Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm Part 18

"Oh, I think we'll go over by the brook," he said.

"Fis.h.i.+ng?"

"No, Sue. Not fis.h.i.+ng. Mother won't let me have a regular fish hook.

She's afraid I'll get it stuck in my hands. And you can't catch any fish on a bent-pin hook. So we won't go fis.h.i.+ng."

"I'm glad!" Sue exclaimed, "'cause worms, for bait, is so squiggily in your hands."

Over to the brook went the two children. Their mother had said they might play near it, if they did not get wet, and they had on their old clothes.

At first, after reaching the bank of the little brook, which rippled over green, mossy stones, Bunny and Sue had fun just tossing in bits of wood and bark, making believe they were boats. Then Bunny thought of something.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "I'm going to make a waterfall!"

"What's that?" asked his sister.

"Well, you put some mud and sticks and stones in the brook, all the way across. That makes a deep place, for the water can't run away. And, after a while, the water runs over the pile of mud and stones, and makes a waterfall. Will you help me build one?"

"Yes," said Sue.

"Then take off your shoes and stockings, 'cause we got to wade in the mud and water. And roll up your sleeves. We'll build a big waterfall."

CHAPTER XIII

THE TURKEY GOBBLER

Bunny Brown had seen some of the older boys, near his house, build a sort of wall across a brook, so that the water was held back, making a little pond. And then, when the pond was full, the water ran over the top of the mud wall, and down on the other side. That was why it was called a "waterfall."

"Now I'll put some stones down first," Bunny explained to Sue. "You get some pieces of gra.s.s, with the dirt on the roots, and put them on top of the stones. That's good to hold the water back."

"Shall I get wood, too?" asked Sue.

"No. Wood will only float away on top of the water," Bunny said. "We have to have something that will sink, like stones and dirt."

The two children were soon making the waterfall. They splashed about in the mud and water, but they did not mind. For they had taken off their shoes and stockings, though their mother had not said they could do so.

"But she wouldn't want us to go into the water with our shoes and stockings on would she, Sue?" asked Bunny.

"No, I guess not."

"So we'll have to take them off."

That was all there was to do. The children rolled up their sleeves, for they had to reach down in the mud to get the stones and clumps of gra.s.s to make the waterfall.

Pretty soon Bunny and Sue had built such a high wall of stones, mud and gra.s.s across the little brook, that no more water ran down the little stream. The water had gathered into a sort of pond, that was getting larger all the while, as it rose behind the stones.

"Oh, now it's running over!" cried Sue.

"Yes, now it's a waterfall!"

The water was trickling over the edge of the top of the wall. In a moment it ran down in quite a stream on the other side.

"If I only had a water-wheel the water would make it go around," said Bunny.

"Can't you make one?" Sue wanted to know. She was always anxious to see something new and different.

"I guess water-wheels are hard to make," Bunny said. "But I'll ask Bunker Blue when we go home."

Bunker Blue had also stayed on grandpa's farm. He helped with the work, and he said he liked it almost as much as going out in boats, or helping catch fish.

But as they did not have a water-wheel, and as Bunny could not make one there, the children had what fun they could. They floated sticks, and bits of bark from the trees, on the little pond that was made at the waterfall, and they watched the tiny "boats," sucked over the edge of the fall by the current. The fall was about a foot high, about as far as from Bunny's knee down to his toes.

"If we had a real boat we could go for a ride on the pond," said Sue, for the water back of the fall looked like a little pond now, though of course it was not large enough for any boat bigger than a make-believe one.

"Maybe I could make a boat," Bunny answered. He began looking in the woods on either side of the brook for some boards, of which to make a boat, but of course he could not find any.

"I could make a raft, like Robinson Crusoe did, if I could get some big pieces of trees," Bunny said to his sister. He tried to pull down to the water's edge some big tree branches that had been broken off in a storm, but he was not strong enough.

"Maybe we could fish in our pond," suggested Sue, when she saw that her brother could not build a raft, on which to go sailing.

"We haven't anything to fish with," replied Bunny. "And, anyhow, I guess there wouldn't be any fish. They won't come where you play in the water.

They're scared to come. But, oh, Sue! I know what we can do!"

"What?"

"We can go wading in the water. It's real nice and deep, now."

"Yes," said Sue, as she looked at the pond of water back of the fall.

"It's deep, Bunny."

"Oh, come on!" cried Bunny. "I'll go in first, Sue, and show you how deep it is!"

Bunny rolled up his little trousers as far above his knees as they would go. Then, taking a stick, to poke in the water ahead of him, to make sure it was not too deep, he started to wade.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "This is fun! Come on in!"

"I'm afraid I'll get my dress wet, Bunny."

"Oh, come on!" Bunny cried. "This is fun! It's just like----"

Bunny suddenly stopped speaking, and a queer look came over his face.

"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he cried. "I'm sinking down in the mud! I--I can't pull my feet loose! Oh dear! Help me out, Sue!"

But Sue was not going to step into that deep-looking water. For if Bunny was stuck fast she would be stuck, too.