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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 3. The Diamond Ring |
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_ CHAPTER III. THE DIAMOND RING Whistling as cheerfully as he could, Bunny Brown glanced all around the carpenter shop. "Are you whistling for the dog?" asked Sue. "No, not zactly," Bunny answered. "I'm just whistlin' for myself. I'm going to do something." "What?" asked Sue. She knew that whenever Bunny was making anything, such as a boat out of a piece of wood or a sidewalk scooter from an old roller skate, he always whistled. The more he worked the louder he whistled. "What are you going to make now?" asked Sue. "Oh, I'm not going zactly to _make_ anything," Bunny explained. "I'm just going to _do_ something. I'm going to open one of these windows so we can get out, same as the dog did." "But he didn't get out of a window," objected Sue. "How could he, if they were nailed shut before we came in? And they must 'a' been, 'cause we didn't hear Mr. Foswick hammering." "Yes, I guess the windows have been nailed shut maybe a long time," agreed Bunny. "But, anyhow, the dog got out and we can get out." "But how could he get out if both doors are locked and the windows nailed shut?" Sue wanted to know. Bunny could not answer that. Besides, he had other things to look after. He wanted to get himself and his sister out of the carpenter shop before Sue began to cry. Bunny didn't like crying girls, even his sister, though he felt sorry for them. "I can take a hammer and pull the nails out of a window where it's nailed shut, and then I can raise it and we can crawl out," explained Bunny to his sister. "There's sure to be a hammer in a carpenter shop." There were, several of them, lying around on the benches and sawhorses that seemed to fill the place. There were other tools, also; sharp chisels and planes, but Bunny and Sue knew enough not to touch these. The children might have been cut if they had handled the sharp tools. Mr. Brown kept sharp tools at his dock for mending old boats and making new ones, so Bunny and his sister knew something about carpentry. "I guess this hammer will be a good one," said Bunny, picking up one with a claw on the end for pulling out nails. He had often seen Bunker Blue at the boat dock use just such a hammer as this. Bunny climbed up on a workbench near a window which, as he could look out and see, was only a short distance from the ground. If that window could be opened, the little boy and his sister could easily drop out and not be hurt in the least. "Can you get it open?" asked Sue anxiously, as she watched Bunny climb upon the dusty carpenter bench. "Oh, sure!" he answered. "We'll be out in a little while now; and then we can go and hunt that big dog that has our mother's pocketbook." "And the money, too," added Sue. "We've got to get the money and go to the store, Bunny." "Yes, that's right," he agreed. With the hammer in his hand, he began looking over the window. He wanted to see where the heads of the nails were sticking out, so he could slip the claw of the hammer under them and pull them out by prying on the handle. Bunny had not only pulled out nails himself before this, but he had watched his father and Bunker Blue do it. Bunny Brown also knew how windows were nailed shut. Once the Browns owned a little cottage on an island in the river. They sometimes spent their summer vacations in the cottage, and in the fall, when winter was approaching and the cottage was to be closed, the windows were nailed shut from the inside. Once Bunny had helped his father nail the windows shut, and once he had helped pull the nails out the next summer when the cottage was to be opened. So Bunny was now looking for the heads of nails in the window of Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop. The first window he looked at was so tightly nailed, with all the heads driven so far into the wood, that Bunny could get the claw of the hammer under none of them. He made his way along the bench to the next window. This window was nearer the street. "Can you open that one?" asked Sue. "Yes, I guess so!" exclaimed Bunny. The little boy saw a nail head sticking out. He slipped the claw of the hammer under it and pressed hard on the handle. Whether Bunny had not put the claw far enough under the nail, or whether the head was so small that the claw slipped off, neither of the children knew. But what happened was that Bunny's hand slipped, the hammer also slipped away from his grasp, and the next moment, with a crash and tinkle of glass, the hammer broke through the window and fell outside. "Oh, Bunny! are