“I know,” Bunny answered.  “But I guess this rooster knows horse talk, ’cause there’s horses around here.  Whoa there!”

But even if the rooster did understand horse talk, he was not going to stop and let Bunny lasso him.  That was sure.  On and on the rooster ran, crowing and cackling.  The hens and other roosters heard the noise, and crowed and cackled too, wondering what it was all about.

“Here he comes, Bunny!  Here he comes!” cried Sue, as the big old rooster, having run toward a fence, until he could go no farther, had to turn around and run back again.  “Get him, Bunny!”

“I will!” cried the little boy.  “I’ll get him this time.”

But the rooster was running very fast now, for he was very much scared.  Back and forth he went, from one side to the other.  He did come close to Bunny, but when the little boy threw his clothes line rope lasso it fell far away from the rooster.

“Oh, you missed him!” cried Sue, much disappointed.

“But I’ll get him next time,” said Bunny, as he picked up his lasso and ran after the rooster.

Back and forth around the garden, under the lilac and rose bushes, ran Bunny and Sue after the old rooster.  The rooster was getting tired now, and could not go so fast.  Neither could Bunny nor Sue, and Bunny’s arm was so tired, from having thrown his lasso so much, that he wanted to stop and rest.  But still he wanted to catch the rooster.

“Here he comes now—­get him, Bunny!” cried Sue, as she went around one side of the currant bush, while Bunny came around the other side.  The rooster was right between the two children, and as there was a fence on one side of him, and the bush on the other, it looked as if he would be caught this time.

“Oh, get him, Bunny!” Sue called.  “Get him!”

“I—­I will!” answered her brother.  “I’ll just grab him in my arms.  I can put the lasso on him afterward.”

The rooster was running away from Sue who was right behind him, and the rooster was heading straight for Bunny.  The little boy put out his arms to grab the big fowl, when the rooster, with a loud crow and cackle, flew up over Bunny’s head, over the fence and into the meadow beyond.

And Bunny was running so fast, and so was Sue, that, before they could stop themselves, down they both fell, in the soft grass.  For a moment they sat there, looking at one another.  Then Sue smiled.  She was glad to sit down and rest, even if she had fallen.  And so was Bunny.

“Well, we didn’t get him,” said Bunny slowly, as he looked at the rooster, now safe on the other side of the fence.

“No,” said Sue.  “But you can climb over the fence in the meadow.”

“I—­I guess I don’t want to,” said the little fellow.

“Hello!  What’s going on here?  Who’s been chasing my old rooster?” asked Grandpa Brown, coming up just then, and looking at the two children.

“We—­we were chasing him Grandpa,” said Bunny, who always told the truth.