CHAPTER I

THE BOY NEXT DOOR

"Oh, mother!" cried Bunny Brown, running up the front steps as he reached home from school. "Oh, something's happened next door!"

"What do you mean, Bunny? A fire?"

"No, it isn't a fire," said Sue, who was as much out of breath as was her brother. "It's sumfin different from that!"

"But, children, what do you mean? Is some one hurt?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"It sounds so," answered Bunny, putting his books on the table. "I heard Mrs. Ward crying."

"Oh, the poor woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "She must be in trouble. They [Pg 2]have only just moved here. I'd better go over and see if I can help her"; and Mrs. Brown laid down her sewing.

"I guess it must be about their boy Fred," suggested Bunny.

"What happened to him?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Was he hurt at school? He goes to school, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but he wasn't there to-day," went on Bunny. "And it's Fred who's in trouble I guess, for I heard his mother speak his name, and then Mr. Ward said something else."

"Oh, dear, I hope nothing has happened," said Mrs. Brown, looking up at the clock to see if it were not time for her husband to come home from his boat and fishing pier. "We must do what we can to help, Bunny. Now tell me all about it. Not that I want to interfere with my neighbors' affairs, but I always like to help."

"And I think Mrs. Ward needs some help," said Sue, "'cause she was crying real hard."

"Then I'll go right over and see what is the matter," said kind Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, and may we go too?" asked Bunny.[Pg 3]

"Please let us," begged Sue.

Their mother thought for a minute. Sometimes, she knew, it was not good for children to go where older persons were crying, and had trouble. But Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were two wise little children, wiser than many of their age, and their mother knew she could depend on them. So, after a few seconds, she said:

"Yes, you may come with me. We shall see what the matter is with Mrs. Ward."

"And we'll help her too, if we can," added. Bunny, bravely.

Mrs. Brown, followed by Bunny and Sue, started for the home of Mrs. Ward. A wide lawn was between the two houses, and on this lawn Bunny and Sue, with their dog Splash, had much fun.

The Wards were a family who had lately moved to the street where the Browns had lived for years. As yet Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Ward had gotten only as far as a "nodding acquaintance." That is, Mrs. Brown, coming out into her yard, would see Mrs. Ward, and would say:[Pg 4]

"Good morning. It's a fine day; isn't it?"

"Yes, indeed it is," Mrs. Ward would answer.

Sometimes it would be Mrs. Ward who would first speak about the fine weather and Mrs. Brown would answer. Both women would soon become better acquainted.

Mr. Brown had seen Mr. Ward several mornings on his way to work, and, knowing him to be the man next door, had nodded, and said: "Good morning!" And Mr. Ward had said the same thing. They, too, would soon be better acquainted.

"I know the Wards are nice people," said Sue, as she trotted along beside her mother.

"What makes you think so?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she walked slowly across her lawn toward the house next door.

"'Cause they have a nice dog named Dix, and he and Splash are good friends. First they sort of growled at each other, and then they smelled noses and now they always wag their tails when they meet."

"Well, that's a good sign," laughed Sue's mother.[Pg 5]

"But I wonder what can be the matter with the boy next door," said Sue to her brother. "Are you sure you heard Mr. and Mrs. Ward talking about Fred?"

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Bunny.

"Well, I didn't hear that part," said Sue. "But we'll soon find out what the matter is."

As the Browns walked across the lawn, a dog came running out of the house where lived "the boy next door," as Bunny and Sue called Fred Ward, even though they knew his name. They had spoken several times to him.

"Is that dog savage?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"No, Momsie," replied Sue. "He's just as nice as he can be. He and Splash are good friends. Here Dix!" she called.

With a joyful bark the dog bounded toward Sue. He evidently knew the children, and soon made friends with Mrs. Brown.

"He's a strong dog," she said to the children.

"And he's good, too!" exclaimed Bunny. "I was talking to Fred one day and he told me that his dog Dix saved him from drown[Pg 6]ing when they lived in another city, near a river."

"That was fine!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I think I shall like Dix."

By this time they were under the dining-room windows of the Ward house, and Mrs. Brown and the children heard the sound of a woman sobbing, and a man trying to comfort her.

"Now don't worry, Martha," said the man. "Everything will come out right, I'm sure, and we'll find Fred."

"Oh, I hope so!" moaned the woman. And she kept on crying.

"Excuse me," said Mrs. Brown, calling in through the open window. "But I fear you have trouble, and I have come over to see if I may not help you."

Mr. Ward looked out of the window.

"It's Mrs. Brown," he said, evidently speaking to his wife in the room behind him.

"I have been intending to come over to see you," went on Mrs. Brown. "But you know how it is I suppose, Mrs. Ward," for now the other lady had come to the window. "We [Pg 7]keep putting such things off. And really I have been so busy since we came back from our camp in the big woods that I haven't had time to set my house to rights."

"I know how it is, Mrs. Brown," replied Mrs. Ward, wiping the tears from her eyes, "and I am glad to see you now. Won't you come in?"

"I really don't know whether I ought to or not. My children, on coming home from school, said they heard sounds of distress in here, and knowing you were strangers I thought perhaps you might not know where to apply for help in case you needed it. My husband is one of the town officials, and if we can do anything——"

"It is very kind of you," said Mrs. Ward. "Thank you so much for coming over. We are in trouble, and perhaps you can give us some advice. Please come in."

She went to the front door and let in Bunny, Sue and their mother, the two children wondering what could have happened to the boy next door, for they did not see him, and it seemed the trouble was about him.[Pg 8]

"It won't take long to tell you what has happened," said Mrs. Ward, placing chairs for Mrs. Brown and the two children. "Our boy Fred has run away from home!"

"Run away from home!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, that's what he's done," said Mr. Ward. "I never thought he'd do such a thing as that, even though he is quick tempered. Yes, Fred has run away," and he turned over and over in his hand a slip of paper he had been reading.

"Perhaps he only went off in a sort of joke," said Mrs. Brown sympathetically. "I know once Bunny——"

"Yep. I ran away, I did!" exclaimed Bunny. "I got away down to the end of the street. I saw a man and a hand organ and he had a monkey. I mean the man did. And I wanted to be a hand-organ man so I ran away and was going off with him, only Bunker Blue chased after me, so I didn't run far, though I might have."

"Bunker Blue is a boy who works on Mr. Brown's fishing pier," explained Mrs. Brown.[Pg 9] "Yes, Bunny did run away once, but he was glad to run back again."

"And I was lost!" cried Sue. "I was out walking with my daddy, and I went down a wrong street, and I couldn't see him and I didn't know what to do so I—I cried."

"Yes, Sue was lost a whole morning before a policeman found her and telephoned to us," put in Mrs. Brown. "She was glad to get back. Undoubtedly your boy will be the same."

"No," said Mr. Ward slowly, "I don't believe Fred will come home soon. He has gone off very angry."

"Are you sure he didn't go to the home of some neighbor or of a relative?" asked Mrs. Brown. "Children often do that, never thinking how worried their fathers and mothers are."

"No, Fred is too old to do that," said Mrs. Ward, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "He has gone, intending to stay a long while."

"What makes you think so?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Because of this note he left," answered [Pg 10]the father of the boy next door. "You see, Mrs. Brown, I had to correct Fred for doing something wrong. He spent some money to buy a banjo that he had promised—I had told him I would get him a fine banjo next year, but——

"Well, he disobeyed me, and I felt I had to punish him. So I sent him up to his room to stay all day. He went to his room, and that is the last we have seen of him. He left this note, saying he was never coming back."

"Read Mrs. Brown the note," suggested Mrs. Ward. "Maybe she can think of some plan to get Fred back."

Mr. Ward was about to read the note when Mr. Brown's voice was heard under the dining-room windows saying:

"Hello, Mother, and Bunny and Sue! Mary told me you had come over here, so I thought I'd come to pay a visit too. I've news for you."

"Oh, it's daddy!" cried Sue, and she ran to let her father in through the front door.

"I wonder what news it is," said Bunny to himself. "I wonder if he has found Fred."[Pg 11]

CHAPTER II

AN OFFER OF HELP

As Mr. Brown walked into the home of the Ward family he saw at once, by a look at his wife, and by the expressions on the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Ward, that something had happened.

"Oh, I beg your pardon," Mr. Brown said. "Perhaps I shouldn't have come in. I'll call another time. But——"

"What about the good news you have, Daddy?" asked Bunny.

"I didn't say it was good news, Son."

"Yes, it is. I can tell by your eyes!" exclaimed Sue.

"Whatever it is, it will keep a little while," said Mrs. Brown, with a look at her husband, which he understood. "Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Ward," she continued, "are in great distress. Their only son, Fred, has run away from home."[Pg 12]

"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "I shouldn't have come in. I'll——"

"No, stay, we'll want your advice," said Mrs. Brown. "Mr. Ward was just going to read a letter his son left. I want you to listen to it and tell us what is best to do. You know you are on the police board."

