"Let's play tag!" said Sue.

"And after that hide-and-go-to-seek," Bunny called.

"And puss-in-the-corner," added Sadie West.

One after the other they played the games, running about on the gra.s.sy lawn, and having great fun. Splash dug a hole and hid his bone, after gnawing on it as long as he cared to. He ate all the dog-biscuit, and then Bunny got a ball which Splash would run after when it was thrown.

Bunny and his boy friends played the ball game with the dog, while the girls, after having tired themselves with the lively games, like tag, brought out their dolls and dressed and undressed them.

"When are we going to fly the kites?" asked Charlie Star.

"We can do it now," Bunny answered.

Each boy had made himself a kite, which he brought with him. Bunny got his from the house, and, going to an open place, where the trees would not catch the strings, the boys put up their air-toys.

The wind was good, as Bunny had said, and soon there were six kites floating in the air. That is there were six for a time, and then Bunny's string broke, and away flew his kite.

"Oh, dear!" he cried.

"That's too bad!" exclaimed Charlie Star. "Come on, boys, we'll haul down our kites and chase after Bunny's!"

They were just going to do this when Mrs. Brown came out to say that it was time to eat.

"You can look for the kite, afterward," she said; "if you go now all the ice cream may melt, as we have taken it out of the freezer."

Of course the boys did not want anything like that to happen, so they said they would wait. Down they sat at the tables, the boys at theirs and the girls at the one made ready for them. Aunt Lu, Mrs. Brown and the cook pa.s.sed the good things, and, for a time, there was not much talking done. The children were too busy eating.

"Don't forget Aunt Lu's jam and jelly tarts!" called out Bunny. "They're fine!"

And when they had been pa.s.sed around, all the guests at the party said Bunny was right, and that the tarts were just fine!

"I'm so glad you like them," said Aunt Lu, very much pleased.

Bunny wanted to give a Punch and Judy show, with Sue, after the meal was over. He said he could wear the big, hollow lobster claw, and make himself look very funny.

"But I think I wouldn't--not now," his mother remarked. "You would have to build a little booth, or place for you and Sue to get inside of, and we haven't time for that. Just play some easy games."

"All right," agreed Bunny.

Aunt Lu had all the children sit in a ring on the gra.s.s while she told them a story. And it was just after the story was finished that George Watson played his trick.

George had not been invited to the party, because he was too old, Mrs.

Brown said.

Perhaps this had made George rather angry. At any rate, when the children were thanking Aunt Lu for the nice story she had told them, there was suddenly tossed over the fence, right into the midst of them, a paste-board shoe box. It fell near Bunny's feet, and he jumped back, he was so startled.

"Who threw that?" Bunny asked.

"George Watson did," said Charlie Star. "I saw him walk up along the fence, and throw it over."

"What is it?" asked Sue.

"Maybe it's a present for Splash," suggested Sadie.

"George Watson would rather pull Splash's tail, than give him a present," declared Bunny. And indeed George often played rather mean tricks on animals, and little children.

"Open the box, and see what's in it," suggested Helen Newton.

"I'll open it," offered Bunny.

The cover of the box was tied on, but Bunny slipped off the string. As he lifted the cover, Sue, who stood behind her brother, looking over his shoulder, exclaimed:

"Oh, it's alive! It's alive! Look out, Bunny! There's something alive in that box, and it might bite you!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE LEMONADE STAND

Bunny Brown tried to clap the cover quickly back on the box, but he did not quite do it. It went on crooked, and when Charlie Star tried to help he only made it worse, so that the cover went spinning to one side.

Suddenly some little green animals began hopping from the box. Out they hopped, and then they began jumping in all directions, among the little boys and girls.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed the girls, as they started to run.

Some of the boys--the smaller ones--also ran, but they did not scream.

Bunny Brown and Charlie Star were the only boys who did not run.

"Oh, Bunny! What is it? What are they?" cried Sue, looking over her shoulder as she ran toward the house.

"It's snakes! I saw 'em! Big green snakes," insisted Sadie West.

"Oh, what a mean boy George is, to scare us so!" said Helen.

Then Bunny Brown laughed, and so did Charlie. Hearing this the girls stopped screaming, and the boys stopped running.

"What is it?" asked Sue again. "Did they bite you, Bunny?"

"Nope," he answered, still laughing, "they can't bite me!"

"Why not?" his sister wanted to know.

"'Cause they're only frogs. They won't hurt anybody!"