“We can go into the house very softly when we get home, you know,” said Budge, “an’ shake some pennies out of our savings-bank; them’ll do for the money. Then for things that smell sweet we can get flowers out of the garden.”
“Dat’ll be dzust a-givin’ her fings that’s at home already. I fink ’twould be nicer to carry her somefin’ from here, just as if we was comin’ from where we took care of de sheep.”
“Tell you what,” said Budge. “Let’ tease Aunt Alice for pennies. We ought to have thought about it before Uncle Harry went away.”
“Oh, yes!” said Toddie. “An’ dere’s a bottle of smelly stuff in Aunt Alice’s room; we’ll get some of dat. Shall we ask her for it, or dzust make b’lieve it’s ours?”
“Let’s be honest ’bout it,” said Budge. “It’s wicked to hook things.”
“’Twouldn’t be hookin’ if we took it for dat lovaly little sister baby, would it?” asked Toddie. “’Sides, I want to s’prise Aunt Alice an’ everybody wif de lots of presentsh I makesh to de dear little fing.”
“Oh! I’ll tell you what,” said Budge, forgetting the presents entirely in his rapture over a new idea. “You know how bright the point of the new lightning-rod on our house is? Well, we’ll make b’lieve that’s the star in the East, an’ it’s showin’ us where to come to find the baby.”
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Toddie. “An’ maybe Aunt Alice’ll carry us on her back, and then we’ll make b’lieve we’re ridin’ camels, like the shepherds in the picture we had Christmas, an’ tore up to make menageries of.”
The appearance of a large grasshopper directly in front of the boys ended the conversation temporarily, for both started in chase of it.
