CHAPTER X

DIX COMES BACK

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 a he, Daddy!" cried Sue. "She's a she! Aren't there lady Teddy bears as well as gentlemen?"

"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 leave her."

"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 my running 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 mean her," 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 an elephant 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.



CHAPTER XI

IN THE FLOOD

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 what we're trying 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 the two 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 bit cool 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 Uncle Tad 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 has two eyes. 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!"



CHAPTER XII

AT THE FIRE

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 and the 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 would have 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, but it 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 rope was 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 fact if 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 he got 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 Tad did 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 got yourself all 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 Sue poled 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, and the 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.



CHAPTER XIII

DIX AND THE CAT

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 it isn'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. Over the 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, as he 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.



CHAPTER XIV

THE MEDICINE SHOW

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 cat they've got up that tree now," said Bunny, speaking of cat-chasing to his sister.

"But it looked like 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 really look like 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 when he 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 Bunny and 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 when the 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!"



CHAPTER XV

WAS IT FRED?

"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, that is a 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 much good 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. It was 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," said Bunny. "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, but Sue 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 with a 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 began to 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?"



CHAPTER XVI

IN THE DITCH

For a few seconds the medicine man looked sharply at Mr. Brown. He did not appear to understand what the children's father had asked. Then, finally, Dr. Perry asked:

"Is it a joke you are making?"

"No, indeed. I'm serious," said Mr. Brown. "We are looking for a lost boy, or rather, a runaway boy, named Fred Ward. The Wards live next door to us, and when we started on this trip, which is not yet finished, the boy's parents said they would be glad if we would try to find him and send him——"

"Tell us, please," broke in Bunny, unable to wait any longer for the question he wanted answered. "Tell us if your banjo player is really colored?"

"Oh yes, he's really colored all right," said the medicine man, "but not by Mother Nature."

"What's that mean?" asked Sue.

"That means, little girl," said Dr. Perry as he put away the unsold bottles of his medicine, "that my banjo player blackens his face and hands himself, and reddens his lips, to make him look like a negro."

"Can you tell us who he really is?"

"No, I am sorry to say I can not," said Dr. Perry, and he bowed respectfully to Mrs. Brown, who had asked the question. "But I'll let you ask him yourself. He usually goes in back there," and he nodded toward his wagon, "to wash the black off after the show each night. No doubt he is in there now scrubbing himself, for I must say he is a very clean person, is John Lane."

"John Lane! Is that what he calls himself?" asked Mr. Brown.

"He has since he has been with me, which, however, is only the last few days. I called him professor just for fun, as it sounds better with the public. But I'll let you ask him yourself. He must be through washing by now. It may be he is a runaway boy. It wouldn't be the first time I've had 'em join me. Sometimes they get sorry and run back home again, and sometimes they drift away and I don't see 'em again. But we'll soon find out if this is the boy you want."

He opened a door leading off the back platform. It seemed to give admittance to the middle of the medicine van.

"Here you, John! John Lane!" called Dr. Perry. "There are some folks out here who want to see you. They want to see how you look when you have the black off. You ought to be washed now, for it's almost time to go to the hotel for the night. Come on out."

There was no answer to the medicine man's call. He stepped inside the wagon, called again, and then, lighting a lamp, which stood in a bracket, looked around inside the van.

"John seems to have gone," the medicine man said. "I guess he finished washing off the black, and then slipped out the front way to go to the hotel. He did that once before, without waiting for me to count up my money and come along. You see I travel only by day, putting up the horse, that draws my van, at a hotel stable each night.

"Then John, or whomever I have with me to make the music to draw a crowd, and I, go to the hotel to stay all night. In the morning, after breakfast, we start out again. Sometimes, in a big city I stay a week, selling in different places.

"But that boy, whoever he is, has gone. I can see where he's been washing the black off, and, not wanting to wait when he saw I was talking to you folks, I guess he just slipped away. John is a bashful boy."

"Do you know anything about him?" asked Mr. Brown. "Where did he come from, and where is he going? Did he give any account of himself?"

"Not much, except that he came to me the other day just after my violin player left me. I had to have somebody musical to draw the crowd, and he surely can play the banjo.

"So I hired him. He said his name was Lane and that he had to make his own way in the world. Said he wanted to be a player in a theater.

"I told him my place was a sort of open-air theater and ought to suit him," said Dr. Perry with a smile, "and he said he thought he would like it. So I engaged him and he did very well. You are the first persons that have inquired about him."

"We are not sure he is the runaway Fred we are looking for," said Mr. Brown. "It is hard to tell with all that black he had on. But I should like to meet him."

"Go to the hotel any time between now and morning," suggested the medicine man. "I guess the boy will be glad to talk to you."

"I'll see him in the morning," said Bunny's father. "I'd like to get this boy to go home, if he is really Fred Ward. His mother and father miss him very much."

"I'll do all I can for you," promised the medicine man. "Come to the hotel in the morning and I'll let you talk to him. I won't say anything in the meanwhile, because if he is really Fred, and has run off as you say, he won't want to meet you or go back with you. It's best to take him unawares."

