"Yes," said Mr. Gates; "a cow that would do that would take down a fence and let the other cows through, and then put it up after them."
It was a great mystery, and when Rube and Bun came along from school that afternoon there was Katy Chittenden at the gate, and Bill Chittenden was in the yard, and the Deacon was on the stoop, and Mrs. Chittenden was at the window.
"Katy," asked Bun, "did you tell your father what I told you?"
"Yes; and he and William have been up there all the afternoon mending the pasture."
"Audubon," exclaimed the Deacon, "how did those cows get mixed?"
"No, sir," said Bun; "the cows ain't mixed, it's the lots."
"How did they get in?"
"Through the bars. It's all that new cow. She tipped me into the creek, and Watch Hollenhouser can't but just bark; but we can get 'em all right when we go for 'em."
The Deacon looked puzzled even after that explanation, and so did Katy and the rest; but it was soon made plain to them, and, after all, as Rube Hollenhouser remarked, "It's only trading grass for one day."