Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lus City Home | Page 7

ever get down?"
Indeed he was very high above the ground. But he did not seem to be
afraid.
"Little tyke!" said a man. "He ought to be spanked for this! I wonder
whose boy he is?"
"I'm glad it isn't Bunny or Sue," said Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, they are safe at home in bed," answered Mr. Brown.
And, all this while, mind you, Bunny and Sue were right there in the
crowd, where they could hear their father and their mother talking. But
Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not see their children.
"Who are you, up there on that steeple?" cried Mr. Gordon. "Whose
boy are you, and what are you doing there?"
There was no answer.
"Maybe it's Ben Hall, the circus boy," said Sue, as she thought of the
strange boy who had come to grandpa's farm.
"No, it couldn't be!" said Bunny.
"It might," Sue went on. "Ben was a good climber, you know. He
climbed up high in the barn, and jumped down in the hay, and he
turned a somersault."
"Yes, but the church steeple is higher than the barn," said Bunny. "That
isn't Ben Hall. It's a little boy--not much bigger than I am."

Just then the moon, which had been behind a cloud, came out. The
church steeple was well lighted up, and then everyone cried:
"Why, it isn't a boy at all! It's a monkey!"
"A monkey has been ringing the bell!"
"Whose monkey is it?" someone asked.
"Why it's Wango!" exclaimed Bunny Brown, out loud, before he
thought. "It's Mr. Winkler's monkey, Wango!"
"And I know how to get him down!" chimed in Sue. "Just give him
some peanuts, and he'll come down!"
The children's voices rang out clearly in the silence of the night.
Everyone heard them, Mr. and Mrs. Brown included.
"Why--why, that sounded just like Bunny!" said Mrs. Brown.
"And Sue," added Mr. Brown. "Bunny! Sue!" he called. "Are you here?
Where are you?"
"We--we're here, Daddy," said Bunny, sliding out from behind Mr.
Gordon.
"And I'm here, too!" said Sue. She let her bath robe fall down over her
bare legs.
"Well I never!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I thought you were at home in
bed!"
"We--we heard the fire-bell, Mother," said Bunny, "and when you and
daddy got up we got up, too."
"But we didn't wake Uncle Tad nor Mary," said Sue.
The crowd laughed, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown had to smile. After all,
Bunny and Sue had done nothing so very wrong. It was a warm, light

night, and they were not far from home. Besides, they were only
following their father and mother, though of course they ought not to
have done that.
"Well, well!" said Mrs. Brown. "I wonder what you children will do
next?"
"We--we don't know," answered Sue, and everyone laughed again.
"As long as there isn't any fire, we'd better get back home," said Mr.
Brown. "Come on, Bunny and Sue."
"Oh, please let us watch 'em get Wango down," begged Bunny. "Did he
really ring the bell?"
"I guess he must have," said Mr. Gordon. "He's a great monkey for
getting loose, and doing tricks. I don't see how we're going to get him
down if he doesn't want to come, though. It's too high to climb after
him."
"If we had some peanuts or lollypops, he'd come down," said Sue.
"Once he was up on a high candy shelf in Mrs. Redden's store, and he
came down for peanuts."
"Well, we might try that," said the store-keeper. "But here comes Mr.
Winkler himself. I guess he'll know how to manage Wango."
The old sailor, who had also been awakened by the ringing of the bell,
came slowly down the street. He looked toward the church steeple in
the moonlight, and saw his pet.
"Wango, you bad monkey! Come right down here!" called Mr.
Winkler.
But Wango only chattered, and stayed where he was.
"How'd he get up there?" someone asked.
"Oh, he broke loose in the night, when we were all asleep, and jumped

out of an open window," said Mr. Winkler. "I suppose he must have
climbed up inside the church steeple, and, seeing the bell rope hanging
down, he swung himself by it, as he does on a rope I have fixed for him
at home. His swinging back and forth on the rope rang the bell. I don't
really believe he meant to do it."
And that was how it had happened, and how Wango had made people
think there was a fire in the middle of the night when there wasn't any
fire at all.
"Wango, come down!" called Mr. Winkler.
But the monkey would not come.
"If you had some peanuts he'd come," said Sue.
"I have some peanuts, little Sue," said Mr. Winkler,