hose gray, dry bushes
before.

His eyes blinked and winked, and finally drowsed shut. He had no idea
of going to sleep. In fact, he had declared he would not go to sleep. So
of course what happened was quite unintentional on Mun Bun's part. While
Mother Bunker thought he was with the other children, they had no idea
Mun Bun had refused to take his usual nap and had followed them from the
house.

The mule colts in the paddock were just the cunningest things! Margy and
Vi squealed right out loud when they saw them.

"And their cunning long ears flap so funny!" cried Rose. "Did you ever?"

"But their tails are not skinned down like the big mules' tails,"
objected Laddie.

"Oh, they'll shave those later. That is what they do to the big
mules--shave the hair off their tails, all but the 'paint-brush' at the
end," said Russ, who knew.

The children pulled some green grass they found and stuck it through the
wires for the colts to pull out of their hands and nibble. Mule colts
seemed even more tame than horse colts, and the children each "chose" a
colt and named it, although the colts ran around in such a lively way
that it was difficult sometimes to keep them separated in one's mind
and, as Cowboy Jack said when he came along to see what the children
were about, to "tell which from t'other."

"Let me see," he added, in his whimsical way. "I have to count and
reckon up you little Bunkers every once in so often so as to be sure
some of you are not strays. Let's see: There should be six, shouldn't
there? One, two, three, four, five---- But there's only five here."

"Yes, sir," said Rose politely. "Mun Bun's taking a nap, I s'pose."

"He is, is he?" repeated Cowboy Jack, with considerable interest. "And
where has he gone for his nap?"

"He is up at the house with mother," Russ said.

"Oh, no, he isn't," said the ranchman. "I just came from the house and
Mrs. Bunker asked me particularly to be sure that Mun Bun was all
right."

"Where is Mun Bun, then?" asked Vi.

"He's lost!" wailed Rose.

"Why, he didn't come down here with us," Russ declared.

"He started after you," said the ranchman, quite seriously now. "You
sure the little fellow isn't anywhere about?"

He was so serious that Russ and Rose grew anxious too. The other little
Bunkers just stared. Vi said:

"He's always getting lost--Mun Bun is. Why does he?"

"'Cause he's so little," suggested her twin. "Little things get lost
easier than big things."