"He's taking forks from the table and tying them on his shoes," answered the cook.
"You mustn't do that, Russ!" exclaimed his mother. "Why are you doing such a thing? Forks on your shoes—the idea!"
"I'm playing they're spurs, Mother, like those the cowboys at Uncle Fred's ranch wear on their boots," said Russ. "Spurs are sharp and so are forks, so I thought if I tied some forks on my shoes I'd have spurs like the cowboys."
His mother laughed, but told him that forks did not look much like spurs and, moreover, that she did not want to have her forks used for that purpose.
So Russ had to take off his fork-spurs, much to his sorrow. But he soon found something else to play with, and went about whistling merrily.
Two days before the two weeks were up Mrs. Bunker said that all the packing was done, and that she was ready to start for the West with the six little Bunkers. Meanwhile Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker had been kept busy; the ranchman attending to his business matters, and talking with engineers about his mysterious spring, and Mr. Bunker working at his real estate affairs.
"They tell me to take some photographs of the spring and send them to them," said Uncle Fred. "So I'll do that. I've bought a camera, and we'll take pictures for the engineers."
"I can do that for you," remarked Daddy Bunker. "I often take pictures of the houses I buy and sell."
The last valise and trunk had been packed. Once more the Bunker house was closed for a long vacation and the family was on the porch, waiting for the big automobile that was to take them and Uncle Fred to the station.
"Are we all here?" asked Mother Bunker, "counting noses," as she did before the start of every trip. "Oh, where's Margy?" she suddenly cried, as she did not see her little girl. "Margy isn't here! Where can she be?"
For Margy, who had been there a little while before, was missing.
"Come on! Everybody hunt for Margy!" called Mr. Bunker. "She can't be very far away, as I saw her on the porch a little while ago."
"We haven't much time if we are to catch the train," said Mother Bunker. "Oh, dear! I wish she wouldn't run off that way. Did you see her go, Rose?"
"No, Mother, I didn't. But I'll go and look, and——"
"No, you stay here," said Daddy Bunker. "First we know you'll be getting lost, Rose. Uncle Fred and I will look for Margy. The rest of you stay here."
"I know where Margy goed!" suddenly exclaimed Mun Bun.
"Where?" asked Daddy and Mother Bunker and Uncle Fred. "Where did Margy go?"
"She goed to say good-bye to Carlo!"
"What! Carlo, the dog next door?" asked Mother Bunker.
"Yep!" and Mun Bun nodded his head.
"I wonder if she has," murmured Daddy Bunker. "And yet I wouldn't be surprised. The children think as much of Carlo as if he was their own dog," he said to Uncle Fred.
"Well, let's go and look," suggested the ranchman.
Back to the yard next door hurried the two men. In the rear was a nice, cosy dog-house into which Carlo went when it was cold or rainy.
"Look!" cried Uncle Fred, pointing toward the dog kennel. "There she is!"
Something pink and white was fluttering from Carlo's little house, and pink and white was the color of Margy's dress. Mr. Bunker ran down the yard.
"Margy!" he cried, as he took his little girl out from the kennel, where she was snuggled up to Carlo, her head pillowed on his shaggy coat. "Margy! what are you doing?"
"I was saying good-bye to Carlo, Daddy," the little girl answered. "I love him just bushels, and I'm going away from him, so I said good-bye!"
"Well, we might say good-bye to the train if you stayed here much longer," laughed her father, brushing the straw off the little girl's dress.
"Good-bye, Carlo! Good-bye!" called Margy, as her father carried her away.
"Bow-wow!" barked the big dog.
That was his way of saying good-bye, I suppose.
Out of the yard, into which she had gone when no one was watching her, Margy was carried by her father. Then along came the big automobile, and in that the six little Bunkers, with their daddy and mother and their Uncle Fred, rode to the station. Some of their neighbors came out on their steps to wave good-bye to the Bunkers, and Norah and Jerry Simms shook their hands and wished them the best of luck.
"Bring me back an Indian, Russ!" called Jerry.
"I'll lasso one for you," Russ answered.
"And I'll think up a lot of new riddles for you, Norah!" said Laddie.
"Sure, and I'll like that!" exclaimed the cook.
And so the six little Bunkers were off for the West.
It was a long journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Uncle Fred's ranch in Montana. It would take four days and nights of riding in railroad trains, but I am not going to tell you all that happened on the trip.
In fact nothing very much did happen. The children sat in their seats and looked out of the windows. Now and then they walked up and down the car, or asked for drinks of water. They looked at picture books, and played with games that Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker bought for them from the train boy.
At night they all went to sleep in the car where beds were made out of what were seats in the daytime. It was not the first time the six little Bunkers had traveled in sleeping-cars, so they were not much surprised to see the colored porter make a bed out of a seat.
I will tell you about one funny thing that happened on the trip, and then I'll make the rest of the story about the things that took place on Uncle Fred's ranch, for there the children had many adventures.
"This is our last night of travel," said Mother Bunker to the children one evening, as the berths were being made up.
"Shall we be at Uncle Fred's ranch in the morning?" asked Russ, who, with Laddie, had been counting the hours when they might begin to lasso something.
"No, not exactly in the morning," said Uncle Fred himself. "But when you wake up, to-morrow morning, you can say: 'We'll be there to-night.' For by this time to-morrow night, if all goes well, we'll be at Three Star."
"Then can I see the ponies?" asked Violet.
"Yes, and have a ride on one if you want to," her uncle told her. "There are some very gentle ones that will just do for you children."
"That will be lovely!" exclaimed Rose. "I'll give my doll a ride, too."
"So will I," decided Violet.
They had taken with them their Japanese dolls, that had been found in such a funny way on the beach, as I told you in the book called "Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's."
"The berths are ready, sir," said the colored porter to Daddy Bunker, and soon the children were undressed and put to sleep in the queer beds for the last time on this journey.
The grown folk stayed up a bit later, talking about different things, and the queer spring on Uncle Fred's ranch.
"I hope I can find the men who have been taking my cattle," said the Westerner, as he got ready for his berth, as the beds in the sleeping-car are called.
"We'll help you find the bad chaps," said Daddy Bunker.