"Of course I'll do all I can," said Mr. Brown. "First let me hear the letter. You can sometimes tell a good deal of what's in a person's mind by the way he writes."

And while Mr. Brown is listening to the letter left by the runaway boy, I'll tell my new readers something more about Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, and the things that happened to them in the books before this.

The first volume is named "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," and it tells of what happened to the two children in their home town of Bellemere, on Sandport Bay, near the ocean. There the little boy and girl had fine times, and they took a trolley ride to a far city, getting lost.

The second book told of "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm," and you [Pg 13]can imagine the fun they had there, getting lost in the woods and going to picnics. After that the two children played Circus in the book of that name, and they had real animals in their show, though you could not exactly call them wild.

"Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home," is the name of the fourth book, and in the big city Bunny and Sue had stranger adventures than ever.

After that Mr. Brown took the whole family to "Camp Rest-a-While." It was a lovely place in the woods and they lived in tents. Uncle Tad went with them, and ever so many things happened to the children there. Their dog Splash had good times too.

Camp Rest-a-While was near the edge of the big woods, and in the book called "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods," which is just before this one, you may read of the adventures with Bunny's train of electric cars, and of the fun Sue had with her electrical Teddy bear, which could flash its eyes when a button was pressed in his back—or rather, her back, for Sue had named her[Pg 14] Teddy bear Sallie Malinda, insisting that it was a girl bear.

And now the Brown family was home again from the big woods, ready for other happenings. And that they were going to have adventures might be guessed from what Mr. Brown started to say about some news. But just now he was reading the letter Fred Ward had written to his parents.

"Hum! That is a strange note for a boy to leave," said Mr. Brown slowly. "He evidently doesn't intend to come home very soon."

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Ward, and commenced to weep once more.

"I tell her he may come home soon, for he has no money—or at least very little to live on," said the missing boy's father. "You see Fred has a high spirit, and he did not like it when I had to punish him. But I did it for his good. He must learn the value of money, and he must not spend when I tell him not to."

"No, that is not right," said Mr. Brown thoughtfully. He handed the note to his wife. She read this:[Pg 15]

"Father and Mother: I am not coming back for a long while. I do not think you treated me right. I am more than fifteen years old and I have a right to have a banjo if I want it. I want to be a player and play in the theater. That is what I am going to do. I am not going to be treated like a baby by my father. I am too old."

"I did not mean to treat him like a baby," said Mr. Ward. "But our children must be made to obey in things that are right."

"That is true," agreed Mrs. Brown.

"We mind sometimes," said Bunny. "Don't we, Momsie?"

"Yes, once in a while. But please run away and play now, until we call you. There comes Splash over to have a game with Dix. You children can go out with the dogs."

Bunny and Sue were eager enough to do this. They thought they had heard enough about the missing boy. They were to hear more in a short time.

"And so Fred has run away," said Mr. Ward, speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Brown.[Pg 16] "How can I get him back? It is not good that he should be away. I will talk about the banjo to him, and if I find he really thinks it is the best instrument for him to play I may let him have it. But where can I find him?"

"Perhaps I can help," said Mr. Brown. "I am a member of the town police committee. That is, I and other men look after the policemen. We can tell them to be on the lookout for Fred."

"Oh, that is kind of you!" cried Mrs. Ward.

"And I can also send word to the police of other cities and towns," went on Mr. Brown. "We work together on cases like this."

"I shall be greatly obliged to you," said Mr. Ward. "I want Fred to come back."

"When did you find out he was gone?" asked Mr. Brown.

"Just a little while ago," answered Mr. Ward. "I sent him up to his room this morning. He did not come down to dinner, for I said he should not eat until he said he was sorry for what he did. Perhaps I was wrong, but I meant to do right."

"You did it for the best," said his wife.[Pg 17] "When I went up to Fred's room this afternoon, he was gone, and there was this note. It was then I cried," she went on, turning to the parents of Bunny and Sue.

"I am so sorry," said Mrs. Brown. "But I think it will all come right. My husband will help find your boy."

"I'll get the police to help, too," said Mr. Brown. "They will search for him."

"And we'll help!" exclaimed Bunny and Sue, coming in just then from having a romp on the lawn with the two dogs. "We'll try to find Fred for you."

"Bless their hearts!" cried Mrs. Brown, as the children ran out again. "They get into all sorts of mischief, but they manage to get out somehow. Bunny is ready for anything, and Sue is generally ready for whatever follows."

