door of the auto and got out one of her
books to look at the pictures. Bunny was building some sort of house
with some new blocks his father had bought for him, but he was not
having very good luck, for the motion of the auto made the house topple
over almost as soon as Bunny had it built.

After a while Sue thought her Teddy bear had had enough sleep near the
auto door, so she went to take her in. But when she reached the rag bed
Sallie Malinda was not there.

"Oh, my Teddy bear is gone!" cried Sue. "Oh, Bunny, do you think she
falled out? Daddy! Daddy! Stop the auto! My Teddy bear is lost!"

Mr. Brown stopped the car at once, though he did not understand all of
what Sue said. The little girl told him what had happened.

"Sallie Malinda gone!" cried Mother Brown. "That's too bad! She must
have been jostled off when the auto went over a bump. I think we'll have
to go back and look for her," she said to her husband.

Then Bunny gave some more news.

"Dix is gone too!" he cried. "I've been watching a long while and I
haven't seen him. And Splash is acting awful funny--just as if Dix had
run away."

"Hum! This _is_ rather strange!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "Two
disappearances at once."

"What's disappearcesses?" asked Sue.

"It means going away--the word your father used does," explained Mrs.
Brown with a smile. "But it certainly is strange that Dix and the Teddy
bear should go away together."

CHAPTER X

DIX COMES BACK

For a moment Sue stood looking at her mother, seeming to be thinking
very hard about something. Then she asked:

"Momsie, do you think Dix took Sallie Malinda away?"

"Well, it seems so," said Mrs. Brown. "That is, if Dix has really gone
away. We had better make sure of that, first. There is no question about
your Teddy bear's being gone, for I saw her in the rag bed by the back
door of the auto not half an hour ago."

"Well, I suppose she either fell out, or Dix, thinking to have a game of
tag with her, took her out, though the Teddy bear, with the batteries
inside to make her eyes light up, isn't easy for even Dix to carry very
far," said Mr. Brown.

"But how are we going to get my darling Sallie Malinda back?" asked Sue,
and there were tears in her eyes.

"Daddy will find some way. Won't you, Daddy?" asked Bunny, for he did
not like to see his little sister sad.

"Well, the only thing I can see to do is to turn the automobile around
and go back to look for Sue's Teddy bear,"