"Yes. They borrowed them, grandpa says, but they didn't bring them back. I guess maybe the Gypsies got lost, Bunny, and that's why they didn't bring the horses back. But we looked all over, and we couldn't find them, Mr. Hermit."
"I almost found one," said Bunny. "It was a horse walking along the road. But it wasn't grandpa's."
"And a cow tickled Bunker Blue in the ribs, when he was sleeping under our automobile," Sue explained. "I mean Bunker was sleeping, not the cow. The cow was eating grass, she was, and her horns tickled Bunker."
The hermit shook his head.
"You are queer children," he said. "But tell me about your grandpa's horses."
Between them, one telling part, and the other helping, Bunny and Sue told the story of the Gypsies taking Grandpa Brown's best team of horses.
"And we've looked, and looked, but we can't find them," said Sue. "Once Bunny found Aunt Lu's diamond ring that was lost. It was in the lobster claw all the while, and we didn't know it."
"But we forgot to look for the horses to-day," said Bunny. "You didn't see them; did you, Mr. Hermit?"
"Well, now, I don't know about that," said the old man who lived all alone in the woods. "Come to think of it I did see a camp of Gypsies in the woods, not far from here, the other day. I was out taking a walk, as I often do, and, down in a little valley I saw something shining."
"Oh, I know what it was!" cried Bunny, his eyes bright with eagerness.