IN THE GARDEN
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue walked up the path to the house with
Grandpa Brown. Sue had hold of one of grandpa's hands, and Bunny the
other. Behind them came father and mother, with Grandma Brown.
"Are you glad to see us, Grandpa?" asked Sue.
"Glad to see you? Well I should say I am!" cried grandpa. "I thought you
would never get here. And what a fine big auto you came in!"
"It's a moving van," Bunny explained. "You put pianos and chairs and
tables in it, and you take them to the new house, when you move. Only we
didn't move our things--we moved just ourselves."
"We had lots of fun!" cried Sue.
"It certainly is a nice way to travel," said Grandpa Brown. "Better
than with a horse and wagon, or even the steam cars."
"Yes," agreed Bunny. "We're awful sorry about your horses, Grandpa. We
saw some Gypsies, and we asked them if they had your team, but they said
they hadn't."
"No. I guess the Gypsies that took my horses, to use for a little while,
but forgetting to bring them back, are far enough away from here now,"
said Grandpa Brown. "I'd like to get my team back, though. They cost a
lot of money."
"We almost had a horse; didn't we, Sue?" asked Bunny, as he told of the
one they had found walking along the road.
"Yes, we almost had a horse; and we did have a cow, Bunny."
Grandpa Brown laughed when they told him how the cow had put her head
under the automobile, where Bunker Blue was sleeping, and had tickled
him in the ribs.
"Well, well!" laughed Grandpa Brown. "That was funny! But now you're
here, and I guess you're hungry; aren't you? Mother, these children are
hungry!" cried Grandpa Brown to his wife, though Bunny and Sue had not
said so. But probably Grandpa Brown knew that boys and girls are almost
always hungry.
"Well, come right in," was Grandma Brown's invitation, "and I'll get you
all something to eat."
Bunker Blue had run the automobile up to the big red barn. The doors
were open, and in the automobile went on the barn floor. The barn was
large enough to take in a load of hay, and the automobile was not quite
so high as that.
Soon Bunny and Sue, with their father and mother, were seated at the
table, eating a little lunch, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown talked about the
trip, and Grandpa Brown told more about his lost horses.
"You see it was this way," said Grandpa Brown. "The Gypsies were camped
not far from here. They had been around here some time, and they had
done no harm, as far as I could see. Then, one day, a Gypsy man came
over and wanted to buy horses from me.
"But I needed my teams, and so I wouldn't sell him any horses. Then he
wanted to borrow my two horses to pull some of their wagons, for they
were going to a new camp. He said two of his horses had died.
"I wanted to help the Gypsies, for some of them are good, so I let the
man take my best team of horses. He said he would bring them back the
next day. But he never did. I hunted all over, and I had the police
look, too, but we never could find the Gypsies, or my horses. It's too
bad!" and once more Grandpa Brown shook his head.
"I found Aunt Lu's diamond ring," said Bunny, "and maybe I'll find your
horses, Grandpa."
"Well, I wish you would, little man, but I'm afraid you can't. They're
gone!"
"Haven't you any horses left?" asked Sue. "'Cause if you haven't I'll
give you all the money in my bank, and you can buy some new ones."
"Bless her little heart!" cried grandma, giving Sue a hug.
"Oh, I have some horses left," Grandpa Brown said, "and I'll take you
out to the barn and show them to you. But my best ones are with the
Gypsies."
"Well, maybe we'll find 'em!" said Bunny. But even Sue, who nearly
always thought what Bunny said was just right, shook her little head.
The two children, when they had finished the meal, started out of doors.
"Where are you going?" asked Mother Brown.
"Out to the barn, to see the horses," Bunny answered.
"Better get on your old clothes," their mother advised. "You and Sue
might want to slide down the hay, and sit in a hen's nest again, and old
clothes are best for that."
"Yes, I guess so," laughed Sue, as she thought of what had once happened
to her.
A little later, wearing their play clothes, which would not be harmed,
even if they rolled in the dirt, Bunny and Sue set out for the barn to
see what they could find. Bunny knew his way about grandpa's farm, for
he was older than Sue, and he remembered having been there once before.
"Oh, here's a horse, Sue!" he cried, as he went into the barn.
Looking over the edge of the manger, or box where his hay and oats were
put, was a brown horse. He sniffed at the children, and whinnied, as if
glad to see them. When a horse whinnies it is just as if he laughs.
