Mrs. Bunker did not have to go for help, for, just at that moment, her husband came up to them.

"Is anything the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker. "I was taking a walk over to the spring, to see if anything had happened to the water there, when I heard shouting and calling. Is anything wrong?"

"We can't find Laddie!" exclaimed Russ.

"He went to hide, but he won't come in," added Rose.

"I really am a little worried," said Mrs. Bunker. "Perhaps you had better get Fred and——"

"I'll find him!" said Daddy Bunker with a laugh. "He can't be far away. Show me where you blinded, Russ, when the others went to hide."

Russ showed his father where he had stood against a tree, hiding his head in his arms, so he would not see where the others were hiding. Standing at the same tree Mr. Bunker looked all around. Then he started off, walking this way and that, looking up and down and all around in the woods, until finally he stopped before a rather high stump, and said:

"Laddie is here!"

"Where?" cried some of the little Bunkers.

"I don't see him," said others.

"What's this?" asked Daddy Bunker, reaching up on the tree stump, and lifting down a cap.

"Why—why—that's Laddie's!" stammered Russ. "I saw it there before, but I thought he hung it there so it wouldn't fall off when he was playing."

"Well, we'll see what's inside this stump, for it is hollow," went on Mr. Bunker with a smile. "Unless I'm much mistaken we'll find in here——"

And just then, from inside the middle of the stump there stuck up a tousled head of hair, and Laddie's rather surprised face looked down at his father and mother and brothers and sisters.

"Oh, you found me!" he exclaimed. "I was going to run in free!"

"Why didn't you?" asked Russ. "I called 'givie up!' a lot of times."

"I—I didn't hear you," said Laddie, rubbing his eyes. "I guess I must have fallen asleep."

"That's what happened," said Daddy Bunker. "When I saw your cap hanging on a splinter outside the hollow stump I thought you must have hung it there while you climbed inside. Did you?"

"Yes," answered Laddie. "I was looking for a good place to hide, and when I climbed up on a stone, outside, and saw the stump was hollow I knew I could fool Russ. So I left my cap outside, and I got in. And it was so nice and soft there that I just snuggled down and—and I fell asleep. I was sleepy anyhow."

"Didn't you hear us calling?" asked Rose.

"Nope!"

"And didn't you hear me tell you to come in free?" Russ wanted to know.

"Nope. I guess I must have slept a lot," said Laddie.

"Well, I guess you did," agreed his mother. "We were alarmed about you. Don't do anything like that again."

Laddie promised that he wouldn't, and then he climbed out of the hollow stump. It was just high enough from the ground to prevent any one, passing along, from looking down into it. And Laddie could not have climbed up and gotten in if he had not used a stone to step on. The other children took a peep inside, Margy and Mun Bun having to be lifted up, of course.

The stump was partly filled with dried leaves, which made a soft bed on which Laddie had really gone to sleep. He had just curled up in a sort of nest and there he had stayed while the others were hunting for him.

"Are we going to play hide-and-go-seek any more?" asked Laddie, when he had climbed out of the stump and brushed the pieces of leaves off his clothes.

"I'm hungry," announced Mun Bun. "I want some bread and peaches."

"So do I!" added Margy.

Bill Johnson, the good-natured cook, did not have jam to give the children, as Grandmother Ford had done when they were at Great Hedge, so he gave them canned peaches instead. And they liked these almost as much.

"Well, I'll take Mun Bun and Margy to the house," said Mrs. Bunker. "You other children can play here in the woods, if you like. But don't any of you get lost again."

They promised that they would not, and, after Margy and Mun Bun had gone with their father and mother, Russ and Laddie, with Rose and Violet, played the hiding game some more.

But finally the two girls grew tired, and said they were going to play keep house with their dolls.

"Well, it's no fun for us two to play hide from each other," said Russ to Laddie. "What'll we do?"

"Let's guess riddles," suggested Laddie.

"No, that isn't any fun, either," said Russ. "You'd think of all the riddles and I'd have to think of all the answers. I know what let's do!"

"What?"

"Let's dig a hole."

"A hole? What for?"

"Oh, just for fun. Let's see how deep we can dig a hole."

"All right," agreed Laddie, after a while. "Maybe we can dig one deep enough for a well, and then Uncle Fred won't have to go to the creek after water when the spring goes dry. We'll dig a well!"

"We'll dig a hole, anyhow," said Russ. "Maybe there won't any water come in it and then it wouldn't be a well. But we'll dig a hole anyhow."

