There was a rush for the pen, and the children had fun watching the little pigs stumble about, rooting with their pink noses in the dirt of their pen for something to eat.
But now the engine was cool enough to travel on, and Mr. Bunker called the children to come back. Russ was the first to reach the machine, running up the platform steps ready to help his smaller brothers and sisters if they needed it.
He peered inside the truck, thinking perhaps the straw would need spreading out again in a smooth layer, and, as he did so, he started back in surprise.
“What’s the matter?” asked Rose, who had followed him.
“There’s something in there—in the straw,” whispered Russ.
“You mean one of the children?” asked Rose, for thus she often spoke of her smaller brothers and sister.
“No, it—it looks like some animal,” said Russ. “Look!”
Rose looked and saw a dark object—clearly an animal—moving about in the straw.
“Oh, maybe it’s a bear!” she cried.