urely gone.

"He couldn't have gotten out, or been taken out, any way but through
the door," said Mr. Brown, as he walked around the stable. "The window
is too small, even if there wasn't any wire screen over it to keep out
the flies and mosquitoes."

"What do you think happened?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Well," answered her husband, "I think some one, with another key, must
have opened the lock and have taken the pony away in the night."

"But who could it be?"

"Oh, some thief. Perhaps a tramp, though I don't believe tramps would do
anything like that. They are generally too lazy to go to so much work.
And whoever took Toby did it very quietly. They took him out of his
stable without waking any of us up, and then they carefully locked the
door again."

"I never heard a sound all night," declared Mrs. Brown.

"Nor did I," added her husband. "It's funny, though, that Splash didn't
bark. He sometimes sleeps in the shed near the stable, and if strange
men had come around one would think the dog would be sure to make a
fuss."

"Unless it was some one he knew," added Mrs. Brown, "or some one that
knew how to be friendly with a dog."

"Yes, some horse thieves might be like that," admitted Mr. Brown. "They
could make friends with our dog, and he wouldn't bite them or growl at
them to make a noise. Then they could walk off with Toby."

"I haven't seen Splash around this morning," said Tressa. "Generally he
comes early to get his breakfast, but I haven't seen him this morning."

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Bunny, "do you s'pose they stole Splash, too?"

CHAPTER XX

IN A STORM

Mr. Brown hardly knew what to say. It was certainly strange that the dog
should be missing as well as the pet pony. Certainly something out of
the ordinary had been going on during the night.

"Maybe Splash has just run away for a little while, to play with some
other dogs," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny and Sue, take a look around and
see. Call him, and perhaps he'll come."

So Bunny and Sue did this, walking up and down the road and calling for
Splash. They went a little way into the meadow, and over toward a clump
of trees where, sometimes, the dog played with others.

But there was no sign of Splash or Toby.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue. "I wonder where they can be?"

And then, suddenly, Bunny gave a loud cry.

"Oh, do you see him?" eagerly asked Sue. "Do you see Toby and Splash?"

"No," answered Bunny, his eyes shining with eagerness, "but I