ke boys and girls," said Mrs. Brown. "Besides, that man
didn't look like a Gypsy. There is something queer about it all."

"I always said that boy, Ben, was queer," asserted Grandpa Brown. "He
has acted queerly from the time he came here so hungry. But he was a
good boy, and he worked well, I'll say that for him. I hope he isn't in
trouble."

"Will he--will he come back?" Sue wanted to know.

"I don't know, my dear," answered her grandfather. "I hope so."

"I hope so, too!" declared Sue. "I like Ben."

"He ran as soon as he saw that man," observed Bunker Blue.

"Did he ever tell you anything about himself?" asked Mr. Brown. "You
were with Ben most of the time, Bunker."

"No, sir, he never told me anything about himself. But he seemed to know
a lot about circuses. I asked him if he was ever with one, but he would
never tell me."

"Well, I don't know that we can do anything," said grandpa. "If Ben
comes back we'll treat him right, and if he is in trouble we will help
him. But, since he is gone, there is no use trying to find him."

The circus was over. The boys who had brought their pets to the show
took them home again. It was now late afternoon, and Grandpa Brown said
the boys could leave the tents up until next day, as there was no sign
of a storm.

"You can take them down then," he said to Bunker Blue. "My tent we'll
store away in the barn, until Bunny and Sue want to give another circus.
The big fair tent can also be taken down to-morrow and put away. But
everyone is too tired to do all that work to-night."

That evening, in grandpa's farmhouse, after supper, nothing was talked
of but the circus, and what had happened at it. Everyone said it was the
best children's circus they had ever seen.

"But poor Ben!" exclaimed Bunny. "I wonder where he is?"

"Did he have his supper?" asked Sue.

No one knew, for Ben had not come back. It was dark now. The cows and
horses had been fed. The chickens had had their supper, and gone to
roost long ago. Bunny, Sue and all the others had had a good meal. But
Ben was not around. Everyone felt sad.

"I wonder why he ran away," pondered Bunker Blue, over and over again,
"I wonder why he ran away, as soon as he saw that man."

No one knew.

Early the next morning Bunny Brown and his sister Sue arose and came
down stairs to breakfast.

"Did Ben come back?" was the first question they asked.

"No," said Grandma Brown. "He didn't come back."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue.