Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue

By Laura Lee Hope

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Title: Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue

Author: Laura Lee Hope

Posting Date: September 26, 2012 [EBook #5732]
Release Date: May, 2004
First Posted: August 18, 2002

Language: English


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BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE

BY

LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY
TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLS
SERIES, ETC.

Illustrated by
Florence England Nosworthy

NEW YORK
1916




CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I.     AUNT LU ARRIVES
  II.    THE LOST RING
  III.   WANGO, THE MONKEY
  IV.    THE EMPTY HOUSE
  V.     LOCKED IN
  VI.    ADRIFT IN A BOAT
  VII.   BUNNY GOES FISHING
  VIII.  SUE FALLS IN
  IX.    THE RESCUE DOG
  X.     A TROLLEY RIDE
  XI.    LOST
  XII.   FOUND
  XIII.  SUE AND THE GOAT
  XIV.   A LITTLE PARTY
  XV.    GEORGE WATSON'S TRICK
  XVI.   THE LEMONADE STAND
  XVII.  THE MOVING PICTURES
  XVIII. WANGO AND THE CANDY
  XIX.   BUNNY IN A QUEER PLACE
  XX.    SPLASH RUNS AWAY
  XXI.   HOW SUE FOUND THE EGGS
  XXII.  AUNT LU IS SAD
  XXIII. AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE
  XXIV.  THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW
  XXV.   THE LOBSTER CLAW




CHAPTER I

AUNT LU ARRIVES


"Bunny! Bunny! Wake up! It's time!"

"Wha--what's matter?" sleepily mumbled little Bunny Brown, making his
words all run together, like molasses candy that has been out in the hot
sun. "What's the matter, Sue?" Bunny asked, now that he had his eyes
open. He looked over the side of his small bed to see his sister
standing beside it. She had left her own little room and had run into
her brother's.

"What's the matter, Sue?" Bunny asked again.

"Why, it's time to get up, Bunny," and Sue opened her brown eyes more
widely, as she tried to get the "sleepy feeling" out of them. "It's time
to get up!"

"Time to get up--so early? Oh, Sue! It isn't Christmas morning; is it,
Sue?" and with that thought Bunny sat up suddenly in his bed.

"Christmas? No, of course not!" said Sue, who, though only a little over
five years of age (a year younger than was Bunny), sometimes acted as
though older than the blue-eyed little chap, who was now as widely awake
as his sister.

"Well, if it isn't Christmas, and we don't have to go to the
kindergarten school, 'cause it's closed, why do I have to get up so
early?" Bunny wanted to know.

Bunny Brown was a great one for asking questions. So was his sister Sue;
but Sue would often wait a while and find things out for herself,
instead of asking strangers what certain things meant. Bunny always
seemed in a hurry, and his mother used to say he could ask more
questions than several grown folks could answer.

"Why do you want me to get up so early?" Bunny asked again. He was wide
awake now.

"Why, Bunny Brown! Have you forgotten?" asked Sue, with a queer look in
her brown eyes. "Don't you remember Aunt Lu is coming to visit us to-day,
and we're going down to the station to meet her?"

"Oh yes! That's so! I did forget all about it!" Bunny said. "I guess it
was because I dreamed so hard in the night, Sue. I dreamed I had a new
rocking-horse, and he ran away with me, up-hill--"

"Rocking-horses can't run away," Sue said, shaking her head, the hair of
which needed brushing, as it had become "tousled" in her sleep.

"Well, mine ran away, in my dream, anyhow!" declared Bunny.

"They can't run up hill, even in dreams," insisted Sue. "Horses have to
walk up hill. Grandpa's always do."

"Maybe not in dreams," Bunny said. "And I really did dream that, Sue.
And I'm glad you woke me up, for I want to meet Aunt Lu."

"Then let's hurry and get dressed," Sue went on. "Maybe we can run down
to the station before breakfast. Aunt Lu will be hungry, and we can show
her the way to our house."

"That's so," agreed Bunny. "But maybe we'd better take a piece of bread
and butter down to the station for her," he added, after thinking about
it for a few seconds.

"Or a piece of cake," added his sister.

"We'll take both!" exclaimed the blue-eyed, chubby little chap. Then he
began to dress. Sue, who had gone back into her own little room, had
almost finished putting on her clothes, but, as her dress buttoned up
the back, she had to come in and ask Bunny to fasten it for her. This he
was ready to do as soon as he had pulled on his stockings and little
knickerbockers.

"Shall I start at the top button, or the bottom one, Sue?" he asked, as
he stood behind his sister.

"It doesn't matter," said Sue, "as long as you get it buttoned. But
hurry, Bunny. We don't want the train to get in, and Aunt Lu get off,
with us not there to meet her. Hurry!"

"All right--I will," and Bunny began buttoning the dress. But soon a
queer look came over his face. "Aren't you done?" asked Sue, as he
stopped using his fingers.

"Yes, I'm done, Sue, but I've got two buttons left over, and there's
only one buttonhole to put 'em in! What'll I do?" Bunny was quite
puzzled.

"Oh, you must have buttoned me wrong, Bunny," Sue said. "But never mind.
Nobody will notice so early in the morning. Now come on down stairs, and
we'll get the bread and cake."

The children went to the dining room, where the table was set for
breakfast, and Sue was cutting off a rather large slice from a cake she
had found in the pantry, while Bunny was putting twice as much butter on
a slice of bread as was needed, when their mother's voice exclaimed:

"Why, Bunny Brown! Sue! What in the world are you children doing? Up so
early, too, and not properly dressed! Why did you get up? The idea!"

"We're going to the station," Sue said. It really was her idea. She had
thought of it the night before, when their mother had told them her
sister (the children's Aunt Lu) would arrive in the morning. "We're
going to the station," said Sue.

"To meet Aunt Lu," added Bunny.

"And we're taking her some cake so she won't be hungry for breakfast,"
went on Sue.

"And bread," Bunny continued. "Maybe she don't like cake, so I'm taking
bread."

"If she doesn't eat the cake, we can," Sue said, as if that was the
easiest way out.

"Of course," Bunny echoed.

Mrs. Brown sat down in a chair and began to laugh. She had to sit down,
for she laughed very hard indeed, and when she did that she used to
shake in such a jolly fashion that, perhaps, she would have fallen if
she had not been sitting in a chair.

"Oh, you children!" she said, when she had wiped the tears from her eyes
with the corner of her apron. She was not exactly crying, you know. Only
she laughed so hard that tears came into her eyes. "You queer, dear
little children!" she said. "What are you going to do next?"

"Why, we're going to the station as soon as I get the bread buttered,
and Sue puts the cake in a bag," Bunny said. He did not seem to feel
that anything was wrong.

"Oh, my dears, Aunt Lu's train won't be in for some time--two or three
hours," said Mrs. Brown. "And you know I've told you never to go down to
the station alone."

"Couldn't you come with us?" asked Sue, eating a few of the cake crumbs.

"Or maybe papa," added Bunny. "If he can't Bunker can. Bunker knows the
way to the station."

"And Bunker likes cake, too," Sue said. "We might give him a piece, if
Aunt Lu doesn't want it."

"No, no! You musn't give away my cake like that," said Mrs. Brown. "Now
listen to me. It will be hours before Aunt Lu will get here. Then,
perhaps, I may take you to the station to meet her. But now I must dress
you right and give you your breakfast. Papa had his some time ago, as he
had to go down to the bay to see about some boats. I wondered why you
were getting up so early. Now put back the bread and cake and wait until
I give you something to eat."

A little later, rather disappointed at not being allowed to go off alone
to meet their aunt, Bunny and Sue sat at the breakfast table.

"I wish the time would hurry up and come for Aunt Lu to be here," Bunny
said.

"So do I," chimed in Sue. "What fun we'll have when Aunt Lu comes."

"Indeed we will!" Bunny exclaimed.

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue lived with their father and mother, Mr.
and Mrs. Walter Brown, in the town of Bellemere. That town was on
Sandport Bay, which was part of the Atlantic Ocean, and the bay was a
good place to catch fish, lobsters, crabs and other things that live in
salt water.

Mr. Brown was in the boat business. That is he owned many boats, some
that sailed, some that went by steam or gasoline, and some that had to
be rowed with oars. These boats he hired out, or rented, to fishermen,
and others who had to go on the bay, or even out on the ocean, when it
was not too rough.

Mr. Brown had a number of men to help him in his boat business; and one
of the men, or, rather, an extra-large size boy, was Bunker Blue, of
whom Bunny and Sue were very fond. And Bunker liked the two children'
fully as much as they liked him. He often took them out in a boat, or
went on little land-trips with them. Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not worry
when Bunny and Sue were with Bunker.

The two Brown children were good company for each other. You seldom saw
Bunny without seeing Sue not far away. They played together nearly all
the while, though often they would bring other children to their yard,
or would go to theirs, to play games, and have jolly times. Bunny was a
boy full of fun and one who sometimes took chances of getting into
mischief, just to have a "good time." And Sue was not far behind him.
But they never meant to do wrong, and everyone loved them.

Uncle Tad lived with the Browns. He was an old soldier, rather stiff
with the rheumatism at times, but still often able to take walks with
the children. He was their father's uncle, but Bunny and Sue thought of
Uncle Tad as more their relation than their father's.

In the distant city of New York lived Miss Lulu Baker, who was Mrs.
Brown's maiden sister, and the Aunt Lu whom the children were so eagerly
expecting this morning. She had written that she was coming to spend a
few weeks at the seashore place, and, later on, she intended to have
Bunny and Sue and their mother visit her in the big city. Bunny and Sue
looked eagerly forward to this. But just now they wanted most to go to
the depot, and watch for the train to come in, bringing dear Aunt Lu to
them.

"Isn't it most time to go?" asked Sue, as she pushed back her chair from
the breakfast table.

"Oh, no, not for a long while," said their mother. "You run out and
play, and when it's time, I'll call you."

"And can't we take Aunt Lu anything to eat?" asked Bunny.

"Oh dear me, no!" laughed Mrs. Brown. "She won't want anything until she
gets here. Run along now."

Bunny and Sue went out in the yard, where they had a little play-tent,
made of some old pieces of sails from one of Mr. Brown's boats. It was a
warm spring day, and, as Bunny had said, there was no kindergarten
school for them to go to, as it had closed, to allow a new roof to be
put on the school building.

"Let's go down and see Wango," suggested Sue, after a bit.

"No, because it's so far away that mother couldn't call to us," objected
Bunny. "We'll stay here in the yard until it's time to go to the train."

"All right," agreed Sue.

Wango was a queer little monkey, belonging to Jed Winkler, an old sailor
of the town. I'll tell you more about Wango later.

Bunny and Sue played a number of games, and, after a while, a boy named
Charlie Star, and a girl, named Sadie West, came over from across the
street and joined Bunny and Sue in their fun. Then, a little later, Mrs.
Brown came to the door and said:

"Come now, Bunny--Sue! It's almost train time. I can't go with you, but
I'll let Bunker take you. I telephoned down to the dock, and daddy is
sending him up with the pony cart. You may drive down to meet Aunt Lu.
But come in and wash first!"

"Oh, goodie!" cried Bunny, and he was so pleased at the idea of going to
the depot in the pony cart that he did not make a fuss when his mother
washed his hands and face.

"Hello, Bunker!" cried Sue, as the big, red-haired lad drove up.

"Hello, Sue! Hello, Bunny!" he greeted them. "Hop in and away we'll go!"

Off they started to the station. It was not far from the Brown home, and
soon, with the pony safely tied, so he would not run away, Bunny, Sue
and Bunker waited on the platform for the cars to arrive.

With a toot, a whistle and a clanging of the bell, in puffed the train.
Several passengers got off.

"Oh, there she is! I see Aunt Lu!" cried Sue, darting off toward a lady
in a brown dress.

"Here, come back!" cried Bunker, reaching out a hand to catch Sue. He
was afraid she might go too near the train. But he was too late. Sue
raced forward, and then, suddenly, she slipped and fell right into a
puddle of water, left from a rain-storm the night before. Down into the
muddy pool went Sue, all in her clean white dress.

"Oh--Oh!" gasped Bunny.

"I might a'knowed suthin' like that would happen," complained Bunker.
"Now her ma'll blame me!"

Aunt Lu saw what had happened, and, before any one else could reach Sue,
she had picked up the little girl, in whose eyes were tears all ready to
fall. And with her handkerchief Aunt Lu wiped the tears away. As she did
this Bunny saw a ring on his aunt's hand--a ring with a stone that
sparkled like snow in the sun--red, green, golden and purple colors.

"There, Sue! Don't cry!" murmured Aunt Lu. "You're not hurt, and the mud
will wash off."

"Oh, I--I'm not crying for that," said Sue, bravely keeping back her
sobs. "I--I'm crying just--just because I'm--I'm so glad to see you!"




CHAPTER II

THE LOST RING


Aunt Lu laughed when she heard Sue say that. And it was such a nice,
kind, jolly laugh that Sue could not help joining in. So she was really
laughing and crying at the same time, which is funny, I suppose you
think.

"Well, I'm glad you are so happy to see me, dear," said Aunt Lu. "Oh,
don't mind about your dress," she went on, as she saw Sue trying to rub
away some of the muddy spots with her tiny handkerchief. "Your mother
will know you couldn't help it."

"I'll tell her it wasn't Sue's fault," cried Bunny. "The railroad
oughtn't to have puddles where people will fall into 'em!"

"That's right," chimed in Bunker Blue. "It ought to be filled up with
dirt, and then it wouldn't hold water. You're to ride back with us in
the pony cart, Miss Baker."

"Oh, so you drove over for me; did you? That's very nice," said Aunt Lu
with a smile. "My! How large Bunny has grown!" she went on, as she bent
over and kissed him, having already done that to Sue, when she wiped
away the little girl's tears.

"I'll go and get the cart," Bunker said.

"Yes, and I think I'll take Sue inside the station, and see if I can get
a towel to clean off the worst of the mud stains," said Miss Baker.

"She can sit away back in the pony cart, and I'll sit in front of her,
so nobody will see the dirt on her dress," offered Bunny.

"That's very kind of you," his aunt remarked. "We'll be all right soon.
Bunker, will you see after my trunk, please?" she asked as she gave him
the brass check. "It can be sent up later," she went on, "as I guess
there is hardly room for it in the pony cart."

"No'm, not scarcely," answered Bunker with a smile that showed his big,
white teeth. "I'll have the expressman bring it up, or I can come down
for it later," and he went away to the baggage room.

The ticket agent in the station gave Aunt Lu a towel, with which she
took some of the dirt from Sue's dress. The little girl was smiling now.

"I like you, Aunt Lu," she said. "We're awful glad you came, and you'll
play with us; won't you?"

"Oh, yes, of course, dear. Well, what is it, Bunny?" she went on, as she
saw the little boy looking closely at her hands. "Do you see something?"
Aunt Lu asked.

"It--it's that," and Bunny pointed to the shining ring.

Aunt Lu's eyes sparkled, almost as brightly as the glittering stone in
the ring, and her cheeks became red.

"I know what it is--it's a diamond!" exclaimed Sue. "Isn't it, Aunt Lu?"

"Yes, dear."

"Did you find it?" asked Bunny. "Or did you dig it out of a gold mine?"

"Diamonds don't come from gold mines; they make 'em out of glass!" said
Sue.

"Yes they do dig 'em; don't they, Aunt Lu?" insisted Bunny.

"Yes, dear, they do dig them."

"Where did you dig it?" Sue wanted to know. Perhaps she hoped she could
dig one for herself.

"I did not dig it," their aunt said. "It was given me by a very dear
friend. I love it very much," and she held up the diamond ring, so that
it sparkled more than ever in the sun.

"Well, Sue," she went on, as she finished scrubbing away at the muddy
dress. "I think that is the best I can do. It will need washing to make
it clean again. But here comes Bunker with the pony cart, so we will
start for your house. Your mother will be wondering what has become of
us."

Aunt Lu had been on a visit to the Brown's several times before, and as
she sat in the pony cart with the children, with Bunker driving, she
bowed to several persons whom she knew and who knew her. There was Mr.
Sam Gordon, who kept the grocery, Jacob Reinberg, who sold drygoods and
notions, and little Mrs. Redden, who kept a candy and toy store.

"Stop here a minute, Bunker," said Miss Baker, when the pony cart
reached the toy store. "I want to get something for Bunny and Sue."

"Candy?" asked Bunny eagerly.

"Yes, just a little," his aunt answered, and soon Bunny and Sue were
nibbling the sweets Mrs. Redden brought out to them.

Just as he had said he would do, Bunny sat in front of his sister, so no
one would see her soiled dress. But Sue did not much mind about it now.
Her mother only said she was sorry, when she heard about the accident,
and did not blame her little daughter.

Mrs. Brown and her sister were glad to see one another, and after Aunt
Lu had taken off her hat, and was seated In the cool dining room,
sipping a cup of tea, Bunny called to her:

"Aunt Lu, won't you come out and play with us?"

"Please do!" begged Sue. "I have a new doll."

"And I have a new top," added Bunny. "It hums and whistles. I'll let you
spin it, Aunt Lu."

"Oh, dears, your aunt can't come out now," said Mrs. Brown. "She must
rest. Some other time she may. She and I want to sit and talk now. You
run off and play by yourselves."

"Don't you want to come down and see the fish boat come in?" went on
Bunny, wondering why it was that grown folks would rather sit and talk
than play out of doors and have fun.

"Oh, yes, let's take her down to the dock and see the fish boats come
in!" exclaimed Sue, for this was one of their delights. Some of the
boats were those which the fishermen hired from Mr. Brown, and it was at
his dock, where he had an office, that the boats landed, the fish being
taken out, put in barrels, with ice, and sent to the city.

"No, Aunt Lu can't go to the dock with you now," Mrs. Brown said. "Some
other time, my dears."

"Then may we go?" asked Bunny.

Mrs. Brown hesitated. Then, as she saw Bunker Blue coming in with Aunt
Lu's trunk, which he had gone down to get, instead of sending it up by
an expressman, the children's mother said:

"Yes, Bunny, you and Sue may go down to the dock with Bunker. But stay
with him, and don't fall in; you especially, Sue, as I don't want to put
another clean dress on you."

"Oh, I'll be careful, Mother," Sue promised, and away she and her
brother hurried, calling to Bunker to wait for them. Bunker was very
glad to do this, because he liked to be with Bunny and Sue.

"Have the fish boats come in yet, Bunker?" asked Bunny, as he trudged
along, holding one of the red-haired lad's hands, while Sue had the
other.

"No, Bunny, they're not in yet, but maybe they will be coming soon after
we get to the dock," Bunker answered. And so it happened. Bunny and Sue
went into their father's office for a moment, to tell him that Aunt Lu
had arrived, and then, with Bunker to look after them, they went out on
the end of the dock.

Soon one of the big fish boats came in. It was loaded with several kinds
of fish, some big flat ones, white on one side, and black on the other.
These were flounders. There were some blue fish, large and small, and
some long-legged "fiddler" crabs. But they were not the kind that is
good to eat.

"Oh, look at that big lobster!" exclaimed Bunny, pointing to a dark
green fellow, with big claws, and a tail curled up underneath.

"Isn't he big!" Sue said. She and her brother often saw many strange
fish, but they never failed to be interested in them, and this lobster
was a fine one.

"Yes," said a fisherman, "he was in our nets, and we brought him in with
us. Your father, the other day, said he'd like to have one, and maybe he
will want this."

"I'll go and ask him," said the little chap.

"And maybe Aunt Lu likes lobsters, too," Sue said. Neither she nor Bunny
cared for lobster, as they did for other fish. But grown folks are very
fond of the big, clawy creatures.

Perhaps some of you children have never seen a lobster. They are a sort
of fish, though they have no scales. They live inside a shell that is
dark green when the lobster is alive. But when he is cooked it turns a
bright red.

Lobsters have two big claws, and a number of little ones, and with these
claws they walk around, backward, on the bottom of the ocean or bay, and
pick up things to eat. In some inland rivers and streams there are what
are called crayfish, or crabs. They are very much like lobsters, only,
of course, a lobster is much larger.

Mr. Brown came out of his office when the fish were being unloaded from
the boat, into barrels of ice. He saw the big lobster and said he would
buy it, to take home to cook for supper.

"We'll have a fine salad from him," said Bunny's father to the
fisherman.

The lobster was still alive and the fisherman picked it up just back of
the big, pinching claws, so he would not get nipped, and put the lobster
in a basket for Mr. Brown to carry. Bunny and Sue leaned over, looking
at the green shellfish, when a voice behind them asked:

"What is it?"

The children turned to see George Watson, a boy older than Bunny, who
lived near him. George often played little tricks on Bunny and Sue.

"What is it?" he asked again. "A whale?"

"A big lobster," Bunny answered.

"I guess he could almost pinch your nose off in one of his claws," Sue
said, not going too close to the basket.

"Pooh! I'm not afraid of him," George declared. "I'll let him pinch this
stick," he went on, picking up one, and holding it out toward the
lobster, which was slowly waving its "feelers" to and fro, and moving
its big eyes, that looked like shoe buttons sticking out from its head.

"Better look out!" was Bunker's warning, seeing what George was doing.
"He'll nip you!"

"I'm not afraid!" boasted George. "I can----"

And just then something happened. George got his finger too near the
lobster's claw and was at once caught.

"Ouch!" cried George. "Oh dear! He's got me! Make him let go, Bunker!
Oh, dear!"

Bunker did not stop to say: "I told you so!" He took out his big knife,
and put the blade between the teeth of the lobster's claw, forcing it
open so George could pull out his finger. Then, with a howl of pain and
fright, the boy ran home. He was not much hurt, as a lobster can not
shut his claws very tightly when out of water. Just as does a fish, a
lobster soon dies when taken from the ocean.

"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Brown, running up when he heard George's
cries. "Are you hurt, Bunny--Sue?"

"No, it was George," Bunker explained. "He thought he could fool the
lobster, but the lobster fooled him."

"I guess I'd better take it home and have mother cook it," said the
children's father, and home they started, Mr. Brown carrying the big
lobster in the basket.

"Oh, what a fine large one!" Aunt Lu cried, when she saw it. "And what a
fine salad it will make."

"May I have one of the claws--the big one?" begged Bunny.

"What for?" asked his mother.

"I want to put a string in it and tie it on my face, over my own nose,"
the little boy explained. "Then I'll look just like Mr. Punch, in Punch
and Judy. May I have the claw?"

"I guess so," replied Mrs. Brown.

"And when you clean it out, and put it on your nose, I'll be Mrs. Judy,"
said Sue. "We'll have fun."

A lobster's claw, I might say, is filled with meat that is very good to
eat. When the lobster is boiled and the meat picked out with a fork, the
claw is hollow. It is shaped just like the nose of Mr. Punch, with a
sort of hook on the end of it, where the claw curves downward. Bunny and
Sue often played with empty lobster claws.

The children went out in the yard while Mrs. Brown cooked the lobster.
Then, when it was cool, Aunt Lu helped pick out the meat which was to be
mixed up into a salad.

"Is my big lobster claw ready now?" asked Bunny, coming up just before
the supper bell was to ring.

"Yes, here it is," his aunt told him. "I cleaned it out nicely for you."

Bunny held it over his own nose and went toward the mirror to see how he
would look.

"Oh, you're just exactly like Mr. Punch!" Sue cried, clapping her hands.

"Isn't he!" agreed Aunt Lu. And then she gave a sudden cry.

"Oh dear!" she gasped. "Oh dear! It's gone! I've lost it!"

"What?" asked Bunny.

"My ring! My beautiful diamond ring is lost!" And Aunt Lu's cheeks
turned pale.




CHAPTER III

WANGO, THE MONKEY


Aunt Lu hurried over to the kitchen table, at which she had been helping
Mrs. Brown make the lobster salad. She looked among the dishes, and
knives and forks, but shook her head.

"No, it isn't there," she said, quite sadly.

"What isn't? What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, who came in from the
dining room just then. "Can't you find the big lobster claw that Bunny
wanted? I laid it----"

"Oh, I have it, Mother, thank you," the little boy said. "But Aunt Lu
has lost----"

"It's my diamond ring--Jack's engagement ring," said Mrs. Brown's
sister. "It must have slipped off my finger, and----"

"Oh dear! That's too bad!" said Mrs. Brown. "But it must be around here
somewhere. We'll find it!"

Bunny and Sue hardly knew what to make of it all. They had never seen
their Aunt Lu so worried.

"Mother, what's an engagement ring?" asked Sue, in a whisper, as Aunt Lu
kept on looking among the things on the table, hoping her diamond might
have dropped off there. Then she looked on the floor.

"An engagement ring, my dear," said Sue's mother, "is a ring that means
a promise. A very dear friend of Aunt Lu's has promised to marry her,
and he gave her the diamond ring to be a sort of reminder--a most
beautiful present. Now we must help her find it."

"It can't be far away," Mrs. Brown said to her sister. "You were not out
of this room, were you?"

"No, I've been here ever since I began to pick the meat out of the
lobster, and I had my ring on then."

"Oh, then we'll find it," said Bunny's mother.

But it was not so easy to do that as it was to say it. They looked all
over the kitchen--on the floor, under the table, among the dishes, the
pots and pans--but no diamond ring could be found. Papa Brown came in
from the front porch, where he had been reading the evening paper, and
he helped search, but it seemed of no use.

"Oh, where can my beautiful ring have dropped?" asked Aunt Lu, and Sue
thought she saw signs of tears in her aunt's eyes.

"Perhaps it fell into the lobster salad," suggested Mr. Brown.

"Then you can find it when you eat," called Bunny. "Only don't bite on
the diamond. It might break."

"We'll look in the salad now," Mrs. Brown said.

They did so, looking in the dish that held the chopped-up bits of
lobster meat, but no diamond ring was to be found. Then the floor was
looked over again, most carefully, the empty dishes were turned upside
down in the hope that the ring might drop out of one of them. But it did
not.