"And the children will want to help, too," added Mrs. Bunker. "Especially Russ and Laddie. They think they are getting to be quite big boys now. They may find out what is the matter with your spring, Fred."
"I hope they do, but I don't see how they can," answered the ranchman. "I've tried every way I know, and so have my cowboys.Well, we'll wait until we get out to the ranch, and then see what happens."
Pretty soon every one in the big sleeping-car was in bed. The Bunkers, two by two, were sleeping in the berths. Russ and Laddie were together in one, and Rose and Violet were in another. Mun Bun slept with his father, and Margy with her mother.
On and on rushed the train through the night, carrying the people farther West. The weather was fine now, and spring would soon give place to summer. Uncle Fred had said this was the nicest time of the year out on his ranch.
It must have been about the middle of the night that Mr. Bunker awakened suddenly. Just what caused him to do so he did not know, but he found himself wide awake in a moment. He reached over to see if Mun Bun was all right, and, to his surprise, he could not find his little son.
"That's queer!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker to himself. "Where can Mun Bun be? I wonder if he got up in the night to get himself a drink?"
The little fellow had never done this, butthat is not saying he might not try it for the first time.
"Or perhaps he didn't like it in bed with me, and went in with his mother and Margy," thought Mr. Bunker.
Mrs. Bunker's berth was right across the aisle from the one in which Mr. Bunker had been sleeping with Mun Bun, and, putting on a bath robe, Mr. Bunker pushed back the curtains in front of his berth, and opened those of the one where his wife was sleeping.
"Amy! Amy!" he whispered, his lips close to her ear so as not to awaken the other passengers on either side. "Amy! is Mun Bun here with you?"
"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Bunker, waking up suddenly.
"I woke up just now and I can't find Mun Bun. Is he in here?"
But as Mr. Bunker parted the curtains over his wife's berth, and looked inside, he saw, by the dim light that streamed in, that Mun Bun was not with her. There was Margy, quietly sleeping with her mother, but no Mun Bun.
"What could have happened to him?" asked Mrs. Bunker, sitting up in bed. She looked at her husband. "Where is Mun Bun?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "He was sleeping with me, but, all of a sudden, I woke up and Mun Bun was not with me."
"He must have awakened and got up to get a drink, or something," said Mrs. Bunker. "Then when he went to go back again, he couldn't find the place where you were, and he's either crawled in with Russand Laddie, or with Rose and Violet. We must look for him."
"I'll look," said Mr. Bunker. "You stay with Margy. If she wakes up and finds you gone, she'll cry and disturb the whole car. You stay here, and I'll go and look in the two other berths."
Going along the aisle of the car, which was swaying to and fro from the speed of the train, Mr. Bunker softly opened the curtains of the berth next to that in which his wife and Margy were. In this second compartment were Violet and Rose.
It needed only a glance to show that Mun Bun was not with his sisters, though often, at home, when he had been disturbed in the night, he had been found in their bed.
"Well, I'll try where Laddie and Russ are sleeping," said Mr. Bunker. "He surely will be there."
But Mun Bun was not in the berth with Russ and Laddie.
Rather puzzled, and not knowing exactly what to do next, Mr. Bunker went back to his wife's berth. She was sitting up waiting for him, and Margy was still asleep.
"Did you find him?" whispered Mrs. Bunker.
"No, he wasn't with Russ or Rose. What shall I do?"
Just then the colored porter came along. He had seen Mr. Bunker roving around the car, and wanted to know if there was any trouble. The porter was supposed to stay awake all night, but he often went to sleep, though he did not undress.
"Is there anything the matter, sir?" he asked Mr. Bunker.
"Well, it's a queer thing, but my little boy, who was sleeping with me, is missing," said Mr. Bunker. "I woke up to find him gone."
"Is he in the berths where any of the rest of your family are sleeping?" asked the porter, for, having traveled with the Bunkers for some time, he knew them all, at least by sight.
"No, he isn't in with his sisters or brothers," answered Mr. Bunker.
"Oh, you didn't look in Fred's berth!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "That's where he is, Charles. I'm sure."
"Very likely," said Mr. Bunker, a sound ofrelief in his voice. "I didn't think of looking there!"
It was only a few steps to the berth where Uncle Fred was sleeping by himself, and when Daddy Bunker pulled open the curtains there, he at once awakened his wife's brother.
"What is it? What's the matter? Has there been an accident—a smash-up?" asked the Westerner quickly.
"No, nothing has happened except that Mun Bun is lost and we can't find him," answered Mr. Bunker in a low voice, so as not to disturb the other passengers. "I thought maybe he had crawled in with you, as he isn't with Amy, nor with Russ nor Rose."
"He isn't here," said Uncle Fred. "I'd have felt him if he had come into my berth. I'll get up and help you look."
Uncle Fred quickly slipped on a bath robe and stepped out into the aisle of the car. Then he and Daddy Bunker and the porter stood there in the dim light.
"Did you find him, Charles?" asked Mrs. Bunker in a low voice from her berth.
"No, he wasn't with Fred."
"Oh, dear! What shall we do? You must find him!" she exclaimed, as she poked her head out between the curtains.
"Well, ma'am, he couldn't fall off the train," said the porter, "'cause we hasn't stopped for a long while, and the doors are tight closed at each end of the car. He's here somewhere."
"He's in some other berth," put in Uncle Fred. "He must have walked in his sleep, or something like that, and he's in with some one else he has mistaken for his father or his mother, or one of his sisters or brothers. We'll find him."
"But we can't wake up everybody in the car, to ask them if Mun Bun is sleeping with them," said Mr. Bunker.
"We've just got to!" exclaimed his wife. "We must find Mun Bun!"
The porter looked disturbed. He did not very much like to awaken all the sleeping passengers in the train, for some of them were sure to be cross. They might blame him for their loss of sleep, and then he would not get the usual tips of quarters or half dollars or dollars at the end of the ride.
"I'll tell you what we can do," said Uncle Fred.
"What?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Since we know Mun Bun is safe in this car, as the porter says he couldn't get off, we can wait until morning. He surely is in some berth, and is, very likely, sleeping soundly. Why not let him alone until morning?" answered Uncle Fred.
"Oh, no! Never!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "I must have him found, even if we have to wake up everybody in the train. I must find Mun Bun!"
