“We did,” said Sue.  “We saw a real elephant in a real circus, and we had a make-believe circus with a pretend elephant in it.”

“And we knowed a boy named Ben Hall, who used to be in a real circus,” went on Bunny.  “He could jump over an elephant, and I thought maybe you could, too.”

“No,” said Tom, with a shake of his head.  “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.  About the only thing I can do is wash and dry the dishes.”

“Well, it’s a good thing to be able to do even one thing well,” said Mrs. Brown, “and I’m glad you’re here to wash and dry the dishes.  There are plenty of them.”

“I know something else you can do,” said Bunny, smiling at Tom.

“What is it?”

“You can eat.”

“Yes,” and Tom laughed.  “I like to eat, and I’m hungry three times a day.”

“Bunny and Sue are hungry oftener than that,” said Uncle Tad.  “At least they say they are, and they come in and get bread and jam.”

Bunny and Sue looked at each other and laughed.

After breakfast, just as he had said he would do, Tom Vine picked up the dishes, and got ready to wash them.  Mrs. Brown watched him for a few minutes, until she was sure that he knew just how to go about it.  Then she left him to himself.

“He is a very nice, neat and clean boy,” she said to her husband.  “I’m glad he came to us.  But what are we going to do with him?  We can’t keep him always.”

“Well, we’ll let him stay with us while we are in camp here in the woods,” said Mr. Brown, “and when we go back home, well, I can find something for him to do at the boat-dock, perhaps—­that is, if he doesn’t want to go back to the city.”

While Tom was doing the dishes Bunny and Sue had gone off into the wood a little way, to where they had made for themselves a little play-house of branches of trees, stuck in the ground.  It was a sort of green tent, and in it Sue had put some of her dolls, while Bunny had taken to it some of his toys.  The children often played there.

But they did not do anything for very long at a time, getting tired of one thing after another as all children do.  So when Sue had undressed and dressed her two dolls, combing and braiding their hair, she said to Bunny: 

“Oh, let’s do something else now.”

“All right,” replied her brother.  “What shall we do?”

“Can’t you think of some fun?” Sue wanted to know.

Bunny rubbed his nose.  He often did that when he was thinking.  Then he cried: 

“Let’s ask mother to let Bunker Blue take us out in the boat.  I want to go fishing.”

“That will be nice,” Sue said.  “I’d like a boat ride, too.”

Back to the camp went the children, but when they reached the tents they saw neither their father nor mother, nor was Uncle Tad or Bunker Blue in sight.

“They’ve gone away!” said Sue.

“Yes, so they have,” agreed Bunny.  “But I guess they didn’t go far, or they’d have told us.  Mother knew where we were.”