Four other little Bunkers were hurrying up the platform steps to get into the auto truck when Rose and Russ made this discovery of a strange animal in the straw.
The first impulse of Rose was to run from the animal that, she half thought, might be a bear that had wandered in from the woods not far away and had found the warm straw a good place in which to sleep. The next thought Rose had was for her smaller brothers and sisters.
Daddy Bunker and Adam North were up near the front of the truck, getting ready to take their seats, for the engine was now cool and the radiator filled with fresh water.
Russ had the same idea as had Rose—the desire to save his brothers and sisters from harm. Seeing them coming up the platform steps he cried:
“Keep back! Keep back! Don’t come up here!”
“What’s the matter?” asked Laddie.
“There’s something in the straw,” Russ answered.
“It’s an animal!” added Rose. “A big animal!”
“Oh, I want to see it!” cried Mun Bun. “I like animals! Maybe we can have a circus—this is like a circus wagon!”
The big truck certainly was. But Rose did not intend to have Mun Bun or the other small ones rush into danger. She stood on the milk platform at the top of the steps, holding out her hands.