AT THE LAKE
While Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad looked again at the spring of the auto, to
see just how badly it was broken, Bunny and Sue, with Mrs. Brown, went
over to the clump of trees, which was not far from the road.
"Oh, this will be a grand place!" cried Sue.
"Yes," agreed her brother. "We can put up the tent here," and he pointed
to a little knoll amid a circle of trees, "and then if it rains the
water will not come in."
Bunny's father had told him the first thing to do, in pitching a tent,
was to see that it would be dry in case of rain.
"Oh, I think you children will come into the 'Ark' when it begins to
shower," said Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, no! Why, it's lots of fun in a tent in the rain!" cried Bunny.
"Let's get it up right away."
"Better wait until daddy or Uncle Tad can help you," said Mother Brown.
"Now we'll sit down and rest in the woods."
"Well, as long as the 'Ark' had to break down, this was the best place
for it to happen, I guess," said Mr. Brown, as, with Uncle Tad, he came
over to the wood where Mrs. Brown and the children were seated on a
fallen tree.
"Is the break a bad one?" asked his wife.
"Yes, I think we'll need an entirely new spring, and it will take nearly
a week to get that. However, as the children will have as much fun
camping out here, as they would traveling in the car, it will be all
right. We are not far from a town, and we can get what we want to eat
from there."
"I think our cupboard is pretty well filled now," said Mrs. Brown.
"You might look to see if there is anything you need," suggested her
husband. "I am going into town to find a garage man and have him arrange
to get a new spring for me. Uncle Tad can be putting up the tent while
I'm away."
"I'm going to help," said Sue.
"And so am I!" cried Bunny.
As has been said, there was a tent carried on top of the Ark, and this
was now taken down by the old soldier and carried to the wood, there to
be set up for Bunny and Sue. The tent was large enough for the children
to sleep in if they wanted to. In fact, they had done so once or twice.
But their mother was not sure they would do so on this trip.
However, the tent was put up and the little folding cots made ready,
while Bunny brought his popgun and cannon with which to play soldier,
and Sue, her Teddy bear and set of dishes with which to play
keeping-house.
By the time this was done Mr. Brown had come back from the village,
bringing some chocolate candy for the children. He said he had seen an
automobile dealer and it would take fully a week to get a new spring for
the "Ark."
They had their dinner out-of-doors, and after that Bunny and Sue played
games in the tent. They said they were surely going to sleep in it at
night, so they made up the cots and took their little pajamas with them
into the canvas house.
"I'll have my flashlight, too," said Bunny; "and in case we want to get
up in the night to get a drink, Sue, we can do it easy."
"That'll be nice," said his sister.
In the evening, while the Browns were at supper, an old man, who seemed
to be a farmer, came strolling down the road, stopping at the big
automobile, and looking from it over to the children's tent in the
woods.
"You folks camping here?" he asked.
"Well, we're traveling in our car, and we've had to stop on account of a
broken spring," explained Mr. Brown. "The children thought it would be
fun to have a tent up in the woods. No objection I hope, if you own
those trees."
"Bless your heart! No objection at all! I do own that patch of wood, and
I'm glad to see the children's tent there. It sort of reminds me of war
time, when I was in the army. You're welcome to stay as long as you
like, and if you want anything I've got you can have it!"
"So you were in the war, too," remarked Uncle Tad, walking up to the
farmer. "I'm a veteran myself. Where did you fight?"
The two elderly men began talking and soon found that they had been in
the same Southern States together, though they had never met. Then, as
evening came on, the two soldiers talked of the old days of the war,
while Mr. Brown built a little campfire to make it seem pleasant. Bunny
and Sue listened to the tales of battles until finally Mrs. Brown,
noticing that their eyes were drooping, said:
"It's time for you tots to go to bed. Hadn't you better sleep in the
automobile?"
"No, we're going to our tent," said Bunny, seriously.
"Yes, we want to camp out," added Sue, sleepy as she was.
Knowing that it was perfectly safe, for the children had often camped
out before, Mr. and Mrs. Brown undressed the sleepy tots, and carried
them to their cots in the tent. Dix and Splash were given beds of hay on
the ground near the tent and told to stay on guard, which they would be
sure to do.
"Do you think they'll sleep out all night?" asked Mr. Brown of his wife,
as they made ready for bed in the automobile.
"I hardly think so," she said. "I'll leave the electric light, the one
outside the 'Ark' near the back steps, burning, so if they want to crawl
in here during the night they can."
"Good idea," said Mr. Brown.
Soon all was quiet around the big automobile and in the little white
tent over amid the trees. Bunny and Sue had fallen asleep almost as soon
as their heads touched the pillows.
But they did not sleep very long. Or so, at least, it seemed to them.
Sue awakened with a start. At first she could not remember where she
was, though there was a bright moon shining outside and it made the tent
light inside. Then she called:
"Bunny!"
"What's the matter?" he asked, for he was just about to awaken.
"Did you hear that?" asked Sue.
"What?" Bunny questioned.
"That sound."
Both listened. Outside the tent was a sound that could be plainly heard
by the children.
"I--I guess it's Dix snoring," said Bunny after a while.
"Or maybe Splash talkin' in his sleep," added Sue. "We aren't afraid,
are we, Bunny?"
"Not a bit, Sue! It's nice here!" Bunny's tone was very confident.
Bunny closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. So did Sue.
But neither of them could do so, though they closed their eyes very
tight. Finally Sue asked:
"Bunny, are you asleep?"
"No. Are you?"
"No. And I don't believe I'm going to sleep. That funny noise is
soundin' again. Say, Bunny, does Dix snore like: 'Who? Who? Who-ooo?'"
"No, I--I never heard him."
"Then it isn't Dix! It's something else," said the little girl firmly.
Bunny listened. Outside the tent he heard a mournful:
"Whoo! Who? Too-who!"
"Oh, I know what that is now!" cried Bunny. "It's an owl."
"Does an owl bite?" asked Sue:
"Sure they do!"
In the dim moonlight that shone into the tent Bunny could see his sister
get out of her cot, put on her slippers and dressing robe, and then take
up her Teddy bear, turning on the eyelights.
"Where are you going?" asked Bunny.
"I'm goin' home to my regular bed!" said Sue. "This tent is all right,
but a owl might bite through it. You'd better come with me, Bunny
Brown."
"I--I guess I will," said the little boy. "I wouldn't want you to go
alone," he added brightly.
He, too, put on his robe and slippers, and then Sue, with her lighted
Teddy bear, and Bunny, with his little flashlight, started toward the
"Ark." The two dogs followed.
Up the steps, in the glare of the little outside electric light went
the two tots. As they entered the automobile Mrs. Brown heard them and
called:
"Who is there?"
"It's us," said Bunny.
"An old owl kept askin' us questions about who was it," added Sue, "an'
we couldn't sleep. So we came in here."
"Crawl into your bunks," said Mother Brown. And that ended the
children's sleeping in the tent, for a while at least.
The next morning Mr. Jason, the soldier-farmer who owned the wood where
the tent was erected, came down to the "Ark."
"I'm going to drive over to Blue Lake to-day," he said. "Don't you folks
want to go along? You might take your lunch and picnic there. It's got a
waterfall."
"I did promise the children to take them to see it while we were here,"
said Mr. Brown. "Thank you, we should like to go with you." And a little
later the Browns were at Blue Lake.