"Bang!"  
That was the soap-box cart hitting against a tree.
 
"Tunk! Tunk!"
 
Those were the soft sounds Russ and Laddie made as they were spilled out on the grass near the lumberman's cabin.
 
"Bow-wow!"
 
That was Zip barking at the cat.
 
"Hiss-siss!"
 
That was the cat making queer noises at Zip.
 
"Wow-ow-ow-Yelp!"
 
That was Zip howling because the cat scratched his nose.
 
For that's just what the cat did. Zip rushed at her so fast that he banged the cart against a tree, and turned it over on its side, spilling out Russ and Laddie. And Zip, not seeming to care what happened to his little masters, kept on after the cat.
 
But pussy¹ was brave, and she didn't run and climb a tree, as most cats did when Zip chased them. She just stood, arching her back, making her tail big, and sissing queer sounds until the dog came near enough, when she darted² out a paw, and the sharp claws scratched Zip on the nose. Then Zip howled and sat down to look at the cat. And the cat stayed right there looking at Zip.
 
For a moment or two Russ and Laddie didn't know just what had happened. But they scrambled³ to their feet. Then they saw Zip and the overturned cart and the cat, and they understood.
 
"He chased a cat," said Laddie.
 
"Zip, you're a bad dog!" cried Russ, and he shook his finger at the pet. "Didn't Grandma Bell tell you not to chase cats?"
 
This was true. Grandma Bell had told Zip that, but, like boys and girls, he sometimes forgot. Zip wasn't a bad dog, and he never bit cats. He just liked to chase them once in a while.
 
"Are you hurt, Laddie?" asked Russ.
 
"No. Are you?"
 
"Nope. Say! but didn't Zip run fast, though?"
 
"Terrible fast. Faster than when he chased the rabbit."
 
There were a few red spots on Zip's nose where the cat had scratched him. The dog licked them away with his tongue, and looked rather silly. It wasn't very often a cat stayed to fight him.
 
Russ and Laddie started for the overturned cart, to set it up on the wheels again, when the door of the log cabin opened and out came a red-haired man, whose clothes were quite old and ragged⁴. He wore 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 pointed⁵ 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 standing⁶ 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?"
 
"To see you," answered Russ.
 
&q............