“Look here, children!” called Mr. Brown, who was now awake.  “Don’t go off on any wild goose chase.”

“We’re not after wild geese.  We’re going after Sue’s bear,” replied Bunny.

“What!  Is Sue’s bear taken, too?” cried Mr. Brown.

“She’s either taken or else she walked away,” Bunny said.

“Sue’s bear wasn’t the walking kind, though they did have some of that sort,” said the children’s father.  “But if your bear is gone, some one must have taken it just as they did Bunny’s train of cars.  I must look into this.  You children stay right where you are until I get dressed and we’ll make a search.  Meanwhile look around the tent and see if you can’t find Sallie Jane.”

“Her name is Sallie Malinda,” said Sue, with some indignation.

“Well, take a look around for Sallie Malinda Teddy Bear Brown while I’m getting dressed,” said her father.

The children soon slipped into their clothes, and then began to look around the tent, inside and out.  Sue thought perhaps she had left her Teddy bear with its flashing electrical eyes in a chair near the kitchen-tent table.  She had had her there after her own supper.  She even pointed out where she had put a small plate of cracker crumbs near the Teddy bear.  The plate of crumbs was still there, but the doll was gone.

“We’ll look outside,” said Bunny; and when he and Sue were outside the tent, waiting for their father, Bunny began walking slowly along, bent over as though he had a peddler’s pack on his back.

“What are you doing that for?” asked Sue in surprise.  “We aren’t playing any game.”

“I know it.  But I’m looking for the marks of the bear’s tracks in the mud, just as Eagle Feather looked for the hoof prints of his lost cow in the sand.  He found his cow that way, and maybe we’ll find Sallie Malinda this way.”

“But his cow was bigger than my Teddy bear, and made bigger tracks.”

“That doesn’t matter.  I’ve been talking to the Indians about trailing animals this way, and you can trail a squirrel as easily as an elephant if you only know how to look for the feet marks.  See, Sue!” and Bunny pointed to marks in the soft earth.  “Aren’t those the prints of your Teddy bear’s feet?”

Sue looked to where Bunny pointed.  There were marks plainly enough, but in a minute Sue knew what they were.

“Why, that’s where Splash, our dog, walked,” said the little girl.

“Oh, so it is,” agreed Bunny.  “Well, I made a mistake that time.  We’ll try again.”

So the children went on, seeking for marks of the toy bear’s paws, until Mr. Brown came out.

“It’s of no use to look that way, children,” he said.  “If Sue’s bear is missing some one took it away—­it never walked, for it couldn’t.”

“That’s what I said!” cried Sue.

“But how did it get away?” asked Bunny.

“Somebody must have taken it.  The same one who took your train of cars.  We must look farther off than just around the tent.”