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diff --git a/14623-0.txt b/14623-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31ddb87 --- /dev/null +++ b/14623-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6056 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14623 *** + +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS +AT GRANDMA BELL'S + +BY +LAURA LEE HOPE + + +AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES," "THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES," "THE +OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES," ETC. + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +NEW YORK + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +BOOKS + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + + +_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 50 cents per volume._ + + +=THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES= + + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S + +=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES= + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA + +=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES= + + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUB AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY + +=THE OUTDOOR GIRL SERIES= + + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE + + * * * * * + +=GROSSET & DUNLAP=, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Copyright, 1918, by GROSSET & DUNLAP + + * * * * * + +_Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's_ + +[Illustration: THEY SAW HIM LIFT FROM THE WATER A BIG FISH.] + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. ALL UPSET 1 + + II. DADDY BUNKER'S WORRY 11 + + III. GRANDMA'S LETTER 22 + + IV. FOURTH OF JULY 32 + + V. THE TRAMP 42 + + VI. MUN BUN'S BALLOON 52 + + VII. LADDIE'S NEW RIDDLE 63 + + VIII. "WHERE IS MARGY?" 72 + + IX. ROSE'S DOLL 82 + + X. THE WRONG DADDY 92 + + XI. THE FUNNY VOICE 100 + + XII. RUSS COULDN'T STOP 109 + + XIII. THE RED-HAIRED MAN 121 + + XIV. THE DOLL'S BUTTONS 129 + + XV. LADDIE'S QUEER RIDE 139 + + XVI. MUN BUN SEES SOMETHING 150 + + XVII. A RED COAT 160 + + XVIII. LADDIE AND THE SUGAR 170 + + XIX. DOWN IN THE WELL 179 + + XX. THE DOG-CART 190 + + XXI. RUSS HEARS NEWS 197 + + XXII. OFF ON A TRIP 208 + + XXIII. THE LUMBERMAN'S CABIN 216 + + XXIV. THE OLD COAT 226 + + XXV. "HURRAY!" 236 + + + + +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ALL UPSET + + +"There! It's all done, so I guess we can get on and start off! All aboard! +Toot! Toot!" Russ Bunker made a noise like a steamboat whistle. "Get on!" +he cried. + +"Oh, wait a minute! I forgot to put the broom in the corner," said Rose, +his sister. "I was helping mother sweep, and I forgot to put the broom +away. Wait for me, Russ! Don't let the boat start without me!" + +"I won't," promised the little boy, as he tossed back a lock of dark hair +which had straggled down over his eyes. They were dark, too, and, just +now, were shining in eagerness as he looked at a queer collection of a +barrel, a box, some chairs, a stool and a few boards, piled together in +the middle of the playroom floor. + +"The steamboat will wait for you, Rose," Russ Bunker went on. "But hurry +back," and he began to whistle a merry tune as he moved a footstool over +to one side. "That's one of the paddle-wheels," he told his smaller +brother Laddie, whose real name was Fillmore, but who was always called +Laddie. "That's a paddle-wheel!" + +"Why doesn't it go 'round then?" asked Violet, Laddie's twin sister. "Why +doesn't it go 'round, Russ? I thought wheels always went around!" Vi, as +Violet was usually called, loved to ask questions, and sometimes they were +the kind that could not be easily answered. This one seemed to be that +kind, for Russ went on whistling and did not reply. + +"Why doesn't the footstool go around if it's a wheel?" asked Vi again. + +"Oh, 'cause--'cause----" began Russ, holding his head on one side and +stopping halfway through his whistled tune. "It doesn't go 'round?" + +"Oh, I got a riddle! I got a riddle!" suddenly cried Laddie, who was as +fond of asking riddles as Vi was of giving out questions. "What kind of a +wheel doesn't go 'round? That's a new riddle! What kind of a wheel +doesn't go 'round?" + +"All wheels go around," declared Russ, who, now that he had the footstool +fixed where he wanted it, had started his whistling again. + +"What's the riddle, Laddie?" asked Vi, shaking her curly hair and looking +up with her gray eyes at her brother, whose locks were of the same color, +though not quite so curly as his twin's. + +"There she goes again! Asking more questions!" exclaimed Rose, who had +come back from putting away the broom, and was ready to play the steamboat +game with her older brother. + +"But what _is_ the riddle?" insisted Vi. "I like to guess 'em, Laddie! +What is it?" + +"What kind of a wheel doesn't go 'round?" asked Laddie again, smiling at +his brothers and sisters as though the riddle was a very hard one indeed. + +"Pooh! _All_ wheels go around--'ceptin' _this_ one, maybe," said Russ. +"And this is only a make-believe wheel. It's the nearest like a steamboat +paddle-wheel I could find," and he gave the footstool a little kick. "But +all kinds of wheels go around, Laddie." + +"No, they don't," exclaimed the little fellow. "That's a riddle! What kind +of a wheel doesn't go 'round?" + +"Oh, let's give it up," proposed Rose. "Tell us, Laddie, and then we'll +get in the make-believe steamboat Russ has made, and we'll have a ride. +What kind of a wheel doesn't go around?" + +"A wheelbarrow doesn't go 'round!" laughed Laddie. + +"Oh, it does _so_!" cried Rose. "The _wheel_ goes around." + +"But the _barrow_ doesn't--that's the part you put things in," went on +Laddie. "_That_ doesn't go 'round. You have to push it." + +"All right. That's a pretty good riddle," said Russ with a laugh. "Now +let's get on the steamboat and we'll have a ride," and he began to whistle +a little bit of a new song, something about down on a river where the +cotton blossoms grow. + +"Where is steamboat?" asked Margy, aged five, whose real name was +Margaret, but who, as yet, seemed too little to have all those letters +for herself. So she was just called Margy. "Where is steamboat?" she +asked. "Is it in the kitchen on the stove?" and she opened wide her dark +brown eyes and looked at Russ. + +"Oh, you're thinking of a steam _teakettle_, Margy," he said, as he took +hold of her fat, chubby hand. "The teakettle steams on the kitchen stove," +went on Russ. "But we're making believe this is a steamboat in here," and +he pointed to the barrel, the boxes, the chairs and the footstool, which +he and Rose had piled together with such care. For it was a rainy day and +the children were having what fun they could in the big playroom. + +"I want to go on steamboat," spoke up the sixth member of the Bunker +family a moment later. + +"Yes, you may have a ride, Mun Bun," said Rose. "You may sit with me in +front and see the wheels go around." + +Mun Bun, I might say, was the pet name of the youngest member of the +family. He was really Munroe Ford Bunker, but it seemed such a big name +for such a little chap, that it was nearly always shortened to Mun. And +that, added to half his last name, made Mun Bun. + +And, really, Munroe Ford Bunker did look a little like a bun--one of the +light, golden brown kind, with sugar on top. For Mun, as we shall call +him, was small, and had blue eyes and golden hair. + +"Come on, Mun Bun!" called Russ, who was the oldest of the family of six +little Bunkers, and the leader in all the fun and games. "Come on, +everybody! All aboard the steamboat!" + +"Oh, wait a minute! Wait a minute!" suddenly called Vi. "Is there any +water around your steamboat, Russ?" + +"Water? 'Course there is," he answered. "You couldn't make a steamboat go +without water." + +"Is it deep water?" asked Vi, who seemed started on her favorite game of +asking questions. + +Russ thought for a minute, looking at the playroom floor. + +"'Course it's deep," he answered. "'Bout ten miles deep. What do you ask +that for, Vi?" + +"'Cause I got to get a bathing-dress for my doll," answered the little +girl. "I can't take her on a steamboat where the water is deep lessen I +have a bathing-suit for her. Wait a minute. I'll get one," and she ran +over to a corner of the room, where she kept her playthings. + +"Shall I bring a red dress or a blue one?" Vi turned to ask her sister +Rose. + +"Oh, bring any one you have and hurry up!" called Russ. "This steamboat +won't ever get started. All aboard! Toot! Toot!" + +Vi snatched up what she called a bathing-dress from a small trunkful of +clothes belonging to her dolls, and ran back to the place where the +"steamboat" floated in the "ten-miles-deep water," in the middle of the +playroom floor. + +"Now I'm all ready, an' so's my doll," said Vi, as she climbed up in one +of the chairs behind the big, empty flour barrel that Mother Bunker had +let Russ take to make his boat. "Gid-dap, Russ!" + +"Gid-dap? What you mean?" asked Russ, stopping his whistling and turning +to look at his sister. + +"I mean start," answered Vi. "Don't you know what gid-dap means?" + +"Sure I know! It's how you talk to a horse. It's what you tell him when +you want him to start." + +"Well, I'm ready to start now," said Vi, smoothing out her dress, and +putting the bathing-suit on her doll. + +"Pooh! You don't tell a steamboat to 'gid-dap' when you want _that_ to +start!" exclaimed Russ. "You say 'All aboard! Toot! Toot!'" + +"All right then. Toot! Toot!" cried Vi, and Margy and Mun, who had climbed +up together in a single chair beside Vi, began to laugh. + +"I know another riddle," announced Laddie, as he took his place inside the +barrel, for he was going to be the fireman, and, of course, they always +rode away down inside the steamboat. "I know a nice riddle about a horse," +went on Laddie. "What makes a horse's shoes different from ours?" he +asked. + +"Oh, we haven't