And while the storm was getting more and more wild outside, with the wind blowing harder and the snowflakes coming down more and more thickly, Mr. Brown, Bunker, and Mart, with Sue and Mrs. Brown to help them, began searching through the house after Bunny.  It was a good thing they took Sue with them, for she knew many “cubby holes” in which she and her brother often took turns hiding.  And some of these even her mother had forgotten about, though Mrs. Brown thought she knew every nook and cranny of the house.

But Bunny was in none of these places, and though they looked and called his name and called again, from attic to cellar, there was no sign of the little fellow.

“He surely must have gone out!” decided Mr. Brown.  “Very likely he’s gone to see some of the boys to talk about the play.”

“Then let’s go and find him!” cried Bunker Blue, putting on his coat again.

“That’s what I say!” came from Mart.  “This is no night for a little boy to be out.  It’s snowing harder than ever.”

So Mr. Brown, Bunker, and Mart started out to look for Bunny.  They went first to one house and then to another, and there were many houses where Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were in the habit of calling.  At most of the places were boys and girls with whom Bunny and Sue played, or who were to take part in the Christmas show.  But none of these boys or girls had seen Bunny.

“Well, this is certainly strange!” declared Mr. Brown, when they had stopped at the last place where they thought it likely Bunny would be.  “I guess we’ll have to tell the police about it and have them help hunt for him.  I don’t see what else we can do.”

“Maybe it would be the best way,” agreed Bunker Blue.  “I’ll go down and tell the chief of police.”

“No, we had better telephone—­that’s quicker,” said Mr. Brown.  So they stopped in the drug store and Mr. Brown talked to the police station on the wire.

“All right,” the chief answered back.  “I’ll start some of my men out on the search.  You go back home and let me know as soon as Bunny is found or comes back.”

This Mr. Brown promised to do, and soon he and Mart and Bunker were back at the Brown home.  Mrs. Brown looked very much disappointed and worried when her husband came in without Bunny.

“Oh, where can he be?” she cried.

Just then the heavy tramp of feet was heard on the porch.

“Maybe this is Bunny!” exclaimed Mart.

And Bunny Brown it was, all covered with snow flakes, his eyes shining and his cheeks red with the cold.  He carried a small basket in one hand, and the other was clasped in that of Mr. Raymond, the man who owned the hardware store.

“Why Bunny Brown! where have you been?” cried his mother, as the lamp light shone on his flushed face, and made the snowflakes sparkle.

“And what have you got in the basket?” asked Sue.

“That’s Peter,” was the answer, and before any one could ask who Peter was, if they had wished to, there came a loud crow from the basket.