“How long’re we going to stay at Grandma Bell’s?” asked Russ, as he left the dining-room after lunch.

“Oh, perhaps a month,” his mother answered.  “She told us to come and stay as long as we liked, but I hardly think we shall be there all summer.”

“Shall we come back home?” asked Rose.

“I hardly know,” said Mrs. Bunker.  “We may go to visit some of your cousins or aunts—­land knows you have enough!”

“Oh, wouldn’t it be fun if we could go out West to Uncle Fred’s ranch?” cried Russ.

“I’d like to go see Cousin Tom at the seashore,” put in Rose.  “I love the seashore.”

“I like cowboys and Indians!” exclaimed Russ.

“Could we go see Aunt Jo, in Boston?” asked Laddie.  “I’d like to go to a big city like Boston.”

“Maybe we could go there, some day,” said Mrs. Bunker.  “But why would you like to go there, Laddie?”

“’Cause then maybe I could hear some new riddles.  I didn’t think up a new one—­not in two whole days!”

“My!  That’s too bad!” said Mr. Bunker, who had come home to lunch, and who had heard all about Mun’s balloon.  “I’ll give you a riddle, Laddie.  Why does our horse eat oats?”

“Wait a minute!  Don’t tell me!” cried the little boy.  “Let me guess!”

He thought hard for a few seconds, and then gave as his answer: 

“Because he can’t get hay.”

“No, that isn’t it,” said Mr. Bunker.  And when Laddie had made some other guesses, and when Russ, Rose and the remaining little Bunkers had tried to give a reason, Daddy Bunker said: 

“Our horse eats oats because he is hungry, the same as any other horse!  You mustn’t always try to guess the hardest answers to riddles, Laddie.  Try the easy ones first!”

And then, amid laughter, Mr. Bunker started back to the office.

“Have you found that red-haired tramp yet, Daddy?” asked Russ.  “And did you get back your papers?”

“No, Russ, not yet.  And I don’t believe I ever shall.”

“Maybe I could find him if you’d let me come down to your office,” went on the little boy.

“Well, thank you, but I don’t believe you could,” said Mr. Bunker.  “You’d better stay here and help your mother pack, ready to go to Grandma Bell’s.”

Out in the shady side yard some of the little Bunkers were playing different games.  Mun and Margy were making sand pies, turning them out of clam shells on to a shingle, and letting them dry in the sun.  Mun’s red balloon floated in the air over the heads of the children, the string tied fast to a peg Russ had driven into the ground.

Russ, after having done this kindness for his little brother, began to whistle a merry tune and at the same time started to nail together a box in which he said he was going to take some of his toys to Grandma Bell’s.  Rose had taken her doll and was sitting under a tree, making a new dress for her toy, and Laddie and Vi had gone down to the little brook which bubbled along at the bottom of the green meadow, which was not far from the house.  This brook was not very deep or wide.  It flowed into Rainbow River, and was a safe place for the children to play.