Bunny Brown did not answer his sister Sue right away. He was listening to the queer scratching sound. He wanted to try and think what it was.
"Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!" it went.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, rolling over in the bunk, so she could easily slip over the edge, and be nearer to her brother. "It's something trying to get in."
"Yes," said Bunny. "It does sound like that."
"Maybe—maybe it's a wolf, Bunny!"
Bunny looked at the door and windows to make sure they were closed.
"There aren't any wolves up here," he said, shaking his head.
"How do you know?" Sue asked.
"'Cause I asked Grandpa Brown if therewere any bears, and he said there wasn't any—not a one. And wolves are always where bears are. So if there aren't any bears there aren't any wolves. Sue."
"Maybe," said Sue. "But what is it scratching at the door, Bunny?"
"I don't know, Sue. I could open it and look out. Shall I?"
"No," she cried. "For, if you opened the door, it would come in. Now it can't get in, or else it would. It can only scratch."
Bunny thought it would be best not to open the door. But what could that queer noise be? He wished he knew. Again it sounded.
"Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!"
And then, all at once there came a bark. Both Bunny and Sue cried out at the same time:
"A dog!"
And Bunny added:
"Oh, I guess it's Splash! I'll let him in!"
He ran to the door and opened it, for it was not locked. And, a second later, in bounded good old Splash, the big dog. He was all wet with the rain, but oh! how glad he wasto see Bunny and Sue! He barked, and jumped all over the cabin, getting the children wet from his dripping coat. But Bunny and Sue did not mind that. They were so glad to see Splash.
"And I—I thought you were a wolf!" laughed Sue, putting her arms around the neck of Splash. Sue was wide awake now.
"I wonder how he got here?" questioned Bunny. "Maybe he ran on ahead of the folks. They must be coming for us now."
"I think Splash just came by himself," said Sue, and that was what had happened.
Bunny and Sue listened, but they did not hear their father or mother or the hermit coming along. It was still raining, but the thunder and lightning had stopped. The children were glad of that.
"Splash just came off by himself and found us, just as he did lots of times before," said Sue. "Didn't you, doggie?" she asked.
Splash barked, and that might have meant "yes" or "no." Bunny and Sue did not know dog language, and I don't either, so I can't tell you.
But, anyhow, Splash was there, and Bunny and Sue were very glad. It was not at all lonesome in the hermit's cabin now. There was no clock, so Bunny did not know how late it was, though he could have told time had there been a clock.
After shaking some of the water from his shaggy coat, sending it in a shower over Bunny and Sue, and about the cabin, Splash lay down on the rug, and seemed quite happy. He looked from Bunny to Sue, and then put his head out on his paws, as if to go to sleep. It was as if he said:
"Well, everything's all right now. I'm here with you. You can go to sleep just as I'm doing."
But Bunny and Sue were not so sleepy now. They were glad Splash had come, but they also wanted their papa and mamma, and their own little beds at grandpa's house.
"I—I wish they would come for us," said Sue, after at bit.
"So do I," returned Bunny. "It must be 'most morning."
The children talked for a while. They didnot feel very happy, though Bunny tried to get Sue to play some "make-believe" games.
"I don't want to," she said. "I want to go home."
All at once Splash, who had been asleep, sprang up and began to bark loudly.
"Oh, dear!" cried Sue, who had fallen into a little sleep. "What is it, Bunny?"
Splash barked so loudly that Bunny could not make his voice heard. The dog ran to the door, and scratched at it as he had done before.
"He wants to go out," said Sue.
"It's somebody coming for us!" Bunny cried. "I guess it's papa and mamma!"
He opened the door. Out bounded Splash, barking joyously. Then a voice cried:
"Bunny! Sue! Are you all right?"
"Yes, Daddy!" cried Bunny.
"Well, well! What a scare you gave us!" said another voice.
"But we didn't mean to, Grandpa!" called Sue, for she heard her grandpa's voice.
"Is it—is it 'most morning?" Bunny asked.
"Only a little after nine," answered his grandpa. "It isn't late."
Grandpa Brown took Sue in his arms, and Papa Brown carried Bunny. Splash ran along by himself. No one had to carry him. Mr. Brown thanked the hermit for his care of the children during the storm. And then, through the rain, that was falling gently now, Bunny and Sue were taken out to the carriage which was in the road, at the edge of the woods.
A little later they were on their way to the farmhouse, Splash running along beside the carriage.
"Can Splash see his way in the dark?" sleepily asked Bunny.
"I think so," answered Papa Brown. "Anyhow we haven't any room for him in the carriage. How did you get lost this time?"
"It was the frog that made us," said Bunny. "We chased after him, and we couldn't find the right path again. But the man found us."
And oh! how glad mamma and Grandma Brown were to see the children when they came home!
"Don't you ever get lost again!" said Mamma Brown, as she undressed Sue for bed.
"No'm, we won't," promised the little girl, and Bunny said the same thing.
The family had become very much worried when Bunny and Sue did not come back from having gone for berries. Supper time came, and no children. Then Grandpa Brown, his hired men, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Grandma Brown, and even Bunker Blue, began to look for the lost ones.
They did not find Bunny and Sue, of course, for they were far away with the kind hermit. Then the storm came and the family at the farmhouse were more worried than ever.
They did not know what to do, but everything was all right when the hermit came along through the storm, and said he had found the children.
Then Grandpa Brown hitched up a horse to a big carriage and he and Papa Brown, taking the hermit with them, went to the cabin. Before that, though, Splash had gone off by himself, and had found Bunny and Sue. Then along came papa and Grandpa Brown, and that ended the little adventure. Everything was all right.
"He is a nice man—that hermit," said Sue. "He gave me a piggy-back, and once he had a little girl of his own, but she is in the sky now."
"Yes, he is a good old man," said Grandpa Brown. "I know him, though he hardly ever comes to see me. He has lived in his cabin in the woods, all alone, for many years. Once he had a wife and children, but they all died, and he became very sad. So he went to live by himself. He hardly ever speaks to any one, but he loves children. Bunny and Sue could not have been cared for by any one better than old Mr. Wright, the hermit."
"And he knows where the Gypsies are that have your horses, Grandpa," said Bunny.
That was not just what the hermit had said, but it was as near as Bunny could remember.
Grandpa Brown shook his head.
"I'm afraid I'll never see my horses again," he said. "But I'll ask Mr. Wright where the Gypsies that he saw are camping. Then I'll have a look for my horses."
This Grandpa Brown did next day. He went over to the hermit's cabin, taking withhim a nice basket of good things to eat, that grandma and Mrs. Brown had put up.
"The children ate his bread and milk," said Mother Brown, "so we must give him something else in place of it."
And I think Mr. Wright, the hermit, was very glad to get the basket of good things, for of course a man, living all alone in the woods, can not make pies, and jam tarts and cake as good as mothers and grandmothers can.
The hermit showed Grandpa Brown the valley where the Gypsies had been seen, with their wagons shining with looking glasses. But the queer Gypsies were gone, though the ashes of their campfires showed where they had stopped. And of course there were no horses left behind.
"They don't stay very long in one place," said Grandpa Brown. "If they had my horses, they took them away. I guess I'll never see them again."
For several days, after getting lost, Bunny and Sue did not have any adventures. They played about the farmhouse, or in the barn, having much fun. Once they went fishing withBunker Blue. Bunker did the fishing, and caught five or six, which Grandma Brown fried for supper.
One morning, when Bunny and Sue came down stairs, after a good night's sleep, they saw their mother and grandmother busy in the kitchen putting cake and pies, sandwiches, pickles, knives, forks, spoons, and other things, in baskets.
"What's that for?" asked Bunny.
"A picnic," answered his mother.
"Oh, are we going on a picnic?" asked Sue, clapping her hands.
"Yes, off in the woods," her grandmother replied. "It is a Sunday-school picnic, and grandpa and I go every year. This time we will take you with us."
"Oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Bunny Brown. "I just love a picnic; don't you, Sue?"
"Awful much!" answered the little girl.
