The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove, by Laura Lee Hope This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Author: Laura Lee Hope Release Date: December 19, 2006 [eBook #20134] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE*** E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J. P. W. Fraser, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE BY LAURA LEE HOPE AUTHOR OF THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES, THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES, THE MAKE-BELIEVE SERIES, ETC. Illustrated NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Made in the United States of America BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES (Six Titles) THE MAKE-BELIEVE SERIES (Seven Titles) THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES (Ten Titles) GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1920, by GROSSET & DUNLAP Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove MRS. SLATER AND SUE WATCH BUNNY AND HARRY BRING IN THE BOX. Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove. Frontispiece—(Page 210) CONTENTS chapter page I. The Big Dog 1 II. In the Carpenter Shop 12 III. The Diamond Ring 23 IV. Daddy Brings News 38 V. Adrift 47 VI. The Strange Dog 59 VII. The Sleep-Walker 68 VIII. A Collision 78 IX. The Merry Goat 89 X. In the Storm 103 XI. Where Is Bunny? 114 XII. Christmas Tree Cove 121 XIII. A Crash 133 XIV. In the Dark 140 XV. Bunny's Toe 152 XVI. Overboard 161 XVII. The New Boy 170 XVIII. Held Fast 178 XIX. Another Storm 187 XX. The Floating Box 198 XXI. Mr. Ravenwood 205 XXII. The Surprising Letter 213 XXIII. "That's the Dog!" 221 XXIV. In the Boat 228 XXV. What Stopped the Engine 238 BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE CHAPTER I THE BIG DOG "Come on, Bunny, let's just have one more teeter-tauter!" cried Sue, dancing around on the grass of the yard. "Just one more!" and she raced over toward a board, put across a sawhorse, swaying up and down as though inviting children to have a seesaw. "We can't teeter-tauter any more, Sue," objected Bunny Brown. "We have to go to the store for mother." "Yes, I know we have to go; but we can go after we've had another seesaw just the same, can't we?" Bunny Brown, who was carrying by the leather handle a black handbag his mother had given him, looked first at his sister and then at the board on the sawhorse, gently moving up and down in the summer breeze. "Come on!" cried Sue again, "and this time she danced off toward the swaying board, singing as she did so: "Teeter-tauter Bread and water, First your son and Then your daughter." Bunny Brown stood still for a moment, looking back toward the house, out of which he and Sue had come a little while before. "Mother told us to go to the store," said Bunny slowly. "Yes, and we're going. I'll go with you in a minute—just as soon as I have a seesaw," said Sue. "And, besides, mother didn't say we were not to. If she had told us not to teeter-tauter I wouldn't do it, of course. But she didn't, Bunny! You know she didn't!" "No, that's so; she didn't," agreed Bunny. "Well, I'll play it with you a little while." "That's nice," laughed Sue. "'Cause it isn't any fun teetering and tautering all by yourself. You stay down on the ground all the while, lessen you jump yourself up, and then you don't stay—you just bump." "Yes," agreed Bunny. "I've been bumped lots of times all alone." He was getting on the end of the seesaw, opposite that on which Sue had taken her place, when the little girl noticed that her brother still carried the small, black bag. Mother Brown called it a pocketbook, but it would have taken a larger pocket than she ever had to hold the bag. It was, however, a sort of large purse, and she had given it to Bunny Brown and his sister Sue a little while before to carry to the store. "Put that on the bench," called Sue, when she saw that her brother had the purse, holding it by the leather handle. "You can't teeter-tauter and hold on with that in your hand." [1] [2] [3] There was a bench not far away from the seesaw—a bench under a shady tree—and Mrs. Brown often sat there with the children on warm summer afternoons and told them stories or read to them from a book. "Yes, I guess I can teeter better if I don't have this," agreed Bunny. "Hold on, Sue, I'm going to get off." "All right, I'm ready," his sister answered. You know if you get off a seesaw without telling the boy or girl on the other end what you are going to do, somebody is going to be bumped hard. Bunny Brown didn't want that. Sue put her fat, chubby little legs down on the ground and held herself up, while Bunny ran across the grass and laid the pocketbook on the bench. I suppose I had better call it, as Mrs. Brown did, a pocketbook, and then we shall not get mixed up. But, as I said before, you couldn't really put it in a pocket. "Seesaw, Margery Daw!" sang Sue, as Bunny came back to play with her. "Now we'll have some fun!" And the children did. Up and down they went on the board their father had sent up from his boat dock for them to play with. He had also sent up the sawhorse. A sawhorse, you know, is made of wood, and, though it has legs, it can't run. It's just a sort of thin bench, and a seesaw board can easily be put across it. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were gaily swaying up and down on the seesaw, and, for the time, they had forgotten all about the fact that their mother had sent them to the store to pay a bill, and also to get some groceries. They had not meant to stay so long, but you know how it is when you get to seesawing. "It's just the finest fun ever!" cried Sue. "I'm sorry for boys and girls that ain't got any seesaws," said her brother. "Oh, I guess a lot of boys and girls have 'em, Bunny. Daddy said so, once." "Did he? I didn't hear him." Up and down, up and down went the children, laughing and having a splendid time. Sue felt so happy she began to sing a little song and Bunny joined in. It was the old ditty of the Cow that Jumped Over the Moon. "We'd better go now, Sue!" called Bunny, after a while. "We can seesaw when we get back." "Oh, just five more times up and down!" pleaded the little girl, shaking her curls and fairly laughing out of her eyes. "Just five more!" "All right!" agreed Bunny. "Just five—that's all!" Again the board swayed up and down, and when Sue was just sorrowfully counting the last of the five, shouting and laughter were heard in the street in front of the Brown house. "Oh, there's Mary Watson and Sadie West!" cried Sue. "Yes, and Charlie Star and Harry Bentley!" added Bunny. "Come on in and have a lot of fun!" he called, as two boys and two girls came past the gate. "We can take turns seesawing." "That'll be fun!" said Charlie. "Can't we get another board and make another seesaw?" asked Harry. "We can't all get on that one. It'll break." "I guess we can find another board," said Bunny. "I'll go and ask my mother." "No!" said Sue quickly. "You'd better not, Bunny!" "Why?" asked her brother, in surprise. "'Cause if you go in now mother will know we didn't go to the store, and she might not like it. We'd better go now and let Charlie and Harry and Sadie and Mary have the teeter-tauter until we come back," suggested Sue. "It'll hold four, our board will, but not six." Bunny Brown thought this over a minute. "Yes, I guess we had better do that," he said. Then, speaking to his playmates, he added: "We have to go to the store, Charlie, Sue and I. You can play on the seesaw until we come back. And then, maybe, we can find another board, and make two teeters." "I have a board over in my yard. I'll get that," offered Charlie, "if we can get another sawhorse." "We'll look when we come back," suggested Sue. "Come on, Bunny." Sue got off the seesaw, as did her brother, and their places were taken by Charlie, Harry, Mary and Sadie. Though Sue was a little younger than Bunny, she often led him when there was something to do, either in work or play. And just now there was work to do. It was not hard work, only going to the store for their mother with the pocketbook to pay a bill at the grocer's and [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] get some things for supper. And it was work Bunny Brown and his sister Sue liked, for often when they went to the grocer's he gave each a sweet cracker to eat on the way home. Bunny, followed by Sue, started for the bench where the pocketbook had been left. But, before they reached it, and all of a sudden, a big yellow dog bounced into the yard from the street. It leaped the fence and stood for a moment looking at the children. "Oh, what a dandy dog!" cried Charlie. "Is that your dog, Splash, come back?" asked Harry, for Bunny and his sister had once owned a dog of that name. Splash had run away or been stolen in the winter and had never come back. "No, that isn't Splash," said Bunny. "He's a nice dog, though. Here, boy!" he called. The dog, that had come to a stop, turned suddenly on hearing himself spoken to. He gave one bound over toward the bench, and a moment later caught in his mouth the leather handle of Mrs. Brown's black pocketbook and darted away. Over the fence he jumped, out into the street, so quickly that the children could hardly follow him with their eyes. But it was only an instant that Bunny Brown remained still, watching the dog. Then he gave a cry: "Oh, Sue! The dog has mother's pocketbook and the money! Come on! We've got to get it away from him!" "Oh, yes!" echoed Sue. Bunny ran out of the yard and into the street, following the dog. Sue followed her brother. The four other children, being on the seesaw, could not move so quickly, and by the time they did get off the board, taking turns carefully, so no one would get bounced, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were out of sight, down the street and around a corner, chasing after the dog that had snatched up their mother's pocketbook. "We've got to get him!" cried Bunny, looking back at his sister. "Come on!" "I am a-comin' on!" she panted, half out of breath. The big yellow dog was in plain sight, bounding along and still holding in his mouth, as Bunny could see, the dangling pocketbook. Suddenly the animal turned into some building, and was at once out of sight. "Where'd he go?" asked Sue. "Into Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop," her brother answered. "I saw him go in. We can get him easy now." On they ran, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. A few seconds later they stood in front of the open door of a carpenter shop built near the sidewalk. Within they could see piles of lumber and boards and heaps of sawdust and shavings. The dog was not in sight, but Bunny and Sue knew he must be somewhere in the shop. They scurried through the piles of sawdust and shavings toward the back of the shop, looking eagerly on all sides for a sight of the dog. "Where is he?" asked Sue. "Oh, Bunny, if that pocketbook and the money are lost!" "We'll find it!" exclaimed Bunny. "We'll make the dog give it back!" As he spoke there was a noise at the door by which the children had entered the carpenter shop. The door was quickly slammed shut, and a key was turned. Then a harsh voice cried: "Now I've got you! You sha'n't play tricks on me any more! I've got you locked up now!" CHAPTER II IN THE CARPENTER SHOP Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were so surprised at hearing that harsh voice, and at hearing the door slammed shut and locked behind them, that they just stood and looked at each other in the carpenter shop. They forgot, for the moment, all about the big yellow dog and the pocketbook he had carried away. Then Bunny managed to find his voice and he cried: "Who was that, Sue?" "I—I guess it was Mr. Foswick," she answered. "I'm almost sure it was." "Yes," agreed Bunny, "I guess it was. But what did he want to lock