we start out again. Sometimes, in a big city I stay a week,
selling in different places.

"But that boy, whoever he is, has gone. I can see where he's been
washing the black off, and, not wanting to wait when he saw I was
talking to you folks, I guess he just slipped away. John is a bashful
boy."

"Do you know anything about him?" asked Mr. Brown. "Where did he come
from, and where is he going? Did he give any account of himself?"

"Not much, except that he came to me the other day just after my violin
player left me. I had to have somebody musical to draw the crowd, and he
surely can play the banjo.

"So I hired him. He said his name was Lane and that he had to make his
own way in the world. Said he wanted to be a player in a theater.

"I told him my place was a sort of open-air theater and ought to suit
him," said Dr. Perry with a smile, "and he said he thought he would
like it. So I engaged him and he did very well. You are the first
persons that have inquired about him."

"We are not sure he _is_ the runaway Fred we are looking for," said Mr.
Brown. "It is hard to tell with all that black he had on. But I should
like to meet him."

"Go to the hotel any time between now and morning," suggested the
medicine man. "I guess the boy will be glad to talk to you."

"I'll see him in the morning," said Bunny's father. "I'd like to get
this boy to go home, if he is really Fred Ward. His mother and father
miss him very much."

"I'll do all I can for you," promised the medicine man. "Come to the
hotel in the morning and I'll let you talk to him. I won't say anything
in the meanwhile, because if he is really Fred, and has run off as you
say, he won't want to meet you or go back with you. It's best to take
him unawares."

Mr. Brown agreed to this, and then, with his wife and Bunny and Sue,
started for the "Ark." On the way they discussed what had happened.
They saw the medicine man, as they turned down the curve in the road,
driving his horse and van toward the hotel.

"I'm sure it's Fred," said Sue.

"So am I," added Bunny. "Won't it be _great_ if we find him so soon?"

"It may not be the missing boy," said Mr. Brown. "But we'll know in the
morning."

Those in the "Ark" passed a quiet night, though they went to bed later
than usual because of the excitement of the evening. Uncle Tad was
interested in hearing the news about the blackened-up banjo player who
might prove to be Fred Ward.

"And how's Fluffy, our