"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Sue, as she stood on the chair close to the little door of the dumb waiter, or elevator.
"Yep," Bunny answered.
Sue closed the door, and then there was a squeaking sound inside the little closet where the waiter slid up and down. At the same time Bunny's voice was heard crying:
"Oh, Sue! I'm falling! I'm falling down!"
Sue did not know what to do. She tried to open the door, but it had shut with a spring catch when she pushed on it, and her small fingers were not strong enough to open it again.
"Oh dear!" cried the little girl. "Oh dear! Bunny! Mother! Aunt Lu! Mary! Wopsie!"
She called every name she could think of,and she would have called for her father, Grandpa Brown and even Uncle Tad, only she knew they were far away.
"Bunny! Bunny!" Sue called. "Is you there? Is you in there?"
But Bunny did not answer. And now Sue could hear no noise from the dumb waiter, inside of which she had shut her brother.
"Bunny! Bunny!" begged Sue. "Speak to me! Where is you?"
But no answer came. Bunny was far off. I'll tell you, soon, where he was.
Sue got down off the chair, on which she stood to push shut the door, after Bunny crawled inside the dumb waiter. The little girl ran out of the kitchen, calling to her mother, Aunt Lu and Wopsie. The colored cook was the first one to answer.
"What's the matter?" she called. "What hab happened, Sue?"
"Oh, it's Bunny! He's gone! He's gone!" sobbed Sue.
"Gone? Gone where?" Mary asked.
"Down there!" and Sue pointed to the dumb waiter door.
Mary ran across the kitchen, and opened the door. She looked down, and then she turned to Sue and asked:
"Did he fall down, Sue?"
"No, he didn't fall down. But he got in the little box, where the ice was, and told me to shut the door. He was going to have a ride. It was going to be my turn when he came back. But there was a big bump, and Bunny hollered, and he didn't come back, and oh dear! I guess he's losted again!"
Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu came hurrying into the kitchen. Behind them was Wopsie, her hair standing up more than ever, for she had just finished tying it in rags.
"What's the matter?" asked Mother Brown and Aunt Lu at the same time.
"Oh, Bunny's gone!" wailed Sue.
"He's in de dumb waiter," explained Mary.
"Oh, did he fall?" cried Aunt Lu.
"No'm, he jest got in to hab a ride, same as dat little boy who used to lib up stairs," Mary explained. "We'll find him in de cellar all right, Miss Baker."
"Find who?" Sue wanted to know.
"Yo' brudder!" said Mary. "Now don't yo' all git skairt. 'Case little Massa Bunny am suah gwine t' be all right."
"I'll go and get him!" cried Aunt Lu.
"And I'll go with you," said Mother Brown.
"Oh, I'm coming too!" exclaimed Sue.
"No, you stay here, dear," said her mother. "You stay here with Mary and Wopsie."
Mrs. Brown and her sister, who was the aunt of Bunny and Sue, went down in the big elevator to the basement or cellar of the apartment house. And there they saw a strange sight.
Bunny, whose clothes were all dusty, and whose hair was all topsy-turvy, was standing in front of the janitor, an iceman and a policeman. These three men were looking at the little boy who did not seem to know what to do or say. But he was not crying. He was too brave for that.
"Oh, Bunny Brown!" cried his mother. "Why did you do it?"
Bunny did not answer, but the policeman spoke, and said:
"Is it all right, lady? Does he belong here?"
"Oh, yes, he's my little boy," explained Mrs. Brown.
"He rode down in the dumb waiter," Aunt Lu said. "You see he is visiting me, and he had never seen a dumb waiter before."
"Well, he came down in one all right," said the iceman. "It was like this," he explained to Aunt Lu. "After I sent up your piece of ice, Miss Baker, I stood here talking to the janitor. All at once we heard the dumb waiter come down with a bang, and then we heard someone in it yelling. I thought it was a sneak-thief, or a burglar, for you know they often rob houses by going up in dumb waiters.
"So I spoke to the janitor about it, and we called in the policeman who was going past. We thought if it was a burglar we'd sure have him. But when we opened the door there was only this little chap."
"I—I didn't mean to do it," said Bunny, as he saw them all looking at him. "I just wanted to get a ride, and then Sue was going to have one. But, as soon as I got in, the dumb waiter went down so quick I couldn't stop."
"He sure did come down with a bump!" exclaimed the iceman. "I guess he was a little too heavy for it, or else the rope must have slipped. Anyhow he's not hurt much, except he's a bit mussed up."
"Are you hurt, Bunny?" his mother asked him.
"No'm," he answered. "Just bumped, that's all. I—I won't do it again."
"No, you'd better not, because you might get hurt," said the policeman. "Well," he added, "I might as well go along, for you have no burglars for me to arrest this day," and away he went.
Then the iceman went off, laughing, and Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu took Bunny up to their apartment in the elevator.
"This is nicer than the dumb waiter," Bunny said, as Henry took them up. "I was all scrunched up in that, and I got a awful hard bump."
Mrs. Brown sighed.
"I'm sure I don't know what you will do next," she said. "You and Sue never do the same thing twice, so there's no use in telling you to be careful."
"Oh, I won't get in any more dumb waiters," said Bunny, with a shake of his head. "They're too small, and they're too bumpy."
Sue felt much better when she saw that Bunny was all right, and Mary gave each of the children a piece of cake, after which Wopsie took them up to the roof, where an awning had been stretched to make shade, and there, high above the city streets, the two children had a sort of play-party.
"I like it in the city; don't you, Bunny?" asked Sue.
"Yes, I think it's fine at Aunt Lu's house," returned Bunny. "Don't you like it here, Wopsie?"
"Yes'm, I suah does. But I wishes as how I could find mah folks. It's awful nice heah, an' Miss Baker suah does treat me mighty fine, but I'd like to find mah own aunt."
"And don't you know where she is?" asked Bunny.
