," as daddy declared, before the meal was done. Both these
youngest Bunkers made no objection to going off to bed. But Vi and
Laddie wanted to stay up as long as Russ and Rose did.

"We're almost as big as they are," declared Laddie, when he was
questioned on this point. "And if Rose and Russ would only stop and wait
for us a little, Vi and I would catch up to them--so now!"

But Russ and Rose were quite as eager to grow up as were Laddie and Vi;
so they were not willing to wait, could they have done so. Daddy pointed
out the fact of the "march of time" to the little folks and explained
that everybody had to grow older each tiny second.

"Why can't we stop and wait?" demanded Vi. "We can stop an automobile
and get out and wait."

"Or get lost from a train," put in Laddie, who was sitting on what
Cowboy Jack called a "hassock"--a low seat--and studying a paper he had
found. "I ought to make up a riddle about Vi and me being lost from the
train that time."

"I'll give you a riddle," said Cowboy Jack, with one of his booming
laughs.

"Is it a good one?" asked Vi.

"Please do!" cried Laddie. "I just love riddles."

"Well, here is one," said the ranchman. "'What is it that is black and
white, but red all over?'"

"Black--white--and red?" repeated Laddie, puzzled, for if he had ever
heard that riddle he had forgotten it.

"I know what is red, white and blue!" cried Vi. "That's the flag."

"Three cheers!" returned Cowboy Jack. "So you do, little girl. You've
got the flag quite right. But this isn't the flag I am talking about."

"I don't believe I ever saw anything that was black and white but red,
too," confessed Laddie slowly.

"Oh, yes, you have," said their big friend, apparently just as much
entertained by the riddle as the little folks.

"I guess you must be mistaken, Mr. Cowboy Jack," said Laddie soberly. "I
can't think of a single thing that is black and white, besides being red
all over."

"Why, look at what you have in your hand!" exclaimed the ranchman.

"This is a paper," said Laddie.

"And isn't it black and white?"

"Yes, sir. The print is black and the paper is white. But I don't see
any red----"

"But lots of us have _read_ it all over," chuckled Cowboy Jack. "It is
black and white, and is _read_ all over!"

"Oh!" cried Laddie, clapping his hands, "that's another kind of 'red,'
isn't it? I think that is a nice riddle. Don't you, Vi?"

But Vi was leaning against her mother's knee and h