Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland PonyBUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY
TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR
GIRLS SERIES, ETC.
Illustrated by
Thelma Gooch
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
* * * * *
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 50 cents, postpaid._
* * * * *
=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES=
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP-REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
* * * * *
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES=
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSE BOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
* * * * *
=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN WAR SERVICE
* * * * *
=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK=
Copyright, 1918, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
* * * * *
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony_
[Illustration: TOBY WAS RINGING THE BELL.
_Frontispiece._ (_Page 135._)
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony._]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. IN THE ARK 1
II. THE FRIGHTENED PONY 11
III. MR. TALLMAN 24
IV. LOOKING FOR A PONY 32
V. THE SHORT TALLMAN 40
VI. BUNNY, SUE AND TOBY 51
VII. THE FIRST RIDE 61
VIII. SUE'S HANDKERCHIEF 69
IX. TOBY'S NEW TRICK 80
X. TOBY WALKS AWAY 92
XI. OFF TO THE FARM 102
XII. THE WRONG ROAD 111
XIII. TOBY FINDS THE WAY 121
XIV. TOBY'S OTHER TRICK 129
XV. RED CROSS MONEY 139
XVI. IN THE WOODS 148
XVII. THE DARK MAN 159
XVIII. TOBY IS GONE 166
XIX. THE SEARCH 176
XX. IN A STORM 184
XXI. THE GYPSY CAMP 194
XXII. "THERE'S TOBY!" 204
XXIII. PRISONERS 216
XXIV. THE RED-AND-YELLOW BOX 226
XXV. TO THE RESCUE 236
BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
CHAPTER I
IN THE ARK
"Oh, Bunny! Here comes Bunker Blue!"
"Where is he? I don't see him!"
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were playing on the shady side porch of
their house one morning, when the little girl, looking up from a cracker
box which had been made into a bed--where she was putting her doll to
sleep--saw a tall boy walking up the path.
"There's Bunker!" went on Sue to her brother, Bunny, at the same time
pointing. "Maybe he's come to take us for a ride in one of daddy's
fishing boats!"
"Have you, Bunker?" asked Bunny, standing up and brushing some shavings
from his little jacket, for he had been using a dull kitchen knife,
trying to whittle out a wooden boat from a piece of curtain stick. "Oh,
Bunker, have you?"
"Have I what?" asked the tall boy, who worked on the dock where Mr.
Brown, the father of Bunny and Sue, carried on a boat and fish business.
"Have I what?" Bunker asked again, and he stood still and gazed at the
two small children who were anxiously looking at him.
"Have you come to take us for a ride?" asked Bunny.
"In one of daddy's boats?" added Sue, who generally waited for her
brother to speak first, since he was a year older than she.
"Not this time, messmates," answered Bunker Blue with a laugh, calling
the children the name one sailor sometimes gives to another. "Not this
time messmates. I've come up to get the ark."
"Oh, the ark!" cried Bunny. "Did you hear that, Sue? Bunker has come up
to get the ark!"
"Oh! Oh!" and Sue fairly squealed in delight. "Then we'll have a nice
ride in that. Wait, Bunker, till I put my doll away, and I'll come with
you. Wait for me!"
"And I'll come, too," added Bunny. "I can bring my boat with me. 'Tisn't
all done yet," he added, "but I can whittle on it when we ride along,
and then I can sail it when we get to the dock."
"Now avast there and belay, messmates!" cried Bunker Blue with a laugh,
using some more of the kind of talk he heard among the sailors that came
to Mr. Brown's dock with boats of fish. "Wait a minute! I didn't say I
had come to give you a ride in the ark. I just came to get it."
"But you will let us ride, won't you, Bunker?" asked Bunny, smiling at
the tall boy.
"'Cause we'll sit just as still as anything," added Sue.
"And I won't touch the steering wheel--not once!" promised Bunny.
"I guess you'd better not--not after you once got almost run away with
in the big ark," said Bunker. "I should say not!"
"Oh, please let us come with you!" begged Sue. "We want awful much to
ride in the ark, Bunker!"
