"Well, I'm going to get my things ready," said Bunny.
The next few days were busy ones in the Brown home. The big automobile was packed with bed clothes and with things for the children, their father and mother and Uncle Tad to wear, and also with things to eat.
At last, one morning, all was ready for the start.
"Good-bye," waved Mary, the cook, who was to have a vacation, while the Browns were away.
"Good-bye!" called Bunny and Sue, and then Mr. Brown, who was at the steering wheel, while Uncle Tad, Bunny, Sue and their mother rode inside, started the car, and Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were off on an auto tour.
Merrily they rode along, Bunny and Sue talking happily, when, all at once Bunny cried:
"Wait! Hold on! Where is Splash?"
Mr. Brown as soon as he heard Bunny's cry of "Wait!" at once shut off the power from the big automobile, and brought it to a stop. He turned to look through the little window at the back of the front seat against which he leaned, and asked:
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, Daddy, we've forgotten Splash!" wailed Bunny.
"We've left him behind," chattered Sue. "I saw him and Dix—that's Fred Ward's dog—playing together, and I thought of course Splash would come with us. I forgot, and left one of the funny clown dresses for Sallie Malinda up in my room, so I went to get it, and then Splash and Dix were away down at the end of the yard and I didn't think any more about our dog."
"I didn't either," said Bunny. "But healways has come with us and I thought he would this time."
"Are you sure he isn't somewhere in the auto, under one of the cots asleep?" asked Mr. Brown.
"I'll look," said Uncle Tad, and he did, but without finding Splash.
"I forgot all about him," admitted Mrs. Brown, and her husband said the same thing.
"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Brown, as soon as every one was satisfied that the dog was not in the big auto-van.
"Do? Why, we've got to go back after him, of course!" cried Bunny.
"We couldn't go without Splash," announced Sue. "He'd be so lonesome for us that he'd cry, and then he'd start out to find us and maybe get lost and we'd never find him again. Go back after him, Daddy! It isn't very far."
"All right," said good-natured Mr. Brown. "I'm glad we're not in a hurry. Still I'd like to keep going, now that we've started. But please, all of you, make sure nothing else is forgotten. For we don't want to go backanother time. All ready to turn around and march backward," and he backed the big automobile at a wide place in the road, for it needed plenty of room in which to turn.
Slowly the big car made its way back to the Brown home. Mary, the cook, was the first to see it, and, running to the door, she cried:
"Oh, whatever you do, come in and sit down if only for a minute, some of you! Oh, do come in and sit down!"
"What for, Mary?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Has anything happened?"
"No, but 'tis easy to see you've forgotten somethin'; and when that happens if you don't sit down, or turn your dress wrong side out, bad luck is sure to foller you when you start off again. So come in and sit down, as that's easier than turning a dress."
"Oh, let me turn my knickerbockers outside in!" cried Bunny. "That will be as good as you or Sue, Momsie, turning your dresses. It's easy for me. Then I can make-believe I'm a tramp, and I'll run on ahead and beg for some bread and butter for my starving family," and he imitated, in such a funny way,the whine of some of the tramps who called at the Brown kitchen door, that his mother laughed and Sue said:
"Oh, Momsie, let me turn my dress wrong-side out, too, and I can play tramp with Bunny. That will be fun!"
"No, you mustn't do that," said Mrs. Brown. "While we're hunting for Splash—who isn't in sight. Where can he be?—we'll go in and sit down a moment to please Mary."
"Would we have bad luck if we didn't?" asked Bunny.
"Not at all. But some persons, like Mary, believe in them; and Mary is very fond of us. Even if we do not believe in some of the things those we like believe in, as long as it does no harm to our beliefs, we can do them to please a friend."
Even Mr. Brown, because he liked Mary, went in and sat down for a minute with the others.
"Now you've done away with the bad luck," said the cook with a smile. "What was it you came back for?"
"Splash," answered Bunny.
"He didn't come with us," added Sue.
"Well, it's no wonder, the funny way he's cuttin' up with that dog next door," said Mary.
"What did he do?" asked Bunny. "Was it funny? Please tell us, Mary."
"Well, it might have been funny for him, but it wasn't for me," said the cook, though she could not help smiling. "The two dogs was playin' tag on the lawn. I had some napkins spread out on the grass to bleach, and what did that dog Dix do but run down in the brook, and then come back with his feet all mud and run over my napkins. Sure, I had to wash 'em all again. That's what them two dogs did. The bad luck was just startin' in when you come back, an' it's good you did, to sit down a bit an' take it off."
"But we must get on again," said Mr. Brown. "So hurry, Bunny and Sue. Find Splash. If he's muddy make him swim through the brook and clean himself off. A run along the sunny road will soon dry him."
"But don't let him splash your clean clothes, children," called their mother after them, asthe two ran off together to find the missing dog.
"I hear them barking!" called Bunny, as he and his sister hurried toward the end of the yard.
"So do I." Then, a moment later, the little girl added: "There they are!" and she pointed to the two dogs playing on the green lawn not far from a little brook that ran through Mr. Brown's grounds.
"Here, Splash! Splash!" called Bunny.
The dogs stopped their playing, and looked toward the children. As soon as Splash saw his little master and mistress he came rushing toward them as fast as he could.
"Don't let him jump on me and get my dress muddy!" cried Sue. "He's been in the mud just awful!"