you hurt?" cried Sue, for once she had seen her mother cut her hand trying to open a window that stuck. "No, I'm not hurt," answered her brother. "But the hammer's gone out." "You can get another. There's lots here," said Sue. "But I can't fix the window," said Bunny, rather sadly. "It's all busted!" "It wasn't your fault!" said Sue stormily. "Mr. Foswick ought never to have locked us in, and then you wouldn't have to try to unnail a window to get out! It's his fault!" "Maybe it is," said Bunny, leaning forward to look out of the broken window. "Don't try to crawl out!" exclaimed Sue. "You might get cut!" "I'm not going to," said Bunny. "I was just seeing how far it was and where the hammer went. It's on the grass, and it isn't far out of the window at all. If we could only crawl out----" "And get all cut on the glass? I guess not!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Look! There goes Mr. Reinberg, who keeps the drygoods store. Call to him through the broken window, and he'll get us out!" Through the window, which he had broken with the hammer, Bunny had a glimpse of the street. As Sue had said, the drygoods merchant was just then passing. "Hi!" suddenly called Bunny. "Let us out, please! Help us out, Mr. Reinberg!" The merchant looked up, down, and sideways. He could not at first tell where the voice was coming from. "Who are you and where are you?" he demanded. "I'm Bunny Brown, and my sister Sue is with me," came the answer from the little boy. "And we're locked in Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop." "Oh, now I see you!" said the drygoods store man, glancing toward Bunny, who could be seen through the window. "So you're locked in, are you? How did it happen?" "Mr. Foswick locked us in," said Bunny. "He did! What for?" "Oh, I guess he thought we were bad boys. But Sue isn't a boy; she's a girl," explained Bunny. "If you could only open a door, or pull the nails out of one of the windows, we could get out. I was trying to pull out a nail and I broke the glass." "Well, I don't believe I can get you out either way," said Mr. Reinberg, and Bunny and Sue felt much disappointed. "I haven't a key to the door, and I can't reach in and pull out the nails," went on the drygoods merchant, as he came down the side alley and talked to Bunny through the hole in the glass. "But I'll go over to Mr. Foswick's house, which isn't far away, and get him to come and let you out," went on Mr. Reinberg. "I'll go right away, Bunny. Don't be afraid." "Thank you; we're not," Bunny answered, as cheerfully as he could. After the man had gone away it seemed more lonely in the old carpenter shop than ever to Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They walked away from the window and Sue sat down on a bench. "Do you suppose he'll be long?" she asked. "Maybe not--Mr. Foswick doesn't live far." To amuse himself and his sister Bunny picked up a handful of nails and laid out a long railroad track. Then he got a big bolt and pretended that was a locomotive and shoved it along the track. "Where does the train run to?" asked the little girl. "New York, Chicago and--and Camp Rest-A-While," said Bunny--the last name being that of a place where they had once had a delightful vacation. He and Sue did not have long to wait. Soon along came the old carpenter and Mr. Reinberg. "Dear me! I didn't know I'd locked Bunny and Sue in," said Mr. Foswick, as he opened the front door, unlocking it with a big key. "I thought it was some of those pesky boys. They run in when I have the door open, and when I'm away in the back part of the shop, and busy, they scatter the shavings and sawdust all about. "They came in once this afternoon," said Mr. Foswick, "and I made up my mind if they did it again I'd teach 'em a lesson. So I locked my back door, and I went into the alley near my front door. I knew all the windows were nailed shut. "Then, when I was in the alley, I heard somebody run into my shop, and, quick as I could, I ran out, pulled the door shut, and locked 'em in. I supposed it was some of those pesky boys, and I was going to keep 'em locked up until I could go get their fathers and tell 'em how they pester me. I didn't have a notion, Bunny, that it was you and Sue, or I'd never have done such a thing--never!" Mr. Brown often hired Mr. Foswick to do carpentry, and the rather crabbed and cross old man did not want to offend a good customer. "I'm very sorry about this thing I did, Bunny and Sue," went on Mr. Foswick. "I'd no idea it was you I'd locked up. I supposed it was those pesky boys. Both doors were locked--I made sure of that--and the windows were nailed shut. I keep 'em shut so nobody