time to bother with riddles now, Laddie," said Rose. "You +can tell us some other time. We're going to make-believe steamboat a long +way across the deep water now." + +"A horse's shoes aren't like ours 'cause a horse doesn't wear +stockings--that's the answer," went on Laddie. + +"All aboard!" cried Russ again. + +"All aboard!" repeated Laddie. + +"Oh, let's sing!" suddenly said Rose. She was a jolly little girl and had +learned many simple songs at school. + +"Let's sing about sailing o'er the dark blue sea," went on Rose. "It's an +awful nice song, and I know five verses." + +"We'll sing it after a while," returned Russ. "We got to get started now. +All ready, fireman!" he called to Laddie, who was inside the barrel. +"Start the steam going. I'm going to steer the boat," and Russ took his +place astride the front end of the barrel, and began twisting on a stick +he had stuck down in one of the cracks. The stick, you understand, was the +steering-wheel, even if it didn't look like one. + +"All aboard! Here we go!" cried Laddie from down inside the barrel, and he +began to hiss like steam coming from a pipe. Then he began to rock to and +fro, so that the barrel rolled from side to side. + +"Here! What're you doing that for?" demanded Russ from up on top. "'You're +jiggling me off! Stop it! What're you doing, Laddie?" + +"I'm making the steamboat go!" was the answer. "We're out on the rough +ocean and the steamboat's got to rock! Look at her rock!" and he swung the +barrel to and fro faster than ever. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Rose. "It's all coming apart! Look! Oh, dear! The barrel's +all coming apart!" + +And that's just what happened! In another moment the barrel on which Russ +sat fell apart, and with a clatter and clash of staves he toppled in on +Laddie. Then the chairs, behind the barrel, where Rose, Vi and Margy and +Mun were sitting, toppled over. In another instant the whole steamboat +load of children was all upset in the middle of the playroom floor, having +made a crash that sounded throughout the house. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DADDY BUNKER'S WORRY + + +"Dear me! What's that? What happened?" called Mother Bunker from the +sitting-room downstairs. "Is any one hurt, children? What did you do?" she +asked, as she stood, with some sewing in her hands, at the foot of the +stairs, listening for some other noise to follow the crash. She expected +to hear crying. + +"Is any one hurt?" she asked again. She was somewhat used to noises. One +could not live in the house with the six little Bunkers and not hear +noises. + +"No'm, I guess nobody's hurt," answered Russ, as he climbed out from the +wreck of the barrel. "Get up," he added to his brother Laddie. + +"I can't," answered Laddie. "My leg's all twisted up in the soap-box." And +so it was. A box had been put on one of the chairs, and Mun Bun and Margy +had been sitting on that. This box had fallen on Laddie's leg, which was +twisted up inside it. + +"But what happened?" asked Mother Bunker again. "You really mustn't make +so much noise when you play." + +"We couldn't help it, Mother," said Rose, who, being the oldest girl, was +quite a help around the house, though she was only seven years old. "The +steamboat turned over and broke all up, Mother," she went on. + +"The steamboat?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. + +"I made one out of the flour-barrel you let me take," explained Russ. "But +Laddie rocked inside it, and it all fell apart, and then the chairs fell +on top of us and Mun and Vi and Margy all fell out and--" + +"Oh, my dears! Some of you may be hurt!" cried Mrs. Bunker, as she heard a +little sob from Mun Bun. "I must come up and see what it is all about," +and, dropping her sewing, up the stairs she hurried. + +There were six little Bunkers, as you have probably counted by this time. +Six little Bunkers, and they were such a jolly bunch of tots and had such +good times, even if a make-believe steamboat did upset now and then, that +I'm sure you'll like to hear about them. + +To begin with, there was Russ Bunker. Russell was his real name, but he +was always called Russ. He was eight years old, and was very fond of +"making things." + +Next came Rose Bunker. She was only seven years old, but she could do some +sweeping and lots of dusting, and was quite a little mother's helper. Rose +had light hair and eyes, while Russ was just the opposite, being dark. + +Violet, or Vi, aged six, was a curly-haired girl, with gray eyes, and, as +I have told you, she could ask more questions than her father and mother +could answer. + +Then there was Laddie, or Fillmore, a twin of Vi's, and, naturally, of the +same age. Just how he happened to be so fond of asking riddles no one +knew. Perhaps he caught it from Jerry Simms, who had served ten years in +the army, and who never tired of telling about it. Jerry was a +not-to-be-mistaken Yankee who worked around the Bunker house--ran the +automobile, took out the furnace ashes and, when he wasn't doing +something like that, sitting in the kitchen talking to Norah O'Grady, the +jolly, good-natured Irish cook, who had been in the Bunker family longer +than even Russ could remember. + +Jerry was a great one for riddles, too, only he asked such hard ones--such +as why does the ginger snap, and what makes the board walk?--that none of +the children could answer them. + +But I haven't finished telling about the children. After Laddie and Violet +came Margy, aged five, and then Mun Bun, the youngest and smallest of the +six little Bunkers. + +Of course there was Daddy Bunker, whose name was Charles, and who had a +real estate office on the main street of Pineville. In his office, Mr. +Bunker bought and sold houses for his customers, and also sold lumber, +bricks and other things of which houses were built. He was an agent for +big firms. + +Mother Bunker's name was Amy, and sometimes her husband called her "Amy +Bell," for her last name had been Bell before she was married. + +The six little Bunkers lived in the city of Pineville, which was on the +shore of the Rainbow River in Pennsylvania. The river was called Rainbow +because, just before it got to Pineville, it bent, or curved, like a bow. +And, of course, being wet, like rain, the best name in the world for such +a river was "Rainbow." It was a very beautiful stream. + +The Bunker house, a large white one with green shutters, stood back from +the main street, and was not quite a mile away from Mr. Bunker's real +estate office, so it was not too far even for Mun Bun to walk there with +his older sister or brother. + +The six little Bunkers had many friends and relatives, and perhaps I had +better tell you the names of some of these last, so you will know them as +we come to them in the stories. + +Mr. Bunker's father had died when he was six years old, and his mother, +Mrs. Mary Bunker, had married a man named Ford. She and "Grandpa Ford" +lived just outside the City of Tarrington, New York. "Great Hedge Estate" +was the name of Grandpa Ford's place, so called because at one side of +the house was a great, tall hedge, that had been growing for many years. + +Grandma Bell was Mrs. Bunker's mother, and lived at Lake Sagatook, Maine. +She was a widow, Grandpa Bell having died some years ago. Margy, or +Margaret, had been named for Grandma Bell. + +Then there was Aunt Josephine Bunker, or Aunt Jo, Mr. Bunker's sister. She +had never married, and now lived in a fine house in the Back Bay section +of Boston. Uncle Frederick Bell, who was Mother Bunker's brother, lived +with his wife, on Three Star Ranch, just outside Moon City in Montana. + +And now, when I have mentioned Cousin Tom Bunker, who had recently been +married, and who lived with his wife Ruth at Seaview, on the New Jersey +coast, I believe you have met the most important of the relatives of the +six little Bunkers. You see they had a grandfather, and two grandmothers, +some aunts, an uncle and a cousin. Well supplied with nice relatives, were +the six little Bunkers, and thus they had many places to visit. + +But I'll tell you about that part later on. Just now we must see what +happened after the steamboat broke to pieces because Laddie jiggled +himself inside the barrel, when Russ was sitting on the outside of it. + +"Are you sure none of you is hurt? You look so!" cried Mother Bunker, as +she saw the confused mass of children, barrel staves, box, footstool and +chairs in the middle of the playroom floor. + +"I'm all right," said Laddie, as he pulled his leg out from where it was +doubled up in the box, and stood up straight. + +"So'm I," added Russ. "Did I fall on you, Laddie?" + +"Yep--but it didn't hurt me much." + +"My dear Mun Bun!" said his mother, pulling the little boy out from under +a chair. "Are _you_ hurt?" + +Munroe Bunker was going to cry, but when he saw that Margy had no tears in +her eyes, he made up his mind that he could be as brave as his little +sister. So he squeezed back his tears and said: + +"I just got a bounce on my head." + +"Well, as long as it wasn't a bump you're lucky," said Russ with a laugh. + +Vi pulled her doll out from under the pile of barrel staves. The doll's +bathing-dress was torn, but Rose said that didn't matter because it was an +old one anyhow. + +"What made it break?" asked Vi as she did this. "Did somebody hit your +steamboat, Russ? Or did it just sink?" + +"I guess it sank all right," Russ answered, laughing. + +"Well, what made it?" went on Vi. + +"Oh, my dear! Don't ask so many questions," begged Mrs. Bunker. + +"I got a new riddle," announced Laddie, as he rubbed his leg where it had +been a little scratched on a box. "It's a riddle about a wheelbarrow +and----" + +"You told us that!" interrupted Russ. + +"Well, then I can make up another," Laddie went on. He was always ready to +do that. "This one is going to be about a barrel. When does a barrel feel +hungry?" + +"Pooh! There can't be any answer to that!" declared Russ. "A barrel can't +ever be hungry." + +"Yes it can, too!" cried Laddie. "When a barrel takes a roll, isn't it +hungry? A roll is what you eat," he explained, "I didn't think that +riddle up," he added, for Laddie was quite honest. "Jerry Simms told me. +When is a barrel hungry? When it takes a roll before breakfast--that's the +whole answer." + +"That's a very good riddle," said Mrs. Bunker with a smile. "But I haven't +yet heard what happened." + +"Didn't you hear the noise?" asked Rose with a laugh. "It made a terrible +bang." + +"Oh, yes, I heard _that_," answered Mrs. Bunker. "But what caused it?" she +asked anxiously. + +Five little Bunkers looked at Russ, as the one best fitted to tell about +the upset. + +"We had a make-believe steamboat," explained the oldest boy. "Laddie was +inside the flour barrel you let me take. He was the fireman. I sat outside +the barrel to steer. But Laddie jiggled and wiggled and joggled inside the +barrel and----" + +"I had to, Mother, 'cause I was making believe the steamer was on the +rough ocean where the water is ten miles deep," interrupted Laddie. "So I +rolled the barrel and joggled it and----" + +"And then it fell in!" added Rose. "I saw it." + +"I _felt_ it," remarked Russ, rubbing his back. "But it didn't hurt me +much," he added. + +"I guess the barrel was so old and dry that it couldn't hold together when +you two boys got to playing with it," said Mrs. Bunker. "Well, I'm glad it +was no worse. At first it sounded as though the house was coming down. You +had better play some other game now." + +"Oh, the rain has stopped!" cried Rose, looking out of a window. "We can +play out in the yard now." + +"Yes, I believe you can," said her mother. "But you must put on your +rubbers, for the ground is damp. Run out and play!" + +With shouts of glee and laughter the six little Bunkers started to go +outdoors. It was a warm day, late in June, and even the rain had not made +it too cool for them to be out. + +As the six children trooped out on the side porch they saw their father +coming up the walk. + +"Why, it isn't supper time, and daddy's coming home!" exclaimed Rose. + +"What do you s'pose he wants?" asked Russ. + +"Maybe he heard the barrel break and came up to see about it," suggested +Laddie. + +"He couldn't hear the barrel break away down to his office," said Russ. + +Just then Mrs. Bunker, from within the house, saw her husband approaching. +She went out on the porch to meet him. + +"Why, Charlie!" she exclaimed, "has anything happened? What is the matter? +You look worried!" + +"I am worried," said Mr. Bunker. "I've had quite a loss! It's some +valuable real estate papers. They are gone from my office, and I came to +see if they were on my desk in the house. Hello, children!" he called to +the six little Bunkers. But even Mun Bun seemed to know that something was +wrong. Daddy Bunker's voice was not at all jolly. + +His loss was worrying him, his wife well knew. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GRANDMA'S LETTER + + +While the other children, being too young to understand much about Daddy +Bunker's worry, ran down to play in the yard, Russ and Rose stayed on the +porch with their father and mother. They heard Mrs. Bunker ask: + +"What sort of papers were they you lost? + +"Well, I don't know that I have exactly lost them," said Mr. Bunker +slowly, as though trying to think what really had happened, "I had some +real estate papers in my desk at the office. They were about some property +I was going to sell for a man, and the papers were valuable. But a little +while ago, when I went to look for them, I couldn't find them. It means +the loss of considerable money." + +"Perhaps they are in your desk here," said Mrs. Bunker, for her husband +sometimes did business at his home in the evening, and had a desk in the +sitting-room. + +"Perhaps they are," said the father of the six little Bunkers. "That is +why I came home so early--to look." + +He went into the house, followed by his wife and Russ and Rose. Mr. Bunker +stepped over to his desk, and began looking through it. He took out quite +a bundle of books and papers, but those he wanted did not seem to be +there. + +"Did you find them?" asked his wife, after a while. + +"No," he answered with a shake of his head, "I did not. They aren't here. +I'm sorry. I need those papers very much. I may lose a large sum of money +if I don't find them. I can't see what could have happened to them. I had +them on my desk in the office yesterday, and I was looking at them when +Mr. Johnson came along to see about buying some lumber from the pile in +the yard next to my office." + +"Perhaps Mr. Johnson might know something about the papers," suggested +Mrs. Bunker. + +Her husband did not answer her for a moment. Then he suddenly clapped his +hands together as a new thought came to him, and he said: + +"Oh, now I remember! I left those papers in my old coat." + +"Your old coat!" repeated Mrs. Bunker with interest. + +"Yes. That old ragged one I sometimes wear at the office when I have to +get things down from the dusty shelves. I had on that coat when I was +holding the papers in my hand, and then Mr. Johnson came along. I wanted +to go out in the lumberyard with him, to look at the boards he wanted to +buy, so I stuck the papers in the pocket of the old coat." + +"Then that's where they must be yet," said Mrs. Bunker. "Where is the +coat?" + +"Oh, I always keep it hanging up behind the office door. Yes, that's it. I +remember now. When Mr. Johnson came in and I went out to look at the +lumber with him, I stuck the papers in the inside pocket of the old, +ragged coat. And then I forgot all about them until just now, when I had +to have them. I'll hurry back to the office and get the papers out of the +pocket of the coat." + +"May we come with you?" asked Russ. + +"Please let us," begged Rose. + +Mr. Bunker, who did not seem quite so worried now, looked at his wife. + +"Take the children, if you have time," she said. "At least Rose and Russ. +The others are playing in the sand," for that's what they were doing. Vi, +Laddie, Margy and Mun Bun were digging in a pile of sand at one end of the +yard. + +"All right, come along, Little Flower, and you, too, Whistler," said Mr. +Bunker, giving Russ a pet name he used occasionally. + +The two children, delighted to be out after the rain, went down the street +with their father, leaving their smaller brothers and sisters playing in +the sand. Russ and Rose felt they were too old for this--especially just +now. + +"Did you hear what happened to us?" asked Russ, as he walked along, +holding one of his father's hands, while Rose took the other. + +"What happened when?" asked Mr. Bunker. + +"When I made a steamboat partly out of a barrel," went on Russ. "It got +broken when Laddie was inside it and I was outside. But we didn't any of +us get hurt." + +"Well, I'm glad of that," said Mr. Bunker with a smile. + +"And Laddie made up a funny riddle about the barrel" went on Rose. "Jerry +told it to him, though. It's like this--'Why does a barrel eat a roll for +breakfast?'" + +"Why does a barrel eat a roll for breakfast?" repeated Mr. Bunker. "I +didn't know barrels ate rolls. I thought they always took crackers or +oatmeal or something like that." + +"Oh, she hasn't got it right!" said Russ, with a laugh at his sister. "The +riddle is, 'When is a barrel hungry?' and Laddie says Jerry told him it +was when the barrel takes a roll before breakfast." + +"Oh, I see!" laughed Mr. Bunker. "Well, that's pretty good. Now I have a +riddle for you. 'How many lollypops can you buy for two pennies?'" and he +stopped in front of a little store with the two children--one on each side +of him. + +Russ looked at Rose and Rose looked at Russ. Then they smiled and looked +at their father. + +"I think we can find the answer to that riddle in here," went Mr. Bunker, +as he led the way into the candy store, for it was that kind. + +And Russ and Rose soon found that they could each get a lollypop for a +penny. + +"You used to get two for a cent," said Russ. "But I guess, on account of +everything being so high, they only give you one." + +"Well, one at a time is enough, I should think," said Mr. Bunker, as they +went out of the store. "If you had two lollypops I'd be afraid you +wouldn't know which one to taste first, and it would take so long to make +sure that you might grow old before you found out, and then you wouldn't +have any fun eating them." + +"Oh, you're such a funny daddy!" laughed Rose. + +They walked down Main Street, and soon came to Mr. Bunker's real estate +office. He hurried inside, followed by the children. + +Mr. Bunker looked behind the door in the little room where he had his +desk. The office was made up of three rooms, and in the large, outer one, +were several clerks, writing at desks. Some of them knew the two little +Bunker children and nodded and smiled at them. + +"Where's that old coat of mine I sometimes wear?" asked Mr. Bunker of one +of his clerks, when the office door had been opened but no garment was +found hanging behind it. + +"Do you mean that ragged one?" asked the clerk, whose name, by the way, +was Donlin--Mr. Donlin. + +"That's the one I mean," said Mr. Bunker. "I stuck some real estate papers +in the pocket of that coat yesterday when I went out to the lumber pile +with Mr. Johnson, and now I want them. I must have left them in the pocket +of the old, ragged coat." + +"If you did they're gone, I'm afraid," said Mr. Donlin. + +"Gone? You mean those papers are gone?" + +"Yes, and the old coat, too. They're both gone. If there were any papers +in the pocket of that old coat they're gone, Mr. Bunker." + +"But who took them?" asked the real estate man, much worried. + +"Why, it must have been that old tramp lumberman," answered the clerk. +"Don't you remember?" + +"What tramp lumberman?" asked Mr. Bunker. + +"It was this way," said Mr. Donlin. "After you went out to the lumber pile +with Mr. Johnson--and I saw you had on the old coat--you came back in here +and hung it