"So he has," said Bunny Brown. "Down, Splash! Down!" he called, as the dog neared Sue. Splash made all the signs he knew to show how glad he was to see Bunny and Sue, but he did not get up on his hind legs and put his paws on Sue's shoulders, as he sometimes did.
"Oh, Splash, you're awful dirty!" cried Sue. "You must run in the brook, where the water is clean, and where there are white pebbly stones instead of mud on the bottom, to wash yourself. You've got to go in too, Dix."
Dix barked "bow-wow," to show he did not mind, I suppose.
"Go on in, Splash!" cried Bunny, snapping his fingers and pointing at the brook. "Go in and wash!"
But though the Browns' dog was usually ready for a frolic in the water he did not seem to be so just now. He ran back and forth, down to the edge of the stream and back again, getting his paws wet, but nothing else.
"Oh, you must go in and have your bath if you are to come with us!" cried Sue. "Go on in, Splash!"
But not even for Sue would Splash go in, until finally Bunny cried:
"Oh, I know a way to make him!"
"How?" asked Sue.
"Just throw a stick into the water, and he'llgo after it and bring it back. We'll throw it far out."
"Oh, that's right!" cried Sue. "We'll do that."
No sooner had the children picked up sticks than the two dogs, who had started to play "tag" themselves, knew what was up. They both loved to go into the water after sticks.
"Throw 'em far out now!" cried Bunny. He tossed his to the middle of the brook, and Sue flung hers nearly as far, for she was a good thrower—almost as good as Bunny.
Dix swam after Sue's stick, and Splash went for Bunny's. In a minute they had brought them ashore and dropped them at the children's feet, looking up into their faces as much as to say:
"Do it again! We love to chase sticks!"
And then, just as dogs always do when they come from the water, they gave themselves big shakes.
"Look out, Sue!" called Bunny.
But he was too late. A shower of drops from Splash went all over Sue's dress, and some of the drops were not clean water, either.
"Oh dear!" she cried. "Now I'll have to change my dress!"
"Never mind," said Bunny. "You run up to the house and get that done, and I'll throw the two sticks into the water. Then Splash and Dix will go in again, and when they come out they'll be cleaner. I won't come back to the house with them until they are good and clean."
Once more Bunny tossed the sticks, as Sue went up to change her dress. When her mother saw her she cried:
"Oh dear, Sue! How did that happen?"
Sue told her.
"Well, I hope Bunny gets the dogs clean this time," said Mrs. Brown as she took Sue upstairs to put another dress on her. This did not take long, and a little while afterward Bunny came running up from the brook with the two dogs, dripping wet from their baths.
"Quick, Momsie and Sue!" he called to his mother and sister. "Get in the auto before the dogs shower you again with water. I've got 'em good and clean now. I made 'em go in four times after the sticks."
"Did they shake any water on you?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Not much," said Bunny. "Besides, my clothes are dark and the mud on them won't show. Now don't go away again, Splash, 'cause we're going on a long auto tour, and you want to come with us."
All were soon in the auto again, and as they started off, with more "good-byes" and "good lucks," Bunny and Sue made sure that this time Splash followed.
"Now he's started he won't turn back," said Mr. Brown. "He just missed us before, thinking, I suppose, if he saw us go, that we would come back."
The big automobile traveled on for about an hour, and they were several miles from the Brown home when Bunny, looking out of the rear door of the auto-van cried:
"Why there's Dix, Fred Ward's dog, following us along with Splash! Look!"
"So he is," said Mrs. Brown. "Oh, dear! These dogs! What are we going to do?"
"Is Dix really following us?" asked Mr. Brown, as, once more, he stopped the big automobile.
"He seems to be," answered Mrs. Brown. "He and Splash are trotting along together as happy as two clams."
"Clams can't trot," said Bunny quickly.
"No, but they can be happy," said his mother. "And Splash and Dix seem to be happy, now, trotting along together after us."
"They're altogether too happy," said Mr. Brown. "I wonder how we're going to get Dix back home? Mr. and Mrs. Ward think as much of him as we do of Splash, and they'll be sorry to have him run away."
"We must try to send him home some way," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny, you have a pretty good way with dogs, suppose you get out andtry to drive Dix back home. Tell him we love him, think he's a nice dog and all that, but we believe it isn't best for him to come with us now."
"All right, I will," said Bunny, and he hopped down from the automobile, which had a little set of steps at the back to make getting in and out easy. Though Bunny, it is true, generally jumped out, not using the steps at all.
While the big automobile had been traveling on, Splash, knowing he was a member of this party, had gone along as a matter of course. And, perhaps, in some kind of dog language (which I am sure there must be) he had said to his friend Dix something like this:
"Come along, old chap. The folks are going for a little excursion into the country. I know they are, for once before we traveled like this, and it was jolly fun. There'll be good things to eat, and no end of cats to chase, too, if you like that."
"Well, I used to like it," Dix said—perhaps.
"Then come along," urged Splash. "I'm sure the folks will be glad to have you."
"All right, I will," Dix may have answered.
And so it was he had run along, playing beside the road with Splash. And it was not until the automobile had gone several miles that the family noticed that another dog besides their own was following them.
"Drive him back home as your mother told you, Bunny," said the little boy's father.
Bunny ran back to where Dix and Splash were rolling over and over on the grass. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Go on home! Go on home!" cried Bunny.
At once Splash and Dix stopped playing and ran to the little boy. As his mother had said, Bunny knew how to talk to dogs in a way they could understand.
"Go on home!" said the little boy again, very earnestly.
