Nobody had noticed the little boy for the last few minutes. Mun Bun always liked to help, and he had first followed Rose to try to pull a rail off the fence. This was too heavy for Mun Bun, so he had wandered along the road to find a rail or a stick or something that he could drag back to help make Russ Bunker's platform.
None of the others had noticed his absence, and Mun Bun was out of sight when Russ, with the help of Rose, bore down on the end of the fence rail far enough to hoist the calf half way out of the mire.
"Where's Mun Bun?" demanded Rose, looking around.
Russ, however, like Rose, was instantly alarmed by the absence of Mun Bun. A dozen things might happen to the littlest Bunker here in the swamp.
"Where is he?" rejoined Russ. He jumped up and the rail began to tip again, dousing the poor calf into the mire.
"Don't, Russ!" screamed Rose. "He's going down again!"
Russ sat down on the fence rail, and the calf came up, bawling pitifully. It was a very serious problem to decide. If they ran to find Mun Bun, the calf would be lost. What could Russ Bunker do?
"Didn't you--any of you--see which way he went?" Rose demanded of the other children. "Oh! if Mun Bun gets into the swamp----"
"Of course he won't," said Margy. "He isn't a bossy-calf."
"Of course he won't," added Laddie. "Mother told us not to, and Mun Bun will mind mother."
"Shout for him!" commanded Russ, and raised his own voice to the very top note in calling Mun Bun's name.
The chorus of calls brought no response from Mun Bun. Only an old crow cawed in reply, and of course he knew nothing about Mun Bun or where he had gone.
Russ got off the rail again in his excitement, and down went the calf!
"Oh, you mustn't!" gasped Rose. "You'll drown him."
"But I guess we've got to find Mun Bun," said Vi.
Russ, however, had another idea. He was frightened because of the little boy's disappearance, but he did not want to lose the calf, having already partly saved him from the mud.
"You and Laddie, Vi, come here and help Rose hold down the rail," said Russ.
"But I must go look for Mun Bun, too!" cried Rose.
"Wait a minute," said Russ, "and we'll all go and hunt for him."
Russ had noticed a post of the old fence that had rotted off close to the ground. It was quite a heavy post, but Russ was strong enough to drag it to the side of the miry pool where the calf was fixed. He rolled the post upon the platform, and then on the end of the rail which the other children were holding down.