need to go in after Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. They had heard
the children talking out on the side porch, and a strange man's voice was
also noticed, so they went out to see what it was.

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Russ. "Here's the tramp lumberman you gave the old coat
to, but he says he hasn't any papers!"

"Excuse me!" exclaimed the tramp, "but I don't know what the little boy is
talking of. I just stopped in to ask for a bite to eat, and he and the
other children started talking about a lumberman and some papers in a
ragged coat. Land knows my coat is ragged enough, but I haven't anything
belonging to you."

Mr. Bunker looked sharply at the ragged man, and then said:

"No, you aren't the one. A tramp lumberman did call at my real estate
office the other day, and I told one of my clerks to give him an old coat.
In the pocket were some valuable papers. But you aren't the man."

"I know it, sir!" answered the tramp. "This is the first time I've been
here. I'm hungry and----"

"I'll tell Norah to get him something to eat," said Mrs. Bunker, who was
kind to every one.

And while she was gone, and while the six little Bunkers looked at the
ragged man, the children's father talked to him.

"I'd like to find that tramp lumberman," said Mr. Bunker. "I gave him the
coat because he needed it more than I did, but I didn't know I had left
the papers in the pocket. You're not the man, though. I didn't have a very
good look at him, but he had a lot of red hair on his head: I saw that
much."

"My hair's black--what there is of it," said the ragged man. "But I don't
know anything about your papers. But if I see a red-haired lumberman in my
travels around the country, I'll tell him to send you back the papers."

"That will be very kind of you," said Mr. Bunker, "as I need them very
much. Do you think you might meet this red-haired lumberman tramp, who has
my old coat?"

"Well, I might. You never can tell. I travel about a good bit, and I meet
lots of fellers like myself, though I don't know as I ever saw a
lumberman."

"This man wasn't a regular tramp," said Mr. Bunker. "He was only tramping
around looking for work, and he happened to stop at my place."

"That's like me," said the black-haired tramp. "I'm looking for work, too.
Got any wood that needs cutting?"

"Not now," said Mr. Bunker with a smile. "Jerry Simms cuts all my wood.
But I'll give you some money, and maybe that will help you along, and the
cook will fix you somethi