Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While Read online

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  "NOW WHERE ARE YOUR POTATOES, UNCLE TAD?" SUE ASKED."HERE THEY ARE!" SAID THE OLD SOLDIER. _Frontispiece_ (_Page_ 75.)_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-a-While._]

  BUNNY BROWNAND HIS SISTER SUEAT CAMP REST-A-WHILE

  BY

  LAURA LEE HOPE

  AUTHOR OF

  THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEYTWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLSSERIES, ETC.

  Illustrated byFlorence England Nosworthy

  NEW YORKGROSSET & DUNLAPPUBLISHERS

  Made in the United States of America

  BOOKSBy LAURA LEE HOPE

  _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated._

  THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES

  BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE

  THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES For Little Men and Women

  THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME

  THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES

  THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND

  GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

  Copyright, 1916, by GROSSET & DUNLAP

  _Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While_

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. GRANDPA'S TENT 1 II. GRAND SURPRISE 12 III. BUNNY AND SUE SLEEP OUT 23 IV. SPLASH COMES, TOO 35 V. OFF TO CAMP 44 VI. PUTTING UP THE TENTS 55 VII. A BIG BLACK BEAR 68 VIII. THE RAGGED BOY 78 IX. TOM HEARS A NOISE 89 X. OUT IN THE BOAT 100 XI. TOM SEES A MAN 108 XII. THE CROSS MAN 119 XIII. A BAD STORM 128 XIV. TOM IS GONE 140 XV. LOOKING FOR TOM 150 XVI. "WHO TOOK THE PIE?" 157 XVII. A NOISE AT NIGHT 166XVIII. SPLASH ACTS QUEERLY 176 XIX. IN THE SMOKE-HOUSE 184 XX. IN BUNNY'S TRAP 193 XXI. BUNKER GOES ASHORE 203 XXII. IN THE WOODS 210XXIII. IN THE CAVE 220 XXIV. "WHO IS THERE?" 228 XXV. BACK IN CAMP 237

  BUNNY BROWNAND HIS SISTER SUEAT CAMP REST-A-WHILE

  CHAPTER I

  GRANDPA'S TENT

  "Bunny! Bunny Brown! There's a wagon stoppin' in front of our house!"

  "Is there? What kind of a wagon is it, Sue?"

  The little girl, who had called to her brother about the wagon, stoodwith her nose pressed flat against the glass of the window, looking outto where the rain was beating down on the green grass of the front yard.Bunny Brown, who had been playing with a tin locomotive that ran on atiny tin track, put his toy back in its box.

  "What kind of a wagon is it Sue?" he asked his sister again.

  "It isn't a grocery wagon," Sue answered slowly. "Not a grocery wagon,like the one we rode in once, when we gave all those things to Old MissHollyhock."

  "Has it got any letters on it?" Bunny wanted to know. He was on his wayto the window now, having taken up the toy railroad track, with which hewas tired playing.

  "Yes, it's got a E on it," Sue said, "and next comes the funny letter,Bunny, that looks like when you cross your legs or fingers."

  "That's a X," said Bunny. He knew his letters better than did Sue, forBunny could even read a little. "What's the next letter, Sue?"

  Bunny could have run to the window himself, and looked out, but hewanted to pick up all the things with which he had been playing. Hismother had always made him do this--put away his toys when he wasthrough.

  "What's the next letter, Sue?" Bunny Brown asked.

  Sue was not quite sure of it. She put her little head to one side so shemight see better. Just then a man jumped off the seat, and splashedthrough a muddy puddle as he walked around to the end of the wagon.

  "Oh, Bunny!" Sue cried. "The man's going to bring something here, Iguess. He's taking out a big bundle."

  "Maybe it's a wagon from the store," said Bunny. And, as he looked outthrough the window glass, pressing his nose flat against it, as hissister Sue had done, he spelled out the word:

  EXPRESS

  "That's an express wagon, Sue," said Bunny.

  "What's express?" Sue wanted to know.

  "That means when you're in a hurry," Bunny said. "You know, when we'replaying train, sometimes I'm an express train, and I go awful fast."

  "Yes, I 'member that," said Sue. "Once, when we hitched our dog, Splash,up to our express wagon, he went so fast he spilled me out."

  "Well, that's express," Bunny went on. "When you went out of the wagonso fast you were an express."

  "I don't like express, then," said Sue. "I like to go slower. But thatcan't be an express wagon, then, Bunny."

  "Why not?"

  "'Cause that's not goin' fast. It's jest standin' still."

  "Oh, well, when it does go, it goes fast. That's an express wagon, allright. Somebody's sent us something by express. Oh, Sue, I wonder whatit is?"

  Sue shook her head. She did not know, and she could not guess. She waswatching the man out in the rain--the expressman who was trying to getsomething out of the back of his wagon. It was a big bundle, that wassure, because Bunny and Sue could see the end of it.

  "I wonder if it's a present for us?" Sue asked.

  "It can't be a present," answered Bunny. "It isn't Christmas. Don't youremember, Sue, we had Christmas at Aunt Lu's city home."

  "So we did, Bunny. But it's _something_, anyhow."

  That was certain, for now the man was pulling a very large bundle out ofhis wagon. It was so large that he could not carry it all alone, and hecalled for Sam, the stable man, to come and help him. With the help ofSam, the expressman carried the package back into the barn.

  "Oh, I wonder what it is?" said Sue.

  "We'll go and ask mother," suggested Bunny. "She'll know."

  Together, the children fairly ran upstairs to their mother's sittingroom, where she was sewing.

