"I like Rose, too," said Sue.

After supper the children ran over to the cottage to play again, and
before bedtime they walked along the sandy beach with their father and
mother. But pretty soon it was noticed that Bunny and Sue were not
saying much, and their walk was becoming slow.

"Time for little sailors to turn in!" said Mother Brown, and soon Bunny
and Sue were slumbering in little white beds in the bungalow.

The rest of the family, except Bunker Blue, sat up rather late, talking
over the events of the past few days. They had enjoyed the trip to
Christmas Tree Cove, all except the storm.

"I know we'll have a lovely summer," said Mrs. Brown, as she and her
husband went to bed.

When they were passing Bunny's room a dog barked in the distance. The
little fellow seemed to hear it, for he sat up in bed and cried:

"There! There he is! There's the dog that has your ring, Mother! I'm
going to get it!"

"He's talking in his sleep again," whispered Mr. Brown.

"Yes," agreed his wife in a low voice. "The loss of the pocketbook seems
to get on his mind. Go to sleep, Bunny," she murmured to him, going into
his room, and pressing his head down on the pillow. Then he turned over
and went off to Slumberland again.

The next day and the many that followed were full of joy for Bunny Brown
and his sister Sue. They played with Rose and Jimmie, they waded in the
water, they sailed little boats, and they made houses in the sand.
Often, as they sat on the beach, Bunny would look back toward the thick
green clumps of evergreen trees which gave the place its name.

"Couldn't we go and take a walk in them?" he asked Jimmie one day.

"Yes," was the answer. "Only you want to be careful."

"Why?" asked Bunny.

"'Cause the woods are awful thick. You can't see your way very well, and
once Rose and I got lost."

"Oh, we wouldn't go in very far," said Bunny. "Some day I'm going into
those woods."

Two or three days after that, when he and Sue had played in the sand
until they were tired, Bunny said:

"Let's go to the woods!"

"All right!" agreed Sue. "Shall we get Jimmie and Rose?"

"No, let's go by ourselves," said her brother. "I want to see if we can
find our way all by ourselves."

And so, not telling their father or mother or Uncle Tad or Bunker Blue
anything about it, off the two children started.

It was pleasant, shady and cool in the evergreen woods of Christmas Tree
Cove. On the ground were brown pine n