AN OFFER OF HELP
As Mr. Brown walked into the home of the Ward family he saw at once, by
a look at his wife, and by the expressions on the faces of Mr. and Mrs.
Ward, that something had happened.
"Oh, I beg your pardon," Mr. Brown said. "Perhaps I shouldn't have come
in. I'll call another time. But----"
"What about the good news you have, Daddy?" asked Bunny.
"I didn't say it was good news, Son."
"Yes, it is. I can tell by your eyes!" exclaimed Sue.
"Whatever it is, it will keep a little while," said Mrs. Brown, with a
look at her husband, which he understood. "Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs.
Ward," she continued, "are in great distress. Their only son, Fred, has
run away from home."
"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "I shouldn't have come in.
I'll----"
"No, stay, we'll want your advice," said Mrs. Brown. "Mr. Ward was just
going to read a letter his son left. I want you to listen to it and tell
us what is best to do. You know you are on the police board."
"Of course I'll do all I can," said Mr. Brown. "First let me hear the
letter. You can sometimes tell a good deal of what's in a person's mind
by the way he writes."
And while Mr. Brown is listening to the letter left by the runaway boy,
I'll tell my new readers something more about Bunny Brown and his Sister
Sue, and the things that happened to them in the books before this.
The first volume is named "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," and it tells
of what happened to the two children in their home town of Bellemere, on
Sandport Bay, near the ocean. There the little boy and girl had fine
times, and they took a trolley ride to a far city, getting lost.
The second book told of "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's
Farm," and you can imagine the fun they had there, getting lost in the
woods and going to picnics. After that the two children played Circus in
the book of that name, and they had real animals in their show, though
you could not exactly call them wild.
"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home," is the name of
the fourth book, and in the big city Bunny and Sue had stranger
adventures than ever.
After that Mr. Brown took the whole family to "Camp Rest-a-While." It
was a lovely place in the woods and they lived in tents. Uncle Tad went
with them, and ever so many things happened to the children there. Their
dog Splash had good times too.
Camp Rest-a-While was near the edge of the big woods, and in the book
called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods," which is just
before this one, you may read of the adventures with Bunny's train of
electric cars, and of the fun Sue had with her electrical Teddy bear, which
could flash its eyes when a button was pressed in his back--or rather,
_her_ back, for Sue had named her Teddy bear Sallie Malinda, insisting
that it was a girl bear.
And now the Brown family was home again from the big woods, ready for
other happenings. And that they were going to have adventures might be
guessed from what Mr. Brown started to say about some news. But just now
he was reading the letter Fred Ward had written to his parents.
"Hum! That is a strange note for a boy to leave," said Mr. Brown slowly.
"He evidently doesn't intend to come home very soon."
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Ward, and commenced to weep once more.
"I tell her he may come home soon, for he has no money--or at least very
little to live on," said the missing boy's father. "You see Fred has a
high spirit, and he did not like it when I had to punish him. But I did
it for his good. He must learn the value of money, and he must not spend
when I tell him not to."
"No, that is not right," said Mr. Brown thoughtfully. He handed the note
to his wife. She read this:
"Father and Mother: I am not coming back for a
long while. I do not think you treated me right. I
am more than fifteen years old and I have a right
to have a banjo if I want it. I want to be a
player and play in the theater. That is what I am
going to do. I am not going to be treated like a
baby by my father. I am too old."
"I did not mean to treat him like a baby," said Mr. Ward. "But our
children must be made to obey in things that are right."
"That is true," agreed Mrs. Brown.
"We mind sometimes," said Bunny. "Don't we, Momsie?"
"Yes, once in a while. But please run away and play now, until we call
you. There comes Splash over to have a game with Dix. You children can
go out with the dogs."
Bunny and Sue were eager enough to do this. They thought they had heard
enough about the missing boy. They were to hear more in a short time.
"And so Fred has run away," said Mr. Ward, speaking to Mr. and Mrs.
Brown. "How can I get him back? It is not good that he should be away.
I will talk about the banjo to him, and if I find he really thinks it is
the best instrument for him to play I may let him have it. But where can
I find him?"