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue watched their mother and grandmother put in the baskets the good things they were to eat on the picnic, which was to be held in a woodland grove about two miles away.
"Oh, what a big cake!" exclaimed Sue, as she saw a cocoanut-custard cake being taken from the shelf by her mother.
"Do you like that kind?" asked Grandma Brown.
"I just love it!" cried Sue, standing on her tip-toes to look over the table.
"So do I," added Bunny.
"Yes, it is their favorite cake," said Mother Brown. "I always make it when they have a birthday, and on Christmas and New Year's day."
"But I don't know where we're going to putit," said Grandma Brown. "It is a fine, big cake, but all the baskets are filled. If we crowd it in it will crush, and——"
"Oh, don't squash our cocoanut cake!" begged Sue. "Don't spoil it, Mother!"
"I'll not, my dear. Perhaps we had better not take it along," she said to Grandma Brown. "We have enough to eat without it."
"And we can eat it when we come home!" exclaimed Bunny. "We'll be hungry then. I'm always hungry after a picnic; aren't you, Sue?"
"Yes, Bunny. But, Mother, maybe we could take along some of the cake."
"Oh, we have enough without that," her grandmother told Sue. "We'll save that until we get home. I'll put it in the pantry. Now all the baskets are packed. Get ready, children. Grandpa will soon be here with the wagon, and we'll ride off to the picnic grounds. It's a lovely day."
It was. The sun was shining down from the blue sky, and there was a nice, cool wind, so that it was not too hot. There had been a little rain the night before, and the roads werenot dusty. It would be cool and fresh in the woods. No better day for a picnic could be wished for. Bunny and Sue were very happy.
So was Splash, the big dog, for he ran about, here and there, barking and wagging his tail. To look at him you would have thought that he had gotten up the whole picnic, all by himself.
Clean napkins were put over the lunch baskets. Lemon juice had been squeezed into glass jars, with sugar, so that only water from a spring, or well, would have to be put in to make lemonade.
Bunny and Sue were washed, combed and dressed, all ready for the picnic. They did not wear their best clothes, for they wanted to romp about and play in the woods. Bunny said he was going to climb trees, and you can't do that if you wear your best clothes.
"But if you climb a tree," remarked Sue, "don't get your foot caught in one, as you did before, Bunny, and have to have your shoe taken off."
"I won't do that," promised the little boy. "I'll only climb easy trees."
"I'm going to take two of my dolls," said Sue. "Then if I see a little girl that hasn't any, I can lend her one of mine, and we can play together."
"That will be nice," said Grandma Brown. "Here comes grandpa with the horses."
Grandpa Brown drove up to the side door with a wagon that had three seats in it. He and Papa Brown would sit on the front one, where grandpa could drive the horses. Bunny and Sue were to sit on the middle seat, and on the last one grandma and Mother Brown would sit.
"But what about Bunker Blue?" asked Bunny. "Isn't he coming, too?" For both Bunny and Sue liked the big red-haired boy very much, and he liked them.
"Oh, yes, Bunker is coming," said Mother Brown.
"He is going to sit on a box in back of the last seat, and hold the lunch baskets, so they won't bounce out of the wagon," explained Grandpa Brown.
"And I'll hold 'em good and tight!" laughed Bunker. "I won't let 'em go overboard."
To go "overboard," means, of course, to fall out of a boat.
Now the wagon, in which Bunny Brown and the others rode to the picnic, was not a boat. But you see Bunker Blue was so used to being in and about boats that he always talked of them, speaking as sailors do. If anything is lost out of a boat, it goes "overboard," and that was what Bunker was not going to let happen to the lunch baskets on the picnic trip.
"For if the lunch goes overboard we'd go hungry," he said. "So I'll hold the baskets."
"These horses can't go as fast as my nice team, that the Gypsies took," said Grandpa Brown, when they were all ready to start.
"Well, we're in no hurry," said Grandma Brown. "The picnic will last all day."
As grandpa drove out on the road Bunny and Sue saw many wagons, from other farms, coming along. It seemed that all who could were coming to the Sunday-school picnic, which was held every year. In many of the farm-wagons were boys and girls. Bunny and Sue looked at them, wondering if any of the little folks would play with them.
Even if grandpa's second team of horses did not go very fast, they were soon at the picnic grounds, in a grove of trees, near a pretty little lake. Grandpa put his wagon and horses under a shed, with many others. The baskets of lunch were left there in the shade, and while the older folk found some benches to sit on, and talk, Bunny and Sue, with other boys and girls, walked off through the woods to see what they could find.
They found a pump, where they had a drink of water. Then they tossed sticks into the lake, to make believe they were boats. There were also swings in the shade, and in these Bunny and another boy had a fine time.
Sue said she did not care to swing just then. She had two dolls, one under each arm, and she walked about, looking for some little girl to whom she might lend one, so they could "play house" together.
Finally Sue saw a little girl in a blue dress, who seemed to be all alone. This little girl stood by herself, watching the others play "Ring-around the Rosey."
Sue went up to her and said, kindly:
"Wouldn't you like to play dolls?"
"Yes—yes, I would, but I haven't any doll."
"I'll let you take one of mine." Sue held out her best doll to the little girl. It is always polite, you know, to give company, and your friends, the best that you have, instead of keeping it yourself, no matter how much you want it.
"Oh, what a lovely doll!" exclaimed the little girl, her eyes shining bright.
"Her name is Ethel," said Sue.
"Why, that's my name!" exclaimed the little girl in the blue dress. "Did you know that?"
"No," answered Sue. "I didn't, but I'm glad it is your name. Now we'll find a place to play house."
Sue found a spot where some vines grew over an old stump, making a sort of green tent, or leafy bower, like the one on the island where she and Bunny had played Robinson Crusoe. In that Ethel and Sue had a fine time with the dolls.
When it was time to eat the lunch from the baskets, Bunny and Sue asked if they could not take theirs, and eat it with some of the otherchildren, who were going off by themselves. Sue wanted to be with Ethel, and Bunny had found a boy named John, at one of the swings. He brought John to eat with him.
"Yes, you children may take your lunch off by yourselves," said Mother Brown. "I thought you would want to do that, so I put it up in a separate basket for you."
Bunker Blue carried the lunch for Bunny and Sue to a nice place in the woods where a number of children were going to eat the good things their fathers and mothers had brought for them.
The children had nearly finished eating, when, all at once, the bushes near where Bunny was sitting were pushed to one side, and two rough-looking men, one large and one smaller, with ragged clothes, and red handkerchiefs tied around their necks in place of collars, stepped out.
And then one of the tramps, for that is what the men were, made a grab for the lunch basket that was near Bunny Brown.
The tramps had come through the bushes so quickly, and had made such a sudden grab for the lunch basket, that, for a second or two, Bunny Brown did not know what to do. Neither did his sister Sue. Nor were the other children any better off.
They just sat there, looking at the rough men, one of whom had Bunny's basket, and was taking out what was left of the sandwiches, cake and other good things.
"Is there anything to eat in it?" asked the little tramp of the big one, who had Bunny's basket.
"Yes, some," was the answer. "But there are more lunch baskets. Grab one for yourself."
Of course that was not a nice way to talk—not very polite you know. But perhaps trampsare different from other folks. They get so hungry at times that they forget to be polite, I guess.
The smaller tramp, for one was much bigger and taller than the other, looked around to see what he could find. He saw little John Boland holding tightly to a basket. It still had some good things to eat in it, for John had not eaten all his lunch.
"Here, give me that!" cried the tramp.
"No! No!" John exclaimed, and he turned to run away, for he did not like the tramps, any more than did Bunny Brown, or Sue, or any of the others. But, as John turned, his foot caught in a root of a tree, and down he went, striking the ground quite hard. His lunch basket bounced out of his hand, and rolled to one side.
"Ha! That's what I want!" said the tramp. "I don't want you, little boy. All I want is something to eat."
But John, I suppose, thought the tramps might take him away, as some people think Gypsies will take children away (only they won't) and John began to cry.
