But neither of them could do so, though they closed their eyes very tight.  Finally Sue asked: 

“Bunny, are you asleep?”

“No.  Are you?”

“No.  And I don’t believe I’m going to sleep.  That funny noise is soundin’ again.  Say, Bunny, does Dix snore like:  ‘Who?  Who?  Who-ooo?’”

“No, I—­I never heard him.”

“Then it isn’t Dix!  It’s something else,” said the little girl firmly.

Bunny listened.  Outside the tent he heard a mournful: 

“Whoo!  Who?  Too-who!”

“Oh, I know what that is now!” cried Bunny.  “It’s an owl.”

“Does an owl bite?” asked Sue: 

“Sure they do!”

In the dim moonlight that shone into the tent Bunny could see his sister get out of her cot, put on her slippers and dressing robe, and then take up her Teddy bear, turning on the eyelights.

“Where are you going?” asked Bunny.

“I’m goin’ home to my regular bed!” said Sue.  “This tent is all right, but a owl might bite through it.  You’d better come with me, Bunny Brown.”

“I—­I guess I will,” said the little boy.  “I wouldn’t want you to go alone,” he added brightly.

He, too, put on his robe and slippers, and then Sue, with her lighted Teddy bear, and Bunny, with his little flashlight, started toward the “Ark.”  The two dogs followed.

Up the steps, in the glare of the little outside electric light went the two tots.  As they entered the automobile Mrs. Brown heard them and called: 

“Who is there?”

“It’s us,” said Bunny.

“An old owl kept askin’ us questions about who was it,” added Sue, “an’ we couldn’t sleep.  So we came in here.”

“Crawl into your bunks,” said Mother Brown.  And that ended the children’s sleeping in the tent, for a while at least.

The next morning Mr. Jason, the soldier-farmer who owned the wood where the tent was erected, came down to the “Ark.”

“I’m going to drive over to Blue Lake to-day,” he said.  “Don’t you folks want to go along?  You might take your lunch and picnic there.  It’s got a waterfall.”

“I did promise the children to take them to see it while we were here,” said Mr. Brown.  “Thank you, we should like to go with you.”  And a little later the Browns were at Blue Lake.

CHAPTER XX

DIX TO THE RESCUE

“Where is the waterfall?”

“Can’t we go in swimming?”

“I want to row a boat!”

“I want to fish!”

As soon as they jumped out of Farmer Jason’s wagon at Blue Lake, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue were saying these things and asking these questions.  The children saw before them a large body of water, that seemed a deep blue under the shining sun, and round about it were small hills “like strawberries on top of a shortcake,” as Sue said.

“Oh, what a beautiful place!” ejaculated Mrs. Brown.