For a moment all was confusion inside the big automobile. Mr. and Mrs. Brown got up and dressed hastily. Bunny and Sue thought little of doing that until Sue, feeling cold around her bare legs, called to her brother:
"Wrap yourself up in a blanket, Bunny, like an Indian."
"What's going on?" yelled Uncle Tad, from his bunk.
"That's whatwe'retrying to find out," said Mr. Brown.
"Seems to me we're afloat," added Uncle Tad. "We certainly are at sea."
"It does feel so," agreed Daddy Brown, for the automobile was bumping along the roadway, and the motor was not running, either. Something was either pushing or pulling it.
Just then came the howls and whines of thetwo dogs, Dix and Splash. They had been left out on the front seat of the car, with big curtains hung in front of them so no rain could splatter on them.
"Oh, something's the matter with them!" cried Bunny Brown, and in a few minutes he had opened the window back of the seat and let the frantic dogs leap into the auto. They barked joyfully now, and frisked about Bunny and Sue.
With the opening of the window, however, came in a gust of wind and rain that made Mrs. Brown call:
"Children you'll catch dreadful colds! Get right to bed this instant."
"Oh, Mother, we want to stay up and see what's going to happen," said Bunny. "Maybe the automobile might tip over."
"And if we were in bed we'd be all upside down and tangled in the clothes," added Sue. "Please let us stay up! We'll wrap in blankets like Indians."
"Better let them get dressed," said Mr. Brown in a low voice to his wife. "There's no telling what has happened."
"What do you think?" and her voice was anxious.
"Well, it feels as if we were in a stream of some sort, partly afloat. Let the children get dressed," answered her husband.
Bunny Brown and his sister heard and hastened to their curtained-off bunks. Meanwhile Uncle Tad had closed the window near the front seat and that kept out the wind and rain. And it was raining and blowing hard. Those in the cosy car could hear the drops dash against the panes, while the wind howled around the corners of the machine.
The automobile itself was bumping along as if, indeed, it was floating down some stream, or had gone to sea like one of Mr. Brown's boats. The dogs had ceased their whining now.
"I guess they were scared, out there all alone," said Bunny, when he was nearly dressed. "I'm glad they're in here with us now."
"So am I," said Sue, as she came out into the sitting room, where Mother Brown had turned on the electric lights. It was a bitcool in the auto, for the storm had taken all the heat from the air, but there was danger in lighting one of the stoves. Though he did not let the children know, Mr. Brown thought there might be a risk of fire if the gasolene stove were lighted, because the big car might overturn.
"Now to see what it's all about," said Mr. Brown, when he and Uncle Tad were fully dressed. "We'll find out if we are adrift on the Atlantic or Pacific ocean, and how to get to shore."
He was putting on his rubber boots and raincoat, and Uncle Tad was doing the same thing. Then Mr. Brown got a lantern and lighted it, for he was going to open the back door of the car to look outside, to see where the flood was taking them. For he was sure now, by the motion of the automobile, that the heavy rain had turned a small stream, near which they had stopped for the night, into a small-sized river, and that had risen high enough, or had come down with force enough, to sweep the big auto-van ahead with it.
But no sooner had Mr. Brown and UncleTad opened the back door of the automobile, that a gust of wind blew out the lantern, for there was a hole in the glass enclosing the flame and the wind puffed right through the lantern.
"Well, I can't very well see in the dark," said Mr. Brown, as he came in to light the lantern once more. "It's a very strong wind."
Again he opened the door, but in a second the lantern was blown out once more. Only the electric lights, kept aglow in the car by the storage battery, remained gleaming.
"I ought to have one of those pocket flash lights," said Mr. Brown. "I meant to get a strong one, but I forgot it."
"I have one, Daddy," said Bunny.
"Where? Give it to me!" called his father quickly. "We must do something at once."
"I don't know where it is," Bunny had to confess. "I was playing with it the other day, but I must have left it somewhere——"
"Never mind, I'll try the lantern again," said Mr. Brown.
"It's sure to blow out," said Uncle Tad.
"Perhaps we can paste something over the hole," suggested Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, Daddy," cried Sue, "take my Teddy bear! Her eyes will give you almost as much light as Bunny's flashlight. Maybe more, 'cause she hastwoeyes. She won't mind the rain, for I can put on her water-proof cloak."
"Hum! That isn't such a bad idea," said Mr. Brown. "We'll try it. Bring out your Sallie Malinda Teddy bear, Sue. Her eyes will certainly need to shine brightly to-night, for it's very dark. It's a good thing you have her along."
"I'll find my flashlight to-morrow," promised Bunny.
"I'll get one myself then," said his father. "No telling when we might need it."
All this while the big automobile was slowly bumping and moving along. Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown took Sue's Teddy bear. By pressing on a button in the toy's back the eyes shone brightly, two electric lights being behind them.
"Does Sallie Malinda give a good light,Daddy?" asked Sue, as her father got ready to open the door again.
