"And we'll see mother and Mun Bun and Margy to-night," said Rose, as she hummed a merry song.
"I'll be glad!" cried Russ, and he whistled, while a catbird in a tree outside tried to imitate him. Catbirds are relatives of the mocking birds, and they often imitate other birds, just as the mocking birds do.
"You children stay here while Captain Ben and I go to the garage to see if the car is ready," directed Daddy Bunker, as he and the marine started off.
They had hardly reached the front gate before Mrs. Brown came running out on the porch. She seemed much excited, and was waving her hands in the air as Norah had waved hers the time the Bunker chimney caught fire.
"Wait a minute!" she called to Captain Ben and Mr. Bunker.
"What's the matter?" asked the children's father. "Have you found the missing Tad?"
"No. But some of my things are missing, too!" exclaimed the farmer's wife. "I left a box of my jewelry on the table at the head of my bed. Now it's gone—my box of jewelry is gone!"
"You don't say so!" cried her husband, who had heard what his wife said. "Your box of rings gone, and those ear rings I gave you! I know what happened! That boy Tad took 'em and skipped off in the night! That's the reason he didn't sleep in his bed. He took my wife's things!"
The four little Bunkers stared.
"Hm," said Captain Ben slowly. "It seems hard to accuse a boy of anything like that, but it does look bad for him. Where were your things, Mrs. Brown?"