Once more the porter hesitated.
"Well, if it has to be done, it has to be," he said. "I'll start at one end, an' you two gen'mens can start at the other end of the car, and maybe we won't have to wake up quite everybody."
Just as they were going to start to make this search a voice from behind the colored porter called.
"Are you looking for a lost boy?" inquired a man who wore an old-fashioned night-cap on his head, which he stuck out from between the green curtains of his berth.
"Yes!" eagerly exclaimed Mr. Bunker.
"Have you one there?" asked Uncle Fred, turning to look at the man.
"Well, I have some sort of a youngster in my berth with me," was the low, laughing answer. "I had a dream that my pet dog had climbed in bed with me, as he sometimes does when I'm at home. In my sleep I put out my hand and I felt some soft, curly head. Then I happened to think, in my dream, that my dog is an Airedale, and they don't exactly have soft, silky hair.
"Then I woke up, reached under my pillow for my flash-light, and pressed the switch. There I saw a small boy asleep with me. Maybe he's the one you want."
"Oh, it must be Mun Bun!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "Look quick, Charles!"
Mr. Bunker went down to the berth whence the man with the night-cap had spoken. There, surely enough, peacefully sleeping in the strange bed, was Mun Bun.
"Yes, that's my boy," said Daddy Bunker. "Sorry he bothered you."
"Shucks, he didn't bother me a mite!" said the good-natured man. "I used to have alittle tot like him myself, but he's grown up now, and gone to war. I'm old and bald-headed—that's why I wear this night-cap, on account of my bald head," he went on. "But I'm not too old to like children. You can let him stay here until morning if you wish. He won't bother me."
"No, thank you," said Mr. Bunker. "He might wake up and be frightened if he found himself in a strange bed. I'll carry him back with me. Thank you just the same."
Daddy Bunker picked up Mun Bun, still sleeping, and the little fellow never awakened. His father took him back to his own berth. Uncle Fred got into his and Mrs. Bunker went back to sleep beside Margy.
Mun Bun never awakened as his father carried him back, but slept on. Only he murmured something in his dreams about "pony rides."
"You shall have some when you get to Uncle Fred's ranch," whispered Daddy Bunker, as he softly kissed the little sleeping fellow. And Mun Bun was once more tucked in the bed where he belonged.
In the morning the other little Bunkerswere told of the funny thing that had happened to Mun Bun in the night. The little fellow himself knew nothing about it.
"He must have walked in his sleep," said his mother, "though I never knew him to do that before."
And that is probably what happened.
Mun Bun, not used to sleeping in moving trains, had probably twisted and turned in the night, and, being restless, he had gotten out of the bed where he was with his father. If he was awake he did not remember it. He must have toddled down the aisle of the car, all by himself, and then have crawled into the berth with the strange man. The latter was not awakened until he had his queer dream about his pet dog, and then he found Mun Bun.
"And just in time, too," said Uncle Fred, as they were all laughing about it at breakfast the next morning. "I wouldn't have liked to get all the passengers awake to find a lost boy. After this, Mun Bun, we'll have to put a hobble on you."
"What's a hobble?" asked Russ.
"Is it an Indian?" Violet wanted to know.She was not going to let Russ get ahead of her with questions.
"No, a hobble is something we put on horses to keep them from straying away," said the ranchman. "It's a rope with which we tie them."
"Do horses walk in their sleep?" Violet, in wonder, asked.
"I don't believe so," answered Uncle Fred. "I never saw any, and we have a lot out at Three Star."
"Why don't they?" asked Violet, after a pause.
"Why don't they what?" her uncle queried, for he had turned aside and was talking to Daddy Bunker.
"Why don't horses walk in their sleep?" asked Violet. "Mun Bun walked in his sleep, so why don't horses?"
"Oh, I guess they do enough walking and running in the day time," said Mrs. Bunker. "They're glad enough to rest at night."
"I guess I'll make up a riddle about Mun Bun walking in his sleep, if I can think of a good answer," announced Laddie.
"Do!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "And saveit for the cowboys out at my ranch. They like riddles."
"Do they?" cried Laddie. "Then I'll ask them that one about what do the tickets do when the conductor punches them. Nobody can tell me an answer to that."
"Yes, that would be a good one for the cowboys," laughed Uncle Fred. "Well, it won't be very long before we'll be there now."
The train sped on, and late that afternoon Moon City was reached. It was a small town, but it had the name of being a city. The children did not have much time to look about, as Uncle Fred was anxious to get them out to the ranch.
So, with bags and trunks, the Bunkers were piled into a big four-seated wagon, or buckboard, and the horses started off. Through the town they went, and then out on the broad plains. In the distance were great mountains and forests.
It was a drive of about ten miles to Three Star Ranch, and it was just getting dusk when the place was reached.
"Welcome home, six little Bunkers!" criedUncle Fred, as he jumped from the wagon and began helping down his sister and the children. "Here we are, at my ranch at last."
"Where are the Indians?" asked Russ eagerly.
And just then came wild yells and whoops, and the air resounded with the firing of what the children thought must be giant fire-crackers, bigger than any they had ever heard.
"Whoop-ee! Whoop! Bang! Bang!" sounded on all sides.
There was so much noise that, at first, no one could make his or her voice heard. Then, as the sound of the shooting died away a little, and the whoops and shouts were not so loud, Laddie cried:
"Is that the Indians, Uncle Fred? Are they trying to get us?"
"Where's my lasso?" demanded Russ. "I had one on the train! Where is it, Mother? I want to lasso an Indian for Jerry Simms."
"Can't the cowboys help fight the Indians?" demanded Laddie, capering about in his excitement.
"Oh, look!" suddenly exclaimed Rose, and she pointed to a lot of men on horses coming around the corner of the big ranch house.
And as the children looked, these men again fired their big revolvers in the air,making such a racket that Mother Bunker covered her ears with her hands.
"Oh, here come the cowboys!" yelled Russ. "Now the Indians will run!"
"Let me see the cowboys! Let me see the cowboys!" cried Mun Bun. "Has they got any cows?"
Right up to where the six little Bunkers stood rode the cowboys on their horses, or "ponies," as they are more often called. Then the men suddenly pulled back on the reins, and up in the air on their hind legs stood the horses, the men clinging to their backs, swinging their big hats and yelling as loudly as they could.
