“We will next time,” said Sue.
So the adventure ended happily, though there might have been danger had no one seen the children and gone after them. When Mr. Brown came back to the dock and heard what had happened, he made Bunny and Sue promise to be more careful.
The children gave their father the message sent by their mother and then, as the day was still young, Mr. Brown said:
“I’m going to the hospital to see Jason Stern. Do you children want to come with me?”
“Could we take Patter?” asked Bunny.
“Who is Jason Stern?” asked Sue.
“He is the old man who came to our house the night you got Patter,” her father said. “He’s in the hospital from an accident that happened to him. I’m going to see him to try to cheer him up.”
“Maybe if he could see Patter do some tricks he’d cheer up more,” suggested Bunny.
“Maybe he would,” agreed his father. “So come along to the hospital with me. The old man seems to have no friends, and I take an interest in him.”
Mr. Brown and the children were soon at the hospital, going in an automobile with Patter riding on the back seat as naturally as if he belonged there.