up behind the door." + +"And the valuable papers were in the pocket," said Mr. Bunker. "I remember +that." + +"Well, perhaps they were," admitted the clerk. "Anyhow, you hung the +ragged coat behind the door. And just before you went home for the night +an old tramp came in. Don't you remember? He was red-haired." + +"Yes, I remember that," said the children's father. + +"Well, this tramp said he used to be a lumberman, but he got sick and had +to go to the hospital, and since coming out he couldn't find any work to +do. He said he was in need of a coat, and you called to me to give him +your old one, as you were going to get another. Do you remember that?" + +"Oh, yes! I certainly do!" cried Mr. Bunker. "I'd forgotten all about the +tramp lumberman! And I did tell you to give him my old coat. I forgot all +about having left the papers in it. I was so busy talking to Mr. Johnson +that I never thought about them. And did the tramp take the coat?" + +"He did, Mr. Bunker. And he said to thank you and that he was glad to get +it. He went off wearing it." + +"And my papers--worth a large sum of money--were in the pocket!" exclaimed +Mr. Bunker. "I never thought about them, for I was so busy about selling +Mr. Johnson the lumber. It's too bad!" + +"I'm sorry," said the clerk. "If I had known the papers were in the old +coat I'd have looked through the pockets before I gave it to the tramp." + +"Oh, it wasn't your fault," said Mr. Bunker quickly. "It was my own. I +should have remembered about the papers being in the coat. But do you know +who that tramp was, and where he went?" + +"I never saw him before," replied Mr. Donlin, "and I haven't seen him +since. Maybe the police could find him." + +"That's it! That's what we'll have to do!" cried Mr. Bunker. "I shall have +to send the police to find the old lumberman; not that he has done +anything wrong, but to get back my papers. He may keep the coat. Very +likely he hasn't even found the papers. Yes, I must tell the police!" + +But before Mr. Bunker could do this in came the postman with the mail. +There were several letters for the real estate dealer, and when he saw one +he exclaimed: + +"Ah, this is from Grandma Bell! We must see what she has to say!" + +Daddy Bunker opened the letter, which was written to him by his wife's +mother--the children's grandmother--and when he had read a few lines, he +exclaimed: + +"Oh, ho! Here is news indeed! Good news!" + +"Oh, what is it?" asked Russ. "Did grandma tell you in the letter that the +tramp lumberman left your papers at her house?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FOURTH OF JULY + + +Daddy Bunker looked at his little boy and girl. And, on their part, Russ +and Rose looked at daddy. They were thinking of two things--the letter +from Grandma Bell and Mr. Bunker's real estate papers that the tramp +lumberman had carried off in the old coat. Russ and Rose didn't know much +about real estate--except that it meant houses and barns and fields and +city lots. And they didn't know much about valuable real estate papers, +but they did know their father was worried about something, and this made +them feel sad. + +"Has grandma got your papers?" asked Russ again. + +"Oh, no, little Whistler," answered Mr. Bunker with a laugh. "She doesn't +even know I have lost them." + +"But what's the letter about?" asked Rose. + +"It's a letter from Grandma Bell inviting us all up to her home at Lake +Sagatook, in Maine, to spend part of the summer," answered Mr. Bunker. +"Grandma Bell wants us to come up to Maine, and have a good time." + +"Oh, can we go?" cried Russ, and, for the moment, he forgot all about his +father's lost papers. + +"Oh, won't it be fun!" cried Rose. "I love Grandma Bell!" + +"Yes, I guess every one who knows her does," said Mr. Bunker, for he was +as fond of his wife's mother as he was of his own, who was the children's +Grandma Ford. + +"When can we go?" asked Russ. + +"Oh, it's too soon to settle that part," answered his father. "We'll have +to take this letter home and talk it over with mother. Then I must see if +I can't get the police to find this red-haired tramp lumberman who is +carrying those valuable papers around in my old coat. It's queer I never +thought that I put them in the pocket. Very queer!" + +"Maybe the tramp will bring them back," said Rose after a bit. "Lots of +times, when people find things, they bring them back." + +"Yes, that's so, he might do it, if he is honest," said Mr. Bunker. "But +perhaps he isn't, and maybe he has not yet looked in the pockets of the +coat. But I'll just telephone to the police, and see if any of them have +seen the tramp that came to my office." + +There were not many policemen in Pineville, and most of them knew Mr. +Bunker. He telephoned from his office to the chief, or head policeman, and +asked him to be on the watch for a red-haired tramp lumberman wearing an +old coat. + +"Get me back the papers. I don't care about the coat--he may have that," +said Mr. Bunker. + +The chief promised that he and his men would do what they could, and some +of the policemen at once began looking about Pineville for the tramp. + +"But I guess maybe he has traveled on from here," said Mr. Bunker, as he +came away from the telephone. "I'm afraid I'll never see my valuable +papers again." + +"Will you be so poor we can't go to Grandma Bell's?" asked Russ. That +would be very dreadful, he thought. + +"Oh, no, I won't be as poor as that," answered Daddy Bunker with a smile. +"We'll go to see Grandma Bell all right. But I would like to get those +papers." + +He told the clerks in his office and some friends of his about his loss, +and they promised to be on the lookout for the tramp. Then Daddy Bunker +took Rose and Russ back home with him, along Main Street, in Pineville. + +"Did you find them?" asked Mrs. Bunker anxiously, as she saw her husband +coming up the walk toward the house. "Did you get your papers?" + +"No," he answered. "I forgot that I had given the old coat to a tramp, and +the papers were in one of the pockets," and he told his wife what had +happened at the real estate office. + +"And we got a letter from Grandma Bell!" exclaimed Rose as soon as she had +a chance to speak. + +"And we're going to see her--up to Lake Sagatook, in Maine," added Russ. + +"No? Really?" cried Mrs. Bunker in delight. "Did you get a letter from +mother?" she asked her husband. + +"Yes, it came to me at the office," he answered, giving it to his wife. + +"Do you think we can go?" she asked, when she had read the letter. + +"Why, yes, I guess so," slowly answered Mr. Bunker. "It will do you good +and the children good, too. We'll go to Grandma Bell's!" + +"Oh, goody!" cried Russ, and he began to whistle a merry tune. Rose +started to sing a little song, and then she said: + +"Oh, but I must go in and help set the table!" for she often did that, as +Norah had so much else to do at meal-time. + +"All right, Little Helper!" said Mother Bunker with a smile. "We can talk +about the trip to grandma's when we are eating supper." + +Some of the other children heard the good news--the loss of the real +estate papers did not bother them, for they were too little to worry; but +they loved to hear about Grandma Bell. + +"And I'm going to take some fire-to'pedos!" exclaimed Laddie. "I'm going +to shoot 'em off for Fourth of July at grandma's." + +Daddy Bunker shook his head. + +"I think we'd better have our Fourth of July at home here, before we go," +he said. "That will be next week, and we can go to Maine soon afterward. +Grandma Bell doesn't like fire-crackers, anyhow. We'll shoot them off +before we go." + +"Goody!" cried Laddie again. Anything suited him as long as he could have +fun. "We'll shoot sky-rockets, too. What makes 'em be called sky-rockets?" +he asked, "Do they go up to the sky?" + +"You go and ask Jerry Simms about that," suggested Mr. Bunker. "Jerry can +tell you how they shot signaling rockets in the army. Trot along!" + +Laddie was glad to do this. He liked to hear Jerry talk. + +"Maybe he'll tell me a riddle about sky-rockets," said the little fellow. + +Russ sat down on the porch and began whittling some bits of wood with his +knife. + +"What are you making now, Russ?" asked his father, while Mrs. Bunker went +in to see that Rose was setting the table right, and that Norah had +started to get the meal. + +"I'm making a wooden cannon to shoot fire-crackers," the boy answered. +"You can put a fire-cracker in it and light it, and then it can't hurt +anybody." + +"That's a good idea," said Mr. Bunker, "You can't be too careful about +Fourth of July things. I'll be at home with you and the other children on +that day, to see that you don't get hurt." + +"Are you sure Grandma Bell wouldn't like to have us bring some shooting +things down to her?" asked Russ. + +"Oh, yes, I am very sure," answered his father with a laugh. "Grandma Bell +doesn't like much noise. We'll have our Fourth before we go." + +"That'll be fun!" said Russ, and he went on whittling at his cannon. His +father did not really believe the little boy could make one, but Russ was +always doing something; either whistling or making some toy. + +At supper they talked about the fun they would have at Grandma Bell's. It +was quite a long trip in the train, and they would be all night in the +cars. + +"And that'll be fun!" cried Russ. "We can all of us sleep when the train +is going along." + +"Can we, Daddy?" asked Laddie. "Really?" + +"Oh, yes, they have sleeping-cars," said Mr. Bunker. + +"Do the cars sleep?" asked Laddie, his eyes opening wide in surprise. "Oh, +that's funny--a sleeping-car. And--and----Say! maybe I can think up a +riddle about a sleeping-car," he added. + +"You'd better think about drinking your milk, and getting good and fat, +with rosy cheeks, so Grandma Bell will like to kiss them," said Mother +Bunker with a laugh. "Don't think so much about riddles or sleeping-cars." + +"Maybe I can think of a riddle with a sleeping-car in it and some milk, +too," said Laddie. + +"Perhaps you can!" laughed Daddy Bunker. "A cow in a sleeping-car would do +for that." + +After the children had gone to bed--each one eager to dream about Grandma +Bell--Mr. and Mrs. Bunker sat up and talked about what was to be done. + +"It's too bad about those papers the tramp took in the old coat," said +Mrs. Bunker. + +"Yes, I am sorry to lose them," said her husband. "But perhaps the tramp +may be found, and I may get them back." + +Russ, Rose, and all the rest of the six little Bunkers got up early next +morning. + +"Is It Fourth of July yet?" asked Munroe. + +"No, not yet, Mun Bun," answered Rose with a laugh. "But it soon will +be--in a few days." + +"I'm going to finish my cannon," said Russ. + +"Come on!" called Laddie to his twin sister Vi. "Let's go down and dig a +hole in the sand pile." + +"What for?" she asked. Violet hardly ever did anything without first +asking a question about it. + +"Huh?" + +"What for we dig a hole?" + +"To put fire-crackers in," answered Laddie. "And when they shoot +off--'Bang!'