Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home Part 25

"Have you got a fish, Bunny?" asked Sue, who had walked a little way over toward the seal-pool.

"No, I haven't got a fish, but I've got a turtle. But I won't let him hurt you, Sue!" he called. "Oh, I've got a big one! Look, Sue!"

Bunny was holding tightly to the string. He had wound it about his hands, and as the cord was a strong one, and as the turtle had swallowed the bent-pin hook on the other end, Bunny was almost being pulled over into the tank full of water, where the alligators and other turtles were now swimming about, very much excited, because the turtle which Bunny had caught was making such a fuss.

"Oh, I've got him! I've got him!" cried Bunny, eagerly.

"I rather think he has got _you_!" said a man, rus.h.i.+ng up to Bunny just in time to grab him. The little fellow's feet were being lifted off the floor and, in another few seconds, he himself was in danger of being pulled into the pool. For the cord was a strong one, and the turtle was one of the largest.

"Let go the string!" called the man who had hold of Bunny. "Let go the string!"

Bunny did so, and the turtle swam away with it.

By this time Mother Brown and Aunt Lu, who had heard Bunny's calls, had rushed over to him. Others, too, left the seals, to see what was the excitement at the turtle and alligator pool.

"Oh, Bunny! What have you done?" cried his mother.

"I--I was catching a fish," Bunny explained, as the man who had stopped him from being pulled into the pool, set the little fellow down. "I was catching a fish and--"

"But you musn't catch any fish in _here_!" exclaimed one of the men in uniform, who was on guard in the aquarium. "You're not allowed to catch fish in here!"

"It--it wasn't a fish," said Bunny. "It was a turtle. I tried to get a fish, but I couldn't. But the turtle bit on the rag bait."

"Yes, turtles will do that," said the guard. "But you must never again try to fish in here. These fish are to look at, not to catch."

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean to do wrong," said the man who had saved Bunny from getting wet in the pool.

"I'll forgive him this time," the guard said, "but he must not do it again."

"I won't," Bunny promised.

The turtle that had taken the pin hook was swimming about with the string dragging after it. One of the aquarium men, with a net, caught the turtle, and took the pin and string out of its mouth.

"Now let's go and look at the seals," said Bunny, when the crowd, laughing at what the little boy had done, had moved away.

"But you musn't try to catch any of them," his mother said.

"I won't," promised Bunny.

Watching the seals was fun, and Bunny and Sue had a good time there, until it was time to go out of the aquarium for dinner. The children had a nice meal, in a restaurant, and Aunt Lu said:

"I think this afternoon we will take a little ride on the boat to Coney Island. You children can have an ocean bath there. It is getting on toward fall, I know, but it is all the nicer down at the beach, and there won't be such crowds there as in real hot weather."

"Oh, won't it be fun to paddle in the water again!" cried Sue.

"That's what it will!" said Bunny Brown.

The place to take the boat for Coney Island was two or three blocks from the restaurant where they had eaten lunch. Bunny and Sue walked behind Mother Brown and Aunt Lu along the street to the boat-dock.

"This is just like home," said Bunny as he saw the water-front, with many boats tied up along the docks, just as they were at his father's pier at home.

Sue liked it, too. There were many things to see. In one window the children saw a number of monkeys, and birds with brightly colored feathers.

"Oh, let's stop and look at them!" cried Sue. Bunny was willing, so they stood looking in the window. Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu, thinking the children were coming right along, walked on. And it was not until they were ready to cross the street that the mother and aunt missed the little ones.

"Why, where can they have gone?" cried Mrs. Brown, looking all around.

"Oh, they're just walking slowly, behind us," Aunt Lu said. "We'll go back and find them."

She and her sister walked back, but they could not see Bunny and Sue.

"Oh, where are they?" cried Mrs. Brown. "My children are lost! Lost in New York! Oh dear!"

CHAPTER XVII

AT THE POLICE STATION

Bunny Brown, and his sister Sue, standing in front of the window where the monkeys and birds were, in cages, had forgotten all about Mother Brown and Aunt Lu. All the children thought of was watching the funny things the monkeys did, for there were three of the long-tailed animals in one cage, and they seemed to be playing tricks on one another.

"Oh, Bunny!" said Sue, "this must be where the hand-organ men get their monkeys."

"Maybe," Bunny agreed. "But hand-organ monkeys have red caps on, and wear green coats, and these monkeys haven't anything on."

"Maybe they make caps and jackets for them from the birds' feathers,"

Sue said.

"Maybe," agreed Bunny. Certainly the feathers of the birds were red and green, just the colors of the caps and jackets the monkeys wore.

"I wonder if the man would give us a monkey?" Sue said, as she pressed her little nose flat against the window gla.s.s, so she would miss nothing of what went on in the store.

"Maybe he would, or we could save up and buy one," Bunny answered.

"Monkeys don't cost much I guess. 'Cause hand-organ mens isn't very rich, and they always have one. I'd like a parrot, too," said Sue.

"Yes, a parrot is better than a doll, for a parrot can talk."

"A parrot is not better than a doll!" Sue cried.

"Yes it is," said Bunny. "It's alive, too, and a doll isn't."

"Well, I can make believe my doll is alive," said Sue. "Anyhow, Bunny Brown, you can't have a parrot or a monkey, 'cause Henry, the elevator boy, won't let 'em come inside Aunt Lu's house."

"That's so," Bunny agreed. "Well, anyhow, we can go in and ask how much they cost, and we can save up our money and buy one when we go home. We aren't always going to stay at Aunt Lu's. And our dog, Splash, would like a monkey and a parrot."

"Yes," said Sue, "he would. All right, we'll go in and ask how much they is."