"We're not—a single bit!" declared Bunny, but though he and Sue begged hard, and teased to go to see the cow taken home, their mother would not let them.
It was quite dark when Mr. Brown came back. The children were asleep, but Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad were sitting up reading.
"Well?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she noticed how tired her husband looked. "Did you have far to go?"
"About two miles, and mostly uphill. But I found the cow's owner."
"Did you? That's good! How did you manage?" asked Uncle Tad.
"Well, I was going along, Splash leading the cow as proud as a peacock, when, all of a sudden, I saw a man hurrying toward me. He seemed very much excited, and asked me if that was my cow the dog was leading.
"I told him it was not; that one of the dogs that was with us on our auto trip had brought her in; and that I was bringing her back, looking for the owner."
"'I'm him,' he said. 'And I can soon prove the critter's mine.'"
"I told him I hoped she was, for I was tired of walking with her. So he stopped at two or three farmers' houses, and they all said the cow belonged to Mr. Adrian Richmond, who was the man that met me. So I left the cow with him and came on home, for this does look like home," he added, as he gazed around the small but cozy room in the auto-van.
"Did the farmer tell you how Dix came to lead off his cow?" asked Uncle Tad.