Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour | Page 7

going to join a
theater company.
"We'd better get some circulars printed, with the boy's picture on
them," said Mr. Brown to the chief. "These we can send to other cities.
And we'll notify the police by telephone. I'll be down to see you this
evening."
"All right," answered the chief. "I'll get right after this boy."
"And tell whoever catches him to be good and kind to him," said Mr.
Brown. "Fred is not a bad boy. He feels that he has not been treated
well, and he'll do his best to hide away. But a boy with a banjo, who is
crazy to play in a show, ought not be very hard to find."
"No, I think we'll soon pick him up," the chief said.

"Well, pick him up as soon as you can," said Mr. Brown.
"Pick him up!" repeated Bunny, who had been listening to his father's
side of the conversation. "Did Fred fall down?"
"No. 'Pick him up' is a police expression," explained Mr. Brown. "It
means find him, or learn where he is."
"Oh, I see," murmured Bunny. "Well, I hope they'll soon find Fred."
The talk at supper time drifted from the running away of the boy next
door, and what might happen to him, to the trip the Browns were to
take in the big car.
"Well, now are you ready to tell us?" asked Bunny, as he saw his father
finish his cup of tea.
"Yes, I'll tell you a little now, and more when the time comes, as I have
soon to go down to the police station with Fred's picture. But I'll tell
you enough so you can sleep easy," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. Then
he sat thinking for a while as to the best way to tell his news.
"In the first place----" began Mr. Brown, only to have Bunny interrupt
him with:
"Oh, it starts off just like a story!"
"No," cried Sue. "A story begins: 'Once upon a time.'"
"Well, never mind about that now," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. "Let
me get on with what I have to tell you. The first part is that I have to go
to a city called Portland, about three hundred miles down the coast. I
have to go there on business, but there is no particular hurry. That is, I
can take my time on the road. Just what the business is about needn't
worry your heads, except that I'm going to look at a big motor boat
which I may buy."
"And may I have a ride in it?" cried Bunny.

"I want to ride myself," cried Sue, "and I want to learn how to steer."
"Well, we'll talk that over later," said her father. "Just now I am going
to tell you about our auto tour. We are going, as I said, to the city of
Portland. It is three hundred miles there, but the roundabout roads we
will take may make it longer."
"Can we stop over a day or so here and there?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, several days, if we like," said her husband. "We are going in the
big enclosed auto, in which we went to grandpa's farm."
"That will be lovely!" cried Sue.
"Just dandy!" exclaimed Bunny Brown. "And I'm going to sit on the
seat and steer, just as I did when Bunker Blue took us to grandpa's."
"I don't know that Bunker is going this time," said Mr. Brown,
speaking of the boy who worked for him and ran some of the motor
boats when parties of men and women wanted to go out in the bay
fishing.
"Oh! Bunker not going?" cried Bunny, somewhat disappointed.
"But we'll take your dog Splash and Uncle Tad," said Mr. Brown.
"That will be all right," agreed Bunny. "Go on, Daddy. Tell us some
more."
"Well, I don't know that there is any more to tell. We are going in the
big automobile, have a nice trip, and come back when we get ready. It
will be Indian Summer most of the time, the nicest part of the year, I
think, so we ought to have good weather. Now the rest is in your hands
and your mother's--getting ready for the trip."
Those who have read the book telling about the time spent on grandpa's
farm will remember the big automobile in which the Browns traveled
to the farm.

It had been a furniture moving van, and you know how big and strong
they are. Inside they are just like a big room in a house, only they move
about by a motor in the front, just as does a small automobile.
But this moving van was very different from the kind usually seen. The
inside had been made over into several