Around the woodland path Bunny drove his Shetland pony, and the boys and girls, who had each paid five cents, had a good time. They laughed and shouted, and that made others inquire what was going on, so that soon quite a number were ready to take their turn riding.

Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue had done well to come to the Sunday-school picnic in the woods to make money. They made more than if they had gone up and down the streets, looking for pa.s.sengers.

Toby did not seem to mind how many times he went around the pavilion where the picnic lunches were to be eaten. It was cool and shady in the woods, and though the path was not particularly smooth, it was not up hill. And Toby didn't mind anything so much as he did hills.

Bunny did not drive the pony too fast, and several times he let him rest and have a drink of water from the lake. Some of the boys and girls had bits of sweet crackers or cookies which they fed to Toby, and he liked them very much.

When noon-time came Bunny and Sue were going home to dinner, for they had not brought a lunch. But one of the Sunday-school teachers said:

"It will take you quite a while, Bunny, to go home and come back. And it will tire your pony, too. I like to see you and Sue earn money for the Red Cross, so you stay and I'll give you part of my lunch. I have more than I need. My little nephew and niece were coming, but, at the last minute, they had to stay at home."

"Is there enough for Sue to have some lunch?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, of course," answered the Sunday-school teacher. "Tie Toby in a shady place, and come and have lunch with me."

There was gra.s.s for the pony to eat, and soon he was enjoying his meal, while Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were having a nice one with the teacher.

"After dinner you can give our boys and girls more rides," she said, "and earn more money for the soldiers."

Bunny liked this very much. At first he was afraid his mother would be worried because he and Sue did not come back home. But the man who brought the ice-cream to the picnic said he would stop when he went back, and tell Mrs. Brown where her children were, and that Miss Seaman, the teacher, was looking out for them and seeing that they were well fed. So Mrs. Brown did not worry, knowing where they were.

The lunch was almost over, and Bunny was thinking about putting the bridle back on Toby and starting his riding business again, when some boys and girls, who had gone over to a little spring in the woods, came running back, very much excited.

"Oh! Oh!" one of the girls cried. "We saw him! We saw him!"

"Whom did you see?" asked a teacher. "Be quiet and tell us what it was."

"Was it a snake?" asked one excited little girl.

"No, it wasn't a snake," said a boy somewhat older than Bunny. "It was a great big man--awful dark-looking--and he had a red handkerchief on his neck, and gold rings in his ears, and he was asleep by the spring."

I wonder who the man was?

CHAPTER XVIII

TOBY IS GONE

Three or four of the Sunday-school teachers gathered around the boys and girls who had come back from the spring and were so excited about having seen a dark man asleep under a bush.

"What did he look like?" asked one teacher.

"Oh, he--he was _terrible_!" said one little girl.

"He looked like an organ grinder only he was--was--sort of nicer,"

observed a little boy.

"And he had gold rings in his ears," added another.

"Maybe he was an organ grinder," suggested Miss Mason, who was the superintendent in charge of the infant cla.s.s of the Sunday school.

"But he didn't have an organ or a monkey," objected a little girl.

"Maybe the monkey was up in a tree," said Bunny Brown. "That's where monkeys like to go. Mr. Winkler's monkey, named w.a.n.go, goes up in trees.

Let's look and see if this monkey is climbing around while the man's asleep."

"Oh, yes, let's!" exclaimed Sue, always ready to do what her brother suggested.

"Oh, let's!" cried all the other boys and girls, who thought it a fine idea.

Miss Mason smiled at the other teachers, but, as Bunny, Sue and some of the boys and girls started toward the spring, they were called back by the superintendent.

"Better not go unless some of us are with you," she said. "You can't tell what sort of man that might be. Wait a minute, children."

The children turned back, and Bunny said:

"I guess I know who that man is."

"What makes you think so?" asked Miss Mason.

"I can't tell until I see him," went on Toby's little master.

"Well, we'll go and look," Miss Mason said. "But I think I'll call one of the men teachers. It might be better to have a man with us."

Some of the men who taught the Sunday-school cla.s.ses came up at this moment, wanting to know what was going on, and Miss Mason told them:

"Some of the children saw a dark-complexioned man, with gold rings in his ears, asleep by the spring. We thought perhaps we had better see who it is. Bunny Brown, who has been giving pony rides for the Red Cross, thinks he might know who he is."

"Oh, ho!" cried Mr. Baker, a very jolly teacher, "so it's a dark man, with gold rings in his ears, is it?"

"And a red handkerchief around his neck," said a little boy who had seen the sleeping person.

"Oh, ho! once again then I say!" cried the jolly teacher. "This man must be a pirate; don't you think so, Bunny Brown? Pirates always have gold rings in their ears and red handkerchiefs on their necks, or on their heads, don't they? Do you think you know this pirate, Bunny?"

"No, sir," answered the little boy, shaking his head. "But I don't guess he's a pirate, 'cause pirates are always on ships. Anyhow, in all the pictures I ever saw of them they were always on ships."

"I believe Bunny is right," said another man. "Pirates are only on ships. And though there may be some land-pirates, they are not regular ones, and can't be counted. And surely there can't be a ship in these woods."

"There are boats on the lake," said a little girl.

"Yes, my dear, but they're not regular pirate-boats," went on Mr.

Baker. "No, I don't believe we can count this sleeping man as a regular pirate. But we'll go and see who it is."

"I wish you would," said Miss Mason. "You men are laughing, I know, but we don't want the children frightened by a tramp, and probably that's what this man is."