nd 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!"

CHAPTER XXV

THE SECRET OF THE SPRING

"More cattle taken?" cried Uncle Fred. "When did that happen?"

"Just a little while ago," answered Captain Roy. "One of the cowboys
just rode in with the news."

"Well, this is too bad!" cried Uncle Fred.

"I'll tell you what let's do," said Daddy Bunker. "It isn't very late
yet. Let's go out and look at the spring."

"What for?" asked his wife.

"Well," answered the father of the six little Bunkers, "I want to see if
the water has run out of it this time. Perhaps it hasn'