us in for? We didn't do anything. We just came in to get mother's pocketbook and the grocery money away from the dog." [9] [10] [11] [12] "I p'sume he made a mistake," said Sue. "He must have thought we were the bad boys that tease him. I saw some of 'em come in once and scatter the sawdust all over. And I heard Mr. Foswick say he'd fix 'em if he caught 'em. He must have thought we was them," she added, letting her English get badly tangled in her excitement. "I guess so," agreed Bunny. "Well, we'll tell him we aren't. Come on, Sue!" Giving up, for the time being, their search in the carpenter shop for the strange, big yellow dog, Bunny and Sue walked back toward the front door, which had been slammed shut. And while they are seeking to make Mr. Foswick understand that he had made a mistake, and had punished the wrong children, I shall have a moment or two to tell my new readers something about the characters whose adventures I hope to relate to you in this story. The town of Bellemere, which was on the seacoast and near a small river, was the home of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Their father, Walter Brown, was in the boat and fish business, owning a wharf, where he had his office. Men and boys worked for him, and one big boy, Bunker Blue, was a great friend of Bunny and his sister. In the Brown home was also Uncle Tad, an old soldier. In the first book of this series, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," I told you many of the things that happened to the children. After that they went to Grandpa's farm, and played circus, and there are books about both those happy times. Next the children paid a visit to Aunt Lu's city home, and from there they went to Camp Rest-a-While. In the big woods Bunny and Sue had many adventures, and they had so much fun on their auto tour that I could hardly get it all in one book. When Mr. Brown bought a Shetland pony for the children they were delighted, and they had as much fun with it as they did in giving a show. That is the name of the book just before the present one you are reading—"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Giving a Show." In that volume you may learn how a stranded company of players came to Bellemere, and what happened. Bunny and Sue, as well as some of their playmates, were actors and actresses in the show, and Splash, the dog, did a trick also. But Splash had run away, or been taken away, during the winter that had just passed, and Bunny and Sue no longer had a dog. Perhaps they thought they might induce the big one that had jumped into the yard to come and live with them, after they had taken the pocketbook away from him. He was not quite the same sort of dog as Splash, but he seemed very nice. Bunny and Sue kept hoping Splash would return or be brought back, but, up to the time this story opens, that had not come about. The show the two Brown children gave was talked about for a long time in Bellemere. Of course, Bunny and Sue had had help in giving it, and the show was also a means of helping others. Now winter had passed, spring had come and gone, and it was early summer. Bunny and Sue had been playing in the yard before going to the store for their mother when the strange dog had sprung over the fence, snatched up the pocketbook, and had run off with it, darting into the carpenter shop. "I don't see anything of him," said Sue, as she and Bunny made their way amid the piles of boards and lumber and over piles of sawdust and shavings toward the door. "You don't see anything of who?" asked Bunny. "Mr. Foswick or the big dog?" "The dog," answered Sue. "I couldn't see Mr. Foswick, 'cause he's outside. He shut the door on us." "Yes," agreed Bunny, "so he did. Well, maybe we can open it." But, alas! when Bunny and Sue tried the door they found it locked tight. Bunny had been afraid of that, for he thought he had heard a key turned in the lock. But he had not wanted to say anything to Sue until he made sure. Rattle and pull at the door as the children did, and turn the knob, which they also did several times, the door remained shut. "We—we're locked in!" said Sue in a sort of gasping voice, looking at Bunny. "Yes," agreed her brother, and he tried to speak cheerfully, for he was a year older than Sue, and, besides, boys oughtn't to be frightened as easily as girls, Bunny thought. "But I guess we can get out," Bunny went on. "Mr. Foswick thinks we're some of the bad boys that bother him. We'll just yell and tell him we aren't." "All right—you yell," suggested Sue. So Bunny shouted as loudly as he could: "Mr. Foswick! We didn't do anything! We didn't scatter your sawdust! You locked us in by mistake! Let us out, please!" Then he waited and listened, and so did Sue. There was no answer. "I guess you didn't yell loud enough," said Sue. "Try again, Bunny." [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Bunny did so. Once more he shouted through the closed door, or at least at the closed door. He shouted loudly, hoping the carpenter would hear him and open the door. "Mr. Foswick! We didn't do anything!" yelled Bunny Brown. Still there was silence. No one came to let the children out. "I guess we'd better both yell," suggested Sue. "You can shout louder than I can, Bunny, but it isn't loud enough. We've both got to yell." "Yes, I better guess we had," agreed the small boy. Standing close to one another near the door, they lifted their voices in a shout, saying: "Mr. Foswick! Mr. Foswick! We—didn't—do—anything!" They called this several times, but no answer came to them. "I guess he's gone away," said Sue, after a bit. "Yes, I guess so," agreed Bunny. "Well, we've got to get out by ourselves, then." "How can we?" his sister wanted to know. "The door's locked, and we can't break it down. It's a big door, Bunny." "Yes, I know it is," he answered. "But there's windows. I'll open a window and we can get out of one of them. They aren't high from the ground. We