"That's so," said the man.
"Stop, Bunny! Stop!" cried Mr. Brown, getting within calling distance of his little son. "Don't run after the dog any more!"
"But I want to get mother's pocketbook and ring," Sue's brother answered, as he slowed up and looked back.
"That dog hasn't it," went on Mr. Brown. "He has nothing in his mouth, and——"
"Oh, he has something in his mouth. It's red and I can see it sticking out!" interrupted Sue eagerly. "Maybe it's mother's pocketbook, Bunny."
"It's his tongue!" declared Bunny. "It's the dog's red tongue you see. Mother's pocketbook was black."
"Well, this dog hasn't it, at any rate," went on Mr. Brown with a smile, as he put Sue down on the sidewalk beside Bunny, with whom he had now caught up. "And even if this were the same dog, we could not make him understand that we wanted him to take us to the place where he dropped the purse."
"I'm sure it's the same dog," insisted Bunny. "But he's gone now, anyhow."
This was true. Just as Bunny stopped after his father called to him the dog ran into an alley between two buildings, and though Mr. Brown, again holding his two children by the hands, looked in, there was no sight of the animal.
"Yes, he's gone," agreed Mr. Brown.