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[Illustration: "NOW WHERE ARE YOUR POTATOES, UNCLE TAD?" SUE ASKED.
"HERE THEY ARE!" SAID THE OLD SOLDIER.
_Frontispiece_ (_Page_ 75.)
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-a-While._]
BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY
TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLS
SERIES, ETC.
Illustrated by
Florence England Nosworthy
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
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES For Little Men and Women
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 OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Copyright, 1916, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. GRANDPA'S TENT 1
II. GRAND SURPRISE 12
III. BUNNY AND SUE SLEEP OUT 23
IV. SPLASH COMES, TOO 35
V. OFF TO CAMP 44
VI. PUTTING UP THE TENTS 55
VII. A BIG BLACK BEAR 68
VIII. THE RAGGED BOY 78
IX. TOM HEARS A NOISE 89
X. OUT IN THE BOAT 100
XI. TOM SEES A MAN 108
XII. THE CROSS MAN 119
XIII. A BAD STORM 128
XIV. TOM IS GONE 140
XV. LOOKING FOR TOM 150
XVI. "WHO TOOK THE PIE?" 157
XVII. A NOISE AT NIGHT 166
XVIII. SPLASH ACTS QUEERLY 176
XIX. IN THE SMOKE-HOUSE 184
XX. IN BUNNY'S TRAP 193
XXI. BUNKER GOES ASHORE 203
XXII. IN THE WOODS 210
XXIII. IN THE CAVE 220
XXIV. "WHO IS THERE?" 228
XXV. BACK IN CAMP 237
BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
CHAPTER I
GRANDPA'S TENT
"Bunny! Bunny Brown! There's a wagon stoppin' in front of our house!"
"Is there? What kind of a wagon is it, Sue?"
The little girl, who had called to her brother about the wagon, stood
with her nose pressed flat against the glass of the window, looking out
to where the rain was beating down on the green grass of the front yard.
Bunny Brown, who had been playing with a tin locomotive that ran on a
tiny tin track, put his toy back in its box.
"What kind of a wagon is it Sue?" he asked his sister again.
"It isn't a grocery wagon," Sue answered slowly. "Not a grocery wagon,
like the one we rode in once, when we gave all those things to Old Miss
Hollyhock."
"Has it got any letters on it?" Bunny wanted to know. He was on his way
to the window now, having taken up the toy railroad track, with which he
was tired playing.
"Yes, it's got a E on it," Sue said, "and next comes the funny letter,
Bunny, that looks like when you cross your legs or fingers."
"That's a X," said Bunny. He knew his letters better than did Sue, for
Bunny could even read a little. "What's the next letter, Sue?"
Bunny could have run to the window himself, and looked out, but he
wanted to pick up all the things with which he had been playing. His
mother had always made him do this--put away his toys when he was
through.
"What's the next letter, Sue?" Bunny Brown asked.
Sue was not quite sure of it. She put her little head to one side so she
might see better. Just then a man jumped off the seat, and splashed
through a muddy puddle as he walked around to the end of the wagon.
"Oh, Bunny!" Sue cried. "The man's going to bring something here, I
guess. He's taking out a big bundle."
"Maybe it's a wagon from the store," said Bunny. And, as he looked out
through the window glass, pressing his nose flat against it, as his
sister Sue had done, he spelled out the word:
EXPRESS
"That's an express wagon, Sue," said Bunny.
"What's express?" Sue wanted to know.
"That means when you're in a hurry," Bunny said. "You know, when we're
playing train, sometimes I'm an express train, and I go awful fast."
"Yes, I 'member that," said Sue. "Once, when we hitched our dog, Splash,
up to our express wagon, he went so fast he spilled me out."
"Well, that's express," Bunny went on. "When you went out of the wagon
so fast you were an express."
"I don't like express, then," said Sue. "I like to go slower. But that
can't be an express wagon, then, Bunny."
"Why not?"
"'Cause that's not goin' fast. It's jest standin' still."
"Oh, well, when it does go, it goes fast. That's an express wagon, all
right. Somebody's sent us something by express. Oh, Sue, I wonder what
it is?"
Sue shook her head. She did not know, and she could not guess. She was
watching the man out in the rain--the expressman who was trying to get
something out of the back of his wagon. It was a big bundle, that was
sure, because Bunny and Sue could see the end of it.
"I wonder if it's a present for us?" Sue asked.
"It can't be a present," answered Bunny. "It isn't Christmas. Don't you
remember, Sue, we had Christmas at Aunt Lu's city home."
"So we did, Bunny. But it's _something_, anyhow."
That was certain, for now the man was pulling a very large bundle out of
his wagon. It was so large that he could not carry it all alone, and he
called for Sam, the stable man, to come and help him. With the help of
Sam, the expressman carried the package back into the barn.
"Oh, I wonder what it is?" said Sue.
"We'll go and ask mother," suggested Bunny. "She'll know."
Together, the children fairly ran upstairs to their mother's sitting
room, where she was sewing.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Sue. "There's a fast wagon out in front--a fast
wagon and----"
"A fast wagon, Sue? What do you mean? Is it stuck fast in the mud?" Mrs.
Brown asked.
"No, she means an express wagon," said Bunny, with a laugh. "I told her
express was fast, Mother."