Splash looked up in surprise. He was not used to being sent home.
"Oh, I don't mean you," said Bunny. "I mean you, Dix! Mother says we like you very much, and would like to have you with us, but your folks want you home with them. So go on back. Go home, I say!"
Bunny stamped his foot, spoke as sternly as he could without being too cross, and pointed back toward Bellemere.
Dix looked into Bunny's face a minute, and then slowly the dog's tail drooped between his legs and he slunk off, with what was really a sad face looking at Bunny and Splash. It was as if he said:
"Say, look here, Splash! I thought you invited me on this excursion, and now that boy of yours goes and drives me home."
"Well, I can't help it," Splash seemed to say. "There is something wrong somewhere."
Bunny felt sad at having to drive Dix back home.
"I'm sorry, old fellow," he said, and his voice was so kind that Dix turned and came running back.
"No! No! You mustn't do that!" cried Bunny, seeing what his kind words had done. "Go on back home, Dix!"
Once again Dix's tail drooped between his legs, and he turned back. He went on for some distance, never turning to look back.
"There, I guess he'll not follow us anymore," said Bunny. "Come on, Splash. You get up in the automobile and ride with us. Then Dix won't see you, and want to come along."
Bunny led his own dog back to the big car, Splash going willingly enough, though once or twice he looked back at Dix, who was walking slowly the homeward road.
Again the auto started off.
"This is two delays we've had," said Mr. Brown. "If we have another I'll begin to think there is something in Mary's idea of bad luck, after all."
It was Sue who discovered Dix the next time. As the automobile was about to go around a curve the little girl gazed out of the back window and saw the Ward dog trotting happily along toward the moving automobile.
"Oh, Daddy, look there!" cried Sue. "Dix is coming after us again! What are we going to do?"
"Is that dog following us once more?" asked Mr. Brown, as he stopped the automobile.
"Yes, he is; and he seems happy."
"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Brown. "What trouble these dogs are giving us to-day!"
"Well, this is the third trouble, and let us hope it will be the last," said Mr. Brown.
"Are you going to send Dix back again?" asked Bunny.
"No, I don't think it would do any good. Besides, we are now about ten miles from home. He might not find his way."
"That would be too bad," said Mrs. Brown. "The Wards would not want to lose their dog."
"I presume the only thing for us to do is to turn around and carry him back again," said Mr. Brown slowly.
Just then Splash, who had been lying inside under one of the sleeping cots, awoke, and, looking out of the rear door of the auto, saw his friend Dix trotting merrily along.
"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.
"Wow-wuff-wow!" answered Dix.
That meant in dog language I suppose:
"Well, I'm glad to see you again, old fellow."
"And I'm glad to see you," said Dix. "Ihope they don't drive me back again. But I went only to the first turn in the road. There I waited awhile and then came on. I could easily tell which way you came by the big wheel-marks."
"Well, I guess there's no hope for it," said Mr. Brown, as the two dogs stopped barking. "It's turn around again and take Dix back with us to his home. It's a good thing we're not in a hurry."
He was about to turn the big car, and Dix had come to a stop a short distance away from it when Bunny suddenly cried:
"Oh, I've thought of a way to do it!"
"A way to do what?" his father asked.
"Take care of Dix."
"Do you mean to ask somebody going past in another automobile to take Dix to Bellemere?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"No. But in that house," and Bunny pointed to one not far away, "is a telephone. I can see the wires, and they're just like our telephone wires. Why can't we call up Mr. Ward and ask him if we can take his dog along with us?"
"Take Dix with us!" cried Mrs. Brown. "What would we do with two dogs?"
"Well, they'll be company for each other," said Sue, who had taken a great liking to Dix.
"And Dix wants to come," added Bunny. "You see how hard it is to drive him back."
"But we don't need him, and two dogs are harder to look after than one," said Mr. Brown. "Dix has made trouble enough to-day, though part of it was Splash's fault."
It was then Bunny had his fine idea.
"Oh, I know the best reason in the world for taking Dix with us!" he cried. "Wait and I'll 'splain it all to you. Just let Dix and Splash play together until I get through talking."
"Well, let's hear your idea, Bunny," said Mr. Brown with a smile, as he leaned back in his seat and rested his back. Splash, seeing his dog friend, leaped from the car and the two were soon playing together in the road as merrily as ever.
"Now," said Bunny, as he sat down on a little stool in the auto to talk to his father and mother—and Sue, of course, and Uncle Tad, who were all listening. "Now it wouldn't hurt an awful lot to take Dix with us, would it?"
"What do you mean?" asked his mother.
"I mean Dix wouldn't eat much more than Splash, would he?"
"Oh, I guess if it comes to feeding dogs, two come about as cheaply as one," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. "But what's the idea, Bunny?"
"Well, I'd like to have Dix come along with us then. It will save time now in taking him back."
"Yes, it will dothat," said Mr. Brown. "And it's quite a way back home this time."
"And Splash will have company to playwith all the while," went on Bunny. "Two dogs are happier than one, aren't they?" he asked. "If two dogs eat more than one then two must be happier than one."
"It's a new way of looking at it, but I guess it may be true," laughed Mrs. Brown. "But are you doing all this talking, Bunny, just to have company for Splash?"
"No indeedy I'm not!" exclaimed Bunny. "I haven't 'splained it all."
"What else is there?" asked Mr. Brown, laughing.
"Well, if Mr. Ward will let us take Dix along—and you can find out about that over the telephone—then maybe we can find Fred."
