When Father Brown and Uncle Tad came back the children ran eagerly to them.  Mr. Brown shook his head.

“No,” he said, slowly, “there is no trace of the toy train in the Indians’ village, and Eagle Feather and his men say they know nothing about it.  They say they were not away from their camp all night.  They even let us search their tents and cabins, and were very good-natured about it.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” said Uncle Tad.  “If they had hidden the toy train it would be in a place where we could never find it.  I guess we’ll have to let it go.”

“Could any one else have taken it?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Yes, of course.  But one of the Indians seems most likely.  They probably heard what Eagle Feather told about how the train ran and one of their men crawled up in the night and took it from the tent while we were all asleep.”

“Well, maybe so, but I don’t believe Eagle Feather did any such thing as that,” said Mother Brown.

“Nor I,” said Bunny, and Sue nodded her head.  “It was a tramp.”

Mr. Brown promised Bunny a new train as soon as he should go back to the city, but that would not be for a few days.

“Oh dear!” cried Bunny.  “How can I wait that long?”

“You can play with my Teddy bear sometimes,” said Sue kindly.  Bunny thanked her, but it was easy to see he did not care much for such a girl’s toy.

“My Sallie Malinda Teddy bear is as good as your toy train,” said Sue.  “She’s better—­for I have her and you haven’t your train of cars.”

“Well, I’m glad you like her,” said Bunny.  “But maybe your Teddy will go away in the night just as my train did.”

“My Teddy can’t run, even if her eyes can light up,” said Sue, making the bear’s eyes blink.

“My train didn’t run away, it was tooken,” said Bunny.  “And some day I’m going to find the one that tooked it.”

Bunny did not speak as his school teacher would have had him, but he meant the same thing as if he had spoken correctly.

“Well, they sha’n’t touch my Teddy bear!” said Sue.  “I’ll take her to bed with me every night.”

And she did, two or three times.  Then, one night Sue forgot and left her wonderful Teddy bear out in the kitchen.  And in the morning what do you suppose had happened?

In the morning Sue awakened early, and, missing her toy, which she thought she had taken to bed with her, she happened to remember that Sallie was left out in the kitchen.

“I’ll bring her to bed with me and tell her a story,” said the little girl.

Eagerly she ran out to the kitchen.  She looked in the chair where the Teddy bear had been left.  Then Sue’s eyes filled with tears as she cried: 

“Where has Sallie gone?  Oh, where has Sallie Malinda gone?  Some one has tooken my Teddy bear!”

Bunny Brown heard his sister’s cry, and up from his cot he jumped.