CHAPTER X
A TROLLEY RIDE
"Who--who is that?" asked Sue of her brother in a whisper. "Oh, it'spapa come for us!"
"That isn't papa," Bunny answered, for well he knew his father's voice.
"Well, it's SOMEBODY, anyhow," and Sue smiled now, through her tears."It's somebody, and I'm so glad!"
"Bunny! Sue!" called the voice again, and the big dog barked. Perhaps hewas also glad that "somebody" had come for him, as glad as were thechildren. But, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked all about,they could see no one. Then, all of a sudden, Sue thought of something.
"Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "Do you s'pose it could be him?"
"Be who?"
"Robinson Crusoe's man Friday. Here on the island, you know. Maybe heheard we were here, and came to help us catch fish, or make a fire. Oh,Bunny, if it should be Mr. Friday!"
"Pooh! It couldn't be," said Bunny. "Mr. Friday was only make-believe,and we were only pretending, anyhow. It couldn't be!"
"No, I 'spose not," and Sue sighed. "Anyhow, it's somebody, and theyknow us, and I'm glad!"
Bunny was also glad, and a few seconds later, while the dog kept onbarking, and running here and there, Bunny and Sue raw, coming aroundthe end of the island, a boat, and in it was Jed Winkler, the old sailorwho owned Wango, the monkey. Only, of course, the old sailor did nothave the monkey with him this time.
"Bunny! Sue! Oh, there you are!" called Mr. Winkler as he saw the twochildren.
"Oh, Mr. Winkler!" cried Bunny. "We're so glad to see you!"
"Yes, and I guess your folks will be glad to see YOU!" answered the oldsailor. "They've been looking all over for you, and only a little whileago I noticed that your boat was gone. I thought maybe you had gone on avoyage down the river, so I said I'd come down and look, as far as theisland, anyhow. And here you are!
"I wonder what you'll do next? But there's no telling, I reckon. Whathave you been doing, anyhow, and whose dog is that?"
"He's mine," said Sue quickly. "He pulled me out of the water."
"He's half mine, too," said Bunny. "I saw him before you did, Sue. Youcouldn't see him 'cause your head was under the water," he went on, "andwhen a feller sees a dog first, half of it is his, anyhow; isn't it, Mr.Winkler?"
"Oh, you may have half of him," agreed Sue kindly. "Do you want the headhalf, or the tail hall, Bunny?"
"Well," said Bunny slowly, "I like the tail end, 'cause that wags whenhe's happy, but I like the head end too, because that barks, and he canwash our hands with his tongue."
Bunny did not seem to know which half of the dog to take. Then a newidea came to him.
"I'll tell you what we can do, Sue!" he exclaimed. "We can divide himdown the middle the other way. Then you'll have half his head end, andhalf his tail end, and so will I."
"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed, "and we can take turns feeding him."
"Say, I never see two such youngsters as you!" declared the old sailor,laughing. "What happened to you, anyhow?"
"Well, we didn't mean to go off in the boat, but we did," Bunnyexplained. "Then we got wrecked on this island, just like RobinsonCrusoe did."
"Only we didn't find Mr. Friday," put in Sue.
"But we found a cave--a make-believe one," Bunny said quickly.
"And I fell in, but we didn't get any fish," added the sister.
"And the dog did pull her out, and we're going to keep him," went onBunny. "And will you take us home, Mr. Winkler? 'Cause we're hungry, andmaybe our dog is, too, and it's getting dark, and we couldn't make ourboat go, even if we did hitch the dog up to it."
"Bless your hearts, of course I'll take you home, and the dog, too!" theold sailor cried, "though I didn't expect to find a dog here. Come now,get in my boat, and I'll fasten yours to mine, and pull it along afterme. Come along!"
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon in the old sailor's boat, thedog following them, and, a little later, they were safely at their owndock, where their father and mother, as well as Aunt Lu and Bunker Blue,were waiting to greet them.
"Oh, Bunny! Oh, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she gathered them both intoher arms. "Why did you do it? Oh, such a fright as you have given all ofus!"
"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Bunny, himself a little frightened atwhat had happened. "The boat came untied, and floated off with us, andthen we played Robinson Crusoe, just like you read to me out of thebook, and--"
"But we didn't find Mr. Friday," interrupted Sue, who seemed to feelthis was quite a disappointment.
