lar, can you?"

"No, I guess you can't," admitted Uncle Fred. "That's a pretty good
riddle, Laddie."

It was two or three days after Mun Bun had become stuck in the mud pie
that the children awakened one morning to find a high wind blowing
outside.

"Oh, is this a cyclone?" asked Violet, for she had heard they had such
winds in the West.

"Oh, no, this wind is nothing like as strong as a cyclone," answered
Uncle Fred. "It's just one of our summer winds. They're strong, but they
do no damage. Look out for your hair if you go outdoors; it might blow
off."

"My hair can't blow off 'cause it's fast to me--it's growed fast!"
explained Violet.

"Well, then be careful it doesn't blow you away, hair and all!" said
Uncle Fred, but by the way he laughed Violet knew he was only joking.

The children went out to play, and they had to hold their hats on most
of the time, as the wind blew across the plain so strongly. But the six
little Bunkers did not mind.

"If we only had a boat, and the pond was big enough, we could have a
fine sail!" cried Laddie, as he looked at the wind making little waves
on the place where Mun Bun had been stuck in the mud.

"Oh, I know what we could make!" suddenly exclaimed Russ.

"What?" his brother wanted to know.

"A wind wagon."

"A wind wagon?"

"Yes, you know, a wagon that the wind will blow. Come on, we'll do it.
Mother read me a story once about a boy who lived in the West, and he
made himself a wind wagon and he had a nice ride. Come on, we'll make
one!"

CHAPTER XVI

"CAPTAIN RUSS"

Laddie knew Russ could make many play-things, for he had seen his
brother at work. But a wind wagon was something new. Laddie did not see
how this could be made.

"Where are you going to get your wagon?" he asked Russ, as the two boys
went out to the barn.

"There's an old express wagon out here. I saw it the other day. It's
broken, but maybe we can fix it. Uncle Fred said it belonged to a family
that used to live on this ranch before he bought it. We'll make the wind
wagon out of that."

In a corner of the barn, under a pile of trash and rubbish, was found an
old, broken toy express wagon.

"The four wheels are all right, and that's the main thing," said Russ.
"We can fix the other part. The wheels you must have, else you can't
make a wind wagon. Come on! We'll have lots of fun."

Then began the making of the wind wagon, though Laddie, even yet, didn't
know exactly what Russ mea