Patter leaned back and pulled as hard as he could. And as soon as Toby felt himself being pulled in, he did just what he always did when that happened. He slowed down. I think he had had enough of running away and thought it time to stop. And probably he thought it was Bunny pulling on the reins. But it wasn’t. It was Patter, the trick dog.
Anyhow, Toby slowed down to a walk, and then, as Patter kept on pulling the reins, the pony stopped.
“Oh, the runaway is over!” sighed Sue. “I’m so glad!”
“And we didn’t get hurt,” added Bunny Brown.
Just then around the corner of a street near which Toby had stopped, came Bunker Blue. The boy from Mr. Brown’s boat and fish dock had been on an errand. Seeing the two children, with Patter up on Toby’s back, Bunker Blue said:
“You two oughtn’t to be playing tricks like that out in the street here. It’s all right to make Patter do tricks, but not in the street.”
“We weren’t making him play tricks,” answered Bunny. “Toby ran away and Patter stopped him.”
And when he and Sue had told how it happened, Bunker said:
“Oh, that’s all right! That was fine. But I’ll drive Toby back home for you, as he might get frisky again.”
But the little horse did not, trotting along very quietly. And when Bunny and Sue reached home, and Mrs. Brown heard what had happened, she remarked: