Daddy Bunker.

"Oh, he won't go," declared Uncle Fred. "He's being treated too nicely
here. He'll stay until his foot gets better."

And, surely enough, Red Feather was on hand for his breakfast the next
morning. The six little Bunkers ran out to see him. He looked eagerly
and anxiously at them, as if seeking for the "papoose" who was a little
larger than Russ.

It was that afternoon, when the children had been having fun playing
different games around the house, corrals and barn, that Rose walked off
by herself to gather some flowers for the table, as she often did.

"Don't go too far!" her mother called to her.

"I won't," Rose promised.

A little later Mrs. Bunker, who was washing Mun Bun and Margy, and
putting clean clothes on them, heard Rose calling from the side porch.

"Oh, Mother! Come here! Look what I found!"

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bunker. "I can't come now. Tell me what it is,
Rose."

"It's the papoose Red Feather was looking for, I guess!" was the answer
of Rose Bunker.

CHAPTER XX

LADDIE IS MISSING

Mrs. Bunker had Mun Bun in her lap, finishing the buttoning of his
shoes, but, when Rose called out about the papoose, her mother quickly
set the little fellow down on the floor, and ran to the window from
where she could see her daughter on the porch.

"What did you say you had found, Rose?" she called.

"I don't know, for sure," said Rose, "but I guess it's the papoose Red
Feather wants. Anyhow it's a little Indian girl, and she's bigger than
Russ. Come on down!"

Mrs. Bunker hurried down to the porch, and there she saw Rose standing
beside a little girl dressed in rather a ragged calico dress. The little
girl was very dark, as though she had lived all her life out in the sun,
getting tanned all the while, as the six little Bunkers were tanned at
Cousin Tom's.

The little girl had long, straight hair, and it was very black, and,
even without this, Mrs. Bunker would have known her to be an Indian.

"Where did you get her, Rose?" asked Mother Bunker.

"I found her out on the plain. She was lost, I guess. I told her to come
along, 'cause we had an Indian man at Three Star Ranch. I don't guess
she knew what I meant, but she came along with me, and here she is."

"Yes, so I see!" exclaimed the puzzled Mrs. Bunker. "Here she is! But
what am I going to do with her?"

The Indian girl smiled, showing her white teeth.

"I'll tell Uncle Fred," said Rose.

"Yes, I guess that's wha