er you about
the money you owe me. I'll let you have a long while in which to pay me
the last part of it. Give me that pony!" and he seemed about to take
Toby away.

"No, I'll not give him up!" said Mr. Tallman. "I'll try to get your
money in some other way. I never can part with Toby; especially to you."

"Why won't you let me have him?" asked Tang.

"Because I'm afraid you wouldn't be kind to him."

"I'd sell him, that's what I'd do!" said the dark man. "I'd sell him,
after you gave him to me, and in that way I'd get back a part of the
money you owe me. I'd sell Toby, that's what I'd do!"

"That's what I'd be afraid of," went on Mr. Tallman. "I'd be afraid
you'd sell him back to the cruel men in the circus. No, sir! I'll not
let you have my pony. I'll get your money in some other way, and pay you
back."

"Well, see that you do!" growled Mr. Tang. "If you don't pay me soon,
I'll come and take Toby away from you! That's what I'll do!"

With that he got back in his wagon, and, with a last look at Toby, the
Shetland pony, the unpleasant man drove away.

"Oh," said Bunny in a low voice, "I'm glad that man didn't buy the
pony."

"So am I," said Sue.

"And I'm glad I didn't give him up," added Mr. Tallman. "I'd never feel
happy if I knew he had my pet pony."

"He does not look like a kind man," said Mr. Brown, "and I saw him
strike his horse with the whip. Still he might not hurt the pony."

"Well, if he didn't hurt him he might send him back to the circus, where
Toby would be beaten," remarked Mr. Tallman. "Of course, I know that in
most circuses the ponies and other animals are kindly treated. But Toby
was not treated well in the circus where he was, and he'd never like to
go back there. That's why I want to keep him."

"If you sold him to me, for my children, we would treat him kindly,"
said Mr. Brown.

"Yes, I know that," said Mr. Tallman. "But I don't want to sell
Toby--least of all to Mr. Tang."

"Do you owe him money?" asked Mr. Brown.

"Yes. More, I fear, than I can ever pay. And if I don't pay him he may
come and take Toby away from me."

"That would be too bad," said Mr. Brown, and Bunny and his sister
thought the same thing.

"Yes, it would," agreed Mr. Tallman. "I was on my way, just now, to see
a friend, to get him to lend me some money to pay Mr. Tang," went on the
pony's owner. "I'll go there now."

"And if he can't help you, perhaps I can," called Mr. Brown to Mr.
Tallman, as the lat