_ CHAPTER XIII. HELPING MRS. GOLDEN
Almost dropping his slice of bread and jam, so excited was he, Bunny Brown ran toward the hose. Before he reached it, for it was around the corner of the house, he heard the man's voice again calling out:
"Here! Stop that I say! Can't people go along the street without being wet with water from a hose? Pull your hose farther back!"
"Sue! Sue! Don't do that! Be careful! You're wetting some one," cried Bunny, as he ran along, not yet seeing the hose. But he could guess what had happened.
Sue, coming along and seeing the hose turned on, with the water spurting out, had picked up the nozzle end and was watering the garden. Only she held the hose so high that the water shot over the high front hedge and was wetting some man passing in the street.
That is what Bunny thought. But that is not what had happened.
Just before he turned the corner of the house he heard the man's voice once more saying:
"Say, isn't it enough to wet me once? What are you keeping it up for? I am trying to get out of the way, but you follow me. I'm coming in and see about this!"
Something very like trouble seemed about to happen.
"Sue! Sue!" cried Bunny, still thinking his sister was to blame. "Let that hose alone!"
But when he turned the corner of the house and could see the garden, Sue was not in sight. And, stranger still, no one was at the hose. There it lay, still spurting water out on the thick, green grass.
Who had picked up the nozzle and sprayed the unseen man in the street? If it was Sue where had she gone?
"Sue! Sue!" called Bunny. "Were you playing with the hose?"
Sue's head was thrust out of the window of her room upstairs.
"What's the matter, Bunny?" she asked.
"Oh, you're up there, are you?" exclaimed the little boy, much surprised. "Were you down here at the hose?"
"No. I'm getting dressed. I haven't been down in the yard at all yet."
"Then who did it?" thought Bunny. "I wonder----"
But just then a man, who seemed to have been out in a rain storm without an umbrella, came hurrying around the side path. He caught sight of Bunny standing near the hose.
"Look here, my little boy," said the man, trying not to speak angrily, though he was rightfully provoked, "you must be more careful with your hose. You have wet me very much. Does your mother know you are doing this?"
"She--she knows I'm watering the garden," Bunny answered.
"Does she know you were watering me?" asked the man, with a half smile.
"No--no, sir," replied the small boy. "I didn't wet you!"
"You didn't! Then who did?"
"I--I don't know," stammered Bunny. "I left the hose here while I went in to get some bread and jam. Here's some of it now," and he held out what was left of his slice. "I heard you calling, and I thought maybe it was my sister Sue. Course she wouldn't 'a' done it on purpose. But it wasn't Sue. She hasn't been downstairs yet."
"Then who was it?" insisted the man. "Surely the hose didn't wet me all by itself."
"No," admitted Bunny. "But it might have been Mr. Winkler's monkey."
"Who's Mr. Winkler's monkey, and how could he wet me with a hose?" demanded the man.
"His name is Wango--I mean the monkey's is," explained Bunny. "Sometimes he gets away and does things. He climbed up on Mrs. Golden's shelves--she keeps a store. Maybe Wango got loose and came over here and picked up the hose to get a drink or something, and so wet you."
"Well, that's possible," admitted the man. "And if that's the case I beg your pardon. Do you see Wango around here?" he went on, while Sue, looking from her upper window, wondered who the stranger could be.
"No, I don't see Wango," replied Bunny, looking about. "But I'll look for him. Maybe he's hiding."
"Maybe he is," and the man now laughed. "I'll help you search. For if the monkey is up to tricks like that he ought to be stopped. He may wet some one else if you go away and leave the water turned on."
"That's right," agreed Bunny.
He left the hose, still spurting, on the grass, and, followed by the man, walked around the yard, looking for Wango. But the mischievous monkey was not in sight, nor did he come when Bunny called, though Mr. Winkler's pet nearly always did this.
"I guess he isn't here," said Bunny at length. "But I didn't wet you with the hose."
"Then who----" began the man, but he stopped short to point and cry: "Look at that!"
As Bunny and the stranger were walking back toward the hose, Splash, the big dog, ran out from under the back porch and took hold of the hose in his teeth. He began to shake it as he often shook things with which he played.
"There!" laughed the man. "That's how I was sprayed! Your dog picked up the hose after you left it, and raised it high, so the water shot over the hedge and on me! Now the mystery is explained! It was the dog that did it!"
And so it was.
"Splash!" cried Bunny. "Drop that hose!"
Splash dropped it, and with a bark came running up to be petted. He did not know he had done wrong.
"I'm very sorry," said Bunny. "Splash, you're a bad dog!" he declared, and Splash drooped his tail between his legs.
"Oh, don't scold him," the man begged. "I like dogs, and I know they don't like to be scolded any more than we do--or than boys or girls do. It wasn't his fault. He thought the hose was left there for him to play with."
"Is anything wrong?" asked Mrs. Brown. Sue had told her mother about a strange man, all wet, in the yard talking to Bunny, and Mrs. Brown had come down to see about it.
"Just a little accident," explained the stranger. "I was passing in the street when it suddenly began to rain--or at least I thought at first it was rain. Then I knew it was some one using a hose and spraying me. I called to them, but that did no good, and I came in. I saw this little boy and the hose, and naturally thought he had wet me by accident. But it seems it was his dog," and he explained how it had happened.
"I am very sorry," apologized Mrs. Brown. "If there is anything I can do----"
"Oh, I will soon dry in the sun!" laughed the man. "I wasn't really angry, only I know children will get careless when they have a hose, and I was going to tell them to be more careful. But I don't suppose I can make Splash understand," and he patted the dog, whose tail was now wagging again.
"I'm glad you are so kind about it," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny generally is careful when he waters the garden. If you will come in and get dry----"
"Oh, no, thank you! I'll dry better in the sun. Clean water will hurt no one, and I might just as well have been caught in a shower. Good-bye!" he called, and hurried away.
"After this, Bunny," advised his mother, as he kept on wetting the garden, "it will be best to turn off the water if you leave the hose."
"Yes, Mother, I will," he promised.
So that little happening passed off all right, and later Bunny and the gentleman--who was a newcomer in town, Mr. Halsted by name--became good friends.
One day, about a week after vacation had started, during which time Bunny and Sue had had much fun, the two children went to the little corner store kept by Mrs. Golden. Bunny and Sue each had two cents to spend, and they were allowed to get some candy.
As they entered the store they saw Mrs. Golden trying to sweep, but the way in which the old woman used the broom showed that she was in pain. As the children entered she stopped, held her hand to her side, and tried to stand up.
"Oh!" she murmured, in a low voice.
"Is it your rheumatism?" asked Bunny.
"That, or something worse," replied the old lady, with a sigh. "I get a pain in my side every time I sweep."
"Let me do it!" begged Sue. "I love to sweep, and I'd like to help you."
"So would I!" exclaimed Bunny. "I can sweep, too. Please let me!"
Almost before she realized it, Mrs. Golden had given up the broom to Sue, and the little girl was sweeping the store, while Bunny waited for his turn.
Suddenly the doorway was darkened, and a big man with a bushy black beard came stalking in.
"Where's Mrs. Golden?" he asked, looking at some papers in his hand. "I want to see Mrs. Golden," and his voice was cross.
"I'm Mrs. Golden," answered the old lady. "What can I do for you?"
"The best thing you can do is to pay that money!" snapped the man. _