t
goes through----"

"Wait a minute!" cried Vi, elbowing her way to a place in the front
ranks of the six little Bunkers. "I want to ask Uncle Fred a question."

"You did ask him one," suggested Rose.

"Well, I want to ask him another," went on Vi. "You said you were going
to take us away," she told the visitor. "Are you? And where and when are
we all going? And can we have some fun?"

"Oh, hold on! Stop! Whoa! Back up!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "I thought you
said you wanted to ask _one_ question, not half a dozen."

"But you said you were going to take us away. Are you?"

"I am if your mother and father will let me," replied Uncle Fred. "You
know I wrote you," he went on to Mother Bunker, "that I'd like to have
you all come out to my ranch to stay all summer."

"What's a ranch?" asked Vi.

"I know," interrupted Russ. "It's a place where they have horses and
cows and----"

"Indians!" cried Laddie.

"And cowboys!" went on Russ. "That'll be great! We can have a Wild West
show!"

"Oh, let's go!" shouted Laddie.

"Children! Children!" murmured Mother Bunker. "Less noise, please! What
will Uncle Fred think of you?"

"Oh, I don't mind the noise," replied the Westerner. "I'm used to that.
Sometimes, when the cowboys are feeling pretty good, they whoop and yell
like Indians."

"Are there any Indians out there?" asked Russ eagerly. "I mean out at
your ranch?"

"Yes, a few," answered Uncle Fred.

"And where is your ranch?" Laddie inquired.

All interest in the scooter was lost in Uncle Fred's arrival. And if he
planned to take the six little Bunkers somewhere they wanted to hear all
about that. So they crowded close around him.

"My ranch," said Uncle Fred, "is out in Montana, near a place called
Moon City. The name of my place is Three Star, and----"

"Is there a moon, too?" asked Violet.

"Well, the name of the town, as I said, is Moon City, and I suppose it
was named that because the moon looks so beautiful over the mountains.
But I am down on the plains, and the reason I call my ranch Three Star
is because my cattle are marked with three stars, so I will know them if
they should happen to get mixed up with the cattle of another ranch."

"When are we going?" asked Russ. "I have to make a lasso if we go out on
a ranch. Maybe I'll lasso an Indian."

"So'll I," put in Laddie. "When can we go, Mother?"

"Oh, not for some little time. Uncle Fred has come to pay us a visit.
Haven't you?" she went on to h