"Oh, it's just like a circus!" cried Rose.
"Indeed it is," said her father. "More like a Wild West circus, I suppose."
"Did you get this show up for us, Fred?" asked Mother Bunker, when the cowboys had quieted down, and had ridden off to the corral, or place where they kept their horses.
"No, I didn't know anything about it," answered Uncle Fred. "But the cowboys often ride wild like that when they come in from their work and find visitors. They shoot offtheir revolvers, 'guns,' as they call them, and make as much noise as they can."
"What for?" asked Violet.
"Oh, just because they feel good, and they want to make everybody else feel good, too, I suppose."
"Will the Indians come?" asked Laddie hopefully.
"No, there aren't any Indians," his uncle told him. "At least not any around here now. Sometimes a few come from the reservation, but there's none here now."
The six little Bunkers watched the cowboys ride away to put their horses out to grass and wash themselves for supper, or "grub," or "chuck," or "chow," as they called it, giving the meals different names used according to the place where they had worked before.
"I'm glad they weren't Indians," said Laddie to Russ, as they went in the ranch house where Uncle Fred lived.
"Pooh! I wasn't afraid!" said Russ.
"No, I wasn't either," went on Laddie. "But I don't like Indians to come at you the first thing. I was glad they were cowboys."
"If they'd've been Indians I'd've lassoed 'em!" declared Russ.
"How could you, when you didn't have a lasso?"
"I'm going to make one," declared Russ.
"I'll help you lasso," offered Laddie.
"Pooh! you don't know how," said Russ. "But I'll teach you," he added.
"Come in and wash yourselves for supper," called Mother Bunker to the two boys, who had stayed out on the porch to see if the cowboys would again ride their horses around so wildly and shoot off the guns which made so much noise. "You must be hungry, Russ and Laddie."
"I am," Laddie admitted.
"So'm I," agreed Russ.
Into Uncle Fred's ranch house went all six little Bunkers. They liked the place from the very first. It was different from their house at home.
The room they went into first extended the width of the house. It was "big enough for the whole Bunker family and part of another one to sit in, and not rock on one anothers' toes," Mother Bunker said. Back ofthis big apartment, called the living-room, was the dining-room. Then came the kitchen, and, off in another part of the house, were the sleeping-rooms. The ranch house was only one story high, and it was, in fact, a sort of bungalow. It was very nice.
Even though it was away out on the plains Uncle Fred's house had some of the same things in it that the Bunkers had at home. There was running water, and a bathroom, and a sink in the kitchen.
"The water comes from the mysterious spring I told you about," said Uncle Fred when Mrs. Bunker asked him about it. "We pump it up into a tank with a gasolene engine pump, and then it runs into the bathroom or wherever else we want it. Oh, we'll treat you all right out here, you'll see!"
"I'm sure you will," said Mother Bunker.
The children were washed and combed after their long journey, and then Uncle Fred led them out to the dining-room.
"Who does your cooking?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"Bill Johnson," was the answer. "He's a fine cook, too."
"Is he aman?" asked Rose, in some surprise.
"When you see him you'll say so!" exclaimed her uncle. "Bill is about six feet tall, and as thin as a rail. But he certainly can cook."
"I didn't think amancould cook," went on Rose.
"Of course they can!" laughed her father. "You ought to see me cook when I go camping and fishing. And the cook we had in the train coming here was a man."
"Was he?" asked Rose. "How funny!"
"Here he comes now," said Uncle Fred, as a tall, thin man, wearing a white apron and a cap came into the room with a big tray balanced on his hands. "Bill, this little girl thinks you can't cook because you're a man!"
"Oh, I only said—I only said——" and Rose blushed and hung her head.
"That's all right!" laughed Bill Johnson. "If she doesn't like my cooking I'll have her come out and show me how to make a pie or a cake!" and he laughed at Rose.
But the six little Bunkers all agreed that they never had a better meal than that firstone at Uncle Fred's, even if it was cooked by a man who used to be a cowboy, as he told them later.
"It was as good as Grandma Bell's," said Russ.
"And as good as Aunt Jo's," added Rose.
"I'm glad we came!" declared Laddie, as he pulled a cookie out of his pocket. He had taken it away with him from the table.
After supper the children and grown folk walked around the ranch near the house. They saw where the cowboys slept in the "bunk house," and looked in the corral where the ponies were kept when they were not being ridden.
"Where are the little ponies we are to ride?" asked Rose of her uncle.
"I'll show them to you to-morrow," he promised. "It's too far to go over to their corral to-night."
"Will the cowboys shoot any more?" Laddie wanted to know.
"No, not to-night," said his father. "I guess they want a rest as much as you children do."
Indeed the six little Bunkers were verywilling to go to bed that night. They were tired with their long journey, and sleeping in a regular bed was different from curling up in a berth made from seats in a car. Even Mun Bun slept soundly, and did not walk in his sleep and get in bed with any one else.
Early in the morning the children were down to breakfast. They found that Bill Johnson could get that sort of meal just as well as he could cook a supper, and after taking plenty of milk and oatmeal, with some bread and jam, the six little Bunkers were ready to have some fun.
They had on their play clothes, for the trunks and valises had been unpacked, and as the weather was mild, though it was not quite summer yet, they could play out of doors as much as they liked.
"I'm going to look at the cowboys," announced Russ, as he got up from the table. "I want to see how they lasso."
"So do I," said Laddie.
"Then you'll have to wait a bit, boys," Uncle Fred told them. "The cowboys have ridden over to the far end of the ranch tosee about some cattle. They won't be back until evening."
"Could we walk over and see 'em?" asked Russ. "I want to see how they lasso."
"Well, it's several miles to where they have gone," said Uncle Fred. "I'm afraid you couldn't walk it. But you can go almost anywhere else you like, as there's no danger around here."
"Are there any wild bulls or steers or cows that might chase them?" asked Mother Bunker.
"No," answered her brother. "There are a few little calves in a pen out near the barn, but that's all. The cattle and horses are far away."
"Let's go out and see this mysterious spring of yours," said Daddy Bunker. "I'm eager to have a look at it. I'll take the camera along and get some pictures. Come, children!"
Rose and Violet, with Margy and Mun Bun, followed their father and mother and Uncle Fred. Laddie and Russ lagged behind.
"Aren't you coming?" asked their mother.
"I'm going to make a lasso," said Russ.
"So'm I," added Laddie.
"Oh, let them play by themselves," said Uncle Fred. "They can't do any damage nor come to any harm. They can see the spring later."
So Russ and Laddie went off by themselves to make a lasso. Russ found a piece of clothesline, which Bill Johnson, the cook, said he might take, and soon Russ and his brother were tying knots and loops in the strong cord.
If you don't know what a lasso or lariat is I'll tell you. It is just a long rope with what is known as a slip-knot in one end. That end is thrown over a horse, a cow, or anything else you want to catch. The loop, or noose, slips along the long part of the string, and is pulled tight. Then the horse or cow can be held and kept from getting away.
Mother and Daddy Bunker, with the four little Bunkers and Uncle Fred, were looking at the queer spring, which I'll tell you about a little later, when Laddie came running up to them.
"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Fred, seeing that the small boy seemed excited.
"Russ made—made a lasso," panted Laddie, for he had been running, and was out of breath.
"Yes, I know he said he was going to," said Uncle Fred. "That's all right. Have a good time with it."
"Russ made—made a lasso, and he—he lassoed one of the little cows with it!" went on Laddie.
"Oh, did he!" exclaimed Mr. Bell with a laugh. "Well, I guess what little lassoing Russ can do won't hurt the calf. They are all pretty well grown."
"But Russ can't—can't get loose!" went on Laddie. "He's yelling like anything and he says I'd better come and tell you! He lassoed the calf but he can't get loose—I mean Russ can't get loose!"
"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "I might have known something would happen!"
"What's all this? What's the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker, who had been looking at the mysterious spring and had not heard all the talk that went on. "What happened?"
"Russ made a lasso," stated Laddie, while Mrs. Bunker and Uncle Fred started for the corral where the little calves were kept until they were strong enough to run with the other cattle.
"Oh, Russ made a lasso, did he?" asked his father. "Well, that boy is always making something. He'll be an inventor yet, I'm sure."
"Russ lassoed a calf," explained Mrs. Bunker, for Mr. Bunker had caught up Laddie, and they had now overtaken the others, who had started on ahead.
"Well, he had to lasso something," saidMr. Bunker with a laugh. "Any boy wants to lasso something when he makes a lariat. I did when I was a boy. I lassoed our old rooster."
"But the trouble seems to be," said Uncle Fred, "that Russ lassoed a calf, and now the calf is running away with Russ."
"Oh, that's different!" said Mr. Bunker. "We'll have to see about this!"
Then he hurried along with his wife and Uncle Fred toward the calf corral. The five little Bunkers stayed behind at the spring for Mrs. Bunker called back to them to do this, sending Laddie back, too.
"We don't want any of them to get into trouble," she said to her brother.
"Yes, I think, too, that one at a time is enough," replied Mr. Bell.
Even before they reached the corral they heard the voice of Russ yelling. They heard him calling:
"Whoa now! Stop! Stop, bossy cow! Let me get up! Stop!"
"Maybe the calf will hook him!" cried Mrs. Bunker.
"Oh, no!" answered Uncle Fred. "Thecalves don't have horns. Russ will be all right, though he may be mussed up a bit."
"It will teach him not to lasso calves after this," said Mr. Bunker.
"I'm not so sure of that," murmured Mrs. Bunker. "It is more apt to make the others want to try the same thing."
A moment later they turned around the corner of one of the ranch buildings and came in sight of the corral. In one end they could see some frightened calves standing huddled together. In the middle of the corral was a cloud of dust.
"That must be Russ and the calf," said Uncle Fred.
He and Daddy Bunker ran faster toward the fence, within which the calves were kept, but, before they could reach it, they saw a man run out from one of the buildings, jump over the fence without touching it and land inside the corral. Then he disappeared in the cloud of dust.
A moment later he came out, carrying Russ in his arms, and from the little boy's leg there dangled a piece of clothesline. Then, also out of the dust cloud, came a very muchfrightened spotted calf, and around its neck was another piece of line.
"Oh, is he—is he hurt?" gasped Mrs. Bunker, for Russ was limp.
"Not a bit, I'm glad to say!" answered the man who had Russ in his arms. "He's pretty dusty, and scratched up a bit, and his clothes are mussed, and he's frightened, but he's not hurt; are you?" and he laughed as he set Russ down on his own feet.
"I—I guess I'm all right," Russ answered, a bit slowly. "I—I had a dandy time!"
"Well, I should say you did!" exclaimed his father. "What did you do?"
"Well, I was playing I was a cowboy in the Wild West and I lassoed a buffalo. I made believe the calf was a buffalo."
"And then I guess the calf made believe you were a football, by the way it pulled you about the corral," said the man who had rescued Russ.
"Yes, sir, I guess so," answered Russ.
"I'm glad you rescued him," said Mrs. Bunker to the stranger. "I can't thank you enough."
"Oh, I didn't do anything," was the answer. "I heard the little fellow yelling shortly after I had seen him in the corral with the piece of clothesline. I guessed what had happened, and I jumped in. I found the calf pulling him around, for the lasso the little boy made had gotten tangled around his legs. The other end was on the calf.
"So I just cut the rope and picked up the youngster. Here he is, not much worse for wear. But you won't do it again, will you?"
"No—no—I don't guess I will," answered Russ.
"Captain Roy, this is my sister, Mrs. Bunker, and this is Mr. Bunker," said Uncle Fred, introducing them. "This is Captain Robert Roy, my ranch partner about whom I spoke to you," he went on to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. "He has been away, or you would have met him last night."
"I'm glad you are here to-day, to get my boy out of the trouble he got himself into," said Mr. Bunker, as he shook hands with the former soldier.
"I am glad, too!" exclaimed the captain. "I like children, and I don't want to see them hurt. But, as it happened, Russ wasn't."
"He might have been, only for you," said Mrs. Bunker. "We can't thank you enough. Russ, don't lasso anything more."
"Can't I lasso a fence post, Mother?" Russ asked.
"Well, maybe that, or something that isn't alive. But no more calves."
