ue
called into this slot:

"Bunny! are you there? Answer me. Are you there?"

For an instant there was no reply, and Mrs. Brown, who had begun to
think she should have looked there first, was about to conclude that,
after all, it was a wrong guess, when suddenly a voice answered:

"Yes; here I am."

The boat tilted to one side and out from beneath it came rolling Bunny
Brown. He seemed sleepy, and his clothes were mussed while his hair was
rumpled. And there was a queer look on his face.

"Why, Bunny! Bunny Brown, what possessed you to crawl under that boat
and go to sleep?" asked his mother. "You have frightened us! We thought
perhaps you had fallen overboard."

"No," said Bunny slowly, shaking his head, "I didn't."

"We see you didn't," said his father, a bit sternly. "But why did you
hide under the boat?"

"I wasn't hiding," answered Bunny. "And if I had fallen overboard into
the water you would have heard me yell," he went on, speaking slowly.

"I suppose so," agreed Mr. Brown. "But if you weren't hiding under that
boat, what were you doing?"

"I was--I was thinking," answered Bunny sheepishly.

"Thinking!" exclaimed his mother.

"Yes, about the dog that took your pocketbook," went on the little boy.
"I wanted to be in a quiet place where I could think about him and maybe
guess where he was so I could make him give back your diamond ring,
Mother. So I crawled under the boat. It was nice and warm there, and the
wind didn't blow on me, and I was thinking and I was thinking, and----"

"And then you fell asleep, didn't you?" asked Uncle Tad, as they all
stood around Bunny on deck.

"Yes, I guess I did," was the answer. "And I didn't dream about the dog,
either."

"Did you think of any way to find him?" asked Captain Ross.

"No," answered Bunny, "I didn't. But I wish I could."

"Oh, you mustn't think any more about that dog," said his mother, with a
smile, as she patted the little boy's tousled head. "I'll manage to get
along without my diamond ring, though I would like to have it back."

"Well, I couldn't think," complained Bunny, with a sigh. "I guess maybe
I was too sleepy."

"Better not hide yourself away again," cautioned his father. "You must
be extra careful aboard a boat so your mother will not have to worry, or
this trip to Christmas Tree Cove will not be any pleasure to her."

"When shall we get there--to the place where the Christmas trees are,
Daddy?" asked Sue.

"Oh, to-morrow, I g