"We don't want him in here," cried Mun Bun. "There isn't any room for him." Then he cried to the big hound: "Go 'way! You'll spoil our Christmas tree." The big hound came nearer, but more quietly. His eyes were red, and he sniffed enquiringly at the doorway while the children crowded back against the tree. Perhaps he was the very kindest dog in the world; but to Mun Bun and Margy he appeared to be dreadfully savage! "Go 'way!" they shouted in chorus. And Mun Bun added again: "We don't want him in here, do we, Margy?" The dog seemed determined to thrust himself into the house. Perhaps Bobo felt about Mun Bun and Margy as they did about him--that they had no right there, and he wanted them to get out. And when he put his great head and shoulders into the doorway the little Bunkers began to shriek at the top of their voices. Even the snapping firecrackers could not drown their voices now. Russ and Rose heard the cries coming from the doghouse, and they knew Mun Bun and Margy were in trouble. They saw Bobo, who had been with them to the swamp, seemingly stuck half way in the doorway of his kennel, and Russ cried: "I guess that's where they are. Hear 'em, Rose? Come on, save Mun Bun and Margy." "I'm afraid of that hound," replied Rose, but she followed her brother just the same. Russ shouted to the dog. The hound backed out and looked around at Russ Bunker. But his red eyes did not scare the boy. "We're coming, Mun Bun!" Russ shouted. "We're coming, Margy!" The two little ones appeared at the door of the kennel. They were not crying much, but they had tight hold of each other's hands. "Russ! Rose!" cried Margy. "Take us out." "What are you doing in that dog's kennel?" demanded Rose. "Playing Christmas," said Margy, with quivering voice. "I guess it isn't Christmas," said Mun Bun doubtfully. "I guess it's Fourth of July. Isn't it, Russ? They don't have shooters only on the Fourth of July." "They do down here," said Russ, reaching the kennel and looking in while Bobo stood by as though he still wondered why Mun Bun and Margy had tried to turn him out of his house. Just then one of the colored men, who was a gardener, came along and stooped to look into the kennel too. "For de lan's sake!" he cried, "what you childern doin' in dat dog kennel?" "We--we were playing Christmas tree," said Margy, grabbing hold of Rose's hand. "For de lan's sake!" repeated the man, showing the whites of his eyes in a most astonishing way. "What dat in dere?" "That's our Christmas tree," said Mun Bun, very bravely now. "For de lan's sake!" ejaculated the man for a third time. "What Mistah Armatage gwine to say now? Dat's his bestest rubber plant what he tol' me to take partic'lar care of. What will you lil' w'ite childern be up to next, I'm a-wondering?" CHAPTER XVI A LETTER AND A BIG LIGHT "Why, Mun Bun!" murmured Russ. "Why, Margy Bunker!" exclaimed Rose.