"This is getting mysterious," said Uncle Toby. "We must take a look and see about it."
"I'm so sorry, for I wanted the children to have some of my plum pudding," went on Aunt Sallie.
"Oh, don't worry about it," said Lola. "We had plenty to eat."
"Too much, I'm afraid," chuckled Uncle Toby. "Maybe it's just as well the pudding is missing. The children will sleep better without it, Aunt Sallie."
"Oh, 'tisn't so much the pudding that I am worried about," went on the kindly housekeeper, in a whisper. "It is that some one may be sneaking around here taking things."
"Do you think that happened?" asked Uncle Toby. The children had run into the kitchen to look at the window through which the pudding had so mysteriously disappeared, and Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie could speak freely.
"Yes, Uncle Toby, I think that is what happened," said the old lady. "Some tramp, or somebody, must have been sneaking around your cabin. They looked in the window, saw my pudding, and took it while we were all in the dining room. 'Tisn't so much that I mind the pudding; that is, if it was taken by some one really hungry. For this is Thanksgiving, and I wouldn't want any one to go hungry. But if they had knocked at the door and asked for something to eat I'd have given it to them, and then the pudding would be safe. What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," answered Uncle Toby, as he and Aunt Sallie followed the children. "We never had any tramps in these woods. Maybe it's that queer man we saw over in Newt Baker's old shack. He may be a hungry tramp."
"Well, something ought to be done about it," declared Aunt Sallie. "I won't feel safe with such people roaming the woods."
"Maybe when I look in the snow under the window I'll see the paw marks of a bear," suggested Uncle Toby.