"I don't see how he can be lost, my dear," answered Mrs. Bunker. "He went to hide, and surely he wouldn't go very far away, because he would want a chance to run in free himself. No, I think Laddie must be doing a puzzle trick to make you find him. He probably is near by, but he is so well hidden that you can't find him. Try once more!"
So the children tried again, shouting and calling, but there was no Laddie.
"I think I'll go and get your father and Uncle Fred," Laddie's mother said to Rose and Russ. "They'll know how to find Laddie. You children stay here, and all keep together so none of you will be lost."
Mrs. Bunker did not have to go for help, for, just at that moment, her husband came up to them.
"Is anything the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker. "I was taking a walk over to the spring, to see if anything had happened to the water there, when I heard shouting and calling. Is anything wrong?"
"We can't find Laddie!" exclaimed Russ.
"He went to hide, but he won't come in," added Rose.
"I really am a little worried," said Mrs. Bunker. "Perhaps you had better get Fred and——"
"I'll find him!" said Daddy Bunker with a laugh. "He can't be far away. Show me where you blinded, Russ, when the others went to hide."
Russ showed his father where he had stood against a tree, hiding his head in his arms, so he would not see where the others were hiding. Standing at the same tree Mr. Bunker looked all around. Then he started off, walking this way and that, looking up and down and all around in the woods, until finally he stopped before a rather high stump, and said: