ver to the
bridge and see about it. We'll see later about the noise of running
water under the well that Laddie and Russ dug."

Rose wanted to ride with her father to the bridge, but he said as they
might have to carry back the cowboy with his injured leg, she had better
go to the house with her mother and the boys. So Rose did.

Together Uncle Fred, Daddy Bunker and Captain Roy rode to the bridge
where Russ and Laddie had ended their race. They easily found the
cowboy, who had fainted away when he tried to stand on his leg, which
was broken. His eyes were open when the three men rode up, and he
smiled, and seemed glad to see them.

"I guess I'm going to be laid up for a while," he said. "My pony threw
me, and my leg doubled under me. I saw some boys, and tried to get them
to go across the bridge for my horse, but they wouldn't--said their
mother didn't allow them."

"That's right--they were my boys," said Daddy Bunker. "But now we'll
take care of you."

"Where are you from--what ranch?" asked Uncle Fred, looking closely at
the cowboy. "I never saw you around here before."

"No, I'm a stranger. I'm looking for work. But I guess I'll have to stay
in bed a while now."

"We'll take care of you at Three Star Ranch," said Uncle Fred kindly.
"We've got plenty of room."

It was no easy work to move a man with a broken leg from the field near
the bridge to the bunk-house of Three Star Ranch, but at last it was
done, and then the doctor was sent for. He said the cowboy, who gave his
name as Sam Thurston, would have to stay in bed for a while, until his
leg got well.

Getting the cowboy to the bunk-house, and going for the doctor, who
lived some miles away, took up so much time that it was dark before
Uncle Fred, Daddy Bunker and Captain Roy had time to think about looking
at the well Laddie and Russ had dug. And then it was too late.

"We'll look at it the first thing in the morning," said the ranchman.

"Didn't you want us to dig the well?" asked Russ.

"Oh, I don't mind," his uncle answered. "And maybe, by means of that
well, we may find out the secret of the spring."

The six little Bunkers sat in the living-room, listening to Uncle Fred
tell a story, just before they were sent to bed. This was one of their
delights since coming to Three Star Ranch. Uncle Fred knew a lot of
stories of the West--stories of Indians, cowboys, of wild animals, big
storms, of fires, and of cattle running in a stampede.

Mun Bun a