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"No, I'm sorry to say I haven't," was the answer. "I'm afraid I shall never see it again. But how do you like Toby?"
"He's dandy!" declared Bunny.
"And we just love him!" added Sue.
"I'm glad you do," said Mr. Tallman. "But did you know he can do another trick besides the handkerchief one?"
"Oh, can he?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, indeed! I'll tell you about his new trick. It's one I taught him."
"Oh, please show us!" begged Bunny.
"Wait until we get back to his stable," said Mr. Tallman. "This trick has to be done in the stable where there's a bin of oats. There I can show you what else Toby can do."
And how Bunny and Sue wondered what it was their pony was going to do!
Chapter X
Toby Walks Away
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue drove Mr. Tallman in the pony cart along the road, and up the driveway that led to the stable back of their house.
"Why, you two children have learned to drive quite well," said the man who used to own Toby.
"Oh, yes, Bunker Blue showed us how," answered Bunny.
Mrs. Brown looked from the window and saw the pony cart.
"Oh, you have brought back company!" she called, as she noticed Mr. Tallman.
"I came over for a little while only," he said. "I forgot to tell the children about a trick Toby can do, and I thought they might like to know of it. They told me that he picked up Sue's handkerchief."
"Yes, I thought that was very smart of him," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "Is the other trick as nice as that?"
"I think so," answered Mr. Tallman. "But I need some lumps of sugar to make Toby do it right."
"Yes, I guess all ponies like sugar," said the children's mother, as she brought some out. Then she went to the barn with Mr. Tallman and Bunny and Sue.
Bunny knew something about unharnessing his pet, and did so with the help of Mr. Tallman. Then, as Toby stood loose in the middle of the barn floor, Mr. Tallman gave him a lump of sugar.
"Is that the trick?" asked Bunny.
"No, that is only the start of it. Now show me where your oat bin is and give me a wooden measure with which you dip out the oats you sometimes feed to Toby."
Bunny ran to the box, or bin, where the oats were kept, and from it he took a little round measure, such as grocers, at the store, use for measuring two quarts of potatoes.
"Now," said Mr. Tallman, "I'll just put another lump of sugar in this wooden measure. Then I'll put the measure under this basket," and this he did, letting Toby see all that went on.
"Now," went on the man who used to own the pony, "I'll see if he'll do as I want him to. I want him to go over to the basket, lift it off the measure, and then carry the measure over to the oat bin. Then I want him to open the top of the bin with his nose, and drop the measure inside, as though he wanted to take some o...
"Will he do it?" asked Bunny.
"I think so," answered Mr. Tallman. "He used to do it for me, in his other stable. This one may be a bit strange to him. But we'll see what he does."
The lump of sugar had been put in the measure, and the measure was covered with a bushel basket, turned upside down. Then, stepping back, Mr. Tallman said:
"Now, Toby, go and get your oats! Go and get your oats!"
The little Shetland pony bobbed his head up and down, just as if he were saying that this is just what he would do. Then he took a few steps toward the oat bin, which had a hinged cover like the boxes in the grocery where the coffee is kept.
"No! No! Don't go to the oat bin yet," said Mr. Tallman. "First, get the wooden measure, Toby! I have to have that first, before I can dish you out any oats. Take the measure over to the box."
Whether Toby knew all that Mr. Tallman said to him, or whether the pony had learned to go for the measure because he knew there was a lump of sugar in it, I can't exactly say. Perhaps it was a little of both. At any rate, he walked over to the bushel basket that covered the wooden measure.
With a quick motion of his head Toby knocked the basket to one side. Then he reached down and took out the lump of sugar, which he chewed.
"Oh, he did it! He did it!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
"But this isn't all," said Mr. Tallman. "This is only half the trick. Watch and see if he does the rest."
The children and Mrs. Brown waited until Toby had chewed down the lump of sugar. And then, with a little whinny, which seemed as if he tried to talk, Toby picked the two-quart measure up in his mouth.
Over to the oat bin he walked with it, and Bunny and Sue could hardly keep still, they were so excited.
Would Toby open the box, as Mr. Tallman wanted him to?
And that is just what the Shetland pony did. Dropping the wooden measure at one side of the wooden box where his oats were kept, Toby lifted the cover with his nose. Then he picked up the measure again, and dropped it in the box, on top of the oats that filled it nearly to the brim.
"Ha! that's the way to do it!" cried Mr. Tallman. "Now you have done the trick, Toby, and you shall have another lump of sugar!"
And he gave the pony a large one.
"Was that what you wanted him to do?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, that was the trick I taught him in his own stable. I was afraid perhaps he might have forgotten it here, but I see he hasn't."
"Aren't you going to give him some oats now?" asked Bunny.
"Well, I thought maybe you or Sue would like to have him do the trick over again before he had any oats. Usually I didn't let him have any until after I had made him do the trick three or four times. He has the habit of doing it like that. So you children take a turn. Here is more sugar for him."
Bunny took a lump, and put it in the measure. Then he hid it under the bushel basket, and, surely enough, Toby went over to it again, took the measure out from under and dropped it into the oat bin. Then Bunny gave him the second lump of sugar.
Toby did the trick for Sue, as well as for Mrs. Brown, and then the children's mother said:
"Well, now I am sure Toby has earned his oats."