et Splash, and he was quite as glad to see
them as they were to see him. Up and down he jumped, trying to kiss
them, making believe to bite them and all the while whining and barking
in joy.

"Did you think we were lost, Splash?" asked Sue.

"Bow-wow!" answered the dog, and that, I think, was his way of saying:
"I did, but I'm glad I've found you."

"And we _were_ lost, Splash," went on Bunny. "But now we're on our way
home again."

"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and that meant he was glad.

Together the children and their dog walked on along the road, and Splash
went on so far ahead and so fast that often Bunny and Sue had to run to
catch up to him.

[Illustration: THEY MET AN INDIAN COMING UP THE PATH.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods._ _Page_ 129.]

"But we'll get home all the quicker," said Bunny.

"Maybe they sent Splash to find us," suggested his sister.

"Well, Splash is smart enough to do that if he had to," said Bunny.
"We'll soon be home now."

In a little while they made a turn in the road that brought them within
sight of the tents of Camp Rest-a-While.

"Now we're all right!" cried Sue.

"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.

"Oh, children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Brown, coming out to
meet them. "I sent Uncle Tad off one way to look for you, and Splash in
the other. I was just thinking of starting off myself!"

"We were lost in the woods," said Bunny; "but the ragged man found us,
and then we met Splash. We didn't see Uncle Tad."

"Oh, maybe he's lost!" cried Sue.

"We can go to look for him," said Bunny.

"No you don't!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Two of you getting lost is enough
in one day. Uncle Tad knows his way back to camp from any part of the
big woods. But who was the ragged man?"

"Oh, he's the man that gave us the milk the time the dog drank it up
when we chased the squirrel," explained Sue. "He's awful nice, and he
gave me a piggy-back ride, and took us to his cabin, and gave us cookies
without us really asking."

"What do you mean by not really asking?" inquired Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, Sue means she sort of _hinted_ or spoke of 'em easy like," Bunny
explained. "I pinched her leg without Mr. Bixby--he's the ragged
man--seeing me, and then Sue stopped asking him if he had anything to
eat at his house. He offered the cookies all by his own self."

"Well, I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brown with a smile. "But after this
don't go into strange houses and even _hint_ for somet