. "I'm too fond of huckleberry pie
to risk having all the berries go into the children's mouths. I'll go
along and pick some myself, then I'll be sure of one pie at least."

But the six little Bunkers were really very good. Of course, I'm not
saying they didn't eat _some_ berries. You'd do that yourself, when they
grew on bushes all around you. But the children put into the pails and
baskets so many that Grandma Bell said there would be a big pie for daddy,
and several smaller ones for the children.

As the little party of berry pickers came back from the fields late that
afternoon, Russ and Laddie, walking ahead, saw Zip, the dog, dragging
along a piece of rope, fastened to a heavy bit of log.

"He's terrible strong, Zip is," said Laddie. "Look at him pull that log."

"Yes, he is strong," agreed Russ. And then he suddenly cried: "Oh, I know
what we can do!"

"What?" asked Laddie, always ready for anything.

"We can make a cart and have Zip pull us in it. If grandma had a pony I
guess she'd have a pony-cart, but she hasn't, so we can make a dog-cart."

"How can we do it?" asked Laddie.

"Well, you just take an old box--we saw some of the kind I want down at
the grocery store--and you put wheels on it."

"Where are you going to get the wheels?" asked Laddie.

Russ had to stop and think about that part. Then he happened to remember
that he had seen two wheels from an old baby carriage out in the barn.
Grandma Bell had once had a woman working for her who had a little baby,
and this woman had kept the carriage at the Bell farmhouse. But after a
while it broke, or wore out, and when the woman and her baby went away
there were only two wheels of the carriage left.

"We can take them," said Russ, "and maybe we can find two more somewhere.
We'll ask daddy or grandma."

"Say, it'll be lots of fun if we can make a dog-cart!" cried Laddie.
"Could we really ride in it, do you s'pose?"

"Why, yes!" answered Russ. "Zip is strong enough to pull us both. Look at
him pull that log. Feel how hard he pulls on the rope!"

The boys took hold of the rope and tried to hold back on it. But Zip was
so strong that he dragged them along a little way, as well as the log. And
Zip growled and snarled, pretending he was very angry.

"Look out!" cried Mother Bunker. "He might bite you!"

"Zip is only playing," said Grandma Bell. "He never bites. But what are
you doing?" she asked Russ and Laddie.

"We're trying how hard Zip can pul