Vi pulled her doll out from under the pile

   of barrel staves. The doll's bathing-dress was torn, but Rose said that didn't matter because it was an old one anyhow.

   "What made it break?" asked Vi as she did this. "Did somebody hit your steamboat, Russ? Or did it just sink?"

   "I guess it sank all right," Russ answered, laughing.

   "Well, what made it?" went on Vi.

   "Oh, my dear! Don't ask so many questions," begged Mrs. Bunker.

   "I got a new riddle," announced Laddie, as he rubbed his leg where it had been a little scratched on a box. "It's a riddle about a wheelbarrow and——"

   "You told us that!" interrupted Russ.

   "Well, then I can make up another," Laddie went on. He was always ready to do that. "This one is going to be about a barrel. When does a barrel feel hungry?"

   "Pooh! There can't be any answer to that!" declared Russ. "A barrel can't ever be hungry."

   "Yes it can, too!" cried Laddie. "When a barrel takes a roll, isn't it hungry? A roll is what you eat," he explained, "I didn't

   think that riddle up," he added, for Laddie was quite honest. "Jerry Simms told me. When is a barrel hungry? When it takes a roll before breakfast—that's the whole answer."

   "That's a very good riddle," said Mrs. Bunker with a smile. "But I haven't yet heard what happened."

   "Didn't you hear the noise?" asked Rose with a laugh. "It made a terrible bang."

   "Oh, yes, I heard

    that

   ," answered Mrs. Bunker. "But what caused it?" she asked anxiously.

   Five little Bunkers looked at Russ, as the one best fitted to tell about the upset.

   "We had a make-believe steamboat," explained the oldest boy. "Laddie was inside the flour barrel you let me take. He was the fireman. I sat outside the barrel to steer. But Laddie jiggled and wiggled and joggled inside the barrel and——"

 Prev. P 12/124 next