother, he stopped back where the gypsies were camped to
see if you had found your pony and were all right.
"But instead of finding you he saw the last of the gypsy wagons hurrying
away, and then he thought maybe something was wrong. So he hurried and
told me and I went to the gypsy camp. Then I met a farmer who said he
had seen two little children walking up to the gypsy tents, but he
hadn't seen them come away before the gypsies left. Then I guessed they
must have taken you with them, though I didn't know they had Toby and
Splash.
"I found out which way the gypsies were going, and I telephoned on ahead
of them to have the constable arrest them. He did; and here you are, and
mother and I came on as fast as we could in an automobile to get you.
And now you're all right!"
"And so is Toby!" said Bunny, laughing now.
"And so is Splash!" added Sue, her tears also changed to laughter.
"But what's this about a red-and-yellow box?" asked Mr. Roscoe, the
constable. "We did find it in one of the gypsy wagons," he added, "and
it seems to have a lot of papers in it--stocks and bonds."
"They're Mr. Tallman's," said Bunny to his father. "Don't you 'member he
lost 'em, and he got poor and had to sell Toby? We found the box in the
cabin when we crawled through the gypsy tent," and Bunny told all about
it.
And, surely enough, when the box was opened it did have in it the papers
stolen from Mr. Tallman, so he did not lose all his money after all, and
could pay all he owed Mr. Tang and others. Some of the gypsies had taken
the box from his house and meant to keep it. But Bunny and Sue found it
just in time.
And the same gypsy band, one night, had opened the Brown stable and
taken Toby, afterward locking the door. One of the gypsy men had made
friends with Splash, the dog, and had taken him away also, so that's why
Splash didn't bark and give the alarm.
So Bunny and Sue found their pet pony just in time, for, as some of the
gypsies said afterward, they were going to move away that day, to a
distant part of the country, and only that the little boy happened to
tell the two children about the camp, Toby and Splash might have been
taken far away and never found.
But everything came out all right you see. Bunny and Sue soon got over
their fright, and went home with their father and mother in the
automobile, a man driving Toby over to their house the next day. Splash
rode in the auto, there being room for him.
As for the gypsies, they were punished for taking Mr. Tallman's
red-and-yellow box, as well as for taking Toby and Splash. And Bunny and
Sue had a great, happy time, for many days afterward, telling their
playmates about having been held prisoners by the dark-faced people.
"Weren't you awful scared?" asked Sadie West.
"Oh, not so very much," said Bunny. "I kept thinking it was an
adventure, like mother reads to us about from books."
"I was scared," said Sue. "But I'm glad I got Toby back."
"So'm I," said Bunny. "And we're going to teach him a lot of new
tricks."
And so, while Bunny and Sue are doing this we will say good-bye to them.
THE END
This Isn't All!
Would you like to know what became of the good
friends you have made in this book?
Would you like to read other stories continuing
their adventures and experiences, or other books
quite as entertaining by the same author?
On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes
with this book, you will find a wonderful list of
stories which you can buy at the same store where
you got this book.
_=Don't throw away the Wrapper=_
_Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want
some day to have. But in case you do mislay it,
write to the Publishers for a complete catalog._
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of the Popular "Bobbsey Twins" Books, Etc.
* * * * *
=Durably Bound. Illustrated. Uniform Style of Binding. Each Volume
Complete in itself.=
* * * * *
These stories are eagerly welcomed by the little folks from about five
to ten years of age. Their eyes fairly dance with delight at the lively
doings of inquisitive little Bunny Brown and his cunning, trustful
sister Sue.
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP-REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE SUNNY SOUTH
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE KEEPING STORE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR TRICK DOG
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT A SUGAR CAMP
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON THE ROLLING OCEAN
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON JACK FROST ISLAND
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT SHORE ACRES
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT BERRY HILL
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS
For Little Men and Women
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Bunny Brown Series," Etc.
* * * * *
=Durably Bound. Illustrated. Uniform Style of Binding. Every Volume
Complete in Itself.=
* * * * *
These books for boys and girls between the ages of three and ten stand
among children and their parents of this generation where the books of
Louisa May Alcott stood in former days. The haps and mishaps of this
inimitable pair of twins, their many adventures and experiences are a
source of keen delight to imaginative children.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE COUNTY FAIR
THE BOBBSEY TWINS CAMPING OUT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND BABY MAY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS KEEPING HOUSE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CLOVERBANK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CHERRY CORNERS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND THEIR SCHOOLMATES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS TREASURE HUNTING
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of The Bobbsey Twins Books, The Bunny Brown Series, The Blythe
Girls Books, Etc.
* * * * *
=Durably Bound. Illustrated. Uniform Style of Binding. Every Volume
Complete in Itself.=
* * * * *
Delightful stories for little boys and girls which sprung into immediate
popularity. To know the six little Bunkers is to take them at once to
your heart, they are so intensely human, so full of fun and cute
sayings. Each story has a little plot of its own--one that can be easily
followed--and all are written in Miss Hope's most entertaining manner.
Clean, wholesome volumes which ought to be on the bookshelf of every
child in the land.
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COWBOY JACK'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT MAMMY JUNE'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT FARMER JOEL'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT MILLER NED'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT INDIAN JOHN'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT HAPPY JIM'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT SKIPPER BOB'S
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 19, the bottom right corner of the page did not print so the words
"to" and "one" are presumed. (relate to) (eighth one)
Page 36, "sue" changed to "Sue". (you?" asked Sue.)
Page 77, "hankerchief" changed to "handkerchief". (handkerchief was
gone)
Page 92, faded print replaced with "pet". (pet, and did so)
Page 94, "you" changed to "your". (get your oats)
Page 118, "of" changed to "if". (butter, if you)
Page 152, word "they" missing and presumed. (on the way they met)
Page 193, ink was unclear, word "our" presumed. (for our dock)
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and
Their Shetland Pony, by Laura Lee Hope
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