The grown folk went back to the ranch house, leaving the boys to fish, and, somewhat to their own surprise, Laddie and Russ each caught two good-sized fish.
With shouts of delight, about an hour after having captured the snapping turtle, they ran to the house, holding up on strings the prizes they had caught.
"We'll have 'em cooked!" cried Laddie. "They're good to eat! One of the cowboys told us they were."
"Yes, those fish are good to eat," said Uncle Fred. "I'll have Bill Johnson clean and cook them for you."
"This is better than riddles!" laughed Russ. "I'm going fishing every day and catch fish."
"And I'm going, too," declared Violet.
"Good!" cried her father. "Then Uncle Fred won't have to buy so many things at the store."
The fish were cooked, and very good they were, too, though Mun Bun said they had too many bones in them, and this, perhaps, was true. But all fish have bones.
As the days went on Uncle Fred and his men, as well as Daddy Bunker, tried to find the lost cattle, or the men who, it was thought, had taken them. But they could not. The cattle seemed to have vanished, leaving no trace.
Every day some of the six little Bunkers, and, sometimes, all of them, went to the mysterious spring, to see if any of the water had run out, but it seemed to be all right, and behaving just as a spring should.