"Indeed there is!" cried Bunker Blue. "The auto-van's got a self-starter on. That's the best of all, I think. You don't have to get out to crank up now. It's great. See, I'll show you."

While the children stood on the ground near the automobile, Bunker Blue climbed to the seat near the steering wheel and pulled a lever. All at once there was a grinding noise and the van started slowly off.

"That's the self-starter," explained Bunker. "I didn't throw in the gears. The self-starter is strong enough to run the auto a little while all by itself, if it isn't too heavily loaded. That's a big improvement."

"That's what!" cried Bunny. His sister did not know much about electric starters and such things, but Bunny, through having asked Bunker Blue many questions, had come to learn considerable about the machinery.

"Hurry, children! You must come to breakfast!" called Mrs. Brown. "You may look at the auto another time. After breakfast we'll have to pack it and get ready for the trip."

"We're coming!" cried Bunny and Sue, and with last looks at the big car, which was to be their home for some time to come, the children ran in to breakfast.

"Now, Bunny and Sue," said Mr. Brown, as he made ready to go to his office, "one thing I want you to do is to pick out what toys you want to take with you. They can not be very many, so pick out those you like best."

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "You take your 'lectricity train that you got back from the hermit, and I'll take my Teddy bear, Sallie Malinda with her 'lectric-light eyes."

"No," said Bunny, shaking his head. "My electric train takes up too much room. I'm going to take my popgun that shoots corks, and maybe I can scare away any cows that get in front of our auto."

"All right. But I'm going to take Sallie Malinda," declared Sue.

While she was getting it out from among her playthings, Bunny went out to look at the big automobile again. He climbed up to the seat. Bunker Blue, after bringing it up to the Brown house so Mrs. Brown could pack in it the things she wanted, had gone back to the dock.

"I wish I could steer this machine," murmured Bunny as he took his seat at the wheel. "I could, too, if they'd only let me. I wish they would."

He twisted the steering wheel to and fro, playing that he was guiding the big car. Suddenly he heard a grinding sound, as when Bunker Blue had been on the seat, and, to Bunny's astonishment, the big van, the wheel of which he held, began to move slowly around the drive which circled the Brown home.

CHAPTER V

WHERE IS SPLASH?

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Bunny Brown, as he felt himself being carried along in the automobile. "What has happened?"

The automobile kept on moving, and Bunny held his hands on the steering wheel. He knew this must be done whenever any machine, like an automobile, was moving.

"I've either got to stop it, or--or steer it along the curved path so it won't run into anything," whispered Bunny Brown to himself. "I don't know what makes me go but I'm going, and I'm keeping going, so I've got to steer."

And steer Bunny did. Fortunately though the car was large, it was easily steered, for Mr. Brown had it made that way so his wife could take the wheel when she cared to.

Mrs. Brown could drive an ordinary automobile and she could steer well.

So while Mr. Brown was having the big auto-van made over he had the steering part changed so that the steering wheel turned from side to side very easily. And as Bunny was a st.u.r.dy chap he had no trouble about this part.

The auto-van kept on moving and Bunny noticed that it was going up a little hill in the driveway that went all the way around the house.

"I don't see what makes it go uphill all by itself," said Bunny to himself, giving the steering wheel a little turn, as there was a curve in the pathway just ahead of him. "If I were running _down_hill I'd know what made it go--the same thing that makes my sled slide downhill in Winter. But if this auto stood on the level I don't see what started it, nor why it keeps on going _up_hill. Bunker Blue must have left the brakes off."

Bunny looked at the handle brake and at the one worked by the foot pedal. Both were off, for Bunker had released them when he left the car, since it stood on a level bit of the driveway.

"But what makes it go?" asked Bunny again. Then, as he heard the low grinding noise, he remembered the self-starter, which Bunker had spoken of.

"I must have kicked the handle or touched it," thought Bunny, "and that started the machine. I don't know how to stop it. I guess I'd better--Oh, whee! There's a tree I'm going to smash into!" cried Bunny Brown.

The thought of getting out of the way of the tree drove from Bunny's mind, for the time being, every other thought. He must not hit the tree which grew a little over the side of the driveway.

"I've got to steer out of the way, that's what I've got to do!" thought Bunny in a flash. "I've got to steer out of the way!"

Once he had made up his mind to that, he did not think so much about the motion of the automobile. That could be taken care of later.

"Let's see, which way do I turn the wheel to get out of the way of the tree," thought Bunny. He had often been in boats with his father and Bunker Blue, and sometimes, when the way was clear, he had been allowed to steer. Once or twice, while out with his mother in her car, she had let him steer along a quiet road.

He was closer to the tree now. The automobile was not moving very fast, and perhaps if it had hit the tree it would not have done much damage.

But Bunny did not know that, and then, too, he might be hurt in case the big car hit the tree. So he was going to do his best to avoid it.

Like a flash it came to Bunny.

"I must turn the steering wheel the way I want the auto to go!"

No sooner said than done. Bunny gave the wheel a twist. Then he saw the auto slowly move that way, and away from the tree. It went past with a few inches to spare, but Bunny had not acted any too soon.

Now he was on the straight part of the driveway again, at the back of the house, and all he had to do was to hold the steering wheel steady, and the automobile would move itself along.

"But there's another curve by the kitchen door," thought Bunny. "I wonder if I'll get around that all right."

On went the automobile. As it rolled slowly past the kitchen, Mary, the cook, looked out and saw the small boy at the steering wheel, which seemed almost as large as he was.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! Sure an' what in the world are ye doin'?" she cried.

"Please don't make me look at you," begged Bunny. "I've got to steer straight until I get to the curve and then I've got to twist around, an'

that's very, very hard to do, Mary. So please don't interrupt me."

But Mary had seen enough to cause alarm. She rushed to the sitting room where Mrs. Brown was looking at a pile of toys Sue had brought down to take on the trip.

"Oh, Mrs. Brown! Mrs. Brown! Sure, an' the likes of a little boy like him runnin' the big car! Sure, it's kilt he'll be intirely!"

"What do you mean, Mary?"

"What do I mean? Sure, an' I mean that Bunny, the darlin' boy, has gone off in the big movin' van auto!"

"Bunny in that auto? Impossible!"

"Look for yourself!" exclaimed Mary, pointing to the window.

At that moment the auto went rolling past, with Bunny at the wheel, as brave as life.

"Bunny Brown!" exclaimed his mother, dashing for the door.