“Yes, but it was an apple falling from one of the trees,” his mother said. “Look, here is an apple leaf in your hair, Mun Bun. It was an apple that hit you.” And, surely enough, when they looked, there on the ground beside Mun Bun was an apple. They were more sure it was a bit of fruit that had hit him a moment or two lately for suddenly Jimsie, the dog, let out a howl, and they all saw an apple fall and hit the dog on the head. This made Mun Bun laugh, and he said: “Jimsie got hit just like me, didn’t he?” “And he howled pretty nearly as loudly,” chuckled Russ. “Perhaps I’d better take the smaller children in from the orchard,” said Mrs. Bunker, after a while. “A lot of apples are falling, and some are so large and hard that little heads might be hurt.” “I think it’s as well,” agreed Mr. Bunker. “You may gather the eggs, if you wish,” said Farmer Joel. “It’s about time.” “Oh, that’ll be fun!” cried Violet. “An’ I want a basket all by myself!” insisted Margy. “So do I,” said Mun Bun, forgetting all about being hit by a falling apple. So off to the barn went Mrs. Bunker, with Margy and Mun Bun, Laddie and Violet, while Russ, Rose, and Ralph remained in the orchard to help pick the apples. Most of the hens laid in nests in the big hen-house built for them, but there were some of the chickens that “stole their nests,” as Farmer Joel said, going in the barn, or even under it. The children had been around long enough now to know where most of these hidden nests were, and they scattered and began looking for the eggs. Mrs. Bunker had the basket with the most of the eggs in, for she did not dare trust them to the children. She was coming out of the hen-house with Laddie and Violet when Mun Bun, who had gone into the barn with Margy, came running up to his mother. “Oh! Oh!” cried the little fellow. “You ought to see her!” “See whom?” asked Mrs. Bunker. “Margy!” gasped Mun Bun. “She’s all yellow and white!” CHAPTER XXI A MAD BULL Violet almost dropped her basket of eggs, she was so excited. “Oh! Oh!” she cried. “Maybe Margy’s getting the chicken pox or something like that. All yellow and white! Oh, dear!” “It isn’t chicken pox,” said Mrs. Bunker, trying not to laugh. “Though I think it has something to do with chickens—and eggs. You say Margy is all yellow and white, Mun Bun?” she asked. “Yes’m, but the yellow shows most. It’s all over her face and her dress——” “The poor thing!” murmured Violet. “I’ll go and help her,” offered Laddie, not stopping to make a riddle this time, though he said later that he had one about a chicken and an egg if he could only think of it. “She’s right around here—under the barn,” went on Mun Bun, leading the way from the hen-house. “Under the barn?” asked Mrs. Bunker. “Is she caught fast there?”