Now it is a funny thing, but very often if one little boy or girl in a crowd of others begins to cry, why two or three more will do the same thing. And, no sooner had John begun to sob, than Tillie Simpson, Nellie Hadden, Flo Benson, Tommie Jones and Harry Kennedy all began to cry, too. About the only ones who were not crying were Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, and Sue had some tears all ready to let fall out of her eyes.
But Sue watched to see what Bunny would do. She did not want him to call her a "cry-baby" afterward, though Bunny hardly ever called his sister names, except maybe in fun.
"You let us alone! Let my basket alone! Let John's basket alone! Go on away from here!"
The big tramp, who was eating what was left in Bunny's basket, looked up and laughed.
"You're a spunky little chap," he said, "but we're not going away until we get something to eat. We're hungry!"
"That's what we are," said the small tramp, who had picked up the basket that had rolled from the hand of John. Out of this the smalltramp was eating pieces of cake and sandwiches as fast as he could. John, who had stopped crying now, sat up and looked on, his eyes wide open.
"We haven't had anything to eat all day!" went on the big tramp, who was also eating fast. "We're terrible hungry! You children have had enough. We'll take the rest."
"Yes, and then maybe we'll take some of them," said the small tramp, blinking his eyes and looking around. Of course he was only fooling, but the children did not know this, and someofthe little girls screamed, and ran away.
But Bunny Brown was not so frightened as were the others. He was older, and then, too, he felt that he must look after his sister. So he cried out again:
"Go on away from here, you—you bad tramps!"
The tramps only laughed. Then Bunny Brown thought of something. Turning around he called, as loudly as he could:
"Here Splash! Come Splash! Come on old dog!"
Then Bunny whistled. He had only just learned how, from Bunker Blue a few days before, and he could not whistle very loudly, but still he did very well for a small boy.
"Come Splash! Come on, old dog!" he cried, and he whistled once more.
The tramps looked at one another.
"He's callin' his dog," said the big one.
"Yes," said the little tramp, "we'd better go. Come on. We've had enough to last us for awhile. We'll empty the baskets and run."
The two roughly dressed men, with red handkerchiefs around their neck, in place of collars, quickly emptied into their pockets the sandwiches and cake that were left in some of the baskets which the children had dropped. They mixed the cake and bread and meat all up together; those tramps did. Perhaps they were so hungry they did not mind.
Then off they ran through the bushes the way they had come.
"Oh, I'm so glad they're gone!" exclaimed Sue.
"So am I," said Tommie Jones. "If theyhadn't gone your dog would have bit them, Bunny Brown; wouldn't he?"
Bunny Brown laughed.
"My dog isn't here," he said.
"He isn't!" exclaimed Tommie. "Why, he called him, and whistled to him; didn't he?" he asked the others.
"Yep!" said Flo Benson. "He did."
"That was only make-believe," explained Bunny. "I thought maybe if I pretended Splash was here the tramps would be afraid. Tramps are always afraid of dogs. My papa said so. That's why I made believe to call Splash. But he isn't here. We left him back on grandpa's farm with the hired man. Mamma thought he might be in the way at the picnic, so we didn't bring him."
"Oh, that was a fine trick!" exclaimed Sue. "I forgot Splash wasn't here with us. I thought sure he'd come when you whistled, Bunny."
"So did the tramps, I guess," laughed Bunny Brown. "I'm glad I thought of it. And if Splash had been here he would make the tramps go away, anyhow."
"But they took all my lunch!" sobbed John. "And I fell down, and I bumped my nose and—and——"
But that was all the trouble he could think of just then.
"Never mind," said Sue, helping him to stand up, and brushing the dirt from his clothes. "You're not hurt very much, John, and you're not hungry; are you?"
"No, but—but I fell down!"
"Well, never mind. The tramps are gone now. And they won't come back."
But, just as Sue said that some one was heard coming through the woods. The bushes shook, and some of the little girls cried out.
"Oh, there are the tramps again!" shouted John.
But it was not. It was only Bunker Blue, who had come to find Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.