--they'll make the sand go up in the air." + +"Like a sky-rocket?" asked Vi. + +"Yes, I guess maybe like a sky-rocket," answered Laddie. + +So down to the sand pile he and his sister went. Mun Bun and Margy played +in the grass in the side yard, Russ whittled away at his wooden cannon, +whistling the while, and Rose, after she had done a little dusting, made a +new dress for her doll. + +"'Cause I want her to look nice for Grandma Bell," said the little girl. + +And thus they played at these and other things, and had a good time. + +A few mornings after this Russ was suddenly awakened by hearing a loud +noise under his window. + +"What's that?" he cried. "Thunder?" + +"It's Fourth of July!" answered his father. "Some boy must have shot off a +big early fire-cracker! Get up, children! It's Fourth of July, and we are +going to have some fun! Get up!" + +"Hurray!" cried Russ. "Hurray for the Fourth of July!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TRAMP + + +Such fun as the six little Bunkers had! Daddy Bunker was up before any of +them, to see that little fingers were not burned by pieces of punk or +stray ends of fire-crackers, and before breakfast Russ and Laddie had made +enough noise, their mother said, to last all day. + +"It's a good thing we decided not to go to Grandma Bell's until after the +Fourth;" she said. "Dear mother never could have stood this racket." + +"We like it," said Russ. + +He and Laddie did, and Mun Bun did not mind it very much, though he did +shut his eyes and jump when a big cracker went off. + +Rose, Margy and Vi didn't like the fire-crackers at all, though they +didn't mind tossing torpedoes down on the sidewalk, to hear them go off +with a little bang. + +Mrs. Bunker was afraid some of the children might get burned or hurt with +the fireworks, and she wished they hadn't had any; but Daddy Bunker +promised to stay with the little folk all day, and see that they got into +no danger. And he did, firing off the big fire-crackers himself. + +The wooden cannon Russ made didn't work very well. The first fire-cracker +that was shot off in it burst the wooden affair all to pieces. + +"But I don't care," said Russ with a jolly whistle. "It made _one_ awfully +good noise, anyhow." + +"To-night we'll go down to the Square and see the big fireworks," said +Daddy Bunker, for the town of Pineville was old-fashioned enough to have a +Fourth-of-July celebration. + +"And you said we could have ice cream and cake this afternoon," said Rose +to her mother. + +"Yes, I did," agreed Mrs. Bunker. "Norah is freezing the cream now, and +she made the cake yesterday." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Laddie, clapping his hands. "Ice cream and cake. Is it +chocolate cake, Mother?" he asked. + +"I don't know--you'll have to ask Norah," was the answer. + +"Come on, let's!" said Rose, and they ran around to the kitchen door, +looking in where the good-natured cook was busy with pots and pans. + +"Chocolate cake is it? Sure it's _both_ kinds," Norah answered with a +laugh. "It's regular thunder-and-lightning cake--you wait an' see!" + +"Thunder-and-lightning cake! Oh, what kind is that?" asked Rose. + +"Maybe it's a riddle," suggested Laddie. + +"Oh, you're always thinking about riddles!" exclaimed Russ. "Come on, +let's go out to the barn and have some fun in the hay," for Mr. Bunker +kept a horse for driving customers about to look at real estate. + +"What kind of fun can we have?" asked Vi. + +"Come on, and you'll see," returned Russ. + +By this time most of their fireworks had been shot off, though Daddy +Bunker had insisted that they save a few for afternoon. And, making sure +that the children did not have smoldering pieces of punk, which might set +the barn on fire, Mrs. Bunker watched the six little tots run out there to +have fun. + +"Have you heard anything about the papers the tramp carried away in your +old coat?" she asked her husband, who did not go to the office that day. + +"No, the police couldn't find the man," answered Mr. Bunker. "I guess my +papers are gone for good. But I mustn't worry about them; nor must you. I +want you and the children to have a good time at Grandma Bell's." + +"Oh, we always have good times there," said his wife. "I'll be glad to go. +It is lovely in Maine at this time of year." + +Out in the barn the children could be heard laughing and shouting. + +"I hope they don't try to make any more steamboats out of old barrels, and +get caught in the ruins," said Mrs. Bunker with a laugh, as she thought of +the funny accident that had happened in the playroom. + +"Oh, I guess they'll be all right," said Mr. Bunker. "It's quiet now, so +I'll lie down and have a nap, to get ready to take them to the fireworks +to-night." + +The six little Bunkers had played some games in the barn--sliding down the +hay, pretending an old wagon was a stage coach and that the Indians +captured it--games like that--when they heard Norah calling loudly to +them. + +"What's she saying?" asked Laddie, who had found a hen's nest in the hay +and was wondering whether he had better take in the eggs or let them stay +to be hatched into little chickens. "What's Norah want, Russ? Have we got +to come in?" + +"She says come and get the thunder-and-lightning cake," said Russ, who was +listening at the barn door. + +"And ice cream! She said ice cream, too!" added Vi. "I heard her!" + +"Yes, I guess she did say ice cream," admitted Russ. "Come on!" and he set +out on a run toward the house. + +"Wait for me! Wait for me!" begged Mun Bun, whose short legs could not go +as fast as could those of Russ. + +"I'll wait for you, Mun," said Rose kindly, and she turned back and took +the little fellow's hand. + +"Maybe all the cream'll melt if we don't run," said Mun, as he toddled +along beside Rose. + +"Oh, no, I guess not. Norah will save some for us," said the little girl, +humming a song. + +And Rose was right. Norah made all the children sit down on the side +porch, and she waited until Mun and Rose--the last to arrive--reached the +place, before she dished out the cream. Daddy and Mother Bunker were +there, too, with their dishes, and so was Jerry Simms. + +"This is better than bein' in the army," said the old soldier. + +"Didn't you ever have ice cream there?" asked Russ. + +"Oh, once in a while. But it wasn't at all the kind Norah can make. Sure +she's a wonder at ice cream!" + +"And we're going to have thunder-and-lightning cake, too!" added Rose. + +"Well, I don't know what kind that is, but it sounds good on a Fourth of +July," said Jerry with a laugh. "I hope it doesn't explode when I eat it, +though, like a ham sandwich did once." + +"Did a ham sandwich explode?" asked Russ, who always liked to hear the old +soldier tell army stories. + +"Well, sort of," answered Jerry. "It was over in the Philippines. I was +eating my sandwich, and some of the soldiers were firing at the enemy, and +the enemy was firing at us. And a shell came pretty close to where I was +sitting. It went off with a bang, and a piece of the shell hit the +sandwich I was just going to bite." + +"It's a mercy the shell didn't hit you," said Mrs. Bunker. + +"Part of it did--my hand that held the meat and bread," explained Jerry. +"But it's good I wasn't biting the sandwich at the time, or I might have +lost my head. However, here comes the thunder-and-lightning cake. Now we +can see what it is." + +Norah came out of the kitchen with two heaping plates, and, at the sight +of them, the six little Bunkers said: + +"Oh! Ah! Oh!" + +There were six "Ohs" and six "Ahs!" as you can imagine; one for each boy +and girl. + +"Is this thunder-and-lightning cake?" asked Russ. + +"That's what it is," answered Norah. "It's the first time I've made it in +a long while. I hope you'll like it." + +"Sure they can't help it if you made it!" chuckled Jerry, who was +exceedingly fond of Norah. + +"Go 'long with you!" she told him, laughing. + +"It does look just like thunder, it's so dark!" said Russ, biting into a +slice of the cake. + +"And where's the lightning?" asked Rose. + +"That's the pink part," answered the cook. "You see I take some +chocolate-cake dough, and mix it up with white-cake dough, and then I put +in some dough that I've colored pink, and mix that through in lines and +streaks, and that's the lightning," explained Norah. + +And when the cake had been baked in this way, and cut, each slice showed a +white part, a dark brown part and a pink, jagged streak here and there, +as lightning is sometimes seen to streak through the dark clouds. + +"Oh, it's awful good!" cried Laddie, as he took a second slice to eat with +the home-made ice cream. + +"Will it make a noise like a fire-cracker?" asked Vi, who always had some +sort of question ready. + +"It won't make a noise unless you drop it, darlin'," said Jerry with a +laugh. "Then it'll go 'thump!'" + +"Don't you dare talk that way about my cake!" said Norah. "The idea of +sayin' it would make a noise if it fell." + +"I was only joking" rejoined the former soldier. "The cake is so light, +Norah, that I'll have to tie strings to it to keep it from goin' up to the +sky like a balloon!" + +"Go 'long with you!" laughed Norah, but she seemed pleased all the same. + +"We're going to see balloons to-night at the fireworks," remarked Rose. +"Did you ever see any, Jerry?" + +"Yes, we had 'em in the army." + +"Did you ever go up in one?" asked Russ eagerly. + +"Once," said the former soldier. + +"Oh, tell us about it!" begged Laddie, and Jerry did, while the six little +Bunkers sat about him, finishing the last of their cream and cake. + +Then Jerry had to go to get some gasolene for the automobile, as Mr. +Bunker kept a machine, as well as a horse and carriage, and the children +were left to themselves. They were thinking about the fireworks they were +to see in the evening, and talking about the fun they would have at +Grandma Bell's, when Russ, who got up to go down on the grass and turn a +somersault, suddenly stopped and looked at a man coming up the side path. + +The man was a very ragged one, and he shuffled along in shoes that seemed +about to drop off his feet. He had on a battered hat, and was not at all +nice-looking. + +"Oh, look!" whispered Rose, who saw the ragged man almost as soon as Russ +did. + +"I see him!" Russ answered. "That's a tramp! I guess it's the one daddy +gave his coat to with the papers in. Maybe he's come to give 'em back. Oh, +wouldn't that be good!