easy path, almost all of stone, and the rain had washed it
clean. It was great fun to be so high above the railroad and look down
upon the crowd of passengers from the stalled train and upon the
workmen. The two explorers could see into the hole washed in the
hillside, and it was much deeper than it had looked to be when they
stood below. There was a puddle of muddy water in it, too.

"Guess we don't want to fall into that," said Laddie, and Vi did not
even ask why not. "Let's go on to the top. We can see farther."

Vi was quite willing to go as far as her twin did. And there really
seemed to be no reason why they should not go. It would be hours before
that rock could be moved, and of course the train could not go on until
that was done.

They reached the top of the bank. Here was a great pasture which sloped
away to a piece of woods. Although the ground was wet, it had stopped
raining some time before and a strong wind was blowing. This wind had
dried the grass and weeds and the twins did not wet their feet. And----

"Oh!" squealed Vi, starting away from the edge of the bank on a run.
"See the flowers! Oh, see the flowers, Laddie!"

Laddie saw the flowers quite as soon as she did, but he did not shout
about it. He followed his sister, however, with much promptness, and
both of them began to pick the flowering weeds that dotted the pasture.

"We'll get a big bunch for mother. Won't she be glad?" went on Vi.

Mother Bunker was supposed to have a broad taste in flowers, and every
blossom the children found was brought for her approval. In a minute the
twins were so busy gathering the blossoms of wild carrots and other
weeds that they forgot the train, and the big rock that had fallen, and
even the fact that they had climbed the bank without permission.

At length Laddie stood up to look abroad over the great field. Perhaps
he had pulled the blossoms faster than Vi. At any rate, he had already a
big handful. Suddenly he caught sight of something that interested him
much more than the flowers did.

There was a stone fence near by which divided the fields. And on the
fence something flashed into view and ran along a few yards--something
that interested the boy immensely.

"Oh, look, Vi!" cried Laddie. "There's a chippy!"

"What chippy? Who's chippy?" demanded Vi excitedly.

"There he goes!" shouted Laddie. "A chipmunk!"

He dropped his bunch of blossoms and started for the stone fence. Vi
caught a glimpse of