For a moment no one spoke after Bunny had announced his plan. His father and mother looked sharply at him, and so did Sue and Uncle Tad.
"How can Dix find Fred?" asked Sue.
"'Cause didn't the bloodhounds find the runaway slaves in Uncle Tom's Cabin?" demanded Bunny.
"Yes," answered Sue. "I 'member that."
"Well then, won't Dix find Fred the sameway?" went on Bunny. "He can smell his tracks along the road and we'll find that runaway boy a lot quicker than if we didn't have his dog along. Fred and Dix were always together, and I guess Fred couldn't have run away if Dix had seen him. So if we take Dix along, and have to look for Fred in big crowds, Dix'll come in 'specially handy."
"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "Do let's take Dix along!"
"I believe Bunny's plan is a good one," said Mr. Brown, after thinking about it a while. "We don't know Fred very well, and he may look different, now that he has gone away from home, from what he did before. His dog would know him, however, no matter how Fred dressed."
"He'd know him even if he had on a Hallowe'en false face, wouldn't he?" asked Sue.
"I guess so," answered Daddy Brown. "Well, I'll go and telephone to Mr. Ward and see what he says."
The people in the house into which the telephone wires ran were very willing Mr.Brown should use the instrument, and he was soon talking to Mr. Ward back in Bellemere.
"Surely you may take Dix with you," said Mr. Ward over the telephone wire. "I only hope he will not be a trouble to you. I know he will make a fuss just as soon as he comes anywhere near Fred. So, in that way, you may be able to trace my boy. I hope you will. His mother hopes so too. She is beside me here as I am talking, and she sends you her thanks. Take Dix with you if you wish."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Sue, when she heard the news. "Aren't you, Bunny? Now we have two dogs!"
"Yes, one will be yours and one mine, until we get back home with Dix. Then we'll each own half of Splash, as we've always done."
This suited Sue, and, now that the dog question was settled, the automobile started on again.
For a little while everything was peaceful and quiet in the big automobile. Bunny went outside on the front seat with his father, andlooked down the road along which they were running. It was a pleasant road, with trees arching across overhead from one side to the other.
Inside the big car Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad "got things to rights," as the children's mother called it, while Sue took out some of her toys, including the big Teddy bear with the electric eyes, whose adventures have been told in the book just before this one.
Bunny and his father talked together on the seat in front. Bunny was interested in whether or not they would find Fred.
"Well, we may and we may not," said Mr. Brown. "It is true Fred said he was going to run away to Portland, the city where we are going. But we will not be there for some time, and before then Fred may think he does not like it there and go somewhere else."
"Well, I think Dix will help find him, don't you?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, I hope so, Son."
Just then came a call from inside the automobile.
"Who's ready for dinner?"
THE TWO DOGS CAME WITH A RUSH.
THE TWO DOGS CAME WITH A RUSH.Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour. Page79.
"I am!" cried Bunny, the first one.
"So am I," added Sue.
"Then come on! Rations are served," said Uncle Tad who had been in the army.
He and Mrs. Brown had cooked their first meal on the gasolene stove in the little kitchen and dining room combined, and it was now ready to serve.
Bunny clambered in by way of the front seat and took his place at the little table.
"I think we had better stop beside the road while we eat," said Mr. Brown. "This automobile is all right for traveling, but the roads are so rough here that I may spill my tea. So we'll anchor and eat."
"Daddy thinks we're in a boat I guess, when he talks about anchoring," said Sue, who, more than once, had been out in the big fishing boat with her father.
Then the meal began. There was some cooked meat, for they could carry meat in the ice box, baked potatoes, and, best of all, some pie.
It was while he was eating his pie and drinking his milk that Bunny suddenly cried:
"The dogs!"
"What about them?" asked Mrs. Brown quickly. "Are they fighting? Where are they, Bunny?"
"Just over in that field playing. But we didn't call Splash and Dix to dinner."
"Oh, is that all? I think they can wait a bit," said Mrs. Brown with a laugh. "By the way you spoke I thought something had happened."
"Well, this pie tasted good, that's part of what happened," said Bunny, with a laugh. "And then I got to wishing Dix and Splash could have some."
"I'll feed them when the rest of you have finished," promised Mrs. Brown.
When the meal was over Mrs. Brown gathered up a big plateful of scraps from the table, and gave it to Bunny to feed Dix and Splash.
"Here Dix!" called Bunny, inviting the "company" dog first, which was proper, I suppose. "Here, Dix and Splash!"
The two dogs heard and must have known that they were being called to dinner, for theycame with a rush, each one trying to see which would be the first to reach Bunny with the plateful of good food.
"You'd better put the dish on the ground and get away," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. "Otherwise they'll be so glad to see you, Bunny, that they'll knock you down and roll over you."
"I guess they will," said the little boy. So he put the plate of meat, bread and potato scraps on the ground near the big automobile and then stepped back out of the way.
Dix and Splash did not take long to finish the food on the plate, and then they looked up at Bunny and wagged their tails, as if asking for more.
"No more!" called Mrs. Brown to them, for she understood the feeding of dogs. "That will do you until supper."
Seeing they were going to get no more, Dix and Splash ran off together again to have more fun rolling about in the grass.
"Where do you think we shall stop for the night?" asked Mrs. Brown of her husband as they set off once more.
"Just outside the town of Freeburg," he answered. "We'll sleep in the auto, of course, for if we are making a tour this way it's the proper thing to do. But we'll be near enough a town for supplies or anything we may need."