got out of a window once when Bunker Blue, by mistake, locked us in the shed on the dock, and we can get out a window now." "Oh, I hope we can!" cried Sue. "And can we get the dog out of the window, too, Bunny?" "The dog!" exclaimed Bunny, forgetting for the moment about the animal. "Oh, I guess we won't have to get him out. He isn't here." "But he ran in here," insisted Sue. "We saw him come into this carpenter shop." "Yes," agreed Bunny. "But he isn't here now. If he was we'd see him or hear him." "Maybe he's hiding," suggested Sue. "Maybe he's afraid 'cause he took mother's pocketbook and the money in it, and he's hiding in the sawdust or shavings." "Maybe," Bunny admitted. "Well, I'll call to him to come out. He only took the pocketbook in fun, I guess. Here, Splash, come on out! We won't hurt you!" he cried, moving back toward the center of the shop and away from the locked front door. "Come on, Splash!" "His name isn't Splash!" objected Sue. "This isn't our nice dog Splash that ran away, and I wish he'd come back." "I know he isn't Splash," agreed Bunny. "But it might be. And Splash is a dog's name, and if this dog hears me call it he may come out. Come on, old fellow!" he called again coaxingly. But no dog crawled out from under the shavings, sawdust, or piles of boards. "Where can he be?" asked Sue. "I guess he ran out the back door," suggested Bunny. "Then maybe we can get out there, too!" cried the little girl, and she and her brother, with the same thought, ran to the rear of the shop. "Here is the door," said Bunny, as he pointed it out. It was a large affair that slid back from the middle of the wall to one corner. It was tight shut. "And it's locked, too," cried Sue, pointing to a big padlock. To make sure, her brother tried the padlock. Sure enough, it was locked, and the key was nowhere in sight. "I can slide the door a little bit," said Bunny, and by hard work he managed to move it about an inch. This allowed a little of the breeze to come into the carpenter shop but that was all. "We can't get out through that crack," protested Sue, pouting. "Nobody could. Oh, dear! I don't see why this old carpenter shop has got to have all the doors locked." "Hum, that's funny!" said Bunny Brown. "How do you s'pose that dog got out with both doors locked?" asked Sue of her brother. Bunny paused to think. Then an idea came to him. "He must have jumped out a window, that dog did," he said. "There must be a window open, and he got out that [18] [19] [20] [21] way. And that's how we can get out, Sue. We'll crawl out a window just like that dog jumped out. Now we're all right. Mr. Foswick locked us in his carpenter shop by mistake, but we can get out a window." "Oh, yes!" agreed Sue, and she felt happier now. But again came disappointment. When the children made the rounds of the shop, looking on both sides, they not only saw that not a window was open, but when Bunny tried to raise one he could not. "Are they stuck?" asked Sue. "No," replied Bunny. "They're nailed shut! Every window in this shop is nailed shut, Sue, and the doors are both locked!" "Oh!" exclaimed Sue in a faint voice, and she looked at her brother in a way he felt sure meant she was going to cry. CHAPTER III THE DIAMOND RING Whistling as cheerfully as he could, Bunny Brown glanced all around the carpenter shop. "Are you whistling for the dog?" asked Sue. "No, not zactly," Bunny answered. "I'm just whistlin' for myself. I'm going to do something." "What?" asked Sue. She knew that whenever Bunny was making anything, such as a boat out of a piece of wood or a sidewalk scooter from an old roller skate, he always whistled. The more he worked the louder he whistled. "What are you going to make now?" asked Sue. "Oh, I'm not going zactly to make anything," Bunny explained. "I'm just going to do something. I'm going to open one of these windows so we can get out, same as the dog did." "But he didn't get out of a window," objected Sue. "How could he, if they were nailed shut before we came in? And they must 'a' been, 'cause we didn't hear Mr. Foswick hammering." "Yes, I guess the windows have been nailed shut maybe a long time," agreed Bunny. "But, anyhow, the dog got out and we can get out." "But how could he get out if both doors are locked and the windows nailed shut?" Sue wanted to know. Bunny could not answer that. Besides, he had other things to look after. He wanted to get himself and his sister out of the carpenter shop before Sue began to cry. Bunny didn't like crying girls, even his sister, though he felt sorry for them. "I can take a hammer and pull the nails out of a window where it's nailed shut, and then I can raise it and we can crawl out," explained Bunny to his sister. "There's sure to be a hammer in a carpenter shop." There were, several of them, lying around on the benches and sawhorses that seemed to fill the place. There were other tools, also; sharp chisels and planes, but Bunny and Sue knew enough not to touch these. The children might have been cut if they had handled the sharp tools. Mr. Brown kept sharp tools at his dock for mending old boats and making new ones, so Bunny and his sister knew something about carpentry. "I guess this hammer will be a good one," said Bunny, picking up one with a claw on the end for pulling out nails. He had often seen Bunker Blue at the boat dock use just such a hammer as this. Bunny climbed up on a workbench near a window which, as he could look out and see, was only a short distance from the ground. If that window could be opened, the little boy and his sister could easily drop out and not be hurt in the least. "Can you get it open?" asked Sue anxiously, as she watched Bunny climb upon the dusty carpenter bench. "Oh, sure!" he answered. "We'll be out in a little while now; and then we can go and hunt that big dog that has our mother's pocketbook." "And the money, too," added Sue. "We've got to get the money and go to the store, Bunny." "Yes, that's