Mr. Brown agreed to this, and then, with his wife and Bunny and Sue, started for the "Ark." On the way they discussed what had happened. They saw the medicine man, as they turned down the curve in the road, driving his horse and van toward the hotel.

"I'm sure it's Fred," said Sue.

"So am I," added Bunny. "Won't it be great if we find him so soon?"

"It may not be the missing boy," said Mr. Brown. "But we'll know in the morning."

Those in the "Ark" passed a quiet night, though they went to bed later than usual because of the excitement of the evening. Uncle Tad was interested in hearing the news about the blackened-up banjo player who might prove to be Fred Ward.

"And how's Fluffy, our squirrel?" asked Sue.

"Fast asleep, just as Dix and Splash are," answered Uncle Tad.

Bunny and Sue were awake early the next morning, but Daddy Brown was ahead of them, and their mother said he had gone on to the hotel to see about the banjo boy.

"May we go there after we have eaten?" asked Bunny. "We want to see Fred."

"It might not be he," said Mrs. Brown. "You had better wait until your father comes back."

At first Bunny and Sue fretted a bit, but finally they became interested in playing games under the big tree where the "Ark" had rested for the night, and before they knew it their father came back.

"But he hasn't brought Fred!" cried Bunny.

"Maybe the minstrel boy wasn't the one after all," suggested Mrs. Brown.

"Well, I'm inclined to think he was," said her husband.

"Did you see him?" eagerly asked Bunny.

"No, he had run away. That's why I think it was Fred."

Then Mr. Brown explained:

"When I got to the hotel," he told Bunny, Sue and the others, "I saw Dr. Perry walking around rather nervously. I asked him about the boy, and he said that when he and his medicine van reached the hotel after closing the show last night, he found that his banjo player had packed his valise, taken his banjo, and gone off."

"Where?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Nobody knows. He left no word. That's what makes me think it was Fred. He must have seen us in the crowd. And, as soon as he could wash the black off his face, he hurried to the hotel ahead of Dr. Perry, got his bag and ran away. Very likely he did not want to see us and hear us give him the message from his parents. His heart must still be hard against them. It is too bad, if that was Fred, for I had begun to think I had found him. Still it may have been some other young fellow. Dr. Perry said they often came and went without giving any reasons. But we'll still be on the lookout for the missing boy."

Once more the "Ark" started off, and for several days there was just ordinary travel. The children played and had fun, the dogs raced along the road, barking and enjoying themselves, and the weather was fine. Then came another day of hard rain, and the "Ark" was kept under a big oak tree.

The day after the rain, when the wayside brooks were still high, but the roads fairly good, Mr. Brown went on again. They were coming to a small town, and had to cross a ditch over which was a small bridge. Usually there was but little water in the ditch, but now, because of the rain, the banks were full.

"I hope this bridge is strong enough for our car to go over," said Mr. Brown. Slowly he steered the big machine on it. Hardly had it reached the middle when there was a cracking of wood, and the bridge bent down. The automobile sank with it.

"Oh!" cried Bunny, who sat in the back door. "We're going into the ditch, Daddy!"

"We're there now!" said Sue as the "Ark" stopped with a jerk and a bounce.



CHAPTER XVII

ON TO PORTLAND

There was no doubt about it, the big automobile was in the ditch. Or rather, the rear wheels, having gone through the small bridge, were now in the water of a little brook. The rains had made the usually dry ditch into a brook that flowed swiftly along.

"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Brown. "This is too bad!"

"Anybody hurt back there?" asked Mr. Brown, who, at the first feeling that something was wrong, had put on the brakes. The automobile would have stopped anyhow, as the wheels were held fast in the mud and the broken pieces of the bridge.

"No, we're all right," answered Uncle Tad, looking at Bunny and Sue, who, at the first sound of something wrong had crept closer to their mother.

"My nose feels as if I had bumped it," said Bunny, rubbing his "smeller" as he sometimes called it. "Though I don't remember doing it," he went on.

"I guess you did it when you jumped out of your seat," said his mother. "We all jumped, it came so suddenly."

"And I dropped my Teddy bear and Uncle Tad stepped on her," murmured Sue with sorrow in her tones. "Look, Uncle Tad, you've turned on her eyes!"

And, surely enough, the electric eyes of Sallie Malinda were glowing brightly. Uncle Tad must have stepped on the switch button in the toy's back and turned it on.

"But I guess she's all right," went on Sue, as she turned off the switch and then turned it on again to see that it was working as it should. "You didn't hurt her, Uncle Tad," she said.

"I'm glad of that, Sue," said the old soldier. "Now I guess I'd better get around to see if I can help your father get the automobile out of the ditch."

Dix and Splash, who had been racing up and down the road, came back, panting and with their long red tongues hanging out of their mouths, to see what the trouble was. They looked at the ditched automobile with their heads on one side, and then sort of barked at one another. It was as if Dix said:

"Well, what do you think about it, Splash? Do you think we had better stay here and help them?"

"Oh, I don't see anything we can do," answered Splash. At least it seemed as if he spoke that way. "Let's keep on playing tag."