While the two children were talking to the tall boy another little girl
had crawled under the fence from the street, and was now standing near
Bunny and his sister. She was Sadie West, one of Sue's chums, and when
she heard Bunny's sister begging for a ride in the "ark" Sadie said:
"Oh, Sue! is he going to take your Noah's ark away? I wouldn't let him
if I were you!"
"It isn't Noah's ark at all," Sue explained. "We call the big
automobile, that we had such a long ride in, the ark. It looks a little
like a Noah's ark, but it's bigger, and we can all get in it," she
added.
"Oh!" exclaimed Sadie. "I thought Bunker meant he was going to take your
little ark, and all the wooden animals, away," she added.
"Not this time," said Bunker Blue. "Your father sent me up, Bunny, to
get the big auto--the ark, as you call it. It's got to be fixed, and I'm
to drive it to the shop over at East Milford. That's why I came up.
Where's your mother? I want to tell her I'm taking away the ark, so she
won't think some tramps or some gypsies have run off with it."
"I'll call her," Sue said, while Bunny kept on brushing the tiny
whittlings from his jacket and short trousers. And there was a queer
look on the face of Bunny Brown.
"What are you making, Bunny?" asked Bunker, as he waited for Sue to go
into the house and give her mother the message.
"Boat," Bunny answered.
"Pretty small one, isn't it?" inquired Bunker, who knew a lot about
boats and fish, from having worked at Mr. Brown's dock a number of
years. "Awful small boat."
"It's a lifeboat that I'm going to put on my big sailboat," explained
Bunny, for he had a large boat, with a real sail on it that could be
raised and lowered. It was not a boat large enough for him and Sue to
ride on, though Sue sometimes gave one of her dolls a trip on it. "I
have to have a lifeboat on my sailboat," Bunny went on, "'cause maybe a
scrumbarine might sink my big ship."
"That's so," agreed Bunker. "Well, Bunny, you go in and tell your mother
I'm going to take the ark, will you? I'm in a hurry, and I guess Sue
forgot what she went after. You go in and tell your mother."
"Yes, I'll do that," Bunny promised. "But can't we have a ride in the
ark with you, Bunker?"
"Not this time, Bunny!"
"Please, Bunker!"
"No, your father didn't say anything about taking you over to the East
Milford auto shop with me, and I don't dare do it unless he says so."
"Well, we can ask him," went on Bunny eagerly.
"No, I haven't time to run down to the dock again, and your father is
busy there. A big load of fish came in, and he has to see that they get
iced, so they won't spoil. Hurry and tell your mother--Oh, here she
comes now!" exclaimed Bunker Blue, as Mrs. Brown came to the door. Sue
and Sadie West stood behind her.
"Did you want to see me, Bunker?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes'm," answered the boy. "Mr. Brown sent me up to get the ark. He
wants me to drive it over to Simpson's garage, in East Milford, to have
it looked over and fixed. I thought if I went into the barn and took the
machine out without telling you, maybe you'd think some gypsies ran away
with it."
"Why! are there any gypsies around now, Bunker?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, I heard the other day that a band of them was camping up along the
creek. But I guess they won't come bothering around here."
"If they do I'll sic Splash, my dog, on 'em," said Bunny.
"Yes, I guess Splash will scare off the gypsies," agreed Bunker Blue
with a laugh. Then he added: "So, now I've told you what I'm going to
do, Mrs. Brown, I'll go and get the ark and drive it over."
"All right, Bunker," said Mrs. Brown. "Is my husband very busy?"
"Yes'm. A big boatload of fish just came in, and he's seeing to having
'em iced."
"Oh, then he can't come up. I was just going to telephone that I want
the sideboard moved to the other end of the room, and it's too heavy for
Uncle Tad to manage alone. I thought Mr. Brown might run up and help,
but if he's so busy with the fish----"
"I'll help," offered Bunker. "I'm not in such a hurry as all that. I'll
help Uncle Tad move the sideboard, and then I'll get the auto."
"Can't we go with you?" begged Sue. "Can't we have a ride in the ark,
Mother?"
"Oh, my, no!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Bunker can't be bothered with you
children."
"I wouldn't mind taking them, ma'am," said the fish boy. "In fact, I'd
like to, but their father didn't say anything about it. Besides, I'll
have to walk back from East Milford after I leave the ark there to be
fixed. It'd be too far for them to walk back."
