Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South | Page 7

and then, all of a sudden, the two
last boys, who were still locked together, crashed right into the side of
Bunny's sled, knocking him off and coasting on right over him!
"Oh! Oh!" cried Sue, who saw what had happened. "Look at Bunny!"
For a moment it seemed that her brother must be severely hurt, but
when some of the older boys ran to pick him up, Bunny arose by
himself. On his face was a spot of blood.
"Oh, you're hurt!" cried Charlie Star.
Bunny put his hand to his nose. It was bleeding, and at first he was
frightened. But he did not cry.
"I--I don't care!" he said bravely. "I've had nose-bleed before. It don't
hurt much!"
"Hold some snow on it," advised one boy. "That'll stop the bleeding."
Bunny did this, but as the cold snow hurt worse than the pain of his
bumped nose, he soon tossed the red ball away.
"Come on, I'll take you home," said Jack Denson, one of the older boys.
"Don't cry, Sue," he said, as Bunny's sister began to whimper. "He's all
right."
Jack was very kind, wiping the blood off Bunny's face at times with a
handkerchief, so that when the Brown home was almost reached the
bleeding had nearly stopped. Sue, who had been very much frightened
at first, was growing calmer, and Bunny was feeling better. As they
neared their house they saw their father coming home from his work at
the boat and fish dock.
"There's my father," Bunny said.
"Oh, then you'll be all right," remarked Jack. "I'll skip back then, for

I've got to go to the store for my mother."
Mr. Brown stood at the gate waiting for his two children, who came
along dragging their sleds.
"Why, Bunny! what's the matter?" asked Mr. Brown, when he saw the
blood on his son's face.
"He played bob; and didn't you tell him not to?" broke out Sue. "An' the
bob busted and he got bumped into and he was run over and he was
under a drift and he crawled through the cellar window an' Uncle Tad
couldn't find him an'--an'--everything!" gasped Sue, now quite out of
breath.
"My, you're telling all the bad news at once!" laughed her father, for he
saw that Bunny was not seriously hurt and he knew that sometimes
accidents will happen on coasting hills.
Mr. Brown had a box under his arm. It was a box that had come
through the mail, as Bunny and Sue could see by the stamps. It looked
very interesting and mysterious, this box did, and the children regarded
it curiously as they walked up the path to the front door of the house
with their father.
"Didn't you tell Bunny never to make a bob?" asked Sue, as Daddy
Brown took his key from his pocket to open the door.
"I don't know that I did," was the answer. "Still if it is dangerous to
make bobs I wish neither you nor Bunny to do it."
"Oh, it's lots of fun," Bunny said. "And my nose doesn't hurt much now.
What's in the box, Daddy?" he asked.
"I'll show you in a minute," Mr. Brown promised. "It is something very
nice."
"Candy?" cried Sue, who had more than one "sweet tooth," I think.
"No, not candy," her father teased. "You'll soon see."

He went into the house with the children, and as soon as Mrs. Brown
saw Bunny she knew what had happened; at least she knew his nose
had bled.
"Did you have a tumble?" she asked.
"He was in a bob and it broke and he was run over!" cried Sue, who
seemed anxious to do all the telling.
"Well, I'm glad it was no worse," said Mother Brown. "What's this?"
she asked, as her husband handed her the box. "For me?"
"Yes," he answered. "Orange blossoms."
"Orange blossoms! How lovely!" cried the children's mother. "Where
from?"
"Florida. Mr. Halliday sent them. He's down there on an orange farm,
and I may have to go down myself."
"Down where?" cried Bunny.
"South," answered his father.
"To Florida where the orange blossoms grow?" asked Sue eagerly, as
her mother was opening the box.
"Well, we may get to Florida. But first I shall have to go to Georgia,"
answered Mr. Brown.
"Oh, take us!" cried Bunny and Sue. "Please take us!"
"We'll see," said Mr. Brown, with a look at his wife. "We'll talk it over
after supper. Let's look at the orange blossoms now."
While Mother Brown was opening the box there came a noise at the
side door as though some one were trying to break it open by pounding
on it.

CHAPTER IV
A RUNAWAY
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, who were standing on their tiptoes to