"No'm, I don't 'member much about it all," said the colored girl, with a shake of her kinky head. "I lived down Souf, an' I s'pects dey got tired ob me down dere. Or else maybe dey didn't hab money 'nuff t' keep me. Colored folks down Souf is terrible poor. They ain't rich, laik yo' Aunt Lu."
"Aunt Lu is terrible rich," said Sue. "She's got a diamond ring."
"I knows dat!" said Wopsie.
"An' it was losted, like we was," Sue went on, "but Bunny, he found it in a lobster claw. And we had a Punch and Judy show."
"I'd laik dat!" exclaimed Wopsie, her eyes sparkling.
"Maybe we could help you find your folks," said Bunny. "We found Aunt Lu's diamond ring, and grandpa's horses, that the Gypsies took; so maybe we could find your folks, Wopsie."
"I don't believe so," and the little colored girl shook her head. "Yo' all sees it was dis heah way. Somebody down Souf, what was takin' care ob me, got tired, and shipped me up Norf here. Dey didn't come wif me deyse'ves, but dey puts a piece ob paper on me, same laik I was a trunk, or a satchel.
"Well, maybe it would a' bin all right, but dat piece ob paper come unpinned offen me, an' I got losted, same laik you'd lose a trunk. Only Miss Lu found me, an' she's keepin' me, but she don't know who I belongs to, nohow."
"And is your aunt up here?" asked Bunny.
"Yes'm, she's somewheres in New York," and Wopsie waved her hand over the big city, down on which Sue and Bunny could look from the roof of the apartment house.
"Well, maybe we can find her for you," said Bunny. "We'll try; won't we, Sue?"
"Course we will, Bunny Brown."
Just how he was going to do it Bunny Brown did not know. But he made up his mind that he would find Wopsie's aunt for her. And two or three times after that, when he and Sue happened to be out in the street, and saw any colored women, the children would ask them if they were looking for a little, lost colored girl named Wopsie. But of course the colored women knew nothing about the little piccaninny.
"Well, we'll have to ask somebody else," Bunny would say, after each time, when he had not found an aunt for Wopsie. "We'll find her yet, Sue."
"Yes," Sue would answer, "we will!"
From the windows of Aunt Lu's house Bunny and Sue could look down on the street and see many strange sights. Oh! how many automobiles there were in New York!
There were big ones, and little ones, but there were more of the small kind, with little red flags in front, than any other.
"Those are called taxicabs," Aunt Lu told Bunny. "They are like the old cabs, drawn by horses. If a person wants to ride in a taxicab he just waves his hand to the men at the steering wheel."
"And does he stop?" asked Bunny.
"Yes," answered Aunt Lu. "The taxicab man stops."
"And gives 'em a ride?" Sue wanted to know.
"Yes, he takes them wherever they want to go."
Bunny and Sue looked at each other. Theireyes sparkled, and it is too bad Aunt Lu did not see them just then, or she might have said something that would have saved much trouble. But she was busy sewing, and she did not notice Bunny and Sue.
The next day the two children slipped out into the hall, and went down to the street in the elevator.
Once out in the street Bunny and Sue watched until they saw, coming along, one of the little taxicabs, with the red flag up, which meant that no one was having a ride in it just then.
"Hi there!" called Bunny, holding up his hand to the man at the steering wheel.
"Want a ride?" asked the man, as he swung his taxicab up to the curb.
"Yes," answered Bunny. "My sister—Sue and I—we want a ride."
"Where to?" asked the man, as he helped the children up inside the car.
"Oh, we want a nice, long ride," said Bunny. "A nice, long ride; don't we, Sue?"
"Yep," answered the little girl.
You may think it strange that the man on the taxicab automobile would so quickly help Bunny Brown and his sister up into his machine and give them a ride. And that, without asking for any money.
But it was not at all strange in New York. There are many children in that big city, and often they go about by themselves, some who are no larger than Bunny and Sue. They get used to looking out for themselves, learn how to make their way about, and they often go in taxicabs alone.
So the automobile man thought nothing of it when Bunny said he wanted a ride. The automobile man just thought the children's father, or mother, had sent them out to go somewhere.
"And so you want a long ride," repeatedthe automobile man, as he closed the door so Bunny or Sue would not fall out when he started. "How about Central Park? Do you want to go there?"
"Do we want to go to Central Park, Sue?" asked Bunny.
"Is they elephants there, like a circus?" asked the little girl.
"Is they?" Bunny asked of the automobile man.
"Yes, there are some animals in the park. Not as many as up in the Bronx Zoo, but that's a little too far for me to go. I'll take you to Central Park if you say so."
"Please do," begged Bunny. "We want to see the animals. We were in a circus once, Sue and I were. Our dog was a blue striped tiger, and we had a green painted calf, for a zebra."
"That must have been some circus!" laughed the automobile man, as he got up on his seat, and took hold of the steering wheel. "Well, here we go!"
And away went the automobile, taking Sue and Bunny off to Central Park, and theirmother and Aunt Lu didn't know a thing about it!
"Isn't this nice, Sue?" asked Bunny, when they had ridden on for a few blocks.
"Yes," answered Sue. "I like it. But I wish we had our dog Splash here with us, Bunny."
"Yes, it would be fine!" Bunny said.
Speaking of the circus had made Sue think about Splash, who was far away, at home in Bellemere.
The taxicab wound in and out among other cabs, horses and wagons of all sorts. Now it would have to go slowly, through some crowded street, and again the children were moving swiftly, when there was room to speed.
"He's a awful nice man to give us a ride like this," said Bunny to Sue.
"Yes; isn't he?" answered the little girl. "There's lots of people getting rides, Bunny; see!"
Indeed there were many other taxicabs, and other automobiles on the streets of New York, but Bunny and Sue looked most often at the taxicabs like their own.
"There must be a awful lot of nice men, like ours, in New York," Bunny went on. And, mind you, neither he nor Sue thought they would have to pay for their automobile ride. They just thought you got in one of the taxicabs, and rode as far as you liked, for nothing.