Aunt Lu looked sad and worried, and so did Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The cook,
who had been out for the afternoon, came in and she helped search for
the diamond ring, but it could not be found.

"I'm sure I had it, when I began making the lobster salad," said Aunt
Lu, "but when I handed Bunny the empty claw I looked on my finger, and
the ring was gone."

"Perhaps it dropped out of doors," suggested Papa Brown.

They looked near the side porch where Bunny had been standing when his
aunt gave him the claw with which he was going to play Punch, but the
ring was not found there.

"Oh dear! I feel so sorry!" Aunt Lu said, "If only I could find my
lovely ring. Bunny--Sue, you must help me. To whomever finds it I'll
give a nice present---anything he wants. That will be a reward,
children."

"Yes, you must help Aunt Lu look for her ring," said Mrs. Brown. "Come
now, we will have supper, and look afterward. We may find it when we
least expect it."

But even after supper, the ring was not found. The whole family
searched. Aunt Lu did not eat much supper, much as she liked lobster
salad. She was too worried, I guess. Even Bunny did not feel like
playing Mr. Punch with the big hollow lobster claw that fitted over his
nose in such a funny way. Neither he nor Sue felt like making jokes when
their aunt felt so unhappy.

That night, when he and Sue went to bed, Bunny put the lobster claw
away.

"We'll play with it some other time," he said to his sister.

"Yes," she agreed. "Some day when Aunt Lu finds her ring, and then
she'll play with us, and be the audience. You will be Mr. Punch, and
I'll be Mrs. Judy. Only I don't want to wear a lobster claw on my nose."

"No, I'll be the only one to wear a claw," said Bunny in a sleepy voice,
and then he dreamed of sailing off to "by-low land."

Aunt Lu was up early the next morning, down in the kitchen, and out in
the yard, looking for her lost ring. But it was not found, and Aunt Lu's
face seemed to grow more sad. But she smiled at Bunny and Sue, and said:

"Oh, well, perhaps some day I shall find it."

"We'll look all over for it," said Bunny.

"Indeed we will," added Sue. "Let's look out in the yard now, Bunny."

The children looked, but had no luck Then, as it was not time for
dinner, they wandered down the street.

"Don't go too far away," their mother called after them. "Don't go down
to the fish dock unless some one is with you."

"No, Mother, we won't!" Bunny promised.

They had each a penny that Aunt Lu had given them the day before, and
now they wandered toward the little candy store kept by Mrs. Redden. She
smiled at Bunny and Sue as they entered. Nearly every one did smile at
the two children, who wandered about, hand in hand.

"Well, what is it to-day?" asked the store-lady. "Lollypops or
caramels?"

"I want a penny's worth of peanuts," said Bunny.

"And I'll take some little chocolate drops," said Sue.

Soon, with their little treat, the brother and sister walked on toward
the corner, the candy store being half way between that and their house.

As they passed a little dark red cottage, in front of which was an old
boat, filled with flowers and vines, Bunny and Sue heard some one inside
screaming and crying:

"Oh dear! Stop it I tell you! Let go my hair! Oh, if I get hold of you
I'll make you stop! Oh dear! Jed! Jed! Where are you?"

Bunny and Sue looked at one another.

"That's Miss Winkler yelling!" said Bunny.

"But what makes her?" asked Sue.

"I don't know. We'll go and see," suggested Bunny.

Into the yard of the little red house ran the two children. Around to
the kitchen they went, and, looking in through the open door they saw a
strange sight.

Standing in front of a window was an elderly woman, wearing glasses
which, just now, hung down over one ear. But, stranger still, there was
a monkey, perched up on the pole over the window. One of the monkey's
brown, hairy paws was entangled in the lady's hair, and the monkey
seemed to be pulling hard, while the lady was screaming and trying to
reach the fuzzy creature.

"Oh, it's Wango, the monkey, and he's up to some of his tricks!" cried
Bunny.

"He'll pull out all her hair!" Sue exclaimed.

"Oh, Bunny--Sue--run for my brother! Go get Jed!" begged Miss Winkler.
"Tell him Wango is terrible! He must come at once. Wango is such a bad
monkey he won't mind me!"

And Wango kept on pulling her hair!




CHAPTER IV

THE EMPTY HOUSE


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to do. They just stood
there, looking at the monkey pulling and tugging on the rather thin hair
of Miss Winkler, and she, poor lady, could not reach up high enough to
get hold of Wango, who was perched quite high up, on the window pole.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "We must do something--but what?"

Sue felt that her brother, as he was a whole year older than she, ought
to know what to do.

"I--I'll get him down!" cried Bunny, who, as had Sue, had, some time
before, made friends with the old sailor's queer pet.

"How can you get him down?" Sue wanted to know.

"I--I can stand on a chair and reach up to him," went on the small,
blue-eyed boy, looking around for one to step on.

"No, no!" exclaimed Miss Winkler, as she heard what Bunny said. "You
musn't go near him, Bunny. He might bite or scratch you. He is very bad
and ugly to-day. I don't know what ails him. Stop it, Wango!" she
ordered. "Stop it at once! Come down from there, and stop pulling my
hair!"

But the monkey did nothing of the sort. He neither came down, nor did he
stop pulling the lady's hair, as Sue and Bunny could easily tell. For
they could see Wango give it a yank now and then, and, when he did, poor
Miss Winkler would cry out in pain.

"Oh, go for my brother! He's down on the fish dock I think," Miss
Winkler begged.

"No, we can't go there," replied Bunny slowly. "Our mother told us not
to go there unless Bunker Blue or Aunt Lu was with us."

"Then the monkey will never let go of my hair," sighed Miss Winkler.

"Yes, he will," Bunny said. "I'll make him."

"How?" Sue wanted to know.

"This way!" exclaimed her brother, as he held out some of the peanuts he
had bought at Miss Redden's store. "Here, Wango!" he called. "Come and
get some peanuts!"

"And I'll give him some caramels," cried Sue, as she held out some of
her candy.

I do not know whether or not Wango understood what Bunny and Sue said,
but I am sure he knew that the candy and peanuts were good to eat. For,
with a chatter of delight, he suddenly let go of Miss Winkler's hair and
scrambled down to the floor near Bunny.

"Look out that he doesn't bite you," Miss Winkler said. "Be careful,
Sue!"

"I'm not afraid," said Bunny Brown.

"Nor I," added Sue.

Wango was very tame, however. The way he acted, after he saw the good
things to eat, would have made anyone think he was always kind and
gentle. For he carefully took the peanuts from Bunny in one paw, and a
caramel from Sue in another, and then, making a bow, as the old sailor
had taught him, the mischievous monkey scrambled into his cage in one
corner of the room.

The next minute Miss Winkler had shut the cage door and fastened it.

"There!" she exclaimed, "the next time I let you out of your cage you'll
know it, Wango!"

"What happened?" asked Bunny.

"I don't know, child," the elderly lady answered, as she began to coil
up her hair. "He is usually good, though he minds my brother better than
he does me. When Jed was here, a while ago, he was playing with Wango
out in the room, and, I suppose, when he put the saucy creature back in
the cage, the door did not fasten well.

"Anyhow, when I was making some cookies awhile ago I suddenly felt
something behind me, and, as I tumid around, I saw the monkey. He made a
grab for a cookie, and I had to slap his paws for I won't have him doing
tricks like that.

"Then he got mad, snatched my comb out of my hair, and, when I ran after
him, he got up on the window pole, grabbed my hair and stayed up there
where I couldn't reach him. Oh, what a time I've had!"

"It's too bad," said Sue kindly.

"I don't know what I would have done if you children hadn't come along,"
went on Miss Winkler, "for I had called and called, and no one heard me.
I'll make Jed put a good lock on the monkey-cage after this. Now come
out to the kitchen and I'll give you each a cookie."

Wango seemed to want a cookie also, for he chattered and made queer
faces as he shook the door of his cage.

"No, indeed! You sha'n't have a bit!" scolded Miss Winkler. "You were
very bad."

Wango chattered louder than ever. Perhaps he was saying he was sorry for
what he had done, but he got no cookie.

Bunny and Sue each had a nice brown one, though, with a raisin in the
centre, and, after Miss Winkler had thanked them again, they kept on
with their walk down the street.

"Wasn't Wango funny?" asked Sue, as she nibbled her cookie.

"That's what he was," Bunny said. "'Member the time when he pulled the
cat's tail?"

"Yes," agreed Sue. "And when he sat down in the fly paper! That was
funnier than this time."

"I guess Miss Winkler didn't think this was funny," commented Bunny. "I
guess the monkey doesn't like her."

"But he minds Mr. Winkler," Sue said. "I've seen him make the monkey
stand on his head."

The old sailor, who had brought Wango home, after one of his many ocean
voyages, had taught the furry little creature many tricks. But though
Wango minded Mr. Winkler very well, he did not always do what Miss
Winkler told him to do.

As Sue walked on, still nibbling her cookie, she kept looking down at
the ground, until at last Bunny asked her:

"What are you looking at Sue--trying not to step on ants?" For this was
a game the children often played.

"Not this time," Sue answered. "I was looking to see if I could find
Aunt Lu's ring."

"Why, she didn't lose it down here!" Bunny said, in surprise.

"Maybe she did," returned Sue. "She thought she lost it around our
house, but she looked, and we all looked, and we didn't find it, so
maybe it was lost down here. I'm going to look, and if we find it we'll
get a present."

"I'll help you look," said Bunny kindly, "but I don't believe it's down
here."

The two children walked along a little farther, with their eyes
searching the ground, but they saw no golden ring.

"Oh, I tell you what let's do!" suddenly exclaimed Bunny.

"What?" asked Sue, eager to have some fun.

"Let's go back home, and I'll put the lobster claw on my nose, and we'll
play Punch and Judy. We haven't done that yet."

"All right, we'll do it!" Sue agreed. "And I'll let you take my sawdust
doll. You have to hit her with a stick you know, if you're Mr. Punch,
and it won't hurt a sawdust doll."

"All right," Bunny cried. "And when I hit her I'll call out, the way Mr.
Punch does: 'That's the way to do it! That's the way I do it!'"

He said this in the funny, squeaky voice which is always heard at Punch
and Judy shows, and Sue laughed. She thought her brother was very funny.

Bunny and Sue were about to turn around and go back home, but, as they
came to a stop in front of the last house on their block Bunny said:

"Oh, Sue, look! They're painting this house, and maybe we can get some
red or blue paint, to put on my face, when I play Mr. Punch."

"Oh, Bunny Brown! You wouldn't put paint on your face; would you?"
demanded Sue.

"Just a little," said Bunny. "Why not?"

"S'posin' you couldn't get it off again?" Sue wanted to know.

"Oh, I could wash it off when I got through playing," Bunny replied.
"Come on in, and we'll see if the men will give us a little paint; red,
or blue or green."

Outside the house, in front of which the children then stood, were a
number of pots of differently colored paint, and some ladders. But there
was no paint yet on the outside of the house.

"I guess they're painting inside," Bunny said. "I don't see any of the
men out here. Come on, we'll go in; the door is open, Sue."

The front door was open a little way, as the two children could see as
they went up the walk. Bunny and Sue knew every house in that part of
town, and also knew the persons who lived in them. All the neighbors
knew the children, making them welcome every time they saw them.

"There's no one in this house, I 'member now," Sue said. "Miss Duncan
used to live here, but she moved away."

"Then I guess the men are painting it over all nice inside to get it
ready for someone else to live in," remarked Bunny. "There isn't anyone
here, Sue," he added, as his voice echoed through the empty house. "Even
the painters have gone."

"We'd better go out," said Sue. "Maybe they wouldn't like us to be in
here."

"Pooh! Nobody will care!" exclaimed Bunny, who was rather a daring
little fellow. "Besides, I want to get some paint. Come on, we'll go
upstairs. Maybe they're painting up there, or pasting new paper on the
walls."

Bunny started up the front hall stairs, and, as Sue did not want to be
left alone on the first floor of the empty house, and as she did not
want to go out, and leave Bunny there, she followed him.

Their footsteps sounded loud and queer in the big, vacant rooms. As they
reached the top of the stairs they heard behind them a loud banging
noise.

"What--what was that?" asked Sue, looking quickly over her shoulder.

"I--I guess the front door blew shut," said Bunny. "Never mind, we can
open it again. I want to get some red paint for my face, so I can play
Mr. Punch."

But if Bunny and Sue knew what had happened when that banging noise
sounded, they would not have felt like walking on through the empty
rooms, even to get red paint.




CHAPTER V

LOCKED IN


"On, say, Bunny!" suddenly called Sue, as she followed her brother
through the upstairs rooms, "wouldn't it be fun for us to live here?"

"Do you mean just us two?" the little boy asked.

"Yes," answered Sue.

Bunny shook his head.

"I'd like mother, and daddy, and Aunt Lu, too," he said. "It would be
nicer, then."

"Oh, but sometimes they don't want us to make a noise," went on Sue.
"And if we were here all alone we could yell and holler, and slide down
the banister, all we wanted to. Let's slide down now," she said, as she
went to the head of the stairs, and looked at the long, smooth hand-rail.

"Say, that will be fun," Bunny cried. "I'll go first, Sue, but don't
come after me too close, or you might bump into me and knock me over."

"I won't," promised the little girl.

It did not take much to cause Bunny to change his mind or his plans when
there was any fun to be had. For a while he forgot about looking for red
paint to put on his face to make him look funny when he played Mr.
Punch, with the hollow lobster claw on his nose. Just now the joy of
sliding down the banister rail seemed to be the best in the world.

"Here I go!" cried Bunny, and down the rail he went, ending with a
little bump on the big, round post at the bottom.

"Now it's my turn," Sue said, and down she came. Though she was a girl
Sue could slide down a rail almost as well as could Bunny. In fact, she
had played with her brother so much that she could do many of the things
that small boys do. And Bunny surely thought that Sue was as good a chum
as any of his boy playmates.

"Now it's my turn again!" exclaimed the little blue-eyed chap, as he
went up the stairs, his feet making a loud noise in the empty house. For
some time Bunny and Sue played at sliding down the banister rail, and
then Bunny remembered what they had first come into the house for.

"Let's go to look for that red paint," he said.

"All right," agreed Sue. Her little legs were beginning to get tired
from running up the stairs so often.

Back up to the second floor went the children, looking through the
vacant rooms. But no paint pots did they see.

"I guess all the paint is outside," said Bunny. "We'll go down and get
some."

"Maybe the man wouldn't like us to take it," said Sue.

"We'll pay him for it, if he wants money," Bunny replied, as though he
had plenty. "Mother or Aunt Lu will give us pennies soon," he said, "and
I can give the man mine. I only want about a penny's worth of red paint
Come on, we'll go out, Sue, and get some."

"Yes, and then we'd better go home," Sue went on. "I guess it's going to
be dark pretty soon," and she looked out of a window. It was getting on
toward evening, but the children had been having so much fun that they
had not noticed this.

Bunny and Sue walked through all the upstairs rooms of the empty house.
In one Bunny saw something that made him call out:

"Oh, Sue, look! A lot of picture books! Let's sit down and read them!"

Of course Bunny and Sue could not read, though the little boy knew some
of his letters. So when he said "read" he meant look at the pictures.
The books were some old magazines that the family, in moving away from
the house, had left behind. Bunny and Sue made each a little pile of the
paper books for seats and then they sat there looking at the pictures in
another pile of magazines on the floor beside them.

"Oh, look at this dog, riding on a horse's back!" exclaimed Bunny,
showing Sue a picture he had found in his book.

"Yes, it's like in a circus," Sue agreed. "And see, here's a colored
picture of a cow. Oh, I wish I had a drink of milk, Bunny. I'm hungry!
It must be pretty near supper time."

"I guess it is," the little fellow agreed, as he patted his own stomach.
"We'll go home, Sue. I wonder if we couldn't take some of those books
with us?"

"I guess so," Sue said. "Nobody wants 'em."

"And, anyhow, we didn't get any red paint, though maybe I can find some
outside," Bunny said. "We'll each take a book."

It took a little time for Bunny and Sue each to pick out the book, with
the pictures in it, that was most liked. But finally, each with a
magazine held tightly, the children started to go down stairs.

"Here I go!" cried Bunny again, as he straddled the banister railing.
Down he slid, but this time Sue did not wait until her brother had
reached the bottom post.

She put her own fat little legs over the rail, and down she went,
bumping right into Bunny and knocking him off the post on to the floor.
And, that was not all, for she fell right on top of him.

"Ugh!" grunted Bunny, for Sue was rather heavy and she took his breath
away.

"Oh, Bunny, did I hurt you?" asked the little girl, as she got up. "Did
I, Bunny?"

"Nope, you didn't hurt me, Sue. Falling down did--a little, but I fell
on something soft, I guess."

Bunny stood up and looked. He had fallen on a pile of cloth bags which
the painters had left inside the house. It was lucky for Bunny that the
bags were there, or he might have been badly bruised. As it was he and
Sue were not hurt, and, having picked themselves up, and brushed off
their clothes, they were ready to go back home.

And it was quite time, too, for the shadows were getting longer and
longer out in the street, as the sun went down.

"It was the front door that blew shut with such a bang," Bunny said, as
he and Sue went down the long, front hall. "It was open when we came in,
but it's shut now."

"The wind blew it, I guess," said Sue. "I wonder if you can get it open,
Bunny?"

"Sure!" her brother said.

But when Bunny tried to open the front door he could not. Either it was
too tightly shut, or else some spring lock had snapped shut. There was
no key in the hole, but Bunny turned and twisted the knob, this way and
that. But the door would not open.

"Let me try," said Sue, seeing that Bunny was not getting the door to
swing open so they could get out. "Let me try."

"Pooh! If I can't do it, you can't," Bunny said. He did not exactly mean
to be impolite, but he meant that he was stronger than his little sister
and so she could hardly hope to do what he could not.

"Oh, but Bunny, what will we do if we can't get the door open?" Sue
asked, and she seemed almost as frightened as the day when she had
fallen down in the mud puddle when she and Bunny went to meet Aunt Lu.

"Well, if I can't get the front door open, maybe I can get the back one
or the side one open," Bunny said. "Come on, we'll try them."

But the back door was also locked and there was no key in that to turn.
Neither was there a side door. Both the front and back doors were
locked.

Bunny looked at Sue, and Sue looked at her little brother. Her eyes were
bright and shiny, as though she were going to cry. Bunny tried to speak
bravely.

"Sue--we--we're locked in!" he said.

"Oh, Bunny!" she exclaimed. "What are we going to do? Oh! Oh! Oh dear!"




CHAPTER VI

ADRIFT IN A BOAT


Bunny Brown was a brave little chap, even though he was only a bit over
six years old, "going on seven," as he always proudly said. And one of
the matters in which he was braver than anything else was about his
sister Sue.

His mother had often spoken to him about his sister when he and Sue were
allowed to walk up and down in the street, but not to go off the home
block.

"Now, Bunny," Mrs. Brown would say, "take good care of little Sue!"

And Bunny would answer:

"I will, Mother!"

Now was a time when he must look after her and take special care of her.
The first thing he said to Sue was:

"Don't cry, Sister!" Sometimes he called her that instead of Sue.

"I--I'm not going to cry," Sue answered, but, even then, there were
tears in her eyes. "I'm not going to cry, but oh, Bunny, we're locked
in, and there's nobody here----"

"I'm here!" said Bunny quickly.

"Yes, of course," answered Sue. "But you can't get the doors open,
Bunny, and we can't get out when the doors are shut."

Bunny thought for a moment. What Sue said was very true. One could not
go through a locked door.

"If we were only fairies now," said Bunny slowly, "it would be all
right."

"How would it be?" Sue asked, opening her eyes wide.

"Why, if we were fairies," Bunny explained, "all we would have to do
would be to change ourselves into smoke and we could float right out
through the keyhole."

"Oh, but I wouldn't like to be smoke!" cried Sue. "That wouldn't be any
fun. Why we couldn't play tag, or eat ice cream cones or--or anything.
And the wind would blow us all away, if we were smoke."

"Oh, we wouldn't be smoke all the while," Bunny said. "Only just while
we were going through the keyhole. Once we were on the other side we
could change back into our own selves again."

"Oh, that would be all right," Sue said. She went up close to the
keyhole of the front door and peeped through. Maybe she was trying to
wish herself small enough to crawl out of the locked, empty house,
without changing into smoke.

But of course Bunny and Sue were not fairies, and of course they could
not turn into smoke, so there they had to stay, locked in.

"But, Bunny, what are we going to do?" asked Sue, as they went back and
forth from the front to the back door.

"Maybe I can open a window," Bunny said. But he was not tall enough to
reach more than past the window sill. The middle of the sash was far
away, and he could see that the catch was on. If there had been a chair
in the house, perhaps Bunny might have stood on it and opened a window,
but there was none.

In one of the rooms Bunny did find an empty box. Moving this up to the
window to stand on he found he could reach the middle of the sash, and
turn the fastener.

"Now if I can only push up the window, Sue!" he cried.

"I'll help you," the little girl said. "Here's a stick, I can push with
that."

So with Bunny standing on the box, and Sue, on the floor, pushing with
the stick, they tried to put up the window in order to get out of the
empty house.

But the window would not go up, and all of a sudden Sue's stick slipped
and banged against the glass.

"Oh! Look out!" cried Bunny. "You nearly broke it."

"I didn't mean to."

"No. But I guess we'd better not try to raise the window. We might break
the glass."

Bunny knew a boy who, when playing ball, broke a window, and he had to
save up all his pennies for a month to pay for the new glass. Bunny did
not want to do that.

So the children went away from the window.

"Say, Sue," said Bunny, after a bit, "we can play we are camping out
here. That would be fun, and we can make a bed of the pieces of bags
that I fell on off the banister, and--"

"But I'm hungry, and there's nothing to eat!" Sue exclaimed. "When we
camp out, or go on a picnic, there are things to eat."

"That's so," agreed Bunny. "This isn't as much fun as I thought it was.
I wish I hadn't tried to get any red paint."

"So do I," Sue said, but she was not blaming her brother. She had been
just as anxious to go into the vacant house as he had been.

The children did not know what to do. They were both ready to cry, but
neither Wanted to. It was getting dark now.

"Let's holler!" exclaimed Sue. "Maybe somebody will hear us and come and
let us out."

"All right," said Bunny. They both called together. But the vacant house
was not near any other, and none of the neighbors heard the childish
voices.

"I--I guess I'd better get the bags and make a bed, for we'll have to
stay here all night," said Bunny, when they were quite tired from
calling aloud.

"Then make my bed near yours, Bunny," said Sue. "I--I don't want to be
alone."

"I'll take care of you," promised the little blue-eyed chap, as he
remembered what his mother had told him.

Bunny went to the front hall to get the cloth bags. Sue went with him,
for she did not want to be left alone in the room that was now getting
quite dark.

But Bunny and Sue did not have to stay all night in the empty house.
Just as they were picking up the bags, they heard a noise at the front
door and a voice called:

"Bunny! Sue! Are you in there?"

For a moment they did not answer, they were so surprised with joy. Then
Bunny cried:

"Oh, it's Uncle Tad! It's Uncle Tad!"

While Sue exclaimed:

"We're here! Yes, we're here, Uncle Tad! Oh, please let us out!"

There was a squeaking noise and the front door was pushed open. In came
the old soldier, and Bunny and Sue made a jump for his arms. He caught
them up and kissed them.

"Well, little ones, I've found you!" he cried. "I thought maybe you were
in here. My, but what a fright you've given your mother and all of us!"

"We came in for some red paint," explained Bunny, "and we got locked
in."

"No, the door wasn't locked," Uncle Tad explained. "It was just stuck
real hard. You weren't strong enough to pull it open, I suppose. But
don't ever do anything like this again."

"We won't," promised Bunny. He was always pretty good at making
promises, was Bunny Brown. "We just wanted to get some red paint so I
could play Mr. Punch with the lobster claw," he went on.

"And we slid down the banister," added Sue, "and I bumped Bunny off the
post."

"But she didn't hurt me," Bunny said.

"How did you find us, Uncle Tad?" asked Sue, as their uncle led them
along the now almost dark street toward their home.

"Why, when you didn't come back your mother was worried," the old
soldier said. "So your Aunt Lu started out one way after you, and I went
the other. As I passed this old house I saw a blue ribbon down by the
gate and I thought it looked like yours, Sue. So I thought you might
have come in here."

"Oh, did I lose my hair ribbon?" Sue asked, putting her hand to her
head. The big, pretty bow was gone, but Uncle Tad had found it.

"It's a good thing you lost it," said Bunny. "If you hadn't, Uncle Tad
wouldn't have known where to look for us."

"Oh, I guess I should have found you after a bit," Uncle Tad said, with
a smile. "But now we must hurry home, so the folks will know you are all
right."

And my, how Bunny and Sue were kissed and cuddled by their mother and
Aunt Lu when Uncle Tad brought them back! "I was beginning to be
afraid," said Mrs. Brown, "that you had gone down to the boat-dock,
after I told you not to, and I was going to have your father and Bunker
Blue look for you."

"We didn't mean to get locked in. Mother," explained Bunny. "It was the
wind."

"Well, don't go in empty houses again," Aunt Lu said.

"Nope--never!" promised Sue, "But we were looking for your ring, Aunt
Lu, though we didn't find it."

"No, I'm afraid it's gone forever," said Miss Baker with a sigh, and a
sad look. "But it was very good of you to try to find it for me."

The children sat down to supper, telling the big folks all about the
adventure, and how they had become fastened in, and were afraid they
would have to make a bed on the bags and stay all night.

"And if we had I'd have taken good care of Sue," Bunny remarked.

"I know you would, my dear," his mother answered, as she kissed him and
his sister, before putting them to bed.

For a few days after this Bunny and Sue did nothing to make any trouble.
They went on little trips with Aunt Lu, showing her the many wonderful
sights at the seaside. With her they watched the fish boats come in, and
once they went sailing with her and their mother, Bunker Blue taking
charge of the boat. They gathered pretty shells and pebbles on the beach
and had many good times.

