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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17097-h.zip b/17097-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5efb023 --- /dev/null +++ b/17097-h.zip diff --git a/17097-h/17097-h.htm b/17097-h/17097-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eeb642c --- /dev/null +++ b/17097-h/17097-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6662 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods, by Laura Lee Hope. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .synopsis {text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big +Woods, by Laura Lee Hope + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + +Illustrator: Florence England Nosworthy + +Release Date: November 18, 2005 [EBook #17097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/001.jpg" alt=""I GUESS IT'S ROLLING FASTER THAN I AM," THOUGHT BUNNY." title=""I GUESS IT'S ROLLING FASTER THAN I AM," THOUGHT BUNNY." /></div> + +<div class='center'>"I GUESS IT'S ROLLING FASTER THAN I AM," THOUGHT BUNNY.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 18em;"><i>Frontispiece.</i> <i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><i>Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.</i></span></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BUNNY BROWN</h2> +<h2>AND HIS SISTER SUE</h2> +<h2>IN THE BIG WOODS</h2> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>LAURA LEE HOPE</h2> +<div class="center">AUTHOR OF</div> + +<div class="center">THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY<br /> +TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR<br /> +GIRLS SERIES, ETC.<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="center">Illustrated by<br /> +Florence England Nosworthy<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +PUBLISHERS<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>BOOKS</h3> + +<h3>By LAURA LEE HOPE</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 50 cents, postpaid.</i></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES</b></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Bunny Brown Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES</b></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Bobbsey Twins Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES</b></div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The Outdoor Girls Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'> +<b>GROSSET & DUNLAP</b><br /> +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK<br /> +<br /> +Copyright, 1917, by<br /> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.</i></div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='right'>CHAPTER</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">What Daddy Brought</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Pail of Milk</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Old Man</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Noise at Night</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bunny Rolls Down Hill</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">After the Lost Cow</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Missing Train</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">"Where Has Sallie Gone?"</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Search</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_93'>93</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lost in the Woods</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hermit Again</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wonderings</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Brown Makes a Search</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_132'>132</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ragged Boy</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Hidden in the Hay</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Angry Gobbler</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sue Decides to Make a Pie</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Roasting Corn</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_176'>176</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Eagle Feather's Horse</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fun in the Attic</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_199'>199</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">"Where Is Sue?"</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hermit Comes for Tom</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Trying to Help Tom</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXIV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Night Meeting</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Missing Toys</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>WHAT DADDY BROUGHT</h3> + + +<p>"Sue! Sue! Where are you?" called a lady, as she stood in the opening of +a tent which was under the trees in the big woods. "Where are you, Sue? +And where is Bunny?"</p> + +<p>For a moment no answers came to the call. But presently, from behind a +clump of bushes not far from the tent, stepped a little girl. She held +her finger over her lips, just as your teacher does in school when she +does not want you to say anything. Then the little girl whispered:</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h-h, Mother. I can't come now."</p> + +<p>"Then let Bunny come. He can do what I want."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bunny can't come, either."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" and Mrs. Brown smiled at her little girl, who seemed very +much in earnest as she stood in front of the bushes, her finger still +across her lips.</p> + +<p>"Bunny can't come, 'cause we're playing soldier and Indian," said Sue. +"Bunny's been shot by an Indian arrow and I'm his nurse. He's just got +over the fever, same as I did when I had the measles, and he's asleep. +And it's awful dangerous to wake anybody up that's just got to sleep +after a fever. That's what our doctor said, I 'member."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bunny is just getting over a fever, is he?" asked Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Of course it's only a <i>make-believe</i> fever, Mother," said the little +girl. "We're only pretendin' you know"; and she cut her words short, +leaving off a "g" here and there, so she could talk faster I suppose.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if it's only a make-believe fever it's all right," said Mother +Brown with a laugh. "How long do you think Bunny will sleep, Sue?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not very long. Maybe five minutes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> 'Cause, you see, when he wakes +up he'll be hungry and I've got some pie and cake and some milk for him +to eat. Sick folks gets awful hungry when their fever goes away. And +it's <i>real</i> things to eat, too, Mother. And when Bunny got make-believe +shot with an Indian arrow he said he wasn't going to play fever more'n +five minutes 'cause he saw what I had for him to eat."</p> + +<p>"Oh well, if he's going to be better in five minutes I can wait that +long," said Mrs. Brown. "Go on and have your fun."</p> + +<p>"What do you want Bunny to do—or me?" asked Sue, as she turned to go +back behind the bush where she and Bunny were having their game.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you when you've finished playing," said Mrs. Brown with a +smile. She sometimes found this a better plan than telling the children +just what she wanted when she called them from some of their games. You +see they were so anxious to find out what it was their mother wanted +that they hurried to finish their fun.</p> + +<p>Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Camp Rest-a-While with their +father and their mother. They had come from their home in Bellemere to +live for a while in the forest, on the shore of Lake Wanda, where they +were all enjoying the life in the open air.</p> + +<p>They had journeyed to the woods in an automobile, carrying two tents +which were set up under the trees. One tent was used to sleep in and the +other for a dining room. There was also a place to cook.</p> + +<p>With the Brown family was Uncle Tad, who was really Mr. Brown's uncle. +But the jolly old soldier was as much an uncle to Bunny and Sue as he +was to their father. Bunker Blue, a boy, had also come to Camp +Rest-a-While with the Brown family, but after having many adventures +with them, he had gone back to Bellemere, where Mr. Brown had a fish and +a boat business. With him went Tom Vine, a boy whom the Browns had met +after coming to camp.</p> + +<p>Bunny Brown and his sister Sue liked it in the big woods that stretched +out all about their camp. They played many games under the trees and in +the tents, and had great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>fun. Mrs. Brown liked it so much that when the +time when they had planned to go home came, she said to her husband:</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's stay a little longer. I like it so much and the children are +so happy. Let's stay!"</p> + +<p>And so they stayed. And they were still camped on the edge of the big +woods that morning when Mrs. Brown called Bunny and Sue to do something +for her.</p> + +<p>After telling her mother about the pretend-fever which Bunny had, Sue +went back to where her brother was lying on a blanket under the bushes. +She made-believe feel his pulse, as she had seen the doctor do when once +Bunny had been really ill, and then the little girl put her hand on +Bunny's cheek.</p> + +<p>"Say! what you doin' that for?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I was seeing how hot you were," answered Sue. "I guess your fever's +most gone, isn't it, Bunny?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Is it time to eat?" he asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think it is. And I think mother has a surprise for us, too."</p> + +<p>"Then my fever's all gone!" exclaimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> Bunny. "I'm all better, and I can +eat. Then we'll see what mother has."</p> + +<p>Never did an ill person get well so quickly as did Bunny Brown just +then. He sat up, threw to one side a blanket Sue had spread over him, +and called:</p> + +<p>"Where's the pie and cake?"</p> + +<p>"Here they are," Sue answered, as she took them from a little box under +the bushes.</p> + +<p>"And where's the milk?" asked Bunny. "Fevers always make folks thirsty, +you know. I'm awful thirsty!"</p> + +<p>"Here's the milk," said Sue. "I didn't ask mother if I could take it, +but I'm sure she won't care."</p> + +<p>"No, I guess not," said Bunny, taking a long drink which Sue poured out +for him from a pitcher into a glass.</p> + +<p>Then Bunny and his sister ate the pie and the cake which their mother +had given them that morning when they said they wanted to have a little +picnic in the woods. Instead Bunny and Sue had played Indian and +soldier, as they often did. First Bunny was a white soldier, and then an +Indian, and at last he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>made believe he was shot so he could be ill. Sue +was very fond of playing nurse, and she liked to cover Bunny up, feel +his pulse and feed him bread pills rolled in sugar. Bunny liked these +pills, too.</p> + +<p>"Well, now we've got everything eaten up," said Bunny, as he gathered up +the last crumbs of the pie his mother had baked in the oil stove which +they had brought to camp. "Let's go and see what the surprise is."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so <i>sure</i> it is a surprise," returned Sue slowly. "Mother +didn't say so. She just said she wouldn't tell us until you got all +make-believe well again. So I suppose it's a surprise. Don't you think +so, too?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I do," answered Bunny. "But come on, we'll soon find out."</p> + +<p>As the children came out from under the bush where they had been +playing, there was a crashing in the brush and Sue cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe that's some more of those Indians."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! We're not playing Indians <i>now</i>," said Bunny. "That game's all +over. I guess it's Splash."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nice!" cried Sue. "I was wondering where he'd gone."</p> + +<p>A big, happy-looking and friendly dog came bursting through the bushes. +He wagged his tail, and his big red tongue dangled out of his mouth, for +it was a warm day.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Splash; you came just too late!" cried Sue. "We've eaten up +everything!"</p> + +<p>"All except the crumbs," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>Splash saw the crumbs almost as soon as Bunny spoke, and with his red +tongue the dog licked them up from the top of the box which the children +had used for a table under the bushes.</p> + +<p>"Come on," called Bunny after a bit. "Let's go and find out what mother +wants. Maybe she's baked some cookies for us."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you have enough with the cake, pie and milk?" Sue asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I could eat more," replied Bunny Brown. In fact, he seemed always +to be hungry, his mother said, though she did not let him eat enough to +make himself ill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, come on," called Sue. "We'll go and see what mother has for us."</p> + +<p>Through the woods ran the children, toward the lake and the white tents +gleaming among the green trees. Mr. Brown went to the city twice a week, +making the trip in a small automobile he ran himself. Sometimes he would +stay in the city over night, and Mother Brown and Uncle Tad and the +children would stay in the tents in the big woods where they were not +far from a farmhouse.</p> + +<p>Splash, the happy-go-lucky dog, bounded on ahead of Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue. The children followed as fast as they could. Now and then +Splash would stop and look back as though calling:</p> + +<p>"Come on! Hurry up and see the surprise!"</p> + +<p>"We're coming!" Bunny would call. "What do you s'pose it is?" he would +ask Sue.</p> + +<p>"I can't even guess," Sue would answer. "But I know it must be something +nice, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>she smiled when I told her I was your nurse and you had an +Indian fever."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't an Indian fever," protested Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean a make-believe Indian fever," said the little girl.</p> + +<p>"No, it was a make-believe arrow fever," said Bunny. "I got shot with an +Indian <i>arrow</i> you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," Sue answered. "But, anyhow, you're all well now. Oh, look out, +Splash!" she cried as the big dog ran into a puddle of water and +splashed it so that some got on Sue's dress. That is how Splash got his +name—from splashing into so many puddles.</p> + +<p>But this time the water was from a clean brook that ran over green, +mossy stones, and it did Sue's dress no harm, for she had on one that +Mrs. Brown had made purposely for wearing in the woods.</p> + +<p>"Here we are, Momsie!" called Sue, as she and Bunny came running up to +the camp where the tents were.</p> + +<p>"What's the surprise?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>Just then they heard the Honk! Honk! of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>an automobile, and as a car +came on through the woods and up to the white tents, Bunny and Sue cried +together:</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's daddy! Daddy has come home!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and he's brought us something!" added Bunny. "Look at the two big +bundles, Sue!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy! Daddy Brown! What have you brought?" cried the two children.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute now, and I'll show you," said Mr. Brown, as he got out of +the automobile and started for a tent, a big bundle under each arm. The +children danced about in delight and Splash barked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE PAIL OF MILK</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, Mother! is this the surprise you had for us?" asked Sue, as she +hopped about, first on one foot then on the other. For she was so +excited she could not keep still.</p> + +<p>"No, this isn't exactly what I meant," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. +"Still, this is a very nice surprise, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Just the very nicest!" said Bunny. "It's nice to have daddy home, and +it's nice to have him bring something."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please tell us what it is—you have two things," went on Sue, as +she looked at the two bundles which Mr. Brown carried, one under each +arm. "Is there something for each of us, Daddy?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I think so, Sue," answered her father. "But just wait——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dears! give your father a chance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>to get his breath," laughed +Mrs. Brown. "Remember he has come all the way from the city in the auto, +and he must be tired. Come into the tent, and I'll make you a cup of +tea," she went on.</p> + +<p>"And then will you tell us what you brought us?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Then let's go in and watch him drink his tea," said Sue, as she took +hold of Bunny's hand and led him toward the dining tent. "We'll know the +minute he has finished," she went on, "and we'll be there when he opens +the bundles."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Mr. Brown. "Come in if you like." And while he was +sipping the tea which Mrs. Brown quickly made for him, the two children +sat looking at the two bundles their father had brought. One was quite +heavy, Bunny noticed, and something rattled inside the box in which it +was packed. The other was lighter. They were both about the same size.</p> + +<p>And while the children are sitting there, waiting for their father to +finish his tea, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>they can learn what the surprise is I'll take just a +few minutes to tell my new readers something about the Brown family, and +especially Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.</p> + +<p>As I have already mentioned, the family, which was made up of Mr. and +Mrs. Walter Brown and the two children, lived in the town of Bellemere, +which was on Sandport Bay, near the ocean. Mr. Brown was in the fish and +the boat business, hiring to those who wanted row boats, fishing boats +or motor boats. In the first book of this series, "Bunny Brown and His +Sister Sue," the story was about the little boy and his sister, and what +fun they had getting up a Punch and Judy show.</p> + +<p>"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm," was the name of the +second book and you can easily guess what that was about. The two +children had much fun in a big automobile moving van, which was fitted +up just like a little house, and in which they lived while going to the +farm. Bunker Blue, who worked for Mr. Brown, and the children's dog +Splash went with them.</p> + +<p>While at their grandpa's farm Bunny and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> Sue got up a little show, at +which they had lots of fun, and, seeing this, Bunker and some of the +older boys made up a larger show. They gave that in two tents, one of +which had belonged to Grandpa Brown when he was in the army.</p> + +<p>The Brown children were so delighted with the shows that they decided to +have another, and in the third book, named "Bunny Brown and His Sister +Sue Playing Circus," you may read how they did it. Something happened in +that book which made Bunny and Sue feel bad for a while, but they soon +got over it.</p> + +<p>In the next book, "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City +Home," I told the story of the two children going to the big city of New +York, and of the queer things they saw and the funny things they did +while there.</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue had played together as long as they could remember. Bunny +was about six or seven years old and Sue was a year younger. Wherever +one went the other was always sure to be seen, and whatever Bunny did +Sue was sure to think just right. Every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>one in Bellemere knew Bunny and +Sue, from old Miss Hollyhock to Wango, a queer little monkey owned by +Jed Winkler the sailor. Wango often got into mischief, and so did Bunny +and Sue. And the children had much fun with Uncle Tad who loved them as +if they were his own.</p> + +<p>After Bunny and Sue had come back from Aunt Lu's city home the weather +was very warm and Daddy Brown thought of camping in the woods. So that +is what they did, and the things that happened are related in the fifth +book in the series, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp +Rest-a-While." For that is what they named the place where the tents +were set up under the trees on the edge of the big woods and by a +beautiful lake.</p> + +<p>Neither Bunny nor Sue had ever been to the end of these big woods, nor +had Mr. Brown, though some day he hoped to go. The summer was about half +over. Mrs. Brown liked it so much that she said she and the children +would stay in the woods as long as it was warm enough to live in a tent.</p> + +<p>And now, this afternoon, Mr. Brown had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>come home from the city with the +two queer big bundles, and the children were so excited thinking what +might be in them that they watched every mouthful of tea Mr. Brown +sipped.</p> + +<p>"When will you be ready to show us?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Please be quick," begged Bunny. "I—I'm gettin' awful anxious."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess I can show you now," said Mr. Brown. "Bring me the +heaviest package, Bunny."</p> + +<p>It was all the little boy could do to lift it from the chair, but he +managed to do it. Slowly Mr. Brown opened it. Bunny saw a flash of +something red and shining.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a fire engine!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Not quite," said his father, "though that was a good guess."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Brown lifted out the things in the paper, and all at once Bunny +saw what it was—a little toy train of cars, with an engine and tracks +on which it could run.</p> + +<p>"Does it really go?" asked the little boy, eagerly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, it really goes," said Mr. Brown. "It's an electric train, and it +runs by electricity from these batteries," and he held up some strong +ones. "I'll fix up your train for you so it will run. But you must be +careful of it, Bunny."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll take fine care of it!" cried the little boy. "And I won't let +Splash bite it."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you bring me anything, Daddy?" asked Sue slowly. "Or do I have +to play with Bunny's train?" and she looked at the little boy who was +trying to fit together the pieces of the track.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have something for you alone, Sue," her father said. "Look and +see if you like this."</p> + +<p>He held up a great big Teddy bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Ah!" murmured Sue. "That's something I've been wishing for. Oh, +Daddy! how good you are to us!" and she threw her arms around her +father's neck.</p> + +<p>"I love you, too!" called Bunny Brown, leaving his toy train and track, +and running to his father for a hug and a kiss.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, now, how do you like this, Sue?" and Mr. Brown handed the big +Teddy bear over to his little girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I just love it!" she cried. "It's the nicest doll ever!"</p> + +<p>"Let me show you something," said Mr. Brown. He pressed a button in the +toy bear's back and, all of a sudden, its eyes shone like little lights.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what makes that, Daddy?" asked Bunny, leaving his toy train and +coming over to see his sister's present.</p> + +<p>"Behind the bear's eyes, which are of glass," explained Mr. Brown, "are +two little electric lights. They are lighted by what are called dry +batteries, like those that ring our front door bell at home, only +smaller. And the same kind of dry batteries will run Bunny's train when +I get it put together.</p> + +<p>"See, Sue, when you want your bear's eyes to glow, just press this +button in Teddy's back," and her father showed her a little button, or +switch, hidden in the toy's fur.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't that fine!" cried Sue with shin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>ing eyes. She pushed the +button, the bear's eyes lighted and gleamed out, and Splash, seeing +them, barked in excitement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let me do it," begged Bunny. "I'll let you run my toy train if you +let me light your bear's eyes, Sue," he said.</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed the little girl.</p> + +<p>So Bunny played with the Teddy bear a bit, while Sue looked at the toy +engine and cars, and then Mrs. Brown said:</p> + +<p>"Well, children, I think it is about time for my surprise."</p> + +<p>"Oh, have you something for us, too?" asked Sue, quickly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll have something for you if you will go and get something for +me," said Mother Brown. "I want you to go to the farmhouse and get me a +pail of milk. Some one took what I was saving to make a pudding with, so +I'll have to get more milk."</p> + +<p>"We took it to play soldier and nurse with," confessed Sue. "I'm sorry, +Momsie——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it doesn't matter, dear," said Mrs. Brown. "I like to have you +drink all the milk you want. But now you'll have to get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>more for me, as +there is not enough for supper and the pudding."</p> + +<p>"We'll go for the milk," said Bunny. "And when we get back we can play +with the bear and the toy train."</p> + +<p>"I'll try to have the toy train running for you when you come back with +the milk," said Mr. Brown. "Trot along now."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown gave Bunny the milk pail, and soon he and Sue, leaving Splash +behind this time, started down the road to the farmhouse where they got +their milk. The farmer sent his boy every day with milk for those at +Camp Rest-a-While, but this time Bunny and Sue had used more than usual, +and Mrs. Brown had to send for some extra.</p> + +<p>It did not take Bunny and Sue long to reach the farmhouse, where their +pail was filled by the farmer's wife.</p> + +<p>"We've got a surprise at our camp," said Bunny, as they started away, +the little boy carefully carrying the pail of milk.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Is that so? What is it?" asked the farmer's wife.</p> + +<p>"We've got two surprises," said Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> "Daddy brought them from the city. +Bunny has a toy train of cars that runs with a city."</p> + +<p>"She means <i>electricity</i>," explained Bunny with a laugh, but saying the +big word very slowly.</p> + +<p>"I don't care. It sounds like that," declared Sue. "And I've got a Teddy +bear and its eyes are little e-lec-tri-<i>city</i> lamps, and they shine like +anything when you push a button in his back."</p> + +<p>"Those are certainly two fine surprises," said the farmer's wife. "Now +be careful not to spill your milk."</p> + +<p>"We'll be careful," promised Bunny.</p> + +<p>He and Sue walked along the country road toward their camp. Suddenly on +a fence Sue saw a squirrel running along.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look, Bunny!" she cried.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked her brother.</p> + +<p>"On that fence. A big gray squirrel!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a fine, big one!" cried Bunny. "Maybe we can catch him and put +him in a cage with a wheel that goes around."</p> + +<p>Bunny carefully set the pail of milk down at the side of the road, out +of the way in case <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>any wagons or automobiles should come along. Then he +ran after the squirrel, that had come to a stop on top of the fence and +stood looking at the children.</p> + +<p>But, as soon as the squirrel with the big tail saw Bunny running toward +him, he scampered away and Bunny followed. So did Sue, leaving the pail +of milk standing in the grass beside the road.</p> + +<p>The squirrel could run on the fence much faster than Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue could run along the road, and pretty soon they saw him +scamper up a tree.</p> + +<p>"Now we can't get him," said Sue, sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"No, I guess not," answered Bunny. "We'd better go back to camp and play +with your Teddy bear and my toy train. Come on."</p> + +<p>They walked back toward the place they had left the pail of milk. As +they came in sight of it Sue cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bunny, look!"</p> + +<p>Bunny looked, and at what he saw he cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a big, shaggy dog had his nose down in the pail of milk, and as he +looked up, at hearing Bunny's cry, he knocked the pail over, spilling +what he had not taken himself.</p> + +<p>"Oh, our milk's all gone!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Sue, in dismay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD MAN</h3> + + +<p>For a moment the two children did not know what to do. They stood still, +looking at the dog who had just drunk the milk from the pail which they +had set down in the road so they could chase the squirrel. Then Bunny, +made bold by thinking of what might happen if he and his sister went +home with the empty pail, thinking also of the pudding which his mother +could not make if she had no milk, gave a loud cry.</p> + +<p>"Get away from there, you bad dog!" cried the little boy. "Leave our +milk alone!" and he started to run toward the shaggy creature.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come back! Come back!" cried Sue. "Don't go near him, Bunny!"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" her brother asked in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"'Cause he might bite you."</p> + +<p>"Huh! I'm not afraid of him!" declared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Bunny. "He doesn't look as +savage as our Splash, and <i>he</i> never bites anybody, though he barks a +lot at tramps."</p> + +<p>So Bunny ran on toward the shaggy dog. The animal stood looking at the +little boy for a moment and then, with a sort of "wuff!" as if to say, +"Well, I've taken all the milk, what are you going to do about it?" away +he trotted down the road. Bunny ran on and picked up the milk pail. Only +a few drops were in the bottom.</p> + +<p>"See I told you he wouldn't bite me! I'm not afraid of that dog!" the +little boy called to his sister.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you did drive him off," said Sue, proud of her brother. "You are +awful brave, Bunny—just as brave as when you played soldier and I cured +you of the Indian fever, and——"</p> + +<p>"It was arrow fever, I keep tellin' you!" insisted Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Well, arrow fever then," agreed Sue. "But is there any milk left, +Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"Not a drop, Sue," and Bunny turned the pail upside down to show.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well," said the little girl with a sigh, "then I guess you weren't +brave in time, Bunny. You didn't save the milk!"</p> + +<p>"Huh, the dog had it all drunk up before I saw him," declared her +brother. "If I'd seen him I'd have stopped him quick enough! I wasn't +afraid of him."</p> + +<p>"But what about more milk?" asked Sue. That was all she could think of, +now that the pail was empty. "We've got to get more milk, Bunny Brown."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I s'pose we have," he agreed. "But we can easy go back to the +farmhouse."</p> + +<p>"No, we can't," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Bunny demanded. "It isn't far, and if you're afraid of the +dog you can stay here, and I'll go for the milk."</p> + +<p>"Nope!" cried Sue, shaking her head until her hair flew into her eyes. +"Mother said you mustn't ever leave me alone, to go anywhere when we +were on the road or in the big woods. I've got to stay with you, and +you've got to stay with me," and she went up and took Bunny by the hand.</p> + +<p>"All right, Sue," said he. "I want you to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>stay with me. But come along +to the farmhouse and we'll get more milk. I'll take a stick, if you want +me to, and keep the dog away. I don't believe he'll come back anyhow. +Don't you know how 'fraid dogs are to come back to you when they've done +something bad. That time Splash ate the meat Bunker Blue brought in and +left on the table—why, that time Splash was so ashamed for what he'd +done that he didn't come into the house all day. This dog won't bite +you."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! I'm not afraid of the <i>dog</i>, Bunny Brown," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Then what are you afraid of?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not 'fraid of anything. But you know what that farm lady said. She +said this was the last quart of milk she could spare, and she didn't +have any more."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so she did!" agreed Bunny. "Then what are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"We've got to do <i>something</i>," said Bunny gravely.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sue. "There isn't any more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>milk at the camp, and the farm +lady hasn't any, and——"</p> + +<p>"Mother wants some to make the surprise-pudding," added Bunny. "I guess +we didn't ought to have tooken that for our play-game," he went on all +mixed up in his English.</p> + +<p>"No," said Sue, "maybe we oughtn't. Let me think now."</p> + +<p>"What you going to think?" asked Bunny. Though he was a little older +than Sue he knew that she often thought more then he did about what they +were going to do or play. Sue was a good thinker. She usually thought +first and did things afterward, while Bunny was just the other way. He +did something first and then thought about it afterward, and sometimes +he was sorry for what he had done. But this time he wanted to know what +Sue was going to think.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to think something?" he asked after a bit.</p> + +<p>Sue stood looking up and down the road.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinkin' now," she said. "Please don't bother me, Bunny."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bunny remained silent, now and then looking into the empty milk pail, +and tipping it upside down, as though that would fill it again. Finally +Sue said:</p> + +<p>"Well, we can't get any milk at the farmhouse. I don't know any other +place around here where we can go, so the only thing to do is to go back +to Camp Rest-a-While."</p> + +<p>"But there's no milk there," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"I know there isn't. But we can tell daddy and mother, and ask them what +to do. They wouldn't want us to go off somewhere else without telling +them. And maybe daddy can go off in the automobile and get some milk at +another farm."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Bunny slowly. "And if we go with him," he added, "and he +does get more milk, we won't set the pail down in the road when we chase +a squirrel. We'll put it in the auto."</p> + +<p>"I guess by the time we get the milk it will be too dark to see to chase +squirrels," said Sue. "It's getting dark now; come on, Bunny."</p> + +<p>The two children started down the road toward the camp, and as they did +so they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>heard a crackling in the bushes on the side of a hill that led +up from the road.</p> + +<p>"Oh, here comes that milk dog back again!" cried Sue, and she snuggled +up close against her brother, though the sinking sun was still shining +across the highway.</p> + +<p>"I won't let him hurt you," said Bunny. "Wait until I get a stone or a +stick."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't do anything to strange dogs!" cried the little girl. +"If you do they might jump at you and bite you. Just don't notice him or +speak to him, and he'll think we're—we're stylish, and he'll pass right +by."</p> + +<p>"Oh well, if you want me to do <i>that</i> way," said Bunny, looking up +toward the place the sound came from, "why I will, only——"</p> + +<p>He stopped speaking suddenly, and pointed up the hill. Sue looked in the +same direction. They saw coming toward them, not a dog, but an old man, +dressed in rather ragged clothes. He looked like what the children +called a tramp, though since they had arrived at the camp they had come +to know that not all persons who wore ragged clothes were tramps. Some +of the farmers and their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>helpers wore their raggedest garments to work +in the dirt of the fields.</p> + +<p>This man might be a farmer. He had long white hair that hung down under +the brim of his black hat, and though he did not have such a nice face +as did the children's father, or their Uncle Tad, still they were not +afraid of him.</p> + +<p>"Going after milk, little ones?" asked the old man, and his voice was +not unpleasant.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; we've just been," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm afraid you'll spill your milk if you swing your pail that +way," went on the old man, for Bunny was moving the pail to and fro, +with wide swings of his arms.</p> + +<p>"It would spill, if there was any in the pail," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"But there isn't," added Bunny.</p> + +<p>"It's spilled already and we don't know where to get any more," +explained Sue.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't <i>'zactly</i> spilled," Bunny added, for he and Sue always tried +to speak the exact truth. "A dog drank it up."</p> + +<p>"While we were chasin' a squirrel," added his sister.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I would have driven him away if I'd seen him in time," Bunny +declared positively. "He put his nose right in the pail and licked up +all the milk, and what he didn't eat he spilled and then he ran away."</p> + +<p>"And the lady at the farmhouse hasn't any more milk," Sue explained. +"And there isn't any at the camp and——"</p> + +<p>"Mother can't make the pudding," finished Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" wailed Sue.</p> + +<p>"My, you have a lot of troubles!" said the ragged man. "But if you'll +come with me maybe I can help you."</p> + +<p>"Where do you want us to come?" asked Bunny, remembering that his mother +had told him never to go anywhere with strangers, and never to let Sue +go, either.</p> + +<p>"If you'll come up to my little cabin in the woods I can let you have +some milk," said the ragged man. "I keep a cow, and I have more milk +than I can use or sell. It isn't far. Come with me," and he held out his +hands to the children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A NOISE AT NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were not sure whether or not they should +go with the old man. They remembered what their mother had said to them +about walking off with strangers, and they hung back.</p> + +<p>But when Bunny looked at the empty milk pail and remembered that there +was no milk in camp for supper, and none with which his mother could +make the pudding he and his sister liked so much, he made up his mind it +would be all right to go to the little cabin in the woods.</p> + +<p>"Come on," urged the old man.</p> + +<p>"Do you sell milk?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, little girl. Though my cow with the crumpled horn does not +give such a lot of milk, there is more than I use. I sell what I can, +but even then I have some left over. I have plenty to sell to you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We only want a quart," said Bunny. "That's all we have money for. +Mother gave us some extra pennies when we went for milk to the +farmhouse, but we have only six cents left. Will that buy a quart of +milk?"</p> + +<p>"It will here in the woods and the country," answered the old man, "but +it wouldn't in the city. However, my crumpled-horn cow's milk is only +six cents a quart."</p> + +<p>"Has your cow really got a crumpled horn?" asked Sue eagerly, for she +loved queer things.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she has a crumpled horn, but she isn't the one that jumped over +the moon," said the old man with a smile.</p> + +<p>The children liked him better after that, though when Bunny found a +chance to whisper to his sister as they walked through the woods, along +the path and behind the old man, the little boy said:</p> + +<p>"I guess he means to be kind, but he's kind of <i>funny</i>, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"A little bit," answered Sue.</p> + +<p>The old man walked on ahead, the children, hand in hand, following, and +the bushes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>clinked against the empty tin pail that Bunny carried.</p> + +<p>"Here you are," said the old man, as he turned on the path, and before +them Bunny and his sister saw a log cabin. Near it was a shed, and as +the children stopped and looked, from the shed came a long, low "Moo!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that the crumpled-horn cow?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the old man. "I'll get some of her milk for you. I keep +it in a pail down in the spring, so it will be cool. Let me take your +pail and I'll fill it for you while you go to see the cow. She is gentle +and won't hurt you."</p> + +<p>Letting the old man take the pail, Bunny and Sue went to look at the +cow. The door of the shed was in two parts, and the children opened the +upper half.</p> + +<p>"Moo!" called the cow as she stuck out her head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, see, one of her horns <i>is</i> crumpled!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Let's wait, and <i>maybe</i> she'll jump over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>moon," suggested Sue, who +remembered the nursery rhyme of "Hey-diddle-diddle."</p> + +<p>But though the children remained standing near the cow shed for two or +three minutes, the cow, one of whose horns was twisted, or crumpled, +made no effort to jump out of her stable and leap over the moon.</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue were not afraid of cows, especially when they were kept in +a stable, so they were soon rubbing the head of the ragged man's bossy.</p> + +<p>"Well, you have made friends, I see," came a voice behind the children, +and there stood the ragged man with their pail full of milk. "I am glad +you like my cow," he said. "She is a good cow and gives rich milk. Any +time you spill your milk again come to me and I'll sell you some."</p> + +<p>"We didn't spill this milk," explained Bunny carefully. "A dog drank +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, then come to me whenever you need milk, and you can't get any at +the farmhouse," went on the old man, as Bunny gave him the six pennies.</p> + +<p>"All right, sir," said Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where do you live?" asked the ragged man.</p> + +<p>"At Camp Rest-a-While," answered Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're the children who live in the tents. I know where your place +is."</p> + +<p>"And to-night my father brought me a toy electric train from the city," +said Bunny Brown. "It runs on a track with batteries, and you can switch +it on and off and it—it's won'erful!"</p> + +<p>"So is my Teddy bear!" exclaimed Sue. "It has real lights for eyes and +they burn bright when you press a button in Teddy's back."</p> + +<p>"Those are fine toys," said the ragged man. "We never had such toys as +that when I was a boy. And so your train runs by an electrical battery, +does it, my boy?" he asked Bunny, and he seemed anxious to hear all +about it.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and a strong one. Daddy said I must be careful not to get a +shock."</p> + +<p>"That's right. Electric shocks are not very good. Except for folks that +have rheumatism," said the old man. "I have a touch of that myself now +and then, but I haven't any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>battery. But now you'd better run along +with your milk, or your father and mother may be worried about you. Do +you know your way back to camp all right?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, thank you," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And we're much obliged to you for letting us have the milk," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you paid me for it, and I was glad to sell it. I need the money +because I can't earn much any more. I should thank you as a store keeper +thanks his customers. And I'll say 'come again,'" and with a smile and a +wave of his hand the ragged man said good-bye to the children.</p> + +<p>"Now we mustn't set our pail down again," said Bunny; "not even if we +see a squirrel."</p> + +<p>"That's right," agreed Sue.</p> + +<p>In a little while they were safely back at camp again, just as Uncle Tad +was about to set off in search of them.</p> + +<p>"What kept you so long, children?" asked Mrs. Brown, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we saw a squirrel," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And we set the milk pail down and chased it—chased the squirrel I +mean," added Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And then a dog drank up the milk," went on Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And we couldn't get any more at the farmhouse," said Sue, speaking +next.</p> + +<p>"But the ragged man, who lives in a cabin in the woods, and has a cow +with the crumpled horn though she didn't jump over the moon—he gave us +more milk for six cents," said Bunny, all in one breath.</p> + +<p>"What's this about a ragged man?" asked Mr. Brown quickly, "and where +does he live?"</p> + +<p>The children explained. Mr. and Mrs. Brown looked at one another and +then Mr. Brown said:</p> + +<p>"Well, the ragged man meant all right, and he was very kind. But I +wouldn't go off into the woods with strangers again, Bunny and Sue. They +might get lost, or you might, and there would be a dreadful time until +we found you again. After this don't set your milk pail down, and you +won't have to hunt around for milk for supper. Now wash and get ready to +eat the surprise."</p> + +<p>"Can't I play with my electric train a little while?" asked Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And can't I play with my Teddy bear?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"I've got your train in running order," said Mr. Brown. "You can play +with it outside, near the campfire. But at night we'll have to take it +into the tent, for there might be rain."</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown soon showed Bunny how to start and stop the electric train by +turning a switch. The train was pulled by a little locomotive made of +steel and tin. Inside was a tiny electric motor, which was worked by a +current from the dry battery cells, such as make your door bell ring, +except that they were stronger.</p> + +<p>"All aboard for the city, on track five!" cried Bunny, as he had heard +the starter in the railroad station cry.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" cried Sue. "I want to get on the train +with my Teddy bear that makes her eyes all light."</p> + +<p>"Make-believe, you mean; don't you?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Of course make-believe," answered Sue. "I couldn't sit on your little +cars.</p> + +<p>"Maybe the Teddy bear could," she added.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, let's try," said Bunny. "Then we could give him a truly, really +ride."</p> + +<p>The Teddy bear was quite large, but not very heavy, and by stretching it +along three cars it could get on the train very nicely. It was even too +long for three cars, but hanging over a bit did not matter, Sue said.</p> + +<p>So she put it on top of the train, turned on its electric eyes, and then +Bunny turned on the switch that made the current go into the motor of +his engine. At first the train would not start, for the bear was a bit +heavy for it, but when Bunny gave the engine a little push with his hand +away it went as nicely as you please, pulling the bear around and around +the shiny track, which was laid in a circle.</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" called Sue. "Stop the train I Here is where my Teddy gets off."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't say whoa when you stop a train," objected Bunny. "Whoa is +to stop a horse."</p> + +<p>"Well, how do you stop a train?" Sue asked.</p> + +<p>"Just say 'ding!' That's one bell and the engineer knows that means to +stop."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought bells stopped trolley cars," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"They do, but they stop trains too, 'specially as mine is an electric +train."</p> + +<p>"All right. Ding!" called Sue sharply.</p> + +<p>Bunny turned the switch the other way to shut off the current, and the +train stopped. Sue took off the Teddy bear and said "Thank you" to +Conductor Bunny Brown.</p> + +<p>Then the little boy played with his toy train by himself, while Sue +pretended her Teddy bear was visiting in Sue's Aunt Lu's city home and +kept winking its electric-light eyes at Wopsie, a little colored girl +Bunny and Sue had known in New York, where Aunt Lu lived.</p> + +<p>"Supper!" suddenly called Mother Brown, and the two hungry children +hurried into the dining tent where Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad were waiting +for them.</p> + +<p>"Well, how did your electric train go?" asked Bunny's father.</p> + +<p>"Fine! It's the best ever."</p> + +<p>"And my Teddy is just lovely," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Well, be careful of your toys," said Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Brown. "Better bring in the +tracks and the engine and cars right after supper."</p> + +<p>"I will," Bunny promised, "after I've played with them a bit."</p> + +<p>It was dusk when he and Sue took up the shiny track and carried the +batteries and other parts of the toy railroad into the sleeping tent, +for Bunny said he wanted it near him.</p> + +<p>The children sat up a little later than usual that night, as they always +did when their father had come to the camp from the city. Bunny talked +of nothing but his railroad, planning fun for the morrow, while Sue said +she was going to get some little girls, who lived in a near-by +farmhouse, and have a party for her Teddy bear.</p> + +<p>"Time to go to Slumberland now," called Mrs. Brown, when it was nearly +nine o'clock. "Go to bed early and you'll get up so much the earlier."</p> + +<p>So off to their little cots, behind the hanging curtains, went Bunny and +Sue, and soon after saying their prayers they were asleep, one to dream +he was a conductor on a big electric train, while the other dreamed of +carrying a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>big, crying Teddy bear upside down through the woods with a +milk pail hanging to its nose.</p> + +<p>Just what time it was Bunny and Sue did not know, but they were both +suddenly awakened by feeling the tent, on the side nearest to which they +slept, being pushed in. The canvas walls bulged as though some one were +trying to get through them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy!" cried Sue, as she saw the tent move in the light of a +lantern that burned dimly beyond the curtains behind which she and Bunny +slept. "Oh, Daddy, something is after us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it's an elephant!" cried Bunny, as he, too, saw the tent sway. +"It's an elephant got loose from the circus, and he's after us!"</p> + +<p>With that he bounded out of bed, and, waiting only long enough to clasp +each other by the hand, the two children burst into that part of the +tent where Mr. and Mrs. Brown slept.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>BUNNY ROLLS DOWN HILL</h3> + + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Brown, thrusting his head out from +between the two curtains behind which his wife and he had their cots. +"Why are you two children up at this time of night?"</p> + +<p>"We—we couldn't sleep in our part of the tent," explained Sue, +snuggling up closer to Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't sleep, my dear? Was it the mosquitoes?" asked Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"No'm. It was an elephant," explained Bunny.</p> + +<p>"A burglar elephant," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"He poked his head into the tent right over our bed," went on Bunny.</p> + +<p>"But we didn't stay," added Sue. "We came out to see if you and daddy +were all right. Burglar elephants aren't nice at all."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What in the world are they talking about?" asked Mr. Brown. "A burglar +elephant? What does it mean?"</p> + +<p>"It must have been some sound they heard outside the tent," said Mrs. +Brown. "Or perhaps they dreamed something."</p> + +<p>"No'm, we didn't dream," cried Bunny, while his sister Sue nodded her +head to show that she thought as he did. "It was something as big as an +elephant and it most shook the tent down."</p> + +<p>"I felt something move the tent from the outside," said Mrs. Brown, "but +I thought it was the wind."</p> + +<p>"I'll soon see what it was!" cried Mr. Brown. "You two kiddies jump into +bed with your mother, and I'll take a look outside."</p> + +<p>He put on his dressing gown and slippers, and while Bunny and his sister +Sue went behind the curtains to snuggle down in the bed with their +mother, Mr. Brown, taking a lantern, started for the outside of the +tent.</p> + +<p>He had just reached the flaps, the ropes of which he was loosening, and +Bunny and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>sister were hardly in their mother's cot—a tight fit for +three—when the canvas house was violently shaken and within the very +tent itself sounded a loud:</p> + +<p>"Moo! Moo!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a cow!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And I can see it!" cried Sue, poking her head out between the curtains +nearest her mother's bed. "I can see it."</p> + +<p>"Is it an elephanty cow?" eagerly asked Bunny from his side of the cot.</p> + +<p>"No, it's a cow with a crumpled horn—two crumpled horns—and daddy's +pushing its face out of the tent," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"Let me see!" cried Bunny, and, in spite of his mother's call to get +back into bed, out he popped to stand near the curtains that hung down +in front of his mother's cot.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's only a cow—a crumpled-horn cow," Bunny announced after he +had taken a look.</p> + +<p>"But it pushed hard enough to be an elephant, didn't it?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"That's what it did. I thought the tent would come down," agreed Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What makes you say it was a crumpled-horn cow?" asked Mrs. Brown, as +she too looked through the crack of the curtain and saw her husband +pushing the animal outside.</p> + +<p>"'Cause it's got crumpled horns like the ragged man's cow. The man that +gave us milk after the dog drank ours," said Bunny. "Only his cow had +only <i>one</i> crooked horn and this cow has <i>two</i>. Hasn't it, Sue?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But it looks like a nice cow."</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't want cows in our sleeping tent at night," said Mr. +Brown. "I'll start this one down hill, and in the morning some one who +comes for it will have to hunt for it. We haven't anything here with +which to feed cows."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter up there?" called a voice, and the children knew it +was that of Uncle Tad, who slept in a little tent by himself, near the +one where the cooking was done.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter up there?" he called.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a cow tried to take up quarters with us," explained Mr. Brown. "I'm +trying to shove her out of the tent, but she seems to want to stay."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll lead her away and tie her," said Uncle Tad.</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue heard him tramping up from his tent to theirs and then he +led the crumpled-horn cow away, the animal now and then giving voice to:</p> + +<p>"Moo! Moo!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it too bad she couldn't sleep here?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"She's too big," declared Bunny. "But Sue, did you see two of her horns +crumpled or only one?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Bunny, I—I guess it was two, but I'm not sure. What makes you ask +me that?"</p> + +<p>Before Bunny could answer his mother called:</p> + +<p>"Come now, you children have been up long enough. Get back to bed or +you'll want to sleep so late in the morning that it will be dinner time +before you get up. The elephant-cow has gone away. Uncle Tad will lead +her to the foot of the hill, near the brook, where she can get a drink +of water and she won't bother you any more. So go back to your cots."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue went. They could hear Uncle Tad leading the elephant cow, +as they called her, through the bushes, and hear him talking to her.</p> + +<p>"Come bossy! Come on now. That's a good cow!"</p> + +<p>The cow seemed to lead along easily enough, and pretty soon no more +noises could be heard in camp except the chirping of the crickets or the +songs of the katydids and katydidn'ts.</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue covered themselves up in their cots, for it was cool +getting up in the middle of the night. They both tried to go to sleep, +but found it not so easy as they had hoped.</p> + +<p>"Sue! Sue!" whispered Bunny, after a while.</p> + +<p>"Yes. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Are you asleep?"</p> + +<p>"No, 'course not. How could I answer you if I was?"</p> + +<p>"That's so. You couldn't. Well, I just wanted to know."</p> + +<p>There was silence for a few seconds and then Sue whispered:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are you asleep, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"No, 'course not. If I was how could I talk to you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought maybe you might have gone to sleep. Say, Bunny!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"I—I'm not quite sure about that cow havin' two crumpled horns or one."</p> + +<p>"Neither'm I," said Bunny. "That's what I woke you up to find out +about."</p> + +<p>"You didn't wake me up 'cause I wasn't asleep. But I <i>think</i> the cow had +two crumpled, twisted horns."</p> + +<p>"That's what I thought," said Bunny. "And, if she did, then she didn't +belong to the raggedy man, for his cow had only one."</p> + +<p>"That's so," admitted Sue. "But maybe she twisted the other horn pushing +her way through the bushes to our tent."</p> + +<p>"Bushes aren't strong enough to twist a cow's horn!" replied Bunny, +trying to set his little sister right.</p> + +<p>"Yes they are too, Bunny Brown! 'Specially a wild grape vine that's +strong enough <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>to make a swing!" Sue was growing sleepy and a little +cross.</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe——"</p> + +<p>But now the voice of Mrs. Brown broke in on the talk of the two +children.</p> + +<p>"Stop talking right away, both of you, my dears," she ordered, and Bunny +and Sue knew she meant it.</p> + +<p>"All right, Mother," they said, while Sue whispered, just before she +closed her eyes: "We'll find out whose cow it is in the morning."</p> + +<p>But they did not, at least right away, for when they ran down to the +brook before breakfast, to wash their hands and faces as they always +did, they saw nothing of the cow.</p> + +<p>"Where did you tie her, Uncle Tad?" they asked.</p> + +<p>"Right by the big willow tree," he answered. "Maybe she broke away in +the night and tried to get back to the tent."</p> + +<p>The cow certainly had broken away, for there was one end of the rope +still tied to the tree, while the other end was broken and frazzled, +showing it had not been cut.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I guess whoever owns her will find her," said Mr. Brown as he sat +down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs. He had to go back to the city +that day, and the children were sorry, for they counted on having good +times with him.</p> + +<p>"But I'll come back Friday night," he promised, "and I'll stay until +Monday morning. That will give us two whole days together."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then we'll have fun!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And will you help me play with my 'lectri<i>city</i> Teddy Bear?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"I surely will!" answered Mr. Brown, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"And may I play with my e-lec-tric train while you're away?" asked +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but be very careful of it," said his father. "It is strong, but it +can be broken or put out of order. So if you play with it take it to +some level place in the woods, and be careful how you set up the track. +Don't make too big a one."</p> + +<p>Bunny promised that he would not, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>soon after Mr. Brown had gone +away in his automobile, the children, Sue taking her Teddy bear and +Bunny his toy train, started into the woods to play.</p> + +<p>"Don't go too far," called their mother. "You must hear me when I call +you to dinner. These woods are very big, you know."</p> + +<p>The children wandered off on a woodland path until, after trying, they +found they could just hear their mother's voice.</p> + +<p>"And here will be a fine place to play," said Bunny, when they reached a +shady level place on top of a little hill that led down to the lake that +was near Camp Rest-a-While.</p> + +<p>"It will be all right if we don't fall down the hill," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll keep away back from the edge," decided Bunny.</p> + +<p>Then he began setting up the track for his toy train of cars, while Sue +made a comfortable place for her Teddy bear to sleep, first showing the +animal with the electric eyes all about the woods, in which were the big +trees and the low bushes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bunny set his track around in a circle, and after connecting the strong +batteries to the track he put the electric locomotive on and coupled +together the cars. Then, when he turned the switch, the engine and train +ran along the rails very swiftly.