can get in at night." "Bunny tried to open one of the windows with a hammer," said Sue. "And I--I guess I broke it--I mean the window," said Bunny. "I didn't mean to." "Oh, broke a window, did you?" exclaimed Mr. Foswick, and he seemed surprised. "If they hadn't broken the glass I might not have heard them calling," said the drygoods merchant. "Oh, well, I guess you couldn't help it; and a broken window won't cost much to fix," said the old carpenter. "I'm sorry you had all that trouble, and I'm glad you're neither of you cut. Tell your pa and ma I'm real sorry." "We will," promised Bunny. And then, after Bunny and Sue had started home on the run, for it was getting late and toward supper time, Sue suddenly thought of something. She turned back. "Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "We forgot to ask Mr. Foswick about the dog!" "So we did! The dog that has mother's pocketbook. Maybe he saw him run out of the carpenter shop, and noticed which way he went. Let's go back and ask him." Back they turned, to find Mr. Foswick nailing a board over the broken pane of glass. "Well, you haven't come back to stay the rest of the night, have you?" asked the old carpenter, smiling at them over his dusty spectacles. "No, sir. We came back about the dog," said Bunny. "We were chasing a strange dog that had mother's pocketbook, and he ran in here. That's why we came in," the boy explained, and he told how they had been playing with the seesaw when the strange animal jumped into the Brown yard. "Did you see him come out of your shop?" asked Sue. "'Cause he wasn't in there when we were." "No, I didn't see any dog," said Mr. Foswick. "But there are some holes at the back where he could have crawled out. That's what he must have done. He didn't come out the front door. But we'll take a look." It did not take the carpenter and the children long to search through the shop and make sure there was no dog there. As Mr. Foswick had said, there were several holes in the back wall of his shop, out of which a dog might have crawled. "What can we do?" asked Sue, looking at her brother after the unsuccessful search. "We've got to go home and tell mother," said Bunny. "Then we can maybe find the dog and the pocketbook somewhere else. It isn't here." "No, I don't see anything of it," remarked Mr. Foswick, looking around his little shop. "You'd better go and tell your folks. They may be worried about you. And tell 'em I'm sorry for locking you in." Bunny and Sue hurried home. They found Mrs. Brown looking up and down the street for them. The other children had gone away. "Where have you been?" asked Mother Brown. "It is very late for little people to be out alone. And where is my pocketbook and the groceries I sent you for? Where is my pocketbook?" She looked at Bunny and then at his sister, noting their empty hands. "A big dog ran off with your pocketbook, Mother," explained Bunny. "He jumped into the yard and picked it up off the bench when Sue was teeter-tautering with me. Then he ran into Mr. Foswick's shop, and we ran after him, and we got locked in, and I broke a window, and we couldn't find the dog nor your pocketbook." "Nor the money, either," added Sue. "There was money in the pocketbook, wasn't there, Mother?" Mrs. Brown did not answer that question at once. "Do you mean to say a strange dog ran off with the pocketbook and everything in it?" she asked Bunny. "Yes, Mother," he answered. "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown in a faint voice, and she sank with white face into a chair. Mr. Brown, who had just come in, sprang to his wife's side. "Oh, don't take on so!" he exclaimed. "The loss of the pocketbook isn't much. Was there a great amount of money in it?" "A five-dollar bill," his wife answered. "Oh, well, we shall not worry over that if we never find it," he went on. "And you can get another purse." Daddy Brown was smiling. "But you don't understand!" cried Mother Brown. "Just before I sent the children to the store I was doing something in the kitchen. I took off the beautiful diamond engagement ring you gave me, and put it in the pocketbook. I meant to take it out in a moment, but Mrs. Newton came over, and I forgot it. Then I slipped a five-dollar bill in the purse and gave it to the children to go to the store. Oh, dear! what shall I do?" Mr. Brown looked serious. "Are you sure the diamond ring was in the pocketbook?" he asked. "Yes," replied his wife, and there were tears in her eyes. "The dog ran away with the five-dollar bill, the pocketbook and my beautiful diamond ring! Oh, what shall I do? What a terrible loss!" _ |
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