Pretty soon they were at Central Park.
"Now where shall I take you?" asked the man.
"Down by a elephant," spoke up Sue.
"Are you sure your mother will let you go?" asked the taxicab man. He felt he must, in a way, look after the children.
"Oh, yes," said Bunny. "Mother would let us. She likes us to see animals. She lets us have a circus whenever we like."
Bunny and Sue had on nice clothes, and the chauffeur knew they had come from a street where many rich persons lived, so he was sure if the children did not have with them the money to pay him, that their folks would settle his bill.
"You can get out here, and walk along that path," he said, stopping his machine on aroadway. "Then you can see the elephant, the lion and the tiger. I'll wait for you here."
Hand in hand, Bunny and Sue went to the place in Central Park where the animals are kept. It was not far from where the automobile had stopped, out on Fifth Avenue, New York, and Bunny looked back, several times, as he and his sister went down the steps, to make sure he would know the place to find the automobile again, when he wanted to go home.
"Oh, there's a elephant!" cried Sue, as, walking along, her hand in Bunny's, she saw one of the big animals, just stuffing some hay into his mouth with his trunk. It was a warm day, and the elephant was out in the "back yard" of his cage. In the winter he was kept in the elephant house, where the people could look at him standing behind the heavy iron bars, but in summer he was allowed to go out of doors, though his yard had a fence of big iron bars all around it.
"I wish we had some peanuts to give him," said Sue.
"Well, I haven't any money," answeredBunny. "Anyhow, if I had, Sue, I'd rather buy us each a lollypop. The elephant has hay to eat."
"Yes, I know," said Sue. "But I like to see him pick up peanuts with his trunk."
However, they had no money, so they could not feed peanuts to the elephant. Some other children, though, had bought bags of the nuts, and these they tossed in to the big animal. There was a sign on his yard, which said no one must feed the animals, but no one stopped the children, so Sue did see, after all, the elephant chewing the roasted nuts.
For some time Bunny and Sue watched the elephants. There were two of them, and, after a while, a keeper came into the yard, and handed a large mouth organ to the biggest elephant. The wise creature held it in his trunk, and, to the surprise of Sue and her brother, began to blow on the mouth organ, making music, though of course the elephant could not play a regular tune.
"Oh, isn't he smart, Bunny!" cried Sue.
"He—he's a regular circus elephant!" Bunny cried. "I like him!"
The other children, who had come to Central Park, also enjoyed seeing the big elephant eat peanuts, and play a mouth organ.
"I'd like to see some monkeys," said Bunny, after a bit, when the elephant seemed to have gone to sleep standing up, for elephants do sleep that way.
"The monkeys are over in that house," a boy told Bunny, pointing to a brown building not far from the elephant's cage and yard.
"Oh, let's go!" cried Sue.
Soon she and her brother were watching the monkeys do funny tricks, climb up the sides of their cage, eat peanuts and pull each other's tails and ears.
Bunny and Sue spent some time in Central Park, looking at the different animals. There was one, almost as big as an elephant, only not so tall. He was called a hippopotamus, and he swam in a tank of water, next door to a pool in which lived some mud turtles and alligators. When the hippopotamus opened his mouth it looked big enough to hold a washtub.
"Oh!" cried Sue, as she saw this. "Iwouldn't like him to bite me, would you, Bunny?"
"No, I guess not!" said the little boy.
But there was no danger that the hippopotamus would bite anyone, for he was behind big, strong, iron bars, and could not get out. There was also a baby hippopotamus, swimming around in a tank with the mother.
Bunny and Sue saw many other animals in Central Park, and then, as he was getting hungry, and as he began to think his mother might be wondering where he was, Bunny said to Sue that they had better go back home.
"All right," Sue answered. "I'm tired, too."
They went back to where they had left the automobile taxicab.
"Well, did you see enough?" the man asked them.
"Yes," Bunny answered, "and now we want to go home, if you please."
"All right," said the man. He knew just where to take Bunny and Sue, for he remembered where he had found them, right in front of Aunt Lu's house. So the two children did not get lost this time, though they had gone a good way from home.
"Thank you very much," said Bunny as he and Sue got out.
The automobile man laughed, as Bunny and Sue started up the front steps, and then he called to them:
"Wait a minute, little ones, I must have some money for giving you a ride."
"Oh!" exclaimed Bunny. "I—I thought you gave folks rides for nothing. Wopsie said you did."
"Well, I don't know who Wopsie is," said the cab man, "but I can't afford to ride anyone around for nothing. You'd better tell your mother that I must be paid."
"Oh, I'll tell her," said Sue. "Mother or Aunt Lu will pay you."
"I'll come up with you I guess," said the automobile man, and he rode up in the elevator with Bunny and Sue.
And you can guess how surprised Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu were when the two children came in.
"Oh, where have you been?" cried MotherBrown. "We've been looking all over for you; up on the roof, down in the basement, out in the street—and Wopsie was just going to ask the policeman on this block if he had seen you. Where have you been?"
"Riding," answered Bunny.
"Up in Central Park, to see a elephant," added Sue.
"And we had a good time," Bunny went on.
"And now the automobile man wants some money, and we haven't any so you must pay him, Mother," said Sue.
"We—we thought we were riding for nothing," Bunny explained.
Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu looked at the automobile man, who smiled, and told how the children had called to him, and asked him to give them a long ride.
"Which I did," he said. "I thought their folks had maybe sent them to get the air, as folks often do here, and—"
"Oh, it isn't your fault," said Mrs. Brown. "I'll pay you for the children's ride, of course. But oh, dear! Bunny, you musn't do this again."
"No'm, I won't," Bunny said. "But we had a nice ride."
Mrs. Brown gave the taxicab man some money, and thanked him for having taken good care of the children. Then Wopsie did not have to go to tell the policeman, for Bunny and Sue were safe home again.
"I wonder what they'll do next?" said Mrs. Brown.
