CHAPTER VII

LADDIE'S NEW RIDDLE


Norah O'Grady, the cheerful cook for the six little Bunkers, saw their
mother hurrying out of the house with Rose.

"What's the matter, Mrs. Bunker?" asked Norah. "Is there a fire, and are
ye goin' for a policeman?"

Firemen and policemen, aside from Jerry Simms, were Norah's two chief
heroes.

"No, there isn't a fire, Norah" answered Mrs. Bunker. "But Rose just told
me that Mun Bun is caught up in a tree with a balloon, and I've got to go
and get him down. Maybe you'd better come, too."

"Better come! I should say I _had_!" cried Norah, quickly taking off her
apron. "The poor little lad caught up in a balloon! The saints preserve
us! 'Tis probably one of them circus balloons, or maybe a German airship
came along and caught him up! The poor darlin'!"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Rose, as she trotted along with her mother and Norah,
"Mun isn't in a balloon. His balloon is caught in a big tree and the
little darlin' won't come away and----"

"It couldn't be much worse!" gasped Norah. "We'll have to get a fireman
with a long ladder, 'tis probable, to get him down."