gave him his breakfast, and I thought he went with you, Bunny, when you
and Sue went down to the duck pond."

"No, Splash didn't go with us," said Bunny. And this was rather strange,
too, for the dog loved water, and played near it whenever he could,
dashing in to bring out sticks that Bunny or Sue would throw in for him.

"And didn't he go down to Nellie Bruce's with you?" asked Grandma Brown.
She was as fond of Splash as anyone.

"No, he didn't follow us," Sue answered. "We wanted him, too. But we
thought sure he'd be here waiting for us. But he isn't," and again the
little girl's eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, we'll find him," said Bunny.

But that was easier said than done. All about the house and barns in the
farmyard, down through the meadows and over the pasture they looked for
Splash. Mother and Grandmother Brown helped search, but Bunny and Sue,
with Bunker Blue and Ben Hall, went farther off to look. It was nearly
time for supper, but Bunny and Sue did not want to wash and get clean
ready for the meal until they had found Splash.

But Splash, it seemed, was not to the found.

"We'll have to ask some of the neighbors if they've seen him," said
Bunker. "We'll go down the road a way and ask everyone we meet."

Splash, by this time, was pretty well known at the houses along the road
where Grandpa Brown lived, for the dog made friends with everyone, and