Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm Part 12

"Where are you?"

"It's Bunker Blue," said Mother Brown. "I told him to come after us with a lantern."

Soon Bunker came up.

"Did you find 'em?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes," Mr. Brown answered. "They're all right."

And, a little later, they were all safely at the big automobile. Bunny and Sue had some bread, with the milk their father and mother had bought at the farmhouse. Then they were undressed and tucked in the little bunks. Bunker went to sleep in his cot, under the van, and Splash curled up on the gra.s.s near him. And, after seeing that everything was snug for the night, Mr. and Mrs. Brown went to bed also. Their first day's travel was over.

Every one had been sleeping soundly for some time, and Bunny was dreaming that he had found grandpa's horses, and was riding down a slippery hill on one of them, when, all of a sudden, in the middle of the night there came a loud yell:

"Let me alone! Get away from here!"

"That's Bunker Blue!" Bunny heard his father say. Bunny sat up, hardly awake. Sue also sat up in her bunk.

Then Splash began barking under the automobile, where Bunker was sleeping. Only Bunker was not sleeping now, for he was wide awake, and he called out again:

"Quit, I say! Oh, Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown! Somebody's trying to upset the auto!"

"Oh Mamma!" wailed Sue.

Bunny did not know what to do.

"Wait a minute! I'm coming!" called Mr. Brown, as he jumped out of bed.

CHAPTER IX

THE LOST HORSE

"What is it?" cried Bunny Brown. "What's the matter?"

"Is it a Gypsy after Bunker Blue?" asked his sister Sue.

Mrs. Brown pulled aside the light curtains that hung in front of the children's bunks.

"Don't be frightened," she said. "It isn't anything. Perhaps Bunker is dreaming, and talking in his sleep. Daddy will make it all right."

"Is Splash barking in his sleep?" Sue wanted to know.

Mother Brown laughed, and Bunny and Sue felt better after that.

Once more Bunker Blue called out:

"Hey! Quit, will you? Stop it! Ouch! I'm being tickled! Oh!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue laughed again. They could not help it, for it seemed so funny--Bunker Blue being tickled in his sleep.

By this time Mr. Brown had lighted a lantern, slipped on a bath robe, put some slippers on his feet and was going down the back, outside steps of the van. These steps, you remember, folded up, out of the way, when the automobile was traveling.

"What is it, Bunker? What's the matter?" Bunny and Sue heard their father ask.

"Why--why, I don't know what it is," answered the red-haired lad who steered the automobile. "But it's some big animal after me. He poked his head right into my cot, and he struck me with something sharp. Maybe he tried to bite me."

Mr. Brown flashed his lantern under the automobile where Bunker was sleeping. Only, of course, as I told you, Bunker was not asleep now. Nor was Splash, for the dog was running about and barking.

"Why, this is funny," said Mr. Brown. "I don't see anything, Bunker. Are you sure you didn't dream it all?"

"Dream it? No, sir! I felt it!"

Just then there came a loud "Moo! Moo! Moo!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue knew right away what that was.

"A cow!" they both cried. "It's only a cow!"

Their father, outside, looking under the automobile where Bunker Blue had his cot, heard them.

"Yes, it is a cow," he said, and his lantern flashed on a big, brown cow. There she stood, a little way back from the automobile, looking at Mr. Brown and Splash, and blinking her eyes at the lantern. She could not see Bunker under the automobile.

"Yes, it was the cow that scared you, Bunker," said Mr. Brown. "She must have been tied to a stake, in some pasture, but she pulled herself loose, and came over to see you."

"Well I didn't want to see her!" exclaimed Bunker, poking his head out from beneath the van. "She can just go right back where she came from."

"And I guess she wanted to get some of the long, sweet gra.s.s that grows under your cot," went on Mr. Brown. "That's why she came."

And that was what had happened. The cow had pulled up the stake to which she was fastened, and had wandered from her pasture, down the road, to where Bunker was asleep under the automobile. The cow had not meant to wake him up, but as she reached for the gra.s.s her horns must have poked Bunker as he slept on his cot. That was what made him cry out.

Mr. Brown took hold of the cow's rope, and led her far enough off to keep her from bothering Bunker again that night. Then Mr. Brown tied the rope to a fence, and came back to tell Bunny, Sue and their mother all about it.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't Gypsies," said Sue, as she curled up in her bunk again, to go to sleep.

"Pooh!" cried Bunny. "Gypsies don't have horns like cows!"

They were soon quiet again, though Splash did growl once in a while, as he heard the cow moving about, a little way off. But at last even Splash went to sleep, and so did Bunker. Nothing more bothered them, and it was broad daylight, and the sun was shining, when Bunny Brown and the others opened their eyes again.

"Breakfast! Breakfast!" cried Mother Brown. "Bunny! Sue! Wash for breakfast!"

There was a wash basin and stand in one corner of the automobile bed-room, and though it was quite different from the big bath room at home, Bunny and Sue washed their faces and hands very nicely, and thought what fun it was.

While they were doing this, Mother Brown was cooking the breakfast on the oil stove, and Daddy Brown, and Bunker Blue were setting the table out under the trees. Splash was not doing anything except looking hungry.

"Where's the cow?" asked Bunny, as he came down the automobile steps.