the gate-tender. "I heard she had company. I know her well, but I
don't often get a chance to see her. So you're her company."

"She's our grandma," explained Russ. "And we are the six little
Bunkers--everybody calls us that. 'Course Laddie and I are only two
Bunkers--there're four more at home--Rose, Vi, Margy and Mun Bun."

"What's Mun Bun?" asked the gate-man. Nearly every one asked this on
hearing the funny name.

"Mun Bun is our littlest brother," explained Russ, who was doing all the
talking.

"His right name is Munroe, but we call him Mun Bun for short."

"Well, as long as you don't eat him for short I guess it will be all
right," said the gate-man with a laugh.

"Is that a riddle--about eating Mun Bun?" asked Laddie.

"No. That's supposed to be a joke," explained the gate-man. "Your
brother's nickname is Bun, you say. Well, a bun is something good to eat,
but I hope you don't eat your little brother--joke, you see."

Russ and Laddie laughed. They didn't exactly understand the joke, but they
thought the gate-man was jolly and they wanted to be jolly too.

"So you six little Bunkers--at least two of you--came to see Mr. Barker,
did you?" asked the man at the entrance.

"No, we didn't zactly come to see _him_," answered Russ. "We want to see
the lumberman that took daddy's ragged coat with the papers in the
pocket--only he didn't know they were there and he didn't take the coat.
That was given to him."

"You want to see a lumberman?" repeated the guard at the gate, for he was
a sort of guard. "But we haven't any lumbermen here."

"He's red-haired," Russ reminded him.

"Oh, I guess I know whom you mean!" said the gate-man. "There is a
red-haired man cutting trees over in the woods. Mr. Barker is going to
build a new dock for his boats in Green Pond, and there is a red-haired
man chopping down trees for the work. He is a lumberman, I s'pose."

"And is he red-haired?" asked Laddie eagerly.

"Yes, his hair is red. I remember now. He came here one day and asked if
there was any work on the place. I was going to tell him there wasn't,
when one of the gardeners said the foreman was looking for a man to chop
trees. So this red-haired man was hired."

"And is he a tramp?" asked Russ.

"Well, he did look sort of like that, ragged and dusty."

"And did he have a ragged coat?" Russ went on.

"I didn't notice particularly," answered the gate-man. "He was pretty
much ragged all over, I guess, but I didn't p