SOMETHING IN A DESK
Splash, the dog, was barking loudly at something up in a tree near the
barn. Bunny and Sue could not see what it was, but it was something that
had caused Splash to get very much excited. He leaped up and down and
ran in circles about the tree, barking loudly all the while.
"It's a cat!" exclaimed Sue.
"Can't be a cat," Bunny answered. "Splash likes all the cats around
here."
"Maybe it's a strange cat," went on Sue.
"That's so," agreed Bunny Brown. "Here, Splash!" he called. "What you
barking at a cat for?"
The only answer the dog made was to bark again.
Bunny and his sister, forgetting all about their pet alligators, ran to
the foot of the tree, up in which was something that had caused Splash
to cease his play in another part of the yard and run toward the barn.
The rain had now stopped, and the sun was getting ready to shine.
"What is it, Splash? What is it?" asked Bunny, trying to peer up among
the leaves of the tree.
"I see it!" suddenly cried Sue. "It's Wango, Mr. Winkler's pet monkey!"
"Oh, yes! I see it now!" called Bunny. "Here, Splash! Stop barking at
Wango!" ordered the little boy. "Don't you know he's a friend of yours?
Stop it, Splash!"
Splash finally ceased barking and sat down to look eagerly up into the
tree. He would not have hurt the monkey, for the two animals were good
friends. I suppose Splash had seen the monkey leaping from the branches
of one tree into another, and, not realizing that it was his friend
Wango, had given chase. Wango was a bit frightened at first, even by the
barking of his dog friend Splash, and had taken refuge in the tree near
the barn.
"Come on down, Wango! Come on down!" invited Bunny.
"Yes, please do," added Sue. "We won't let Splash hurt you. Don't you
bark any more, Splash!" she cried, shaking her finger at the dog.
Splash whined. He really only meant to have a little fun with Wango. But
the monkey did not come down. He clung to the tree branch with his hands
and tail and looked at the children, whom he well knew, for they were
kind to him.
"I know how to get him down," said Bunny. "You go into the house and get
a piece of cake for him, Sue. Take Splash with you. Then Wango won't be
afraid."
"All right," agreed the little girl. She was always ready to run errands
like this when she and Bunny could have fun. "Come on, Splash!" she
called, and the dog followed her, looking back once at Bunny, as if to
ask why the boy, too, was not following. But Bunny stayed near the tree
in which Wango still clung.
"Mother," cried Sue, tramping into the house in her rubber boots,
"please may Bunny and I have some cake for Wango?"
"You can't go over to Mr. Winkler's in the rain," said Mrs. Brown.
"You'd better stay out in the barn and feed your pet alligators."
"Oh, but the rain is over," Sue explained. "The sun is coming out. And
Wango isn't over at his own home. He's up in one of our trees. Splash
chased him up there, I guess, and barked at him. And he won't come
down--I mean Wango won't. And will you please keep him in here till I
take him out some cake. I mean," explained Sue, half out of breath, "you
please keep Splash here in the house while I take some cake out to Bunny
to feed Wango to get him down from the tree."
"My, what a lot of talk for a little girl!" laughed Mrs. Brown. "Well, I
suppose Wango has run away again from Jed. You and Bunny may take the
monkey back. Ask Mary to give you a bit of cake. I'll keep Splash in the
house."
Sue got the cake, but it was rather difficult for Mrs. Brown to keep the
dog in. He was eager to follow Sue back to the tree again. But it would
be hard work to get Wango down, once the monkey was frightened, if
Splash kept on barking, which he was pretty sure to do. He even barked
loudly, Splash did, while he was being held in the house by Mrs. Brown.
Sue ran out with the cake to Bunny, who was waiting beneath the tree.
"Is Wango there yet?" the little girl wanted to know.
"Yes," Bunny answered. "But he's coming down a little."
And the monkey came down still farther when he saw the cake, of which he
was very fond. He was soon perched on Bunny's shoulder, eating the
treat, Sue feeding him little pieces one at a time.
"Let's take him back to Mr. Winkler's house," suggested Bunny, as the
sun now came out bright and warm. "I guess the sailor will be looking
for him."
"Yes, I guess so," agreed Sue.
Wango had a great habit of running away from his master's home, and,
more than once, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had taken back the
sailor's pet. This they now did again, and as they knocked at the side
door, Miss Winkler opened it.
