"Well, well!" cried Mrs. Brown, when Bunny and Sue, their cheeks red from the wind, came running up the front walk. "Well! well! But you youngsters do have the funniest things happen to you! To think of being taken away in an automobile!"

"But we didn't mean to, Mamma," protested Bunny.

"No, you never do," said Aunt Lu, smiling.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue exclaimed a little later that day, "we didn't sell any tickets for the Punch and Judy show."

"Well, never mind," answered Bunny. "I guess enough will come anyhow."

You see he and Sue had such a good time on the automobile ride that they forgot all about the tickets they had set out to sell.

In three days more the Punch and Judy show would be held in the Brown barn. Everything was ready for it, Bunny had gone over his part again and again until he did very well indeed. Sue, also, was very, very good in what she did, so the other girls said. Sadie West, who was older, helped Sue.

By this time, of course, the grown folks knew that some sort of a show was going on in the Brown barn, and they had promised to come. And there were so many children who wanted to see what it was going to be like that Bunny and Sue did not know where they were all going to sit.

"And oh! what a lot of pins we'll have," said Sue, for all the children paid pins for their tickets.

But Bunker Blue and George Watson made seats by putting boards across some boxes, so no one would have to stand up.

Then came the day of the show. Bunny was dressed up in some old clothes, and so was Sue. She did not put hers on, though, until after she had helped take tickets, and sell them, at the barn door. Then Bunker Blue took her place, and Sue dressed to help Bunny.

Bunny was inside the little theatre that Bunker had made. It had a curtain that opened when Bunny pulled the string. He had his funny lobster claw with him.

"And am I to come in for nothing?" asked Aunt Lu, as she walked into the barn.

"Yes," said Bunny, putting his head out between the curtains, for he was not all dressed yet. "The show is for you, Aunt Lu. So you will not feel so sad."

"About your lost diamond ring," added Sue.

"Bless your hearts! What dear children you are!" said Aunt Lu, and something glistened in her eyes as bright as a diamond--perhaps it was a tear--but if so it was a tear of joy.

"All ready for the show now!" cried Bunker. "Please all sit down!"

Down they sat on the benches, some men and some ladies, but mostly children, friends of Bunny and Sue.

"Are you all ready, Bunny?" asked Bunker, going close to the little theatre.

"Yes, I'm all ready."

"Have you got your lobster claw on?"

"Yes. I'm going to open the curtain now."

The curtain opened in the middle, and there stood Bunny. You could only see down to his waist, but such a funny face as he had! The lobster claw, tied over his nose, made him look exactly like the pictures of Mr.

Punch.

Bunny made a bow, and then, instead of saying some of the funny things that Mr. Punch in the show always says, Bunny sang a little song, while Bunker Blue played on a mouth organ. This is what Bunny sang:

"This little show is for Aunt Lu.

Of course we're glad of others, too.

We want to cheer, and make her glad, So she won't feel so very sad.

We hope she finds her diamond ring, And this is all that I can sing!"

That was what Bunny sang, in his queer, "nosey" voice, to a queer little tune that Bunker played on the mouth organ. And, when Bunny had finished, he made a funny little bow, and said:

"I didn't make up that song. Bunker did!"

Then how everybody clapped their hands, and George Watson called out:

"Three cheers for Bunker Blue!"

Then began the real Punch and Judy show--that is, as much of it as Bunny and Sue could manage.

"I wonder where Mrs. Punch is?" asked Bunny, twisting his head around.

"Here I is!" cried Sue, and up she popped. She had been stooping down so she would not be seen until just the right time.

"And where is the baby?" asked Mr. Punch, looking first on one side and then the other, of his big lobster claw nose.

"Here she is!" and Sue held up one of her old dolls.

"Ah, ha! Ah, ha!" said Mr. Punch. "She is a bad baby, and I am going to whip her!"

And then, with a stick, he hit the doll until some of the sawdust came flying out.

"Don't do that!" begged Sue. "You mustn't spoil my doll, Bunny!"

"I've got to do it," said Bunny in a whisper. "I have to, Sue, it's part of the show." But Sue took her doll away from her brother.

CHAPTER XXV

THE LOBSTER CLAW

"Don't, Sue, don't!" begged Bunny Brown. "I must have the doll. You said I could take her," and he tried to pull the doll away from his sister.

But Sue did not want to give up even an old doll.

"You mustn't knock out all her sawdust," she said. "She'll get sick."

Bunny did not know what to do. It seemed as if his Punch and Judy show would be spoiled, and he did so want to make Aunt Lu feel jolly about it.

Sue had really said, at first, that he could beat her old doll with a stick, just as Mr. Punch does in the real show, but now Sue had changed her mind.

"Oh, dear!" said Bunny, and he said it in such a funny way that everyone laughed again.