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But even Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know.
For several weeks the two children stayed at Aunt Lu's city home. They had more good times, and often went with their mother or Aunt Lu to the moving pictures. Then, too, there was much to see on the city streets, and Bunny and Sue never grew tired of looking at the strange sights. Daddy Brown wrote letters, saying he ...
"Does he say how Splash, our dog, is?" asked Bunny, when part of one of his father's letters had been read to him and Sue.
"Yes, Daddy says Splash is all right, but lonesome," Mrs. Brown answered.
"I wish we had Splash here with us," sighed Sue.
"So do I," echoed her brother.
After that, whenever they saw a dog out in the street, they looked anxiously at him, especially if he looked like Splash. And one day, when Bunny and Sue had gone down to the corner of their street, to listen to another hurdy-gurdy hand-piano, they saw a big yellow dog running about, sniffing at some muddy water in a p...
"Oh, look at that dog!" cried Bunny to Sue. "He's thirsty!"
"He looks as nice as Splash, only, of course, it isn't Splash," Sue said.
"Maybe we could take him," said Bunny. "Let's try. Then we'll have a city dog and a country dog, too."
Sue was willing, and she and Bunny walked up to the stray dog.
"Come here!" called Bunny, just as he used to call to Splash.
The dog looked up. He seemed to like children, for he came straight to Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, he's got a nice collar on," said Sue. "Let's take him to Aunt Lu's, Bunny, and give him a nice drink of water."
"All right," agreed Bunny. "We will." Then, each with a hand on the dog's collar, Bunny and Sue walked along with the nice animal, whose red tongue hung out of his mouth, for the dog had been running, and was quite hot.
Chapter XIV
The Ragged Man
"Come on, nice dog!" coaxed Sue, for as the children came nearer to the house where Aunt Lu lived, the animal seemed to want to turn back and run away.
"Yes, don't be afraid," said Bunny. "We'll give you something nice to eat, and some cold water."
Whether the dog understood what Bunny and Sue said to him, or whether he was thirsty and hungry and hoped to get something to eat, I do not know. Some dogs seem to know everything you say to them, and certainly this one was very wise. So he walked on willingly with the two children.
"Do you think we can keep him?" asked Sue.
"I guess so," answered her brother. "He's my dog, 'cause I saw him first."
"Isn't he half mine?" Sue wanted to know.
"Nope, he's all mine!" and Bunny took a firmer grasp on the dog's collar.
"Well, I don't care!" cried Sue, stamping her foot, which she sometimes did when she was getting angry. "Half of our dog Splash at home is mine, and I don't see why I can't have half of this one."
"Nope, you can't!" cried Bunny. He hardly ever acted this way toward his sister. Generally he gave her half of everything. "I want all this dog," Bunny said. "I'm going to train him to be a circus animal, and if a girl owns part of a dog she don't want him to run, or get muddy or anything like that."
"Oh, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue. "I don't care if he does get muddy. I want him to be a circus dog, too. So please can't I have half of him? I'll take the tail end for my half, or the head end half or down the middle, just like we do with Splash!"
"Well," and Bunny seemed to be thinking about it. "Maybe I'll let you have half of him, Sue. But you've got to let me train your half the same as mine, to be a circus dog."
"Yes, Bunny, I will. Oh, isn't he a nice dog!" and she patted him on the head. The dog wagged his tail and seemed happy.
Into the apartment house hall walked the children, leading the stray dog they had found in the street. The elevator was not open, being on one of the upper floors, and Bunny pushed the button that rang the bell, which told Henry, the colored elevator boy, that someone was on the lower floor, waiting to be taken up.
When Henry came down in the queer iron cage that slid up and down, he looked first at Bunny, then at Sue, and then at the dog.
"What yo' all want?" asked the colored boy, smiling and showing his big, white teeth.
"We want to ride up to Aunt Lu's house," answered Bunny.
"We got a new dog, Henry," said Sue.
Henry shook his head.
"I'll take you little folks up to yo' aunt's house," he said, "but I can't take up dat dawg."
"Why not?" asked Bunny. "Is he too heavy? 'Cause if he is, Henry, we'll go up with you first, and you can bring the dog up alone. We'll wait for him up stairs."
Once more the elevator boy shook his head.
"No, sah! I can't do it!" he exclaimed.
"Is you afraid, Henry?" asked Sue, putting her head down on the dog's back. "Is you afraid he'll bite you, Henry? He won't. He's as nice a dog as Splash is, the one we have at home. He won't bite, Henry."
"No, Miss Sue. I ain't askeered ob dat," said Henry, with another smile. "But yo' all can't bring no dawgs in heah! It ain't allowed, nohow!"
"You mean we can't bring a dog in the house?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, sah!" Henry exclaimed. "Dat's it. De man what owns dis house done gib strict orders dat no dogs or cats or parrots can come in, an' I got t' keep 'em out. Yo' all jest go up an' ast yo' Aunt Lu 'bout it."
"Shall we?" asked Sue, as she looked down at the dog.
"Yes," said Bunny. "But, of course, Henry ought to know. But we've got to give this dog something to eat and drink, Sue, 'cause we promised we would. So we'll just leave him down here, and go up and tell Aunt Lu. We can do that; can't we, Henry?" Bunny asked.
"Oh, yes, Bunny. Yo' all kin do dat I'll jest tie de dawg down here in de hall, an' yo' all kin go ast yo' Aunt Lu."
The dog did not seem to mind being tied and left alone. Henry fastened him with a cord, and the dog lay down on the cool marble floor, while the colored boy took the two children up in the elevator.
"Oh, Bunny!" said Sue, in a whisper, as they were waiting for their aunt's maid, or for Wopsie, to open the door of the hall. "Oh, Bunny, I know what we could do."
"What?" Bunny wanted to know.