Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour | Page 8

rooms. There were little bunks,
or beds in which to sleep, a combined kitchen and dining room, and a
little sitting room where, in the evenings after the day's travel, the
children could sit and read, for the traveling automobile was lighted by
electric lights, from a storage battery carried in it.
On bright, sunshiny days the little table was moved out of the van to
the ground beside it and there the meals were served. Sometimes
cooking was done out-of-doors, also, on a gasolene stove. A tent was
carried, and if any company came they could sleep in that if there was
not room in the auto-van.
When the Browns wanted to travel through the rain they could do so
without getting wet, for there was a stout roof on the automobile.
Windows had been cut in the sides of the van so the children could sit
beside them in stormy weather and look out, just as if they were in a
railroad car. And in the big car was a place for some of the children's
toys.
There was room for plenty of food to be carried, and even a small
ice-box that could be filled with ice whenever they stopped in a city.
"Well," said Mr. Brown, after he had told Bunny, Sue and their mother
about his plan, "do you think you'll like it?"
"I'll just love it!" cried Sue.
"So will I," said Bunny. "Let's hug and kiss daddy and momsie!"
"No, I'll have to beg off!" cried Mr. Brown. "Just one kiss each, and
don't muss my hair for I've got to go to the police station to take Fred's
picture. I'm sure his father would feel bad about doing a thing like that

so I'll do it for him. I'll be back soon."
"And we'll talk about the trip while you're gone," said Mrs. Brown.
Bunny and Sue were in bed when their father returned. The next
morning their mother told them, after Mr. Brown had gone to work,
that he had asked the police to do all they could to find Fred Ward.
"And now we must get ready for our trip," went on Mrs. Brown. "I
must get both of you some new clothes, for you wore out many suits
while we were at Camp Rest-a-While and in the Big Woods."
"But don't get too many. It will take too long to get 'em," remarked
Bunny. "We want to get started on our auto tour."
Not long after this Mrs. Brown announced that she was ready for the
trip--that she had bought the new clothes, and had arranged for the food
they were to take with them.
"Then I'll bring the big auto around here to the house to-morrow
morning and let you look at it," said Mr. Brown. "I have made a few
changes in it. I hope you will like it."
"Oh, we'll be sure to," said Mrs. Brown.
That night, when Bunny and Sue were ready for bed, Bunny looked out
of the window toward the Ward house. There was a bright moon.
"I see Dix and Splash playing together on the lawn," he said.
"And I see something else," added Sue.
"What?" asked Bunny.
"I see Fred Ward coming home. There he is, going up the back steps
now."
Sue pointed, and Bunny saw a tall lad, who did look very much like the
runaway boy, at the back door of the Ward home.

"Oh, let's tell daddy and momsie!" cried Bunny, as he and his sister, in
their bare feet, pattered their way downstairs.
CHAPTER IV
BUNNY AT THE WHEEL
Bunny and Sue raced downstairs and burst into the sitting room where
their mother and father were sitting.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Bunny.
"Oh, Momsie!" exclaimed Sue.
They were both out of breath.
"Well, what's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Why aren't you in
bed?"
"We saw something--anyhow Sue did," explained Bunny.
"But first Bunny saw Splash and Dix playing on the lawn in the
moonlight," said Sue, breathing fast.
"And then Sue saw Fred coming home--in by the back way," added
Bunny, his eyes big with wonder.
"What's that?" cried Mr. Brown, almost as excited as the two children.
"You say you saw Fred Ward?" asked Mother Brown.
"Well, it looked like him," replied Bunny, not quite so sure now that
questions were being asked of him and his sister.
"And he was going very carefully and quietly around the back way,"
added Sue. "Who could it be but Fred? He's getting tired of sleeping in
haystacks and eating raw eggs, and he's come home, I guess."
"Look here, Sue and Bunny," said Mr. Brown, a bit firmly but still

kindly. "Did you both see this? Or did you make it up or dream it?"
"We didn't dream,"