right," he agreed. With the hammer in his hand, he began looking over the window. He wanted to see where the heads of the nails [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] were sticking out, so he could slip the claw of the hammer under them and pull them out by prying on the handle. Bunny had not only pulled out nails himself before this, but he had watched his father and Bunker Blue do it. Bunny Brown also knew how windows were nailed shut. Once the Browns owned a little cottage on an island in the river. They sometimes spent their summer vacations in the cottage, and in the fall, when winter was approaching and the cottage was to be closed, the windows were nailed shut from the inside. Once Bunny had helped his father nail the windows shut, and once he had helped pull the nails out the next summer when the cottage was to be opened. So Bunny was now looking for the heads of nails in the window of Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop. The first window he looked at was so tightly nailed, with all the heads driven so far into the wood, that Bunny could get the claw of the hammer under none of them. He made his way along the bench to the next window. This window was nearer the street. "Can you open that one?" asked Sue. "Yes, I guess so!" exclaimed Bunny. The little boy saw a nail head sticking out. He slipped the claw of the hammer under it and pressed hard on the handle. Whether Bunny had not put the claw far enough under the nail, or whether the head was so small that the claw slipped off, neither of the children knew. But what happened was that Bunny's hand slipped, the hammer also slipped away from his grasp, and the next moment, with a crash and tinkle of glass, the hammer broke through the window and fell outside. "Oh, Bunny! are you hurt?" cried Sue, for once she had seen her mother cut her hand trying to open a window that stuck. "No, I'm not hurt," answered her brother. "But the hammer's gone out." "You can get another. There's lots here," said Sue. "But I can't fix the window," said Bunny, rather sadly. "It's all busted!" "It wasn't your fault!" said Sue stormily. "Mr. Foswick ought never to have locked us in, and then you wouldn't have to try to unnail a window to get out! It's his fault!" "Maybe it is," said Bunny, leaning forward to look out of the broken window. "Don't try to crawl out!" exclaimed Sue. "You might get cut!" "I'm not going to," said Bunny. "I was just seeing how far it was and where the hammer went. It's on the grass, and it isn't far out of the window at all. If we could only crawl out——" "And get all cut on the glass? I guess not!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Look! There goes Mr. Reinberg, who keeps the drygoods store. Call to him through the broken window, and he'll get us out!" Through the window, which he had broken with the hammer, Bunny had a glimpse of the street. As Sue had said, the drygoods merchant was just then passing. "Hi!" suddenly called Bunny. "Let us out, please! Help us out, Mr. Reinberg!" The merchant looked up, down, and sideways. He could not at first tell where the voice was coming from. "Who are you and where are you?" he demanded. "I'm Bunny Brown, and my sister Sue is with me," came the answer from the little boy. "And we're locked in Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop." "Oh, now I see you!" said the drygoods store man, glancing toward Bunny, who could be seen through the window. "So you're locked in, are you? How did it happen?" "Mr. Foswick locked us in," said Bunny. "He did! What for?" "Oh, I guess he thought we were bad boys. But Sue isn't a boy; she's a girl," explained Bunny. "If you could only open a door, or pull the nails out of one of the windows, we could get out. I was trying to pull out a nail and I broke the glass." "Well, I don't believe I can get you out either way," said Mr. Reinberg, and Bunny and Sue felt much disappointed. "I haven't a key to the door, and I can't reach in and pull out the nails," went on the drygoods merchant, as he came down the side alley and talked to Bunny through the hole in the glass. [27] [28] [29] [30] "But I'll go over to Mr. Foswick's house, which isn't far away, and get him to come and let you out," went on Mr. Reinberg. "I'll go right away, Bunny. Don't be afraid." "Thank you; we're not," Bunny answered, as cheerfully as he could. After the man had gone away it seemed more lonely in the old carpenter shop than ever to Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They walked away from the window and Sue sat down on a bench. "Do you suppose he'll be long?" she asked. "Maybe not—Mr. Foswick doesn't live far." To amuse himself and his sister Bunny picked up a handful of nails and laid out a long railroad track. Then he got a big bolt and pretended that was a locomotive and shoved it along the track. "Where does the train run to?" asked the little girl. "New York, Chicago and—and Camp Rest-A-While," said Bunny—the last name being that of a place where they had once had a delightful vacation. He and Sue did not have long to wait. Soon along came the old carpenter and Mr. Reinberg. "Dear me! I didn't know I'd locked Bunny and Sue in," said Mr. Foswick, as he opened the front door, unlocking it with a big key. "I thought it was some of those pesky boys. They run in when I have the door open, and when I'm away in the back part of the shop, and busy, they scatter the shavings and sawdust all about. "They came in once this afternoon," said Mr. Foswick, "and I made up my mind if they did it again I'd teach 'em a lesson. So I locked my back door, and I went into the alley near my front door. I knew all the windows were nailed shut. "Then, when I was in the alley, I heard somebody run into my shop, and, quick as I could, I ran out, pulled the door shut, and locked 'em in. I supposed it was some of those pesky boys, and I was going to keep 'em locked up until I could go get their fathers and tell 