"You reckon you'll find him?" asked Mammy June of Rose.
"I hope so," said the oldest Bunker girl.
"Of course we will," agreed Russ stoutly. "And Daddy Bunker will look out for him too. He said so."
According to Russ's mind, that Daddy Bunker had promised to help find the lost boy seemed conclusive that Sneezer must be found. He and Rose began eagerly to tell Mammy June what they had already done to make it positive that Ebenezer Caliper Spotiswood Meiggs would not come back to the burned cabin some day and go away, thinking that his old mother was no longer alive.
"You blessed childern!" exclaimed Mammy June. "And has you fixed it dat way for me? But—but—you says you writ dem letters to Sneezer?"
"Yes," said Rose happily. "Yes, we did, Mammy June. And stuck them up on poles all about the burned house."
"I don't know! I don't know!" sighed the old woman. "I reckon dat won't be much use."
"Why not?" demanded Russ anxiously. "If he comes back he'll see and read 'em."
"No. No, sir! He may see 'em," said Mammy June, shaking her head on the pillow. "But he won't read 'em."
"Why won't he?" Russ demanded in some heat. "I wrote them just as plain as plain!"