ere, and only laughing at you," said Mrs.
Bunker. "We must take a look."

"Come on!" cried Russ to his brother and sisters. "We'll all look for
Laddie. If he's doing this on purpose we won't let him play any more,
either."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," said Mrs. Bunker softly. "And, after all,
maybe he went so far away that he can't hear you telling him that he may
come in free. So it wouldn't be fair not to let him play with you again.
First find him, and then you can ask him why he hid away so long."

"All right, we will," agreed Russ.

So he and the others started through the woods, looking behind trees,
under logs and back of bushes, hoping to catch sight of Laddie. But they
did not see him.

Then they shouted and called.

"Givie up! Givie up!" echoed through the woods, that being the way to
call when you want a person to come in from playing hide-and-go-seek.
But Laddie did not answer.

"Where can he be, Mother?" asked Rose. "Is he hiding for fun, or is he
lost?"

"I don't see how he can be lost, my dear," answered Mrs. Bunker. "He
went to hide, and surely he wouldn't go very far away, because he would
want a chance to run in free himself. No, I think Laddie must be doing
a puzzle trick to make you find him. He probably is near by, but he is
so well hidden that you can't find him. Try once more!"

So the children tried again, shouting and calling, but there was no
Laddie.

"I think I'll go and get your father and Uncle Fred," Laddie's mother
said to Rose and Russ. "They'll know how to find Laddie. You children
stay here, and all keep together so none of you will be lost."

Mrs. Bunker did not have to go for help, for, just at that moment, her
husband came up to them.

"Is anything the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker. "I was taking a walk over
to the spring, to see if anything had happened to the water there, when
I heard shouting and calling. Is anything wrong?"

"We can't find Laddie!" exclaimed Russ.

"He went to hide, but he won't come in," added Rose.

"I really am a little worried," said Mrs. Bunker. "Perhaps you had
better get Fred and----"

"I'll find him!" said Daddy Bunker with a laugh. "He can't be far away.
Show me where you blinded, Russ, when the others went to hide."

Russ showed his father where he had stood against a tree, hiding his
head in his arms, so he would not see where the others were hiding.
Standing at the same tree Mr. Bunker looked all around. Then he started
off, walkin