IN THE OLD LOG
Everybody, even the four little Bunkers, was surprised to hear this.
"Tad missing!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "Are you sure he hasn't got up
early to help with the chores?" and he looked at Mr. Brown, who had
just come in to breakfast.
"No, he wasn't helping me," was the answer. "He did help with the
chores last night. Said he was doing it to pay for his dinner and
supper, and I must say he was spry about it, too. I'd like to have such
a boy around the farm, and I asked him if he didn't want to work for
me. But he said he wanted to get to Avalon, and that he was going to
ride as far as Grand View with you folks this morning."
"I did promise to take him," said Captain Ben; "but he seems to have
made an early start to get ahead of us."
"I'm sorry for the poor fellow," said Mrs. Brown. "But if he's gone,
he's gone, and that's all there is to it. My private opinion is that
Tad ran away from home, and now he's anxious to run back again. That's
what I think."
"I think so, too," said her husband. "Well, he seems able to take care
of himself, and I'm glad he wasn't an apple thief; anyhow he only took
a few to keep from starving, and I didn't begrudge him those. Now let's
get breakfast. I suppose you folks are anxious about your auto."
"Yes," said Captain Ben. "Though the garage man said he'd work on it
all night to get it ready for me this morning. I'll go down directly
after breakfast."
The meal was soon on the table, and the hungry little Bunkers ate with
good appetites. At first they had felt sorry about Tad's absence, but
they soon forgot about him in thinking of the fun of traveling again in
Captain Ben's car.
"And we'll see mother and Mun Bun and Margy to-night," said Rose, as
she hummed a merry song.
"I'll be glad!" cried Russ, and he whistled, while a catbird in a tree
outside tried to imitate him. Catbirds are relatives of the mocking
birds, and they often imitate other birds, just as the mocking birds do.
"You children stay here while Captain Ben and I go to the garage to
see if the car is ready," directed Daddy Bunker, as he and the marine
started off.
They had hardly reached the front gate before Mrs. Brown came running
out on the porch. She seemed much excited, and was waving her hands in
the air as Norah had waved hers the time the Bunker chimney caught fire.
"Wait a minute!" she called to Captain Ben and Mr. Bunker.
"What's the matter?" asked the children's father. "Have you found the
missing Tad?"
"No. But some of my things are missing, too!" exclaimed the farmer's
wife. "I left a box of my jewelry on the table at the head of my bed.
Now it's gone--my box of jewelry is gone!"
"You don't say so!" cried her husband, who had heard what his wife
said. "Your box of rings gone, and those ear rings I gave you! I know
what happened! That boy Tad took 'em and skipped off in the night!
That's the reason he didn't sleep in his bed. He took my wife's things!"
The four little Bunkers stared.
"Hm," said Captain Ben slowly. "It seems hard to accuse a boy of
anything like that, but it does look bad for him. Where were your
things, Mrs. Brown?"
The farmer's wife showed them her bedroom on the first floor, as is the
case in many old-fashioned country houses.
"I always put my box of jewelry on the table at the head of my bed,"
Mrs. Brown explained. "That's so I can run out quickly with it in case
of fire."
"And it's also very easy for some one to reach in from the outside and
take it," said Daddy Bunker. "Was this window open?" he asked, pointing
to the one at the head of Mrs. Brown's bed.
"Yes," she answered. "It was a hot night, so I left the window open."
Mr. Bunker looked at the ground beneath the window.
"That's how it happened," he said. "Some one has been walking around
under the window. I can see the footmarks in the ground, which is still
soft from the rain. Whoever it was, came here, reached in through the
open window from outside, and took the jewelry."
"It must have been that boy Tad!" said the farmer.
"Let's have a look at the footprints in the dirt," suggested Captain
Ben.
All of them, including the four little Bunkers, went out under the
window. Daddy Bunker allowed no one to walk too near, as he said he
wanted to see how many footmarks there were. After he had looked he
said:
"There was only one person here in the night. Whether it was the boy
Tad or not, I can't say. The footprints aren't very big, and might have
been made by a boy with large feet or a man with small feet."
"Tad's feet were big," said Rose. "Or, anyhow, he had on big shoes. He
said they didn't belong to him, but they were the best he could find."
"Wait a minute now, before we get to thinking Tad did this," said
Captain Ben. "Weren't there some tramps around last night, Mr. Brown?"
"Well, there was somebody in my orchard," answered the farmer. "I
reckon they were tramps."
"Maybe one of the tramps took your wife's box of jewelry from your
room," went on the marine.
"I never thought of them!" said Mrs. Brown. "I don't want to lose my
nice jewelry, but I'd rather it was taken by tramps than by Tad. He
seemed to be a nice boy!"
"Maybe it isn't stolen at all," suggested Russ. "Once my mother thought
her watch was stolen and she found it afterward in the bathroom."
"Well, I wish I could find my wrist watch," said Captain Ben.
"Was that taken, too, last night?" asked Mr. Brown.
"No, I missed that when we were packing to take the six little Bunkers
to my bungalow at Grand View," was the answer. "I guess I'll never
find my watch. But it is possible that you may have put your jewelry
somewhere else, Mrs. Brown. We'd better look."
But the farmer's wife was sure she had placed the box on the table at
the head of her bed near the open window, and a search all through the
house did not bring it to light. So the jewelry was gone, and Tad was
gone, and there was no sign of the tramps.
Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben helped in the search for the missing rings
and other things, and when they could not be found they went down after
the automobile. It had been repaired so it would go again, and soon
the four little Bunkers and their father and the marine were ready to
travel on again.
"If you see anything of Tad or some tramps, ask them if they have my
jewelry," called the farmer's wife to the little party as they started
off.
"We will," promised Russ.
Once more they were on the way. The weather was fine, and the roads
firm and Captain Ben's automobile was almost as good as before it had
gone head-first into the ditch by the canal.
"I almost forget how mother and Mun Bun and Margy look," said Rose, as
they were on the last stage of their journey.
"Yes, though it is only two days since we have seen them, it seems much
longer," said her father. "But we'll all be together this evening, and
then for some glorious times!"
"Hurray!" cried Laddie. "I'm going to think up a lot of new riddles,
too!"
They stopped at a wayside spring to get a drink. The spring was not far
from a farmhouse, and as Russ, Rose and the other children were looking
at the flowers in the front yard they noticed a dog barking at a big
log which lay in a meadow not far from the road.
"Is that your dog?" asked Russ of a farm boy who came out to look at
the automobile party.
"Yes," was the answer. "And he's been barking around that log all
morning. I guess maybe something's inside. Maybe a groundhog is in
there."
"Oh, I'd love to see a groundhog!" exclaimed Rose. "Let's go up and
look!"
"All right," agreed Russ. "May we?" he asked his father, who was
talking to the farmer while Captain Ben was oiling one of the springs
of the car where a squeak had sounded since they started.
"Yes; but be careful," cautioned Mr. Bunker. "It may be a skunk instead
of a groundhog that the dog is barking at."
"Oh, I don't believe so," said the farm boy. "Come on!" he called to
the Bunker children, and they approached the big log in the field.
"It's hollow," said Russ, as they neared it.
"Yes, it's been there a good many years," the farm boy said.
"Sometimes, when my sister and I are playing hide and seek, I crawl in
there. What's the matter, Towser?" he asked his dog, who was barking
louder than ever. "What's in the log?"
Russ stooped down and looked through it. He straightened up suddenly.
"There is something in it," he said. "And it's something that wears
shoes! I can see 'em!"