Bunny helped Sue get up, and then Mr. Winkler came running along.  He could not go very fast, for he was aged, and he was a little lame, because of rheumatism, from having been out so many cold and wet nights when he was a sailor on a ship.

“Well, well, youngsters!” exclaimed Mr. Winkler.  “You had quite a spill; didn’t you?”

“But we didn’t get hurt,” said Bunny, who was looking at the wagon and harness to see that it was not broken.  Everything seemed to be all right.  “We’re not hurt a bit,” Bunny laughed.

“Well, I’m glad of that,” went on Mr. Winkler, as he helped Bunny put the wagon right side up and straight once more.  “How did it happen?”

“Splash just runned away,” replied Sue, “He runned after the yellow dog.”

“And he caught him all right,” laughed Mr. Winkler.  “But they seem to be great friends now.  Who made your harness, Bunny?”

“Bunker Blue did.  He can make lots of things.”

“Yes, I guess he can,” agreed the old sailor.  “But I hope, after this, that Splash won’t run away with you when you go for a ride.”

“Well, it didn’t hurt much, to fall out,” laughed Bunny.  “Now we’ll ride back again.”

Splash went back very slowly.  Perhaps he was tired, or he may have been sorry that he had run so fast at first, and had upset the wagon.  The yellow dog went off by himself, and he was glad, I guess, that he did not have to pull a wagon with two children in it.  But Splash seemed to enjoy it.

Mrs. Brown and Aunt Lu had not seen the runaway, or they might not have wanted Bunny and Sue to take any more rides in the express wagon.  But the two children had lots of fun the rest of the morning, riding up and down, and Splash acted very nicely, stopping when Bunny called “Whoa!” and going on again when the little boy said, “Giddap!”

“Oh, it’s just like a real horse!” exclaimed Sue, clapping her hands.  “Will you let me hold the lines, Bunny?”

“Yes,” answered her brother, and soon Sue could drive Splash almost as well as Bunny could.

For several days after that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had many good times with their dog and express wagon.  They gave their playmates rides up and down the sidewalk, and never once again did Splash run away.  But then he did not see his friend, the little yellow dog, or he might have raced after him just as at first.

When Bunny and Sue were eating breakfast one morning, Mrs. Gordon, whose husband kept the grocery store, came in to see Mrs. Brown.

“I wonder if your children could not help me?” said Mrs. Gordon, as she sat down in a chair in the dining room, and fanned herself with her apron.  She lived next door to the Brown home.

“Well, Bunny and Sue are always glad to help,” said their mother, smiling at them.  “What is it you want them to do?”

“Do you want a ride in our express wagon, Mrs. Gordon?” asked Bunny.