Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 6

"No, he telephoned that he and Mr. Foswick went all over the shop, but they could not find the pocketbook," she said. "The dog must have carried it farther off."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny Brown. "What are you going to do, Mother?"

"I don't know just what daddy is going to do," she answered. "He said he would talk it over when he came home to lunch. But don't worry. Run out and play. Here are your cookies."

Bunny wanted to help his mother, but he soon forgot all about the ring, the pocketbook, and the five dollars in the jolly times he and Sue and their playmates had in the yard.

Soon after the twelve o'clock whistles blew, Bunny saw his father coming along the street on his way home to lunch.

"Oh, Daddy! did you find mother's ring?" called the little boy, as he ran to meet his father.

"No, not yet," was the answer. "But I have some good news for all of you."

"Oh, maybe he's found Splash or the other dog!" cried Sue, as she, also, ran to meet her father.

CHAPTER V

ADRIFT

The faces of Bunny and Sue shone with delight as they hurried along, one on one side and one on the other of their father, each having hold of a hand. Mr. Brown, too, was more joyful than he had been the night before when the story of the lost ring had been told.

"Did you find Splash?" asked Sue, as she tripped along.

"No, I am sorry to say I did not," replied Mr. Brown. "I guess you will have to give Splash up as lost. Though he may run back again some day as suddenly as he ran off."

"And didn't you find the other dog--the one that took mother's ring in the pocketbook?" asked Bunny.

His father shook his head.

"There was no sign of the other dog, either," Mr. Brown answered. "He must have been a stray dog that just ran through the town. A sort of tramp dog, I fancy."

"Then there isn't any good news," remarked Bunny, and he grew a little sad and unhappy again.

"Yes, there is good news; though it isn't about mother's ring," said Mr.

Brown.

"Nor about a dog?" asked Sue.

"No, it isn't about a dog, either," her father said. "Come along, and we'll tell mother. Perhaps it will cheer her up."

Mrs. Brown looked sharply at her husband when he entered the house with the two children. She wanted to see if she could tell, by his face, whether he had any better word than that which he had telephoned after his visit to the carpenter shop.

"No," he said, in answer to her look, "we didn't find the pocketbook.

But Mr. Foswick is going to have a regular house-cleaning in his shop.

He is going to get the sawdust and shavings out of the way, and then we can make a better search."

"I hope he will be careful when he takes them out," said Mrs. Brown. "My pocketbook was not very large, and it might easily be thrown away in a shovelful of shavings or sawdust."

"He will be very careful," her husband promised. "He is very sorry he locked Bunny and Sue in his shop, very sorry indeed."

"Oh, we didn't mind!" exclaimed Bunny. "We were scared a little, at first, but not much. Only I broke the window."

"Mr. Foswick didn't seem to mind that much," went on Mr. Brown. "The 'pesky' boys, as he calls them, certainly do bother him a lot by running in the open front door when he is busy in the back of his shop. They scatter the sawdust and shavings all about."

"Maybe some of those boys ran in and took my pocketbook and ring,"

suggested Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, no," explained Bunny. "We ran right in after the dog, and there were no big boys around. We didn't see the dog run out, but Mr. Foswick said there were holes in the back of his shop and he could get out that way."

"Yes," agreed Mr. Brown, "he could. And he may have done so. We are going to look around in the back of the shop as soon as the inside is cleaned out."

"I do hope he will be careful," murmured Mrs. Brown.

"Why, the dog won't bite him!" exclaimed Bunny. "He ran away, that dog did!"

"Oh, I mean I hope Mr. Foswick will be careful about looking in the shavings and sawdust for my pocketbook," said Mother Brown.

"I will send Bunker Blue over to help him look," promised Mr. Brown.

"Bunker is a very careful lad."

"But what story are you going to tell us, Daddy?" asked Sue, as she climbed up in her father's lap.

"A story! This time of day?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, in surprise.

"She means the news," said Mr. Brown. "I have some for you, and I hope you will think it is good, though it isn't about your lost diamond ring.

Did you children ever hear of Christmas Tree Cove?" he asked.

"Christmas Tree Cove!" exclaimed Bunny. "Oh, I know where that is! It's up the river back of the bay. Is the dog there, Daddy?"

"Oh, no!" laughed his father. "Can't you think of anything but dogs, Bunny boy? Well, as long as you know where Christmas Tree Cove is, how would you like to go there to spend the summer?" As he spoke he looked at his wife.

"Do you really mean it?" she inquired, her face brightening.

"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Bunny and Sue together, almost like twins, though Bunny was a year older than his sister.

"Well, I hope you will have some fun there," said their father. "Now let's have lunch, and while we are eating I can tell you all about it."

"Is this the news you meant, Daddy?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," was the answer.

Christmas Tree Cove, as I may as well explain to you, was a sort of bay, or wide place, in Turtle River, which ran into Sandport Bay. The town of Bellemere, where Bunny and his sister lived, was partly on Sandport Bay and partly on the ocean. The bay extended back of the town, and if one sailed up the bay or went up in a motor boat one would come, after a while, to Turtle River. I suppose it was called that because it had so many turtles in it, and sometimes Bunny and Sue had caught them.

Christmas Tree Cove was so named because on the banks of it were many evergreen trees, called Christmas trees by the children, and also by some of the grown folk. And the cove had in it a few little islands. It was a place where camping parties sometimes went, and often there were picnics held there.