Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour | Page 9

said Sue, "'cause we hadn't gone to sleep yet."
"And we didn't make it up, for we weren't playing make-believe,"
added Bunny.
"Then you must have seen something," said their father; for when
Bunny and his sister spoke in this serious way their parents could tell
they were in earnest.
"What could it be?" asked Mrs. Brown, with a wondering look at her
husband.
"I'll run over and see," he replied. "You children hop back into bed.
You'll catch cold."
"Oh, Daddy! It's Summer yet, and we're even going to sleep out in the
tent when we're on the auto tour," said Bunny. "Let us wait up and see
if Fred really has come home. I hope he has!"
"I hope so, too," said Mother Brown. "Let them lie awake in bed,
Daddy, until you come back from the Ward home."
"All right, I will," Mr. Brown agreed, and as he started across the
moonlighted lawn Bunny and Sue, with many whisperings, noddings
and giggles went back upstairs to their room.
But they did not go to bed. This was one of the times when they did not
do as they were told. But it was only once in a while they did anything
like that. Bunny and Sue were, as a rule, very good.
Well, instead of going to bed they stood by the window where they
could watch the lawn on which Splash and Dix were still playing.
"We mustn't catch cold," said Sue. "We'd better wrap a blanket around
us, Bunny, if we stand by the window, though it isn't cold at all."
"Yep," grunted Bunny, who was so interested in watching his father

cross the grass plot that he did not feel like talking much.
Sue brought a light blanket from her bed and one from Bunny's, and in
these the children wrapped themselves, and stood by the window.
"There he is!" cried Bunny, as he saw the tall figure of his father,
accompanied by a bigger shadow in the moonlight, appear on the lawn.
"Hush!" cautioned Sue. "Don't talk so loud or mother will come up and
make us go to bed."
Bunny "hushed," and then the two children watched. They saw their
father go up the side steps of the Ward house and very soon come out
again.
"It didn't take him long to find out," said Bunny in a low voice.
"I hope Fred has come back," whispered Sue.
But it was not, as they learned a little later when their mother came
upstairs to tell them. The children had quickly scampered back to their
beds when they heard their mother coming up, and she found two
anxious faces peering at her over the blankets.
"Was it Fred?" they asked excitedly.
"No, I am sorry to say it was not," answered Mrs. Brown. "It was one
of the boys Fred used to play with, and he went around the back way
because he did not want any one to see him going in the front door."
"Does he know where Fred is?" asked Bunny.
"No. But he went to tell Mr. Ward about him. He had seen some of the
police circulars, or printed papers which were scattered about, showing
Fred's picture and telling how he looked and how much his father
wanted him to come home again."
"And is he coming?" asked Sue.

"We don't know, dear. Mr. Ward told us this boy, whose name is
George Simpson, knew that Fred was going to run away, for Fred had
told him."
"Why didn't George come and tell Fred's father so he could stop him?"
asked Bunny.
"Because Fred made George promise not to tell. But after George had
seen the police circulars he made up his mind he must say something,
so he came to-night. He said Fred had told him he was going to run
away to Portland and try to get work in a theater playing a banjo."
"Portland!" cried Bunny. "Why that's where we're going!"
"And maybe we'll see Fred!" added Sue.
"It may be," said their mother. "But now you two must go to sleep. The
big auto will be here in the morning, and you will wish to see the new
things daddy has put in."
"May I ask just one more question?" begged Bunny.
"Yes, and only one."
"How did Fred come to go to Portland? Did he know we were going
there?"
"No, dear. But he knew a man in a theater there who had promised to
give him a trial at banjo playing if ever he wanted it. So, when Fred ran
away, he decided to go there. At least so he told George."
"Oh, Mother, when we get to Portland may we----" began Sue, but Mrs.
Brown laughed and cried:
"No more questions until morning!"