Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods Part 12

Brown. "He hardly ever barks unless he is playing with you children, and he is so good-natured."

"Oh, we never could give up Splash," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head to show that she felt the same way about it.

"Maybe you can get another dog, who will bark, Mother. Then we could hitch Splash and him up together and have a team," went on Bunny.

"Splash would never pull the way the other dog wanted to go," said Uncle Tad. "I guess, before we think of more dogs we'll just go over to the Indian village and find out what they know about the missing toy train."

"Yes, that would be a good plan," said Mr. Brown. "Suppose we go together, Uncle Tad."

So, after breakfast, when another search had been made about the camp to make sure the train was not hidden behind something, the two men started off. Bunny kept on searching about the tents for his missing toy, and Sue played with her Teddy Bear, tying her on the back of Splash, the dog, to make believe Sallie Malinda was having a pony ride.

When Father Brown and Uncle Tad came back the children ran eagerly to them. Mr. Brown shook his head.

"No," he said, slowly, "there is no trace of the toy train in the Indians' village, and Eagle Feather and his men say they know nothing about it. They say they were not away from their camp all night. They even let us search their tents and cabins, and were very good-natured about it."

"That doesn't prove anything," said Uncle Tad. "If they had hidden the toy train it would be in a place where we could never find it. I guess we'll have to let it go."

"Could any one else have taken it?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, of course. But one of the Indians seems most likely. They probably heard what Eagle Feather told about how the train ran and one of their men crawled up in the night and took it from the tent while we were all asleep."

"Well, maybe so, but I don't believe Eagle Feather did any such thing as that," said Mother Brown.

"Nor I," said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head. "It was a tramp."

Mr. Brown promised Bunny a new train as soon as he should go back to the city, but that would not be for a few days.

"Oh dear!" cried Bunny. "How can I wait that long?"

"You can play with my Teddy bear sometimes," said Sue kindly. Bunny thanked her, but it was easy to see he did not care much for such a girl's toy.

"My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear is as good as your toy train," said Sue.

"She's better--for I _have_ her and you _haven't_ your train of cars."

"Well, I'm glad you like her," said Bunny. "But maybe your Teddy will go away in the night just as my train did."

"My Teddy can't run, even if her eyes can light up," said Sue, making the bear's eyes blink.

"My train didn't run away, it was tooken," said Bunny. "And some day I'm going to find the one that tooked it."

Bunny did not speak as his school teacher would have had him, but he meant the same thing as if he had spoken correctly.

"Well, they sha'n't touch my Teddy bear!" said Sue. "I'll take her to bed with me every night."

And she did, two or three times. Then, one night Sue forgot and left her wonderful Teddy bear out in the kitchen. And in the morning what do you suppose had happened?

In the morning Sue awakened early, and, missing her toy, which she thought she had taken to bed with her, she happened to remember that Sallie was left out in the kitchen.

"I'll bring her to bed with me and tell her a story," said the little girl.

Eagerly she ran out to the kitchen. She looked in the chair where the Teddy bear had been left. Then Sue's eyes filled with tears as she cried:

"Where has Sallie gone? Oh, where has Sallie Malinda gone? Some one has tooken my Teddy bear!"

Bunny Brown heard his sister's cry, and up from his cot he jumped.

CHAPTER IX

THE SEARCH

"What's the matter, Sue?" asked Bunny as he saw his sister standing in the middle of the dining room part of the tent, which was separated by curtains from the sleeping rooms.

"Oh, my Teddy bear's been taken! Some one has taken Sallie Malinda!"

cried the little girl. "I don't believe I'll ever be happy again. Oh, dear!"

"Maybe we'll find her again," said Bunny, shivering, for the morning was cool and he had on only his night clothes.

"No, I'll never find her," sobbed Sue. "She's been tooked away, same as your train of cars."

This thought of his own missing toy made Bunny feel sad. But he wanted to cheer Sue up.

"Oh, maybe your Teddy bear just walked off in the night to get something to eat," the little boy went on. "I get hungry in the night lots of times. I get up and eat a sweet cracker, if I've left one on the chair by my bed. Now let me think what it is bears like best."

"It's honey," answered Sue.

"How do you know?" her brother asked.

"'Cause I read it in the animal book. It told about a bear climbing a bee-tree----"

"What's a bee-tree?" interrupted Bunny.

"It's a hollow tree where a bee makes its nest and lays honey eggs,"

explained Sue, in a very funny way, you see. "And the bear climbed that tree and got the bee's honey."

"Wouldn't the bee sting him?" asked Bunny. "I was stung by a bee once, on Grandpa's farm, and I wasn't climbing the bee-tree either."

"Oh, well, that was an accident," declared Sue. "Besides a bear has thick fur on him and the only place where a bee can hurt him is on his soft and tender nose. And before he climbs a bee-tree, the bear puts thick mud on his nose like a plaster so the bee can't sting that, so he's all right."

"Hum," said Bunny. "Then we'll go and find a bee-tree, and maybe your Teddy bear will be there."

"But my Teddy bear Sallie Malinda can only make-believe walk!" exclaimed Sue. "She can only make-believe eat honey, too."

"Then we'll look for a make-believe honey-tree," said Bunny. "Come on, Sue!"

Sue seemed to hold back.