WONDERINGS
Out from behind the bush where they had hidden on hearing the rustling
in the underbrush came Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, hand in hand. The
hermit, as they called the man who lived all alone in his little cabin,
looked up and saw them. So did the dog, and with a bark and a growl he
rushed toward the two children.
"Down, Tramp! Down!" called the hermit, and the dog sank to the
moss-covered ground, beating his tail up and down on the dried leaves.
"He wouldn't hurt you for the world," said the old, ragged man. "He
loves children, but he's so fond of them that he jumps up on them, and
tries to kiss them. Sometimes he tries to love them so hard that he
knocks them down. So I have to tell him to be careful."
"We're not afraid of good dogs," said Bunny.
"And we've got a dog of our own," added Sue. "His name is Splash, 'cause
he splashes through the muddy puddles so much that he gets us all wet
when he's with us. That's why we don't take him so often, lessen we know
it's going to be a dry day."
"I see," said the ragged man. "Well, Tramp is pretty good, except that
he loves children too much."
By this time the dog must have felt that it was time for him to get up,
and he arose and leaped toward Bunny and Sue. Sue turned to one side and
held her arm over her face, but Bunny waited for the dog to come near
enough so he could be patted, and this the dog seemed to like. When he
tried to jump up and put his paws on Bunny's shoulders the little boy
cried:
"Down! Down, Tramp!" and at once the dog sank down and wagged his tail
so hard that Sue said afterward she thought it would almost wag off.
The dog seemed to like Bunny and Sue, running about them, giving little
barks of joy and licking their hands.
"I like him," said Sue. "He's 'most as good as our dog. How did you come
to name him Tramp?"
"Well, he looked like a tramp when he came to me," said the ragged man,
who seemed to be clean enough, though his clothes were in tatters. "He
was all stuck up with burrs from the woods, one foot was cut and he was
covered with mud and water. I took him in, washed him, bound up his paw,
which had been cut on a piece of broken glass, and gave him something to
eat. He has been with me ever since."
"I should think he _would_ stay with you," said Bunny. "You were kind to
him."
"Well, I like animals," said the man. "But what are you children doing
off here in the woods. Do you want more milk?"
"Not this time, thank you," said Bunny. "When we go to the farmhouse now
we have a cover on our pail, and when we set it down on the road no dog
can come and drink the milk."
"But we don't set it down any more," said Bunny. "Mother told us not
to."
"That's good," said the ragged man, whose name was Bixby. "It's a good
thing you didn't want any milk, because I haven't any left. I used up
most of what my cow gave, and sold the rest to a party of automobile
folks that came along dreadfully thirsty."
"We have two automobiles," said Bunny. "One my father rides back and
forth to the city in and the other a big one, like a moving van, that we
can live in, and go where we want to. When night comes we just go to
sleep in it beside the road."
"That's what my dog Tramp and I would like," said the ragged man. "It's
no fun staying in one place all the while. But if you children are not
away off here looking for milk, what are you here for, I'd like to
know?"
"I'm looking for my Teddy bear with the blinking 'lectric lights for
eyes," said Sue.
"What makes you think you'll find him here, off in the woods?" asked Mr.
Bixby, after a pause.
"Well, somebody took my Teddy bear, which is a her, not a him, and is
named Sallie Malinda, from our tent," went on the little girl; "and, of
course, as a bear likes a wood, maybe they brought her here."
"And my train of cars is gone, too," said Bunny, as he told of that
having been taken from the tent.
"Why, that is surprising!" cried the ragged man. "Both your nice toys
taken! Who could have done it?"
"Well, I did think maybe I left my train on the track with the batteries
switched on so it would go," said Bunny. "But I left the track made into
a round ring, and of course, if my train did get to going by some
accident, it would just keep on going around and around like Splash
chasing his tail, and wouldn't go out of the tent."
"Of course," agreed the ragged man.
"And Bunny thought Sallie Malinda had walked off by herself," said Sue,
"but daddy said she couldn't, for there is nothing in her to wind up. So
that couldn't happen."
"Then who took her?" asked the ragged man.
"We thought Eagle Feather, or some of his tribe, might," replied Bunny,
"for they thought our toys were 'heap big medicine.' But we went to
their village, and no one there knew anything about them."
"That's what they said, did they?"
"Yes, that's what they said," agreed Bunny.
"But they might not have told the truth," went on Mr. Bixby, with a sort
of wink at Bunny.
"Oh, everybody tells the truth," said the little boy.
"Not always," returned Mr. Bixby with a laugh. "But never mind about
that now. You have come a long way from your camp."
"Oh, that's another thing we forgot to tell you about," said Bunny.
"We're lost."
"Lost?" cried the ragged man.
"Terrible lost," said Sue. "We don't even know which is east, where the
sun gets up, you know."
"Oh, I can easily show you that," said Mr. Bixby. "And you're not lost
any more, for I know where your camp is."
"We hoped you would," said Bunny.
"That's why we were glad to see you through the bushes. Can you take us
home?"
"I can and I will," said the ragged man. "I can take you back straight
through the wood, or around by my cabin, which will put you on the road
along which you went to get your milk that night. Then you'll have an
easier walk to Camp Rest-a-While, though a little longer one."
"Let's go by the road, though it is longer," said Sue. "I'm tired of
walking in the woods."
"All right, and I'll carry you part of the way," said Mr. Bixby.
"Will you give me a piggy-back?" asked Sue, who was not too old for such
things.
