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[Illustration: HE WENT PAST WITH A FEW INCHES TO SPARE.
_Frontispiece. (Page 47.)_
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour._]
BUNNY BROWN
AND HIS SISTER SUE
ON AN AUTO TOUR
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES, THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES, THE OUTDOOR GIRLS
SERIES, ETC.
Illustrated by
Florence England Nosworthy
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
BOOKS
By LAURA LEE HOPE
* * * * *
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated._
* * * * *
=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES=
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
* * * * *
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES=
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
* * * * *
=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1917, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE BOY NEXT DOOR 1
II. AN OFFER OF HELP 11
III. READY FOR THE TRIP 21
IV. BUNNY AT THE WHEEL 33
V. WHERE IS SPLASH? 44
VI. TWO DOGS 54
VII. DIX IN TROUBLE 64
VIII. DIX AND THE COW 72
IX. TWO DISAPPEARANCES 87
X. DIX COMES BACK 98
XI. IN THE FLOOD 108
XII. AT THE FIRE 115
XIII. DIX AND THE CAT 129
XIV. THE MEDICINE SHOW 138
XV. WAS IT FRED? 149
XVI. IN THE DITCH 157
XVII. ON TO PORTLAND 166
XVIII. CAMPING OUT 177
XIX. AT THE LAKE 185
XX. DIX TO THE RESCUE 194
XXI. THE CIRCUS 205
XXII. A LION IS LOOSE 212
XXIII. THE SCRATCHED BOY 221
XXIV. THE BARKING DOG 230
XXV. FOUND AT LAST 238
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
CHAPTER I
THE BOY NEXT DOOR
"Oh, mother!" cried Bunny Brown, running up the front steps as he
reached home from school. "Oh, something's happened next door!"
"What do you mean, Bunny? A fire?"
"No, it isn't a fire," said Sue, who was as much out of breath as was
her brother. "It's sumfin different from that!"
"But, children, what do you mean? Is some one hurt?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"It sounds so," answered Bunny, putting his books on the table. "I heard
Mrs. Ward crying."
"Oh, the poor woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "She must be in trouble.
They have only just moved here. I'd better go over and see if I can
help her"; and Mrs. Brown laid down her sewing.
"I guess it must be about their boy Fred," suggested Bunny.
"What happened to him?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Was he hurt at school? He
goes to school, doesn't he?"
"Yes, but he wasn't there to-day," went on Bunny. "And it's Fred who's
in trouble I guess, for I heard his mother speak his name, and then Mr.
Ward said something else."
"Oh, dear, I hope nothing has happened," said Mrs. Brown, looking up at
the clock to see if it were not time for her husband to come home from
his boat and fishing pier. "We must do what we can to help, Bunny. Now
tell me all about it. Not that I want to interfere with my neighbors'
affairs, but I always like to help."
"And I think Mrs. Ward needs some help," said Sue, "'cause she was
crying real hard."
"Then I'll go right over and see what is the matter," said kind Mrs.
Brown.
"Oh, and may we go too?" asked Bunny.
"Please let us," begged Sue.
Their mother thought for a minute. Sometimes, she knew, it was not good
for children to go where older persons were crying, and had trouble. But
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were two wise little children, wiser than
many of their age, and their mother knew she could depend on them. So,
after a few seconds, she said:
"Yes, you may come with me. We shall see what the matter is with Mrs.
Ward."
"And we'll help her too, if we can," added. Bunny, bravely.
Mrs. Brown, followed by Bunny and Sue, started for the home of Mrs.
Ward. A wide lawn was between the two houses, and on this lawn Bunny and
Sue, with their dog Splash, had much fun.
The Wards were a family who had lately moved to the street where the
Browns had lived for years. As yet Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Ward had gotten
only as far as a "nodding acquaintance." That is, Mrs. Brown, coming out
into her yard, would see Mrs. Ward, and would say:
"Good morning. It's a fine day; isn't it?"
"Yes, indeed it is," Mrs. Ward would answer.
Sometimes it would be Mrs. Ward who would first speak about the fine
weather and Mrs. Brown would answer. Both women would soon become better
acquainted.
Mr. Brown had seen Mr. Ward several mornings on his way to work, and,
knowing him to be the man next door, had nodded, and said: "Good
morning!" And Mr. Ward had said the same thing. They, too, would soon be
better acquainted.
"I know the Wards are nice people," said Sue, as she trotted along
beside her mother.
"What makes you think so?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she walked slowly across
her lawn toward the house next door.
"'Cause they have a nice dog named Dix, and he and Splash are good
friends. First they sort of growled at each other, and then they smelled
noses and now they always wag their tails when they meet."
"Well, that's a good sign," laughed Sue's mother.
"But I wonder what can be the matter with the boy next door," said Sue
to her brother. "Are you sure you heard Mr. and Mrs. Ward talking about
Fred?"
"Yes, I'm sure," answered Bunny.