</p> + +<p>But Bunny soon grew tired of making the train go around in a circle. He +wanted it to run along on a straight track, as the real trains do, and, +having plenty of straight lengths of track in his box, he soon set up +more rails that stretched off in a straight line.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're gettin' awful near the edge of the hill that goes down to +the lake," warned Sue, as she made believe to feed her Teddy bear some +huckleberries.</p> + +<p>"But I'm putting a curve at the end of the track so the engine and cars +will turn back toward me," said Bunny. "Than I'll shut off the power +before they can run off on the ground."</p> + +<p>Bunny started his train the new way. At first the engine and the cars +rolled slowly over the rails, for the ground was a little uphill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Then +they came to a part that was downhill.</p> + +<p>"Now see 'em go!" cried Bunny in delight.</p> + +<p>"They're going awful fast!" cried Sue. "You'd better look out!"</p> + +<p>"This is an express train," explained Bunny. "Express trains are very +fast."</p> + +<p>Indeed the toy locomotive did seem to be going very fast. It rocked and +swayed on the tin rails, and it was soon near the end of the line where +there was a curve.</p> + +<p>And there is where the accident happened. The curve was so sharp, and +the electric engine was going so fast, that, instead of turning around, +it kept on straight, jumped over the rails and began to run down hill on +the dirt and stone path that led to the lake.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" cried Bunny, and then, before Sue could stop him, her brother +ran to the edge of the hill. He saw his toy engine and cars rolling over +and over toward the lake at the bottom of the hill, and, without +stopping a second, over the hill went Bunny Brown himself—slipping, +sliding and falling down!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Bunny! Come back! Come back!" cried Sue, very much excited.</p> + +<p>But Bunny was rolling over and over down the hill after his train, and +he could not answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>AFTER THE LOST COW</h3> + + +<p>Bunny Brown was thinking of two things when he started to roll downhill. +One was that his train might roll into the water and be spoiled, for his +father had told him that there were bits of electrical machinery on the +engine that would be spoiled if water touched them.</p> + +<p>Then Bunny thought of himself rolling into the water, for the hill was +steep on this shore of the lake, and any one rolling down, if he were +not stopped before he reached the bottom, would be almost sure to go +into the lake.</p> + +<p>"But I don't mind so much about myself," thought Bunny. "My clothes will +get wet, but I've got on an old suit and water won't hurt that. It won't +hurt me, either, for I get wet when I go in swimming, and I can swim now +if I have to. But my train can't swim, 'cause that's iron, and iron will +sink, daddy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>told me. So I've got to catch the train before it goes into +the lake."</p> + +<p>The thought of this made Bunny try to roll over and over faster, so he +could win in the race down the hill between himself and the train. If he +could get hold of the train before it touched the water all would be +well, he hoped. He could toss the train to one side, out of harm's way, +even if he fell into the water himself.</p> + +<p>"But can I get it?" thought Bunny, as he rolled over and over.</p> + +<p>He could hear Sue calling to him at the top of the hill, on the very +edge of which he had made the curve of his track. He realized now that +it was too near the edge. What Sue was saying Bunny could not hear, but +he imagined she was begging him to stop rolling downhill and come back +to her.</p> + +<p>"As if I could!" thought Bunny to himself. "This rolling downhill isn't +any fun. I didn't really mean to do it, but I couldn't help it. I wanted +to run or slide down. There are too many stones for rolling."</p> + +<p>Indeed there were, for the slope of the hill <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>down to the lake was not +of soft grass. Instead it was of gravel and stone and these were very +rough for a small boy to roll on. Still Bunny did not mind if he could +get his locomotive and train of cars.</p> + +<p>He could see them just ahead of him, rolling over and over just as he +was doing. Of course there was no electricity in the toy locomotive now. +The current, as the electricity is called, was all in the rails, going +into them from the batteries, and from there it went into the motor or +the wheels, gears and other things inside the engine that made it roll +along.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's rolling faster than I am," thought Bunny. "It will get to +the bottom first, and go in the water."</p> + +<p>This seemed to be what would happen. For the engine and cars had started +ahead of Bunny, and, too, they were not so big as he. It took him some +time to turn over, for there was more of him.</p> + +<p>It was not the first time Bunny had rolled downhill. Often he and Sue, +finding a nice smooth, grassy slope in the country, had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>started at the +top and rolled all the way to the bottom, over and over, getting up +slightly dizzy.</p> + +<p>But Bunny had never rolled down such a long, steep and rough hill as +this, and he really did not mean to do it. He had started out to run to +the bottom, or slide along, his feet buried in the soft sand and gravel. +But he had slipped, and the only thing now to do was to roll, just as +the train was doing.</p> + +<p>Bunny looked down the slope again. He saw that the train was almost in +the water, and he was wondering how much spoiled it would be, and +whether it could be fixed again, so it could be run, when he suddenly +saw a man step from the fringe of bushes at the edge of the lake and +pick up the engine and cars just as they went into the water, getting +only a little wet in the edge of the lake.</p> + +<p>The man was roughly dressed, and for a moment Bunny thought he was the +old hermit who lived in the lonely log cabin, and who had sold Bunny and +Sue some milk the day before, when the dog had taken their pailful.</p> + +<p>But another look, as Bunny tried to slow-up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>his rolling, told him it +was another man. He was just as ragged as the hermit who kept a cow, but +he did not have long hair, nor a long white beard, and his face was very +dark.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's one of the Indians!" quickly thought Bunny. "Well, he saved +my train all right. I'm glad of that."</p> + +<p>With a slide and a roll Bunny reached the foot of the hill, and by +catching hold of a small tree he saved himself from slipping into the +water.</p> + +<p>The Indian looked up from the toy train at which he was gazing in +puzzled fashion.</p> + +<p>"That's mine," said Bunny, speaking slowly. He knew some of the Indians +who lived on a reservation in the big woods, not far from Camp +Rest-a-While. Some of them could speak fairly good English and +understand it. Others knew only a few words and Bunny wanted to make +sure this Indian understood him.</p> + +<p>"Huh! This you?" asked the red man, as the Indians are sometimes called.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's mine," said Bunny. "It's a train of cars."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, puff-puff train. Eagle Feather ride in puff-puff train once. How +him go?" and he set Bunny's train down on a smooth rock, while the +little boy shook the dust from his clothes and tried to comb it out of +his hair with his fingers.</p> + +<p>"It can't go now—no track—no electric current," explained Bunny. +"Track up there on top of hill," he went on, motioning and speaking as +slowly as he could, and with few words, so the Indian would understand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go electricity—same as like lights in big city," said Eagle +Feather, which seemed to be the Indian's name. "Me +know—Buzz—whizz—flash—go quick—no come back."</p> + +<p>"That's it," laughed Bunny Brown. He was not afraid of the Indian. The +men and the squaws, or women, used often to come to Camp Rest-a-While to +sell their baskets, their bead work or bows and arrows.</p> + +<p>"That your train puff-puff cars. You take," said the Indian, handing the +toy to the little boy. "Indian see him ready to swim in water, no t'ink +good—catch um."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you did," said Bunny. "Thank <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>you. I nearly went into the +water myself."</p> + +<p>"Water good for boy—good for muskrat too, maybe," said Eagle Feather. +"Maybe not so good for meke-believe puff-puff train."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Bunny. "If my toy train had fallen into the lake +and stayed there very long, it might never have run again. But I can run +after I've been in the water."</p> + +<p>Then Bunny heard a voice calling to him from up on top of the hill:</p> + +<p>"Bunny! Bunny Brown! Are you all right?"</p> + +<p>Bunny looked up quickly, and so did the Indian. Sue was standing on top +of the hill, holding her Teddy bear with the little electric eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right, Sue," called up Bunny. "Come down if you want to. But +come down by the path. My train is all right, too. Eagle Feather saved +it for me. He's one of the Indians from the reservation."</p> + +<p>The State had set aside certain land for the Indians on which they must +live. Bunny and Sue, with their father or mother or Uncle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Tad, had +often been to the place where the Indians lived.</p> + +<p>"Are you all right, Bunny?" asked Sue again.</p> + +<p>"Yep. Course. But I'm all dirty. Don't you roll down."</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised the little girl, and she started for the path, which +was an easier way of getting to the bottom of the hill. The Indian +waited with Bunny, and when Sue stood beside the two Eagle Feather gave +a sort of grunt of welcome, for Indians are not great talkers.</p> + +<p>"Bunny has an 'lectric train," said Sue, for she was no more afraid of +the red men than was her brother. "Bunny has an 'lectric train, and I +have an 'lectric Teddy bear. See, Eagle Feather!"</p> + +<p>She pushed the button, or switch, in the back of her toy, and at once +the eyes flashed out brightly.</p> + +<p>"Huh! That much like real bear when you see him in dark by campfire," +said the Indian. "Much funny. Let Eagle Feather see!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sue showed the Indian how to make the eyes gleam by pressing the button +in the toy bear's back, and Eagle Feather did this several times. He +seemed to think the toy bear was a more wonderful toy than the train he +had saved from the lake. He gave this back to Bunny and kept the bear, +flashing the eyes again and again.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't do it too much or you'll wear out the batteries inside the +bear," said Bunny. "The same kind of electric batteries make the eyes of +the bear bright as run my train."</p> + +<p>"Huh! Indian no want to make little girl's toy bad," said the Indian +handing it back. "Great toy, much. Very good to have."</p> + +<p>"What are you doing so far away from your camp?" asked Bunny. "Have you +some bows and arrows to sell?"</p> + +<p>"No got to sell to-day. Indian come to hunt lost cow."</p> + +<p>"Have you lost a cow?" asked Bunny and Sue together.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Maybe you see him. He got two horns funny twisted—so"; and Eagle +Feather <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>picked up a crooked branch, like a fork or crotch, both parts +of which were gnarled and twisted. "Horns like him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, just like that," said Bunny. "The cow came to our tent in the +night and we thought it was an elephant. Was it your cow? We thought it +belonged to the white hermit who sold us milk last night."</p> + +<p>"No, two-crooked-horn cow belong Eagle Feather. Where you see him?"</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue told of Uncle Tad having tied the cow in the night and of +her having broken loose.</p> + +<p>"But maybe we can see which way she went by her hoof-prints in the mud," +said Bunny. "Come on, Eagle Feather. You saved my train from going into +the lake where maybe I couldn't get it up, so we'll help you find your +lost cow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE MISSING TRAIN</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Eagle Feather, the Indian, stood looking at the two +children, and yet not so much at them as at their two toys—the +electrical train, and at the Teddy Bear with the queer electric eyes. It +was hard to say of which the Indian was most fond.</p> + +<p>"You ought to see my train run on the track!" exclaimed Bunny, as he +shook some drops of water off the cars and engine. "I guess I'll have to +put oil on it now to keep it from getting rusty, as Uncle Tad does when +I leave his tools out all night."</p> + +<p>"And you ought to see my doll at night!" added Sue. "Her eyes shine like +anything, and once, after I got to bed, and wanted a drink of water that +was on a chair near my bed, I just lighted Sallie Malinda's eyes, and I +found the drink without calling mother."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Huh! Heap big medicine—both of um!" grunted the Indian.</p> + +<p>Eagle Feather was one of the oldest of the tribe of Onondagas who lived +on the reservation, and though he usually spoke fairly good English, +sometimes he talked as his grandfather had done when he was a boy and +the early settlers first had to do with the Indians.</p> + +<p>And when Eagle Feather called the children's toys "heap big medicine," +he did not mean exactly the kind of medicine you have to take when you +are sick.</p> + +<p>The Indians have two kinds of medicine, as they call it. One is made of +the roots and barks of trees, berries and bushes which they take, and +some of which we still use, like witch hazel and sassafras. But they +also have another kind of medicine, which is like what might be called a +charm; as some pretty stone, a feather, a bone or two, or anything they +might have picked up in the woods as it took their fancy. These things +they wear around their necks or arms and think they keep away sickness +and bad luck.</p> + +<p>So when Eagle Feather called the toy train <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>and the Teddy bear of Bunny +Brown and his sister Sue, "heap big medicine," he meant they would be +good not only to cure sickness without medicine, but also keep bad luck +away from whoever had them.</p> + +<p>"Now we'll help find your cow, Eagle Feather," said Bunny, for he was no +more afraid of the Indian than you would be of the fireman down in the +engine house at the end of your street, or the policeman on your block. +Bunny and Sue had lived in the Big Woods so long now, and had seen the +Indians so often, even to learning the names of some of them, that they +thought no more of them than of some of the farmers round about.</p> + +<p>"All right—we go find cow," said Eagle Feather. "No milk for little +papoose if cow no come home." "Papoose" was the word the Indians used +for "baby," and in the log cabin where Eagle Feather lived were two or +three papooses.</p> + +<p>"It must have been your cow that poked her head into our tent," said +Sue, "for she had two crumpled horns, and the farmer's had only one."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That right," said Eagle Feather with a sort of grunt. "My cow have two +horns twist like so," and he held up two fingers and made a sort of +corkscrew motion in the air with his hands.</p> + +<p>"Then that was your cow all right," said Bunny. "Uncle Tad tied her to a +tree, but maybe we can find her."</p> + +<p>"Sure we find," grunted Eagle Feather. "Heap big medicine little boy an' +girl have soon find cow."</p> + +<p>What the Indian meant was that he believed the toy train and the +electrical Teddy bear would bring such good luck that the lost cow would +soon be found.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown had gone back to the city when Bunny and Sue, each one +carrying a toy, and followed by Eagle Feather, came back to Camp +Rest-a-While. Bunny was in worse condition than his sister, for he had +rolled down the steep hill. Sue's dress was torn a little.</p> + +<p>"Why, Bunny! Why, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown as she saw the two children. +"Where in the world have you been?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"In the woods, playing with our toys," answered Bunny. "Sue made her +Teddy's eyes flash to scare away the tigers and lions all around us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you were playing make-believe," said Mother Brown, for well she +knew the different games the children made up.</p> + +<p>"But Bunny's runaway train was real," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Did your train run away?" asked Mrs. Brown, not paying much attention +to the Indian at first, as it was common to see them around the camp, +whither they came to beg for scraps of food, the remains of a ham bone, +and such things.</p> + +<p>"Did your train really run away, Bunny?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Oh, Bunny, +you've been in the dirt!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it's a good thing he didn't get <i>wet</i>," went on Sue, for both +children always told everything that happened to them as soon as they +got back home. Only sometimes it took a little longer than usual to +think up all the happenings. "He almost rolled into the lake, Bunny +did."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You did!" cried Mrs. Brown. "How did it happen?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I made the track straight, instead of in a circle, and the train +got to going so fast in a straight line that it ran off the end of the +rails downhill. I ran after it, but I slipped and rolled. Then the train +rolled into the water, but only a teenty little way, and Eagle Feather +got it out. Wasn't he good?"</p> + +<p>"He was indeed, and we must thank him," said Mrs. Brown. "But did he +stop you from going into the water also, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"No, Momsie. I stopped myself by catching hold of a tree. But I almost +went in. I'd have gone in after my train anyhow, if Eagle Feather hadn't +got it for me."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Eagle Feather," said Mrs. Brown. "I must give you some of +the nice soup I have made. The papooses will like it."</p> + +<p>"Squaw like it, and Indian like it heap, too," said Eagle Feather.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the squaw, as you call your wife, and the little children, +must have some first."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. Give 'em milk too, if so he can find cow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is your cow lost? And was it she who poked her head in our tent +last night?" asked Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"I think it was, Mother," said Bunny. "She had two crumpled horns, and +the one the farmer owns has only one. Sue and I are going to help Eagle +Feather find his cow."</p> + +<p>"Well, you mustn't go very deep into the big woods," said Mrs. Brown. +"But then I think the cow can't have wandered far, for there is good +feeding near where Uncle Tad tied her."</p> + +<p>"You show me where cow broke loose, I find her," said Eagle Feather. +"Indian hab heap good medicine to find cow."</p> + +<p>"Medicine? You don't need medicine to find a cow," said Mrs. Brown. "You +might need medicine if your cow were sick, but she didn't look sick when +she poked her nose into the tent."</p> + +<p>"Cow no sick, but heap good medicine find her all same," replied Eagle +Feather, smiling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He means our toys, Mother," said Bunny. "He called my train of cars and +Sue's doll heap good medicine."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "It's a sort of charm. But you +mustn't believe in that sort of nonsense, children, even if some of the +more ignorant Indians do."</p> + +<p>"But, Mother," asked Bunny, "mayn't I show Eagle Feather how my toy +train works? He didn't see it, and I know he'd like to. Mayn't I show +him the train and how it runs?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I suppose so. But be quick about it, if you are going to help +him hunt for his cow."</p> + +<p>Bunny relaid the track, in a circle this time, so the engine and cars +would not roll off to where they were not intended to go. Meanwhile Sue +flashed the eyes of her Teddy Bear so Eagle Feather could see them. He +looked very closely at the toy, but when Bunny had his train on the +circular track, the batteries connected, and had started the little +locomotive pulling the cars after it, the eyes of Eagle Feather grew big +with wonder.</p> + +<p>"Great medicine!" he exclaimed. "Heap <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>big powerful. Indian do anything +with that medicine. Bring him along an' soon find cow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't bring my whole train, the track and the batteries into +the woods," said Bunny. "But I'll take one car with me."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe one car help some," said the Indian. "Little gal bring baby +bear whose eyes light up same as in dark by campfire."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll bring Sallie Malinda," promised Sue. "That's my Teddy's +name," she explained.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't lose your toys," cautioned their mother, "and don't be gone +too long, for dinner will soon be ready. And, Eagle Feather, don't +forget to come back for the soup," she concluded.</p> + +<p>"Me no forget," said the Indian.</p> + +<p>Then with the children he went to the place where Uncle Tad had tied the +stray cow, and from where she had broken loose. That was the starting +place for the search.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown was not at all nervous about letting Bunny and Sue go away +with the Indian, Eagle Feather. All the farmers for miles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>around spoke +of his honesty and kindness. He owned several farms, as well as horses +and cows. He did business with the white people, and all of them trusted +him. Mr. Brown often bought things from him.</p> + +<p>Bunny, carrying one car of his train, and Sue, her Teddy bear to which +she had given such a queer name, led the Indian to the tree to which +Uncle Tad had tied the cow in the night. There was the broken end of the +rope still tied around the tree, but there was no cow on the other end +of it.</p> + +<p>"She go this way," said Eagle Feather, pointing off toward the west.</p> + +<p>"How can you tell?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"See feet marks in soft dirt—see broken branches where cow go +through—no look for path," and the Indian pointed to several branches +broken from the bushes through which the cow had forced her way in the +darkness after having broken loose from the tree.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Sue!" called Bunny, as he followed the Indian, carrying the +toy train in his hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm coming," answered his sister. "But the thorns catch in the fuzzy +wool of Sallie Malinda and scratch her. I've got to go slower than you."</p> + +<p>"All right—we wait for you," said Eagle Feather, who had heard what Sue +said. "No hurry from little gal," he said to Bunny. "Maybe her medicine +better for finding cow as yours, though me think yours very much +stronger medicine. Maybe we see—byemby." That was the way Eagle Feather +said "Bye-and-bye."</p> + +<p>Bunny and the Indian went on slowly through the big woods, the red man +stopping every now and then to look down at the ground for marks of the +cow's hoofs, and also looking at the sides for signs of the broken +branches.</p> + +<p>"Cow been here," he would say every little while. "Soon we catch 'er. +Medicine heap good. Indian like!"</p> + +<p>"You'd better get yourself a toy train," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No got money," returned Eagle Feather. "Like 'em very much for boy +papoose when he grow big so like you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe I'll be tired of mine by that time and give it to him," said +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Too nice. You no get tired long while," said the Indian. "Heap big +medicine. Come, Sue, we wait for you."</p> + +<p>As the Indian and Bunny waited they heard, off in the distance, the +lowing of a cow.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"That my cow," said Eagle Feather. "I tell you boy and gal medicine heap +good—find cow soon. Over this way! Soon hab cow now!"</p> + +<p>He hurried on ahead so fast that Bunny and Sue could hardly keep up with +him, but they managed to do so and, a little later, they saw, in a +little glade among the trees, a cow with a broken rope trailing from her +neck. She had two twisted, or crumpled, horns.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's the cow that was in our tent!" cried Sue. "I'd know her +anywhere."</p> + +<p>"She my cow—give good milk for little papoose. What for you run away?" +he asked, going up to the cow, rubbing her neck and pretending to talk +into her ear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>The cow mooed softly and appeared glad to see Eagle Feather.</p> + +<p>"Well, now you've got your cow back you can come to our camp, get the +soup and go to your cabin," said Bunny. "I'm glad you found her."</p> + +<p>"Boy and girl, with heap good medicine find," said Eagle Feather. "Much +thankful to you. Some day make bow and arrows for boy, and moccasins for +feet of little girl with bear that makes fire eyes at night. Indian +glad!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we were only too glad to help you," said Bunny. "Now we must be +going back to camp."</p> + +<p>"Me come—cow come too," said Eagle Feather, and he led the cow by the +broken rope. They were soon back at the tents, telling Mrs. Brown how +they had found the lost cow. Eagle Feather spoke much about the toy +train and the Teddy bear "medicine," but Mrs. Brown laughed.</p> + +<p>"This is better medicine than all the toys in the world," she said, as +she gave Eagle Feather <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>a big pail of soup. "Take it home to your wife +and children."</p> + +<p>"Me will—all much 'bliged," and Eagle Feather bowed. Then with a +farewell nod to the children the red man went off into the big woods +leading his lost cow, who seemed glad to be on her way home again.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown came home that night to stay two or three days, for Bunker +Blue could take care of the fish and boat business, and when Bunny's +father heard what had happened when Bunny put the toy track too near the +edge of the hill, the little boy was told not to do it again, and +promised not to.</p> + +<p>"Eagle Feather was very good to you, and you must be kind to him and to +all the Indians," said Mr. Brown. "So the wetting didn't seem to hurt +your toy engine, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"No, Daddy. I shook off all the water."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'd better oil it and let it stand all night to take off the +rust. For if it gets rusty it won't run."</p> + +<p>Bunny did not want this to happen, so he left his toy railroad out in +the kitchen tent that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>night, near the stove in which a little fire was +kindled.</p> + +<p>No cows stuck their heads into the bedrooms of the tent houses that +night, and Bunny and Sue slept soundly. So did Mr. and Mrs. Brown and +Uncle Tad, but some one must have been around the camp with very soft +feet in the darkness. For when Bunny awakened early, and went out to +have a look at his toy railroad, he set up a cry:</p> + +<p>"It's gone! It's gone! Some one has taken it!"</p> + +<p>"Taken what?" asked his father.</p> + +<p>"My toy locomotive, my cars, the tracks, batteries and everything! Oh, +dear! My toy train is gone!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>"WHERE HAS SALLIE GONE?"</h3> + + +<p>"What's the matter, Bunny?" asked Uncle Tad, who, as usual, had gotten +up early to make the fire in the kitchen stove. It had gone out during +the night, though a late fire had been built to make warmth for Bunny's +train.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Tad again. "Have you found some more +lost cows?"</p> + +<p>"No. I've lost something instead of finding it this time," said the +little boy.</p> + +<p>"What have you lost?" asked Uncle Tad, as he began to shake the ashes +out of the cook stove, getting ready to make a new fire in it. The stove +pipe went right out through the tent, with an asbestos collar around it +so the canvas would not catch fire.</p> + +<p>"I've lost my electric train," cried Bunny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Brown, looking around the +kitchen tent to make sure his toy was not stuck in some corner. "I was +playing with it yesterday, and I had one of the cars when I went with +Sue and Indian Eagle Feather to find his lost cow. Then I brought it +back to camp and I put it here so the water would dry out. Now it's +gone!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it seems to be gone," said Uncle Tad, looking carefully around the +tent, after he had put a match to the wood kindlings. "And I know you +left it here because I saw it the last thing when I came in to make sure +the fire was all right before going to bed."</p> + +<p>"Then who could have taken it?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Well, as to that I couldn't say," answered Uncle Tad slowly. "It might +have run off by itself, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"It couldn't have!" declared Bunny. "Of course it runs by itself when +the batteries are connected, but they weren't this time. And the train +wasn't even on the track, though the rails were piled up near it, and so +were the batteries. Yet everything is gone!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, coming into the kitchen tent to +start the breakfast.</p> + +<p>"My train is gone!" said Bunny sadly. "And I didn't hear anybody around +camp during the night," he added, and told of finding out about his +loss.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose you could have got up in the night, walked in your +sleep, and hidden the train somewhere else yourself?" asked Uncle Tad.</p> + +<p>"Well, about a year ago that might have happened," said Mother Brown. +"But Bunny is cured of his sleep-walking habits now. He hasn't gotten up +for several months, unless, as happened the other night when the cow +poked her head in the tent, he woke up and cried out."</p> + +<p>"But no cow came into the tent last night, Mother," said Bunny. "Anyhow +a cow wouldn't like to eat a train of cars."</p> + +<p>"A cow eat a train of cars!" cried Daddy Brown, coming into the tent +just in time to hear what Bunny said. "Say, is that a riddle?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. But it's a riddle to guess who or what took Bunny's train of cars," +said Mrs. Brown. "He says he left them here, in front of the stove to +dry out the water as you told him to, but they are gone now."</p> + +<p>"That's queer," said Mr. Brown, looking about. "Is Bunny's train the +only thing that is missing?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to be, as far as we can tell by a hasty look around. But we'll +have to see," said Mother Brown.</p> + +<p>Uncle Tad, Mr. Brown and Bunny and Sue looked carefully about the tent +while Mrs. Brown got breakfast. They saw several footprints, for the +children, as well as the grown folks, had been about the tents all day, +and Eagle Feather, the Indian, had also been there.</p> + +<p>"Who knew that you had a train of cars?" asked Mr. Brown of his son when +a long search had failed to find the toy.</p> + +<p>"Well, I told the boy who brings the milk, the butter and egg man, and I +guess that's all," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"You told Eagle Feather," put in Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but he wouldn't take them," said Bunny. "He thinks they are big +medicine for finding his lost cow. He wouldn't take them."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that," said Uncle Tad. "Indians like bright and +pretty things and that electrical train must have been a great wonder to +them; especially to Eagle Feather, who is a smart Indian."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't he take my Teddy bear, Sallie Malinda?" asked Sue. "My +bear, with the blinking eyes, helped find the lost cow as well as +Bunny's train did."</p> + +<p>"Of course it did," agreed Mother Brown. "I don't believe Eagle Feather +had a thing to do with it. If the train was stolen by tramps we'd better +get another dog, Daddy Brown, to keep them away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't get a dog!" cried Bunny and Sue together. "Splash is the best +dog that ever was!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But he is so friendly with everybody that he would just as soon a +tramp came up to the tent as some of the farm peddlers," said Mrs. +Brown. "He hardly ever barks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>unless he is playing with you children, +and he is so good-natured."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we never could give up Splash," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head +to show that she felt the same way about it.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you can get another dog, who will bark, Mother. Then we could +hitch Splash and him up together and have a team," went on Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Splash would never pull the way the other dog wanted to go," said Uncle +Tad. "I guess, before we think of more dogs we'll just go over to the +Indian village and find out what they know about the missing toy train."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that would be a good plan," said Mr. Brown. "Suppose we go +together, Uncle Tad."</p> + +<p>So, after breakfast, when another search had been made about the camp to +make sure the train was not hidden behind something, the two men started +off. Bunny kept on searching about the tents for his missing toy, and +Sue played with her Teddy Bear, tying her on the back of Splash, the +dog, to make believe Sallie Malinda was having a pony ride.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Father Brown and Uncle Tad came back the children ran eagerly to +them. Mr. Brown shook his head.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, slowly, "there is no trace of the toy train in the +Indians' village, and Eagle Feather and his men say they know nothing +about it. They say they were not away from their camp all night. They +even let us search their tents and cabins, and were very good-natured +about it."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't prove anything," said Uncle Tad. "If they had hidden the +toy train it would be in a place where we could never find it. I guess +we'll have to let it go."</p> + +<p>"Could any one else have taken it?" asked Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course. But one of the Indians seems most likely. They probably +heard what Eagle Feather told about how the train ran and one of their +men crawled up in the night and took it from the tent while we were all +asleep."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe so, but I don't believe Eagle Feather did any such thing as +that," said Mother Brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nor I," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head. "It was a tramp."</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown promised Bunny a new train as soon as he should go back to the +city, but that would not be for a few days.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried Bunny. "How can I wait that long?"</p> + +<p>"You can play with my Teddy bear sometimes," said Sue kindly. Bunny +thanked her, but it was easy to see he did not care much for such a +girl's toy.</p> + +<p>"My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear is as good as your toy train," said Sue. +"She's better—for I <i>have</i> her and you <i>haven't</i> your train of cars."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you like her," said Bunny. "But maybe your Teddy will go +away in the night just as my train did."</p> + +<p>"My Teddy can't run, even if her eyes can light up," said Sue, making +the bear's eyes blink.</p> + +<p>"My train didn't run away, it was tooken," said Bunny. "And some day I'm +going to find the one that tooked it."</p> + +<p>Bunny did not speak as his school teacher <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>would have had him, but he +meant the same thing as if he had spoken correctly.</p> + +<p>"Well, they sha'n't touch my Teddy bear!" said Sue. "I'll take her to +bed with me every night."</p> + +<p>And she did, two or three times. Then, one night Sue forgot and left her +wonderful Teddy bear out in the kitchen. And in the morning what do you +suppose had happened?</p> + +<p>In the morning Sue awakened early, and, missing her toy, which she +thought she had taken to bed with her, she happened to remember that +Sallie was left out in the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"I'll bring her to bed with me and tell her a story," said the little +girl.</p> + +<p>Eagerly she ran out to the kitchen. She looked in the chair where the +Teddy bear had been left. Then Sue's eyes filled with tears as she +cried:</p> + +<p>"Where has Sallie gone? Oh, where has Sallie Malinda gone? Some one has +tooken my Teddy bear!"</p> + +<p>Bunny Brown heard his sister's cry, and up from his cot he jumped.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE SEARCH</h3> + + +<p>"What's the matter, Sue?" asked Bunny as he saw his sister standing in +the middle of the dining room part of the tent, which was separated by +curtains from the sleeping rooms.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my Teddy bear's been taken! Some one has taken Sallie Malinda!" +cried the little girl. "I don't believe I'll ever be happy again. Oh, +dear!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe we'll find her again," said Bunny, shivering, for the morning was +cool and he had on only his night clothes.</p> + +<p>"No, I'll never find her," sobbed Sue. "She's been tooked away, same as +your train of cars."</p> + +<p>This thought of his own missing toy made Bunny feel sad. But he wanted +to cheer Sue up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe your Teddy bear just walked off in the night to get something +to eat," the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>little boy went on. "I get hungry in the night lots of +times. I get up and eat a sweet cracker, if I've left one on the chair +by my bed. Now let me think what it is bears like best."</p> + +<p>"It's honey," answered Sue.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" her brother asked.</p> + +<p>"'Cause I read it in the animal book. It told about a bear climbing a +bee-tree——"</p> + +<p>"What's a bee-tree?" interrupted Bunny.</p> + +<p>"It's a hollow tree where a bee makes its nest and lays honey eggs," +explained Sue, in a very funny way, you see. "And the bear climbed that +tree and got the bee's honey."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't the bee sting him?" asked Bunny. "I was stung by a bee once, +on Grandpa's farm, and I wasn't climbing the bee-tree either."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, that was an accident," declared Sue. "Besides a bear has +thick fur on him and the only place where a bee can hurt him is on his +soft and tender nose. And before he climbs a bee-tree, the bear puts +thick mud on his nose like a plaster so the bee can't sting that, so +he's all right."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hum," said Bunny. "Then we'll go and find a bee-tree, and maybe your +Teddy bear will be there."</p> + +<p>"But my Teddy bear Sallie Malinda can only make-believe walk!" exclaimed +Sue. "She can only make-believe eat honey, too."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll look for a make-believe honey-tree," said Bunny. "Come on, +Sue!"</p> + +<p>Sue seemed to hold back.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" cried Bunny again, always ready to start something. "Let's +get dressed and go to hunt for the Teddy bear."</p> + +<p>It was very early, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown were not yet awake. Mrs. +Brown, however, soon heard the children moving about and she called to +them:</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Sue's doll is gone," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"My nice Teddy bear one," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"He's gone off to find a bee's nest to get honey," went on Bunny.</p> + +<p>"My bear ain't a 'he'—she's a 'she,'" declared Sue. "And her name is +Sallie Malinda."</p> + +<p>"Well, no matter what her name is, she is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>lost," said Bunny. "We're +going to find her."</p> + +<p>"Look here, children!" called Mr. Brown, who was now awake. "Don't go +off on any wild goose chase."</p> + +<p>"We're not after wild geese. We're going after Sue's bear," replied +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"What! Is Sue's bear taken, too?" cried Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"She's either taken or else she walked away," Bunny said.</p> + +<p>"Sue's bear wasn't the walking kind, though they did have some of that +sort," said the children's father. "But if your bear is gone, some one +must have taken it just as they did Bunny's train of cars. I must look +into this. You children stay right where you are until I get dressed and +we'll make a search. Meanwhile look around the tent and see if you can't +find Sallie Jane."</p> + +<p>"Her name is Sallie <i>Malinda</i>," said Sue, with some indignation.</p> + +<p>"Well, take a look around for Sallie Malinda Teddy Bear Brown while I'm +getting dressed," said her father.</p> + +<p>The children soon slipped into their clothes, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>and then began to look +around the tent, inside and out. Sue thought perhaps she had left her +Teddy bear with its flashing electrical eyes in a chair near the +kitchen-tent table. She had had her there after her own supper. She even +pointed out where she had put a small plate of cracker crumbs near the +Teddy bear. The plate of crumbs was still there, but the doll was gone.</p> + +<p>"We'll look outside," said Bunny; and when he and Sue were outside the +tent, waiting for their father, Bunny began walking slowly along, bent +over as though he had a peddler's pack on his back.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing that for?" asked Sue in surprise. "We aren't playing +any game."</p> + +<p>"I know it. But I'm looking for the marks of the bear's tracks in the +mud, just as Eagle Feather looked for the hoof prints of his lost cow in +the sand. He found his cow that way, and maybe we'll find Sallie Malinda +this way."</p> + +<p>"But his cow was bigger than my Teddy bear, and made bigger tracks."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't matter. I've been talking to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>the Indians about trailing +animals this way, and you can trail a squirrel as easily as an elephant +if you only know how to look for the feet marks. See, Sue!" and Bunny +pointed to marks in the soft earth. "Aren't those the prints of your +Teddy bear's feet?"</p> + +<p>Sue looked to where Bunny pointed. There were marks plainly enough, but +in a minute Sue knew what they were.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's where Splash, our dog, walked," said the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, so it is," agreed Bunny. "Well, I made a mistake that time. We'll +try again."</p> + +<p>So the children went on, seeking for marks of the toy bear's paws, until +Mr. Brown came out.</p> + +<p>"It's of no use to look that way, children," he said. "If Sue's bear is +missing some one took it away—it never walked, for it couldn't."</p> + +<p>"That's what I said!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"But how did it get away?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Somebody must have taken it. The same one who took your train of cars. +We must look farther off than just around the tent."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Say, Daddy, do you s'pose some of the Indians could have done it?" +asked Sue in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think so," answered Mr. Brown. "Still, they are not all as +honest as Eagle Feather. We'll have a look around their camp."</p> + +<p>"And maybe we'll find my train at the same time," said Bunny, hopefully.</p> + +<p>"We'll look for it," replied Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden Bunny began to run around in a circle, bending down +toward the ground.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" asked Sue. "Playing stoop-tag?"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm looking for the marks of Indians' feet," answered Bunny. "If +Indians came around here to take your doll, they'd leave some mark. I'm +trying to find it."</p> + +<p>Sue shook her head.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Indians don't leave any tracks," returned the little girl. "'They are +very cunning,' it says in my school reader-book, 'and they can slip +through a forest leaving no more trace <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>than that of the wind.' I don't +know what 'trace' is, but it must be true, for it's in my book."</p> + +<p>"Oh, those were old-fashioned Indians," said Bunny. "That kind wouldn't +leave any marks. But these Indians wear shoes, and they'd leave a mark +in soft ground. Wouldn't they, Daddy?"</p> + +<p>"I believe they would. But I don't want to think it was our good friends +the Indians who have taken your things. But we will search and see. Come +on, now, Bunny and Sue. We'll have a little hunt before breakfast."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>LOST IN THE WOODS</h3> + + +<p>Holding the hands of Bunny and his sister Sue, one on either side, Mr. +Brown started on a little search around the tents. They were trying to +find the footprints of some one who did not belong to the camp. Some one +other than Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Uncle Tad and the children themselves. Of +course Bunker Blue came to the camp once in a while, and so did various +peddlers and some people from neighboring farms. But most of these +footprints were known to Mr. Brown, as he had seen them about the place +ever since he and his family had been living at Camp Rest-a-While.</p> + +<p>"What I want to see is a strange footprint," said the children's father.</p> + +<p>"An Indian's footprint is stranger than ours," said Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course, if they wear moccasins," agreed Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No, if they wear shoes," said Sue. "Our teacher told us about it."</p> + +<p>"What is different in an Indian's footprint and ours, Sue?" asked Mr. +Brown.</p> + +<p>"Why, an Indian, even if he wears shoes like ours, turns his toes in, +instead of out, as we do," went on the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!" laughed Bunny. "Whoever heard of such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"But it's true, isn't it, Daddy?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is true," said Mr. Brown. "A real Indian has a sort of +pigeon-toe, as it is called. That is, instead of pointing his toes out +when he walks, he turns them in. At least most Indians do, though there +may be some who do not. So if you are looking for Indians' tracks, +Bunny, look for the kind that turns in."</p> + +<p>"I will," the little boy agreed. "I didn't know you knew so much about +Indians, Sue."</p> + +<p>"Our teacher used to live out West among the Indians, and she taught +them," explained Sue. "She tells us lots of Indian stories."</p> + +<p>"Goodness! I wish I could be in your class!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> cried Bunny. "Even though +I am a grade ahead of you," he added. "Does she tell about Indian fights +with bows and arrows, and taking prisoners, and all that?"</p> + +<p>"No, she tells about tame Indians, not the wild kind," explained Sue. +"The tame ones are just like the ones that live on the preservation +here—the Onondagas. But I like tame Indians, though I hope none of them +has taken my Teddy bear."</p> + +<p>"I hope not, either," said her father. "For Eagle Feather and his +Indians are good friends of ours, and I would not like to feel that they +would take anything from our camp. Still we must look everywhere."</p> + +<p>"Sue, you said the Indians lived on a 'preservation.' You meant +'reservation,'" corrected Bunny.</p> + +<p>"I don't care. They live there, whatever it is," declared the little +girl.</p> + +<p>They circled about the tents, but the footprints, as far as they could +tell, were those of white men—none of them toed in.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to the Indians' camp?" asked Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I think we'll go there, and also to——"</p> + +<p>But just then came the voice of Mrs. Brown calling:</p> + +<p>"Breakfast is ready, and if you wait very long the pancakes will be +spoiled! Hurry!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, hurray! Pancakes!" cried Sue. "Don't you like them, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"I should say I do! I hope I can have ten."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue, "you never could eat ten pancakes at one +meal!"</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow, I could try," he said. "And I can eat five, I know."</p> + +<p>"That's better," said Mr. Brown with a smile. "I can eat a few myself."</p> + +<p>They hurried back to breakfast, telling Mrs. Brown they had had no luck +in finding the person who had taken Sue's Teddy bear.</p> + +<p>For that the toy with the electric eyes had been taken away and had not +walked off by herself was now believed, even by Bunny, who had at first +insisted that Sallie Malinda had been hungry and had gone off to find +honey.</p> + +<p>"Though some mother bear might have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>come in and taken her to her den, +thinking she was her baby," said Sue. "My Sallie Malinda looked just +like a real bear when her eyes were lighted up."</p> + +<p>"But there were no bear tracks around the tents," said Bunny; "and there +would have been if there had been any bears here to carry off your +Teddy. There are no other bears here."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brown. "Teddy bears are the only ones I +want to see."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe no real bears came for Sallie Malinda," said Sue, after a +while. "I guess it was an Indian or some man who wanted my toy for his +little girl. But I hope I get her back—Sallie Malinda, I mean."</p> + +<p>Bunny managed to eat five of the cakes his mother baked, and he might +have eaten another only his father called to him to hurry if he wanted +to go to search for the missing toy bear.</p> + +<p>Sue and Bunny went with Mr. Brown off into the big woods after +breakfast. As they walked along they looked on either side of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>path +for a sight of the missing Teddy bear or Bunny's toy train. But they saw +neither one.</p> + +<p>"Whoever took them is keeping them well hidden," said Mr. Brown. "Now, +we'll go to the Indian camp."</p> + +<p>Though they called it a camp, it was more of an Indian village where the +Onondagas lived. There were many tents, log or slab cabins, and one or +two houses built as the white people built theirs. These were owned by +the richer Indians, who had large farms and many horses and cows. Some +of the Indians were very poor, and their cabins had only one room, where +they cooked, ate and slept.</p> + +<p>Eagle Feather was the head, or chief, of this particular tribe. He was +not like the old-time or wild Indians. He owned a farm and he worked +hard to grow fruits and vegetables.</p> + +<p>When Eagle Feather saw Mr. Brown, with the two children, coming to the +Indian village, the chief came out to meet them.</p> + +<p>"How do!" he exclaimed in English that could be understood. "Eagle +Feather glad to see you. Come in an' sit down. Squaw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>make tea for you, +or maybe coffee. Coffee better; more has taste."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, we haven't time to eat now," said Mr. Brown. "We came +looking for bear."</p> + +<p>"For bear?" cried Eagle Feather in surprise. "No bear here. Bear maybe +'way off in woods. Why you no go there and shoot 'um?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, this isn't that kind of bear," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Funny bear, no live in woods," said the Indian.</p> + +<p>"This bear have eyes go like so," and Mr. Brown took from his pocket a +small electric flash light. By pressing on a spring he made the light +flash up and go out, just as had the eyes of Sue's bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, now Eagle Feather know," said the Indian quickly. "Lil' gal's heab +big medicine doll gone. Where him go?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what we don't know," said Mr. Brown. "In the night, when we +were all asleep, some one came and took the bear. Maybe he came to +Indian camp. Not sure, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>but maybe we can look." Mr. Brown tried to talk +as he thought Eagle Feather would understand. And the Indian seemed to.</p> + +<p>"Your lil' gal's bear no here at Eagle Feather's camp," he said with a +shake of his head. "Much big medicine, like baby puff-puff train doll +is, but Indian no take lil' gal's play bear. See, I and you look in +every house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, that isn't necessary," said Mr. Brown. "If you tell me the bear +isn't here I believe you."</p> + +<p>"That right, for I speak truth. But wait—we ask other Indians. Maybe +they think no harm to take bear lil' while for big medicine, and bring +him back. I ask."</p> + +<p>Eagle Feather stepped to the door of his house and gave a loud whistle. +In a few minutes there came to him many of the older Indian men. Eagle +Feather spoke to them in their own Indian language. He listened to the +answers.</p> + +<p>Then, turning to Mr. Brown and the children, the chief said:</p> + +<p>"No have got lil' gal's play bear. Nobody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>here have got. You look in +all Indian houses and see for yourself."</p> + +<p>"No. I'll take your word for it," said Mr. Brown. "I believe the Teddy +bear is not here. It must have been taken by some one else. I will look +farther."</p> + +<p>But Eagle Feather insisted on some of the head men's huts being +searched, and this was done. But no doll was found.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! Where can Sallie Malinda be?" half sobbed Sue.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said her father. "If you can't find your bear, and Bunny's +cars are still gone, in two weeks I'll get you new ones. But I think +they will come back as mysteriously as they went away. Now, we must go +home."</p> + +<p>"But I thought you were going to look in the cabin of the hermit," said +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to do that after dinner," answered Daddy Brown. But when +dinner was half over there came a telegram for Mr. Brown telling him he +was needed back at his business office at once, as something had gone +wrong about the fish catch.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll have to go now," said the chil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>dren's father; "but I'll help +you look for the Teddy doll and the train of cars when I come back," he +said.</p> + +<p>It was a little sad in Camp Rest-a-While when Mr. Brown had gone, but +Mother Brown let the children play store, with real things to eat and to +sell, and they were soon happy again. Finally Sue said:</p> + +<p>"Bunny, do you know where that hermit's hut is—the one where you got +the milk the time the dog drank it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," slowly answered Bunny. "I do. But what about it?"</p> + +<p>"Let's go there," answered Sue. "Maybe he has my Sallie Malinda. Daddy +was going to take us there, but he had to go away so quickly he didn't +have time. But you and I can go. I'm sure he'd give us my Teddy bear if +he had her."</p> + +<p>"I guess he would," agreed Bunny. "But what would he want with it? +Anyhow, we'll go and see."</p> + +<p>So he and Sue, saying nothing to their mother, except that they were +going off into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>the big woods back of the camp, left the tent and headed +for the hermit's cabin.</p> + +<p>On and on they went, leaving Splash behind, for, of late, their dog had +not followed them as often as he had done before.</p> + +<p>They had tramped through the woods for about an hour, looking in all +sorts of places for the missing Teddy bear and the toy train, when Sue +suddenly asked:</p> + +<p>"Aren't we near his cabin now, Bunny? It seems as if we'd come an awful +long way."</p> + +<p>"I was beginning to think so myself," said the little boy. "Yet I was +sure it was over this way."</p> + +<p>The children walked on a little farther, but found themselves only +deeper in the big woods. Finally Sue stopped and said:</p> + +<p>"Bunny, do you know where we are?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Then we're lost," said Sue, shaking her head. "We're lost in the woods, +Bunny Brown, and we'll never get home!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE HERMIT AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>Bunny Brown was a wise little lad, considering that he was only about +seven years old. But many of those years had been spent with his father +going about in the woods, and while there Mr. Brown had told him much +about the birds, bugs and animals they saw under the trees. So that the +woods were not exactly strange to Bunny.</p> + +<p>Above all, he was not afraid in them, except maybe when he was all alone +on a dark night. And one thing had Mr. Brown especially impressed on +Bunny. This was:</p> + +<p>"Never get frightened when you think you are lost in the woods. If you +think you are lost, you may be sure you can either find your way out, or +some one will find you in a little while.</p> + +<p>"So the best thing to do when you fear you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>are lost is to sit quietly +down on a log, think which way you believe your camp or home is, think +where the sun gets up in the morning and where it goes to bed in the +night. And, whatever you do, don't rush about, calling and yelling and +forgetting even which way you came. So, when you're lost keep cool."</p> + +<p>Remembering what his father had told him, Bunny Brown, as soon as he +heard Sue say they were lost, looked for a log and, finding one not far +away, he went over and sat down on it.</p> + +<p>"Why, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue, "what in the world are you doing? Don't +you know we're lost, and you've got to find the way back to our camp, +for I never can. Oh, dear! I think it's over this way. No, it must be +here. Oh, Bunny, which is the right way to go?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I'm trying to find out," he said.</p> + +<p>"You are not!" cried Sue. "You're just sitting there like a bump on a +log, as Aunt Lu used to say."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm doing what father told us to do," said Bunny. "I'm keeping +cool and trying to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>think. If you run around that way you'll get all +hot, and you can't think. And it may take both of us to think of the way +home."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, I want to help," said Sue. "I don't want you to do it +all. But we're awful much lost, Bunny."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, Sue?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course I'm sure. I was never in this part of the woods before and I +can't tell where it is."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where the sun rises?" asked Bunny, for it was, just then, +behind some clouds.</p> + +<p>"It rises in the east, of course," said Sue. "I learned that in our +jogfry."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but which way is east from here?" Bunny wanted to know. "If I +could tell that, I might find our camp, 'cause the sun comes up every +morning in front of our tent, and that faces the east."</p> + +<p>"But you can't walk to the sun, Bunny Brown. It's millions and millions +of miles away! Our teacher said so."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to walk to the sun," said the little boy. "I just want to +walk toward it, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> I've got to know which way it is first, so's to +know which way to walk."</p> + +<p>Sue looked about her, as did Bunny. Neither of them knew in what part of +the big woods they were, for they had never been there before. They were +both looking for some path that would lead them home. But they saw none.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Sue cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's the sun! It's right overhead."</p> + +<p>She pointed upward, and Bunny saw a light spot in the clouds. The clouds +had not broken away, but they were thin enough for the sun to make a +bright place in them.</p> + +<p>"That must be the east," said Sue. "But how are we ever going to walk +that way, Bunny, unless we climb trees? It's up in the air!"</p> + +<p>"That isn't the east," said the little boy. "That's right overhead—I +forget the name of it."</p> + +<p>But I will tell you, and Bunny Brown can look it up in his geography +when he gets home. The point in the sky when the sun seems to be +directly over your head is the zenith.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And it's noon and dinner time, too," went on Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell by your stomach?" asked Sue. "I can, for my stomach is +hungry. It is always hungry at noon."</p> + +<p>"I can tell by my stomach, for it is hungry just like yours," said Sue's +brother. "But I can tell by the sun. Daddy told me that it was noon, and +time to eat, when the sun was straight over our heads. Now, we'll get +out of the woods, Sue."</p> + +<p>"How? Will the sun help us and bring us something to eat?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Well, the sun will help us in a way, for when it begins to go down we +will know that is the west. And the east is just opposite from the west. +So if we walk with our backs toward the west we'll be facing the east, +and if we keep on that way we'll be at our camp some time. All we'll +have to do is to walk away from the sun."</p> + +<p>"And will that give us something to eat?" Sue demanded.