"Perhaps I can help," said Mr. Brown. "I am a member of the town police
committee. That is, I and other men look after the policemen. We can
tell them to be on the lookout for Fred."
"Oh, that is kind of you!" cried Mrs. Ward.
"And I can also send word to the police of other cities and towns," went
on Mr. Brown. "We work together on cases like this."
"I shall be greatly obliged to you," said Mr. Ward. "I want Fred to come
back."
"When did you find out he was gone?" asked Mr. Brown.
"Just a little while ago," answered Mr. Ward. "I sent him up to his room
this morning. He did not come down to dinner, for I said he should not
eat until he said he was sorry for what he did. Perhaps I was wrong, but
I meant to do right."
"You did it for the best," said his wife. "When I went up to Fred's
room this afternoon, he was gone, and there was this note. It was then I
cried," she went on, turning to the parents of Bunny and Sue.
"I am so sorry," said Mrs. Brown. "But I think it will all come right.
My husband will help find your boy."
"I'll get the police to help, too," said Mr. Brown. "They will search
for him."
"And we'll help!" exclaimed Bunny and Sue, coming in just then from
having a romp on the lawn with the two dogs. "We'll try to find Fred for
you."
"Bless their hearts!" cried Mrs. Brown, as the children ran out again.
"They get into all sorts of mischief, but they manage to get out
somehow. Bunny is ready for anything, and Sue is generally ready for
whatever follows."
"But they are learning a good deal," said Mr. Brown. "Their life in the
woods and on the farm was good for them--as good as the time they spend
in school."
"Yes," said Mr. Ward. "Sometimes I think I may have kept Fred too much
at his books. I wish I had him back."
"Oh, we'll find him," said Mr. Brown.
"I hope so," sighed Mrs. Ward. "It is very kind of you to offer to help
us."
"Why shouldn't we?" asked Mrs. Brown. "That is what neighbors are
for--to help one another. We'll go, now. But Mr. Brown will come back
and get you to tell him what Fred looks like, and how he was dressed, so
the police will know him if they see him. They will send you word where
he is if they find him."
"I will give you his photograph," said Mr. Ward.
As Mr. and Mrs. Brown walked across the lawn, they saw Bunny and Sue
playing with the two dogs. Bunny was on Splash's back as though the dog
were a horse, and Sue was doing the same thing with Dix.
"Gid-dap! Gid-dap!" cried the two little ones, holding to the dogs' long
ears so they would not fall off--I mean so the children would not fall
off, not the dogs' ears.
"Aren't they having a good time?" asked Mrs. Brown smiling.
"They certainly are," agreed her husband.
"I'm glad it is neither of our children who is away."
"I can't bear even to think of that!" said Mrs. Brown, with a shudder.
"Look out! They'll run us down!" she went on, for the children, on their
dog-horses, were rushing right at them.
"Clear the track! Clear the track!" cried Bunny, wildly.
"Yes! All aboard for the north pole!" yelled Sue.
"Bow-wow!" barked the two dogs, as happy as the children.
"Oh, Daddy! Do you know how to find Fred?" asked the little girl as she
fell off her dog into the soft grass.
"Well, we are going to try," answered her father.
"And we'll help," cried Bunny. Then, as he happened to think of
something, he exclaimed:
"Oh, Daddy! What about the good news you were going to tell us?"
"We want to hear it now," added Sue.
"You did say something about a surprise," added Mrs. Brown. "So much
has happened to-day that I had forgotten."
"Maybe you won't think it such news after all," observed Mr. Brown. "But
it occurs to me that there is going to be some warm weather yet, as the
Fall is not yet over. So I was thinking we could take the big
automobile--the one we used when we went to Grandpa's farm--and have a
tour in it. I have to go to a distant city on business, but there is no
hurry in getting there. We might all go in the big car. Shall we go?"
"Shall we go? Of course!" cried Bunny, dancing about.
"That's what I say!" added Sue, also capering wildly. "Oh, Bunny!" she
cried, "haven't we got just the bestest daddy in the whole world?"
"We have! We have!"
"Then let's both kiss him at once!" proposed Sue, and they made a rush
for Mr. Brown, who pretended to be much afraid.