And so the two dogs raced away.

"We do seem to be in a fix," remarked Mr. Brown as he came as near as he could to the back of the automobile without getting into the ditch.

"What can we do?" asked Mrs. Brown, and her voice was anxious.

"We'll soon see," answered her husband. "In the first place you had all better get out of the car. I don't know how long it may stand upright. It may topple over if the water washes away more mud from under one wheel than from under another, and you'll be better out than in."

"But how are we going to get out?" asked Bunny. "The back steps are all under water!"

And so they were. When the bridge broke with the automobile the front wheels were off the wooden planks and on the road beyond, and the rear wheels went down when the bridge broke in the middle. So the "Ark" was standing as though it had come to a sudden stop going up a steep hill, at the bottom of which was a brook. The rear wheels, and all but the top one of the back steps were under water.

"You can crawl out over the front seat," said Mr. Brown. "From there you can easily get down to the ground if Uncle Tad and I help you. Then, Mother, you might try your hand at getting a lunch, for it will soon be noon, while Uncle Tad and I see what we can do about getting the automobile out of the ditch."

"It will be some fun after all," said Bunny as he crawled out over the front seat. "We can picnic alongside the road, Sue, and watch Daddy and Uncle Tad get the car out."

"Yes," said Bunny's sister. "And maybe I'll make a pie for you and Sallie Malinda."

"No, I guess I wouldn't try a pie to-day," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "We won't be able to use any stove except the small oil one, out on the ground, and that will cook only a few things. We'll wait for the pie until the auto is safe on the road again."

"I hope we can get it out of the ditch without breaking anything," said Mr. Brown, as he helped his wife and children down the high front steps of the big car, and then lifted out the oil stove, and other things that would be needed for the lunch.

"Do you think there is any danger?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"A little," answered her husband. "But at least none of us can be hurt, and the worst that can happen will be a little damage to our car."

"Oh, the dear old 'Ark!'" cried Mrs. Brown. "I hope it won't be damaged much."

"So do I," said her husband. "If I had known that bridge was so weak as to let us fall through I would have gone a different road. But I suppose the rain and high water weakened the supports. However, don't worry. We'll see what can be done."

After a look at the way in which the rear wheels of the big car were lodged in the ditch, Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown went to the nearest town on foot to get help. Mrs. Brown, Bunny and Sue made a little camp beside the road, the children helping a little, and then running about to play. The two dogs joined them in their fun.

"I guess I'll make a little cornstarch pudding," said Mrs. Brown, as she got the other things ready for lunch; and when the pudding was finished she covered it up, so no ants or bugs would get in it, and set it in a hollow stump to keep until it would be needed for the dessert after the lunch.

It was not long before Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad came back riding in a big automobile truck which they had hired at the nearest garage to pull the "Ark" out of the ditch.

"Will you have lunch first?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, I guess we will," said her husband. "We'll eat while the garage men are getting ropes and chains around our car to pull it out of the ditch."

And so they ate their dinner under the shade of a big tree beside the road. Two men had come in the auto truck to work for Mr. Brown, and they went about it quickly, putting strong ropes and chains on the "Ark."

"And now I have a little surprise for you," said Mrs. Brown as she poured tea for herself, Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad, and set milk before the children.

"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue.

"Fine!" exclaimed Bunny.

Mrs. Brown went to the hollow stump. She looked in and then she cried:

"Oh, dear! No I haven't any either."

"Any what, either?" asked Mr. Brown.

"Surprise for you. I made a nice cocoanut cornstarch pudding, and put it in this hollow stump, covering it up. But something has come along and eaten it."

For a moment there was a silence, and then Bunny cried:

"Maybe it was a hungry bear!"

"Or maybe it was our squirrel Fluffy," said Sue. "He can hop around a little now, 'cause his leg is almost well."

"Hum, the pudding's gone, is it?" said Mr. Brown. "That's too bad. Come here, sir!" he suddenly called to Splash. The dog, who was lying beside Dix near the brook, arose slowly and came to Mr. Brown, tail between his legs and head drooping.

"And you too, Dix! Come here!" ordered Mr. Brown.

Dix walked up exactly as Splash had done, with drooping head and tail. Mr. Brown took hold of the head of first one dog and then the other. He looked closely at their mouths.

"Here we have the pudding thieves!" he cried. "Splash and Dix found the dessert in the hollow stump and ate it. Didn't you, you rascals?"

The dogs whined and said not a "word." It was very plain that they had taken the pudding.

"Oh, please don't whip them, Daddy!" begged Bunny.

"No; I won't," said Mr. Brown.

"I shouldn't have left the pudding where they could get it," said Mrs. Brown. "It was all my fault. I'll make another for supper."

However, there were some cakes in a tin can in the "Ark," and as Uncle Tad climbed in and got them out for the children before the garage men started to pull the stalled automobile out with their machine, Bunny and Sue had a little dessert after all.

"We're all ready to try to get your car out of the ditch now, Mr. Brown," said one of the garage men.

