And as soon as the little yellow dog found that he was not going to be hurt, but that Splash was just going to be friends with him, why the two animals just sat down in the grass find rubbed noses and, I suppose, talked to each other in dog language, if there is any such thing.

Bunny helped Sue get up, and then Mr. Winkler came running along. He could not go very fast, for he was aged, and he was a little lame, because of rheumatism, from having been out so many cold and wet nights when he was a sailor on a ship.

"Well, well, youngsters!" exclaimed Mr. Winkler. "You had quite a spill; didn't you?"

"But we didn't get hurt," said Bunny, who was looking at the wagon and harness to see that it was not broken. Everything seemed to be all right. "We're not hurt a bit," Bunny laughed.

"Well, I'm glad of that," went on Mr. Winkler, as he helped Bunny put the wagon right side up and straight once more. "How did it happen?"

"Splash just runned away," replied Sue, "He runned after the yellow dog."

"And he caught him all right," laughed Mr. Winkler. "But they seem to be great friends now. Who made your harness, Bunny?"

"Bunker Blue did. He can make lots of things."

"Yes, I guess he can," agreed the old sailor. "But I hope, after this, that Splash won't run away with you when you go for a ride."

"Well, it didn't hurt much, to fall out," laughed Bunny. "Now we'll ride back again."

Splash went back very slowly. Perhaps he was tired, or he may have been sorry that he had run so fast at first, and had upset the wagon. The yellow dog went off by himself, and he was glad, I guess, that he did not have to pull a wagon with two children in it. But Splash seemed to enjoy it.

Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had not seen the runaway, or they might not have wanted Bunny and Sue to take any more rides in the express wagon. But the two children had lots of fun the rest of the morning, riding up and down, and Splash acted very nicely, stopping when Bunny called "Whoa!" and going on again when the little boy said, "Giddap!"

"Oh, it's just like a real horse!" exclaimed Sue, clapping her hands. "Will you let me hold the lines, Bunny?"

"Yes," answered her brother, and soon Sue could drive Splash almost as well as Bunny could.

For several days after that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had many good times with their dog and express wagon. They gave their playmates rides up and down the sidewalk, and never once again did Splash run away. But then he did not see his friend, the little yellow dog, or he might have raced after him just as at first.

When Bunny and Sue were eating breakfast one morning, Mrs. Gordon, whose husband kept the grocery store, came in to see Mrs. Brown.

"I wonder if your children could not help me?" said Mrs. Gordon, as she sat down in a chair in the dining room, and fanned herself with her apron. She lived next door to the Brown home.

"Well, Bunny and Sue are always glad to help," said their mother, smiling at them. "What is it you want them to do?"

"Do you want a ride in our express wagon, Mrs. Gordon?" asked Bunny.

"Or maybe have us sell lemonade for you?" added Sue.

"Bless your hearts! It isn't either of those things," answered Mrs. Gordon, with a laugh. "I just want you to help me hunt for a hen's nest. That's all."

"Look for a hen's nest!" exclaimed Bunny.

"Yes," said Mrs. Gordon. "One of my hens has strayed off by herself and is laying her eggs in a nest I can't find. I've looked all over our yard for it, but perhaps it is in your barn," she went on to Mrs. Brown. "And if it is, maybe Bunny and Sue could find it."

"Oh, maybe we could!" Bunny cried.

"It will be fun to look!" said Sue. "Come on, Bunny."

"Be careful you don't fall," their mother cautioned them, as they ran out, hardly waiting to finish their breakfast.

Hens, you know, often like to go quietly off by themselves, and lay their eggs in a nest that no one can find. And this is what one of Mrs. Gordon's hens had done.

Into the barn ran Bunny and Sue.

"We'll see who'll find the nest first!" Bunny shouted.

"I think I shall," cried Sue.

And now you wait and see what happens.

There were many places in the barn where a hen might lay her eggs. There were nooks under wagons, or under wheelbarrows, corners behind boxes, and any number of holes in the place where the hay for the horses was kept—the haymow, as it is called.

Bunny and Sue looked in all the places they could think of. But they did not see a hen sitting in her hidden nest, nor did they find the white eggs she might have laid.

"I guess the nest isn't here," said Bunny after a while.

"No, I guess not, too," echoed Sue. "Let's slide down the hay."

The hay in the mow was quite high in one place, and low in another, like a little hill. Bunny and Sue could climb to the top, or high place of the hay, and slide down, for it was quite slippery.

Up they climbed, and down they slid, quite fast. They had done this a number of times, when finally Sue said:

"Oh, Bunny, I'm going to slide down in a new place!"

She went over to one side of the hay-hill, and down she slid. And then something funny happened.

There was a sort of crackling sound, and Sue called out:

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! I've found the hen's nest, and I'm right in it!"



CHAPTER XXII

AUNT LU IS SAD

Bunny Brown quickly slid down on his side of the hay-hill. He could see his sister Sue, who was sitting in a little hollow place.