One day Bunny and Sue played Punch and Judy, Bunny wearing the big red
lobster claw on his nose. Aunt Lu laughed at the funny tricks of the
children.

"Some day we'll get up a real show, and charge money," said Bunny, as he
put away the lobster claw to use another time.

Not far from the Brown's house was a small river that flowed into the
bay. Part of the Brown land was right on the edge of this river and at a
small dock Mr. Brown kept, tied up, a rowboat which he sometimes used to
go fishing in, or to go after crabs, which are something like lobsters,
only smaller. They are just as good to eat when they are cooked, and
they turn red when you boil them.

One day Bunny and Sue went down to the edge of the river. They asked
Aunt Lu to go with them, but she said she had a headache, and wanted to
lie down.

"Don't go far away, children," called Mrs. Brown after the two tots, as
they wandered down near the little stream.

"We won't," promised Bunny, and he really meant it. But neither he nor
Sue knew what was going to happen.

It was quite warm that day, and, as Bunny and Sue sat in the shade of a
tree on the bank of the river, the little boy said:

"Oh, Sue, wouldn't it be nice if we could go on the river in the boat?"

"Yes," said his sister, "but mother said we weren't to."

"I guess she meant we weren't to go ROWING in a boat--I mean a loose
boat--one that isn't tied fast," said Bunny. "I guess it would be all
right if we sat in the boat while it was tied fast to shore."

"Maybe," said Sue. She wanted, as much as did Bunny, to sit in the boat,
for it was cooler down there.

"Let's do it!" proposed Bunny. "The boat is tied fast, but we can make
believe we are rowing. We'll pretend we are taking a long trip."

Neither of the children meant to do wrong, for they thought it would be
all right to sit in the boat as long as it was tied fast. So into it
they climbed. Then such fun as they had! They took sticks and made
believe to row. They tied their handkerchiefs on other sticks and
pretended to be sailing. They rocked the boat gently to and fro, and
Bunny called this "being out in a storm."

Then they lay down on the broad seats and made believe it was night and
that, when they awakened, they would be in a far-off land where coconuts
grew on trees and where there were monkeys to toss them down.

And, before they knew it, both children were fast asleep, for the sun
was shining warmly down on them. Bunny awoke first. He felt the boat
tossing to and fro:

"Don't do that, Sue!" he called. "You'll tip us over."

"Don't do what?" asked Sue, sleepily.

"Don't jiggle the boat," said Bunny. Then he opened his eyes wider and
looked all about. The boat was far from shore and was drifting down the
river. It had become untied while the children slept.




CHAPTER VII

BUNNY GOES FISHING


"On, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "We're having a sail!
We're sailing!"

"Yes," answered her brother, "that's what we are, but--"

He looked toward the shore and wondered if it were too far away for him
to wade to it. The river looked quite deep, though, and Bunny decided he
had better not try it.

"Don't you like sailing," asked his sister Sue.

"Oh, yes, I like it all right," was the reply, "but mother told us not
to go out in the boat and we've done it."

"But we didn't mean to," came from the little girl. "The boat did it all
by itself, and it isn't our fault at all."

"That's so," and Bunny smiled now and seemed happier.

"I wonder how it happened?" asked Sue.

"I guess we jiggled it so much, making believe we were sailing, that the
rope got loose," Bunny explained. "And now we're sailing!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue really were sailing down the river and
the boat was bobbing up and down and swinging from side to side, for it
was not steered. And it was not exactly "sailing" either, for it was
only a row-boat and there was no sail to hoist.

But the river was flowing down hill to the sea and it was the river that
was carrying the boat along.

"I like it; don't you?" asked Sue, after a bit.

"Yes," answered Bunny. "Only we musn't go too far away. Mother wouldn't
like that even if it wasn't our fault that the boat got loose. I wonder
if there's anything to eat here."

"Let's look," proposed Sue, so the two children looked under the boat
seats and lifted the oars over to one side. Sometimes they were allowed
to go with their father or mother for a row or sail, and, once in a
while, Mrs. Brown would take with her some sandwiches or cake for a
little lunch. Bunny and Sue thought something to eat might have been
left over since the last time, but there was nothing.

"Oh dear!" sighed Sue. "I'm terrible hungry, Bunny!"

"So am I!"

"Don't you s'pose you could catch a fish, so we could eat that?"

"I might," Bunny answered, "if I had a fish line."

"I have a piece of string," and Sue put her chubby hand in her pocket.
She had had her mother sew two pockets in her dress, almost like the
ones Bunny had in his little trousers. For Sue said she wanted to carry
things in her pockets, just as her brother and the other boys did.

She now pulled out a tangled bit of string, white cord that had come off
some bundles from the grocery.

"There's a fish line, Bunny," said Sue.

"Yes, if I only had a hook," and the little fellow pulled the tangles
out of the cord, "You can't catch fish without a hook, Sue."

"I know that. And here's a pin. You can bend that into a hook. Sadie
West and I did that one day up at the frog pond."

"Did you get any fish?" Bunny asked.

"No," answered Sue slowly. "But there wasn't any fish in the pond. Mr.
Winkler came along and told us so, and we didn't fish any more. We
caught frogs."

"How?"

"In a tin can."

"We haven't any tin can now," went on Bunny, looking about the boat, as
if he would, perhaps, rather catch frogs than fishes.

"Don't try to get any frogs," Sue begged him. "They aren't any good to
eat."

"Their legs are!"

"Oh, they are not! I wouldn't eat frogs' legs. I'd eat chickens' legs
though, if they were cooked."

"So would I. But some folks do eat frogs legs. I heard Aunt Lu telling
mother so the other day."

"They must be funny people to eat frogs' legs," Sue exclaimed.

"But I won't catch any now," Bunny promised. "Where's the pin, Sue? So I
can make a hook."

"I'll take one out of my dress where a button's off," offered the little
girl. "Only you'll have to give the pin back to me after you stop
fishing, 'cause I'll have to pin my dress up again."

"S'posin' a fish swallers it?" Bunny asked.

"Swallers what?"

"Swallers the hook!" Bunny explained. "If a fish eats the bent pin hook
I can't give it back to you; can I?"

"No," said Sue slowly. "But we could get it out when we cook the fish,"
she said, after thinking about it a little while.

"Yes," agreed Bunny. "But I guess they don't cook pins in fish. Anyhow
we haven't got a fire to cook with."

"Oh, well, then we'll pretend. Here's the pin, Bunny," and Sue took it
from a place on her dress where, as she had said, a button was off. "Try
and catch a big fish with it."

Bunny had the piece of string untangled now and he bent the pin into a
sort of hook. All this while the boat was slowly drifting down the
river, but Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had talked so much about
fishing that they had not noticed where they were going. They were not
so frightened as they had been at first.

Bunny tied the bent pin on the end of his piece of string and was about
to toss it over the side of the boat into the water when he happened to
think.

"I'll have to have a sinker," he said to Sue. "You can't catch fish if
you don't have a sinker to take the hook down to the bottom of the
water. Fish only bite near the bottom. I must have a sinker."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "Fishing is a lot of work; isn't it, Bunny?"

"It's fun," said the little boy. "I like it, but I have to have a
sinker."

"I could give you a button from my dress," Sue said. "One's almost off,
and I could pull it the rest of the way. Only I haven't another pin to
fasten me up with. This is an old dress, anyhow. That's what makes it
have one button gone and another almost off," she explained.

"Never mind. Don't pull off the button, Sue," Bunny said. "I guess it
wouldn't be heavy enough to sink. Maybe I can find a regular sinker. Oh,
yes, here's one!" he cried, as he picked up from the bottom of the boat
a piece of lead. It had been dropped there when Mr. Brown, or perhaps
Bunker Blue, had used the boat for fishing a few days before.

"This will be just the thing!" cried Bunny, as he fastened it to his
line. "Now I can fish real," and he tossed the bent pin over the side of
the drifting boat into the water. The bent pin sank out of sight, and
both children watched eagerly, wondering how long it would be before
they would catch a fish.

But suddenly their boat bumped against something, and stopped moving.
The bump was so hard that Bunny was knocked over against Sue.

"Oh, Bunny, don't!" she exclaimed. "You hurt my arm!"

"I--I couldn't help it," Bunny said.

"Was it a fish?" asked Sue, hopefully, "Did he pull you over?"

Bunny shook his head. Nothing had taken hold of the pin-hook. Then he
turned his head and looked around.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "We've run ashore on an island. Now we can get out
and have some fun! This is great!"




CHAPTER VIII

SUE FALLS IN


The boat, in which Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had gone adrift, had
really "bunked into an island," as Bunny told about it afterward. He
said "bunked," and he meant bumped, for that is what the boat had done.

There were a number of islands in the river, some small and some larger,
and it was at one of the larger ones that Bunny and Sue now found
themselves. Their boat swung around in the shallow water, and did not
move any more. It was fast aground on the edge of the island.

"Let's get out," suggested Bunny, and he did so, followed by Sue. As
Bunny pulled his fish line from the water, his sister saw the dangling
bent-pin hook, and cried out:

"Oh, Bunny, you didn't get a fish after all!"

"No," the little fellow answered. "I guess I can fish better from the
island, anyhow. We'll fish here now, and if we catch anything we can
build a fire and cook it. That is, we could if we had any matches."

"Mother told us we musn't play with fire," remarked Sue.

"That's so," her brother agreed. "Well, we can wait till we get home to
cook the fish. But we've got to fasten the boat, or it may go away and
leave us."

Bunny's father was in the boat business and the little fellow had often
heard how needful it was to tie boats fast so they would not drift away
or be taken out by the tide. So it was one of the first things he
thought of when he and Sue landed on the island.

There was a rope in the front part, or bow of the rowboat, and Bunny
tied one end of this rope to a tree that grew near the edge of the
island.

"Now I can fish," he said.

"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I wish I had one of my dolls with me--even
the old sawdust one, with the sawdust coming out. I could play house
with her. What can I do, Bunny?"

"Well, you can watch me fish, and then I'll let you have a turn. If you
had another pin I could make you a hook."

"Nope, I haven't anymore," and Sue looked carefully over her dress,
thinking she might find another pin. But there was none.

Bunny was about to cast in the line from the shore of the island, near
the boat, where he and Sue were standing, when he suddenly thought of
something.

"Oh, I forgot! I haven't any bait on my hook!" he said. "No wonder I
didn't get a bite. I'll have to get a worm, or something the fish like
to eat. Come on, Sue, you can help at that--hunting for worms."

"I--I don't want to," and Sue gave a little shiver.

"You don't like to hunt worms?" asked Bunny, as if very much surprised.
"I like it--it's fun!"

"Oh, but worms--worms are so--so squiggily!" stammered Sue. "They make
me feel so ticklish in my toes."

"You don't pick up worms in your toes!" cried Bunny. "You pick 'em up in
your hands!"

"I know," and Sue smiled at her brother, "but they are so squiggily that
they make me feel ticklish away down to my toes, anyhow."

"All right," Bunny agreed. "I'll pick up the worms, but you can have a
turn fishing just the same."

"Thank you," answered Sue.

Mrs. Brown had taught the children to be kind and polite to each other,
just as well as to strangers and to "company." Though of course Bunny
Brown and his sister Sue had little troubles and "spats" and
differences, now and then, just like other children.

Bunny began looking for worms, and he dug in the soft dirt of the
island, near the edge of the water, with a stick. But either there were
no worms there, or Bunny did not dig deep enough for them, for he found
none.

"Guess I'll have to fish without any bait," he said, after a while. But,
as I suppose you all know, fish hardly ever bite on an empty hook,
especially when it is made from a bent pin; so, after he had dangled the
line in the water for quite a while, Bunny said:

"Here, Sue. It's your turn now. Maybe you'll have better luck than I
had."

"Maybe there aren't any fish in this river."

"Oh, yes there are. Bunker Blue caught a lot one day. But he had worms
for bait."

However Sue did not mind fishing without any worms on the pin-hook, and
she sat down on a log, near the water and let the line dangle in it,
while Bunny walked about the island. He had never been on this one
before, though there was a larger one, farther down the river, where he
and his sister Sue had often gone on little picnics with their mother
and father.

Walking back a little way from the edge of the water, Bunny saw a place
where a tangle of vines, growing over an old stump, had made a place
like a little tent, or bower. All at once Bunny remembered a story his
mother had read to him. Back he ran to where Sue was fishing.

"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he exclaimed. "I know what we can do!"

"What?"

"We can play Robinson Crusoe!" cried Bunny.

"Is that like tag, or hide-and-go-to-seek?" the little girl wanted to
know.

"Neither one," answered her brother. "Robinson Crusoe was a man who was
shipwrecked on an island, and he lived there a long time with his man
Friday. We can play that."

"But we aren't shipwrecked," Sue said. Living near the sea the children
had often heard of shipwrecks, and had once seen one, when a big sail
boat had beep blown up on the beach and broken to pieces by the heavy
waves. The sailors were taken off by the life-savers. "We're not
shipwrecked," said Sue. "There's our boat all right," and she pointed to
the one in which they had gone adrift.

"Oh, well, we can pretend we've been shipwrecked," Bunny said.

"Oh, yes!" and Sue understood now. "What is the rest of the game?" she
asked.

"Well, mother read the story to me out of a book," explained Bunny.
"Robinson Crusoe was wrecked, and he had to live on this island, and he
had a man named Friday."

"What a funny name! Who named him that?" asked Sue.

"Robinson Crusoe did. You see, Friday was a colored man, very nice, too,
and he helped Robinson a lot. Robinson called him that name because he
found him on Friday."

"But this isn't Friday," objected Sue. "It's Thursday."

"Well, it's only pretend," went on Bunny.

"Oh, yes. I forgot. So Robinson had a colored man named Friday to help
him."

"Yes," Bunny said, "and we'll play that game. I'll be Robinson."

"But who is going to be Friday?" Sue wanted to know.

"You can be."

"But I'm not a man, and I'm not colored, Bunny."

"We'll have to pretend that, too. You'll be my man Friday, and we'll go
to live in the little tent over there," and Bunny pointed toward the
leafy bower he had found. "And you can be colored, too, if you want,
Sue," he said. "You could rub some mud on your face and hands."

"Oh, let's! That's what I'll do!" and Sue laid aside the stick to which
Bunny had tied the fishline and the bent pin. "That will be fun!" Sue
said. "It will be better than the Punch and Judy show with the lobster
claw on your nose."

"But you mustn't get your dress muddy," Bunny cautioned his sister.
"Mother wouldn't like that."

[Illustration with caption: FOR A MOMENT SUE LAY THERE, STILL CHOKING
AND GASPING]

"I won't," promised Sue. "And when we get through playing I can wash the
mud off my face and hands."

"Yes," said Bunny. "Now I'll go over to my cave--we'll call the place
where the vines grow over the stump a cave," he went on, "and I'll be
there just like Robinson Crusoe Was in the cave on his island. Then I'll
come out and find you, all blacked up with mud, and I'll call you
Friday."

Sue clapped her hands in delight, and, when Bunny went off to the cave,
which, he remembered, was the sort of place where the real Robinson
Crusoe lived, in the story book, Sue found a place where there was some
soft, black mud.

Very carefully, so as not to soil her dress, the little girl blackened
her hands and face, rubbing on the dirt as well as she could.

"Bunny! Bunny!" she called after a bit.

"Well, what is it?" asked her brother, as he was sitting in his
make-believe cave.

"Come and look at me," said Sue, "and see if I'm black enough to be
Friday."

Bunny came and looked.

"You need a little more mud around behind your ears," he said. "I'll put
it on for you," and he did so.

Then the two children played the Robinson Crusoe game; that is, as much
of it as Bunny could remember, which was not a great deal. But they had
good fun, walking about the island, and going into the green vine-bower
now and then to get out of the sun, which was very hot.

But even as much fun as it was playing at being shipwrecked on an
island, like Robinson, in the story book, the children soon tired of it.

"I guess we'd better go home," said Sue after awhile. "I'm terribly
hungry, Bunny."

"So'm I."

"And if we can't catch any fish, and can't find any place to get things
to eat from, we'd better go home."

"Yes, I guess we had. I wonder if I can row the boat?"

Bunny had often seen his father, or Bunker Blue, or sometimes his
mother, row a boat, so he knew how it was done. But he knew the oars in
the boat in which he and Sue had gone adrift were heavy, and he was not
very strong, though a sturdy little chap for his years.

"I'll help you," Sue said. "But first I'll have to un-Friday myself. I
must wash off this mud."

"I'll help you--around behind your ears where you can't see," offered
Bunny.

Sue went to a place near the water, where there was a flat rock, and
leaned over to dip her handkerchief in. She was going to use it as a
washcloth.

But, whether she slipped, or leaned over too far, Sue never knew. At any
rate, soon after she had washed off the first bit of mud from her hands
and wrists, she suddenly toppled, head first, right into the river!

"Oh! Oh! Bunny!" Sue cried, as she found herself in the water.




CHAPTER IX

THE RESCUE DOG


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often been in the water bathing. They
had even been allowed to go in the ocean, a little way, when their
father or mother was with them, and they were just beginning to learn to
swim.

But to fall suddenly into the water, with all one's clothes on, is
enough to frighten anybody, even someone older than Sue; so it is no
wonder she began splashing about, instead of trying to swim, as her
father had told her to do.

Bunny, for a moment, did not know what to do, but he had one great
thought, and that was that he must help his sister. He was a little
distance away from her, and he called out:

"I'm coming, Sue! I'll get you out! Don't be afraid!"

But Sue was afraid. Her head went under water, and she had swallowed
some, for she had forgotten another thing her father had told her, and
this was:

"When your head goes under water, hold your breath--don't breathe--and
then the water won't get in your mouth and nose."

But Sue forgot this, and she was choking and gasping in the river.
Luckily it was not deep, and he might easily have stood up at the place
where she had fallen in. The water would not have been quite up to her
waist.

"I'll get you out, Sue! I'll get you!" cried Bunny.

He ran toward Sue, but before he reached her there was heard a loud
barking, and a big, shaggy dog rushed down to the edge of the island.
Right into the water the dog jumped, and, getting hold of Sue's dress,
he pulled her up on the shore.

For a moment Sue lay there, still choking and gasping, while the dog
stood over her, wagging his tail, and barking as hard as he could bark.
He seemed to know that everything was all right now.

"Oh, Sue! Sue!" cried Bunny, rushing up to his sister, and putting his
arms around her. "You aren't drowned now; are you, Sue?"

"I--I don't--don't know--Bun-Bunny!" she stammered. "I--I guess I'm
'most drowned, anyhow. Oh, take me home! I want my mamma!"

"I'll take you home right away!" Bunny promised. "But wasn't the dog
good to pull you out?"

The dog shook the water from himself, and wagged his tail harder than
ever. He jumped about, barking, and then, with his big red tongue, he
licked first Sue's face, and then Bunny's.

Sue was much better now. She could sit up, and, as the river water was
not salty, as is the water of the ocean, what she had swallowed of it
did not hurt her.

"I guess the dog will lick all the Friday-mud off my face," she said,
smiling at Bunny through her tears.

"The mud's all off anyhow," said her brother. "Falling in the river
washed you clean."

"But it got my dress all wet. I don't care, it's an old one."

"That's good," said her brother. "Now we'll go home. Maybe you will be
all dry when we get there," he added hopefully, "and your dress won't
show any wet at all."

"But I'll have to tell mother I fell in."

"Oh, of course!"

"But it was a--a accident," Sue said, speaking the big word slowly. "Now
take me home, Bunny. I don't want to play Friday any more, and I'm
hungry."

The dog jumped about the children, but he kept nearer to Sue. Maybe he
thought she belonged to him, now that he had pulled her from the water.
Perhaps he had saved Sue's life, though the little girl might have
gotten out herself, or Bunny might have pulled her from the water.

"He's a nice dog," said Sue. "I wish we could keep him."

"Maybe we can. He doesn't seem to belong to anybody, and nobody lives on
this island."

"He was shipwrecked too," said Sue. "Or maybe he wanted to play Robinson
Crusoe with us."

"Robinson didn't have a dog--anyhow, mother didn't read about any in the
story," replied Bunny. "But he had a goat."

"We can pretend this dog is a goat," remarked Sue, as she patted the big
shaggy fellow, who barked in delight, and wagged his tail.

"We'll take him home in the boat with us," decided Bunny. "I hope mother
lets us keep him."

Getting into the boat was easy enough for Bunny and Sue, for they only
had to step over the side, the boat being partly on shore. And the dog
jumped in after them. He seemed very glad Indeed that he had found two
such nice children to love, and who would love him.

But when Bunny tried to push the boat away from the island, as he had
seen his father and Bunker Blue often do, he found it was not easy. The
boat was stuck fast in the soft mud of the edge of the island.

"I--I can't do it," Bunny said, puffing, as he pushed on the oar, with
which he was trying to shove off the boat. "I can't do it, Sue."

"Will we have to stay here forever?"

"No, not forever. Maybe papa, or somebody will come for us. But I can't
push off the boat."

"I'll help you," offered Sue. The oar was too heavy for her, however, so
Bunny got her a long stick. But, even with what little help Sue could
give, the boat would not move.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny, sitting down on a seat. He looked worried, and
so did Sue.

"If we had a harness for our new dog we could hitch him to the boat, and
maybe he could pull it into the water," remarked Bunny, after a bit.

"Oh, that would be fine!" cried the little girl. "And maybe he could
swim, and pull us all the way home."

"But we haven't any harness," said Bunny with another sigh.

"Couldn't we use the fish line? I've got another piece of string."

"We can try."

With the string, which he knotted together, Bunny made a sort of
"harness," putting one end around the dog's neck, and tying the other
end to the bow, or front of the boat.

"Now pull us, Towser!" Bunny cried.

"Is his name Towser?" Sue wanted to know.

"Well, we'll call him that until we can think of a better name. Go on,
pull!" ordered Bunny.

But the dog only barked and stood still. He did not seem to mind being
"hitched up." It seemed as though he had often had children play with
him.

"Oh, I know how to make him pull us!" Sue exclaimed.

"How?"

"Throw a stick in the water, and he'll chase after it."

"Fine!" cried Bunny, and he tossed a chip out into the river. With a
bark the dog rushed after it. But I think you can guess what happened.
Instead of the dog's pulling the boat, the string broke, and, of course,
that was the end of the harness.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "We'll never get home, Bunny!"

The little boy did not know what to do next. But, all at once, as he and
his sister looked at each other, quite worried and anxious, they heard a
voice shouting:

"Bunny! Sue! Are you there? Where are you? Bunny! Sue!"




CHAPTER X

A TROLLEY RIDE


"Who--who is that?" asked Sue of her brother in a whisper. "Oh, it's
papa come for us!"

"That isn't papa," Bunny answered, for well he knew his father's voice.

"Well, it's SOMEBODY, anyhow," and Sue smiled now, through her tears.
"It's somebody, and I'm so glad!"

"Bunny! Sue!" called the voice again, and the big dog barked. Perhaps he
was also glad that "somebody" had come for him, as glad as were the
children. But, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked all about,
they could see no one. Then, all of a sudden, Sue thought of something.

"Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "Do you s'pose it could be him?"

"Be who?"

"Robinson Crusoe's man Friday. Here on the island, you know. Maybe he
heard we were here, and came to help us catch fish, or make a fire. Oh,
Bunny, if it should be Mr. Friday!"

"Pooh! It couldn't be," said Bunny. "Mr. Friday was only make-believe,
and we were only pretending, anyhow. It couldn't be!"

"No, I 'spose not," and Sue sighed. "Anyhow, it's somebody, and they
know us, and I'm glad!"

Bunny was also glad, and a few seconds later, while the dog kept on
barking, and running here and there, Bunny and Sue raw, coming around
the end of the island, a boat, and in it was Jed Winkler, the old sailor
who owned Wango, the monkey. Only, of course, the old sailor did not
have the monkey with him this time.

"Bunny! Sue! Oh, there you are!" called Mr. Winkler as he saw the two
children.

"Oh, Mr. Winkler!" cried Bunny. "We're so glad to see you!"

"Yes, and I guess your folks will be glad to see YOU!" answered the old
sailor. "They've been looking all over for you, and only a little while
ago I noticed that your boat was gone. I thought maybe you had gone on a
voyage down the river, so I said I'd come down and look, as far as the
island, anyhow. And here you are!

"I wonder what you'll do next? But there's no telling, I reckon. What
have you been doing, anyhow, and whose dog is that?"

"He's mine," said Sue quickly. "He pulled me out of the water."

"He's half mine, too," said Bunny. "I saw him before you did, Sue. You
couldn't see him 'cause your head was under the water," he went on, "and
when a feller sees a dog first, half of it is his, anyhow; isn't it, Mr.
Winkler?"

"Oh, you may have half of him," agreed Sue kindly. "Do you want the head
half, or the tail hall, Bunny?"

"Well," said Bunny slowly, "I like the tail end, 'cause that wags when
he's happy, but I like the head end too, because that barks, and he can
wash our hands with his tongue."

Bunny did not seem to know which half of the dog to take. Then a new
idea came to him.

"I'll tell you what we can do, Sue!" he exclaimed. "We can divide him
down the middle the other way. Then you'll have half his head end, and
half his tail end, and so will I."

"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed, "and we can take turns feeding him."

"Say, I never see two such youngsters as you!" declared the old sailor,
laughing. "What happened to you, anyhow?"

"Well, we didn't mean to go off in the boat, but we did," Bunny
explained. "Then we got wrecked on this island, just like Robinson
Crusoe did."

"Only we didn't find Mr. Friday," put in Sue.

"But we found a cave--a make-believe one," Bunny said quickly.

"And I fell in, but we didn't get any fish," added the sister.

"And the dog did pull her out, and we're going to keep him," went on
Bunny. "And will you take us home, Mr. Winkler? 'Cause we're hungry, and
maybe our dog is, too, and it's getting dark, and we couldn't make our
boat go, even if we did hitch the dog up to it."

