"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 intothe 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!"
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 youare 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 tothink. 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, butI'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 maycome 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!"
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 hewouldstay 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 aloudshe 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 wherethey 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.
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 wewerelost, 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.
THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH.
THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH.Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods.Page129.
"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 fromany 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 ofhintedor 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 evenhintfor something to eat. That isn't polite."
"Oh, but this isn't arealhouse," 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,richcookies means they have toomuch 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 agirl. Can't you tell by the nameSallie Malinda?" asked Sue.
Bunny was about to continue talking to the effect that theTeddybear 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 thoughthey 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 raggedman. 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.
"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 findthey 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, butrealbears 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 soonbegan 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.
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. Wecame 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 youdoing 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 wayoutall 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 gladto 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 slidedown 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.
"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 whatreally 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. Nowwehave 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 comehome 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, withhereyes 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 neardinner 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.