bout the bear
that had been arrested, Laddie and Vi wanted to go out into the yard and
start digging.

"Oh, no," said their mother. "You have been washed and dressed, and
digging will get you dirty again. Better wait until to-morrow."

"I thought we were going to start to pack to-morrow to go to Cousin
Tom's," remarked Rose.

"So we are, but I guess you'll have time to dig for a little gold,"
returned Mother Bunker with a laugh. "Though that doesn't mean you will
find any," she went on with another laugh.

The next day Laddie and Vi did start to dig in a place where Aunt Jo
said it would do no harm to turn over the ground.

"Though if there is a golden treasure in my yard I never knew it," she
said. "But dig as much as you like."

"I--I just thought of a riddle," said Laddie, as he and Vi started out.

"Let me hear it," suggested Aunt Jo.

"What is it that's so big you can't put it in anything?" he asked.
"That's the riddle. What is it that's so big you can't put it in
anything in this world?"

"The ocean," answered Rose, who came along just then.

"Nope!" and Laddie shook his head.

"Well, the ocean is terrible big," Violet stated.

"Yes, it is," agreed Laddie. "But that isn't the answer to my riddle."

"Do you mean the sky?" asked Russ. "That's big, too."

"That isn't the answer," said Laddie. "I'll tell you, 'cause you never
could guess it. It's a hole that you dig. You can dig one so big that
you couldn't put it in anything. Not even the biggest box that ever was.
Isn't that a good riddle?"

"Yes, it's pretty good," agreed Russ; and he commenced to whistle a
merry tune. "But you could fill a small box with some dirt, and dig a
little hole in that, and you'd have a hole in a box," he added, after a
moment.

"Yes, but the answer to my riddle is a _big_ hole," said Laddie. "Now
come on out and dig!"

"How big a hole are you going to dig?" Vi wanted to know.

"Oh, not the kind in my riddle," replied her brother. "We'll just dig a
little one and make believe we're after treasure."

Of course I need not tell you that Laddie and Violet did not find any.
Treasure doesn't usually grow in Boston back yards. But the children had
fun, and that was best of all.

During the next few days there was much packing of trunks and valises to
do, for the six little Bunkers were getting ready to go to Cousin Tom's
at Seaview. This was a place on the New Jersey coast, and none of the
Bunkers had ever been there. F