"Well, how are you all?" Bunker asked. "Why, what's the matter?" he went on, for he saw that something had happened.
"It was two bad tramps, with red handkerchiefs on their necks," said Bunny Brown."But I made believe to whistle for Splash, and they ran away."
"They did?" cried Bunker Blue, much surprised.
"Yep. And next time I'm really going to bring Splash to the picnic, and he can keep the tramps away."
"Maybe it would be a good idea," said Bunker. "But it was a good thing you thought to pretend your dog was near by. A very good trick. I'll see if I can see anything of the bad men."
Bunker went through the bushes where the tramps had gone, but he saw nothing of them. They must have run a long way off. Perhaps they were afraid Bunny's dog, Splash, would chase them.
It was nearly time for the picnic to be over. The children had eaten as much as was good for them, even if they had not had all they wished, and I think most of them did have all they wanted. Bunny and Sue did, anyhow.
Bunny's basket, of course, was emptied by the tramps, as was that of John and some of the others. But the grown folks still had goodthings left in theirs, and toward evening, when it was time to start for home, the little folks who had not had enough were given a little more.
"I didn't know there were tramps around here," said Mother Brown to grandpa, when he was backing the horses out of the shed, so Bunny and the others could get into the wagon.
"Oh, yes, we have a few tramps in the Summer," said Grandpa Brown. "They don't like to work, but they are always ready to eat. But probably we'll not be bothered with many. These two must have heard of the picnic, and come around to see what they could pick up."
And now the picnic was over. The farmers began driving home. Every one had had a fine time, and there had been no trouble except for the tramps. Oh yes, there had been another little bit of trouble.
A little boy named Sammie Perkins, in trying to catch a frog in a pond, leaned too far over and fell in. But a man pulled Sammie out very quickly, and the little boy only got wet through. Of course he cried, and wasfrightened. But his mother took off some of his clothes and dried them in the sun. So no great harm was done. And that was all that happened, except that every one had such a fine time that they said they wished there was a picnic every day.
"But that would be too much!" said Grandma Brown. "You would soon get tired of it."
The Brown family drove home, getting there just as the sun was going down.
Splash, who had been chained up by the hired man, so he would not follow the wagon, was now let loose. And oh! how glad he was to see Bunny Brown and his sister Sue!
Splash jumped about, barking and wagging his tail. He even tried to kiss Bunny and Sue with his red tongue.
"Oh, Splash!" cried Bunny. "I wish you had been to the picnic. Then you could have run after the tramps!"
"Well, the tramps ran anyhow, so it was all right," said Papa Brown. "Though the next time you see any rough men, Bunny, you had better come and tell me, or your mother, and not try to drive them away all by yourself."
"All right, I will, Daddy. But we'll take Splash to the next picnic anyhow. He was lonesome without us."
And I think Splash was.
"Well, now we'll have supper," said Grandma Brown. "That is if you children are hungry?"
"Oh, I am!" cried Sue, and Bunny said the same thing. The drive home had given them good appetites. But then children are very often hungry anyhow, even without picnics.
"Shall we have some of that nice cocoanut custard cake?" asked Bunny.
"Yes," his grandmother told him. "I'll get it from the pantry." But when she went there, the cupboard was not exactly bare, like Mother Hubbard's, but something had happened. For Grandma Brown cried:
"Oh the cake! The lovely cake is gone! And so are a lot of my pies and crullers! Oh, some one has been in my pantry!"
Bunny Brown ran to the pantry where his grandmother had gone. Sue followed. The two children saw Grandma Brown looking at some empty shelves. On one shelf, before they had started for the picnic, had stood the big cocoanut-custard cake, that was too large to go in any of the baskets. That was why it had been left at home for supper.
"Oh, is it really gone?" asked Bunny sadly.
"It isn't here," said Grandma Brown.
"Could the hired man have taken it?" asked Bunny's mother.
"Oh, no! He wouldn't do such a thing as that," replied Grandma Brown. "I left his dinner in the kitchen, as I always do when we go away. No, some one must have gotten in the house, while we were gone, and taken the cake, besides some of my pies and other things."
