"Yes, I've been looking for you," answered Bunker. "Your mother was getting worried, but Rose and Jimmie Madden said they'd seen you come up into these woods, and I thought I'd find you here."
"Oh, I'm so glad you did, Bunker!" cried Sue, catching hold of one of his hands. "We were lost—Bunny and I were—and we heard a dog bark; and maybe he was the one that took my mother's pocketbook. Did you hear him, Bunker?"
"Yes, I heard him, Sue," he said, with a smile at the children who were no longer lost. "But it isn't the same dog, I'm pretty sure. That pocketbook and ring are gone forever, I guess. Now come on home."
"Do you know the way?" asked Sue, as Bunny took hold of Bunker's other hand.
"Oh, yes. And it isn't far to the bungalow," answered the fish boy. "You couldn't see it on account of the thick trees."
And, surely enough, in a little while he led them out on the path to the beach and they were soon at the bungalow again.
"You must not go off into these woods alone again," said Mrs. Brown. "They are thicker and darker than the woods at home, Bunny, and it is easier for you to get lost in them. Don't go to them alone again."
"No'm, I won't," promised the little fellow. "But wouldn't it have been fine, Mother, if we could have found the dog that took your diamond ring?"
"Yes, Bunny, it would be lovely," said Mrs. Brown. "But I'm afraid that will never happen."
There were so many things to do to have fun at Christmas Tree Cove that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to play at first. Each day brought new joys. They could build houses on the sand, paddle or bathe in the cool, shallow water, sail tiny boats which Uncle Tad made for them, or take walks with their mother.