"What—what's the matter?" Bunny asked, for Sue had a funny look on her face.

"I found Mrs. Gordon's hen's nest," answered the little girl, "and I'm right in it!"

"In what?" Bunny wanted to know.

"In the nest. I'm sitting in it—right on the eggs, just like a hen. Only," said Sue, and the funny look on her face changed into a sort of smile, "only I—I've broken all the eggs!"

And that is just what she had done.

Oh! how Sue was covered with the whites and yellows of the eggs!

She had slid down the haymow on a side where she and Bunny did not often play, and she had slid right into the hen's nest. The children had not thought of looking there for it.

But Sue had found it.

Slowly she stood up. She and Bunny looked into the nest And, just as Sue had said, all the eggs were broken.

"Oh, it's too bad!" the little girl exclaimed. "Mrs. Gordon will be so sorry."

"You couldn't help it," declared Bunny, "You—you just slid into 'em!"

"Yes," went on Sue. "I didn't see the nest at all, but I heard the eggs break, and there I was, sitting there on them just like a hen. Oh, dear! Look at my dress!"

"It will wash out," said her brother. "You might go down and wade in the brook. But we couldn't, without asking mother, and then she'd see you anyhow."

"Oh, I'll tell her!" exclaimed Sue. "We'd better go in, 'cause if egg- stuff dries on you it's awful hard to get off. Aunt Lu said so when she baked a cake yesterday."

"Well, we can come back and slide some more."

"Yes, after I get clean. And we'll have to tell Mrs. Gordon, too; won't we, Bunny?"

"Oh, yes. But she has lots of hens and eggs, so she won't care."

Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu were much surprised when Bunny Brown and his sister Sue came in, Sue all white and yellow from the eggs. But Sue's mother knew it was something that could not be helped, so she did not scold. She changed Sue's dress, and then she said:

"Now you and Bunny run over and tell Mrs. Gordon."

When the grocery-store-keeper's wife saw Bunny and Sue coming over to her house she thought perhaps their mother had sent them on an errand, as Mrs. Brown often did. For the time Mrs. Gordon had forgotten about the hidden hen's nest. In fact, she had not thought that Bunny and Sue would really spend much time looking for it. So when Sue said:

"I—I found it, Mrs. Gordon!"

Mrs. Gordon asked:

"What did you find, Sue, a penny rolling up hill?"

That was the way Mrs. Gordon sometimes joked with Bunny and Sue.

"No'm. I found your hen's nest, and I sat in it and broke all the eggs," said Sue. "I—I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry with her," added Bunny.

"Bless your little hearts! What's it all about?" asked Mrs. Gordon with a laugh. Then Bunny and Sue told her, and she laughed harder than ever. Bunny and Sue smiled, for now they knew Mrs. Gordon did not mind about the broken eggs.

"Well, I'm glad you found the nest, anyhow, if you did break the eggs," said the storekeeper's wife. "Maybe now my hen will not go over into your barn, but will make her nest in our coop, where she ought to make it. So it's all right, Sue, and here are some cookies for you and Bunny."

The two children were very glad they had gone to tell Mrs. Gordon about the eggs, for they liked cookies.

That afternoon, when Sadie West, Helen Newton, Charlie Star and Harry Bentley came over to play with Bunny and Sue, they had to be shown the place in the hay where Sue "found" the eggs. One of Mr. Brown's stable men had taken out the broken shells, for he did not want them to get in the hay that the horses ate. The inside of the eggs did not matter, for horses like them anyhow.

The children saw a hen walking around on the hay, near the place where Sue had slid into the eggs.

"I guess that's the hen that had her nest here," said Sadie.

"And she is wondering where it is now," added Bunny. "Go on away, Mrs. Hen!" he exclaimed. "Go lay your eggs in Mrs. Gordon's coop."

And the hen, cackling, flew away.

"Let's all slide down," said Charlie Star. "Let's slide in the hay."

"Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And maybe we'll find some more nests. But I don't want to slide in any if we do find some," she said. "I don't want to get this dress dirty."

The children had great fun sliding down the hay-hill, but they found no more eggs. They played at this for some time, and then Charlie Star called:

"Let's go out and climb trees!"

"Girls can't climb trees," objected Sadie.

"Some girls can," answered Charlie. "I have a girl cousin, and she can climb a tree as good as I can. But she lives in the country," he went on.

"Oh, of course if a girl lives in the country she can climb a tree," Helen Newton said "But we live in a town. I don't want to climb trees."

"I like it," said Bunny Brown. "I'm glad I know how to climb a tree, 'cause if a dog chased after me I could climb up, and he couldn't get me. Dogs can't climb trees."

"Cats can," said Sadie. "I saw our cat climb a tree once."

"But cats don't chase after you," remarked Charlie.

"Our cat chased a mouse once," observed Sue. "Can a mouse climb a tree, Bunny?"