"All right," said Russ.
His clothes were brushed off, Captain Roy talked a little while with Mr. and Mrs. Bunker, and then went back to his work, and Uncle Fred remarked:
"Well, now the excitement is over, we can go back to the spring. I presume the other children will be wondering what has happened."
So back they went to where Laddie, Rose and the others were waiting.
"Did you get him?" asked Laddie eagerly, when he saw Russ.
"No, he got me," was the answer. "I guess we won't play Wild West any more. We'll be Indians and not cowboys. Indians don't have to lasso buffaloes, do they, Uncle Fred."
"No, Indians have it sort of easy out hereon their reservation," said Mr. Bell with a laugh. "I guess it will be safer for you boys to be Indians."
"That'll be fun too," agreed Russ.
"But we must have some feathers for our heads," said Laddie.
"We can get them in the chicken yard," returned Russ.
"Did the calf bite you?" asked Violet, and she looked at Russ as if to make sure he was all there.
"No, he didn't bite, but he almost stepped on me. You ought to have seen me flying around the field on the end of the rope. I couldn't get it loose," and Russ explained how it had happened.
However he was well out of it, and promised never again to try such a trick.
"I could make a riddle up about it, but I'm not going to," said Laddie. "Anyhow it's hard to guess the answer, so I'll think up one that's easier."
"Now this," said Uncle Fred, as they stood about the big spring, "is what I was telling you about. You all see what a nice lot of water there is here. Sometimes it overflows,there's so much. Then, within a few hours, it will go dry."
"And where does the water go?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"That's what none of us has been able to find out. The water just seems to sink down into the ground, as if the bottom had dropped out and let it all through. Then again, in a day or so, the water comes back again."
"It is queer," said Mrs. Bunker.
"And the worst of it is," said Uncle Fred, "that I may lose most of what I put into this ranch on account of this spring."
"How?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Well, I bought this ranch partly because it had such a fine spring of water on it. There is none better for miles around. But if I wanted to sell the ranch again, and people heard that the spring went dry every now and then, they wouldn't pay me as much as I paid. So I would lose. That's one reason why I'm so anxious to get to the bottom of the puzzle. As I said, it's like one of Laddie's riddles—I don't know the answer."
"It looks like a regular spring," said Mother Bunker.
"And yet it isn't," went on Uncle Fred. "It's all right now, but an hour later we may find the water sinking away."
"I'll take some pictures," said Daddy Bunker, who had a camera with him, "and then maybe we can dig up the ground and find hidden pipes, or something like that."
"We'll do the digging to-morrow," said Uncle Fred. "Now I want to show you about the ranch."
So he led them about, showing the six little Bunkers and their father and mother the different buildings, telling them how he raised his cattle and sent them to market, and how he sent out his cowboys to hunt for lost calves.
"There's always something to do on a ranch like this," said Uncle Fred. "You can keep busy all the while. If one thing doesn't happen another will. What with the mysterious spring, the bad men taking my cattle now and then, the Indians running off the reservation and making trouble—well, you can keep busy."
"Could we see the little ponies?" asked Rose. "I'd like to have a ride on one."
"So would I!" exclaimed Russ. "I'd like a pony better than a calf."
"The ponies are over this way. I'll show them to you," said Uncle Fred. "We'll go back by way of the spring. I have some Shetland ponies," he went on to Daddy Bunker. "I raised a few and may raise more. The larger children can ride on them while they're at the ranch."
"That will be fine!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "Oh, I'm sure the children will love it here."
They turned back toward the spring to go to the pony corral.
"I'm thirsty!" exclaimed Russ, as they reached the water hole. "I'm going to run on ahead and get a drink."
On he ran, and the others saw him stop suddenly when he reached the spring. Then Russ shouted:
"Oh, come here! Come here quick! Look! Hurry!"
"I wonder what the matter is," said Mrs. Bunker, when she heard Russ shout.
She did not have to wonder long. As the others drew nearer, Russ shouted again, and this time he said:
"The water's all running out of the spring! It's going dry, just like Uncle Fred said it would!"
"More mystery!" exclaimed the ranchman as he hurried on.
The five little Bunkers and the grown folk reached the edge of the big spring where Russ stood. He was looking down into the clear water, and the others did the same.
"Surely enough, it is getting lower!" exclaimed Mother Bunker.
"There isn't half as much in as there was at first," added her husband. "Is this the way it always does, Fred?"
"I never saw it run out before," answered the owner of Three Star Ranch. "Every time before, it has happened in the night when no one was near it. We'd visit the spring in the evening, and it would be all right. In the morning it would be nearly dry, and it might stay that way a day or two before the water came back into it. Very queer, I call it."
"So do I!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "I'll take another picture of it now. Maybe that will help us solve the mystery."
While he was getting the camera ready Mrs. Bunker said:
"The water is going out fast. You'd better get a drink now, Russ dear, if you want it, for there may not be any more for a long time."
"I will!" exclaimed Russ.
Uncle Fred kept half a cocoanut shell tied by a string near the spring to use as a cup. This Russ dipped in the fast lowering water, and got a drink for the other little Bunkers and for himself, as they all seemed to be thirsty at once.
"What will you do for water when thespring runs dry?" asked Mrs. Bunker of her brother.
"We'll have to draw some from the creek, but I have a lot of this water stored in the tank. I always keep that full lately, since I can't tell when my spring is going dry."
They stood and watched the water going out of the spring. It was just like it is when you pull the stopper out of the bathtub. The water gets lower and lower, running down the pipe. Only, of course, there was no pipe in the spring—that is, as far as Uncle Fred knew.
"The water seems just to stop running in," said Daddy Bunker, as he knelt down and looked more closely at the little hill of rocks back of the water hole. It was from cracks in these rocks that the water bubbled out and filled a hollow, rock basin before flowing on. Now less and less was coming and, of course, as the spring water always kept running away, or it would have overflowed, the basin was slowly but surely getting dry.
"I think what is happening," said Daddy Bunker, "is that, somewhere back in the mountains or hills, where the stream comesfrom that feeds this spring, the water is being shut off, just as we shut off the water at the kitchen sink faucet. Where does the water come from, Fred?"