"Bless your hearts, of course I'll take you home, and the dog, too!" the
old sailor cried, "though I didn't expect to find a dog here. Come now,
get in my boat, and I'll fasten yours to mine, and pull it along after
me. Come along!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon in the old sailor's boat, the
dog following them, and, a little later, they were safely at their own
dock, where their father and mother, as well as Aunt Lu and Bunker Blue,
were waiting to greet them.

"Oh, Bunny! Oh, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she gathered them both into
her arms. "Why did you do it? Oh, such a fright as you have given all of
us!"

"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Bunny, himself a little frightened at
what had happened. "The boat came untied, and floated off with us, and
then we played Robinson Crusoe, just like you read to me out of the
book, and--"

"But we didn't find Mr. Friday," interrupted Sue, who seemed to feel
this was quite a disappointment.

"Never mind," remarked Aunt Lu, "you had plenty of other adventures, I
should think. Why, Sue!" she exclaimed, "your dress is quite damp!"

"She fell in," explained Bunny, "and--"

"Mercy! Where did that dog come from?" cried Mrs. Brown, for the big
shaggy animal had been lying quietly in the bottom of Mr. Winkler's
boat, and now, with a bark, he suddenly sprang up, and jumped out on the
dock.

"It's our dog," said Sue. "He pulled me out."

"Pulled you out, child? Out of where?" Mrs. Brown wanted to know. "What
happened? Tell me all about it!"

Which Bunny and Sue did, taking turns. Then they begged to be allowed to
keep the dog, and Mr. Brown said they might, if no one came to claim it.

"I guess it must be a lost dog," said the old sailor. "Maybe it jumped
off some boat that was going down the river, and swam to the island. I
guess it's glad enough to get off, though, for there's nothing there for
a dog to eat."

"We couldn't find anything, either," said Bunny, "and we're hungry now,
Mother."

"And we're going to take turns feeding the dog," came from Sue. "I own
one half, down the middle, and so does Bunny."

"Bless your hearts!" Mrs. Brown cried. "She was very glad the children
had been found, and Mr. Brown told Bunny and Sue they must not get in
the boat again, unless some older person was with them, even if the boat
was tied to the dock. Then it was supper time, and the big, shaggy dog
ate as much as Bunny and Sue together, which showed how hungry he was.

"What are you going to call the dog?" asked Aunt Lu.

"I called him Towser," Bunny said, "but we can take another name, if we
don't like that."

"Oh, let's call him Splash!" exclaimed Sue.

"Splash? What a funny name!" her mother remarked.

"Well, he did splash in the water after me, and pulled me out. Maybe we
could call him Pull, but I like Splash better," and Sue shook her curly
head.

"Call him Splash, then," agreed Mr. Brown, and so the big dog was called
that name. He did not seem to mind how funny it was, but wagged his
tail, and barked happily whenever he was spoken to.

For two or three days after they had gone off in the boat, Bunny Brown
and his sister Sue did not go far from home. They remained about the
house, playing different games with some of the children who lived near
them. Now and then they would go down the street with Aunt Lu, or to the
dock, to see the fish boats come in. And, often, as she walked along,
Aunt Lu would look down at the ground.

"Are you looking for your lost diamond ring?" Bunny or Sue would ask.

"Well, not exactly," Aunt Lu would say. "I'm afraid I shall never find
it," she would add, in rather a sad voice. "I am afraid it is gone
forever."

"We'll keep on looking," promised Bunny. "And maybe we'll find it."

Splash, the big dog, proved to be very gentle and kind. He seemed to
love the two children very much, and went everywhere with them. No one
came to claim him. There was only one place Bunny and Sue could not take
him, and that was to Mr. Winkler's house, and it was on account of the
monkey.

"I'm afraid Splash might scare Wango," the old sailor said. "Monkeys are
easily frightened, and Wango might try to get out of his cage and hurt
himself. So, much as I love your dog, children, please don't bring him
where Wango is."

"We won't," promised Bunny and Sue. So, whenever they paid a little
visit to their friend, the old sailor, Splash was chained outside
the gate, and the poor dog did not seem to understand why this was
done. But he would lie down and wait until Bunny and Sue came out.
Then how glad he was to see them!

One day Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each five cents. They said they
wanted to buy some toy balloons, which they had seen in the window of
Mrs. Redden's store.

"Maybe we could tie two balloons together, and fasten them to a basket
and have a ride, like in an airship," Sue said to Bunny, for they had
been looking at some pictures of airships in a magazine.

"Maybe we could," Bunny agreed.

But Bunny and Sue did not buy the toy balloons. They were on their way
to get them, with Splash, the dog, walking along the street behind them,
when a trolley car came along. The trolley ran from Bellemere, where
Bunny and Sue lived, to Wayville, the next town. In Wayville lived Uncle
Henry, who was a brother of Mrs. Brown's.

"Oh, Sue! I know what let's do!" Bunny suddenly cried, as the trolley
car stopped to take on some passengers at the street corner.

"What shall we do, Bunny?" Sue was always ready to follow where her
brother led.

"Let's take our five cents and have a trolley ride! We can go to
Wayville and see Uncle Henry. He'd like to see us."

"But if we go on the trolley it costs five cents," Sue objected, "and we
can't buy the balloons."

"Maybe Uncle Henry will give us some pennies when we tell him we had to
spend our five cents to come to see him," Bunny suggested.

"Maybe. All right, let's go!"

Hand in hand, never thinking that it was in the least wrong, Bunny and
Sue ran for the trolley. The conductor, though perhaps he thought it
strange to see two such small children traveling alone, said nothing,
but helped them up the high step. Often the people of Wayville or
Bellemere would put their children on the car, and ask the conductor to
look out for them, and put them off at a certain place. But no one was
with Bunny and Sue.

"We want to go to Wayville, to our Uncle Henry's," explained the
blue-eyed little boy.

"All right," answered the conductor. "I'll let you off at Wayville,
though I don't know your Uncle Henry." He rang the bell twice, and off
went the trolley car, carrying Bunny and Sue to new adventures.




CHAPTER XI

LOST


Bunny and Sue leaned back in the trolley car seat, and felt very happy.
They loved to ride and travel, and they did not think they were doing
wrong to take a trolley ride without asking their mother or father. If
they had asked, of course, Mrs. Brown would not have let them go alone.
But that is the way matters generally went with Bunny and Sue.

Faster and faster went the trolley car. Bunny looked at Sue and smiled,
and she smiled at him. The conductor came along the step of the car,
which was an open one, to collect the fares. Bunny and Sue each handed
him a five cent piece, and he handed them each back two pennies.

"Oh, I didn't know we got any change!" exclaimed Bunny, in surprise

"The fare to Wayville is only three cents, for such little tots as you,"
the conductor said. "Are you sure you know where you are going?" he
asked.

"We're going to our Uncle Henry's," replied Bunny. "And he lives near
the big, white church."

"Well, I can let you off there all right. Now be careful, and don't lean
over out of your seats. You're pretty small to be taking trolley rides
alone."

"We went alone in a boat the other day," Bunny told the conductor, "and
we got shipwrecked."

"On an island in the river," added Sue, so the conductor would know what
her brother meant.

"Well, if you've been shipwrecked, I guess you are able to take a
trolley ride," laughed the motorman, for Bunny and Sue were riding in
the front seat.

"Hey, conductor!" called a man in the back seat of the car, "there's a
dog chasing after us!"

"Why, so there is!" The conductor seemed much surprised as he looked
back.

Bunny and Sue stood up and also looked behind them. There, indeed, was a
big shaggy dog, running after the car, his tongue hanging out of his
mouth. He seemed very tired and hot.

"Why--why!" cried Sue, "that's our dog--it's Splash, and he splashed in
and pulled me out of the water when I fell in, the time Bunny and I were
shipwrecked!"

"Oh, we forgot all about him, when we got on the car," Bunny cried. He
felt very sorry for Splash.

"I thought he'd come right on the car with us," Sue said. "And we'd have
money enough to pay his fare, too," she added, looking at the two
pennies in her chubby fist. "Is it three cents for dogs, too, mister?"
she asked the conductor.

The conductor laughed, and some of the passengers did also. Then Bunny,
who had been looking at poor Splash, racing along after the trolley car,
which was now going quite fast, called out:

"Please stop the car, Mr. Conductor. We want our dog!"

"But you can't take a dog on the car, my boy. It isn't allowed. I'm
sorry."

Bunny thought for a minute. Then he said:

"Well, if we can't bring our dog on the car, We'll get off and walk;
won't we, Sue?"

"Yes, that's what we will."

"All right," agreed the conductor. "I'm sorry, for I'd like to do you
the favor, but I'm not allowed." He rang the bell, and the car slowed
up. Splash barked joyfully, for he Was very tired from running after his
little friends, who went so fast and so far ahead of him.

The conductor helped Bunny and Sue down. The car had stopped along a
country road, near a patch of woods, in rather a lonesome place.

"Here, youngsters," went on the trolley man, while Splash rushed up to
Bunny and Sue, barking happily, "here, youngsters, take your money back.
You didn't ride three cents' worth, hardly, and I'll fix it up all right
with the company. You'd better take the next car back home. Your dog can
find his way all right."

And then the car rattled off again, leaving Bunny and Sue, still with
five cents each, Standing in the road, with their dog Splash.

"Poor fellow," said Bunny, putting his arms around the shaggy neck of
his pet, "you must be awful tired!"

"He is," Sue agreed. "We'll sit down in the shade with him, and let him
rest."

They found a nice place, where the grass was green, and where some trees
made a shade, and near by was a spring of cool water.

Bunny made a little cup, from an oak leaf, and gave Sue a drink. Then he
took some himself, and, a little later, Splash lapped up some water
where it ran in a tiny stream down the grassy side of the road.

"Now he's rested, and we can go on," Sue remarked after a bit. "Where
shall we go, Bunny--to Uncle Henry's?"

"Well, it's too far to walk, and we don't want to ride in the car, and
make Splash run, so maybe we'd better go back home. We can get the
balloons now. The conductor was good not to take our money."

"Yes, I like him," and Sue looked down the track on which, a good way
off, could be seen the trolley car they had left.

"We can walk back home," went on Bunny. "It isn't far. Come on, Sue!"

Down the country road started the two children, Splash following, or,
now and then, running off to one side, to bark at a bird, or at a
squirrel or chipmunk that bounded along the rail fence.

Bunny and Sue thought they would have no trouble at all in going back
home, but they did not know how far away it was.

"All we'll have to do will be to keep along the trolley track," said
Bunny. "If we had my express wagon now, and a harness for Splash, he
could pull us."

"Oh, that would be fun!" Sue cried. "It would be just like a little
trolley car of out own. You could be the motorman and I Would be the
conductor."

"We'll play that when we get home," her brother decided. "Oh, look!
What's Splash barking at now?"

The dog had found something beside the road, and was making quite a fuss
over it. It looked like a black stone, but Bunny and Sue could see that
it was moving, and stones do not move unless someone throws them.

"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" and Sue hung back as Bunny ran toward the dog.

"Snakes aren't big and round like that," her brother answered. "They're
long and thin, like worms, only bigger."

"Oh, it's a mud-turtle!" Bunny exclaimed as he came closer, "A great
big mud-turtle, Sue."

"Will he--will he bite?"

"He might. He's got a head like a lobster's claw," replied Bunny. "But
he won't bite me 'cause I won't let him get hold of my finger."

"He might bite our dog! Come away, Splash!" Sue cried.

But the dog knew better than to get too near the turtle, which really
could bite very hard if he wanted to. Bunny got a stick, and poked at
Mr. Turtle, who at once pulled his head and legs up inside his shell.
Then he was more like a stone than ever.

And, as it was not much more fan than looking at a stone, to watch the
closed-up turtle, Bunny and Sue soon grew tired of watching the
slow-moving creature. Splash, too, seemed to think he was wasting time
barking at such a thing, so he ran off to find something new.

Once more the two children walked along the road. The sun grew warmer
and warmer, and finally Bunny spoke, saying:

"Let's walk in the woods, Sue. It will be cooler there."

"Oh, yes," agreed the little girl. "I love it in the woods."

So into the cool shade they went, Splash following. They found another
spring of water, and drank some. They gathered flowers, and found some
cones from a pine tree. With these they built two little houses, doll
size.

Pretty soon Sue said she was hungry, and Bunny also admitted that he
was.

"We'll coon be home now," he said. "And we'll stop at Mrs. Redden's, and
get our balloons."

"Then we'll have lots of fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.

But the patch of woods through which the children had started to walk
was larger than they thought. There seemed to be no end to it, the trees
stretching on and on.

"Where's home?" Sue asked, after a bit. She was tired of walking.

Bunny stopped and looked about him.

"I can't see our house from here," he said, "but it's only a little way
now. I guess maybe we'd better go out on the road, Sue. We can see
better there."

But the road, too, seemed to have disappeared. Bunny and Sue went this
way and that, but no road could they find. They listened, but they could
not hear the clanging of the trolley car gong. It was very still and
quiet in the woods, except, now and then, when Splash would run through
the dried leaves, looking for another mud-turtle, perhaps.

"I'm hungry!" Sue exclaimed. "I want to go home, Bunny!"

"So do I," said the little fellow, "but I don't seem to know where our
home is."

"Oh! Are we--are we lost?" whispered Sue.

Bunny nodded.

"I--I guess so," he answered.




CHAPTER XII

FOUND


Getting lost in the woods is different from getting lost in the city. In
the city, or even in a little country town, there is someone of whom you
can ask the way to your house. But in the woods there is no one to talk
to.

Bunny and Sue thought of this when they had looked around through the
trees, trying to find some way to, at least, get back to the road.

"If I could find the trolley car tracks we'd be all right," Bunny said.
"We could wait for a car and ride home."

"But what could we do with Splash?" asked Sue.

"Oh, he could run along after us. It isn't far, and he's had a good rest
now."

"Well, I wish I were home," sighed the little girl. "I'm awful hungry!"

Bunny Brown did not know what to do. He wanted to be brave, and help his
sister, but he, himself, felt much like crying, and he thought he could
see tears in Sue's eyes.

Where was their home, anyhow? Where were their papa and mamma and dear
Aunt Lu? Bunny felt he would give all of his five cents if he could see
the house where he and Sue lived. But all around them were only trees.

"Will we have to stay here all night?" Sue wanted to know.

"Well, if we do, we can make believe we have a camp here, and live in
the woods. And we've got Splash with us."

"Yes, I guess I wouldn't be much afraid," agreed Sue. "But it would be
dark; wouldn't it, Bunny?"

"Maybe there'd be a moon--or--or lightning bugs."

"I--I'd rather have a real light," said the little girl. "And even if
I'm not very much afraid in the dark, I can't stop being hungry, Bunny.
What do you eat when you camp in the woods?"

"Why--er--you eat--I guess you have to have sandwiches, or ice cream
cones, or something like that."

"I want a sandwich now!" Sue insisted.

Bunny shook his head.

"We can make-believe," he began.

"But my hungry isn't make-believe!" cried Sue. "It's real--I'm awful
hungry. Can't you find our house, Bunny?"

Her brother shook his head. Then, somehow or other, he decided that he
must do something besides stand there in the woods.

"Let's look for a path and walk along it," he said. "Maybe we can get
home that way."

There were several paths through the woods, and the children soon came
to one of them. They walked along it a little way, but it came to an end
in a place where the trees and bushes grew thick, making it quite dark.

"Our house isn't here," said Sue, sadly, and she cried a few tears.

"No, it isn't here," answered Bunny. "We'll go back and find another
path."

Back they went. But the next path they tried was no better than the
first one. It came to an end in a swamp, in which, on logs, were a
number of big frogs and turtles, that jumped, or fell in, with much
spattering of water as the children and the dog came near.

"I--I'm never going to take a trolley ride again," Sue said, as she and
Bunny turned back.

"I'm not, either," her brother agreed. "But if we had kept on to Uncle
Henry's we'd have been all right. It was Splash's fault that we had to
come back."

The dog barked, as he heard his name spoken. And then Sue suddenly
thought of something.

"Oh, Bunny!" she exclaimed, "if Splash knew the way home he could take
us. Maybe he does. Mother read to us about a dog that found his way home
from a long way off. Splash, can you take us home?" she asked, patting
the big dog on the head.

Splash barked, and started off on a path which the children had not yet
tried.

"That's so. I never thought maybe Splash could show us the way," said
Bunny. "We'll try it! Home, Splash!" he cried. "Home!"

The dog barked again, and wagged his tail. He ran along the path a short
distance, and then stopped, looking back at Bunny and Sue as if asking:

"Well, why don't you come with me if you want to get home?"

"Oh, Bunny, I believe he does know the way!" Sue cried. "Come on, we'll
follow him!"

On ran Splash, turning every now and then to look around and bark, as if
telling the children not to worry--that he would lead them safely home.

And he did, or, if not exactly all the way home, the faithful dog made
his way out of the woods, until he came to the main road, along which
ran the trolley track.

"Oh, now I know where we are!" cried Bunny, in delight, as he saw
several houses ahead of them. "Why, Sue, we're right on our own street.
We weren't much lost!"

"Well, I'm glad we're found," Sue said.

It was easy to get home now. All the while Bunny and Sue had been only a
little way from the road which led to their home, but the trees were so
thick they could not find the right path. And Splash had never thought
his two little friends were anxious to get home, until Bunny had told
him so. Then he led them.

On walked Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, happy now that they were no
longer lost. Splash seemed to think he had done all that was needed, for
now he ran here, there, everywhere--across the road, back and forth,
trying to find something with which to amuse himself. He no longer
watched to see that the children followed him. He must have known that
they were on the right road at last--that he had led them there.

Bunny and Sue passed Mrs. Redden's store. In the window were the red,
blue, green, yellow and other colored toy balloons that they had set out
to buy. Bunny and Sue still each had five cents, though it was in
pennies now.

"Let's get the balloons," proposed Bunny.

"Oh, yes; let's!" agreed Sue.

So they went in and bought them, letting them float in the air, high
above their heads, by the strings to which the balloons were fastened.

Down the street came Aunt Lu.

"Well, children!" she cried. "We were just getting worried about you.
Mother sent me to find you. Where have you been?"

"We had a trolley ride," explained Sue, "but Splash couldn't get on the
car, so we got off, and we were lost, and Splash found the path for us,
and I'm hungry!"

"Bless your heart! I should think you would be!" cried Aunt Lu. "Come
right home with me and I'll get you some jam and bread and butter."

And, a little later, Bunny and Sue were telling of their adventure.

"Oh, but you must never do that again!" said their mother. "Never get in
the trolley cars alone again!"

"We won't!" promised Bunny and Sue. But you just wait and see what
happens.

Bunny Brown was out in the yard, a few days after the funny trolley
ride, digging a hole. Bunny had heard his father talk about a queer
country called China, which, Mr. Brown said, was right straight down on
the other side of the world, so that if one could possibly dig a hole
all the way through the earth, one would come to China.

"I guess I'll dig a hole," thought Bunny Blown. "Maybe I won't go all
the way to China, but I'll dig a big hole, and see where it ends. I'd
like some China boys to play with."

A little while before Bunny started to dig the hole his sister Sue had
been playing in the yard with her dolls. But, somehow or other, Bunny
forgot all about Sue now. He was taking the dirt out of the hole with
his sand shovel when his mother came to the door and called:

"Bunny, where is Sue?"

Bunny looked up from the pile of dirt in front of him. He was standing
down in the hole, throwing out the sand and the gravel, and wondering
when he would get his first sight of that queer land of China.

"Why, Mother," the little fellow answered, "Sue was here just now. Maybe
she has gone down to show Wango her new doll."

"Oh, no, Sue wouldn't go down there alone, Bunny. See if you can find
her."

Bunny went to the front gate and looked up and down the street.

"I don't see her, Mother," he called back.

"Oh, dear! I wonder where she can be?" said Mrs. Brown.

"I'll find her," Bunny said. "Come on, Splash!" he called to his dog.
"We're going to find Sue; she's lost!"

"Wait! Wait! Come back!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Don't you run off and get
lost again, Bunny! I'll go with you, and we'll both find little sister."




CHAPTER XIII

SUE AND THE GOAT


Bunny Brown and his mother walked out of the front yard to the street.
As they passed the side dining room window, Aunt Lu saw them, and asked:

"Where are you going?"

"To look for Sue," explained Mrs. Brown. "She seems to have wandered off
somewhere all by herself, and I don't want her lost again. It isn't so
bad when Bunny and Sue both get lost," the mother went on, "for they can
help find one another. But if Sue is all alone she may get frightened."

"Do you really think she is lost again?" asked Aunt Lu. "If she is I'll
come and help look for her. Or, perhaps, we'd better get Bunker Blue."

"Oh, no, I really don't think she is lost," said Mrs. Brown. "She has,
most likely, just walked down the street. Bunny and I will find her."

"Lots of things get lost here," Bunny remarked. "Sue and I got lost, but
we found a dog; didn't we, Splash?" he asked, and the dog barked.

"Yes, and my lovely ring is lost, and it hasn't been found," and Aunt Lu
looked at the finger on which used to sparkle the diamond.

"I wish I could find it for you," said Bunny. "But Sue and I have looked
everywhere."

"I know you have, my dear."

As Bunny and his mother reached the street they saw Jed Winkler walking
along, carrying a long chain that rattled.

"Oh, Jed, have you seen Sue?" asked Mrs. Brown. "She was here a while
ago, but she went off by herself, and I'm afraid she's lost."

"Don't worry, ma'am," said the old sailor. "She's just down the street a
few houses. I saw her as I came past. She's playing with Sadie West, in
her yard."

"Oh, that's all right, then!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Sue often goes
there. Is anyone else with her, Jed?"

"Yes, a lot of children."

"May I go down there and play, too?" asked Bunny. "Are there any boys
there, Mr. Winkler?"

"Some. I saw Charlie Star and Harry Bentley," and the old sailor laughed
as he rattled the chain.

Bunny did not mind playing with his sister Sue, but he did not want to
take part in games with too many girls, for sometimes the older boys
called him "sissy." And Bunny did not like that.

"Well, if there are other fellers there, I'll go and play," said Bunny,
as he started off to join Sue. Then he happened to think of the chain
the old sailor was carrying.

"What's it for?" asked the small boy.

"It's a new chain for Wango, my monkey," explained the sailor. "He
hasn't been very well, lately, and I had the horse-doctor look him
over."

"That's funny," said Bunny. "To have a horse-doctor for a monkey."

"Well, if there had been a monkey-doctor in town I'd have had him for
Wango," went on Mr. Winkler, "but as there wasn't any I had to do the
next best thing. The horse-doctor said my monkey was being kept in the
cage too much.

"So I got this long chain, and I'm going to fasten one end of it to a
collar, to go around Wango's neck, and tie the other end of the chain to
the porch railing, so he can't get away. Then I can let Wango stay
outdoors when the weather is good, and he will get well. At night I will
put him in his cage again."

"And the chain won't let him run away," commented Bunny.

"That's it, little man, the chain won't let Wango run away," said the
sailor. "That is, I hope it won't, though he often gets out of his cage.
He's quite a tricky monkey."

Mr. Winkler went on down the street, rattling the monkey-chain, and Mrs.
Brown, no longer worried about Sue, turned back into the yard, while
Bunny hurried on, as fast as his little legs would take him, to Sadie
West's yard, where he found his sister and several of their chums having
a good time.

They had made a see-saw, by putting a plank over a box, and were swaying
up and down on this, some children on one end of the plank and some on
the other. As soon as Bunny came running in the yard, Sue called out:

"Oh, goodie! Here's my brother. Now he can teeter-tauter up and down.
Come on, Bunny, you can have my place!"

Sue was so eager to give Bunny her place, and a chance to ride, that she
slid off the board suddenly. Then that left too many little ones on the
other end, and they went down, all at once, with a bump!

Sadie West was spilled off, and so was Charlie Star and Harry Bentley.
They all fell in a heap, but as the green grass was long, and soft, no
one was hurt.

"Don't do that again, Sue!" called Charlie, "You upset us all."

"I won't," Sue promised. "Come on, Bunny. It's your turn now."

"I don't want any turn at falling," Bunny said, with a laugh.

Once more the plank over the box swayed up and down, giving the children
a ride. After a while, getting tired of that, they played in a swing and
also in a hammock, having more fun.

Then it was dinner time, and Sadie's mother told her to come in and wash
before going to the table. The other children knew it must be time for
their meals also, so, calling good-byes to one another, they scattered.

"Come over again," Sadie invited them.

"We will!" promised Bunny.

"Let's go home this way, across the lot," suggested Sue, as she and
Bunny started out.

"Oh, I don't want to," Bunny answered. "It's quicker to go by the
street, and around the corner. And I want to look in Mrs. Redden's
window, and see what she's got new."

"Well, you go that way," Sue agreed, "and I'll go across lots, and we'll
see who gets there first."

"That's just like little Red Riding Hood and the wolf," said Bunny with
a laugh. Sue looked quickly over her shoulder.

"But there's no wolf here," Bunny went on quickly. "You go ahead, Sue,
over the lot, and I'll go by the street."

There was a large vacant lot, near where Sadie West lived, and by
crossing it, and going out at the far end, the Brown children could
reach their home. So Sue started across the lot, crawling through a hole
in the fence.

Bunny started down the street, going quite fast, for he wanted to spend
a few minutes looking in the window of the toy shop, and he also wanted
to get home first, ahead of Sue.

But he had not gone far before he heard his sister calling:

"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! Oh, dear! He's coming after me!"

Bunny turned and ran back. Looking through the fence that was built
around the lot, he saw a big goat, with long horns, walking toward Sue.
And the little girl, who had picked a few daisies, was standing in the
tall grass, too frightened to run back and crawl through the fence.

"Bunny! Bunny! Take the goat away!" Sue cried.




CHAPTER XIV

A LITTLE PARTY


"Sue! Sue! I'm coming! Don't be afraid!"

Bunny cried this as he hurried up to the fence, through the pickets of
which he could see the goat walking toward his sister. Sue was screaming
now.

But, after he had said this, Bunny did not know exactly what to do. He
did not know much about goats, and this was a big one, with long, sharp
horns. The goat belonged to an Italian family in town, and the Italian
man used to ask those who owned vacant lots to let his goat go into them
and eat the grass. That was how the goat happened to be in this lot. If
Sue had known the animal was there, she would not have taken the short
cut, but would have gone, with her brother, along the street.

"Bunny! Bunny!" Sue cried. "He's coming closer!"

Bunny began to crawl through the hole in the fence as his sister had
done. As he did so, he saw, lying on the ground, several stones. He
picked up two, one in each fist.

"I won't let him hurt you, Sue!" he called, but, even as he said that,
Bunny did not know what he was going to do. "I wish I had a red rag," he
thought, "I could wave it at the goat and maybe scare him."

Bunny had heard his mother read from a book how bulls and turkey
gobblers do not like red rags waved at them, and Bunny thought a goat
was something like a bull. They both had horns, at any rate.

"And if I could wave a red rag at him, maybe it would make him so mad
that he'd run away and leave Sue alone," thought Bunny as he found
himself in the vacant lot with his sister.

Bunny was not quite right about the red rag, so perhaps it is just as
well he did not have one. For bulls run TOWARD a red rag, instead of
AWAY from it, and perhaps goats might do the same; though I am not sure
about this.

But, at any rate, Bunny had no red rag; and the goat, instead of running
away, was coming toward Sue, who was too frightened to move. She just
stood there, crying:

"Bunny! Oh, Bunny! Make him go away."

"I will," said her brother. "Go on away, you old goat you!" he cried.
"Go away or I'll throw a stone at you. I don't want to hurt you, but I'm
not going to let you hook my sister with your horns. Go on away!"

But the goat only bleated, like a sheep, and came on. Seeing Bunny
coming toward her made Sue a little braver. At least she found that she
could run, so she did, hiding behind her brother.

"I'll take care of you," he said bravely.

On came the goat. Bunny's heart was beating fast. He raised one hand in
which he held a stone.

"Look out! I'm going to throw it, you old goat!" cried the little
blue-eyed boy.

"Whizz!" went the stone toward the goat. It struck him on the horn, and
of course it did not hurt, for a goat's horns have no feeling on the
outside, any more than have your finger-nails.

"Bounce!" went the stone off the goat's horn. The animal shook his head,
as if he did not like that.

"Go on away!" called Bunny. "I got another stone for you if you don't
go!"

But the goat still came on. Bunny threw the second stone, but it did not
hit the goat. The little boy was looking around for another stone, when
he and Sue heard a loud barking behind them, and up rushed Splash, their
big dog.

"Oh, good! Now he'll drive the goat away!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny; aren't
you glad!"

"That's what I am!" Bunny answered. "Drive him away, Splash!"

Splash rushed, barking, at the goat, and the horned animal at once
turned about and ran to the other end of the lot, kicking up his heels.
Splash kept on after him, barking, but not trying to bite, for the dog
was gentle.

"Splash! Splash!" called Bunny. "Come back! Come back!"

Splash minded very well and back he came, quite proud, no doubt, at
having driven off the goat.

"Hurry and get out of here!" begged Sue, as she ran toward the hole in
the fence. Bunny turned to follow her. He looked back to see if the goat
was coming, feeling not half afraid, now that Splash was with them.

In another minute Bunny, Sue and their dog were safely out in the
street. The goat, at the far end of the lot, looked toward them and made
his queer, bleating noise.

Afterward Bunny Brown and his sister Sue learned that the goat was a
very kind one, and used to playing with children. It would not have hurt
Sue at all, and the reason it walked up to her was because it thought
she was going to feed it, as the little Italian children often did. So
Bunny and Sue had their fright for nothing, though of course, at the
time, Bunny thought the goat might hurt his sister.

"And I'm sorry I hit him with a stone," said Bunny, when, afterward, he
was told how gentle the goat was.

"Oh, well, you didn't hurt him," said Aunt Lu.

Bunny, Sue and Splash were late for their dinner that day.

"My! What kept you?" asked Mrs. Brown, as they entered the house. "I did
not want you to stay so long away."

"It was the goat that made me," Sue said, and then she and Bunny told of
their adventure.

"Well, of course you couldn't help that," Mrs. Brown said with a smile.
"Something new always seems to be happening to you children. Now wash
and come to your meal."

There were jam tarts for dessert that day, and as Bunny ate his, the
raspberry jam coming up through the three small holes in the top crust,
the little fellow said:

"These are so good! Who made them?"

"Aunt Lu did," answered his mother. '"Aren't they nice?"

"Lovely!" murmured Sue. "May I have another, Mother?"

"I think so, as they are small."

"And I want one!" Bunny exclaimed. "They taste just like--just like a
play-party!" he finished.

"So they do!" cried Sue. "I was trying to think what it was they tasted
like--but it's a party!"

"What a queer way for jam tarts to taste!" laughed Aunt Lu. "But I am
glad you like them. I'll make some more some day."

"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Bunny. "And oh, Mother! Maybe we could have one!"
His eyes were shining brightly.

"Have one what?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Why, one party," Bunny replied. "Could Sue and I have a little party,
and would Aunt Lu bake some jam tarts for us?"

"I'll bake the tarts, if your mother wants you to have the party," Aunt
Lu answered.

Mrs. Brown thought for a moment.

"Well," she said slowly, "I suppose you could have a little party. Not a
very big one, as I am so busy. Just a few of your friends to eat on the
lawn under the trees."

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Sue cried.

"And we'll have some boys, and not all girls!" Bunny declared.

"Half girls and half boys," Aunt Lu suggested. "And I'll make half jam
tarts and half jelly ones, so they may take their choice."

"And I'll bake a cake for Splash!" exclaimed Sue. "He likes cake. We
might give the party for him," she went on. "That would be fun!"

"And they could all bring our dog presents--bones and things like that,"
laughed Bunny.

And so it was decided. The party would be for Splash, though of course
he would not be allowed to eat all the good things. Bunny Brown and his
sister Sue wanted those for themselves and their playmates.

The next day Bunny and Sue went around to the different houses, where
their little friends lived, and each one was asked to come to the party.
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked me!" cried Sadie West, when Sue told about
the fun they would have.

"I want you more than anyone," was Sue's reply.

"And how funny to have the party for Splash!" Sadie went on.

"Well, dogs like nice things."

"Of course they do. I think it's just fine!" and Sadie clapped her
hands. "I'll tie a little pink ribbon on the bone I bring your dog."

Helen Newton said she would bring Splash a dog-biscuit.

"You buy them in a store," she said. "Papa buys them for our dog, and
you can get puppy cakes, too. Only of course Splash is too big for a
puppy cake."

"You could bring him a lot of little puppy cakes, and they would be the
same as one big dog-biscuit, maybe," said Sue.

"No, I'll bring him a regular cake, and I'll put a blue ribbon on it,"
decided Helen, and then the little girls laughed to think what fun they
would have at the party.




CHAPTER XV

GEORGE WATSON'S TRICK


The day of the party for Splash, the dog, came at last, though Bunny
Brown and his sister Sue were so anxious for the time to arrive that it
seemed very long indeed. But everything comes if you wait long enough,
so they say, and finally the time for the party came.

"Oh, what a fine day!" cried Bunny, as he ran to the window on the
morning of the day of the party. "The sun is shining, Sue!"

"That's good," answered his sister from her room. "A party is no fun in
the rain."

"And there's wind enough to fly the kites," went on Bunny. He and some
of his little boy friends had talked over what they would do at the
party.

"The girls will want to play with their dolls," said Harry Bentley.

"Well, we don't want to do that," observed Charlie Star. "What can we
do?"

"We can make kites, and fly 'em," Bunny said, and so this was what he
and the boys at the party would do while the girls were playing with
their dolls. So Bunny was now glad to notice, as he looked from the
window, that the wind was blowing; not too hard, but enough to fly
kites.

The two children were soon dressed, and down at the breakfast table. But
they did not eat as much as usual, and Bunny left more than half his
oatmeal in his dish.

"Why, Bunny! What is the matter?" asked his mother.

"I guess they are thinking so much about the party that they can't eat
as they ought," Aunt Lu said.

"Oh, but that isn't right!" Mother Brown exclaimed. "Come, Bunny--Sue,
eat a nice breakfast, and then you may fix up the lawn in any way you
like for your party."

"I've a big bow for Splash's neck," said Sue.

"And I'm going to make a harness, and hitch him up to the express wagon,
so he can pull us around the yard," remarked Bunny.

"Now please eat your breakfast!" begged their mother, and Bunny and Sue
did their best. But it was hard work not to talk or think about their
party.

Aunt Lu helped them get the lawn in readiness. All about the Brown house
was a big grass plot, and in the back were a number of shade trees. The
tables, which were made from boxes, with boards across the top, were to
be set out there.

There were to be sandwiches, cake, lemonade and ice cream, with Aunt
Lu's lovely jam and jelly tarts besides.

"It was the tarts that made us think about the party, so of course we
want them," announced Sue.

Splash, the dog, seemed quite proud of the big bow that Sue tied on his
neck, to make him look pretty. But Splash did not care so much for the
harness that Bunny made. The little boy took some ropes and straps, and
tied them about the dog's neck and front legs. Then some ends of the
ropes were made fast to the little express wagon, and Bunny got in it,
calling to Splash to "giddap!" That was the way Grandpa Brown made his
horses go, and so, of course, a dog ought to go when you said that to
him.

Splash went all right, but just as when Bunny had hitched him to the
boat, that was stuck on the island, the harness was not strong enough,
and it broke, so that Splash ran off, with the straps and ropes dangling
from him.

"I guess I'm too heavy for him to pull," said Bunny, as he got out of
the wagon.

"You could have one of my dolls to ride in the wagon," offered Sue.
"Take an old one, and I don't care if she falls out. She wouldn't be too
heavy for Splash to pull."

"I'll try it," Bunny said.

Once again he tied the ropes about Splash, and the little express wagon,
and this time, when Bunny walked along beside the dog, Splash really did
pull the wagon along, giving the doll a ride.

But Bunny did not think this was much fun. He wanted to ride in the
wagon himself.

"I'm going to make a big, strong harness," he said, and off he went to
look for more rope.

"Well, I'm going to get the tables ready," Sue said. "I'm going to pick
some flowers for them."

Aunt Lu, with the help of the cook, had made the wooden tables, which
were boards over boxes. White cloths were now spread on them, for it was
nearly time for the party. The things to eat would not be set out until
the party guests came.

Sue loved flowers, and she picked them from the fields and woods
whenever she saw any to gather. Not far from the Brown home, in fact in
the next lot to the lawn, was a field in which grew daisies, buttercups,
clover and other wild flowers.

Sue picked many of these, and then she and Aunt Lu put them in pitchers
and vases of water, and set them on the tables. There were two tables,
one for the girls and one for the boys.

Bunny had asked that this be done.

"'Cause the girls will bring their dolls to the table," he said, "and we
fellows don't want to eat with a lot of dolls."

"Oh, you funny boy!" laughed his mother, but she had let him have his
way. So Aunt Lu and Sue had two tables to decorate with flowers.

While they were doing this Bunny was trying to make another harness for
Splash, so the dog could pull the express wagon with the little boy in
it. But Bunny did not have very good luck, or else Splash pulled too
strongly, for one harness after another broke, until Bunny gave up.

"I'll save my money and buy a harness at the store," he said.

"There, I think we have flowers enough, Sue!" exclaimed her aunt, as she
looked at the tables. Indeed they were very pretty, and they would look
even better when the dishes, and the good things to eat, were put on.

"Isn't it 'most time?" asked Bunny, after a bit. "I'm getting hungry."

"Oh, you must wait for the company," his mother told him. "They will
soon be here."

And, a little later, Sadie West and Helen Newton came. When they saw how
pretty the flowers looked on the table they exclaimed:

"Oh, how nice!"

"Where is Splash?" asked Sadie. "I've brought him a bone," and so she
had, all wrapped in waxed paper from the inside of a cracker package,
and on the bone, just as she had promised, was a pink ribbon.

"Here, Splash! Splash!" called Bunny, who had given up trying to make
his pet pull the express wagon.

The dog came running up from the far end of the yard.

"See what Sadie has brought for your party!" laughed Bunny.

Splash took the bone, but the ends of the ribbon got up his nose and he
sneezed in the queerest way, which made the children laugh.

"I guess Splash doesn't like too much style," said Sadie, who was older
than Bunny and Sue.

"I wonder how he'll like my dog-biscuit," remarked Helen Newton, as she
unwrapped it from the paper. "I put a red bow on it. Do you like red
better than pink, Splash?"

The dog, who was gnawing the bone Sadie had brought him, looked up and
wagged his tail. He must have thought it was fine to have so many good
things to eat, even though he did not understand about the party. He
sniffed at the dog-biscuit, which is a sort of cake, with ground-up
meat, and other good things in it that dogs like. Then Splash would gnaw
a little on the bone, and, afterward, nibble at the hard biscuit.

"Well, Splash is enjoying himself anyhow," said Aunt Lu, as she came out
to begin setting the tables.

Soon after this a number of the boys and girls came. There were ten
girls and six boys, though ten boys had been invited. But though all the
girls came to the party given for Splash, all the boys did not. It often
is that way at parties; isn't it? More girls than boys. But the boys
don't know what fun they sometimes miss.

"Play some games, children," said Mrs. Brown. "Run about and play, and
then it will be time to eat. Aunt Lu and I will put on the cake, and
other goodies."

"Let's play tag!" said Sue.

"And after that hide-and-go-to-seek," Bunny called.

"And puss-in-the-corner," added Sadie West.

One after the other they played the games, running about on the grassy
lawn, and having great fun. Splash dug a hole and hid his bone, after
gnawing on it as long as he cared to. He ate all the dog-biscuit, and
then Bunny got a ball which Splash would run after when it was thrown.

Bunny and his boy friends played the ball game with the dog, while the
girls, after having tired themselves with the lively games, like tag,
brought out their dolls and dressed and undressed them.

"When are we going to fly the kites?" asked Charlie Star.

"We can do it now," Bunny answered.

Each boy had made himself a kite, which he brought with him. Bunny got
his from the house, and, going to an open place, where the trees would
not catch the strings, the boys put up their air-toys.

The wind was good, as Bunny had said, and soon there were six kites
floating in the air. That is there were six for a time, and then Bunny's
string broke, and away flew his kite.

"Oh, dear!" he cried.

"That's too bad!" exclaimed Charlie Star. "Come on, boys, we'll haul
down our kites and chase after Bunny's!"

They were just going to do this when Mrs. Brown came out to say that it
was time to eat.

"You can look for the kite, afterward," she said; "if you go now all the
ice cream may melt, as we have taken it out of the freezer."

Of course the boys did not want anything like that to happen, so they
said they would wait. Down they sat at the tables, the boys at theirs
and the girls at the one made ready for them. Aunt Lu, Mrs. Brown and
the cook passed the good things, and, for a time, there was not much
talking done. The children were too busy eating.

"Don't forget Aunt Lu's jam and jelly tarts!" called out Bunny. "They're
fine!"

And when they had been passed around, all the guests at the party said
Bunny was right, and that the tarts were just fine!

"I'm so glad you like them," said Aunt Lu, very much pleased.

Bunny wanted to give a Punch and Judy show, with Sue, after the meal was
over. He said he could wear the big, hollow lobster claw, and make
himself look very funny.

"But I think I wouldn't--not now," his mother remarked. "You would have
to build a little booth, or place for you and Sue to get inside of, and
we haven't time for that. Just play some easy games."

"All right," agreed Bunny.

Aunt Lu had all the children sit in a ring on the grass while she told
them a story. And it was just after the story was finished that George
Watson played his trick.

George had not been invited to the party, because he was too old, Mrs.
Brown said.

Perhaps this had made George rather angry. At any rate, when the
children were thanking Aunt Lu for the nice story she had told them,
there was suddenly tossed over the fence, right into the midst of them,
a paste-board shoe box. It fell near Bunny's feet, and he jumped back,
he was so startled.

"Who threw that?" Bunny asked.

"George Watson did," said Charlie Star. "I saw him walk up along the
fence, and throw it over."

"What is it?" asked Sue.

"Maybe it's a present for Splash," suggested Sadie.

"George Watson would rather pull Splash's tail, than give him a
present," declared Bunny. And indeed George often played rather mean
tricks on animals, and little children.

"Open the box, and see what's in it," suggested Helen Newton.

"I'll open it," offered Bunny.

The cover of the box was tied on, but Bunny slipped off the string. As
he lifted the cover, Sue, who stood behind her brother, looking over his
shoulder, exclaimed:

"Oh, it's alive! It's alive! Look out, Bunny! There's something alive in
that box, and it might bite you!"




CHAPTER XVI

THE LEMONADE STAND


Bunny Brown tried to clap the cover quickly back on the box, but he did
not quite do it. It went on crooked, and when Charlie Star tried to help
he only made it worse, so that the cover went spinning to one side.

Suddenly some little green animals began hopping from the box. Out they
hopped, and then they began jumping in all directions, among the little
boys and girls.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed the girls, as they started to run.

Some of the boys--the smaller ones--also ran, but they did not scream.

Bunny Brown and Charlie Star were the only boys who did not run.

"Oh, Bunny! What is it? What are they?" cried Sue, looking over her
shoulder as she ran toward the house.

"It's snakes! I saw 'em! Big green snakes," insisted Sadie West.

"Oh, what a mean boy George is, to scare us so!" said Helen.

Then Bunny Brown laughed, and so did Charlie. Hearing this the girls
stopped screaming, and the boys stopped running.

"What is it?" asked Sue again. "Did they bite you, Bunny?"

"Nope," he answered, still laughing, "they can't bite me!"

"Why not?" his sister wanted to know.

"'Cause they're only frogs. They won't hurt anybody!"

And that is what was in the box that George had tossed over the fence
into the midst of the party-guests--a box of big, green frogs that he
had caught at the mill pond. George wanted to scare Bunny and Sue for
not asking him to their dog's party. But the little scare was soon over,
and the children only laughed at the frogs.

The green hoppers jumped this way and that, through the grass, and Bunny
and his friends did not try to catch them.

"They're looking for water," Bunny said.

Splash saw that something queer was going on, and he ran up to see what
it was. He barked at some of the frogs, as they hopped through the
grass, but did not try to bite them.

"And to think George fooled us with frogs," laughed Charlie. "When I see
him I'll tell him we just like frogs, and they didn't scare us a bit."

"I thought they were snakes, at first," Sue said. "That's why I ran
away."

"It was not a very nice trick," said Aunt Lu. "But still it did no harm.
Now for another game, and I think there are a few more tarts left."

"Oh, goodie!" cried the children.

There were enough tarts for each one to have another, and, when they had
been passed around, after a lively game of Puss-in-the-corner, the party
was over. Everyone said he had had a fine time, and when Bunny Brown and
his sister Sue asked their guests to come again, each one said:

"I surely will!"

"I guess everybody would be glad to come to another party like it," said
Sadie West to Helen Newton, as they walked home together.

"I'm sure of it," answered Helen. "And wasn't Splash nice!"

"Yes, he's a lovely dog. I wish I had one I could have a party for."

"You could give a party for your cat, some day," said Helen.

"Oh, so I could! And I will, too--maybe next week. I wish Sue's Aunt Lu
would bake some tarts for me."

"Maybe she will."

"I wonder if it would be polite to ask her?" inquired Sadie. "I'll speak
to mother about it."

"Well, did you like your party, Splash?" asked Bunny, as he patted the
shaggy dog on the head, when all the little guests had gone.

Splash did not say anything, of course. But he wagged his tail, and
walked over to where he had buried the bone Sadie had brought him. So I
guess Splash did like the party as much as did the children. And he had
several good things to eat, which, after all, is what most parties are
for.

One day Aunt Lu read a story from a magazine to Bunny and Sue. It told
about some boys who, on a warm day, set up a lemonade stand under a
shady tree, in front of their house, and sold lemonade at a penny a
glass. The money they made they sent to a church society, that took poor
children out of the hot city to the cool country for a week or so.

Sue noticed that Bunny was very quiet after Aunt Lu had read the story,
and, as the two children went out into the yard, the little girl asked:

"What are you thinking about, Bunny?"

"Lemonade," he answered.

"Were you thinking you'd like some? 'Cause I would."

"Well, I would like some to drink," Bunny admitted, "but I was thinking
we could make a stand, and sell lemonade ourselves. I could fix up a box
for a stand, and I could squeeze the lemons."

"I'd put the sugar in," Sue said. She was always willing to help. "But
where would we get the ice and the lemons and the sugar?"

"Oh, mother would give them to us. I'm going to ask her."

"And what would we do with the money, Bunny?"

The little fellow thought for a minute. There was in his town no church
society, such as Aunt Lu had read about. The money made from selling
lemonade must go to the poor, Bunny was sure of that. All at once his
eyes grew bright.

"We could give all the money to Old Miss Hollyhock!" he said. "She is
terribly poor."

"Old Miss Hollyhock," as she was called, was an aged woman who lived in
a little house down near the fish dock. Her husband had been a soldier,
and when he died the old lady was given money from the government--a
pension, it was called. Still she was very poor, and she was called "Old
Miss Hollyhock," because she had so many of those old-fashioned
hollyhock flowers in her garden. Her real name was Mrs. Borden.

"We could give the money to her," Bunny said.

"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed. "She needs it."

"Then we'll have a lemonade stand," decided Bunny.

Mrs. Brown said she did not mind if Bunny and Sue did this. A number of
the children in Bellemere had done this, at different times, and some of
the larger boys and girls had made even as much as five dollars, giving
the money to the church, or to the Sunday school.

"Of course you won't make as much as that, Bunny," his mother said, "but
you may take in a few pennies, and it won't do you any harm to sit in
the shade and sell lemonade."

"Will you buy some?" asked Sue.

"Oh, I guess so," Mrs. Brown answered, smiling.

So she gave the children the ice, sugar and lemons, and they made a big
pitcher of lemonade. Bunny set up a box under a tree in front of the
house, covering the box with a clean white cloth. Then with the pitcher
and glasses on a serving tray, he and Sue were ready for business.

"Lemonade! Lemonade!" they called, just as had done the children in the
story. "Lemonade, in the shade, nice and cold, just fresh made!"

One man did stop and buy some.

"My, that's good!" he said, as he finished the glass. "How much is it?"

"A penny," Bunny said.

"Oh, only a penny? Why, that glass of lemonade was worth five cents
anywhere! It was just sweet enough, and just cold enough. Here!" and the
man laid a five cent piece down on the stand and walked off.

"Oh, isn't that good!" cried Bunny, his eyes fairly dancing with joy as
he looked at Sue.

"It's just fine!" she answered. "What a lot of money!"

But few were as generous as the kind man, and most of those who drank at
the lemonade stand just laid down pennies.

Bunny and Sue had taken in quite a few pennies, and the pitcher was
nearly empty of lemonade.

"I'll go in and make more as soon as we sell it all," Bunny said.

"We'll have a lot of money for Old Miss Hollyhock," observed Sue. "She
will be rich, then, won't she, Bunny?"

"I guess sixteen cents isn't rich. But we did better than I thought we
would. Oh, look!" suddenly cried Bunny. "There's a dog, and some one has
tied a tin can to his tail!"

Down the street, yelping and barking, came a small yellow dog, and,
bounding after him, bumping about and scaring him, was a big, empty tin
can, tied to the dog's tail.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, "he's coming right here. He'll upset our
lemonade stand!"

"That's what he will," Bunny agreed. "Hi, there! Stop! Go the other way!
Shoo!" he cried, waving his arms at the dog, while Sue took up the
nearly empty lemonade pitcher.

On came the frightened dog, straight for the stand and the two children.




CHAPTER XVII

THE MOVING PICTURES


"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! What are we going to do?" cried his sister Sue.

Bunny swallowed a sort of lump in his throat that always seemed to come
when he was a bit frightened. Then he looked around. Next he glanced at
Sue.

"Get under the box, Sue!" he cried. "Then the dog can't get you!"

"But what will you do?" asked the little girl. "I don't want you to get
hurt, Bunny."

"I--I won't be afraid," said the little boy. "I--I'll pour lemonade on
the dog, and that will make him run away."

"Oh--Oh!" gasped Sue. "Throw away our good lemonade?"

"We can make more," said Bunny. "There's only a little left, anyhow."

He reached for the pitcher. At the same time Sue started to crawl under
the empty box they had made into a lemonade stand.

But the yelping, yellow dog, with the tin can tied to his tail, was
coming faster than either Bunny or Sue thought. Before Bunny could take
up the nearly empty pitcher of lemonade, or before Sue could crawl under
the box, the dog was upon them.

Right under the box the poor, frightened creature ran, thinking, I
suppose, that it would be a good place to hide and get away from that
terrible tin can that was pounding after him, no matter how fast he
went.

So into the box he ran, and I think you can guess what happened. The dog
was going so fast, and the box, not being held down to the ground, was
so easily pushed over, that it toppled to one side.

And, as Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were standing near the box, it
fell over on them, and the lemonade pitcher upset, and the lemonade in
it splashed all over the little boy and his sister. The glasses bounced
off into the grass, and the dog suddenly turned a somersault, and fell
on top of Bunny, Sue, the box and the lemonade pitcher.

And that's what happened, just as you must have guessed.

For a few seconds there was such a tangle of dog, lemonade, pitcher,
lemonade stand, to say nothing of Bunny and Sue, that if any one had
been there to see he would hardly have known which was the dog, and
which was Bunny and Sue.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried the little girl.

"What--what's the matter?" gasped Bunny.

The dog howled, barked and whined, and then the box rolled to one side,
and so did the now empty pitcher of lemonade. Sue found herself sitting
on the grass, holding what she thought was her doll, but which was
really one of Bunny's chubby legs.