"Of course it would. Run along now, Bunny and Sue, and have some fun by
yourselves. Don't bother Bunker."
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue stood on the side porch looking at one
another as Bunker went in the house to help Uncle Tad move the
sideboard. Uncle Tad was an old soldier who lived with the Brown family.
He was Mr. Brown's uncle, but Bunny and Sue thought they owned just as
much of the dear old man as did their father. Sadie West, who had
crawled in under the fence instead of going around by the gate, ran home
again, leaving Bunny and Sue by themselves.
"Say, Sue," began Bunny in a low voice, looking toward the house to make
sure his mother and Bunker Blue had gone inside.
"What, Bunny?" asked the little girl.
"I know what we can do," went on Bunny.
"What?"
This time Bunny whispered.
"We can go out to the barn," he said in a low voice, his lips close to
his sister's ear, "an' get in the ark when Bunker doesn't see us. He
can't see us 'cause he's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the
sideboard. We can easy get in the ark."
"What for?" Sue wanted to know. "Bunker said he wouldn't give us a
ride."
"Yes. But if we're in there he'll have to!"
"Why?" asked Sue.
"'Cause," whispered Bunny, "he won't know we're in there at all, Sue!"
"Won't he?" asked Sue, her eyes shining.
"Nope! While Bunker's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the sideboard,
we'll crawl in the back end of the ark. And we'll keep awful still, and
we'll have a nice ride over to East Milford, and Bunker won't know a
thing about it!"
"Oh, let's do it!" cried Sue, always ready to take part in the tricks
Bunny thought of. "Let's do it! I'll take my doll!"
"And I'll take my little lifeboat. 'Tisn't all made yet, but that won't
hurt! Come on!"
Quietly the two children tiptoed down off the side porch. Through the
open dining-room windows they could hear Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad
moving the sideboard.
Out to the barn went Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue. In the barn was the
ark--the big auto--as large as a moving van. In it the whole Brown
family had made a tour the previous summer. It really was like an ark,
for it had rooms in it where the children and grown-ups could sleep,
and a place to cook and eat meals.
"Now don't make any noise!" whispered Bunny to his sister. "We'll just
crawl inside the ark and cover up with blankets, and Bunker won't know
we're here. Then he'll start off and when we get to East Milford we
can----"
"Oh, we can jump out and holler 'boo!' at him an' scare him!" laughed
Sue, clapping her chubby hands in delight.
"Yes, we can do that. But not now!" whispered Bunny. "Hurry up an' crawl
in, an' don't make any noise!"
So the two children entered the ark by the rear door, and found some
blankets with which they covered themselves in two of the bunks, built
on the sides of the big auto.
What would happen next?
CHAPTER II
THE FRIGHTENED PONY
Bunker Blue came whistling out of the house. He and Uncle Tad had moved
the sideboard to the other end of the room, and now Mrs. Brown and the
hired girl were putting the place to rights.
"Well, I wonder where Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue have gone?" said
Bunker, aloud, as he stopped whistling. "I don't see them," and he
looked around. "I'd like to give them a ride in the ark," he went on,
"but their father didn't say anything about it, and he might not like
it. When the big auto gets fixed then I can take them for a ride."
Then Bunker went out to the barn and took his seat at the steering wheel
of the ark.
"Well, here I go!" he said, still talking aloud to himself, as he often
did, and he put his foot on the self-starter, which made the engine of
the auto go without any one having to get out in front and turn the
handle, like the crank of a hand organ. "Here I go, but I do wish I
could give Bunny and Sue a ride."
And back in the auto, under some blankets in the bunks, sounded two
snickering noises.
"Hello! I wonder what that is?" exclaimed Bunker, as he heard them. "Is
that you, Splash?" he called, for sometimes, he knew, the big dog that
Bunny and Sue so often played with, crawled into the auto to sleep. "Is
that you, Splash?"
No answer came.
"I guess it was just the wind," said Bunker Blue, as he steered the auto
out through the big barn doors. "It was only the wind."
And inside the ark Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had to stuff their
chubby fists into their mouths to keep from laughing. Oh, if Bunker Blue
should hear them!
