Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While | Page 9

went on. His
mother had often told him that when she wanted him to go to sleep in a
dark room, or when only the hall light was dimly burning. So Bunny
thought that would be a good thing to tell Sue. "Shut your eyes, and
you won't see the dark," said Bunny Brown.
But, really, it was not very dark in the tent, after the two children had

stood there awhile. The moon was brightly shining outside, and, as the
tent was of white canvas, some of the light came through. So as Sue
looked around she could begin to see things a little better now. There
was not much to see. Just the ground, and a box or two in the tent.
During the day Bunny and Sue had been playing with the boxes, and
had left them in the tent.
"Come on, now," said Bunny. "We'll spread our blankets out on the
ground, Sue, and go to sleep. Then we'll make believe we're camping
out, just as we're going to do up at the lake."
As he spoke Bunny spread his two blankets out on the ground under the
tent. He folded them so he could crawl in between the folds, and cover
himself up, for it was rather chilly that spring night.
"I--I want a pillow, Bunny," said Sue. "I want something to put my
head on when I go to sleep."
"Hush!" cried Bunny in a whisper. "If you speak out loud that way, Sue,
mother or daddy will hear us. Then they'll come and get us and make us
sleep in our beds."
"Well--well," answered Sue, and Bunny could tell by her voice that she
was trying hard not to cry, "well, Bunny Brown, I--I guess I'd better
like sleepin' in my bed, than out here without no pillow. I want a pillow,
an' it's dark an' cold, an'--an'----"
Sue was just ready to cry, but Bunny said:
"Oh, come on now, Sue! This is fun! You know we're making-believe
camp out!"
"All right," Sue answered, after thinking it over a bit. "But can I--can I
sleep over by you, Bunny?"
"Yes. Put your blankets right down here by mine, and we'll both go to
sleep. Won't daddy and mother be s'prised when they find we've
camped out all night?"

"I--I guess they will," Sue said. "It kinder s'prises me, too!"
Sue was dragging her blankets over toward the place when Bunny had
his spread out on the ground, and she was just going to lie down, when
the flaps of the tent were suddenly shoved to one side, and something
came in.
"Oh! oh!" cried Sue, as she threw herself down in her blankets, and
wrapped herself up in them, even covering her head. "Oh, Bunny!
Bunny! What is it? What's after us?"
"I--I don't know," said Bunny, and his voice trembled a little.
Then Sue raised her head and peeped out from under her blanket. She
saw something standing in the front door of the tent, half way in, and
half way out. The moon was still shining brightly, and Sue cried:
"Oh, Bunny! It's a bear! It's a bear!"
Just then there came a loud:
"Bow-wow-wow!"
Bunny and Sue both laughed then. Then were frightened no longer.
"Oh, it's our dog, Splash!" cried Sue. "It's only Splash!"
"Here, Splash!" called Bunny. Then with a joyous bark the dog sprang
inside the tent, and snuggled close up to his two little play-mates.
"Now I isn't afraid," said Sue, as she put her arms around the big
shaggy neck of her pet. "Now I isn't afraid any more. Splash can sleep
with us; can't he, Bunny?"
"Yes, Sue. Now go to sleep. Isn't this fun?"
"Yes, it is when Splash is here," Sue said.
Though Bunny did not say so, he, too, was glad their dog had come to

spend the rest of the night with them. Not that there was anything to be
afraid of, oh, dear no! There were no bears, or wolves, or anything like
that in Bellemere. There were big fish in the bay and in the ocean, but
of course they never came up on land.
"And, even if they did," said Sue sleepily to Bunny when they were
talking about this, as they lay close to the big dog in their blankets,
"even if any fish did flop up, Bunny, Splash would catch them;
wouldn't he?"
"Sure!" answered Bunny.
"You would; wouldn't you, Splash?" asked the little girl, her chubby
arm around the dog's neck.
Splash whined softly, and rubbed his cold nose first against the warm
cheek of Sue, and then against Bunny's. That was his way of kissing
them, I think.
And so, strange as it may seem, Bunny and Sue went to sleep in the
camping tent