"Yes, little girl. It will be all right, and the wind can't blow out Sallie's eyes, no matter how hard it puffs."
With the Teddy bear as a lantern Mr. Brown again went out. This time the wind did not matter, though it seemed to be blowing harder than ever. Uncle Tad followed Mr. Brown out on the rear steps of the car. They shut the door behind them to keep out the rain.
"Why, it's a regular flood!" cried Uncle Tad, as the Teddy bear's eyes flashed on swirling and muddy water.
"That's what it is," said Daddy Brown. "Say, we've got to do something!" he cried to his uncle. "And we've got to do it soon. We'll have to anchor—tie the auto to a tree or something. This flood may carry us down to the big river just below!"
Holding the Teddy bear so the light from its eyes shone all about, the two men stood on the back steps of the automobile and looked around them.
All about was swiftly running water. The evening before, in coming to a stop for the night, Mr. Brown had noticed, not far away from their camping place, a small stream. Behind it were some high hills or small mountains, but, though the storm was a hard one, no one thought the little brook would turn into such a river.
"But that's what it's done," said Uncle Tad. "It's risen so high that it's covered the side of the road near where we were, and it's floated us off."
"Yes. I fear we'll soon be flooded inside."
Bunny, listening at the outer door of the big car, heard above the noise of the flood andthe rain, his father say this. For a moment he was frightened, then he happened to think:
"Well, I've got rubber boots, and if the water comes in here I can wade around and get things. But I guess I won't tell Sue and Momsie about it. They might be scared."
Bunny Brown was a brave little chap when it came to something like this. In fact he had shown his bravery more than once, as those of you who have read the other books about him and his sister well know.
Out on the steps of the automobile, with the glaring eyes of Sue's Teddy bear to let them see what was going on, Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad again looked about.
They could see the rain coming down hard, and on both sides of them was what seemed to be a big river of water. Many little brooks in the mountains, joining together, had made such a big stream that it had shoved along the heavy auto.
"It can't shove us very far, I think," said Mr. Brown. "We are too heavy for that. But it might tip us over, this water might, or send us into a ditch out of which we wouldhave a hard time to climb. I'd like to anchor fast, if I could."
"Why don't you tie fast to a tree?" asked Uncle Tad. "We have the heavy towing rope with us."
"I guess that's a good idea," said Mr. Brown. "We are being swept along the road and there are plenty of trees on either side."
Bunny Brown was not listening at the door any longer. His mother had called him and Sue to the dining-room table and given them some bread and milk to eat. She thought this would take their attention off the trouble they were in. For that there was trouble Mrs. Brown was sure. Otherwise her husband and Uncle Tad would not have stayed so long outside looking about in the wind and the rain.
"Yes," said Mr. Brown, after once more looking about with the aid of the lights from the eyes of Sue's Teddy bear. "We had best try to fasten the auto to some tree. Then we'll be held fast, for I do not believe the flood will reach much higher. I have heard of high water in this part of the country, butit never gets much higher than this, if I remember rightly."
"I'll go in for the rope," said Uncle Tad, "and we'll try to make fast to some tree. We'll be lucky if we can do it before we run into something," and he opened the door.
"Oh, what is the matter?"
"What has happened?"
"Tell us all about it!"
This is what Mrs. Brown, Bunny and Sue said as Uncle Tad, dripping wet, came back into the auto. Dix and Splash thumped their tails on the floor, as though also asking what the matter was.
"Oh, it isn't much," said Uncle Tad. "The brook rose into a river in the night, and tried to carry us away. But we are going to anchor to a tree until morning."
Bunny and Sue could easily understand what this meant, and they were not frightened, even though the automobile swayed about from side to side and bumped as a boat does when it goes over the bottom in shallow water.
Uncle Tad got the towrope out from a box, or locker, as Mr. Brown called it. The ropewas a strong one, as it was intended to be used in case the big automobile went into a ditch, in which event it could be pulled out.
With the rope Uncle Tad went out on the back steps again.
"We're still moving," said Mr. Brown.
"Are we any nearer the trees, so it will be easier to catch hold of one of them with a loop of the rope?" asked Uncle Tad.
"No, we're farther off from the trees," said Bunny's father and, if the little boy had been listening, he would have felt worried about this. But Mr. Brown was a good sailor, and if he knew how to anchor, or make fast, a boat in a big ocean, he might be supposed to know how to anchor, or stop, an automobile in a flood on the road.
Mr. Brown took the rope, while Uncle Tad held the Teddy bear and flashed her eyes about on the flood that was moving the car along. Bunny's father was trying to catch sight of a tree around a limb of which he could cast the rope and so bring the drifting automobile to a stop. It was not moving quite so fast now, as the stream was not quite so swift. In factif the flooded stream had not been so swift it never could have carried the heavy auto along at all.
"I suppose," said Mr. Brown, "I could start the motor and make the car go itself. But I would not know where to steer her."
