"No, I've given Tom up," replied the children's father. "I guess he has gone back to the city. I'm sorry, for I wanted to help him."
"Boys are no good!" cried Mr. Trimble. "That Tom is no good. But I'll pay him back for running away from me!"
"Did he come back to you?" asked Mr. Brown, thinking perhaps, after all, the "ragged boy," as Sue sometimes called him in fun, might have thought it best to go back to the man who had first hired him.
"You don't see him anywhere around here; do you?" asked Mr. Trimble.
"No, I don't see him," said Mr. Brown, wondering why the farmer answered in that way.
"Well, he isn't here," said Mr. Trimble, and he went on hoeing his potatoes, for he was in a field of them, near the road, when he spoke to Mr. Brown.
As Bunny, Sue and their father walked on, Splash did not come with them. He hung back, and seemed to want to stay close to a small building, near Mr. Trimble's barn. Splash walked around this building three or four times, barking loudly.
"What makes Splash act so funny?" asked Bunny.
"I don't know," answered Mr. Brown. "Here, Splash! Come here!" he cried. But Splash would not come.