Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods | Page 3

too.
"Well, now we've got everything eaten up," said Bunny, as he gathered up the last crumbs of the pie his mother had baked in the oil stove which they had brought to camp. "Let's go and see what the surprise is."
"I'm not so sure it is a surprise," returned Sue slowly. "Mother didn't say so. She just said she wouldn't tell us until you got all make-believe well again. So I suppose it's a surprise. Don't you think so, too?"
"I guess I do," answered Bunny. "But come on, we'll soon find out."
As the children came out from under the bush where they had been playing, there was a crashing in the brush and Sue cried:
"Oh, maybe that's some more of those Indians."
"Pooh! We're not playing Indians now," said Bunny. "That game's all over. I guess it's Splash."
"Oh, that's nice!" cried Sue. "I was wondering where he'd gone."
A big, happy-looking and friendly dog came bursting through the bushes. He wagged his tail, and his big red tongue dangled out of his mouth, for it was a warm day.
"Oh, Splash; you came just too late!" cried Sue. "We've eaten up everything!"
"All except the crumbs," said Bunny.
Splash saw the crumbs almost as soon as Bunny spoke, and with his red tongue the dog licked them up from the top of the box which the children had used for a table under the bushes.
"Come on," called Bunny after a bit. "Let's go and find out what mother wants. Maybe she's baked some cookies for us."
"Didn't you have enough with the cake, pie and milk?" Sue asked.
"Oh, I could eat more," replied Bunny Brown. In fact, he seemed always to be hungry, his mother said, though she did not let him eat enough to make himself ill.
"Well, come on," called Sue. "We'll go and see what mother has for us."
Through the woods ran the children, toward the lake and the white tents gleaming among the green trees. Mr. Brown went to the city twice a week, making the trip in a small automobile he ran himself. Sometimes he would stay in the city over night, and Mother Brown and Uncle Tad and the children would stay in the tents in the big woods where they were not far from a farmhouse.
Splash, the happy-go-lucky dog, bounded on ahead of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. The children followed as fast as they could. Now and then Splash would stop and look back as though calling:
"Come on! Hurry up and see the surprise!"
"We're coming!" Bunny would call. "What do you s'pose it is?" he would ask Sue.
"I can't even guess," Sue would answer. "But I know it must be something nice, for she smiled when I told her I was your nurse and you had an Indian fever."
"It wasn't an Indian fever," protested Bunny.
"Well, I mean a make-believe Indian fever," said the little girl.
"No, it was a make-believe arrow fever," said Bunny. "I got shot with an Indian arrow you know."
"Oh yes," Sue answered. "But, anyhow, you're all well now. Oh, look out, Splash!" she cried as the big dog ran into a puddle of water and splashed it so that some got on Sue's dress. That is how Splash got his name--from splashing into so many puddles.
But this time the water was from a clean brook that ran over green, mossy stones, and it did Sue's dress no harm, for she had on one that Mrs. Brown had made purposely for wearing in the woods.
"Here we are, Momsie!" called Sue, as she and Bunny came running up to the camp where the tents were.
"What's the surprise?" asked Bunny.
Just then they heard the Honk! Honk! of an automobile, and as a car came on through the woods and up to the white tents, Bunny and Sue cried together:
"Oh, it's daddy! Daddy has come home!"
"Yes, and he's brought us something!" added Bunny. "Look at the two big bundles, Sue!"
"Oh, Daddy! Daddy Brown! What have you brought?" cried the two children.
"Just a minute now, and I'll show you," said Mr. Brown, as he got out of the automobile and started for a tent, a big bundle under each arm. The children danced about in delight and Splash barked.
CHAPTER II
THE PAIL OF MILK
"Oh, Mother! is this the surprise you had for us?" asked Sue, as she hopped about, first on one foot then on the other. For she was so excited she could not keep still.
"No, this isn't exactly what I meant," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "Still, this is a very nice surprise, isn't it?"
"Just the very nicest!" said Bunny. "It's nice to have daddy home, and it's nice to have him bring something."
"Oh, please tell us what it is--you have two things," went on Sue, as she looked at the two bundles which Mr. Brown carried, one