Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods Part 17

"Why, that is surprising!" cried the ragged man. "Both your nice toys taken! Who could have done it?"

"Well, I did think maybe I left my train on the track with the batteries switched on so it would go," said Bunny. "But I left the track made into a round ring, and of course, if my train did get to going by some accident, it would just keep on going around and around like Splash chasing his tail, and wouldn't go out of the tent."

"Of course," agreed the ragged man.

"And Bunny thought Sallie Malinda had walked off by herself," said Sue, "but daddy said she couldn't, for there is nothing in her to wind up. So that couldn't happen."

"Then who took her?" asked the ragged man.

"We thought Eagle Feather, or some of his tribe, might," replied Bunny, "for they thought our toys were 'heap big medicine.' But we went to their village, and no one there knew anything about them."

"That's what they said, did they?"

"Yes, that's what they said," agreed Bunny.

"But they might not have told the truth," went on Mr. Bixby, with a sort of wink at Bunny.

"Oh, everybody tells the truth," said the little boy.

"Not always," returned Mr. Bixby with a laugh. "But never mind about that now. You have come a long way from your camp."

"Oh, that's another thing we forgot to tell you about," said Bunny.

"We're lost."

"Lost?" cried the ragged man.

"Terrible lost," said Sue. "We don't even know which is east, where the sun gets up, you know."

"Oh, I can easily show you that," said Mr. Bixby. "And you're not lost any more, for I know where your camp is."

"We hoped you would," said Bunny.

"That's why we were glad to see you through the bushes. Can you take us home?"

"I can and I will," said the ragged man. "I can take you back straight through the wood, or around by my cabin, which will put you on the road along which you went to get your milk that night. Then you'll have an easier walk to Camp Rest-a-While, though a little longer one."

"Let's go by the road, though it is longer," said Sue. "I'm tired of walking in the woods."

"All right, and I'll carry you part of the way," said Mr. Bixby.

"Will you give me a piggy-back?" asked Sue, who was not too old for such things.

"A pickaback is just what you shall have," said Mr. Bixby, and Sue soon got up on his back by stepping from a high stone, to the top of which Bunny helped her.

"Please go slow," begged the little boy, "'cause we might happen to see Sue's Teddy bear or my train of cars, where the Indians or somebody else dropped it; though I don't believe Eagle Feather would do such a thing."

"Oh, I don't think Eagle Feather would take your toys," said Mr. Bixby.

"He is quite honest. But some of his tribe are not, I'm sorry to say."

So he walked on with Sue on his back and Bunny trudging along beside, and Tramp, the dog, first running on ahead and then coming back barking, as though to say everything was all right.

"We'll soon be at my cabin," said the ragged man. "And then you can rest before starting on the road home."

"Have you got anything to eat at your house?" asked Sue.

Bunny, who was walking along behind her as she rode on Mr. Bixby's back, reached up and pinched one of his sister's little fat legs.

"Stop, Bunny Brown!" she cried. Then to Mr. Bixby she said again: "Have you got anything to eat at your house?"

Once more Bunny pinched her leg, and Sue cried:

"Now, you stop that, Bunny Brown! I'm not playing the pinching game to-day."

"Well, you mustn't say that," said her brother.

"Say what?" demanded Sue.

"About Mr. Bixby having anything to eat in his house," went on Bunny.

"You know mother has told you it isn't polite."

"Oh, that's right, Bunny! I forgot. So that's why you were pinching me?"

"Yes," answered Bunny.

Sue leaned over from the back of the ragged man and said, right in his ear:

"Please don't give us anything to eat when you get to your house. It wouldn't be polite for us to take it after me asking you the way I did."

"Hey? What's that?" asked the ragged man, seeming to wake up from a sleep. "Did you ask me not to go so fast?"

"No, I asked you----"

Once more Bunny pinched his sister's leg.

"Don't tell him what you asked him and he won't know, and then it will be all right," said Bunny.

"All right," whispered Sue. Then aloud she said: "Is it much farther to your house, Mr. Bixby?"

"Why, no," answered the ragged man. "So that's what you asked me, was it? I wasn't listening, I'm afraid. My cabin is only a little farther on, and then after you rest a bit I'll put you on the road to your camp."

"And maybe he'll give us something to eat without our asking," muttered Sue to her brother, who was behind.

"Hus.h.!.+" he whispered. "Don't let him hear you."

They were soon at Mr. Bixby's cabin.

"Now, if you'll sit down a minute," said the ragged man, "I'll get you a few cookies. I baked them myself. Maybe they are not as nice as those your mother makes, but Tramp, my dog, likes them."

"I'm sure we will, too," said Sue. "There! what'd I tell you, Bunny Brown?" she asked in a whisper. "I knew he'd give us something to eat!