"Well, I didn't hear that part," said Sue. "But we'll soon find out what
the matter is."
As the Browns walked across the lawn, a dog came running out of the
house where lived "the boy next door," as Bunny and Sue called Fred
Ward, even though they knew his name. They had spoken several times to
him.
"Is that dog savage?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"No, Momsie," replied Sue. "He's just as nice as he can be. He and
Splash are good friends. Here Dix!" she called.
With a joyful bark the dog bounded toward Sue. He evidently knew the
children, and soon made friends with Mrs. Brown.
"He's a strong dog," she said to the children.
"And he's good, too!" exclaimed Bunny. "I was talking to Fred one day
and he told me that his dog Dix saved him from drowning when they lived
in another city, near a river."
"That was fine!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I think I shall like Dix."
By this time they were under the dining-room windows of the Ward house,
and Mrs. Brown and the children heard the sound of a woman sobbing, and
a man trying to comfort her.
"Now don't worry, Martha," said the man. "Everything will come out
right, I'm sure, and we'll find Fred."
"Oh, I hope so!" moaned the woman. And she kept on crying.
"Excuse me," said Mrs. Brown, calling in through the open window. "But I
fear you have trouble, and I have come over to see if I may not help
you."
Mr. Ward looked out of the window.
"It's Mrs. Brown," he said, evidently speaking to his wife in the room
behind him.
"I have been intending to come over to see you," went on Mrs. Brown.
"But you know how it is I suppose, Mrs. Ward," for now the other lady
had come to the window. "We keep putting such things off. And really I
have been so busy since we came back from our camp in the big woods that
I haven't had time to set my house to rights."
"I know how it is, Mrs. Brown," replied Mrs. Ward, wiping the tears from
her eyes, "and I am glad to see you now. Won't you come in?"
"I really don't know whether I ought to or not. My children, on coming
home from school, said they heard sounds of distress in here, and
knowing you were strangers I thought perhaps you might not know where to
apply for help in case you needed it. My husband is one of the town
officials, and if we can do anything----"
"It is very kind of you," said Mrs. Ward. "Thank you so much for coming
over. We _are_ in trouble, and perhaps you can give us some advice.
Please come in."
She went to the front door and let in Bunny, Sue and their mother, the
two children wondering what could have happened to the boy next door,
for they did not see him, and it seemed the trouble was about him.
"It won't take long to tell you what has happened," said Mrs. Ward,
placing chairs for Mrs. Brown and the two children. "Our boy Fred has
run away from home!"
"Run away from home!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, that's what he's done," said Mr. Ward. "I never thought he'd do
such a thing as that, even though he is quick tempered. Yes, Fred has
run away," and he turned over and over in his hand a slip of paper he
had been reading.
"Perhaps he only went off in a sort of joke," said Mrs. Brown
sympathetically. "I know once Bunny----"
"Yep. I ran away, I did!" exclaimed Bunny. "I got away down to the end
of the street. I saw a man and a hand organ and he had a monkey. I mean
the man did. And I wanted to be a hand-organ man so I ran away and was
going off with him, only Bunker Blue chased after me, so I didn't run
far, though I might have."
"Bunker Blue is a boy who works on Mr. Brown's fishing pier," explained
Mrs. Brown. "Yes, Bunny did run away once, but he was glad to run back
again."
"And I was lost!" cried Sue. "I was out walking with my daddy, and I
went down a wrong street, and I couldn't see him and I didn't know what
to do so I--I cried."
"Yes, Sue was lost a whole morning before a policeman found her and
telephoned to us," put in Mrs. Brown. "She was glad to get back.
Undoubtedly your boy will be the same."
"No," said Mr. Ward slowly, "I don't believe Fred will come home soon.
He has gone off very angry."
"Are you sure he didn't go to the home of some neighbor or of a
relative?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Children often do that, never thinking how
worried their fathers and mothers are."
"No, Fred is too old to do that," said Mrs. Ward, wiping the tears out
of her eyes. "He has gone, intending to stay a long while."
"What makes you think so?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Because of this note he left," answered the father of the boy next
door. "You see, Mrs. Brown, I had to correct Fred for doing something
wrong. He spent some money to buy a banjo that he had promised--I had
told him I would get him a fine banjo next year, but----
"Well, he disobeyed me, and I felt I had to punish him. So I sent him up
to his room to stay all day. He went to his room, and that is the last
we have seen of him. He left this note, saying he was never coming
back."
"Read Mrs. Brown the note," suggested Mrs. Ward. "Maybe she can think of
some plan to get Fred back."
Mr. Ward was about to read the note when Mr. Brown's voice was heard
under the dining-room windows saying:
"Hello, Mother, and Bunny and Sue! Mary told me you had come over here,
so I thought I'd come to pay a visit too. I've news for you."
"Oh, it's daddy!" cried Sue, and she ran to let her father in through
the front door.
"I wonder what news it is," said Bunny to himself. "I wonder if he has
found Fred."