"No one knows," answered Aunt Lu.
But, for several days after this, Bunny and Sue did nothing to cause any trouble. They went with their aunt and mother to different places about New York in Aunt Lu's automobile, Wopsie sometimes going with them. Several times Bunny or Sue asked colored persons they met if they were looking for a little lost colored girl, but no one seemed to be.
"Never mind, Wopsie," Bunny would say. "Some time we'll find your folks."
"Yes'm, I wishes as how yo' all would," Wopsie would answer.
Bunny and Sue liked it very much at Aunt Lu's city home. They had many good times.And that reminds me; I must tell you about the time Bunny ordered a queer dinner for himself and Sue.
The children had been out with Wopsie for a walk, and when they came back to Aunt Lu's house it was such a nice day that Bunny and Sue did not want to go in.
"Let us stay out a while, Wopsie," Bunny begged.
"Well, don't go 'way from in front, an' yo' all can stay," Wopsie said. So Bunny and Sue sat on the side of the big stone steps, in front of Aunt Lu's house.
They really did not intend to go away, but when they saw a fire engine dashing down the street, whistling and purring out black smoke, they just couldn't stand still.
"Let's go and see the fire!" cried Bunny.
"Come on!" agreed Sue.
But it was only a little fire, after all, though quite a crowd gathered. It was upstairs in a store, and it was soon out. Bunny and Sue started back, for they had not come far. They were getting so they knew their way around pretty well now.
As they passed a restaurant, or place to eat, they saw, in the window, a man baking griddle cakes on a gas stove. He would let the cakes brown on one side, toss them up in the air, making them turn a somersault, catch them on a flat spoon, and then they would brown on the other side.
"Oh Bunny!" cried Sue. "Wouldn't you like some of those?"
"I would," said Bunny. "Come on in and we'll have some. I'm hungry!"
He and Sue went into the restaurant, and sat down at one of the tables. A girl, with a big white apron on over her black dress, brought them each a glass of water and a napkin, and said:
"Well, children, what do you want?"
"We want dinner," said Bunny. "We're hungry, and we want some of those cakes the man in the window is baking."
The girl waitress in the restaurant smiled at Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They seemed too small to be going about, ordering meals for themselves, but then the girl knew that in New York people do not live as they do in other cities, or in the country. Many New York persons never eat a meal at home, nor do their children. They go out to hotels, restaurants or boarding houses.
And perhaps this girl thought Bunny and Sue might be the children of some family who had rooms near the restaurant, and who went out to their meals. So she just asked them:
"Are cakes the only things you want?"
"Oh, no, we'll want more than that," said Bunny. "But we want the cakes first; don't we, Sue?"
"Yep," Sue answered. "I like pancakes. And I want some syrup on mine."
"So do I!" cried Bunny.
"I'll bring you some maple syrup when I bring you the cakes," the girl said as, with a smile, she went up to the front of the restaurant to tell the white-capped cook in the window to bake a plate of cakes for each of the children.
Several other persons in the restaurant smiled at Bunny and Sue, as they sat there waiting for the cakes. They seemed such little tots to be all alone. But Bunny and Sue knew what they were doing. At least they thought they did, and they were not at all bashful.
When the hot cakes were brought to them they spread on some butter, poured the maple syrup over their plates, out of the little silver pitchers, and began to eat.
"They're awful good, aren't they, Bunny?" asked Sue, as she took up the last piece of her third cake.
"Yep," he answered. "I like 'em."
"Let's have some more," Sue said.
"No, let's have something else," said Bunny. "I'm hot now."
"Oh, then we ought to have ice-cream," cried Sue. "You know the other night, when Aunt Lu and mother were so warm, they had ice-cream."
"Then we'll have some," agreed Bunny.
"Anything else?" asked the waitress girl, coming up to their table.
SOON BUNNY AND SUE WERE EATING THE ICE-CREAMSOON BUNNY AND SUE WERE EATING THE ICE-CREAM
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home.Page 131.
"Ice-cream, please—two plates," ordered Bunny. Soon he and Sue were eating the cold dessert. As they were taking up the last spoonfuls they saw the waitress girl, at the next table carrying a large piece of red watermelon to a man.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "I want some of that!"
"So do I!" exclaimed Bunny. "We'll have some."
And so, after the ice-cream, they ordered watermelon.
"Do you think it will be good for you?" asked the waitress girl.
"Oh, yes, we like it," said Bunny. That was all he thought of—just then.
The ice-cream had been cold, and so was the watermelon, for it had been on the ice,and by the time they had finished that Bunny and Sue were quite chilled through.
"Now I'd like to be warm again," said Sue. "Let's have some more hot cakes, Bunny."
"All right," agreed her brother. He waved his hand to the waitress girl.
"Some more hot cakes!" ordered Bunny.
The girl laughed and said:
"I guess you tots had better not eat any more. I'll call the manager, and ask him if he thinks it safe."
A man, with a black moustache and red cheeks, came up to the table.
"What is it?" he asked. The waitress girl explained. At the same time she put down on the table, by Bunny's plate, two little cards, with some numbers on them, and some round holes punched near the numbers.
"We want some hot cakes, 'cause the ice-cream and watermelon made us so cold," Bunny said.
"How much money have you?" asked the manager, who is the man who sees that everyone gets enough to eat, and then that they pay for it.
"Money?" cried Bunny Brown. "Money?"
"Yes, you must have money to pay for what you eat," the man said.
"I've five cents," explained Sue. "My mother gave it to me for a toy balloon, but I didn't spend it yet."
"I've four cents," said Bunny, reaching into his pocket, and bringing out four pennies. "I had five cents," he explained, "but I spent a penny for a lollypop."
He shoved the four pennies over toward the girl. Sue began looking in her pocket for her five cent piece.
"I'm afraid you won't have enough money," the manager said. "But if you tell me where you live, and give me the name of your father, I'll call him up on the telephone, and let him know you are here."
