“Whoa!  Whoa!” called Russ, but Zip paid no attention.  Nor did he care how much the little boy driver pulled on the lines.  As Zip had no bit in his mouth to hurt him when it was pulled on hard, he was not going to stop.  The leather muzzle around his nose did not hurt him as a bit would have done.

I don’t know just how far Zip would have run after the white rabbit, if something had not happened to put an end to the chase.  The rabbit, probably getting tired of being run after, suddenly darted down inside a hole.  This was his burrow, or underground house, and once down in that, the rabbit knew no dog could get him.

So into his hole, as if he were going down cellar, went the bunny.  And Zip, with a howl of disappointment, saw the rabbit disappear.  The dog stopped at the outside edge of the hole, and barked as loudly as he could.  Perhaps he thought he was giving the bunny an invitation to come up.

But the bunny never answered.  They don’t bark, but they can make a funny little squeaking sound at times.  This one didn’t do even that.

“He’s gone, Zip!  You can’t get him,” said Russ.

“Bow-wow,” answered the dog, almost as if he understood what Russ said, and as though he answered: 

“Yes, he’s gone, but I’ll get him the next time.”

“He gave us a good ride, anyhow, didn’t he, Russ?” asked Laddie.  “I guess he rode us ’most a mile.”

“Half a mile, anyhow,” answered Russ.  “And oh, look, Laddie!  We can see Green Pond!”

They were up on top of a hill, and, looking through the trees, they could see, sparkling in the sun, the waters of Green Pond, about two miles away.

“That’s where Mr. Barker lives,” said Laddie.

“And maybe the red-haired lumberman is there with daddy’s papers,” said Russ.  “Oh, Laddie!  I know what let’s do!”

“What?”

“Let’s go down to Mr. Barker’s place and ask the lumberman if he’s a tramp, and if he is the one that took the old coat.  Let’s do that!”

“All right,” agreed Laddie.  “It isn’t far and Zip will ride us there and home again, so we won’t get tired.  If we get the papers won’t daddy be glad?”

“Terrible glad!  Come on, we’ll go!”

And, calling to Zip to come away from the rabbit hole, Russ and Laddie in their dog-cart started on a trip which was to have a strange ending.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE LUMBERMAN’S CABIN

Along the road that led down the hill, and through the woods to Green Pond, went Zip the dog; pulling after him the cart in which Russ and Laddie rode.

“I’m glad we’re riding,” said Laddie.  “It would be awful far to walk to Mr. Barker’s place at Green Pond and back again, wouldn’t it, Russ?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Russ answered slowly, as he guided Zip around a turn in the crooked path.  “I could walk it, but your legs aren’t as long as mine.  I walked two miles once, with daddy.”