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But he did not know what was going to happen.
"The wind is blowing so strong now," said Laddie to his brother, "that three of us could ride in the wagon 'stead of only two. It will blow three of us."
"We'll try it," agreed Russ. "Come on, Vi and Rose. I'll give you two a ride at the same time."
It was rather a tight squeeze to get the three children in the wagon, but it was managed. Laddie shoved them off and away they went.
The wind blew harder and harder, and, all of a sudden, as Russ steered out of the way of a stone, there came a sudden puff, and -- over went the wind wagon, spilling out Rose, Violet and "Captain Russ" himself. The mast broke off close to where it was fastened to the toy wagon, and the sail became tangled in the arms a...
"My goodness!" cried Captain Roy, who came along just in time to see the accident, which happened a little way from the ranch house. "Any of the six little Bunkers hurt?"
"There's only three of us in the wagon," said Russ, as he crawled out. "I'm not hurt. Are you, Rose?"
"No," she answered, laughing. "But where's Vi?"
"Here I am," answered the little girl, as she crawled out from under the wagon, which had upset. "And I don't like that way of stopping at all, Russ Bunker! I like to stop easy!"
"So do I," said Russ. "I didn't mean to do that. The wind was too strong for us. Now the wagon is busted."
It was indeed broken, and, as the wind blew harder than before, Daddy Bunker said it would not be best to use the wind wagon any more, even if it had not been smashed. So the toy was turned right side up, the broken mast and sail put in it and Russ and Laddie took it to the barn.
"We'll fix it up again to-morrow," said Russ.
The children had other fun the rest of that day, and in the evening they all had pony rides. And this time Margy was not given a ride in the Indian carriage and left asleep. She had her own pony to ride on.
The next day, when dinner was about to be served, Uncle Fred came in looking rather thoughtful.
"Has anything happened?" asked Mother Bunker.
"Yes," he answered. "Some more of my cattle have been taken. I thought this would happen after the spring started to go dry. I wish I could find out what it all means -- why the water runs out of the spring, and who is taking my cattle."
"I wish we could help," said Daddy Bunker. "But we don't seem able to. The engineers you asked about it don't seem to know what makes your spring go dry; the books tell nothing about it, and we can't find any of your lost cattle. I'm afraid we Bunkers aren't helping any."
"Well, I like to have you here!" said Uncle Fred. "Three Star Ranch would be lonesome if the six little Bunkers went away. Just stay on, and maybe we'll solve the riddle yet."
They were just going in to dinner, when a cowboy rode up on a pony that was covered with foam, from having been ridden far and fast.
"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Fred, as he went out to talk to the man -- for cowboys are men, though they are called boys. "Are any more of my cattle gone?"
"No, but they're likely to be. There's a big prairie fire started some miles south of here, and the wind is blowing it right this way. We've got to do something if we want to save the ranch houses from burning!"
Chapter XVII
A Cattle Stampede
"What's that?" cried Uncle Fred. "A prairie fire?"
"Yes, and a bad one, too," answered the man. "I saw it when I was bringing in those steers you told me to get ready to ship away on the train. I just left them, knowing they'd keep out of danger, and rode as fast as I could to tell you."
"That's right! Glad you did!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "Now we must get to work right away to stop the fire from burning us out. Come on, boys!" he called. "Where's Captain Roy?"
"Here I am!" cried the former soldier, as he came out of the dining-room where he had been helping Margy and Mun Bun get up in their chairs, ready to eat. "What's the matter?"
"Prairie fire!" answered Uncle Fred. "We've got to stop it coming any farther this way, or it may burn all our ranch buildings down! No time for dinner now! We've got to fight the fire!"
"Can I help?" asked Russ eagerly.
"I want to just the same as him!" added Laddie.
"No, you boys must keep out of the way," answered Daddy Bunker. "I'll go and help Fred," he said to his wife. "You'll have to keep the children with you."
"I will," answered Mrs. Bunker.
"Oh, you don't need to do that," said Uncle Fred. "The fire is not near us yet, and if we can plow a wide strip of ground in time, the fire will come to the edge of that and stop. The older children can stand out of the way and watch the plowing, if they like."
"Can we see the fire, too?" asked Russ.
"Yes. Though you can't go very close," his uncle answered. "Let them have a look," he added to Daddy Bunker. "It isn't every day they see a prairie fire, and they'll never forget it. There will be no danger to them."
"All right," said Daddy Bunker. "Russ and Laddie and Violet and Rose may go to watch the plowing and see the fire. But Mun Bun and Margy must stay at home."
"I like to stay at home," said Margy. "I'm awful busy to-day."
"I like to stay at home, too," said Mun Bun, who generally did what his little sister did.
So with the two smallest Bunkers at home with their mother, the other four went with Daddy Bunker to see the fire and watch the cowboys at work.
When Uncle Fred had called the cowboys, they stopped whatever they were doing and began to get ready to fight the fire. Some of them had had their dinners, and others had not. But even those that had not eaten got ready to work. Captain Roy hurried out, also ready to help.
"Get all the horses and plows you can find," said Uncle Fred. "If we haven't enough we'll borrow some from the neighbors."
Though no other ranchmen lived within several miles of Uncle Fred, still there were a few who had plows and horses that could be used. Uncle Fred had a telephone in his house, and Captain Roy was soon calling up the nearest ranchers, asking them to hurry with their plows and horses to make a big, wide strip of bare gro...
"They'll be here as soon as they can," said the captain. "They have already seen the fire."
"I see it, too!" exclaimed Russ. "Look at the black smoke!"
"And I can see blazes, too!" exclaimed Laddie.
"So can I," added Rose.
"Who started the fire?" asked Violet.
"That we don't know," answered Uncle Fred. "Sometimes a cowboy may drop a match and forget about it. Again some one may start a campfire and forget to put it out when he leaves. All those things start prairie fires."