"Yes," answered his mother with a smile.

"But I thought we were going to grandpa's!" remarked Sue. She did not know what it all meant.

"Well, I think this is papa's secret," went on her mother, "and you will have to wait until he comes home when he can tell you all about it."

Bunny and Sue shook their heads. They did not know what it all meant, but they thought the automobile was fine, and they could hardly wait for the time to come when they should travel and live in it.

"It's just like a sleeping car on the railroad train," said Sue.

"It's better!" Bunny cried. "You can eat in it too. Once I ate on a train, but my milk all spilled in my lap when I tried to drink out of my gla.s.s."

Bunny and Sue had once traveled all night on the railroad, and had slept in a bed on the car, and had also eaten in the dining coach, so they knew something about it.

For some time the two children looked about inside the queer, big automobile that was made into a little house, and then they climbed down the steps again.

"And it's real, too. It isn't make-believe!" said Bunny, as if that were the best part of it.

"Shall we have real things to eat?" asked Sue.

"Oh, I think so," her mother told the little girl.

"I--I feel hungry now," observed Bunny, with a sigh.

"Well, run to the house and get some cookies," his mother said. "Then you and Sue may go off and play for a while. But don't go too far. It will make the time pa.s.s more quickly, and when you come back daddy will be here, and will tell you all about the big automobile."

"Come on, Sue!" cried Bunny. "We'll have some fun."

Soon the children, a cookie in each hand, were racing about the yard, playing with Splash, the big dog. Splash liked cookies, too, and I think he had almost as much of Bunny's and Sue's as did the children themselves.

Mrs. Brown had gone into the house, and Bunny and Sue were left in the yard. They soon grew tired of playing with Splash, and, as the dog himself was rather hot, he went to lie down in the shade.

"I know what let's do!" said Bunny, after a bit.

"What?" asked Sue, who was always ready to go where her brother led.

"What can we do, Bunny, to have some fun?"

"We'll go over to the pond and catch frogs," answered Bunny. "I'll get my net, and you can take a tin can to keep 'em in."

"But we won't hurt the frogs; will we Bunny?"

"No. We'll just catch 'em, and let 'em go again, to watch 'em hop. Come on!"

Bunny had made himself a little net out of a bean pole, with a bent wire, in the shape of a hoop, and some mosquito netting pinned over it.

Not far away from the Brown house was a pond where there were many frogs and tadpoles, which are little frogs before they have any legs.

The pond was in a hollow place, where the clay had been dug out to make bricks, for near Bellemere was a large brick factory. The water rained into the pond, and stayed there for some time, as it could not run out or soak down through the clay. Bunny and Sue were allowed to go to the clay-pond because it was not deep, and not far away. But Mrs. Brown always told them to be careful not to slip down in the wet and sticky clay or muddy water.

So now, with the net and the tin can to catch frogs, away the two children started. They had not been frog-hunting since Aunt Lu went back to New York.

"There ought to be lots of frogs now," said Bunny.

"Yes," agreed Sue. "I hear them singing every night."

"Frogs don't sing!" her brother said.

"Yes they do too!"

"No they don't!"

"Then what do they do?" Sue wanted to know.

"They croak!" said Bunny. "Frogs can't sing, they just croak."

"Well, they can hop then!" Sue was sure of that. "'Cause the ones George Watson let loose at our party hopped."

"Oh, yes, frogs can hop," Bunny knew that well enough.

"All 'ceptin' pollywoggles," went on Sue. "They jest wiggle."

"That's right," said her brother. "Pollywogs can't hop, 'cause they've got no legs. Come on."

The two children were soon at the frog pond. They could hear the frogs croaking, or "singing," whichever you call it, and with his net Bunny was soon scooping around in the water, to catch some of the hopping, swimming creatures.

"Oh, I've got a big one!" the little boy suddenly cried, as he lifted the net into the air. "Where's your can, Sue?"

"Here it is, Bunny!"

Sue held up an old tomato can, with the cover off, while her brother turned his net upside down over it. Some black mud and water splashed from Bunny's net, some splattering on Sue's dress. She looked eagerly into the can.

"There isn't any frog at all, Bunny!" she exclaimed, much disappointed.

"No frog?" shouted Bunny. "Of course there is!"

With a stick he poked in the mud on the bottom of the can. No frog was there.

"Well, he must have hopped out," he said.

"Maybe you didn't have one, Bunny."

"Yes I did. But he got away. He was a big one, too. But I'll get another."

A little later Bunny did catch two frogs, though they were small ones.

He put them in Sue's can. She looked at them for a while and then asked:

"Oh, Bunny, oughtn't I to put some water in the can, so the frogs can swim? They won't like us if we don't let them swim."

"Well, put a little water in," said Bunny.

With the frogs in the can, Sue dipped it into the pond, at the water's edge. Then she gave a sorrowful cry.