"No, a mouse can't climb a tree," answered Sue's brother. "But we fellows will go out and climb, though there aren't any dogs to chase us. Splash won't, but he'll play tag with us."

"Well, if you are going to climb trees, we'll play dolls," said Sue. "Come on," she added to her two little girl friends. "We'll get our dolls, and have a play party."

Sadie and Helen, who did not live far away, ran home and got their dolls. Sue brought out hers, and the girls had a nice time on the shady side of the porch. Mrs. Brown gave them some cookies, and some crackers, which were cut in the shapes of different animals, and with these, and some lemonade in little cups, Sue and her chums had lots of fun.

Bunny, Charlie and Harry went to the back yard, where there were some old apple trees, with branches very close to the ground, so they were easy to climb. Bunny had often done it, and so had his two little boy friends.

As they were near the trees George Watson passed through the next lot, on the other side of the fence from the Brown land.

"I can climb trees better than any of you," George said. "If you let me come into your yard, Bunny, I'll show you how to climb."

"Oh, don't let him in!" exclaimed Charlie. "He threw the box of frogs at us the time you had your party. Don't you let him in!"

"No, I wouldn't, either," added Harry.

"Oh, please!" begged George. "I won't throw any more frogs at you."

"Go on away!" ordered Charlie.

But Bunny Brown was kind-hearted. He had forgiven George for the trick about the frogs. And Bunny wanted to learn all he could about climbing trees.

"Yes, you can come in, George," said Sue's brother.

George was very glad to do so, for he liked to play with these boys, though he was older than they were. And since his trick with the jumping frogs, in the box, George had been rather lonesome.

"Now I'll show you how to climb trees!" he said.

"I can climb this one," declared Bunny, going over to one in which he had often gone up several feet.

"Oh, that's an easy one," said George with a laugh. "You ought to try and climb a hard one, like this."

Up went George, quite high, in a larger tree. Charlie and Harry also each got into a bigger tree than the one Bunny had picked out. And of course Bunny, like any boy, wanted to do as he saw the others doing.

"Pooh! I can climb a big tree, too," he said. He got down from the one he had picked out, and started up another. He watched how George put first one foot on a branch and then the other foot, at the same time pulling himself up by his hands. Bunny did very well until his foot slipped and went down in a hole in the tree, where the wood had rotted away, leaving a hollow place.

Down into this hollow, that might some day be a squirrel's nest, went Bunny's foot and leg. Then he cried out:

"Oh, I'm caught! I'm caught! My foot is fast, and I can't pull it loose!"

And that was what had happened. Bunny's foot had gone so deep down in the hollow place of the tree, and the hollow was so small, that the little boy's foot had become wedged fast. Pull as he did, he could not get it up. "Wait—I'll help you!" called George.

He scrambled from his tree, and ran over to where Bunny was caught. Bunny could not get down, but had to stand with one foot on a branch, and the other in the hole, holding on to the trunk, or body, of the tree with both hands.

"Oh!" exclaimed Charlie, "s'posin' he can't ever get loose!"

"We could chop the tree down," said Harry.

But George thought he could get Bunny loose easier than that. George got a box, so he could stand on it and reach up to Bunny's leg without getting up in the tree himself. Then George pulled and tugged away, trying to lift up Bunny's foot.

But it would not come. It was caught, as if in a trap, and the longer Bunny stood up, pressing down on his foot, the more tightly it was wedged.

"Now for a good pull!" cried George, and he gave a hard tug.

"Ouch! You hurt!" said Bunny, and George had to stop.

"Well, I don't know what to do," he said. "I'll have to get you loose some way. Come on," he called to Charlie and Harry. "You get hold of his leg and we'll all pull."

"Then you'll hurt me more," said Bunny. "Go tell mamma. She will know what to do!"

"Yes, I guess that's best," George said.

Mrs. Brown came running out when the three boys, who were a little frightened, told her Bunny was caught in a tree.

"Oh, is he hanging head down?" asked Aunt Lu, as she hurried out after Bunny's mother.

"No, he's standing up, but his leg is down in a hole," said George. "We can't get him out."

But Mrs. Brown easily set matters right.

She put her hand down in the tree-hole, beside Bunny's leg, the hole being big enough for this. Then, with her fingers, Mrs. Brown unbuttoned Bunny's shoe, and said:

"Now pull out your foot."

Bunny could easily do this, as it was his shoe that was caught, and not his foot. His foot was smaller than his shoe, you see.

Carefully he lifted his foot and leg out of he hole of the tree, and then his mother helped him to the ground.

"But what about my shoe?" Bunny asked, with a queer look on his face. "Has my shoe got to stay in the tree, Mother?"

"No, I think I can get it out," said Mrs. Brown. Once more she put her hand down in the hollow, and, now that Bunny's foot was out of his shoe, it could easily be bent and twisted, so that it came loose.

