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!"