So Russ got some shovels at the barn, and he and Laddie began to dig a hole, starting it not far from the spring, though not close enough to get any dirt in the clear water that was so cool and sweet to drink.



CHAPTER XXII

AT THE BRIDGE

"Are you going to make a big hole so we both can get in at the same time?" asked Laddie of Russ, as the older boy began to shovel out the dirt.

"No, we'll take turns digging. If we made such a big hole it would take too long. First I'll dig and throw out the dirt, and you can throw it farther on, so it won't roll back in the hole. Then, when I get tired of digging in the hole, you can get in and dig."

"That'll be lots of fun!" exclaimed Laddie. "Won't Uncle Fred be s'prised when he sees a well full of water?"

"Maybe it won't be quite full," said Russ. "But we may get some."

The boys, of course, could not dig very fast. The shovels they had were rather small, and did not hold much dirt. But they were fully large enough for two such little boys.

The earth was somewhat sandy, and there were not many large stones on Uncle Fred's ranch. Of course, the digging was not as easy as it had been at the beach where Cousin Tom lived, but Russ and Laddie did not mind this. They were digging for fun, as much as for anything else, and they really did not have to do it.

So they dug away, first one and then the other getting down in the hole, until they had made it so large that, even when Laddie stood up in it, his head hardly came up to the top of the ground. Russ, being taller, stuck a little more out of the hole than did his brother.

"Do you see any water yet?" asked Laddie, when Russ had been digging, in his turn, for some little time.

"No, not yet," was the answer. "It's awful dry."

"We could get some water from the spring and pour it in," said Laddie. "Then it would look like a well."

"But all the water would run out, if we just poured it in, same as it ran out when we dug a hole at the beach and let the waves fill it," objected Russ. "We'll dig down until we come to some regular water. Then it will be a real well."

But long before they reached water Laddie and Russ became tired of digging. They got to a place where the earth was packed hard, and it was not easy to shovel it out, and finally Russ said:

"Oh, I'm not going to make a well!"

"I'm not, either," declared Laddie. "What'll we do?"

"Let's go for a ride on our ponies," suggested Russ.

"All right!" agreed Laddie. "That'll be fun."

So, dropping the shovels at the side of the hole they had dug, instead of taking them back to the barn, as they should have done, Russ and Laddie went to the house to ask their father or mother if they might go for a ride on the little ponies.

Mr. Bunker was out on the ranch with Uncle Fred, but Mother Bunker said the two boys might ride over the plain if they did not go too far.

Russ and Laddie went to the corral to get their ponies. The boys got one of the cowboys, who was working around the barn, to put the saddles on for them, as this they could not do for themselves, and then they set off, Russ on "Star," as he called his pony, for it had a white star on its forehead, while Laddie rode "Stocking." His pony had been named that because one leg, about half-way up from the hoof, was white, just as if the little horse had on one white stocking.

"Gid-dap!" cried Russ to Star.

"Gid-dap!" called Laddie to Stocking.

And off and away, over the plain, the two ponies galloped.

"They sure are two nice little boys," said Bill Johnson to Mrs. Bunker, as they watched Laddie and Russ ride away.

"Yes, they try to be good, though they do get into mischief now and then," answered the little boys' mother.

On and on rode Laddie and Russ, their ponies trotting over the grassy plain. The day was warm and sunny, and the two boys were having a grand time.

"I wish I was an Indian," said Russ, with a sigh, as he let his pony walk a way, for it seemed tired.

"I'd rather be a cowboy," said Laddie.

"But Indians can live in a tent," went on Russ. "And if they don't like it in one place they can take their tent to another place. If you're a cowboy and live in a house, like Uncle Fred's, you have to stay where the house is."

"Yes," said Laddie, after thinking it over a bit. "You have to do that. I guess maybe I'll be an Indian, too."

"Let's both make believe we're Indians now," proposed Russ.

"We'll pretend we're out hunting buffaloes," agreed Laddie.

"And if we see any of Uncle Fred's cattle we'll make believe they are buffaloes and we'll lasso them," went on Russ.

"Yes, and we'll shoot 'em, too," declared Laddie.

"Only make believe, though!" exclaimed his brother. "I wouldn't want to shoot a cow really."

"No, I wouldn't either. But do Indians have guns, Russ?"

"Course they do. Didn't you hear Bill Johnson tell about how he saw a whole lot of Indians with guns?"

"Oh, yes. Then we'll be gun-Indians, and not the bow-and-arrow kind."

"Sure!" agreed Russ. "We'll get some sticks for guns."

