"We'll look outside," said Bunny; and when he and Sue were outside the tent, waiting for their father, Bunny began walking slowly along, bent over as though he had a peddler's pack on his back.
"What are you doing that for?" asked Sue in surprise. "We aren't playing any game."
"I know it. But I'm looking for the marks of the bear's tracks in the mud, just as Eagle Feather looked for the hoof prints of his lost cow in the sand. He found his cow that way, and maybe we'll find Sallie Malinda this way."
"But his cow was bigger than my Teddy bear, and made bigger tracks."
"That doesn't matter. I've been talking to the Indians about trailing animals this way, and you can trail a squirrel as easily as an elephant if you only know how to look for the feet marks. See, Sue!" and Bunny pointed to marks in the soft earth. "Aren't those the prints of your Teddy bear's feet?"
Sue looked to where Bunny pointed. There were marks plainly enough, but in a minute Sue knew what they were.
"Why, that's where Splash, our dog, walked," said the little girl.
"Oh, so it is," agreed Bunny. "Well, I made a mistake that time. We'll try again."
So the children went on, seeking for marks of the toy bear's paws, until Mr. Brown came out.
"It's of no use to look that way, children," he said. "If Sue's bear is missing some one took it away—it never walked, for it couldn't."