'em how they pester me. I didn't have a notion, Bunny, that it was you and Sue, or I'd never have done such a thing—never!" Mr. Brown often hired Mr. Foswick to do carpentry, and the rather crabbed and cross old man did not want to offend a good customer. "I'm very sorry about this thing I did, Bunny and Sue," went on Mr. Foswick. "I'd no idea it was you I'd locked up. I supposed it was those pesky boys. Both doors were locked—I made sure of that—and the windows were nailed shut. I keep 'em shut so nobody can get in at night." "Bunny tried to open one of the windows with a hammer," said Sue. "And I—I guess I broke it—I mean the window," said Bunny. "I didn't mean to." "Oh, broke a window, did you?" exclaimed Mr. Foswick, and he seemed surprised. "If they hadn't broken the glass I might not have heard them calling," said the drygoods merchant. "Oh, well, I guess you couldn't help it; and a broken window won't cost much to fix," said the old carpenter. "I'm sorry you had all that trouble, and I'm glad you're neither of you cut. Tell your pa and ma I'm real sorry." "We will," promised Bunny. And then, after Bunny and Sue had started home on the run, for it was getting late and toward supper time, Sue suddenly thought of something. She turned back. "Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "We forgot to ask Mr. Foswick about the dog!" "So we did! The dog that has mother's pocketbook. Maybe he saw him run out of the carpenter shop, and noticed which way he went. Let's go back and ask him." Back they turned, to find Mr. Foswick nailing a board over the broken pane of glass. "Well, you haven't come back to stay the rest of the night, have you?" asked the old carpenter, smiling at them over his dusty spectacles. "No, sir. We came back about the dog," said Bunny. "We were chasing a strange dog that had mother's pocketbook, and he ran in here. That's why we came in," the boy explained, and he told how they had been playing with the seesaw when the strange animal jumped into the Brown yard. "Did you see him come out of your shop?" asked Sue. "'Cause he wasn't in there when we were." "No, I didn't see any dog," said Mr. Foswick. "But there are some holes at the back where he could have crawled out. That's what he must have done. He didn't come out the front door. But we'll take a look." [31] [32] [33] [34] It did not take the carpenter and the children long to search through the shop and make sure there was no dog there. As Mr. Foswick had said, there were several holes in the back wall of his shop, out of which a dog might have crawled. "What can we do?" asked Sue, looking at her brother after the unsuccessful search. "We've got to go home and tell mother," said Bunny. "Then we can maybe find the dog and the pocketbook somewhere else. It isn't here." "No, I don't see anything of it," remarked Mr. Foswick, looking around his little shop. "You'd better go and tell your folks. They may be worried about you. And tell 'em I'm sorry for locking you in." Bunny and Sue hurried home. They found Mrs. Brown looking up and down the street for them. The other children had gone away. "Where have you been?" asked Mother Brown. "It is very late for little people to be out alone. And where is my pocketbook and the groceries I sent you for? Where is my pocketbook?" She looked at Bunny and then at his sister, noting their empty hands. "A big dog ran off with your pocketbook, Mother," explained Bunny. "He jumped into the yard and picked it up off the bench when Sue was teeter-tautering with me. Then he ran into Mr. Foswick's shop, and we ran after him, and we got locked in, and I broke a window, and we couldn't find the dog nor your pocketbook." "Nor the money, either," added Sue. "There was money in the pocketbook, wasn't there, Mother?" Mrs. Brown did not answer that question at once. "Do you mean to say a strange dog ran off with the pocketbook and everything in it?" she asked Bunny. "Yes, Mother," he answered. "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown in a faint voice, and she sank with white face into a chair. Mr. Brown, who had just come in, sprang to his wife's side. "Oh, don't take on so!" he exclaimed. "The loss of the pocketbook isn't much. Was there a great amount of money in it?" "A five-dollar bill," his wife answered. "Oh, well, we shall not worry over that if we never find it," he went on. "And you can get another purse." Daddy Brown was smiling. "But you don't understand!" cried Mother Brown. "Just before I sent the children to the store I was doing something in the kitchen. I took off the beautiful diamond engagement ring you gave me, and put it in the pocketbook. I meant to take it out in a moment, but Mrs. Newton came over, and I forgot it. Then I slipped a five-dollar bill in the purse and gave it to the children to go to the store. Oh, dear! what shall I do?" Mr. Brown looked serious. "Are you sure the diamond ring was in the pocketbook?" he asked. "Yes," replied his wife, and there were tears in her eyes. "The dog ran away with the five-dollar bill, the pocketbook and my beautiful diamond ring! Oh, what shall I do? What a terrible loss!" CHAPTER IV DADDY BRINGS NEWS Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know what to do or what to say when they saw how bad their mother felt. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at the finger which had held the diamond ring. The little boy and girl well knew the "sparkler," as they sometimes called it. Daddy had given it to mother before their wedding, and Mrs. Brown prized it very much. "It was very careless of me to put my lovely ring in the pocketbook, and then to forget all about it and let you children take it to the store," said Mother Brown. "But are you sure you did put it in the pocketbook?" asked Mr. Brown again. "You may have done that, my dear, and then have taken it out again and carried the diamond ring into the house before Bunny and Sue went to the store. Try to think." And he sat down beside his wife while the little boy and his sister looked on wonderingly. "I know I left the ring in the pocketbook," replied Mrs. Brown, wiping her eyes on her handkerchief. "I didn't think [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] of it until a little while ago, and then I thought Bunny and Sue would bring it back with the change from the five-dollar bill. The ring was inside the middle part of the pocketbook, and they wouldn't have to open that to get at the money. Oh, children, did a dog really run away with the pocketbook?" "Yes, he really did," said Bunny. "And he run into the carpenter shop, and we ran after him, and Mr. Foswick locked us in, and he was sorry, and Bunny broke a window, and he was sorry, too," explained Sue, almost in one long breath. "Well, that's quite a story," said Mr. Brown. "Let's hear it all over again." So Bunny and Sue told all that had happened, from the time they had been teetering until they were let out of the carpenter shop after Mr. Reinberg had heard them calling through the broken window. "Oh, what shall I do?" asked Mrs. Brown once more, when the story was finished. "There is only one thing to do," said Mr. Brown. "I'll go back to the carpenter shop, and Mr. Foswick and I will look for the pocketbook. The dog probably dropped it among the shavings." "Let us come, too," said Bunny. "We can show you where the dog ran in the front door that was open." "I think I can see that place all right myself," answered Mr. Brown. "You children get your supper. I'll be back in a little while." It was not a very joyful supper for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Every once in a while they would see tears in their mother's eyes, and they could not help but feel it was partly their fault that the diamond ring was lost. For if Bunny and Sue had gone to the store as soon as their mother had told them to go, and had not stopped to play on the seesaw, and had not put the pocketbook down on the bench where the dog so easily reached it, all this trouble would not have come upon their mother. Mrs. Brown must have known that Bunny and Sue were thinking this, for she very kindly said to them: "Now, don't worry, my dears. Perhaps daddy will find the pocketbook, and the money and ring safely in it. I know you wanted to play, and that is why you did not go to the store at once. But never mind. Mother should not have left the ring in the pocketbook. It is largely mother's own fault. Anyway, daddy will come back with the ring." But Daddy Brown did not. Bunny and Sue had finished their supper, Mrs. Brown taking only a cup of tea, when their father came in. It needed only a look at his face to show that he had found nothing. "Wasn't it there?" his wife asked, as he sat up to the table, though, to tell the truth, he did not feel much like eating. He felt bad because his wife was so unhappy about her lost diamond ring. "Mr. Foswick and I searched the carpenter shop as well as we could," said Mr. Brown. "It was rather dark in there, and we could not see much. But we found no pocketbook." "Did you find the dog?" asked Sue eagerly. "No, he had run out," said Mr. Brown. "We saw where he had scattered the sawdust and shavings, though. Was it a dog you ever saw before, Bunny?" "No, Daddy," answered the little boy. "He was a big, strange, new dog. I wish we had him, 'cause we haven't any dog, now that Splash has run away." "I guess this dog has run away, also," said Mr. Brown. "There wasn't a trace of him; nor of the pocketbook, either. But Mr. Foswick and I are going to look in the shop again to-morrow by daylight. It may be the dog dropped the pocketbook, and it got kicked under a pile of sawdust or shavings." "Did you see the place where I broke the window with the hammer?" asked Bunny. "Yes, the window was still broken," answered his father, who began to eat his supper. It was not at all a cheerful evening in the Brown home. Never before had Bunny and Sue felt so unhappy—at least, they could not remember such a time. They did not feel like playing as they generally did, though it was a warm early summer night, and lovely to be out of doors. "Never mind, dears," said Mrs. Brown, when she was putting them to bed. "Perhaps we shall find the ring to- morrow." "And the money, too," added Bunny. "Five dollars is a lot to lose." "Maybe the dog ate it," suggested Sue. "How could he?" asked her brother. "Well, didn't Splash once chew up my picture-book? He ate one of the paper leaves that had on it about Bo Peep [40] [41] [42] [43] and her sheep," said Sue. "A five-dollar bill is paper, and so was my Mother Goose book, and Splash ate that." "No, I don't believe the dog ate the money," said Mrs. Brown. "It is probably still in the pocketbook with my ring wherever the dog dropped it. I should not mind the loss of the money if I could only get back my lovely diamond ring. But go to sleep, dears. To-morrow we may have good news." And so Bunny and Sue went to sleep. They were up early the next morning, but not so early as Mr. Brown, who, their mother said, had gone to the carpenter shop to help Mr. Foswick look among the sawdust and shavings. After a while Bunny and Sue went out in the yard to play with some of the boys and girls who lived near by. And to them Bunny and his sister told the story of what the strange dog had done. "I am sure I saw that big yellow dog," cried Lulu Dare, one of the girls. "It was down near Bradley's livery stable." "Oh, maybe he's down by the livery stable now!" exclaimed Bunny. "Let us go and see," added his sister Sue. "No, I don't think the dog is there now," said Lulu. "He wasn't standing still. He was running along." "Did he have anything in his mouth?" "Only his tongue and that was hanging out at first. Then he stopped to get a drink at that box where Mr. Bradley waters his horses, and then his tongue didn't hang out any more." "Say, did that dog have a spot on his left leg?" asked