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Bunny Brown. "We may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>come to a farmhouse, and they might +give us some cookies and milk."</p> + +<p>"How good that would taste!" cried Sue. "I wish I had some now."</p> + +<p>"We'll walk on a way," said Bunny. "Maybe we'll come to a place where +they'll feed us. But be careful to keep your back to the sun."</p> + +<p>Sue said she would, and the two lost children were soon walking through +the woods together. They walked on the path when they saw one, and +crossed over open glades or through underbrush when they came to such +places where they saw no path.</p> + +<p>For the time being they had given up all idea of finding their missing +toys. All they thought was of getting home. Every once in a while Sue +would ask:</p> + +<p>"Are we most there, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>And he would answer:</p> + +<p>"Not quite, but almost. Just a little farther, Sue."</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a noise in the bushes as if some one were coming +through in a hurry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe it's our dog Splash coming to find us!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe so," answered Bunny. "Besides, Splash would bark; and +whatever this dog's name is, he doesn't make a sound. Oh, look, Sue, +it's a man, not a dog!"</p> + +<p>"A man?" cried Sue. "What kind?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't tell, except that he has a dog and he's very ragged." Bunny +peeped between some bushes and the next moment uttered a cry of +surprise:</p> + +<p>"Why, it's the ragged hermit who gave us the milk and who was so good to +us!" cried Bunny. "He's the man who lives in the log cabin with the cow! +Now we're all right. He'll take us home. Now we're all right!" and Bunny +danced about.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" murmured Sue. "We're not lost any more!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>WONDERINGS</h3> + + +<p>Out from behind the bush where they had hidden on hearing the rustling +in the underbrush came Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, hand in hand. The +hermit, as they called the man who lived all alone in his little cabin, +looked up and saw them. So did the dog, and with a bark and a growl he +rushed toward the two children.</p> + +<p>"Down, Tramp! Down!" called the hermit, and the dog sank to the +moss-covered ground, beating his tail up and down on the dried leaves.</p> + +<p>"He wouldn't hurt you for the world," said the old, ragged man. "He +loves children, but he's so fond of them that he jumps up on them, and +tries to kiss them. Sometimes he tries to love them so hard that he +knocks them down. So I have to tell him to be careful."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We're not afraid of good dogs," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And we've got a dog of our own," added Sue. "His name is Splash, 'cause +he splashes through the muddy puddles so much that he gets us all wet +when he's with us. That's why we don't take him so often, lessen we know +it's going to be a dry day."</p> + +<p>"I see," said the ragged man. "Well, Tramp is pretty good, except that +he loves children too much."</p> + +<p>By this time the dog must have felt that it was time for him to get up, +and he arose and leaped toward Bunny and Sue. Sue turned to one side and +held her arm over her face, but Bunny waited for the dog to come near +enough so he could be patted, and this the dog seemed to like. When he +tried to jump up and put his paws on Bunny's shoulders the little boy +cried:</p> + +<p>"Down! Down, Tramp!" and at once the dog sank down and wagged his tail +so hard that Sue said afterward she thought it would almost wag off.</p> + +<p>The dog seemed to like Bunny and Sue, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>running about them, giving little +barks of joy and licking their hands.</p> + +<p>"I like him," said Sue. "He's 'most as good as our dog. How did you come +to name him Tramp?"</p> + +<p>"Well, he looked like a tramp when he came to me," said the ragged man, +who seemed to be clean enough, though his clothes were in tatters. "He +was all stuck up with burrs from the woods, one foot was cut and he was +covered with mud and water. I took him in, washed him, bound up his paw, +which had been cut on a piece of broken glass, and gave him something to +eat. He has been with me ever since."</p> + +<p>"I should think he <i>would</i> stay with you," said Bunny. "You were kind to +him."</p> + +<p>"Well, I like animals," said the man. "But what are you children doing +off here in the woods. Do you want more milk?"</p> + +<p>"Not this time, thank you," said Bunny. "When we go to the farmhouse now +we have a cover on our pail, and when we set it down on the road no dog +can come and drink the milk."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But we don't set it down any more," said Bunny. "Mother told us not +to."</p> + +<p>"That's good," said the ragged man, whose name was Bixby. "It's a good +thing you didn't want any milk, because I haven't any left. I used up +most of what my cow gave, and sold the rest to a party of automobile +folks that came along dreadfully thirsty."</p> + +<p>"We have two automobiles," said Bunny. "One my father rides back and +forth to the city in and the other a big one, like a moving van, that we +can live in, and go where we want to. When night comes we just go to +sleep in it beside the road."</p> + +<p>"That's what my dog Tramp and I would like," said the ragged man. "It's +no fun staying in one place all the while. But if you children are not +away off here looking for milk, what are you here for, I'd like to +know?"</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for my Teddy bear with the blinking 'lectric lights for +eyes," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think you'll find him here, off in the woods?" asked Mr. +Bixby, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Well, somebody took my Teddy bear, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>which is a her, not a him, and is +named Sallie Malinda, from our tent," went on the little girl; "and, of +course, as a bear likes a wood, maybe they brought her here."</p> + +<p>"And my train of cars is gone, too," said Bunny, as he told of that +having been taken from the tent.</p> + +<p>"Why, that is surprising!" cried the ragged man. "Both your nice toys +taken! Who could have done it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I did think maybe I left my train on the track with the batteries +switched on so it would go," said Bunny. "But I left the track made into +a round ring, and of course, if my train did get to going by some +accident, it would just keep on going around and around like Splash +chasing his tail, and wouldn't go out of the tent."</p> + +<p>"Of course," agreed the ragged man.</p> + +<p>"And Bunny thought Sallie Malinda had walked off by herself," said Sue, +"but daddy said she couldn't, for there is nothing in her to wind up. So +that couldn't happen."</p> + +<p>"Then who took her?" asked the ragged man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We thought Eagle Feather, or some of his tribe, might," replied Bunny, +"for they thought our toys were 'heap big medicine.' But we went to +their village, and no one there knew anything about them."</p> + +<p>"That's what they said, did they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what they said," agreed Bunny.</p> + +<p>"But they might not have told the truth," went on Mr. Bixby, with a sort +of wink at Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, everybody tells the truth," said the little boy.</p> + +<p>"Not always," returned Mr. Bixby with a laugh. "But never mind about +that now. You have come a long way from your camp."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's another thing we forgot to tell you about," said Bunny. +"We're lost."</p> + +<p>"Lost?" cried the ragged man.</p> + +<p>"Terrible lost," said Sue. "We don't even know which is east, where the +sun gets up, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can easily show you that," said Mr. Bixby. "And you're not lost +any more, for I know where your camp is."</p> + +<p>"We hoped you would," said Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's why we were glad to see you through the bushes. Can you take us +home?"</p> + +<p>"I can and I will," said the ragged man. "I can take you back straight +through the wood, or around by my cabin, which will put you on the road +along which you went to get your milk that night. Then you'll have an +easier walk to Camp Rest-a-While, though a little longer one."</p> + +<p>"Let's go by the road, though it is longer," said Sue. "I'm tired of +walking in the woods."</p> + +<p>"All right, and I'll carry you part of the way," said Mr. Bixby.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me a piggy-back?" asked Sue, who was not too old for such +things.</p> + +<p>"A pickaback is just what you shall have," said Mr. Bixby, and Sue soon +got up on his back by stepping from a high stone, to the top of which +Bunny helped her.</p> + +<p>"Please go slow," begged the little boy, "'cause we might happen to see +Sue's Teddy bear or my train of cars, where the Indians or somebody else +dropped it; though I don't believe Eagle Feather would do such a +thing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think Eagle Feather would take your toys," said Mr. Bixby. +"He is quite honest. But some of his tribe are not, I'm sorry to say."</p> + +<p>So he walked on with Sue on his back and Bunny trudging along beside, +and Tramp, the dog, first running on ahead and then coming back barking, +as though to say everything was all right.</p> + +<p>"We'll soon be at my cabin," said the ragged man. "And then you can rest +before starting on the road home."</p> + +<p>"Have you got anything to eat at your house?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>Bunny, who was walking along behind her as she rode on Mr. Bixby's back, +reached up and pinched one of his sister's little fat legs.</p> + +<p>"Stop, Bunny Brown!" she cried. Then to Mr. Bixby she said again: "Have +you got anything to eat at your house?"</p> + +<p>Once more Bunny pinched her leg, and Sue cried:</p> + +<p>"Now, you stop that, Bunny Brown! I'm not playing the pinching game +to-day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, you mustn't say that," said her brother.</p> + +<p>"Say what?" demanded Sue.</p> + +<p>"About Mr. Bixby having anything to eat in his house," went on Bunny. +"You know mother has told you it isn't polite."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's right, Bunny! I forgot. So that's why you were pinching me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Bunny.</p> + +<p>Sue leaned over from the back of the ragged man and said, right in his +ear:</p> + +<p>"Please don't give us anything to eat when you get to your house. It +wouldn't be polite for us to take it after me asking you the way I did."</p> + +<p>"Hey? What's that?" asked the ragged man, seeming to wake up from a +sleep. "Did you ask me not to go so fast?"</p> + +<p>"No, I asked you——"</p> + +<p>Once more Bunny pinched his sister's leg.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell him what you asked him and he won't know, and then it will +be all right," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"All right," whispered Sue. Then aloud <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>she said: "Is it much farther to +your house, Mr. Bixby?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no," answered the ragged man. "So that's what you asked me, was +it? I wasn't listening, I'm afraid. My cabin is only a little farther +on, and then after you rest a bit I'll put you on the road to your +camp."</p> + +<p>"And maybe he'll give us something to eat without our asking," muttered +Sue to her brother, who was behind.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" he whispered. "Don't let him hear you."</p> + +<p>They were soon at Mr. Bixby's cabin.</p> + +<p>"Now, if you'll sit down a minute," said the ragged man, "I'll get you a +few cookies. I baked them myself. Maybe they are not as nice as those +your mother makes, but Tramp, my dog, likes them."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we will, too," said Sue. "There! what'd I tell you, Bunny +Brown?" she asked in a whisper. "I knew he'd give us something to eat! +And it isn't impolite to take it when he offers it to you!"</p> + +<p>"No, I guess it's not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, we'll take 'em."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ragged man appeared with a plate of cookies. The children said they +were very good indeed, fully as good as Mother Brown baked, and Tramp, +the dog, ate his share, too, sitting up on his hind legs and begging for +one when the ragged man told him to. Then the dog would sit up with a +cookie balanced on his nose, and he would not snap it off to eat until +the man told him to.</p> + +<p>"Well, I like to have you stay," said the hermit, "but it is getting +late, and perhaps I had better take you to the road that leads straight +to your camp."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we had better go," replied Bunny. "We'll know our way home now. +Thank you for taking care of us and for the cookies."</p> + +<p>"Which we didn't ask for," said Sue quickly. "Did we, Mr. Bixby?"</p> + +<p>"No, you didn't," he answered with a laugh, and he seemed to understand +what Sue meant without asking any questions.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Bixby started away from his cabin, to lead the children down to +the road, they met an Indian coming up the path. He was not Eagle +Feather, but one of the tribe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How!" and the Indian nodded to the ragged man.</p> + +<p>"How!" answered Mr. Bixby.</p> + +<p>"You got heap big medicine ready for make Indian's pain better?" asked +the red man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not now—pretty soon," answered Mr. Bixby.</p> + +<p>"All right—me wait. You come back soon byemby?" asked the Onondaga.</p> + +<p>"Yes, in a minute."</p> + +<p>"You don't need to go any farther with us," said Bunny presently. "We +can see the road from here and we know our way all right."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Bixby, who seemed anxious to get back to the +Indian, who appeared to be ill.</p> + +<p>"Of course we can," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Of course," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll leave you here," went on the ragged man. "I doctor some of +the Indians, and this is one of them. I'll say good-bye, and the next +time you're lost you must send for me."</p> + +<p>"We will," laughed Bunny and Sue as they went on toward the road. They +knew where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>they were now, as they had come along this road after the +milk.</p> + +<p>As they reached the highway they heard from the cabin of the ragged man +a curious buzzing sound.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Sue. "Is it bees?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't think so," answered Bunny. "It sounds more like machinery."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it does," agreed Sue. "I wonder what kind it is."</p> + +<p>"Sounds like a little saw mill," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Say!" cried Sue, when they had walked on a little way. "Wasn't it queer +that that Indian asked about 'heap big medicine,' just the way Eagle +Feather spoke of my Teddy bear and your electric train?"</p> + +<p>"Kind of," admitted Bunny. "I wonder what he meant?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess it's some medicine Mr. Bixby has for curing the stomach," +went on Sue. "The Indian might have eaten too many green apples."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Bunny. "Oh, here comes Splash, looking for us!" he cried, +as he saw the dog running along the road toward them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>MR. BROWN MAKES A SEARCH</h3> + + +<p>The Brown children ran to meet Splash, and he was quite as glad to see +them as they were to see him. Up and down he jumped, trying to kiss +them, making believe to bite them and all the while whining and barking +in joy.</p> + +<p>"Did you think we were lost, Splash?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow!" answered the dog, and that, I think, was his way of saying: +"I did, but I'm glad I've found you."</p> + +<p>"And we <i>were</i> lost, Splash," went on Bunny. "But now we're on our way +home again."</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and that meant he was glad.</p> + +<p>Together the children and their dog walked on along the road, and Splash +went on so far ahead and so fast that often Bunny and Sue had to run to +catch up to him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/138.jpg" alt="THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH." title="THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH." /></div> + +<div class='center'>THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH.<br /> +<i>Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.</i> <i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>.</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But we'll get home all the quicker," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Maybe they sent Splash to find us," suggested his sister.</p> + +<p>"Well, Splash is smart enough to do that if he had to," said Bunny. +"We'll soon be home now."</p> + +<p>In a little while they made a turn in the road that brought them within +sight of the tents of Camp Rest-a-While.</p> + +<p>"Now we're all right!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.</p> + +<p>"Oh, children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Brown, coming out to +meet them. "I sent Uncle Tad off one way to look for you, and Splash in +the other. I was just thinking of starting off myself!"</p> + +<p>"We were lost in the woods," said Bunny; "but the ragged man found us, +and then we met Splash. We didn't see Uncle Tad."</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe he's lost!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"We can go to look for him," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No you don't!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Two of you getting lost is enough +in one day. Uncle Tad knows his way back to camp from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>any part of the +big woods. But who was the ragged man?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's the man that gave us the milk the time the dog drank it up +when we chased the squirrel," explained Sue. "He's awful nice, and he +gave me a piggy-back ride, and took us to his cabin, and gave us cookies +without us really asking."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by not really asking?" inquired Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sue means she sort of <i>hinted</i> or spoke of 'em easy like," Bunny +explained. "I pinched her leg without Mr. Bixby—he's the ragged +man—seeing me, and then Sue stopped asking him if he had anything to +eat at his house. He offered the cookies all by his own self."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "But after this +don't go into strange houses and even <i>hint</i> for something to eat. That +isn't polite."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this isn't a <i>real</i> house," said Bunny quickly. "It's a log +cabin."</p> + +<p>"But it's home for the ragged man, as you call Mr. Bixby."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's a funny home," said Bunny. "He's got a buzzing machine in it and +the Indian that came while we were there asked for heap big medicine. +That's the way Eagle Feather spoke of my toy train."</p> + +<p>"That's how we got lost in the woods, looking for my Teddy bear and +Bunny's 'lectric train," explained Sue. "We went on and on until we +didn't know where we were."</p> + +<p>"Well, you mustn't do it again," said her mother. "Don't go far into the +woods unless your father, Uncle Tad or I am with you. Then you won't get +lost."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't Splash do?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Splash is all right—he'd know the way home," said Mrs. Brown. +"Now come in, wash and get ready for lunch."</p> + +<p>"We don't want very much," said Bunny. "The ragged man gave us so many +cookies."</p> + +<p>"I hope they weren't too rich for you," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Mother, they couldn't be!" exclaimed Bunny. "'Cause he's an +awful poor, ragged man."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>rich</i> cookies means they have too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>much shortening—butter or lard +or something in 'em," said Sue. "I know, for I've taken a cooking +lesson; haven't I, Momsie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sue, and you must take some more, for you are getting older."</p> + +<p>"And some day I'll get up a real dinner for you and Bunny and daddy and +Uncle Tad and the ragged man and Eagle Feather," said the little girl.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't know how to cook for Indians," said Bunny. "They eat bear +meat and deer meat, and roots and the bark of trees and maybe berries."</p> + +<p>"Well, I could give Eagle Feather berries in a pie," declared Sue, "and +I could make slippery elm tea, and roast some acorns for him."</p> + +<p>"That would be quite an Indian feast," laughed Mrs. Brown. "But come now +and get what you want, and don't go so far off into the woods again."</p> + +<p>The children promised that they would not, though both said they wanted +to hunt farther for their lost toys, or taken-away toys, which was +probably what had happened to them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>When lunch was over, the children played about the tents, using some of +the games and toys they had had before Mr. Brown brought the wonderful +electric train and the Teddy bear with the shining electric eyes.</p> + +<p>"We can have lots of fun," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Yes. But anyway I want my train back," declared Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And I want Sallie Malinda!" exclaimed Sue with a sigh. "She was just +like a real baby bear to me."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you call a Teddy bear he?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"'Cause she's a <i>girl</i>. Can't you tell by the name <i>Sallie Malinda</i>?" +asked Sue.</p> + +<p>Bunny was about to continue talking to the effect that the <i>Teddy</i> bear +ought to have a boy's name, when there came the sound of wheels outside +the tent, and a cheery voice called:</p> + +<p>"Hello, everybody!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's daddy!" cried Bunny and Sue together. "Daddy has come home!"</p> + +<p>"They rushed out of the tent to meet him, to hug and kiss him, and for a +while he pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>tended to be smothered by the two little children who hung +about his neck.</p> + +<p>"We went hunting for our toys which are lost," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And we got lost ourselves," added Sue.</p> + +<p>"But we got found again——"</p> + +<p>"By a dog——"</p> + +<p>"And a man——"</p> + +<p>"And we had cookies——"</p> + +<p>"And an Indian came to get heap big medicine——"</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to cook a dinner——"</p> + +<p>Thus the children called, one after the other, and I leave you to guess +who said what, for I can't do it myself as they talked too fast.</p> + +<p>But at last they quieted down, and Mrs. Brown had a chance to talk to +her husband and tell him the news. Uncle Tad had, in the meanwhile, come +back, not being able to find the lost ones, and he was very glad to see +them safe in the camp.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown had come home early that day, but before long it was time for +supper. Bunny and Sue ate nearly as much as though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>they had had no +lunch and had eaten no cookies at the ragged man's cabin.</p> + +<p>"And so you heard a queer buzzing noise in the hermit's cabin as you +were coming away?" asked Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bunny, "we did."</p> + +<p>"I think I'll take a look up around there myself," said Mr. Brown, with +a nod at his wife across the table.</p> + +<p>"Oh, is something going to happen?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"And will you find our lost toys?" asked Bunny eagerly.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't promise you that. In fact I have given them up for lost, +and have ordered new ones for you, though not such fancy ones. They are +altogether different. I'll have them for you to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>This set the children into a wild guessing game as to what their father +had got, and they amused themselves until nearly bed time.</p> + +<p>They did not notice that Mr. Brown left camp, nor that he wandered down +the road, in the direction of the home of the ragged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>man. When Mr. +Brown came back, after the children were in their cots, his wife asked +him:</p> + +<p>"Did you find anything?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't say I did. I made a search around Bixby's cabin and went +over into the Indian village to talk to Eagle Feather. But I didn't find +out anything about the missing toys. I guess wandering tramps must have +taken them. I'll get the kiddies new ones."</p> + +<p>By this time Bunny and Sue were fast asleep, dreaming of the new +playthings they were to have.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE RAGGED BOY</h3> + + +<p>"Ding-dong! Ding-ding! Ding-dong!" rang the breakfast bell in Camp +Rest-a-While. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, snug in their cots, heard +it, stirred a bit, turned over, and shut their eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's too early to get up," murmured Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes," muttered Sue. "Much too early. I can sleep more."</p> + +<p>And off to sleep she promptly went, Bunny doing the same thing.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with those children?" asked Uncle Tad, who was +ringing the bell. He waved it through the air all the faster so that it +seemed to sing out:</p> + +<p>"Ding-ding-dong! Ding-dong-ding! Ding-ding—dingity-ding-dong ding!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe that's a fire," said Bunny, wide-awake now.</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe it is!" agreed Sue.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? Aren't you ever going to get up?" asked Uncle Tad, +looking into that part of the tent where Bunny and Sue had their cots.</p> + +<p>"Where's the fire?" asked Bunny, though, now that he was wide-awake, he +knew there was no fire.</p> + +<p>"And will you take us to it?" asked Sue, making a grab for her clothes +which were on a chair near her cot, and still believing in the fire.</p> + +<p>"There isn't any fire," said Uncle Tad, "except the one out in the +stove, and that's getting breakfast. Come on! What makes you so slow?" +asked Uncle Tad.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they were so tired yesterday, from getting lost, that I let +them sleep a little longer this morning," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"It's long past getting up time," went on Uncle Tad. "If Bunny is going +to be a soldier, and Sue a trained nurse they'll find <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>they will have to +get up much earlier than this."</p> + +<p>"That's so!" cried Bunny. "I forgot I was going to be a soldier. And as +you're to go to nurse me, Sue, you'd better get up, too."</p> + +<p>"All right, I will, Bunny. But I'm dreadful sleepy."</p> + +<p>However, now that the two were awake, from the ringing of Uncle Tad's +bell and his talk about soldiers and nurses, Bunny and Sue found it was +not so very hard to get dressed.</p> + +<p>Then they fairly danced to the breakfast table, which was set out of +doors, as it was a fine day.</p> + +<p>"Where's daddy?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he had an early meal and said he was going fishing out in the +lake," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"He promised to take me the next time he went," said the little boy.</p> + +<p>"He's coming back in a little while to get you both," said their mother. +"He wanted to have some good fishing by himself while it was nice and +quiet in the early morning hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> When you children go with him, you +laugh and chatter so, and get your lines so tangled up that your father +can't fish himself in comfort.</p> + +<p>"But he likes to take you, and as soon as he has a chance to catch some +fish himself, he'll come back and take you out in the boat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that'll be great!" cried Bunny. "I'm going to get my fish pole and +line ready."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to catch any fish," said Sue. "I don't like to have 'em +bite on the sharp hook. I'll go and get one of my dolls and give her a +boat ride. But I wish I had my Teddy bear."</p> + +<p>"He'd catch fish," said Bunny, winding up his line on the little spool, +called a reel, on his pole.</p> + +<p>"She's a she. And anyway, Teddy bears can't catch fish," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"No, but <i>real</i> bears can. Our teacher told us. They lean over the edge +of a river and pull the fish out with their claws. Bears likes fish."</p> + +<p>"But my Sallie Malinda isn't a real bear," said Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You could make believe he was," insisted Bunny. "And if you put his paw +in the water, and sort of let it dingle-dangle, a fish might bite at +it."</p> + +<p>"She," sighed Sue. "But just as if I'd let a fish bite my nice Teddy +bear! Besides, I haven't got her."</p> + +<p>"No, that's so," agreed Bunny. "Well, I guess you'll have to take a +regular doll then."</p> + +<p>"And don't you let her make believe fall into the water, either, and get +her sawdust all wetted up," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Bunny.</p> + +<p>Then the children began to get ready for their father's return with the +boat, and when Sue's doll was laid out in a shady place on the grass, +and Bunny's pole and line were where he could easily find them, the +little boy said:</p> + +<p>"Let's walk down to the edge of the lake, and maybe we can see daddy +quicker."</p> + +<p>"All right—let's," agreed Sue, and the two were soon walking, hand in +hand, down the slope that led to the water.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?" called Mother Brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, just down to the shore," answered Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Very well; but don't go into the water, and don't step into any of the +boats until daddy comes."</p> + +<p>"We won't," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Their mother could +always depend on them to keep their promises, though sometimes the +things they did were worse than those they promised her not to do. They +were just different, that was all.</p> + +<p>Sue and Bunny went down to the edge of Lake Wanda. They could not see +their father's boat, so they walked along the shore. Before they knew it +they had gone farther than they had ever gone before, and, all at once, +in the side of the hill, that led down to the beach of the lake, they +saw a hole that seemed to go away back under the hill.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what's that?" asked Sue, stepping a little behind Bunny.</p> + +<p>"It's a cave," answered her brother.</p> + +<p>"What's a cave?" Sue next asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, a cave is a hole," explained Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then a hole and a cave are the same thing," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess they are pretty much," admitted the little boy. "Only in a +cave you have adventures, and in a hole you only fall down and get your +clothes dirty."</p> + +<p>"Don't you ever get your clothes dirty in a cave?" Sue demanded.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but that's different. Nobody minds how dirty your clothes get +if you have an adventure in a cave," Bunny said.</p> + +<p>"And can we go into this one?" Sue asked.</p> + +<p>"I guess so," answered Bunny. "Mother told us not to get in any boats, +and we're not. A cave isn't a boat. Come on."</p> + +<p>"See, Splash is going in," pointed out Sue. "If he isn't afraid we +oughtn't to be."</p> + +<p>"Who's afraid?" asked Bunny. "I'm not!" And with that he walked into the +cave. As he still held Sue's hand he dragged her along with him, and as +Sue did not want to be left alone on the beach of the lake, she +followed. Bunny saw Splash running ahead. For a little way into the cave +it was light, but it soon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>began to darken, as the sun could not shine +in that far.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't want to go any farther," said Sue. "It's dark. If I had my +Teddy bear I could make a light with her eyes."</p> + +<p>"I've got something better than that," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"My pocket flashlight I got for Christmas. That gives a good light. Come +on, now we can see."</p> + +<p>From his pocket Bunny took the little flashlight. It was the same kind, +made with the same storage dry battery, that ran his train and lighted +the Teddy bear's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, now I can see!" cried Sue. "I'm not afraid any more."</p> + +<p>With Bunny holding the light, the two children went farther on into the +cave. They were looking about, wondering what they would find, when, all +of a sudden, there was a noise farther in.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Sue. "Did you hear that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Bunny, "I did. What was it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>Splash began to bark.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" ordered Bunny, and the dog whined. Then the noise sounded +again. It was like some one crying.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't want to stay here!" exclaimed Sue, clasping Bunny's hand.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," he said.</p> + +<p>Then came a voice from out of the darkness, saying:</p> + +<p>"Please don't run away. I won't hurt you and I'm all alone. I want to +get out. I'm lost. I can just see your light. Stand still a minute and I +can see you. I'm coming."</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue did not know whether or not to wait, but, in the end, they +stood still. Splash whined, but did not bark. They could hear some one +walking toward them.</p> + +<p>A moment later there came into the light of the flashlight a slim, +ragged boy. He was even more ragged than Mr. Bixby.</p> + +<p>"Please don't run away," he said. "I won't hurt you. I need some one to +help me."</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue felt sorry for the boy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>HIDDEN IN THE HAY</h3> + + +<p>For two or three seconds the two children and the ragged boy stood in +the queer cave looking at one another. Splash had come to a stop near +his little master and mistress, and with one fore leg raised from the +ground was looking sharply at the boy. It seemed as if the dog were +saying:</p> + +<p>"Just say the word, Bunny or Sue, and I'll drive this boy away from +here. He doesn't look like a proper person for you to be with."</p> + +<p>But Bunny and Sue had no such feeling. They did not mind how ragged a +person was if he were only clean. Of course a dog is different. Splash +never did like ragged persons, though in a good many cases they were +just as good as the well dressed ones with whom he made friends.</p> + +<p>So, in this case, seeing the ragged boy com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>ing near to Sue and Bunny in +the dark, where the only light was that of the little boy's electric +lamp, the dog growled and seemed about to spring on the lad. The boy +took a few steps backward.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Bunny. "You're not afraid of us, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No, little feller, I'm not. But I don't like the way your dog acts. He +seems as if he didn't like tramps, and I expect he thinks I'm one. Well, +I 'spect I do look like one, 'count of my clothes, but I ain't never +begged my way yet, though many a time I've been hungry enough to do it."</p> + +<p>"Splash, behave yourself!" cried Bunny Brown. "Charge! Lie down!"</p> + +<p>Splash did as he was told, but it was easy to see he did not like it. He +would rather have run toward and barked at the ragged lad.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid of him," said Sue. "We won't let him hurt you. Bunny, +why don't you make Splash shake hands with this boy, and then they'll be +friends forever. You ought to introduce 'em."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's so! I will," said Bunny. "I forgot about that. Splash, come +here!" he ordered, and the dog obeyed. "Now go over and shake hands with +him," went on the little fellow, pointing to the strange boy.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid and move away from him, or Splash won't like it," said +Sue, as she saw the boy shrink back a little. "Just stand still and +Splash will shake hands and be friends with you."</p> + +<p>The boy seemed to be a bit afraid still, but he stood quietly and, +surely enough, Splash advanced and held out his right paw, which the boy +took and shook up and down. Then the boy patted the dog on the head, and +Splash barked, afterward licking the boy's hand with his tongue.</p> + +<p>"Now he's friends with you, and he'll always like you," announced Sue.</p> + +<p>"And no matter where he meets you he'll come up to you and shake hands," +said Bunny. "Once Splash makes friends he keeps 'em. My name is Bunny +Brown," he went on, "and this is my sister Sue. We live at Camp +Rest-a-While on the edge of the big woods. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>came out to see if my +father had come back from fishing, and we saw this cave and came in."</p> + +<p>"Is there a way out?" asked the ragged boy. "I hardly know how I got in +here, but I've been trying to find a way out and I couldn't."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can show you that," said Sue. "It's only a little way back, and +it comes right out on the lake shore. But how did you get in here? You +look as ragged as the ragged man," she went on. "But that's nothing. +Sometimes Bunny and I are raggeder than you. We like it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know who the ragged man is," said the boy, who gave his name as +Tom Fleming, "but I work for a man named Mr. Bixby, and his clothes have +lots of holes in."</p> + +<p>"That's the ragged man we mean," said Bunny. "But please don't ever say +we called him ragged, 'cause we like him just as much ragged as if he +wasn't."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess he doesn't mind being called ragged," said Tom. "He's got +other clothes but he won't wear 'em."</p> + +<p>"If you're working for him, what are you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>doing in this cave?" Sue +asked. "Lessen it's his."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe he calls it his'n," said Tom. "It joins on to his cow +stable and that's how I got in it. After I got in I couldn't find my way +out until I saw your light."</p> + +<p>"What did you run away for?" asked Bunny. "Please tell us! We won't tell +on you."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't believe you would," said Tom. "Well, I'll tell you. You see +I live at the poorhouse, having no relations to take care of me, and no +place to live. But in the summer I hire out to the farmers around here +that want me, and work to earn a little spare change.</p> + +<p>"This year Mr. Bixby hired me. At first I liked the work. I had to do a +few chores, milk the cow and take the milk to the few families that +bought it. But the other day he did something I didn't like and so +to-day after I found the hole in the cow stable that leads to this cave, +I ran away."</p> + +<p>"What did he do to you?" asked Bunny. "Did he beat you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, he stuck pins and needles in me."</p> + +<p>"Stuck pins into you?" cried Sue. "How horrid! I never heard of such a +thing! How did you get them out?"</p> + +<p>"That was the funny part of it," said the boy. "They weren't real pins. +He'd make me take hold of some shiny brass knobs, and then pins and +needles would shoot all over me. Then, all of a sudden, he'd pull 'em +out and I wouldn't feel 'em until he did it again."</p> + +<p>"That was funny," said Bunny Brown, thinking very hard. "Could you see +the needles?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I could feel 'em, and that was enough. I got away as soon as I +could, when he wasn't looking, and I made for the hole I'd found in the +cow shed. But from there I got into the cave, and I thought I was lost, +for I couldn't find my way back and I didn't know what to do when I saw +your light. And then I didn't know whether to go and meet you or hide in +the dark."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a good thing you came on," said Sue, "'cause we were getting +scared ourselves, weren't we Bunny?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh no, not much. I wasn't scared."</p> + +<p>"But I was," admitted Sue. "And I think Splash was too, for he was sort +of whining in his throat."</p> + +<p>"Well, we're all right now," said Bunny. "But what are you going to do, +Tom? Are you going back to Mr. Bixby?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly am not! I've had enough pins and needles stuck in me, +though you can't see 'em now," and he glanced down at his long, red +hands. "I'm going to run away—that is, if I can find my way out of this +cave."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can show you the way <i>out</i> all right," said Bunny. "But where +are you going to run to."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the boy slowly.</p> + +<p>"You can run to our camp," put in Sue, "and we'll never tell Mr. Bixby +you are there."</p> + +<p>"That's right!" cried Bunny. "And maybe you can show us how he stuck +pins and needles into you, so we could do it to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I could," said Tom, with a shake of his tousled head. +"But I'll be glad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>to run to your camp. I never want to see Mr. Bixby +again."</p> + +<p>"What made him stick pins and needles into you?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe he didn't exactly do that. Maybe it only felt that way, for you +couldn't see anything. He said he was doing it for an experiment."</p> + +<p>"That's what the teacher does for the boys in the high school where we +go, only we're in the lower class," said Bunny. "Some of the experiments +make a funny smell."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's no smell to this," said Tom. "Now let's get out of here."</p> + +<p>Led by Bunny and Sue, with Splash running on ahead, the ragged boy was +soon out of the cave.</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue looked across the lake for a sight of their father in his +boat coming back, but as they did not see him, Bunny said:</p> + +<p>"I know what we can do to have some fun."</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Sue, always ready for a good time.</p> + +<p>"We can go in Mr. Bailey's barn and slide <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>down the hay. He said we +could do it any time without asking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's do it then!" Sue cried. "You'll come, won't you?" she asked +the ragged boy.</p> + +<p>"Course I will! I like hay-sliding. I don't mind being stuck with +prickers that way."</p> + +<p>The three were soon sliding down the hay in the mow, coming to an end +with a bump in a pile of hay on the barn floor.</p> + +<p>All at once Bunny gave a cry, as he was part way down the slide, and he +dug his hands into the hay to stop himself from going further.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Sue. "Did you slide on a thistle?"</p> + +<p>"No, not a thistle but I slid over something sharp. I'm going to find +out what it is."</p> + +<p>Bunny poked around in the hay, and uttered a cry of astonishment as he +brought out one of his toy cars from his electric railroad that had been +stolen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE ANGRY GOBBLER</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, what is it?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Where'd you find it?" Tom questioned.</p> + +<p>"It's part of my lost railroad," explained Bunny, answering the first +question. "And I found it hidden under the hay. I must have stuck myself +on one of the sharp corners of the little car as I slid down, and I +stopped right away, 'cause I thought it might be an egg."</p> + +<p>"An egg!" exclaimed Tom.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Bunny. "Once I was sliding down hay, just like now, and +I slid into a hen's nest. It was partly covered over with hay and I +didn't see it. There were thirteen eggs in the nest, and I busted every +one! Didn't I Sue?"</p> + +<p>"No you didn't, Bunny Brown! That was me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Bunny looked very queer for a moment, then he laughed as he +remembered what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>really had happened. "Well, Sue got all messed up with +the white and yellow of the eggs. Maybe there weren't just thirteen, but +there was a lot anyway. But I'm glad this wasn't a hen's nest. Maybe +I'll find the rest of my railroad now. Let's look."</p> + +<p>"Somebody must have hid the car here in the hay after they took it," +said Tom. "Who do you s'pose it was?"</p> + +<p>"We thought it might be some of the Indians," said Bunny. "But my father +made a search down in their village. He couldn't find anything, though. +Now <i>we</i> have found something."</p> + +<p>"You don't s'pose Mr. Bixby would take it, or my Teddy bear with +flashing lights for eyes, do you?" asked Sue of the ragged boy.</p> + +<p>"I never saw anything like that around his place, and I was there two or +three weeks," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"We didn't see you when we were there," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No, I was mostly weeding up in the potato patch on the hill. I'd have +my breakfast, take a bit of lunch with me, and then not come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>home until +'most dark. That's why you didn't see me. But I never took notice of any +electrical trains or toy bears around his place. I don't guess he took +'em."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said Bunny. "But I'm going to look in the hay for more."</p> + +<p>He did, the others helping, while even Splash pawed about, though I +don't suppose he knew for what he was searching. More than likely he +thought it was for a bone, for that was about all he ever dug for.</p> + +<p>But search as the two Brown children and Tom did, they found no more +parts of the toy railroad.</p> + +<p>"The one who took it must have thrown the car away because it was too +heavy to carry," said Bunny. "It was a pretty heavy toy, and I always +carried it in two parts myself. Besides the car wasn't any good to make +the train go. The electric locomotive pulled itself and the cars. I +guess they just threw this car away.</p> + +<p>"But I'm going to keep it, for I might find the tracks and the engine +and the other cars, and then I'd be all right again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom, "you would. But it is funny for somebody up in these +big woods to take toy trains and Teddy bears. That's what I can't +understand."</p> + +<p>"And I can't understand that man sticking needles into you—a funny kind +of needles he didn't have to pull out and that stopped hurting you so +soon," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"It's all queer!" declared Sue. "Come on, we'll have some more fun +sliding down the hay."</p> + +<p>This they did, and even Splash joined in. But though they slid all over +the hay, and kept a sharp lookout for any more parts of Bunny's train, +they found nothing.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could find part of my Teddy bear," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"If you did that your Sallie Malinda wouldn't be much good," said Bunny. +"For you can take an electrical train apart and put it together again, +and it isn't hurt. You can't do that way with a Teddy bear. If you pull +off one of his legs or his head he's not much good any more."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's right," agreed Sue. "I want to find my dear Sallie Malinda all +in one piece."</p> + +<p>"And with his eyes blazing," added Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, with <i>her</i> eyes going," said Sue. "Now for a last slide, +and then we'll go out and see if daddy has come."</p> + +<p>"And I guess I'd better go back to the poorhouse and get a meal," said +Tom. "Mr. Bixby won't give me any dinner 'cause I ran away from him, but +if I tell the superintendent back at the poorhouse how it happened I +know he'll feed me until I get another place.</p> + +<p>"And I can get work easy now. I'm good and strong, and the farmers are +beginning to think of getting in their crops. But I'm not going to be +stuck full of needles again."</p> + +<p>"You come right along with us," said Bunny. "My mamma and papa will be +glad to see you when they know you helped us look for our lost toys, +even if we didn't find but one car, and I slid over that. But they'll +take care of you until you can get some work to do. My mamma does lots +of that in the city when tramps come to us——<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course you're not a tramp," he said quickly, "'cause you have a home +to go to."</p> + +<p>"Folks don't ginnerally call it much of a home, but it's better'n +nothing," said Tom. "But I'm thankful to you. I'll come, only maybe your +maw mightn't be expectin' company—leastwise such as I am," and he +looked down at his ragged clothes.</p> + +<p>"Never mind that," said Bunny. "You ought to see the picture of my Uncle +Tad when he was in the war, captured by the Confederates as a prisoner. +He had only corn husks for shoes and his coat and trousers were so full +of holes that he didn't know in which ones to put his legs and arms. +He'll give you some of the clothes he don't want. Now come right along."</p> + +<p>"What about meeting daddy to go fishing?" asked Sue. "I guess he isn't +going to take us to-day, or he's forgotten about it. Maybe the fish are +biting so good out where he is in his boat that he doesn't want to come +in."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Bunny. "Anyhow we'll go on back to the camp. It must be +getting near <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>dinner time, for I'm feeling hungry, aren't you?" he asked +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but then I'm 'most allers that way. I never remember when I had +all I wanted to eat."</p> + +<p>On the way along the lake road to Camp Rest-a-While they passed a +farmyard where many geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens were kept. Just +as Sue, who happened to be wearing a red dress, came near the yard, a +big turkey gobbler, who seemed to be the king of the barnyard, rushed to +the gate, managed to push his way through the crack, and, a moment +later, was attacking Sue, biting her legs with his strong beak, now +pulling at her red dress, and occasionally flying up from the ground +trying to strike his claws into her face.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried the little girl. "Won't somebody please help me? Drive +him away, Bunny!"</p> + +<p>"I will!" cried her little brother, and, catching up a stick, he bravely +rushed at the angry turkey gobbler.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>SUE DECIDES TO MAKE A PIE</h3> + + +<p>"Here. You're too little for such a job as this!" cried Tom, as he +stepped in front of Bunny. "That's an old, tough bird and he's a born +fighter. Better let me tackle him."</p> + +<p>Bunny was a brave little boy, but when he saw how large and fierce the +gobbler was his heart failed him a little. The big Thanksgiving bird +just then made a furious rush at Sue, and as she jumped back Tom stepped +up in her place. The turkey did not seem to mind whom he attacked, as +long as it was some one, though probably Sue's red dress had excited him +in the first place, though why bulls and turkeys should not like red I +can not tell you.</p> + +<p>"Look out, Tom!" called Bunny. "He's a bad one!"</p> + +<p>"He certainly is fierce all right," answered Tom. "He's coming with a +rush!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke the turkey made a rush for him, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>keeping off the ground with +outstretched wings and claws. He went: "Gobble-obble-obble!" in loud +tones as though trying to scare the children.</p> + +<p>Tom was ready with a heavy stick he had caught up, and as the big bird +sailed at him through the air the lad aimed a blow at the gobbler.</p> + +<p>But the turkey seemed to be on the lookout for this, and dodged. Then, +before Tom could get ready for another blow, the gobbler landed back of +the lad, and came on with another rush.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" cried Bunny, but his warning came too late. The turkey +landed on Tom's back and began nipping and clawing him.</p> + +<p>"Get off! Get off!" cried the poorhouse lad, trying in vain to reach up +with his club and hit the gobbler hard enough to knock him to the +ground.</p> + +<p>But Tom's club was of little use, with the big bird on his back. Bunny +saw this and cried:</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute and I'll throw some stones at him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You might hit Tom instead of the gobbler," said Sue, who was safe out +of harm's way behind a big pile of wood. "Don't throw any stones, +Bunny."</p> + +<p>"No, you'd better not," said Tom. "I'll try to shake him off."</p> + +<p>So he rushed about here and there, swaying his back from side to side, +trying to make the turkey fall off. But the gobbler had fastened his +claws in the back of Tom's ragged coat, and there he clung, now and then +nipping with his strong bill Tom's head and neck.</p> + +<p>"Here comes <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Slash'">Splash</ins>!" cried Bunny. "He'll soon make that turkey gobbler +behave."</p> + +<p>Up the sandy beach of the lake shore came Splash racing. He had stopped +to look at a little crayfish, and it had nipped his nose, so Splash was +not feeling any too pleasant. Most of you children know that a crayfish +is like a little lobster.</p> + +<p>"Here, Splash! Splash!" cried Bunny. "Come and drive this bad turkey off +Tom!"</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow!" barked the big dog, as he came running.</p> + +<p>"Tell him to hurry," begged Tom. "I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>can't shake him off and he's biting +deep into my neck. I'm feared he'll bore a hole in it!"</p> + +<p>"Hurry up, Splash! Hurry up!" urged Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow!" barked Splash again, which, I suppose, was his way of saying +he would.</p> + +<p>On he came, and, all this while, the gobbler was on top of Tom's back, +gobbling away, fluttering his wings and now and then making savage pecks +at the boy's shoulders and neck.</p> + +<p>"Splash will make him go away," said Bunny. "Splash likes you now, Tom. +He's a friend of yours, for he shook hands, and he'll do anything you +want."</p> + +<p>"Well, all I want is for him to get this gobbler off me," said the +ragged boy.</p> + +<p>"Hi, Splash!" cried Bunny. "Get at this bad gobbler!"</p> + +<p>Splash rushed up to Tom, and then, raising up on his hind legs, nipped +at the gobbler. The big bird made a louder noise than ever, and suddenly +jumped down from Tom's back.</p> + +<p>"Ha! I knew you'd do it!" cried Bunny in delight. But just then +something queer happened.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>Splash, seeing the bird flop down to the ground, made a dash for the +gobbler with open mouth, barking the while.</p> + +<p>"Now watch that old gobbler run!" cried Bunny, capering about.</p> + +<p>But instead it was Splash that ran. Unable to stand the sight of the big +bird, with outspread and drooping wings, with all his feathers puffed +out to make him look twice as large as he really was, and with an angry +"Gobble-obble-obble" coming from his beak, Splash ran. It was no wonder, +for the turkey was a terrifying sight. I think even a tiger, a lion or +perhaps an elephant would have run.</p> + +<p>"Come back! Come back, Splash!" called Bunny. "We want you to drive the +turkey gobbler away from us."</p> + +<p>But the gobbler was already going away. He was going right after Splash, +who was running down the road as fast as he could go.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're all right," said Tom. "That bird won't bother us any more."</p> + +<p>"And I hope he doesn't come for me," said Sue. "He scared me."</p> + +<p>"But what about poor Splash?" asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> Bunny quickly. "He'll scare our +nice dog awful."</p> + +<p>"Splash seems to be getting away," remarked Tom, rubbing the place in +the back of his neck where the turkey had nipped him.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh, dear!" cried Bunny. "Look what's happening now. Splash is +coming back this way and the turkey is coming with him. Oh, what shall +we do?"</p> + +<p>"He won't bother us as long as he has Splash to chase," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"But I don't want him to chase Splash!" said Bunny.</p> + +<p>The children watched what happened.</p> + +<p>Splash, with the turkey close behind him, was running back to a spot in +front of the barn, where Bunny, his sister Sue and Tom were standing. +Just as the dog reached there the turkey caught him by the tail.</p> + +<p>And I just wish you could have heard Splash howl! No, on second +thoughts, it is just as well you did not. For you love animals, I am +sure, and you do not like to see them in pain. And Splash was certainly +in pain or he would not have howled the way he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>did. And I think if a +big, strong turkey gobbler had hold of your tail, and was pulling as +hard as he could, you would have howled too. That is, if you had a tail.</p> + +<p>Anyhow Splash howled and tried to swing around so he could bite the +gobbler, but the big bird kept out of reach.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what can we do?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Get sticks and beat the gobbler!" cried Tom.</p> + +<p>"No, wait. I know a better way," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked his sister.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you," answered the little boy. He had seen on the green lawn +of the farmhouse a water hose. It was attached to a faucet near the +ground and the water came from a big tank on the house into which it was +pumped by a gasolene engine.</p> + +<p>Bunny ran to the hose. The water was turned off at the nozzle, but it +was the same kind of nozzle as the one on the Brown's hose at home, so +Bunny knew how to work it.</p> + +<p>In an instant he turned the nozzle, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>aimed the hose at the turkey +which still had hold of the poor dog's tail.</p> + +<p>All over the turkey splashed the water, and as the big bird tried to +gobble, and keep hold of Splash's tail at the same time, and as the +water went down its throat, the noise, instead of "Gobble-obble-obble," +sounded like "Gurgle-urgle-urgle."</p> + +<p>"There! Take that!" cried Bunny squirting the water over the turkey. +"That will make you stop pulling dogs' tails, I guess."</p> + +<p>Indeed the water was too much for the gobbler. He let go of Splash's +tail, for which the dog was very thankful, and then the big bird ran +toward the farmyard, just as the farmer came out to see what all the +trouble was about.</p> + +<p>"I had to splash your turkey to make him let go of our dog," explained +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," answered the farmer. "I guess that bird is a +leetle better off for being cooled down. Glad you did it. None of you +hurt, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"My neck's picked a bit," said Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, come in and I'll have my wife put some salve on it."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, we're in a hurry to get home," said Bunny. "My mother +has some goose grease."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's just as good, I reckon. Next time I'll keep the old +gobbler locked up."</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown was at home, when Bunny, Sue and the ragged boy reached the +tent. The father and mother listened while Bunny and Sue explained what +had happened, from going into the cave to the turkey gobbler.</p> + +<p>"Well, you had quite a number of adventures," said Mr. Brown. "I stayed +out fishing by myself longer than I meant to, and when I came back to +get you I find you just coming in. We'll go this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"And may Tom come too?"</p> + +<p>"I guess so," answered Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"I know where there's lots of places to fish," said Tom.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown talked it over with his wife after dinner, and they decided to +let Tom stay in camp and do a little work, such as cutting the wood and +bringing the water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what do you suppose he means by saying that Mr. Bixby sticks +needles into him?" asked Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"That's what I'll have to look into," said her husband. "The hermit +seems to be a queer sort of chap."</p> + +<p>"And Bunny finding one of his cars, too!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that was queer. This will certainly have to be looked into."</p> + +<p>In a few moments after this conversation Sue came from behind the +kitchen tent.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Sue, we're going fishing," called Bunny to his sister.</p> + +<p>"No; you and Tom can go with father," said the little girl, "I'm not +coming."</p> + +<p>"Why not? Are you 'fraid?"</p> + +<p>"Course not, Bunny Brown! I'm just going to stay in camp and make a pie. +Tom said he hadn't had one for a good while. I'm going to make him one."</p> + +<p>"All right. Make me one too, please," said Bunny. "We're going after +some fish," and with his pole and line he started down toward the lake +with his father and Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>ROASTING CORN</h3> + + +<p>"Now, Bunny, be careful when getting into the boat," said his father.</p> + +<p>Bunny turned and looked at his father. What Bunny thought, but did not +say, was:</p> + +<p>"Why, Daddy! I've gotten into boats lots of times before, I guess I can +get in now." That is what Bunny Brown did not say.