AT THREE STAR RANCH
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 Russ and 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 of relief 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 a little 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 Bunkers were 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 save it 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!" cried Uncle 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.