"Goodness! We don't need anything this soon, nor have we a place to put another thing away," protested Mrs. Brown.
Her husband laughed. "However, it's well to be near a town overnight," he said.
So the big automobile chugged on. Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad washed the dishes and put them away, and then they sat looking out at the side windows and enjoying the trip. Now and then Mr. Brown would talk in through the open window against which the steering wheel seat was built. Bunny and his sister sometimes rode inside, and again outside with Daddy Brown.
"This is lots of fun, I think," said Bunny, as he sat beside his father, and the auto went rather fast down a hill.
"It's just great! My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear likes it, too," put in Sue, who was also on the front seat. Both of them together tookup no more room than one grown person, and the front seat was built large enough for two.
Dix and Splash raced on together, sometimes playing a game like wrestling, trying to see which could throw the other, and again rushing along as fast as they could go, sometimes behind, and sometimes in front of the automobile.
At the foot of the hill, down which the automobile had gone rather fast, a man stepped out from a fence beside the road and held up his hand.
"What does that mean?" asked Sue.
"It means to stop," said her father, as he slowed up the machine.
"What for?" Bunny inquired.
"Well, he may be a constable—that is a kind of a policeman," said Mr. Brown. "He wants us to stop, thinking, maybe, that we were running too fast. But I know we weren't."
"Will he 'rest us?" asked Sue. "If he does I'm going to hide Sallie Malinda. I'm not going to have her locked up!"
"Nothing will happen," said Mr. Brownwith a laugh. "I have run an automobile long enough to know what to do."
Mr. Brown brought the big machine to a stop near the spot where the man was standing with upraised hand.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Brown good-naturedly. "Were we going too fast?"
"Oh, nopey!" exclaimed the man with a laugh. "I jest stopped you to see what kind of a show you was givin'."
"What kind of show we are giving?" repeated Mr. Brown in surprise.
"Yep! I thought maybe you was one o' them patent medicine shows that goes 'round in big wagons and stops here and there, and a feller sings, or plays, or somethin', then the head man or woman sells medicine what'll cure everything you ever had in the way of pain or ever expect to have. I thought I'd see what kind of a show you've got."
"We haven't any," laughed Mr. Brown. "You may look in the auto if you like, and see how we live in it. We are traveling for pleasure."
"I see you be, now," said the man after a look. "Wa'al, I'm right sorry I stopped you."
"That's all right," said Mr. Brown pleasantly. "This is a heavy machine, and I don't like to get it to going too fast downhill. It's too hard to stop. So it's just as well we slowed up."
"You see I'm the inspector of all them travelin' shows," went on the man. "Ribbans is my name, Hank Ribbans. Every medicine show or other show that comes to town has to git a permit from me, else they can't show. But you're all right, pass on."
An idea came into Mrs. Brown's head.
"Do you have many shows passing through here, with musicians who play to draw a crowd?" she asked.
"Oh, sartin, surely. 'Bout one once a week as a rule. There was one that showed here two or three nights ago—no, come to think of it now, it was last night. There was a young feller—nothin' but a boy—dressed up in the reddest and bluest suit you ever see. And say, how he could play that old banjo!"
"Oh, a banjo! Maybe it was Fred!" cried Bunny.
The same thought came to his father and mother.
"Tell us about this boy," requested Mr. Brown. "We are looking for one who plays the banjo," and he described Fred Ward.
"Well, this can't be the one you're lookin' for," said Mr. Ribbans. "'Cause this feller was a negro."
"Maybe he was blacked up like a minstrel," said Bunny.
"I couldn't say as to that," returned the inspector. "Anyhow they paid for their license all right, and they sold a powerful lot o' Dr. Slack's Pain Killer. Then they went on out of town. That's all I know. Well, you don't need a license from me; so go ahead, folks!"
He waved good-bye to them as they went off again.
Bunny and Sue were eager to ask questions about the colored boy who played the banjo for the medical show.
"Do you think he could have been Fred?" asked Bunny.
"It is possible," answered his father.
"Maybe we can find him," added Sue.
"We'll make inquiries about this show in the next town we come to," said Mr. Brown.
But as the next town was the one outside of which they were to spend the night, they decided to put off until the next day asking questions about the colored banjo player.
Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown helped Mrs. Brown get the supper. When it was over there was a large platter full of good things left for the two dogs. They were hungry, for they had run far that day, and they ate up every scrap.
Then they stretched out for a while near a campfire Mr. Brown made under some trees, for it was a little cool in the evenings. As the children had been up early that morning, Mrs. Brown told them they must be early in bed, and after watching the fire until their eyes began to shut of themselves, Bunny and Sue started for their little bunks.
Just as they were getting undressed, thoughit was scarcely dark, the barking of dogs was heard down the road.
"That's Dix and Splash!" exclaimed Bunny. "And something must have happened. Splash wouldn't bark that way if there was nothing the matter."
"Here comes Dix now," said Sue, looking out of the automobile window. "And oh, Bunny! Look what he's brought home with him!"
"What is it?" asked Bunny, whose bunk was on the other side of the big car.
"It's a cow. Dix is leading home a cow on the end of a rope!" exclaimed Sue.
For a moment the two children looked out of the automobile windows at the strange sight. Then, unable longer to think of going to bed when there was likely to be some excitement, they both came out from behind the curtains that screened off their cots, and cried together:
"Dix has got a cow!"