"I don't know," was the answer. "It must come from some place underground, as we've never been able to find it on top. Well, we won't go thirsty, for there is plenty of water in the tank. But I hope the spring soon fills up again."
Even as they watched the water got lower and lower, until there was hardly a pailful left in the rock basin. No more clear, sparkling water bubbled up out of the cracks in the rocks. The strange thing that Uncle Fred had told about was happening at the spring.
"Is the cows drinking up all the water?" asked Mun Bun, as he looked into the now almost emptied basin.
"No, I don't believe they are," answered his uncle.
"Maybe the Indians took it to wash in," said Margy. "The Indians wash, doesn't they, Uncle Fred?"
"Well, maybe some of 'em do, but not very often," was the answer. "They're not veryfond of water, I'm sorry to say. But there! we won't worry about this any more. You six little Bunkers came here to have fun, and not bother about my spring. Daddy and I will try to find out why the water runs away, and stop the leak. Did you all get drinks? If you did we'll go back to the house. It must be almost dinner time."
They all had had enough to drink for the time being, and, leaving the spring, which was now only a damp hole in the ground, the party went back to the ranch house. Captain Roy met them.
"Spring's gone dry again," said Uncle Fred.
"Again! That's too bad! I was hoping we'd seen the last of that. Well, now, we may expect some more bad news."
"What kind?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"Oh, the captain means about losing more cattle," answered Uncle Fred. "Almost always, when the spring goes dry, it isn't long before some of the cowboys come in to tell about our cattle being taken away. But maybe that won't happen this time."
After dinner the six little Bunkers started to have some fun. Mun Bun and Margywent to have their afternoon naps, but Rose and Violet took their Japanese dolls, which had been unpacked, and found a shady place on the porch where they could play.
"What are you going to do, Russ?" asked Laddie, as he saw his brother with some sticks.
"I'm going to make a tent," was the answer. "We can make a tent and live in it same as the Indians do. It's more fun to live in a tent than in a house when you're out West."
"Oh, yes!" cried Laddie. "I'll help you. But where can we get the cloth part?"
"Well, I got the sticks," Russ went on. "I guess Uncle Fred will let us take a sheet off the bed for the cloth part."
But the boys did not make the tent that day. Just as they were thinking about going to ask for the cloth Uncle Fred called:
"Come on, Russ and Laddie, and you, too, Rose and Vi. We're going to look at the ponies. I started to take you to them when we found the spring was going dry, and that made me forget. Now we'll go."
"Oh, what fun!" cried Russ.
"Dandy!" exclaimed Laddie.
"I love to ride a pony!" added Rose.
"So do I!" ejaculated Violet.
Uncle Fred led the children to a small corral, which they had not seen before. In it were a number of Shetland ponies, some no larger than big Newfoundland dogs. And some of the ponies came to the fence to be petted as soon as they saw Uncle Fred.
"Oh, aren't they cute!" exclaimed Rose.
"I'd like to ride that black one!" shouted Laddie.
"He's a little too wild," said Uncle Fred. "Better try one of the more gentle ones first. I'll get the men to saddle 'em for you."
In a little while the four little Bunkers were riding about on the backs of four gentle ponies. The little animals seemed to know children were on their backs, and they did not run fast, nor kick up their heels.
Rose and Russ could soon manage their ponies by themselves, but as Vi and Laddie were younger Uncle Fred and one of his cowboys led their ponies about by the bridle. The children rode in a big field, with a fence all around it.
"Now I'm going to ride fast!" cried Russ as he took a tighter hold of the reins and shook his feet in the stirrups. "Gid-dap!" he called to his pony. "Go fast!"
Maybe the pony was surprised at this. Anyhow, he started to gallop. Now Russ was not as good a horseman as he supposed, and the first he knew he had slipped from the saddle and fallen off.
"There you go!" cried Uncle Fred, as he left the pony on which Vi was riding and ran to help Russ.
Russ had fallen in a bunch of soft grass, so he was not hurt; and the pony, after trotting around in a circle, stood still and began to eat grass.
"I wouldn't try to ride fast yet a while," said Uncle Fred. "Better learn more about the ponies first. You can have just as much fun riding slowly, and then you won't tumble off."
"I won't go fast any more," said Russ, as his uncle helped him back into the saddle. The other children did not have any accidents, and rode around on the ponies for some time. Then Mun Bun and Margyawakened from their naps, and they, too, wanted rides. Their father and mother held them on the backs of two small ponies, and walked with them about the grassy field, so that all six little Bunkers had pony rides that day.
"And may we ride to-morrow?" asked Laddie when it was time to go back to the house.
"Yes," promised his uncle, "to-morrow we may all take a ride over the plain."
"Goody!" exclaimed Violet.
"Will mother come, too?" asked Rose.
"No, indeed!" laughed Mrs. Bunker. "I don't know how to ride pony-back, and I'm not going to learn now. You children can go."
"That's what we'll do then," said Uncle Fred. "Daddy and I will take Rose and Vi and Laddie and Russ for a ride over the plain. We'll go and see if we can find where our spring water comes from, and why it shuts itself off in that queer way."
The children waved good-bye to the ponies, and went back to the house. On the broad, shady porch stood Captain Roy. He waswaiting for Uncle Fred, and there was a worried look on the old soldier's face.
"What's the matter?" asked the ranchman of his partner.
"More bad news," was the answer. "One of the cowboys just rode in to tell me that some more of the cattle have been taken."
"I might have known it!" cried Uncle Fred. "When the spring goes dry other bad news is sure to come in!"
Uncle Fred seemed tired as he sat down in a chair on the porch. He looked up at Captain Roy and asked:
"How many cattle gone this time?"
"About twenty-five. One of the cowboys, who was watching them, rode over to the far end of the field to see about a steer that had fallen into a big hole and couldn't get out, and when he got back the twenty-five steers were gone."
"Hum! More work of those bad men!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "Well, we'll see if we can catch them. Want to come along?" he asked Daddy Bunker.
"Where are you going?"
"To see if we can find the lost cattle. Maybe we can catch the men who drove them away."
"Oh, let me come!" begged Russ. "Maybe I can lasso 'em!"
"They might lasso you!" laughed his father. "No, you had better stay here. We'll soon be back."