</p> + +<p>But, in a way, Bunny's father was talking to the ragged boy, Tom, and +not to Bunny. For Mr. Brown did not yet know how much Tom might know +about boats, and as the boy was a big lad, almost as tall as Uncle Tad +himself, Mr. Brown did not want to seem rude and give a lesson to a boy +who might not need it. So though he pretended it was Bunny about whom he +was anxious, all the while it was about Tom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be careful, Daddy," said Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> "And you be careful too, Tom. +You don't want to fall in and get drowned, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No indeed I don't, Bunny. Though it would be pretty hard to drown me. I +can swim like a muskrat. And I can row a boat, too, Mr. Brown," he went +on. "I've worked for Mr. Wilson, the man who owns the pavilion at the +other end of the lake. I used to row excursion parties about the lake, +and there isn't a cove or a bay I don't know, as well as where the good +fishing places are."</p> + +<p>"I found one of those myself this morning," said Mr. Brown, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wish you'd let me row you to some others that hardly any one +but myself knows about."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to have you," said Bunny's father. "And I'm glad you +understand a boat. I shan't be worried when Bunny and his sister Sue are +out with you."</p> + +<p>"I can row myself a little, when you are with me, Daddy," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you'll have a chance to learn more with Tom, as I haven't time +to teach you. So I'm going to depend on you, Tom."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, and I'll take good care of 'em. I've lived near this lake all +my life, and when my folks died and I went to the poorhouse in the +Winter, and worked out in the Summer, I managed to get to the lake part +of the time. I'll look after the children all right."</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown did not need to ask anything further what Tom knew of a boat, +once the ragged boy took his seat and picked up the oars. He handled +them just as well as Mr. Brown could himself.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to row you to any particular place?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Well, some place where we can get some fish. I suppose Bunny would like +to land a few."</p> + +<p>"I want to catch a whole lot of fish, Daddy!" cried Bunny. "So row me to +a place where there's lots of 'em!"</p> + +<p>"All right, here we go!" and Tom bent his back to the oars, so that the +boat was soon skimming swiftly over the water. Mr. Brown liked the way +the big boy managed the boat, and he knew he would feel safe when Bunny +and Sue were out with Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, on shore, in the shade of the cooking tent, Sue was busy with +her pie.</p> + +<p>"I want to make a mince one, for daddy likes that kind," said Sue. "And +I want to have it ready for them when they come home from fishing. +Though I don't see what he wants of any more fish," she added, as she +glanced at a little pool near the edge of the lake where, in a fish-car, +the fish Mr. Brown had caught while out alone that morning were +swimming. They could not get out of the car, or box, which had netting +on the side.</p> + +<p>"He is going to take some of them back to the city with him in the +morning," said Mrs. Brown. "He wants to give them to his friends. Those +he and Bunny and Tom catch this afternoon, will be for our supper, Sue."</p> + +<p>"I like Tom, don't you, Mother?" asked Sue, as she put on a long apron +in readiness to bake her pie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he seems like a nice boy. But it's very queer that the hermit +should stick needles into him."</p> + +<p>"But they weren't <i>real</i> needles," said Sue. "He never could see them. +He only felt them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> They must have been fairy needles, for Tom could +never see them being pulled out, either."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll let your father look after that," said Mrs. Brown. "Now +we'll bake your pie and I'll make the pudding and cake I have to get +ready for the Sunday dinner."</p> + +<p>Whenever Mrs. Brown baked she always let Sue do something—make a +patty-cake, a little pie with some of the left-over crust from a big +one, or, perhaps, bake a pan of cookies. Mrs. Brown would let Susie use +some of the dough or pie crust already made up, or she would stand +beside her little girl and tell her what to do.</p> + +<p>To-day Mrs. Brown did a little of both. She, herself, baked several +pies, as well as two cakes, and as there was plenty of pie crust left +Mrs. Brown told Sue how to roll some out in a smooth, thin sheet, and +lay it over a tin.</p> + +<p>"The next thing to do," said Mrs. Brown, "is to put the mince-meat in on +the bottom-crust, put another sheet of pie crust on top, cut some holes +in it so the steam can get out, trim off the edges, nice and smooth, and +set the pie in the oven.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Roll out your top pie crust and you'll find the mince-meat in a glass +jar in the cupboard, next to a jar of peaches. And don't forget to cut +holes in your top crust."</p> + +<p>Sue started to do all this. Just then, a neighboring farmer's wife +called at the tent, with fresh eggs to sell, and, as she needed some, +Mrs. Brown went to see about buying a dozen.</p> + +<p>"Go on with your pie, Sue," she called. "I'll be back in a minute."</p> + +<p>"Let me see," said the little girl to herself. "I have the bottom crust +in the tin, the top crust is all rolled out, and now I need the +mince-meat. I'll get it."</p> + +<p>From a glass jar which she brought from the cupboard, next to a jar of +peaches, Sue poured very carefully into the bottom crust some dark stuff +that had a most delicious spicy odor.</p> + +<p>"Um-m, that mince-meat is good and strong!" said Sue. "Daddy will be +sure to love it."</p> + +<p>She spread out the filling evenly and then put on the top crust with the +little holes cut <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>in to let out the steam when the pie should be baking +in the oven.</p> + +<p>Just as Sue was finishing trimming off what, was left over of the crust, +Mrs. Brown came back from buying the eggs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have your pie finished!" exclaimed Sue's mother. "You got ahead +of me. Well, I'll put it in the oven for you, as you might burn +yourself. And then I'll get on with <i>my</i> baking."</p> + +<p>"And I really made this pie all my own self; didn't I?" asked Sue, +eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed you did, all but making the crust. And you'll soon be able to do +that," said her mother. "Now we must finish our baking."</p> + +<p>The afternoon passed very quickly for Sue and her mother, but just as +the last cookies, which Sue helped to make, were taken out of the oven, +a lovely brown, and smelling so delicious, Bunny, his father and Tom +came back from their fishing trip.</p> + +<p>"Is the pie baked, Sue?" asked Bunny, who was tired, hungry and dirty.</p> + +<p>"There are certainly pies baked, and other things too, if my nose can +smell anything!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> cried Daddy Brown. "Now then we'll clean the fish and +have them for supper."</p> + +<p>"Please let me clean them," said Tom. "I used to work for a fish man and +I know how to do it quick."</p> + +<p>"That isn't the only thing you can do quickly," said Mr. Brown, with a +smile. "The way you caught that fish which got loose from Bunny's hook +to-day showed how quick you were."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've done that before," said the tall lad with a laugh. "I like to +fish."</p> + +<p>"And he's very good at it," said Mr. Brown to his wife as he and Bunny +began to wash. "He took me to a number of quiet coves, and we got some +big fish. Bunny caught the prize of the day, and it would have got loose +from its hook if Tom had not slipped a net under it in time. Bunny was +delighted."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that. But what about this boy? Are we going to keep him +with us?"</p> + +<p>"I think so, for a while. He'll be useful about the camp, now that I +have to be away so much. And, too, he's perfectly safe with the +children. He'll look well after them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> Besides I want to look into this +queer story he tells about the hermit Bixby and the needles."</p> + +<p>"Do you think there is anything in it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there may be—and something queer, too. I want to find out what +it is. Tom can sleep in that little extra tent we brought. Now how is +supper coming on? Can I help?"</p> + +<p>"No, I think Uncle Tad has done everything but clean the fish, and——</p> + +<p>"Here comes Tom with them now," said Mrs. Brown. "And you must be sure +to speak of Sue's pie."</p> + +<p>"I will. That little girl is getting to be a regular housekeeper. She'll +soon have your place," and Mr. Brown shook his finger at his wife.</p> + +<p>Tom brought up the cleaned and washed fish. Mrs. Brown dried them in old +towels, dipped them in batter and soon they were frying in the pan. By +this time the cakes and pies were set out, and in a little while supper +was ready.</p> + +<p>And how good those freshly caught fish tasted! Bunny declared his was +the best, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>really it did seem so, for it was a splendid bass.</p> + +<p>"And now for my pie," said Sue, as Mrs. Brown set it on the table. "I +want you all to have some, and a big piece for Tom, 'cause he saved +Bunny's fish."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown cut the pie and passed it around. As she did so she looked +carefully at the pie and the pieces.</p> + +<p>"Isn't there enough, Mother?" asked Sue, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. But I was just thinking——"</p> + +<p>At that moment Bunny, who had taken rather a large bite, cried:</p> + +<p>"What kind of pie did you say this was, Sue?"</p> + +<p>"Mince, of course."</p> + +<p>"It tastes more like spiced pickles to me. Doesn't it to you, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. It tastes lots better than the pie we got to the +poorhouse. I can tell you that!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown, who had tasted his piece, made a funny face.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you put enough sugar in?" he asked Sue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't have to put sugar in mince-meat—it's already in," answered +his little girl.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown took a taste of Sue's pie. She, too, made a funny face, and +then she asked: "Where did you get the jar of mince-meat, Sue?"</p> + +<p>"From the cupboard where you told me, Momsie, next to the glass jar of +peaches."</p> + +<p>"On which side of the jar of peaches?"</p> + +<p>"Let me see—it was the side I write my letters with—my right hand, +Mother."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I should have told you! But the egg woman +came just then. I should have told you the left side of the jar of +peaches. On the right side was a jar of pickled chow-chow. It looks a +lot like mince-meat, I know, but it is quite different. The real +mince-meat was on the <i>left</i> of the peach jar. Oh, Sue! You've made your +pie of chow-chow."</p> + +<p>"I was thinking Sue had found out a new kind of pie," said Daddy Brown. +"Never mind, there are some cakes and cookies."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" cried Sue, and there were tears <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>in her eyes. "I did so want +my mince pie to be nice!"</p> + +<p>"It was good," said Tom. "The crust is the best I ever ate, and the +pickled insides will go good on the fish."</p> + +<p>Everybody laughed at that, and even Sue smiled.</p> + +<p>"Next time smell your mince-meat before you put it in a pie," said Mrs. +Brown. "Otherwise your pie would have been perfect, Sue."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised the little girl.</p> + +<p>Tom became a regular member of Camp Rest-a-While, sleeping in a tent by +himself. And he proved so useful, cutting wood, going on errands and +even helping with the cooking, that Mrs. Brown said she wondered how she +had ever got along without him.</p> + +<p>He was given some of Uncle Tad's old clothes, that seemed to fit him +very well, so he could no longer be called the "ragged boy," and he went +in swimming so often, often taking Bunny and Sue along, that all three +were as "clean as whistles," Mrs. Brown said.</p> + +<p>No word had been heard from Mr. Bixby <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>about his missing helper, but Mr. +Brown had not given up making inquiries about the "needles."</p> + +<p>Bunny and Sue missed their electric playthings, but their father brought +them other toys from the city with which they had great fun. But still +Bunny wished for his electric train, and Sue for her wonderful Teddy +bear.</p> + +<p>One night, just after supper, Mrs. Brown discovered that she needed milk +to set some bread for baking in the morning.</p> + +<p>"I'll go and get it to the farmhouse," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"And may I go, too?" asked Bunny. It was decided that he could, as it +was not late, only dark. So down the dusky road trudged Bunny and Tom, +with Splash running along beside them. <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'At is'">As it</ins> happened, the farmhouse +where they usually got the milk had none left, so they had to go on to +the next one, which was quite near the edge of the Indian village.</p> + +<p>"But they won't any of 'em be out now, will they?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Indians may be sitting outside <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>their cabins, smoking their +pipes," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that'll be all right," observed Bunny. "They'll be peace-pipes and +they won't hurt us."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," laughed Tom.</p> + +<p>From the road in front of the house where they finally got the milk they +could look right down into the valley of the Indian encampment. And as +Bunny looked he saw a bright fire blazing, and Indians walking or +hopping slowly around it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom, look!" cried the small boy. "What's that? Are the Indians +going on the war-path? I read of that in my school book. If they are, +we'd better go back and tell Uncle Tad and father. Then they can get +their guns and be ready."</p> + +<p>"Those Indians aren't getting ready for war," said Tom. "They're only +having a roast corn dance."</p> + +<p>"What's a roast corn dance?" asked Bunny. "I'll show you the roast corn +part to-morrow night," promised Tom. "But don't worry about those +Indians. They'll not hurt you. Now we'd better go home."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>As soon as Bunny was in the tent he shouted, much louder than he need +have done:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sue, we saw Indians having a roast corn dance, and to-morrow night +we're going to have one too!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>EAGLE FEATHER'S HORSE</h3> + + +<p>Bunny Brown was so excited by the Indian campfire he had seen, and by +the queer figures dancing about in the glare of it, seeming twice as +tall and broad as they really were, that he insisted on telling about it +before he went to bed.</p> + +<p>"Did they really dance just as we do at dancing school when we're at +home?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"No, not exactly," Bunny answered. "It was more like marching, and they +turned around every now and then and howled and waved ears of corn in +the air. Then they ate 'em."</p> + +<p>"What was it for, Tom?" asked Mr. Brown. "You have lived about here +quite a while and you ought to know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Indians believe in what they call <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>the Great Spirit," Tom +explained. "They do all sorts of things so he'll like 'em, such as +making fires, dancing and having games. It's only a few of the old +Indians that do that. This green corn roast, or dance, is a sort of +prayer that there'll be lots of corn—a big crop—this year so the +Indians will have plenty to eat. For they depend a whole lot on corn +meal for bread, pancakes and the like of that. I told Bunny I'd show him +how the Indians roast the ears of green corn to-morrow, if you'd let +me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, Momsie, do!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy, let him!"</p> + +<p>The first was Sue's plea, the second Bunny's, and the father and mother +smiled.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think it will be all right if Tom is as careful about fire as +he is on the water," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue, while Bunny smiled and danced his delight.</p> + +<p>Finally Camp Rest-a-While was quiet, for every one was in bed and the +only noises to be heard were those made by the animals and insects of +the wood, an owl now and then calling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>out: "Who? Who? Who?" just as if +it were trying to find some one who was lost.</p> + +<p>"Where'll we get the ears to roast?" asked Bunny as soon as he was up +the next morning. "We don't grow any corn in our camp."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can get some roasting ears from almost any of the farmers around +here," said Tom. "But we don't want to make the fire until night. It +looks prettier then."</p> + +<p>"That's what I say," cried Sue. "And if you wait until night I'll make +some muffins to eat with the roast corn. Mother is going to show me +how."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't put any chow-chow mince-meat in your muffins," begged Bunny +with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Sue. "But can't we do something while we're waiting +for night to come so we can roast the corn?"</p> + +<p>"Will you put up the swing you promised to make for us, Tom?" asked +Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you have the rope."</p> + +<p>"We can row across the lake in the boat to the store at the landing, and +get the rope there," said Bunny. "I'll ask my mother."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown gave permission and Tom was soon making a swing, hanging it +down from a high branch of a strong oak tree. Then Bunny and Sue took +turns swinging, while Tom pushed.</p> + +<p>After dinner they decided it was time to go for the roasting ears, and +again they were in the boat, as it was nearer to the farmer's house +across the water than by going the winding road.</p> + +<p>Tom picked out the kind of ears he wanted, large and full of kernels in +which the milk, or white juice, was yet running. This was a corn that +ripened late, and was very good for roasting.</p> + +<p>With the corn in one end of the boat, and the children in the stern, or +rear, where he could watch them as they moved about on the broad seat, +Tom rowed the boat toward camp. They reached it just in time for supper, +and just as Mr. Brown got home from his trip to the city.</p> + +<p>"We're going to have roast ears of corn to-night!" called Sue as she +hugged and kissed her father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh! That makes me feel as if I were a boy!" said Mr. Brown. "Who is +going to roast the corn?"</p> + +<p>"I am," said Tom. "I've done it many a time."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you know how. But now let's have supper."</p> + +<p>The children did not eat much, because they were so anxious to roast the +corn, but Tom said they must wait until dark, as the camp fire would +look prettier then.</p> + +<p>However, it could hardly have been called dark when Tom, after much +teasing on the part of Bunny and Sue, set aglow the light twigs and +branches, which soon made the bigger logs glow.</p> + +<p>"We have to have a lot of hot coals and embers," said Tom, "or else the +corn will smoke and burn. So we'll let the fire burn for a while until +there are a lot of red hot coals or embers of wood."</p> + +<p>When this had come about, Tom brought out the ears, stripped the green +husks from them, and then, brushing off a smooth stone that had been +near the fire so long that it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>good and hot, he placed on it the +ears of corn.</p> + +<p>Almost at once they began to roast, turning a delicate brown, and Tom +turned them over from time to time, so they would not burn, by having +one side too near the fire too long.</p> + +<p>"When will they be ready to eat?" asked Bunny Brown.</p> + +<p>"In a few minutes," said Tom. "There, I guess these two are ready," and +he picked out two smoking hot ones, nicely browned, using a +sharp-pointed stick for a fork. He offered one ear to Mr. Brown and the +other to Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"No, let the children have the first ones," said their mother.</p> + +<p>"Be careful, they're hot!" cautioned Tom, as he passed the ears on their +queer wooden sticks to Bunny and Sue.</p> + +<p>Sue blew on hers to cool it, but Bunny was in such a hurry that he +started to eat at once. As a result he cried:</p> + +<p>"Ouch! It's hot!"</p> + +<p>"Be careful!" cautioned his mother, and after that Bunny was careful.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/204.jpg" alt="TOM BROUGHT OUT THE EARS AND STRIPPED THE GREEN HUSKS FROM THEM." title="TOM BROUGHT OUT THE EARS AND STRIPPED THE GREEN HUSKS FROM THEM." /></div> + +<div class='center'>TOM BROUGHT OUT THE EARS AND STRIPPED THE GREEN HUSKS FROM THEM.<br /> +<i>Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.</i> <i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>.</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>Soon two more ears were roasted, and these Mr. and Mrs. Brown took. They +waited a bit for them to cool, and then began to eat slowly.</p> + +<p>"They are delicious," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"This is the only way to cook green corn," remarked Uncle Tad.</p> + +<p>"It's the best I've eaten since I was a boy," declared Mr. Brown. "We +shall have to have some more, Tom."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll cook some more for you. Parched corn is good, too. The +Indians like that. You have to wait until the ears are nearly ripe for +that, though, and the kernels dried."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to eat any, Tom?" Bunny asked, as he took the ear the +bigger boy handed him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I'll have some now, if you've had all you want."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe I'll eat more," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And I want another," put in Sue.</p> + +<p>"There's plenty here," said Tom, as he began to eat. Almost as he spoke +there was a crackling of the leaves and sticks behind the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>embers of the +roast-corn party, and before any one could turn around to see what it +was a voice spoke:</p> + +<p>"White folks make heap good meal same as Indians."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Eagle Feather," called back Tom, who did not seem to be +so much taken by surprise as did the others. "Come and have some. What +brings you here?"</p> + +<p>"Eagle Feather lose him horse," was the answer. "Come look for him. +Maybe you hab?" and he squatted down beside the campfire and accepted a +roasted ear that Tom handed him.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean about Eagle Feather's horse being <i>here</i>?" asked +Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Me tell you 'bout a minute," answered the Indian, gnawing away at the +corn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>FUN IN THE ATTIC</h3> + + +<p>Bunny Brown looked at his sister Sue, and she looked at him. What could +it mean—so many things being taken away? First Bunny's train of cars, +then Sue's electric-eyed Teddy bear. Now Eagle Feather's horse was +missing and he had come to Camp Rest-a-While to look for it, though why +the children could not understand. Tom was kept busy roasting the ears +of corn, and passing them around. Eagle Feather ate three without saying +anything more, and would probably have taken another, which Tom had +ready for him, when Mr. Brown asked:</p> + +<p>"Well, Eagle Feather, what is your trouble? Is your horse really gone? +And if it is, why do you think it is here? We don't have any horses +here. All our machines go by gasolene."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Me know all such," replied the Indian. "Little wagon make much +puff-puff like boy's heap big medicine train. No horse push or pull 'um. +Eagle Feather hab good horse, him run fast and stop quick, sometimes, +byemby, like squaw, Eagle Feather fall off. But horse good—now somebody +take. Somebody take Eagle Feather's horse."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he wandered away," said Mr. Brown. "Horses often do that you +know, when you tie them in the woods where flies bite them."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Eagle Feather know that. But how you say—him rope broke or cut?" +and the Indian held out a halter made of rope, with a piece of rope +dangling from it. Mr. Brown looked closely at it.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's been cut!" exclaimed the children's father, for the end of +the rope by which the horse had been tied was smooth, and not broken and +rough, as it would have been had it been pulled apart. If you will cut a +rope and then break another piece, you can easily see the difference.</p> + +<p>"Sure, cut!" exclaimed Eagle Feather.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> "Done last night when all dark. +Indians at corn dance and maybe sleepy. No hear some one come up soft to +Eagle Feather's barn and take out horse. Have to cut rope 'cause Indian +tie knot white man find too much hard to make loose."</p> + +<p>"So you think a white man took your horse, and that's why you come to +us?" asked Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Yes. You know much white man. Maybe so like one ask you hide my horse +in your tent."</p> + +<p>"Indeed not!" cried Mr. Brown. "I haven't any friends who would steal a +man's horse."</p> + +<p>"Maybe not," went on the Indian. "But night of green corn dance him come +to see it and your boy too," and Eagle Feather pointed first at Tom and +then at Bunny.</p> + +<p>"We didn't see Eagle Feather's horse!" cried out Bunny Brown.</p> + +<p>"Easy, my boy," said his father. "Let's get at what Eagle Feather +means."</p> + +<p>Before he could ask a question the Indian pointed a finger at Tom and +asked sharply:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You see my horse night you come green corn dance?"</p> + +<p>"Not a sign of him did I see," answered Tom quickly. "And I wasn't +nearer the middle of the village, where the campfire was, than half a +mile. We didn't take your horse, Eagle Feather."</p> + +<p>"Maybe so not. Eagle Feather thought maybe you might see," went on the +red man. "Me know you good boy, Tom—good to Indians. These little Brown +boy an' gal—they good too.</p> + +<p>"But we walk along path horse took, and marks of him feet come right to +this camp."</p> + +<p>"Is that so?" asked Mr. Brown. "We'll have to look into this. Perhaps +the thief did pass among our tents to hide the direction he really took. +We'll have a look in the morning. It's too dark now."</p> + +<p>Indeed it was very dark, the campfire throwing out but fitful gleams, +for enough of the roasted ears had been cooked to suit every one. Eagle +Feather bade his friends good-bye, remarking again how sorry he was over +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>losing his horse, and he said he would see them all in the morning.</p> + +<p>With the children and Tom safely in bed Uncle Tad and Mr. and Mrs. Brown +talked the matter over.</p> + +<p>"Eagle Feather seems to think his horse was brought to this camp," said +Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he does," agreed her husband. "But that doesn't matter."</p> + +<p>"I don't like it though," went on his wife. "The idea of thinking Bunny +might have had a hand in the trick!"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe Eagle Feather ever had such an idea," laughed Mr. +Brown. "He might have thought Tom, from having watched the corn dance, +had taken the horse in fun, but I don't believe he has any such idea +now."</p> + +<p>"I should hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning Eagle Feather and another Indian came to the +camp. They looked for the marks of horses' hoofs and found some they +said were those of Eagle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Feather's animal in the soft dirt. But though +the marks came to the edge of the camp, they did not go through the +spaces between the tents.</p> + +<p>"They must have led the horse <i>around</i> our camp," said Uncle Tad, and +this proved to be a correct guess, for on the other side of the camp the +footprints of a horse, with the same shaped hoof as that of Eagle +Feather's, were seen.</p> + +<p>"Now we find horse easy," said the Indian, as he and his companion +hurried on through the big woods.</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope you find him, and I'm glad you don't think any one around +here had anything to do with it," said Uncle Tad. "I hope you find your +horse soon."</p> + +<p>But it was a vain hope, for in a little while it began to rain and the +rain, Mr. Brown said, would wash away all hoofprints of the Indian's +horse, so they could no longer be seen. But Eagle Feather and his friend +did not come back.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish we had something to do!" cried Sue, as the rain kept on +pelting down on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>roof of the tent, and she and Bunny could not go +out.</p> + +<p>"It would be fun if we had your electric train now and my Sallie +Malinda," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" exclaimed Bunny. "But I don't s'pose we'll ever get +'em."</p> + +<p>"No, I s'pose not," sighed Sue.</p> + +<p>The children were trying to think of a rainy-day game to play and +wishing they could go out, when there came a knock on the main tent +pole, which was the nearest thing to a front door in the camp.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's Mrs. Preston, the egg lady," said Sue, who, out of a celluloid +tent window, had watched the visitor coming to the camp.</p> + +<p>"She can't be coming with eggs," said Mrs. Brown, "for I bought some +only yesterday." Mrs. Preston quickly told what she wanted.</p> + +<p>"I've come for your two children, Mrs. Brown," she said. "I know how +hard it is to keep them cooped up and amused on a rainy day.</p> + +<p>"Now over at our house we have a lovely big attic, filled with all sorts +of old-fashioned things that the children of our neighbors play <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>with. +They can't harm them, and they can't harm themselves. Don't you want to +let Bunny and Sue come over to my attic to play?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Mother, please do!" begged Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And it's only such a little way that we won't get wet at all," said +Sue. "We can wear rubbers and take umbrellas."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're sure it won't be any bother, Mrs. Preston," said Mrs. +Brown.</p> + +<p>"No bother at all! Glad to have them," answered Mrs. Preston. "Get +ready, my dears!"</p> + +<p>And Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon on their way to have +rainy-day fun in an attic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>"WHERE IS SUE?"</h3> + + +<p>"Now children, the attic is yours for the day," said Mrs. Preston, after +she had led Bunny Brown and his sister into the house, and had helped +them get off their wet coats. "You are to do just as you please, for +there is nothing in the attic you can harm."</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't we have fun?" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" exclaimed Bunny. "Are there any old guns or swords up +there we can play soldier with?" asked the little boy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so," answered Mrs. Preston. "The guns are very old and +can't be shot off, and the swords are very dull, so you can't hurt +yourself. Still, be careful."</p> + +<p>"We will," promised Bunny. "I wish I had another boy to play with. Sue +makes a good nurse, but she isn't much of a soldier."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can holler 'Bang!' as loud as you," protested Sue.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know you can, but who ever heard of women soldiers? They are all +right for nurses, and Sue can bandage your arm up awful tight, just like +it was really shot off. But she can't act like a real soldier, Mrs. +Preston."</p> + +<p>"Maybe the boy I have asked over to play in the attic with you can," +suggested Mrs. Preston.</p> + +<p>"Oh, is there another boy coming?" asked Bunny eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes. And a girl, too. They are Charlie and Rose Parker, and they live +down the road a way. They are a new family that has just moved in, and +they haven't an attic in their house, any more then you have in your +tent. So I ask them over every rainy day, for I know that it is hard for +children to stay in the house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope they come soon!" exclaimed Bunny. "I want to have some fun!"</p> + +<p>"I think I hear them now," said Mrs. Preston, as a knock sounded at the +back door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> "Yes, here they are," she called to Bunny and Sue, who were +sitting in the dining room. "Come now, young folks, get acquainted, and +then go up to the attic to play."</p> + +<p>Charlie and Rose Parker, being about the age of Bunny and Sue, did not +take long to grow friendly. And the Brown children, having often met +strangers, were not a bit bashful, so the four soon felt that they had +known each other a long time.</p> + +<p>"Now up to the attic with you, and have your fun!" directed Mrs. +Preston. "Use anything you want to play with, but, when you are through, +put everything back where you found it."</p> + +<p>"We will!" promised the children, and up the stairs they went, laughing +and shouting.</p> + +<p>"I hope we find some swords and guns to fight with," said Bunny to +Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's a lot of them," Charlie answered. "I've been here before +and I know where lots of guns are. Only they're awful heavy."</p> + +<p>"Then we can pretend they are cannon!" cried Bunny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, and we can make a fort of old trunks. There's a lot of them up +here," Charlie said.</p> + +<p>They were on their way up the attic stairs, Charlie leading the way, as +he had often gone up before.</p> + +<p>"Don't take all the trunks until we get out of them what we want to play +with," begged Rose.</p> + +<p>"What's in the trunks?" asked Bunny of his new friend.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing but a lot of old dresses and things. Rose most always +dresses up fancy in 'em and pretends she's a big lady," said Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Then that's what Sue'll do," said Bunny. "She likes to dress up. But +we'll play soldier."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Preston's attic was the nicest one that could be imagined. In one +corner were several trunks. In another corner was a spinning wheel, and +hanging here and there from the attic beams were strings of sleigh +bells, that sent out a merry jingle when one's head hit them.</p> + +<p>Here and there, in places where there were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>no boards over the beams, +were hickory nuts and walnuts that could be cracked on a brick and +eaten.</p> + +<p>"They'll be our rations," said Charlie, who liked to play soldier as +well as did Bunny.</p> + +<p>"But where are the swords and the guns?" Bunny asked.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you," said Charlie. "They're just behind the chimney."</p> + +<p>In the middle of the attic, extending up through the roof, was a big +chimney. It could not be seen in the rest of the house, but here in the +attic the bricks were in plain view, and Charlie said, on cold Winter +days, when it snowed, it was warm in the attic because of the heat from +the chimney.</p> + +<p>Just now the boys were more interested in the guns and the swords, of +which a goodly number were hanging on rafters and beams back of the +chimney.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a lot of guns!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And they shoot, too," added Charlie. "I mean you can pull the trigger +and the hammer will snap down. Course we only use make-believe powder."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Course," agreed Bunny. "But we can holler 'Bang!' whenever we shoot a +gun."</p> + +<p>"And we can each have a sword."</p> + +<p>So the boys began to play soldier, sometimes both being on the same +side, hunting Indians through the secret mazes of the attic, and again +one being a white-settler soldier, and the other a red man.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Sue and Rose were playing a different game. They had found +some old-fashioned and big silk dresses in some of the trunks, and they +at once dressed themselves up in these and made believe pay visits one +to the other. The two little girls talked as they imagined grown-up +ladies would talk when "dressed up," and they had great fun, while on +the other side of the attic Charlie and Bunny were bang-banging away at +one another in the soldier game.</p> + +<p>The children had been playing in the attic about an hour, the boys at +their soldiering game and the girls at visiting, when Rose came to Bunny +and Charlie with a queer look on her face.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Charlie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> "Have you had a fuss and stopped +playing?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I can't find Sue anywhere."</p> + +<p>"Can't find Sue!" exclaimed Bunny. "Where is she?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I don't know. I was playing I was Mrs. Johnson, and +she was to be Mrs. Wilson and call on me. When she didn't come I went to +look for her, but I couldn't find her in her house."</p> + +<p>"Which was her house," asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"This big trunk," and Rose pointed to a large one in a distant corner of +the attic.</p> + +<p>"Sue! Sue! Are you in there? Are you in the trunk?" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>The children, listening, seemed to hear a faint call from inside the +trunk. They looked at one another with startled eyes. What could they +do?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE HERMIT COMES FOR TOM</h3> + + +<p>"Are you sure she came over here?" asked Bunny Brown.</p> + +<p>"Sure," answered Rose. "You see this was her pretend house, and mine was +over there under the string of sleigh bells." She pointed to where +several small trunks had been drawn together to form a square. Some old +bed quilts had been laid over to make a roof, and under this Rose +received visits from her friend Sue, who went by the name of Mrs. +Wilson.</p> + +<p>"When did you last see her?" asked Charlie. "Maybe she went downstairs."</p> + +<p>"No, she didn't, for I saw her opening the big trunk and taking clothes +out to dress up in. Besides she couldn't get downstairs, for you boys +pulled two trunks in front of the stairs for a fort."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So we did," said Charlie. "She couldn't have gone down without moving +the trunks, and they haven't been moved."</p> + +<p>"Well, then she must be up here somewhere," said Bunny. "Maybe she's +shut up in the big trunk."</p> + +<p>"That's dreadful! Call and let's see if she is in there," said Rose.</p> + +<p>Bunny went close to the big trunk—the largest, in the attic—and then +he called as loudly as he could:</p> + +<p>"Are you in there, Sue?"</p> + +<p>Back came the answer, very faintly:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm here, Bunny! Please get me out! I'm locked in!"</p> + +<p>"She's locked in!" cried Charlie. "We must open the trunk and get her +out! Come on, Bunny!"</p> + +<p>Both boys grasped the lid of the trunk.</p> + +<p>"Why it's locked!" cried Rose. "You can't open it without unlocking it. +Let's see if we can find some keys."</p> + +<p>Eagerly the children ran about the attic, taking keys from all the +trunks they saw. But either these keys did not fit in the locked one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>where Sue was shut up, or the fingers of Bunny, Rose and Charlie were +too small to fit them properly in the locks.</p> + +<p>"We'd better call Mrs. Preston," said Bunny, for he could hear Sue +crying now, inside the trunk. And Sue was a brave little girl, who did +not often cry.</p> + +<p>"We'd better go down and tell her," suggested Rose. "She'll never hear +us from up here."</p> + +<p>"Let's go down then!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>He and Charlie soon pulled away from the attic stairs the two trunks +they had placed there to make a fort. Down to the kitchen, where Mrs. +Preston was making pies, hurried the three children.</p> + +<p>"What? Through playing so soon?" asked Mrs. Preston. "I thought you'd be +much longer than this. I haven't your lunch for you ready yet. But where +is Sue?" she asked, not seeing Bunny's sister.</p> + +<p>"She—she's locked in a trunk in the attic—the big trunk," explained +Charlie, "an' she's hollerin' like anything, but we can't get her out!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Locked in that trunk! Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Preston. "That trunk +shuts with a spring lock. Now I wonder where the key to it is."</p> + +<p>"Here's a lot of keys we found!" said Bunny, holding out those he and +Charlie had gathered from the other trunks.</p> + +<p>"I'll try those, but I'm afraid they won't fit," said Mrs. Preston, +hurrying up to the attic, followed by Bunny, Charlie and Rose.</p> + +<p>"You'll be all right now, Sue!" called Mrs. Preston through the sides of +the trunk to Sue. "We'll soon have you out."</p> + +<p>"Please hurry," said a muffled and far-off voice. "I can hardly breathe +in here."</p> + +<p>"I should say not!" exclaimed Mrs. Preston. "We'll get you out soon, +though."</p> + +<p>She tried other keys, none of which would fit, and then she brought up +from her bedroom another bunch that locked the trunks she used when she +went traveling.</p> + +<p>"It's of no use," she cried, when she found she could not open the +trunk. "We can't waste any more time. Charlie, you run and get Mr. +Wright, the carpenter. He'll have to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>saw a hole in the end of the trunk +to get Sue out."</p> + +<p>"But he won't hurt her, will he?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No indeed! He'll be very careful."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright came back with Charlie, carrying several tools in his hand. +He soon set to work.</p> + +<p>"Get as far back to the end of the trunk as you can," he called to Sue, +tapping with his fingers on the end he wanted her to keep away from.</p> + +<p>"I'm back as far as I can get," she said in a far-off voice.</p> + +<p>"All right. Now I'm going to bore a little hole in this end, and then +I'm going to put in a little saw and saw a door in the end of your trunk +house so you can crawl out. Don't be afraid. I'll soon have you out," +said the carpenter.</p> + +<p>Very carefully Mr. Wright bored the hole. Then, with a small saw, he +began cutting a hole in the side of the big trunk. In a little while the +hole was big enough for Sue to crawl through. They had to help her, for +she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>was weak and faint from having been shut up so long. But the fresh +air and a glass of milk soon made her feel better, and she wanted to go +on with the game.</p> + +<p>"No, I think you had better be out in the air now on the big enclosed +porch," said Mrs. Preston. "You have played in the attic long enough. I +never thought of the spring lock on that trunk. It is the only one in +the attic, but now we will leave the hole cut in the end, so, even with +the lid closed, whoever goes in can get out."</p> + +<p>"It would make a good kennel for our dog Splash," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>"And you may have it for that, if you like," said Mrs. Preston. "I'll +have the hired man take it over to your camp."</p> + +<p>After thanking Mrs. Preston for the good time she had given them, the +children, after a lunch, started for their homes. Bunny and Sue found +something very strange going on in the camp when they reached there.</p> + +<p>There was Mr. Bixby, the hermit, sitting on a box just outside the tent, +talking very earnestly to Mr. Brown, who had just come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>from town in the +small automobile. It had stopped raining.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've decided not to let him go back to you," Mr. Brown was +saying. "I don't think you have treated him right, and I am going to +complain to the authorities about it."</p> + +<p>"And I tell you, Mr. Brown, not meaning to be impolite, that I'm +entitled to that boy an' I'm going to have him. He's bound out to me for +the Summer."</p> + +<p>"What does he want, Mother?" whispered Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Hush, my dear. Daddy will attend to it all. Mr. Bixby came here a +little while ago and he wants to take Tom back. Tom doesn't want to go +on account of the 'needle pricks' as he calls them. But Mr. Bixby wants +him, and your father is not going to let Tom go."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm glad of that!" exclaimed Sue in a whisper. "I like Tom, and I +don't care if I was locked in a trunk and 'most smothered if we can keep +Tom."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>TRYING TO HELP TOM</h3> + + +<p>"You were locked in a trunk and almost smothered!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, +looking first at Sue and then at Mr. Bixby, as though she thought he +might have had some hand in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was over in Mrs. Preston's attic. But it was my own fault, I +never should have got in the trunk, for it closed with a spring lock and +they had to get a carpenter to saw me out."</p> + +<p>"Oh! And spoil Mrs. Preston's trunk?"</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't spoiled," said Bunny. "She's going to let us use it for a dog +kennel."</p> + +<p>"And it will make such a nice one for Splash," said Sue. "You see, we +can put hinges on the little square place the carpenter cut out to make +a hole for me to get through, and we can make something fast to it that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +Splash can get hold of with his teeth, like a knob, so he can pull the +door shut when it rains. It will be awful nice. I don't mind having been +shut up a bit when I think of Splash."</p> + +<p>"But how did it all happen?" asked Mrs. Brown, while her husband and Mr. +Bixby were talking together.</p> + +<p>The children told of Sue's adventure and of Charlie and Rose, and of the +big porch and of the lunch.</p> + +<p>"But what does Mr. Bixby want, Mother? Is he really going to take Tom +away from us?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, my little girl. I hope not. But he seems to have the law +on his side."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have your way of looking at it and I have mine," Mr. Bixby +was saying to Mr. Brown. "I hired this boy from the poorhouse and agreed +to pay him certain wages. Part he keeps for himself and the rest goes to +the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work.</p> + +<p>"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and +I'm not getting the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy +chap I managed to get some chores out of him."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Mr. Brown, "you may be right in what you say about +having the right to this boy's work because you paid for it. As for his +being lazy, I don't agree with you there. He has certainly been a help +to us about the camp."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, where there's any fun in it Tom's right there! I s'pose he's a +good fisherman?"</p> + +<p>"I never saw a better one," said Mr. Brown earnestly, while Bunny Brown +and Sue sat together on a big stump and wondered what it was all about.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Tom'd rather fish than eat," said Mr. Bixby slowly, as he crossed +one ragged-trousered leg over the other.</p> + +<p>"Who wouldn't with what I got to eat at your cabin?" burst out Tom who +had been standing back near the cook tent. "All I got was potatoes, and +once in a while bacon; I got so hungry I just <i>had</i> to go out and fish."</p> + +<p>"Well, we won't go into any argument about it," said Mr. Bixby. "I'm +entitled to work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>from you and I'm goin' to have you. That's all there +is about it."</p> + +<p>"I'll never go back to you to be stung with them needles!" cried Tom.</p> + +<p>At this Mr. Brown asked a question.</p> + +<p>"What are these 'needles' Tom speaks of?" he asked. "I think I have a +right to know, as he is in my charge now, and if I let him go to you, +and he is hurt, I should feel I was to blame. I want to know about this +needle business."</p> + +<p>"There wasn't anything to it. He just imagined it. I used to grab hold +of his arm, to shake him awake mornings, and I'd happen to hit his funny +bone in his elbow. You know how it is when you hit your elbow in a +certain place—it makes it feel as though pins and needles were sticking +in you."</p> + +<p>"I have felt that," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"And so have I," added Bunny. "It's funny!"</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all there is to it," said Mr. Bixby. "But I want Tom back. +I'm going to have him, too!"</p> + +<p>"You shall have him if you have a right to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>him. But I shall look into +this first," said Mr. Brown. "You can't take him to-night."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, we sha'n't quarrel over that, as long as I get him to-morrow +to help dig potatoes. But you'll find I'm in the right, and that the boy +belongs to me for the Summer," said the hermit. "I'll do just as I +agreed to by him."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll look it up to make sure," said Mr. Brown. "It may be that +you are right, and it may be you are wrong. If you are, I'll say to you +now that you'll never get Tom away from me."</p> + +<p>"That's right. Don't let him take me!" cried Tom, who seemed very much +afraid. "I don't want any more of his funny needles stuck in me. Let me +stay with you!"</p> + +<p>"I will if I can, Tom my boy," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"You'll find you can't keep him away from me," said Mr. Bixby, as he got +up to go. "And I won't hurt him, as he and you folks seem to think. All +I want are my rights."</p> + +<p>The two men talked together a little longer, but Tom wanted to hear all +about Sue's hav<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>ing been shut in the trunk, so Bunny and his sister took +turns telling the story once more, while Tom listened eagerly.</p> + +<p>"If I'd been there," he cried as Sue finished, "I'd a given that trunk +one kick and busted her clean open, Sue! I wouldn't have waited for no +carpenter."</p> + +<p>One look at Tom's big feet seemed to indicate that he could easily have +"busted the trunk clean open."</p> + +<p>"But it was better to saw a little door, to make a kennel for Splash," +said Sue. "Anyhow I wasn't in there very long, and I could breathe a +little."</p> + +<p>"Well, be careful about getting into trunks again," said her mother, and +Sue said she would.</p> + +<p>The children played in the woods about the camp with Tom after supper, +while Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat off to one side talking earnestly.</p> + +<p>"I guess they're talking about you," said Sue. "About your going away, +Tom."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not going back to Mr. Bixby!" declared the lad.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And we're not going to let you!" cried Bunny. "If he comes after you +we'll get in a boat and go down the lake and hide in that cave. We'll +take something to eat with us, and some fish lines to catch fish, and +we'll cook 'em over a campfire and we'll live in the big woods forever."</p> + +<p>"What'll we do when Winter comes?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, then daddy and mother will be back in the city and we can go and +live with them," replied her brother.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning, while the children and Tom were having +breakfast, Mr. Brown was seen setting off toward the village.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Daddy?" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"Can't you take us with you?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm going off to see some of the townspeople—the authorities—the +head of the poorhouse and others, to find out what right Mr. Bixby has +to Tom."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you're going to help Tom that's all right!" said Sue. "We can +have some games among ourselves, can't we Bunny?" she added, turning to +her brother.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but I wish I had my electric train."</p> + +<p>"Well, you can play with the car you found in the hay," said Sue. "And +then we've got to make that trunk-kennel for Splash."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so we have!" exclaimed Bunny. "I forgot about that. We'll have some +fun anyhow."</p> + +<p>"And I'll help," said Tom. "Might as well have what fun I can if I have +to go back to Mr. Bixby's."</p> + +<p>"You won't have to go back," said Bunny. "My father will fix it so you +can stay with us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE NIGHT MEETING</h3> + + +<p>Bunny and Sue, as soon as they had finished their breakfast, went down +to the edge of the lake to play. They wanted to go for a row, and Mrs. +Brown had said they could if Tom was along, so there was no trouble this +time.</p> + +<p>Out on the water, where the sun was shining on the waves, Tom rowed the +children. Then Bunny brought out his fishing line and pole, baited the +hook with some worms he had dug, and began to fish.</p> + +<p>"You won't get any fish here," said Tom. "There are too many boats +around. I can take you to a place where there are some good perch and +sunnies."</p> + +<p>"No, I want to fish here," said Bunny. "It's easy to catch fish where +everybody else can. I want to try in a hard place."</p> + +<p>So Tom kept the boat in about the same <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>spot, rowing slowly about while +Bunny fished, and fished, and fished again, without getting a single +bite or nibble.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, it's so hot here out in the middle of the lake!" said Sue. +"Can't we go where it's cool and shady?"</p> + +<p>"I know such a place as that," said Tom. "And you can catch fish there, +too."</p> + +<p>"Does everybody fish there?" Bunny asked.</p> + +<p>"No, hardly anybody. And you can't always catch fish there either, even +if you know the best places."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll go," decided Bunny. "I want to go to a hard place."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything I can do where you are going?" asked Sue.</p> + +<p>"Well, you can gather pond lilies in the creek, which comes into the +lake up above a piece. I'm going to take you there," said Tom. "It's a +nice place."</p> + +<p>"Oh, goody!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "Mother loves pond lilies."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's lots up where we're going," said Tom, as he began to row +with strong, long strokes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> + +<p>The creek, as Tom called it, was a lazy sort of stream flowing into one +part of the lake through a dense part of the big woods. Up this creek +very few persons went, as it was shallow for most boats, and they often +ran aground and got stuck.</p> + +<p>"But our boat will be all right," said Tom, "for it has a flat bottom +and it doesn't lie very deep in the water. It could almost be rowed in a +good rain storm."</p> + +<p>Farther and farther up the creek Tom rowed the children. The trees met +in a green arch overhead, and the only sounds were those of the dripping +waters from Tom's oars, the call of woodland birds or the distant splash +of a fish jumping up to get a fly that was close to the top of the +water.</p> + +<p>"Shall I fish here?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you ought to get a few here."</p> + +<p>Bunny cast in, and it was not long before he had a bite. But when he +pulled up there was no fish on his hook.</p> + +<p>"You must yank up quicker," said Tom. "They are only nibbling to fool +you. Pull up quickly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look out!" suddenly called Bunny. He yanked his pole up so suddenly +that he pulled the fish out of the water, right over the heads of +himself, his sister and Tom, and with a splash the fish came down in the +water on the other side of the boat. There it wiggled off the hook.</p> + +<p>"You pulled <i>too</i> hard this time," said Tom with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'll do it just right next time," said Bunny. And he did. When he felt +something pulling on his line he, too, pulled and this time he caught a +sun fish, large enough to cook. It had very pretty colors on it.</p> + +<p>"It's too pretty to catch," said Sue. "But, oh! Look at the pretty pond +lilies!" and she pointed to some farther up the creek. "Can we get some, +Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Wait until I catch one more fish," begged Bunny.</p> + +<p>Bunny soon caught another fish, which had stripes around it "like a +raccoon," Sue said.</p> + +<p>"That's a perch," Tom told the children. "They're good to eat, too. But +now we'll row up for the lilies."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<p>However, in spite of the fact that their boat did not take much water, +it ran aground before it reached the lilies.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how are we going to get them?" asked Sue, in disappointment.</p> + +<p>"I'll wade after them," said Tom. "I can take off my shoes and socks. +The water won't be much more than up to my knees after I get over the +mud bar on which the boat has stuck."</p> + +<p>Tom was soon wading in the mud and water, his trousers well rolled up. +He was just reaching for one very large lily when he gave a sudden call, +threw up his hands and sank down out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom's gone! He's drowned!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"We've got to save him!" shouted Bunny, struggling with the oars. But +the boat was fast in the mud, and he could not move it.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" gasped Sue.</p> + +<p>Before Bunny could answer, Tom's head appeared above the muddy water. He +had hold of the pond lily.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," he said. "I stepped on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>edge of a hole under the +water, and it was so slippery I went down in before I knew it. But the +deepest part is only over my waist, and now that I'm wet I might as well +stay and get all the lilies you wish."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Tom. "I like it. Afterward I'll take a swim in the +clean part of the lake and wash off."</p> + +<p>So, wet and muddy as he was, his clothes covered with slime from the +bottom of the creek, Tom kept on gathering the lilies. Once he found a +mud turtle which he tossed into the boat for Bunny. The turtle seemed to +go to sleep in a corner.</p> + +<p>"There's a nice bunch for you," said Tom, coming back to the boat with +the flowers for the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, so much!" said Sue. "But I'm sorry you got wet."</p> + +<p>"I'm not. These clothes needed washing anyhow," laughed Tom.</p> + +<p>With that Tom pushed the boat off the mud bar, and down the creek into +deeper water, the children sitting on the seats.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now I'll tie you to shore, go in swimming in this clean water, and row +you home after I've dried out a bit," said Tom. So he went in swimming +with all his clothes on, except his shoes and socks, and soon he was +clean.</p> + +<p>"Mother will be so glad to get the pond lilies," said Sue.</p> + +<p>"And I guess she'll be glad to get my fish," said Bunny. "There's 'most +enough for dinner."</p> + +<p>Tom was nearly dry when he reached home, and no one said anything about +his wet clothes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what lovely flowers!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And what fine fish. +Did you catch them all alone, Bunny?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm, Momsie! Both of 'em. Where's Daddy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, off seeing some men. I believe there's to be a meeting at our camp +to-night to talk about your friend Tom and Mr. Bixby."</p> + +<p>"I hope they don't send Tom back," said Bunny. "He knows everything +about this lake."</p> + +<p>After supper several men came to Camp Rest-a-While. They were some of +the county <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>officers. Eagle Feather and some of the Indians were +present, sitting by themselves, and Mr. Brown sat near Tom.</p> + +<p>"May we stay and see what happens, Mother?" asked Bunny.</p> + +<p>"I guess so. I don't know just what is going on, but I think your father +is going to try to arrange matters so Tom will not have to go back to +the hermit's to live."</p> + +<p>"Hurray!" cried Bunny. "And while daddy is talking, I hope he'll ask +everybody if they've seen my electric train."</p> + +<p>"And my Sallie Malinda," added Sue. "My nice 'lectric-eyed Teddy bear."</p> + +<p>For all the inquiries that had been made had not brought forth any trace +of either of the children's toys. The man in whose barn Bunny had found +one car, said he had seen no one hiding it in the hay.</p> + +<p>"Daddy is going to say something!" whispered Sue.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" cautioned her mother.</p> + +<p>Just then Mr. Brown arose and looked at the men in front of him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/246.jpg" alt="TOM WADED IN THE MUD AND WATER TO GET THE LILIES." title="TOM WADED IN THE MUD AND WATER TO GET THE LILIES." /></div> + +<div class='center'>TOM WADED IN THE MUD AND WATER TO GET THE LILIES.<br /> +<i>Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.</i> <i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>.