As Bunker steered the big auto down the driveway past the house, Mrs.
Brown came running to the door, waving her hand.
"Bunker! Bunker Blue!" she cried. "Wait a minute!"
The auto was making such a noise that the fish boy could not hear what
Mrs. Brown was saying, but he could see her.
"Whoa!" he called, just as if the big auto were a horse; and then he
put on the brakes and brought it to a stop.
"Bunker," went on Mrs. Brown, "Mr. Brown just telephoned me to tell you
to drive down to the dock and stop for him. He's going to East Milford
with you. He wants to talk to the garage man about fixing the auto," for
the big machine needed some repairs after its long tour.
"All right. I'll stop at the dock and get Mr. Brown," said Bunker. "I
guess he must have got the fish iced and put away sooner than he
expected. Now if I had Bunny and Sue I could take them with me," he went
on.
"Take Bunny and Sue with you? What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, when they heard I was going to East Milford with the ark they
wanted to come along. But I said I didn't believe their father would let
them, and I didn't have time to go back and ask him. But now, as long as
I have to go to the dock to get him, I could take them with me, and ask
him now. Maybe he'd let them go."
"Yes, it is too bad," said Mrs. Brown. "But I don't know where the
children went. I guess they ran over to Sadie West's house to play. But
you haven't time to stop for them if Mr. Brown is in a hurry. They can
ride some other time. Drive along, Bunker."
Now if Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had heard this talk they might,
then and there, have called out that they were already in the auto. And,
if they had done so, perhaps a whole lot of things that happened
afterwards might not have happened.
But you never can tell what is going to take place next in this world.
The reason Bunny and Sue didn't hear what their mother and Bunker said
was because they had their heads covered with the blankets, so their
snickers and laughter wouldn't be heard outside the ark.
And there they stayed, inside the big auto, as Bunker started off once
more, driving first to the boat and fish dock to get Mr. Brown, who was
going to East Milford with him.
"It's too bad the children aren't here," said Mrs. Brown as she went
back into the house. "They could have a nice ride. I wonder where they
ran off to?"
If Mrs. Brown could have seen Bunny and his sister then, I think she
would have been surprised. But she did not see them, and, for a little
while, she gave them no further thought, as she was so busy
straightening the room, after Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue had moved the
sideboard to its new place.
On rumbled the big auto, and Bunny and Sue lay in the bunks having a
nice ride. They did not know just where they were going, and they
certainly never thought they were on their way to the boat and fish
dock, for they had not heard what their mother said. They kept covered
with the blankets for some little time, afraid lest their occasional
snickers and laughter might be heard by Bunker Blue.
"Hi, Sue!" called Bunny, after a while, during which the auto had rolled
down the road some little way.
"What is it?" Sue asked.
"It's too hot to keep under the covers. If we make only a little noise
now Bunker can't hear us."
"All right," Sue agreed. "But we mustn't make too much noise."
"No," said Bunny, and he threw off the covers and sat up in the bunk.
His sister did the same thing, and then they went out in the main "room"
of the ark. Of course, it was not a very large room, but it was pretty
big for being inside an auto. It had a little table and some stools in
it, and when the Browns were on their tour they often ate in that room,
when it was too rainy to have their meals outside.
After a time the auto stopped, and then, to the surprise of Bunny Brown
and his Sister Sue, they heard the voice of their father. He was talking
to Bunker Blue.
"So you got my telephone message, did you, Bunker?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Yes, sir. Mrs. Brown told me just as I was coming out with the ark. So
I came here before going over to East Milford."
"That's what I wanted you to do. I want to ride over with you. I had the
men ice the fish, so they'll be all right. Is every one well up at my
house--Bunny and Sue?"
"Yes, they're all right," answered Bunker, as Mr. Brown climbed up to
the seat of the big auto. "Bunny and Sue wanted to come with me," Bunker
went on, "but I didn't know whether you'd want 'em to, so I didn't let
'em come."
"Well, that's too bad," said Mr. Brown. "If I had known they wanted to
come, and that I was going myself, I'd have let you bring them. But it's
too late now and----"
"Oh, no, Daddy! It isn't too late!" cried Bunny, who had listened to
what his father and Bunker were saying. "It isn't too late! Please take
us with you!"