"Oh, Daddy, please?"
"Not this time, Sonny," answered his father.
So Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker, with some of the cowboys, saddled their horses and started off to look for the lost cattle.
"I wish I could go!" sighed Russ, as he watched the horsemen riding off.
"So do I," echoed Laddie. "We could maybe help catch 'em. Mother, couldn't we go?"
"They'd be more likely to catch you, just as the calf did," said Mother Bunker. "Wouldn't they, Captain Roy?"
"Yes, indeed," answered the old soldier, smiling at the children. "Men who take cattle that do not belong to them are very likely to be bad men, and they would not be nice to the six little Bunkers. You stay with me, and you may come out and see the ponies again, though I won't promise you can ride on them."
"Are you going to feed them?" asked Mun Bun.
"No, they feed themselves on the grass in their field," said the captain.
"I don't like to eat grass," said Mun Bun, shaking his head.
"Neither do I," added Margy.
"Why, I do declare! I believe you're hungry," laughed Captain Roy. "And it's two hours until supper. Come on, we'll go see what Bill Johnson has in his cupboard."
"Could I come, too?" asked Russ. "I—I guess I'm hungry."
"So'm I," put in Laddie.
"Me, too!" added Violet.
"Come on, all of you!" laughed Captain Roy. "It's almost as easy to feed six as it is two," he added to Mother Bunker.
"Oh, it's too bad to bother you," she said quickly.
"No bother at all!" exclaimed the old soldier. "I know I used to want my rations when I was in the army, and I guess there isn't much difference nowadays. Come along, little Bunkers!"
Soon the children were having bread andmilk, with a dish of canned peaches in addition. There were big cases of canned peaches in Bill Johnson's kitchen, and when Russ asked him why he had so many the cook said:
"Well, the boys seem to like 'em more than anything else. It's hard to get fresh fruit out on a cattle ranch, so I keep plenty of the canned stuff on hand. Often a cowboy will eat two cans at once when he comes in from a ride very hungry."
So the six little Bunkers had something to eat, even if it was not supper time, and then they went with Captain Roy to look at the ponies again.
"Oh, look how they run to the fence to meet us!" cried Rose, as some of the ponies in the corral trotted toward the captain and the children.
"That's because they think I have a bit of bread and sugar for them," said Captain Roy.
"Have you?" asked Violet.
"Yes. I hardly ever come out without bringing them something," answered the old soldier.
He reached over the fence to pat the glossy necks and soft noses of the ponies, feeding them bits of dried bread, of which he seemed to have a lot in his pockets.
"Bill Johnson saves me all his old crusts for the ponies," Captain Roy said to Russ. "And if you bring the little horses something to eat each time you come out they'll like you all the more, and get very tame."
"I'll do it," said Russ.
They stood looking at the ponies for some little time, and then Russ decided he wanted to make a boat and sail it in the creek that was not far from the ranch house.
"I'll sail one, too," said Laddie.
"And we'll take our dolls down by the creek and let them have a bath," said Rose to Violet.
"You don't mean a real bath?"
"No, just make believe."
"All right. Only I think I'll make a boat. Su-San doesn't need a bath. She had one once when we were at home. But I'll take her along so she can see the water."
"We'll all go down to the bank of the creek and sit there in the shade until Daddyand Uncle Fred come back," said Mrs. Bunker. "That will make the time pass more quickly."
"I hope they bring back the lost cattle," said Rose.
A little later the six little Bunkers were walking with their mother down toward where a creek flowed through the Three Star Ranch. It was not a very large one, but it had enough water in it to give hundreds of cattle a drink when they were thirsty. When the spring went dry the water from the creek had to be used in the ranch house. But, as Uncle Fred had told the children, there was a tank full of spring water that might last until the dry spell had passed.
Russ and Laddie and Vi—Vi keeping Su-San near by—made some boats out of old pieces of wood they picked up around the ranch house. These boats they tied strings to, and let float down the creek, pulling them back from time to time and starting them off on another voyage.
Mrs. Bunker sat on the grassy bank, in the shade of a willow tree, while Mun Bun and Margy and Rose played near her.
Mun Bun had his pail and shovel that he had brought from the beach at Cousin Tom's, and the little boy began digging holes in the dirt near the edge of the creek. Margy played with her Japanese doll as did Rose.
It was rather warm, for that time of year, and Mrs. Bunker, leaning up against the tree trunk, began to feel sleepy. She closed her eyes, meaning only to rest them a minute, but, before she knew it, she was asleep. The children did not notice her as they were playing so nicely, Russ and Laddie and Vi a little way down the creek, and the other three near their mother.
After a while Margy said:
"I'm going to take a walk with my doll. She hasn't had a walk to-day."
"Where are you going?" asked Rose.
"Oh, just a little way," Margy answered. "Want to come?"
"No, my doll doesn't feel very well, and I've sent for the doctor. I've got to stay in till he comes," replied Rose.
Of course this was only make-believe, but the children often played that.
She made a bed for her doll in the softgrass, and covered her with some leaves picked near by.
"I guess I'll play my doll is sick, too," said Margy, "'stead of taking her for a walk."
"No, don't play your doll's sick," objected Rose to Margy. "She must be a trained nurse for my doll."
"Oh, yes. That'll be more fun. I wish the doctor would hurry up and come."
"So do I," murmured Rose, pretending to be anxious.
Then, after a while, they made believe the doctor had arrived in his automobile, and he left some medicine for Rose's sick doll, which the trained nurse, who was Margy's doll, had to give with a spoon. The spoon was just a little willow twig, of course.
Down by the creek Russ and Laddie and Vi were still sailing their boats.
Pretty soon Vi said she was tired playing sail-a-boat, and was going to take Su-San for a walk.
After a while Russ and Laddie grew tired of playing boats, and came up the bank to where their mother was.
"Oh, look! She's asleep!" whispered Russ.
"Don't wake her," replied Rose.
But just then Mrs. Bunker opened her eyes and smiled at the children.
"I was asleep," she said, "but I heard what you said. Did you have a nice time? Shall we go back now? It must be almost supper time. Why, where's Vi?" she suddenly asked, as she did not see the curly-haired girl. "Where's Violet?" and Mrs. Bunker stood up quickly and looked all around.