"No, it is better to make her fast, I think," said Uncle Tad.
Just then they passed under a tree. Mr. Brown tried to catch the rope to it, but the auto rolled past too quickly.
"Better luck next time," he said.
Presently they were swept under another tree, and this time, as Mr. Brown cast the rope, it whirled about a big limb and was held fast. The other end had been tied to the automobile near the back door and now the big car came to a slow stop.
"If she only holds we'll be all right," said Mr. Brown, his hand still on the rope.
The automobile moved a little bit farther, as the rope stretched, and then it stopped altogether, and Mr. Brown tied tighter the end of the rope that was about the tree.
"Anchored at last!" cried Uncle Tad, as hegot ready to go inside the car. "Now let it rain and flood as much as it likes."
"Are we all right?" asked Bunny as his father and his Uncle Tad came in.
"We won't go out to sea, will we?" Sue questioned.
"No indeed, to your question, Sue," answered her father. "And as to yours, Bunny, we are anchored safe and sound I hope. Now we can go back to bed and sleep."
But first Bunny and Sue had to ask many questions, and Sue had to take off her Teddy bear's water-proof cloak, in spite of which the toy was wet.
"But it won't hurt her batteries inside or her eyes," said the little girl.
"And as for her fur, that will soon dry," added Mother Brown.
"She gave us good light," said Father Brown. "Now, off to bed with you."
No one slept very much the rest of the night except the children and the dogs. Dix and Splash did not think of worrying, and as for Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, they thought that whatever Daddy Brown and Uncle Taddid was just right anyhow. So they had no fear.
Mrs. Brown, her husband, and Uncle Tad did not sleep very soundly, however. The rain still came down in torrents and the wind blew hard. The rush of the flood beneath the auto could still be heard. But it came no higher.
The rope held to the tree, the big car did not drag, and when morning came the travelers found themselves some distance from the place where they had been the evening before. They were about a mile down the road, and all about them, over the road and the adjacent fields, was a lake of water.
But it was not raining so hard now. The storm seemed to be about over. The water was going down, Mr. Brown said, and when Bunny, at the breakfast table, asked how his father knew, Mr. Brown pointed to a fence not far from the tree to which they were tied.
"Do you see the muddy marks and the bits of leaves and grass caught on the fence?" asked Mr. Brown.
"I see," said Bunny.
"Well, that shows how high the water got," explained his father. "You see the top of the water is below that now, which shows that the flood is going down. And I am glad enough of it."
"So am I," said Mrs. Brown. "We've had water enough for once."
The storm had been such a heavy one that it could not last long, and by noon the sun was out. But it would take some time for the flood to go down and the roads to dry up.
"We'll probably stay here three days," said Mr. Brown. "It looks like a nice place, and we have plenty to eat. We'll stay and let things dry out. Traveling on a muddy, slippery road, with a heavy automobile like this, is not safe. We'll wait a while."
Anything suited Bunny and Sue as long as they were seeing or having something new. And when the rain stopped their mother let them put on their rubber boots and wade where the water was not too deep.
After wading about awhile, Bunny thought of something to do.
"Let's make a raft!" he said to Sue.
"Oh, that will be fun!" she cried.
Sue knew what a raft was from living near the seashore. Many times she and her brother had made them, and they had often heard stories of sailors coming ashore from wrecks on rafts. Rafts are flat boards, or planks, nailed or tied together, and they will float on top of the water and carry a number of people, though they are so low that the water washes over them and wets one's feet.
This last part Bunny and Sue did not mind, for they had on rubber boots. They quickly made a raft by collecting some boards and logs that had come down with the flood, and had caught in the fence corner near which their auto was anchored.
Uncle Tad helped them nail the boards together, and then Bunny and Sue floated the raft over into a little rain-water lake in the middle of a field and began shoving it about with long poles. They had ridden up and down one side of the little lake, stopping at places on the "shore," to which they gave the names of sea-coast towns near their home.
"Now we'll go across to the other side," said Sue.
But when she and Bunny had the raft about in the middle of the "lake," it stuck fast, because the water was not deep enough just there.
"Push!" cried Bunny. "Push hard, Sue!"
Sue pushed so hard that, all of a sudden, her pole broke, and she fell off the raft into the water.
"Oh dear!" she cried. "Oh dear!"
For a moment Bunny did not know what to do. Then he saw that the water was not more than up to Sue's knees and he knew she would not drown. But, as she had fallen in backwards, she was wet from top to toe. Sue began to cry as she got up, choking and gasping, for she had swallowed a little water.
"Don't cry!" begged Bunny. "Let's pretend you're a swimmer on the beach and went out too far."
"Wha-what good would that do, me pre-pre-tendin' that?" half-sobbed Sue.
"Well, then I'll pretend I'm a life-guard,and I'll swim out and pull you to shore," said Bunny.
By this time Sue had managed to stand up firmly on her feet, though she was very wet.
