"Our horse eats oats because he is hungry, the same as any other horse!
You mustn't always try to guess the hardest answers to riddles, Laddie.
Try the easy ones first!"

And then, amid laughter, Mr. Bunker started back to the office.

"Have you found that red-haired tramp yet, Daddy?" asked Russ. "And did
you get back your papers?"

"No, Russ, not yet. And I don't believe I ever shall."

"Maybe I could find him if you'd let me come down to your office," went
on the little boy.

"Well, thank you, but I don't believe you could," said Mr. Bunker. "You'd
better stay here and help your mother pack, ready to go to Grandma
Bell's."

Out in the shady side yard some of the little Bunkers were playing
different games. Mun and Margy were making sand pies, turning them out of
clam shells on to a shingle, and letting them dry in the sun. Mun's red
balloon floated in the air over the heads of the children, the string tied
fast to a peg Russ had driven into the ground.

Russ, after having done this kindness for his little brother, began to
whistle a merry tune and at the same time started to nail together a box
in which he said he was going to take some of his toys to Grandma Bell's.
Rose had taken her doll and was sitting under a tree, making a new dress
for her toy, and Laddie and Vi had gone down to the little brook which
bubbled along at the bottom of the green meadow, which was not far from