Bunny lay on his back, and in his arms he held--what do you think? Why
the little yellow dog, to be sure!

And now the dog stopped howling and barking, for he must have known that
Bunny and Sue would be his friends, and he was not afraid any more. And
that is the way they were when Aunt Lu and Splash, the big dog, came out
to see how the two little lemonade sellers were getting along.

"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Aunt Lu. "Oh my goodness! What has
happened?"

At first she was a bit frightened, but when she saw that Sue was
smiling, and that Bunny was just ready to laugh, Aunt Lu laughed also.

"Well, if none of you is hurt, and nothing broken, I think this is very
funny!" Aunt Lu exclaimed. "Oh, but what a mix-up!"

Splash, the big dog, seemed to think so too, for he barked--not a cross,
ugly bark, but a sort of laughing kind--as if, he, also, felt that it
was jolly fun.

Then Splash saw the little yellow dog in Bunny's arms, and the big dog
went up to him, wagging his tail, while the two sort of rubbed
noses--you know the way dogs do instead of shaking hands, or paws, I
suppose I should say, and right away they were friends.

"Oh, look! look!" Sue exclaimed, now laughing herself. "I thought I had
my doll, and--it's Bunny's leg!"

"Huh! I wondered what was holding me." exclaimed the little boy.

Sue let go of him, and Bunny got up. Then he rolled the lemonade box
away from Sue, for it was resting partly on her, and by this time the
little yellow dog (which Bunny had put down) was making better friends
than ever with Splash.

 [Illustration: "GET UNDER THE BOX, SUE!" HE CRIED.]

Then Aunt Lu saw the tin can tied to the yellow dog's tail, and she
cried out:

"Oh, what a shame! Who did that?"

"We didn't!" Bunny answered quickly.

"Oh, of course not! I know you wouldn't do such a thing," returned his
aunt. "Here, little dog, I'll cut it off for you," and she took her
scissors out of her apron pocket, for she had been sewing just before
coming out to look at the lemonade stand. "I'll cut it off for you,"
said Aunt Lu.

"Oh, don't cut off his tail!" begged Sue.

"Of course not!" laughed Aunt Lu. "I meant I'd cut off the tin can. You
poor little doggie! No wonder you were frightened. And now tell me all
how it happened," she went on, as she snipped, with her scissors, the
string around the little yellow dog's tail. He seemed very happy to be
free of the tin can.

"Well, it just happened--that's all," said Bunny. "He ran into our
lemonade stand, and upset it."

"But I guess he didn't mean to," remarked Sue, who had, by this time,
found her real doll in the long grass.

"No, he was so scared that he didn't know where he was running," decided
Aunt Lu. "Well, now I'll help you pick things up, and then you had
better come to the house. Haven't you sold enough lemonade for one day?"

"I guess so," answered Bunny.

"Did you lose the money?" asked Sue anxiously. "Where is the money we
got?"

"In my pocket," Bunny replied. It was lucky he had put it there, or,
when the box was knocked over, the pennies and five cent pieces might
have been scattered in the grass and lost.

But everything was all right, and not a glass was broken, for they fell
in soft, grassy places. The lemonade was spilled, of course, a little of
it going on Bunny and Sue. But they did not mind that. And, best of all,
the little dog no longer had a tin can tied to his tail.

"I wonder who did it?" asked Sue.

"Oh, some bad boys, I suppose," answered her aunt. "Boys who tie cans to
dogs' tails don't stop to think how frightened the poor animals may get.
But I'm glad this was no worse. Now, little yellow dog, you had better
run home, that is if you have a home."

The yellow dog seemed to have some place to go. For, after he had once
more rubbed noses with Splash, had barked, as if saying good-bye, and
had wagged his tail joyfully, away he trotted down the street.

Now and then he looked back, as if to thank Bunny and Sue, and their
aunt, for what they had done for him, or perhaps he was looking to make
sure the banging, dangling tin can was no longer fast to his tail.

But it was not, for Aunt Lu had tossed it away. Then she helped Bunny
and Sue carry in the pitcher and glasses, and put away the box that had
been used for a stand.

"We'll sell some more lemonade to-morrow," Bunny said.

"Yes," agreed Sue. "We want to get a lot of money for poor folks."

"How much did you take in?" Aunt Lu wanted to know.

Bunny gave it to her to count, as he could not go higher than ten, and
there was more money than that.

"Why you have twenty-one cents!" Aunt Lu exclaimed. "That's fine,
children! I'll keep it for you, and if you do get more I'll put it all
together, and give it to Old Miss Hollyhock for you."

But Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not sell lemonade next day. One
reason was because it rained, and, for another, they found something
else to do.

The Brown house was the nicest place you could think of in which to
spend a rainy day, that is the big attic was, and it was up there that
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were always allowed to play.

The day after they had had the lemonade stand the rain came down very
hard. Bunny and Sue stood with their noses pressed flat against the
window panes.

"Oh dear!" sighed Sue.

"Oh dear!" sighed Bunny.

"Tut! Tut!" exclaimed their mother. "I know what that means. Up to the
attic with you, and play some of your games!"

"Oh yes!" cried Bunny joyfully.

"We'll play trolley car with the spinning wheel!" said Sue.

This was only one of the games they played. There was a big spinning
wheel up in the attic. It had belonged to Mrs. Brown's grandmother, and
in the olden days, before yarn for socks and mittens was made by
machinery, it was spun on a spinning wheel. This was a big wheel, as
large as one on a wagon, but not so heavy. And it went around and
around, very easily.

Bunny and Sue would sit on a trunk, spin the wheel, and make believe
they were in a trolley car. They would take turns being the motorman.
Sometimes Bunny would have that place, while Sue would be the conductor,
and again Bunny would collect the fare and let Sue spin the wheel.

All that rainy day Bunny and Sue played in the attic, making up many new
games about which I shall tell you another time. They had so much fun
that they could hardly believe it when night came, and it was time to go
to bed.

"And maybe the sun will shine to-morrow," said Bunny.

It did, the rain having gone somewhere else to water the flowers and
trees.

The next afternoon Aunt Lu promised to take Bunny and Sue down to their
father's office, on the dock. They wanted to see the fish boats come in,
and Aunt Lu had some shopping to do.

Bunny and Sue, nicely dressed, freshly washed and combed, went out on
the front porch to wait for Aunt Lu. She had said she would be down as
soon as she changed her dress.

But Bunny and Sue grew tired of waiting.

"Let's walk on a little way," said Bunny. "We can go down to the corner,
and back again, and Aunt Lu will be down then."

Sue was always ready to do just what Bunny said, and soon the two
children, hand in hand, went walking down the street. They did not
intend to go far, but something happened, as it often did with them.

Just beyond the corner there was a moving picture theatre, lately
opened. Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had taken Bunny and his sister there once
or twice, when there was a fairy play, or something nice to see, so
Bunny and Sue knew what the moving pictures were like.

"Oh, let's just go down and look at the picture posters outside," said
Bunny, as they stood on the corner, from where they could see the
theatre.

"All right," said Sue quickly.

In front of the moving picture place were some big boards, and on them
were pasted brightly colored posters, almost like circus ones, telling
about the moving pictures that were being shown inside. There was a
picture of a man falling in the water, and another of a railroad train.
Bunny loved cars and locomotives.

Not thinking anything wrong, the two tots ran across the street, looking
carefully up and down first, to see that no automobiles were coming.
They crossed safely.

A little later they were standing in front of the moving picture
theatre, looking at the gay posters.

"Wouldn't you like to go in?" asked Bunny.

Sue nodded her curly head.

"Maybe Aunt Lu will take us," she said.

"We'll ask her," decided Bunny.

Then they heard, from down the side street, the sound of a piano. It
came from the moving picture place, and the reason Bunny and Sue could
hear it so plainly was because the piano was near a side door, which was
open to let in the fresh air.

"Let's go down there and listen to the music a minute," Bunny said.
"Then we'll go back and tell Aunt Lu."

"All right!" agreed Sue.

A little later the two were standing at the open, side door of the
place. They could hear the piano very plainly now, and, what was more
wonderful, they could look right in the theatre and see the moving
pictures flashing on the white screen.

"Oh! oh!" murmured Bunny. "Look, Sue."

"Oh! oh!" whispered Sue. And then Bunny had a queer idea.

"We can walk right in," he said. "The door is open. I guess this is for
children like us--they don't want any money. Come on in, Sue, and we'll
see the moving pictures!"




CHAPTER XVIII

WANGO AND THE CANDY


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue walked right into the moving picture
theatre. The door, as I have told you, was open, there was no one
standing near to take tickets, or ask for money, and of course the
children thought it was all right to go in.

No one seemed to notice them, perhaps because the place was dark, except
where the brilliant pictures were dancing and flashing on the white
screen. And no one heard Bunny and Sue, for not only did they walk very
softly, but just then the girl at the piano was playing loudly, and the
sound filled the place.

Right in through the open side door walked Bunny and Sue, and never for
a moment did they think they were doing anything wrong. I suppose, after
all, it was not very wrong.

Bunny walked ahead, and Sue followed, keeping hold of his hand. Pretty
soon she whispered to her brother:

"Bunny! Bunny! I can't see very good at all here. I want to see the
pictures better."

"All right," Bunny whispered back. "I can't see very good, either. We'll
find a better place."

You know you can't look at moving pictures from the side, they all seem
to be twisted if you do. You must be almost in front of them, and this
time Bunny and Sue were very much to one edge.

"We'll get up real close, and right in front," Bunny went on. Then he
saw a little pair of steps leading up to the stage, or platform; only
Bunny did not know it was that. He just thought if he and Sue went up
the steps they would be better able to see. So up he went.

The screen, or big white sheet, on which the moving pictures were shown,
stood back some distance from the front of the stage. And it was a real
stage, with footlights and all, but it was not used for acting any more,
as only moving pictures were given in that theatre now.

Sue followed Bunny up the steps. The pictures were ever so much clearer
and larger now. She was quite delighted, and so was her brother. They
wandered out to the middle of the stage, paying no attention to the
audience. And the people in the theatre were so interested in the
picture on the screen, that, for a while, they did not see the children
who had wandered into the darkened theatre by the side door.

The music from the piano sounded louder and louder. The pictures became
more brilliant. Then suddenly Bunny and Sue walked right out on the
stage in front of the screen, where the light from the moving picture
lantern shone brightly on them.

"What's that?" cried several persons.

"Look! Why they're real children!" said others.

Bunny and Sue could be plainly seen now, for they were exactly in the
path of the strong light. There was some laughter in the audience, and
then the man who was turning the crank of the moving picture machine
began to understand that something was wrong.

He stopped the picture film, and turned on a plain, white light, very
strong and glaring, Just like the headlights of an automobile. Bunny and
Sue could hardly see, and they looked like two black shadows on the
white screen.

"Look! Look! It's part of the show!" said some persons in front.

"Maybe they're going to sing," said others.

"Or do a little act."

"Oh, aren't they cute!" laughed a lady.

By this time the piano player had stopped making music. She knew that
something was wrong. So did the moving picture man up in his little iron
box, and so did the usher--that's the man who shows you where to find a
seat. The usher came hurrying down the aisle.

"Hello, youngsters!" he called out, but he was not in the least bit
cross. "Where did you get in?" he asked.

By this time the lights all over the place had been turned up, and Bunny
and Sue could see the crowd, while the audience could also see them.
Bunny blinked and smiled, but Sue was bashful, and tried to hide behind
her brother. This made the people laugh still more.

"How did you get in, and who is with you?" asked the usher.

"We walked in the door over there," and Bunny pointed to the side one.
"And we came all alone. We're waiting for Aunt Lu."

"Oh, then she is coming?"

"I don't guess so," Bunny said. "We didn't tell her we were coming
here."

"Well, well!" exclaimed the usher-man. "What does it all mean? Did your
Aunt Lu send you on ahead? We don't let little children in here unless
some older person is with them, but--"

"We just comed in," Sue said. "The door was open, and we wanted to see
the pictures, so we comed in; didn't we Bunny?"

"Yes," he said. "But we'd like to sit down. We can't see good up here."

"No, you are a little too close to the screen," said the usher. "Well,
I'd send you home if I knew where you lived, but--"

"I know them!" called out a woman near the front of the theatre. "That
is Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They live just up the street. I'll
take them home."

"Thank you; that's very kind of you," said the man. "I guess their folks
must be worrying about them. Please take them home."

"We don't want to go home!" exclaimed Sue. "We want to see the pictures;
don't we, Bunny?"

"Yes," answered the little fellow, "but maybe we'd better go and get
Aunt Lu."

"I think so myself," laughed the usher. "You can come some other time,
youngsters. But bring your aunt, or your mother, with you; and don't
come in the side door. I'll have to keep some one there, if it's going
to be open, or I'll have more tots walking in without paying."

"Come the next time, with your aunt or mother," he went on, "and I'll
give you free tickets. It won't cost you even a penny!"

"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue. She was willing to go home now, and the lady
who said she knew them--who was a Mrs. Wakefield, and lived not far from
the Brown home--took Bunny and Sue by the hands and led them out of the
theatre.

The lights were turned low again, and the moving picture show went on.
Bunny and Sue wished they could have stayed, but they were glad they
could come again, as the man had invited them.

As Mrs. Wakefield led them down the street, toward their home, they saw
Aunt Lu running to meet them.

"Oh, Bunny! Sue!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been? I've looked all
over for you!"

"We went to the moving pictures," said Bunny.

"By the side door," added Sue. "And we were on the stage, and the people
all laughed; didn't they Bunny?"

"Yes, they did. And the man said we could come back for nothing, and you
are to bring us. When will you, Aunt Lu?"

"Why--why I don't know what to think of it all!" their aunt exclaimed.
"In a moving picture show--by the side door--on the stage--to go again
for nothing--I never saw such children, never!"

"Well, it all happened, just that way," said Mrs. Wakefield, and she
told how surprised she, and all the others in the theatre were to see
Bunny and Sue wander out on the stage into the strong light.

"But you musn't do it again," Aunt Lu said, and of course Bunny and Sue
promised they would not.

"Now come on down to the fish dock, and we'll see the boats come in,"
Bunny begged, and off they started.

There was much going on at Mr. Brown's, dock that day. Some boats were
getting dressed up in new suits of sails, and others were being painted.
Then, too, a number of fishing boats came in, well filled with different
kinds of fish. Some had lobsters in them and there was one big one, with
very large claws.

"That one's claws are bigger than the claw you have, to play Punch and
Judy with, Bunny," said Sue.

"Yes," agreed her brother, "but that claw is too big for my nose."

"I should think so!" laughed Aunt Lu. "Your whole little face would
almost go in it, Bunny. Oh dear!" she went on. "I don't like lobsters as
much as I used to."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Brown, who came out of his office to see his
children and their aunt. "I was going to have you take one up to the
house to make into salad for dinner. Why don't you like lobsters any
more, Aunt Lu?"

"Oh, because whenever I see them, and remember the one we had for supper
the first night I came here, I think of my lost diamond ring, that I
never shall find."

"Yes, it is too bad," agreed Mr. Brown. "I thought you were going to
find it, Bunny?"

"Well, Sue and I looked and looked and looked," said the little fellow,
"but we couldn't find it anywhere!"

"Yes, they have tried," said Aunt Lu. "But never mind, we won't talk
about it."

They looked into the other fishing boats, and then Bunker Blue came
along. As he had nothing much to do just then he took Aunt Lu and the
children for a little ride in a motor boat, that went by gasoline, the
same as does an automobile. Only, of course, a boat goes in the water,
and an automobile runs on land.

Bunny and Sue had a pleasant afternoon with Aunt Lu, and when she told
their father about the children having wandered into the moving picture
show, he laughed so hard that tears came into his eyes.

"If this keeps on," he said, "we'll have either to keep them home all
the while, or else you'll have to be with them every minute, Aunt Lu.
You can't tell what they are going to do next."

It was a day or two after this that, as Bunny and Sue were going down
the street, to buy a little candy at Mrs. Redden's store, something
queer happened.

They each had five cents, that Aunt Lu had given them, but they were
allowed to spend only one penny of it this day, as their mother did not
wish them to eat too much candy.

"I'm going to buy a lollypop--they last longer," Bunny announced.

"I'll get one, too," agreed Sue, as they entered the toy place. The door
swung open, a bell over it ringing to call Mrs. Redden, for she lived in
rooms back of the store, where she kept house.

"How are you, Bunny and Sue?" asked the candy-lady as she smiled at
them. "I was beginning to think you had forgotten me."

"Oh, no," Bunny said.

"We'd never forget you," declared Sue. "I want a lollypop and so does
Bunny."

Mrs. Redden opened the glass show-case in which the candy was kept. As
she reached in her hand, to take out the lollypops, Bunny and Sue,
standing in front, saw a brown, hairy paw also put into the case. And
the brown paw, which was close to Mrs. Redden's hand, caught up a bunch
of lollypops and quickly pulled them out.

"Oh! oh! oh, dear!" screamed Mrs. Redden. "Oh, what is it?"

A second later a brown, furry animal jumped up from back of the counter,
and scrambled from shelf to shelf, until it was on the very top one. And
there the animal sat, peeling the wax paper off a lollypop.

"Oh, what is it? What is it?" cried Mrs. Redden. "Oh, take it away!"

Bunny and Sue were not a bit frightened. They looked up at the furry
figure, on the top shelf of the candy store, and Bunny said:

"Why, it's only Wango, Mr. Winkler's monkey! I guess he broke loose from
his chain."

"Yes, it's Wango!" echoed Sue. "Come down, Wango!" she called, for both
children had often petted the queer little monkey.

Wango accidentally dropped one of the lollypops he held. He had so many
in his paws that it was hard to hold them all. He quickly reached for
the falling candy, but he accidentally hit a glass jar filled with jelly
beans. It crashed down to the floor, spilling the candy beans all over.

"Oh! oh, dear! what a mess!" cried Mrs. Redden, and she ran to get the
broom to drive Wango away.




CHAPTER XIX

BUNNY IN A QUEER PLACE


Wango was a queer monkey in more ways than one. He liked to make
mischief, or what others called mischief, though to him perhaps it was
only fun. And he did not seem to like ladies. He would let boys and
girls and men pet him, and make a fuss over him, but he would very
seldom allow ladies to do this.

Miss Winkler, the sister of the sailor who had brought Wango from a
far-off land, was one of the ladies the monkey did not like. But then
she did not like Wango, and perhaps he knew this. And now it seemed that
Wango was not going to like Mrs. Redden, who kept the candy shop.

And it was certain that, just then, Mrs. Redden did not like Wango; at
least she did not like to have him take her candy, break the jar and
scatter the jelly beans all over the shop.

"Get down, Wango!" she cried, shaking the broom at him. "Get down off
that shelf right away! And give me back my lollypops!"

But Wango did not get down, and he did not give back the lollypops. He
had dropped one, and this made him hold, all the more tightly, to the
others. He was very fond of candy, Wango was.

"Oh dear! I'm afraid of him!" exclaimed Mrs. Redden.

"Why, he won't hurt you," said Bunny. "He's a good monkey. He lets me
and Sue pet him; don't you, Wango?"

"You can't pet him now," said Sue, "he's too high up."

"Oh, but look at the funny faces he makes!" exclaimed the lady who kept
the toy and candy shop.

Wango was certainly making very odd faces just then. But perhaps it was
because he liked the taste of the lollypops. He had taken the paper off
two of them, and had them both in his mouth at once, while his busy paws
were peeling the wax covering off a third one.

Of course it was not right for Wango to put two lollypops in his mouth
at once; at least it would not be nice for children to do so. But
perhaps monkeys are different.

"Come down from there! Come down from that shelf!" cried Mrs. Redden,
reaching up and trying to touch the monkey with the broom. I think she
did not intend to hit him hard, and, anyhow, a blow from a broom does
not hurt very much. Mrs. Redden thought she simply must drive Wango
down. He might spoil a lot of candy.

And now, instead of making faces Wango chattered at the candy-shop lady.
Oh! what a queer noise he made, showing his white teeth.

"Oh dear! oh dear!" Mrs. Redden cried. "Isn't this terrible? I never had
a monkey in my candy shop before. At least not one that was loose,
though an Italian organ grinder did come in with one once, on a string.
But he was a good monkey."

"Wango is good, too," said Bunny. "Only I guess he is scared, now. Come
on down, Wango!" called Bunny, "and I'll give you a peanut."

"Oh, yes, he'll come down for a peanut, or maybe two peanuts!" exclaimed
Sue. "Wango loves peanuts. Have you any, Mrs. Redden?"

"Yes," answered the store-lady. "But I'm not going to give him peanuts,
after all the candy he has taken and spoiled. Nearly half the jelly
beans will be wasted, and the glass jar is broken, and he will spoil all
those lollypops, too. Oh dear!"

"Just give him two peanuts," said Bunny, "and that will make him come
down. Then maybe he'll give back the lollypops."

"Well, child, we can try it," the candy-lady said. "I can't hit him with
the broom, that's sure, unless I stand on a chair, and if I do that he
may reach down and pull my hair, as he did Mrs. Winkler's one day. I'll
get the peanuts."

She brought a handful from another show case, and gave them to Bunny,
who held them up so the monkey could see them.

"Come and get the nuts, Wango!" Bunny called.

The monkey chattered, and made funny faces, but he did not come down. He
seemed to like the lollypops better, and, also, his perch on the shelf,
he thought, was safer than one on the floor.

"What shall we do?" asked Mrs. Redden.

"Bunny, could you run down the street, and ask Mr. Winkler to come and
take his monkey away?"

"Yes'm, I'll do it," the little boy answered politely.

But just then something else happened.

Wango, trying to peel the wax paper from another lollypop, dropped a
second one. He reached for it, but he did keep hold of the shelf, and,
the next second down he himself fell, knocking over several more candy
jars.

They crashed to the floor, smashing and spilling the candy all over.
Wango turned a somersault, and landed lightly on his feet, close beside
Mrs. Redden.

"Oh, you bad monkey! You bad monkey!" she cried. "Shoo! Get out of here!
Out of my shop!"

She brushed at Wango with the broom, and the lively monkey made a rush
for the back door of the store, as the front one was closed.

"Here! Don't you dare go into my kitchen!" cried Mrs. Redden, as she ran
after the monkey. "You'll upset everything there!"

Wango chattered, and made funny faces. Then he turned and ran back,
sliding right under Mrs. Redden's skirts, and nearly upsetting Bunny.

At that moment the front door opened, and there stood Jed Winkler, the
old sailor, who owned the monkey.

"Have you seen anything of Wango?" began Mr. Winkler, but there was no
need for him to ask such a question. There was Wango, in plain sight,
holding some lollypops in one paw, and in the other some jelly beans and
coconut candies he had grabbed up from the floor. And in his mouth, with
the stick-handles pointing out, were three other lollypops!

"Take him away! Oh, take him away!" begged Mrs. Redden. "He will spoil
all the candy in my shop!"

"This is too bad!" exclaimed the sailor, "Wango, behave yourself! You
are a bad monkey! Up with you!"

Wango jumped up on his master's shoulder, and hung his head. I really
think he was ashamed of what he had done.

"He broke loose from his new chain," said the old sailor, "and I have
been looking all over for him. I am glad I have found him, and I will
pay for all the candy he spoiled."

"Well, if you do that I can't find any fault," said the store-lady. "But
he certainly gave me a great fright."

"And he wouldn't even come down for peanuts," cried Bunny.

"Wango isn't very good to-day," said Mr. Winkler. "I must get a stronger
chain for him, I think. Now I'll take him home, and, Mrs. Redden, when
you find out how much candy he spoiled, and how many jars he broke, I
will come and pay you."

"All right," answered Mrs. Redden. Then the sailor took his monkey home,
and the store-lady, after she had given Bunny and Sue the lollypops they
came for, began to clean up her place. Certainly Wango had upset it very
much.

"He must have come in the store by the back way, when I was out hanging
up the clothes," said the candy-shop lady. "He hid under the counter
until he saw me open the showcase for you, Bunny. Then he put in his
paw, and grabbed the lollypops."

"Yes, that's what he did--I saw him," said Sue, who was now taking the
paper off her candy. But she did not put two in her mouth, at once, as
the monkey had done. Of course Sue wouldn't do anything like that.

Bunny and Sue made all the folks at home laugh, as they told of Wango's
funny tricks.

"Well, it was quite an adventure," said Aunt Lu, "wasn't it?"

"What's an ad--adventure?" Sue wanted to know.

"It's something that happens," her aunt explained.

"Then Wango must be an adventure," said Bunny, "for lots happened to
him."

It was two days after the monkey had gotten in the candy-store that
Harry Bentley, Charlie Star, Sadie West and Helen Newton came over to
play with Bunny and his sister Sue.

"What shall we play?" asked Bunny.

"Hide-and-go-to-seek," said Sadie.

The others liked this game, so they began to play it. Helen covered her
eyes with her arms, so she could not see where the others hid, and began
counting.

"When I count up to fifty, I'm coming to find you," she said, "and
whoever I find first will have to blind next time, and hunt for the rest
of us."

Off they all ran to hide. Sue stooped down to hide behind a lilac bush,
near "home," which was the side porch. Whoever reached "home" before
Helen did, after she had started on her search, would be "in free."

"Ready or not, I'm coming!" called Helen, after she had counted fifty,
and she began to look for the hiding ones.

"She'll not find me," said Bunny Brown to himself. "I'm going to hide in
a funny place. She'll never find me!"

And where do you think he hid? It was in a queer place--down in an empty
rain-water barrel, that stood back of the house. Bunny climbed up into
it by standing on a box, and, once inside, he crouched down on the
bottom, where anyone would have had to come very close, and look over
the edge, to see him. And there Bunny hid.




CHAPTER XX

SPLASH RUNS AWAY


"Where is Bunny?"

"Bunny! Bunny Brown!"

"Come on in! The game is over and Charlie Star is it. He's going to
blind next time, you won't have to!"

"Come on in, Bunny Brown!"