"Dix has got awhat?" asked Mrs. Brown, thinking she had not understood.
"Dix has got acow!" went on Bunny. "He's leading her by a rope. I guess he thinks it's our cow."
"Well, what will those dogs do next?" asked Mr. Brown, who was reading a newspaper he had purchased from a passing boy, who rode his route on a bicycle.
"It's true enough—about the cow," said Uncle Tad, who was outside the automobile putting out the last embers of the campfire,that there might be no danger during the night. "One of the dogs is leading home a 'cow critter,' as some farmers call them.
"It's Dix," he went on a moment later as the two dogs, both barking excitedly, came close to the big moving van, Dix having hold of the rope that was tied fast to the cow's neck. He was leading her along, and the cow did not appear to mind. "Dix must have found the cow wandering along the road," went on Uncle Tad, "and, thinking we might need one, he just brought her home."
"Very thoughtful of Dix, I'm sure," said Mr. Brown, who had come outside as had his wife, while Bunny and Sue remained in their pajamas in the doorway. "He probably meant it kindly, but what will the man think whose cow she is? Well, what's the matter with you, Splash?" asked Mr. Brown, for that dog, too, was barking very loudly. "Did you see the cow first, and wouldn't Dix let you have a share in bringing her here? I guess that was it. Never mind, you shall lead the cow home, if we can find out where she belongs."
He patted Splash's head as he spoke, and talked to the dog almost as he would have talked to a small boy. And I think Splash understood, for he wagged his tail, and seemed pleased.
Dix led the cow up to Mr. Brown, and there, dropping the end of the rope, wagged his tail, barked once or twice and looked up as though he were saying:
"Well, didn't I do pretty well for the first day? I found a cow for you. That will more than pay my board. I'll try and find something else to-morrow."
Then, as if satisfied that he had done his duty, Dix went off to hunt for a bone he had buried after his supper, and Splash went with him.
"Well, what in the world are we going to do with it?" asked Mrs. Brown. "We can't keep this cow; that's sure!"
"We might tie her to one of the auto wheels," said Mr. Brown.
"No, thank you!" exclaimed his wife. "She'd moo all night, and keep us awake."
"But we can't turn her loose," said Mr.Brown. "She might wander off and be stolen, and then the owner would blame us, though it might not be our fault. Since Dix has brought the cow to us, no matter whether we wanted her or not, we've got to look after her somehow."
"Couldn't Dix take her back?" asked Bunny, from where he stood in the doorway with Sue.
"That's perhaps a good idea," replied Mr. Brown. "Though I don't know that Dix could exactly take her back. I think I'd better do it myself. It's early yet, and probably the farmer who owns the cow is out looking for her. I'll let Splash lead the cow back along the road, and I'll go with him. We may meet the farmer."
"Well, don't be gone too long," begged Mrs. Brown. "The first day is always hard and we want to get to bed early."
"I'll do my best," promised Mr. Brown. "Come on, Splash! It's your turn now to lead the cow!"
Splash barked joyfully, and seemed glad that he was to have something to do with thebig horned animal, who was contentedly chewing her cud, lying down beside the automobile. She appeared quite contented wherever she was.
"Oh, let us come!" begged Bunny and Sue, as they saw their father go off down the road with Splash leading the cow by the rope.
"No, indeed! You youngsters get to bed!" said Mrs. Brown. "You ought to be glad of the chance. You must be tired."
"We're not—a single bit!" declared Bunny, but though he and Sue begged hard, and teased to go to see the cow taken home, their mother would not let them.
It was quite dark when Mr. Brown came back. The children were asleep, but Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad were sitting up reading.
"Well?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she noticed how tired her husband looked. "Did you have far to go?"
"About two miles, and mostly uphill. But I found the cow's owner."
"Did you? That's good! How did you manage?" asked Uncle Tad.
"Well, I was going along, Splash leading the cow as proud as a peacock, when, all of a sudden, I saw a man hurrying toward me. He seemed very much excited, and asked me if that wasmycow the dog was leading.
"I told him it was not; that one of the dogs that was with us on our auto trip had brought her in; and that I was bringing her back, looking for the owner."
"'I'm him,' he said. 'And I can soon prove the critter's mine.'"
"I told him I hoped she was, for I was tired of walking with her. So he stopped at two or three farmers' houses, and they all said the cow belonged to Mr. Adrian Richmond, who was the man that met me. So I left the cow with him and came on home, for thisdoeslook like home," he added, as he gazed around the small but cozy room in the auto-van.
"Did the farmer tell you how Dix came to lead off his cow?" asked Uncle Tad.
"No, he only guessed that the animal must have pulled loose from her stake and wandered off down the road. She was used tobeing led home every night by the farmer's dog, so she didn't make any objections."
"Then Dix must be a sort of a cow dog," remarked Mrs. Brown, and later it was learned that Dix had once been on a western ranch and had helped the cowboys with their work.
So with the cow disposed of, and the two dogs asleep on some old blankets under the automobile, the little party of travelers settled down for the night. They all slept soundly, and in the morning the first thing Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue wanted to know about was the cow. Their father told them all that had happened.
"That Dix is a great dog!" cried Bunny. "I'm glad we brought him with us."
"So'm I!" echoed Sue. "And maybe to-day he'll find Fred."
"How can he?" asked Bunny.
"Because you know the funny old man who stopped us, to see if we were a traveling show, said that boy banjo player was to come to this town. And even if the one he sawwascolored it might be Fred blacked up."