They stopped on the edge of the woods to get sticks that would answer for guns. Then, after resting in the shade for a while, they rode on.

"Woo! Wah! Hoo!" suddenly yelled Russ.

"What's the matter?" asked Laddie, looking around at his brother, who was riding behind him. "What did you yell that way for?"

"'Cause I'm an Indian!" answered Russ. "You have to yell that way, too. Indians always yell."

"Oh, all right. I'll yell," said Laddie. "I thought maybe you'd hurt yourself. Oh, hoo! Doodle-doodle-oo!" he shouted.

"Hey, that's no way to yell like an Indian!" objected Russ.

"Why isn't it?"

"'Cause it sounds more like a rooster crowing. Yell like this: 'Wah-hoo! Zoo! Zoop! Wah! Wah!'"

"Oh, you want me to yell that way. Well, I will," said Laddie. And he yelled as nearly as he could like his brother.

So the two boys rode on and on, crossing the plain this way and that, so as not to get too far from the house. They could see the ranch buildings each time they got on top of the little knolls that were scattered here and there over the plain.

"Let's have a race!" suggested Laddie, after a bit. "I don't guess we are going to see any of Uncle Fred's cattle over here to make believe they're buffaloes. Let's have a race!"

"All right!" agreed Russ. "And I don't have to give you any head start this time, 'cause your pony's legs are going to run, and not your legs, and your pony's legs are every bit as long as my pony's. So we can start even."

"Yes," said Laddie, "we can start even."

They rode their ponies up alongside of each other, and got them in line. Then Russ said:

"We'll ride to the bridge. The first one there wins the race."

"Yes," said Laddie, "we'll race to the bridge."

This bridge was one across the creek, at a place where the water was deeper than anywhere else on Uncle Fred's ranch. The boys were told they must not cross the bridge unless some older person was with them, and they were not allowed to ride into the creek near the bridge because of the deep water.

"All ready?" asked Russ of his brother, as they sat on their ponies.

"All ready, yes."

"Then go!"

"Gid-dap!" cried Laddie.

"Gid-dap!" yelled Russ.

The ponies began to trot. Russ and Laddie did not have whips, and they would not have used them if they had had, for they loved their ponies and were very kind to them. But they tapped the ponies with their hands or their heels and shook the reins and called to them. This made the ponies run almost as fast as if they had been whipped, and was a great deal nicer. Besides, Russ and Laddie did not want to ride too fast, for they might have fallen off.

On and on they raced. Sometimes Russ was ahead, and again Laddie would be. But, just as they came near the bridge, the pony Russ was on slowed up a bit. Laddie's pony kept on, and so he won the race.

"But I don't care," said Russ kindly. "After we rest a bit at the bridge we'll have another race and I'll win that one."

"I hope you do, then we'll be even," said Laddie.

The little boys got off their ponies and looked about them. The ponies began to eat the green grass, and Laddie and Russ were looking for a shady place in which to cool off when they suddenly heard a groan. It was quite loud, and seemed to come from near the bridge. Then a voice called:

"Water! Oh, some one get me a drink of water!"



CHAPTER XXIII

THE BOYS' WELL

"Did you hear that?" asked Russ of Laddie, as they stared about them.

"Course I heard it."

"What did it sound like?"

"Like the ghost at Great Hedge," said Laddie.

"Yes," agreed Russ, "that's what it did sound like—a sort of groan. But there can't be any ghost here."

"Course not. But what was it?"

Laddie and Russ looked across the bridge, but could see no one on the other side.

Then the groan sounded again, quite near them, and the voice again called:

"Water! Water!"

"Somebody wants a drink," said Laddie.

"But who is it?" asked Russ. "I don't see anybody."

"It sounds like a man," replied Laddie.

"Maybe it's an Indian," said Russ. "But I don't guess Indians would talk as plain as that. Maybe it's one of Uncle Fred's cowboys, and he fell off his horse and is hurt."

"Oh, maybe 'tis!" exclaimed Laddie. "But if it's a strange cowboy we must ride right home. Mother said so."

"We got to get him a drink first," decided Russ. "You always have to do that. You have to do that even to an enemy, 'cause we learned that in Sunday-school. Let's see if we can find who 'tis wants a drink."

Suddenly the voice called again, so loudly and so close to them that Russ and Laddie both jumped when they heard it.

"Whoever you are, please get me some water!" said the voice. "I'm a cowboy and I've fallen off my horse and broken my leg."

"Where—where are you?" asked Russ, looking about.

