“And don’t forget to fix the hole over my cot,” cried Bunny.  “I don’t want to be rained on any more, Daddy.”

“I’ll fix it,” said Mr. Brown, and he did.

“I didn’t hear any fire engines last night,” said Tom Vine as they sat at supper that evening, after coming in from a little sail around the lake, Bunker having fixed a sail onto the rowboat.

“Fire engines!” exclaimed Bunny.  “Why should you hear fire engines, Tom?”

“Why, in the city, where I lived, before I went with that farmer, the fire engines used to come out after every storm.  Places would be struck by lightning, you know.  I’ve seen lots of fires.  But I didn’t hear any engines last night.”

“There aren’t any engines in these woods,” said Daddy Brown.  “Of course trees are often struck by lightning, and lightning often sets fire to houses in the country, but there aren’t any engines out in the woods.”

“And no policeman, either,” added Tom.  “It seems funny not to see a policeman, and have him yell at you to move on, or keep off the grass.”

“Do you like it better here than in the city?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Oh, heaps better, yes’m!  I love it here.  I hope I don’t ever have to go back to the city—­or to that mean farmer.”

Nothing had been seen of the man who wanted to get Tom back, since that day when he had called at the camp.  Bunny and Sue had almost forgotten him, but it seemed that Tom had not.  He was always a little bit afraid, thinking that the cross man might come back.

One morning, two days after the big storm, when Bunny, Sue and all the others were gathered around the breakfast table, Daddy Brown asked: 

“Where is Tom Vine?”

“He was here a minute ago,” Bunny said.

“I think he went to the spring to get a pail of water,” put in Uncle Tad.

“Yes, that’s where he went,” said Mrs. Brown.  “I said we would need some fresh water, and he went after it.”

“Well, we won’t wait for him,” said Daddy Brown.  “We’ll eat, and he can have his breakfast when he comes.”

But the others had finished breakfast, and Tom Vine had not come back from the spring, though they waited for some time.

“I wonder what’s keeping him,” said Mrs. Brown.

“He couldn’t have fallen in; could he?” asked Uncle Tad.

“No, the spring isn’t large enough,” Bunker Blue answered.  “I’ll go to look for him.”

Bunker ran off along the path that led to the spring.  In a little while he came hurrying back.  He carried a pail full of water, and he said: 

“I found the empty pail by the spring, but Tom was gone!”

CHAPTER XV

LOOKING FOR TOM

Bunker Blue, with the pail of water, walked up to where Bunny, Sue and the others were still sitting at the breakfast table, though they had finished eating.