"That's so," agreed Bunny. "We'll get daddy to ask."
A breakfast was cooked in the auto and eaten out-of-doors, because it was such a lovely morning. More than once as they ate in the shadow of the big car other autoists, passing, waved a merry greeting to the happy little party, and as horse-drawn carts and wagons passed along the road on their way into town, many curious glances were cast at the travelers.
It was rather a strange way of making a journey, but it suited the Browns, and they preferred their big automobile to any railroad train they could have had.
After breakfast they set off again, passing through the city.
Mr. Brown asked several persons there about the traveling medicine show with the colored banjo player. Many had seen it, but some were sure the banjo-playing boy was a real negro, while others said he was only blackened up. At any rate the show had traveled on, and no one knew where it would be next met with.
"Well, it may have been Fred, and it may not," said Mr. Brown. "I must write and ask Mr. Ward if his son could imitate a negro, singing and playing the banjo, and whether he ever dressed up and did that sort of thing."
The progress of the big automobile through the town attracted many persons, not a few of whom believed it to be a traveling show, and they were disappointed when some sort of performance was not given.
The Browns were soon out in the sunny country again, traveling along a shady level road. Bunny and Sue played with their toys, and at noon, when they stopped for lunch, they had a romping game of tag in the woods and fields near-by.
After the noon rest they went on again, the two dogs running along, sometimes ahead of the automobile and sometimes behind it.
"I'm going to put darling Sallie Malinda to sleep," said Sue after a while. "And I'm going to let her sleep near the back door of the car."
"Why?" asked Bunny, who was very fond of asking questions.
"She isn't feeling very well, and the air will do her good," answered Sue, who made her "make-believe" very real to herself.
So, having made a nice bed of rags for her Teddy bear, Sue put Sallie Malinda to sleep near the rear door of the auto and got out one of her books to look at the pictures. Bunny was building some sort of house with some new blocks his father had bought for him, but he was not having very good luck, for the motion of the auto made the house topple over almost as soon as Bunny had it built.
After a while Sue thought her Teddy bear had had enough sleep near the auto door, so she went to take her in. But when she reached the rag bed Sallie Malinda was not there.
"Oh, my Teddy bear is gone!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny, do you think she falled out? Daddy! Daddy! Stop the auto! My Teddy bear is lost!"
Mr. Brown stopped the car at once, though he did not understand all of what Sue said. The little girl told him what had happened.
"Sallie Malinda gone!" cried MotherBrown. "That's too bad! She must have been jostled off when the auto went over a bump. I think we'll have to go back and look for her," she said to her husband.
Then Bunny gave some more news.
"Dix is gone too!" he cried. "I've been watching a long while and I haven't seen him. And Splash is acting awful funny—just as if Dix had run away."
"Hum! Thisisrather strange!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Two disappearances at once."
"What's disappearcesses?" asked Sue.
"It means going away—the word your father used does," explained Mrs. Brown with a smile. "But it certainly is strange that Dix and the Teddy bear should go away together."
For a moment Sue stood looking at her mother, seeming to be thinking very hard about something. Then she asked:
"Momsie, do you think Dix took Sallie Malinda away?"
"Well, it seems so," said Mrs. Brown. "That is, if Dix has really gone away. We had better make sure of that, first. There is no question about your Teddy bear's being gone, for I saw her in the rag bed by the back door of the auto not half an hour ago."
"Well, I suppose she either fell out, or Dix, thinking to have a game of tag with her, took her out, though the Teddy bear, with the batteries inside to make her eyes light up, isn't easy for even Dix to carry very far," said Mr. Brown.
"But how are we going to get my darling Sallie Malinda back?" asked Sue, and there were tears in her eyes.
"Daddy will find some way. Won't you, Daddy?" asked Bunny, for he did not like to see his little sister sad.
"Well, the only thing I can see to do is to turn the automobile around and go back to look for Sue's Teddy bear," said Mr. Brown. "He may be lying beside the road where he fell from the auto."
"My Teddy bear isn't ahe, Daddy!" cried Sue. "She's ashe! Aren't thereladyTeddy bears as well asgentlemen?"
"Yes, I suppose so," laughed Mr. Brown. "I forgot for the moment that your Teddy's name was Sallie. But whether it's a he or a she I suppose you'd like to have me go back for it, wouldn't you?"
"Indeed I would, Daddy! I don't know what I'd do without Sallie Malinda."
"All right, then we'll turn the auto around."
"We've done about as much going backward as we have going forward on this trip," laughed Uncle Tad. "But still we must get Sue's pet. It wouldn't do to go off and leaveher."
"I can't understand about Dix, though,"said Mrs. Brown. "Surely he wouldn't run away and leave us after he had come this far with us."
"Maybe he is just playing hide-and-go-seek with Splash," said Bunny. "Maybe it's Dix's turn to hide."
"Suppose you call him," suggested Mrs. Brown.
Bunny called and whistled, in a way he had been doing to get Dix to come to him ever since the Ward dog had joined the traveling automobile party. But there came no answering bark, and even Splash seemed surprised when he could not find his playfellow.
"Hi, Splash!" called Bunny. "Where is Dix? Go find him!"
Splash ran around and barked, which was his only way of talking, but he came back frequently to the children, who, with their parents and Uncle Tad, were standing beside the auto, and he did not bring Dix back with him.
It was as though Splash said:
"I know you want to find Dix, but I don't know where he is. There is no use in myrunning my legs off to find him, for he is a long way from here."
