"No, I don't guess we do," Bunny answered. "There's a big dog at the farm, and he might fight our dog like he did once before."

This had happened. For once, when Mr. Brown took Bunny and his sister to the place to get some fresh eggs and b.u.t.ter, Splash had trotted along with them. And Splash and the other dog at the farm did not seem to be friends, for they fought and bit one another, and Mr. Brown and Mr.

Potter, the man who owned the farm, had hard work to make the animals stop.

"Whoa, Toby!" called Bunny to the pony, and he stopped. "Now you go on back, Splash!" ordered his little master.

But Splash did not want to go back. He sat down on the gra.s.s, thumped his tail up and down, and then sort of looked off to one side, as though to see how tall the trees were. He didn't look at Bunny or Sue at all, and when their dog didn't do this the children knew he didn't want to mind them.

"Go back home, Splash!" ordered Bunny.

"'Cause we don't want you fighting with that other dog," added Sue. "Go home like a nice doggie."

But Splash didn't seem to want to be a nice dog. He just sat thumping his tail and looking off at the trees.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Bunny, with a sort of sigh. "What'll we do? I guess I'll have to get out and take him back."

"If you do that," said Sue, "maybe Toby will walk away again."

"You could stay in the cart and hold the lines," said Bunny.

"I don't want to stay here if you're not going to," went on Bunny's sister.

"Then we can both get out and take Splash home," decided the little boy, after a while. "He'll go back if we go back a little way with him. He likes to be with us. And we can tie Toby to something so he can't walk away."

"What could we tie him to?" asked Sue.

Bunny looked all around. There were no hitching posts near by--only some big trees.

"We could tie him to one of them," he said. "Or to a stone."

"Toby could pull a stone right along with him," objected Sue. "You'd better tie him to a tree."

"Maybe he could pull up a tree, too," said Bunny. "Once I saw a picture of an elephant pulling up a tree."

"Toby isn't as strong as an elephant," Sue said. Then she exclaimed: "Oh, Bunny, I know what we can do!"

"What?"

"We can throw a stick for Splash to run after. And when he goes back after the stick we can drive on with Toby and get so far away that Splash can't find us."

"That's so! We can do that!" exclaimed Bunny. "I'll do it. I'll throw a stick for Splash to go after, and you hold the reins," and he pa.s.sed the pony reins to his sister.

As Bunny got down out of the pony cart Splash jumped up and ran toward his little master, wagging his tail.

"No, I'm not going to play with you!" Bunny said, trying to speak crossly, but finding it hard work, for he loved Splash. "You've got to go on back home! Next time we'll take you with us, but now we're going to the farm, and there's a bad dog there that'll bite you. You've got to go back, Splash!"

Of course, Bunny's dog did not understand all the little boy said. But Splash knew what it meant when Bunny stooped and picked up a stick.

Splash was used to running after sticks and stones that the children threw, and he would bring them back, to have them thrown over again.

"Now go and get this, Splash!" ordered Bunny, as he got ready to toss the stick. At the same time the boy looked to make sure he did not have to run too far to get back to the cart and drive off with Sue. "Go get it, Splash!" cried Bunny, as he threw the stick.

"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and away he ran as the stick sailed through the air. Then Bunny turned and raced back toward the cart, where Sue was waiting for him.

"We must hurry," said the little girl. "Splash is a terrible fast runner."

"Gidap, Toby!" cried Bunny, as he took the reins, and once more away trotted the little pony. Then Sue looked back, and she cried:

"Oh, Bunny! It's no good! Here comes Splash after us!"

And, surely enough, the dog was coming after them. He had found the stick Bunny had thrown, and then, taking it in his mouth, had started back after the pony cart.

"You didn't throw it far enough," said Sue.

"I threw it as far as I could," said Bunny.

"Well, here comes Splash. What are we going to do now?" Sue asked. "I guess we've got to drive back and take him home."

"That'll take a long time," Bunny said, "and we ought to be going after the b.u.t.ter. Oh, Splash! you're a bad dog!" he exclaimed.

Splash sat down on the gra.s.s, near where Toby had come to a second stop, and flopped his tail up and down on the gra.s.s. That's what Splash did.

And he dropped the stick at his feet and looked down at it, every now and then, as if he were saying:

"Well, that was a pretty good throw, Bunny. But throw it again. I like to run after sticks and bring 'em back to you."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "What are we going to do now?"

"What's the matter?" asked a voice the children knew, and there was Bunker Blue, walking along with an axe over his shoulder. He was going to the woods to cut some stakes for the big fish nets. "What's the matter, Bunny and Sue?" asked the boat boy.

"Oh, Splash is following us, and we're going to the farm, and there's a big dog there that bites him," explained Bunny. "We can't make Splash go back home."

"And Bunny threw a stick and--and everything," added Sue.

"Well, I'll take him with me," offered Bunker Blue. "He always likes to go to the woods. I'll take him with me and then he won't bother you.

Here, Splash!" he called.

With a bark and a joyful wag of his tail, Splash sprang up and ran toward Bunker.

"Come on now! Off to the woods!" cried the fish boy.

Splash turned once to look back at Bunny and Sue in the pony cart, and then he glanced at Bunker. It was as if he said:

"Well, I like you both, and I don't know which one to go with."

"Go on with Bunker!" said Bunny to his dog. And, with a final wag of his tail and a good-bye bark, Splash did.

"I'll take care of him. He won't follow you any more," said Bunker, and then he marched off toward the woods, the big dog tagging after.

"Now we can go to the farm," said Bunny, and he and Sue drove on.