ntented wherever
she was.

"Oh, let us come!" begged Bunny and Sue, as they saw their father go off
down the road with Splash leading the cow by the rope.

"No, indeed! You youngsters get to bed!" said Mrs. Brown. "You ought to
be glad of the chance. You must be tired."

"We're not--a single bit!" declared Bunny, but though he and Sue begged
hard, and teased to go to see the cow taken home, their mother would not
let them.

It was quite dark when Mr. Brown came back. The children were asleep,
but Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad were sitting up reading.

"Well?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she noticed how tired her husband looked.
"Did you have far to go?"

"About two miles, and mostly uphill. But I found the cow's owner."

"Did you? That's good! How did you manage?" asked Uncle Tad.

"Well, I was going along, Splash leading the cow as proud as a peacock,
when, all of a sudden, I saw a man hurrying toward me. He seemed very
much excited, and asked me if that was _my_ cow the dog was leading.

"I told him it was not; that one of the dogs that was with us on our
auto trip had brought her in; and that I was bringing her back, looking
for the owner."

"'I'm him,' he said. 'And I can soon prove the critter's mine.'"

"I told him I hoped she was, for I was tired of walking with her. So he
stopped at two or three farmers' houses, and they all said the cow
belonged to Mr. Adrian Richmond, who was the man that met me. So I left
the cow with him and came on home, for this _does_ look like home," he
added, as he gazed around the small but cozy room in the auto-van.

"Did the farmer tell you how Dix came to lead off his cow?" asked Uncle
Tad.

"No, he only guessed that the animal must have pulled loose from her
stake and wandered off down the road. She was used to being led home
every night by the farmer's dog, so she didn't make any objections."

"Then Dix must be a sort of a cow dog," remarked Mrs. Brown, and later
it was learned that Dix had once been on a western ranch and had helped
the cowboys with their work.

So with the cow disposed of, and the two dogs asleep on some old
blankets under the automobile, the little party of travelers settled
down for the night. They all slept soundly, and in the morning the first
thing Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue wanted to know about was the cow.
Their father told them all that had happened.

"That Dix is a great dog!" cried Bunny. "I'm glad we brought him with
us."

"So'm I!" echo