"Oh, let's watch, Sue!" cried Bunny.

"But keep out of the way," ordered their father.

There was a puffing of the other auto truck, a grinding of the wheels, and then the "Ark" was pulled slowly out of the ditch, and on to the road again, the hind wheels running on long planks which the men put under them. Thus out on to the safe and solid road rolled the "Ark."

"Hurrah!" cried Bunny Brown.

"Now we're all right," said his Sister Sue.

And indeed they were, for it was found that nothing was broken on the big machine in which the Brown family were making their tour.

Mr. Brown paid the garage men, who went back to their shop, and the "Ark" was soon on its way again.

"And the next time I come to a small bridge I'm going to find out how much weight it will carry before I cross it," said the children's father.

For a week or more the "Ark" traveled on. Every time he got a chance Mr. Brown asked about Fred, in the different towns through which they passed, but could get no trace of the missing boy.

They saw other medicine showmen who had with them players or singers, but none of them were at all like the runaway Fred.

"It must have been he who was with Dr. Perry," said Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, and I presume he feared we knew him and so he ran on farther," her husband added. "He may be in Portland now."

"How soon shall we be there?" asked Bunny.

"In a few more days now."

Two days later, as they camped outside a little village for the night, they saw beside the road a signboard which read:

TWENTY MILES TO PORTLAND

"Oh, we'll be there to-morrow!" cried Bunny. "Then we can find Fred, and can send him to his mamma and papa!"



CHAPTER XVIII

CAMPING OUT

Mr. Brown was awakened in the morning feeling little hands tugging at him as he lay in his bunk, and childish voices crying:

"Come on, Daddy! Get up! Get up!"

"Eh? What's this? Get up!" he exclaimed. "Why, what's the matter, Bunny and Sue?" he went on, as he saw the two standing inside the curtains that hung in front of his bed.

"It's time to get up," said Sue.

"Why, it isn't six o'clock yet," answered her father, looking at his watch, which was under his pillow. "Why are you out of your bunks so early? Go back to sleep."

"But we want to get on to Portland to find Fred Ward," said Bunny. "It's only twenty miles and we can soon be there if we start early."

"There isn't much you children forget, is there?" asked Mr. Brown with a laugh, as he stretched and rubbed his eyes. Then as he opened wide his arms Bunny and Sue piled into the bunk with him, having a good, hearty tussle, until their shouts of laughter awakened Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad, while Dix and Splash, asleep under the big car, added their barks to the din.

"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Has anything more happened?"

"Oh, these children want to leave before breakfast for Portland, to find that runaway boy," said Mr. Brown. "Well, as long as they're awake I suppose we might as well get up and start early. It's about time I attended to my business affairs."

Breakfast was soon ready, and when it had been eaten the "Ark" was once more chugging along the road. The travelers passed through several small villages and then they came to the edge of a big city which, the children's father told them, was Portland.

"Are we going to stay in the auto while we're here?" asked Bunny, for Mr. Brown had said they would probably remain in Portland for nearly a week, as he had several matters to look after.

"No, I'll give you a chance to stretch your legs," said his father. "We'll store the automobile in a garage and you can live at a hotel while I'm getting my business in shape."

"But what about Dix and Splash?" asked Bunny. "Where can they stay?"

"Oh, we'll find a hotel with a garage attached to it, and leave the dogs there in charge of the 'Ark,'" said Mr. Brown.

"And what about finding Fred?" Sue queried. She, as well as Bunny, was greatly interested in the missing boy.

"Oh, I'll do all I can to find him," promised Mr. Brown.

A hotel, with a garage attached to it, was easily found in Portland, and as the "Ark" went through the streets many persons turned to look at it. But Bunny and Sue did not mind this in the least.

"They'll think we're a new kind of gypsy," said Bunny.

"And they'll all wish they was us, riding around this way," said Sue, as she laughed with Bunny.

"'They was us.' Oh, Sue!" groaned her mother.

Dix and Splash did not like very much being left alone in the garage, and they whined and barked as they were chained near the auto. But the garage keeper promised to be kind to them, to let them run about after a while and to feed and water them.

"And we'll come to see you every once in a while," said Bunny and Sue, as they patted and hugged their two pets.

Fluffy, the squirrel, now well again, had been set free, before entering the city, in the woods that he loved.

So, for a while the Browns gave up their "Ark," and settled down to hotel life. Mr. Brown had much business to look after in connection with his fish and dock affairs at home, for he was part owner of a steamship line that ran from Portland to Bellemere.

After a day or two he found a chance to ask about the missing boy. Mr. Brown first appealed to the police. But they had no record of him, and though inquiries were made of a number of theater owners, Fred Ward was not found. The man whose name he had mentioned as being the one he intended to see in Portland had moved away.

"Well, Fred may have come here," said Mr. Brown, "and, after he found his friend was gone, he may have drifted on to some other town. I'm afraid we can't find him."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Bunny. "That's too bad!"

"Let us go to look for him," proposed Sue. "We found Nellie Jones, that girl who lives at the end of our street, when she was lost away over on the next block."

