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Read Ebook: Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony by Hope Laura Lee
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Ebook has 1808 lines and 70268 words, and 37 pages
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue stood on the side porch looking at one another as Bunker went in the house to help Uncle Tad move the sideboard. Uncle Tad was an old soldier who lived with the Brown family. He was Mr. Brown's uncle, but Bunny and Sue thought they owned just as much of the dear old man as did their father. Sadie West, who had crawled in under the fence instead of going around by the gate, ran home again, leaving Bunny and Sue by themselves.
"Say, Sue," began Bunny in a low voice, looking toward the house to make sure his mother and Bunker Blue had gone inside.
"What, Bunny?" asked the little girl.
"I know what we can do," went on Bunny.
"What?"
This time Bunny whispered.
"We can go out to the barn," he said in a low voice, his lips close to his sister's ear, "an' get in the ark when Bunker doesn't see us. He can't see us 'cause he's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the sideboard. We can easy get in the ark."
"What for?" Sue wanted to know. "Bunker said he wouldn't give us a ride."
"Yes. But if we're in there he'll have to!"
"Why?" asked Sue.
"'Cause," whispered Bunny, "he won't know we're in there at all, Sue!"
"Won't he?" asked Sue, her eyes shining.
"Nope! While Bunker's in the house helping Uncle Tad move the sideboard, we'll crawl in the back end of the ark. And we'll keep awful still, and we'll have a nice ride over to East Milford, and Bunker won't know a thing about it!"
"Oh, let's do it!" cried Sue, always ready to take part in the tricks Bunny thought of. "Let's do it! I'll take my doll!"
"And I'll take my little lifeboat. 'Tisn't all made yet, but that won't hurt! Come on!"
Quietly the two children tiptoed down off the side porch. Through the open dining-room windows they could hear Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad moving the sideboard.
Out to the barn went Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue. In the barn was the ark--the big auto--as large as a moving van. In it the whole Brown family had made a tour the previous summer. It really was like an ark, for it had rooms in it where the children and grown-ups could sleep, and a place to cook and eat meals.
"Oh, we can jump out and holler 'boo!' at him an' scare him!" laughed Sue, clapping her chubby hands in delight.
"Yes, we can do that. But not now!" whispered Bunny. "Hurry up an' crawl in, an' don't make any noise!"
So the two children entered the ark by the rear door, and found some blankets with which they covered themselves in two of the bunks, built on the sides of the big auto.
What would happen next?
THE FRIGHTENED PONY
Bunker Blue came whistling out of the house. He and Uncle Tad had moved the sideboard to the other end of the room, and now Mrs. Brown and the hired girl were putting the place to rights.
"Well, I wonder where Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue have gone?" said Bunker, aloud, as he stopped whistling. "I don't see them," and he looked around. "I'd like to give them a ride in the ark," he went on, "but their father didn't say anything about it, and he might not like it. When the big auto gets fixed then I can take them for a ride."
Then Bunker went out to the barn and took his seat at the steering wheel of the ark.
"Well, here I go!" he said, still talking aloud to himself, as he often did, and he put his foot on the self-starter, which made the engine of the auto go without any one having to get out in front and turn the handle, like the crank of a hand organ. "Here I go, but I do wish I could give Bunny and Sue a ride."
And back in the auto, under some blankets in the bunks, sounded two snickering noises.
"Hello! I wonder what that is?" exclaimed Bunker, as he heard them. "Is that you, Splash?" he called, for sometimes, he knew, the big dog that Bunny and Sue so often played with, crawled into the auto to sleep. "Is that you, Splash?"
No answer came.
"I guess it was just the wind," said Bunker Blue, as he steered the auto out through the big barn doors. "It was only the wind."
And inside the ark Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had to stuff their chubby fists into their mouths to keep from laughing. Oh, if Bunker Blue should hear them!
As Bunker steered the big auto down the driveway past the house, Mrs. Brown came running to the door, waving her hand.
"Bunker! Bunker Blue!" she cried. "Wait a minute!"
The auto was making such a noise that the fish boy could not hear what Mrs. Brown was saying, but he could see her.
"Whoa!" he called, just as if the big auto were a horse; and then he put on the brakes and brought it to a stop.
"Bunker," went on Mrs. Brown, "Mr. Brown just telephoned me to tell you to drive down to the dock and stop for him. He's going to East Milford with you. He wants to talk to the garage man about fixing the auto," for the big machine needed some repairs after its long tour.
"All right. I'll stop at the dock and get Mr. Brown," said Bunker. "I guess he must have got the fish iced and put away sooner than he expected. Now if I had Bunny and Sue I could take them with me," he went on.
"Take Bunny and Sue with you? What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, when they heard I was going to East Milford with the ark they wanted to come along. But I said I didn't believe their father would let them, and I didn't have time to go back and ask him. But now, as long as I have to go to the dock to get him, I could take them with me, and ask him now. Maybe he'd let them go."
"Yes, it is too bad," said Mrs. Brown. "But I don't know where the children went. I guess they ran over to Sadie West's house to play. But you haven't time to stop for them if Mr. Brown is in a hurry. They can ride some other time. Drive along, Bunker."
Now if Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had heard this talk they might, then and there, have called out that they were already in the auto. And, if they had done so, perhaps a whole lot of things that happened afterwards might not have happened.
But you never can tell what is going to take place next in this world. The reason Bunny and Sue didn't hear what their mother and Bunker said was because they had their heads covered with the blankets, so their snickers and laughter wouldn't be heard outside the ark.
And there they stayed, inside the big auto, as Bunker started off once more, driving first to the boat and fish dock to get Mr. Brown, who was going to East Milford with him.
"It's too bad the children aren't here," said Mrs. Brown as she went back into the house. "They could have a nice ride. I wonder where they ran off to?"
If Mrs. Brown could have seen Bunny and his sister then, I think she would have been surprised. But she did not see them, and, for a little while, she gave them no further thought, as she was so busy straightening the room, after Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue had moved the sideboard to its new place.
On rumbled the big auto, and Bunny and Sue lay in the bunks having a nice ride. They did not know just where they were going, and they certainly never thought they were on their way to the boat and fish dock, for they had not heard what their mother said. They kept covered with the blankets for some little time, afraid lest their occasional snickers and laughter might be heard by Bunker Blue.
"Hi, Sue!" called Bunny, after a while, during which the auto had rolled down the road some little way.
"What is it?" Sue asked.
"It's too hot to keep under the covers. If we make only a little noise now Bunker can't hear us."
"All right," Sue agreed. "But we mustn't make too much noise."
"No," said Bunny, and he threw off the covers and sat up in the bunk. His sister did the same thing, and then they went out in the main "room" of the ark. Of course, it was not a very large room, but it was pretty big for being inside an auto. It had a little table and some stools in it, and when the Browns were on their tour they often ate in that room, when it was too rainy to have their meals outside.
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