n looked after his business. Several times each day Bunny and Sue
went to the garage to see the dogs. And how glad Dix and Splash were to
see the children!

Finally the day came when Mr. Brown had finished his business. He made
several more attempts to find Fred, but could not do so and at last
wrote to Mr. Ward, as he had promised, that, as far as could be learned,
the missing boy was not in Portland.

"We will keep watch for him on our way back to Bellemere," Mr. Brown
said in his letter. "We are returning by a different route from that by
which we came. Every chance we get we will look for your boy."

Then the "Ark" was taken from the garage, to the delight of the dogs no
less than that of the children, and once more the Browns were on their
tour.

As Mr. Brown had said, they were going back a different way from the one
they had taken on coming to Portland. This was to give his family a
chance to see new towns and villages. And, as the weather still promised
to be fine, all looked forward to a jolly auto tour.

Every time he came to a good-sized city, and whenever he met a
traveling show, Mr. Brown inquired for Fred, but it seemed that the
missing boy was well hidden. Undoubtedly he did not want to be found.

Bunny and Sue had great fun on the homeward trip, which lasted even
longer than the outgoing one.

The party had ridden on for several days, each one marked by sunshine,
when one evening they came to a little clump of trees beside the road.
It was not far from a good-sized village.

"We'll stay here over night," said Mr. Brown, "and in the morning we'll
take a little side trip to a waterfall not far away."

"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Bunny. "Maybe I can make a wooden water
wheel, and have it splash in the falls and go around."

"No indeed you can't!" cried his father. "The falls are too big for
that. They are seventy feet high."

But, as it happened, when morning came and Mr. Brown was about to start
the automobile after breakfast, there was a sudden crash, and the big
car settled down on one side, like a lame duck.

"Oh, my!" cried Mrs. Brown. "What has happened now?"

"It sounded as if one of the big springs had broken," said her husband,
getting down off the seat to look. "Yes," he added, "that's it. This
means we'll have to stay here three or four days until I can get a new
spring put in."

For a moment Bunny and Sue looked a trifle sad. Then Bunny cried:

"Oh, that will be fun. We can c