one of the boys. "Yes—a long, up-and-down spot." "Then he wasn't the dog who took the pocketbook. That old dog belongs at the hotel and he never comes up this way at all." "Let us make sure," said Bunny; and a little later all of the boys and girls visited the hotel. One of the boys was a nephew of the proprietor so they had little trouble in getting the man's attention. "No, my dog wouldn't do such a thing," said the hotel man. "He hasn't been up your way. It must have been some other dog." And then the boys and girls went home. A little later Bunny went into the house to get some cookies, and then he asked his mother if his father had come back with the ring. "No, he telephoned that he and Mr. Foswick went all over the shop, but they could not find the pocketbook," she said. "The dog must have carried it farther off." "Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny Brown. "What are you going to do, Mother?" "I don't know just what daddy is going to do," she answered. "He said he would talk it over when he came home to lunch. But don't worry. Run out and play. Here are your cookies." Bunny wanted to help his mother, but he soon forgot all about the ring, the pocketbook, and the five dollars in the jolly times he and Sue and their playmates had in the yard. Soon after the twelve o'clock whistles blew, Bunny saw his father coming along the street on his way home to lunch. "Oh, Daddy! did you find mother's ring?" called the little boy, as he ran to meet his father. "No, not yet," was the answer. "But I have some good news for all of you." "Oh, maybe he's found Splash or the other dog!" cried Sue, as she, also, ran to meet her father. CHAPTER V ADRIFT The faces of Bunny and Sue shone with delight as they hurried along, one on one side and one on the other of their father, each having hold of a hand. Mr. Brown, too, was more joyful than he had been the night before when the story of the lost ring had been told. "Did you find Splash?" asked Sue, as she tripped along. "No, I am sorry to say I did not," replied Mr. Brown. "I guess you will have to give Splash up as lost. Though he may run back again some day as suddenly as he ran off." [44] [45] [46] [47] "And didn't you find the other dog—the one that took mother's ring in the pocketbook?" asked Bunny. His father shook his head. "There was no sign of the other dog, either," Mr. Brown answered. "He must have been a stray dog that just ran through the town. A sort of tramp dog, I fancy." "Then there isn't any good news," remarked Bunny, and he grew a little sad and unhappy again. "Yes, there is good news; though it isn't about mother's ring," said Mr. Brown. "Nor about a dog?" asked Sue. "No, it isn't about a dog, either," her father said. "Come along, and we'll tell mother. Perhaps it will cheer her up." Mrs. Brown looked sharply at her husband when he entered the house with the two children. She wanted to see if she could tell, by his face, whether he had any better word than that which he had telephoned after his visit to the carpenter shop. "No," he said, in answer to her look, "we didn't find the pocketbook. But Mr. Foswick is going to have a regular house-cleaning in his shop. He is going to get the sawdust and shavings out of the way, and then we can make a better search." "I hope he will be careful when he takes them out," said Mrs. Brown. "My pocketbook was not very large, and it might easily be thrown away in a shovelful of shavings or sawdust." "He will be very careful," her husband promised. "He is very sorry he locked Bunny and Sue in his shop, very sorry indeed." "Oh, we didn't mind!" exclaimed Bunny. "We were scared a little, at first, but not much. Only I broke the window." "Mr. Foswick didn't seem to mind that much," went on Mr. Brown. "The 'pesky' boys, as he calls them, certainly do bother him a lot by running in the open front door when he is busy in the back of his shop. They scatter the sawdust and shavings all about." "Maybe some of those boys ran in and took my pocketbook and ring," suggested Mrs. Brown. "Oh, no," explained Bunny. "We ran right in after the dog, and there were no big boys around. We didn't see the dog run out, but Mr. Foswick said there were holes in the back of his shop and he could get out that way." "Yes," agreed Mr. Brown, "he could. And he may have done so. We are going to look around in the back of the shop as soon as the inside is cleaned out." "I do hope he will be careful," murmured Mrs. Brown. "Why, the dog won't bite him!" exclaimed Bunny. "He ran away, that dog did!" "Oh, I mean I hope Mr. Foswick will be careful about looking in the shavings and sawdust for my pocketbook," said Mother Brown. "I will send Bunker Blue over to help him look," promised Mr. Brown. "Bunker is a very careful lad." "But what story are you going to tell us, Daddy?" asked Sue, as she climbed up in her father's lap. "A story! This time of day?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, in surprise. "She means the news," said Mr. Brown. "I have some for you, and I hope you will think it is good, though it isn't about your lost diamond ring. Did you children ever hear of Christmas Tree Cove?" he asked. "Christmas Tree Cove!" exclaimed Bunny. "Oh, I know where that is! It's up the river back of the bay. Is the dog there, Daddy?" "Oh, no!" laughed his father. "Can't you think of anything but dogs, Bunny boy? Well, as long as you know where Christmas Tree Cove is, how would you like to go there to spend the summer?" As he spoke he looked at his wife. "Do you really mean it?" she inquired, her face brightening. "Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Bunny and Sue together, almost like twins, though Bunny was a year older than his sister. "Well, I hope you will have some fun there," said their father. "Now let's have lunch, and while we are eating I can tell you all about it." "Is this the news you meant, Daddy?" asked Bunny. "Yes," was the answer. [48] [49] [50] [51]