Helen Newton said she would bring Splash a dog-biscuit.

“You buy them in a store,” she said.  “Papa buys them for our dog, and you can get puppy cakes, too.  Only of course Splash is too big for a puppy cake.”

“You could bring him a lot of little puppy cakes, and they would be the same as one big dog-biscuit, maybe,” said Sue.

“No, I’ll bring him a regular cake, and I’ll put a blue ribbon on it,” decided Helen, and then the little girls laughed to think what fun they would have at the party.

CHAPTER XV

GEORGE WATSON’S TRICK

The day of the party for Splash, the dog, came at last, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were so anxious for the time to arrive that it seemed very long indeed.  But everything comes if you wait long enough, so they say, and finally the time for the party came.

“Oh, what a fine day!” cried Bunny, as he ran to the window on the morning of the day of the party.  “The sun is shining, Sue!”

“That’s good,” answered his sister from her room.  “A party is no fun in the rain.”

“And there’s wind enough to fly the kites,” went on Bunny.  He and some of his little boy friends had talked over what they would do at the party.

“The girls will want to play with their dolls,” said Harry Bentley.

“Well, we don’t want to do that,” observed Charlie Star.  “What can we do?”

“We can make kites, and fly ’em,” Bunny said, and so this was what he and the boys at the party would do while the girls were playing with their dolls.  So Bunny was now glad to notice, as he looked from the window, that the wind was blowing; not too hard, but enough to fly kites.

The two children were soon dressed, and down at the breakfast table.  But they did not eat as much as usual, and Bunny left more than half his oatmeal in his dish.

“Why, Bunny!  What is the matter?” asked his mother.

“I guess they are thinking so much about the party that they can’t eat as they ought,” Aunt Lu said.

“Oh, but that isn’t right!” Mother Brown exclaimed.  “Come, Bunny—­Sue, eat a nice breakfast, and then you may fix up the lawn in any way you like for your party.”

“I’ve a big bow for Splash’s neck,” said Sue.

“And I’m going to make a harness, and hitch him up to the express wagon, so he can pull us around the yard,” remarked Bunny.

“Now please eat your breakfast!” begged their mother, and Bunny and Sue did their best.  But it was hard work not to talk or think about their party.

Aunt Lu helped them get the lawn in readiness.  All about the Brown house was a big grass plot, and in the back were a number of shade trees.  The tables, which were made from boxes, with boards across the top, were to be set out there.

There were to be sandwiches, cake, lemonade and ice cream, with Aunt Lu’s lovely jam and jelly tarts besides.