"There's no use in you're pretending you're a life-guard and getting all wet like me, when I can just as well get on the raft myself," said Sue practically.
"Oh, I want to be a life-guard," said Bunny. "Here I come!" and with that he jumped off the raft feet first, landing near Sue with a splash.
"Oh, now you've gotyourselfall wet, for it went over your boots," said the little girl. "Mother will scold."
"Well, now I can take half the scolding, for I'm half as wet as you," said Bunny. "Anyhow she won't scold much. For you couldn't help falling in, Sue, and she'll be glad I pretended to be a life-guard to help you out." With that he put Sue on the raft again.
By this time the raft had floated free of the little hill of mud in the meadow lake where it had gone aground, and Bunny and Suepoled it toward the road. When their mother saw how wet they were she did not scold them. That is, not much. For, after all, part of it could not be helped.
Dix and Splash enjoyed the flood, for they both liked to be in the water. They swam about, playing their sort of "tag" and racing after sticks which Bunny and Sue threw for them.
A few days after this, when the flood had all gone down, and having waited for the roads to dry, Mr. Brown once more set off with his family in the big machine. For two or three days they traveled along. Once, when they stopped for their noon-day lunch under a big oak tree, Uncle Tad built a small fire of twigs and Bunny and his sister roasted marshmallows at the blaze.
At a number of places Mr. Brown asked about Fred Ward, the missing boy, but no trace of him could be found, nor was anything more heard of the traveling medicine show with the colored banjo player.
It was one evening at dusk, when the automobile had come to a stop for the night, andthe family were all sitting out under the tree near the road, that Uncle Tad, looking down the highway, said:
"Isn't that a fire over there?" He pointed toward a neighboring farmhouse.
"Do you mean a campfire or a bonfire?" asked Bunny.
"Neither one. I mean a real fire," said Uncle Tad.
"It is a fire!" suddenly cried Mr. Brown. "A shed near that barn is blazing. See the men running to put it out!"
"We'd better go to help," said Uncle Tad.
"Let us come, too!" begged Bunny and Sue.
Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown did not stop to answer the children's plea to be allowed to go to the fire. On the men rushed, and Bunny and Sue turned to their mother.
"Please mayn't we go?" they begged. "It isn't far, and it's early yet. Besides, we know enough to keep away from fires."
"Well——" said Mrs. Brown slowly. Then she stopped as she saw Uncle Tad running back, while Mr. Brown kept on toward the blaze in a shed near some farmer's barn.
"What's the matter, Uncle Tad?" asked Bunny. "Aren't you going?"
"Yes. But I came back to get the fire extinguishers that we carry on the auto. This blaze hasn't much of a start yet, and we may be able to put it out with our extinguishers."
Uncle Tad darted into the automobile. Sue and Bunny remembered about the extinguishers now. They were red things, like fire crackers, and hung near the seat behind the steering wheel.
Once, to show Bunny and Sue how easily the extinguishers put out a fire, Mr. Brown had started one in the back yard. Then, from the red thing, he had squirted a liquid and the fire sizzled and went out.
"Oh, we want to see daddy put out the fire!" cried Bunny.
"The children are teasing to go," said Mrs. Brown, as Uncle Tad came out again with an extinguisher under each arm. "Do you suppose it would do them any harm?"
"Not at all!" cried Uncle Tad. "But you come with them. I don't believe the fire will be a very big one, but a lot of the country people are running to it. Bring the children along. Daddy Brown won't care."
"Whoop!" cried Bunny. "That's great!"
"I wouldn't whoop," observed Sue, shaking her finger at her brother.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because this isn't a bonfire. Somebody's shed is burning up; and though it looks nice itisn't any fun for them. We ought to be sorry."
"Well I am," said Bunny. "I'm sorry for them, but I'm glad for myself that I'm going to see the fire. Is that all right, Momsie?"
"I guess so," answered Mrs. Brown, and then she hurried on to the fire with the children, while Uncle Tad raced ahead with the red fire-cracker extinguishers.
Over the fields, from other farmhouses, people came running. Men and women, and boys and girls. They, also, wanted to see the fire. As Bunny and Sue, with their mother, hurried on they saw that the blaze was in a low shed, and from this shed came wild squeals.
"They sound like pigs!" said Bunny.
"I guess it is the pig-pen on fire," replied Mother Brown.
Bunny and his sister, with their mother, were at the fire almost as soon as Daddy Brown and Uncle Tad. Then they saw for sure that what was blazing was a big pig-pen built on the side of a barn. The barn had not yet caught fire.
"Make a bucket brigade!" called one of the farmers who had run to the fire. "We must dip water from the brook, pass it along in pails, and throw it on the fire."
"Wait a minute!" cried Mr. Brown. "I have a better way than that, and surer, I think. First some of you rip out a side of the pen, so the pigs can get loose, and then we'll put out the fire for you."
"That's the idea! He's got fire extinguishers!" cried the farmer whose pen was ablaze. "Rip off some of the boards and let those pigs out. Otherwise they'll be roasted before their time."