"Oh, our daddy's away off," said Bunny. "But you can talk to Aunt Lu on the telephone. She's got one. My mother is with her. She'll buy some cakes for us."
"What's your aunt's name?" the manager wanted to know.
"Aunt Lu!" said Sue.
"Aunt Lu Baker," added Bunny.
"All right. I'll call her up," said the man, smiling. "And I don't believe you had better eat any more griddle cakes. You might be made ill. Give them some dry, sweet crackers, and a glass of milk," he said to the girl. "That won't hurt them."
Bunny and Sue liked the crackers very much. They were eating away, having a fine time, when, all at once, into the restaurant came Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny, as he saw her. "Are you hungry too? Sit down by us and eat! We had a fine meal, didn't we, Sue?"
"Yep," answered the little girl. "The ice-cream and watermelon is awful good, Mother!"
"Yes, I suppose it is," and Mrs. Brown could not help smiling. "But you musn't come in restaurants, and order meals like this, Bunny Brown, without having money to pay for them. It isn't right!"
"I—I thought I had money enough," and Bunny looked at his four pennies.
The manager laughed. He had foundAunt Lu's name in the telephone book, and had talked to her, telling her about Bunny and Sue. And then, as the restaurant was just around the corner from Aunt Lu's house, Mrs. Brown had hurried there to get her children.
She paid for what they had eaten, and took them back with her. The waitress girl smiled, so did the manager, and so did many persons in the restaurant, who had seen Bunny and Sue eating.
"Don't ever do anything like this again, Bunny," said Mrs. Brown.
"I won't," Bunny promised. "But we went to the fire, and we were awful hungry; weren't we, Sue?"
"Yes, we was. And the hot cakes was good."
"Oh dear!" sighed Mrs. Brown. "I wonder what it will be next."
But even Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know.
For several weeks the two children stayed at Aunt Lu's city home. They had more good times, and often went with their mother or Aunt Lu to the moving pictures. Then, too,there was much to see on the city streets, and Bunny and Sue never grew tired of looking at the strange sights. Daddy Brown wrote letters, saying he was so busy, looking after his boat business, that he could not come to see them for a long time.
"Does he say how Splash, our dog, is?" asked Bunny, when part of one of his father's letters had been read to him and Sue.
"Yes, Daddy says Splash is all right, but lonesome," Mrs. Brown answered.
"I wish we had Splash here with us," sighed Sue.
"So do I," echoed her brother.
After that, whenever they saw a dog out in the street, they looked anxiously at him, especially if he looked like Splash. And one day, when Bunny and Sue had gone down to the corner of their street, to listen to another hurdy-gurdy hand-piano, they saw a big yellow dog running about, sniffing at some muddy water in a puddle in the sidewalk, as though he wanted a drink.
"Oh, look at that dog!" cried Bunny to Sue. "He's thirsty!"
"He looks as nice as Splash, only, of course, it isn't Splash," Sue said.
"Maybe we could take him," said Bunny. "Let's try. Then we'll have a city dog and a country dog, too."
Sue was willing, and she and Bunny walked up to the stray dog.
"Come here!" called Bunny, just as he used to call to Splash.
The dog looked up. He seemed to like children, for he came straight to Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, he's got a nice collar on," said Sue. "Let's take him to Aunt Lu's, Bunny, and give him a nice drink of water."
"All right," agreed Bunny. "We will." Then, each with a hand on the dog's collar, Bunny and Sue walked along with the nice animal, whose red tongue hung out of his mouth, for the dog had been running, and was quite hot.
"Come on, nice dog!" coaxed Sue, for as the children came nearer to the house where Aunt Lu lived, the animal seemed to want to turn back and run away.
"Yes, don't be afraid," said Bunny. "We'll give you something nice to eat, and some cold water."
Whether the dog understood what Bunny and Sue said to him, or whether he was thirsty and hungry and hoped to get something to eat, I do not know. Some dogs seem to know everything you say to them, and certainly this one was very wise. So he walked on willingly with the two children.
"Do you think we can keep him?" asked Sue.
"I guess so," answered her brother. "He's my dog, 'cause I saw him first."
"Isn't he half mine?" Sue wanted to know.
"Nope, he'sallmine!" and Bunny took a firmer grasp on the dog's collar.
"Well, I don't care!" cried Sue, stamping her foot, which she sometimes did when she was getting angry. "Half of our dog Splash at home is mine, and I don't see why I can't have half of this one."
"Nope, you can't!" cried Bunny. He hardly ever acted this way toward his sister. Generally he gave her half of everything. "I want all this dog," Bunny said. "I'm going to train him to be a circus animal, and if a girl owns part of a dog she don't want him to run, or get muddy or anything like that."
"Oh, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue. "I don't care if he does get muddy. I want him to be a circus dog, too. So please can't I have half of him? I'll take the tail end for my half, or the head end half or down the middle, just like we do with Splash!"
"Well," and Bunny seemed to be thinking about it. "Maybe I'll let you have half of him, Sue. But you've got to let me train your half the same as mine, to be a circus dog."
"Yes, Bunny, I will. Oh, isn't he a nice dog!" and she patted him on the head. The dog wagged his tail and seemed happy.
Into the apartment house hall walked the children, leading the stray dog they had found in the street. The elevator was not open, being on one of the upper floors, and Bunny pushed the button that rang the bell, which told Henry, the colored elevator boy, that someone was on the lower floor, waiting to be taken up.
When Henry came down in the queer iron cage that slid up and down, he looked first at Bunny, then at Sue, and then at the dog.
"What yo' all want?" asked the colored boy, smiling and showing his big, white teeth.
"We want to ride up to Aunt Lu's house," answered Bunny.
"We got a new dog, Henry," said Sue.
Henry shook his head.
"I'll take you little folks up to yo' aunt's house," he said, "but I can't take up dat dawg."
