BUNNY AT THE WHEEL
Bunny and Sue raced downstairs and burst into the sitting room where
their mother and father were sitting.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Bunny.
"Oh, Momsie!" exclaimed Sue.
They were both out of breath.
"Well, what's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Why aren't you in
bed?"
"We saw something--anyhow Sue did," explained Bunny.
"But first Bunny saw Splash and Dix playing on the lawn in the
moonlight," said Sue, breathing fast.
"And then Sue saw Fred coming home--in by the back way," added Bunny,
his eyes big with wonder.
"What's that?" cried Mr. Brown, almost as excited as the two children.
"You say you saw Fred Ward?" asked Mother Brown.
"Well, it _looked_ like him," replied Bunny, not quite so sure now that
questions were being asked of him and his sister.
"And he was going very carefully and quietly around the back way," added
Sue. "Who could it be but Fred? He's getting tired of sleeping in
haystacks and eating raw eggs, and he's come home, I guess."
"Look here, Sue and Bunny," said Mr. Brown, a bit firmly but still
kindly. "Did you both see this? Or did you make it up or dream it?"
"We didn't dream," said Sue, "'cause we hadn't gone to sleep yet."
"And we didn't make it up, for we weren't playing make-believe," added
Bunny.
"Then you must have seen something," said their father; for when Bunny
and his sister spoke in this serious way their parents could tell they
were in earnest.
"What could it be?" asked Mrs. Brown, with a wondering look at her
husband.
"I'll run over and see," he replied. "You children hop back into bed.
You'll catch cold."
"Oh, Daddy! It's Summer yet, and we're even going to sleep out in the
tent when we're on the auto tour," said Bunny. "Let us wait up and see
if Fred really has come home. I hope he has!"
"I hope so, too," said Mother Brown. "Let them lie awake in bed, Daddy,
until you come back from the Ward home."
"All right, I will," Mr. Brown agreed, and as he started across the
moonlighted lawn Bunny and Sue, with many whisperings, noddings and
giggles went back upstairs to their room.
But they did not go to bed. This was one of the times when they did not
do as they were told. But it was only once in a while they did anything
like that. Bunny and Sue were, as a rule, very good.
Well, instead of going to bed they stood by the window where they could
watch the lawn on which Splash and Dix were still playing.
"We mustn't catch cold," said Sue. "We'd better wrap a blanket around
us, Bunny, if we stand by the window, though it isn't cold at all."
"Yep," grunted Bunny, who was so interested in watching his father cross
the grass plot that he did not feel like talking much.
Sue brought a light blanket from her bed and one from Bunny's, and in
these the children wrapped themselves, and stood by the window.
"There he is!" cried Bunny, as he saw the tall figure of his father,
accompanied by a bigger shadow in the moonlight, appear on the lawn.
"Hush!" cautioned Sue. "Don't talk so loud or mother will come up and
make us go to bed."
Bunny "hushed," and then the two children watched. They saw their father
go up the side steps of the Ward house and very soon come out again.
"It didn't take him long to find out," said Bunny in a low voice.
"I hope Fred has come back," whispered Sue.
But it was not, as they learned a little later when their mother came
upstairs to tell them. The children had quickly scampered back to their
beds when they heard their mother coming up, and she found two anxious
faces peering at her over the blankets.
"Was it Fred?" they asked excitedly.
"No, I am sorry to say it was not," answered Mrs. Brown. "It was one of
the boys Fred used to play with, and he went around the back way because
he did not want any one to see him going in the front door."
"Does he know where Fred is?" asked Bunny.
"No. But he went to tell Mr. Ward about him. He had seen some of the
police circulars, or printed papers which were scattered about, showing
Fred's picture and telling how he looked and how much his father wanted
him to come home again."
"And is he coming?" asked Sue.
"We don't know, dear. Mr. Ward told us this boy, whose name is George
Simpson, knew that Fred was going to run away, for Fred had told him."
"Why didn't George come and tell Fred's father so he could stop him?"
asked Bunny.
"Because Fred made George promise not to tell. But after George had
seen the police circulars he made up his mind he must say something, so
he came to-night. He said Fred had told him he was going to run away to
Portland and try to get work in a theater playing a banjo."
"Portland!" cried Bunny. "Why that's where we're going!"
"And maybe we'll see Fred!" added Sue.
"It may be," said their mother. "But now you two must go to sleep. The
big auto will be here in the morning, and you will wish to see the new
things daddy has put in."