"Set to work!" yelled a neighbor.
With rakes, hoes and axes the men soon tore down a side of the pen farthest away from the fire. Out ran the pigs squealing as loudly as they could. Dix, Splash and some other dogs ran among them, thinking it was all a game, I suppose.
Mr. Brown, with one extinguisher, and Uncle Tad, with another, squirted on the blaze the white streams, made of something that puts fire out better even than water. Overthe blaze Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown squirted the stuff until finally the fire was out.
"Well, I'm certainly obliged to you, neighbor," said the farmer who owned the pigs. "My name's Blakeson. I don't believe I know you, though. Live around here?"
"No, we are making a tour in a big automobile," and Mr. Brown pointed to it. "We saw your blaze and came to it."
"Well, I'm certainly thankful to you, and for those contraptions there," and he pointed to the fire extinguishers. "That's better than dipping water from the brook."
"Yes, I carry them in case the gasolene on my auto should get on fire," said Mr. Brown. "But they'll put out any small blaze."
The pig-pen had only partly burned, and the barn, to the side of which it was built, was only scorched. Some one must have dropped a match in the straw of the pig-pen to start the blaze, it was said.
"Well, we'll nail a few boards back on the pen, and it will do to keep the pigs in until morning," said Mr. Blakeson, the farmer. "That is if we can get 'em collected again."
"My dogs will help," said Mr. Brown. "Here, Dix! Splash!" he called. "Drive the pigs up here!"
The two dogs, both of which were used to driving cows, soon collected the pigs, even in the dark, and once more they were in their pen, sniffing about for something to eat, now that the fire was out.
The farmer whose barn had been saved by the children's father was much interested in the big auto, and, a little later in the evening, went down to look at it, as did some of his neighbors.
"Well, that's a fine way of traveling about," said Mr. Blakeson, and his friends agreed with him.
The next morning, while Bunny, Sue and the others were at breakfast, talking about the fire of the night before, a number of children came down the road to see the big machine. All the dirt from the flood had been washed off, and as it had been newly painted before this tour started, the "Ark," as the Browns sometimes called their big car, looked very nice indeed.
The country children had seldom, if ever, seen so big an automobile as this, nor one in which a family could live as they traveled. There were many "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" as they walked about it.
"Let's ask 'em in and show 'em our bunks," proposed Bunny, and his mother said he might. The children were even more surprised at the inside of the "Ark" than at the outside.
"Oh, wouldn't I love to live in this!" sighed a little girl with red hair. "It's just like Mother Goose or a fairy story."
"I love fairy stories," said Sue.
Just before the Browns were ready to set off once more in their automobile, a hired hand from the Blakeson farm came down with a basket of fresh eggs, some apples and other fruit which the farmer gave Daddy Brown and Uncle Tad for helping to put out the fire.
"Oh, he needn't have done that," said Mrs. Brown. "But I do love fresh eggs, so I'll keep them. Please thank Mr. Blakeson for me."
The man said he would, and then, ashe went back to the farm, the big auto started off on the tour again. There were yet many miles to go, and many more adventures were in store for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.
"We've got to find that missing Fred Ward," said Bunny. "It's funny where he went, isn't it?"
"Well, this country is a big place, especially if a person wants to hide," said Mr. Brown. "Still we may find some trace of Fred in Portland when we get there. But that will not be for some weeks, as we are traveling slowly."
The Browns and Uncle Tad found the auto tour so pleasant that it was decided to make the trip even longer than at first planned, which would put off the time when they would reach Portland.
For two more days they traveled on, stopping each night near some village or small city. Nothing happened except that once they nearly ran into a hay wagon that did not get out of the way in time.
"But it wouldn't hurt any more to hit a hay wagon than it would be to fall into a feather bed," said Bunny.
It was just about supper time. Bunny and Sue were playing out in front of the automobile, while Mrs. Brown was getting supper. Sue suddenly called:
"Oh, look at Dix! He's chasing a cat!"
Something big and gray flashed over the ground. Dix ran for it, and his teeth seemed to close on one of the hind legs of the animal. Then the gray animal ran up a tree, and Dix raced about at the foot, barking and whining, while Splash left the place where he was rolling on the grass, to come to see what the matter was.
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue ran toward the tree up which Dix had chased the gray creature. The dog was greatly excited, and at once Splash joined in, too. Though it is very likely Splash did not in the least know what he was barking at.
Dogs are like that, you know. When one hears another bark it will join in, and then will come a third and maybe a fourth until every dog in the block is barking, and only the first one may know why, and perhaps even he does not.
"Oh, I hope he didn't hurt that pussy," said Sue.
"Maybe it wasn't a pussy," suggested Bunny.
"What makes you say that?" demanded Sue. "Didn't you see something gray run across the grass, and didn't Dix run after it?"
"Yes. And the gray thing ran up a tree.But maybe it wasn't a kittie," said Bunny, shaking his head to show he did not agree with his sister.
