“Well, I like animals,” said the man.  “But what are you children doing off here in the woods.  Do you want more milk?”

“Not this time, thank you,” said Bunny.  “When we go to the farmhouse now we have a cover on our pail, and when we set it down on the road no dog can come and drink the milk.”

“But we don’t set it down any more,” said Bunny.  “Mother told us not to.”

“That’s good,” said the ragged man, whose name was Bixby.  “It’s a good thing you didn’t want any milk, because I haven’t any left.  I used up most of what my cow gave, and sold the rest to a party of automobile folks that came along dreadfully thirsty.”

“We have two automobiles,” said Bunny.  “One my father rides back and forth to the city in and the other a big one, like a moving van, that we can live in, and go where we want to.  When night comes we just go to sleep in it beside the road.”

“That’s what my dog Tramp and I would like,” said the ragged man.  “It’s no fun staying in one place all the while.  But if you children are not away off here looking for milk, what are you here for, I’d like to know?”

“I’m looking for my Teddy bear with the blinking ’lectric lights for eyes,” said Sue.

“What makes you think you’ll find him here, off in the woods?” asked Mr. Bixby, after a pause.

“Well, somebody took my Teddy bear, which is a her, not a him, and is named Sallie Malinda, from our tent,” went on the little girl; “and, of course, as a bear likes a wood, maybe they brought her here.”

“And my train of cars is gone, too,” said Bunny, as he told of that having been taken from the tent.

“Why, that is surprising!” cried the ragged man.  “Both your nice toys taken!  Who could have done it?”

“Well, I did think maybe I left my train on the track with the batteries switched on so it would go,” said Bunny.  “But I left the track made into a round ring, and of course, if my train did get to going by some accident, it would just keep on going around and around like Splash chasing his tail, and wouldn’t go out of the tent.”

“Of course,” agreed the ragged man.

“And Bunny thought Sallie Malinda had walked off by herself,” said Sue, “but daddy said she couldn’t, for there is nothing in her to wind up.  So that couldn’t happen.”

“Then who took her?” asked the ragged man.

“We thought Eagle Feather, or some of his tribe, might,” replied Bunny, “for they thought our toys were ‘heap big medicine.’  But we went to their village, and no one there knew anything about them.”

“That’s what they said, did they?”

“Yes, that’s what they said,” agreed Bunny.

“But they might not have told the truth,” went on Mr. Bixby, with a sort of wink at Bunny.

“Oh, everybody tells the truth,” said the little boy.

“Not always,” returned Mr. Bixby with a laugh.  “But never mind about that now.  You have come a long way from your camp.”