TWO DOGS
Mr. Brown as soon as he heard Bunny's cry of "Wait!" at once shut off
the power from the big automobile, and brought it to a stop. He turned
to look through the little window at the back of the front seat against
which he leaned, and asked:
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, Daddy, we've forgotten Splash!" wailed Bunny.
"We've left him behind," chattered Sue. "I saw him and Dix--that's Fred
Ward's dog--playing together, and I thought of course Splash would come
with us. I forgot, and left one of the funny clown dresses for Sallie
Malinda up in my room, so I went to get it, and then Splash and Dix were
away down at the end of the yard and I didn't think any more about our
dog."
"I didn't either," said Bunny. "But he always has come with us and I
thought he would this time."
"Are you sure he isn't somewhere in the auto, under one of the cots
asleep?" asked Mr. Brown.
"I'll look," said Uncle Tad, and he did, but without finding Splash.
"I forgot all about him," admitted Mrs. Brown, and her husband said the
same thing.
"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Brown, as soon as every one
was satisfied that the dog was not in the big auto-van.
"Do? Why, we've got to go back after him, of course!" cried Bunny.
"We couldn't go without Splash," announced Sue. "He'd be so lonesome for
us that he'd cry, and then he'd start out to find us and maybe get lost
and we'd never find him again. Go back after him, Daddy! It isn't very
far."
"All right," said good-natured Mr. Brown. "I'm glad we're not in a
hurry. Still I'd like to keep going, now that we've started. But please,
all of you, make sure nothing else is forgotten. For we don't want to go
back another time. All ready to turn around and march backward," and he
backed the big automobile at a wide place in the road, for it needed
plenty of room in which to turn.
Slowly the big car made its way back to the Brown home. Mary, the cook,
was the first to see it, and, running to the door, she cried:
"Oh, whatever you do, come in and sit down if only for a minute, some of
you! Oh, do come in and sit down!"
"What for, Mary?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Has anything happened?"
"No, but 'tis easy to see you've forgotten somethin'; and when that
happens if you don't sit down, or turn your dress wrong side out, bad
luck is sure to foller you when you start off again. So come in and sit
down, as that's easier than turning a dress."
"Oh, let me turn my knickerbockers outside in!" cried Bunny. "That will
be as good as you or Sue, Momsie, turning your dresses. It's easy for
me. Then I can make-believe I'm a tramp, and I'll run on ahead and beg
for some bread and butter for my starving family," and he imitated, in
such a funny way, the whine of some of the tramps who called at the
Brown kitchen door, that his mother laughed and Sue said:
"Oh, Momsie, let me turn my dress wrong-side out, too, and I can play
tramp with Bunny. That will be fun!"
"No, you mustn't do that," said Mrs. Brown. "While we're hunting for
Splash--who isn't in sight. Where can he be?--we'll go in and sit down a
moment to please Mary."
"Would we have bad luck if we didn't?" asked Bunny.
"Not at all. But some persons, like Mary, believe in them; and Mary is
very fond of us. Even if we do not believe in some of the things those
we like believe in, as long as it does no harm to our beliefs, we can do
them to please a friend."
Even Mr. Brown, because he liked Mary, went in and sat down for a minute
with the others.
"Now you've done away with the bad luck," said the cook with a smile.
"What was it you came back for?"
"Splash," answered Bunny.
"He didn't come with us," added Sue.
"Well, it's no wonder, the funny way he's cuttin' up with that dog next
door," said Mary.
"What did he do?" asked Bunny. "Was it funny? Please tell us, Mary."
"Well, it might have been funny for him, but it wasn't for me," said the
cook, though she could not help smiling. "The two dogs was playin' tag
on the lawn. I had some napkins spread out on the grass to bleach, and
what did that dog Dix do but run down in the brook, and then come back
with his feet all mud and run over my napkins. Sure, I had to wash 'em
all again. That's what them two dogs did. The bad luck was just startin'
in when you come back, an' it's good you did, to sit down a bit an' take
it off."
"But we must get on again," said Mr. Brown. "So hurry, Bunny and Sue.
Find Splash. If he's muddy make him swim through the brook and clean
himself off. A run along the sunny road will soon dry him."
"But don't let him splash your clean clothes, children," called their
mother after them, as the two ran off together to find the missing dog.
