said Mr. Brown slowly.

Just then Splash, who had been lying inside under one of the sleeping
cots, awoke, and, looking out of the rear door of the auto, saw his
friend Dix trotting merrily along.

"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.

"Wow-wuff-wow!" answered Dix.

That meant in dog language I suppose:

"Well, I'm glad to see you again, old fellow."

"And I'm glad to see you," said Dix. "I hope they don't drive me back
again. But I went only to the first turn in the road. There I waited
awhile and then came on. I could easily tell which way you came by the
big wheel-marks."

"Well, I guess there's no hope for it," said Mr. Brown, as the two dogs
stopped barking. "It's turn around again and take Dix back with us to
his home. It's a good thing we're not in a hurry."

He was about to turn the big car, and Dix had come to a stop a short
distance away from it when Bunny suddenly cried:

"Oh, I've thought of a way to do it!"

"A way to do what?" his father asked.

"Take care of Dix."

"Do you mean to ask somebody going past in another automobile to take
Dix to Bellemere?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"No. But in that house," and Bunny pointed to one not far away, "is a
telephone. I can see the wires, and they're just like our telephone
wires. Why can't we call up Mr. Ward and ask him if we can take his dog
along with us?"

"Take Dix with us!" cried Mrs. Brown. "What would we do with two dogs?"

"Well, they'll be company for each other," said Sue, who had taken a
great liking to Dix.

"And Dix wants to come," added Bunny. "You see how hard it is to drive
him back."

"But we don't need him, and two dogs are harder to look after than one,"
said Mr. Brown. "Dix has made trouble enough to-day, though part of it
was Splash's fault."

It was then Bunny had his fine idea.

"Oh, I know the best reason in the world for taking Dix with us!" he
cried. "Wait and I'll 'splain it all to you. Just let Dix and Splash
play together until I get through talking."

"Well, let's hear your idea, Bunny," said Mr. Brown with a smile, as he
leaned back in his seat and rested his back. Splash, seeing his dog
friend, leaped from the car and the two were soon playing together in
the road as merrily as ever.

CHAPTER VIII

DIX AND THE COW

"Now," said Bunny, as he sat down on a little stool in the auto to talk
to his father and mother--and Sue, of course, and Uncle Tad, who were
all listening. "Now it wouldn't hurt an awful lot to tak