</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE MISSING TOYS</h3> + + +<p>"Gentlemen," began Mr. Brown, "I have asked you all to come to my camp +to-night to settle some questions, and, if possible, to find out what +has been going on around here.</p> + +<p>"As I have told you, two rather costly toys, belonging to my children, +have been stolen. Eagle Feather's horse has been taken away. I know my +children's toys have not been found. And I think, Eagle Feather, your +horse is still missing?"</p> + +<p>"Him no come back long time," said the Indian. "Stable all ready for +him—good bed straw, hay to eat. He no come home. Me t'ink somebody keep +him for himself."</p> + +<p>"That's what we think, too, Eagle Feather," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Now there is one person I asked to come here to-night who is absent," +he went on.</p> + +<p>"The hermit," said some.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bixby," said others.</p> + +<p>"I think we all mean the same man," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"Now I have told you about this boy Tom, who was found by my children in +a cave near the lake shore," he continued. "He was found crying, saying +he was being stuck full of needles. I have not been able to get more +than that out of him. He says Bixby made him take hold of two shiny +balls, and then the needles pricked him. I have my own opinion of that, +but I'll speak of that later.</p> + +<p>"I asked Bixby here to-night, that we might talk to him. I find that he +has a right to hire this boy to work for him, and under the law to keep +him all Summer. So it seems that unless we can show that Bixby has +treated Tom harshly he will have to go back."</p> + +<p>"Unless we can prove that this needle-business was queer," said one man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and that is what I hoped to prove to-night. But since Mr. Bixby is +not here to talk to us——"</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go and talk to him!" cried an officer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He may hear us coming, and run away," said another.</p> + +<p>"Not if we go through the cave," suggested Tom. "I got into the cave, +where Bunny and Sue found me, by going through a hole in Bixby's +stable."</p> + +<p>"Then you'd better lead us through the cave," said Mr. Brown. "We may +surprise the man at his tricks."</p> + +<p>The party was soon going along the lake shore toward the cave.</p> + +<p>The cavern was dark and silent when they entered it, but their lights +made it bright.</p> + +<p>On they went, all the men, with Mrs. Brown, Uncle Tad and the children +coming at the rear of the procession. After they had gone far into the +cave the whinny of a horse was heard.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed Eagle Feather. "Him sound like my horse!"</p> + +<p>They went on softly through the cave and were soon near the place where +Tom had entered it from the stable.</p> + +<p>"Be very quiet now, everybody," said Mr. Brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," said Bunny to his mother and Sue, putting his finger on his +lips.</p> + +<p>"I'll take a peep and see if any one's in sight," said Tom.</p> + +<p>He went forward a little way and came back to whisper:</p> + +<p>"There are two horses and a cow in there, and one horse looks like Eagle +Feather's."</p> + +<p>"Let Indian see!" exclaimed the red man, and when he had peeped through +a hole between two stones in the stable wall, while Tom flashed a +flashlight through another hole, Eagle Feather cried:</p> + +<p>"That my horse! Me git him back now!"</p> + +<p>"Go a bit slow," advised Mr. Brown. "We want to see what else this Bixby +is up to. How can you get to the house from here, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Right through the stable, by the hole I got out of. His back door is +near the stable front door. Come on!"</p> + +<p>On they went through the stable, Eagle Feather pausing long enough to +pat his horse and make sure that it was his own animal and grunting +"Huh!" in pleasure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Softly now," whispered Tom. "We are coming to where we can look into +one of the two rooms of Mr. Bixby's hut. It is there he sits at night +and where he gave me the needles."</p> + +<p>In silence the party made its way to where all could look through the +window. Bunny's father held him up and Mrs. Brown took Sue in her arms.</p> + +<p>What they saw caused them all great surprise. For there, on a table in +front of Bixby, the hermit, was Bunny's toy engine, and Sue's Teddy +bear. But the bear was partly torn apart, and from it ran wires that +joined with other wires from Bunny's electric locomotive and batteries. +At the other ends of the wires, were round, shiny balls, like those on +the ends of curtain rods.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the table sat an Indian, and at the sight of him +Eagle Feather whispered:</p> + +<p>"Him name Muskrat. Much good in canoe and water."</p> + +<p>They saw the hermit put the two shiny knobs on the Indian's hands. Then +Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> Bixby turned a switch and the Indian let out a wild yell and sprang +through the open door, crying:</p> + +<p>"Thorns and thistles! He has stung me with bad medicine! Wow!"</p> + +<p>"I think I begin to see the trick," said Mr. Brown.</p> + +<p>"That's what he did to me," explained Tom, "but I didn't see a Teddy +bear or a toy locomotive."</p> + +<p>This time the hermit, disturbed by the sudden running away of the +Indian, and by the voices outside his window, started toward the latter.</p> + +<p>"Quick! Some of you get to the door so he can't get away," called Mr. +Brown, but Bixby did not seem to want to run away. He stood in the +middle of the room until Mr. Brown, Bunny, Sue and the others had +entered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's my toy engine!" cried Bunny making a grab for it.</p> + +<p>"And my Teddy bear!" added Sue.</p> + +<p>"Look out, don't touch them!" called Mr. Brown. "He has fixed the dry +batteries in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>the toys to a spark coil, which makes the current +stronger, and he's giving shocks that way. Aren't you?" he asked, +turning to the hermit.</p> + +<p>"Since you have found me out, I have," was the answer. "I admit I have +been bad, but I am sorry. I will tell you everything. I used to be a man +who went about the country with an electric machine, giving people +electrical treatments for rheumatism and other pains. I made some money, +but my wife died and her sickness and burial took all I had. Then my +electrical machine broke and I could not buy another.</p> + +<p>"However, I did manage to get a little one, run with dry batteries, and +I began going about the country making cures.</p> + +<p>"Then this place was left me by a relative. I thought I could make a +living off it with the help of a hired boy, so I got Tom.</p> + +<p>"I found some Indians lived here, and, learning how simple they were and +that they thought everything strange was 'heap big medicine,' as they +called it, I thought of trying my battery on them. First I tried it on +Tom, and he yelled that I was sticking needles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>into him. He did not +understand about the electricity, and I did not try to explain.</p> + +<p>"I remembered what your children had told me about having a toy train of +cars that ran by electricity, and a Teddy bear with two lamps for eyes. +I knew these batteries, though small, would be strong, and just what I +needed with what electrical things I had. So I stole the toy train of +cars and the Teddy bear.</p> + +<p>"I was sorry to do it, but I thought if I could make enough money from +the Indians I could buy new batteries for myself and give the children +back their toys.</p> + +<p>"But most of the Indians were afraid of the electrical current which +felt like needles, and I could not get many of them to come back after +they had once tried it. So I made no money.</p> + +<p>"Tom ran away, and then I stole Eagle Feather's horse. I thought maybe +if I could sell the horse and get money enough to get a new machine that +did not sting so hard, I could make money enough to buy the horse back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But everything went against me, and now I have nothing left. I am sorry +I had to rip your Teddy bear apart, little girl, to get the wires on the +batteries. And as for your cars, little boy, I hid them in farms and +various places. I don't know where they are now, but the engine is all +right and in running order."</p> + +<p>He quickly loosened the wires, and the toy locomotive ran around the +table on part of the stolen track.</p> + +<p>"But my poor dear Sallie Malinda is dead!" cried Sue.</p> + +<p>"No, I can sew her together again, if the batteries are all right," said +Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"And the batteries are all right," said the hermit, who had heard what +was said. "See, I'll make the eyes shine!"</p> + +<p>He quickly did something to the wires and again the eyes of Sue's Teddy +bear shone out bravely.</p> + +<p>"I realize how wrong I was to take the children's things," went on the +hermit, "but I knew no other way to get the batteries I needed. I only +had my cow to sell, and I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>dared not part with her, for she gave me milk +to live on. All the while I kept hoping my luck would be better.</p> + +<p>"When Tom ran away I did not know what to do. I did not imagine the +little electricity I gave him would hurt him. A few of the Indians +seemed to like it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, me hear um talk of heap big medicine that sting like bees," said +Eagle Feather. "But me no think hermit did it, what has my horse."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I took it," said Bixby. "I'll give up my cow to pay for all I +took. Then I'll go away."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," said Mr. Brown. "We'll decide about that later. You +have done some wrong things, but you have tried to do what was right. +We'll try to find a way out of your troubles. Stay here for a few days."</p> + +<p>Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue took with them that night their toys so +strangely found, and in a few days the playthings were as good as ever, +for Mrs. Brown sewed up the ripped Teddy bear and Bunny had some new +cars for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>his electric engine. The track the hermit had kept, so +that was all right.</p> + +<p>"Does electricity feel like pins and needles?" asked Bunny Brown one +day.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you," said his father, and he did by a little battery which +he owned. This was after their return from camp.</p> + +<p>"Is it like needles, or your foot being asleep," said Bunny.</p> + +<p>But before this Mr. Brown had talked with some of his neighbors, and +they decided to give the hermit another chance. Tom would go back to +work for him on condition that no more electricity be used. The hermit +had a good garden and he could sell things from that. Eagle Feather was +given back his horse, and Mr. Bixby was not arrested for taking it. And +the mystery of the electrical toys being solved, life at Camp +Rest-a-While went on as before for a time.</p> + +<p>Bunny and his sister had fine times, and once in a while Tom had a day's +vacation, and came over to see them.</p> + +<p>"But I s'pose we can't stay here forever,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> said Bunny to Sue, one day. +"I wonder where we'll go next?"</p> + +<p>"I heard father and mother talking something about a trip," said Sue.</p> + +<p>And what that journey was may be learned by reading the next volume of +this series to be called: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto +Tour."</p> + +<p>"Say, we ought to have some fun on that!" cried Bunny.</p> + +<p>"So we ought!" cried Sue. "I'm going to take my fixed-over Sallie +Malinda."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll take my flashlight instead of my locomotive and cars," said +Bunny. "We may have to travel at night."</p> + +<p>And while the two children are thus planning good times together we will +say good-bye to them.</p> + +<h2>THE END</h2> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h3>THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS</h3> + +<div class='center'>For Little Men and Women</div> + +<h3>By LAURA LEE HOPE</h3> + +<div class='center'>Author of "The Bunny Brown" Series, Etc.</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>Copyright publications which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Books that +charm the hearts of the little ones, and of which they never tire. Many +of the adventures are comical in the extreme, and all the accidents that +ordinarily happen to youthful personages happened to these many-sided +little mortals. Their haps and mishaps make decidedly entertaining +reading.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Bobbsey Twins Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Telling how they go home from the seashore; went to school and were promoted, and of their many trials and tribulations.<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Telling of the winter holidays, and of the many fine times and adventures the twins had at a winter lodge in the big woods.<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Mr. Bobbsey obtains a houseboat, and the whole family go off on a tour.<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The young folks visit the farm again and have plenty of good times and several adventures.<br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The twins get into all sorts of trouble—and out again—also bring aid to a poor family.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="center"><b><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></b></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL</h2> + +<h2>HIGH SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class="center"><b>12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The +girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with +interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track +and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on +the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure +and wholesome.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The Girls of Central High Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or Rivals for all Honors.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of<br />mystery and a strange initiation.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Crew That Won.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketballand in addition,<br />the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high school authorities for a long while.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Play That Took the Prize.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote a play which<br />afterward was made over for the professional stage and brought in some much-needed money.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Girl Champions of the School League.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved and up-to-date<br />fashion. Full of fun and excitement.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Old Professor's Secret.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful time at boating,<br />swimming and picnic parties.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></b></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS</h2> + +<h2>SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By LAURA LEE HOPE</h3> + +<div class='center'>Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series."</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>The adventures of Ruth and Alice DeVere. Their father, a widower, is an +actor who has taken up work for the "movies." Both girls wish to aid him +in his work and visit various localities to act in all sorts of +pictures.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The Moving Picture Girls Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or First Appearance in Photo Dramas.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>Having lost his voice, the father of the girls goes into the movies<br />and the girls follow. Tells how many "parlor dramas" are filmed.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>Full of fun in the country, the haps and mishaps of taking film<br />plays, and giving an account of two unusual discoveries.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Proof on the Film.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>A title of winter adventures in the wilderness, showing how the<br />photo-play actors sometimes suffer.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>How they went to the land of palms, played many parts in dramas<br />before the camera; were lost, and aided others who were also lost.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or Great Days Among the Cowboys.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>All who have ever seen moving pictures of the great West will<br />want to know just how they are made. This volume gives every detail<br />end is full of clean fun and excitement.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or a Pictured Shipwreck that Became Real.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>A thrilling account of the girls' experiences on the water.</div></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Or The Sham Battles at Oak Farm.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='synopsis'>The girls play important parts in big battle scenes and have plenty<br />of hard work along with considerable fun.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> +<div class='center'><b><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></b></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE TOM SWIFT SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By VICTOR APPLETON</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>12mo. CLOTH. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. COLORED WRAPPERS.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>These spirited tales convey in a realistic way the wonderful advances in +land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the +memory and their reading is productive only of good.</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Tom Swift Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Fun and Adventure on the Road</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Speediest Car on the Road</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Castaways of Earthquake Island</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Secret of Phantom Mountain</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Wreck of the Airship</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Quickest Flight on Record</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Daring Adventures in Elephant Land</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Marvellous Adventures Underground</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Seeking the Platinum Treasure</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or A Daring Escape by Airship</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Perils of Moving Picture Taking</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or On the Border for Uncle Sam</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Longest Shots on Record</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Picture that Saved a Fortune</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Naval Terror of the Seas</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or The Hidden City of the Andes</span><br /><br /></td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></b></div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> + +<div class='tnote'> +<b>Transcriber's Notes:</b> + +<p>Punctuation normalized.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. +Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the +Big Woods, by Laura Lee Hope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER *** + +***** This file should be named 17097-h.htm or 17097-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/9/17097/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + +Illustrator: Florence England Nosworthy + +Release Date: November 18, 2005 [EBook #17097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "I GUESS IT'S ROLLING FASTER THAN I AM," THOUGHT BUNNY. + _Frontispiece._ _Page_ 61. +_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._] + + + + +BUNNY BROWN +AND HIS SISTER SUE +IN THE BIG WOODS + +BY +LAURA LEE HOPE + +AUTHOR OF + +THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY +TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR +GIRLS SERIES, ETC. + +Illustrated by +Florence England Nosworthy + +NEW YORK +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS + + + +BOOKS + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + + * * * * * + +_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 50 cents, postpaid._ + + * * * * * + +=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES= + + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR + + * * * * * + +=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES= + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + + * * * * * + +=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES= + + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND + + * * * * * + + =GROSSET & DUNLAP= + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + Copyright, 1917, by + GROSSET & DUNLAP + +_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. WHAT DADDY BROUGHT 1 + II. THE PAIL OF MILK 12 + III. THE OLD MAN 25 + IV. A NOISE AT NIGHT 34 + V. BUNNY ROLLS DOWN HILL 46 + VI. AFTER THE LOST COW 59 + VII. THE MISSING TRAIN 69 + VIII. "WHERE HAS SALLIE GONE?" 84 + IX. THE SEARCH 93 + X. LOST IN THE WOODS 101 + XI. THE HERMIT AGAIN 112 + XII. WONDERINGS 119 + XIII. MR. BROWN MAKES A SEARCH 132 + XIV. THE RAGGED BOY 141 + XV. HIDDEN IN THE HAY 150 + XVI. THE ANGRY GOBBLER 159 + XVII. SUE DECIDES TO MAKE A PIE 166 + XVIII. ROASTING CORN 176 + XIX. EAGLE FEATHER'S HORSE 191 + XX. FUN IN THE ATTIC 199 + XXI. "WHERE IS SUE?" 207 + XXII. THE HERMIT COMES FOR TOM 214 + XXIII. TRYING TO HELP TOM 221 + XXIV. THE NIGHT MEETING 229 + XXV. THE MISSING TOYS 237 + + + + +BUNNY BROWN AND +HIS SISTER SUE +IN THE BIG WOODS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHAT DADDY BROUGHT + + +"Sue! Sue! Where are you?" called a lady, as she stood in the opening of +a tent which was under the trees in the big woods. "Where are you, Sue? +And where is Bunny?" + +For a moment no answers came to the call. But presently, from behind a +clump of bushes not far from the tent, stepped a little girl. She held +her finger over her lips, just as your teacher does in school when she +does not want you to say anything. Then the little girl whispered: + +"Sh-h-h-h, Mother. I can't come now." + +"Then let Bunny come. He can do what I want." + +"Bunny can't come, either." + +"Why not?" and Mrs. Brown smiled at her little girl, who seemed very +much in earnest as she stood in front of the bushes, her finger still +across her lips. + +"Bunny can't come, 'cause we're playing soldier and Indian," said Sue. +"Bunny's been shot by an Indian arrow and I'm his nurse. He's just got +over the fever, same as I did when I had the measles, and he's asleep. +And it's awful dangerous to wake anybody up that's just got to sleep +after a fever. That's what our doctor said, I 'member." + +"Oh, Bunny is just getting over a fever, is he?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"Of course it's only a _make-believe_ fever, Mother," said the little +girl. "We're only pretendin' you know"; and she cut her words short, +leaving off a "g" here and there, so she could talk faster I suppose. + +"Oh, if it's only a make-believe fever it's all right," said Mother +Brown with a laugh. "How long do you think Bunny will sleep, Sue?" + +"Oh, not very long. Maybe five minutes. 'Cause, you see, when he wakes +up he'll be hungry and I've got some pie and cake and some milk for him +to eat. Sick folks gets awful hungry when their fever goes away. And +it's _real_ things to eat, too, Mother. And when Bunny got make-believe +shot with an Indian arrow he said he wasn't going to play fever more'n +five minutes 'cause he saw what I had for him to eat." + +"Oh well, if he's going to be better in five minutes I can wait that +long," said Mrs. Brown. "Go on and have your fun." + +"What do you want Bunny to do--or me?" asked Sue, as she turned to go +back behind the bush where she and Bunny were having their game. + +"I'll tell you when you've finished playing," said Mrs. Brown with a +smile. She sometimes found this a better plan than telling the children +just what she wanted when she called them from some of their games. You +see they were so anxious to find out what it was their mother wanted +that they hurried to finish their fun. + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were at Camp Rest-a-While with their +father and their mother. They had come from their home in Bellemere to +live for a while in the forest, on the shore of Lake Wanda, where they +were all enjoying the life in the open air. + +They had journeyed to the woods in an automobile, carrying two tents +which were set up under the trees. One tent was used to sleep in and the +other for a dining room. There was also a place to cook. + +With the Brown family was Uncle Tad, who was really Mr. Brown's uncle. +But the jolly old soldier was as much an uncle to Bunny and Sue as he +was to their father. Bunker Blue, a boy, had also come to Camp +Rest-a-While with the Brown family, but after having many adventures +with them, he had gone back to Bellemere, where Mr. Brown had a fish and +a boat business. With him went Tom Vine, a boy whom the Browns had met +after coming to camp. + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue liked it in the big woods that stretched +out all about their camp. They played many games under the trees and in +the tents, and had great fun. Mrs. Brown liked it so much that when the +time when they had planned to go home came, she said to her husband: + +"Oh, let's stay a little longer. I like it so much and the children are +so happy. Let's stay!" + +And so they stayed. And they were still camped on the edge of the big +woods that morning when Mrs. Brown called Bunny and Sue to do something +for her. + +After telling her mother about the pretend-fever which Bunny had, Sue +went back to where her brother was lying on a blanket under the bushes. +She made-believe feel his pulse, as she had seen the doctor do when once +Bunny had been really ill, and then the little girl put her hand on +Bunny's cheek. + +"Say! what you doin' that for?" he asked. + +"I was seeing how hot you were," answered Sue. "I guess your fever's +most gone, isn't it, Bunny?" she asked. + +"Is it time to eat?" he asked quickly. + +"Yes, I think it is. And I think mother has a surprise for us, too." + +"Then my fever's all gone!" exclaimed Bunny. "I'm all better, and I can +eat. Then we'll see what mother has." + +Never did an ill person get well so quickly as did Bunny Brown just +then. He sat up, threw to one side a blanket Sue had spread over him, +and called: + +"Where's the pie and cake?" + +"Here they are," Sue answered, as she took them from a little box under +the bushes. + +"And where's the milk?" asked Bunny. "Fevers always make folks thirsty, +you know. I'm awful thirsty!" + +"Here's the milk," said Sue. "I didn't ask mother if I could take it, +but I'm sure she won't care." + +"No, I guess not," said Bunny, taking a long drink which Sue poured out +for him from a pitcher into a glass. + +Then Bunny and his sister ate the pie and the cake which their mother +had given them that morning when they said they wanted to have a little +picnic in the woods. Instead Bunny and Sue had played Indian and +soldier, as they often did. First Bunny was a white soldier, and then an +Indian, and at last he made believe he was shot so he could be ill. Sue +was very fond of playing nurse, and she liked to cover Bunny up, feel +his pulse and feed him bread pills rolled in sugar. Bunny liked these +pills, too. + +"Well, now we've got everything eaten up," said Bunny, as he gathered up +the last crumbs of the pie his mother had baked in the oil stove which +they had brought to camp. "Let's go and see what the surprise is." + +"I'm not so _sure_ it is a surprise," returned Sue slowly. "Mother +didn't say so. She just said she wouldn't tell us until you got all +make-believe well again. So I suppose it's a surprise. Don't you think +so, too?" + +"I guess I do," answered Bunny. "But come on, we'll soon find out." + +As the children came out from under the bush where they had been +playing, there was a crashing in the brush and Sue cried: + +"Oh, maybe that's some more of those Indians." + +"Pooh! We're not playing Indians _now_," said Bunny. "That game's all +over. I guess it's Splash." + +"Oh, that's nice!" cried Sue. "I was wondering where he'd gone." + +A big, happy-looking and friendly dog came bursting through the bushes. +He wagged his tail, and his big red tongue dangled out of his mouth, for +it was a warm day. + +"Oh, Splash; you came just too late!" cried Sue. "We've eaten up +everything!" + +"All except the crumbs," said Bunny. + +Splash saw the crumbs almost as soon as Bunny spoke, and with his red +tongue the dog licked them up from the top of the box which the children +had used for a table under the bushes. + +"Come on," called Bunny after a bit. "Let's go and find out what mother +wants. Maybe she's baked some cookies for us." + +"Didn't you have enough with the cake, pie and milk?" Sue asked. + +"Oh, I could eat more," replied Bunny Brown. In fact, he seemed always +to be hungry, his mother said, though she did not let him eat enough to +make himself ill. + +"Well, come on," called Sue. "We'll go and see what mother has for us." + +Through the woods ran the children, toward the lake and the white tents +gleaming among the green trees. Mr. Brown went to the city twice a week, +making the trip in a small automobile he ran himself. Sometimes he would +stay in the city over night, and Mother Brown and Uncle Tad and the +children would stay in the tents in the big woods where they were not +far from a farmhouse. + +Splash, the happy-go-lucky dog, bounded on ahead of Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue. The children followed as fast as they could. Now and then +Splash would stop and look back as though calling: + +"Come on! Hurry up and see the surprise!" + +"We're coming!" Bunny would call. "What do you s'pose it is?" he would +ask Sue. + +"I can't even guess," Sue would answer. "But I know it must be something +nice, for she smiled when I told her I was your nurse and you had an +Indian fever." + +"It wasn't an Indian fever," protested Bunny. + +"Well, I mean a make-believe Indian fever," said the little girl. + +"No, it was a make-believe arrow fever," said Bunny. "I got shot with an +Indian _arrow_ you know." + +"Oh yes," Sue answered. "But, anyhow, you're all well now. Oh, look out, +Splash!" she cried as the big dog ran into a puddle of water and +splashed it so that some got on Sue's dress. That is how Splash got his +name--from splashing into so many puddles. + +But this time the water was from a clean brook that ran over green, +mossy stones, and it did Sue's dress no harm, for she had on one that +Mrs. Brown had made purposely for wearing in the woods. + +"Here we are, Momsie!" called Sue, as she and Bunny came running up to +the camp where the tents were. + +"What's the surprise?" asked Bunny. + +Just then they heard the Honk! Honk! of an automobile, and as a car +came on through the woods and up to the white tents, Bunny and Sue cried +together: + +"Oh, it's daddy! Daddy has come home!" + +"Yes, and he's brought us something!" added Bunny. "Look at the two big +bundles, Sue!" + +"Oh, Daddy! Daddy Brown! What have you brought?" cried the two children. + +"Just a minute now, and I'll show you," said Mr. Brown, as he got out of +the automobile and started for a tent, a big bundle under each arm. The +children danced about in delight and Splash barked. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PAIL OF MILK + + +"Oh, Mother! is this the surprise you had for us?" asked Sue, as she +hopped about, first on one foot then on the other. For she was so +excited she could not keep still. + +"No, this isn't exactly what I meant," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. +"Still, this is a very nice surprise, isn't it?" + +"Just the very nicest!" said Bunny. "It's nice to have daddy home, and +it's nice to have him bring something." + +"Oh, please tell us what it is--you have two things," went on Sue, as +she looked at the two bundles which Mr. Brown carried, one under each +arm. "Is there something for each of us, Daddy?" + +"Well, yes, I think so, Sue," answered her father. "But just wait----" + +"Oh, my dears! give your father a chance to get his breath," laughed +Mrs. Brown. "Remember he has come all the way from the city in the auto, +and he must be tired. Come into the tent, and I'll make you a cup of +tea," she went on. + +"And then will you tell us what you brought us?" asked Bunny. + +"Yes," said Mr. Brown. + +"Then let's go in and watch him drink his tea," said Sue, as she took +hold of Bunny's hand and led him toward the dining tent. "We'll know the +minute he has finished," she went on, "and we'll be there when he opens +the bundles." + +"All right," said Mr. Brown. "Come in if you like." And while he was +sipping the tea which Mrs. Brown quickly made for him, the two children +sat looking at the two bundles their father had brought. One was quite +heavy, Bunny noticed, and something rattled inside the box in which it +was packed. The other was lighter. They were both about the same size. + +And while the children are sitting there, waiting for their father to +finish his tea, so they can learn what the surprise is I'll take just a +few minutes to tell my new readers something about the Brown family, and +especially Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. + +As I have already mentioned, the family, which was made up of Mr. and +Mrs. Walter Brown and the two children, lived in the town of Bellemere, +which was on Sandport Bay, near the ocean. Mr. Brown was in the fish and +the boat business, hiring to those who wanted row boats, fishing boats +or motor boats. In the first book of this series, "Bunny Brown and His +Sister Sue," the story was about the little boy and his sister, and what +fun they had getting up a Punch and Judy show. + +"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm," was the name of the +second book and you can easily guess what that was about. The two +children had much fun in a big automobile moving van, which was fitted +up just like a little house, and in which they lived while going to the +farm. Bunker Blue, who worked for Mr. Brown, and the children's dog +Splash went with them. + +While at their grandpa's farm Bunny and Sue got up a little show, at +which they had lots of fun, and, seeing this, Bunker and some of the +older boys made up a larger show. They gave that in two tents, one of +which had belonged to Grandpa Brown when he was in the army. + +The Brown children were so delighted with the shows that they decided to +have another, and in the third book, named "Bunny Brown and His Sister +Sue Playing Circus," you may read how they did it. Something happened in +that book which made Bunny and Sue feel bad for a while, but they soon +got over it. + +In the next book, "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City +Home," I told the story of the two children going to the big city of New +York, and of the queer things they saw and the funny things they did +while there. + +Bunny and Sue had played together as long as they could remember. Bunny +was about six or seven years old and Sue was a year younger. Wherever +one went the other was always sure to be seen, and whatever Bunny did +Sue was sure to think just right. Every one in Bellemere knew Bunny and +Sue, from old Miss Hollyhock to Wango, a queer little monkey owned by +Jed Winkler the sailor. Wango often got into mischief, and so did Bunny +and Sue. And the children had much fun with Uncle Tad who loved them as +if they were his own. + +After Bunny and Sue had come back from Aunt Lu's city home the weather +was very warm and Daddy Brown thought of camping in the woods. So that +is what they did, and the things that happened are related in the fifth +book in the series, called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp +Rest-a-While." For that is what they named the place where the tents +were set up under the trees on the edge of the big woods and by a +beautiful lake. + +Neither Bunny nor Sue had ever been to the end of these big woods, nor +had Mr. Brown, though some day he hoped to go. The summer was about half +over. Mrs. Brown liked it so much that she said she and the children +would stay in the woods as long as it was warm enough to live in a tent. + +And now, this afternoon, Mr. Brown had come home from the city with the +two queer big bundles, and the children were so excited thinking what +might be in them that they watched every mouthful of tea Mr. Brown +sipped. + +"When will you be ready to show us?" asked Sue. + +"Please be quick," begged Bunny. "I--I'm gettin' awful anxious." + +"Well, I guess I can show you now," said Mr. Brown. "Bring me the +heaviest package, Bunny." + +It was all the little boy could do to lift it from the chair, but he +managed to do it. Slowly Mr. Brown opened it. Bunny saw a flash of +something red and shining. + +"Oh, it's a fire engine!" he cried. + +"Not quite," said his father, "though that was a good guess." + +Then Mr. Brown lifted out the things in the paper, and all at once Bunny +saw what it was--a little toy train of cars, with an engine and tracks +on which it could run. + +"Does it really go?" asked the little boy, eagerly. + +"Yes, it really goes," said Mr. Brown. "It's an electric train, and it +runs by electricity from these batteries," and he held up some strong +ones. "I'll fix up your train for you so it will run. But you must be +careful of it, Bunny." + +"Oh, I'll take fine care of it!" cried the little boy. "And I won't let +Splash bite it." + +"Didn't you bring me anything, Daddy?" asked Sue slowly. "Or do I have +to play with Bunny's train?" and she looked at the little boy who was +trying to fit together the pieces of the track. + +"Oh, I have something for you alone, Sue," her father said. "Look and +see if you like this." + +He held up a great big Teddy bear. + +"Oh! Ah!" murmured Sue. "That's something I've been wishing for. Oh, +Daddy! how good you are to us!" and she threw her arms around her +father's neck. + +"I love you, too!" called Bunny Brown, leaving his toy train and track, +and running to his father for a hug and a kiss. + +"Well, now, how do you like this, Sue?" and Mr. Brown handed the big +Teddy bear over to his little girl. + +"Oh, I just love it!" she cried. "It's the nicest doll ever!" + +"Let me show you something," said Mr. Brown. He pressed a button in the +toy bear's back and, all of a sudden, its eyes shone like little lights. + +"Oh, what makes that, Daddy?" asked Bunny, leaving his toy train and +coming over to see his sister's present. + +"Behind the bear's eyes, which are of glass," explained Mr. Brown, "are +two little electric lights. They are lighted by what are called dry +batteries, like those that ring our front door bell at home, only +smaller. And the same kind of dry batteries will run Bunny's train when +I get it put together. + +"See, Sue, when you want your bear's eyes to glow, just press this +button in Teddy's back," and her father showed her a little button, or +switch, hidden in the toy's fur. + +"Oh, isn't that fine!" cried Sue with shining eyes. She pushed the +button, the bear's eyes lighted and gleamed out, and Splash, seeing +them, barked in excitement. + +"Oh, let me do it," begged Bunny. "I'll let you run my toy train if you +let me light your bear's eyes, Sue," he said. + +"All right," agreed the little girl. + +So Bunny played with the Teddy bear a bit, while Sue looked at the toy +engine and cars, and then Mrs. Brown said: + +"Well, children, I think it is about time for my surprise." + +"Oh, have you something for us, too?" asked Sue, quickly. + +"Well, I'll have something for you if you will go and get something for +me," said Mother Brown. "I want you to go to the farmhouse and get me a +pail of milk. Some one took what I was saving to make a pudding with, so +I'll have to get more milk." + +"We took it to play soldier and nurse with," confessed Sue. "I'm sorry, +Momsie----" + +"Oh, it doesn't matter, dear," said Mrs. Brown. "I like to have you +drink all the milk you want. But now you'll have to get more for me, as +there is not enough for supper and the pudding." + +"We'll go for the milk," said Bunny. "And when we get back we can play +with the bear and the toy train." + +"I'll try to have the toy train running for you when you come back with +the milk," said Mr. Brown. "Trot along now." + +Mrs. Brown gave Bunny the milk pail, and soon he and Sue, leaving Splash +behind this time, started down the road to the farmhouse where they got +their milk. The farmer sent his boy every day with milk for those at +Camp Rest-a-While, but this time Bunny and Sue had used more than usual, +and Mrs. Brown had to send for some extra. + +It did not take Bunny and Sue long to reach the farmhouse, where their +pail was filled by the farmer's wife. + +"We've got a surprise at our camp," said Bunny, as they started away, +the little boy carefully carrying the pail of milk. + +"Indeed! Is that so? What is it?" asked the farmer's wife. + +"We've got two surprises," said Sue. "Daddy brought them from the city. +Bunny has a toy train of cars that runs with a city." + +"She means _electricity_," explained Bunny with a laugh, but saying the +big word very slowly. + +"I don't care. It sounds like that," declared Sue. "And I've got a Teddy +bear and its eyes are little e-lec-tri-_city_ lamps, and they shine like +anything when you push a button in his back." + +"Those are certainly two fine surprises," said the farmer's wife. "Now +be careful not to spill your milk." + +"We'll be careful," promised Bunny. + +He and Sue walked along the country road toward their camp. Suddenly on +a fence Sue saw a squirrel running along. + +"Oh, look, Bunny!" she cried. + +"Where?" asked her brother. + +"On that fence. A big gray squirrel!" + +"Oh, what a fine, big one!" cried Bunny. "Maybe we can catch him and put +him in a cage with a wheel that goes around." + +Bunny carefully set the pail of milk down at the side of the road, out +of the way in case any wagons or automobiles should come along. Then he +ran after the squirrel, that had come to a stop on top of the fence and +stood looking at the children. + +But, as soon as the squirrel with the big tail saw Bunny running toward +him, he scampered away and Bunny followed. So did Sue, leaving the pail +of milk standing in the grass beside the road. + +The squirrel could run on the fence much faster than Bunny Brown and his +sister Sue could run along the road, and pretty soon they saw him +scamper up a tree. + +"Now we can't get him," said Sue, sorrowfully. + +"No, I guess not," answered Bunny. "We'd better go back to camp and play +with your Teddy bear and my toy train. Come on." + +They walked back toward the place they had left the pail of milk. As +they came in sight of it Sue cried: + +"Oh, Bunny, look!" + +Bunny looked, and at what he saw he cried: + +"Oh dear!" + +For a big, shaggy dog had his nose down in the pail of milk, and as he +looked up, at hearing Bunny's cry, he knocked the pail over, spilling +what he had not taken himself. + +"Oh, our milk's all gone!" cried Bunny. + +"What shall we do?" asked Sue, in dismay. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE OLD MAN + + +For a moment the two children did not know what to do. They stood still, +looking at the dog who had just drunk the milk from the pail which they +had set down in the road so they could chase the squirrel. Then Bunny, +made bold by thinking of what might happen if he and his sister went +home with the empty pail, thinking also of the pudding which his mother +could not make if she had no milk, gave a loud cry. + +"Get away from there, you bad dog!" cried the little boy. "Leave our +milk alone!" and he started to run toward the shaggy creature. + +"Oh, come back! Come back!" cried Sue. "Don't go near him, Bunny!" + +"Why not?" her brother asked in some surprise. + +"'Cause he might bite you." + +"Huh! I'm not afraid of him!" declared Bunny. "He doesn't look as +savage as our Splash, and _he_ never bites anybody, though he barks a +lot at tramps." + +So Bunny ran on toward the shaggy dog. The animal stood looking at the +little boy for a moment and then, with a sort of "wuff!" as if to say, +"Well, I've taken all the milk, what are you going to do about it?" away +he trotted down the road. Bunny ran on and picked up the milk pail. Only +a few drops were in the bottom. + +"See I told you he wouldn't bite me! I'm not afraid of that dog!" the +little boy called to his sister. + +"Yes, you did drive him off," said Sue, proud of her brother. "You are +awful brave, Bunny--just as brave as when you played soldier and I cured +you of the Indian fever, and----" + +"It was arrow fever, I keep tellin' you!" insisted Bunny. + +"Well, arrow fever then," agreed Sue. "But is there any milk left, +Bunny?" + +"Not a drop, Sue," and Bunny turned the pail upside down to show. + +"Well," said the little girl with a sigh, "then I guess you weren't +brave in time, Bunny. You didn't save the milk!" + +"Huh, the dog had it all drunk up before I saw him," declared her +brother. "If I'd seen him I'd have stopped him quick enough! I wasn't +afraid of him." + +"But what about more milk?" asked Sue. That was all she could think of, +now that the pail was empty. "We've got to get more milk, Bunny Brown." + +"Yes, I s'pose we have," he agreed. "But we can easy go back to the +farmhouse." + +"No, we can't," said Sue. + +"Why not?" Bunny demanded. "It isn't far, and if you're afraid of the +dog you can stay here, and I'll go for the milk." + +"Nope!" cried Sue, shaking her head until her hair flew into her eyes. +"Mother said you mustn't ever leave me alone, to go anywhere when we +were on the road or in the big woods. I've got to stay with you, and +you've got to stay with me," and she went up and took Bunny by the hand. + +"All right, Sue," said he. "I want you to stay with me. But come along +to the farmhouse and we'll get more milk. I'll take a stick, if you want +me to, and keep the dog away. I don't believe he'll come back anyhow. +Don't you know how 'fraid dogs are to come back to you when they've done +something bad. That time Splash ate the meat Bunker Blue brought in and +left on the table--why, that time Splash was so ashamed for what he'd +done that he didn't come into the house all day. This dog won't bite +you." + +"Pooh! I'm not afraid of the _dog_, Bunny Brown," said Sue. + +"Then what are you afraid of?" + +"I'm not 'fraid of anything. But you know what that farm lady said. She +said this was the last quart of milk she could spare, and she didn't +have any more." + +"Oh, so she did!" agreed Bunny. "Then what are we going to do?" + +"I don't know," said Sue. + +"We've got to do _something_," said Bunny gravely. + +"Yes," said Sue. "There isn't any more milk at the camp, and the farm +lady hasn't any, and----" + +"Mother wants some to make the surprise-pudding," added Bunny. "I guess +we didn't ought to have tooken that for our play-game," he went on all +mixed up in his English. + +"No," said Sue, "maybe we oughtn't. Let me think now." + +"What you going to think?" asked Bunny. Though he was a little older +than Sue he knew that she often thought more then he did about what they +were going to do or play. Sue was a good thinker. She usually thought +first and did things afterward, while Bunny was just the other way. He +did something first and then thought about it afterward, and sometimes +he was sorry for what he had done. But this time he wanted to know what +Sue was going to think. + +"Aren't you going to think something?" he asked after a bit. + +Sue stood looking up and down the road. + +"I'm thinkin' now," she said. "Please don't bother me, Bunny." + +Bunny remained silent, now and then looking into the empty milk pail, +and tipping it upside down, as though that would fill it again. Finally +Sue said: + +"Well, we can't get any milk at the farmhouse. I don't know any other +place around here where we can go, so the only thing to do is to go back +to Camp Rest-a-While." + +"But there's no milk there," said Bunny. + +"I know there isn't. But we can tell daddy and mother, and ask them what +to do. They wouldn't want us to go off somewhere else without telling +them. And maybe daddy can go off in the automobile and get some milk at +another farm." + +"Maybe," said Bunny slowly. "And if we go with him," he added, "and he +does get more milk, we won't set the pail down in the road when we chase +a squirrel. We'll put it in the auto." + +"I guess by the time we get the milk it will be too dark to see to chase +squirrels," said Sue. "It's getting dark now; come on, Bunny." + +The two children started down the road toward the camp, and as they did +so they heard a crackling in the bushes on the side of a hill that led +up from the road. + +"Oh, here comes that milk dog back again!" cried Sue, and she snuggled +up close against her brother, though the sinking sun was still shining +across the highway. + +"I won't let him hurt you," said Bunny. "Wait until I get a stone or a +stick." + +"Oh, you mustn't do anything to strange dogs!" cried the little girl. +"If you do they might jump at you and bite you. Just don't notice him or +speak to him, and he'll think we're--we're stylish, and he'll pass right +by." + +"Oh well, if you want me to do _that_ way," said Bunny, looking up +toward the place the sound came from, "why I will, only----" + +He stopped speaking suddenly, and pointed up the hill. Sue looked in the +same direction. They saw coming toward them, not a dog, but an old man, +dressed in rather ragged clothes. He looked like what the children +called a tramp, though since they had arrived at the camp they had come +to know that not all persons who wore ragged clothes were tramps. Some +of the farmers and their helpers wore their raggedest garments to work +in the dirt of the fields. + +This man might be a farmer. He had long white hair that hung down under +the brim of his black hat, and though he did not have such a nice face +as did the children's father, or their Uncle Tad, still they were not +afraid of him. + +"Going after milk, little ones?" asked the old man, and his voice was +not unpleasant. + +"No, sir; we've just been," said Bunny. + +"Well, I'm afraid you'll spill your milk if you swing your pail that +way," went on the old man, for Bunny was moving the pail to and fro, +with wide swings of his arms. + +"It would spill, if there was any in the pail," said Sue. + +"But there isn't," added Bunny. + +"It's spilled already and we don't know where to get any more," +explained Sue. + +"It wasn't _'zactly_ spilled," Bunny added, for he and Sue always tried +to speak the exact truth. "A dog drank it up." + +"While we were chasin' a squirrel," added his sister. + +"But I would have driven him away if I'd seen him in time," Bunny +declared positively. "He put his nose right in the pail and licked up +all the milk, and what he didn't eat he spilled and then he ran away." + +"And the lady at the farmhouse hasn't any more milk," Sue explained. +"And there isn't any at the camp and----" + +"Mother can't make the pudding," finished Bunny. + +"Oh dear!" wailed Sue. + +"My, you have a lot of troubles!" said the ragged man. "But if you'll +come with me maybe I can help you." + +"Where do you want us to come?" asked Bunny, remembering that his mother +had told him never to go anywhere with strangers, and never to let Sue +go, either. + +"If you'll come up to my little cabin in the woods I can let you have +some milk," said the ragged man. "I keep a cow, and I have more milk +than I can use or sell. It isn't far. Come with me," and he held out his +hands to the children. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A NOISE AT NIGHT + + +Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were not sure whether or not they should +go with the old man. They remembered what their mother had said to them +about walking off with strangers, and they hung back. + +But when Bunny looked at the empty milk pail and remembered that there +was no milk in camp for supper, and none with which his mother could +make the pudding he and his sister liked so much, he made up his mind it +would be all right to go to the little cabin in the woods. + +"Come on," urged the old man. + +"Do you sell milk?" asked Sue. + +"Oh, yes, little girl. Though my cow with the crumpled horn does not +give such a lot of milk, there is more than I use. I sell what I can, +but even then I have some left over. I have plenty to sell to you." + +"We only want a quart," said Bunny. "That's all we have money for. +Mother gave us some extra pennies when we went for milk to the +farmhouse, but we have only six cents left. Will that buy a quart of +milk?" + +"It will here in the woods and the country," answered the old man, "but +it wouldn't in the city. However, my crumpled-horn cow's milk is only +six cents a quart." + +"Has your cow really got a crumpled horn?" asked Sue eagerly, for she +loved queer things. + +"Yes, she has a crumpled horn, but she isn't the one that jumped over +the moon," said the old man with a smile. + +The children liked him better after that, though when Bunny found a +chance to whisper to his sister as they walked through the woods, along +the path and behind the old man, the little boy said: + +"I guess he means to be kind, but he's kind of _funny_, isn't he?" + +"A little bit," answered Sue. + +The old man walked on ahead, the children, hand in hand, following, and +the bushes clinked against the empty tin pail that Bunny carried. + +"Here you are," said the old man, as he turned on the path, and before +them Bunny and his sister saw a log cabin. Near it was a shed, and as +the children stopped and looked, from the shed came a long, low "Moo!" + +"Oh, is that the crumpled-horn cow?" asked Sue. + +"Yes," answered the old man. "I'll get some of her milk for you. I keep +it in a pail down in the spring, so it will be cool. Let me take your +pail and I'll fill it for you while you go to see the cow. She is gentle +and won't hurt you." + +Letting the old man take the pail, Bunny and Sue went to look at the +cow. The door of the shed was in two parts, and the children opened the +upper half. + +"Moo!" called the cow as she stuck out her head. + +"Oh, see, one of her horns _is_ crumpled!" cried Bunny. + +"Let's wait, and _maybe_ she'll jump over the moon," suggested Sue, who +remembered the nursery rhyme of "Hey-diddle-diddle." + +But though the children remained standing near the cow shed for two or +three minutes, the cow, one of whose horns was twisted, or crumpled, +made no effort to jump out of her stable and leap over the moon. + +Bunny and Sue were not afraid of cows, especially when they were kept in +a stable, so they were soon rubbing the head of the ragged man's bossy. + +"Well, you have made friends, I see," came a voice behind the children, +and there stood the ragged man with their pail full of milk. "I am glad +you like my cow," he said. "She is a good cow and gives rich milk. Any +time you spill your milk again come to me and I'll sell you some." + +"We didn't spill this milk," explained Bunny carefully. "A dog drank +it." + +"Well, then come to me whenever you need milk, and you can't get any at +the farmhouse," went on the old man, as Bunny gave him the six pennies. + +"All right, sir," said Bunny. + +"Where do you live?" asked the ragged man. + +"At Camp Rest-a-While," answered Sue. + +"Oh, you're the children who live in the tents. I know where your place +is." + +"And to-night my father brought me a toy electric train from the city," +said Bunny Brown. "It runs on a track with batteries, and you can switch +it on and off and it--it's won'erful!" + +"So is my Teddy bear!" exclaimed Sue. "It has real lights for eyes and +they burn bright when you press a button in Teddy's back." + +"Those are fine toys," said the ragged man. "We never had such toys as +that when I was a boy. And so your train runs by an electrical battery, +does it, my boy?" he asked Bunny, and he seemed anxious to hear all +about it. + +"Yes, and a strong one. Daddy said I must be careful not to get a +shock." + +"That's right. Electric shocks are not very good. Except for folks that +have rheumatism," said the old man. "I have a touch of that myself now +and then, but I haven't any battery. But now you'd better run along +with your milk, or your father and mother may be worried about you. Do +you know your way back to camp all right?" + +"Oh, yes, thank you," said Bunny. + +"And we're much obliged to you for letting us have the milk," added Sue. + +"Oh, you paid me for it, and I was glad to sell it. I need the money +because I can't earn much any more. I should thank you as a store keeper +thanks his customers. And I'll say 'come again,'" and with a smile and a +wave of his hand the ragged man said good-bye to the children. + +"Now we mustn't set our pail down again," said Bunny; "not even if we +see a squirrel." + +"That's right," agreed Sue. + +In a little while they were safely back at camp again, just as Uncle Tad +was about to set off in search of them. + +"What kept you so long, children?" asked Mrs. Brown, anxiously. + +"Oh, we saw a squirrel," said Bunny. + +"And we set the milk pail down and chased it--chased the squirrel I +mean," added Sue. + +"And then a dog drank up the milk," went on Bunny. + +"And we couldn't get any more at the farmhouse," said Sue, speaking +next. + +"But the ragged man, who lives in a cabin in the woods, and has a cow +with the crumpled horn though she didn't jump over the moon--he gave us +more milk for six cents," said Bunny, all in one breath. + +"What's this about a ragged man?" asked Mr. Brown quickly, "and where +does he live?" + +The children explained. Mr. and Mrs. Brown looked at one another and +then Mr. Brown said: + +"Well, the ragged man meant all right, and he was very kind. But I +wouldn't go off into the woods with strangers again, Bunny and Sue. They +might get lost, or you might, and there would be a dreadful time until +we found you again. After this don't set your milk pail down, and you +won't have to hunt around for milk for supper. Now wash and get ready to +eat the surprise." + +"Can't I play with my electric train a little while?" asked Bunny. + +"And can't I play with my Teddy bear?" + +"Yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Brown. + +"I've got your train in running order," said Mr. Brown. "You can play +with it outside, near the campfire. But at night we'll have to take it +into the tent, for there might be rain." + +Mr. Brown soon showed Bunny how to start and stop the electric train by +turning a switch. The train was pulled by a little locomotive made of +steel and tin. Inside was a tiny electric motor, which was worked by a +current from the dry battery cells, such as make your door bell ring, +except that they were stronger. + +"All aboard for the city, on track five!" cried Bunny, as he had heard +the starter in the railroad station cry. + +"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" cried Sue. "I want to get on the train +with my Teddy bear that makes her eyes all light." + +"Make-believe, you mean; don't you?" asked Bunny. + +"Of course make-believe," answered Sue. "I couldn't sit on your little +cars. + +"Maybe the Teddy bear could," she added. + +"Oh, let's try," said Bunny. "Then we could give him a truly, really +ride." + +The Teddy bear was quite large, but not very heavy, and by stretching it +along three cars it could get on the train very nicely. It was even too +long for three cars, but hanging over a bit did not matter, Sue said. + +So she put it on top of the train, turned on its electric eyes, and then +Bunny turned on the switch that made the current go into the motor of +his engine. At first the train would not start, for the bear was a bit +heavy for it, but when Bunny gave the engine a little push with his hand +away it went as nicely as you please, pulling the bear around and around +the shiny track, which was laid in a circle. + +"Whoa!" called Sue. "Stop the train I Here is where my Teddy gets off." + +"You mustn't say whoa when you stop a train," objected Bunny. "Whoa is +to stop a horse." + +"Well, how do you stop a train?" Sue asked. + +"Just say 'ding!' That's one bell and the engineer knows that means to +stop." + +"I thought bells stopped trolley cars," said Sue. + +"They do, but they stop trains too, 'specially as mine is an electric +train." + +"All right. Ding!" called Sue sharply. + +Bunny turned the switch the other way to shut off the current, and the +train stopped. Sue took off the Teddy bear and said "Thank you" to +Conductor Bunny Brown. + +Then the little boy played with his toy train by himself, while Sue +pretended her Teddy bear was visiting in Sue's Aunt Lu's city home and +kept winking its electric-light eyes at Wopsie, a little colored girl +Bunny and Sue had known in New York, where Aunt Lu lived. + +"Supper!" suddenly called Mother Brown, and the two hungry children +hurried into the dining tent where Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad were waiting +for them. + +"Well, how did your electric train go?" asked Bunny's father. + +"Fine! It's the best ever." + +"And my Teddy is just lovely," said Sue. + +"Well, be careful of your toys," said Mr. Brown. "Better bring in the +tracks and the engine and cars right after supper." + +"I will," Bunny promised, "after I've played with them a bit." + +It was dusk when he and Sue took up the shiny track and carried the +batteries and other parts of the toy railroad into the sleeping tent, +for Bunny said he wanted it near him. + +The children sat up a little later than usual that night, as they always +did when their father had come to the camp from the city. Bunny talked +of nothing but his railroad, planning fun for the morrow, while Sue said +she was going to get some little girls, who lived in a near-by +farmhouse, and have a party for her Teddy bear. + +"Time to go to Slumberland now," called Mrs. Brown, when it was nearly +nine o'clock. "Go to bed early and you'll get up so much the earlier." + +So off to their little cots, behind the hanging curtains, went Bunny and +Sue, and soon after saying their prayers they were asleep, one to dream +he was a conductor on a big electric train, while the other dreamed of +carrying a big, crying Teddy bear upside down through the woods with a +milk pail hanging to its nose. + +Just what time it was Bunny and Sue did not know, but they were both +suddenly awakened by feeling the tent, on the side nearest to which they +slept, being pushed in. The canvas walls bulged as though some one were +trying to get through them. + +"Oh, Daddy!" cried Sue, as she saw the tent move in the light of a +lantern that burned dimly beyond the curtains behind which she and Bunny +slept. "Oh, Daddy, something is after us." + +"Yes, and it's an elephant!" cried Bunny, as he, too, saw the tent sway. +"It's an elephant got loose from the circus, and he's after us!" + +With that he bounded out of bed, and, waiting only long enough to clasp +each other by the hand, the two children burst into that part of the +tent where Mr. and Mrs. Brown slept. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BUNNY ROLLS DOWN HILL + + +"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Brown, thrusting his head out from +between the two curtains behind which his wife and he had their cots. +"Why are you two children up at this time of night?" + +"We--we couldn't sleep in our part of the tent," explained Sue, +snuggling up closer to Bunny. + +"Couldn't sleep, my dear? Was it the mosquitoes?