Thus called Helen, Sue and the others who were playing the game of
hide-and-go-to-seek. For Bunny had not been found, and he had not run
up to touch "home," and be "in free."

Helen had not been able to find the little fellow, so well was he
hidden.

"I can't think where he is," she said. "I looked all over."

"But you didn't find ME!" cried Sue, clapping her hands in fun.

"No, you were so close to me, back of the lilac bush, that I never
thought of looking there," said Helen. Sue had run "in free," as soon as
Helen's back was turned.

"But where is Bunny?" everyone asked.

"Come on in!" they called.

But Bunny did not come.

"Let's all look for him," suggested Charlie Star. "Maybe he went away
off down the street, or maybe he is out in the barn."

There was a barn back of the Brown house, in which Bunny's father kept
some horses used in his business. The children often played in the barn,
especially on rainy days, when they did not go up to the attic.

"Let's look in the barn," Charlie went on.

"It wasn't fair to hide out there," Helen said. "That is too far away."

"Maybe Bunny didn't," suggested Sue.

"Well, we'll look, anyhow," went on Sadie.

Out to the barn trooped the children, but though they looked in the
haymow, and in the empty stalls (for most of the horses were out at
work) no Bunny could be found.

Then they went back to look around the house, in some of the nooks and
corners near which the others had hidden.

"Bunny! Bunny!" they called. "Why don't you come in, so we can have
another game? You won't have to blind."

But Bunny did not answer.

Pretty soon Sue began to get a little frightened, and her playmates,
too, thought it queer that they could not find Bunny, and that he did
not answer.

"Maybe we'd better tell your mother, Sue," Sadie said.

"Yes, for maybe he fell down a hole, and can't get up," suggested Helen.

They called once more, and looked in many other places, but Bunny was
not to be found. Then into the house they went.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Sue, her eyes opening wide, "we can't find Bunny
anywhere, and he won't answer us."

"Can't find him!"

"Won't answer you!"

Mother Brown and Aunt Lu spoke thus, one after the other.

"We were playing hide-and-go-to-seek," explained Helen, "and Bunny hid
himself in such a queer place that we can't find him."

"Maybe it's just one of his tricks," said Aunt Lu.

"No, it can't be a trick," Charlie Star explained, "because Bunny likes
to play the game, and he doesn't have to blind this time. We've hollered
that at him, but he won't come in."

Seeing that the children were really worried, Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu
said they would come out and help search. They looked in all the places
they could think of, and called Bunny's name, as did the others, but the
little fellow was not found.

Even Mrs. Brown was beginning to get a little anxious now, and she was
thinking of telephoning for Mr. Brown to come home, when Bunny was
suddenly found. And it was the cook who found him.

The cook came out to the back door, near which stood the empty rain-water
barrel, into which Bunny had climbed to hide. She took from the
open top a large towel which, a little while before, she had thrown over
the barrel to dry, and, looking down in, she cried out:

"Why here he is! Here's Bunny now!"

And so he was! Curled up on the bottom of the barrel, in a little round
ball, and fast asleep, was Bunny Brown.

"Oh, we never looked in there!" exclaimed Sadie West.

"I thought of it," said Helen, "but I saw the towel spread over the top
of the barrel, and I didn't see how Bunny could be under it, so I didn't
look."

"Well, he's found, anyhow," said his mother, smiling.

They had all gathered around the barrel to look into it, the littler
ones standing up on the box, by which Bunny had climbed in. Then Bunny,
suddenly awakened, opened his eyes and saw his mother, his Aunt Lu, the
cook and his playmates staring down at him.

"Why--why what's the matter?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, Bunny, we couldn't find you!" cried Sue.

"Why, I was right here all the while," Bunny answered. "I climbed in the
barrel to hide."

"And didn't you hear us calling that you could come in free?" asked
Sadie.

Bunny shook his head.

"He was asleep," said Aunt Lu. "He must have fallen asleep as soon as he
curled up inside the barrel. That's why he didn't hear. Oh, you funny
Bunny boy!" and she laughed and hugged Bunny, who was helped out of the
barrel by his mother.

"I never saw him down in there when I came to the door a while ago, and
threw the cloth over the barrel," explained the cook. "I thought the
barrel would be a good place to dry the towel. And to think I covered
Bunny up with it!"

"If it hadn't been for the towel we'd have looked in the barrel
ourselves," said Charlie Star.

"I guess it was so nice and quiet and warm in the barrel that I went to
sleep before I knew it," Bunny remarked.

"I guess you did," laughed his mother.

"Shall we play some more?" asked Helen.

"Oh, yes!" cried Bunny. "And I won't hide in the barrel again."

So the game went on, the children hiding in different places, some of
which were easily found, while others were so well hidden that it was a
long while before the one who "blinded" discovered them.

"Now let's play tag!" cried Sue, after a while. She liked this game very
much, though her legs were so short that she could not run very fast,
and she was often "tagged" and made "it."

"No, don't play any more just now," called Aunt Lu, coming down to the
yard where the children were. "Come up on the porch. I have a little
treat for you."

"Oh, is it ice cream?" asked Bunny eagerly. "I hope it is. I'm so hot!"

"You'll have to wait and see," his aunt answered, with a smile.

"Oh, it's just as good as ice cream!" cried Sue, when she saw where her
aunt had spread a little table, on the shady side of the porch.

"Lemonade!" murmured Bunny, as he saw the big pitcher which he and Sue
had used at their street stand.

"And tarts--jam tarts and jelly tarts!" added Sue. "Oh! oh! oh!"

And that was the treat Aunt Lu had made for the children. There were two
plates of tarts, one with jam coming up through the three little round
holes in the top crust, and others in which jelly showed. Both were very
good. And the cool lemonade was good also.

"Oh, I just love to come over to your house to play, Sue!" said Sadie
West.

"So do I!" chorused the other children.

"We do have such good times!" added Charlie Star.

"And such good things to eat," came from Harry Bentley. "Those tarts
are--awful good!" and he sighed.

"Would you like another?" asked Aunt Lu, with a laugh in her eyes and a
smile on her lips.

"If you please," answered Harry, as he passed his plate.

Then, after the children had rested, they played more games, until it
was time to go home.

One day, when Bunker Blue came to the Brown home, to bring up some fish
Mr. Brown had sent, Bunny, who was out in the yard with Splash, the big
shaggy dog, said to the red-haired youth:

"Bunker, you know lots of things; don't you?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to say that, Bunny. There's lots and lots of
things I don't know."

"But you can sail a boat; can't you?"

"Oh, yes, I can do that,"

"Well, I wish I could. And do you know how to make a dog harness,
Bunker? Do you know how to harness up a dog so he could pull an express
wagon?"

"Yes, I guess I know how to do that, Bunny."

"Then I wish you'd harness Splash to my wagon," Bunny went on. "I've
tried and tried, and I can't do it. The harness breaks all the while,
and when I put the handle of the wagon between Splash's legs he falls
down--it trips him up."

"Of course," Bunker said. "You ought to have two handles to the wagon,
and Splash could stand in between them, just as a horse is hitched to a
wagon."

"Oh, could you fix my wagon that way, Bunker?"

"I might, if your mother said it was all right."

"I'll ask her. And will you make me a harness for Splash?"

"I'll try, Bunny."

Mrs. Brown said she did not mind if Bunker fixed the wagon and made a
harness so Bunny could hitch Splash to the express wagon, for the big
dog was kind and gentle.

"Oh, what fun Sue and I will have!" cried Bunny. "We'll get lots of
rides in the wagon."

It did not take Bunker long to make two handles, or "shafts," as they
are called, for Bunny's wagon. Then he made a harness for the dog--a
harness strong enough not to break. One day, when all was finished,
Splash was hitched to the wagon, and Bunny was given the reins. They
went around the neck of Splash, for of course you can not put in a dog's
mouth an iron bit, as you can in that of a horse.

Bunny found that he could guide his dog from one side to the other by
pulling on either the right or left rein. And Splash did not seem to
mind pulling the wagon with Bunny in it. He went around the yard very
nicely.

"Oh, give me a ride, Bunny!" begged Sue, who came in just then from
having been down to Sadie West's house, having a dolls' party.

"Yes, I'll give you a ride, Sue," Bunny said. "Get in! Whoa, Splash!" he
called. The dog did not "whoa" very well, but finally he stopped, and
Sue got in the wagon, sitting behind Bunny.

They drove around the yard for a while, and then Sue said:

"Oh, Bunny, let's go out on the sidewalk, where it's nice and smooth. It
will be easier for Splash to pull us then." Bunny thought this would be
fun, so he guided the dog out through the gate. The wagon did go more
smoothly on the sidewalk, and Splash trotted a little faster.

"Oh, this is fun!" cried Bunny.

"I like it!" laughed Sue, who had her arms around Bunny's waist, so she
would not fall out backwards.

They had not gone very far before Sue cried:

"Oh, Bunny! Look! There's that yellow dog--the one that had the tin can
tied to his tail--the one that upset our lemonade stand!"

"So it is!" said Bunny.

And, just at that moment, Splash also saw the yellow dog.

With a bark and a wag of his tail, Splash gave a big jump, nearly
throwing Bunny and Sue out of the wagon. Then the big dog began to run
after the little one.

"Whoa! Whoa!" cried Bunny, pulling on the reins. But Splash would not
stop. Faster and faster he ran. He only wanted to see his little yellow
dog friend again, and rub noses with him. But I guess the yellow dog was
frightened when he saw the express wagon, with the two children in it,
following after Splash.

Maybe the yellow dog thought the wagon was tied to the tail of Splash,
as the tin can had once been to his own. And maybe the little yellow dog
thought some one would now tie an express wagon to his tail. At any rate
he ran on faster and faster, And Splash, who just wanted to speak to
him, in dog language, ran on faster too.

"Bumpity-bump-bump!" went the wagon with Bunny and Sue in it.

"Whoa! Whoa!" called Bunny.

But Splash would not stop. He was running away, but he did not mean to.
He just wanted to catch up to the little yellow dog who was running on
ahead.




CHAPTER XXI

HOW SUE FOUND THE EGGS


"Oh, Bunny! Can't you make him stop?" cried Sue, as she clung with her
arms about her brother's waist, while the wagon swayed from side to
side.

"I--I'm trying to," answered Bunny, pulling as hard as he could on the
reins. "But he won't stop. Whoa! Whoa!" and Bunny called as loudly as he
could.

Down the street Splash kept running. He was getting nearer to the little
yellow dog, for this dog had only short legs, and Splash had long ones,
and, of course, anyone with long legs can run faster than anyone with
short legs.

"I--I'm going to fall out!" Sue cried. "I--I'm slipping, Bunny! I'm
falling!"

"Hold on! Hold on tight!" Bunny begged his sister, for the wagon was
going very fast, and he knew if she fell out on the hard sidewalk she
would get a hard bump.

Sue clasped her arms as tightly as she could about her brother's waist,
but her arms were short, and Bunny was rather fat, so it was not easy
for her to hold fast. Still she did her best.

Several persons on the other side of the street saw Bunny and Sue having
a fast ride in the toy express wagon, drawn by the big dog, but they did
not think the Brown children were in a runaway, which is just what they
were.

"My! what fun Bunny Brown and his sister Sue are having!" said one man,
as he watched the express wagon bump along.

"Yes, they always seem to be having good times," replied a lady.

If they had only known it was a runaway, they might have run across the
street and stopped Splash from going so fast.

On and on went the big dog. He was almost up to the yellow one now, and
the yellow dog began to yelp. Perhaps he thought he was going to be
caught and hurt. Or maybe he feared Bunny or Sue would try to make him
pull the big wagon, with them in it.

But of course they wouldn't think of such a thing, and as for Splash, I
have told you that all he wanted to do was to rub noses with his little
yellow friend.

As the wagon rumbled past the house where lived Mr. Jed Winkler, the old
sailor, who owned Wango, the monkey, came out to the front gate. I mean
Mr. Winkler came out, not Wango, for he had been tightly chained, after
the fun he had had in Mrs. Redden's candy shop.

"My! What a fine ride you are having!" called Mr. Winkler.

"Oh! It's not a nice ride at all!" answered Sue. "We're being runned
away with! Please stop Splash!"

"Goodness me!" exclaimed Mr. Winkler. "A runaway! Well, I must stop it,
of course!"

Out he ran from his yard to race after Splash, but there was no need for
the old sailor to catch the big dog. For, just then, the little yellow
dog stumbled, and turned a somersault. And before he could pick himself
up, and run on again, Splash had caught up to him.

Now, this was all that Splash wanted to do--catch up to the yellow dog
and rub noses with him. And as soon as Splash saw that the little dog
had stopped, Splash stopped also.

But he stopped so suddenly that the wagon almost ran up on his back. It
turned around, and then it went over on one side, so that Bunny and Sue
were spilled out. But they fell on some soft grass, so they were not
hurt a bit, though Sue's dress was stained.

And as soon as the little yellow dog found that he was not going to be
hurt, but that Splash was just going to be friends with him, why the two
animals just sat down in the grass find rubbed noses and, I suppose,
talked to each other in dog language, if there is any such thing.

Bunny helped Sue get up, and then Mr. Winkler came running along. He
could not go very fast, for he was aged, and he was a little lame,
because of rheumatism, from having been out so many cold and wet nights
when he was a sailor on a ship.

"Well, well, youngsters!" exclaimed Mr. Winkler. "You had quite a spill;
didn't you?"

"But we didn't get hurt," said Bunny, who was looking at the wagon and
harness to see that it was not broken. Everything seemed to be all
right. "We're not hurt a bit," Bunny laughed.

"Well, I'm glad of that," went on Mr. Winkler, as he helped Bunny put
the wagon right side up and straight once more. "How did it happen?"

"Splash just runned away," replied Sue, "He runned after the yellow
dog."

"And he caught him all right," laughed Mr. Winkler. "But they seem to be
great friends now. Who made your harness, Bunny?"

"Bunker Blue did. He can make lots of things."

"Yes, I guess he can," agreed the old sailor. "But I hope, after this,
that Splash won't run away with you when you go for a ride."

"Well, it didn't hurt much, to fall out," laughed Bunny. "Now we'll ride
back again."

Splash went back very slowly. Perhaps he was tired, or he may have been
sorry that he had run so fast at first, and had upset the wagon. The
yellow dog went off by himself, and he was glad, I guess, that he did
not have to pull a wagon with two children in it. But Splash seemed to
enjoy it.

Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had not seen the runaway, or they might not have
wanted Bunny and Sue to take any more rides in the express wagon. But
the two children had lots of fun the rest of the morning, riding up and
down, and Splash acted very nicely, stopping when Bunny called "Whoa!"
and going on again when the little boy said, "Giddap!"

"Oh, it's just like a real horse!" exclaimed Sue, clapping her hands.
"Will you let me hold the lines, Bunny?"

"Yes," answered her brother, and soon Sue could drive Splash almost as
well as Bunny could.

For several days after that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had many good
times with their dog and express wagon. They gave their playmates rides
up and down the sidewalk, and never once again did Splash run away. But
then he did not see his friend, the little yellow dog, or he might have
raced after him just as at first.

When Bunny and Sue were eating breakfast one morning, Mrs. Gordon, whose
husband kept the grocery store, came in to see Mrs. Brown.

"I wonder if your children could not help me?" said Mrs. Gordon, as she
sat down in a chair in the dining room, and fanned herself with her
apron. She lived next door to the Brown home.

"Well, Bunny and Sue are always glad to help," said their mother,
smiling at them. "What is it you want them to do?"

"Do you want a ride in our express wagon, Mrs. Gordon?" asked Bunny.

"Or maybe have us sell lemonade for you?" added Sue.

"Bless your hearts! It isn't either of those things," answered Mrs.
Gordon, with a laugh. "I just want you to help me hunt for a hen's nest.
That's all."

"Look for a hen's nest!" exclaimed Bunny.

"Yes," said Mrs. Gordon. "One of my hens has strayed off by herself and
is laying her eggs in a nest I can't find. I've looked all over our yard
for it, but perhaps it is in your barn," she went on to Mrs. Brown. "And
if it is, maybe Bunny and Sue could find it."

"Oh, maybe we could!" Bunny cried.

"It will be fun to look!" said Sue. "Come on, Bunny."

"Be careful you don't fall," their mother cautioned them, as they ran
out, hardly waiting to finish their breakfast.

Hens, you know, often like to go quietly off by themselves, and lay
their eggs in a nest that no one can find. And this is what one of Mrs.
Gordon's hens had done.

Into the barn ran Bunny and Sue.

"We'll see who'll find the nest first!" Bunny shouted.

"I think I shall," cried Sue.

And now you wait and see what happens.

There were many places in the barn where a hen might lay her eggs. There
were nooks under wagons, or under wheelbarrows, corners behind boxes,
and any number of holes in the place where the hay for the horses was
kept--the haymow, as it is called.

Bunny and Sue looked in all the places they could think of. But they did
not see a hen sitting in her hidden nest, nor did they find the white
eggs she might have laid.

"I guess the nest isn't here," said Bunny after a while.

"No, I guess not, too," echoed Sue. "Let's slide down the hay."

The hay in the mow was quite high in one place, and low in another, like
a little hill. Bunny and Sue could climb to the top, or high place of
the hay, and slide down, for it was quite slippery.

Up they climbed, and down they slid, quite fast. They had done this a
number of times, when finally Sue said:

"Oh, Bunny, I'm going to slide down in a new place!"

She went over to one side of the hay-hill, and down she slid. And then
something funny happened.

There was a sort of crackling sound, and Sue called out:

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! I've found the hen's nest, and I'm right in it!"




CHAPTER XXII

AUNT LU IS SAD


Bunny Brown quickly slid down on his side of the hay-hill. He could see
his sister Sue, who was sitting in a little hollow place.

"What--what's the matter?" Bunny asked, for Sue had a funny look on her
face.

"I found Mrs. Gordon's hen's nest," answered the little girl, "and I'm
right in it!"

"In what?" Bunny wanted to know.

"In the nest. I'm sitting in it--right on the eggs, just like a hen.
Only," said Sue, and the funny look on her face changed into a sort of
smile, "only I--I've broken all the eggs!"

And that is just what she had done.

Oh! how Sue was covered with the whites and yellows of the eggs!

She had slid down the haymow on a side where she and Bunny did not often
play, and she had slid right into the hen's nest. The children had not
thought of looking there for it.

But Sue had found it.

Slowly she stood up. She and Bunny looked into the nest And, just as Sue
had said, all the eggs were broken.

"Oh, it's too bad!" the little girl exclaimed. "Mrs. Gordon will be so
sorry."

"You couldn't help it," declared Bunny, "You--you just slid into 'em!"

"Yes," went on Sue. "I didn't see the nest at all, but I heard the eggs
break, and there I was, sitting there on them just like a hen. Oh, dear!
Look at my dress!"

"It will wash out," said her brother. "You might go down and wade in the
brook. But we couldn't, without asking mother, and then she'd see you
anyhow."

"Oh, I'll tell her!" exclaimed Sue. "We'd better go in, 'cause if
egg-stuff dries on you it's awful hard to get off. Aunt Lu said so when
she baked a cake yesterday."

"Well, we can come back and slide some more."

"Yes, after I get clean. And we'll have to tell Mrs. Gordon, too; won't
we, Bunny?"

"Oh, yes. But she has lots of hens and eggs, so she won't care."

Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu were much surprised when Bunny Brown and his
sister Sue came in, Sue all white and yellow from the eggs. But Sue's
mother knew it was something that could not be helped, so she did not
scold. She changed Sue's dress, and then she said:

"Now you and Bunny run over and tell Mrs. Gordon."

When the grocery-store-keeper's wife saw Bunny and Sue coming over to
her house she thought perhaps their mother had sent them on an errand,
as Mrs. Brown often did. For the time Mrs. Gordon had forgotten about
the hidden hen's nest. In fact, she had not thought that Bunny and Sue
would really spend much time looking for it. So when Sue said:

"I--I found it, Mrs. Gordon!"

Mrs. Gordon asked:

"What did you find, Sue, a penny rolling up hill?"

That was the way Mrs. Gordon sometimes joked with Bunny and Sue.

"No'm. I found your hen's nest, and I sat in it and broke all the eggs,"
said Sue. "I--I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry with her," added Bunny.

"Bless your little hearts! What's it all about?" asked Mrs. Gordon with
a laugh. Then Bunny and Sue told her, and she laughed harder than ever.
Bunny and Sue smiled, for now they knew Mrs. Gordon did not mind about
the broken eggs.

"Well, I'm glad you found the nest, anyhow, if you did break the eggs,"
said the storekeeper's wife. "Maybe now my hen will not go over into
your barn, but will make her nest in our coop, where she ought to make
it. So it's all right, Sue, and here are some cookies for you and
Bunny."

The two children were very glad they had gone to tell Mrs. Gordon about
the eggs, for they liked cookies.

That afternoon, when Sadie West, Helen Newton, Charlie Star and Harry
Bentley came over to play with Bunny and Sue, they had to be shown the
place in the hay where Sue "found" the eggs. One of Mr. Brown's stable
men had taken out the broken shells, for he did not want them to get in
the hay that the horses ate. The inside of the eggs did not matter, for
horses like them anyhow.

The children saw a hen walking around on the hay, near the place where
Sue had slid into the eggs.

"I guess that's the hen that had her nest here," said Sadie.

"And she is wondering where it is now," added Bunny. "Go on away, Mrs.
Hen!" he exclaimed. "Go lay your eggs in Mrs. Gordon's coop."

And the hen, cackling, flew away.

"Let's all slide down," said Charlie Star. "Let's slide in the hay."

"Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And maybe we'll find some more nests. But I don't
want to slide in any if we do find some," she said. "I don't want to get
this dress dirty."

The children had great fun sliding down the hay-hill, but they found no
more eggs. They played at this for some time, and then Charlie Star
called:

"Let's go out and climb trees!"

"Girls can't climb trees," objected Sadie.

"Some girls can," answered Charlie. "I have a girl cousin, and she can
climb a tree as good as I can. But she lives in the country," he went
on.

"Oh, of course if a girl lives in the country she can climb a tree,"
Helen Newton said "But we live in a town. I don't want to climb trees."

"I like it," said Bunny Brown. "I'm glad I know how to climb a tree,
'cause if a dog chased after me I could climb up, and he couldn't get
me. Dogs can't climb trees."

"Cats can," said Sadie. "I saw our cat climb a tree once."

"But cats don't chase after you," remarked Charlie.

"Our cat chased a mouse once," observed Sue. "Can a mouse climb a tree,
Bunny?"

"No, a mouse can't climb a tree," answered Sue's brother. "But we
fellows will go out and climb, though there aren't any dogs to chase us.
Splash won't, but he'll play tag with us."

"Well, if you are going to climb trees, we'll play dolls," said Sue.
"Come on," she added to her two little girl friends. "We'll get our
dolls, and have a play party."

Sadie and Helen, who did not live far away, ran home and got their
dolls. Sue brought out hers, and the girls had a nice time on the shady
side of the porch. Mrs. Brown gave them some cookies, and some crackers,
which were cut in the shapes of different animals, and with these, and
some lemonade in little cups, Sue and her chums had lots of fun.

Bunny, Charlie and Harry went to the back yard, where there were some
old apple trees, with branches very close to the ground, so they were
easy to climb. Bunny had often done it, and so had his two little boy
friends.

As they were near the trees George Watson passed through the next lot,
on the other side of the fence from the Brown land.

"I can climb trees better than any of you," George said. "If you let me
come into your yard, Bunny, I'll show you how to climb."

"Oh, don't let him in!" exclaimed Charlie. "He threw the box of frogs at
us the time you had your party. Don't you let him in!"

"No, I wouldn't, either," added Harry.

"Oh, please!" begged George. "I won't throw any more frogs at you."

"Go on away!" ordered Charlie.

But Bunny Brown was kind-hearted. He had forgiven George for the trick
about the frogs. And Bunny wanted to learn all he could about climbing
trees.

"Yes, you can come in, George," said Sue's brother.

George was very glad to do so, for he liked to play with these boys,
though he was older than they were. And since his trick with the jumping
frogs, in the box, George had been rather lonesome.

"Now I'll show you how to climb trees!" he said.

"I can climb this one," declared Bunny, going over to one in which he
had often gone up several feet.

"Oh, that's an easy one," said George with a laugh. "You ought to try
and climb a hard one, like this."

Up went George, quite high, in a larger tree. Charlie and Harry also
each got into a bigger tree than the one Bunny had picked out. And of
course Bunny, like any boy, wanted to do as he saw the others doing.

"Pooh! I can climb a big tree, too," he said. He got down from the one
he had picked out, and started up another. He watched how George put
first one foot on a branch and then the other foot, at the same time
pulling himself up by his hands. Bunny did very well until his foot
slipped and went down in a hole in the tree, where the wood had rotted
away, leaving a hollow place.

Down into this hollow, that might some day be a squirrel's nest, went
Bunny's foot and leg. Then he cried out:

"Oh, I'm caught! I'm caught! My foot is fast, and I can't pull it
loose!"

And that was what had happened. Bunny's foot had gone so deep down in
the hollow place of the tree, and the hollow was so small, that the
little boy's foot had become wedged fast. Pull as he did, he could not
get it up. "Wait--I'll help you!" called George.

He scrambled from his tree, and ran over to where Bunny was caught.
Bunny could not get down, but had to stand with one foot on a branch,
and the other in the hole, holding on to the trunk, or body, of the tree
with both hands.

"Oh!" exclaimed Charlie, "s'posin' he can't ever get loose!"

"We could chop the tree down," said Harry.

But George thought he could get Bunny loose easier than that. George got
a box, so he could stand on it and reach up to Bunny's leg without
getting up in the tree himself. Then George pulled and tugged away,
trying to lift up Bunny's foot.

But it would not come. It was caught, as if in a trap, and the longer
Bunny stood up, pressing down on his foot, the more tightly it was
wedged.

"Now for a good pull!" cried George, and he gave a hard tug.

"Ouch! You hurt!" said Bunny, and George had to stop.

"Well, I don't know what to do," he said. "I'll have to get you loose
some way. Come on," he called to Charlie and Harry. "You get hold of his
leg and we'll all pull."

"Then you'll hurt me more," said Bunny. "Go tell mamma. She will know
what to do!"

"Yes, I guess that's best," George said.

Mrs. Brown came running out when the three boys, who were a little
frightened, told her Bunny was caught in a tree.

"Oh, is he hanging head down?" asked Aunt Lu, as she hurried out after
Bunny's mother.

"No, he's standing up, but his leg is down in a hole," said George. "We
can't get him out."

But Mrs. Brown easily set matters right.

She put her hand down in the tree-hole, beside Bunny's leg, the hole
being big enough for this. Then, with her fingers, Mrs. Brown unbuttoned
Bunny's shoe, and said:

"Now pull out your foot."

Bunny could easily do this, as it was his shoe that was caught, and not
his foot. His foot was smaller than his shoe, you see.

Carefully he lifted his foot and leg out of he hole of the tree, and
then his mother helped him to the ground.

"But what about my shoe?" Bunny asked, with a queer look on his face.
"Has my shoe got to stay in the tree, Mother?"

"No, I think I can get it out," said Mrs. Brown. Once more she put her
hand down in the hollow, and, now that Bunny's foot was out of his shoe,
it could easily be bent and twisted, so that it came loose.

"There you are!" exclaimed Aunt Lu, as she buttoned Bunny's shoe on him
again, using a hairpin for a buttonhook. "Now don't climb any more
trees."

"I'll just climb my own little tree," Bunny said. "That hasn't any hole
in it."

And while the tree-climbing fun was going on Bunny only went up his own
little tree, where he was in no danger.

After a time the boys became tired of this play, and when Sue, Sadie and
Helen invited them to come to the "play-party," Bunny and his friends
were pleased enough to come.

"And we're going to have real things to eat, and not make-believe ones,
Bunny," said Sue.

"That's good!" laughed George. "I'm glad you let me play with you."

The others were glad also, for George said he was sorry about the frogs,
and would not play any more tricks.

Mrs. Brown gave the girls some more cookies, and Aunt Lu handed out some
of her nice jam and jelly tarts. Then the girls set a little table, made
of a box covered with paper, and the boys sat down to eat, pretending
they were at a picnic.

On several days after this the children had good times in the yard of
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. It was now almost summer, and one
morning Aunt Lu said:

"Well, children, this is my last week here."

"Oh, where are you going?" asked Bunny.

"Back home, dear. To New York. And I want you to come and see me there.
Will you?"

"If mamma will let us," said Sue.

"I'll think about it," promised Mrs. Brown.

So Aunt Lu got ready to go back home. And as she walked about with Bunny
and Sue, paying last visits to the fish dock, the river and the other
nice places, Aunt Lu seemed sad. She looked down at the ground, and
often glanced at her finger on which she had worn the diamond ring.

"Sue," said Bunny one day, "I know what makes Aunt Lu so sad."

"What is it?"

"Losing her ring. And I know a way that might make her glad, so she
would smile and be happy again."

"What way?"

"Let's give a Punch and Judy show for her," said Bunny. "We'll get Sadie
and Helen, and George and Charlie and Harry to help us. We'll give a
Punch and Judy show!"

"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.




CHAPTER XXIII

AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often talked about giving a Punch and
Judy show. They had often seen one, at picnics or at church sociables,
and Bunny knew by heart a few of the things Mr. Punch had to say. He did
not stop to think that perhaps he could not get behind the curtain, and
make the little wooden figures do the funny things they were supposed to
do. And he did not know where he could get the queer little doll-like
figures.

"But I can do something, anyhow," said Bunny, who was a very ambitious
little boy. Ambitious means he was always willing to try to do things,
whether or not he was sure he could really do them.

"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I want to make Aunt Lu happy."

"Well, you can be Mrs. Judy part of the time," her brother answered,
"and you can pull the curtains over when Mr. Punch has to change his
clothes, and things like that. I'm going to be Mr. Punch."

"And wear the lobster claw?" asked Sue.

"Yes, on my nose. That's what I got it for. I can make little holes in
each side, and put strings in them, and tie the lobster claw on my nose
with the string around my head."

"It will be fun, Bunny. I wish it were time for the show now."

"Oh, we've got lots to do," said the little boy. "We've got to tell
Sadie and the rest of 'em, and we've got to get tickets, and put up a
tent."

"A tent!" cried Sue. "Where is a tent?"

"That's so," admitted Bunny, looking puzzled, "We haven't got a tent.
But we can have the Punch and Judy show in our barn," he went on
quickly, "and you can stand at the door and take the money, and sell
tickets--that is, when you aren't being Mrs. Punch."

"Aunt Lu won't have to buy a ticket, will she?" Sue wanted to know.

"Course not!" Bunny cried. "She's company. 'Sides, we're making the show
for her, so she won't be so sad about her ring."

"I wish we could find it for her," Sue sighed.

"So do I," came from Bunny. "But I guess we never shall. Now we must go
and tell Sadie and Helen and the others about the show."

"Are they going to be in it?" asked his sister.

"No, they won't be Mr. or Mrs. Punch, but we want them to buy tickets
and come."

"How much are tickets?"

Bunny thought for a moment.

"We'll charge pins and money--money for the big folks, pins for
children."

"That will be nice," said Sue, "'cause children can always get pins off
their mothers' cushions, but they can't always get money. What will we
do with the pins, Bunny?"

"Sell 'em. Mother will buy 'em, or maybe Aunt Lu will. No," he said
quickly, "Aunt Lu is company, and we don't want her to buy pins. We'll
give her all she wants for nothing."

"And what will we do with the money, Bunny?"

"We'll give it to Old Miss Hollyhock, same as we did the lemonade money.
Then she'll sure be rich."

"That will be nice," Sue murmured.

The first thing to do was to tell the other children about the coming
Punch and Judy show. This Bunny and Sue did, going to the different
houses of their playmates. Everyone thought the idea was just too fine
for anything.

"I'll lend you some of my old dresses, Sue, so you can look real funny,
like Mrs. Punch," said Sadie.

"And I have a red hat I got at a surprise party," said Helen. "You can
have that."

"Thanks," laughed Sue. "Oh, I know we'll have fun."

Harry and Charlie said they would help Bunny.

"But making the box-place, like a little theatre, where Mr. Punch
stands, is going to be hard," Harry said, shaking his head.

"I'll get Bunker Blue to help us," said Bunny. "We could ask Uncle Tad,
but we don't want any of the folks to know what it is going to be until
it's time for the show."

"Oh, Bunker can make the little theatre, all right," Charlie said. "And
we can help him."

"George Watson would like to help," suggested Harry. "He has been real
nice since he let the frogs loose on us."

"We'll ask him, too," decided Bunny.

Bunker Blue was very glad to help the children build a Punch and Judy
show.

"And I won't tell anyone a thing about it," he promised. "We'll keep it
for a surprise."

Bunker was just the best one Bunny could have thought of to help. For
Bunker worked around Mr. Brown's boats, and could get pieces of wood,
boards, nails and sail-cloth, to make a little curtain for the tiny
theatre where Bunny would pretend to be Mr. Punch.

The day after Bunny and Sue had thought of the plan to make Aunt Lu not
so sad, by giving a little entertainment for her, the children went out
in the barn to practise. Their playmates came over to help, though there
was not much for them to do, since Bunny and Sue (and more especially
Bunny) were to be the "whole show."

Banker had not yet made the tall, narrow box, inside of which Bunny was
to stand, and pretend to be Mr. Punch, but they did not need it for
practice.

Bunny and Sue had told their mother they were going to have a "show" out
in the barn, but they did not say what kind, nor tell why they wanted
it. But they had to say something, so Mrs. Brown would let them play
there, and also let them take some of their old clothes, in which to
"dress-up."

"Have as much fun as you like," said Mrs. Brown, "but don't slide down
in any hens' nests with eggs in them," she added to Sue.

"I won't, Mother."

Bunny fixed the hollow lobster claw, with a string in a hole on either
side of it, so he could tie it on his nose. Bunker bored the holes for
him with a knife, and cut the claw so it would fit, and when Bunny put
the queer red claw, shaped just like Mr. Punch's nose, on his face, the
little boy was so funny that all his playmates laughed.

Then, too, when Bunny talked, his voice sounded very different from what
it did every day. If you will hold your nose in your hand, and talk, you
will know just how Bunny's voice sounded.

"Oh, it's too funny!" laughed Sadie. "I know it is going to be a lovely
show! Your Aunt Lu will be very much surprised."

When Bunny practised in the barn he did not wear the lobster claw on his
nose, except the first time, to see how it looked.

"It's too hot to wear it all the while," he said, "and it makes me want
to scratch my nose, and when I do that I can't talk. So I'll put the
claw away, and I'll only wear it the day of the show."

Of course Bunny and Sue could not give a Punch and Judy play like the
real one, which, perhaps, you have seen. They did not have the wooden
figures, like dolls, to use, and they were too small to know all the
things the real Mr. Punch says and does.

But Bunny knew some of them, and really, for a little boy, he did very
well. At least all his playmates said so.

In a few days Bunker Blue had the little theatre made, and as he brought
it up to the Brown barn in a wagon, carefully covered over, no one could
see what it was. George Watson had been asked to help, and he had made
tickets for the play. The tickets, which George printed with some rubber
type, read:

                FINE BIG SHOW
                      BY
         BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
                In Their Barn
        Five Pins or Five Cents To Come In
             Pins Are for Children
                   PLEASE COME

"They're fine tickets," said Bunny, when George showed them to him. "I
hope we sell a lot."

And several persons did buy them, paying real money for them. Bunny and
the others said they were trying to help Old Miss Hollyhock, which was
one reason for giving the show. The other was to make Aunt Lu feel more
happy. And when the people heard what Bunny and Sue planned to do, they
gladly bought one ticket, and some even more. Though not all of them
would really go to the show.

One day Bunny and Sue went down to Mrs. Redden's toy shop. She bought a
ticket from them, and Sue and Bunny each bought a penny's worth of
candy. Coming out of the store, the children saw an automobile,
belonging to Mr. Reinberg, who kept the dry-goods store. He was just
getting out of the automobile.

"Oh, Mr. Reinberg, please give us a ride!" begged Bunny.

"All right," answered the store-keeper. "Get in, and I'll give you a
ride; that is if your mother will let you go," and he hurried into the
post-office, which was near Mrs. Redden's store.

"Get in, Sue," said Bunny. "We'll have a fine ride."

"Oh, but he said if mamma would let us. We'll have to ask her."

"Well, we can ask him to ride us up to our house, and we can tell mamma,
there, that we're going," said Bunny. "Then it will be all right."

So he and Sue got in the back part of the automobile, the door of which
was open. The children sat up on the seat, waiting for Mr. Reinberg to
come out of the post-office, but he stayed there for some time. Bunny
and Sue thought it would be fun to sit down in the bottom of the car,
and pretend they were in a boat. Down they slipped, making a soft nest
for themselves with the robes, or blankets, which they pulled from the
seat.

Mr. Reinberg came out of the post-office. He was in such a hurry that he
never thought about Bunny and Sue's having asked him for a ride. He just
shut the door of the car, took his place at the steering wheel and away
he went. He did not see the children sitting down in the bottom, partly
covered with the robe. For Bunny and Sue, just then, were pretending
that it was night on their make-believe steamer, and they had "gone to
bed."

And there they were, being given an automobile ride, and Mr. Reinberg
didn't know a thing about it. Wasn't that funny?




CHAPTER XXIV

THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, sitting down in the back part of the
automobile, with the blanket around them, got through pretending they
were asleep on a make-believe ship, and "woke up."

They had felt the car moving, but they thought nothing of this, for they
imagined Mr. Reinberg was taking them to their house so they might ask
their mother if they could go for a ride.

Bunny looked at Sue and said:

"It takes this auto a good while to get to our house."

"Yes," Sue agreed, "but maybe he is going around the block to give us a
longer ride."

"Oh, maybe! That would be fun!"

Bunny stood up and looked over the side door of the back part of the
car. He could not see his house, and, in fact, he could see no houses at
all, for they were out on a country road.

"Why! Why!" exclaimed Bunny to his sister. "Look, Sue! We're lost
again!"

"Lost?"

"Yes. We're away far off from our house. I don't know where we are; do
you?"

"No," and Sue looked at the road along which they were moving in the
automobile. "Oh, Bunny! Are we really lost again?"

Sue spoke so loudly that Mr. Reinberg, who was at the steering wheel,
turned around quickly. Up to now Bunny and Sue had talked in such low
voices, and the automobile had rattled so loudly, that the dry-goods man
had not heard them. But when he did he turned quickly enough.

"Why, bless my heart!" he exclaimed. "You here--Bunny and Sue--in my
automobile?" and he made the machine run slowly, so it would not make so
much noise. He wanted to hear what Bunny and Sue would say.

"You here?" he asked again. "How in the world did you come here?"

"Why--why," began Bunny, his eyes opening wide. "You said we could have
a ride, Mr. Reinberg. Don't you remember?"

"That's so. I do remember something about it," the man said. "I declare,
I was so busy thinking about my store, and some post-office letters,
that I forgot all about you. But I thought you were to ask your mother
if you could have a ride."

"Why--why, we thought you would take us around to our house, in the
automobile, so we could ask her," Bunny said.

Mr. Reinberg laughed.

"Well, well!" he cried. "This is a joke! You thought one thing and I
thought another. After you spoke to me, and I went in the post-office, I
supposed you had run home to ask your folks."

"No," said Bunny, "we didn't. We got in your auto 'cause we thought you
wanted us to."

"Ha! Ha!" laughed the dry-goods-store man. "This is very funny! And when
I came out of the post-office, and didn't see anything of you, I thought
your folks wouldn't let you go, as you hadn't come back."

"And we were in your auto all the while!" exclaimed Sue, in such a queer
little voice that Mr. Reinberg laughed again.

"And have you been in there ever since?" he asked.

"Yes," Bunny replied. "We were playing steamboat, and we lay down to go
to sleep while we went over the make-believe ocean waves. Then, when we
woke up, and couldn't see our house--"

"Or any houses," added Sue.

"Or any houses," Bunny went on, "why--why, we thought we were--"

"Lost!" exclaimed Sue. "We don't like to be lost!"

"You're not lost," Mr. Reinberg said, laughing again. "You're quite a
way from home, though, for I have been going very fast. But I'll take
care of you. Now let me see what I had better do. I have to go on to
Wayville, and I don't want to turn around and go back with you
youngsters. And if I take you with me your folks will worry.

"I know what I'll do. I'll telephone back to your mother, tell her that
you're with me, and that I'll take you to Wayville, and bring you safely
back again. How will that do?"

"Will you take us in the auto?" asked Bunny.

"Of course."

"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue. "We'll have a ride, after all, Bunny."

"Yes," agreed her brother. "Thank you, Mr. Reinberg."

The dry-goods man found a house in which there was a telephone, and he
was soon talking to Mrs. Brown in her home. He told her just what had
happened; how, almost by accident, he had taken Bunny and Sue off in his
automobile. Then he asked if he might give them a longer ride, and bring
them home later.

"Your mother says I may," Mr. Reinberg said, when he came back to the
automobile, in which Bunny and Sue were waiting. "I'll take you on to
Wayville."

"Our Uncle Henry lives there," Bunny told the dry-goods man.

"Well, I don't know that I shall have time to take you to see him, but
we'll have a ride."

"We 'most went to Uncle Henry's once," said Sue. "On a trolley car, only
Splash couldn't come, and we had to go back and we got lost and--and--"

"Splash found the way home for us," finished Bunny, for Sue was out of
breath.

"Well, we won't get lost this time," Mr. Reinberg said. "Now off we go
again," and away went the automobile, giving Bunny and Sue a fine ride.

They soon reached Wayville, where Mr. Reinberg went to see some men.
Bunny and Sue did not have time to pay a visit to their Uncle Henry, but
Mr. Reinberg bought them each an ice cream soda, so they had a fine time
after all. Then came a nice ride home.

"Well, well!" cried Mrs. Brown, when Bunny and Sue, their cheeks red
from the wind, came running up the front walk. "Well! well! But you
youngsters do have the funniest things happen to you! To think of being
taken away in an automobile!"

"But we didn't mean to, Mamma," protested Bunny.

"No, you never do," said Aunt Lu, smiling.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue exclaimed a little later that day, "we didn't sell any
tickets for the Punch and Judy show."

"Well, never mind," answered Bunny. "I guess enough will come anyhow."

You see he and Sue had such a good time on the automobile ride that they
forgot all about the tickets they had set out to sell.

In three days more the Punch and Judy show would be held in the Brown
barn. Everything was ready for it, Bunny had gone over his part again
and again until he did very well indeed. Sue, also, was very, very good
in what she did, so the other girls said. Sadie West, who was older,
helped Sue.

By this time, of course, the grown folks knew that some sort of a show
was going on in the Brown barn, and they had promised to come. And there
were so many children who wanted to see what it was going to be like
that Bunny and Sue did not know where they were all going to sit.

"And oh! what a lot of pins we'll have," said Sue, for all the children
paid pins for their tickets.

But Bunker Blue and George Watson made seats by putting boards across
some boxes, so no one would have to stand up.

Then came the day of the show. Bunny was dressed up in some old clothes,
and so was Sue. She did not put hers on, though, until after she had
helped take tickets, and sell them, at the barn door. Then Bunker Blue
took her place, and Sue dressed to help Bunny.

Bunny was inside the little theatre that Bunker had made. It had a
curtain that opened when Bunny pulled the string. He had his funny
lobster claw with him.

"And am I to come in for nothing?" asked Aunt Lu, as she walked into the
barn.

"Yes," said Bunny, putting his head out between the curtains, for he was
not all dressed yet. "The show is for you, Aunt Lu. So you will not feel
so sad."

"About your lost diamond ring," added Sue.

"Bless your hearts! What dear children you are!" said Aunt Lu, and
something glistened in her eyes as bright as a diamond--perhaps it was a
tear--but if so it was a tear of joy.

"All ready for the show now!" cried Bunker. "Please all sit down!"

Down they sat on the benches, some men and some ladies, but mostly
children, friends of Bunny and Sue.

"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Bunker, going close to the little
theatre.

"Yes, I'm all ready."

"Have you got your lobster claw on?"

"Yes. I'm going to open the curtain now."

The curtain opened in the middle, and there stood Bunny. You could only
see down to his waist, but such a funny face as he had! The lobster
claw, tied over his nose, made him look exactly like the pictures of Mr.
Punch.

Bunny made a bow, and then, instead of saying some of the funny things
that Mr. Punch in the show always says, Bunny sang a little song, while
Bunker Blue played on a mouth organ. This is what Bunny sang:

"This little show is for Aunt Lu.
 Of course we're glad of others, too.
 We want to cheer, and make her glad,
 So she won't feel so very sad.
 We hope she finds her diamond ring,
 And this is all that I can sing!"

That was what Bunny sang, in his queer, "nosey" voice, to a queer little
tune that Bunker played on the mouth organ. And, when Bunny had
finished, he made a funny little bow, and said:

"I didn't make up that song. Bunker did!"

Then how everybody clapped their hands, and George Watson called out:

"Three cheers for Bunker Blue!"

Then began the real Punch and Judy show--that is, as much of it as Bunny
and Sue could manage.

"I wonder where Mrs. Punch is?" asked Bunny, twisting his head around.

"Here I is!" cried Sue, and up she popped. She had been stooping down so
she would not be seen until just the right time.

"And where is the baby?" asked Mr. Punch, looking first on one side and
then the other, of his big lobster claw nose.

"Here she is!" and Sue held up one of her old dolls.

"Ah, ha! Ah, ha!" said Mr. Punch. "She is a bad baby, and I am going to
whip her!"

And then, with a stick, he hit the doll until some of the sawdust came
flying out.

"Don't do that!" begged Sue. "You mustn't spoil my doll, Bunny!"

"I've got to do it," said Bunny in a whisper. "I have to, Sue, it's part
of the show." But Sue took her doll away from her brother.




CHAPTER XXV

THE LOBSTER CLAW


"Don't, Sue, don't!" begged Bunny Brown. "I must have the doll. You said
I could take her," and he tried to pull the doll away from his sister.

But Sue did not want to give up even an old doll.

"You mustn't knock out all her sawdust," she said. "She'll get sick."

Bunny did not know what to do. It seemed as if his Punch and Judy show
would be spoiled, and he did so want to make Aunt Lu feel jolly about
it.

Sue had really said, at first, that he could beat her old doll with a
stick, just as Mr. Punch does in the real show, but now Sue had changed
her mind.

"Oh, dear!" said Bunny, and he said it in such a funny way that everyone
laughed again.

"Let him take your doll, Sue dear," said her mother, from where she sat
on a box in the barn. "If he spoils it I will get you a new one. It's
only in fun, Sue," for Mrs. Brown did not want to see Bunny
disappointed.

"All right. You can take her, but don't hit her too hard," said Sue.

"I won't," promised her brother. And then the little show went on.

Mr. and Mrs. Punch had great times with the "baby," which was the
sawdust doll. Then Sue stooped down, out of sight, and turned herself
into a make-believe policeman, by putting on a hat, made out of black
paper, with a golden star pasted on in front. George Watson had made
that for her. Up popped Sue, the pretend policeman, to make Mr. Punch
stop hitting the sawdust doll baby.

"Go 'way! Go 'way!" cried Bunny Punch, in his squeaky voice, as he
tossed the doll out on the barn floor. "That's the way to do it! That's
the way I do it!"

Then Sue sang a little song, that Bunker had made up for her, and he
played the mouth organ. And next Bunny and Sue sang together. The
children thought it was fine, and the grown folks clapped their hands,
and stamped with their feet, which is what people do in a real theatre
when they like the play.

When Bunny and Sue made their bow, after singing the song together, they
both bobbed out of sight behind the curtain.

"Is that--is that all?" asked Tommie Tracy, in his shrill little voice,
from where he sat in the front row.

"Yep. That's all," answered Bunny. "The show is over, and we hope you
all like it; 'specially Aunt Lu."

"Oh, I just loved it," she answered. "And to think you got it all up for
me! It was just fine!"

"Do it all over again!" said Tommie. "I liked it too, but I want some
more. Do it again, Bunny!"

"I--I can't," Bunny answered, as he came out from inside the box that
Bunker Blue had made into a theatre. Bunny had taken off his lobster
claw nose, and held it dangling from the strings by which it had been
tied around his head.

Suddenly one of the planks, across two boxes, broke, and some of the
boys, who had been sitting on it, fell down in a heap. But no one was
hurt.

Then all the children crowded around Bunny and Sue to look at the funny
things the two children were wearing--old clothes, pinned up, and with
make-believe patches on them.

"Let me take your funny nose, Bunny," begged Charlie Star. "I want to
see how it looks on me."

Bunny handed over the lobster claw, but it dropped to the barn floor,
and before either he or Charlie could pick it up, some one had stepped
on it.

"Crack!" it went, for it was made of thin shell, not very strong. And
there it lay in pieces on the floor.

"Oh, dear," cried Charlie. "I've broken your nose, Bunny!"

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't my real one," and Bunny put his hand up to his
face, while Charlie stooped over to pick up the pieces of the lobster
claw, hoping there was enough left to make a little nose for the next
time.

And then suddenly Bunny, who was watching Charlie, gave a cry, and
reached for something that glittered among the pieces of the red lobster
claw.

"Oh, look! look!" fairly shouted the little fellow. "It's Aunt Lu's
diamond ring. It was in the lobster claw, and it came out when the claw
broke. Oh, Aunt Lu! I've found your diamond ring!"

Aunt Lu fairly rushed over to Bunny. She took from his hand the shiny,
glittering thing he had picked up from the barn floor.

"Yes, it IS my lost diamond ring!" she cried. "Oh, where was it?"

"Down inside the lobster claw, that I had on my nose," Bunny said. "Only
I didn't know it was there."

"And no one would have known it if it had not broken," said Mrs. Brown.
"How lucky to have found it."

Aunt Lu slipped the diamond ring on her finger. It glittered brighter
than ever.

"I see how it all happened," she said. "That day when I was helping pick
the meat out of the big lobster, my ring must have slipped from my hand,
and fallen down inside the empty claw. It went away down to the small
end, and there it was held fast, just as Bunny's foot was caught in the
hollow tree one day."

"Are you glad, Aunt Lu?" asked Bunny.

"Glad? I'm more glad than I ever was in my life!" and she hugged and
kissed him, and Sue also.

And everyone was glad Aunt Lu had found her ring. The show was over now,
and the children and grown folks went out of the barn. They all said
they had had a fine time.

That night Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each a dollar, for she said Sue
had done as much to find the ring as Bunny had.

"Oh, what a lot of money!" cried Sue, as she looked at her dollar.
"We're rich now; aren't we, Bunny? As rich as Old Miss Hollyhock?"

"We're richer!" answered Bunny.

"Well, save some of your money, and when you come to New York to visit
me you can spend part of it in the city," said Aunt Lu.

"We will," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

But, before they visited Aunt Lu, the two children had other adventures.
I will be glad to tell you about them in the next book, which will be
named: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm." In that you
may read what the two children did in the country, how they had a long
automobile ride, and how they saw the Gypsies.

Aunt Lu went home the day after the Punch and Judy show.

"Did you like it?" asked Bunny, as she kissed him and Sue good-bye at
the station.

"Indeed I did, my dear!" she answered.

"I said we'd find your diamond ring, and we did," declared Sue.

"Yes," agreed Bunny, "but we didn't know it was in the lobster's claw."

"No one would ever have dreamed of its being there," said Aunt Lu. "But
oh! I am so glad I have it!"

And then, with the diamond ring sparkling on her finger, Aunt Lu got on
the train and rode away, waving a good-bye to Bunny Brown and his sister
Sue. And we will say good-bye, too.

THE END











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