"Russ and Laddie——" went on Mrs. Bunker.
"Has anything happened to them?" cried Daddy Bunker quickly.
"No, they're all right. But they just rode up to the house greatly excited, and they tell a remarkable story about a cowboy with a broken leg, and say that he's lying in the grass at the end of the bridge. They're quite worked-up over it. Maybe you'd better go to see what it is."
"Yes," said Daddy Bunker, "I presume I had better hurry on to see about Russ and Laddie."
"The spring and the well will keep until you come back," observed Uncle Fred.
"We'll wait for you," added Captain Roy.
Mr. Bunker hurried back with his wife to the ranch house.
"Russ and Laddie are there," said Mother Bunker, and she told about the little lads having seen the cowboy, just as Russ and Laddie had told her. They had ridden home from the bridge, and reached the house just after Daddy Bunker and Rose had gone away.
"Well, boys, what's this I hear?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Did you really find a cowboy? Or was it an Indian?"
"Oh, it's a cowboy all right, and I got him a drink of water in my cap," replied Russ. "He wanted me to ride over the bridge to get his horse, but Mother said I wasn't to, and I didn't."