"Why not?" asked Bunny. "Is he too heavy? 'Cause if he is, Henry, we'll go upwith you first, and you can bring the dog up alone. We'll wait for him up stairs."
Once more the elevator boy shook his head.
"No, sah! I can't do it!" he exclaimed.
"Is you afraid, Henry?" asked Sue, putting her head down on the dog's back. "Is you afraid he'll bite you, Henry? He won't. He's as nice a dog as Splash is, the one we have at home. He won't bite, Henry."
"No, Miss Sue. I ain't askeered ob dat," said Henry, with another smile. "But yo' all can't bring no dawgs in heah! It ain't allowed, nohow!"
"You mean we can't bring a dog in the house?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, sah!" Henry exclaimed. "Dat's it. De man what owns dis house done gib strict orders dat no dogs or cats or parrots can come in, an' I got t' keep 'em out. Yo' all jest go up an' ast yo' Aunt Lu 'bout it."
"Shall we?" asked Sue, as she looked down at the dog.
"Yes," said Bunny. "But, of course, Henry ought to know. But we've got to give this dog something to eat and drink, Sue, 'cause wepromised we would. So we'll just leave him down here, and go up and tell Aunt Lu. We can do that; can't we, Henry?" Bunny asked.
"Oh, yes, Bunny. Yo' all kin do dat I'll jest tie de dawg down here in de hall, an' yo' all kin go ast yo' Aunt Lu."
The dog did not seem to mind being tied and left alone. Henry fastened him with a cord, and the dog lay down on the cool marble floor, while the colored boy took the two children up in the elevator.
"Oh, Bunny!" said Sue, in a whisper, as they were waiting for their aunt's maid, or for Wopsie, to open the door of the hall. "Oh, Bunny, I know what we could do."
"What?" Bunny wanted to know.
Sue looked around, and seeing that Henry had gone down in his elevator, she said:
"We could have walked our new dog up the stairs. We didn't need to bring him up in the elevator. Then Henry wouldn't have seen him."
"Yes, but he'd hear him when he barks. If they won't let us keep our new dog here we can take him to Central Park, Sue."
"What for, Bunny?"
"To put him in a cage until we go home. Then we can take him with us to play with Splash."
"Oh, maybe we could!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
By this time Wopsie had opened the door.
"Well, where yo' chilluns bin?" she asked. "Yo' ma an' yo' aunt Lu am gettin' worried 'bout yo'."
"We found a dog!" cried Bunny. "A real dog!"
"And he's down stairs," said Sue. "Henry won't bring him up on the elevator, but it isn't 'cause Henry's afraid. They won't let dogs live in here, he says. Don't they, Aunt Lu?"
"Don't they what, Sue?" asked Miss Baker, coming into the room just then.
"Dogs," answered Bunny. "We found a nice dog, Aunt Lu, and we want to keep him, but Henry won't let us," and he told all that had happened.
"No, I am sorry," said Aunt Lu. "They don't allow any dogs, cats or parrots in thisbuilding. You see they think persons who have no pets would be bothered by those animals of the neighbors. I'm sorry, Bunny and Sue, but you can't have the dog. One is enough, anyhow, and you have Splash."
"Yes, but he's away off home," said Bunny.
"Never mind, dears. I'm sorry, but I haven't any place for a dog, or a cat or even a parrot."
Bunny and Sue thought for a moment Then Bunny asked:
"Could you keep a monkey, Aunt Lu?"
"Gracious goodness, no!" cried his aunt. "I should hope not! A monkey would be worse than a dog, a cat or a parrot. I hope you don't think of bringing a monkey home, Bunny."
"Oh, no'm. I was just wondering what we'd do if a hand-organ man gave us a monkey."
Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu laughed.
"Well, I hope a hand-organ man won't give you a monkey," said Bunny's mother, "but, if one does, you'll have to say that you're much obliged, but that you can't keep it."
"Well," broke in Sue, "can we give this dogsomething to eat and drink, Aunt Lu? We promised him some."
"Yes, you can do that. Poor dog, he's probably a stray one, and will be glad of a meal. Mary will get you some cold meat and a pail of water, and you can take it down to the poor dog. But don't invite him up here, Bunny dear."
The children were sorry they could not keep the dog they had found in the street, but perhaps it was better not to have him. They gave him the water and meat, standing with Henry in the lower hall while the animal ate and drank. Then the elevator boy loosened the string from the dog's collar.
"Run along now!" called Henry, and the dog with a bark, and a wag of his tail, trotted off down the street.
"He's happy, anyhow," remarked Sue. "Dogs is always happy when they wag their tails; aren't they Bunny?"
"I guess so. Well, what will we do next?"
That question was answered for Bunny and Sue when they went up stairs again. For Wopsie was waiting to take them to a moving picture show not far away. There Bunny and Sue had a good time the rest of the afternoon.
It was two or three days after this that, as Bunny and Sue were walking up and down on the sidewalk in front of Aunt Lu's house, waiting for Wopsie to come down and go with them to another moving picture show, the two children saw, walking along, a very ragged man. And, as they watched him, they saw the poor man stoop over a can of ashes on the street, and take from it a piece of dried bread, which he began to eat as though very hungry indeed.
"Oh, Bunny! Look at that!" cried Sue.
"What is it?" asked the little boy.
"That man! He's so hungry he took bread out of the ash can."
"He must be terrible hungry," said Bunny. "Oh, Sue, I know what we can do!"
"What?"
"We can get him something to eat," said Bunny. "I heard Aunt Lu say she didn't know what she was going to do with all the meat left over from dinner. This man wouldlike it, I'm sure. We can ask him up to Aunt Lu's rooms. She'll feed him."
"All right," cried Sue, always ready to do what Bunny did.
"We'll ask him. But we won't take him up in the elevator, Sue," Bunny went on.
"Why not?"
"'Cause maybe Henry won't let him come up, same as he wouldn't let the dog we found. We'll walk up the stairs with the man."