"Never mind," remarked Aunt Lu, "you had plenty of other adventures, Ishould think. Why, Sue!" she exclaimed, "your dress is quite damp!"
"She fell in," explained Bunny, "and--"
"Mercy! Where did that dog come from?" cried Mrs. Brown, for the bigshaggy animal had been lying quietly in the bottom of Mr. Winkler'sboat, and now, with a bark, he suddenly sprang up, and jumped out on thedock.
"It's our dog," said Sue. "He pulled me out."
"Pulled you out, child? Out of where?" Mrs. Brown wanted to know. "Whathappened? Tell me all about it!"
Which Bunny and Sue did, taking turns. Then they begged to be allowed tokeep the dog, and Mr. Brown said they might, if no one came to claim it.
"I guess it must be a lost dog," said the old sailor. "Maybe it jumpedoff some boat that was going down the river, and swam to the island. Iguess it's glad enough to get off, though, for there's nothing there fora 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 ownone half, down the middle, and so does Bunny."
"Bless your hearts!" Mrs. Brown cried. "She was very glad the childrenhad been found, and Mr. Brown told Bunny and Sue they must not get inthe boat again, unless some older person was with them, even if the boatwas tied to the dock. Then it was supper time, and the big, shaggy dogate 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 wedon't like that."
"Oh, let's call him Splash!" exclaimed Sue.
"Splash? What a funny name!" her mother remarked.
"Well, he did splash in the water after me, and pulled me out. Maybe wecould call him Pull, but I like Splash better," and Sue shook her curlyhead.
"Call him Splash, then," agreed Mr. Brown, and so the big dog was calledthat name. He did not seem to mind how funny it was, but wagged histail, and barked happily whenever he was spoken to.
For two or three days after they had gone off in the boat, Bunny Brownand his sister Sue did not go far from home. They remained about thehouse, playing different games with some of the children who lived nearthem. Now and then they would go down the street with Aunt Lu, or to thedock, 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 findit," she would add, in rather a sad voice. "I am afraid it is goneforever."
"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 tolove the two children very much, and went everywhere with them. No onecame to claim him. There was only one place Bunny and Sue could not takehim, and that was to Mr. Winkler's house, and it was on account of themonkey.
"I'm afraid Splash might scare Wango," the old sailor said. "Monkeys areeasily frightened, and Wango might try to get out of his cage and hurthimself. So, much as I love your dog, children, please don't bring himwhere Wango is."
"We won't," promised Bunny and Sue. So, whenever they paid a littlevisit to their friend, the old sailor, Splash was chained outsidethe gate, and the poor dog did not seem to understand why this wasdone. 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 theywanted to buy some toy balloons, which they had seen in the window ofMrs. Redden's store.
"Maybe we could tie two balloons together, and fasten them to a basketand have a ride, like in an airship," Sue said to Bunny, for they hadbeen looking at some pictures of airships in a magazine.
"Maybe we could," Bunny agreed.
But Bunny and Sue did not buy the toy balloons. They were on their wayto get them, with Splash, the dog, walking along the street behind them,when a trolley car came along. The trolley ran from Bellemere, whereBunny and Sue lived, to Wayville, the next town. In Wayville lived UncleHenry, who was a brother of Mrs. Brown's.
"Oh, Sue! I know what let's do!" Bunny suddenly cried, as the trolleycar stopped to take on some passengers at the street corner.
"What shall we do, Bunny?" Sue was always ready to follow where herbrother led.
"Let's take our five cents and have a trolley ride! We can go toWayville and see Uncle Henry. He'd like to see us."
"But if we go on the trolley it costs five cents," Sue objected, "and wecan't buy the balloons."
"Maybe Uncle Henry will give us some pennies when we tell him we had tospend 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 andSue ran for the trolley. The conductor, though perhaps he thought itstrange to see two such small children traveling alone, said nothing,but helped them up the high step. Often the people of Wayville orBellemere would put their children on the car, and ask the conductor tolook out for them, and put them off at a certain place. But no one waswith Bunny and Sue.
"We want to go to Wayville, to our Uncle Henry's," explained theblue-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 offwent the trolley car, carrying Bunny and Sue to new adventures.
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Page 10