"Yes, but that was different from this," said Mrs. Brown. "Portland is a big city, and if you go wandering about in it you'll be worse lost than you were in the big woods. You children stay with me, and your father will do all he can to find Fred."

So Bunny and Sue had to be content to stay at the hotel, to go sightseeing with their mother, to go to the moving pictures, while Mr. Brown looked after his business. Several times each day Bunny and Sue went to the garage to see the dogs. And how glad Dix and Splash were to see the children!

Finally the day came when Mr. Brown had finished his business. He made several more attempts to find Fred, but could not do so and at last wrote to Mr. Ward, as he had promised, that, as far as could be learned, the missing boy was not in Portland.

"We will keep watch for him on our way back to Bellemere," Mr. Brown said in his letter. "We are returning by a different route from that by which we came. Every chance we get we will look for your boy."

Then the "Ark" was taken from the garage, to the delight of the dogs no less than that of the children, and once more the Browns were on their tour.

As Mr. Brown had said, they were going back a different way from the one they had taken on coming to Portland. This was to give his family a chance to see new towns and villages. And, as the weather still promised to be fine, all looked forward to a jolly auto tour.

Every time he came to a good-sized city, and whenever he met a traveling show, Mr. Brown inquired for Fred, but it seemed that the missing boy was well hidden. Undoubtedly he did not want to be found.

Bunny and Sue had great fun on the homeward trip, which lasted even longer than the outgoing one.

The party had ridden on for several days, each one marked by sunshine, when one evening they came to a little clump of trees beside the road. It was not far from a good-sized village.

"We'll stay here over night," said Mr. Brown, "and in the morning we'll take a little side trip to a waterfall not far away."

"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Bunny. "Maybe I can make a wooden water wheel, and have it splash in the falls and go around."

"No indeed you can't!" cried his father. "The falls are too big for that. They are seventy feet high."

But, as it happened, when morning came and Mr. Brown was about to start the automobile after breakfast, there was a sudden crash, and the big car settled down on one side, like a lame duck.

"Oh, my!" cried Mrs. Brown. "What has happened now?"

"It sounded as if one of the big springs had broken," said her husband, getting down off the seat to look. "Yes," he added, "that's it. This means we'll have to stay here three or four days until I can get a new spring put in."

For a moment Bunny and Sue looked a trifle sad. Then Bunny cried:

"Oh, that will be fun. We can camp out in a tent in the woods."

"Yes, you and Sue can play at camping, if you like," said their father. "But I think you'll want to sleep in the auto at night."

"Oh, no! We won't!" laughed Sue. "Now for some fun camping out!" she added.



CHAPTER XIX

AT THE LAKE

While Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad looked again at the spring of the auto, to see just how badly it was broken, Bunny and Sue, with Mrs. Brown, went over to the clump of trees, which was not far from the road.

"Oh, this will be a grand place!" cried Sue.

"Yes," agreed her brother. "We can put up the tent here," and he pointed to a little knoll amid a circle of trees, "and then if it rains the water will not come in."

Bunny's father had told him the first thing to do, in pitching a tent, was to see that it would be dry in case of rain.

"Oh, I think you children will come into the 'Ark' when it begins to shower," said Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, no! Why, it's lots of fun in a tent in the rain!" cried Bunny. "Let's get it up right away."

"Better wait until daddy or Uncle Tad can help you," said Mother Brown. "Now we'll sit down and rest in the woods."

"Well, as long as the 'Ark' had to break down, this was the best place for it to happen, I guess," said Mr. Brown, as, with Uncle Tad, he came over to the wood where Mrs. Brown and the children were seated on a fallen tree.

"Is the break a bad one?" asked his wife.

"Yes, I think we'll need an entirely new spring, and it will take nearly a week to get that. However, as the children will have as much fun camping out here, as they would traveling in the car, it will be all right. We are not far from a town, and we can get what we want to eat from there."

"I think our cupboard is pretty well filled now," said Mrs. Brown.

"You might look to see if there is anything you need," suggested her husband. "I am going into town to find a garage man and have him arrange to get a new spring for me. Uncle Tad can be putting up the tent while I'm away."

"I'm going to help," said Sue.

"And so am I!" cried Bunny.

As has been said, there was a tent carried on top of the Ark, and this was now taken down by the old soldier and carried to the wood, there to be set up for Bunny and Sue. The tent was large enough for the children to sleep in if they wanted to. In fact, they had done so once or twice. But their mother was not sure they would do so on this trip.

However, the tent was put up and the little folding cots made ready, while Bunny brought his popgun and cannon with which to play soldier, and Sue, her Teddy bear and set of dishes with which to play keeping-house.

By the time this was done Mr. Brown had come back from the village, bringing some chocolate candy for the children. He said he had seen an automobile dealer and it would take fully a week to get a new spring for the "Ark."

They had their dinner out-of-doors, and after that Bunny and Sue played games in the tent. They said they were surely going to sleep in it at night, so they made up the cots and took their little pajamas with them into the canvas house.

"I'll have my flashlight, too," said Bunny; "and in case we want to get up in the night to get a drink, Sue, we can do it easy."