"It—it's awful far," said Sue, with a sigh, as she thought of the ten flights. Once she and Bunny, just for fun, had walked up them. It took a long while.
"Well, I'll walk up with the ragged man," said Bunny. "You can ride up in the elevator, Sue, and tell Aunt Lu we're coming, so she can have something to eat all ready."
"All right," agreed Sue. "That will be nice!"
Then she and Bunny started toward the ragged man who was poking about in the ash can with a long stick, as though looking for more pieces of bread.
"Are you hungry, Mr. Man?" asked Bunny, standing, with his sister Sue, behind the ragged man. "Are you hungry?"
The man turned quickly, and seeing it was only two little children, he smiled.
"Yes, I am hungry," he said. "I guess you'd be hungry, too, if you hadn't had any breakfast, or dinner or supper, except what you picked out of the ashes."
"My Aunt Lu will give you something to eat," said Sue. "You're going to walk up stairs with Bunny, so Henry, the elevator boy, won't see you. You don't mind walking, do you?"
"Not if I get something to eat," and the man chewed on a piece of the dried bread.
"Oh, Aunt Lu will give you lots!" promised Sue. "She's got plenty of meat left overfrom dinner, I heard her say so. But you can't go in the elevator. Henry wouldn't let us take up a dog we found."
"Course you're not a dog," Bunny explained quickly, "but they don't let dogs or cats or parrots, or I guess monkeys, up in this place, so maybe they wouldn't let you. But I don't know about that. Only I'll walk up stairs with you, and get you something to eat."
"And I'll go on ahead and tell Aunt Lu you're coming," said Sue. "Then Henry won't see you in his elevator. Go on, Bunny."
"Come along," said the little fellow, holding out his hand to the ragged man. Even though he was ragged he seemed clean.
"Oh, I guess I'd better not go up with you, little ones," the man said. "I'm not dressed nice enough to go in there," and he looked up at the fine, big apartment house in which lived Aunt Lu. "If there was a back door I'd go round to that," he said, "but they don't have back doors to city houses. I'm not used to being a tramp, and begging, either," he said. "But I've been sick, and I can't get any work, and I don't want to beg."
"Aunt Lu likes to help people," said Bunny, "and so does my mother. You come on up stairs with me and I'll get you something to eat. Sue, you go in first, and get Henry to take you up in the elevator. Then Henry won't see me and this man come in, and he can't stop us."
"All right," agreed Sue. So, while Bunny stayed outside, with the ragged man, Sue went into the hall, and rang the elevator bell.
"Hello!" exclaimed Henry, as he opened the sliding door for Sue. "Where's Bunny?"
"Oh, he's coming," Sue said.
"Then I'll wait for him," said Henry.
"Oh, no! You needn't!" Sue exclaimed. "Maybe he won't be in for a long time. I want to go up right away, to tell Aunt Lu she's going to have company."
"Company!" cried Henry. "If company is comin', I'll wait and take 'em up."
"No, please don't!" begged Sue. "Take me up right away, and then you can come down again." She did not want Henry to wait there in the lower hall, with his elevator, and see Bunny going up the stairs with the raggedman. Sue wanted to get Henry safely out of the way.
"All right. I'll take you up," promised Henry, and, a second later, Sue was shooting upward in the elevator car.
"Come on now. We can get in without Henry's seeing us!" called Bunny to the ragged man. "It's a long walk, but Sue and I did it once."
"Say, I'm much obliged to you," said the tramp, for that's what he was. "But maybe I'd better not go in. They might arrest me."
"No they won't—not while I'm with you," Bunny said. "I'll tell a policeman you're going up to my Aunt Lu's. She's got lots to eat."
And so Bunny and the ragged man began the long climb up the stairs, while Sue rode in the elevator. She, of course, was the first to reach her aunt's rooms. Wopsie let Sue in.
"Oh, Aunt Lu!" cried Sue. "The hungry, ragged man's coming. He ate bread out of the ash can, and he hasn't had any breakfast, dinner or supper. Bunny's walking up stairswith him, so Henry won't see him, 'cause Henry, maybe, wouldn't let him ride in the elevator. But he's awful hungry, so please give him some of that meat!"
For a moment Aunt Lu stared at Sue, and so did Mrs. Brown.
"Bless my stars!" cried Aunt Lu, after a bit. "What does the child mean?"
"It's the ragged man," Sue explained. "Bunny's bringing him up the stairs," and then the little girl told her aunt and mother all about it.
"But, Sue, dear! You musn't bring strange men in the house," said her mother.
"Oh, he was so hungry and ragged!" cried the little girl.
"She meant all right," remarked Aunt Lu. "I dare say it is some poor tramp. There are many of them in New York. I'll give him something to eat. Is Bunny bringing him here?"
"Yes, Aunt Lu. Bunny's walking up the stairs with him, so Henry won't see him, and put him out, like he did our dog that we found."
Aunt Lu and Mother Brown laughed at this, but Sue did not mind. Soon there came a ring at Aunt Lu's hall bell. She opened the door herself, and saw, standing there, Bunny and the ragged man.
"Here he is!" Bunny cried. "I got him up stairs all right, but he slipped on one step. I didn't let him fall, though, and Henry didn't see us. He's hungry, Aunt Lu."
The ragged man took off his ragged cap.
"I'm sorry about this, lady," he said to Aunt Lu. "But the little boy would have it that I come up with him. He said you'd give me a meal, but I don't like to trouble you—"
"Oh, I'm glad to help you," said Aunt Lu. "Wait a minute and I'll hand you out something to eat."
"Come on in!" said Bunny, who did not see why the ragged man should be left standing in the hall.
"No, little chap, I'll wait here," said the man. A few minutes later he was drinking a bowl of coffee Mary, the colored cook, brought him, and he was given a bag of bread and meat, with a piece of cake.
"It's mighty good of you, lady," said the ragged man, as he started to walk down the stairs again.
"You can thank the children," said Aunt Lu with a smile, as she gave the man some money. "And you needn't walk down. I'll ring for the elevator for you."
