"How can I wait that long?"

"You can play with my Teddy bear sometimes," said Sue kindly. Bunny
thanked her, but it was easy to see he did not care much for such a
girl's toy.

"My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear is as good as your toy train," said Sue.
"She's better--for I _have_ her and you _haven't_ your train of cars."

"Well, I'm glad you like her," said Bunny. "But maybe your Teddy will go
away in the night just as my train did."

"My Teddy can't run, even if her eyes can light up," said Sue, making
the bear's eyes blink.

"My train didn't run away, it was tooken," said Bunny. "And some day I'm
going to find the one that tooked it."

Bunny did not speak as his school teacher would have had him, but he
meant the same thing as if he had spoken correctly.

"Well, they sha'n't touch my Teddy bear!" said Sue. "I'll take her to
bed with me every night."

And she did, two or three times. Then, one night Sue forgot and left her
wonderful Teddy bear out in the kitchen. And in the morning what do you
suppose had happened?

In the morning Sue awakened early, and, missing her toy, which she
thought she had taken to bed with her, she happened to remember that
Sallie was left out in the kitchen.

"I'll bring her to bed with me and tell her a story," said the little
girl.

Eagerly she ran out to the kitchen. She looked in the chair where the
Teddy bear had been left. Then Sue's eyes filled with tears as she
cried:

"Where has Sallie gone? Oh, where has Sallie Malinda gone? Some one has
tooken my Teddy bear!"

Bunny Brown heard his sister's cry, and up from his cot he jumped.

CHAPTER IX

THE SEARCH

"What's the matter, Sue?" asked Bunny as he saw his sister standing in
the middle of the dining room part of the tent, which was separated by
curtains from the sleeping rooms.

"Oh, my Teddy bear's been taken! Some one has taken Sallie Malinda!"
cried the little girl. "I don't believe I'll ever be happy again. Oh,
dear!"

"Maybe we'll find her again," said Bunny, shivering, for the morning was
cool and he had on only his night clothes.

"No, I'll never find her," sobbed Sue. "She's been tooked away, same as
your train of cars."

This thought of his own missing toy made Bunny feel sad. But he wanted
to cheer Sue up.

"Oh, maybe your Teddy bear just walked off in the night to get something
to eat," the little boy went on. "I get hungry in the night lots of
times. I get up and eat a sweet cracker, if I'v