s ten miles deep," interrupted Laddie. "So I
rolled the barrel and joggled it and----"

"And then it fell in!" added Rose. "I saw it."

"I _felt_ it," remarked Russ, rubbing his back. "But it didn't hurt me
much," he added.

"I guess the barrel was so old and dry that it couldn't hold together when
you two boys got to playing with it," said Mrs. Bunker. "Well, I'm glad it
was no worse. At first it sounded as though the house was coming down. You
had better play some other game now."

"Oh, the rain has stopped!" cried Rose, looking out of a window. "We can
play out in the yard now."

"Yes, I believe you can," said her mother. "But you must put on your
rubbers, for the ground is damp. Run out and play!"

With shouts of glee and laughter the six little Bunkers started to go
outdoors. It was a warm day, late in June, and even the rain had not made
it too cool for them to be out.

As the six children trooped out on the side porch they saw their father
coming up the walk.

"Why, it isn't supper time, and daddy's coming home!" exclaimed Rose.

"What do you s'pose he wants?" asked Russ.

"Maybe he heard the barrel break and came up to see about it," suggested
Laddie.

"He couldn't hear the barrel break away down to his office," said Russ.

Just then Mrs. Bunker, from within the house, saw her husband approaching.
She went out on the porch to meet him.

"Why, Charlie!" she exclaimed, "has anything happened? What is the matter?
You look worried!"

"I am worried," said Mr. Bunker. "I've had quite a loss! It's some
valuable real estate papers. They are gone from my office, and I came to
see if they were on my desk in the house. Hello, children!" he called to
the six little Bunkers. But even Mun Bun seemed to know that something was
wrong. Daddy Bunker's voice was not at all jolly.

His loss was worrying him, his wife well knew.

CHAPTER III

GRANDMA'S LETTER

While the other children, being too young to understand much about Daddy
Bunker's worry, ran down to play in the yard, Russ and Rose stayed on the
porch with their father and mother. They heard Mrs. Bunker ask:

"What sort of papers were they you lost?

"Well, I don't know that I have exactly lost them," said Mr. Bunker
slowly, as though trying to think what really had happened, "I had some
real estate papers in my desk at the office. They were about some property
I was going to sell for a man, and the papers were valuable. But a little
while