So the six little Bunkers were left to themselves. And you can easily imagine that they had all sorts of good times. There was a stone walk around Aunt Jo's house, as well as around Mr. North's, and there Russ and his brothers and sisters rode in the express wagon, on the velocipede and on the coaster. They laughed and shouted, and every now and then there would be an upset, but no one was hurt and they all seemed to like it. Now and then Parker or William or Anne would come out from the house or the garage to look and see that the six little Bunkers were coming to no harm, and when they found the children were all right they smiled, for it was fun to watch them play. "I know what we can do," said Russ to Laddie, after they had taken turns riding on the velocipede and coaster. Just at this time Margy and Mun Bun had the coaster and were playing steam-car with it. "What can we do?" asked Laddie, always ready to have fun with his older brother. "We can make a harness for Alexis, and hitch him to the express wagon," went on Russ. "Oh, that'll be lots of fun!" cried Laddie. "But what'll we make a harness of? Aunt Jo hasn't any horses and Mr. North hasn't either." "We can make it of string," said Russ. "It doesn't need to be very strong, for we aren't very heavy to pull." So Russ and Laddie begged pieces of string from Parker, not telling what they were going to make. "If it's a cat's cradle you have cord enough for a dozen," said the good-natured cook, as she handed out the pieces of string she had saved from the grocery packages. "No, we're not going to make cats' cradles," answered Russ. "You can see it when we get finished." It was no very hard matter to catch Alexis and fasten a lot of pieces of string around him, as nearly like a harness as the two little boys could manage. The dog loved children, and asked nothing better than to be with them. So he stood very still, just hanging his tongue out of his mouth, as the day was hot, while Laddie and Russ tied the cord around him. Then they fastened the ends to the express wagon, tying a number of knots. "We've got to have lines to drive him with," said Laddie. "Else we can't guide him the way we want him to go." "Yes, I'll make some lines," said Russ. He tied two strings around the neck of Alexis, one for the left-hand side and the other for the right. "I can't put a bit in his mouth, as I could if he was a horse," said Russ, "'cause Alexis holds his mouth open so much, to cool off his tongue, that the bit would fall out." "That's right," said Laddie. "Anyhow, we don't want a bit. Now can we have a ride?" "I guess so," said Russ. There was quite a collection of strings tied around Alexis and made fast to the little express wagon.