And it isn't impolite to take it when he offers it to you!"

"No, I guess it's not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, we'll take 'em."

The ragged man appeared with a plate of cookies. The children said they were very good indeed, fully as good as Mother Brown baked, and Tramp, the dog, ate his share, too, sitting up on his hind legs and begging for one when the ragged man told him to. Then the dog would sit up with a cookie balanced on his nose, and he would not snap it off to eat until the man told him to.

"Well, I like to have you stay," said the hermit, "but it is getting late, and perhaps I had better take you to the road that leads straight to your camp."

"Yes, we had better go," replied Bunny. "We'll know our way home now.

Thank you for taking care of us and for the cookies."

"Which we didn't ask for," said Sue quickly. "Did we, Mr. Bixby?"

"No, you didn't," he answered with a laugh, and he seemed to understand what Sue meant without asking any questions.

As Mr. Bixby started away from his cabin, to lead the children down to the road, they met an Indian coming up the path. He was not Eagle Feather, but one of the tribe.

"How!" and the Indian nodded to the ragged man.

"How!" answered Mr. Bixby.

"You got heap big medicine ready for make Indian's pain better?" asked the red man.

"Yes, but not now--pretty soon," answered Mr. Bixby.

"All right--me wait. You come back soon byemby?" asked the Onondaga.

"Yes, in a minute."

"You don't need to go any farther with us," said Bunny presently. "We can see the road from here and we know our way all right."

"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Bixby, who seemed anxious to get back to the Indian, who appeared to be ill.

"Of course we can," said Bunny.

"Of course," added Sue.

"Then I'll leave you here," went on the ragged man. "I doctor some of the Indians, and this is one of them. I'll say good-bye, and the next time you're lost you must send for me."

"We will," laughed Bunny and Sue as they went on toward the road. They knew where they were now, as they had come along this road after the milk.

As they reached the highway they heard from the cabin of the ragged man a curious buzzing sound.

"What's that?" asked Sue. "Is it bees?"

"No, I don't think so," answered Bunny. "It sounds more like machinery."

"Yes, it does," agreed Sue. "I wonder what kind it is."

"Sounds like a little saw mill," said Bunny.

"Say!" cried Sue, when they had walked on a little way. "Wasn't it queer that that Indian asked about 'heap big medicine,' just the way Eagle Feather spoke of my Teddy bear and your electric train?"

"Kind of," admitted Bunny. "I wonder what he meant?"

"Oh, I guess it's some medicine Mr. Bixby has for curing the stomach,"

went on Sue. "The Indian might have eaten too many green apples."

"Maybe," said Bunny. "Oh, here comes Splash, looking for us!" he cried, as he saw the dog running along the road toward them.

CHAPTER XIII

MR. BROWN MAKES A SEARCH

The Brown children ran to meet Splash, and he was quite as glad to see them as they were to see him. Up and down he jumped, trying to kiss them, making believe to bite them and all the while whining and barking in joy.

"Did you think we were lost, Splash?" asked Sue.

"Bow-wow!" answered the dog, and that, I think, was his way of saying: "I did, but I'm glad I've found you."

"And we _were_ lost, Splash," went on Bunny. "But now we're on our way home again."

"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and that meant he was glad.

Together the children and their dog walked on along the road, and Splash went on so far ahead and so fast that often Bunny and Sue had to run to catch up to him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH.

_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ _Page_ 129.]

"But we'll get home all the quicker," said Bunny.

"Maybe they sent Splash to find us," suggested his sister.

"Well, Splash is smart enough to do that if he had to," said Bunny.

"We'll soon be home now."

In a little while they made a turn in the road that brought them within sight of the tents of Camp Rest-a-While.

"Now we're all right!" cried Sue.

"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.

"Oh, children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Brown, coming out to meet them. "I sent Uncle Tad off one way to look for you, and Splash in the other. I was just thinking of starting off myself!"

"We were lost in the woods," said Bunny; "but the ragged man found us, and then we met Splash. We didn't see Uncle Tad."