“Hey, Mr. Parker!” for that was the farmer’s name.  “Hey, Mr. Parker, you’d better look out!”

“Look out for what?”

“For the old ram.  He chased my grandma and my sister Margy yesterday,” went on Russ.  “But Margy had a red coat on.”

“Well, I haven’t anything red on,” the farmer said with a laugh.  “But I’m much obliged to you for telling me.  And, as it happens, I’m going right where that old ram is.”

“Oh, aren’t you ’fraid?” asked Laddie.

“No,” answered the farmer.  “The ram will be glad to see me.  You see, I’m taking him and the sheep some salt,” and he showed the children that he had salt in the box under his arm.  “I’m going to give my cattle some salt,” went on the farmer, “and Mr. Hixon, who owns the sheep, asked me to salt them, too.  So I’m going to.  The ram will be so glad to see me with the salt that he won’t hurt me at all.”

“It’s funny sheep like salt,” said Laddie.

“It is.  But they do,” said the farmer, as he went on down the road.

It was a little later that afternoon that Russ, who had been making a toy sailboat, whistling merrily the while, wanted to go down to the lake to sail it.

“Come on, Laddie!” he called.  “Let’s go to the lake to sail the boat.”

“Laddie went in the house,” said Rose.  “I’ll find him then,” returned Russ, and into the house he went, calling: 

“Laddie!  Laddie!  Where are you?  Come on and help me sail the boat!”

“Laddie was here a minute ago,” said Jane, the hired girl, when Russ reached the kitchen in his search.  “He asked me to give him some sugar in a cup.”

“What’d he want of sugar?” asked Russ.

“I don’t know,” answered Jane.  “But I gave him some and he went out in a hurry.”

“Maybe he’s going to make candy,” said Russ.

“No, I don’t believe so.  He’d have to cook sugar on a fire to make candy, and you know your grandmother or your mother wouldn’t let you play with fire.”

“That’s so,” agreed Russ.  “I wonder what Laddie wanted of the sugar.  I’ve got to find him.”

CHAPTER XIX

DOWN IN THE WELL

Russ went out of the kitchen and looked all around the house for his brother Laddie.  He did not see the little fellow, but, on the side steps he saw some white grains of sugar, and Russ could follow them a little way.  The trail led down across the brook and toward the meadow.

“He went this way,” Russ thought to himself, “and he had the sugar with him.  Maybe he’s going out to the woods to feed the birds.  Or maybe he’s going to have a play party with Rose and the others.  I’ll find ’em and have some fun myself.”

But Laddie was not with the other little Bunkers, for Russ saw Rose, Vi, Margy and Mun Bun playing under one of the trees.

“Hi, Rose!” called Russ.  “Have you found Laddie?”