"I guess he has sent Mother Bunker a nice present," declared Rose eagerly. "Captain Ben likes mother."
"Don't we all like her?" demanded Vi. "I like her very much. Can't I give her a present too?"
"You are always picking flowers and finding pretty things for me," said Mrs. Bunker kindly. "I appreciate them just as much as any present Captain Ben could give me."
"But what is it, Mother?" asked Rose, quite as excited as Vi and the others.
"We shall have to open it and see," her mother said.
But she would not open the little package until after supper. Perhaps that is why the little Bunkers were willing to eat fewer of Maria's nice waffles. They were all eager to see what was in the package. Even daddy claimed to be curious.
So, when the lamps were lit in the big living room and everybody was more than ready, as Russ complained, Mother Bunker began to untie the string which fastened the package from Captain Ben.
"I guess it is a diamond necklace," declared Rose earnestly.
"Oh, maybe it is a pretty pearl brooch," said Russ.
"What do you suppose it is, Daddy?" asked Mother Bunker, busy with the string and seals and smiling at Mr. Bunker knowingly.
"It isn't a white elephant, I am sure," chuckled Daddy Bunker.
"Oh! Now he is making fun," cried Rose. "It is something pretty, of course, for mother."
"I know! I know!" cried Laddie suddenly. "I know what it is."
"If you know so much," returned his twin "tell us."
"I guess it must be," laughed his mother. "'Riddle-me-ree! What do I see?'" and she opened the outside wrapper and displayed a little box with a letter wrapped about it.
"From Captain Ben to be sure," she said, unfolding the letter and beginning to read it.
"And it is a riddle!" repeated Laddie with conviction.
Mother Bunker began to laugh. She nodded and smiled at them.
"It certainly is a riddle," she said. "It is almost as good a riddle as that one Laddie told about the splinter."
"I know! I know!" cried the little boy. "'I went out to the woodpile and got it.' I remember that one. But--but that isn't a splinter he has sent you, is it, Mother?"
"It is something that Captain Ben looked for and could not find. But all the time he had it. What is it?"
The little Bunkers stared at each other. Laddie murmured: