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And, as he paid the bill, the fish dealer did ask the waiter if he knew whether any one in the town of East Milford had ponies for sale.
"Well, there's a livery stable over in the next street," was the answer. "They might have some ponies."
"Oh, let's go and see!" begged Bunny.
"Let's!" said Sue, in a sort of chorus.
As Bunker Blue was needed back on the fish dock, he did not go with Bunny, Sue and their father to the stable. Instead he took a train back to Bellemere, promising to telephone to Mrs. Brown so that she would know Bunny and his sister were with their father, and were all right.
"A Shetland pony, is it?" repeated the livery stable keeper, when Mr. Brown had told what he wanted -- a pet for his children. "No, I'm sorry, but I haven't any. In fact, I don't believe you'll find one in town."
"Do you know where I could find one?" asked Mr. Brown.
The livery stable keeper thought for a few seconds, and then he said:
"Well, there's a farmer, living in the country about ten miles from here, who used to own one or two Shetland ponies which his children drove. They are getting too big for ponies now. Maybe that farmer would have some Shetlands for sale."
"Oh, Daddy! let's go and see!" begged Bunny.
"Very well, we'll try," replied Mr. Brown.
They hired an automobile in the village, and drove out to Cardiff, where the livery man said the farmer, who might have some ponies for sale, lived.
But alas for the hopes of Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue! When they reached the farm the man said:
"Well, now, I'm sorry! but I sold both my ponies last week! If I'd known you wanted them for your children, Mr. Brown, I might have kept them. But they're gone."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny. "I don't believe we'll ever get a Shetland pony!"
But you just wait and see what happens.
Chapter V
The Short Tallman
Mr. Brown talked with the farmer a little while longer, asking him if he knew any other place where Shetland ponies might be bought.
"Well, I don't know that I do," answered Mr. Bascomb, the farmer. "Not many of us around here keep 'em. But if I hear of any I'll let you know."
"I wish you would," said Mr. Brown. "I didn't know my little boy and girl were so eager for a pony."
"We always liked them!" said Bunny.
"But we didn't know how really-truly nice they were until we saw Toby to-day," added Sue. "Please get us a pony, Daddy!"
"I will if I can find one," promised her father.
But, though he inquired at many places in East Milford, Mr. Brown could find no one who had ponies to sell. Finally Bunny and Sue became tired, even with riding about in an auto looking for a possible pet, and Mr. Brown said:
"Well, we'll go back home now. Your mother will be getting anxious about you. We'll try again to-morrow to find a Shetland pony."
"Maybe we'll meet Mr. Tallman on our way back," remarked Sue.
"What good would that do?" asked Bunny.
"Well, maybe he'd sell us Toby now," went on his sister. "I like Toby awful much!"
"So do I," said Bunny. "But I don't guess we'll get him."
"I'm afraid not," put in Mr. Brown. "Mr. Tallman is too fond of his pet to part with him."
Riding home in the train from East Milford to Bellemere, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue talked of little but the pony they had seen, and the one they hoped to get. They talked so much about ponies, in fact, that Mr. Brown feared they would dream about one perhaps, so he said:
"To-night we will all go to a moving-picture show. That will take your mind off ponies and basket carts."
"Oh, it'll be fun to go to the movies!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
"And maybe we'll see a picture of a pony!" added Bunny, eagerly.
Mr. Brown smiled and shook his head.
"I'll certainly have to get them one," he thought.
Bunny and Sue fairly rushed into the house when they reached home. They saw their mother telling Tressa, the good-natured cook, what to get for supper.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny, "did Bunker Blue tell you about us?"
"Do you mean about you and Sue hiding away in the ark, when I didn't know it, and taking a ride?" asked Mrs. Brown, with a smile at the children, and a funny look at her husband. "Yes, he told me that, Bunny. And please don't do it again. I know you didn't mean to do wrong, but you did."
"Oh, I don't mean about our going away in the ark," said Bunny. "I mean, did Bunker tell you about the pony our auto scared, and how it ran away?"
"The pony ran away, not our auto," explained Sue, for fear her mother might not understand what Bunny was talking about.
"I know," said Mrs. Brown with another smile. "You saw a little pony, did you?"
"Oh, such a sweet little pony!" cried Sue.
"He was a dandy!" said her brother.
"And daddy is going to get us one!" went on Sue.
Mrs. Brown looked at her husband.
"Bunker Blue didn't tell me anything about that," she said.