CHAPTER IX

THE SEARCH

“What’s the matter, Sue?” asked Bunny as he saw his sister standing in the middle of the dining room part of the tent, which was separated by curtains from the sleeping rooms.

“Oh, my Teddy bear’s been taken!  Some one has taken Sallie Malinda!” cried the little girl.  “I don’t believe I’ll ever be happy again.  Oh, dear!”

“Maybe we’ll find her again,” said Bunny, shivering, for the morning was cool and he had on only his night clothes.

“No, I’ll never find her,” sobbed Sue.  “She’s been tooked away, same as your train of cars.”

This thought of his own missing toy made Bunny feel sad.  But he wanted to cheer Sue up.

“Oh, maybe your Teddy bear just walked off in the night to get something to eat,” the little boy went on.  “I get hungry in the night lots of times.  I get up and eat a sweet cracker, if I’ve left one on the chair by my bed.  Now let me think what it is bears like best.”

“It’s honey,” answered Sue.

“How do you know?” her brother asked.

“’Cause I read it in the animal book.  It told about a bear climbing a bee-tree——­”

“What’s a bee-tree?” interrupted Bunny.

“It’s a hollow tree where a bee makes its nest and lays honey eggs,” explained Sue, in a very funny way, you see.  “And the bear climbed that tree and got the bee’s honey.”

“Wouldn’t the bee sting him?” asked Bunny.  “I was stung by a bee once, on Grandpa’s farm, and I wasn’t climbing the bee-tree either.”

“Oh, well, that was an accident,” declared Sue.  “Besides a bear has thick fur on him and the only place where a bee can hurt him is on his soft and tender nose.  And before he climbs a bee-tree, the bear puts thick mud on his nose like a plaster so the bee can’t sting that, so he’s all right.”

“Hum,” said Bunny.  “Then we’ll go and find a bee-tree, and maybe your Teddy bear will be there.”

“But my Teddy bear Sallie Malinda can only make-believe walk!” exclaimed Sue.  “She can only make-believe eat honey, too.”

“Then we’ll look for a make-believe honey-tree,” said Bunny.  “Come on, Sue!”

Sue seemed to hold back.

“Come on!” cried Bunny again, always ready to start something.  “Let’s get dressed and go to hunt for the Teddy bear.”

It was very early, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown were not yet awake.  Mrs. Brown, however, soon heard the children moving about and she called to them: 

“What’s the matter?”

“Sue’s doll is gone,” said Bunny.

“My nice Teddy bear one,” added Sue.

“He’s gone off to find a bee’s nest to get honey,” went on Bunny.

“My bear ain’t a ’he’—­she’s a ‘she,’” declared Sue.  “And her name is Sallie Malinda.”

“Well, no matter what her name is, she is lost,” said Bunny.  “We’re going to find her.”