It was fully decided on the next day that the six little Bunkers and Daddy and Mother would go, shortly, with Grandpa Ford to his big estate in the country, just outside of Tarrington, in New York state.  Russ and Rose listened carefully to see if they could hear any more about the ghost, but neither Mr. Ford nor Mr. Bunker mentioned it.  And Mother Bunker was so busy, with Norah, getting the things ready for another trip, that she did not speak of it, either.

“My!” exclaimed Norah, as she helped sort out the clean clothes, “these six little Bunkers are getting to be great travelers.  First they go to Grandma Bell’s, then to Aunt Jo’s and then to Cousin Tom’s, and now to Grandpa Ford’s.  I wonder where they’ll go next?”

“There’s no telling,” said Mrs. Bunker.  “But we must take plenty of warm clothes along for them this time, as it will soon be cold weather and winter.”

“I love to be in the country in the winter,” said Rose, who was helping her mother.  “You can have such fun snowballing.”

“And making snow men and snow forts,” added Russ, who came in to get a piece of string for something he was making.  He went out whistling, and soon he and Laddie were heard pounding away on the back porch.

Russ was not happy unless he was whistling, or unless he was making something, just as Laddie was very fond of asking riddles.

“I guess maybe I got a riddle, now,” said the little chap who was Violet’s twin.

“Is it about Mun Bun and the balloon basket?” asked Russ.

“No, it’s about why is a cat like a kite.”

“It isn’t,” said Russ.  “A cat isn’t anything like a kite.”

“Yes, it is, too!” declared Laddie.  “They both have tails.”

“Oh, well.  But some kites don’t have any tails,” said Russ.  “I know a boy, and he knows how to make kites that go up without any tails.  So that riddle’s no good!”

“Yes, it is!” insisted Laddie.

“Why is it?”

“’Cause some cats haven’t got tails either.”

“Oh, there are not any cats without tails.”

“Yes, there are!  You go and ask Mother.  She showed me a picture of one the other day.  I think it’s called a Banks cat, ’cause maybe it lives in a bank, and it doesn’t have any tail so it can’t get caught in the door.  You go and ask Mother if a kite isn’t like a cat ’cause they both have tails, and some kites have no tails and so haven’t some cats.”

“I will!” exclaimed Russ.  “I’ll go and ask Mother if there’s ever a cat without a tail!”

Away the two boys started, but they had not reached the house before, out in the street in front, they heard a loud bang, a most awfully loud bang.  At the same time they heard their Grandpa Ford crying: 

“Whoa!  Whoa there!  Don’t run away!”

“Oh, what’s that?” asked Laddie.

“We’ll go and see!” exclaimed Russ; and the two boys set off on a run.

CHAPTER VI