At first
Bunny could not make a sound, he was so frightened, but finally he
screamed:

"Oh, Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! It's a bear! A bear! A big black bear in the
tent!"

Then Bunny slipped down between the blankets and covered up his head
with the bed clothes.

CHAPTER VIII

THE RAGGED BOY

Daddy Brown was used to being suddenly aroused in the night by either
Bunny or Sue. At home the children often awakened, and called out.
Sometimes they would be dreaming, or perhaps they would want a drink of
water. So Daddy Brown and Mrs. Brown Were used to answering when they
heard the children call out.

But it was something new to hear Bunny calling about a big, black bear.
He had never done that before, though one time, when he ate too much
bread and jam for supper, he screamed that there was an elephant in his
room, and there wasn't at all. He had only dreamed it.

But this time Daddy Brown had plainly heard his little boy say:

"Oh, it's a bear! It's a bear!"

Mr. Brown awakened, and sat up in his cot. He looked over toward Bunny's
bed, but could see nothing of the little fellow, for as I have told you,
Bunny was covered up under the blankets and quilt. Even his head was
covered.

Then Mr. Brown looked toward the entrance, or front door of the tent.
And, to his surprise, he saw just what Bunny had seen, a big, shaggy,
hairy animal, standing on its hind legs, with its black nose up in the
air, sniffing and snuffing.

"Why--why!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, rubbing his eyes to make sure that he
was wide awake, and that he was not dreaming, as he thought Bunny might
have been. "Why--why! It _is_ a bear!"

"Sniff! Snuff!" went the big, shaggy creature.

"Daddy--Daddy!" cried Bunny, his voice sounding faint and far off,
because his head was under the covers. "Daddy, is--is he gone?"

"No, not yet," answered Mr. Brown.

"What is it? What's the matter?" called Mrs. Brown, from behind the
curtain, where she slept.

"Why," said Mr. Brown slowly. "It--it seems to be a----"

Then he stopped. He did not want to scare his wife or Sue, by telling
them there was a bear in the tent, and yet there was.

"Oh, what is it?" cried Mrs. Brown again. "I heard Bunny crying! Is
anything the matter with him?"

"No, he's all right," answered Bunny's papa. That was true enough. There
was really nothing the matter with the little boy. He was just a bit
frightened, that was all.

"But _something_ is the matter," said Mrs. Brown,