Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony Part 12

"Oh, look!" cried Bunny. "He's scratching the itchy place with his nose!"

And that is just what Toby was doing. When he found that his tail would not reach the biting fly he drove the insect off another way.

Then, while Bunny and Sue still watched, a third fly, or perhaps it was the same one, lighted on Toby's front leg in a place where he could neither reach it with his tail nor with his nose.

"What'll he do now?" asked Sue.

"Let's watch and see," said her brother.

Again they did not have long to wait. When Toby found that the fly was biting him, he gave a queer wiggle to his skin, and the fly flew off.

"Oh, he s.h.i.+vered him away!" cried Sue. "He just s.h.i.+vered him away!"

And really it did seem as if Toby had done that very thing. Bunny and Sue were laughing at the queer way their pony had got rid of the fly when they saw their father coming along the dock.

"Well, youngsters!" called Mr. Brown, "you haven't sold Toby yet, I see!"

"And we're not going to!" cried Bunny. "We're never going to sell Toby!"

"All right," said Mr. Brown, laughing. "But where is Bunker?"

"He's was.h.i.+ng so he can take us for a ride," answered Sue. "And, Daddy!

you ought to see Toby chase flies!"

"Does he run after them?" asked her father, smiling.

"Oh, Daddy! Of _course_ not!" cried Sue. "But when a fly gets on the back part of our pony he switches his tail and knocks him off."

"And when a fly gets on his front leg he scratches it off with his nose."

"What?" cried Mr. Brown. "Does Toby scratch his leg off?"

"No! The _fly_!" said Bunny, laughing at the funny way his father spoke.

"He brushes the fly off, and then he scratches the itchy place with his nose."

"My! he's quite a pony!"

"And when a fly gets on the back part of his front leg, how do you s'pose he gets the fly off then, Daddy?" asked Sue.

"Does he ask you to drive the fly off for him?" Mr. Brown wanted to know.

"Oh, Daddy! Course not! Toby can't talk!" Sue said. "But he just s.h.i.+vers his leg and the fly goes right away! What do you think of that?"

"Well, I think your pony is smarter than we knew," said Mr. Brown.

"Think of s.h.i.+vering off flies!"

"And sometimes he stamps his feet and shakes them off," added Bunny.

"That's another way. How many does that make, Sue? How many ways can Toby drive off the flies?"

Bunny and Sue counted up on their fingers, Bunny saying:

"He can switch 'em off with his tail, he can scratch 'em off with his nose, he can stamp 'em off and he can s.h.i.+ver 'em off!"

"Four ways," said Sue, who was keeping track on her chubby fingers.

"My! Toby is a regular trick pony!" said Mr. Brown. "Well, here comes Bunker, and I guess he's ready to take you for a ride."

The boat and fish boy had cleaned off some of the paint that had splattered on him, and now, with freshly washed hands and face, and with his hair nicely combed, he was ready to take charge of Bunny and Sue.

"Please, could we drive a little?" asked Bunny.

"I want to hold the reins," added Sue.

"I guess it will be all right," said Mr. Brown. "When you get on a quiet road, Bunker, show the children how to drive, and let them take the reins."

"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Sue.

"Lots of fun!" echoed Bunny.

Bunker had to go to the end of the dock to tell another boy something about a boat that had been taken out by a fis.h.i.+ng party, and Bunny and Sue waited for their friend to come back before getting into the pony cart.

"'Member how we used to go out in the boats, Bunny?" asked Sue.

"Course I 'member. But I don't want to go out now. I'd rather go for a ride with our Shetland pony."

"Oh, so'd I," went on Sue. "I was just 'memberin'. Maybe some day we could take Toby for a ride on a boat."

"Maybe," agreed Bunny. "He wouldn't have to jiggle any flies off his skin then, if we had him in a boat."

"But maybe he wouldn't like a boat," went on Sue. "He might kick and fall overboard. Then we wouldn't have any pony."

"That's so," Bunny agreed. "Lessen we fished him out."

"We couldn't!" said Sue. "I don't guess we'd better take him out in a boat."

"Maybe not," agreed Bunny. "Course, maybe daddy or Bunker Blue could fish him out, but I guess we won't take him. I wish Bunker would hurry up and come back so we could go for a ride. Let's go and see where he is."

The two children, leaving Toby hitched to the cart and tied by a strap to a post, walked a little way down to look for Bunker. They saw him coming, and the fish and boat boy waved his hand to the children.

"I'll be with you in a minute," he said. "Tommy lost an oar off the dock and I had to get it for him."

As Bunny and Sue turned to walk back toward Toby they saw a funny sight.

The little Shetland pony started to come toward them, and in his mouth was a white rag.

"Oh, look what Toby has!" cried Bunny. "It's a piece of paper!"

"No, it's my handkerchief!" exclaimed Sue, "I dropped it out of my pocket," and, on looking, surely enough, her handkerchief was gone.