sue brown stopped short and looked at her brother bunny. a strange look was in the eyes of the little girl.
“are we really lost?” she asked again.
“i’m ’fraid so,” bunny replied again.
“oh, bunny brown! what’d you want to go and get me lost for?” wailed sue. “what’d you get me lost for?”
bunny was quite surprised as he turned to look at his sister.
“i didn’t get you lost,” he said.
“yes, you did, too!”
“no, i didn’t!”
“well, i’m lost, ain’t i? you said so yourself.”
“well, maybe i did. but i’m lost just as much as you are!”
“oh, dear!” sobbed sue. “oh, dear! i don’t want to be lost.”
[215]“we won’t be lost very long,” promised bunny, as he took out his handkerchief and tried to wipe away sue’s tears. “i’ll take you back home.”
“stop it! stop it!” suddenly cried sue.
“what’s the matter?” asked bunny, drawing back. “i’m trying to sop up your tears.”
“well, you’re wiping ’em all over my face, an’ i don’t like it. i can sop up my own tears!”
“oh, all right!” and bunny acted as if his feelings were hurt. then sue felt sorry for being a bit cross—as she was—and she said:
“oh, all right, bunny, you can sop up my tears if you want to. but i guess i won’t cry any more. anyway, not if you can find the way home.”
“i’ll find it all right,” declared the little boy. “here, i’ll take hold of your hand, ’cause maybe you can’t see very well, and i’ll lead you.”
“i can see all right as soon as the tears dry up out of my eyes,” said sue. “i’m all right now, but i was scared at first for being lost.”
“i was scared a little, too,” admitted[216] bunny. “but i’m not scared now. come on, i guess we go this way to go home.”
bunny thought he knew how to get out of the alley between the big brick buildings and find his way home, but he didn’t. it was a part of bellemere he had never before visited, and it was strange to him. he walked to one end of the alley and saw another, almost like it.
“i guess we go down here,” said bunny to his sister. trustfully holding his hand, she stepped along at his side. it was still and quiet down among those big factory buildings. bunny knew they were factories, though what had once been made in them he did not know. nothing was made there now, for the buildings were deserted. many windows were broken, and doors were swinging to and fro on half their hinges as the wind blew them.
down the second alley walked the children. they were not so frightened now. hope was in both their beating hearts, for they thought they would come out on some street that would lead them home, or at least to some path by which they could reach their father’s office.
[217]but, to the surprise of bunny and sue, when they reached the end of the second alley, instead of finding that it led into a regular street, they discovered that it turned into still another alley.
“it’s like—now it’s like—a puzzle,” said sue, trying to find just the right word to describe it.
“yes, it is like a puzzle—or like that funny thing—a maze i guess they call it—where daddy took us once when we went to the big fair,” said bunny.
“but how can we get out?” sue wanted to know.
“i guess we go this way,” her brother answered.
they turned the next corner they reached, and then they both stopped short in surprised disappointment.
“oh!” exclaimed bunny brown.
“oh, dear!” sighed his sister sue.
“we’re right back in the same place from which we started!” went on bunny.
“yep, the very same,” agreed sue. “i can tell by that pile of old tin cans,” and she[218] pointed to it at the side of the deserted factory.
and that is just what had happened. the children had gone around in a perfect square, walking through alleys that were on all four sides of the old factory, and they had come back to the same place whence they started. it was very strange. it was worse than that—it was frightening. sue acted as if she were going to cry again, and bunny got out his handkerchief.
“you—you needn’t—i—i’m not going to make any more tears,” said sue, fighting to keep them back.
“no, don’t,” begged bunny. “you don’t need to cry. i’ll take you home.”
“well, i wish you would—right away!” exclaimed sue. “i don’t like it here and i’m hungry and i don’t think patter is here at all!”
“no, patter isn’t here,” agreed bunny. “if he was here he could show us the way out pretty quick, i guess. but he isn’t here.”
for a few moments the little boy and girl stood still, hardly knowing what to do. it seemed of no use to walk along the alleys[219] again, for they would only wander around and around the old, deserted factory building.
suddenly a loud banging sound startled both bunny brown and his sister sue. sue took a tighter hold of her brother’s hand.
“what was that?” she asked.
“i—i don’t know,” bunny answered.
just then the sound came again. but bunny happened to be watching, and he saw a door swinging in the wind. it was the old door, slamming, that had made the banging noise.
“that’s what it was,” and bunny pointed. “just a door.”
“oh,” murmured sue, and then she had an idea. “oh, bunny,” she exclaimed, “maybe if we went in the door—in the factory you know—we could get out on the other side to a street and go home that way.”
“maybe,” agreed bunny. he was pretty sure they would never get home by wandering in the alley that led around and around. “all right, sue,” said her brother. “we’ll go in the factory. i’d like to see what’s in it, anyhow.”
[220]still hand in hand the two children passed through the wind-swayed door. it was a heavy one and the bottom hinge seemed to be broken, for the door was tilted.
once inside the children found the place gloomy at first, but they walked on. they were in a large room, which did not seem to have any other doors or windows in it. but there was a flight of stairs.
“i guess we have to go up those,” said bunny. “then we can get out. don’t be afraid, sue.”
“oh, i’m not afraid now,” said sue bravely.
up the stairs went the children. what would they find at the top?