"Let's go and see what it is," said she, and together the two hurried faster than ever toward the tree at the bottom of which Dix and Splash were having a great barking time.
"Where are you going?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Just over to this tree," answered Bunny, pointing to it.
"Well, don't go any farther than that," warned his mother.
"No, we're just going to see what it was Dix chased up into it," went on Sue. "I said it was a cat but Bunny says——"
"I don't say what it is yet!" interrupted her brother. "I want to see it first."
They reached the tree, and the two dogs were so interested in looking up and barking at something in it that they paid little attention to the children. Dix actually stepped on Sue's feet and nearly made her fall down, while Splash tried to jump over Bunny's head. But the dog did not quite do it, and fell on Bunny instead, knocking him down.
"Oh, Bunny, are you hurt?" cried Sue.
"No, I guess not—much," answered Bunny slowly. "But I'm all—mussed up!" and he looked at Splash, who was again rushing toward the boy, not so much with the idea of playing with him as of getting nearer to the tree so he could bark at the gray animal.
"Down, Splash! Down!" cried Bunny sharply, and the dogs at once stopped barking. They had learned to mind the little boy.
Both dogs looked up into the tree and whined. It was just the way dogs do who are in the habit of chasing cats, and who make this noise, perhaps to show how sorry they are that they cannot get at the poor pussies to roll them over in the grass.
But Dix and Splash were not what one could call cat-chasing dogs. True, they had done it when they were small dogs, just over being puppies, but, of late years, Splash had given up that fun, and what little the children had seen of Dix they had not noticed him chasing cats.
"That's what makes me think it isn't a catthey've got up that tree now," said Bunny, speaking of cat-chasing to his sister.
"But itlookedlike a cat," said she.
The dogs were quieter now, though they both kept on peering up into the tree and whining softly, though they did not jump about so hard and try to leap over Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, I see it!" suddenly exclaimed Sue.
"See what?" asked Bunny.
"The cat—the gray thing—whatever it was ran up the tree," and Sue pointed her finger to the crotch where one of the lowest big branches joined the trunk.
"There it is!" went on the little girl. "See it, Bunny? And it is gray. But it doesn't reallylooklike a cat."
Bunny came and stood beside Sue. He could see the gray animal now, and as it moved just then, the dogs set up another wild barking.
"Be still!" ordered Bunny. Then, as the dog's cries were less noisy he said: "Why, Sue, I know what that is. It's a——"
And just then the gray animal fell out of the tree, landing on a pile of leaves at the very feet of the children.
With barks and howls the two dogs made a dive for it. I do not really believe they meant to bite it—they just wanted to see what it was. But Bunny was too quick for them.
With a sudden motion he caught up the gray animal and held it close to him. At the same time he shouted:
"Down, Splash! Down, Dix! Don't dare try to get this poor little squirrel. One of you has hurt its leg anyhow—that's why it fell out of the tree."
"Oh, Bunny! Is it really and truly a squirrel?" asked Sue, excitedly.
"That's what it is," said her brother. "It's a big gray squirrel. It does look something like a cat, but its tail is bigger than a cat's except when a cat is being chased by a dog."
"I saw the big tail," explained Sue, "and that's why I thought maybe it was a cat. A cat's tail always swells up like a long balloon whenever it sees a dog. But is the squirrel hurt, Bunny?"
"I guess Dix must have bit it a little on one leg," said the boy, as he looked at the gray animal which did not try to get away or bite. "That's why it couldn't go up any higher in the tree or hold fast any longer. Its leg is hurt. I'm going to take it to Uncle Tad. He knows how to fix hurt animals."
Bunny could feel the heart of the frightened squirrel beating very hard, and the little animal seemed to shrink closer to the boy, as though it knew it would be taken care of. Dix and Splash bounded about, now and then leaping up against Bunny as though they wanted to get the squirrel away from him.
But Bunny stood firm, and cried "Down, sir!" in such sharp tones that the dogs knew they must mind. They gave up the hope of getting the squirrel (that is, if they knew it was such an animal) and ran off to have a game of "tag" together.
"Dix knew it wasn't a cat as soon as he saw it," explained Bunny to Sue as they walked back toward the big auto, Bunny carrying the injured squirrel, one of whose legs seemed broken. "Dix knew it was a wild animal,"went on the little boy, "and that's why he chased it."
"I'm glad he didn't get it," murmured Sue, softly.
"So am I," replied her brother. "We'll get Uncle Tad to fix the sore leg, and then we'll make a cage and keep the squirrel. Some day we may get up another circus, and we could have it do tricks."
"Don't you think the squirrel would rather be in the woods?" asked Sue, as she looked at the gray creature.
"Well, maybe yes," agreed Bunny. "After we have it in the circus a while we'll let it go. 'Member how we played circus, Sue?"
"I guess I do! We had lots of fun, didn't we?"
"We did!"
From across the fields came a call:
"Come to supper, children!"
"We're coming, Momsie!" shouted Bunny.
"And we're bringing a squirrel to supper too!" added Sue, who always liked to be counted in on everything.
"A squirrel!" exclaimed Uncle Tad whenhe saw the gray creature that had fallen out of the tree. "Where did you get it?"
The children told what had happened, and Uncle Tad looked at the squirrel's leg.
"Can you fix it, or make him a new wooden leg?" asked Sue.
Uncle Tad looked the squirrel over carefully. The woodland animal did not seem to mind being handled. It seemed to know it was in the hands of friends, and safe from the barking dogs. And though wild squirrels quickly bite one who manages to catch them alive in the woods, this one did not offer to nip the hands of the children or of Uncle Tad.
"Yes," said Uncle Tad after a bit, "I think I can mend this squirrel's leg. It doesn't seem to be broken, only strained and bruised. I guess Dix didn't bite it very hard. I'll make some splints, or little sticks, to put on, so the squirrel can't move his leg, and I'll bandage it. Then it will get well quicker."
A little box, filled with straw and soft rags, was made as a home for the squirrel after Uncle Tad had bound up its leg. Then Bunnyand Sue finally went to supper, after having been called several times. And even then they could not leave the little squirrel, but ran back every now and then to look at it, as it curled up on the soft bed. Over the box was put a wire cover so the squirrel could not get out and so Dix or Splash could not get at it.
"What are we going to give the squirrel to eat?" asked Bunny, when he had finished his supper. "He's got to have something to eat."
"And he's got to have a name," added Sue. "We can't call him just 'squirrel' for we may get another."
"Call him Fluffy," suggested Mother Brown. "His tail is so soft and fluffs out so beautifully."
"Fluffy is a good name," decided Bunny, and Sue said the same thing.
"But what about giving him something to eat?" asked Bunny.
"Bread soaked in milk will do for to-night," said Uncle Tad. "Afterward we'll try to find him some nuts, though it's a little early. Still he'll eat seeds and grain."
Bunny and Sue took a last look at Fluffy, the squirrel, before they went to their bunks that night. Dix and Splash were called in and shown the squirrel in his little nest. Then Mr. Brown told both dogs sharply and solemnly that they must not bother the gray, woodland creature. Dix and Splash understood, I think, for they were smart dogs.
Both children were up early the next morning to see their new pet, and they fed Fluffy some dried crackers. At first the squirrel was a bit timid, but it soon poked its sharp nose and mouth out of a little opening on the side of the wire netting over the box and ate from the hands of Bunny and Sue.
"Don't let him bite you," said Mother Brown, as she started to get breakfast.
"Oh, Fluffy won't bite," said Bunny. "He's as tame as our cat used to be."
Once more the automobile traveled on. It rained part of the day but the shower was not a hard one, though Bunny and Sue had to stay in the big car when noon came, and dinner could not be served out-of-doors.
But the skies cleared before night, and whenthe auto was stopped the children could run about with their rubbers on. They were near a small town, and Mrs. Brown promised to take the children in after the meal to see if they could buy some grain or seeds for Fluffy.
The supper was an early one, and, leaving Uncle Tad at the "Ark" with the two dogs and the squirrel, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, with the two children walked into town. As they reached the middle of the village, near a public square, they heard the sound of music and saw a crowd of people around a wagon lighted by a gasolene torch, such as is used in a circus at night.
"Oh, it's a medicine show!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she saw a big, long-haired man on the back platform of a wagon, holding up a bottle about which he was talking to the people.
"Yes, and there's a banjo player with him," said Bunny. "Look, Mother! It's a colored boy playing a banjo! Maybe it's Fred Ward!"
"What's this? What's this you're talking about?" suddenly asked Mr. Brown, as he heard what Bunny said. Or rather, Bunny's father did not hear exactly, for he had been thinking about something else. But he had caught the name Fred Ward.
"Bunny thinks that colored banjo player with that medicine show may be Fred Ward," said Mrs. Brown. "Do you think it would be of any use to inquire, Daddy?"
"Why, thatisa medicine show, isn't it!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, as though he saw it for the first time. "And it's just like the one we heard about that had a boy banjo player with it."
"There's a boy banjo player now," said Bunny. "He's going to play, Daddy, too! Do you think it could be Fred?"
The man who was selling the bottles of medicine, after telling the people how muchgood it would do them, had stopped to let the boy traveling with him play the banjo.
There are, or there used to be, many such traveling medicine shows. Sometimes there would be a whole troop of Indians, some real and some make-believe, that would be engaged by the seller of the medicine. He would have the Indians do some of their queer dances and then, when a crowd had collected, he would sell some medicine—maybe some he said the Indians made themselves.
Another medicine seller would go about with a gaily painted wagon, carrying a cornet player, a singer or a banjoist to attract a crowd. And when the men and women were gathered about the end of the wagon, which had a broad platform on the end and a flaring gasolene torch at night, the man would tell about his medicine and sell all he could.