"That'll be nice," said his sister.

In the evening, while the Browns were at supper, an old man, who seemed to be a farmer, came strolling down the road, stopping at the big automobile, and looking from it over to the children's tent in the woods.

"You folks camping here?" he asked.

"Well, we're traveling in our car, and we've had to stop on account of a broken spring," explained Mr. Brown. "The children thought it would be fun to have a tent up in the woods. No objection I hope, if you own those trees."

"Bless your heart! No objection at all! I do own that patch of wood, and I'm glad to see the children's tent there. It sort of reminds me of war time, when I was in the army. You're welcome to stay as long as you like, and if you want anything I've got you can have it!"

"So you were in the war, too," remarked Uncle Tad, walking up to the farmer. "I'm a veteran myself. Where did you fight?"

The two elderly men began talking and soon found that they had been in the same Southern States together, though they had never met. Then, as evening came on, the two soldiers talked of the old days of the war, while Mr. Brown built a little campfire to make it seem pleasant. Bunny and Sue listened to the tales of battles until finally Mrs. Brown, noticing that their eyes were drooping, said:

"It's time for you tots to go to bed. Hadn't you better sleep in the automobile?"

"No, we're going to our tent," said Bunny, seriously.

"Yes, we want to camp out," added Sue, sleepy as she was.

Knowing that it was perfectly safe, for the children had often camped out before, Mr. and Mrs. Brown undressed the sleepy tots, and carried them to their cots in the tent. Dix and Splash were given beds of hay on the ground near the tent and told to stay on guard, which they would be sure to do.

"Do you think they'll sleep out all night?" asked Mr. Brown of his wife, as they made ready for bed in the automobile.

"I hardly think so," she said. "I'll leave the electric light, the one outside the 'Ark' near the back steps, burning, so if they want to crawl in here during the night they can."

"Good idea," said Mr. Brown.

Soon all was quiet around the big automobile and in the little white tent over amid the trees. Bunny and Sue had fallen asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows.

But they did not sleep very long. Or so, at least, it seemed to them.

Sue awakened with a start. At first she could not remember where she was, though there was a bright moon shining outside and it made the tent light inside. Then she called:

"Bunny!"

"What's the matter?" he asked, for he was just about to awaken.

"Did you hear that?" asked Sue.

"What?" Bunny questioned.

"That sound."

Both listened. Outside the tent was a sound that could be plainly heard by the children.

"I—I guess it's Dix snoring," said Bunny after a while.

"Or maybe Splash talkin' in his sleep," added Sue. "We aren't afraid, are we, Bunny?"

"Not a bit, Sue! It's nice here!" Bunny's tone was very confident.

Bunny closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. So did Sue.

But neither of them could do so, though they closed their eyes very tight. Finally Sue asked:

"Bunny, are you asleep?"

"No. Are you?"

"No. And I don't believe I'm going to sleep. That funny noise is soundin' again. Say, Bunny, does Dix snore like: 'Who? Who? Who-ooo?'"

"No, I—I never heard him."

"Then it isn't Dix! It's something else," said the little girl firmly.

Bunny listened. Outside the tent he heard a mournful:

"Whoo! Who? Too-who!"

"Oh, I know what that is now!" cried Bunny. "It's an owl."

"Does an owl bite?" asked Sue:

"Sure they do!"

In the dim moonlight that shone into the tent Bunny could see his sister get out of her cot, put on her slippers and dressing robe, and then take up her Teddy bear, turning on the eyelights.

"Where are you going?" asked Bunny.

"I'm goin' home to my regular bed!" said Sue. "This tent is all right, but a owl might bite through it. You'd better come with me, Bunny Brown."

"I—I guess I will," said the little boy. "I wouldn't want you to go alone," he added brightly.

He, too, put on his robe and slippers, and then Sue, with her lighted Teddy bear, and Bunny, with his little flashlight, started toward the "Ark." The two dogs followed.

Up the steps, in the glare of the little outside electric light went the two tots. As they entered the automobile Mrs. Brown heard them and called:

"Who is there?"

"It's us," said Bunny.

"An old owl kept askin' us questions about who was it," added Sue, "an' we couldn't sleep. So we came in here."

"Crawl into your bunks," said Mother Brown. And that ended the children's sleeping in the tent, for a while at least.

The next morning Mr. Jason, the soldier-farmer who owned the wood where the tent was erected, came down to the "Ark."

"I'm going to drive over to Blue Lake to-day," he said. "Don't you folks want to go along? You might take your lunch and picnic there. It's got a waterfall."

"I did promise the children to take them to see it while we were here," said Mr. Brown. "Thank you, we should like to go with you." And a little later the Browns were at Blue Lake.



CHAPTER XX

DIX TO THE RESCUE

"Where is the waterfall?"

"Can't we go in swimming?"

"I want to row a boat!"

"I want to fish!"

As soon as they jumped out of Farmer Jason's wagon at Blue Lake, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were saying these things and asking these questions. The children saw before them a large body of water, that seemed a deep blue under the shining sun, and round about it were small hills "like strawberries on top of a shortcake," as Sue said.

