"Rose! what are you saying?" cried Mrs. Bunker, jumping up out of her chair and starting toward the door of the bungalow.
"You'd better come and get him out, Mother! He's in and he can't get out himself, and he's being picked all to pieces, and Mun Bun and Margy are crying and—and——"
Rose had to stop just here, as she was all out of breath.
"What has happened, Rose?" Mrs. Bunker, herself somewhat breathless, demanded. "What has Laddie fallen into? Where is he?"
"He's in—but you'd better come and get him out! He's got a stick, but it isn't much good, and he's being picked and——"
"Being picked, Rose? What do you mean? Who's picking him, and where is Laddie?" cried Mrs. Bunker. "I can't go to him till you tell me where he is."
"Laddie's in the coop with the big, old rooster that lives next door," explained Rose. "And he's picking him—I mean the rooster is picking Laddie, and he can't get out—I mean Laddie can't get out, and——"
But, once again, Rose had to stop to get her breath, for she talked very fast in her excitement.
"Oh, the rooster!" Mrs. Bunker hastened on. She remembered that Captain Ben had told them about a savage rooster that was part of some poultry kept by the man next door. The rooster was ugly, and would fly at every one who came near him, and, for this reason, he was usually kept shut up in the yard, while the other fowls were allowed to go outside. When the Bunkers had come to Captain Ben's to pay a late summer visit they had been warned about the rooster and told not to go near his yard, or if, by chance, he ever got out, they were to run away from him. For though roosters do not appear to be savage they have strong wings and sharp spurs and a beak, and they can harm a small child greatly.
Holding Rose by the hand, Mrs. Bunker ran toward the chicken yard of the man next door. Before she reached it, she could hear a great commotion there.