This traveling medicine show which Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue saw was like those. And, just as the Browns reached the place in the village square where the torch on the wagon was burning, the man had finished selling a large number of bottles of medicine. Itwas about time he amused the crowd again, he thought. So he called in a loud voice:
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, while I am getting out of my storeroom some more bottles of my wonderful medicine that will cure all your pains and aches, I will have my friend here, Professor Rombodno Prosondo entertain you on his magical banjo. Professor Rombodno Prosondo, I might say, is the most wonderful player on the banjo you have ever heard. He has traveled all over the world and played in every country. Professor, you will now oblige!"
Of course what the medicine man said about the banjo player was only a joke, and the people knew that. He was not a professor at all. But he was a good banjo player and a singer, and Bunny and Sue were delighted with the music. The songs, too, were funny.
"He sings like a real colored boy," said Sue.
"Maybe he is," her father observed.
"Yes, and maybe he's only blacked up, like most of them," suggested Mrs. Brown. "Can you tell if he looks anything like Fred Ward, Daddy?"
"No, I can't be sure that he does," said Mr. Brown. "I never saw much of the missing boy, you know; and I certainly would not know him if he were blackened like a negro. This one, if he is not really colored, is well made-up. He would fool almost any one."
"Is there any way we could find out?" asked Mrs. Brown. "We ought to do all we can to find Fred for his parents."
"I'll see what I can do after the exhibition is over," promised Mr. Brown. "I'll ask the proprietor of the medicine wagon if I can get a chance. But I'll have to do it when the banjo player can't hear, for in case he should be Fred—which I hardly think can be true—but if it should be he, and he heard me asking, he'd run away again."
"Yes, I suppose he would," said Mrs. Brown with a sigh. "Oh, how foolish boys are sometimes. They don't know what is good for them," and she looked at Bunny, as if wondering if the time would ever come when he would not be a "mother's boy." She hoped not.
"Let's get up as close as we can," saidBunny. "Maybe if it's Fred we can tell, no matter if he is blacked up like a minstrel."
"He doesn't look at all like Fred to me," said Sue. "He looks so funny with his big red lips and his white collar."
"That's the way they all dress," said Bunny. "Come on, here's a place we can squeeze through and see better."
Bunny wiggled his way up among the people. His sister followed him, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown, watching the children, knew where to find them when they wanted to go away.
"Now take a good look," whispered Sue to Bunny, as they got very near the platform on which the boy sat. She had made her whisper rather loud, and it came at just the time when the banjoist stopped playing, so that he and several persons heard the little girl.
"What's the matter?" asked one man, smiling down at Sue. "Didn't you ever see a minstrel before?"
"Yes, I did," said Sue. "But maybe not this one."
"Oh, they're all alike," said the man, butSue paid no more attention to him, for she was nudging Bunny and trying to get him to look at the colored boy.
Bunny himself was greatly interested. He wanted to make sure whether or not the player were Fred. So he stared with all his might at the banjoist, who just then began another song.
By this time the medicine man had come out on the platform of his wagon with more filled bottles to sell. He would begin as soon as the song was finished, for more people had gathered, attracted by the music.
And then Bunny and Sue both noticed that the colored boy was looking straight at them. But he did not seem to know them. And surely, if it had been Fred Ward he would have known the Brown children, even though he had lived next door to them only a short time. People did not easily forget Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, once they had met them.
But this banjo player evidently did not know them; or, if he did, he was not going to let it be known. He finished his song witha twang of the banjo strings and then hurried inside the wagon, the sides of which were of wood, like a small moving van.
Then the man began selling his medicine again, talking a great deal about it while he did so.
Mrs. Brown turned to her husband and said:
"I'm sure that was a white boy blacked up to look like a negro, and he does it very well, too. Even his voice is like a colored person's. But as he turned to go back into the wagon his sleeve slipped up and I saw that his arm was white."
"Very likely he was made up as a colored boy then," said Mr. Brown. "His lips were too red for a real colored boy's."
"Well, since we are sure of that let's ask the medicine man about him," went on Mrs. Brown.
"All right, I'm willing," said Mr. Brown good-naturedly. "We'll wait until the show is over though."
The medicine man kept on selling bottles. It was getting later now, and the crowd beganto thin out. Seeing this the medicine man announced there would be no more music or sales that night, but that he would stop in this town on his next trip.
The flaring lamp was put out, and the medicine man began to close up his wagon for the night. Mr. Brown stepped up to him. The real or pretended colored boy was not in sight.
"I'd like to ask you a question," said Mr. Brown to the traveling medicine seller.
"About my wonderful pain destroyer?" asked "Dr. Perry," as he called himself.
"No. About that young banjo player you have with you."
"Oh, you mean Professor Rombodno Prosondo?"
"Yes," and Mr. Brown smiled. "I want to know if he is Fred Ward, who has run away from his home next door to us?"