"May I ask just one more question?" begged Bunny.
"Yes, and only one."
"How did Fred come to go to Portland? Did he know we were going there?"
"No, dear. But he knew a man in a theater there who had promised to give
him a trial at banjo playing if ever he wanted it. So, when Fred ran
away, he decided to go there. At least so he told George."
"Oh, Mother, when we get to Portland may we----" began Sue, but Mrs.
Brown laughed and cried:
"No more questions until morning!"
Bunny and Sue talked in whispers for a little while, and then fell
asleep. They were awakened by the honking of an automobile horn, and
Bunny, hopping out of bed and running to the window, cried to his
sister:
"Oh, Sue, it's the big car we're going touring in, and Bunker Blue has
brought it up the hill. Come on down to see it."
"Oh what fun!" cried Sue.
She and Bunny dressed quickly, and without waiting for breakfast they
ran out to look at the automobile.
Bunker Blue, the boy who worked at the dock for Mr. Brown and who had
gone on the first trip in the Brown's big car, smiled at Bunny and Sue.
"Well, you've got a fine car now!" he cried.
"Is it different?" asked Sue.
"A lot different. Come inside."
"Breakfast, children!" called their mother.
"Oh, Mother, just a second--until we see how the auto is fixed
different?" begged Bunny.
Mrs. Brown nodded, and Bunker Blue helped the little boy and his sister
inside.
There were many things changed. The electric lights were bigger and
brighter, so they could see to read or play games better at night; a new
cookstove had been put in; an extra bunk had been made, so five persons
could sleep in the auto-van; a new tent had been bought; and in one
corner of the tiny kitchen was a little sink, with running water which
came from a tank on the roof. This tank was filled by a hose and pump
worked by the motor. Whenever the water ran low the automobile could be
stopped near a brook or lake, one end of the hose dipped in the water
and the other stuck in the tank. Then the pump could fill the tank, and
the tank, in turn, could let the water down into the sink whenever
needed.
"Your mother'll like that," said Bunker Blue.
"Indeed she will!" cried Sue.
"Is there anything else new?" asked Bunny.
"Indeed there is!" cried Bunker Blue. "The auto-van's got a self-starter
on. That's the best of all, I think. You don't have to get out to crank
up now. It's great. See, I'll show you."
While the children stood on the ground near the automobile, Bunker Blue
climbed to the seat near the steering wheel and pulled a lever. All at
once there was a grinding noise and the van started slowly off.
"That's the self-starter," explained Bunker. "I didn't throw in the
gears. The self-starter is strong enough to run the auto a little while
all by itself, if it isn't too heavily loaded. That's a big
improvement."
"That's what!" cried Bunny. His sister did not know much about electric
starters and such things, but Bunny, through having asked Bunker Blue
many questions, had come to learn considerable about the machinery.
"Hurry, children! You must come to breakfast!" called Mrs. Brown. "You
may look at the auto another time. After breakfast we'll have to pack it
and get ready for the trip."
"We're coming!" cried Bunny and Sue, and with last looks at the big car,
which was to be their home for some time to come, the children ran in to
breakfast.
"Now, Bunny and Sue," said Mr. Brown, as he made ready to go to his
office, "one thing I want you to do is to pick out what toys you want to
take with you. They can not be very many, so pick out those you like
best."
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "You take your 'lectricity train that you got
back from the hermit, and I'll take my Teddy bear, Sallie Malinda with
her 'lectric-light eyes."
"No," said Bunny, shaking his head. "My electric train takes up too much
room. I'm going to take my popgun that shoots corks, and maybe I can
scare away any cows that get in front of our auto."
"All right. But I'm going to take Sallie Malinda," declared Sue.
While she was getting it out from among her playthings, Bunny went out
to look at the big automobile again. He climbed up to the seat. Bunker
Blue, after bringing it up to the Brown house so Mrs. Brown could pack
in it the things she wanted, had gone back to the dock.
"I wish I could steer this machine," murmured Bunny as he took his seat
at the wheel. "I could, too, if they'd only let me. I wish they would."
He twisted the steering wheel to and fro, playing that he was guiding
the big car. Suddenly he heard a grinding sound, as when Bunker Blue had
been on the seat, and, to Bunny's astonishment, the big van, the wheel
of which he held, began to move slowly around the drive which circled
the Brown home.