Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not know what this meant.

“What sort of man was he?” asked Mrs. Brown quickly.

“He wasn’t a Gypsy man,” Bunny said.

“But he was after Tom, only he didn’t see us,” added Sue.  “And I had a piggy-back ride home, and some milk got spilled on Bunny’s stocking, but not much, and I’m hungry!”

Sue believed in telling everything at once, to have it over with.

“What is it all about?” asked Mr. Brown of Tom.  “Did you and the children really, hide from a man?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What man was it?  I hope there aren’t any tramps in these woods.”

“Oh, no, he wasn’t a tramp.  He was the farmer I told you about—­the one
I worked for, and from whom I ran away.  I guess he was looking for me,”
Tom answered.

“Hum,” said Mr. Brown.  “Well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what he wants.  Was he coming this way?”

“No, he seemed to be wandering through the woods, as if he didn’t know where to go.”

“Oh, well, maybe he won’t find you,” said Mrs. Brown.

“I hope he doesn’t,” returned Tom, looking over his shoulder.

No strange man came to camp that night, and Bunny and Sue soon forgot all about the little fright Tom had had.  But two days later, just as dinner was finished, there came a man rowing in a boat to the little wooden camp-dock Bunker Blue had built out into the lake.

Out of the boat climbed a man with black whiskers.  He had on big, heavy boots, and in one hand he carried a whip.  He walked up the path from the lake, and when he saw Mr. Brown and his family at the table, under the tent, which was wide open, the man stood still.

“Camp Rest-a-While, eh?” he said in rather a rough voice, as he read the sign.  “Well, maybe this is the place I’m looking for.  Have you seen a boy—­a ragged boy—­about fifteen years old in these woods?” he asked.

Before Mr. Brown could answer, Tom Vine, who had gone to the spring for a pail of water, came back.  At the sight of the man Tom dropped the pail, spilling the water.  At the same time the “ragged boy” cried out: 

“There he is!  There’s the man!  He’s after me!  Oh, please don’t let him take me away!”

Tom turned to run back into the woods, but Mr. Brown called to him: 

“Stay right where you are, Tom!  This man won’t hurt you.  Stay where you are.”

Though he was much frightened, Tom stood still.

“Now then, what do you want?” asked Mr. Brown of the man with the whip.

“I want that boy!” answered the man, pointing the whip at poor Tom.  “I hired him to work for me, but he ran away.  I want him back, and I’m going to have him!”

And oh, what a rough, cross voice the man had!  He wasn’t at all nice, Bunny and Sue thought.

“I’ve been looking for that boy, and now I’ve found him.  I want to take him back with me,” the cross man went on.  “I was hunting all through these woods for him, and yesterday I heard that a boy like him was in a camp over here.  So I came for to find out about it, and I’ve found him!”