"Oh, Daddy! do you s'pose he'll be hurt?" asked Bunny, as he and his sister hurried after their father and Bunker Blue.

"Who, the man or the pony?" asked Mr. Brown, for both were now out of sight.

"The pony," answered Sue. "Oh, how I could love him!"

"So could I!" exclaimed Bunny. "He was a dandy!"

"I didn't think our ark could scare anything as much as it scared the little horse," said Bunker Blue. "I guess he'd never seen a big auto before."

"Perhaps not," replied Mr. Brown. "Well, we must try to help the man catch the pony."

The children, their father and Bunker pa.s.sed in the road the little basket cart from which the Shetland pony had broken loose. The cart did not seem to be damaged any, but part of the broken harness was fast to it.

"He must be a strong pony to get loose that way," said Bunny.

"Maybe he was only tied with string, and he could easy break that," said Sue.

"Maybe," agreed Bunker Blue.

They went around a turn in the road, and, looking down a straight stretch, they could see that the man had caught the pony near a clump of willow trees.

"There! He's all right!" said Mr. Brown. "But we had better go and ask the man if we can help him any. He may blame us for the running away of the pony."

And as they all walked down the road Bunny whispered something to Sue.

Sue looked quickly at her brother and exclaimed:

"Oh, if he only would!"

Now what did Bunny whisper to Sue?

CHAPTER III

MR. TALLMAN

Mr. Brown, followed by Bunker Blue and the two children, went down the road toward the little, short man who was standing with the Shetland pony. For, after walking back with him a little way, the man had stopped to let the pony drink from a brook that ran beneath the willow trees.

"I'm afraid we caused you some trouble, my friend," said Mr. Brown, politely.

"Trouble?" repeated the short man. "You say you caused me trouble?"

"Yes. We were riding in the big auto which we have left just around the turn of the road. Was it our auto that frightened your pony and made him run away?" asked Mr. Brown, while Bunny and his Sister Sue looked with eager eyes at the pretty pony, which did not seem frightened now.

"Oh, yes, I guess your big moving van of an auto did scare my pony,"

answered the man. "I waved my hand, and tried to call to you to stop, so we could drive past, but I guess you didn't hear me."

"No," said Bunker Blue, "we didn't. The engine made so much noise, I guess."

"And then my pony ran away before I could stop him," went on the little man, who, as Bunny and Sue could now see, was not as tall as Bunker Blue. "You see, he is a trick pony, and used to be in a circus. But the men there did not treat him kindly, so I heard. I guess maybe he thought your big auto was a circus wagon, and when he remembered those wagons he thought of the unkind men and wanted to run away."

"I'm sorry for that," said Mr. Brown. "We surely would not hurt your pony. In fact, my children would love him. Did he break the harness when he turned to run away?"

"I guess he did," answered the short man. "But it was an old harness, and easily broken. In fact, part of it was tied with bits of string. I knew it was strong enough for Toby unless he should cut up a little, and that's just what he did, and broke some of the straps and strings."

"Is Toby the name of your pony?" asked Sue.

"Yes, little girl, Toby is his name. And he is a nice little Shetland pony," and he stroked the fluffy mane and rubbed the velvety nose of the little animal, that seemed to be all right now.

"Oh, Daddy! will you?" suddenly exclaimed Bunny.

"Will I what?" asked Mr. Brown, rather surprised and puzzled.

"Will you buy that pony for us?" eagerly begged Sue. "Bunny whispered to me that we could have a lot of fun with him if you would buy him."

So that was what Bunny whispered to his Sister Sue!

"Buy this pony for you?" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, please," said Bunny. "We--we'd love it!"

Bunker Blue went up to the little horse and patted its back. The Shetland pony seemed to like the fish boy.

"Is he tame?" asked Bunny.

"Very tame," answered the short man.

"Could I pat him?" Sue questioned.

"Of course you could!" said the man. "Come right up to him, Toby loves children. It's only big autos, which remind him of circus wagons, that scare him."

"We had a circus once," went on Bunny, as he and Sue approached the pony. "But we didn't have any little horses in it."

"We had our dog, Splash," added Sue.

"Well, I guess that was nice," the man said.

The children patted Toby, who rubbed his velvety nose against them.

"I'm sorry your harness broke," said Mr. Brown. "You must let me pay for having it fixed, since it was the fault of my big auto that your pony ran away, Mr.----" and the children's father waited for the other man to tell his name. "I am Mr. Brown," went on the fish and boat dealer, after a moment of silence.

"Oh, yes, I have heard of you," replied the other. "Well, I guess you'll laugh when you hear my name."

"Why?" asked Mr. Brown. "Why should we laugh?"

"Because it's so different from what I am. You see, I am very short, do you not?"