"There you are!" exclaimed Aunt Lu, as she buttoned Bunny's shoe on him again, using a hairpin for a buttonhook. "Now don't climb any more trees."

"I'll just climb my own little tree," Bunny said. "That hasn't any hole in it."

And while the tree-climbing fun was going on Bunny only went up his own little tree, where he was in no danger.

After a time the boys became tired of this play, and when Sue, Sadie and Helen invited them to come to the "play-party," Bunny and his friends were pleased enough to come.

"And we're going to have real things to eat, and not make-believe ones, Bunny," said Sue.

"That's good!" laughed George. "I'm glad you let me play with you."

The others were glad also, for George said he was sorry about the frogs, and would not play any more tricks.

Mrs. Brown gave the girls some more cookies, and Aunt Lu handed out some of her nice jam and jelly tarts. Then the girls set a little table, made of a box covered with paper, and the boys sat down to eat, pretending they were at a picnic.

On several days after this the children had good times in the yard of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. It was now almost summer, and one morning Aunt Lu said:

"Well, children, this is my last week here."

"Oh, where are you going?" asked Bunny.

"Back home, dear. To New York. And I want you to come and see me there. Will you?"

"If mamma will let us," said Sue.

"I'll think about it," promised Mrs. Brown.

So Aunt Lu got ready to go back home. And as she walked about with Bunny and Sue, paying last visits to the fish dock, the river and the other nice places, Aunt Lu seemed sad. She looked down at the ground, and often glanced at her finger on which she had worn the diamond ring.

"Sue," said Bunny one day, "I know what makes Aunt Lu so sad."

"What is it?"

"Losing her ring. And I know a way that might make her glad, so she would smile and be happy again."

"What way?"

"Let's give a Punch and Judy show for her," said Bunny. "We'll get Sadie and Helen, and George and Charlie and Harry to help us. We'll give a Punch and Judy show!"

"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.



CHAPTER XXIII

AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often talked about giving a Punch and Judy show. They had often seen one, at picnics or at church sociables, and Bunny knew by heart a few of the things Mr. Punch had to say. He did not stop to think that perhaps he could not get behind the curtain, and make the little wooden figures do the funny things they were supposed to do. And he did not know where he could get the queer little doll-like figures.

"But I can do something, anyhow," said Bunny, who was a very ambitious little boy. Ambitious means he was always willing to try to do things, whether or not he was sure he could really do them.

"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I want to make Aunt Lu happy."

"Well, you can be Mrs. Judy part of the time," her brother answered, "and you can pull the curtains over when Mr. Punch has to change his clothes, and things like that. I'm going to be Mr. Punch."

"And wear the lobster claw?" asked Sue.

"Yes, on my nose. That's what I got it for. I can make little holes in each side, and put strings in them, and tie the lobster claw on my nose with the string around my head."

"It will be fun, Bunny. I wish it were time for the show now."

"Oh, we've got lots to do," said the little boy. "We've got to tell Sadie and the rest of 'em, and we've got to get tickets, and put up a tent."

"A tent!" cried Sue. "Where is a tent?"

"That's so," admitted Bunny, looking puzzled, "We haven't got a tent. But we can have the Punch and Judy show in our barn," he went on quickly, "and you can stand at the door and take the money, and sell tickets—that is, when you aren't being Mrs. Punch."

"Aunt Lu won't have to buy a ticket, will she?" Sue wanted to know.

"Course not!" Bunny cried. "She's company. 'Sides, we're making the show for her, so she won't be so sad about her ring."

"I wish we could find it for her," Sue sighed.

"So do I," came from Bunny. "But I guess we never shall. Now we must go and tell Sadie and Helen and the others about the show."

"Are they going to be in it?" asked his sister.

"No, they won't be Mr. or Mrs. Punch, but we want them to buy tickets and come."

"How much are tickets?"

Bunny thought for a moment.

"We'll charge pins and money—money for the big folks, pins for children."

"That will be nice," said Sue, "'cause children can always get pins off their mothers' cushions, but they can't always get money. What will we do with the pins, Bunny?"

"Sell 'em. Mother will buy 'em, or maybe Aunt Lu will. No," he said quickly, "Aunt Lu is company, and we don't want her to buy pins. We'll give her all she wants for nothing."

"And what will we do with the money, Bunny?"

"We'll give it to Old Miss Hollyhock, same as we did the lemonade money. Then she'll sure be rich."

"That will be nice," Sue murmured.

The first thing to do was to tell the other children about the coming Punch and Judy show. This Bunny and Sue did, going to the different houses of their playmates. Everyone thought the idea was just too fine for anything.

"I'll lend you some of my old dresses, Sue, so you can look real funny, like Mrs. Punch," said Sadie.

"And I have a red hat I got at a surprise party," said Helen. "You can have that."

"Thanks," laughed Sue. "Oh, I know we'll have fun."

Harry and Charlie said they would help Bunny.

"But making the box-place, like a little theatre, where Mr. Punch stands, is going to be hard," Harry said, shaking his head.