"Hullo!" said Bunny, and, liking horses, and not being afraid, he went
up and patted this one on the nose. "Come on, Sue, rub him."
"No, Bunny, I'm afraid!"
"Oh, he won't hurt you."
"Well, I--I can't reach!"
"I'll get you a box to stand on, Sue."
Bunny looked around, and found a box. He was putting it in front of the
stall of the brown horse, stooping over to get it just right, when he
felt some one pulling on his coat.
"Don't do that, Sue!" cried Bunny.
"I'm not doing anything," she answered.
"Yes you are, too! You're pulling my coat, and I can't fix the box."
"Oh, Bunny Brown! I am not!" And Sue stood right in front of her brother
so he could see that she was not touching him. And, just then, Bunny's
coat was pulled again. Certainly, this time it was not Sue.
"Why--why--what is it?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, Bunny! It's a goat! A goat is pulling your coat!" Sue cried.
"A goat!"
"Yes, look! He has hold of you now!"
Bunny turned around quickly as he felt his coat being pulled again.
"Ho! That's a sheep--not a goat!" he cried. And indeed it was an old
sheep, or, rather, a ram, with queer, curling horns. And the ram had
reached over a low door of the stall, next to the brown horse, and was
pulling Bunny's coat.
"I thought it was a goat," said Sue.
"And I thought you were pulling my coat," laughed Bunny, "so we're even.
Hello, sheep!" he called. "What do you want?"
"Ba-a-a-a-a-a!" bleated the ram.
"Maybe he's hungry," said Sue.
"Then we'll go and pull some grass for him, and we'll pull some for the
horse, too," cried Bunny.
Out into the field, back of the barn, went Bunny Brown and his sister
Sue. They pulled up big handfuls of the sweet, green grass. At least it
was sweet to horses, sheep and cows, though it would not taste sweet to
you boys and girls.
Then back into the barn went the children. And the horse and ram seemed
very glad to get the grass. Three times Bunny and Sue ran out and got
more grass. And every time Bunny would feed the horse any grass, the ram
would reach over and pull on his coat.
"I guess the sheep wants you to love him instead of the horsie," said
Sue. "I'll pat the sheep, Bunny. I'm not afraid of him."
So Sue rubbed the ram's black nose. He seemed glad to see her, and put
out his red tongue to lick her hands.
"Oh, it feels so funny!" laughed Sue. "It tickles me and feels almost as
squiggily as when you pick up a worm. Come on out and play, Bunny."
They went out in the garden, and there they saw one of Grandpa Brown's
hired men stooping down between the rows of onions.
"Are you picking them?" asked Bunny. "Are you picking the onions?"
"No, little man. I'm pulling up the weeds."
"I'll help you," offered Bunny, and, stooping over, he began to pull up
some tall, round green stalks.
"Don't! Oh, don't do that!" cried the man.
"Why?" asked Bunny, and Sue, who had started to do as her brother was
doing, looked up, wondering what was wrong.
"Why, you're pulling up the onions!" said the man. "We want _them_ to
grow."
"Oh!" said Bunny. He looked, but he could not tell which were the weeds
and which the onions.
"Is this a weed?" asked Sue, and she pulled up something green. "It
smells like a weed! Oh, I don't like the smell!" and she made a funny
face, as she brought her hands near her nose.
"That's an onion," the hired man said. "I guess you had better run in
from the garden, and let me do the weeding. When you get older you can
tell which are weeds and which are onions."
"I'm never going to eat onions, anyhow!" Sue said, making another funny
face, with her nose all wrinkled.
"I don't like onions, either," Bunny said. "They have an awful funny
smell; haven't they, mister?"
"Well, some folks think so," and the hired man went on with his weeding
while the children ran away.
But they did not go to the house. Instead they walked farther on through
the garden, until they came to some rows of boxes.
"Oh, look at the cute play-houses!" cried Sue. "Let's look at them,
Bunny."
"All right," answered her brother.
They went up to one of the houses. A queer sort of buzzing sound came
from it.
"Let's look inside," said Bunny.
"All right," agreed Sue. "There's a lot of flies in front, Bunny," and
she pointed to them.
As Bunny was about to lift off the top of one of the boxes, he heard the
hired man, from the onion patch, calling:
"Get away! Run away from there or you'll be stung! Run! Run!"