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"Oh, Daddy! Daddy!" she cried. "Here I am! I got lost, and I can't find the creek, nor the willow tree, nor Mother, nor anything. Here I am!"
Violet stood up, and a moment later, her father had ridden his horse over to where she was and, reaching down, took her and the doll up in his arms.
"Well, how in the world did you get here?" he asked in surprise. "Where have you been, Violet?"
Then Violet told, and Uncle Fred, who was with Daddy Bunker and some of the cowboys, said:
"We'd better ride back to the house as fast as we can. Amy is probably wild now about losing her. Hurry back to the house!"
Then how the horses did gallop! And Vi, sitting in front of Daddy on his saddle, had a fine ride and forgot she had been lost.
They got back to the house just as Captain Roy and some cowboys were about to ride away in search of Violet. For Mrs. Bunker and the other little Bunkers had reached the ranch house with the story of the lost one.
"How did you find her?" asked Mrs. Bunker of her husband when Violet had been hugged and kissed.
"We were riding back," said Daddy Bunker, "when one of the cowboys heard a child crying. He found Violet in the grass, and then I took her up. How did she get lost?"
Then Mrs. Bunker told about the trip to the creek and how Vi had wandered away by herself.
"But I'm never going again," said the little girl. "I thought the Indians were after me!"
"And it was only Daddy Bunker!" laughed her father.
"Did you find the lost cattle?" asked his wife, when supper was over and they had ceased talking about Vi being lost.
"No, the men who took them must have hurried away with them. We could not find them at all."
Just as the six little Bunkers were going to bed a cowboy came up to the ranch house to say that the water was coming back into the spring.
"That's good," said Uncle Fred. "But I certainly would like to know what makes it go out, and who takes our cattle."
The next day Russ and Laddie asked if they could go fishing in the creek, if they went to one place and stayed there, so they might not wander away and be lost.
"Yes, I guess so," returned Daddy Bunker. "It isn't far, and if you stay on shore you won't fall in."
"True," chuckled Uncle Fred, but he wouldn't tell Laddie what he was laughing at.
There were some small fish to be caught in the creek, and soon, with hooks, lines, poles and bait Russ and Laddie started for the creek.
"I hope they'll be all right," said their mother.
They had been gone about an hour when Russ came running back to the house, dragging his pole after him, and on the line was a fish, which he had not stopped to take off.
"Oh, Mother! Daddy!" cried Russ. "Laddie -- Laddie -- -- "
"Has he fallen in?" cried Mrs. Bunker.
"No, Mother! It isn't that!" said Russ. "But he's caught a riddle, and he doesn't know what to do with it."
"He's caught a riddle?" cried Uncle Fred. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he found it, or caught it, I don't know which," said Russ.
"How did he catch a riddle?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"On his hook. It's a funny thing, like a black stone, and it wiggles and sticks its head out, and Laddie doesn't know what it is, and when you don't know what a thing is that's a riddle, isn't it? Come and see!"
And down to the creek went Daddy and Mother Bunker to see the riddle that Laddie had caught.
Chapter XIII
On The Ponies
Mr. and Mrs. Bunker found Laddie sitting on the bank of the creek looking at something on the ground near him.
"What is it?" called Daddy Bunker, as Russ led them up to the place where he and his brother had been fishing. "What have you caught?"
"I -- I guess it's a riddle, for I don't know what else it is," answered Laddie. "Come and look."
"Better not touch it," cautioned his mother.
"I'm not going to touch it, 'cause it can bite. It's got a funny head and a mouth," said Laddie, "and it bit on my hook and it's got it yet."
Mr. and Mrs. Bunker hurried over and saw what Laddie had caught. As Russ had said, it was rough, like a stone, and as black and hard-looking as a rock. But it was alive and moved.
"Why, it's a mud turtle!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker, as he took a good look at the creature. "It's nothing but a mud turtle, Laddie! I should think you'd know what they are, for you have seen them in Rainbow River at home."
"No, this isn't a mud turtle," said Russ. "I know what a mud turtle is, and this is different. It's something like one, but not the same."
"How did you get it, Laddie?" asked Mother Bunker.
"Well, I was fishing, and I got a lot of nibbles but none of the fish stayed on my hook. Then, all of a sudden, this one stayed on, and I pulled him up, only it isn't a fish."
"I should say not!" exclaimed another voice, and they looked up to see Uncle Fred standing near them. He had followed Daddy and Mother Bunker to the place where the boys were fishing.
"What is it?" asked Russ.
"That's a snapping turtle -- not a mud turtle," went on the ranchman. "They're very hard biters, and if a big one gets hold of your finger or toe he might bite it off, or at least hurt it very much. So keep away from these fellows."
"I thought it didn't look like a mud turtle," said Russ.
"It is something like one, but different in shape," went on Uncle Fred. "We'll just cut this one off your line, Laddie."
The line was cut, and the turtle, that had the hook in its mouth, crawled down toward the creek. It had tried to crawl away before, but could not because the fishing line held it.