"But they are learning a good deal," said Mr. Brown. "Their life in the woods and on the farm was good for them—as good as the time they spend in school."

"Yes," said Mr. Ward. "Sometimes I think I may have kept Fred too much at his books. I wish I had him back."[Pg 18]

"Oh, we'll find him," said Mr. Brown.

"I hope so," sighed Mrs. Ward. "It is very kind of you to offer to help us."

"Why shouldn't we?" asked Mrs. Brown. "That is what neighbors are for—to help one another. We'll go, now. But Mr. Brown will come back and get you to tell him what Fred looks like, and how he was dressed, so the police will know him if they see him. They will send you word where he is if they find him."

"I will give you his photograph," said Mr. Ward.

As Mr. and Mrs. Brown walked across the lawn, they saw Bunny and Sue playing with the two dogs. Bunny was on Splash's back as though the dog were a horse, and Sue was doing the same thing with Dix.

"Gid-dap! Gid-dap!" cried the two little ones, holding to the dogs' long ears so they would not fall off—I mean so the children would not fall off, not the dogs' ears.

"Aren't they having a good time?" asked Mrs. Brown smiling.

"They certainly are," agreed her husband.[Pg 19]

"I'm glad it is neither of our children who is away."

"I can't bear even to think of that!" said Mrs. Brown, with a shudder.

"Look out! They'll run us down!" she went on, for the children, on their dog-horses, were rushing right at them.

"Clear the track! Clear the track!" cried Bunny, wildly.

"Yes! All aboard for the north pole!" yelled Sue.

"Bow-wow!" barked the two dogs, as happy as the children.

"Oh, Daddy! Do you know how to find Fred?" asked the little girl as she fell off her dog into the soft grass.

"Well, we are going to try," answered her father.

"And we'll help," cried Bunny. Then, as he happened to think of something, he exclaimed:

"Oh, Daddy! What about the good news you were going to tell us?"

"We want to hear it now," added Sue.

"You did say something about a surprise,"[Pg 20] added Mrs. Brown. "So much has happened to-day that I had forgotten."

"Maybe you won't think it such news after all," observed Mr. Brown. "But it occurs to me that there is going to be some warm weather yet, as the Fall is not yet over. So I was thinking we could take the big automobile—the one we used when we went to Grandpa's farm—and have a tour in it. I have to go to a distant city on business, but there is no hurry in getting there. We might all go in the big car. Shall we go?"

"Shall we go? Of course!" cried Bunny, dancing about.

"That's what I say!" added Sue, also capering wildly. "Oh, Bunny!" she cried, "haven't we got just the bestest daddy in the whole world?"

"We have! We have!"

"Then let's both kiss him at once!" proposed Sue, and they made a rush for Mr. Brown, who pretended to be much afraid.[Pg 21]

CHAPTER III

READY FOR THE TRIP

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Go and love your mother for a change!" laughed Mr. Brown as he squirmed away from Bunny and Sue, who had hugged him and kissed him half a dozen times. "You've mussed my hair all up! Isn't my hair sticking up seven ways, Mother?" he asked his wife.

"Indeed it is. If you children muss mine that way I shall have to comb it again before supper, and I'll hardly have time if father is to explain about the auto tour. This is as much news to me, Bunny and Sue, as it is to you."

"Oh, Mother made a rhyme! Now we'll have a good time!" cried Bunny. "Come on, Sue, we'll kiss her easy-like, and then we'll hear about the trip. When are you going, Daddy?"[Pg 22]

"And where?" asked Sue.

"One is about as important as the other," laughed Mr. Brown. "But I think you will have to wait a while. I want to telephone to the chief of police, and have him start the search for Fred Ward. We have to work quickly in the cases of runaway boys, or they get so far away that it makes them harder to find."

"What makes boys run away?" asked Bunny.

"Well, it's hard to tell," said Mr. Brown. "Sometimes it's because they feel ashamed at being punished, just as Fred was, and as you might be, Bunny, if I scolded you for being bad. Not that you are often naughty, but you might be, some time."

"But I wouldn't run away," Bunny said, shaking his head very earnestly. "I like it here too much. I read a story once, about a boy who ran away, and he had to sleep in a haymow and eat raw eggs for breakfast."

"Oh! I'd never do that!" cried Sue. "I wouldn't mind playing with the little chickens that came out of the eggs, but I wouldn't run [Pg 23]away," she said earnestly. "I wouldn't want to sleep in a haystack lessen Bunny was with me."