any windows," observed Bunny.

"We have to have smoke-houses tight and without windows," explained Mr.
Trimble, "so the smoke won't all get out."

"Are there any hams or bacon in there now?" asked Mr. Brown.

"No, we don't do any smoking until fall, when we kill the pigs."

"Well, there's _something_ in there that bothers our dog," went on the
children's father. For, all this while, Splash was running around the
smoke-house, barking more loudly than before.

Just then Bunny Brown thought of something. He pulled at his father's
coat and whispered to him:

"Oh, Daddy! Maybe Tom Vine is shut up in there--shut up in the
smoke-house!"

Mr. Brown looked first at Bunny and then at the strange little house
which had no windows. The door of it was tightly shut.

"That's so, Bunny," said Mr. Brown. "Perhaps Tom is in there. That would
make Splash bark, for he knows where Tom is." Mr. Brown thought as Bunny
did, that Mr. Trimble might have caught Tom, and locked him up in the
dark smoke-house.

"Oh, Daddy! Do you s'pose Tom's in there?" asked Sue in a whisper, for
she had heard what Bunny had whispered.

Daddy Brown nodded his head. He walked up to Mr. Trimble and said:

"Now look here! There's something in that smoke-house, and I want to see
what it is. Our dog knows there's something there, and I'm pretty sure
of it myself."

"Well, what do you think it is?" asked Mr. Trimble. "If there's anyone
in there I don't know it. But I'll open the door, and let you see. Your
dog certainly is making a lot of noise."

"Have you got that poor boy, Tom Vine, locked up in there?" asked Mr.
Brown.

The farmer laughed.

"Tom Vine locked up in there? Certainly not!" he cried. "I wish I did
have. I'd like to punish him for running away from me. But I haven't
seem him since he was at your camp. No, sir! He isn't in my smoke-house.
I don't believe anything, or anybody, is in there. But I'll open the
door and let you look inside. Why, the door isn't locked," the farmer
went on, "and I guess I couldn't keep a boy like Tom Vine in a
smoke-house without locking the door on him."

Mr. Brown did not know what to think now. As for Bunny and Sue they
thought surely their new friend, Tom, was locked in the queer little
house.

"Oh, now we'll see him!" cried Sue, and she felt very glad.

Mr. Trimble dropped his hoe across a row of potatoes, and walked to
where Splash was still barking away in front of the smoke-house.

"Will your do