IN THE SMOKE-HOUSE
"What makes Splash act so queer?" asked Bunny again.
"I'm sure I don't know," said his father. "I guess we'll have to go back
and get him."
Certainly Splash did not seem to want to keep on to the village with Mr.
Brown and the children. The dog was running around and around the small
house, barking loudly. Mr. Trimble seemed not to hear the dog's barks,
but kept right on hoeing potatoes.
"We'll go back and get Splash!" decided Mr. Brown.
He and the children walked slowly back. Splash kept on barking.
"You seem to have something in that little house which excites our dog,"
said Mr. Brown.
"It doesn't take much to get some dogs excited," answered the farmer.
He did not seem to care much about it, one way or the other.
"What sort of house is that?" asked Mr. Brown. He looked at it closely.
The little house had no windows, and only one door. And there was a
queer smell about it, as though it had once been on fire.
"That's a smoke-house," said Mr. Trimble. "It's where I smoke my hams
and bacon. I hang them up in there, build a fire of corn-cobs and
hickory wood chips, and make a thick smoke. The smoke dries the ham and
bacon so it will keep all winter."
"What a funny house!" said Sue.
"It hasn't any windows," observed Bunny.
"We have to have smoke-houses tight and without windows," explained Mr.
Trimble, "so the smoke won't all get out."
"Are there any hams or bacon in there now?" asked Mr. Brown.
"No, we don't do any smoking until fall, when we kill the pigs."
"Well, there's _something_ in there that bothers our dog," went on the
children's father. For, all this while, Splash was running around the
smoke-house, barking more loudly than before.
Just then Bunny Brown thought of something. He pulled at his father's
coat and whispered to him:
"Oh, Daddy! Maybe Tom Vine is shut up in there--shut up in the
smoke-house!"
Mr. Brown looked first at Bunny and then at the strange little house
which had no windows. The door of it was tightly shut.
"That's so, Bunny," said Mr. Brown. "Perhaps Tom is in there. That would
make Splash bark, for he knows where Tom is." Mr. Brown thought as Bunny
did, that Mr. Trimble might have caught Tom, and locked him up in the
dark smoke-house.
"Oh, Daddy! Do you s'pose Tom's in there?" asked Sue in a whisper, for
she had heard what Bunny had whispered.
Daddy Brown nodded his head. He walked up to Mr. Trimble and said:
"Now look here! There's something in that smoke-house, and I want to see
what it is. Our dog knows there's something there, and I'm pretty sure
of it myself."
"Well, what do you think it is?" asked Mr. Trimble. "If there's anyone
in there I don't know it. But I'll open the door, and let you see. Your
dog certainly is making a lot of noise."
"Have you got that poor boy, Tom Vine, locked up in there?" asked Mr.
Brown.
The farmer laughed.
"Tom Vine locked up in there? Certainly not!" he cried. "I wish I did
have. I'd like to punish him for running away from me. But I haven't
seem him since he was at your camp. No, sir! He isn't in my smoke-house.
I don't believe anything, or anybody, is in there. But I'll open the
door and let you look inside. Why, the door isn't locked," the farmer
went on, "and I guess I couldn't keep a boy like Tom Vine in a
smoke-house without locking the door on him."
Mr. Brown did not know what to think now. As for Bunny and Sue they
thought surely their new friend, Tom, was locked in the queer little
house.
"Oh, now we'll see him!" cried Sue, and she felt very glad.
Mr. Trimble dropped his hoe across a row of potatoes, and walked to
where Splash was still barking away in front of the smoke-house.
"Will your dog bite?" asked the farmer.
"No, he is very gentle," answered Mr. Brown. "But I'll call him away
while you open the door."
"I'll hold him," said Bunny. "I'll hold him by his collar."
By this time Splash seemed to have barked enough, for he grew quiet.
Perhaps he knew the door was going to be opened. He came away when Bunny
called him, and the little boy held tightly to the dog's collar.
"I'll help you hold him," cried Sue, and she, too, took hold.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," said Mr. Trimble, with a sour sort of
laugh, "but you won't see any boy, or anything else, as far as I know,
in this smoke-house. I did pile in some bean poles last fall, and I
guess they're there yet, but that's all. Now watch close."
He put his shoulder against the door, and pushed. As it swung open, an
animal, something like a little red dog, with a sharp, pointed nose and
a big, bushy tail, sprang out and ran down the little hill, on which the
smoke-house stood.
"Why--why!" cried Mr. Trimble. "There _was_ an animal in there after
all! I didn't know it."
"A fox! It's a fox!" cried Bunny Brown. He had once seen in a book a
picture of a fox, and this animal looked just like the picture.
"Yes, that's a fox sure enough, and I guess it's the one that's been
taking my chickens!" cried Mr. Trimble. "I wish I had my gun! I'd shoot
the critter!"
He picked up a stone, and threw it at the fox, but did not hit the
running animal. Then something queer happened.
Splash, who was being held by Bunny and Sue, gave a sudden bark. Then he
gave a sudden jump. He went so quickly that he pulled Bunny and Sue
after him, and they both fell down in the dirt. But it was soft, so they
were not hurt.
They had to let go of Splash's collar, though, and the dog now began to
run after the fox, barking again and again.
"Splash! Splash!" cried Bunny. "Come back. The fox will bite you!"
"Don't worry," said Daddy Brown. "Splash can never catch that fox. The
fox can run too fast, and he has a good head-start. Splash will soon get
tired of running, and come back."
"The idea! The idea," exclaimed Mr. Trimble, "of a fox being in my
smoke-house! That's what made your dog all excited."
"Yes, that was it," said Daddy Brown. "But I thought you might have Tom
Vine shut up in there. I'm sorry I made the mistake."
"Oh, well, that's all right," said Mr. Trimble. He did not seem so cross
now. He even smiled at Bunny and Sue.
"Maybe I was too quick with that boy," he said. "But I'm a hard working
man, and them as works for me has to work hard, same as I do. But maybe
I was too hard on Tom. I certainly was mad when he ran away and left me,
and I made up my mind I'd punish him, if I could get him back. But I
haven't seen him since he was at your camp. And you thought he was in
the smoke-house?" he asked.
"Yes, I really did," replied Mr. Brown. "But I guess you didn't know a
fox was in there; did you?"
"No, I didn't," answered the farmer. "He must have gone in during the
night, when the door was open. The place sort of smells of meat, you
know. Then the door blew shut, and the fox couldn't get out.
"And Splash smelled him!" cried Bunny, who had gotten up and was
brushing the dust off. Sue was doing the same thing.
"Yes, your dog smelled the fox," said Mr. Trimble. "That was what made
him bark and get all excited."
"I'm going to catch a fox in my trap," said Bunny. "I've got a trap set
over by our spring. Maybe this is the fox I'm going to catch," he went
on.
"I'm afraid not," said Mr. Brown. "This fox is so scared that he'll run
for miles. He'll never come back this way again. Well, we haven't found
Tom Vine yet; have we?" and he looked at Bunny and Sue.
"No, and you never will find him," said Mr. Trimble. "Boys are no good.
Tom ran away from you same as he did from me. But maybe I was a little
too harsh with him. I wouldn't lock him up in a dark smoke-house,
though. That's no place for a boy."
Bunny and Sue were glad to hear the farmer say that.
"Well, we'd better be getting on to the village," said Mr. Brown. "Come
along, children."
"Oh, let's wait for Splash to come back," said Bunny. "I don't want him
to be lost."