Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While | Page 2

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,