band. We bought him!"

"But he is our pony!" said Bunny. "He knows us and we know him, and he's
got white spots on, just like Toby."

"Lots of ponies have white spots," answered the gypsy woman. "That one
isn't yours, I tell you."

"But he knows us," went on Bunny, "and he did the handkerchief trick. We
want our pony and we want to go home!" and, for just a moment, Bunny
felt very much like crying.

"You can go home after a bit," said the woman, as she looked out of the
tent. "Now be good and don't make a fuss. If you're good you can have a
dog. And then I'll let you look at some other ponies, and you can tell
which is yours--maybe. Just keep still!"

There was nothing else for Bunny and Sue to do. The gypsy woman looked
so big and tall and so fierce that they were afraid of her. And she sat
in front of them so they could not run past her to get out of the tent.

Something strange seemed to be going on in the gypsy camp. There was the
sound of men's voices shouting, and the rattle of wagons and carts could
be heard. There was also the sound of pans and dishes being packed up,
for all the world, as Bunny said afterward, as though the camp was
moving--and it really was.

For perhaps an hour the woman sat in front of the children in the tent,
and then she got up and looked out.

"I'm going to leave you here awhile," she said. "If you'll promise to be
good, and not make a fuss, I won't tie you to your chairs. But if you
act bad, I'll tie you up. Now will you be good?"

Bunny and Sue were nearly always good, and it did not take this threat
to make them promise now. They just nodded their heads at the woman. She
started out of the tent, but turned to shake her finger at them and say:

"Now, I'm going to tie the tent flaps shut, and don't you try to come
out. If you do I'll see you, or some of us gypsies will, and if we don't
the dogs will. So you'd better stay right here. You needn't be afraid,
nobody is going to hurt you, and we're only going to keep you here until
we can get away. We don't want the police after us. We haven't done
anything, but we don't like the police. So don't you dare to run out of
this tent. Remember, I'll be watching, and so will the dogs!"

With that she slipped out, and Bunny and Sue could see her shadow in
front. She was tying the flaps as they had often seen their father or
mother tie the tent at night in Camp-Rest-a-While.

Then Bunny and Sue were left to themselves. They looked at on