Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue often talked about the pony they hoped to have. And one day, about a week after they had seen Toby, Bunny said:
"Come on, Sue. Let's go down and see."
"Go down where?" the little girl wanted to know.
"Down to daddy's wharf."
"What for? To see the boats? I'd rather play with my doll."
"No, not to see the boats," went on Bunny. "Let's go down and see if daddy has found a Shetland pony for us yet."
"Oh, let's!" cried Sue, and, hand in hand, she and her brother went down to their father's dock.
Though the wharf was near the bay, where the water was deep, Bunny and his sister were allowed to go there if they first stopped at the office, on the land-end of the dock, and told their father they had come to see him. In that way Mrs. Brown knew they would not fall into the water, for Mr. Brown would have Bunker Blue, or some of his other helpers, stay with the children until they were ready to go home again.
Bunny and his sister always liked to go to their father's dock. There were many things to see—the boats coming in or going out, sometimes big catches of fish being unloaded, to be afterward packed in barrels with ice, so they would keep fresh to be sent to the big city. Once a boat came in with a big shark that had been caught in the fish nets, and once Bunker Blue was pinched by a big lobster that he thought was asleep on the dock.
So down to their father's office went Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, but when they looked in the room where Mr. Brown was usually to be found, he was not there. However, Bunker Blue was.