"I'll get Bunker Blue to help us," said Bunny. "We could ask Uncle Tad, but we don't want any of the folks to know what it is going to be until it's time for the show."

"Oh, Bunker can make the little theatre, all right," Charlie said. "And we can help him."

"George Watson would like to help," suggested Harry. "He has been real nice since he let the frogs loose on us."

"We'll ask him, too," decided Bunny.

Bunker Blue was very glad to help the children build a Punch and Judy show.

"And I won't tell anyone a thing about it," he promised. "We'll keep it for a surprise."

Bunker was just the best one Bunny could have thought of to help. For Bunker worked around Mr. Brown's boats, and could get pieces of wood, boards, nails and sail-cloth, to make a little curtain for the tiny theatre where Bunny would pretend to be Mr. Punch.

The day after Bunny and Sue had thought of the plan to make Aunt Lu not so sad, by giving a little entertainment for her, the children went out in the barn to practise. Their playmates came over to help, though there was not much for them to do, since Bunny and Sue (and more especially Bunny) were to be the "whole show."

Banker had not yet made the tall, narrow box, inside of which Bunny was to stand, and pretend to be Mr. Punch, but they did not need it for practice.

Bunny and Sue had told their mother they were going to have a "show" out in the barn, but they did not say what kind, nor tell why they wanted it. But they had to say something, so Mrs. Brown would let them play there, and also let them take some of their old clothes, in which to "dress-up."

"Have as much fun as you like," said Mrs. Brown, "but don't slide down in any hens' nests with eggs in them," she added to Sue.

"I won't, Mother."

Bunny fixed the hollow lobster claw, with a string in a hole on either side of it, so he could tie it on his nose. Bunker bored the holes for him with a knife, and cut the claw so it would fit, and when Bunny put the queer red claw, shaped just like Mr. Punch's nose, on his face, the little boy was so funny that all his playmates laughed.

Then, too, when Bunny talked, his voice sounded very different from what it did every day. If you will hold your nose in your hand, and talk, you will know just how Bunny's voice sounded.

"Oh, it's too funny!" laughed Sadie. "I know it is going to be a lovely show! Your Aunt Lu will be very much surprised."

When Bunny practised in the barn he did not wear the lobster claw on his nose, except the first time, to see how it looked.

"It's too hot to wear it all the while," he said, "and it makes me want to scratch my nose, and when I do that I can't talk. So I'll put the claw away, and I'll only wear it the day of the show."

Of course Bunny and Sue could not give a Punch and Judy play like the real one, which, perhaps, you have seen. They did not have the wooden figures, like dolls, to use, and they were too small to know all the things the real Mr. Punch says and does.

But Bunny knew some of them, and really, for a little boy, he did very well. At least all his playmates said so.

In a few days Bunker Blue had the little theatre made, and as he brought it up to the Brown barn in a wagon, carefully covered over, no one could see what it was. George Watson had been asked to help, and he had made tickets for the play. The tickets, which George printed with some rubber type, read:

FINE BIG SHOW BY BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE In Their Barn Five Pins or Five Cents To Come In Pins Are for Children PLEASE COME

"They're fine tickets," said Bunny, when George showed them to him. "I hope we sell a lot."

And several persons did buy them, paying real money for them. Bunny and the others said they were trying to help Old Miss Hollyhock, which was one reason for giving the show. The other was to make Aunt Lu feel more happy. And when the people heard what Bunny and Sue planned to do, they gladly bought one ticket, and some even more. Though not all of them would really go to the show.

One day Bunny and Sue went down to Mrs. Redden's toy shop. She bought a ticket from them, and Sue and Bunny each bought a penny's worth of candy. Coming out of the store, the children saw an automobile, belonging to Mr. Reinberg, who kept the dry-goods store. He was just getting out of the automobile.

"Oh, Mr. Reinberg, please give us a ride!" begged Bunny.

"All right," answered the store-keeper. "Get in, and I'll give you a ride; that is if your mother will let you go," and he hurried into the post-office, which was near Mrs. Redden's store.

"Get in, Sue," said Bunny. "We'll have a fine ride."

"Oh, but he said if mamma would let us. We'll have to ask her."

"Well, we can ask him to ride us up to our house, and we can tell mamma, there, that we're going," said Bunny. "Then it will be all right."

So he and Sue got in the back part of the automobile, the door of which was open. The children sat up on the seat, waiting for Mr. Reinberg to come out of the post-office, but he stayed there for some time. Bunny and Sue thought it would be fun to sit down in the bottom of the car, and pretend they were in a boat. Down they slipped, making a soft nest for themselves with the robes, or blankets, which they pulled from the seat.

Mr. Reinberg came out of the post-office. He was in such a hurry that he never thought about Bunny and Sue's having asked him for a ride. He just shut the door of the car, took his place at the steering wheel and away he went. He did not see the children sitting down in the bottom, partly covered with the robe. For Bunny and Sue, just then, were pretending that it was night on their make-believe steamer, and they had "gone to bed."