"Was it—was they burglars?" asked Sue. She had often heard, at home, of burglars getting into houses and taking money and other things.
"No, I don't believe it was burglars," said Grandma Brown. "But I see how they got in. I left the pantry window open, though the shutters were closed. They opened the shutters and climbed in. The shutters were tied with a string, and the string has been cut—see!"
She showed Bunny and Sue, also Mother Brown, where the cut string hung dangling from the edge of one shutter.
"They climbed in that window and took the cake," went on Grandma Brown.
"Oh, my lovely cake!" exclaimed Sue. "And I wanted some for supper!"
"So did I!" said Bunny Brown. "Is there any other kind of cake, Grandma?"
"Oh, yes, I can give you cookies. But I would like to know who it was got in my pantry. We don't generally trouble to lock our doors and windows around here in the day time," she went on, "for none of us was everrobbed before. But if this is going to happen I'll have to be more careful."
She pushed open the shutters, which were partly closed, and looked out. Then she called:
"Oh, here's a box they stepped on to get in the window. Look, children, they brought a box from the barn, stepped up on it, and crawled in the window. And see! One of them dropped his handkerchief!"
Bunny and Sue, looking under Grandma Brown's arms, one on each side of her, saw, down on the ground, a red handkerchief. At the sight of it Bunny Brown cried:
"Oh it was the tramps! It was the tramps that took our cake, Grandma!"
"How do you know, Bunny?"
"Because the tramps that scared us had red handkerchiefs on their necks just like that one down there. I'm sure they were the same tramps, Grandma."
The two children, grandma and Mother Brown went outside, under the pantry window. There lay the red handkerchief on the ground, and it was twisted up in just the waya handkerchief would be twisted if it had been around any one's neck.
"Those tramps didn't get enough to eat out of our baskets," said Bunny Brown, "so they came here and took grandma's things. Let's go after 'em! I'll get Splash and——"
Bunny Brown started to run after his dog, that had gone out to the barn with Bunker Blue. But his mother caught the little boy by the arm.
"You had better stay right here," she said. "You are too small to go chasing off after tramps, even with Splash. We'll let Papa Brown and grandpa find the bad men, if they are still here."
Daddy Brown and grandpa came back from the barn, where they had been putting away the horses, and they were told of the missing cake, pies and crullers. Then they looked at the red handkerchief, lying where one of the tramps must have dropped it.
"Yes, I should not be surprised if the same tramps who scared the children came here and took your things, Mother," said Papa Brown. "They must have been frightened,and have run off in a hurry, to have dropped their handkerchief this way. We'll ask the hired man."
But the hired man had been working in the garden, some distance away from the house, and he had seen nothing of any tramps. He had come in to his dinner, and he said he had looked in the pantry then, and had noticed that the big cake was all right.
"Then the tramps came here after dinner, and after they were at the picnic grounds," said Grandpa Brown. "I must look around. They may be hiding in my barn, and sometimes tramps smoke in the hay, and set it on fire. We'll look for them."
But no tramps were found.
"Maybe they heard Splash barking, and ran away in such a hurry that they dropped their handkerchief," said Bunny.
"Maybe," agreed his mother. "Well, it's better to have them take the crullers, the pie and the cake instead of a cow or a horse."
"Indeed it is!" said Grandpa Brown. "I don't want to lose any more horses."
"I can bake you another cocoanut-custardcake, children," said Grandma Brown. "I'll make it to-morrow. To-night you will have to eat cookies with your milk."
And the cookies were very good, as was everything Grandma Brown made, so Bunny and Sue were not hungry after all.
That night Grandpa Brown went all around the house, to make sure that all the doors and windows were locked.
"For we don't want any tramps coming here in the middle of the night, waking us up from our sleep," he said.
And nothing happened. Probably the tramps ran a good way off with the fine big cocoanut-custard cake. They must have had a good feast on that, and on the pies and crullers.
For two or three days after the picnic Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had good times at grandpa's farm. One day it rained, but the children played a part of the time in the barn, and the rest of the time in the big attic of grandpa's house.
