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"But maybe they rode off with her."
"Or maybe the bad men that took Uncle Fred's cattle came and took the ponies and Margy," said Rose. "Oh, what are we going to do?"
"We must tell Uncle Fred!" exclaimed Russ.
"He's away off at the far end of the ranch," said Rose. "He rode over with some of the cowboys when I was making my pie."
"Is Mother or Daddy back?" asked Laddie.
"No, not yet," Rose answered. "Oh, dear! Mother will say it is my fault, for she told me to watch Margy, but I forgot when I was making my pie."
The pie seemed to give Russ an idea.
"We'll tell Bill Johnson," he said. "Bill used to be a cowboy, if he is a cook now, and he'll know how to find anybody the Indians have taken. We'll go and tell Bill Johnson."
So back to the ranch house rushed the children, bursting in on Bill Johnson with an excited story about the missing ponies and Margy.
"Ponies gone out of the big field, eh?" asked Bill. "Well, I expect you left the bars down, didn't you -- the place where you made a hole in the fence to drive the ponies in from the corral? Did you leave the bars down?"
"I guess we did," admitted Russ.
"Come on with me," said Bill with a laugh. "I guess I can find the ponies for you."
"But we want Margy, too!" said Rose.
"Yes, I guess I can find her also."
Bill Johnson led the way to the corral, where the ponies were kept, and there, among their fellows, were the two missing ones. And, best of all, the sticks were still fast to the one Russ had ridden, and Margy was just awakening and was still in her place in the bag between the poles.
"Oh, Margy!" cried Rose, "I brought you some pie."
"I had a nice ride," said Margy, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Russ gave me a nice ride, and we played Indian, and I went to sleep."
"Yes, and while you slept," said Bill, "the two ponies took a notion they wanted to go back with the others in the corral. So they just walked through the fence, where the bars were down, and went out, the one dragging Margy with it. It's a good thing you made the Indian carriage so good and strong, Russ, or she might ...
The boys promised they wouldn't. Margy was lifted out, the poles were taken off Russ's pony and the children went back to the ranch house.
Of course, Mrs. Bunker had to caution Russ and Laddie to be a little more careful when she heard the tale.
The six little Bunkers had lots of fun at Uncle Fred's. Each day there was something new to see or do, and as the weather became warmer they were outdoors from morning until night.
One day Margy and Mun Bun went off by themselves with the pails and shovels they had played with at the beach when they visited Cousin Tom.
"Don't go too far," called their mother after them. "Don't go out of sight of the house."
"We won't," they promised.
"I just goin' to make mud pies down by the pond," said Mun Bun.
The "pond" was a place where the creek widened out into a shallow place, only half-way to Mun Bun's knees in depth. On one shore was sand, where "pies" could be made.
It was about half an hour after Mun Bun and Margy had gone to play on the shore of the creek that Margy came running back alone.
"Where's Mun Bun?" her mother asked her.
"He's in a mud pie and he can't get out," explained the little girl. "Come on, and get Mun Bun out of the mud pie."
Chapter XV
The Wind Wagon
For a moment Mrs. Bunker did not know whether Margy was fooling or not. She could not imagine how Mun Bun could be stuck in a "mud pie," and yet that was what Margy had said.
"Is he hurt?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as she laid aside her sewing and got ready to follow Margy to the creek.
"No. He's only just stuck in the middle of his big pie, and he can't get out. And he's all mud and he looks awful funny."
"I should think he would!" exclaimed the mother of the six little Bunkers. "Hurry along, Margy, and show me where he is."
"What's the matter now?" asked Daddy Bunker, who came along just then, in time to hear what his wife said. "What has happened to Mun Bun now?"
"He is stuck in a mud pie, so Margy says," answered Mrs. Bunker. "Perhaps you had better come with me and see what it's all about."
Together Mr. and Mrs. Bunker hurried after Margy. As they came within sight of the pond they could not see Mun Bun at all.
"Where is he?" asked the little chap's mother. "Where did you leave him, Margy?"
"There he is -- right over there!" answered the little girl. She pointed to something that, at first, did not look at all like Mun Bun. But as Mr. Bunker took a second glance he saw that it was his little boy, and Mun Bun was, indeed, "stuck in a mud pie."
"Why he's in a regular bog-hole!" cried Mr. Bunker. "He must have waded out into the water for something or other, and he got stuck in the mud."
"And he has sunk down!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Get him out right away, Daddy! He may be smothered in the mud!"
"I'll get him!" cried Mun Bun's father.
Mr. Bunker took off his shoes and socks and, rolling up his trousers so they would not get muddy, waded out to where his little boy was. Truly Mun Bun was stuck in the middle of a big mud pie -- at least that was what Margy called it. It was, however, the muddy bottom of the pond itself, which, at one end, was a regula...
But Mun Bun had climbed in under the fence, and at once he found himself in soft mud. He had begun to sink down; so he called for help, and Margy ran to tell her mother.
"My, but you are a sight, Mun Bun!" cried his father, as he came to the side of the little boy and began pulling him out. And Mun Bun was stuck so fast in the mud that Mr. Bunker had to pull quite hard to loosen him. And when Mun Bun came up, his legs and feet making a funny, sucking sound as they were pulled out, he w...
"How did it happen? What made you go in the mud?" asked the little boy's mother, as Daddy Bunker waded to shore with Mun Bun.
"Well, I made some mud pies in the sand," Mun Bun explained, "and then I thought maybe if I could find a mud turkle he'd eat the pies. So I crawled under the fence and went in the deep mud to look for a mud turkle."