"No other would be as nice as Toby," said Bunny, half sobbing.

"Oh, yes, I think we could find one," said his father. "But we will not give up yet. I'll write to the police in several of the towns and villages around us, and ask them if any gypsies are camped near them. If there are we'll go and see if any of them have Toby."

Bunny felt better after hearing this, though he was still sad, and did not talk much on the way home across the bay. The storm was not so bad now, and, as the wind blew toward Bellemere, the _Spray_ went home faster than she had gone away.

"Did you get Toby?" cried Sue, running to the door as she heard the steps of Bunny and her father on the porch, late that afternoon.

Mr. Brown shook his head to say "No."

"He--he wasn't there!" said Bunny, hardly able to keep back his tears.

And Sue didn't keep hers back at all. She just let them splash right down on the floor, until her mother had to pick the little girl up in her arms--perhaps to keep her feet from getting wet.

"Never mind, Sue," said Mrs. Brown. "We'll get you another pony."

"I want Toby!" sobbed Sue.

"Maybe we can find him," said Bunny, who felt that he must be brave, when he saw how sorry his little sister felt. "Maybe there are more gypsy camps, and we'll look in some of them; won't we, Daddy?"

"That's what we will, Son! We'll find Toby yet."

It rained during the night, and all that Bunny and Sue could think of, until they fell asleep, was that Toby and Splash might be out in it, cold, wet, and hungry. They even put something in their prayers about wanting to find the lost dog and pony.

The next day, down at his office, Mr. Brown wrote a number of letters to the police in neighboring cities, asking if there were any camps of gypsies in their neighborhood, and, if there were, to let him know.

"Then we'll go there and see if we can find Toby," he said to the children.

Bunny and Sue did not know what to do. There was no school, so they took walks in the woods and fields. Without Splash and Toby they were very lonesome.

Uncle Tad said, one day, that perhaps Mr. Tang, the very cross man to whom Mr. Tallman owed money, might have taken Toby. But when asked about it Mr. Tang said:

"Indeed, I'd like to have that trick pony very much, but I'd never steal him. And, much as I wanted him from Mr. Tallman, I wouldn't take him from Bunny and Sue."

So Toby was not found in Mr. Tang's stable.

It was about three days after the pony had been taken away that, as Bunny and Sue were walking on a hill, about a mile from their house, they saw a boy coming toward them. The boy seemed to know them, but, at first, Bunny and his sister did not know him.

"h.e.l.lo!" said the boy. "Where's your pony?"

"Pony?" repeated Bunny. "Do you know anything about him?"

"Know anything about him?" asked the boy in turn. "Why, I saw you giving rides with him at the Sunday-school picnic to make Red Cross money. My little brother had a ride. Don't you remember? He was red-headed, and he wanted to hold the lines himself."

"Oh, yes, I 'member him!" said Sue.

"So do I," added Bunny.

"But where's your pony now?" asked the boy. "Why aren't you riding in the cart with your pony to pull you along."

"Because he's been stolen!" exclaimed Bunny Brown.

"What! Your pony stolen?"

"Yep! And our dog Splash, too!" added Sue.

"Whew!" whistled the boy. "How'd it happen?"

Then Bunny and Sue told about what had taken place.

"We went to one gypsy camp looking for Toby," said Bunny, "but he wasn't there. Now daddy is trying to find more gypsy camps."

"Does he know about the one over near Pickerel Pond?" asked the boy, naming a place about three miles from Bellemere.

"Is there a gypsy camp at Pickerel Pond?" Bunny asked.

"Sure there is--a big one, too. Maybe that's where your pony is, Bunny.

Why don't you look there?"

"I--I guess I will," declared the little boy. "Come on, Sue. We'll go to Pickerel Pond."

"But we don't know the way," objected Sue.

"I can show you," offered the boy. "I'm going that way myself. Not all the way, but pretty near. I can show you the camp from the top of the hill, and all you'll have to do will be to go down to it and ask if they have your pony."

"Oh, come on, Bunny! Let's go!" cried Sue.

"All right," agreed her brother. "We'll get Toby back, maybe."

"I don't know if he's there," went on the boy, "'cause I didn't see him.

But I know there are gypsies there."

Then he started off, leading the way, and Bunny and Sue followed, never, for one instant, thinking they were doing wrong to go off and try to find the lost Toby pony by themselves.

It was rather a long way from the hill near their house to the one from which the boy had said the gypsy camp could be seen, but Bunny and Sue never thought of getting tired. On and on they went and, after a bit, the boy stopped and said:

"This is as far as I'm going. But you can see the gypsy tents and wagons down there in the hollow. You go down and see if Toby is there. I'll stop on my way back and help you drive him home if you find him. I have to go on an errand for my mother, but I'll stop at the camp on my way back. I'm not afraid of the gypsies."

"I'm not, either," said Bunny.

Then, as the boy turned away, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, hand in hand, darted down toward this other gypsy camp. And, as they came closer to the tents and wagons, Sue gave a sudden cry.

"Look, Bunny!" she exclaimed. "There's Toby!" and she pointed to a little pony that was eating gra.s.s under a clump of trees where some other horses were tied.

Was it their missing pet?

CHAPTER XXIII