e a pair of
boots, into the tops of which his trousers were tucked, but he had on no
coat. Russ and Laddie looked particularly to see if he had a coat, but he
had none.

"Hello! What's going on here?" asked the man.

"If you please, our dog chased your cat," said Russ, "but he didn't hurt
him--I mean our dog didn't hurt your cat."

"I'm glad of that," said the man with a smile. "That's a good cat of mine.
I haven't had her very long, but I wouldn't want a dog to hurt her. But
your dog seems to be scratched," went on the man, as he looked carefully
and saw some more red spots of blood on Zip's nose.

"Yes, your cat scratched him," returned Russ. "I guess Zip won't chase her
any more."

"I guess not," the red-haired man agreed. "So you had an upset, did you?"
he went on as he noticed the overturned cart. "Did either of you get
hurt?"

"No, thank you," answered Russ. "We fell on the soft grass."

"That's good," returned the man. "I suppose you belong up in the big
house, though I haven't seen you before, and I didn't know there were any
children up there."

"No, we don't live in the big house," said Russ, for the man had pointed
toward the residence of Mr. Barker. "We live over at Lake Sagatook--I mean
we're visiting Grandma Bell--and we came to see you. We're two of the six
little Bunkers."

"Oh, you're two of the six little Bunkers, are you?" asked the man. "Well,
if the other four are as nice as you I'd like to see them. You say you
came to see me?"

"Yes, sir," answered Russ. "You're the lumberman, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, I used to be a lumberman when I could get work at it,"
answered the man standing in the cabin door. "I know how to cut down trees
and all that sort of thing."

"And you have red hair," added Russ.

"Yes, you're right, I _have_ got red hair," and the lumberman ran his
fingers through it as though to pull out some and make sure it had not
changed color.

"Is your name Mike Gannon?" asked Russ.

"That's my name, little Bunker--I don't know your first name."

"It's Russ, and his is Laddie," and Russ pointed to his brother.

By this time the cat, seeing that Zip was not going to chase her any more,
had taken the arch out of her back and her tail looked like a small
frankfurter sausage, and not like a big bologna one.

"Well, Russ and Laddie Bunker, I'm glad to see you," said Mr. Gannon. "And
so you live over at Lake Sagatook, and not here at Green Pond. Why did
you come so far?"