"'Cause we're here now!" added Sue.
And as her brother opened the big, rear doors of the auto, he and Sue
stepped out.
"Well, I do declare!" cried Mr. Brown, running around to the back of the
big car and seeing his two little children. "Where did you come from?"
"We hid in the auto!" came from Bunny.
"We wanted a ride, and we didn't let Bunker know we got in," added Sue.
"Well, I certainly didn't know you were there!" cried Bunker.
"We got in when you and Uncle Tad were moving the sideboard," explained
Bunny.
"That wasn't just the right thing to do," said Mr. Brown, shaking his
head. "However, as I would have taken you if I had been there, we'll
forgive you this time. Open the little front window, Bunker, and the
children can ride in the front part of the auto, where they can look out
and where I can talk with them."
In the front part of the ark, just back of the seat, was a window cut in
the end of the big car. It opened into a room near the bunks, and
chairs could be placed under the window so those who sat in them could
look out, just as in a regular auto.
Mr. Brown and Bunker Blue took their places on the front seat, and once
more the auto started off, and this time Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue
did not have to stuff their fists in their mouths to keep from
snickering and giggling. It was all right for them to have a ride in the
ark.
Down the road they went, toward East Milford, where the ark was to be
left for repairs.
"Will we have to walk back?" asked Bunny, talking through the front
window to his father.
"No, I guess we can come back by train. It's too far to walk on a warm
day."
"I like to ride in a train," said Sue, as she held her doll in her lap,
while Bunny put aside his little wooden boat. The auto was no place to
do any whittling, he found.
As the big ark went around a bend in the road the children, looking
ahead, suddenly saw something at which they cried:
"Oh, look!"
"What a dandy little pony!" added Bunny.
"And it's afraid!" said Sue.
Coming down the road toward the big ark was a small Shetland pony,
hitched to a basket cart, and in the cart sat a little man. He was not
as large as Bunker Blue, who wasn't a grown-up man yet.
Something certainly seemed to be the matter with the pony. He reared on
his hind legs, and tried to turn around and run back. The man stood up
in the cart and shouted something, but the children could not tell what
it was.
"Stop the ark, Bunker!" cried Mr. Brown. "The big auto is frightening
the little pony! Stop!"
But it was too late, for, a moment later, the Shetland pony broke loose
from the cart, turned around and started to run back up the road.
The man, again shouting something, leaped out of the cart and ran back
after the pony.
"Come on, Bunker!" cried Mr. Brown. "This was partly our fault! We must
help the man catch the pony!"
"And we'll help!" said Bunny and Sue, as they, too, got out of the ark.
So, while this is happening, I'll take just a moment to tell my new
readers something about the two children, whose adventures I am to
relate to you in this book. This volume is the eighth one in the
series. The first, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," introduced
you to the two children. In that first book I told you that they lived
with their father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brown in the seaport
town of Bellemere, on Sandport Bay. Mr. Brown was in the boat and fish
business, and hired a number of men and boys, of whom Bunker was one.
With the family also lived Uncle Tad, of whom I have spoken, and then
there was the hired girl, and Splash, the dog. The children loved them
both, and they also loved Jed Winkler, an old sailor of the town, but
Miss Euphemia Winkler, his sister, they did not love so well, though
they liked the funny antics of Wango, a monkey, that Mr. Winkler had
brought back from one of his many voyages.
Bunny Brown was about six years old, and Sue was a year younger. She had
brown eyes and curly hair, and Bunny's eyes were blue, and his hair had
once been curly, but now was getting straighter. Bunny and Sue were
always having fun, and if you want to read about some of it just look in
the second book, which tells about them on Grandpa's farm. There Bunny
Brown and his Sister Sue played circus and had even better times, as
related in that volume. In Aunt Lu's city home they--well, I guess it
will be best if you read that book for yourselves, instead of having me
telling you partly about it here.
In Camp-Rest-a-While the two children had more good times, and also when
they went to the big woods. And just before the things that I am going
to tell you about in this book, Bunny and his sister, with their
parents, went on an auto tour in the ark. They traveled, ate, and slept
in the big moving van that Mr. Brown had had put on an automobile frame
and there were no end of good times.