"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 hissister 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 onlyonecrooked horn and this cow hastwo. 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 Ithinkthe 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 enoughto 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 'lectricityTeddy 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, andsoon 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.
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, daddytold 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 hilldown 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, hadstarted 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-uphis 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. "Thankyou. 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 UncleTad, 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 Featherpicked 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."
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 trainand 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 getwet," 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. "Heapbig 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 milesaround 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 Feathera 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 thatnight, 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!"
"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 BunnyBrown, 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 barksunless 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 Ihaveher and youhaven'tyour 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 teacherwould 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.
"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," thelittle 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 islost," 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 SallieMalinda," 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 tothe 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 tracethan 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."
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 havecome 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 thepath 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. Squawmake 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. Nobodyhere 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.