Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Part 14

"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, s.h.a.ggy 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 Splas.h.!.+" 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 w.a.n.go," the old sailor said. "Monkeys are easily frightened, and w.a.n.go 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 w.a.n.go 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 airs.h.i.+p," Sue said to Bunny, for they had been looking at some pictures of airs.h.i.+ps 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 pa.s.sengers 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 s.h.i.+pwrecked."

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

"Well, if you've been s.h.i.+pwrecked, 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 s.h.a.ggy 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 s.h.i.+pwrecked!"

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