Vevi had been thinking over her choice very carefully. “I will ride in the dog cart,” she announced. “I want that old Bruno to know who is boss!” While the others went toward the tulip fields, Hanny and Vevi ran to the barn to find the dog. They hitched him to the cart. Vevi climbed in and picked up the reins. “Now start him easy,” Hanny instructed. “If he tries to run away again, I will punish him.” The big dog however, seemed to know that with Hanny there, he could not play tricks. When Vevi said “Giddap!” he moved off at a very slow walk. After a minute or two, the little girl wished that he would go faster. Bruno though, did not feel like trotting or running. He ambled lazily toward the cheese house and then on past the little house where Mr. Van Der Lann had stored his Golden Beauty tulip bulbs. Vevi noticed that the door no longer was locked. “I guess your uncle has moved his bulbs somewhere else,” she remarked to Hanny who was walking along beside the cart. “What?” inquired Hanny, not understanding. Vevi repeated what she had said, and pointed to the open door. Hanny stopped short, staring at it. “That door shouldn’t be open!” she cried. “I’m sure Uncle Peter hasn’t moved the bulbs. We have always kept them there.” Hanny ran over to the little house. Vevi dropped the reins and scrambled out of the dog cart. Thus released, Bruno trotted off toward the canal. Neither of the girls noticed. Hanny had reached the open door. She pushed it back so she could look at the padlock. “It has been broken!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Vevi!” Hanny darted into the room where the precious Golden Beauty tulip bulbs had been stored. Vevi kept close behind. It was dark inside though, and she could see nothing. Hanny groped for the light switch and finally found it. As she switched it on, the room was fully illuminated. Both girls looked quickly at the wall shelves. All of the tulip bulbs were gone! “Someone has taken them!” gasped Hanny. “A wicked thief has broken in here and stolen Uncle Peter’s Golden Beauty stock!” _Chapter 20_ SURPRISE! Thoroughly alarmed, Vevi and Hanny ran as fast as they could to the house to relate what had happened. “Uncle Peter! Uncle Peter!” Hanny shouted, bursting into the house. “Come quick!” “Why, what is wrong?” he inquired. Startled, he rose quickly to his feet, fearing that one of the Brownies had been hurt. “Our tulip bulbs!” Hanny cried. “Did you move them from the little house?” “No, Hanny, I did not.” “Then they have been stolen!” Hanny was so excited that she began to speak in Dutch, telling her uncle of the discovery she and Vevi had made. Mr. Van Der Lann ran to the storehouse to see for himself. “Gone!” he groaned as he too beheld the empty shelves. “Maybe it was Mr. Evans who took the bulbs,” guessed Vevi, remembering that she had seen the man examining the padlock a few days earlier.