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"No'm. It was an elephant," explained Bunny. + +"A burglar elephant," added Sue. + +"He poked his head into the tent right over our bed," went on Bunny. + +"But we didn't stay," added Sue. "We came out to see if you and daddy +were all right. Burglar elephants aren't nice at all." + +"What in the world are they talking about?" asked Mr. Brown. "A burglar +elephant? What does it mean?" + +"It must have been some sound they heard outside the tent," said Mrs. +Brown. "Or perhaps they dreamed something." + +"No'm, we didn't dream," cried Bunny, while his sister Sue nodded her +head to show that she thought as he did. "It was something as big as an +elephant and it most shook the tent down." + +"I felt something move the tent from the outside," said Mrs. Brown, "but +I thought it was the wind." + +"I'll soon see what it was!" cried Mr. Brown. "You two kiddies jump into +bed with your mother, and I'll take a look outside." + +He put on his dressing gown and slippers, and while Bunny and his sister +Sue went behind the curtains to snuggle down in the bed with their +mother, Mr. Brown, taking a lantern, started for the outside of the +tent. + +He had just reached the flaps, the ropes of which he was loosening, and +Bunny and his sister were hardly in their mother's cot--a tight fit for +three--when the canvas house was violently shaken and within the very +tent itself sounded a loud: + +"Moo! Moo!" + +"Oh, it's a cow!" cried Bunny. + +"And I can see it!" cried Sue, poking her head out between the curtains +nearest her mother's bed. "I can see it." + +"Is it an elephanty cow?" eagerly asked Bunny from his side of the cot. + +"No, it's a cow with a crumpled horn--two crumpled horns--and daddy's +pushing its face out of the tent," added Sue. + +"Let me see!" cried Bunny, and, in spite of his mother's call to get +back into bed, out he popped to stand near the curtains that hung down +in front of his mother's cot. + +"Yes, it's only a cow--a crumpled-horn cow," Bunny announced after he +had taken a look. + +"But it pushed hard enough to be an elephant, didn't it?" asked Sue. + +"That's what it did. I thought the tent would come down," agreed Bunny. + +"What makes you say it was a crumpled-horn cow?" asked Mrs. Brown, as +she too looked through the crack of the curtain and saw her husband +pushing the animal outside. + +"'Cause it's got crumpled horns like the ragged man's cow. The man that +gave us milk after the dog drank ours," said Bunny. "Only his cow had +only _one_ crooked horn and this cow has _two_. Hasn't it, Sue?" + +"Yes. But it looks like a nice cow." + +"Well, we don't want cows in our sleeping tent at night," said Mr. +Brown. "I'll start this one down hill, and in the morning some one who +comes for it will have to hunt for it. We haven't anything here with +which to feed cows." + +"What's the matter up there?" called a voice, and the children knew it +was that of Uncle Tad, who slept in a little tent by himself, near the +one where the cooking was done. + +"What's the matter up there?" he called. + +"Oh, a cow tried to take up quarters with us," explained Mr. Brown. "I'm +trying to shove her out of the tent, but she seems to want to stay." + +"I'll lead her away and tie her," said Uncle Tad. + +Bunny and Sue heard him tramping up from his tent to theirs and then he +led the crumpled-horn cow away, the animal now and then giving voice to: + +"Moo! Moo!" + +"Isn't it too bad she couldn't sleep here?" asked Sue. + +"She's too big," declared Bunny. "But Sue, did you see two of her horns +crumpled or only one?" + +"Why, Bunny, I--I guess it was two, but I'm not sure. What makes you ask +me that?" + +Before Bunny could answer his mother called: + +"Come now, you children have been up long enough. Get back to bed or +you'll want to sleep so late in the morning that it will be dinner time +before you get up. The elephant-cow has gone away. Uncle Tad will lead +her to the foot of the hill, near the brook, where she can get a drink +of water and she won't bother you any more. So go back to your cots." + +Bunny and Sue went. They could hear Uncle Tad leading the elephant cow, +as they called her, through the bushes, and hear him talking to her. + +"Come bossy! Come on now. That's a good cow!" + +The cow seemed to lead along easily enough, and pretty soon no more +noises could be heard in camp except the chirping of the crickets or the +songs of the katydids and katydidn'ts. + +Bunny and Sue covered themselves up in their cots, for it was cool +getting up in the middle of the night. They both tried to go to sleep, +but found it not so easy as they had hoped. + +"Sue! Sue!" whispered Bunny, after a while. + +"Yes. What is it?" + +"Are you asleep?" + +"No, 'course not. How could I answer you if I was?" + +"That's so. You couldn't. Well, I just wanted to know." + +There was silence for a few seconds and then Sue whispered: + +"Are you asleep, Bunny?" + +"No, 'course not. If I was how could I talk to you?" + +"Well, I thought maybe you might have gone to sleep. Say, Bunny!" + +"Well, what is it?" + +"I--I'm not quite sure about that cow havin' two crumpled horns or one." + +"Neither'm I," said Bunny. "That's what I woke you up to find out +about." + +"You didn't wake me up 'cause I wasn't asleep. But I _think_ the cow had +two crumpled, twisted horns." + +"That's what I thought," said Bunny. "And, if she did, then she didn't +belong to the raggedy man, for his cow had only one." + +"That's so," admitted Sue. "But maybe she twisted the other horn pushing +her way through the bushes to our tent." + +"Bushes aren't strong enough to twist a cow's horn!" replied Bunny, +trying to set his little sister right. + +"Yes they are too, Bunny Brown! 'Specially a wild grape vine that's +strong enough to make a swing!" Sue was growing sleepy and a little +cross. + +"Well, maybe----" + +But now the voice of Mrs. Brown broke in on the talk of the two +children. + +"Stop talking right away, both of you, my dears," she ordered, and Bunny +and Sue knew she meant it. + +"All right, Mother," they said, while Sue whispered, just before she +closed her eyes: "We'll find out whose cow it is in the morning." + +But they did not, at least right away, for when they ran down to the +brook before breakfast, to wash their hands and faces as they always +did, they saw nothing of the cow. + +"Where did you tie her, Uncle Tad?" they asked. + +"Right by the big willow tree," he answered. "Maybe she broke away in +the night and tried to get back to the tent." + +The cow certainly had broken away, for there was one end of the rope +still tied to the tree, while the other end was broken and frazzled, +showing it had not been cut. + +"Well, I guess whoever owns her will find her," said Mr. Brown as he sat +down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs. He had to go back to the city +that day, and the children were sorry, for they counted on having good +times with him. + +"But I'll come back Friday night," he promised, "and I'll stay until +Monday morning. That will give us two whole days together." + +"Oh, then we'll have fun!" cried Bunny. + +"And will you help me play with my 'lectri_city_ Teddy Bear?" asked Sue. + +"I surely will!" answered Mr. Brown, with a smile. + +"And may I play with my e-lec-tric train while you're away?" asked +Bunny. + +"Yes, but be very careful of it," said his father. "It is strong, but it +can be broken or put out of order. So if you play with it take it to +some level place in the woods, and be careful how you set up the track. +Don't make too big a one." + +Bunny promised that he would not, and soon after Mr. Brown had gone +away in his automobile, the children, Sue taking her Teddy bear and +Bunny his toy train, started into the woods to play. + +"Don't go too far," called their mother. "You must hear me when I call +you to dinner. These woods are very big, you know." + +The children wandered off on a woodland path until, after trying, they +found they could just hear their mother's voice. + +"And here will be a fine place to play," said Bunny, when they reached a +shady level place on top of a little hill that led down to the lake that +was near Camp Rest-a-While. + +"It will be all right if we don't fall down the hill," said Sue. + +"Oh, we'll keep away back from the edge," decided Bunny. + +Then he began setting up the track for his toy train of cars, while Sue +made a comfortable place for her Teddy bear to sleep, first showing the +animal with the electric eyes all about the woods, in which were the big +trees and the low bushes. + +Bunny set his track around in a circle, and after connecting the strong +batteries to the track he put the electric locomotive on and coupled +together the cars. Then, when he turned the switch, the engine and train +ran along the rails very swiftly. + +But Bunny soon grew tired of making the train go around in a circle. He +wanted it to run along on a straight track, as the real trains do, and, +having plenty of straight lengths of track in his box, he soon set up +more rails that stretched off in a straight line. + +"Oh, you're gettin' awful near the edge of the hill that goes down to +the lake," warned Sue, as she made believe to feed her Teddy bear some +huckleberries. + +"But I'm putting a curve at the end of the track so the engine and cars +will turn back toward me," said Bunny. "Than I'll shut off the power +before they can run off on the ground." + +Bunny started his train the new way. At first the engine and the cars +rolled slowly over the rails, for the ground was a little uphill. Then +they came to a part that was downhill. + +"Now see 'em go!" cried Bunny in delight. + +"They're going awful fast!" cried Sue. "You'd better look out!" + +"This is an express train," explained Bunny. "Express trains are very +fast." + +Indeed the toy locomotive did seem to be going very fast. It rocked and +swayed on the tin rails, and it was soon near the end of the line where +there was a curve. + +And there is where the accident happened. The curve was so sharp, and +the electric engine was going so fast, that, instead of turning around, +it kept on straight, jumped over the rails and began to run down hill on +the dirt and stone path that led to the lake. + +"Oh!" gasped Sue. + +"Oh, my!" cried Bunny, and then, before Sue could stop him, her brother +ran to the edge of the hill. He saw his toy engine and cars rolling over +and over toward the lake at the bottom of the hill, and, without +stopping a second, over the hill went Bunny Brown himself--slipping, +sliding and falling down! + +"Oh, Bunny! Come back! Come back!" cried Sue, very much excited. + +But Bunny was rolling over and over down the hill after his train, and +he could not answer. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AFTER THE LOST COW + + +Bunny Brown was thinking of two things when he started to roll downhill. +One was that his train might roll into the water and be spoiled, for his +father had told him that there were bits of electrical machinery on the +engine that would be spoiled if water touched them. + +Then Bunny thought of himself rolling into the water, for the hill was +steep on this shore of the lake, and any one rolling down, if he were +not stopped before he reached the bottom, would be almost sure to go +into the lake. + +"But I don't mind so much about myself," thought Bunny. "My clothes will +get wet, but I've got on an old suit and water won't hurt that. It won't +hurt me, either, for I get wet when I go in swimming, and I can swim now +if I have to. But my train can't swim, 'cause that's iron, and iron will +sink, daddy told me. So I've got to catch the train before it goes into +the lake." + +The thought of this made Bunny try to roll over and over faster, so he +could win in the race down the hill between himself and the train. If he +could get hold of the train before it touched the water all would be +well, he hoped. He could toss the train to one side, out of harm's way, +even if he fell into the water himself. + +"But can I get it?" thought Bunny, as he rolled over and over. + +He could hear Sue calling to him at the top of the hill, on the very +edge of which he had made the curve of his track. He realized now that +it was too near the edge. What Sue was saying Bunny could not hear, but +he imagined she was begging him to stop rolling downhill and come back +to her. + +"As if I could!" thought Bunny to himself. "This rolling downhill isn't +any fun. I didn't really mean to do it, but I couldn't help it. I wanted +to run or slide down. There are too many stones for rolling." + +Indeed there were, for the slope of the hill down to the lake was not +of soft grass. Instead it was of gravel and stone and these were very +rough for a small boy to roll on. Still Bunny did not mind if he could +get his locomotive and train of cars. + +He could see them just ahead of him, rolling over and over just as he +was doing. Of course there was no electricity in the toy locomotive now. +The current, as the electricity is called, was all in the rails, going +into them from the batteries, and from there it went into the motor or +the wheels, gears and other things inside the engine that made it roll +along. + +"I guess it's rolling faster than I am," thought Bunny. "It will get to +the bottom first, and go in the water." + +This seemed to be what would happen. For the engine and cars had started +ahead of Bunny, and, too, they were not so big as he. It took him some +time to turn over, for there was more of him. + +It was not the first time Bunny had rolled downhill. Often he and Sue, +finding a nice smooth, grassy slope in the country, had started at the +top and rolled all the way to the bottom, over and over, getting up +slightly dizzy. + +But Bunny had never rolled down such a long, steep and rough hill as +this, and he really did not mean to do it. He had started out to run to +the bottom, or slide along, his feet buried in the soft sand and gravel. +But he had slipped, and the only thing now to do was to roll, just as +the train was doing. + +Bunny looked down the slope again. He saw that the train was almost in +the water, and he was wondering how much spoiled it would be, and +whether it could be fixed again, so it could be run, when he suddenly +saw a man step from the fringe of bushes at the edge of the lake and +pick up the engine and cars just as they went into the water, getting +only a little wet in the edge of the lake. + +The man was roughly dressed, and for a moment Bunny thought he was the +old hermit who lived in the lonely log cabin, and who had sold Bunny and +Sue some milk the day before, when the dog had taken their pailful. + +But another look, as Bunny tried to slow-up his rolling, told him it +was another man. He was just as ragged as the hermit who kept a cow, but +he did not have long hair, nor a long white beard, and his face was very +dark. + +"Oh, that's one of the Indians!" quickly thought Bunny. "Well, he saved +my train all right. I'm glad of that." + +With a slide and a roll Bunny reached the foot of the hill, and by +catching hold of a small tree he saved himself from slipping into the +water. + +The Indian looked up from the toy train at which he was gazing in +puzzled fashion. + +"That's mine," said Bunny, speaking slowly. He knew some of the Indians +who lived on a reservation in the big woods, not far from Camp +Rest-a-While. Some of them could speak fairly good English and +understand it. Others knew only a few words and Bunny wanted to make +sure this Indian understood him. + +"Huh! This you?" asked the red man, as the Indians are sometimes called. + +"Yes, that's mine," said Bunny. "It's a train of cars." + +"Oh, puff-puff train. Eagle Feather ride in puff-puff train once. How +him go?" and he set Bunny's train down on a smooth rock, while the +little boy shook the dust from his clothes and tried to comb it out of +his hair with his fingers. + +"It can't go now--no track--no electric current," explained Bunny. +"Track up there on top of hill," he went on, motioning and speaking as +slowly as he could, and with few words, so the Indian would understand. + +"Oh, go electricity--same as like lights in big city," said Eagle +Feather, which seemed to be the Indian's name. "Me +know--Buzz--whizz--flash--go quick--no come back." + +"That's it," laughed Bunny Brown. He was not afraid of the Indian. The +men and the squaws, or women, used often to come to Camp Rest-a-While to +sell their baskets, their bead work or bows and arrows. + +"That your train puff-puff cars. You take," said the Indian, handing the +toy to the little boy. "Indian see him ready to swim in water, no t'ink +good--catch um." + +"I'm glad you did," said Bunny. "Thank you. I nearly went into the +water myself." + +"Water good for boy--good for muskrat too, maybe," said Eagle Feather. +"Maybe not so good for meke-believe puff-puff train." + +"That's right," said Bunny. "If my toy train had fallen into the lake +and stayed there very long, it might never have run again. But I can run +after I've been in the water." + +Then Bunny heard a voice calling to him from up on top of the hill: + +"Bunny! Bunny Brown! Are you all right?" + +Bunny looked up quickly, and so did the Indian. Sue was standing on top +of the hill, holding her Teddy bear with the little electric eyes. + +"I'm all right, Sue," called up Bunny. "Come down if you want to. But +come down by the path. My train is all right, too. Eagle Feather saved +it for me. He's one of the Indians from the reservation." + +The State had set aside certain land for the Indians on which they must +live. Bunny and Sue, with their father or mother or Uncle Tad, had +often been to the place where the Indians lived. + +"Are you all right, Bunny?" asked Sue again. + +"Yep. Course. But I'm all dirty. Don't you roll down." + +"I won't," promised the little girl, and she started for the path, which +was an easier way of getting to the bottom of the hill. The Indian +waited with Bunny, and when Sue stood beside the two Eagle Feather gave +a sort of grunt of welcome, for Indians are not great talkers. + +"Bunny has an 'lectric train," said Sue, for she was no more afraid of +the red men than was her brother. "Bunny has an 'lectric train, and I +have an 'lectric Teddy bear. See, Eagle Feather!" + +She pushed the button, or switch, in the back of her toy, and at once +the eyes flashed out brightly. + +"Huh! That much like real bear when you see him in dark by campfire," +said the Indian. "Much funny. Let Eagle Feather see!" + +Sue showed the Indian how to make the eyes gleam by pressing the button +in the toy bear's back, and Eagle Feather did this several times. He +seemed to think the toy bear was a more wonderful toy than the train he +had saved from the lake. He gave this back to Bunny and kept the bear, +flashing the eyes again and again. + +"You mustn't do it too much or you'll wear out the batteries inside the +bear," said Bunny. "The same kind of electric batteries make the eyes of +the bear bright as run my train." + +"Huh! Indian no want to make little girl's toy bad," said the Indian +handing it back. "Great toy, much. Very good to have." + +"What are you doing so far away from your camp?" asked Bunny. "Have you +some bows and arrows to sell?" + +"No got to sell to-day. Indian come to hunt lost cow." + +"Have you lost a cow?" asked Bunny and Sue together. + +"Yes. Maybe you see him. He got two horns funny twisted--so"; and Eagle +Feather picked up a crooked branch, like a fork or crotch, both parts +of which were gnarled and twisted. "Horns like him?" + +"Yes, just like that," said Bunny. "The cow came to our tent in the +night and we thought it was an elephant. Was it your cow? We thought it +belonged to the white hermit who sold us milk last night." + +"No, two-crooked-horn cow belong Eagle Feather. Where you see him?" + +Bunny and Sue told of Uncle Tad having tied the cow in the night and of +her having broken loose. + +"But maybe we can see which way she went by her hoof-prints in the mud," +said Bunny. "Come on, Eagle Feather. You saved my train from going into +the lake where maybe I couldn't get it up, so we'll help you find your +lost cow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MISSING TRAIN + + +For a moment Eagle Feather, the Indian, stood looking at the two +children, and yet not so much at them as at their two toys--the +electrical train, and at the Teddy Bear with the queer electric eyes. It +was hard to say of which the Indian was most fond. + +"You ought to see my train run on the track!" exclaimed Bunny, as he +shook some drops of water off the cars and engine. "I guess I'll have to +put oil on it now to keep it from getting rusty, as Uncle Tad does when +I leave his tools out all night." + +"And you ought to see my doll at night!" added Sue. "Her eyes shine like +anything, and once, after I got to bed, and wanted a drink of water that +was on a chair near my bed, I just lighted Sallie Malinda's eyes, and I +found the drink without calling mother." + +"Huh! Heap big medicine--both of um!" grunted the Indian. + +Eagle Feather was one of the oldest of the tribe of Onondagas who lived +on the reservation, and though he usually spoke fairly good English, +sometimes he talked as his grandfather had done when he was a boy and +the early settlers first had to do with the Indians. + +And when Eagle Feather called the children's toys "heap big medicine," +he did not mean exactly the kind of medicine you have to take when you +are sick. + +The Indians have two kinds of medicine, as they call it. One is made of +the roots and barks of trees, berries and bushes which they take, and +some of which we still use, like witch hazel and sassafras. But they +also have another kind of medicine, which is like what might be called a +charm; as some pretty stone, a feather, a bone or two, or anything they +might have picked up in the woods as it took their fancy. These things +they wear around their necks or arms and think they keep away sickness +and bad luck. + +So when Eagle Feather called the toy train and the Teddy bear of Bunny +Brown and his sister Sue, "heap big medicine," he meant they would be +good not only to cure sickness without medicine, but also keep bad luck +away from whoever had them. + +"Now we'll help find your cow, Eagle Feather," said Bunny, for he was no +more afraid of the Indian than you would be of the fireman down in the +engine house at the end of your street, or the policeman on your block. +Bunny and Sue had lived in the Big Woods so long now, and had seen the +Indians so often, even to learning the names of some of them, that they +thought no more of them than of some of the farmers round about. + +"All right--we go find cow," said Eagle Feather. "No milk for little +papoose if cow no come home." "Papoose" was the word the Indians used +for "baby," and in the log cabin where Eagle Feather lived were two or +three papooses. + +"It must have been your cow that poked her head into our tent," said +Sue, "for she had two crumpled horns, and the farmer's had only one." + +"That right," said Eagle Feather with a sort of grunt. "My cow have two +horns twist like so," and he held up two fingers and made a sort of +corkscrew motion in the air with his hands. + +"Then that was your cow all right," said Bunny. "Uncle Tad tied her to a +tree, but maybe we can find her." + +"Sure we find," grunted Eagle Feather. "Heap big medicine little boy an' +girl have soon find cow." + +What the Indian meant was that he believed the toy train and the +electrical Teddy bear would bring such good luck that the lost cow would +soon be found. + +Mr. Brown had gone back to the city when Bunny and Sue, each one +carrying a toy, and followed by Eagle Feather, came back to Camp +Rest-a-While. Bunny was in worse condition than his sister, for he had +rolled down the steep hill. Sue's dress was torn a little. + +"Why, Bunny! Why, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown as she saw the two children. +"Where in the world have you been?" + +"In the woods, playing with our toys," answered Bunny. "Sue made her +Teddy's eyes flash to scare away the tigers and lions all around us." + +"Oh, you were playing make-believe," said Mother Brown, for well she +knew the different games the children made up. + +"But Bunny's runaway train was real," said Sue. + +"Did your train run away?" asked Mrs. Brown, not paying much attention +to the Indian at first, as it was common to see them around the camp, +whither they came to beg for scraps of food, the remains of a ham bone, +and such things. + +"Did your train really run away, Bunny?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Oh, Bunny, +you've been in the dirt!" + +"Yes, and it's a good thing he didn't get _wet_," went on Sue, for both +children always told everything that happened to them as soon as they +got back home. Only sometimes it took a little longer than usual to +think up all the happenings. "He almost rolled into the lake, Bunny +did." + +"You did!" cried Mrs. Brown. "How did it happen?" + +"Oh, I made the track straight, instead of in a circle, and the train +got to going so fast in a straight line that it ran off the end of the +rails downhill. I ran after it, but I slipped and rolled. Then the train +rolled into the water, but only a teenty little way, and Eagle Feather +got it out. Wasn't he good?" + +"He was indeed, and we must thank him," said Mrs. Brown. "But did he +stop you from going into the water also, Bunny?" + +"No, Momsie. I stopped myself by catching hold of a tree. But I almost +went in. I'd have gone in after my train anyhow, if Eagle Feather hadn't +got it for me." + +"Thank you, Eagle Feather," said Mrs. Brown. "I must give you some of +the nice soup I have made. The papooses will like it." + +"Squaw like it, and Indian like it heap, too," said Eagle Feather. + +"Yes, but the squaw, as you call your wife, and the little children, +must have some first." + +"Oh, yes. Give 'em milk too, if so he can find cow." + +"Oh, is your cow lost? And was it she who poked her head in our tent +last night?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"I think it was, Mother," said Bunny. "She had two crumpled horns, and +the one the farmer owns has only one. Sue and I are going to help Eagle +Feather find his cow." + +"Well, you mustn't go very deep into the big woods," said Mrs. Brown. +"But then I think the cow can't have wandered far, for there is good +feeding near where Uncle Tad tied her." + +"You show me where cow broke loose, I find her," said Eagle Feather. +"Indian hab heap good medicine to find cow." + +"Medicine? You don't need medicine to find a cow," said Mrs. Brown. "You +might need medicine if your cow were sick, but she didn't look sick when +she poked her nose into the tent." + +"Cow no sick, but heap good medicine find her all same," replied Eagle +Feather, smiling. + +"He means our toys, Mother," said Bunny. "He called my train of cars and +Sue's doll heap good medicine." + +"Oh, I see!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "It's a sort of charm. But you +mustn't believe in that sort of nonsense, children, even if some of the +more ignorant Indians do." + +"But, Mother," asked Bunny, "mayn't I show Eagle Feather how my toy +train works? He didn't see it, and I know he'd like to. Mayn't I show +him the train and how it runs?" + +"Oh, yes, I suppose so. But be quick about it, if you are going to help +him hunt for his cow." + +Bunny relaid the track, in a circle this time, so the engine and cars +would not roll off to where they were not intended to go. Meanwhile Sue +flashed the eyes of her Teddy Bear so Eagle Feather could see them. He +looked very closely at the toy, but when Bunny had his train on the +circular track, the batteries connected, and had started the little +locomotive pulling the cars after it, the eyes of Eagle Feather grew big +with wonder. + +"Great medicine!" he exclaimed. "Heap big powerful. Indian do anything +with that medicine. Bring him along an' soon find cow." + +"Oh, I couldn't bring my whole train, the track and the batteries into +the woods," said Bunny. "But I'll take one car with me." + +"Well, maybe one car help some," said the Indian. "Little gal bring baby +bear whose eyes light up same as in dark by campfire." + +"Yes, I'll bring Sallie Malinda," promised Sue. "That's my Teddy's +name," she explained. + +"Well, don't lose your toys," cautioned their mother, "and don't be gone +too long, for dinner will soon be ready. And, Eagle Feather, don't +forget to come back for the soup," she concluded. + +"Me no forget," said the Indian. + +Then with the children he went to the place where Uncle Tad had tied the +stray cow, and from where she had broken loose. That was the starting +place for the search. + +Mrs. Brown was not at all nervous about letting Bunny and Sue go away +with the Indian, Eagle Feather. All the farmers for miles around spoke +of his honesty and kindness. He owned several farms, as well as horses +and cows. He did business with the white people, and all of them trusted +him. Mr. Brown often bought things from him. + +Bunny, carrying one car of his train, and Sue, her Teddy bear to which +she had given such a queer name, led the Indian to the tree to which +Uncle Tad had tied the cow in the night. There was the broken end of the +rope still tied around the tree, but there was no cow on the other end +of it. + +"She go this way," said Eagle Feather, pointing off toward the west. + +"How can you tell?" asked Bunny. + +"See feet marks in soft dirt--see broken branches where cow go +through--no look for path," and the Indian pointed to several branches +broken from the bushes through which the cow had forced her way in the +darkness after having broken loose from the tree. + +"Come on, Sue!" called Bunny, as he followed the Indian, carrying the +toy train in his hand. + +"I'm coming," answered his sister. "But the thorns catch in the fuzzy +wool of Sallie Malinda and scratch her. I've got to go slower than you." + +"All right--we wait for you," said Eagle Feather, who had heard what Sue +said. "No hurry from little gal," he said to Bunny. "Maybe her medicine +better for finding cow as yours, though me think yours very much +stronger medicine. Maybe we see--byemby." That was the way Eagle Feather +said "Bye-and-bye." + +Bunny and the Indian went on slowly through the big woods, the red man +stopping every now and then to look down at the ground for marks of the +cow's hoofs, and also looking at the sides for signs of the broken +branches. + +"Cow been here," he would say every little while. "Soon we catch 'er. +Medicine heap good. Indian like!" + +"You'd better get yourself a toy train," said Bunny. + +"No got money," returned Eagle Feather. "Like 'em very much for boy +papoose when he grow big so like you." + +"Maybe I'll be tired of mine by that time and give it to him," said +Bunny. + +"Too nice. You no get tired long while," said the Indian. "Heap big +medicine. Come, Sue, we wait for you." + +As the Indian and Bunny waited they heard, off in the distance, the +lowing of a cow. + +"Hark!" cried Bunny. + +"That my cow," said Eagle Feather. "I tell you boy and gal medicine heap +good--find cow soon. Over this way! Soon hab cow now!" + +He hurried on ahead so fast that Bunny and Sue could hardly keep up with +him, but they managed to do so and, a little later, they saw, in a +little glade among the trees, a cow with a broken rope trailing from her +neck. She had two twisted, or crumpled, horns. + +"Oh, that's the cow that was in our tent!" cried Sue. "I'd know her +anywhere." + +"She my cow--give good milk for little papoose. What for you run away?" +he asked, going up to the cow, rubbing her neck and pretending to talk +into her ear. + +The cow mooed softly and appeared glad to see Eagle Feather. + +"Well, now you've got your cow back you can come to our camp, get the +soup and go to your cabin," said Bunny. "I'm glad you found her." + +"Boy and girl, with heap good medicine find," said Eagle Feather. "Much +thankful to you. Some day make bow and arrows for boy, and moccasins for +feet of little girl with bear that makes fire eyes at night. Indian +glad!" + +"Oh, we were only too glad to help you," said Bunny. "Now we must be +going back to camp." + +"Me come--cow come too," said Eagle Feather, and he led the cow by the +broken rope. They were soon back at the tents, telling Mrs. Brown how +they had found the lost cow. Eagle Feather spoke much about the toy +train and the Teddy bear "medicine," but Mrs. Brown laughed. + +"This is better medicine than all the toys in the world," she said, as +she gave Eagle Feather a big pail of soup. "Take it home to your wife +and children." + +"Me will--all much 'bliged," and Eagle Feather bowed. Then with a +farewell nod to the children the red man went off into the big woods +leading his lost cow, who seemed glad to be on her way home again. + +Mr. Brown came home that night to stay two or three days, for Bunker +Blue could take care of the fish and boat business, and when Bunny's +father heard what had happened when Bunny put the toy track too near the +edge of the hill, the little boy was told not to do it again, and +promised not to. + +"Eagle Feather was very good to you, and you must be kind to him and to +all the Indians," said Mr. Brown. "So the wetting didn't seem to hurt +your toy engine, Bunny?" + +"No, Daddy. I shook off all the water." + +"Well, we'd better oil it and let it stand all night to take off the +rust. For if it gets rusty it won't run." + +Bunny did not want this to happen, so he left his toy railroad out in +the kitchen tent that night, near the stove in which a little fire was +kindled. + +No cows stuck their heads into the bedrooms of the tent houses that +night, and Bunny and Sue slept soundly. So did Mr. and Mrs. Brown and +Uncle Tad, but some one must have been around the camp with very soft +feet in the darkness. For when Bunny awakened early, and went out to +have a look at his toy railroad, he set up a cry: + +"It's gone! It's gone! Some one has taken it!" + +"Taken what?" asked his father. + +"My toy locomotive, my cars, the tracks, batteries and everything! Oh, +dear! My toy train is gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"WHERE HAS SALLIE GONE?" + + +"What's the matter, Bunny?" asked Uncle Tad, who, as usual, had gotten +up early to make the fire in the kitchen stove. It had gone out during +the night, though a late fire had been built to make warmth for Bunny's +train. + +"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Tad again. "Have you found some more +lost cows?" + +"No. I've lost something instead of finding it this time," said the +little boy. + +"What have you lost?" asked Uncle Tad, as he began to shake the ashes +out of the cook stove, getting ready to make a new fire in it. The stove +pipe went right out through the tent, with an asbestos collar around it +so the canvas would not catch fire. + +"I've lost my electric train," cried Bunny Brown, looking around the +kitchen tent to make sure his toy was not stuck in some corner. "I was +playing with it yesterday, and I had one of the cars when I went with +Sue and Indian Eagle Feather to find his lost cow. Then I brought it +back to camp and I put it here so the water would dry out. Now it's +gone!" + +"Yes, it seems to be gone," said Uncle Tad, looking carefully around the +tent, after he had put a match to the wood kindlings. "And I know you +left it here because I saw it the last thing when I came in to make sure +the fire was all right before going to bed." + +"Then who could have taken it?" asked Bunny. + +"Well, as to that I couldn't say," answered Uncle Tad slowly. "It might +have run off by itself, I suppose?" + +"It couldn't have!" declared Bunny. "Of course it runs by itself when +the batteries are connected, but they weren't this time. And the train +wasn't even on the track, though the rails were piled up near it, and so +were the batteries. Yet everything is gone!" + +"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, coming into the kitchen tent to +start the breakfast. + +"My train is gone!" said Bunny sadly. "And I didn't hear anybody around +camp during the night," he added, and told of finding out about his +loss. + +"Do you suppose you could have got up in the night, walked in your +sleep, and hidden the train somewhere else yourself?" asked Uncle Tad. + +"Well, about a year ago that might have happened," said Mother Brown. +"But Bunny is cured of his sleep-walking habits now. He hasn't gotten up +for several months, unless, as happened the other night when the cow +poked her head in the tent, he woke up and cried out." + +"But no cow came into the tent last night, Mother," said Bunny. "Anyhow +a cow wouldn't like to eat a train of cars." + +"A cow eat a train of cars!" cried Daddy Brown, coming into the tent +just in time to hear what Bunny said. "Say, is that a riddle?" + +"No. But it's a riddle to guess who or what took Bunny's train of cars," +said Mrs. Brown. "He says he left them here, in front of the stove to +dry out the water as you told him to, but they are gone now." + +"That's queer," said Mr. Brown, looking about. "Is Bunny's train the +only thing that is missing?" + +"It seems to be, as far as we can tell by a hasty look around. But we'll +have to see," said Mother Brown. + +Uncle Tad, Mr. Brown and Bunny and Sue looked carefully about the tent +while Mrs. Brown got breakfast. They saw several footprints, for the +children, as well as the grown folks, had been about the tents all day, +and Eagle Feather, the Indian, had also been there. + +"Who knew that you had a train of cars?" asked Mr. Brown of his son when +a long search had failed to find the toy. + +"Well, I told the boy who brings the milk, the butter and egg man, and I +guess that's all," said Bunny. + +"You told Eagle Feather," put in Sue. + +"Yes, but he wouldn't take them," said Bunny. "He thinks they are big +medicine for finding his lost cow. He wouldn't take them." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Uncle Tad. "Indians like bright and +pretty things and that electrical train must have been a great wonder to +them; especially to Eagle Feather, who is a smart Indian." + +"Then why didn't he take my Teddy bear, Sallie Malinda?" asked Sue. "My +bear, with the blinking eyes, helped find the lost cow as well as +Bunny's train did." + +"Of course it did," agreed Mother Brown. "I don't believe Eagle Feather +had a thing to do with it. If the train was stolen by tramps we'd better +get another dog, Daddy Brown, to keep them away." + +"Oh, don't get a dog!" cried Bunny and Sue together. "Splash is the best +dog that ever was!" + +"Yes. But he is so friendly with everybody that he would just as soon a +tramp came up to the tent as some of the farm peddlers," said Mrs. +Brown. "He hardly ever barks unless he is playing with you children, +and he is so good-natured." + +"Oh, we never could give up Splash," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head +to show that she felt the same way about it. + +"Maybe you can get another dog, who will bark, Mother. Then we could +hitch Splash and him up together and have a team," went on Bunny. + +"Splash would never pull the way the other dog wanted to go," said Uncle +Tad. "I guess, before we think of more dogs we'll just go over to the +Indian village and find out what they know about the missing toy train." + +"Yes, that would be a good plan," said Mr. Brown. "Suppose we go +together, Uncle Tad." + +So, after breakfast, when another search had been made about the camp to +make sure the train was not hidden behind something, the two men started +off. Bunny kept on searching about the tents for his missing toy, and +Sue played with her Teddy Bear, tying her on the back of Splash, the +dog, to make believe Sallie Malinda was having a pony ride. + +When Father Brown and Uncle Tad came back the children ran eagerly to +them. Mr. Brown shook his head. + +"No," he said, slowly, "there is no trace of the toy train in the +Indians' village, and Eagle Feather and his men say they know nothing +about it. They say they were not away from their camp all night. They +even let us search their tents and cabins, and were very good-natured +about it." + +"That doesn't prove anything," said Uncle Tad. "If they had hidden the +toy train it would be in a place where we could never find it. I guess +we'll have to let it go." + +"Could any one else have taken it?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"Yes, of course. But one of the Indians seems most likely. They probably +heard what Eagle Feather told about how the train ran and one of their +men crawled up in the night and took it from the tent while we were all +asleep." + +"Well, maybe so, but I don't believe Eagle Feather did any such thing as +that," said Mother Brown. + +"Nor I," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head. "It was a tramp." + +Mr. Brown promised Bunny a new train as soon as he should go back to the +city, but that would not be for a few days. + +"Oh dear!" cried Bunny. "How can I wait that long?" + +"You can play with my Teddy bear sometimes," said Sue kindly. Bunny +thanked her, but it was easy to see he did not care much for such a +girl's toy. + +"My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear is as good as your toy train," said Sue. +"She's better--for I _have_ her and you _haven't_ your train of cars." + +"Well, I'm glad you like her," said Bunny. "But maybe your Teddy will go +away in the night just as my train did." + +"My Teddy can't run, even if her eyes can light up," said Sue, making +the bear's eyes blink. + +"My train didn't run away, it was tooken," said Bunny. "And some day I'm +going to find the one that tooked it." + +Bunny did not speak as his school teacher would have had him, but he +meant the same thing as if he had spoken correctly. + +"Well, they sha'n't touch my Teddy bear!" said Sue. "I'll take her to +bed with me every night." + +And she did, two or three times. Then, one night Sue forgot and left her +wonderful Teddy bear out in the kitchen. And in the morning what do you +suppose had happened? + +In the morning Sue awakened early, and, missing her toy, which she +thought she had taken to bed with her, she happened to remember that +Sallie was left out in the kitchen. + +"I'll bring her to bed with me and tell her a story," said the little +girl. + +Eagerly she ran out to the kitchen. She looked in the chair where the +Teddy bear had been left. Then Sue's eyes filled with tears as she +cried: + +"Where has Sallie gone? Oh, where has Sallie Malinda gone? Some one has +tooken my Teddy bear!" + +Bunny Brown heard his sister's cry, and up from his cot he jumped. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SEARCH + + +"What's the matter, Sue?" asked Bunny as he saw his sister standing in +the middle of the dining room part of the tent, which was separated by +curtains from the sleeping rooms. + +"Oh, my Teddy bear's been taken! Some one has taken Sallie Malinda!" +cried the little girl. "I don't believe I'll ever be happy again. Oh, +dear!" + +"Maybe we'll find her again," said Bunny, shivering, for the morning was +cool and he had on only his night clothes. + +"No, I'll never find her," sobbed Sue. "She's been tooked away, same as +your train of cars." + +This thought of his own missing toy made Bunny feel sad. But he wanted +to cheer Sue up. + +"Oh, maybe your Teddy bear just walked off in the night to get something +to eat," the little boy went on. "I get hungry in the night lots of +times. I get up and eat a sweet cracker, if I've left one on the chair +by my bed. Now let me think what it is bears like best." + +"It's honey," answered Sue. + +"How do you know?" her brother asked. + +"'Cause I read it in the animal book. It told about a bear climbing a +bee-tree----" + +"What's a bee-tree?" interrupted Bunny. + +"It's a hollow tree where a bee makes its nest and lays honey eggs," +explained Sue, in a very funny way, you see. "And the bear climbed that +tree and got the bee's honey." + +"Wouldn't the bee sting him?" asked Bunny. "I was stung by a bee once, +on Grandpa's farm, and I wasn't climbing the bee-tree either." + +"Oh, well, that was an accident," declared Sue. "Besides a bear has +thick fur on him and the only place where a bee can hurt him is on his +soft and tender nose. And before he climbs a bee-tree, the bear puts +thick mud on his nose like a plaster so the bee can't sting that, so +he's all right." + +"Hum," said Bunny. "Then we'll go and find a bee-tree, and maybe your +Teddy bear will be there." + +"But my Teddy bear Sallie Malinda can only make-believe walk!" exclaimed +Sue. "She can only make-believe eat honey, too." + +"Then we'll look for a make-believe honey-tree," said Bunny. "Come on, +Sue!" + +Sue seemed to hold back. + +"Come on!" cried Bunny again, always ready to start something. "Let's +get dressed and go to hunt for the Teddy bear." + +It was very early, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown were not yet awake. Mrs. +Brown, however, soon heard the children moving about and she called to +them: + +"What's the matter?" + +"Sue's doll is gone," said Bunny. + +"My nice Teddy bear one," added Sue. + +"He's gone off to find a bee's nest to get honey," went on Bunny. + +"My bear ain't a 'he'--she's a 'she,'" declared Sue. "And her name is +Sallie Malinda." + +"Well, no matter what her name is, she is lost," said Bunny. "We're +going to find her." + +"Look here, children!" called Mr. Brown, who was now awake. "Don't go +off on any wild goose chase." + +"We're not after wild geese. We're going after Sue's bear," replied +Bunny. + +"What! Is Sue's bear taken, too?" cried Mr. Brown. + +"She's either taken or else she walked away," Bunny said. + +"Sue's bear wasn't the walking kind, though they did have some of that +sort," said the children's father. "But if your bear is gone, some one +must have taken it just as they did Bunny's train of cars. I must look +into this. You children stay right where you are until I get dressed and +we'll make a search. Meanwhile look around the tent and see if you can't +find Sallie Jane." + +"Her name is Sallie _Malinda_," said Sue, with some indignation. + +"Well, take a look around for Sallie Malinda Teddy Bear Brown while I'm +getting dressed," said her father. + +The children soon slipped into their clothes, and then began to look +around the tent, inside and out. Sue thought perhaps she had left her +Teddy bear with its flashing electrical eyes in a chair near the +kitchen-tent table. She had had her there after her own supper. She even +pointed out where she had put a small plate of cracker crumbs near the +Teddy bear. The plate of crumbs was still there, but the doll was gone. + +"We'll look outside," said Bunny; and when he and Sue were outside the +tent, waiting for their father, Bunny began walking slowly along, bent +over as though he had a peddler's pack on his back. + +"What are you doing that for?" asked Sue in surprise. "We aren't playing +any game." + +"I know it. But I'm looking for the marks of the bear's tracks in the +mud, just as Eagle Feather looked for the hoof prints of his lost cow in +the sand. He found his cow that way, and maybe we'll find Sallie Malinda +this way." + +"But his cow was bigger than my Teddy bear, and made bigger tracks." + +"That doesn't matter. I've been talking to the Indians about trailing +animals this way, and you can trail a squirrel as easily as an elephant +if you only know how to look for the feet marks. See, Sue!" and Bunny +pointed to marks in the soft earth. "Aren't those the prints of your +Teddy bear's feet?" + +Sue looked to where Bunny pointed. There were marks plainly enough, but +in a minute Sue knew what they were. + +"Why, that's where Splash, our dog, walked," said the little girl. + +"Oh, so it is," agreed Bunny. "Well, I made a mistake that time. We'll +try again." + +So the children went on, seeking for marks of the toy bear's paws, until +Mr. Brown came out. + +"It's of no use to look that way, children," he said. "If Sue's bear is +missing some one took it away--it never walked, for it couldn't." + +"That's what I said!" cried Sue. + +"But how did it get away?" asked Bunny. + +"Somebody must have taken it. The same one who took your train of cars. +We must look farther off than just around the tent." + +"Say, Daddy, do you s'pose some of the Indians could have done it?" +asked Sue in a whisper. + +"I hardly think so," answered Mr. Brown. "Still, they are not all as +honest as Eagle Feather. We'll have a look around their camp." + +"And maybe we'll find my train at the same time," said Bunny, hopefully. + +"We'll look for it," replied Mr. Brown. + +All of a sudden Bunny began to run around in a circle, bending down +toward the ground. + +"What are you doing?" asked Sue. "Playing stoop-tag?" + +"No, I'm looking for the marks of Indians' feet," answered Bunny. "If +Indians came around here to take your doll, they'd leave some mark. I'm +trying to find it." + +Sue shook her head. + +"What's the matter?" asked Bunny. + +"Indians don't leave any tracks," returned the little girl. "'They are +very cunning,' it says in my school reader-book, 'and they can slip +through a forest leaving no more trace than that of the wind.' I don't +know what 'trace' is, but it must be true, for it's in my book." + +"Oh, those were old-fashioned Indians," said Bunny. "That kind wouldn't +leave any marks. But these Indians wear shoes, and they'd leave a mark +in soft ground. Wouldn't they, Daddy?" + +"I believe they would. But I don't want to think it was our good friends +the Indians who have taken your things. But we will search and see. Come +on, now, Bunny and Sue. We'll have a little hunt before breakfast." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LOST IN THE WOODS + + +Holding the hands of Bunny and his sister Sue, one on either side, Mr. +Brown started on a little search around the tents. They were trying to +find the footprints of some one who did not belong to the camp. Some one +other than Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Uncle Tad and the children themselves. Of +course Bunker Blue came to the camp once in a while, and so did various +peddlers and some people from neighboring farms. But most of these +footprints were known to Mr. Brown, as he had seen them about the place +ever since he and his family had been living at Camp Rest-a-While. + +"What I want to see is a strange footprint," said the children's father. + +"An Indian's footprint is stranger than ours," said Sue. + +"Of course, if they wear moccasins," agreed Bunny. + +"No, if they wear shoes," said Sue. "Our teacher told us about it." + +"What is different in an Indian's footprint and ours, Sue?" asked Mr. +Brown. + +"Why, an Indian, even if he wears shoes like ours, turns his toes in, +instead of out, as we do," went on the little girl. + +"Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!" laughed Bunny. "Whoever heard of such a thing?" + +"But it's true, isn't it, Daddy?" asked Sue. + +"Yes, it is true," said Mr. Brown. "A real Indian has a sort of +pigeon-toe, as it is called. That is, instead of pointing his toes out +when he walks, he turns them in. At least most Indians do, though there +may be some who do not. So if you are looking for Indians' tracks, +Bunny, look for the kind that turns in." + +"I will," the little boy agreed. "I didn't know you knew so much about +Indians, Sue." + +"Our teacher used to live out West among the Indians, and she taught +them," explained Sue. "She tells us lots of Indian stories." + +"Goodness! I wish I could be in your class!" cried Bunny. "Even though +I am a grade ahead of you," he added. "Does she tell about Indian fights +with bows and arrows, and taking prisoners, and all that?" + +"No, she tells about tame Indians, not the wild kind," explained Sue. +"The tame ones are just like the ones that live on the preservation +here--the Onondagas. But I like tame Indians, though I hope none of them +has taken my Teddy bear." + +"I hope not, either," said her father. "For Eagle Feather and his +Indians are good friends of ours, and I would not like to feel that they +would take anything from our camp. Still we must look everywhere." + +"Sue, you said the Indians lived on a 'preservation.' You meant +'reservation,'" corrected Bunny. + +"I don't care. They live there, whatever it is," declared the little +girl. + +They circled about the tents, but the footprints, as far as they could +tell, were those of white men--none of them toed in. + +"Are you going to the Indians' camp?" asked Bunny. + +"Yes, I think we'll go there, and also to----" + +But just then came the voice of Mrs. Brown calling: + +"Breakfast is ready, and if you wait very long the pancakes will be +spoiled! Hurry!" + +"Oh, hurray! Pancakes!" cried Sue. "Don't you like them, Bunny?" + +"I should say I do! I hope I can have ten." + +"Oh, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue, "you never could eat ten pancakes at one +meal!" + +"Well, anyhow, I could try," he said. "And I can eat five, I know." + +"That's better," said Mr. Brown with a smile. "I can eat a few myself." + +They hurried back to breakfast, telling Mrs. Brown they had had no luck +in finding the person who had taken Sue's Teddy bear. + +For that the toy with the electric eyes had been taken away and had not +walked off by herself was now believed, even by Bunny, who had at first +insisted that Sallie Malinda had been hungry and had gone off to find +honey. + +"Though some mother bear might have come in and taken her to her den, +thinking she was her baby," said Sue. "My Sallie Malinda looked just +like a real bear when her eyes were lighted up." + +"But there were no bear tracks around the tents," said Bunny; "and there +would have been if there had been any bears here to carry off your +Teddy. There are no other bears here." + +"I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brown. "Teddy bears are the only ones I +want to see." + +"Well, maybe no real bears came for Sallie Malinda," said Sue, after a +while. "I guess it was an Indian or some man who wanted my toy for his +little girl. But I hope I get her back--Sallie Malinda, I mean." + +Bunny managed to eat five of the cakes his mother baked, and he might +have eaten another only his father called to him to hurry if he wanted +to go to search for the missing toy bear. + +Sue and Bunny went with Mr. Brown off into the big woods after +breakfast. As they walked along they looked on either side of the path +for a sight of the missing Teddy bear or Bunny's toy train. But they saw +neither one. + +"Whoever took them is keeping them well hidden," said Mr. Brown. "Now, +we'll go to the Indian camp." + +Though they called it a camp, it was more of an Indian village where the +Onondagas lived. There were many tents, log or slab cabins, and one or +two houses built as the white people built theirs. These were owned by +the richer Indians, who had large farms and many horses and cows. Some +of the Indians were very poor, and their cabins had only one room, where +they cooked, ate and slept. + +Eagle Feather was the head, or chief, of this particular tribe. He was +not like the old-time or wild Indians. He owned a farm and he worked +hard to grow fruits and vegetables. + +When Eagle Feather saw Mr. Brown, with the two children, coming to the +Indian village, the chief came out to meet them. + +"How do!" he exclaimed in English that could be understood. "Eagle +Feather glad to see you. Come in an' sit down. Squaw make tea for you, +or maybe coffee. Coffee better; more has taste." + +"No, thank you, we haven't time to eat now," said Mr. Brown. "We came +looking for bear." + +"For bear?" cried Eagle Feather in surprise. "No bear here. Bear maybe +'way off in woods. Why you no go there and shoot 'um?" + +"Oh, this isn't that kind of bear," said Mr. Brown. + +"Funny bear, no live in woods," said the Indian. + +"This bear have eyes go like so," and Mr. Brown took from his pocket a +small electric flash light. By pressing on a spring he made the light +flash up and go out, just as had the eyes of Sue's bear. + +"Oh, now Eagle Feather know," said the Indian quickly. "Lil' gal's heab +big medicine doll gone. Where him go?" + +"That's just what we don't know," said Mr. Brown. "In the night, when we +were all asleep, some one came and took the bear. Maybe he came to +Indian camp. Not sure, but maybe we can look." Mr. Brown tried to talk +as he thought Eagle Feather would understand. And the Indian seemed to. + +"Your lil' gal's bear no here at Eagle Feather's camp," he said with a +shake of his head. "Much big medicine, like baby puff-puff train doll +is, but Indian no take lil' gal's play bear. See, I and you look in +every house." + +"Oh, no, that isn't necessary," said Mr. Brown. "If you tell me the bear +isn't here I believe you." + +"That right, for I speak truth. But wait--we ask other Indians. Maybe +they think no harm to take bear lil' while for big medicine, and bring +him back. I ask." + +Eagle Feather stepped to the door of his house and gave a loud whistle. +In a few minutes there came to him many of the older Indian men. Eagle +Feather spoke to them in their own Indian language. He listened to the +answers. + +Then, turning to Mr. Brown and the children, the chief said: + +"No have got lil' gal's play bear. Nobody here have got. You look in +all Indian houses and see for yourself." + +"No. I'll take your word for it," said Mr. Brown. "I believe the Teddy +bear is not here. It must have been taken by some one else. I will look +farther." + +But Eagle Feather insisted on some of the head men's huts being +searched, and this was done. But no doll was found. + +"Oh, dear! Where can Sallie Malinda be?" half sobbed Sue. + +"Never mind," said her father. "If you can't find your bear, and Bunny's +cars are still gone, in two weeks I'll get you new ones. But I think +they will come back as mysteriously as they went away. Now, we must go +home." + +"But I thought you were going to look in the cabin of the hermit," said +Bunny. + +"We'll have to do that after dinner," answered Daddy Brown. But when +dinner was half over there came a telegram for Mr. Brown telling him he +was needed back at his business office at once, as something had gone +wrong about the fish catch. + +"Well, I'll have to go now," said the children's father; "but I'll help +you look for the Teddy doll and the train of cars when I come back," he +said. + +It was a little sad in Camp Rest-a-While when Mr. Brown had gone, but +Mother Brown let the children play store, with real things to eat and to +sell, and they were soon happy again. Finally Sue said: + +"Bunny, do you know where that hermit's hut is--the one where you got +the milk the time the dog drank it?" + +"Yes," slowly answered Bunny. "I do. But what about it?" + +"Let's go there," answered Sue. "Maybe he has my Sallie Malinda. Daddy +was going to take us there, but he had to go away so quickly he didn't +have time. But you and I can go. I'm sure he'd give us my Teddy bear if +he had her." + +"I guess he would," agreed Bunny. "But what would he want with it? +Anyhow, we'll go and see." + +So he and Sue, saying nothing to their mother, except that they were +going off into the big woods back of the camp, left the tent and headed +for the hermit's cabin. + +On and on they went, leaving Splash behind, for, of late, their dog had +not followed them as often as he had done before. + +They had tramped through the woods for about an hour, looking in all +sorts of places for the missing Teddy bear and the toy train, when Sue +suddenly asked: + +"Aren't we near his cabin now, Bunny? It seems as if we'd come an awful +long way." + +"I was beginning to think so myself," said the little boy. "Yet I was +sure it was over this way." + +The children walked on a little farther, but found themselves only +deeper in the big woods. Finally Sue stopped and said: + +"Bunny, do you know where we are?" + +"No, I don't," he answered. + +"Then we're lost," said Sue, shaking her head. "We're lost in the woods, +Bunny Brown, and we'll never get home!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE HERMIT AGAIN + + +Bunny Brown was a wise little lad, considering that he was only about +seven years old. But many of those years had been spent with his father +going about in the woods, and while there Mr. Brown had told him much +about the birds, bugs and animals they saw under the trees. So that the +woods were not exactly strange to Bunny. + +Above all, he was not afraid in them, except maybe when he was all alone +on a dark night. And one thing had Mr. Brown especially impressed on +Bunny. This was: + +"Never get frightened when you think you are lost in the woods. If you +think you are lost, you may be sure you can either find your way out, or +some one will find you in a little while. + +"So the best thing to do when you fear you are lost is to sit quietly +down on a log, think which way you believe your camp or home is, think +where the sun gets up in the morning and where it goes to bed in the +night. And, whatever you do, don't rush about, calling and yelling and +forgetting even which way you came. So, when you're lost keep cool." + +Remembering what his father had told him, Bunny Brown, as soon as he +heard Sue say they were lost, looked for a log and, finding one not far +away, he went over and sat down on it. + +"Why, Bunny Brown!" cried Sue, "what in the world are you doing? Don't +you know we're lost, and you've got to find the way back to our camp, +for I never can. Oh, dear! I think it's over this way. No, it must be +here. Oh, Bunny, which is the right way to go?" + +"That's just what I'm trying to find out," he said. + +"You are not!" cried Sue. "You're just sitting there like a bump on a +log, as Aunt Lu used to say." + +"Well, I'm doing what father told us to do," said Bunny. "I'm keeping +cool and trying to think. If you run around that way you'll get all +hot, and you can't think. And it may take both of us to think of the way +home." + +"Well, of course, I want to help," said Sue. "I don't want you to do it +all. But we're awful much lost, Bunny." + +"Are you sure, Sue?" he asked. + +"Of course I'm sure. I was never in this part of the woods before and I +can't tell where it is." + +"Do you know where the sun rises?" asked Bunny, for it was, just then, +behind some clouds. + +"It rises in the east, of course," said Sue. "I learned that in our +jogfry." + +"Yes, but which way is east from here?" Bunny wanted to know. "If I +could tell that, I might find our camp, 'cause the sun comes up every +morning in front of our tent, and that faces the east." + +"But you can't walk to the sun, Bunny Brown. It's millions and millions +of miles away! Our teacher said so." + +"I'm not going to walk to the sun," said the little boy. "I just want to +walk toward it, but I've got to know which way it is first, so's to +know which way to walk." + +Sue looked about her, as did Bunny. Neither of them knew in what part of +the big woods they were, for they had never been there before. They were +both looking for some path that would lead them home. But they saw none. + +Suddenly Sue cried: + +"Oh, there's the sun! It's right overhead." + +She pointed upward, and Bunny saw a light spot in the clouds. The clouds +had not broken away, but they were thin enough for the sun to make a +bright place in them. + +"That must be the east," said Sue. "But how are we ever going to walk +that way, Bunny, unless we climb trees? It's up in the air!" + +"That isn't the east," said the little boy. "That's right overhead--I +forget the name of it." + +But I will tell you, and Bunny Brown can look it up in his geography +when he gets home. The point in the sky when the sun seems to be +directly over your head is the zenith. + +"And it's noon and dinner time, too," went on Bunny. + +"Can you tell by your stomach?" asked Sue. "I can, for my stomach is +hungry. It is always hungry at noon." + +"I can tell by my stomach, for it is hungry just like yours," said Sue's +brother. "But I can tell by the sun. Daddy told me that it was noon, and +time to eat, when the sun was straight over our heads. Now, we'll get +out of the woods, Sue." + +"How? Will the sun help us and bring us something to eat?" asked Sue. + +"Well, the sun will help us in a way, for when it begins to go down we +will know that is the west. And the east is just opposite from the west. +So if we walk with our backs toward the west we'll be facing the east, +and if we keep on that way we'll be at our camp some time. All we'll +have to do is to walk away from the sun." + +"And will that give us something to eat?" Sue demanded. + +"Maybe," said Bunny Brown. "We may come to a farmhouse, and they might +give us some cookies and milk." + +"How good that would taste!" cried Sue. "I wish I had some now." + +"We'll walk on a way," said Bunny. "Maybe we'll come to a place where +they'll feed us. But be careful to keep your back to the sun." + +Sue said she would, and the two lost children were soon walking through +the woods together. They walked on the path when they saw one, and +crossed over open glades or through underbrush when they came to such +places where they saw no path. + +For the time being they had given up all idea of finding their missing +toys. All they thought was of getting home. Every once in a while Sue +would ask: + +"Are we most there, Bunny?" + +And he would answer: + +"Not quite, but almost. Just a little farther, Sue." + +Suddenly there was a noise in the bushes as if some one were coming +through in a hurry. + +"Oh, maybe it's our dog Splash coming to find us!" cried Sue. + +"I don't believe so," answered Bunny. "Besides, Splash would bark; and +whatever this dog's name is, he doesn't make a sound. Oh, look, Sue, +it's a man, not a dog!" + +"A man?" cried Sue. "What kind?" + +"Oh, I can't tell, except that he has a dog and he's very ragged." Bunny +peeped between some bushes and the next moment uttered a cry of +surprise: + +"Why, it's the ragged hermit who gave us the milk and who was so good to +us!" cried Bunny. "He's the man who lives in the log cabin with the cow! +Now we're all right. He'll take us home. Now we're all right!" and Bunny +danced about. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" murmured Sue. "We're not lost any more!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WONDERINGS + + +Out from behind the bush where they had hidden on hearing the rustling +in the underbrush came Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, hand in hand. The +hermit, as they called the man who lived all alone in his little cabin, +looked up and saw them. So did the dog, and with a bark and a growl he +rushed toward the two children. + +"Down, Tramp! Down!" called the hermit, and the dog sank to the +moss-covered ground, beating his tail up and down on the dried leaves. + +"He wouldn't hurt you for the world," said the old, ragged man. "He +loves children, but he's so fond of them that he jumps up on them, and +tries to kiss them. Sometimes he tries to love them so hard that he +knocks them down. So I have to tell him to be careful." + +"We're not afraid of good dogs," said Bunny. + +"And we've got a dog of our own," added Sue. "His name is Splash, 'cause +he splashes through the muddy puddles so much that he gets us all wet +when he's with us. That's why we don't take him so often, lessen we know +it's going to be a dry day." + +"I see," said the ragged man. "Well, Tramp is pretty good, except that +he loves children too much." + +By this time the dog must have felt that it was time for him to get up, +and he arose and leaped toward Bunny and Sue. Sue turned to one side and +held her arm over her face, but Bunny waited for the dog to come near +enough so he could be patted, and this the dog seemed to like. When he +tried to jump up and put his paws on Bunny's shoulders the little boy +cried: + +"Down! Down, Tramp!" and at once the dog sank down and wagged his tail +so hard that Sue said afterward she thought it would almost wag off. + +The dog seemed to like Bunny and Sue, running about them, giving little +barks of joy and licking their hands. + +"I like him," said Sue. "He's 'most as good as our dog. How did you come +to name him Tramp?" + +"Well, he looked like a tramp when he came to me," said the ragged man, +who seemed to be clean enough, though his clothes were in tatters. "He +was all stuck up with burrs from the woods, one foot was cut and he was +covered with mud and water. I took him in, washed him, bound up his paw, +which had been cut on a piece of broken glass, and gave him something to +eat. He has been with me ever since." + +"I should think he _would_ stay with you," said Bunny. "You were kind to +him." + +"Well, I like animals," said the man. "But what are you children doing +off here in the woods. Do you want more milk?" + +"Not this time, thank you," said Bunny. "When we go to the farmhouse now +we have a cover on our pail, and when we set it down on the road no dog +can come and drink the milk." + +"But we don't set it down any more," said Bunny. "Mother told us not +to." + +"That's good," said the ragged man, whose name was Bixby. "It's a good +thing you didn't want any milk, because I haven't any left. I used up +most of what my cow gave, and sold the rest to a party of automobile +folks that came along dreadfully thirsty." + +"We have two automobiles," said Bunny. "One my father rides back and +forth to the city in and the other a big one, like a moving van, that we +can live in, and go where we want to. When night comes we just go to +sleep in it beside the road." + +"That's what my dog Tramp and I would like," said the ragged man. "It's +no fun staying in one place all the while. But if you children are not +away off here looking for milk, what are you here for, I'd like to +know?" + +"I'm looking for my Teddy bear with the blinking 'lectric lights for +eyes," said Sue. + +"What makes you think you'll find him here, off in the woods?" asked Mr. +Bixby, after a pause. + +"Well, somebody took my Teddy bear, which is a her, not a him, and is +named Sallie Malinda, from our tent," went on the little girl; "and, of +course, as a bear likes a wood, maybe they brought her here." + +"And my train of cars is gone, too," said Bunny, as he told of that +having been taken from the tent. + +"Why, that is surprising!" cried the ragged man. "Both your nice toys +taken! Who could have done it?" + +"Well, I did think maybe I left my train on the track with the batteries +switched on so it would go," said Bunny. "But I left the track made into +a round ring, and of course, if my train did get to going by some +accident, it would just keep on going around and around like Splash +chasing his tail, and wouldn't go out of the tent." + +"Of course," agreed the ragged man. + +"And Bunny thought Sallie Malinda had walked off by herself," said Sue, +"but daddy said she couldn't, for there is nothing in her to wind up. So +that couldn't happen." + +"Then who took her?" asked the ragged man. + +"We thought Eagle Feather, or some of his tribe, might," replied Bunny, +"for they thought our toys were 'heap big medicine.' But we went to +their village, and no one there knew anything about them." + +"That's what they said, did they?" + +"Yes, that's what they said," agreed Bunny. + +"But they might not have told the truth," went on Mr. Bixby, with a sort +of wink at Bunny. + +"Oh, everybody tells the truth," said the little boy. + +"Not always," returned Mr. Bixby with a laugh. "But never mind about +that now. You have come a long way from your camp." + +"Oh, that's another thing we forgot to tell you about," said Bunny. +"We're lost." + +"Lost?" cried the ragged man. + +"Terrible lost," said Sue. "We don't even know which is east, where the +sun gets up, you know." + +"Oh, I can easily show you that," said Mr. Bixby. "And you're not lost +any more, for I know where your camp is." + +"We hoped you would," said Bunny. + +"That's why we were glad to see you through the bushes. Can you take us +home?" + +"I can and I will," said the ragged man. "I can take you back straight +through the wood, or around by my cabin, which will put you on the road +along which you went to get your milk that night. Then you'll have an +easier walk to Camp Rest-a-While, though a little longer one." + +"Let's go by the road, though it is longer," said Sue. "I'm tired of +walking in the woods." + +"All right, and I'll carry you part of the way," said Mr. Bixby. + +"Will you give me a piggy-back?" asked Sue, who was not too old for such +things. + +"A pickaback is just what you shall have," said Mr. Bixby, and Sue soon +got up on his back by stepping from a high stone, to the top of which +Bunny helped her. + +"Please go slow," begged the little boy, "'cause we might happen to see +Sue's Teddy bear or my train of cars, where the Indians or somebody else +dropped it; though I don't believe Eagle Feather would do such a +thing." + +"Oh, I don't think Eagle Feather would take your toys," said Mr. Bixby. +"He is quite honest. But some of his tribe are not, I'm sorry to say." + +So he walked on with Sue on his back and Bunny trudging along beside, +and Tramp, the dog, first running on ahead and then coming back barking, +as though to say everything was all right. + +"We'll soon be at my cabin," said the ragged man. "And then you can rest +before starting on the road home." + +"Have you got anything to eat at your house?" asked Sue. + +Bunny, who was walking along behind her as she rode on Mr. Bixby's back, +reached up and pinched one of his sister's little fat legs. + +"Stop, Bunny Brown!" she cried. Then to Mr. Bixby she said again: "Have +you got anything to eat at your house?" + +Once more Bunny pinched her leg, and Sue cried: + +"Now, you stop that, Bunny Brown! I'm not playing the pinching game +to-day." + +"Well, you mustn't say that," said her brother. + +"Say what?" demanded Sue. + +"About Mr. Bixby having anything to eat in his house," went on Bunny. +"You know mother has told you it isn't polite." + +"Oh, that's right, Bunny! I forgot. So that's why you were pinching me?" + +"Yes," answered Bunny. + +Sue leaned over from the back of the ragged man and said, right in his +ear: + +"Please don't give us anything to eat when you get to your house. It +wouldn't be polite for us to take it after me asking you the way I did." + +"Hey? What's that?" asked the ragged man, seeming to wake up from a +sleep. "Did you ask me not to go so fast?" + +"No, I asked you----" + +Once more Bunny pinched his sister's leg. + +"Don't tell him what you asked him and he won't know, and then it will +be all right," said Bunny. + +"All right," whispered Sue. Then aloud she said: "Is it much farther to +your house, Mr. Bixby?" + +"Why, no," answered the ragged man. "So that's what you asked me, was +it? I wasn't listening, I'm afraid. My cabin is only a little farther +on, and then after you rest a bit I'll put you on the road to your +camp." + +"And maybe he'll give us something to eat without our asking," muttered +Sue to her brother, who was behind. + +"Hush!" he whispered. "Don't let him hear you." + +They were soon at Mr. Bixby's cabin. + +"Now, if you'll sit down a minute," said the ragged man, "I'll get you a +few cookies. I baked them myself. Maybe they are not as nice as those +your mother makes, but Tramp, my dog, likes them." + +"I'm sure we will, too," said Sue. "There! what'd I tell you, Bunny +Brown?" she asked in a whisper. "I knew he'd give us something to eat! +And it isn't impolite to take it when he offers it to you!" + +"No, I guess it's not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, we'll take 'em." + +The ragged man appeared with a plate of cookies. The children said they +were very good indeed, fully as good as Mother Brown baked, and Tramp, +the dog, ate his share, too, sitting up on his hind legs and begging for +one when the ragged man told him to. Then the dog would sit up with a +cookie balanced on his nose, and he would not snap it off to eat until +the man told him to. + +"Well, I like to have you stay," said the hermit, "but it is getting +late, and perhaps I had better take you to the road that leads straight +to your camp." + +"Yes, we had better go," replied Bunny. "We'll know our way home now. +Thank you for taking care of us and for the cookies." + +"Which we didn't ask for," said Sue quickly. "Did we, Mr. Bixby?" + +"No, you didn't," he answered with a laugh, and he seemed to understand +what Sue meant without asking any questions. + +As Mr. Bixby started away from his cabin, to lead the children down to +the road, they met an Indian coming up the path. He was not Eagle +Feather, but one of the tribe. + +"How!" and the Indian nodded to the ragged man. + +"How!" answered Mr. Bixby. + +"You got heap big medicine ready for make Indian's pain better?" asked +the red man. + +"Yes, but not now--pretty soon," answered Mr. Bixby. + +"All right--me wait. You come back soon byemby?" asked the Onondaga. + +"Yes, in a minute." + +"You don't need to go any farther with us," said Bunny presently. "We +can see the road from here and we know our way all right." + +"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Bixby, who seemed anxious to get back to the +Indian, who appeared to be ill. + +"Of course we can," said Bunny. + +"Of course," added Sue. + +"Then I'll leave you here," went on the ragged man. "I doctor some of +the Indians, and this is one of them. I'll say good-bye, and the next +time you're lost you must send for me." + +"We will," laughed Bunny and Sue as they went on toward the road. They +knew where they were now, as they had come along this road after the +milk. + +As they reached the highway they heard from the cabin of the ragged man +a curious buzzing sound. + +"What's that?" asked Sue. "Is it bees?" + +"No, I don't think so," answered Bunny. "It sounds more like machinery." + +"Yes, it does," agreed Sue. "I wonder what kind it is." + +"Sounds like a little saw mill," said Bunny. + +"Say!" cried Sue, when they had walked on a little way. "Wasn't it queer +that that Indian asked about 'heap big medicine,' just the way Eagle +Feather spoke of my Teddy bear and your electric train?" + +"Kind of," admitted Bunny. "I wonder what he meant?" + +"Oh, I guess it's some medicine Mr. Bixby has for curing the stomach," +went on Sue. "The Indian might have eaten too many green apples." + +"Maybe," said Bunny. "Oh, here comes Splash, looking for us!" he cried, +as he saw the dog running along the road toward them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MR. BROWN MAKES A SEARCH + + +The Brown children ran to meet Splash, and he was quite as glad to see +them as they were to see him. Up and down he jumped, trying to kiss +them, making believe to bite them and all the while whining and barking +in joy. + +"Did you think we were lost, Splash?" asked Sue. + +"Bow-wow!" answered the dog, and that, I think, was his way of saying: +"I did, but I'm glad I've found you." + +"And we _were_ lost, Splash," went on Bunny. "But now we're on our way +home again." + +"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and that meant he was glad. + +Together the children and their dog walked on along the road, and Splash +went on so far ahead and so fast that often Bunny and Sue had to run to +catch up to him. + +[Illustration: THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH. +_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ _Page_ 129.] + +"But we'll get home all the quicker," said Bunny. + +"Maybe they sent Splash to find us," suggested his sister. + +"Well, Splash is smart enough to do that if he had to," said Bunny. +"We'll soon be home now." + +In a little while they made a turn in the road that brought them within +sight of the tents of Camp Rest-a-While. + +"Now we're all right!" cried Sue. + +"Bow-wow!" barked Splash. + +"Oh, children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Brown, coming out to +meet them. "I sent Uncle Tad off one way to look for you, and Splash in +the other. I was just thinking of starting off myself!" + +"We were lost in the woods," said Bunny; "but the ragged man found us, +and then we met Splash. We didn't see Uncle Tad." + +"Oh, maybe he's lost!" cried Sue. + +"We can go to look for him," said Bunny. + +"No you don't!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Two of you getting lost is enough +in one day. Uncle Tad knows his way back to camp from any part of the +big woods. But who was the ragged man?" + +"Oh, he's the man that gave us the milk the time the dog drank it up +when we chased the squirrel," explained Sue. "He's awful nice, and he +gave me a piggy-back ride, and took us to his cabin, and gave us cookies +without us really asking." + +"What do you mean by not really asking?" inquired Mrs. Brown. + +"Oh, Sue means she sort of _hinted_ or spoke of 'em easy like," Bunny +explained. "I pinched her leg without Mr. Bixby--he's the ragged +man--seeing me, and then Sue stopped asking him if he had anything to +eat at his house. He offered the cookies all by his own self." + +"Well, I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "But after this +don't go into strange houses and even _hint_ for something to eat. That +isn't polite." + +"Oh, but this isn't a _real_ house," said Bunny quickly. "It's a log +cabin." + +"But it's home for the ragged man, as you call Mr. Bixby." + +"It's a funny home," said Bunny. "He's got a buzzing machine in it and +the Indian that came while we were there asked for heap big medicine. +That's the way Eagle Feather spoke of my toy train." + +"That's how we got lost in the woods, looking for my Teddy bear and +Bunny's 'lectric train," explained Sue. "We went on and on until we +didn't know where we were." + +"Well, you mustn't do it again," said her mother. "Don't go far into the +woods unless your father, Uncle Tad or I am with you. Then you won't get +lost." + +"Wouldn't Splash do?" asked Bunny. + +"Yes, Splash is all right--he'd know the way home," said Mrs. Brown. +"Now come in, wash and get ready for lunch." + +"We don't want very much," said Bunny. "The ragged man gave us so many +cookies." + +"I hope they weren't too rich for you," said Mrs. Brown. + +"Oh, no, Mother, they couldn't be!" exclaimed Bunny. "'Cause he's an +awful poor, ragged man." + +"Oh, _rich_ cookies means they have too much shortening--butter or lard +or something in 'em," said Sue. "I know, for I've taken a cooking +lesson; haven't I, Momsie?" + +"Yes, Sue, and you must take some more, for you are getting older." + +"And some day I'll get up a real dinner for you and Bunny and daddy and +Uncle Tad and the ragged man and Eagle Feather," said the little girl. + +"You wouldn't know how to cook for Indians," said Bunny. "They eat bear +meat and deer meat, and roots and the bark of trees and maybe berries." + +"Well, I could give Eagle Feather berries in a pie," declared Sue, "and +I could make slippery elm tea, and roast some acorns for him." + +"That would be quite an Indian feast," laughed Mrs. Brown. "But come now +and get what you want, and don't go so far off into the woods again." + +The children promised that they would not, though both said they wanted +to hunt farther for their lost toys, or taken-away toys, which was +probably what had happened to them. + +When lunch was over, the children played about the tents, using some of +the games and toys they had had before Mr. Brown brought the wonderful +electric train and the Teddy bear with the shining electric eyes. + +"We can have lots of fun," said Sue. + +"Yes. But anyway I want my train back," declared Bunny. + +"And I want Sallie Malinda!" exclaimed Sue with a sigh. "She was just +like a real baby bear to me." + +"Why don't you call a Teddy bear he?" asked Bunny. + +"'Cause she's a _girl_. Can't you tell by the name _Sallie Malinda_?" +asked Sue. + +Bunny was about to continue talking to the effect that the _Teddy_ bear +ought to have a boy's name, when there came the sound of wheels outside +the tent, and a cheery voice called: + +"Hello, everybody!" + +"Oh, it's daddy!" cried Bunny and Sue together. "Daddy has come home!" + +"They rushed out of the tent to meet him, to hug and kiss him, and for a +while he pretended to be smothered by the two little children who hung +about his neck. + +"We went hunting for our toys which are lost," said Bunny. + +"And we got lost ourselves," added Sue. + +"But we got found again----" + +"By a dog----" + +"And a man----" + +"And we had cookies----" + +"And an Indian came to get heap big medicine----" + +"And I'm going to cook a dinner----" + +Thus the children called, one after the other, and I leave you to guess +who said what, for I can't do it myself as they talked too fast. + +But at last they quieted down, and Mrs. Brown had a chance to talk to +her husband and tell him the news. Uncle Tad had, in the meanwhile, come +back, not being able to find the lost ones, and he was very glad to see +them safe in the camp. + +Mr. Brown had come home early that day, but before long it was time for +supper. Bunny and Sue ate nearly as much as though they had had no +lunch and had eaten no cookies at the ragged man's cabin. + +"And so you heard a queer buzzing noise in the hermit's cabin as you +were coming away?" asked Mr. Brown. + +"Yes," said Bunny, "we did." + +"I think I'll take a look up around there myself," said Mr. Brown, with +a nod at his wife across the table. + +"Oh, is something going to happen?" asked Sue. + +"And will you find our lost toys?" asked Bunny eagerly. + +"No, I don't promise you that. In fact I have given them up for lost, +and have ordered new ones for you, though not such fancy ones. They are +altogether different. I'll have them for you to-morrow night." + +This set the children into a wild guessing game as to what their father +had got, and they amused themselves until nearly bed time. + +They did not notice that Mr. Brown left camp, nor that he wandered down +the road, in the direction of the home of the ragged man. When Mr. +Brown came back, after the children were in their cots, his wife asked +him: + +"Did you find anything?" + +"No, I can't say I did. I made a search around Bixby's cabin and went +over into the Indian village to talk to Eagle Feather. But I didn't find +out anything about the missing toys. I guess wandering tramps must have +taken them. I'll get the kiddies new ones." + +By this time Bunny and Sue were fast asleep, dreaming of the new +playthings they were to have. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RAGGED BOY + + +"Ding-dong! Ding-ding! Ding-dong!" rang the breakfast bell in Camp +Rest-a-While. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, snug in their cots, heard +it, stirred a bit, turned over, and shut their eyes. + +"It's too early to get up," murmured Bunny. + +"Yes," muttered Sue. "Much too early. I can sleep more." + +And off to sleep she promptly went, Bunny doing the same thing. + +"What's the matter with those children?" asked Uncle Tad, who was +ringing the bell. He waved it through the air all the faster so that it +seemed to sing out: + +"Ding-ding-dong! Ding-dong-ding! Ding-ding--dingity-ding-dong ding!" + +"Maybe that's a fire," said Bunny, wide-awake now. + +"Oh, maybe it is!" agreed Sue. + +"What's the matter? Aren't you ever going to get up?" asked Uncle Tad, +looking into that part of the tent where Bunny and Sue had their cots. + +"Where's the fire?" asked Bunny, though, now that he was wide-awake, he +knew there was no fire. + +"And will you take us to it?" asked Sue, making a grab for her clothes +which were on a chair near her cot, and still believing in the fire. + +"There isn't any fire," said Uncle Tad, "except the one out in the +stove, and that's getting breakfast. Come on! What makes you so slow?" +asked Uncle Tad. + +"Oh, but they were so tired yesterday, from getting lost, that I let +them sleep a little longer this morning," said Mrs. Brown. + +"It's long past getting up time," went on Uncle Tad. "If Bunny is going +to be a soldier, and Sue a trained nurse they'll find they will have to +get up much earlier than this." + +"That's so!" cried Bunny. "I forgot I was going to be a soldier. And as +you're to go to nurse me, Sue, you'd better get up, too." + +"All right, I will, Bunny. But I'm dreadful sleepy." + +However, now that the two were awake, from the ringing of Uncle Tad's +bell and his talk about soldiers and nurses, Bunny and Sue found it was +not so very hard to get dressed. + +Then they fairly danced to the breakfast table, which was set out of +doors, as it was a fine day. + +"Where's daddy?" asked Bunny. + +"Oh, he had an early meal and said he was going fishing out in the +lake," said Mrs. Brown. + +"He promised to take me the next time he went," said the little boy. + +"He's coming back in a little while to get you both," said their mother. +"He wanted to have some good fishing by himself while it was nice and +quiet in the early morning hours. When you children go with him, you +laugh and chatter so, and get your lines so tangled up that your father +can't fish himself in comfort. + +"But he likes to take you, and as soon as he has a chance to catch some +fish himself, he'll come back and take you out in the boat." + +"Oh, that'll be great!" cried Bunny. "I'm going to get my fish pole and +line ready." + +"I don't want to catch any fish," said Sue. "I don't like to have 'em +bite on the sharp hook. I'll go and get one of my dolls and give her a +boat ride. But I wish I had my Teddy bear." + +"He'd catch fish," said Bunny, winding up his line on the little spool, +called a reel, on his pole. + +"She's a she. And anyway, Teddy bears can't catch fish," said Sue. + +"No, but _real_ bears can. Our teacher told us. They lean over the edge +of a river and pull the fish out with their claws. Bears likes fish." + +"But my Sallie Malinda isn't a real bear," said Sue. + +"You could make believe he was," insisted Bunny. "And if you put his paw +in the water, and sort of let it dingle-dangle, a fish might bite at +it." + +"She," sighed Sue. "But just as if I'd let a fish bite my nice Teddy +bear! Besides, I haven't got her." + +"No, that's so," agreed Bunny. "Well, I guess you'll have to take a +regular doll then." + +"And don't you let her make believe fall into the water, either, and get +her sawdust all wetted up," said Sue. + +"I won't," promised Bunny. + +Then the children began to get ready for their father's return with the +boat, and when Sue's doll was laid out in a shady place on the grass, +and Bunny's pole and line were where he could easily find them, the +little boy said: + +"Let's walk down to the edge of the lake, and maybe we can see daddy +quicker." + +"All right--let's," agreed Sue, and the two were soon walking, hand in +hand, down the slope that led to the water. + +"Where are you going?" called Mother Brown. + +"Oh, just down to the shore," answered Bunny. + +"Very well; but don't go into the water, and don't step into any of the +boats until daddy comes." + +"We won't," promised Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Their mother could +always depend on them to keep their promises, though sometimes the +things they did were worse than those they promised her not to do. They +were just different, that was all. + +Sue and Bunny went down to the edge of Lake Wanda. They could not see +their father's boat, so they walked along the shore. Before they knew it +they had gone farther than they had ever gone before, and, all at once, +in the side of the hill, that led down to the beach of the lake, they +saw a hole that seemed to go away back under the hill. + +"Oh, what's that?" asked Sue, stepping a little behind Bunny. + +"It's a cave," answered her brother. + +"What's a cave?" Sue next asked. + +"Well, a cave is a hole," explained Bunny. + +"Then a hole and a cave are the same thing," said Sue. + +"Yes, I guess they are pretty much," admitted the little boy. "Only in a +cave you have adventures, and in a hole you only fall down and get your +clothes dirty." + +"Don't you ever get your clothes dirty in a cave?" Sue demanded. + +"Oh, yes, but that's different. Nobody minds how dirty your clothes get +if you have an adventure in a cave," Bunny said. + +"And can we go into this one?" Sue asked. + +"I guess so," answered Bunny. "Mother told us not to get in any boats, +and we're not. A cave isn't a boat. Come on." + +"See, Splash is going in," pointed out Sue. "If he isn't afraid we +oughtn't to be." + +"Who's afraid?" asked Bunny. "I'm not!" And with that he walked into the +cave. As he still held Sue's hand he dragged her along with him, and as +Sue did not want to be left alone on the beach of the lake, she +followed. Bunny saw Splash running ahead. For a little way into the cave +it was light, but it soon began to darken, as the sun could not shine +in that far. + +"Oh, I don't want to go any farther," said Sue. "It's dark. If I had my +Teddy bear I could make a light with her eyes." + +"I've got something better than that," said Bunny. + +"What?" asked Sue. + +"My pocket flashlight I got for Christmas. That gives a good light. Come +on, now we can see." + +From his pocket Bunny took the little flashlight. It was the same kind, +made with the same storage dry battery, that ran his train and lighted +the Teddy bear's eyes. + +"Yes, now I can see!" cried Sue. "I'm not afraid any more." + +With Bunny holding the light, the two children went farther on into the +cave. They were looking about, wondering what they would find, when, all +of a sudden, there was a noise farther in. + +"Oh!" cried Sue. "Did you hear that?" + +"Yes," answered Bunny, "I did. What was it?" + +Splash began to bark. + +"Quiet!" ordered Bunny, and the dog whined. Then the noise sounded +again. It was like some one crying. + +"Oh, I don't want to stay here!" exclaimed Sue, clasping Bunny's hand. + +"Wait a minute," he said. + +Then came a voice from out of the darkness, saying: + +"Please don't run away. I won't hurt you and I'm all alone. I want to +get out. I'm lost. I can just see your light. Stand still a minute and I +can see you. I'm coming." + +Bunny and Sue did not know whether or not to wait, but, in the end, they +stood still. Splash whined, but did not bark. They could hear some one +walking toward them. + +A moment later there came into the light of the flashlight a slim, +ragged boy. He was even more ragged than Mr. Bixby. + +"Please don't run away," he said. "I won't hurt you. I need some one to +help me." + +Bunny and Sue felt sorry for the boy. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HIDDEN IN THE HAY + + +For two or three seconds the two children and the ragged boy stood in +the queer cave looking at one another. Splash had come to a stop near +his little master and mistress, and with one fore leg raised from the +ground was looking sharply at the boy. It seemed as if the dog were +saying: + +"Just say the word, Bunny or Sue, and I'll drive this boy away from +here. He doesn't look like a proper person for you to be with." + +But Bunny and Sue had no such feeling. They did not mind how ragged a +person was if he were only clean. Of course a dog is different. Splash +never did like ragged persons, though in a good many cases they were +just as good as the well dressed ones with whom he made friends. + +So, in this case, seeing the ragged boy coming near to Sue and Bunny in +the dark, where the only light was that of the little boy's electric +lamp, the dog growled and seemed about to spring on the lad. The boy +took a few steps backward. + +"What's the matter?" asked Bunny. "You're not afraid of us, are you?" + +"No, little feller, I'm not. But I don't like the way your dog acts. He +seems as if he didn't like tramps, and I expect he thinks I'm one. Well, +I 'spect I do look like one, 'count of my clothes, but I ain't never +begged my way yet, though many a time I've been hungry enough to do it." + +"Splash, behave yourself!" cried Bunny Brown. "Charge! Lie down!" + +Splash did as he was told, but it was easy to see he did not like it. He +would rather have run toward and barked at the ragged lad. + +"Don't be afraid of him," said Sue. "We won't let him hurt you. Bunny, +why don't you make Splash shake hands with this boy, and then they'll be +friends forever. You ought to introduce 'em." + +"That's so! I will," said Bunny. "I forgot about that. Splash, come +here!" he ordered, and the dog obeyed. "Now go over and shake hands with +him," went on the little fellow, pointing to the strange boy. + +"Don't be afraid and move away from him, or Splash won't like it," said +Sue, as she saw the boy shrink back a little. "Just stand still and +Splash will shake hands and be friends with you." + +The boy seemed to be a bit afraid still, but he stood quietly and, +surely enough, Splash advanced and held out his right paw, which the boy +took and shook up and down. Then the boy patted the dog on the head, and +Splash barked, afterward licking the boy's hand with his tongue. + +"Now he's friends with you, and he'll always like you," announced Sue. + +"And no matter where he meets you he'll come up to you and shake hands," +said Bunny. "Once Splash makes friends he keeps 'em. My name is Bunny +Brown," he went on, "and this is my sister Sue. We live at Camp +Rest-a-While on the edge of the big woods. We came out to see if my +father had come back from fishing, and we saw this cave and came in." + +"Is there a way out?" asked the ragged boy. "I hardly know how I got in +here, but I've been trying to find a way out and I couldn't." + +"Oh, we can show you that," said Sue. "It's only a little way back, and +it comes right out on the lake shore. But how did you get in here? You +look as ragged as the ragged man," she went on. "But that's nothing. +Sometimes Bunny and I are raggeder than you. We like it." + +"I don't know who the ragged man is," said the boy, who gave his name as +Tom Fleming, "but I work for a man named Mr. Bixby, and his clothes have +lots of holes in." + +"That's the ragged man we mean," said Bunny. "But please don't ever say +we called him ragged, 'cause we like him just as much ragged as if he +wasn't." + +"Oh, I guess he doesn't mind being called ragged," said Tom. "He's got +other clothes but he won't wear 'em." + +"If you're working for him, what are you doing in this cave?" Sue +asked. "Lessen it's his." + +"Well, maybe he calls it his'n," said Tom. "It joins on to his cow +stable and that's how I got in it. After I got in I couldn't find my way +out until I saw your light." + +"What did you run away for?" asked Bunny. "Please tell us! We won't tell +on you." + +"No, I don't believe you would," said Tom. "Well, I'll tell you. You see +I live at the poorhouse, having no relations to take care of me, and no +place to live. But in the summer I hire out to the farmers around here +that want me, and work to earn a little spare change. + +"This year Mr. Bixby hired me. At first I liked the work. I had to do a +few chores, milk the cow and take the milk to the few families that +bought it. But the other day he did something I didn't like and so +to-day after I found the hole in the cow stable that leads to this cave, +I ran away." + +"What did he do to you?" asked Bunny. "Did he beat you?" + +"No, he stuck pins and needles in me." + +"Stuck pins into you?" cried Sue. "How horrid! I never heard of such a +thing! How did you get them out?" + +"That was the funny part of it," said the boy. "They weren't real pins. +He'd make me take hold of some shiny brass knobs, and then pins and +needles would shoot all over me. Then, all of a sudden, he'd pull 'em +out and I wouldn't feel 'em until he did it again." + +"That was funny," said Bunny Brown, thinking very hard. "Could you see +the needles?" + +"No, but I could feel 'em, and that was enough. I got away as soon as I +could, when he wasn't looking, and I made for the hole I'd found in the +cow shed. But from there I got into the cave, and I thought I was lost, +for I couldn't find my way back and I didn't know what to do when I saw +your light. And then I didn't know whether to go and meet you or hide in +the dark." + +"Well, it's a good thing you came on," said Sue, "'cause we were getting +scared ourselves, weren't we Bunny?" + +"Oh no, not much. I wasn't scared." + +"But I was," admitted Sue. "And I think Splash was too, for he was sort +of whining in his throat." + +"Well, we're all right now," said Bunny. "But what are you going to do, +Tom? Are you going back to Mr. Bixby?" + +"I certainly am not! I've had enough pins and needles stuck in me, +though you can't see 'em now," and he glanced down at his long, red +hands. "I'm going to run away--that is, if I can find my way out of this +cave." + +"Oh, we can show you the way _out_ all right," said Bunny. "But where +are you going to run to." + +"I don't know," said the boy slowly. + +"You can run to our camp," put in Sue, "and we'll never tell Mr. Bixby +you are there." + +"That's right!" cried Bunny. "And maybe you can show us how he stuck +pins and needles into you, so we could do it to ourselves." + +"I don't believe I could," said Tom, with a shake of his tousled head. +"But I'll be glad to run to your camp. I never want to see Mr. Bixby +again." + +"What made him stick pins and needles into you?" + +"Maybe he didn't exactly do that. Maybe it only felt that way, for you +couldn't see anything. He said he was doing it for an experiment." + +"That's what the teacher does for the boys in the high school where we +go, only we're in the lower class," said Bunny. "Some of the experiments +make a funny smell." + +"Well, there's no smell to this," said Tom. "Now let's get out of here." + +Led by Bunny and Sue, with Splash running on ahead, the ragged boy was +soon out of the cave. + +Bunny and Sue looked across the lake for a sight of their father in his +boat coming back, but as they did not see him, Bunny said: + +"I know what we can do to have some fun." + +"What?" asked Sue, always ready for a good time. + +"We can go in Mr. Bailey's barn and slide down the hay. He said we +could do it any time without asking." + +"Oh, let's do it then!" Sue cried. "You'll come, won't you?" she asked +the ragged boy. + +"Course I will! I like hay-sliding. I don't mind being stuck with +prickers that way." + +The three were soon sliding down the hay in the mow, coming to an end +with a bump in a pile of hay on the barn floor. + +All at once Bunny gave a cry, as he was part way down the slide, and he +dug his hands into the hay to stop himself from going further. + +"What's the matter?" asked Sue. "Did you slide on a thistle?" + +"No, not a thistle but I slid over something sharp. I'm going to find +out what it is." + +Bunny poked around in the hay, and uttered a cry of astonishment as he +brought out one of his toy cars from his electric railroad that had been +stolen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE ANGRY GOBBLER + + +"Oh, what is it?" asked Sue. + +"Where'd you find it?" Tom questioned. + +"It's part of my lost railroad," explained Bunny, answering the first +question. "And I found it hidden under the hay. I must have stuck myself +on one of the sharp corners of the little car as I slid down, and I +stopped right away, 'cause I thought it might be an egg." + +"An egg!" exclaimed Tom. + +"Yes," answered Bunny. "Once I was sliding down hay, just like now, and +I slid into a hen's nest. It was partly covered over with hay and I +didn't see it. There were thirteen eggs in the nest, and I busted every +one! Didn't I Sue?" + +"No you didn't, Bunny Brown! That was me!" + +"Oh!" Bunny looked very queer for a moment, then he laughed as he +remembered what really had happened. "Well, Sue got all messed up with +the white and yellow of the eggs. Maybe there weren't just thirteen, but +there was a lot anyway. But I'm glad this wasn't a hen's nest. Maybe +I'll find the rest of my railroad now. Let's look." + +"Somebody must have hid the car here in the hay after they took it," +said Tom. "Who do you s'pose it was?" + +"We thought it might be some of the Indians," said Bunny. "But my father +made a search down in their village. He couldn't find anything, though. +Now _we_ have found something." + +"You don't s'pose Mr. Bixby would take it, or my Teddy bear with +flashing lights for eyes, do you?" asked Sue of the ragged boy. + +"I never saw anything like that around his place, and I was there two or +three weeks," said Tom. + +"We didn't see you when we were there," said Bunny. + +"No, I was mostly weeding up in the potato patch on the hill. I'd have +my breakfast, take a bit of lunch with me, and then not come home until +'most dark. That's why you didn't see me. But I never took notice of any +electrical trains or toy bears around his place. I don't guess he took +'em." + +"Nor I," said Bunny. "But I'm going to look in the hay for more." + +He did, the others helping, while even Splash pawed about, though I +don't suppose he knew for what he was searching. More than likely he +thought it was for a bone, for that was about all he ever dug for. + +But search as the two Brown children and Tom did, they found no more +parts of the toy railroad. + +"The one who took it must have thrown the car away because it was too +heavy to carry," said Bunny. "It was a pretty heavy toy, and I always +carried it in two parts myself. Besides the car wasn't any good to make +the train go. The electric locomotive pulled itself and the cars. I +guess they just threw this car away. + +"But I'm going to keep it, for I might find the tracks and the engine +and the other cars, and then I'd be all right again." + +"Yes," said Tom, "you would. But it is funny for somebody up in these +big woods to take toy trains and Teddy bears. That's what I can't +understand." + +"And I can't understand that man sticking needles into you--a funny kind +of needles he didn't have to pull out and that stopped hurting you so +soon," said Bunny. + +"It's all queer!" declared Sue. "Come on, we'll have some more fun +sliding down the hay." + +This they did, and even Splash joined in. But though they slid all over +the hay, and kept a sharp lookout for any more parts of Bunny's train, +they found nothing. + +"I wish I could find part of my Teddy bear," said Sue. + +"If you did that your Sallie Malinda wouldn't be much good," said Bunny. +"For you can take an electrical train apart and put it together again, +and it isn't hurt. You can't do that way with a Teddy bear. If you pull +off one of his legs or his head he's not much good any more." + +"That's right," agreed Sue. "I want to find my dear Sallie Malinda all +in one piece." + +"And with his eyes blazing," added Bunny. + +"Oh, of course, with _her_ eyes going," said Sue. "Now for a last slide, +and then we'll go out and see if daddy has come." + +"And I guess I'd better go back to the poorhouse and get a meal," said +Tom. "Mr. Bixby won't give me any dinner 'cause I ran away from him, but +if I tell the superintendent back at the poorhouse how it happened I +know he'll feed me until I get another place. + +"And I can get work easy now. I'm good and strong, and the farmers are +beginning to think of getting in their crops. But I'm not going to be +stuck full of needles again." + +"You come right along with us," said Bunny. "My mamma and papa will be +glad to see you when they know you helped us look for our lost toys, +even if we didn't find but one car, and I slid over that. But they'll +take care of you until you can get some work to do. My mamma does lots +of that in the city when tramps come to us---- + +"Of course you're not a tramp," he said quickly, "'cause you have a home +to go to." + +"Folks don't ginnerally call it much of a home, but it's better'n +nothing," said Tom. "But I'm thankful to you. I'll come, only maybe your +maw mightn't be expectin' company--leastwise such as I am," and he +looked down at his ragged clothes. + +"Never mind that," said Bunny. "You ought to see the picture of my Uncle +Tad when he was in the war, captured by the Confederates as a prisoner. +He had only corn husks for shoes and his coat and trousers were so full +of holes that he didn't know in which ones to put his legs and arms. +He'll give you some of the clothes he don't want. Now come right along." + +"What about meeting daddy to go fishing?" asked Sue. "I guess he isn't +going to take us to-day, or he's forgotten about it. Maybe the fish are +biting so good out where he is in his boat that he doesn't want to come +in." + +"Maybe," said Bunny. "Anyhow we'll go on back to the camp. It must be +getting near dinner time, for I'm feeling hungry, aren't you?" he asked +Tom. + +"Yes, but then I'm 'most allers that way. I never remember when I had +all I wanted to eat." + +On the way along the lake road to Camp Rest-a-While they passed a +farmyard where many geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens were kept. Just +as Sue, who happened to be wearing a red dress, came near the yard, a +big turkey gobbler, who seemed to be the king of the barnyard, rushed to +the gate, managed to push his way through the crack, and, a moment +later, was attacking Sue, biting her legs with his strong beak, now +pulling at her red dress, and occasionally flying up from the ground +trying to strike his claws into her face. + +"Oh dear!" cried the little girl. "Won't somebody please help me? Drive +him away, Bunny!" + +"I will!" cried her little brother, and, catching up a stick, he bravely +rushed at the angry turkey gobbler. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SUE DECIDES TO MAKE A PIE + + +"Here. You're too little for such a job as this!" cried Tom, as he +stepped in front of Bunny. "That's an old, tough bird and he's a born +fighter. Better let me tackle him." + +Bunny was a brave little boy, but when he saw how large and fierce the +gobbler was his heart failed him a little. The big Thanksgiving bird +just then made a furious rush at Sue, and as she jumped back Tom stepped +up in her place. The turkey did not seem to mind whom he attacked, as +long as it was some one, though probably Sue's red dress had excited him +in the first place, though why bulls and turkeys should not like red I +can not tell you. + +"Look out, Tom!" called Bunny. "He's a bad one!" + +"He certainly is fierce all right," answered Tom. "He's coming with a +rush!" + +As he spoke the turkey made a rush for him, keeping off the ground with +outstretched wings and claws. He went: "Gobble-obble-obble!" in loud +tones as though trying to scare the children. + +Tom was ready with a heavy stick he had caught up, and as the big bird +sailed at him through the air the lad aimed a blow at the gobbler. + +But the turkey seemed to be on the lookout for this, and dodged. Then, +before Tom could get ready for another blow, the gobbler landed back of +the lad, and came on with another rush. + +"Look out!" cried Bunny, but his warning came too late. The turkey +landed on Tom's back and began nipping and clawing him. + +"Get off! Get off!" cried the poorhouse lad, trying in vain to reach up +with his club and hit the gobbler hard enough to knock him to the +ground. + +But Tom's club was of little use, with the big bird on his back. Bunny +saw this and cried: + +"Wait a minute and I'll throw some stones at him." + +"You might hit Tom instead of the gobbler," said Sue, who was safe out +of harm's way behind a big pile of wood. "Don't throw any stones, +Bunny." + +"No, you'd better not," said Tom. "I'll try to shake him off." + +So he rushed about here and there, swaying his back from side to side, +trying to make the turkey fall off. But the gobbler had fastened his +claws in the back of Tom's ragged coat, and there he clung, now and then +nipping with his strong bill Tom's head and neck. + +"Here comes Splash!" cried Bunny. "He'll soon make that turkey gobbler +behave." + +Up the sandy beach of the lake shore came Splash racing. He had stopped +to look at a little crayfish, and it had nipped his nose, so Splash was +not feeling any too pleasant. Most of you children know that a crayfish +is like a little lobster. + +"Here, Splash! Splash!" cried Bunny. "Come and drive this bad turkey off +Tom!" + +"Bow-wow!" barked the big dog, as he came running. + +"Tell him to hurry," begged Tom. "I can't shake him off and he's biting +deep into my neck. I'm feared he'll bore a hole in it!" + +"Hurry up, Splash! Hurry up!" urged Bunny. + +"Bow-wow!" barked Splash again, which, I suppose, was his way of saying +he would. + +On he came, and, all this while, the gobbler was on top of Tom's back, +gobbling away, fluttering his wings and now and then making savage pecks +at the boy's shoulders and neck. + +"Splash will make him go away," said Bunny. "Splash likes you now, Tom. +He's a friend of yours, for he shook hands, and he'll do anything you +want." + +"Well, all I want is for him to get this gobbler off me," said the +ragged boy. + +"Hi, Splash!" cried Bunny. "Get at this bad gobbler!" + +Splash rushed up to Tom, and then, raising up on his hind legs, nipped +at the gobbler. The big bird made a louder noise than ever, and suddenly +jumped down from Tom's back. + +"Ha! I knew you'd do it!" cried Bunny in delight. But just then +something queer happened. + +Splash, seeing the bird flop down to the ground, made a dash for the +gobbler with open mouth, barking the while. + +"Now watch that old gobbler run!" cried Bunny, capering about. + +But instead it was Splash that ran. Unable to stand the sight of the big +bird, with outspread and drooping wings, with all his feathers puffed +out to make him look twice as large as he really was, and with an angry +"Gobble-obble-obble" coming from his beak, Splash ran. It was no wonder, +for the turkey was a terrifying sight. I think even a tiger, a lion or +perhaps an elephant would have run. + +"Come back! Come back, Splash!" called Bunny. "We want you to drive the +turkey gobbler away from us." + +But the gobbler was already going away. He was going right after Splash, +who was running down the road as fast as he could go. + +"Well, we're all right," said Tom. "That bird won't bother us any more." + +"And I hope he doesn't come for me," said Sue. "He scared me." + +"But what about poor Splash?" asked Bunny quickly. "He'll scare our +nice dog awful." + +"Splash seems to be getting away," remarked Tom, rubbing the place in +the back of his neck where the turkey had nipped him. + +"Oh! Oh, dear!" cried Bunny. "Look what's happening now. Splash is +coming back this way and the turkey is coming with him. Oh, what shall +we do?" + +"He won't bother us as long as he has Splash to chase," said Tom. + +"But I don't want him to chase Splash!" said Bunny. + +The children watched what happened. + +Splash, with the turkey close behind him, was running back to a spot in +front of the barn, where Bunny, his sister Sue and Tom were standing. +Just as the dog reached there the turkey caught him by the tail. + +And I just wish you could have heard Splash howl! No, on second +thoughts, it is just as well you did not. For you love animals, I am +sure, and you do not like to see them in pain. And Splash was certainly +in pain or he would not have howled the way he did. And I think if a +big, strong turkey gobbler had hold of your tail, and was pulling as +hard as he could, you would have howled too. That is, if you had a tail. + +Anyhow Splash howled and tried to swing around so he could bite the +gobbler, but the big bird kept out of reach. + +"Oh, what can we do?" asked Sue. + +"Get sticks and beat the gobbler!" cried Tom. + +"No, wait. I know a better way," said Bunny. + +"What?" asked his sister. + +"I'll show you," answered the little boy. He had seen on the green lawn +of the farmhouse a water hose. It was attached to a faucet near the +ground and the water came from a big tank on the house into which it was +pumped by a gasolene engine. + +Bunny ran to the hose. The water was turned off at the nozzle, but it +was the same kind of nozzle as the one on the Brown's hose at home, so +Bunny knew how to work it. + +In an instant he turned the nozzle, and aimed the hose at the turkey +which still had hold of the poor dog's tail. + +All over the turkey splashed the water, and as the big bird tried to +gobble, and keep hold of Splash's tail at the same time, and as the +water went down its throat, the noise, instead of "Gobble-obble-obble," +sounded like "Gurgle-urgle-urgle." + +"There! Take that!" cried Bunny squirting the water over the turkey. +"That will make you stop pulling dogs' tails, I guess." + +Indeed the water was too much for the gobbler. He let go of Splash's +tail, for which the dog was very thankful, and then the big bird ran +toward the farmyard, just as the farmer came out to see what all the +trouble was about. + +"I had to splash your turkey to make him let go of our dog," explained +Bunny. + +"Oh, that's all right," answered the farmer. "I guess that bird is a +leetle better off for being cooled down. Glad you did it. None of you +hurt, I hope?" + +"My neck's picked a bit," said Tom. + +"Well, come in and I'll have my wife put some salve on it." + +"No, thank you, we're in a hurry to get home," said Bunny. "My mother +has some goose grease." + +"Well, that's just as good, I reckon. Next time I'll keep the old +gobbler locked up." + +Mr. Brown was at home, when Bunny, Sue and the ragged boy reached the +tent. The father and mother listened while Bunny and Sue explained what +had happened, from going into the cave to the turkey gobbler. + +"Well, you had quite a number of adventures," said Mr. Brown. "I stayed +out fishing by myself longer than I meant to, and when I came back to +get you I find you just coming in. We'll go this afternoon." + +"And may Tom come too?" + +"I guess so," answered Mr. Brown. + +"I know where there's lots of places to fish," said Tom. + +Mr. Brown talked it over with his wife after dinner, and they decided to +let Tom stay in camp and do a little work, such as cutting the wood and +bringing the water. + +"But what do you suppose he means by saying that Mr. Bixby sticks +needles into him?" asked Mrs. Brown. + +"That's what I'll have to look into," said her husband. "The hermit +seems to be a queer sort of chap." + +"And Bunny finding one of his cars, too!" + +"Yes, that was queer. This will certainly have to be looked into." + +In a few moments after this conversation Sue came from behind the +kitchen tent. + +"Come on, Sue, we're going fishing," called Bunny to his sister. + +"No; you and Tom can go with father," said the little girl, "I'm not +coming." + +"Why not? Are you 'fraid?" + +"Course not, Bunny Brown! I'm just going to stay in camp and make a pie. +Tom said he hadn't had one for a good while. I'm going to make him one." + +"All right. Make me one too, please," said Bunny. "We're going after +some fish," and with his pole and line he started down toward the lake +with his father and Tom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ROASTING CORN + + +"Now, Bunny, be careful when getting into the boat," said his father. + +Bunny turned and looked at his father. What Bunny thought, but did not +say, was: + +"Why, Daddy! I've gotten into boats lots of times before, I guess I can +get in now." That is what Bunny Brown did not say. + +But, in a way, Bunny's father was talking to the ragged boy, Tom, and +not to Bunny. For Mr. Brown did not yet know how much Tom might know +about boats, and as the boy was a big lad, almost as tall as Uncle Tad +himself, Mr. Brown did not want to seem rude and give a lesson to a boy +who might not need it. So though he pretended it was Bunny about whom he +was anxious, all the while it was about Tom. + +"Oh, I'll be careful, Daddy," said Bunny. "And you be careful too, Tom. +You don't want to fall in and get drowned, do you?" + +"No indeed I don't, Bunny. Though it would be pretty hard to drown me. I +can swim like a muskrat. And I can row a boat, too, Mr. Brown," he went +on. "I've worked for Mr. Wilson, the man who owns the pavilion at the +other end of the lake. I used to row excursion parties about the lake, +and there isn't a cove or a bay I don't know, as well as where the good +fishing places are." + +"I found one of those myself this morning," said Mr. Brown, with a +smile. + +"Well, I wish you'd let me row you to some others that hardly any one +but myself knows about." + +"I shall be glad to have you," said Bunny's father. "And I'm glad you +understand a boat. I shan't be worried when Bunny and his sister Sue are +out with you." + +"I can row myself a little, when you are with me, Daddy," said Bunny. + +"Yes, but you'll have a chance to learn more with Tom, as I haven't time +to teach you. So I'm going to depend on you, Tom." + +"Yes, sir, and I'll take good care of 'em. I've lived near this lake all +my life, and when my folks died and I went to the poorhouse in the +Winter, and worked out in the Summer, I managed to get to the lake part +of the time. I'll look after the children all right." + +Mr. Brown did not need to ask anything further what Tom knew of a boat, +once the ragged boy took his seat and picked up the oars. He handled +them just as well as Mr. Brown could himself. + +"Do you want me to row you to any particular place?" asked Tom. + +"Well, some place where we can get some fish. I suppose Bunny would like +to land a few." + +"I want to catch a whole lot of fish, Daddy!" cried Bunny. "So row me to +a place where there's lots of 'em!" + +"All right, here we go!" and Tom bent his back to the oars, so that the +boat was soon skimming swiftly over the water. Mr. Brown liked the way +the big boy managed the boat, and he knew he would feel safe when Bunny +and Sue were out with Tom. + +Meanwhile, on shore, in the shade of the cooking tent, Sue was busy with +her pie. + +"I want to make a mince one, for daddy likes that kind," said Sue. "And +I want to have it ready for them when they come home from fishing. +Though I don't see what he wants of any more fish," she added, as she +glanced at a little pool near the edge of the lake where, in a fish-car, +the fish Mr. Brown had caught while out alone that morning were +swimming. They could not get out of the car, or box, which had netting +on the side. + +"He is going to take some of them back to the city with him in the +morning," said Mrs. Brown. "He wants to give them to his friends. Those +he and Bunny and Tom catch this afternoon, will be for our supper, Sue." + +"I like Tom, don't you, Mother?" asked Sue, as she put on a long apron +in readiness to bake her pie. + +"Yes, he seems like a nice boy. But it's very queer that the hermit +should stick needles into him." + +"But they weren't _real_ needles," said Sue. "He never could see them. +He only felt them. They must have been fairy needles, for Tom could +never see them being pulled out, either." + +"Well, we'll let your father look after that," said Mrs. Brown. "Now +we'll bake your pie and I'll make the pudding and cake I have to get +ready for the Sunday dinner." + +Whenever Mrs. Brown baked she always let Sue do something--make a +patty-cake, a little pie with some of the left-over crust from a big +one, or, perhaps, bake a pan of cookies. Mrs. Brown would let Susie use +some of the dough or pie crust already made up, or she would stand +beside her little girl and tell her what to do. + +To-day Mrs. Brown did a little of both. She, herself, baked several +pies, as well as two cakes, and as there was plenty of pie crust left +Mrs. Brown told Sue how to roll some out in a smooth, thin sheet, and +lay it over a tin. + +"The next thing to do," said Mrs. Brown, "is to put the mince-meat in on +the bottom-crust, put another sheet of pie crust on top, cut some holes +in it so the steam can get out, trim off the edges, nice and smooth, and +set the pie in the oven. + +"Roll out your top pie crust and you'll find the mince-meat in a glass +jar in the cupboard, next to a jar of peaches. And don't forget to cut +holes in your top crust." + +Sue started to do all this. Just then, a neighboring farmer's wife +called at the tent, with fresh eggs to sell, and, as she needed some, +Mrs. Brown went to see about buying a dozen. + +"Go on with your pie, Sue," she called. "I'll be back in a minute." + +"Let me see," said the little girl to herself. "I have the bottom crust +in the tin, the top crust is all rolled out, and now I need the +mince-meat. I'll get it." + +From a glass jar which she brought from the cupboard, next to a jar of +peaches, Sue poured very carefully into the bottom crust some dark stuff +that had a most delicious spicy odor. + +"Um-m, that mince-meat is good and strong!" said Sue. "Daddy will be +sure to love it." + +She spread out the filling evenly and then put on the top crust with the +little holes cut in to let out the steam when the pie should be baking +in the oven. + +Just as Sue was finishing trimming off what, was left over of the crust, +Mrs. Brown came back from buying the eggs. + +"Oh, you have your pie finished!" exclaimed Sue's mother. "You got ahead +of me. Well, I'll put it in the oven for you, as you might burn +yourself. And then I'll get on with _my_ baking." + +"And I really made this pie all my own self; didn't I?" asked Sue, +eagerly. + +"Indeed you did, all but making the crust. And you'll soon be able to do +that," said her mother. "Now we must finish our baking." + +The afternoon passed very quickly for Sue and her mother, but just as +the last cookies, which Sue helped to make, were taken out of the oven, +a lovely brown, and smelling so delicious, Bunny, his father and Tom +came back from their fishing trip. + +"Is the pie baked, Sue?" asked Bunny, who was tired, hungry and dirty. + +"There are certainly pies baked, and other things too, if my nose can +smell anything!" cried Daddy Brown. "Now then we'll clean the fish and +have them for supper." + +"Please let me clean them," said Tom. "I used to work for a fish man and +I know how to do it quick." + +"That isn't the only thing you can do quickly," said Mr. Brown, with a +smile. "The way you caught that fish which got loose from Bunny's hook +to-day showed how quick you were." + +"Oh, I've done that before," said the tall lad with a laugh. "I like to +fish." + +"And he's very good at it," said Mr. Brown to his wife as he and Bunny +began to wash. "He took me to a number of quiet coves, and we got some +big fish. Bunny caught the prize of the day, and it would have got loose +from its hook if Tom had not slipped a net under it in time. Bunny was +delighted." + +"I'm glad of that. But what about this boy? Are we going to keep him +with us?" + +"I think so, for a while. He'll be useful about the camp, now that I +have to be away so much. And, too, he's perfectly safe with the +children. He'll look well after them. Besides I want to look into this +queer story he tells about the hermit Bixby and the needles." + +"Do you think there is anything in it?" + +"Well, there may be--and something queer, too. I want to find out what +it is. Tom can sleep in that little extra tent we brought. Now how is +supper coming on? Can I help?" + +"No, I think Uncle Tad has done everything but clean the fish, and---- + +"Here comes Tom with them now," said Mrs. Brown. "And you must be sure +to speak of Sue's pie." + +"I will. That little girl is getting to be a regular housekeeper. She'll +soon have your place," and Mr. Brown shook his finger at his wife. + +Tom brought up the cleaned and washed fish. Mrs. Brown dried them in old +towels, dipped them in batter and soon they were frying in the pan. By +this time the cakes and pies were set out, and in a little while supper +was ready. + +And how good those freshly caught fish tasted! Bunny declared his was +the best, and really it did seem so, for it was a splendid bass. + +"And now for my pie," said Sue, as Mrs. Brown set it on the table. "I +want you all to have some, and a big piece for Tom, 'cause he saved +Bunny's fish." + +Mrs. Brown cut the pie and passed it around. As she did so she looked +carefully at the pie and the pieces. + +"Isn't there enough, Mother?" asked Sue, anxiously. + +"Oh, yes. But I was just thinking----" + +At that moment Bunny, who had taken rather a large bite, cried: + +"What kind of pie did you say this was, Sue?" + +"Mince, of course." + +"It tastes more like spiced pickles to me. Doesn't it to you, Tom?" + +"Oh, I don't know. It tastes lots better than the pie we got to the +poorhouse. I can tell you that!" + +Mr. Brown, who had tasted his piece, made a funny face. + +"Are you sure you put enough sugar in?" he asked Sue. + +"You don't have to put sugar in mince-meat--it's already in," answered +his little girl. + +Mrs. Brown took a taste of Sue's pie. She, too, made a funny face, and +then she asked: "Where did you get the jar of mince-meat, Sue?" + +"From the cupboard where you told me, Momsie, next to the glass jar of +peaches." + +"On which side of the jar of peaches?" + +"Let me see--it was the side I write my letters with--my right hand, +Mother." + +"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I should have told you! But the egg woman +came just then. I should have told you the left side of the jar of +peaches. On the right side was a jar of pickled chow-chow. It looks a +lot like mince-meat, I know, but it is quite different. The real +mince-meat was on the _left_ of the peach jar. Oh, Sue! You've made your +pie of chow-chow." + +"I was thinking Sue had found out a new kind of pie," said Daddy Brown. +"Never mind, there are some cakes and cookies." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Sue, and there were tears in her eyes. "I did so want +my mince pie to be nice!" + +"It was good," said Tom. "The crust is the best I ever ate, and the +pickled insides will go good on the fish." + +Everybody laughed at that, and even Sue smiled. + +"Next time smell your mince-meat before you put it in a pie," said Mrs. +Brown. "Otherwise your pie would have been perfect, Sue." + +"I will," promised the little girl. + +Tom became a regular member of Camp Rest-a-While, sleeping in a tent by +himself. And he proved so useful, cutting wood, going on errands and +even helping with the cooking, that Mrs. Brown said she wondered how she +had ever got along without him. + +He was given some of Uncle Tad's old clothes, that seemed to fit him +very well, so he could no longer be called the "ragged boy," and he went +in swimming so often, often taking Bunny and Sue along, that all three +were as "clean as whistles," Mrs. Brown said. + +No word had been heard from Mr. Bixby about his missing helper, but Mr. +Brown had not given up making inquiries about the "needles." + +Bunny and Sue missed their electric playthings, but their father brought +them other toys from the city with which they had great fun. But still +Bunny wished for his electric train, and Sue for her wonderful Teddy +bear. + +One night, just after supper, Mrs. Brown discovered that she needed milk +to set some bread for baking in the morning. + +"I'll go and get it to the farmhouse," said Tom. + +"And may I go, too?" asked Bunny. It was decided that he could, as it +was not late, only dark. So down the dusky road trudged Bunny and Tom, +with Splash running along beside them. As it happened, the farmhouse +where they usually got the milk had none left, so they had to go on to +the next one, which was quite near the edge of the Indian village. + +"But they won't any of 'em be out now, will they?" asked Bunny. + +"Oh, the Indians may be sitting outside their cabins, smoking their +pipes," said Tom. + +"Oh, that'll be all right," observed Bunny. "They'll be peace-pipes and +they won't hurt us." + +"Of course not," laughed Tom. + +From the road in front of the house where they finally got the milk they +could look right down into the valley of the Indian encampment. And as +Bunny looked he saw a bright fire blazing, and Indians walking or +hopping slowly around it. + +"Oh, Tom, look!" cried the small boy. "What's that? Are the Indians +going on the war-path? I read of that in my school book. If they are, +we'd better go back and tell Uncle Tad and father. Then they can get +their guns and be ready." + +"Those Indians aren't getting ready for war," said Tom. "They're only +having a roast corn dance." + +"What's a roast corn dance?" asked Bunny. "I'll show you the roast corn +part to-morrow night," promised Tom. "But don't worry about those +Indians. They'll not hurt you. Now we'd better go home." + +As soon as Bunny was in the tent he shouted, much louder than he need +have done: + +"Oh, Sue, we saw Indians having a roast corn dance, and to-morrow night +we're going to have one too!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +EAGLE FEATHER'S HORSE + + +Bunny Brown was so excited by the Indian campfire he had seen, and by +the queer figures dancing about in the glare of it, seeming twice as +tall and broad as they really were, that he insisted on telling about it +before he went to bed. + +"Did they really dance just as we do at dancing school when we're at +home?" asked Sue. + +"No, not exactly," Bunny answered. "It was more like marching, and they +turned around every now and then and howled and waved ears of corn in +the air. Then they ate 'em." + +"What was it for, Tom?" asked Mr. Brown. "You have lived about here +quite a while and you ought to know." + +"Oh, the Indians believe in what they call the Great Spirit," Tom +explained. "They do all sorts of things so he'll like 'em, such as +making fires, dancing and having games. It's only a few of the old +Indians that do that. This green corn roast, or dance, is a sort of +prayer that there'll be lots of corn--a big crop--this year so the +Indians will have plenty to eat. For they depend a whole lot on corn +meal for bread, pancakes and the like of that. I told Bunny I'd show him +how the Indians roast the ears of green corn to-morrow, if you'd let +me." + +"Oh, please, Momsie, do!" + +"Oh, Daddy, let him!" + +The first was Sue's plea, the second Bunny's, and the father and mother +smiled. + +"Well, I think it will be all right if Tom is as careful about fire as +he is on the water," said Mr. Brown. + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue, while Bunny smiled and danced his delight. + +Finally Camp Rest-a-While was quiet, for every one was in bed and the +only noises to be heard were those made by the animals and insects of +the wood, an owl now and then calling out: "Who? Who? Who?" just as if +it were trying to find some one who was lost. + +"Where'll we get the ears to roast?" asked Bunny as soon as he was up +the next morning. "We don't grow any corn in our camp." + +"Oh, we can get some roasting ears from almost any of the farmers around +here," said Tom. "But we don't want to make the fire until night. It +looks prettier then." + +"That's what I say," cried Sue. "And if you wait until night I'll make +some muffins to eat with the roast corn. Mother is going to show me +how." + +"Well, don't put any chow-chow mince-meat in your muffins," begged Bunny +with a laugh. + +"I won't," promised Sue. "But can't we do something while we're waiting +for night to come so we can roast the corn?" + +"Will you put up the swing you promised to make for us, Tom?" asked +Bunny. + +"Yes, if you have the rope." + +"We can row across the lake in the boat to the store at the landing, and +get the rope there," said Bunny. "I'll ask my mother." + +Mrs. Brown gave permission and Tom was soon making a swing, hanging it +down from a high branch of a strong oak tree. Then Bunny and Sue took +turns swinging, while Tom pushed. + +After dinner they decided it was time to go for the roasting ears, and +again they were in the boat, as it was nearer to the farmer's house +across the water than by going the winding road. + +Tom picked out the kind of ears he wanted, large and full of kernels in +which the milk, or white juice, was yet running. This was a corn that +ripened late, and was very good for roasting. + +With the corn in one end of the boat, and the children in the stern, or +rear, where he could watch them as they moved about on the broad seat, +Tom rowed the boat toward camp. They reached it just in time for supper, +and just as Mr. Brown got home from his trip to the city. + +"We're going to have roast ears of corn to-night!" called Sue as she +hugged and kissed her father. + +"Oh! That makes me feel as if I were a boy!" said Mr. Brown. "Who is +going to roast the corn?" + +"I am," said Tom. "I've done it many a time." + +"Well, I'm glad you know how. But now let's have supper." + +The children did not eat much, because they were so anxious to roast the +corn, but Tom said they must wait until dark, as the camp fire would +look prettier then. + +However, it could hardly have been called dark when Tom, after much +teasing on the part of Bunny and Sue, set aglow the light twigs and +branches, which soon made the bigger logs glow. + +"We have to have a lot of hot coals and embers," said Tom, "or else the +corn will smoke and burn. So we'll let the fire burn for a while until +there are a lot of red hot coals or embers of wood." + +When this had come about, Tom brought out the ears, stripped the green +husks from them, and then, brushing off a smooth stone that had been +near the fire so long that it was good and hot, he placed on it the +ears of corn. + +Almost at once they began to roast, turning a delicate brown, and Tom +turned them over from time to time, so they would not burn, by having +one side too near the fire too long. + +"When will they be ready to eat?" asked Bunny Brown. + +"In a few minutes," said Tom. "There, I guess these two are ready," and +he picked out two smoking hot ones, nicely browned, using a +sharp-pointed stick for a fork. He offered one ear to Mr. Brown and the +other to Mrs. Brown. + +"No, let the children have the first ones," said their mother. + +"Be careful, they're hot!" cautioned Tom, as he passed the ears on their +queer wooden sticks to Bunny and Sue. + +Sue blew on hers to cool it, but Bunny was in such a hurry that he +started to eat at once. As a result he cried: + +"Ouch! It's hot!" + +"Be careful!" cautioned his mother, and after that Bunny was careful. + +[Illustration: TOM BROUGHT OUT THE EARS AND STRIPPED THE GREEN HUSKS +FROM THEM. +_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ _Page_ 195.] + +Soon two more ears were roasted, and these Mr. and Mrs. Brown took. They +waited a bit for them to cool, and then began to eat slowly. + +"They are delicious," said Mrs. Brown. + +"This is the only way to cook green corn," remarked Uncle Tad. + +"It's the best I've eaten since I was a boy," declared Mr. Brown. "We +shall have to have some more, Tom." + +"Yes, I'll cook some more for you. Parched corn is good, too. The +Indians like that. You have to wait until the ears are nearly ripe for +that, though, and the kernels dried." + +"Aren't you going to eat any, Tom?" Bunny asked, as he took the ear the +bigger boy handed him. + +"Oh, yes, I'll have some now, if you've had all you want." + +"Well, maybe I'll eat more," said Bunny. + +"And I want another," put in Sue. + +"There's plenty here," said Tom, as he began to eat. Almost as he spoke +there was a crackling of the leaves and sticks behind the embers of the +roast-corn party, and before any one could turn around to see what it +was a voice spoke: + +"White folks make heap good meal same as Indians." + +"That's right, Eagle Feather," called back Tom, who did not seem to be +so much taken by surprise as did the others. "Come and have some. What +brings you here?" + +"Eagle Feather lose him horse," was the answer. "Come look for him. +Maybe you hab?" and he squatted down beside the campfire and accepted a +roasted ear that Tom handed him. + +"What does this mean about Eagle Feather's horse being _here_?" asked +Mr. Brown. + +"Me tell you 'bout a minute," answered the Indian, gnawing away at the +corn. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FUN IN THE ATTIC + + +Bunny Brown looked at his sister Sue, and she looked at him. What could +it mean--so many things being taken away? First Bunny's train of cars, +then Sue's electric-eyed Teddy bear. Now Eagle Feather's horse was +missing and he had come to Camp Rest-a-While to look for it, though why +the children could not understand. Tom was kept busy roasting the ears +of corn, and passing them around. Eagle Feather ate three without saying +anything more, and would probably have taken another, which Tom had +ready for him, when Mr. Brown asked: + +"Well, Eagle Feather, what is your trouble? Is your horse really gone? +And if it is, why do you think it is here? We don't have any horses +here. All our machines go by gasolene." + +"Me know all such," replied the Indian. "Little wagon make much +puff-puff like boy's heap big medicine train. No horse push or pull 'um. +Eagle Feather hab good horse, him run fast and stop quick, sometimes, +byemby, like squaw, Eagle Feather fall off. But horse good--now somebody +take. Somebody take Eagle Feather's horse." + +"Maybe he wandered away," said Mr. Brown. "Horses often do that you +know, when you tie them in the woods where flies bite them." + +"Yes, Eagle Feather know that. But how you say--him rope broke or cut?" +and the Indian held out a halter made of rope, with a piece of rope +dangling from it. Mr. Brown looked closely at it. + +"Why, that's been cut!" exclaimed the children's father, for the end of +the rope by which the horse had been tied was smooth, and not broken and +rough, as it would have been had it been pulled apart. If you will cut a +rope and then break another piece, you can easily see the difference. + +"Sure, cut!" exclaimed Eagle Feather. "Done last night when all dark. +Indians at corn dance and maybe sleepy. No hear some one come up soft to +Eagle Feather's barn and take out horse. Have to cut rope 'cause Indian +tie knot white man find too much hard to make loose." + +"So you think a white man took your horse, and that's why you come to +us?" asked Mr. Brown. + +"Yes. You know much white man. Maybe so like one ask you hide my horse +in your tent." + +"Indeed not!" cried Mr. Brown. "I haven't any friends who would steal a +man's horse." + +"Maybe not," went on the Indian. "But night of green corn dance him come +to see it and your boy too," and Eagle Feather pointed first at Tom and +then at Bunny. + +"We didn't see Eagle Feather's horse!" cried out Bunny Brown. + +"Easy, my boy," said his father. "Let's get at what Eagle Feather +means." + +Before he could ask a question the Indian pointed a finger at Tom and +asked sharply: + +"You see my horse night you come green corn dance?" + +"Not a sign of him did I see," answered Tom quickly. "And I wasn't +nearer the middle of the village, where the campfire was, than half a +mile. We didn't take your horse, Eagle Feather." + +"Maybe so not. Eagle Feather thought maybe you might see," went on the +red man. "Me know you good boy, Tom--good to Indians. These little Brown +boy an' gal--they good too. + +"But we walk along path horse took, and marks of him feet come right to +this camp." + +"Is that so?" asked Mr. Brown. "We'll have to look into this. Perhaps +the thief did pass among our tents to hide the direction he really took. +We'll have a look in the morning. It's too dark now." + +Indeed it was very dark, the campfire throwing out but fitful gleams, +for enough of the roasted ears had been cooked to suit every one. Eagle +Feather bade his friends good-bye, remarking again how sorry he was over +losing his horse, and he said he would see them all in the morning. + +With the children and Tom safely in bed Uncle Tad and Mr. and Mrs. Brown +talked the matter over. + +"Eagle Feather seems to think his horse was brought to this camp," said +Mrs. Brown. + +"Perhaps he does," agreed her husband. "But that doesn't matter." + +"I don't like it though," went on his wife. "The idea of thinking Bunny +might have had a hand in the trick!" + +"I don't believe Eagle Feather ever had such an idea," laughed Mr. +Brown. "He might have thought Tom, from having watched the corn dance, +had taken the horse in fun, but I don't believe he has any such idea +now." + +"I should hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. + +Early the next morning Eagle Feather and another Indian came to the +camp. They looked for the marks of horses' hoofs and found some they +said were those of Eagle Feather's animal in the soft dirt. But though +the marks came to the edge of the camp, they did not go through the +spaces between the tents. + +"They must have led the horse _around_ our camp," said Uncle Tad, and +this proved to be a correct guess, for on the other side of the camp the +footprints of a horse, with the same shaped hoof as that of Eagle +Feather's, were seen. + +"Now we find horse easy," said the Indian, as he and his companion +hurried on through the big woods. + +"Well, I hope you find him, and I'm glad you don't think any one around +here had anything to do with it," said Uncle Tad. "I hope you find your +horse soon." + +But it was a vain hope, for in a little while it began to rain and the +rain, Mr. Brown said, would wash away all hoofprints of the Indian's +horse, so they could no longer be seen. But Eagle Feather and his friend +did not come back. + +"Oh, I wish we had something to do!" cried Sue, as the rain kept on +pelting down on the roof of the tent, and she and Bunny could not go +out. + +"It would be fun if we had your electric train now and my Sallie +Malinda," said Sue. + +"That's right!" exclaimed Bunny. "But I don't s'pose we'll ever get +'em." + +"No, I s'pose not," sighed Sue. + +The children were trying to think of a rainy-day game to play and +wishing they could go out, when there came a knock on the main tent +pole, which was the nearest thing to a front door in the camp. + +"Oh, it's Mrs. Preston, the egg lady," said Sue, who, out of a celluloid +tent window, had watched the visitor coming to the camp. + +"She can't be coming with eggs," said Mrs. Brown, "for I bought some +only yesterday." Mrs. Preston quickly told what she wanted. + +"I've come for your two children, Mrs. Brown," she said. "I know how +hard it is to keep them cooped up and amused on a rainy day. + +"Now over at our house we have a lovely big attic, filled with all sorts +of old-fashioned things that the children of our neighbors play with. +They can't harm them, and they can't harm themselves. Don't you want to +let Bunny and Sue come over to my attic to play?" + +"Oh, yes, Mother, please do!" begged Bunny. + +"And it's only such a little way that we won't get wet at all," said +Sue. "We can wear rubbers and take umbrellas." + +"Well, if you're sure it won't be any bother, Mrs. Preston," said Mrs. +Brown. + +"No bother at all! Glad to have them," answered Mrs. Preston. "Get +ready, my dears!" + +And Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon on their way to have +rainy-day fun in an attic. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"WHERE IS SUE?" + + +"Now children, the attic is yours for the day," said Mrs. Preston, after +she had led Bunny Brown and his sister into the house, and had helped +them get off their wet coats. "You are to do just as you please, for +there is nothing in the attic you can harm." + +"Oh, won't we have fun?" cried Sue. + +"I should say so!" exclaimed Bunny. "Are there any old guns or swords up +there we can play soldier with?" asked the little boy. + +"Yes, I think so," answered Mrs. Preston. "The guns are very old and +can't be shot off, and the swords are very dull, so you can't hurt +yourself. Still, be careful." + +"We will," promised Bunny. "I wish I had another boy to play with. Sue +makes a good nurse, but she isn't much of a soldier." + +"I can holler 'Bang!' as loud as you," protested Sue. + +"Yes, I know you can, but who ever heard of women soldiers? They are all +right for nurses, and Sue can bandage your arm up awful tight, just like +it was really shot off. But she can't act like a real soldier, Mrs. +Preston." + +"Maybe the boy I have asked over to play in the attic with you can," +suggested Mrs. Preston. + +"Oh, is there another boy coming?" asked Bunny eagerly. + +"Yes. And a girl, too. They are Charlie and Rose Parker, and they live +down the road a way. They are a new family that has just moved in, and +they haven't an attic in their house, any more then you have in your +tent. So I ask them over every rainy day, for I know that it is hard for +children to stay in the house." + +"Oh, I hope they come soon!" exclaimed Bunny. "I want to have some fun!" + +"I think I hear them now," said Mrs. Preston, as a knock sounded at the +back door. "Yes, here they are," she called to Bunny and Sue, who were +sitting in the dining room. "Come now, young folks, get acquainted, and +then go up to the attic to play." + +Charlie and Rose Parker, being about the age of Bunny and Sue, did not +take long to grow friendly. And the Brown children, having often met +strangers, were not a bit bashful, so the four soon felt that they had +known each other a long time. + +"Now up to the attic with you, and have your fun!" directed Mrs. +Preston. "Use anything you want to play with, but, when you are through, +put everything back where you found it." + +"We will!" promised the children, and up the stairs they went, laughing +and shouting. + +"I hope we find some swords and guns to fight with," said Bunny to +Charlie. + +"Oh, there's a lot of them," Charlie answered. "I've been here before +and I know where lots of guns are. Only they're awful heavy." + +"Then we can pretend they are cannon!" cried Bunny. + +"Yes, and we can make a fort of old trunks. There's a lot of them up +here," Charlie said. + +They were on their way up the attic stairs, Charlie leading the way, as +he had often gone up before. + +"Don't take all the trunks until we get out of them what we want to play +with," begged Rose. + +"What's in the trunks?" asked Bunny of his new friend. + +"Oh, nothing but a lot of old dresses and things. Rose most always +dresses up fancy in 'em and pretends she's a big lady," said Charlie. + +"Then that's what Sue'll do," said Bunny. "She likes to dress up. But +we'll play soldier." + +Mrs. Preston's attic was the nicest one that could be imagined. In one +corner were several trunks. In another corner was a spinning wheel, and +hanging here and there from the attic beams were strings of sleigh +bells, that sent out a merry jingle when one's head hit them. + +Here and there, in places where there were no boards over the beams, +were hickory nuts and walnuts that could be cracked on a brick and +eaten. + +"They'll be our rations," said Charlie, who liked to play soldier as +well as did Bunny. + +"But where are the swords and the guns?" Bunny asked. + +"I'll show you," said Charlie. "They're just behind the chimney." + +In the middle of the attic, extending up through the roof, was a big +chimney. It could not be seen in the rest of the house, but here in the +attic the bricks were in plain view, and Charlie said, on cold Winter +days, when it snowed, it was warm in the attic because of the heat from +the chimney. + +Just now the boys were more interested in the guns and the swords, of +which a goodly number were hanging on rafters and beams back of the +chimney. + +"Oh, what a lot of guns!" cried Bunny. + +"And they shoot, too," added Charlie. "I mean you can pull the trigger +and the hammer will snap down. Course we only use make-believe powder." + +"Course," agreed Bunny. "But we can holler 'Bang!' whenever we shoot a +gun." + +"And we can each have a sword." + +So the boys began to play soldier, sometimes both being on the same +side, hunting Indians through the secret mazes of the attic, and again +one being a white-settler soldier, and the other a red man. + +Meanwhile Sue and Rose were playing a different game. They had found +some old-fashioned and big silk dresses in some of the trunks, and they +at once dressed themselves up in these and made believe pay visits one +to the other. The two little girls talked as they imagined grown-up +ladies would talk when "dressed up," and they had great fun, while on +the other side of the attic Charlie and Bunny were bang-banging away at +one another in the soldier game. + +The children had been playing in the attic about an hour, the boys at +their soldiering game and the girls at visiting, when Rose came to Bunny +and Charlie with a queer look on her face. + +"What's the matter?" asked Charlie. "Have you had a fuss and stopped +playing?" + +"No, but I can't find Sue anywhere." + +"Can't find Sue!" exclaimed Bunny. "Where is she?" + +"That's just what I don't know. I was playing I was Mrs. Johnson, and +she was to be Mrs. Wilson and call on me. When she didn't come I went to +look for her, but I couldn't find her in her house." + +"Which was her house," asked Bunny. + +"This big trunk," and Rose pointed to a large one in a distant corner of +the attic. + +"Sue! Sue! Are you in there? Are you in the trunk?" cried Bunny. + +The children, listening, seemed to hear a faint call from inside the +trunk. They looked at one another with startled eyes. What could they +do? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HERMIT COMES FOR TOM + + +"Are you sure she came over here?" asked Bunny Brown. + +"Sure," answered Rose. "You see this was her pretend house, and mine was +over there under the string of sleigh bells." She pointed to where +several small trunks had been drawn together to form a square. Some old +bed quilts had been laid over to make a roof, and under this Rose +received visits from her friend Sue, who went by the name of Mrs. +Wilson. + +"When did you last see her?" asked Charlie. "Maybe she went downstairs." + +"No, she didn't, for I saw her opening the big trunk and taking clothes +out to dress up in. Besides she couldn't get downstairs, for you boys +pulled two trunks in front of the stairs for a fort." + +"So we did," said Charlie. "She couldn't have gone down without moving +the trunks, and they haven't been moved." + +"Well, then she must be up here somewhere," said Bunny. "Maybe she's +shut up in the big trunk." + +"That's dreadful! Call and let's see if she is in there," said Rose. + +Bunny went close to the big trunk--the largest, in the attic--and then +he called as loudly as he could: + +"Are you in there, Sue?" + +Back came the answer, very faintly: + +"Yes, I'm here, Bunny! Please get me out! I'm locked in!" + +"She's locked in!" cried Charlie. "We must open the trunk and get her +out! Come on, Bunny!" + +Both boys grasped the lid of the trunk. + +"Why it's locked!" cried Rose. "You can't open it without unlocking it. +Let's see if we can find some keys." + +Eagerly the children ran about the attic, taking keys from all the +trunks they saw. But either these keys did not fit in the locked one +where Sue was shut up, or the fingers of Bunny, Rose and Charlie were +too small to fit them properly in the locks. + +"We'd better call Mrs. Preston," said Bunny, for he could hear Sue +crying now, inside the trunk. And Sue was a brave little girl, who did +not often cry. + +"We'd better go down and tell her," suggested Rose. "She'll never hear +us from up here." + +"Let's go down then!" cried Bunny. + +He and Charlie soon pulled away from the attic stairs the two trunks +they had placed there to make a fort. Down to the kitchen, where Mrs. +Preston was making pies, hurried the three children. + +"What? Through playing so soon?" asked Mrs. Preston. "I thought you'd be +much longer than this. I haven't your lunch for you ready yet. But where +is Sue?" she asked, not seeing Bunny's sister. + +"She--she's locked in a trunk in the attic--the big trunk," explained +Charlie, "an' she's hollerin' like anything, but we can't get her out!" + +"Locked in that trunk! Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Preston. "That trunk +shuts with a spring lock. Now I wonder where the key to it is." + +"Here's a lot of keys we found!" said Bunny, holding out those he and +Charlie had gathered from the other trunks. + +"I'll try those, but I'm afraid they won't fit," said Mrs. Preston, +hurrying up to the attic, followed by Bunny, Charlie and Rose. + +"You'll be all right now, Sue!" called Mrs. Preston through the sides of +the trunk to Sue. "We'll soon have you out." + +"Please hurry," said a muffled and far-off voice. "I can hardly breathe +in here." + +"I should say not!" exclaimed Mrs. Preston. "We'll get you out soon, +though." + +She tried other keys, none of which would fit, and then she brought up +from her bedroom another bunch that locked the trunks she used when she +went traveling. + +"It's of no use," she cried, when she found she could not open the +trunk. "We can't waste any more time. Charlie, you run and get Mr. +Wright, the carpenter. He'll have to saw a hole in the end of the trunk +to get Sue out." + +"But he won't hurt her, will he?" asked Bunny. + +"No indeed! He'll be very careful." + +Mr. Wright came back with Charlie, carrying several tools in his hand. +He soon set to work. + +"Get as far back to the end of the trunk as you can," he called to Sue, +tapping with his fingers on the end he wanted her to keep away from. + +"I'm back as far as I can get," she said in a far-off voice. + +"All right. Now I'm going to bore a little hole in this end, and then +I'm going to put in a little saw and saw a door in the end of your trunk +house so you can crawl out. Don't be afraid. I'll soon have you out," +said the carpenter. + +Very carefully Mr. Wright bored the hole. Then, with a small saw, he +began cutting a hole in the side of the big trunk. In a little while the +hole was big enough for Sue to crawl through. They had to help her, for +she was weak and faint from having been shut up so long. But the fresh +air and a glass of milk soon made her feel better, and she wanted to go +on with the game. + +"No, I think you had better be out in the air now on the big enclosed +porch," said Mrs. Preston. "You have played in the attic long enough. I +never thought of the spring lock on that trunk. It is the only one in +the attic, but now we will leave the hole cut in the end, so, even with +the lid closed, whoever goes in can get out." + +"It would make a good kennel for our dog Splash," said Bunny. + +"And you may have it for that, if you like," said Mrs. Preston. "I'll +have the hired man take it over to your camp." + +After thanking Mrs. Preston for the good time she had given them, the +children, after a lunch, started for their homes. Bunny and Sue found +something very strange going on in the camp when they reached there. + +There was Mr. Bixby, the hermit, sitting on a box just outside the tent, +talking very earnestly to Mr. Brown, who had just come from town in the +small automobile. It had stopped raining. + +"Well, I've decided not to let him go back to you," Mr. Brown was +saying. "I don't think you have treated him right, and I am going to +complain to the authorities about it." + +"And I tell you, Mr. Brown, not meaning to be impolite, that I'm +entitled to that boy an' I'm going to have him. He's bound out to me for +the Summer." + +"What does he want, Mother?" whispered Bunny. + +"Hush, my dear. Daddy will attend to it all. Mr. Bixby came here a +little while ago and he wants to take Tom back. Tom doesn't want to go +on account of the 'needle pricks' as he calls them. But Mr. Bixby wants +him, and your father is not going to let Tom go." + +"Oh, I'm glad of that!" exclaimed Sue in a whisper. "I like Tom, and I +don't care if I was locked in a trunk and 'most smothered if we can keep +Tom." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +TRYING TO HELP TOM + + +"You were locked in a trunk and almost smothered!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, +looking first at Sue and then at Mr. Bixby, as though she thought he +might have had some hand in the matter. + +"Yes, it was over in Mrs. Preston's attic. But it was my own fault, I +never should have got in the trunk, for it closed with a spring lock and +they had to get a carpenter to saw me out." + +"Oh! And spoil Mrs. Preston's trunk?" + +"'Tisn't spoiled," said Bunny. "She's going to let us use it for a dog +kennel." + +"And it will make such a nice one for Splash," said Sue. "You see, we +can put hinges on the little square place the carpenter cut out to make +a hole for me to get through, and we can make something fast to it that +Splash can get hold of with his teeth, like a knob, so he can pull the +door shut when it rains. It will be awful nice. I don't mind having been +shut up a bit when I think of Splash." + +"But how did it all happen?" asked Mrs. Brown, while her husband and Mr. +Bixby were talking together. + +The children told of Sue's adventure and of Charlie and Rose, and of the +big porch and of the lunch. + +"But what does Mr. Bixby want, Mother? Is he really going to take Tom +away from us?" asked Sue. + +"I don't know, my little girl. I hope not. But he seems to have the law +on his side." + +"Well, you have your way of looking at it and I have mine," Mr. Bixby +was saying to Mr. Brown. "I hired this boy from the poorhouse and agreed +to pay him certain wages. Part he keeps for himself and the rest goes to +the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work. + +"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and +I'm not getting the worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy +chap I managed to get some chores out of him." + +"Of course," said Mr. Brown, "you may be right in what you say about +having the right to this boy's work because you paid for it. As for his +being lazy, I don't agree with you there. He has certainly been a help +to us about the camp." + +"Oh, yes, where there's any fun in it Tom's right there! I s'pose he's a +good fisherman?" + +"I never saw a better one," said Mr. Brown earnestly, while Bunny Brown +and Sue sat together on a big stump and wondered what it was all about. + +"Yes, Tom'd rather fish than eat," said Mr. Bixby slowly, as he crossed +one ragged-trousered leg over the other. + +"Who wouldn't with what I got to eat at your cabin?" burst out Tom who +had been standing back near the cook tent. "All I got was potatoes, and +once in a while bacon; I got so hungry I just _had_ to go out and fish." + +"Well, we won't go into any argument about it," said Mr. Bixby. "I'm +entitled to work from you and I'm goin' to have you. That's all there +is about it." + +"I'll never go back to you to be stung with them needles!" cried Tom. + +At this Mr. Brown asked a question. + +"What are these 'needles' Tom speaks of?" he asked. "I think I have a +right to know, as he is in my charge now, and if I let him go to you, +and he is hurt, I should feel I was to blame. I want to know about this +needle business." + +"There wasn't anything to it. He just imagined it. I used to grab hold +of his arm, to shake him awake mornings, and I'd happen to hit his funny +bone in his elbow. You know how it is when you hit your elbow in a +certain place--it makes it feel as though pins and needles were sticking +in you." + +"I have felt that," said Mrs. Brown. + +"And so have I," added Bunny. "It's funny!" + +"Well, that's all there is to it," said Mr. Bixby. "But I want Tom back. +I'm going to have him, too!" + +"You shall have him if you have a right to him. But I shall look into +this first," said Mr. Brown. "You can't take him to-night." + +"Oh, well, we sha'n't quarrel over that, as long as I get him to-morrow +to help dig potatoes. But you'll find I'm in the right, and that the boy +belongs to me for the Summer," said the hermit. "I'll do just as I +agreed to by him." + +"Well, I'll look it up to make sure," said Mr. Brown. "It may be that +you are right, and it may be you are wrong. If you are, I'll say to you +now that you'll never get Tom away from me." + +"That's right. Don't let him take me!" cried Tom, who seemed very much +afraid. "I don't want any more of his funny needles stuck in me. Let me +stay with you!" + +"I will if I can, Tom my boy," said Mr. Brown. + +"You'll find you can't keep him away from me," said Mr. Bixby, as he got +up to go. "And I won't hurt him, as he and you folks seem to think. All +I want are my rights." + +The two men talked together a little longer, but Tom wanted to hear all +about Sue's having been shut in the trunk, so Bunny and his sister took +turns telling the story once more, while Tom listened eagerly. + +"If I'd been there," he cried as Sue finished, "I'd a given that trunk +one kick and busted her clean open, Sue! I wouldn't have waited for no +carpenter." + +One look at Tom's big feet seemed to indicate that he could easily have +"busted the trunk clean open." + +"But it was better to saw a little door, to make a kennel for Splash," +said Sue. "Anyhow I wasn't in there very long, and I could breathe a +little." + +"Well, be careful about getting into trunks again," said her mother, and +Sue said she would. + +The children played in the woods about the camp with Tom after supper, +while Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat off to one side talking earnestly. + +"I guess they're talking about you," said Sue. "About your going away, +Tom." + +"Well, I'm not going back to Mr. Bixby!" declared the lad. + +"And we're not going to let you!" cried Bunny. "If he comes after you +we'll get in a boat and go down the lake and hide in that cave. We'll +take something to eat with us, and some fish lines to catch fish, and +we'll cook 'em over a campfire and we'll live in the big woods forever." + +"What'll we do when Winter comes?" asked Sue. + +"Oh, then daddy and mother will be back in the city and we can go and +live with them," replied her brother. + +Early the next morning, while the children and Tom were having +breakfast, Mr. Brown was seen setting off toward the village. + +"Where are you going, Daddy?" cried Sue. + +"Can't you take us with you?" asked Bunny. + +"No, I'm going off to see some of the townspeople--the authorities--the +head of the poorhouse and others, to find out what right Mr. Bixby has +to Tom." + +"Oh, if you're going to help Tom that's all right!" said Sue. "We can +have some games among ourselves, can't we Bunny?" she added, turning to +her brother. + +"Yes, but I wish I had my electric train." + +"Well, you can play with the car you found in the hay," said Sue. "And +then we've got to make that trunk-kennel for Splash." + +"Oh, so we have!" exclaimed Bunny. "I forgot about that. We'll have some +fun anyhow." + +"And I'll help," said Tom. "Might as well have what fun I can if I have +to go back to Mr. Bixby's." + +"You won't have to go back," said Bunny. "My father will fix it so you +can stay with us." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE NIGHT MEETING + + +Bunny and Sue, as soon as they had finished their breakfast, went down +to the edge of the lake to play. They wanted to go for a row, and Mrs. +Brown had said they could if Tom was along, so there was no trouble this +time. + +Out on the water, where the sun was shining on the waves, Tom rowed the +children. Then Bunny brought out his fishing line and pole, baited the +hook with some worms he had dug, and began to fish. + +"You won't get any fish here," said Tom. "There are too many boats +around. I can take you to a place where there are some good perch and +sunnies." + +"No, I want to fish here," said Bunny. "It's easy to catch fish where +everybody else can. I want to try in a hard place." + +So Tom kept the boat in about the same spot, rowing slowly about while +Bunny fished, and fished, and fished again, without getting a single +bite or nibble. + +"Oh dear, it's so hot here out in the middle of the lake!" said Sue. +"Can't we go where it's cool and shady?" + +"I know such a place as that," said Tom. "And you can catch fish there, +too." + +"Does everybody fish there?" Bunny asked. + +"No, hardly anybody. And you can't always catch fish there either, even +if you know the best places." + +"Then we'll go," decided Bunny. "I want to go to a hard place." + +"Is there anything I can do where you are going?" asked Sue. + +"Well, you can gather pond lilies in the creek, which comes into the +lake up above a piece. I'm going to take you there," said Tom. "It's a +nice place." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "Mother loves pond lilies." + +"Well, there's lots up where we're going," said Tom, as he began to row +with strong, long strokes. + +The creek, as Tom called it, was a lazy sort of stream flowing into one +part of the lake through a dense part of the big woods. Up this creek +very few persons went, as it was shallow for most boats, and they often +ran aground and got stuck. + +"But our boat will be all right," said Tom, "for it has a flat bottom +and it doesn't lie very deep in the water. It could almost be rowed in a +good rain storm." + +Farther and farther up the creek Tom rowed the children. The trees met +in a green arch overhead, and the only sounds were those of the dripping +waters from Tom's oars, the call of woodland birds or the distant splash +of a fish jumping up to get a fly that was close to the top of the +water. + +"Shall I fish here?" asked Bunny. + +"Yes, you ought to get a few here." + +Bunny cast in, and it was not long before he had a bite. But when he +pulled up there was no fish on his hook. + +"You must yank up quicker," said Tom. "They are only nibbling to fool +you. Pull up quickly." + +"Look out!" suddenly called Bunny. He yanked his pole up so suddenly +that he pulled the fish out of the water, right over the heads of +himself, his sister and Tom, and with a splash the fish came down in the +water on the other side of the boat. There it wiggled off the hook. + +"You pulled _too_ hard this time," said Tom with a laugh. + +"I'll do it just right next time," said Bunny. And he did. When he felt +something pulling on his line he, too, pulled and this time he caught a +sun fish, large enough to cook. It had very pretty colors on it. + +"It's too pretty to catch," said Sue. "But, oh! Look at the pretty pond +lilies!" and she pointed to some farther up the creek. "Can we get some, +Tom?" + +"Wait until I catch one more fish," begged Bunny. + +Bunny soon caught another fish, which had stripes around it "like a +raccoon," Sue said. + +"That's a perch," Tom told the children. "They're good to eat, too. But +now we'll row up for the lilies." + +However, in spite of the fact that their boat did not take much water, +it ran aground before it reached the lilies. + +"Oh, how are we going to get them?" asked Sue, in disappointment. + +"I'll wade after them," said Tom. "I can take off my shoes and socks. +The water won't be much more than up to my knees after I get over the +mud bar on which the boat has stuck." + +Tom was soon wading in the mud and water, his trousers well rolled up. +He was just reaching for one very large lily when he gave a sudden call, +threw up his hands and sank down out of sight. + +"Oh, Tom's gone! He's drowned!" cried Sue. + +"We've got to save him!" shouted Bunny, struggling with the oars. But +the boat was fast in the mud, and he could not move it. + +"What shall we do?" gasped Sue. + +Before Bunny could answer, Tom's head appeared above the muddy water. He +had hold of the pond lily. + +"I'm all right," he said. "I stepped on the edge of a hole under the +water, and it was so slippery I went down in before I knew it. But the +deepest part is only over my waist, and now that I'm wet I might as well +stay and get all the lilies you wish." + +"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Sue. + +"Not at all," said Tom. "I like it. Afterward I'll take a swim in the +clean part of the lake and wash off." + +So, wet and muddy as he was, his clothes covered with slime from the +bottom of the creek, Tom kept on gathering the lilies. Once he found a +mud turtle which he tossed into the boat for Bunny. The turtle seemed to +go to sleep in a corner. + +"There's a nice bunch for you," said Tom, coming back to the boat with +the flowers for the little girl. + +"Oh, thank you, so much!" said Sue. "But I'm sorry you got wet." + +"I'm not. These clothes needed washing anyhow," laughed Tom. + +With that Tom pushed the boat off the mud bar, and down the creek into +deeper water, the children sitting on the seats. + +"Now I'll tie you to shore, go in swimming in this clean water, and row +you home after I've dried out a bit," said Tom. So he went in swimming +with all his clothes on, except his shoes and socks, and soon he was +clean. + +"Mother will be so glad to get the pond lilies," said Sue. + +"And I guess she'll be glad to get my fish," said Bunny. "There's 'most +enough for dinner." + +Tom was nearly dry when he reached home, and no one said anything about +his wet clothes. + +"Oh, what lovely flowers!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And what fine fish. +Did you catch them all alone, Bunny?" + +"Yes'm, Momsie! Both of 'em. Where's Daddy?" + +"Oh, off seeing some men. I believe there's to be a meeting at our camp +to-night to talk about your friend Tom and Mr. Bixby." + +"I hope they don't send Tom back," said Bunny. "He knows everything +about this lake." + +After supper several men came to Camp Rest-a-While. They were some of +the county officers. Eagle Feather and some of the Indians were +present, sitting by themselves, and Mr. Brown sat near Tom. + +"May we stay and see what happens, Mother?" asked Bunny. + +"I guess so. I don't know just what is going on, but I think your father +is going to try to arrange matters so Tom will not have to go back to +the hermit's to live." + +"Hurray!" cried Bunny. "And while daddy is talking, I hope he'll ask +everybody if they've seen my electric train." + +"And my Sallie Malinda," added Sue. "My nice 'lectric-eyed Teddy bear." + +For all the inquiries that had been made had not brought forth any trace +of either of the children's toys. The man in whose barn Bunny had found +one car, said he had seen no one hiding it in the hay. + +"Daddy is going to say something!" whispered Sue. + +"Hush!" cautioned her mother. + +Just then Mr. Brown arose and looked at the men in front of him. + +[Illustration: TOM WADED IN THE MUD AND WATER TO GET THE LILIES. +_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ _Page_ 233.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE MISSING TOYS + + +"Gentlemen," began Mr. Brown, "I have asked you all to come to my camp +to-night to settle some questions, and, if possible, to find out what +has been going on around here. + +"As I have told you, two rather costly toys, belonging to my children, +have been stolen. Eagle Feather's horse has been taken away. I know my +children's toys have not been found. And I think, Eagle Feather, your +horse is still missing?" + +"Him no come back long time," said the Indian. "Stable all ready for +him--good bed straw, hay to eat. He no come home. Me t'ink somebody keep +him for himself." + +"That's what we think, too, Eagle Feather," said Mr. Brown. + +"Now there is one person I asked to come here to-night who is absent," +he went on. + +"The hermit," said some. + +"Bixby," said others. + +"I think we all mean the same man," said Mr. Brown. + +"Now I have told you about this boy Tom, who was found by my children in +a cave near the lake shore," he continued. "He was found crying, saying +he was being stuck full of needles. I have not been able to get more +than that out of him. He says Bixby made him take hold of two shiny +balls, and then the needles pricked him. I have my own opinion of that, +but I'll speak of that later. + +"I asked Bixby here to-night, that we might talk to him. I find that he +has a right to hire this boy to work for him, and under the law to keep +him all Summer. So it seems that unless we can show that Bixby has +treated Tom harshly he will have to go back." + +"Unless we can prove that this needle-business was queer," said one man. + +"Yes, and that is what I hoped to prove to-night. But since Mr. Bixby is +not here to talk to us----" + +"Suppose we go and talk to him!" cried an officer. + +"He may hear us coming, and run away," said another. + +"Not if we go through the cave," suggested Tom. "I got into the cave, +where Bunny and Sue found me, by going through a hole in Bixby's +stable." + +"Then you'd better lead us through the cave," said Mr. Brown. "We may +surprise the man at his tricks." + +The party was soon going along the lake shore toward the cave. + +The cavern was dark and silent when they entered it, but their lights +made it bright. + +On they went, all the men, with Mrs. Brown, Uncle Tad and the children +coming at the rear of the procession. After they had gone far into the +cave the whinny of a horse was heard. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Eagle Feather. "Him sound like my horse!" + +They went on softly through the cave and were soon near the place where +Tom had entered it from the stable. + +"Be very quiet now, everybody," said Mr. Brown. + +"Sh-h-h," said Bunny to his mother and Sue, putting his finger on his +lips. + +"I'll take a peep and see if any one's in sight," said Tom. + +He went forward a little way and came back to whisper: + +"There are two horses and a cow in there, and one horse looks like Eagle +Feather's." + +"Let Indian see!" exclaimed the red man, and when he had peeped through +a hole between two stones in the stable wall, while Tom flashed a +flashlight through another hole, Eagle Feather cried: + +"That my horse! Me git him back now!" + +"Go a bit slow," advised Mr. Brown. "We want to see what else this Bixby +is up to. How can you get to the house from here, Tom?" + +"Right through the stable, by the hole I got out of. His back door is +near the stable front door. Come on!" + +On they went through the stable, Eagle Feather pausing long enough to +pat his horse and make sure that it was his own animal and grunting +"Huh!" in pleasure. + +"Softly now," whispered Tom. "We are coming to where we can look into +one of the two rooms of Mr. Bixby's hut. It is there he sits at night +and where he gave me the needles." + +In silence the party made its way to where all could look through the +window. Bunny's father held him up and Mrs. Brown took Sue in her arms. + +What they saw caused them all great surprise. For there, on a table in +front of Bixby, the hermit, was Bunny's toy engine, and Sue's Teddy +bear. But the bear was partly torn apart, and from it ran wires that +joined with other wires from Bunny's electric locomotive and batteries. +At the other ends of the wires, were round, shiny balls, like those on +the ends of curtain rods. + +On the other side of the table sat an Indian, and at the sight of him +Eagle Feather whispered: + +"Him name Muskrat. Much good in canoe and water." + +They saw the hermit put the two shiny knobs on the Indian's hands. Then +Mr. Bixby turned a switch and the Indian let out a wild yell and sprang +through the open door, crying: + +"Thorns and thistles! He has stung me with bad medicine! Wow!" + +"I think I begin to see the trick," said Mr. Brown. + +"That's what he did to me," explained Tom, "but I didn't see a Teddy +bear or a toy locomotive." + +This time the hermit, disturbed by the sudden running away of the +Indian, and by the voices outside his window, started toward the latter. + +"Quick! Some of you get to the door so he can't get away," called Mr. +Brown, but Bixby did not seem to want to run away. He stood in the +middle of the room until Mr. Brown, Bunny, Sue and the others had +entered. + +"Oh, there's my toy engine!" cried Bunny making a grab for it. + +"And my Teddy bear!" added Sue. + +"Look out, don't touch them!" called Mr. Brown. "He has fixed the dry +batteries in the toys to a spark coil, which makes the current +stronger, and he's giving shocks that way. Aren't you?" he asked, +turning to the hermit. + +"Since you have found me out, I have," was the answer. "I admit I have +been bad, but I am sorry. I will tell you everything. I used to be a man +who went about the country with an electric machine, giving people +electrical treatments for rheumatism and other pains. I made some money, +but my wife died and her sickness and burial took all I had. Then my +electrical machine broke and I could not buy another. + +"However, I did manage to get a little one, run with dry batteries, and +I began going about the country making cures. + +"Then this place was left me by a relative. I thought I could make a +living off it with the help of a hired boy, so I got Tom. + +"I found some Indians lived here, and, learning how simple they were and +that they thought everything strange was 'heap big medicine,' as they +called it, I thought of trying my battery on them. First I tried it on +Tom, and he yelled that I was sticking needles into him. He did not +understand about the electricity, and I did not try to explain. + +"I remembered what your children had told me about having a toy train of +cars that ran by electricity, and a Teddy bear with two lamps for eyes. +I knew these batteries, though small, would be strong, and just what I +needed with what electrical things I had. So I stole the toy train of +cars and the Teddy bear. + +"I was sorry to do it, but I thought if I could make enough money from +the Indians I could buy new batteries for myself and give the children +back their toys. + +"But most of the Indians were afraid of the electrical current which +felt like needles, and I could not get many of them to come back after +they had once tried it. So I made no money. + +"Tom ran away, and then I stole Eagle Feather's horse. I thought maybe +if I could sell the horse and get money enough to get a new machine that +did not sting so hard, I could make money enough to buy the horse back. + +"But everything went against me, and now I have nothing left. I am sorry +I had to rip your Teddy bear apart, little girl, to get the wires on the +batteries. And as for your cars, little boy, I hid them in farms and +various places. I don't know where they are now, but the engine is all +right and in running order." + +He quickly loosened the wires, and the toy locomotive ran around the +table on part of the stolen track. + +"But my poor dear Sallie Malinda is dead!" cried Sue. + +"No, I can sew her together again, if the batteries are all right," said +Mrs. Brown. + +"And the batteries are all right," said the hermit, who had heard what +was said. "See, I'll make the eyes shine!" + +He quickly did something to the wires and again the eyes of Sue's Teddy +bear shone out bravely. + +"I realize how wrong I was to take the children's things," went on the +hermit, "but I knew no other way to get the batteries I needed. I only +had my cow to sell, and I dared not part with her, for she gave me milk +to live on. All the while I kept hoping my luck would be better. + +"When Tom ran away I did not know what to do. I did not imagine the +little electricity I gave him would hurt him. A few of the Indians +seemed to like it." + +"Yes, me hear um talk of heap big medicine that sting like bees," said +Eagle Feather. "But me no think hermit did it, what has my horse." + +"I'm sorry I took it," said Bixby. "I'll give up my cow to pay for all I +took. Then I'll go away." + +"Wait a minute," said Mr. Brown. "We'll decide about that later. You +have done some wrong things, but you have tried to do what was right. +We'll try to find a way out of your troubles. Stay here for a few days." + +Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue took with them that night their toys so +strangely found, and in a few days the playthings were as good as ever, +for Mrs. Brown sewed up the ripped Teddy bear and Bunny had some new +cars for his electric engine. The track the hermit had kept, so +that was all right. + +"Does electricity feel like pins and needles?" asked Bunny Brown one +day. + +"I'll show you," said his father, and he did by a little battery which +he owned. This was after their return from camp. + +"Is it like needles, or your foot being asleep," said Bunny. + +But before this Mr. Brown had talked with some of his neighbors, and +they decided to give the hermit another chance. Tom would go back to +work for him on condition that no more electricity be used. The hermit +had a good garden and he could sell things from that. Eagle Feather was +given back his horse, and Mr. Bixby was not arrested for taking it. And +the mystery of the electrical toys being solved, life at Camp +Rest-a-While went on as before for a time. + +Bunny and his sister had fine times, and once in a while Tom had a day's +vacation, and came over to see them. + +"But I s'pose we can't stay here forever," said Bunny to Sue, one day. +"I wonder where we'll go next?" + +"I heard father and mother talking something about a trip," said Sue. + +And what that journey was may be learned by reading the next volume of +this series to be called: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto +Tour." + +"Say, we ought to have some fun on that!" cried Bunny. + +"So we ought!" cried Sue. "I'm going to take my fixed-over Sallie +Malinda." + +"Well, I'll take my flashlight instead of my locomotive and cars," said +Bunny. "We may have to travel at night." + +And while the two children are thus planning good times together we will +say good-bye to them. + + +=THE END= + + + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS + + +For Little Men and Women + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Bunny Brown" Series, Etc. + + * * * * * + +=12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.= + + * * * * * + +Copyright publications which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Books that +charm the hearts of the little ones, and of which they never tire. Many +of the adventures are comical in the extreme, and all the accidents that +ordinarily happen to youthful personages happened to these many-sided +little mortals. Their haps and mishaps make decidedly entertaining +reading. + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + + Telling how they go home from the seashore; went + to school and were promoted, and of their many + trials and tribulations. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + + Telling of the winter holidays, and of the many + fine times and adventures the twins had at a + winter lodge in the big woods. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + + Mr. Bobbsey obtains a houseboat, and the whole + family go off on a tour. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + + The young folks visit the farm again and have + plenty of good times and several adventures. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + + The twins get into all sorts of trouble--and out + again--also bring aid to a poor family. + + * * * * * + +=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK= + + + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL + +HIGH SERIES + +By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON + + * * * * * + +=12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.= + + * * * * * + +Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The +girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with +interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track +and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on +the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure +and wholesome. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH +Or Rivals for all Honors. + + A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, + with a touch of mystery and a strange initiation. + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA +Or The Crew That Won. + + Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine + times in camp. + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL +Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery. + + Here we have a number of thrilling contests at + basketball and in addition, the solving of a + mystery which had bothered the high school + authorities for a long while. + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE +Or The Play That Took the Prize. + + How the girls went in for theatricals and how one + of them wrote a play which afterward was made over + for the professional stage and brought in some + much-needed money. + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD +Or The Girl Champions of the School League. + + This story takes in high school athletics in their + most approved and up-to-date fashion. Full of fun + and excitement. + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP +Or The Old Professor's Secret. + + The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a + delightful time at boating, swimming and picnic + parties. + + * * * * * + +=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK= + + + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS + +SERIES + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series." + + * * * * * + +=12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.= + + * * * * * + +The adventures of Ruth and Alice DeVere. Their father, a widower, is an +actor who has taken up work for the "movies." Both girls wish to aid him +in his work and visit various localities to act in all sorts of +pictures. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS +Or First Appearance in Photo Dramas. + + Having lost his voice, the father of the girls goes + into the movies and the girls follow. Tells how + many "parlor dramas" are filmed. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM +Or Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays. + + Full of fun in the country, the haps and mishaps of + taking film plays, and giving an account of two + unusual discoveries. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND +Or The Proof on the Film. + + A title of winter adventures in the wilderness, + showing how the photo-play actors sometimes suffer. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS +Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida. + + How they went to the land of palms, played many + parts in dramas before the camera; were lost, and + aided others who were also lost. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH +Or Great Days Among the Cowboys. + + All who have ever seen moving pictures of the great + West will want to know just how they are made. This + volume gives every detail end is full of clean fun + and excitement. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA +Or a Pictured Shipwreck that Became Real. + + A thrilling account of the girls' experiences on + the water. + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS +Or The Sham Battles at Oak Farm. + + The girls play important parts in big battle scenes + and have plenty of hard work along with + considerable fun. + + * * * * * + +=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK= + + + + +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES + +By VICTOR APPLETON + + * * * * * + +=12mo. CLOTH. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. COLORED WRAPPERS.= + + * * * * * + +These spirited tales convey in a realistic way the wonderful advances in +land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the +memory and their reading is productive only of good. + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + Or Fun and Adventure on the Road + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + Or The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + Or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + Or The Speediest Car on the Road + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + Or The Castaways of Earthquake Island + + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + Or The Secret of Phantom Mountain + + TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + Or The Wreck of the Airship + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + Or The Quickest Flight on Record + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + Or Daring Adventures in Elephant Land + + TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + Or Marvellous Adventures Underground + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + Or Seeking the Platinum Treasure + + TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + Or A Daring Escape by Airship + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + Or The Perils of Moving Picture Taking + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + Or On the Border for Uncle Sam + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + Or The Longest Shots on Record + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + Or The Picture that Saved a Fortune + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + Or The Naval Terror of the Seas + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + Or The Hidden City of the Andes + + * * * * * + +=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK= + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Punctuation normalized. + +On page 168, "Slash" changed to "Splash." + +On page 188, "At is" changed to "As it." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the +Big Woods, by Laura Lee Hope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER *** + +***** This file should be named 17097.txt or 17097.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/9/17097/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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