And there they were, being given an automobile ride, and Mr. Reinberg didn't know a thing about it. Wasn't that funny?



CHAPTER XXIV

THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, sitting down in the back part of the automobile, with the blanket around them, got through pretending they were asleep on a make-believe ship, and "woke up."

They had felt the car moving, but they thought nothing of this, for they imagined Mr. Reinberg was taking them to their house so they might ask their mother if they could go for a ride.

Bunny looked at Sue and said:

"It takes this auto a good while to get to our house."

"Yes," Sue agreed, "but maybe he is going around the block to give us a longer ride."

"Oh, maybe! That would be fun!"

Bunny stood up and looked over the side door of the back part of the car. He could not see his house, and, in fact, he could see no houses at all, for they were out on a country road.

"Why! Why!" exclaimed Bunny to his sister. "Look, Sue! We're lost again!"

"Lost?"

"Yes. We're away far off from our house. I don't know where we are; do you?"

"No," and Sue looked at the road along which they were moving in the automobile. "Oh, Bunny! Are we really lost again?"

Sue spoke so loudly that Mr. Reinberg, who was at the steering wheel, turned around quickly. Up to now Bunny and Sue had talked in such low voices, and the automobile had rattled so loudly, that the dry-goods man had not heard them. But when he did he turned quickly enough.

"Why, bless my heart!" he exclaimed. "You here—Bunny and Sue—in my automobile?" and he made the machine run slowly, so it would not make so much noise. He wanted to hear what Bunny and Sue would say.

"You here?" he asked again. "How in the world did you come here?"

"Why—why," began Bunny, his eyes opening wide. "You said we could have a ride, Mr. Reinberg. Don't you remember?"

"That's so. I do remember something about it," the man said. "I declare, I was so busy thinking about my store, and some post-office letters, that I forgot all about you. But I thought you were to ask your mother if you could have a ride."

"Why—why, we thought you would take us around to our house, in the automobile, so we could ask her," Bunny said.

Mr. Reinberg laughed.

"Well, well!" he cried. "This is a joke! You thought one thing and I thought another. After you spoke to me, and I went in the post-office, I supposed you had run home to ask your folks."

"No," said Bunny, "we didn't. We got in your auto 'cause we thought you wanted us to."

"Ha! Ha!" laughed the dry-goods-store man. "This is very funny! And when I came out of the post-office, and didn't see anything of you, I thought your folks wouldn't let you go, as you hadn't come back."

"And we were in your auto all the while!" exclaimed Sue, in such a queer little voice that Mr. Reinberg laughed again.

"And have you been in there ever since?" he asked.

"Yes," Bunny replied. "We were playing steamboat, and we lay down to go to sleep while we went over the make-believe ocean waves. Then, when we woke up, and couldn't see our house—"

"Or any houses," added Sue.

"Or any houses," Bunny went on, "why—why, we thought we were—"

"Lost!" exclaimed Sue. "We don't like to be lost!"

"You're not lost," Mr. Reinberg said, laughing again. "You're quite a way from home, though, for I have been going very fast. But I'll take care of you. Now let me see what I had better do. I have to go on to Wayville, and I don't want to turn around and go back with you youngsters. And if I take you with me your folks will worry.

"I know what I'll do. I'll telephone back to your mother, tell her that you're with me, and that I'll take you to Wayville, and bring you safely back again. How will that do?"

"Will you take us in the auto?" asked Bunny.

"Of course."

"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue. "We'll have a ride, after all, Bunny."

"Yes," agreed her brother. "Thank you, Mr. Reinberg."

The dry-goods man found a house in which there was a telephone, and he was soon talking to Mrs. Brown in her home. He told her just what had happened; how, almost by accident, he had taken Bunny and Sue off in his automobile. Then he asked if he might give them a longer ride, and bring them home later.

"Your mother says I may," Mr. Reinberg said, when he came back to the automobile, in which Bunny and Sue were waiting. "I'll take you on to Wayville."

"Our Uncle Henry lives there," Bunny told the dry-goods man.

"Well, I don't know that I shall have time to take you to see him, but we'll have a ride."

"We 'most went to Uncle Henry's once," said Sue. "On a trolley car, only Splash couldn't come, and we had to go back and we got lost and—and—"

"Splash found the way home for us," finished Bunny, for Sue was out of breath.

"Well, we won't get lost this time," Mr. Reinberg said. "Now off we go again," and away went the automobile, giving Bunny and Sue a fine ride.

They soon reached Wayville, where Mr. Reinberg went to see some men. Bunny and Sue did not have time to pay a visit to their Uncle Henry, but Mr. Reinberg bought them each an ice cream soda, so they had a fine time after all. Then came a nice ride home.

