. They were taking the tent back.
The smaller tent--the one Grandpa Brown had loaned--was still up.

"Let's go in it and rest," said Bunny. "We can make believe we are
camping out."

"All right," agreed Sue.

Into the tent they went. All the wooden boxes, that had been used as
cages for the make-believe wild animals, had been taken out. There was
only some straw piled up in one corner.

"Watch me jump!" cried Bunny. He gave a run and landed on something in
the pile of soft straw. Something in the straw grunted and yelled. Then
some one sat up. Bunny Brown rolled over and over out of the way.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Sue. "What is it?"

But she did not need to ask twice. She saw a big boy, dressed in a funny
clown's suit, standing up in the straw. Bunny was now sitting up, and
he, too, was looking at the clown.

"Why--why," said Sue, "It's Ben! It's our Ben!"

"So it is!" cried Bunny.

"Yes," answered Ben, rubbing his eyes, for he had been asleep in the
straw when Bunny jumped on him. "Yes, I've come back. I stayed in the
field, under a haystack all night, but I couldn't stand it any longer. I
had to come back."

"What'd you run away for?" asked Bunny.

"Because I was afraid he'd catch me," Ben answered.

"Do you mean that--that man," whispered Bunny.

"Yes."

"He isn't here," said Sue. "Did you stay in this tent all the while,
Ben?"

"No, Sue. I ran across the field when I saw that man looking at me,
after I made my big jump. I ran over to the woods and hid. Then, when it
got dark, I crept back and hid under the hay stack. A little while ago,
when I saw Bunker and the other boys drive away with the big tent, I
came back here. I'm awfully hungry!"

"We'll get you something to eat," said Sue. "Won't we, Bunny?"

"Sure we will. But come on up to the house, Ben. That man isn't there,
and we won't let him hurt you. What's it all about, anyhow?"

"I guess I'll have to tell your folks my secret," Ben answered.

"Oh, have you a secret, too?" asked Sue, clapping her hands. "How nice!"

"No, it isn't very nice," said Ben. "But I guess I will go and ask your
grandmother for something to eat. I'm terribly hungry!"

Holding the hands of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, Ben, the strange
boy, who had been so queerly found under the straw in the tent, walked
toward grandpa's house.

"Well land sakes! Where'd you come from?" asked Grandma Brown, as she
saw him. "And such a looking sight! You look as if you'd slept in