"How did you youngsters come to run away?" asked Bert, when he was driving the goat wagon back through the woods again, taking a path that was not quite so bumpy as the first one. "My goodness! I came back from daddy's office to find mother and Nan looking everywhere for you. How did you happen to run away?"
"We didn't runned away," said Flossie, who was so excited over what had happened that she forgot to speak the way her teacher in school had told her to. "Whisker runned away with us."
"I guess he didn't go without being told, and without some one's taking off his hitching strap," said Bert, with a smile.
"Anyhow, we didn't run much, Whisker just walked most of the time," said Freddie.
"Well, it's all the same," returned Bert. "I had to chase after you to find you. Didn't you hear me calling?"
"Yes, but we thought it was gypsies or Helen's doll," answered Flossie. "We were looking for Mollie, you know."
"You'll not find her unless you find that band of gypsies," said Bert. "Anyhow, you mustn't come off to the woods alone, you little children."
"We had Whisker with us," Freddie declared. "And if any of the gypsy men had come he'd have butted 'em with his horns."
"He might, and he might not," went on Bert. "Anyhow, I guess you had a nice ride."
"We did," said Flossie. "Only we're sorry we couldn't find Helen's doll. How did you find us, Bert?"