"In the tall grass, right at the end of the bridge. I can see you boys, but you can't see me because I'm hidden in the grass. I was going to ride over the bridge, but my pony slipped and threw me and I've been here some time with a broken leg. Get me a drink if you can."

Russ and Laddie looked at each other. Then they looked toward the end of the bridge, where the voice sounded, and they saw the long grass moving.

"He must be in there," said Laddie, pointing.

"He is," answered Russ. "Here, you hold Star and I'll get him a drink," and Russ slipped off his pony, taking off the cap he wore. Russ had an idea he could carry some water to the cowboy in the cap, and in this he was right.

Going down to the edge of the creek, at one side of the bridge, Russ dented in the outside top of his cap, and filled it with water.

Then, carrying the cap as carefully as he could, Russ made his way to where the cowboy had called from. The little boy found the injured man lying in the tall grass.

"Ah! That's good!" exclaimed the cowboy, as he drank the water. "Now if you could catch my horse for me maybe I could get up on him, and ride him to where I belong. Do you see my horse anywhere?"

Russ looked all about. At first he saw nothing, but, as he gazed across the bridge he saw, on the other side of the creek, a big horse eating grass.

"I see him!" said Russ to the cowboy. "He's over the bridge."

"Is he? That's good. Then he didn't go very far away, after all. Now, look here, you seem to be a pretty smart boy," and the cowboy spoke in a stronger voice, now that he had had a drink of water. "Do you want to help me?"

"Yes," said Russ, "I'd like to help you. My mother says we must help everybody, and give them a drink of cold water, even our enemies, and I know you're not an enemy."

"I don't know about that," said the cowboy with a queer laugh, and he turned his head away and seemed to be looking at his horse, which was on the other side of the bridge, eating grass.

"No, you're not an enemy," went on Russ. "An enemy is a bad man, and you're not that."

"I wouldn't be so sure on that point, either," returned the cowboy. "But I won't hurt you, that's certain. Now look here, boy——"

"My name is Russ Bunker," interrupted the lad.

"Well, Russ, do you think you could go across the bridge and get my horse for me? If I had him I could ride away, now that I feel better after having had a drink. Will you cross the bridge and get my horse for me?"

"No," said Russ slowly, "I couldn't do that."

"Why not? The horse won't hurt you. He's so tame you could walk right up to him, and get hold of the reins. He won't run the way some horses do. You know something about horses or you wouldn't be riding one. Why won't you get mine?"

"'Cause Mother said I wasn't to cross the bridge alone," answered Russ. "Me or Laddie—we can't go across the bridge alone."

"Oh," said the cowboy. "But then your mother didn't know you were going to meet a sick man—one that couldn't walk. She'd let you cross the bridge if she was here."

"But she isn't here," said Russ. "I know what I can do, though! I can ride back and ask her if Laddie and I can go across the bridge for your horse. I'll do it!"

"No! Wait! Hold on a minute!" cried the cowboy. "I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to ride and tell any one I'm here. I'd rather you'd get my horse for me yourself. Just ride your horse across the bridge and get mine."

"I haven't a horse. I have one of Uncle Fred's ponies," said Russ. "And my brother Laddie's got a pony, too. But I can't go across the bridge. Mother said I wasn't to. But I'll ride to Three Star Ranch——"

"Are you from Three Star Ranch?" asked the cowboy quickly.

"Yes," answered Russ.

"Oh!" and the cowboy seemed much surprised. "Well, I guess I'd better get my own horse then," he said. "I guess no one from Three Star Ranch would want to help me if they knew what I'd done. Ride along, boy—Russ you said your name was, didn't you? Ride along, and I'll see if I can't crawl over and get my own horse."

Russ did not know what to do. He wanted to help the cowboy, who seemed in much pain, but the little boy was not going to cross the bridge when his mother had told him not to.

"Hey!" called Laddie. "Come on, Russ. I'm tired of holding your pony."

"All right," said Russ. "I'm coming. We have to ride back and ask Mother if we can cross the bridge to catch that horse!" and he pointed to the cowboy's animal, still cropping grass on the other side of the creek.

"No, don't bother about me," said the man in the grass. "I'll get my own horse. Always be a good boy and mind your mother. Then you won't get into trouble. I wish I had minded mine. Maybe I wouldn't be here now. Ride on home, but don't say anything about me."

Russ turned back to join Laddie. As he did so he saw the cowboy try to rise up and walk. But the man, as soon as he put one leg to the ground, uttered a loud cry and fell back. Then he lay very still and quiet.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Laddie, in a low voice.

"I don't know," answered Russ. "But I guess we'd better ride back and tell Daddy or Uncle Fred. They'll know what to do. We can't cross the bridge, but we can go for help. Come on!"

Russ got on his pony again, and he and Laddie rode away as fast as they could, leaving the cowboy very still and quiet, lying in the long grass at the end of the bridge.

Meanwhile something was going on back at the Three Star Ranch house. Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker, who had been out riding on the plains, came galloping back.

"Where are Russ and Laddie?" asked their father of his wife.

"They went for a ride down by the creek," she answered. "They said they'd go only as far as the bridge. But they've been gone a long while, and I wish you'd ride after them and bring them back."

"I will," said Mr. Bunker. "Want to come for a ride, Rose?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Well, I'll get your pony out of the corral, and saddle him for you. Then we'll ride and get Russ and Laddie."

A little later Rose and her father started out on their ride. As they passed near the queer spring, which, for the last day or so had not emptied itself of water, Daddy Bunker saw quite a hole in the ground.

"What's that?" he asked Rose.

"Oh, it's where Russ and Laddie started to make a well," she answered. "But I guess they didn't find any water."

Daddy Bunker got off his horse to take a look. He bent over the well the boys had dug, and stooped close down to it. As he did so a queer look came over his face.

"I wonder if this can be the place?" he said to himself.

"What is it?" asked Rose.

"I don't know," her father answered. "But it sounds to me like running water down near where Russ and Laddie have been digging. If it is, it may mean we can find out the secret of Uncle Fred's spring. I guess I'd better go and tell him. It won't take long, and then we can all ride on and get Russ and Laddie, if they aren't back by then.

"Yes, I shouldn't be surprised but what those two boys had started to solve the riddle of the spring. I must tell Uncle Fred!"



CHAPTER XXIV

MORE CATTLE GONE

Uncle Fred was out in the barn, talking over some ranch matters with Captain Roy, when Daddy Bunker and Rose came trotting back.

"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Fred. "Has Rose found some more Indian papooses?" and he laughed.

"Not this time," answered her father. "But those boys of mine, Fred, have dug quite a hole near your spring. I went past it just now, on my way to find Laddie and Russ. There is a queer sound of gurgling water seeming to come from the bottom of their 'well,' as they called it. They didn't strike water, but they came near to it. You'd better come and have a look."

"I will," said Uncle Fred. "Better come along, Captain Roy," he went on. "We may all get a good surprise. I'd be glad to have the secret of the spring discovered."

The three men and Rose rode back to the hole Laddie and Russ had dug. Then Daddy Bunker, Uncle Fred and Captain Roy got off their horses to listen more closely.

"Do you hear it?" asked Daddy Bunker of the children's uncle.

"I hear water running somewhere under ground," answered Uncle Fred.

"So do I," said Captain Roy. "I shouldn't be surprised if this was where the water either ran into or out of our spring."

"We must get shovels and dig," said Uncle Fred. "When we dug back of the rocks it wasn't in the right place, I guess. Laddie and Russ, by accident, have found the very place we were looking for. I'm sure it's a good thing I brought the six little Bunkers out to Three Star Ranch."

"Don't be too sure yet," laughed Daddy Bunker. "We haven't found the answer to the riddle, yet."

They were going to ride back to the barn, to get picks and shovels, when Mrs. Bunker came hurrying out to them.

"Oh, Fred!" she called to her brother. "Something has happened!"

"What?" he asked.

"Russ and Laddie——" went on Mrs. Bunker.

"Has anything happened to them?" cried Daddy Bunker quickly.

"No, they're all right. But they just rode up to the house greatly excited, and they tell a remarkable story about a cowboy with a broken leg, and say that he's lying in the grass at the end of the bridge. They're quite worked-up over it. Maybe you'd better go to see what it is."

"Yes," said Daddy Bunker, "I presume I had better hurry on to see about Russ and Laddie."

"The spring and the well will keep until you come back," observed Uncle Fred.

"We'll wait for you," added Captain Roy.

Mr. Bunker hurried back with his wife to the ranch house.

"Russ and Laddie are there," said Mother Bunker, and she told about the little lads having seen the cowboy, just as Russ and Laddie had told her. They had ridden home from the bridge, and reached the house just after Daddy Bunker and Rose had gone away.

"Well, boys, what's this I hear?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Did you really find a cowboy? Or was it an Indian?"

"Oh, it's a cowboy all right, and I got him a drink of water in my cap," replied Russ. "He wanted me to ride over the bridge to get his horse, but Mother said I wasn't to, and I didn't."

"That's a good boy," said his father.

"And the cowboy, I guess, is hurt bad," said Laddie. "He couldn't walk on one leg, and he shut his eyes and sounded like he was sick."

"Maybe he is, poor fellow," said Mr. Bunker. "We must see about him at once. I'll go for Uncle Fred," and he hurried back where he had left the ranchman and Captain Roy.

"A cowboy hurt!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "Well, I don't believe it can be any of mine, or I'd have heard about it. However, we'll ride over to the bridge and see about it. We'll see later about the noise of running water under the well that Laddie and Russ dug."

Rose wanted to ride with her father to the bridge, but he said as they might have to carry back the cowboy with his injured leg, she had better go to the house with her mother and the boys. So Rose did.

Together Uncle Fred, Daddy Bunker and Captain Roy rode to the bridge where Russ and Laddie had ended their race. They easily found the cowboy, who had fainted away when he tried to stand on his leg, which was broken. His eyes were open when the three men rode up, and he smiled, and seemed glad to see them.

"I guess I'm going to be laid up for a while," he said. "My pony threw me, and my leg doubled under me. I saw some boys, and tried to get them to go across the bridge for my horse, but they wouldn't—said their mother didn't allow them."

"That's right—they were my boys," said Daddy Bunker. "But now we'll take care of you."

"Where are you from—what ranch?" asked Uncle Fred, looking closely at the cowboy. "I never saw you around here before."

"No, I'm a stranger. I'm looking for work. But I guess I'll have to stay in bed a while now."

"We'll take care of you at Three Star Ranch," said Uncle Fred kindly. "We've got plenty of room."

It was no easy work to move a man with a broken leg from the field near the bridge to the bunk-house of Three Star Ranch, but at last it was done, and then the doctor was sent for. He said the cowboy, who gave his name as Sam Thurston, would have to stay in bed for a while, until his leg got well.

Getting the cowboy to the bunk-house, and going for the doctor, who lived some miles away, took up so much time that it was dark before Uncle Fred, Daddy Bunker and Captain Roy had time to think about looking at the well Laddie and Russ had dug. And then it was too late.

"We'll look at it the first thing in the morning," said the ranchman.

"Didn't you want us to dig the well?" asked Russ.

"Oh, I don't mind," his uncle answered. "And maybe, by means of that well, we may find out the secret of the spring."

The six little Bunkers sat in the living-room, listening to Uncle Fred tell a story, just before they were sent to bed. This was one of their delights since coming to Three Star Ranch. Uncle Fred knew a lot of stories of the West—stories of Indians, cowboys, of wild animals, big storms, of fires, and of cattle running in a stampede.

Mun Bun and Margy fell asleep, one in their mother's lap and the other in Daddy Bunker's; but Rose and Vi, and Laddie and Russ stayed awake, listening to the stories told by Uncle Fred.

"I know a riddle about a bear," said Laddie, when his uncle had finished a story about one.

"A riddle about a bear?" exclaimed Mr. Bell. "Well, let's hear it, Laddie."

"This is it. Why does a bear climb a tree? Why does he?"

"Lots of reasons," answered Russ.

"Well, you have to give one to answer my riddle," said Laddie. "Why does a bear climb a tree?"

"To get the hunter that climbed the tree first," said Daddy Bunker.

"Nope!" laughed Laddie.

"To get out of the way of the hunter," said Russ.

"Nope!" and Laddie laughed again.

"Does he climb it to go to sleep?" asked Rose.

"How could a bear go to sleep in a tree?" Laddie wanted to know. "I'll tell you the answer, 'cause you can't guess. A bear climbs a tree when the dogs bark at him, so he can throw bark at the dogs. Isn't that a good riddle? You know trees have bark."

"But you didn't say anything about dogs and bark at first!" objected Vi. "If you had said about the dogs I could have guessed."

"Well, I wanted to make it hard," said Laddie. "Maybe to-morrow I'll think of another riddle without any dogs in it."

"Well, you four little Bunkers that are still awake had better go to bed so you'll be able to eat breakfast as well as guess riddles to-morrow," laughed Mother Bunker. "Come on! To bed with you! Mun Bun and Margy fell asleep long ago."

So off to bed they went, not even dreaming about the strange things that were to happen the next day.

About an hour after the six little Bunkers were in Slumberland, Captain Roy, who had been over to the bunk-house to talk with some of the cowboys, came hurrying in where Uncle Fred was.

"Anything the matter?" asked the ranchman.

