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The boy who had started out with the children, first walking along beside the pony, was now far behind. He was a small boy, with very short legs, and, as the pony's legs were quite long, of course the boy could not run fast enough to keep up. So he was now far behind, but he kept calling:
"Stop that pony! Oh, please someone stop that pony!"
Bunny and Sue heard the boy calling. So did Wopsie, but the colored girl said nothing. She just sat there, holding to the side of the seat and looking at Bunny and Sue.
"I wonder what that boy's hollering that way for?" asked Sue, as the pony swung around another corner, almost upsetting the cart again.
"I don't know," said Bunny. "Maybe he likes to holler. I do sometimes, when I'm out in the country. And this park is like the country, Sue."
"Yes, I guess it is," said the little girl. "But what's he saying, Bunny?"
They listened. Once more the boy, running along, now quite a long way behind the pony cart, could be heard crying:
"Stop him! Stop him! He's running away! Stop him!"
Bunny and Sue looked at one another. Then they looked at Wopsie. The colored girl opened her mouth, showing her red tongue and her white teeth.
"Oh! Oh!" she screamed. "De pony's runnin' away! Dat's what de boy says. I'se afeered, I is! Oh, let me out! Let me out!"
Wopsie, who sat near the back of the cart, where there was a little door, made of wicker-work, like a basket, started to jump out. But though Bunny Brown was only a little fellow, he knew that Wopsie might be hurt if she jumped from the cart, which the pony was pulling along so fast, now.
"Sit still, Wopsie!" Bunny cried. "Sit still!"
"But we's bein' runned away wif!" exclaimed Wopsie. "Didn't yo' all done heah dat boy say so? We's bein' runned away wif! I wants t' git out! I don't like bein' runned away wif!"
"It won't hurt you," said Sue. She did not seem at all afraid. "It won't hurt you, Wopsie," Sue went on. "Me and Bunny has been runned away with lots of times, with our dog Splash; hasn't we, Bunny?"
"Yes, we have, Sue. Sit still, Wopsie. I'll stop the pony."
Bunny began to pull back on the lines, and he called:
"Whoa! Whoa there! Stop now! Don't run away any more, pony boy!"
But the pony did not seem to want to stop. Perhaps he thought if he stopped, now, the barking dog would bite his heels. But the dog had given up the chase, and was not in sight. Neither was the running boy.
The boy had found that his short legs were not long enough to keep up with the longer legs of the pony. Besides, a pony has four legs, and everybody knows that four legs can go faster than two. So the boy stopped running.
"Can you stop the pony?" asked Sue, after Bunny had pulled on the lines a number of times, and had cried "Whoa!" very often. "Can you stop him?"
"I -- I guess so," answered the little boy. "But maybe you'd better help me, Sue. You pull on one line, and I'll pull on the other. That will stop him."
Bunny passed one of the pony's reins to his sister and held to the other. The children were sitting in front of the cart, Bunny on one side and Sue on the other. Both of them began to pull on the lines, but still the pony did not stop.
"Pull harder, Bunny! Pull harder!" cried Sue.
"I am pulling as hard as I can," he said. "You pull harder, Sue."
But still the pony did not want to stop. If anything, he was going faster than ever. Yes, he surely was going faster, for it was down hill now, and you know, as well as I do, that you can go faster down hill, than you can on the level, or up hill.
"Oh, I want to git out! I want to git out!" cried Wopsie. "I don't like bein' runned away wif! Oh, please good, kind, nice, sweet Mr. Policeman, stop de pony from runnin' away wif us!"
"Where's a policeman?" asked Sue, turning half way around to look at Wopsie. "Where's a policeman?"
"I -- I don't see none!" said the colored girl, "but I wish I did! He'd stop de pony from runnin' away. Maybe if we all yells fo' a policeman one'll come."
"Shall we Bunny?" asked Sue.
"Shall we what?" Bunny wanted to know. He had been so busy trying to get a better hold on his rein that he had not noticed what Sue and Wopsie were talking about.
"Shall we call a policeman?" asked Sue. "Wopsie says one can stop the pony from running away. And I don't guess we can stop him, Bunny. We'd better yell for a policeman. Maybe one is around somewhere, but I can't see any."
"All right, we'll call one," Bunny agreed. He, too, was beginning to think that the pony was never going to stop. "But let's try one more pull on the lines, Sue. Now, pull hard."
And then something happened.
Without waiting for Sue to get ready to pull on her line, Bunny gave a hard pull on his. And I guess you know what happens if you pull too much on one horse-line.
Suddenly the pony felt Bunny pulling on the right hand line, and the pony turned to that side. And he turned so quickly that the harness broke and the cart was upset. Over it went on its side, and Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, as well as Wopsie, were thrown out.
Right out of the cart they flew, and Bunny turned a somersault, head over heels, before he landed on a soft pile of grass that had been cut that day. Sue and Wopsie also landed on piles of grass, so they were not any more hurt than was Bunny.
The pony, as soon as the cart had turned over, looked back once, and then he stopped running, and began to nibble the green grass.
"Well, we aren't being runned away with now," Bunny finally said.
"No," answered Sue. "We've stopped all right. Wopsie, is you hurted?"
The colored girl put her hand up to her kinky head. Her hat had fallen off into her lap. Carefully she felt of her braids. Then she said:
"I guess I isn't hurted much. But I might 'a' bin! I don't want no mo' pony cart rides!"
Before the children and Wopsie could get up they heard a voice calling to them:
"Bress der hearts! Po' li'l lambs! Done got frowed out ob de cart, an' all busted t' pieces mebby. Well, ole Aunt Sallie'll take keer ob 'em! Po' li'l honey lambs!"
Glancing up, Bunny and Sue saw a motherly-looking colored woman coming across the grass toward them. She held out her fat arms to the children and said:
"Now don't cry, honey lambs! Ole Aunt Sallie will tuk keer ob yo' all!"
Chapter XXIV
Wopsie's Folks
The nice old colored woman, who called herself Aunt Sallie, bent first over Sue, helping the little girl stand up.
"Is yo' all hurted, honey?" asked Aunt Sallie, brushing the pieces of grass from Sue's dress.