"Oh, no'm, I'd rather walk. I'm stronger now I've had that coffee. I'll walk down. The elevator boy wouldn't want me in his car. I'll walk."
Down he started, not so hungry now, though as ragged as ever. And, too, Aunt Lu had given him money enough to last him for a few days, until he could find work to earn money for himself.
"But, Bunny and Sue, please don't ask any more ragged men up without first coming to tell me," said Aunt Lu with a smile. "I like to be kind to all poor persons, but you see I live in a house with many other families, and some of them might not like to have tramps come up here. However, you meant all right, only come and tell me or your mother first, after this."
"I will," promised Bunny. "But he was awful hungry; wasn't he?"
"I guess he was, and I'm glad we could help him. But now Wopsie is ready to take you to the moving pictures. Run along."
Bunny and Sue had another good time at the pictures. They saw the play of Cinderella, and liked it very much. After they came out they went to a drug store, and had ice-cream.
One day Aunt Lu said to Bunny and Sue:
"How would you like to go to the aquarium?"
"What's that?" asked Bunny. "Is it like a moving picture show?"
"Well, it is moving, and it is a show," answered Aunt Lu, with a smile. "But it is not exactly pictures. It is a big building down at the end of New York City, in a place called Battery Park, and in the building are tanks and pools, where live fish are swimming around. There are also seals, alligators and turtles. Would you like to go to see that?"
Bunny and Sue thought they would, very much, and a little later, with their motherand Aunt Lu, they were in the aquarium. All around the building, which was in the shape of a circle, were glass tanks, in which big and little fish could be seen swimming about. In white tile-lined pools, in the middle of the floor, were larger fish, alligators, turtles and other things. Bunny was delighted.
"Oh, if I could only catch some of these big fish," he said to Sue.
"But you can't!"
"Maybe I can," he said to her in a whisper. "I brought some pins with me, and some string. I'm going to try and catch a fish. Come on over here."
From his pocket Bunny took a string and a pin. His mother and his aunt were looking down in the pool where some seals were swimming about. Bunny, holding Sue's hand, led her over to the other side of the aquarium where there was a pool containing some large fish, and some big turtles.
"I'm going to fish here," said Bunny Brown.
Bunny's sister Sue did not think her brother was doing anything wrong. She had so often seen him do many things that other boys did not do that she thought whatever Bunny did was all right.
"How you going to catch fish?" she asked.
"I'll show you," Bunny answered. "But don't call mother or Aunt Lu. They want to stay looking at the seals. I've seen enough of them."
But I think, though, that the real reason Bunny did not want Sue to call his mother, or his aunt, was because he was afraid they might stop him from trying to catch a fish.
And that was what Bunny Brown was going to try to do.
While Sue watched, Bunny bent a pin up in the shape of a hook. He and his sisterhad often fished with such hooks down in the brook near their house. Bunny tied the bent pin to the end of a long string, and then he walked over toward the white, tile-lined pool.
Just at this time there was no one near this pool, for most of the visitors in the aquarium were watching the seals, as Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu were doing. The seals, of whom there were three or four, seemed to be having a game of tag. They swam about very swiftly, and leaped half out of the water, splashing it all about, and even on the persons standing about the pool. But the men, women and children only laughed, and crowded up closer to look at the playing seals.
"I want to see them," said Sue, pointing to where the crowd stood, laughing.
"Wait until I catch a fish," pleaded Bunny. "I'll soon have a fish, or a turtle or an alligator, Sue."
"I don't want any alligators," said the little girl. "They bite, and so does a turtle."
"All right. I won't catch them," promised Bunny. "I'll just catch a fish. Then we'll go to look at the seals."
"All right," agreed Sue. She went with her little brother over to the other pool. They were the only ones there, because everyone else was so anxious to look at the seals.
"Now watch me catch a fish," Bunny said. To the bent pin hook, on the end of the string, he tied a piece of rag. He had brought all these things with him, hoping he might get a chance to fish in the aquarium.
"What's that rag?" Sue wanted to know.
"That's my bait," Bunny answered. "You can't dig any worms in the city, 'cause there's all sidewalk. So I use this rag for bait."
"I don't like worms, anyhow," said Sue. "They is so—so squiggily. Rags is nicer for bait. But will the fish eat rags, Bunny?"
"I guess so."
The pool that Bunny had picked out to fish in was in two parts. There was a wire screen across the middle, and on one side were the alligators and turtles—some large and some small, while on the other side of the wire were fish. It was these fish—or one of them at least—that Bunny Brown was going to try to catch.
Into the water he cast his bent pin hook, with the fluttering rag for bait. No one saw him, everyone else being at the seal-pool. Sue watched her brother eagerly. She wanted him to hurry, and catch a fish, so they could go over where their mother and Aunt Lu were.
But the fish in the pool did not seem to care for Bunny's rag bait. Perhaps they knew it was only a piece of cloth, and not a nice worm, or piece of meat, such as they would like to eat. Anyhow, they just swam past it in the water.
"Hurry up, Bunny, and catch a fish!" begged Sue. "I want to go and look at the seals."
"All right—I'll have a fish in a minute," Bunny said, hopefully.
But he did not. The fish would not bite. Bunny wanted to catch something, and, all at once, he decided that if he could not get a fish he might get a turtle, or a small alligator. But he did not tell Sue what he was going to do, for he knew she would not like it. She was afraid of alligators and turtles.
Bunny pulled his line from the fish-pooland tossed the pin-hook over into the turtle-pool. And then something happened, all at once! There was a rush through the water, as a big turtle saw the fluttering rag, and the next minute Bunny was nearly pulled over the low railing into the pool. For the turtle had swallowed his bent pin hook.
"Oh, Sue! I've got one! I've got one!" cried Bunny, shouting out loud, he was so excited.
"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 gotyou!" said a man, rushing 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 inhere!" 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 thingsto 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."