  "Oh, Mother!" cried Sue. "There's a fast wagon out in front--a fastwagon and----"

  "A fast wagon, Sue? What do you mean? Is it stuck fast in the mud?" Mrs.Brown asked.

  "No, she means an express wagon," said Bunny, with a laugh. "I told herexpress was fast, Mother."

  "Oh, I see," and Mrs. Brown smiled.

  "But the express wagon did stop," went on the little boy. "It stoppedhere, and Sam and the man took out a big bundle. It's up in our barn.What is it, Mother?"

  "I don't know, Bunny. Something your father sent for, perhaps. He maytell us what it is when he comes."

  "May we go out and look at it?" Sue asked.

  "No, dear, not in this rain. Can't you wait until daddy comes home?"

  "Yes, but I--I don't want to, Mother."

  "Oh, well, we have to do many things in this world that we don't wantto. Now go and play with your dolls, or something. I think daddy will behome earl
y to-night, on account of the storm. Then he'll tell you what'sin the bundle."

  "Does Sam know?" asked Bunny, as he watched the express wagon driveaway.

  "Perhaps he does," answered Mrs. Brown.

  "Then we can ask him!" exclaimed Sue. "Come on, Bunny!"

  "No, dears, you mustn't go out to the barn in this rain. You'd get allwet."

  "I could put on my rubber coat," suggested Bunny.

  "And so could I--and my rubber boots," said Sue.

  Both children seemed to want very much to know what was in the expresspackage. But when Mrs. Brown said they could not go out she meant it,and the more Bunny Brown and his sister Sue teased, the oftener Mrs.Brown shook her head.

  "No, you can't go out and open that bundle," she said. "And if you teasemuch more daddy won't even tell you what's in it when he comes home. Begood children now."

  Bunny and Sue did not often tease this way, for they were good children.But this day was an unpleasant, rainy one. They could not go out to havefun, because of the rain, and they had played with all their toys,getting tired of them, one after another.

  "Mother, if we can't go out to the barn, could we have our dog, Splash,in here to play with us?" asked Bunny, after a while. "We could hitchhim to a chair, and make believe it was an express wagon."

  "Oh, yes!" cried Sue. "And you could be the driver, Bunny, and you couldleave a package at my house--make believe, you know--and then I wouldn'tknow what was in it, and I could guess, and you could guess. We couldplay a guessing game; will you, Bunny?"

  "Yes, I'll play that. May we have Splash in, Mother?"

  "No, dear."

  "Oh, why not?"

  "Because I just saw Splash splashing through a puddle of muddy water. Ifhe came in now he'd get you all dirty and he would spoil my carpet."

  "But what _can_ we do, Mother?" Sue asked, and her voice sounded almostas if she were going to cry.

  "We want to do _something_," added Bunny.

  "Oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Brown, yet she could not help smiling. Rainydays were hard when two children had to stay in the house all the while.

  "We can play 'spress wagon without Splash!" exclaimed Sue, for she was agood little girl, and did not want to make her mother worry.

  "All right," agreed Bunny. "We'll just make believe we have Splash withus to pull the pretend wagon."

  He and Sue often played pretend, and make-believe, games, and they hadmuch fun this way. Now they turned one chair on the side, and putanother in front. The turned-over chair was to be the wagon, and theother chair, standing on its four legs, was the horse. Bunny got somestring for reins, and the stick the washerwoman used to punch theclothes down in the boiler made a good whip, when another piece ofstring was tied on the end of that.

  "Giddap!" cried Bunny, sitting on a stool behind the chair-horse."Giddap! This is an express wagon, and we've got to hurry."

  "You must leave a package for me!" cried Sue. "This is my house, over onthe couch," and she curled up in a lump. "And this is my little girl,"she went on, pointing to one of her dolls, which she had taken into her"house" with her. "If I'm asleep--make-believe, you know," said Sue toBunny, "you tell my little girl to wake me up."

  "Pooh! I can't talk to a doll!" cried Bunny.

  "Yes, you can, too," said his sister. "Just _pretend_, you know."

  "Well, even if I do, how can your doll talk to you, and wake you up?"

  "Oh, Bunny! I'm only going to be make-believe asleep, and of course adoll, who can pretend to talk, can make-believe wake me up as easy asanything, when I'm only make-believe asleep."

  "Oh, all right, if it's only make-believe," agreed Bunny. "Giddap,Splash! I've named the make-believe chair-horse the same as our dog," heexplained to Sue.

  Then the game began, and the children played nicely for some time,giving Mrs. Brown a chance to finish her sewing. Bunny and Sue tookturns driving the "express wagon," and they had left many pretendbundles at each other's houses, when a step was heard in the front hall,and Bunny and Sue cried:

  "Daddy! Daddy! Oh, daddy's come home!"

  They made a rush for their father, and both together cried out:

  "Oh, Daddy, a express package came! What's in it?"

  "Did a package come?" asked Mr. Brown, as he took off his wet coat, forit was still raining.

  "Yep! It's out in the barn," said Bunny Brown.

  "Oh, please tell us the secret!" begged Sue. "I know it must be asecret, or mother would have told us."

  Mrs. Brown smiled.

  "The children have teased all afternoon to know what was in the bundle,"she said.

  "Well, I'll tell them," said Daddy Brown. "The package, that came byexpress, has in it grandpa's tent."

  "Grandpa's tent!" cried Bunny.

  "The one we played circus in, out in the country?" Sue demanded.

  "The same one," answered Daddy Brown, with a laugh.

  "Oh, are we going to have another circus?" cried Bunny, joyously.

  "Now sit down and I'll tell you all about it," said Daddy Brown, and hetook Bunny up on one knee, and Sue on the other.