"Here's your monkey back," said Bunny, after the first greetings.
"Huh! 'Tisn't _my_ monkey!" declared Miss Winkler. "It's Jed's! I
shouldn't ever worry if it never came home! Still, that isn't saying
it's your fault, Bunny and Sue. I know you mean to be kind, and Jed will
thank you, even if I don't. Wango, you rascal, why don't you stay away
when you run off? I don't want you around! What with the poll
parrot----"
"Polly wants a cracker! Polly wants a cracker!" shrieked the green bird.
"A fire cracker's what you ought to have!" sniffed Miss Winkler, who did
not like the two pets her sailor brother had brought back with him from
one of his voyages.
"Cracker! Cracker! Put the kettle on the fire! Polly wants a cracker!"
yelled the bird, and Wango began to chatter, the two of them making such
a racket that Miss Winkler held her hands over her ears while Bunny and
Sue could not help laughing.
"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled the maiden lady, and finally the monkey and
the parrot grew quiet.
"Put Wango in his cage, Sue, if you please," said Miss Winkler. "And
I'll tell Jed, when he comes home, how good you were to bring Wango
back--not that I want the creature, though. Well, it's cleared off, I'm
glad to see. And now maybe you two will have a piece of cake for
yourselves. I won't give Wango any, though!"
"Yes'm, I could eat a bit," said Bunny, with a smile.
"I like it, too," added Sue.
The children were soon having a lunch of cake and milk. Though Miss
Winkler was a bit fussy over her brother's pets, yet she had a good
heart, and she liked Bunny and Sue.
Through the little mud puddles, left after the rain, Bunny and Sue
splashed their way back home. Their mother saw them coming, and, as
Splash was making a great fuss at being kept in the house, she let the
dog out. He ran to meet the children.
"What'll we do now?" asked Bunny, when they had told their mother about
taking Wango home.
"Let's go down and wade in the brook," proposed Sue. "We have our boots
on, and we won't have 'em on to-morrow. We'll have to go to school then,
anyhow. So let's go wade in the brook now."
"All right!" agreed Bunny. "And we'll sail boats!"
With their dog, the children were soon splashing in the shallow brook,
made a bit higher on account of the rain. They found some boards and
made a raft, on which they pushed themselves about the wider part of the
brook. Splash climbed on the raft with them, and the children pretended
they were Robinson Crusoe on a voyage.
"Well, we had a lot of fun to-day," sighed Bunny in contentment, as he
and Sue were going to bed that night. "Lots of fun!"
"Yes," agreed his sister. "And to-morrow we have to go to school."
"Oh, well," Bunny remarked, "maybe we'll have fun there." The children
had been kept at home on account of the heavy rain.
"We won't have any fun like the hardware store shelf falling down on
you," laughed Sue, as she remembered the queer accident.
"No, I don't want anything like that," said Bunny. "Once is enough."
Early the next morning the children were ready for school. But, almost
at the last minute, Bunny could not find his large pencil box.
"Where did you have it last?" his mother asked him.
"Oh, I remember! I saw it in the barn!" exclaimed Sue.
"That's right--we were playing school there day before yesterday," said
Bunny. "I'll get it!"
He ran to the barn, got the pencil box, thrust it into his bag with his
books, and trotted along with Sue.
Having to hunt for his pencil box at almost the last moment nearly made
Bunny and Sue late for school. But they slipped into their seats just as
the last bell was ringing. After the morning exercises, Bunny placed his
pencil box and the books he did not need to use right away in his desk
and went to his reading class.
It was when Bunny was doing his turn at reading up near the front
platform that Sadie West, who sat in the seat next to Bunny, gave a
sudden little cry.
"What is the matter, Sadie?" asked Miss Bradley, the teacher.
"Oh! Oh, if you please, Teacher, there's something in Bunny Brown's desk
making faces at me!" exclaimed Sadie.
"Something making faces at you? What do you mean, Sadie?" asked Miss
Bradley in surprise. "What is it?"
"It--it's a--a mouse!" cried the little girl.
"A mouse?" repeated the teacher.
"Yes'm! A mouse in Bunny Brown's desk!" and Sadie screamed.
At this some of the other children screamed, and there was much noise
and confusion in the schoolroom.