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MUN BUN'S BALLOON + + +Six little Bunkers looked at the ragged man coming up the walk toward the +porch. He was a tramp--of that even Mun Bun, the smallest of the six, was +sure. + +"Have you got anything for a hungry man?" asked the ragged chap, taking +off his ragged hat. "I'm a poor man, and I haven't any work and I'm +hungry." + +"Did you bring back my daddy's papers?" asked Russ. + +"What papers?" asked the tramp, and he seemed very much surprised. "I'm +not the paper man," he went on. "I saw a boy coming up the street a while +ago with a bundle of papers under his arm. I guess maybe he's your paper +boy. I'm a hungry man----" + +"I don't mean the newspaper," went on Russ, for the other little Bunkers +were leaving the talking to him. "But did you bring back the real estate +papers?" + +"The real estate papers?" murmured the tramp, looking around. + +"'Tisn't any riddle," added Laddie. "Is it, Russ?" + +"No, it isn't a riddle," went on the older boy. "But did you bring back +daddy's papers that he gave you?" + +"He didn't give me any papers!" exclaimed the tramp. + +"They were in a ragged coat," added Rose. "In the pocket." + +The tramp looked at his own coat. + +"This is ragged enough," he said, "but it hasn't any papers in it that I +know of. I guess they'd fall out of the pockets if there was any," he +added. "This coat is nothing but holes. I guess you don't know who I am. +I'm a hungry man and----" + +"Aren't you a lumberman, and didn't my father give you an old coat the +other day?" asked Russ. + +The tramp shook his head. + +"I don't know anything about lumber," he said. "I can't work at much, and +I'm hungry. I'm too sick to work very hard. All I want is something to +eat. And I haven't any papers that belong to your father. Is he at +home--or your mother?" + +"I'll call them," said Rose, for she knew that was the right thing to do +when tramps came to the house. + +But there was no need to go in after Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. They had heard +the children talking out on the side porch, and a strange man's voice was +also noticed, so they went out to see what it was. + +"Oh, Daddy!" cried Russ. "Here's the tramp lumberman you gave the old coat +to, but he says he hasn't any papers!" + +"Excuse me!" exclaimed the tramp, "but I don't know what the little boy is +talking of. I just stopped in to ask for a bite to eat, and he and the +other children started talking about a lumberman and some papers in a +ragged coat. Land knows my coat is ragged enough, but I haven't anything +belonging to you." + +Mr. Bunker looked sharply at the ragged man, and then said: + +"No, you aren't the one. A tramp lumberman did call at my real estate +office the other day, and I told one of my clerks to give him an old coat. +In the pocket were some valuable papers. But you aren't the man." + +"I know it, sir!" answered the tramp. "This is the first time I've been +here. I'm hungry and----" + +"I'll tell Norah to get him something to eat," said Mrs. Bunker, who was +kind to every one. + +And while she was gone, and while the six little Bunkers looked at the +ragged man, the children's father talked to him. + +"I'd like to find that tramp lumberman," said Mr. Bunker. "I gave him the +coat because he needed it more than I did, but I didn't know I had left +the papers in the pocket. You're not the man, though. I didn't have a very +good look at him, but he had a lot of red hair on his head: I saw that +much." + +"My hair's black--what there is of it," said the ragged man. "But I don't +know anything about your papers. But if I see a red-haired lumberman in my +travels around the country, I'll tell him to send you back the papers." + +"That will be very kind of you," said Mr. Bunker, "as I need them very +much. Do you think you might meet this red-haired lumberman tramp, who has +my old coat?" + +"Well, I might. You never can tell. I travel about a good bit, and I meet +lots of fellers like myself, though I don't know as I ever saw a +lumberman." + +"This man wasn't a regular tramp," said Mr. Bunker. "He was only tramping +around looking for work, and he happened to stop at my place." + +"That's like me," said the black-haired tramp. "I'm looking for work, too. +Got any wood that needs cutting?" + +"Not now," said Mr. Bunker with a smile. "Jerry Simms cuts all my wood. +But I'll give you some money, and maybe that will help you along, and the +cook will fix you something to eat." + +"That's very kind of you," said the tramp. "And if ever I see the man with +your papers I'll tell him to send 'em back." "Please do" begged Mr. +Bunker. + +By this time Norah had wrapped the tramp up a big paper bag full of bread +and meat, with a piece of pie. Tucking this under his arm, he shuffled off +to go to some quiet place to eat. + +Soon it was time to go to the square in the middle of the city, where the +fireworks were to be shown. The six little Bunkers, talking over the fun +they had had that day, and thinking of the good times they were to have at +Grandma Bell's, walked along with their father and mother. Behind them +came Norah and Jerry Simms. + +"Maybe the tramp will come to see the fireworks," said Rose, who was +walking beside Russ. + +"You mean the red-headed one that has daddy's papers?" + +"No, I mean the one that came begging at our house to-night." + +"Well, maybe he will," admitted Russ. "If I was a tramp I'd walk all +around and go to every place that I was sure they were going to have +fireworks." + +"So would I," said Rose. "I love fireworks." + +"But you couldn't be a tramp," declared her brother. + +"Why not?" Rose wanted to know. + +"'Cause you're a girl, and only men and boys are tramps. I could be a +tramp, but you couldn't." + +[Illustration: AND THEN THE FIREWORKS BEGAN. + +_Six Little Bunker's at Grandma Bell's.--Page_ 58] + +And then the fireworks began, and the six little Bunkers thought no more +about tramps, missing papers, or even about the visit to Grandma Bell's +for a time, as they watched the red, green and blue fire, and saw the +sky-rockets, balloons and other pretty things floating in the air. + +If the red-haired tramp, or the one for whom Norah had put up the lunch +that evening, came to the fireworks, the six little Bunkers did not see +the ragged men. + +They stayed until the last pinwheel had whizzed itself out in streams and +stars of colored fire, until the last sky-rocket had gone hissing upward +toward the clouds, and until the last glow of red fire had died away in +the sky. + +"Now we'll go home!" said Mother Bunker. "You tots must be tired. You've +had a full day, for you were up early." + +"But we've had lots of fun," said Russ, "piles of it." + +"And now we'll get ready to go to Grandma Bell's, won't we?" asked Rose. + +"Yes. To-morrow and for the next few days we'll be busy getting ready to +go to Maine," said Mrs. Bunker. + +"I want a balloon!" suddenly said Mun Bun. He had not done much talking +that evening. Probably it was because he was too excited watching the +fireworks. It was the first time he had been taken to the evening +celebration. + +"Do you mean you want to go to Grandma Bell's in a balloon?" asked his +father. "Maybe you mean you're so tired you can't walk any more, and you +want a balloon to ride in. Well, Mun Bun, we can't get a balloon now, but +I can carry you, and that will be pretty nearly the same, won't it?" + +"I want a balloon," said the little boy again, "but I want you to carry +me, too. Can't I have a balloon, Daddy?" and he nestled his tired head +down on his father's shoulder. Norah was carrying Margy, but the other +little Bunkers could walk. + +"A balloon, is it?" said Mun's father. "Do you mean a fire-balloon?" + +"No, they burn up," said Mun Bun, in rather sleepy tones. And, in truth, +several of the paper balloons sent up that evening had caught fire. "I +want a big balloon I can ride in," he said, "like Jerry told about. I want +to go up in a balloon!" + +"Well, maybe you'll dream about one," said Mother Bunker with a laugh. +"And that will be better than a real one, because if you fall out of a +dream balloon you land in bed. But if you fall out of a real balloon you +may land in the river." + +Mun Bun did not answer. He was asleep on his father's shoulder. + +The next day, between times of walking around the yard looking for +fire-crackers that, possibly, hadn't exploded the day before, and finding +stray torpedoes, the six little Bunkers talked of the fun they had had. +They went into the house, now and then, to see how Mother Bunker and Norah +were coming on with the packing. For a start had been made in getting +ready to go to Grandma Bell's, now that the Fourth of July was passed. + +Mrs. Bunker was so busy that she did not keep as close watch over the +children as usual, and it was nearly time for lunch before she thought of +them. + +"Norah, see if they're all in the yard, please," she said. "And count +them, to be sure all six are there. Then we'll get them something to eat, +and do some more packing this afternoon." + +Norah looked out in the yard. + +"I see only five of 'em, ma'am," she reported. + +"Which one is gone?" asked Mrs. Bunker quickly. + +"I don't see Mun Bun," said the cook. + +Just then Rose came running into the house. + +"Oh, Mother!" she cried. "Guess where Mun Bun is!" + +"I haven't time to guess!" said Mrs. Bunker. "Tell me quickly, Rose! Has +anything happened to him?" + +"I--I guess he's all right," answered Rose, who was out of breath from +running. "But he's standing under a tree up the street, and he won't come +home." + +"He won't come home?