They all had had enough to drink for the time being, and, leaving the spring, which was now only a damp hole in the ground, the party went back to the ranch house. Captain Roy met them.
"Spring's gone dry again," said Uncle Fred.
"Again! That's too bad! I was hoping we'd seen the last of that. Well, now, we may expect some more bad news."
"What kind?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"Oh, the captain means about losing more cattle," answered Uncle Fred. "Almost always, when the spring goes dry, it isn't long before some of the cowboys come in to tell about our cattle being taken away. But maybe that won't happen this time."
After dinner the six little Bunkers started to have some fun. Mun Bun and Margy went to have their afternoon naps, but Rose and Violet took their Japanese dolls, which had been unpacked, and found a shady place on the porch where they could play.
"What are you going to do, Russ?" asked Laddie, as he saw his brother with some sticks.
"I'm going to make a tent," was the answer. "We can make a tent and live in it same as the Indians do. It's more fun to live in a tent than in a house when you're out West."
"Oh, yes!" cried Laddie. "I'll help you. But where can we get the cloth part?"
"Well, I got the sticks," Russ went on. "I guess Uncle Fred will let us take a sheet off the bed for the cloth part."