Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods Part 16

But I will tell you, and Bunny Brown can look it up in his geography when he gets home. The point in the sky when the sun seems to be directly over your head is the zenith.

"And it's noon and dinner time, too," went on Bunny.

"Can you tell by your stomach?" asked Sue. "I can, for my stomach is hungry. It is always hungry at noon."

"I can tell by my stomach, for it is hungry just like yours," said Sue's brother. "But I can tell by the sun. Daddy told me that it was noon, and time to eat, when the sun was straight over our heads. Now, we'll get out of the woods, Sue."

"How? Will the sun help us and bring us something to eat?" asked Sue.

"Well, the sun will help us in a way, for when it begins to go down we will know that is the west. And the east is just opposite from the west.

So if we walk with our backs toward the west we'll be facing the east, and if we keep on that way we'll be at our camp some time. All we'll have to do is to walk away from the sun."

"And will that give us something to eat?" Sue demanded.

"Maybe," said Bunny Brown. "We may come to a farmhouse, and they might give us some cookies and milk."

"How good that would taste!" cried Sue. "I wish I had some now."

"We'll walk on a way," said Bunny. "Maybe we'll come to a place where they'll feed us. But be careful to keep your back to the sun."

Sue said she would, and the two lost children were soon walking through the woods together. They walked on the path when they saw one, and crossed over open glades or through underbrush when they came to such places where they saw no path.

For the time being they had given up all idea of finding their missing toys. All they thought was of getting home. Every once in a while Sue would ask:

"Are we most there, Bunny?"

And he would answer:

"Not quite, but almost. Just a little farther, Sue."

Suddenly there was a noise in the bushes as if some one were coming through in a hurry.

"Oh, maybe it's our dog Splash coming to find us!" cried Sue.

"I don't believe so," answered Bunny. "Besides, Splash would bark; and whatever this dog's name is, he doesn't make a sound. Oh, look, Sue, it's a man, not a dog!"

"A man?" cried Sue. "What kind?"

"Oh, I can't tell, except that he has a dog and he's very ragged." Bunny peeped between some bushes and the next moment uttered a cry of surprise:

"Why, it's the ragged hermit who gave us the milk and who was so good to us!" cried Bunny. "He's the man who lives in the log cabin with the cow!

Now we're all right. He'll take us home. Now we're all right!" and Bunny danced about.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" murmured Sue. "We're not lost any more!"

CHAPTER XII

WONDERINGS

Out from behind the bush where they had hidden on hearing the rustling in the underbrush came Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, hand in hand. The hermit, as they called the man who lived all alone in his little cabin, looked up and saw them. So did the dog, and with a bark and a growl he rushed toward the two children.

"Down, Tramp! Down!" called the hermit, and the dog sank to the moss-covered ground, beating his tail up and down on the dried leaves.

"He wouldn't hurt you for the world," said the old, ragged man. "He loves children, but he's so fond of them that he jumps up on them, and tries to kiss them. Sometimes he tries to love them so hard that he knocks them down. So I have to tell him to be careful."

"We're not afraid of good dogs," said Bunny.

"And we've got a dog of our own," added Sue. "His name is Splash, 'cause he splashes through the muddy puddles so much that he gets us all wet when he's with us. That's why we don't take him so often, lessen we know it's going to be a dry day."

"I see," said the ragged man. "Well, Tramp is pretty good, except that he loves children too much."

By this time the dog must have felt that it was time for him to get up, and he arose and leaped toward Bunny and Sue. Sue turned to one side and held her arm over her face, but Bunny waited for the dog to come near enough so he could be patted, and this the dog seemed to like. When he tried to jump up and put his paws on Bunny's shoulders the little boy cried:

"Down! Down, Tramp!" and at once the dog sank down and wagged his tail so hard that Sue said afterward she thought it would almost wag off.

The dog seemed to like Bunny and Sue, running about them, giving little barks of joy and licking their hands.

"I like him," said Sue. "He's 'most as good as our dog. How did you come to name him Tramp?"

"Well, he looked like a tramp when he came to me," said the ragged man, who seemed to be clean enough, though his clothes were in tatters. "He was all stuck up with burrs from the woods, one foot was cut and he was covered with mud and water. I took him in, washed him, bound up his paw, which had been cut on a piece of broken gla.s.s, and gave him something to eat. He has been with me ever since."

"I should think he _would_ stay with you," said Bunny. "You were kind to him."

"Well, I like animals," said the man. "But what are you children doing off here in the woods. Do you want more milk?"

"Not this time, thank you," said Bunny. "When we go to the farmhouse now we have a cover on our pail, and when we set it down on the road no dog can come and drink the milk."

"But we don't set it down any more," said Bunny. "Mother told us not to."

"That's good," said the ragged man, whose name was Bixby. "It's a good thing you didn't want any milk, because I haven't any left. I used up most of what my cow gave, and sold the rest to a party of automobile folks that came along dreadfully thirsty."

"We have two automobiles," said Bunny. "One my father rides back and forth to the city in and the other a big one, like a moving van, that we can live in, and go where we want to. When night comes we just go to sleep in it beside the road."

"That's what my dog Tramp and I would like," said the ragged man. "It's no fun staying in one place all the while. But if you children are not away off here looking for milk, what are you here for, I'd like to know?"

"I'm looking for my Teddy bear with the blinking 'lectric lights for eyes," said Sue.

"What makes you think you'll find him here, off in the woods?" asked Mr.

Bixby, after a pause.

"Well, somebody took my Teddy bear, which is a her, not a him, and is named Sallie Malinda, from our tent," went on the little girl; "and, of course, as a bear likes a wood, maybe they brought her here."

"And my train of cars is gone, too," said Bunny, as he told of that having been taken from the tent.