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "Why won't he come home, +Rose?" + +"'Cause his balloon is caught. He's got hold of the string and his balloon +is up in the tree and he won't come home. He says he's going to take a +ride up to the sky!" + +"Oh, goodness me! what _has_ happened now?" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. +"Norah!" she called. "Come! Something is the matter with a balloon and Mun +Bun! We must go see what it is!" + +One or the other of the six little Bunkers was always, so it seemed to +their mother, in trouble of some sort, and she or Norah or Jerry Simms or +their father had to drop anything they might be doing to rush to the help +of the child who had gotten itself into something or some place it should +not have got into. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LADDIE'S NEW RIDDLE + + +Norah O'Grady, the cheerful cook for the six little Bunkers, saw their +mother hurrying out of the house with Rose. + +"What's the matter, Mrs. Bunker?" asked Norah. "Is there a fire, and are +ye goin' for a policeman?" + +Firemen and policemen, aside from Jerry Simms, were Norah's two chief +heroes. + +"No, there isn't a fire, Norah" answered Mrs. Bunker. "But Rose just told +me that Mun Bun is caught up in a tree with a balloon, and I've got to go +and get him down. Maybe you'd better come, too." + +"Better come! I should say I _had_!" cried Norah, quickly taking off her +apron. "The poor little lad caught up in a balloon! The saints preserve +us! 'Tis probably one of them circus balloons, or maybe a German airship +came along and caught him up! The poor darlin'!" + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Rose, as she trotted along with her mother and Norah, +"Mun isn't in a balloon. His balloon is caught in a big tree and the +little darlin' won't come away and----" + +"It couldn't be much worse!" gasped Norah. "We'll have to get a fireman +with a long ladder, 'tis probable, to get him down." + +"I don't see how it could have happened," said Mrs. Bunker. "He was in the +yard playing, a little while ago. The next time I looked he was gone. +Where did the balloon come from, Rose?" + +"Mun Bun bought the balloon!" said the little girl. + +"He _bought_ it?" cried Norah and Mrs. Bunker. + +"Yes, it's a five-cent one. He had five cents that Jerry Simms gave him, +Mun had, and he bought the balloon, and it had a long string to it, and it +got caught up in a tree--the balloon did--and Mun Bun's got hold of the +string and he won't come away, 'cause if he does he'll maybe break the +string and the balloon and----" + +Rose had to stop, she was so out of breath, but she had told all there was +need to tell. + +Mrs. Bunker and Norah, who had reached the street and could look down and +see Mun Bun standing under a tree not far away, came to a sudden stop. + +"And then the little darlin' isn't caught up by a German airship?" asked +the cook. + +"No. It's just a balloon he bought with the five cents Jerry gave him," +explained Rose, "and it's caught in a tree, and----" + +"I see how it is," said Mrs. Bunker, and she laughed. "Mun Bun doesn't +want to come away without his toy balloon. We must get it for him, Norah!" + +"Sure, that we will! The saints be praised he isn't flyin' above the +clouds this blessed minute!" and with Norah, now laughing also, the three +of them went to where Mun stood under the tree. Caught on one of the +branches overhead was a big red balloon. It was fast to a string, and the +little boy held the other end of the cord. + +"I can't get it down!" he exclaimed. + +"Well, it's a good thing you didn't climb up after it," said his mother. +"We'll get it down for you, Mun." + +She took hold of the string, and Norah, finding a long stick, carefully +poked it up among the tree branches until she had loosed the toy balloon. +Then it floated free, and Mun Bun could walk along with it floating on the +end of the string above his head. + +"It's a awful nice balloon," he said. "If it was bigger I could have a +ride in it like Jerry did in the one when he was in the army." + +"Well, I'm glad it isn't any bigger," said Mrs. Bunker. "Small as it is, +you gave us enough trouble with it, Mun." + +"But Mun Bun's all right! Norah was scared about him," said the girl, +hugging the little boy close to her as they all walked back toward the +house. + +"Where did you get the balloon?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"Down at Mrs. Kane's store," answered Mun, mentioning a little toy and +candy shop on the block on which the six little Bunkers lived. They spent +all their spare pennies there. + +And it was in bringing his toy balloon home, on the end of a long string, +letting it float in the air over his head that Mun Bun had had the +accident at the tree when the blown-up rubber bag got caught in the +branch. He wouldn't leave it, of course, and Rose ran to tell her mother. +That's how it all happened. + +"Well, come in to lunch now!" called Mrs. Bunker to the other children, +who were, playing in the yard. "And don't go away from the house this +afternoon. It's quite warm, and I don't want any of you to go off in the +blazing sun. If you do we can't go to Grandma Bell's." + +This was enough to make them all promise they would spend the afternoon in +the shade near the house, while Mrs. Bunker and Norah went on with the +packing of the trunks. A great many things must be taken along on the +visit to Maine, when so many children have to be looked after. They used +up much clothing. + +"How long're we going to stay at Grandma Bell's?" asked Russ, as he left +the dining-room after lunch. + +"Oh, perhaps a month," his mother answered. "She told us to come and stay +as long as we liked, but I hardly think we shall be there all summer." + +"Shall we come back home?" asked Rose. + +"I hardly know," said Mrs. Bunker. "We may go to visit some of your +cousins or aunts--land knows you have enough!" + +"Oh, wouldn't it be fun if we could go out West to Uncle Fred's ranch?" +cried Russ. + +"I'd like to go see Cousin Tom at the seashore," put in Rose. "I love the +seashore." + +"I like cowboys and Indians!" exclaimed Russ. + +"Could we go see Aunt Jo, in Boston?" asked Laddie. "I'd like to go to a +big city like Boston." + +"Maybe we could go there, some day," said Mrs. Bunker. "But why would you +like to go there, Laddie?" + +"'Cause then maybe I could hear some new riddles. I didn't think up a new +one--not in two whole days!" + +"My! That's too bad!" said Mr. Bunker, who had come home to lunch, and +who had heard all about Mun's balloon. "I'll give you a riddle, Laddie. +Why does our horse eat oats?" + +"Wait a minute! Don't tell me!" cried the little boy. "Let me guess!" + +He thought hard for a few seconds, and then gave as his answer: + +"Because he can't get hay." + +"No, that isn't it," said Mr. Bunker. And when Laddie had made some other +guesses, and when Russ, Rose and the remaining little Bunkers had tried to +give a reason, Daddy Bunker said: + +"Our horse eats oats because he is hungry, the same as any other horse! +You mustn't always try to guess the hardest answers to riddles, Laddie. +Try the easy ones first!" + +And then, amid laughter, Mr. Bunker started back to the office. + +"Have you found that red-haired tramp yet, Daddy?" asked Russ. "And did +you get back your papers?" + +"No, Russ, not yet. And I don't believe I ever shall." + +"Maybe I could find him if you'd let me come down to your office," went +on the little boy. + +"Well, thank you, but I don't believe you could," said Mr. Bunker. "You'd +better stay here and help your mother pack, ready to go to Grandma +Bell's." + +Out in the shady side yard some of the little Bunkers were playing +different games. Mun and Margy were making sand pies, turning them out of +clam shells on to a shingle, and letting them dry in the sun. Mun's red +balloon floated in the air over the heads of the children, the string tied +fast to a peg Russ had driven into the ground. + +Russ, after having done this kindness for his little brother, began to +whistle a merry tune and at the same time started to nail together a box +in which he said he was going to take some of his toys to Grandma Bell's. +Rose had taken her doll and was sitting under a tree, making a new dress +for her toy, and Laddie and Vi had gone down to the little brook which +bubbled along at the bottom of the green meadow, which was not far from +the house. This brook was not very deep or wide. It flowed into Rainbow +River, and was a safe place for the children to play. + +Laddie and Vi had taken off their shoes and stockings before going down to +paddle in the water, and after a while Russ, stopping in his work of +hammering the box to look for more nails, heard Laddie calling out in a +loud voice: + +"Oh, Vi! what made the boat sink? What made the boat sink?" + +At the same time Vi gave a loud shriek. + +Russ dropped his hammer and started to run toward the brook. + +"What's the matter?" called his mother, who saw him running. + +"I don't just know," answered Russ, over his shoulder, "but I guess Laddie +has a new riddle. He's hollering about why does a boat sink. But Vi's +crying, I think." + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, again stopping in her work of packing a +trunk. "I hope those children haven't fallen into the brook!