"Oh, I see," and Mrs. Brown smiled.
"But the express wagon did stop," went on the little boy. "It stopped
here, and Sam and the man took out a big bundle. It's up in our barn.
What is it, Mother?"
"I don't know, Bunny. Something your father sent for, perhaps. He may
tell us what it is when he comes."
"May we go out and look at it?" Sue asked.
"No, dear, not in this rain. Can't you wait until daddy comes home?"
"Yes, but I--I don't want to, Mother."
"Oh, well, we have to do many things in this world that we don't want
to. Now go and play with your dolls, or something. I think daddy will be
home early to-night, on account of the storm. Then he'll tell you what's
in the bundle."
"Does Sam know?" asked Bunny, as he watched the express wagon drive
away.
"Perhaps he does," answered Mrs. Brown.
"Then we can ask him!" exclaimed Sue. "Come on, Bunny!"
"No, dears, you mustn't go out to the barn in this rain. You'd get all
wet."
"I could put on my rubber coat," suggested Bunny.
"And so could I--and my rubber boots," said Sue.
Both children seemed to want very much to know what was in the express
package. But when Mrs. Brown said they could not go out she meant it,
and the more Bunny Brown and his sister Sue teased, the oftener Mrs.
Brown shook her head.
"No, you can't go out and open that bundle," she said. "And if you tease
much more daddy won't even tell you what's in it when he comes home. Be
good children now."
Bunny and Sue did not often tease this way, for they were good children.
But this day was an unpleasant, rainy one. They could not go out to have
fun, because of the rain, and they had played with all their toys,
getting tired of them, one after another.
"Mother, if we can't go out to the barn, could we have our dog, Splash,
in here to play with us?" asked Bunny, after a while. "We could hitch
him to a chair, and make believe it was an express wagon."
"Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And you could be the driver, Bunny, and you could
leave a package at my house--make believe, you know--and then I wouldn't
know what was in it, and I could guess, and you could guess. We could
play a guessing game; will you, Bunny?"
"Yes, I'll play that. May we have Splash in, Mother?"
"No, dear."
"Oh, why not?"
"Because I just saw Splash splashing through a puddle of muddy water. If
he came in now he'd get you all dirty and he would spoil my carpet."
"But what _can_ we do, Mother?" Sue asked, and her voice sounded almost
as if she were going to cry.
"We want to do _something_," added Bunny.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Brown, yet she could not help smiling. Rainy
days were hard when two children had to stay in the house all the while.
"We can play 'spress wagon without Splash!" exclaimed Sue, for she was a
good little girl, and did not want to make her mother worry.
"All right," agreed Bunny. "We'll just make believe we have Splash with
us to pull the pretend wagon."
He and Sue often played pretend, and make-believe, games, and they had
much fun this way. Now they turned one chair on the side, and put
another in front. The turned-over chair was to be the wagon, and the
other chair, standing on its four legs, was the horse. Bunny got some
string for reins, and the stick the washerwoman used to punch the
clothes down in the boiler made a good whip, when another piece of
string was tied on the end of that.
"Giddap!" cried Bunny, sitting on a stool behind the chair-horse.
"Giddap! This is an express wagon, and we've got to hurry."
"You must leave a package for me!" cried Sue. "This is my house, over on
the couch," and she curled up in a lump. "And this is my little girl,"
she went on, pointing to one of her dolls, which she had taken into her
"house" with her. "If I'm asleep--make-believe, you know," said Sue to
Bunny, "you tell my little girl to wake me up."
"Pooh! I can't talk to a doll!" cried Bunny.
"Yes, you can, too," said his sister. "Just _pretend_, you know."
"Well, even if I do, how can your doll talk to you, and wake you up?"
"Oh, Bunny! I'm only going to be make-believe asleep, and of course a
doll, who can pretend to talk, can make-believe wake me up as easy as
anything, when I'm only make-believe asleep."
"Oh, all right, if it's only make-believe," agreed Bunny. "Giddap,
Splash! I've named the make-believe chair-horse the same as our dog," he
explained to Sue.
Then the game began, and the children played nicely for some time,
giving Mrs. Brown a chance to finish her sewing. Bunny and Sue took
turns driving the "express wagon," and they had left many pretend
bundles at each other's houses, when a step was heard in the front hall,
and Bunny and Sue cried:
"Daddy! Daddy! Oh, daddy's come home!"
They made a rush for their father, and both together cried out:
"Oh, Daddy, a express package came! What's in it?"
"Did a package come?" asked Mr. Brown, as he took off his wet coat, for
it was still raining.
"Yep! It's out in the barn," said Bunny Brown.
"Oh, please tell us the secret!" begged Sue. "I know it must be a
secret, or mother would have told us."
Mrs. Brown smiled.
"The children have teased all afternoon to know what was in the bundle,"
she said.
"Well, I'll tell them," said Daddy Brown. "The package, that came by
express, has in it grandpa's tent."
"Grandpa's tent!" cried Bunny.
"The one we played circus in, out in the country?" Sue demanded.
"The same one," answered Daddy Brown, with a laugh.
"Oh, are we going to have another circus?" cried Bunny, joyously.
"Now sit down and I'll tell you all about it," said Daddy Brown, and he
took Bunny up on one knee, and Sue on the other.