"And no matter where he meets you he'll come up to you and shake hands," said Bunny. "Once Splash makes friends he keeps 'em. My name is Bunny Brown," he went on, "and this is my sister Sue. We live at Camp Rest-a-While on the edge of the big woods. We came out to see if my father had come back from fishing, and we saw this cave and came in."
"Is there a way out?" asked the ragged boy. "I hardly know how I got in here, but I've been trying to find a way out and I couldn't."
"Oh, we can show you that," said Sue. "It's only a little way back, and it comes right out on the lake shore. But how did you get in here? You look as ragged as the ragged man," she went on. "But that's nothing. Sometimes Bunny and I are raggeder than you. We like it."
"I don't know who the ragged man is," said the boy, who gave his name as Tom Fleming, "but I work for a man named Mr. Bixby, and his clothes have lots of holes in."
"That's the ragged man we mean," said Bunny. "But please don't ever say we called him ragged, 'cause we like him just as much ragged as if he wasn't."
"Oh, I guess he doesn't mind being called ragged," said Tom. "He's got other clothes but he won't wear 'em."
"If you're working for him, what are you doing in this cave?" Sue asked. "Lessen it's his."
"Well, maybe he calls it his'n," said Tom. "It joins on to his cow stable and that's how I got in it. After I got in I couldn't find my way out until I saw your light."
"What did you run away for?" asked Bunny. "Please tell us! We won't tell on you."
"No, I don't believe you would," said Tom. "Well, I'll tell you. You see I live at the poorhouse, having no relations to take care of me, and no place to live. But in the summer I hire out to the farmers around here that want me, and work to earn a little spare change.