"I hear them barking!" called Bunny, as he and his sister hurried toward
the end of the yard.
"So do I." Then, a moment later, the little girl added: "There they
are!" and she pointed to the two dogs playing on the green lawn not far
from a little brook that ran through Mr. Brown's grounds.
"Here, Splash! Splash!" called Bunny.
The dogs stopped their playing, and looked toward the children. As soon
as Splash saw his little master and mistress he came rushing toward them
as fast as he could.
"Don't let him jump on me and get my dress muddy!" cried Sue. "He's been
in the mud just awful!"
"So he has," said Bunny Brown. "Down, Splash! Down!" he called, as the
dog neared Sue. Splash made all the signs he knew to show how glad he
was to see Bunny and Sue, but he did not get up on his hind legs and put
his paws on Sue's shoulders, as he sometimes did.
"Oh, Splash, you're awful dirty!" cried Sue. "You must run in the brook,
where the water is clean, and where there are white pebbly stones
instead of mud on the bottom, to wash yourself. You've got to go in too,
Dix."
Dix barked "bow-wow," to show he did not mind, I suppose.
"Go on in, Splash!" cried Bunny, snapping his fingers and pointing at
the brook. "Go in and wash!"
But though the Browns' dog was usually ready for a frolic in the water
he did not seem to be so just now. He ran back and forth, down to the
edge of the stream and back again, getting his paws wet, but nothing
else.
"Oh, you must go in and have your bath if you are to come with us!"
cried Sue. "Go on in, Splash!"
But not even for Sue would Splash go in, until finally Bunny cried:
"Oh, I know a way to make him!"
"How?" asked Sue.
"Just throw a stick into the water, and he'll go after it and bring it
back. We'll throw it far out."
"Oh, that's right!" cried Sue. "We'll do that."
No sooner had the children picked up sticks than the two dogs, who had
started to play "tag" themselves, knew what was up. They both loved to
go into the water after sticks.
"Throw 'em far out now!" cried Bunny. He tossed his to the middle of the
brook, and Sue flung hers nearly as far, for she was a good
thrower--almost as good as Bunny.
Dix swam after Sue's stick, and Splash went for Bunny's. In a minute
they had brought them ashore and dropped them at the children's feet,
looking up into their faces as much as to say:
"Do it again! We love to chase sticks!"
And then, just as dogs always do when they come from the water, they
gave themselves big shakes.
"Look out, Sue!" called Bunny.
But he was too late. A shower of drops from Splash went all over Sue's
dress, and some of the drops were not clean water, either.
"Oh dear!" she cried. "Now I'll have to change my dress!"
"Never mind," said Bunny. "You run up to the house and get that done,
and I'll throw the two sticks into the water. Then Splash and Dix will
go in again, and when they come out they'll be cleaner. I won't come
back to the house with them until they are good and clean."
Once more Bunny tossed the sticks, as Sue went up to change her dress.
When her mother saw her she cried:
"Oh dear, Sue! How did that happen?"
Sue told her.
"Well, I hope Bunny gets the dogs clean this time," said Mrs. Brown as
she took Sue upstairs to put another dress on her. This did not take
long, and a little while afterward Bunny came running up from the brook
with the two dogs, dripping wet from their baths.
"Quick, Momsie and Sue!" he called to his mother and sister. "Get in the
auto before the dogs shower you again with water. I've got 'em good and
clean now. I made 'em go in four times after the sticks."
"Did they shake any water on you?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Not much," said Bunny. "Besides, my clothes are dark and the mud on
them won't show. Now don't go away again, Splash, 'cause we're going on
a long auto tour, and you want to come with us."
All were soon in the auto again, and as they started off, with more
"good-byes" and "good lucks," Bunny and Sue made sure that this time
Splash followed.
"Now he's started he won't turn back," said Mr. Brown. "He just missed
us before, thinking, I suppose, if he saw us go, that we would come
back."
The big automobile traveled on for about an hour, and they were several
miles from the Brown home when Bunny, looking out of the rear door of
the auto-van cried:
"Why there's Dix, Fred Ward's dog, following us along with Splash!
Look!"
"So he is," said Mrs. Brown. "Oh, dear! These dogs! What are we going to
do?"