"A pickaback is just what you shall have," said Mr. Bixby, and Sue soon
got up on his back by stepping from a high stone, to the top of which
Bunny helped her.
"Please go slow," begged the little boy, "'cause we might happen to see
Sue's Teddy bear or my train of cars, where the Indians or somebody else
dropped it; though I don't believe Eagle Feather would do such a
thing."
"Oh, I don't think Eagle Feather would take your toys," said Mr. Bixby.
"He is quite honest. But some of his tribe are not, I'm sorry to say."
So he walked on with Sue on his back and Bunny trudging along beside,
and Tramp, the dog, first running on ahead and then coming back barking,
as though to say everything was all right.
"We'll soon be at my cabin," said the ragged man. "And then you can rest
before starting on the road home."
"Have you got anything to eat at your house?" asked Sue.
Bunny, who was walking along behind her as she rode on Mr. Bixby's back,
reached up and pinched one of his sister's little fat legs.
"Stop, Bunny Brown!" she cried. Then to Mr. Bixby she said again: "Have
you got anything to eat at your house?"
Once more Bunny pinched her leg, and Sue cried:
"Now, you stop that, Bunny Brown! I'm not playing the pinching game
to-day."
"Well, you mustn't say that," said her brother.
"Say what?" demanded Sue.
"About Mr. Bixby having anything to eat in his house," went on Bunny.
"You know mother has told you it isn't polite."
"Oh, that's right, Bunny! I forgot. So that's why you were pinching me?"
"Yes," answered Bunny.
Sue leaned over from the back of the ragged man and said, right in his
ear:
"Please don't give us anything to eat when you get to your house. It
wouldn't be polite for us to take it after me asking you the way I did."
"Hey? What's that?" asked the ragged man, seeming to wake up from a
sleep. "Did you ask me not to go so fast?"
"No, I asked you----"
Once more Bunny pinched his sister's leg.
"Don't tell him what you asked him and he won't know, and then it will
be all right," said Bunny.
"All right," whispered Sue. Then aloud she said: "Is it much farther to
your house, Mr. Bixby?"
"Why, no," answered the ragged man. "So that's what you asked me, was
it? I wasn't listening, I'm afraid. My cabin is only a little farther
on, and then after you rest a bit I'll put you on the road to your
camp."
"And maybe he'll give us something to eat without our asking," muttered
Sue to her brother, who was behind.
"Hush!" he whispered. "Don't let him hear you."
They were soon at Mr. Bixby's cabin.
"Now, if you'll sit down a minute," said the ragged man, "I'll get you a
few cookies. I baked them myself. Maybe they are not as nice as those
your mother makes, but Tramp, my dog, likes them."
"I'm sure we will, too," said Sue. "There! what'd I tell you, Bunny
Brown?" she asked in a whisper. "I knew he'd give us something to eat!
And it isn't impolite to take it when he offers it to you!"
"No, I guess it's not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, we'll take 'em."
The ragged man appeared with a plate of cookies. The children said they
were very good indeed, fully as good as Mother Brown baked, and Tramp,
the dog, ate his share, too, sitting up on his hind legs and begging for
one when the ragged man told him to. Then the dog would sit up with a
cookie balanced on his nose, and he would not snap it off to eat until
the man told him to.
"Well, I like to have you stay," said the hermit, "but it is getting
late, and perhaps I had better take you to the road that leads straight
to your camp."
"Yes, we had better go," replied Bunny. "We'll know our way home now.
Thank you for taking care of us and for the cookies."
"Which we didn't ask for," said Sue quickly. "Did we, Mr. Bixby?"
"No, you didn't," he answered with a laugh, and he seemed to understand
what Sue meant without asking any questions.
As Mr. Bixby started away from his cabin, to lead the children down to
the road, they met an Indian coming up the path. He was not Eagle
Feather, but one of the tribe.
"How!" and the Indian nodded to the ragged man.
"How!" answered Mr. Bixby.
"You got heap big medicine ready for make Indian's pain better?" asked
the red man.
"Yes, but not now--pretty soon," answered Mr. Bixby.
"All right--me wait. You come back soon byemby?" asked the Onondaga.
"Yes, in a minute."
"You don't need to go any farther with us," said Bunny presently. "We
can see the road from here and we know our way all right."
"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Bixby, who seemed anxious to get back to the
Indian, who appeared to be ill.
"Of course we can," said Bunny.
"Of course," added Sue.
"Then I'll leave you here," went on the ragged man. "I doctor some of
the Indians, and this is one of them. I'll say good-bye, and the next
time you're lost you must send for me."
"We will," laughed Bunny and Sue as they went on toward the road. They
knew where they were now, as they had come along this road after the
milk.
As they reached the highway they heard from the cabin of the ragged man
a curious buzzing sound.
"What's that?" asked Sue. "Is it bees?"
"No, I don't think so," answered Bunny. "It sounds more like machinery."
"Yes, it does," agreed Sue. "I wonder what kind it is."
"Sounds like a little saw mill," said Bunny.
"Say!" cried Sue, when they had walked on a little way. "Wasn't it queer
that that Indian asked about 'heap big medicine,' just the way Eagle
Feather spoke of my Teddy bear and your electric train?"
"Kind of," admitted Bunny. "I wonder what he meant?"
"Oh, I guess it's some medicine Mr. Bixby has for curing the stomach,"
went on Sue. "The Indian might have eaten too many green apples."
"Maybe," said Bunny. "Oh, here comes Splash, looking for us!" he cried,
as he saw the dog running along the road toward them.