"Let me see," he added, in his whimsical way. "I have to count and reckon up you little Bunkers every once in so often so as to be sure some of you are not strays. Let's see: There should be six, shouldn't there? One, two, three, four, five---- But there's only five here."
"Yes, sir," said Rose politely. "Mun Bun's taking a nap, I s'pose."
"He is, is he?" repeated Cowboy Jack, with considerable interest. "And where has he gone for his nap?"
"He is up at the house with mother," Russ said.
"Oh, no, he isn't," said the ranchman. "I just came from the house and Mrs. Bunker asked me particularly to be sure that Mun Bun was all right."
"Why, he didn't come down here with us," Russ declared.
"He started after you," said the ranchman, quite seriously now. "You sure the little fellow isn't anywhere about?"
He was so serious that Russ and Rose grew anxious too. The other little Bunkers just stared. Vi said:
"He's always getting lost--Mun Bun is. Why does he?"
"'Cause he's so little," suggested her twin. "Little things get lost easier than big things."
"That's sound doctrine," declared Cowboy Jack.
But he did not smile as he usually did when he was talking with the little Bunkers. He was gazing all around the fields in sight. He asked Russ:
"Which way did you come down here from the house, Son?"
Russ pointed. "Down across that lot where the bushes are all piled up."
"Come on," said Cowboy Jack. "We'd better look for him."
"Oh!" cried Margy suddenly, "you don't s'pose the Indians got him, do you?"
"Those Injuns wouldn't hurt a flea," declared the ranchman, striding away so fast up the slope that the children had to trot to keep up with him.
"Do the Indians like fleas?" asked Vi. "I shouldn't think they would. Our cat at home doesn't."
"I know a riddle about a flea," said Laddie, more cheerfully. A riddle always cheered Laddie. "It is: 'What is the difference between a flea and a leopard?'"
"Jumping grasshoppers!" exclaimed Cowboy Jack. "I should think there was a deal of difference--in their size, anyway."
"No, their size hasn't anything to do with it," said Laddie, delighted to have puzzled the big man.
"A leopard is a big cat," said Russ. "And a flea can only live on a cat."
"Pooh! That isn't the answer," declared Laddie. "I guess that is a good riddle."