The dog, that had come to a stop, turned suddenly on hearing himself spoken to. He gave one bound over toward the bench, and a moment later caught in his mouth the leather handle of Mrs. Brown's black pocketbook and darted away.
Over the fence he jumped, out into the street, so quickly that the children could hardly follow him with their eyes. But it was only an instant that Bunny Brown remained still, watching the dog. Then he gave a cry:
"Oh, Sue! The dog has mother's pocketbook and the money! Come on! We've got to get it away from him!"
"Oh, yes!" echoed Sue.
Bunny ran out of the yard and into the street, following the dog. Sue followed her brother. The four other children, being on the seesaw, could not move so quickly, and by the time they did get off the board, taking turns carefully, so no one would get bounced, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were out of sight, down the street and around a corner, chasing after the dog that had snatched up their mother's pocketbook.
"We've got to get him!" cried Bunny, looking back at his sister. "Come on!"
"I am a-comin' on!" she panted, half out of breath.
The big yellow dog was in plain sight, bounding along and still holding in his mouth, as Bunny could see, the dangling pocketbook.
Suddenly the animal turned into some building, and was at once out of sight.
"Where'd he go?" asked Sue.