ust tell me----"

"Not another question!" exclaimed Mother Bunker. "Stop it!"

And then she put out her hand for something to put in the trunk she was
packing, and actually squealed when her hand unexpectedly met Alexis's
cold, damp nose.

"Goodness me!" cried Mother Bunker. "That dog is a nuisance. That is the
third time, at least, that I have tried to pack his nose in this trunk.
Every time I reach out for something he thinks I want to pet him."

This delighted Margy and Mun Bun very much. The idea of packing the
great Dane in a steamer trunk was really quite ridiculous. Violet did
not venture any more questions immediately however; but Laddie suddenly
broke out with a new riddle.

"Oh, Mother! Mother!" he cried. "Do you know the difference between a
dog and an elephant?"

"I should hope so!" Mother Bunker said, chuckling. "But I suppose you
want me to give the riddle up so that you can have the pleasure of
telling me what the difference is between Alexis and an elephant."

"Not just Alexis; any dog," urged Laddie. "And, of course, it would be
real polite of you if you said you didn't know," added the little boy.

"Very well; what is the difference between an elephant and a dog,
Laddie?"

"Why," cried Laddie very eagerly, "an elephant owns a trunk of his very
own; and a dog only wants to get into a trunk. There now!"

"But all dogs don't want to get into trunks," objected Vi. "Do they? Do
they, now, Mother?"

"I am afraid Laddie's riddle is not as good as some he makes up," said
Mother Bunker. "For you know, dogs have trunks as well as elephants."

Her eyes twinkled as she said it, for she knew she was going to puzzle
her little brood. At once they all broke out with questions and
exclamations. How could that be? They had seen, as Vi said, "oceans of
dogs" and none of them had had a nose long enough to be called a trunk,
like the elephants they had seen at the circus.

"Mother is just puzzling us," Laddie said. "How can a dog have a trunk
when his nose is short and blunt? At least, most dogs' noses are short
and blunt."

"Each dog has a trunk nevertheless," declared Mother Bunker,
laughing. "And so have you, and so have I."

"I have a suitcase," announced Mun Bun gravely. "I don't have a trunk."

Mother Bunker swept Mun Bun into her arms then and kissed his chubby
neck.

"Of course you have a trunk, honey-boy," she cried. "All your little
body between your shoulders and your legs is your trunk. So