"Oh, what a beautiful place!" ejaculated Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, folks around here thinks as how it is right pretty," said Farmer Jason. "But you haven't seen the prettiest part yet—that's the waterfall."

"Oh, that's where I want to go!" cried Bunny.

"And I want to go out in a boat," added Sue, renewing her first request.

"So do I! And fish!" chimed in Bunny.

"Now, one thing at a time," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. "You are hardly here yet and you want to do half a dozen things. Be patient. We are going to stay all day, for we brought our lunch, and I think we shall have time for everything you want to do."

"Yes, pitch right in and enjoy yourselves," said Farmer Jason with a laugh. "That's what the lake's here for. A few of us farmers own it, and the churches in this neighborhood generally has picnics here. I've got to drive over a few miles to see a man about some horses I want to buy, but I'll stop back in plenty of time to take you home."

The Browns and their lunch being safely unloaded from the wagon, including, of course, Sue's Teddy bear, Farmer Jason drove off, while Dix and Splash scampered about in the woods on the shore of the lake and went swimming, something which Bunny and Sue wanted to do at once.

"I think it is a little cool," said Mother Brown. "Besides, I didn't bring your bathing suits. I guess you can get along without a swim to-day."

Indeed there was enough else to do at Blue Lake, as the children very soon found out. Of course it was not the first time they had been at a lake in the woods, but there seemed to be something new about this place.

Perhaps the trees were greener. Certainly the lake seemed of a deeper blue than any the children had seen before. They ran up and down the pebbly shore, threw stones into the water to watch them sink, after sending out a lot of rings that made little waves on the beach. They tossed sticks into the water, which the dogs were eager to swim out for and bring back. Then Bunny had an idea.

"Sue, let's go in wading!" he cried.

"Oh, yes, let's!" she agreed instantly; and without saying anything to their father or mother about it the two took off their shoes and stockings and were walking about in the shallow water near the shore.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown, with Uncle Tad, were sitting in the shade, looking out over the beautiful lake. They were glad they had come on the little excursion, and the trouble of the broken spring of the automobile seemed turned into something good now.

"For," said Mrs. Brown, "it has given us a chance to camp out and to see this lake, and I would not have missed this sight for a great deal."

"Nor I, either," said her husband. "But suppose we go to take a look at the waterfall before lunch. I know I'll want to take a nap after I eat, and then it will soon be time for Mr. Jason to come back for us, so if we don't go now we may miss it."

"That's what I say," agreed Uncle Tad, and the three arose from the fallen tree on which they had been sitting. Just then Mother Brown caught sight of Bunny and Sue.

"Look at those children!" she cried.

"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Brown quickly. "They haven't fallen in, I hope!"

"Well, they're in all the same!" chuckled Uncle Tad. "Bunny has his knickerbockers rolled up as high as they'll go, and if Sue's clothes aren't wet I'm mistaken!"

For by this time, liking the fun so much, Bunny and Sue had waded out where the water was deeper, and their clothes had become splashed by the little waves they made as they moved along.

"Oh, dear! Such tykes!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Well, it isn't too cool for wading, though it is for swimming. But I must get them dry if we are to go to the waterfall."

Mrs. Brown had brought some old towels along, for she knew what might happen when the children were going to play near a lake, and while Bunny and Sue were being told that they should have first asked whether or not they could go in wading, they were drying their pink toes on towels and getting ready to put on their shoes and stockings again.

"But we didn't think wading was as bad as swimming," said Bunny as he rubbed some sand off his fat legs.

"It isn't exactly," his mother answered. "But this time it was nearly as bad. But never mind. Come on and we'll see the waterfall."

Farmer Jason had told Mr. Brown how to walk to the place where the waters of a small river toppled over the rocks into the lake, and having hidden the bundle of lunch up in a tree, where wandering dogs could not get at it, the family set off, Dix and Splash running on ahead, to see the waterfall.

The way was through a pleasant wood, with little paths running here and there, and if Bunny and Sue had been wandering alone they probably would have gotten lost. But the road to the waterfall was a well-marked one and Mr. Brown kept to it until pretty soon Mrs. Brown said:

"Hark, I hear something."

There was a distant roaring in the woods.

"It's a trolley car," said Bunny.

His father, mother and Uncle Tad laughed.

"What a boy!" cried Mother Brown. "To think the roar of a beautiful waterfall is but the noise of a trolley car! He will never be a poet, will he Daddy?"

"I don't want to be," said Bunny quickly. "I'm going to be a policeman when I grow up, and have a gun."

"All right," chuckled Daddy Brown. "But a policeman's life is not an easy one."

The roaring noise became plainer, and then, as the path turned, the party came in sight of an open glade through which they could see the cataract.

It was not unlike a small Niagara in its way. For a distance back of the edge the waters of the little river bubbled and foamed over rough rocks. Then came a smooth stretch and, suddenly, the waters plunged over the broken ledge, falling about seventy feet to the lake below where they made a pool of foam.

