. Brown.
"He promised to take me the next time he went," said the little boy.
"He's coming back in a little while to get you both," said their mother.
"He wanted to have some good fishing by himself while it was nice and
quiet in the early morning hours. When you children go with him, you
laugh and chatter so, and get your lines so tangled up that your father
can't fish himself in comfort.
"But he likes to take you, and as soon as he has a chance to catch some
fish himself, he'll come back and take you out in the boat."
"Oh, that'll be great!" cried Bunny. "I'm going to get my fish pole and
line ready."
"I don't want to catch any fish," said Sue. "I don't like to have 'em
bite on the sharp hook. I'll go and get one of my dolls and give her a
boat ride. But I wish I had my Teddy bear."
"He'd catch fish," said Bunny, winding up his line on the little spool,
called a reel, on his pole.
"She's a she. And anyway, Teddy bears can't catch fish," said Sue.
"No, but _real_ bears can. Our teacher told us. They lean over the edge
of a river and pull the fish out with their claws. Bears likes fish."
"But my Sallie Malinda isn't a real bear," said Sue.
"You could make believe he was," insisted Bunny. "And if you put his paw
in the water, and sort of let it dingle-dangle, a fish might bite at
it."
"She," sighed Sue. "But just as if I'd let a fish bite my nice Teddy
bear! Besides, I haven't got her."
"No, that's so," agreed Bunny. "Well, I guess you'll have to take a
regular doll then."
"And don't you let her make believe fall into the water, either, and get
her sawdust all wetted up," said Sue.
"I won't," promised Bunny.
Then the children began to get ready for their father's return with the
boat, and when Sue's doll was laid out in a shady place on the grass,
and Bunny's pole and line were where he could easily find them, the
little boy said:
"Let's walk down to the edge of the lake, and maybe we can see daddy
quicker."
"All right--let's," agreed Sue, and the two were soon walking, hand in
hand, down the slope that led to the water.
"Where are you going?" called Mother Brown.
"Oh, just down to the shore," answered Bunny.
"Very well; but don't go into the water, and don't step into any of the
boats until daddy comes."
"We won't," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Their mother could
always depend on them to keep their promises, though sometimes the
things they did were worse than
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