Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony | Page 9

asked Mr. Brown.
Mr. Tallman shook his head, while Bunny and Sue looked anxiously at
him.

"No," said the owner of Toby, "I don't want to sell my trick pony. I am
going to take him to the fair, and I think I shall win prizes with him,
and get a lot of money when I show what tricks he can do. I wouldn't
sell Toby--not for anything!"
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny Brown.
"Oh, dear!" sighed his Sister Sue.
And just then, along the road came driving a man in a light carriage.
The man had a dark face and a very black beard. He scowled as he
looked at Mr. Tallman and the Shetland pony. Then the black-bearded
man said:
"Well, I've found you, have I? Now, I want you to give me that pony!
Give him to me at once and have no more nonsense about it! I want
that pony!"
CHAPTER IV
LOOKING FOR A PONY
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue hardly knew what to make of the
black-bearded man who seemed so angry about something. He jumped
from his wagon and went up close to the Shetland pony. The little
animal was again harnessed to the basket cart.
"Give him to me!" exclaimed the black-whiskered man.
"No, I will not!" answered Mr. Tallman. "He is not your pony, and you
have no right to him."
"Well, if he isn't mine he soon will be!" said the dark man. "You owe
me a lot of money, and if you don't pay pretty soon I'll take that pony
away from you and sell him. Then I'll get the money in that way."
"Perhaps you will," said the pony's owner. "But before you do that I
may be able to pay you what I owe you, and then I can keep my little

Toby."
"Why don't you pay me now?" asked the black-whiskered man, whose
name was Mr. Tang.
"Because I haven't the money," answered Mr. Tallman.
"Then give me the pony! Come, now!" went on Mr. Tang, for such was
his name. "If you will let me have your trick pony I'll not bother you
about the money you owe me. I'll let you have a long while in which to
pay me the last part of it. Give me that pony!" and he seemed about to
take Toby away.
"No, I'll not give him up!" said Mr. Tallman. "I'll try to get your money
in some other way. I never can part with Toby; especially to you."
"Why won't you let me have him?" asked Tang.
"Because I'm afraid you wouldn't be kind to him."
"I'd sell him, that's what I'd do!" said the dark man. "I'd sell him, after
you gave him to me, and in that way I'd get back a part of the money
you owe me. I'd sell Toby, that's what I'd do!"
"That's what I'd be afraid of," went on Mr. Tallman. "I'd be afraid you'd
sell him back to the cruel men in the circus. No, sir! I'll not let you have
my pony. I'll get your money in some other way, and pay you back."
"Well, see that you do!" growled Mr. Tang. "If you don't pay me soon,
I'll come and take Toby away from you! That's what I'll do!"
With that he got back in his wagon, and, with a last look at Toby, the
Shetland pony, the unpleasant man drove away.
"Oh," said Bunny in a low voice, "I'm glad that man didn't buy the
pony."
"So am I," said Sue.

"And I'm glad I didn't give him up," added Mr. Tallman. "I'd never feel
happy if I knew he had my pet pony."
"He does not look like a kind man," said Mr. Brown, "and I saw him
strike his horse with the whip. Still he might not hurt the pony."
"Well, if he didn't hurt him he might send him back to the circus, where
Toby would be beaten," remarked Mr. Tallman. "Of course, I know that
in most circuses the ponies and other animals are kindly treated. But
Toby was not treated well in the circus where he was, and he'd never
like to go back there. That's why I want to keep him."
"If you sold him to me, for my children, we would treat him kindly,"
said Mr. Brown.
"Yes, I know that," said Mr. Tallman. "But I don't want to sell
Toby--least of all to Mr. Tang."
"Do you owe him money?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Yes. More, I fear, than I can ever pay. And if I don't pay him he may
come and take Toby away from me."
"That would be too bad," said Mr. Brown, and Bunny and his sister
thought the same thing.
"Yes, it would," agreed Mr. Tallman. "I