"We couldn"t go without Splash," announced Sue. "He"d be so lonesome for us that he"d cry, and then he"d start out to find us and maybe get lost and we"d never find him again. Go back after him, Daddy! It isn"t very far."
"All right," said good-natured Mr. Brown. "I"m glad we"re not in a hurry. Still I"d like to keep going, now that we"ve started. But please, all of you, make sure nothing else is forgotten. For we don"t want to go back another time. All ready to turn around and march backward," and he backed the big automobile at a wide place in the road, for it needed plenty of room in which to turn.
Slowly the big car made its way back to the Brown home. Mary, the cook, was the first to see it, and, running to the door, she cried:
"Oh, whatever you do, come in and sit down if only for a minute, some of you! Oh, do come in and sit down!"
"What for, Mary?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Has anything happened?"
"No, but "tis easy to see you"ve forgotten somethin"; and when that happens if you don"t sit down, or turn your dress wrong side out, bad luck is sure to foller you when you start off again. So come in and sit down, as that"s easier than turning a dress."
"Oh, let me turn my knickerbockers outside in!" cried Bunny. "That will be as good as you or Sue, Momsie, turning your dresses. It"s easy for me. Then I can make-believe I"m a tramp, and I"ll run on ahead and beg for some bread and b.u.t.ter for my starving family," and he imitated, in such a funny way, the whine of some of the tramps who called at the Brown kitchen door, that his mother laughed and Sue said:
"Oh, Momsie, let me turn my dress wrong-side out, too, and I can play tramp with Bunny. That will be fun!"
"No, you mustn"t do that," said Mrs. Brown. "While we"re hunting for Splash--who isn"t in sight. Where can he be?--we"ll go in and sit down a moment to please Mary."
"Would we have bad luck if we didn"t?" asked Bunny.
"Not at all. But some persons, like Mary, believe in them; and Mary is very fond of us. Even if we do not believe in some of the things those we like believe in, as long as it does no harm to our beliefs, we can do them to please a friend."
Even Mr. Brown, because he liked Mary, went in and sat down for a minute with the others.
"Now you"ve done away with the bad luck," said the cook with a smile.
"What was it you came back for?"
"Splash," answered Bunny.
"He didn"t come with us," added Sue.
"Well, it"s no wonder, the funny way he"s cuttin" up with that dog next door," said Mary.
"What did he do?" asked Bunny. "Was it funny? Please tell us, Mary."
"Well, it might have been funny for him, but it wasn"t for me," said the cook, though she could not help smiling. "The two dogs was playin" tag on the lawn. I had some napkins spread out on the gra.s.s to bleach, and what did that dog Dix do but run down in the brook, and then come back with his feet all mud and run over my napkins. Sure, I had to wash "em all again. That"s what them two dogs did. The bad luck was just startin"
in when you come back, an" it"s good you did, to sit down a bit an" take it off."
"But we must get on again," said Mr. Brown. "So hurry, Bunny and Sue.
Find Splash. If he"s muddy make him swim through the brook and clean himself off. A run along the sunny road will soon dry him."
"But don"t let him splash your clean clothes, children," called their mother after them, as the two ran off together to find the missing dog.
"I hear them barking!" called Bunny, as he and his sister hurried toward the end of the yard.
"So do I." Then, a moment later, the little girl added: "There they are!" and she pointed to the two dogs playing on the green lawn not far from a little brook that ran through Mr. Brown"s grounds.
"Here, Splash! Splash!" called Bunny.
The dogs stopped their playing, and looked toward the children. As soon as Splash saw his little master and mistress he came rushing toward them as fast as he could.
"Don"t let him jump on me and get my dress muddy!" cried Sue. "He"s been in the mud just awful!"
"So he has," said Bunny Brown. "Down, Splash! Down!" he called, as the dog neared Sue. Splash made all the signs he knew to show how glad he was to see Bunny and Sue, but he did not get up on his hind legs and put his paws on Sue"s shoulders, as he sometimes did.
"Oh, Splash, you"re awful dirty!" cried Sue. "You must run in the brook, where the water is clean, and where there are white pebbly stones instead of mud on the bottom, to wash yourself. You"ve got to go in too, Dix."
Dix barked "bow-wow," to show he did not mind, I suppose.
"Go on in, Splash!" cried Bunny, snapping his fingers and pointing at the brook. "Go in and wash!"
But though the Browns" dog was usually ready for a frolic in the water he did not seem to be so just now. He ran back and forth, down to the edge of the stream and back again, getting his paws wet, but nothing else.
"Oh, you must go in and have your bath if you are to come with us!"
cried Sue. "Go on in, Splash!"
But not even for Sue would Splash go in, until finally Bunny cried:
"Oh, I know a way to make him!"
"How?" asked Sue.
"Just throw a stick into the water, and he"ll go after it and bring it back. We"ll throw it far out."
"Oh, that"s right!" cried Sue. "We"ll do that."
No sooner had the children picked up sticks than the two dogs, who had started to play "tag" themselves, knew what was up. They both loved to go into the water after sticks.
"Throw "em far out now!" cried Bunny. He tossed his to the middle of the brook, and Sue flung hers nearly as far, for she was a good thrower--almost as good as Bunny.
Dix swam after Sue"s stick, and Splash went for Bunny"s. In a minute they had brought them ash.o.r.e and dropped them at the children"s feet, looking up into their faces as much as to say:
"Do it again! We love to chase sticks!"
And then, just as dogs always do when they come from the water, they gave themselves big shakes.
"Look out, Sue!" called Bunny.
But he was too late. A shower of drops from Splash went all over Sue"s dress, and some of the drops were not clean water, either.
"Oh dear!" she cried. "Now I"ll have to change my dress!"
"Never mind," said Bunny. "You run up to the house and get that done, and I"ll throw the two sticks into the water. Then Splash and Dix will go in again, and when they come out they"ll be cleaner. I won"t come back to the house with them until they are good and clean."
Once more Bunny tossed the sticks, as Sue went up to change her dress.
When her mother saw her she cried:
"Oh dear, Sue! How did that happen?"
Sue told her.