This attic had in it even more things, to have a good time with, than did the attic at Bunny's home.
There were big fur rugs that Grandpa Brown put in the sled when it was winter. There were strings of sleigh bells that jingled when they were touched. And there was a spinning wheel, like the one in Mother Brown's attic, only it was larger.
Then, too, there were piles of old clothes, old picture-papers, trunks with many strange things in them, and so many other things that Bunny and Sue did not get tired of playing all day long.
But the attic was only nice to play in on rainy days. On days when the sun shone down hot on the roof it was too warm up there. So the next day, when the storm was over, Bunny and Sue looked for something else to do to have a good time.
"Come on, and we'll play ball," said Bunny.
He and Sue did not exactly play ball the way big boys did. But Bunny would throw the ball, and when Sue had caught it she would toss it back. They went out behind the house to play this game.
Back and forth they tossed the ball, until Sue missed it when Bunny threw it to her.The ball rolled under a currant bush, but when Sue ran to pick it up, the little girl suddenly stopped, and stood looking at the bush.
"What's the matter?" asked Bunny. "Why don't you pick the ball up, and throw it to me, Sue?"
"I—I can't," she answered
"Why not?"
"'Cause a hen's got it."
"A hen's got my ball?" asked Bunny, much surprised.
"Yep," said Sue, shaking her head up and down to make Bunny understand. "The ball is right by the hen, and she's got her bill on it. I dassn't pick it up, 'cause she'll peck me."
Bunny ran to where Sue stood. Surely enough, the ball had rolled under the edge of the currant bush, close to where a big hen was all cuddled up in a heap. And the hen did have her bill on the ball with which the children had been playing.
"Why—why that hen is on a nest!" exclaimed Bunny. "I guess grandma doesn't know there's a hen's nest out here. We'll go and tell her."
"But aren't you going to take your ball?" asked Sue. "Maybe the hen will eat it if you don't."
"Hen's can't eat balls," said Bunny. "The ball is too big for them to swaller."
"Well, anyhow, they could pick holes in it, and then we couldn't play with it any more."
"That's so," agreed Bunny. "I'll see if I can get it away from her."
But when Bunny crept under the currant bush, and reached for his ball, the hen made a funny clucking noise, ruffled up her feathers and looked so angry, that Bunny was afraid.
"Maybe she's got little chickens in her nest," said Sue. "If she has she'll peck you if you go close to her—grandma said so."
"Maybe she has," agreed Bunny. "But I'll get a long stick and poke my ball out. Then she can't peck me."
But it was not easy to make the ball roll out of the way of the hen. The stick would slip off it when Bunny reached for it, and whenever the stick came near the hen she would peck at it. Once she almost knocked it from Bunny's hand.
And, all the while, the hen made that queer clucking noise, and fluffed up her feathers so that she looked twice as big as she really was.
"Oh, come away! Come away!" begged Sue. "She'll bite you, Bunny!"
Bunny Brown was a little afraid of the hen. And when he found he could not roll the ball out of her way he ran to the house, with Sue, and told his mother and grandmother what had happened.
"Why, that must be the old gray hen, sitting on her nest that she went off and made by herself," said Grandma Brown. "I wondered where she was hiding, but I never thought to look under the currant bush. I'm glad you found her, Bunny. I'll get your ball for you."
The hen did not seem to mind when Grandma Brown went close to her. Very carefully Grandma reached for Bunny's ball. Then she gently lifted up one of the hen's wings, and showed the children the eggs under her feathers.
"Soon some little chickens will hatch out of the eggs," said grandma. "Some of theshells are already cracked, and the chickies may be out to-morrow."
"Oh, I'll just love to see them!" cried Sue.
Now that they had their ball again, Bunny and Sue could play once more. And the next day the little chickens did hatch. Up to the house came the old mother hen with eleven little, fluffy, yellow balls, almost as round as Bunny's ball, but of course not so big.
"Peep! Peep!" went the little chickens, as they followed the hen-mother around.
"Cluck-cluck!" said the hen-mother.