"Yes," answered the captain. "More of our cattle have been taken!"



CHAPTER XXV

THE SECRET OF THE SPRING

"More cattle taken?" cried Uncle Fred. "When did that happen?"

"Just a little while ago," answered Captain Roy. "One of the cowboys just rode in with the news."

"Well, this is too bad!" cried Uncle Fred.

"I'll tell you what let's do," said Daddy Bunker. "It isn't very late yet. Let's go out and look at the spring."

"What for?" asked his wife.

"Well," answered the father of the six little Bunkers, "I want to see if the water has run out of it this time. Perhaps it hasn't, and, if so, it would mean that the taking away of Uncle Fred's cattle didn't have anything to do with the mysterious spring."

"Well, it will do no harm to take a look," said the ranchman. "Come along, Captain Roy. We'll see what it all means."

Taking lanterns with them, they went out in the dark night to look at the spring.

"It's just the same," called Daddy Bunker, when he had taken a look. "The water is almost out of it."

"Then we must start, the first thing in the morning, digging at the place where the boys made their well," declared Uncle Fred. "I must get at the bottom of the secret of my spring."

"And I'd like to find out who it is that's taking our cattle!" exclaimed Captain Roy. "I think, in the morning, I'll take some of the cowboys and have a big hunt. This business must stop. Pretty soon we won't have any ranch left at Three Star. I'm going to find the men that are taking the cattle!"

When the six little Bunkers awoke the next morning, there was so much going on at Three Star Ranch that they did not know what to make of it. Cowboys were riding to and fro, Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker were dressed in old clothes, Captain Roy had a gun slung over his shoulder, and many horses were standing outside the corral, saddled and bridled.

"Are we going on a picnic?" asked Vi. "Is there going to be a parade? Is the circus coming? What makes so many horses? Is there going to be a prairie fire?"

"Well, I guess you've asked enough questions for a while, little girl!" laughed her mother. "Come and get your breakfast now."

"But what's going on?" insisted Violet.

"Two things," her father told her. "Your uncle and I are going to dig deeper in the well Russ and Laddie started, to see what makes the gurgling sound of water under the earth at the bottom of it. And Captain Roy is going to try to find the men who took Uncle Fred's cattle last night."

"Oh, can't we help?" asked Laddie.

"You may come and watch us dig your well deeper," his father told him. "But it would not be safe for little boys to go hunting men who take cattle."

Just as Captain Roy and a lot of cowboys were about to ride off over the plain and Daddy Bunker and Uncle Fred were going to dig at the boys' well, Mrs. Bunker came out of the bunk-house. She had gone to see if the man with the broken leg needed anything.

"He wants to see you," she said to Uncle Fred. "He says he can tell you a secret."

"Tell me a secret!" exclaimed the ranchman. "Does he mean about the mysterious spring, or the stolen cattle?"

"He didn't say," answered Mrs. Bunker. "But he wants you to come to see him."

So Uncle Fred went. He stayed a long while in the room where Sam Thurston, the strange cowboy, had been put to bed after his broken leg was set, and when Uncle Fred came out he was much excited.

"Wait a minute, Captain Roy!" he called to his partner. "I can tell you where to look for the cattle that were taken last night."

"Where?" asked the former army man, pausing at the head of his band of cowboys.

"Over in the gully by the creek. They're hidden there."

"Who told you so?"

"Thurston, the strange cowboy. And he has also told me the secret of the spring, so we won't have to do any digging, Daddy Bunker."

"We won't? Why not?" asked the children's father in surprise.

"Because the cowboy says the reason the water stops coming in at certain times is because of something that happens back in the hills, where my spring starts, in a brook that runs under ground after its first beginning. Back in the hills the men, who have been taking the cattle, turn the water into another stream. That's why it doesn't run into mine, and that's why my spring dries up."

"But why do the men shut off our spring water?" asked Captain Roy.

"They do it to make a wet place so they can drive my cattle across it, and no hoof marks are left to tell which way the animals have gone. Then, when the cattle are safely away, the waters are let run down where they always flow, and they come into my spring again. The taking of the cattle and the drying up of my spring are all done by the same band of men. That's why, whenever any cattle were taken, the spring dried up. One went with the other."

"How did Sam Thurston know all this?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"This cowboy with the broken leg used to be one of the band of men who took my cattle," went on Uncle Fred. "He just told me. He was on his way to see about taking more of my steers when his horse threw him at the bridge. That's why he didn't want to come to Three Star Ranch—because he had treated us so meanly.

"But when he saw how good we were to him he made up his mind not to be bad any more and to tell about the men. He knows where they hide the cattle after they steal them, and he says if we go there now we can get back the steers, and also catch the men who took them. And after this the spring won't go dry any more."

"Well, well!" exclaimed the children's father. "And to think that two of the six little Bunkers, by finding the cowboy with the broken leg, should help solve the spring mystery!"

"It is extraordinary!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "But I knew as soon as I saw the little Bunkers in the attic that day I walked into your house, that they could do something. And they have. Now, Captain Roy, you and the cowboys ride on and see if you can get back our cattle."

Away rode Captain Roy and the cowboys, and some hours later they came back with the men, whom they had easily caught. They found the cattle hidden in a gully, or deep valley, near the creek, and the steers were driven back to their pasturage on Three Star Ranch.

Then the whole story came out. Sam Thurston and the others of the band, instead of raising cattle of their own, used to take those belonging to other ranchmen. They found it easy to take Uncle Fred's, and, by making a dam, or wall of earth, across the place where the stream started that fed his spring, they could turn it in another direction, making it flow over a path, or trail.

Along this trail, when the water covered it, the men drove the cattle they took from Uncle Fred's field, and the water covered, and washed away, any marks the cattle's feet made. So no one could see which way they had been driven.

When the stream was thus dammed it did not flow into the spring, which went dry. After the dam was taken away the spring filled again.

And so it went on. Each time cattle were taken the spring was made to go dry, and the men thus fooled Uncle Fred and his cowboys. The bad men would hide the cattle and sell them to other men who did not know they were stolen.

So the secret of the spring might never have been discovered except for Laddie and Russ making that race to the bridge where they found the cowboy with the broken leg.

Sam Thurston became good after that, his leg healed, and he worked for Uncle Fred for a number of years. The bad men were sent to prison for a long time, and had no more chance to take cattle from any one.

"But aren't you going to dig down in the well we made, and see what is at the bottom of it?" asked Russ of his father, a day or so after the cattle had been got back and the men sent away.

"Yes, I think we shall," said Uncle Fred. "I'd like to know what that gurgle of water is."

So they dug and found out. But it had nothing to do with the secret of the spring, after all. It was only an old pipe, that had been laid some years before by a man that had formerly owned the ranch, before Uncle Fred bought it. The man laid a pipe from the overflow of the spring to a chicken coop, so the hens could get a drink. Then the pipe became covered over, and the man did not think to tell Uncle Fred about it when the ranch was sold.

But the secret of the spring was found out, and never after that did it go dry, and no more of Uncle Fred's cattle were taken.

"So it's a good thing we came out to see you, isn't it, Uncle Fred?" asked Laddie.

"I should say it was!" laughed his uncle.

"I'm going to make a riddle about it!" went on Laddie. "I don't just know what it's going to be, or what the answer is. But it will be a riddle."

"All right," laughed Uncle Fred. "When you think of it tell me. And now have all the fun you can on Three Star Ranch. There are no more secrets to bother you."

"What makes 'em call it a ranch?" asked Violet. "Is it 'cause it has a branch of a tree on it? Or is it an Indian name? And where are all the Indians you said we'd see, Uncle Fred? And do the Indians and cowboys ever fight? And do the Indians have bows and arrows, and could I have a pony ride now?"

"Well, I'll answer the last question by saying you may," said Uncle Fred with a laugh. "As for the others, we'll see about them later."

"Come on!" cried Russ. "We'll all have pony rides!"

"And I'll get Bill Johnson to give us some cookies so we can play picnic!" added Laddie.

"Oh, wait for me," called Rose. "I must put my doll to bed before we start."

"I want to come!" shouted Mun Bun.

"Me, too!" added Margy.

"Bless their hearts! Let 'em have all the fun they can!" laughed Uncle Fred.

And that's just what we shall do with the six little Bunkers as we take leave of them, perhaps some time to meet them again.

THE END



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Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors corrected.

Frontispiece, "64" changed to "74". (Page 74)

Table of Contents, XVIII-XXV, the page numbers were off by one. (i.e. Chapter XVIII which was printed in the Table of Contents as beginning on page 175, in actuality began on page 174. These numbers where changed to reflect this.)

Page 139, "us" changed to "up". (Margy wakes up)

Page 224, original text had lines out of order

Ride along, and I'll see if I can't crawl over

Russ did not know what to do. He wanted and get my own horse."

changed to

Ride along, and I'll see if I can't crawl over and get my own horse."

Russ did not know what to do. He wanted

THE END