Sunny Boy and His Playmates | Page 6

said the old
gentleman, when he could stop laughing. "I suppose, because I called
Adele my little girl, he went about looking for a child. She is seventeen
and able to take care of herself almost anywhere. Well, child, if I were
your grandfather I'd want some one to look after you, so suppose you
stay with me till we see if your grandpa is here. He wouldn't go home
without you, that much I know."

Sunny Boy felt better, with a tall, kindly old gentleman to walk about
with him, but he wished that they could find Grandpa Horton before his
feet were too cold to walk on. And then, just as he was sure his shoes
were frozen fast to his toes, he saw dear Grandpa Horton!
"Grandpa!" he shouted. "Here I am, Grandpa! We've been looking all
over for you."
"And I've been about crazy, looking for you," said Grandpa Horton,
hurrying up to them. "Are you all right, Sunny Boy? Are you cold? Are
you wet? How did you get ashore?"
The other grandfather laughed again as he shook hands with Grandpa
Horton.
"He's all right, though I suspect his feet are pretty wet," he said. "I
would have bundled him off home, but I knew you would be terribly
anxious and I couldn't pick you out of the crowd without his help.
You'd better hurry, now. I'm going to get out of this crowd as soon as I
find my granddaughter."
Grandpa Horton thanked the old gentleman for taking care of Sunny
Boy and then they shook hands again and Sunny Boy and his grandpa
hurried toward the Park gates.
They walked as fast as they could all the way home, and sometimes
they ran a little. Grandma Horton, who had been taking a nap when
they left for the Park, was downstairs in the living-room with Mrs.
Horton, knitting, when she happened to look out of the window and see
Grandpa and Sunny Boy coming.
"Has anything happened to you?" she cried, opening the door as they
dashed up the steps. "Are either of you hurt?"
Dear, dear, there was a great deal of excitement, you may be sure, when
Sunny Boy and Grandpa told what had happened at the pond. Harriet
brought hot water bottles and dry shoes and stockings and hot
lemonade and her best box of peppermint drops. Grandma Horton

insisted on wrapping Sunny Boy from chin to feet in a hot blanket and
she made Grandpa take little white pills. Mother Horton rubbed their
hands and lighted the electric heater, although the room was very warm
and comfortable, and put on all the wood in the fire-basket till the
fireplace was ablaze with flames.
And all this loving care and attention agreed with both Sunny Boy and
Grandpa Horton, for neither one of them took the tiniest bit of cold and
they were all right again the next day. Sunny Boy said he knew it was
the peppermint drops, and Harriet thought so, too.
CHAPTER III
WHO WAS THE BIG BOY?
Although Sunny Boy and Grandpa were quite well the next morning,
Daddy Horton said he thought they had better stay in the house till after
lunch.
"It is much colder to-day. The thermometer dropped several degrees
last night," Daddy explained. "I think if you wait a few hours you'll find
it pleasanter out."
So Sunny Boy and Grandpa took this good advice and stayed in by the
living-room fire. They again told Grandma and Mother Horton about
the ice cracking, and Harriet, who was cleaning the dining-room, could
not get along very fast with her dusting because she was always coming
to the door to listen.
"That must have been Judge Layton, Father," said Mrs. Horton, when
Grandpa described the old gentleman whom Sunny Boy insisted on
calling "the other grandpa."
"I believe I did hear some one in the crowd call him 'judge,'" answered
Grandpa Horton.
"He has a granddaughter, Adele, I know," said Mrs. Horton. "And he is
so proud of her he goes everywhere with her. I hope he found her and

that she was not hurt."
"Oh, no one was hurt," replied Grandpa Horton. "There was a great
deal of shouting and screaming, but a pair of wet feet was the most any
one suffered, I feel sure. What is it, laddie?"
Sunny Boy had been standing quietly beside his grandfather's chair,
waiting for a chance to say something very important.
"I wish, Grandpa--" he began excitedly, "I wish the big boy who pulled
me off the ice had waited to see you. He was afraid of the policeman, or
maybe he might have stayed."
"I wish I had seen him," said Grandpa Horton seriously. "He must have
had his wits about him to get you out of