Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods | Page 9

it wouldn't in the city. However, my crumpled-horn cow's milk is only
six cents a quart."

"Has your cow really got a crumpled horn?" asked Sue eagerly, for she
loved queer things.
"Yes, she has a crumpled horn, but she isn't the one that jumped over
the moon," said the old man with a smile.
The children liked him better after that, though when Bunny found a
chance to whisper to his sister as they walked through the woods, along
the path and behind the old man, the little boy said:
"I guess he means to be kind, but he's kind of funny, isn't he?"
"A little bit," answered Sue.
The old man walked on ahead, the children, hand in hand, following,
and the bushes clinked against the empty tin pail that Bunny carried.
"Here you are," said the old man, as he turned on the path, and before
them Bunny and his sister saw a log cabin. Near it was a shed, and as
the children stopped and looked, from the shed came a long, low
"Moo!"
"Oh, is that the crumpled-horn cow?" asked Sue.
"Yes," answered the old man. "I'll get some of her milk for you. I keep
it in a pail down in the spring, so it will be cool. Let me take your pail
and I'll fill it for you while you go to see the cow. She is gentle and
won't hurt you."
Letting the old man take the pail, Bunny and Sue went to look at the
cow. The door of the shed was in two parts, and the children opened the
upper half.
"Moo!" called the cow as she stuck out her head.
"Oh, see, one of her horns is crumpled!" cried Bunny.
"Let's wait, and maybe she'll jump over the moon," suggested Sue, who
remembered the nursery rhyme of "Hey-diddle-diddle."

But though the children remained standing near the cow shed for two or
three minutes, the cow, one of whose horns was twisted, or crumpled,
made no effort to jump out of her stable and leap over the moon.
Bunny and Sue were not afraid of cows, especially when they were
kept in a stable, so they were soon rubbing the head of the ragged man's
bossy.
"Well, you have made friends, I see," came a voice behind the children,
and there stood the ragged man with their pail full of milk. "I am glad
you like my cow," he said. "She is a good cow and gives rich milk. Any
time you spill your milk again come to me and I'll sell you some."
"We didn't spill this milk," explained Bunny carefully. "A dog drank
it."
"Well, then come to me whenever you need milk, and you can't get any
at the farmhouse," went on the old man, as Bunny gave him the six
pennies.
"All right, sir," said Bunny.
"Where do you live?" asked the ragged man.
"At Camp Rest-a-While," answered Sue.
"Oh, you're the children who live in the tents. I know where your place
is."
"And to-night my father brought me a toy electric train from the city,"
said Bunny Brown. "It runs on a track with batteries, and you can
switch it on and off and it--it's won'erful!"
"So is my Teddy bear!" exclaimed Sue. "It has real lights for eyes and
they burn bright when you press a button in Teddy's back."
"Those are fine toys," said the ragged man. "We never had such toys as
that when I was a boy. And so your train runs by an electrical battery,
does it, my boy?" he asked Bunny, and he seemed anxious to hear all

about it.
"Yes, and a strong one. Daddy said I must be careful not to get a
shock."
"That's right. Electric shocks are not very good. Except for folks that
have rheumatism," said the old man. "I have a touch of that myself now
and then, but I haven't any battery. But now you'd better run along with
your milk, or your father and mother may be worried about you. Do
you know your way back to camp all right?"
"Oh, yes, thank you," said Bunny.
"And we're much obliged to you for letting us have the milk," added
Sue.
"Oh, you paid me for it, and I was glad to sell it. I need the money
because I can't earn much any more. I should thank you as a store
keeper thanks his customers. And I'll say 'come again,'" and with a
smile and a wave of his hand the ragged man said good-bye to the
children.
"Now we mustn't set our pail down again," said Bunny; "not even if we
see a squirrel."
"That's right," agreed Sue.
In a little while they were safely back at camp again, just as Uncle