Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods Part 27

"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I should have told you! But the egg woman came just then. I should have told you the left side of the jar of peaches. On the right side was a jar of pickled chow-chow. It looks a lot like mince-meat, I know, but it is quite different. The real mince-meat was on the _left_ of the peach jar. Oh, Sue! You've made your pie of chow-chow."

"I was thinking Sue had found out a new kind of pie," said Daddy Brown.

"Never mind, there are some cakes and cookies."

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue, and there were tears in her eyes. "I did so want my mince pie to be nice!"

"It was good," said Tom. "The crust is the best I ever ate, and the pickled insides will go good on the fish."

Everybody laughed at that, and even Sue smiled.

"Next time smell your mince-meat before you put it in a pie," said Mrs.

Brown. "Otherwise your pie would have been perfect, Sue."

"I will," promised the little girl.

Tom became a regular member of Camp Rest-a-While, sleeping in a tent by himself. And he proved so useful, cutting wood, going on errands and even helping with the cooking, that Mrs. Brown said she wondered how she had ever got along without him.

He was given some of Uncle Tad's old clothes, that seemed to fit him very well, so he could no longer be called the "ragged boy," and he went in swimming so often, often taking Bunny and Sue along, that all three were as "clean as whistles," Mrs. Brown said.

No word had been heard from Mr. Bixby about his missing helper, but Mr.

Brown had not given up making inquiries about the "needles."

Bunny and Sue missed their electric playthings, but their father brought them other toys from the city with which they had great fun. But still Bunny wished for his electric train, and Sue for her wonderful Teddy bear.

One night, just after supper, Mrs. Brown discovered that she needed milk to set some bread for baking in the morning.

"I'll go and get it to the farmhouse," said Tom.

"And may I go, too?" asked Bunny. It was decided that he could, as it was not late, only dark. So down the dusky road trudged Bunny and Tom, with Splash running along beside them. As it happened, the farmhouse where they usually got the milk had none left, so they had to go on to the next one, which was quite near the edge of the Indian village.

"But they won't any of 'em be out now, will they?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, the Indians may be sitting outside their cabins, smoking their pipes," said Tom.

"Oh, that'll be all right," observed Bunny. "They'll be peace-pipes and they won't hurt us."

"Of course not," laughed Tom.

From the road in front of the house where they finally got the milk they could look right down into the valley of the Indian encampment. And as Bunny looked he saw a bright fire blazing, and Indians walking or hopping slowly around it.

"Oh, Tom, look!" cried the small boy. "What's that? Are the Indians going on the war-path? I read of that in my school book. If they are, we'd better go back and tell Uncle Tad and father. Then they can get their guns and be ready."

"Those Indians aren't getting ready for war," said Tom. "They're only having a roast corn dance."

"What's a roast corn dance?" asked Bunny. "I'll show you the roast corn part to-morrow night," promised Tom. "But don't worry about those Indians. They'll not hurt you. Now we'd better go home."

As soon as Bunny was in the tent he shouted, much louder than he need have done:

"Oh, Sue, we saw Indians having a roast corn dance, and to-morrow night we're going to have one too!"

CHAPTER XIX

EAGLE FEATHER'S HORSE

Bunny Brown was so excited by the Indian campfire he had seen, and by the queer figures dancing about in the glare of it, seeming twice as tall and broad as they really were, that he insisted on telling about it before he went to bed.

"Did they really dance just as we do at dancing school when we're at home?" asked Sue.

"No, not exactly," Bunny answered. "It was more like marching, and they turned around every now and then and howled and waved ears of corn in the air. Then they ate 'em."

"What was it for, Tom?" asked Mr. Brown. "You have lived about here quite a while and you ought to know."

"Oh, the Indians believe in what they call the Great Spirit," Tom explained. "They do all sorts of things so he'll like 'em, such as making fires, dancing and having games. It's only a few of the old Indians that do that. This green corn roast, or dance, is a sort of prayer that there'll be lots of corn--a big crop--this year so the Indians will have plenty to eat. For they depend a whole lot on corn meal for bread, pancakes and the like of that. I told Bunny I'd show him how the Indians roast the ears of green corn to-morrow, if you'd let me."

"Oh, please, Momsie, do!"

"Oh, Daddy, let him!"

The first was Sue's plea, the second Bunny's, and the father and mother smiled.

"Well, I think it will be all right if Tom is as careful about fire as he is on the water," said Mr. Brown.

"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue, while Bunny smiled and danced his delight.

Finally Camp Rest-a-While was quiet, for every one was in bed and the only noises to be heard were those made by the animals and insects of the wood, an owl now and then calling out: "Who? Who? Who?" just as if it were trying to find some one who was lost.

"Where'll we get the ears to roast?" asked Bunny as soon as he was up the next morning. "We don't grow any corn in our camp."

"Oh, we can get some roasting ears from almost any of the farmers around here," said Tom. "But we don't want to make the fire until night. It looks prettier then."

"That's what I say," cried Sue. "And if you wait until night I'll make some m.u.f.fins to eat with the roast corn. Mother is going to show me how."

"Well, don't put any chow-chow mince-meat in your m.u.f.fins," begged Bunny with a laugh.

"I won't," promised Sue. "But can't we do something while we're waiting for night to come so we can roast the corn?"

"Will you put up the swing you promised to make for us, Tom?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, if you have the rope."

"We can row across the lake in the boat to the store at the landing, and get the rope there," said Bunny. "I'll ask my mother."

Mrs. Brown gave permission and Tom was soon making a swing, hanging it down from a high branch of a strong oak tree. Then Bunny and Sue took turns swinging, while Tom pushed.