"Isn't it wonderful?" murmured Mother Brown.

"It certainly is a beautiful picture," came from Mr. Brown.

"It's the prettiest little fall I've ever seen," added Uncle Tad.

Sue said nothing for a minute. Both she and Bunny were looking at the waterfall closely. Then Sue began to wrap a shawl, which she had brought along, over her Teddy bear.

"What's the matter?" asked Mother Brown.

"It's like rain all over Sallie Malinda," answered the little girl. "I don't want her to catch cold, for she might not shine her 'lectric eyes any more."

"That's all Sue seems to care about the fall," laughed Mother Brown in a whisper to her husband.

As for Bunny, he seemed to think them quite wonderful—for a time. He stood as near the edge as his father would let him, looking up the rapids down which the waters rushed, to fall over the rocky edge, dropping in a smother of foam to the blue lake below. Silently he watched the smooth waters glide down like some ribbon, and then, turning to his father, he asked:

"Is this all they do?"

"All what does?" inquired Mr. Brown, not quite understanding.

"All the waterfall does. Does it just keep falling?"

"All day and all night, day after day and night after night, forever and forever," said Mr. Brown, for really the waterfall was a marvelous sight.

"Then I've seen enough," said Bunny, turning away. "If they've been doing this a long while, and will do it all next week, I can look at 'em then. Now I want to go out in a boat. I saw one as we came through the picnic grounds. I've had enough of waterfalls."

Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad looked at one another. But they said nothing. Bunny started down the hill again, toward the lake, Sue following with her Teddy bear.

"Bunny surely will never make a poet," chuckled his mother.

"Oh, well, perhaps there are enough poets in the world now," said Mr. Brown with a laugh.

Bunny and Sue were first at the place where the boat was kept. There were several of them, and Mr. Jason had said that picnic parties used them. The lake was not deep, he had added, and was very safe, for any one who knew anything about boats.

Bunny and Sue finally prevailed on Uncle Tad to take them out for a row after lunch, and when the two children were in their seats Dix insisted on following.

Mr. Brown, who decided to remain on shore with his wife, tried to call back the dog, but he would not come. Nor would he come when Splash barked and whined at him, asking, in dog language, I suppose, if Dix did not want to come and have a game of "water tag."

But Dix evidently wished to stay in the boat, and finally they let him remain, as he was a quiet dog, not given to jumping about. He curled up in front behind Sue and went to sleep.

Uncle Tad rowed about the lake. Bunny wished he had brought his fishing pole and line along, as they saw fish jumping in several places.

"Never mind, we're going to be here nearly a week yet," said Uncle Tad. "We can come again."

Just how it happened Sue herself could not explain. But, somehow or other, her Teddy bear slipped from her lap and was about to fall out of the boat. That would never do, the little girl decided, and of course she made a quick motion to catch her toy.

And, just then, Bunny leaned on the same side of the boat to pick up a floating stick so that the boat tipped.

"Look out!" cried Uncle Tad. "Sit still, children!"

But he spoke too late, for, in an instant, Sue fell out of the boat and into the lake. Uncle Tad was so surprised for a moment that he sat still. But not so Dix. He had awakened in a second, and with a loud bark sprang overboard to the rescue of the little girl.



CHAPTER XXI

THE CIRCUS

"Oh my!" cried Bunny Brown, as he saw his sister topple out of the boat into the lake. "Oh, dear!"

By this time Uncle Tad, the old soldier, was ready for action. He took off his coat, without standing up in the boat, for well he knew how dangerous that was, and he was just ready to slip overboard into the water, the bottom of which he could see, when Dix, who had thrust his head under the surface, came up with Sue held in his strong jaws, his teeth fastened in her dress near the neck.

"Oh, Dix! Dix!" cried Bunny, in delight. "I'm so glad you saved my sister. Oh, Dix! I'll love you all my life!"

Dix, holding Sue with her head well above the water, was swimming toward the boat. Bunny, eager to do what he could to help his sister, was leaning over the side, ready to reach her as soon as the dog came near enough. Then Uncle Tad cried:

"Sit still, Bunny! I'll take Sue in. But I must do it at the stern of the boat, and not over the side, as that might tip us over. You sit still in the middle of the boat."

Bunny, who had lived near the seashore all his life knew that "stern" meant the back of the boat. And he remembered that his father had often told him if ever he fell out of a boat and wanted to get in again without tipping the boat over, to do so from the stern, or from the bow, which is the front. A row-boat will not tip backwards or forwards as easily as it will to either side.

As soon as Bunny heard what Uncle Tad said, he obeyed. He sat down in the bottom of the boat between the seats. Then the old soldier, going to the stern, called to Dix:

"Around this way, old dog! Bring her here and I'll take her in. Come on, Dix!"

Whether the dog knew that it was safer to bring a person in over the stern of a boat or over the bow instead of over the side, I do not know. At any rate he did what Uncle Tad told him to do, and in another moment was close to the boat with Sue in his jaws. Uncle Tad lifted her into the boat and at once turned her on her face and raised her legs in the air. This was to let any water that she might have swallowed run out.