g this way and that, looking up and down and all around in
the woods, until finally he stopped before a rather high stump, and
said:

"Laddie is here!"

"Where?" cried some of the little Bunkers.

"I don't see him," said others.

"What's this?" asked Daddy Bunker, reaching up on the tree stump, and
lifting down a cap.

"Why--why--that's Laddie's!" stammered Russ. "I saw it there before, but
I thought he hung it there so it wouldn't fall off when he was playing."

"Well, we'll see what's inside this stump, for it is hollow," went on
Mr. Bunker with a smile. "Unless I'm much mistaken we'll find in
here----"

And just then, from inside the middle of the stump there stuck up a
tousled head of hair, and Laddie's rather surprised face looked down at
his father and mother and brothers and sisters.

"Oh, you found me!" he exclaimed. "I was going to run in free!"

"Why didn't you?" asked Russ. "I called 'givie up!' a lot of times."

"I--I didn't hear you," said Laddie, rubbing his eyes. "I guess I must
have fallen asleep."

"That's what happened," said Daddy Bunker. "When I saw your cap hanging
on a splinter outside the hollow stump I thought you must have hung it
there while you climbed inside. Did you?"

"Yes," answered Laddie. "I was looking for a good place to hide, and
when I climbed up on a stone, outside, and saw the stump was hollow I
knew I could fool Russ. So I left my cap outside, and I got in. And it
was so nice and soft there that I just snuggled down and--and I fell
asleep. I was sleepy anyhow."

"Didn't you hear us calling?" asked Rose.

"Nope!"

"And didn't you hear me tell you to come in free?" Russ wanted to know.

"Nope. I guess I must have slept a lot," said Laddie.

"Well, I guess you did," agreed his mother. "We were alarmed about you.
Don't do anything like that again."

Laddie promised that he wouldn't, and then he climbed out of the hollow
stump. It was just high enough from the ground to prevent any one,
passing along, from looking down into it. And Laddie could not have
climbed up and gotten in if he had not used a stone to step on. The
other children took a peep inside, Margy and Mun Bun having to be lifted
up, of course.

The stump was partly filled with dried leaves, which made a soft bed on
which Laddie had really gone to sleep. He had just curled up in a sort
of nest and there he had stayed while the others were hunting for him.

"Are we going to play hide-and-go-seek any