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"No, I will not!" answered Mr. Tallman. "He is not your pony, and you have no right to him."
"Well, if he isn't mine he soon will be!" said the dark man. "You owe me a lot of money, and if you don't pay pretty soon I'll take that pony away from you and sell him. Then I'll get the money in that way."
"Perhaps you will," said the pony's owner. "But before you do that I may be able to pay you what I owe you, and then I can keep my little Toby."
"Why don't you pay me now?" asked the black-whiskered man, whose name was Mr. Tang.
"Because I haven't the money," answered Mr. Tallman.
"Then give me the pony! Come, now!" went on Mr. Tang, for such was his name. "If you will let me have your trick pony I'll not bother you about the money you owe me. I'll let you have a long while in which to pay me the last part of it. Give me that pony!" and he seemed about to take Toby away.
"No, I'll not give him up!" said Mr. Tallman. "I'll try to get your money in some other way. I never can part with Toby; especially to you."
"Why won't you let me have him?" asked Tang.
"Because I'm afraid you wouldn't be kind to him."
"I'd sell him, that's what I'd do!" said the dark man. "I'd sell him, after you gave him to me, and in that way I'd get back a part of the money you owe me. I'd sell Toby, that's what I'd do!"
"That's what I'd be afraid of," went on Mr. Tallman. "I'd be afraid you'd sell him back to the cruel men in the circus. No, sir! I'll not let you have my pony. I'll get your money in some other way, and pay you back."
"Well, see that you do!" growled Mr. Tang. "If you don't pay me soon, I'll come and take Toby away from you! That's what I'll do!"
With that he got back in his wagon, and, with a last look at Toby, the Shetland pony, the unpleasant man drove away.
"Oh," said Bunny in a low voice, "I'm glad that man didn't buy the pony."
"So am I," said Sue.
"And I'm glad I didn't give him up," added Mr. Tallman. "I'd never feel happy if I knew he had my pet pony."
"He does not look like a kind man," said Mr. Brown, "and I saw him strike his horse with the whip. Still he might not hurt the pony."
"Well, if he didn't hurt him he might send him back to the circus, where Toby would be beaten," remarked Mr. Tallman. "Of course, I know that in most circuses the ponies and other animals are kindly treated. But Toby was not treated well in the circus where he was, and he'd never like to go back there. That's why I wan...
"If you sold him to me, for my children, we would treat him kindly," said Mr. Brown.
"Yes, I know that," said Mr. Tallman. "But I don't want to sell Toby -- least of all to Mr. Tang."
"Do you owe him money?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Yes. More, I fear, than I can ever pay. And if I don't pay him he may come and take Toby away from me."
"That would be too bad," said Mr. Brown, and Bunny and his sister thought the same thing.
"Yes, it would," agreed Mr. Tallman. "I was on my way, just now, to see a friend, to get him to lend me some money to pay Mr. Tang," went on the pony's owner. "I'll go there now."
"And if he can't help you, perhaps I can," called Mr. Brown to Mr. Tallman, as the latter drove away in the basket cart. "Whatever happens, if you decide to sell Toby, come to me first."
"I will," Mr. Tallman promised, and then he drove along on another road, where the little horse would not see the big auto and be frightened again.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue, as she and Bunny walked back to the ark. "I did love that pony so!"
"I did, too," added Bunny. "Don't you s'pose we can ever get him, Daddy?"
"Well, I don't know," answered Mr. Brown. "If we can't buy that Toby pony, though, perhaps we can find another."
"Really?" cried Sue.
"Will you truly buy us another?" asked Bunny.
"If we can find one as nice as Toby," promised Mr. Brown.
Bunny and Sue sighed again.
"What's the matter?" asked their father.
"There won't ever be another pony as nice as Toby," said the little girl.
"Never!" added Bunny.
"But he ran away," said Mr. Brown, not wishing the two children to fall too deeply in love with a pet they could not have. "I might find another pony that wouldn't do such a thing."
"He didn't run away very much," stated Bunny. "And that was only 'cause he thought our auto was a circus wagon. We could keep the auto in the barn, and then Toby wouldn't be skeered."
"Yes, we might do that," said Mr. Brown, smiling. "But I'm afraid Toby isn't for sale. We'll have to look for another pony."
"And will you?" asked Sue.
"Yes; I'll ask about one when we get to East Milford," her father promised. "There aren't any Shetland ponies for sale in Bellemere; that I know. Maybe we can find one in East Milford."
Bunny, his sister, his father and Bunker Blue walked back to the ark. Getting in, once more they set off, and then, without anything much happening, they rode to East Milford. The big auto was left at a garage to be fixed, and then Mr. Brown said:
"Well, now we will go and get something to eat, for it is dinner time, and too far to wait until we get back home."
"And after that shall we go and look for a pony?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, after that I'll see if I can find a Shetland pony for you," his father promised.
They ate their lunch in a restaurant, and before coming out Sue said:
"Ask the man if he knows where we can get a pony, Daddy!"
"What man, Sue?"
"The man in the restaurant. The man that brought us such nice things to eat."
"Oh, you mean the waiter! Well, I will," said Mr. Brown with a smile.