"Well, well!" cried Mrs. Brown, when Bunny and Sue, their cheeks red from the wind, came running up the front walk. "Well! well! But you youngsters do have the funniest things happen to you! To think of being taken away in an automobile!"

"But we didn't mean to, Mamma," protested Bunny.

"No, you never do," said Aunt Lu, smiling.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue exclaimed a little later that day, "we didn't sell any tickets for the Punch and Judy show."

"Well, never mind," answered Bunny. "I guess enough will come anyhow."

You see he and Sue had such a good time on the automobile ride that they forgot all about the tickets they had set out to sell.

In three days more the Punch and Judy show would be held in the Brown barn. Everything was ready for it, Bunny had gone over his part again and again until he did very well indeed. Sue, also, was very, very good in what she did, so the other girls said. Sadie West, who was older, helped Sue.

By this time, of course, the grown folks knew that some sort of a show was going on in the Brown barn, and they had promised to come. And there were so many children who wanted to see what it was going to be like that Bunny and Sue did not know where they were all going to sit.

"And oh! what a lot of pins we'll have," said Sue, for all the children paid pins for their tickets.

But Bunker Blue and George Watson made seats by putting boards across some boxes, so no one would have to stand up.

Then came the day of the show. Bunny was dressed up in some old clothes, and so was Sue. She did not put hers on, though, until after she had helped take tickets, and sell them, at the barn door. Then Bunker Blue took her place, and Sue dressed to help Bunny.

Bunny was inside the little theatre that Bunker had made. It had a curtain that opened when Bunny pulled the string. He had his funny lobster claw with him.

"And am I to come in for nothing?" asked Aunt Lu, as she walked into the barn.

"Yes," said Bunny, putting his head out between the curtains, for he was not all dressed yet. "The show is for you, Aunt Lu. So you will not feel so sad."

"About your lost diamond ring," added Sue.

"Bless your hearts! What dear children you are!" said Aunt Lu, and something glistened in her eyes as bright as a diamond—perhaps it was a tear—but if so it was a tear of joy.

"All ready for the show now!" cried Bunker. "Please all sit down!"

Down they sat on the benches, some men and some ladies, but mostly children, friends of Bunny and Sue.

"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Bunker, going close to the little theatre.

"Yes, I'm all ready."

"Have you got your lobster claw on?"

"Yes. I'm going to open the curtain now."

The curtain opened in the middle, and there stood Bunny. You could only see down to his waist, but such a funny face as he had! The lobster claw, tied over his nose, made him look exactly like the pictures of Mr. Punch.

Bunny made a bow, and then, instead of saying some of the funny things that Mr. Punch in the show always says, Bunny sang a little song, while Bunker Blue played on a mouth organ. This is what Bunny sang:

"This little show is for Aunt Lu. Of course we're glad of others, too. We want to cheer, and make her glad, So she won't feel so very sad. We hope she finds her diamond ring, And this is all that I can sing!"

That was what Bunny sang, in his queer, "nosey" voice, to a queer little tune that Bunker played on the mouth organ. And, when Bunny had finished, he made a funny little bow, and said:

"I didn't make up that song. Bunker did!"

Then how everybody clapped their hands, and George Watson called out:

"Three cheers for Bunker Blue!"

Then began the real Punch and Judy show—that is, as much of it as Bunny and Sue could manage.

"I wonder where Mrs. Punch is?" asked Bunny, twisting his head around.

"Here I is!" cried Sue, and up she popped. She had been stooping down so she would not be seen until just the right time.

"And where is the baby?" asked Mr. Punch, looking first on one side and then the other, of his big lobster claw nose.

"Here she is!" and Sue held up one of her old dolls.

"Ah, ha! Ah, ha!" said Mr. Punch. "She is a bad baby, and I am going to whip her!"

And then, with a stick, he hit the doll until some of the sawdust came flying out.

"Don't do that!" begged Sue. "You mustn't spoil my doll, Bunny!"

"I've got to do it," said Bunny in a whisper. "I have to, Sue, it's part of the show." But Sue took her doll away from her brother.



CHAPTER XXV

THE LOBSTER CLAW

"Don't, Sue, don't!" begged Bunny Brown. "I must have the doll. You said I could take her," and he tried to pull the doll away from his sister.

But Sue did not want to give up even an old doll.

"You mustn't knock out all her sawdust," she said. "She'll get sick."

Bunny did not know what to do. It seemed as if his Punch and Judy show would be spoiled, and he did so want to make Aunt Lu feel jolly about it.

Sue had really said, at first, that he could beat her old doll with a stick, just as Mr. Punch does in the real show, but now Sue had changed her mind.

"Oh, dear!" said Bunny, and he said it in such a funny way that everyone laughed again.

"Let him take your doll, Sue dear," said her mother, from where she sat on a box in the barn. "If he spoils it I will get you a new one. It's only in fun, Sue," for Mrs. Brown did not want to see Bunny disappointed.

"All right. You can take her, but don't hit her too hard," said Sue.