"Dix possibly has been missing a longer while than we know," said Mr. Brown. "I noticed once, as we were going over a bridge, that Splash went in and had a little swim. But I did not see Dix with him, though I didn't think anything about it at the time. We had that trouble with the engine farther back than that. When I got that fixed Dix was about. But from then on I haven't seen him, and that was some miles back."
"Maybe that's the time my dear Sallie Malinda fell out," said Sue. "Or else Dix took her."
"I don't believe he'd do that," said her father. "He was too well trained. He isn't a puppy any longer, to hide boots, shoes and toys. I don't believe Dix took your Teddy."
"Well, anyhow let's go to find him," said Bunny. "I meanher," he added quickly, as he noticed Sue looking sharply at him. "Maybe we'll find Dix and the Teddy bear at the same time."
"If Dix hasn't gone off to find a cow or anelephant or a camel or something like that to make us a present of," said Mrs. Brown with a laugh.
"Oh, Momsie! Do you think Dix would really bring back an elephant?" asked Bunny eagerly.
"No, my dear, I was only fooling. But let's start back, Daddy, for I know Sue will be very anxious to-night about her Teddy bear."
Back they started in the automobile over the road they had just traveled. Now and then they stopped and called Dix, but the dog did not come to them.
Splash added his barks and whines to the general calling but no Dix answered.
"He must be mighty far away," said Bunny.
"Yes, I'm afraid we'll never find him, or my dearest Sallie Malinda either," said Sue, and once more tears came into her eyes.
As the auto went along, in addition to calling for Dix, every one in the party, including the children, had looked along the road for a sight of the Teddy bear that might have fallen from the automobile. But Sallie Malinda was not to be seen, and Sue did not know what to do.
"Well, we'll go back to where I last noticed that Dix was with us," said Mr. Brown. "Then if we don't find your Teddy, Sue, I'll have to get you another."
"But I'd rather have Sallie Malinda!"
"I know, dear, but you can name the new one that."
"Sue's Teddy's had lots of adventures," said Bunny. "The hermit took her, and now she's lost."
"Well, I'm not going to give up yet," said his sister, as she looked carefully along the road.
"But what can have become of Dix?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I can't understand him."
"Oh, he may have gone off chasing a rabbit or a squirrel," said Mr. Brown. "Anyhow we're almost at the bridge, and the spot where we had the engine trouble is not far beyond."
Silently those in the auto looked along the road for a sight of Sue's Teddy. Then suddenly Bunny said,
"No, he didn't!"
"Who didn't what?" asked his father, for Bunny would often make these sudden exclamations.
"Dix didn't go off chasing a rabbit or a squirrel," said Bunny. "There he comes now—with an elephant, I guess," and the little boy pointed down the road.
There was Dix coming back, and he was half dragging and half carrying something that looked like an animal.
On and on came the dog. He seemed very tired. When he saw the automobile he stopped, dropped what he had in his mouth, and lay down beside it. Then he began to bark joyfully.
"Oh, it's my Sallie Malinda! It's my Teddy bear!" cried Sue. "You dear old Dix! You found Sallie Malinda for me!"
And that is just what had happened, they decided after they had talked it over among themselves. Dix must have been running along behind the auto when he saw Sue's pet jostled out. Knowing how the little girl loved her Teddy bear he picked it up and began to half drag and half carry it, for, as Mr. Brown had said, the electrical batteries that made the Teddy's eyes shine, were heavy. Poor Dix had all he could do to drag the Teddy bear, but he would not let go, and the noise made by the auto made it impossible for those in the car to hear his barks, which he must have given.
And so they rode on, paying no attention, but leaving Dix far behind, until Sue discovered the loss of her Teddy bear.
"Oh, you are a dear good dog, and I love you!" cried Sue, hugging the Teddy bear with one arm and Dix with the other. And the dog was plainly overjoyed at being with his friends again.
I suppose the Teddy bear was glad too, but of course she could not even wag her little stub of a tail to show it. However, Sue could make the pet's eyes gleam, which she did again and again.
Nor was the Teddy bear much damaged by being dragged in the dirt, for the roads were not muddy, and Dix had held her up out of the dust as much as he could.
"Oh, but I'm glad to get my darling Sallie Malinda back!" cried Sue.
"Dix is a good dog," put in Bunny. "He can ride in the auto now, can't he, Daddy? He must be tired."
"Yes, get him and Splash both in," said Mr. Brown. "I think it is going to rain, and I want to get to the next town where we will stay overnight."
"In a hotel?" asked Bunny.
"No; in our auto, of course."
The dogs were called in, and Dix seemed glad to rest. Then Daddy Brown turned the big car around and once more they were on their way. It began to rain before they reached the town of Welldon, on the edge of which they were to stop for the night.
But the rain did not matter to those in the big moving van, which was like a little house. They had their supper inside, sat reading or playing games by the electric light, and listened to the rain on the roof, for it came down more and more heavily.
"Isn't it a nice place?" said Bunny to Sue, as they went to bed.
"The bestest ever!" she cried.
It was about the middle of the night that Bunny was awakened by feeling a queer bumping, sliding motion.
"Why," he cried, sitting up in his bunk, "we must be traveling on in the dark! Daddy! Momsie!" he cried. "What are we moving for, when it's dark?"
"What's that?" cried Mr. Brown suddenly awakening.
"The automobile is running away!" cried Bunny, and outside they could hear a strange roaring sound amid the patter of the rain.