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.”