"I won't," promised her brother. And then the little show went on.

Mr. and Mrs. Punch had great times with the "baby," which was the sawdust doll. Then Sue stooped down, out of sight, and turned herself into a make-believe policeman, by putting on a hat, made out of black paper, with a golden star pasted on in front. George Watson had made that for her. Up popped Sue, the pretend policeman, to make Mr. Punch stop hitting the sawdust doll baby.

"Go 'way! Go 'way!" cried Bunny Punch, in his squeaky voice, as he tossed the doll out on the barn floor. "That's the way to do it! That's the way I do it!"

Then Sue sang a little song, that Bunker had made up for her, and he played the mouth organ. And next Bunny and Sue sang together. The children thought it was fine, and the grown folks clapped their hands, and stamped with their feet, which is what people do in a real theatre when they like the play.

When Bunny and Sue made their bow, after singing the song together, they both bobbed out of sight behind the curtain.

"Is that—is that all?" asked Tommie Tracy, in his shrill little voice, from where he sat in the front row.

"Yep. That's all," answered Bunny. "The show is over, and we hope you all like it; 'specially Aunt Lu."

"Oh, I just loved it," she answered. "And to think you got it all up for me! It was just fine!"

"Do it all over again!" said Tommie. "I liked it too, but I want some more. Do it again, Bunny!"

"I—I can't," Bunny answered, as he came out from inside the box that Bunker Blue had made into a theatre. Bunny had taken off his lobster claw nose, and held it dangling from the strings by which it had been tied around his head.

Suddenly one of the planks, across two boxes, broke, and some of the boys, who had been sitting on it, fell down in a heap. But no one was hurt.

Then all the children crowded around Bunny and Sue to look at the funny things the two children were wearing—old clothes, pinned up, and with make-believe patches on them.

"Let me take your funny nose, Bunny," begged Charlie Star. "I want to see how it looks on me."

Bunny handed over the lobster claw, but it dropped to the barn floor, and before either he or Charlie could pick it up, some one had stepped on it.

"Crack!" it went, for it was made of thin shell, not very strong. And there it lay in pieces on the floor.

"Oh, dear" cried Charlie. "I've broken your nose, Bunny!"

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't my real one," and Bunny put his hand up to his face, while Charlie stooped over to pick up the pieces of the lobster claw, hoping there was enough left to make a little nose for the next time.

And then suddenly Bunny, who was watching Charlie, gave a cry, and reached for something that glittered among the pieces of the red lobster claw.

"Oh, look! look!" fairly shouted the little fellow. "It's Aunt Lu's diamond ring. It was in the lobster claw, and it came out when the claw broke. Oh, Aunt Lu! I've found your diamond ring!"

Aunt Lu fairly rushed over to Bunny. She took from his hand the shiny, glittering thing he had picked up from the barn floor.

"Yes, it IS my lost diamond ring!" she cried. "Oh, where was it?"

"Down inside the lobster claw, that I had on my nose," Bunny said. "Only I didn't know it was there."

"And no one would have known it if it had not broken," said Mrs. Brown. "How lucky to have found it."

Aunt Lu slipped the diamond ring on her finger. It glittered brighter than ever.

"I see how it all happened," she said. "That day when I was helping pick the meat out of the big lobster, my ring must have slipped from my hand, and fallen down inside the empty claw. It went away down to the small end, and there it was held fast, just as Bunny's foot was caught in the hollow tree one day."

"Are you glad, Aunt Lu?" asked Bunny.

"Glad? I'm more glad than I ever was in my life!" and she hugged and kissed him, and Sue also.

And everyone was glad Aunt Lu had found her ring. The show was over now, and the children and grown folks went out of the barn. They all said they had had a fine time.

That night Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each a dollar, for she said Sue had done as much to find the ring as Bunny had.

"Oh, what a lot of money!" cried Sue, as she looked at her dollar. "We're rich now; aren't we, Bunny? As rich as Old Miss Hollyhock?"

"We're richer!" answered Bunny.

"Well, save some of your money, and when you come to New York to visit me you can spend part of it in the city," said Aunt Lu.

"We will," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

But, before they visited Aunt Lu, the two children had other adventures. I will be glad to tell you about them in the next book, which will be named: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm." In that you may read what the two children did in the country, how they had a long automobile ride, and how they saw the Gypsies.

Aunt Lu went home the day after the Punch and Judy show.

"Did you like it?" asked Bunny, as she kissed him and Sue good-bye at the station.

"Indeed I did, my dear!" she answered.

"I said we'd find your diamond ring, and we did," declared Sue.

"Yes," agreed Bunny, "but we didn't know it was in the lobster's claw."

"No one would ever have dreamed of its being there," said Aunt Lu. "But oh! I am so glad I have it!"

And then, with the diamond ring sparkling on her finger, Aunt Lu got on the train and rode away, waving a good-bye to Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. And we will say good-bye, too.

THE END