Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony | Page 7

must try to help the man
catch the pony."
The children, their father and Bunker passed in the road the little basket
cart from which the Shetland pony had broken loose. The cart did not
seem to be damaged any, but part of the broken harness was fast to it.
"He must be a strong pony to get loose that way," said Bunny.
"Maybe he was only tied with string, and he could easy break that,"
said Sue.
"Maybe," agreed Bunker Blue.
They went around a turn in the road, and, looking down a straight
stretch, they could see that the man had caught the pony near a clump
of willow trees.
"There! He's all right!" said Mr. Brown. "But we had better go and ask
the man if we can help him any. He may blame us for the running away
of the pony."
And as they all walked down the road Bunny whispered something to
Sue. Sue looked quickly at her brother and exclaimed:
"Oh, if he only would!"

Now what did Bunny whisper to Sue?
CHAPTER III
MR. TALLMAN
Mr. Brown, followed by Bunker Blue and the two children, went down
the road toward the little, short man who was standing with the
Shetland pony. For, after walking back with him a little way, the man
had stopped to let the pony drink from a brook that ran beneath the
willow trees.
"I'm afraid we caused you some trouble, my friend," said Mr. Brown,
politely.
"Trouble?" repeated the short man. "You say you caused me trouble?"
"Yes. We were riding in the big auto which we have left just around the
turn of the road. Was it our auto that frightened your pony and made
him run away?" asked Mr. Brown, while Bunny and his Sister Sue
looked with eager eyes at the pretty pony, which did not seem
frightened now.
"Oh, yes, I guess your big moving van of an auto did scare my pony,"
answered the man. "I waved my hand, and tried to call to you to stop,
so we could drive past, but I guess you didn't hear me."
"No," said Bunker Blue, "we didn't. The engine made so much noise, I
guess."
"And then my pony ran away before I could stop him," went on the
little man, who, as Bunny and Sue could now see, was not as tall as
Bunker Blue. "You see, he is a trick pony, and used to be in a circus.
But the men there did not treat him kindly, so I heard. I guess maybe he
thought your big auto was a circus wagon, and when he remembered
those wagons he thought of the unkind men and wanted to run away."
"I'm sorry for that," said Mr. Brown. "We surely would not hurt your

pony. In fact, my children would love him. Did he break the harness
when he turned to run away?"
"I guess he did," answered the short man. "But it was an old harness,
and easily broken. In fact, part of it was tied with bits of string. I knew
it was strong enough for Toby unless he should cut up a little, and that's
just what he did, and broke some of the straps and strings."
"Is Toby the name of your pony?" asked Sue.
"Yes, little girl, Toby is his name. And he is a nice little Shetland
pony," and he stroked the fluffy mane and rubbed the velvety nose of
the little animal, that seemed to be all right now.
"Oh, Daddy! will you?" suddenly exclaimed Bunny.
"Will I what?" asked Mr. Brown, rather surprised and puzzled.
"Will you buy that pony for us?" eagerly begged Sue. "Bunny
whispered to me that we could have a lot of fun with him if you would
buy him."
So that was what Bunny whispered to his Sister Sue!
"Buy this pony for you?" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Is that what you
mean?"
"Yes, please," said Bunny. "We--we'd love it!"
Bunker Blue went up to the little horse and patted its back. The
Shetland pony seemed to like the fish boy.
"Is he tame?" asked Bunny.
"Very tame," answered the short man.
"Could I pat him?" Sue questioned.
"Of course you could!" said the man. "Come right up to him, Toby

loves children. It's only big autos, which remind him of circus wagons,
that scare him."
"We had a circus once," went on Bunny, as he and Sue approached the
pony. "But we didn't have any little horses in it."
"We had our dog, Splash," added Sue.
"Well, I guess that was nice," the man said.
The children patted Toby, who rubbed his velvety nose against them.
"I'm sorry your harness broke," said Mr. Brown. "You must let me pay
for having it fixed, since it