"Now for a good pull!" cried George, and he gave a hard tug.

"Ouch! You hurt!" said Bunny, and George had to stop.

"Well, I don't know what to do," he said. "I'll have to get you loose some way. Come on," he called to Charlie and Harry. "You get hold of his leg and we'll all pull."

"Then you'll hurt me more," said Bunny. "Go tell mamma. She will know what to do!"

"Yes, I guess that's best," George said.

Mrs. Brown came running out when the three boys, who were a little frightened, told her Bunny was caught in a tree.

"Oh, is he hanging head down?" asked Aunt Lu, as she hurried out after Bunny's mother.

"No, he's standing up, but his leg is down in a hole," said George. "We can't get him out."

But Mrs. Brown easily set matters right.

She put her hand down in the tree-hole, beside Bunny's leg, the hole being big enough for this. Then, with her fingers, Mrs. Brown unb.u.t.toned Bunny's shoe, and said:

"Now pull out your foot."

Bunny could easily do this, as it was his shoe that was caught, and not his foot. His foot was smaller than his shoe, you see.

Carefully he lifted his foot and leg out of he hole of the tree, and then his mother helped him to the ground.

"But what about my shoe?" Bunny asked, with a queer look on his face.

"Has my shoe got to stay in the tree, Mother?"

"No, I think I can get it out," said Mrs. Brown. Once more she put her hand down in the hollow, and, now that Bunny's foot was out of his shoe, it could easily be bent and twisted, so that it came loose.

"There you are!" exclaimed Aunt Lu, as she b.u.t.toned Bunny's shoe on him again, using a hairpin for a b.u.t.tonhook. "Now don't climb any more trees."

"I'll just climb my own little tree," Bunny said. "That hasn't any hole in it."

And while the tree-climbing fun was going on Bunny only went up his own little tree, where he was in no danger.

After a time the boys became tired of this play, and when Sue, Sadie and Helen invited them to come to the "play-party," Bunny and his friends were pleased enough to come.

"And we're going to have real things to eat, and not make-believe ones, Bunny," said Sue.

"That's good!" laughed George. "I'm glad you let me play with you."

The others were glad also, for George said he was sorry about the frogs, and would not play any more tricks.

Mrs. Brown gave the girls some more cookies, and Aunt Lu handed out some of her nice jam and jelly tarts. Then the girls set a little table, made of a box covered with paper, and the boys sat down to eat, pretending they were at a picnic.

On several days after this the children had good times in the yard of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. It was now almost summer, and one morning Aunt Lu said:

"Well, children, this is my last week here."

"Oh, where are you going?" asked Bunny.

"Back home, dear. To New York. And I want you to come and see me there.

Will you?"

"If mamma will let us," said Sue.

"I'll think about it," promised Mrs. Brown.

So Aunt Lu got ready to go back home. And as she walked about with Bunny and Sue, paying last visits to the fish dock, the river and the other nice places, Aunt Lu seemed sad. She looked down at the ground, and often glanced at her finger on which she had worn the diamond ring.

"Sue," said Bunny one day, "I know what makes Aunt Lu so sad."

"What is it?"

"Losing her ring. And I know a way that might make her glad, so she would smile and be happy again."

"What way?"

"Let's give a Punch and Judy show for her," said Bunny. "We'll get Sadie and Helen, and George and Charlie and Harry to help us. We'll give a Punch and Judy show!"

"Oh, what fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.

CHAPTER XXIII

AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often talked about giving a Punch and Judy show. They had often seen one, at picnics or at church sociables, and Bunny knew by heart a few of the things Mr. Punch had to say. He did not stop to think that perhaps he could not get behind the curtain, and make the little wooden figures do the funny things they were supposed to do. And he did not know where he could get the queer little doll-like figures.

"But I can do something, anyhow," said Bunny, who was a very ambitious little boy. Ambitious means he was always willing to try to do things, whether or not he was sure he could really do them.

"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I want to make Aunt Lu happy."

"Well, you can be Mrs. Judy part of the time," her brother answered, "and you can pull the curtains over when Mr. Punch has to change his clothes, and things like that. I'm going to be Mr. Punch."

"And wear the lobster claw?" asked Sue.

"Yes, on my nose. That's what I got it for. I can make little holes in each side, and put strings in them, and tie the lobster claw on my nose with the string around my head."

"It will be fun, Bunny. I wish it were time for the show now."

"Oh, we've got lots to do," said the little boy. "We've got to tell Sadie and the rest of 'em, and we've got to get tickets, and put up a tent."

"A tent!" cried Sue. "Where is a tent?"