“It means going away—­the word your father used does,” explained Mrs. Brown with a smile.  “But it certainly is strange that Dix and the Teddy bear should go away together.”

CHAPTER X

DIX COMES BACK

For a moment Sue stood looking at her mother, seeming to be thinking very hard about something.  Then she asked: 

“Momsie, do you think Dix took Sallie Malinda away?”

“Well, it seems so,” said Mrs. Brown.  “That is, if Dix has really gone away.  We had better make sure of that, first.  There is no question about your Teddy bear’s being gone, for I saw her in the rag bed by the back door of the auto not half an hour ago.”

“Well, I suppose she either fell out, or Dix, thinking to have a game of tag with her, took her out, though the Teddy bear, with the batteries inside to make her eyes light up, isn’t easy for even Dix to carry very far,” said Mr. Brown.

“But how are we going to get my darling Sallie Malinda back?” asked Sue, and there were tears in her eyes.

“Daddy will find some way.  Won’t you, Daddy?” asked Bunny, for he did not like to see his little sister sad.

“Well, the only thing I can see to do is to turn the automobile around and go back to look for Sue’s Teddy bear,” said Mr. Brown.  “He may be lying beside the road where he fell from the auto.”

“My Teddy bear isn’t a he, Daddy!” cried Sue.  “She’s a she!  Aren’t there lady Teddy bears as well as gentlemen?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” laughed Mr. Brown.  “I forgot for the moment that your Teddy’s name was Sallie.  But whether it’s a he or a she I suppose you’d like to have me go back for it, wouldn’t you?”

“Indeed I would, Daddy!  I don’t know what I’d do without Sallie Malinda.”

“All right, then we’ll turn the auto around.”

“We’ve done about as much going backward as we have going forward on this trip,” laughed Uncle Tad.  “But still we must get Sue’s pet.  It wouldn’t do to go off and leave her.”

“I can’t understand about Dix, though,” said Mrs. Brown.  “Surely he wouldn’t run away and leave us after he had come this far with us.”

“Maybe he is just playing hide-and-go-seek with Splash,” said Bunny.  “Maybe it’s Dix’s turn to hide.”

“Suppose you call him,” suggested Mrs. Brown.

Bunny called and whistled, in a way he had been doing to get Dix to come to him ever since the Ward dog had joined the traveling automobile party.  But there came no answering bark, and even Splash seemed surprised when he could not find his playfellow.

“Hi, Splash!” called Bunny.  “Where is Dix?  Go find him!”

Splash ran around and barked, which was his only way of talking, but he came back frequently to the children, who, with their parents and Uncle Tad, were standing beside the auto, and he did not bring Dix back with him.