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"WHERE IS MARGY?" + + +Led by Russ, Mrs. Bunker and Norah hurried down to the brook that ran +through the green meadow. It was just like the time they ran when Rose +called them about Mun's balloon. + +"Did you see anything happen, Russ?" asked his mother. + +"No'm, I didn't," he answered. "I was making a box to take some of my +things to Grandma Bell's, and I heard Vi yell and Laddie asking a riddle." + +"Asking a riddle?" + +"Well, it _sounded_ like a riddle," Russ answered. "He kept saying: 'What +made the boat sink? Oh, Vi, what made the boat sink?'" + +"I hope it _was_ only a riddle, and that nothing has happened," said Mrs. +Bunker. + +"Maybe it'll be no worse than Mun and his balloon," said Norah. "Anyhow, +I can see the two children!" and she pointed across the green meadow to +the brook. "They seem to be all right." + +There, on the grassy bank, was Laddie jumping up and down, and pointing to +something in the water. And the something was Vi though she appeared to be +out in the middle of the brook, in a part where it was deep enough to come +over the knees of Russ. + +"What's the matter, Laddie?" asked his mother. "Has anything happened to +Vi?" + +"She's in the boat, and it's sunk," was the answer. "Oh, what made the +boat sink?" + +"Silly boy! Stop asking riddles at a time like this!" cried Mrs. Bunker. +"What do you mean, Laddie?" + +"It isn't a riddle at all," he answered. "The boat did sink and Vi is in +it. What made it?" + +"A boat! Sure there's no boat on the brook, unless the boy made one +himself," said Norah. + +"I did make one--out of a box, and Vi was riding in it, but it sank," said +Laddie. "What made it sink?" + +Then Mrs. Bunker, Norah and Russ came near enough to the shore of the +brook to see what had happened. Out in the middle, standing in a soap box, +was Violet. The little girl was crying and holding out her hands to +Laddie, who seemed quite worried and excited. + +"She's sunk! She's sunk!" he said over and over again. + +"Be quiet, silly boy!" ordered his mother, who saw that Vi was in no +danger. "We'll get her out. Why didn't you wade out to her yourself, and +bring her to shore?" + +"'Cause I thought maybe something was out there," said Laddie. + +"Something out there? What do you mean?" asked his mother. + +"I mean something that made the boat sink--something that pulled it down +in the water with Vi. A shark maybe, or a whale!" + +"Nonsense!" laughed Mrs. Bunker. "There are only little baby fishes in the +brook." + +"But something made the boat sink!" insisted Laddie. + +"We'll see about that when we get Vi to shore," said Mrs. Bunker. "Come +on," she called to the little girl. "Wade to shore, Vi. You have your +shoes and stockings off, haven't you?" + +"Oh, yes, Mother." + +"Then wade to shore. You're all right." + +So Vi stepped out of the soap box, which Laddie had called the boat, and +started for shore. The box floated down the brook, and Russ ran out on a +little point of land to catch hold of it when it should float to him. + +"Now you're all right," said Mrs. Bunker to her little girl, as Vi came +ashore. "But what happened?" + +"We were playing sailor," explained Laddie, "and I made the boat out of a +box. Then Vi went for a ride, but the boat sank. What made it sink, Vi?" + +"'Cause it's full of cracks and holes--that's why!" answered Russ, who had +caught the soap box as it floated down to him. "Look! It let in a lot of +water, and that's what made it sink," he went on, as he held out the play +boat. + +The bottom and sides of the box were filled with many holes, from which +the water now dripped. Laddie told how he had set it afloat in the brook, +with Vi as a passenger. He had pushed her out from shore, hoping to give +her a nice ride, but in the middle of the stream the boat went down, and +Vi was frightened--or maybe just cross because she was not getting the +ride she expected. She screamed. Laddie couldn't understand why the boat +sank, and called out to know. That was when Russ heard them. + +"But you're all right now," said Mrs. Bunker. "And it's so warm to-day +that wading in the brook won't hurt you. Only don't upset and fall in. I +don't believe you can ride in your boat, Laddie. It won't float when it +leaks so much." + +"'Course not," said Russ, who knew something about boats. "You got to +stuff up all the cracks and holes with putty, Laddie." + +"All right; I'll do that," said the little fellow. "I like a boat. I'll +give you a nice ride, Vi, a real long one, after I stuff up the holes." + +"No, I guess I don't want to ride in the boat any more," said the little +girl, who was wading in the shallow water near shore, "This is more fun." + +"Well, I'll go in the boat myself," said Laddie, taking the box from his +brother. "Got any putty?" he asked. + +"No. But maybe Jerry Simms has," answered Russ. "He was putting a new +window glass in the barn yesterday, and he had putty then." + +Laddie ran off to beg some putty from the good-natured Jerry, and Vi, +after paddling about a little longer in the brook, went back to the house +with her mother and Norah. + +"I guess I'll make me a boat, too," decided Russ. "I can fix the box for +my things to-morrow." + +He went to the barn with Laddie, and soon the two boys were building +"boats" out of soap boxes, stuffing the cracks and holes with putty which +Jerry gave them. + +Then they went down to the brook and floated the boxes. They did not sink +so quickly as had the one with Vi in it, and Russ and Laddie had lots of +fun until supper time. + +"I'm so tired I don't know what to do!" said Mrs. Bunker after supper. +"I've packed two trunks, and I've helped rescue Mun Bun from a balloon and +Vi from a sinking boat that wasn't a riddle after all." And the whole +family, including the six little Bunkers, laughed as they thought of the +queer things that had happened that day. + +"I'll tell you what we can do," said Daddy Bunker. "It's early, and there +is a nice moving picture show in town. We'll all go down and see it. That +will rest you, Mother." + +"Oh, yes! Let's go!" cried Rose. + +And so they did. + +The show was very nice, and there were some funny pictures. But Mun and +Margy fell asleep before the show was over, and might have had to be +carried home, only Jerry Simms came along in the automobile, which he had +taken down to the shop to be repaired, and they rode to the house in that. + +"Are we going to take our automobile with us to Grandma Bell's?" asked +Russ. + +"No, it's too far," his father answered. "But we can hire one there if we +need one. Grandma hasn't one, I believe." + +"She doesn't like to ride in them," said Mrs. Bunker. "Mother is +old-fashioned. She has a carriage and a big carry-all." + +"But we'll have fun there, anyhow, won't we?" asked Russ. + +"I'm sure I hope so," his father answered. + +The next few days were busy ones. More trunks were packed, Russ finished +making his box for his things, and Laddie started to make one also. But he +couldn't drive nails very straight, and his box fell apart almost as fast +as he made it. + +"I don't guess I'll take one," he said. "I'll put my things in your box, +Russ." + +"No, you can't," said the older boy. "There won't be room. But I'll make +you a box for your own self," and this he did, much to Laddie's delight. + +The other children brought from the playroom so many toys they wanted +taken along that Mrs. Bunker said there would be no room in the trunks for +anything else if she took all the youngsters piled up for her. So she +picked out a few for each boy and girl, and put their best toys in. + +At last the day came when they were to take the train for Grandma Bell's. +Daddy Bunker had left one of his men in charge of the real estate office +for the time he was to be away. + +"And will that man find the red-haired lumber tramp that took your papers +in the old coat?" asked Rose. + +"I hope so," answered her father. + +But it was not to happen that way, as you shall see. + +The journey to Grandma Bell's was a long one. To get to Lake Sagatook, in +Maine, the Bunkers would have to travel all of one afternoon, all night +and part of the next day. They would sleep in the queer little beds on the +train. + +"And that'll be a lot of fun!" said Russ to Rose. + +"Oh, yes, lots!" she agreed. + +At the last minute it was found that many things which needed to be taken +could not be put in any of the trunks. + +"Make a big bundle of them," said Daddy Bunker. "Wrap up all the extra +things in a bundle and roll 'em in a blanket. We can express that as we +could a trunk." + +So this was done. + +At last everything was ready. The trunks and the big bundle were set out +on the front porch for the expressman, and when he came the six little +Bunkers, and their father and mother, watched the things being put on the +auto truck. + +"And now we'll start ourselves," said Mr. Bunker, when the expressman had +started toward the depot. "Jerry will take us all down in the auto." + +With final good-byes to Norah and some of the neighbors who gathered to +see the party off, Mrs. Bunker started for the car, at the steering wheel +of which sat Jerry Simms. + +"Are we all here?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Wait until I count noses. Let me +see: Russ, Rose, Vi, Laddie, Mun Bun and----" + +Just then Mrs. Bunker uttered a cry. + +"Why, where is Margy?" + +And where was Margy? She was not with the other little Bunkers! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ROSE'S DOLL + + +Daddy Bunker, who had started to "count noses," to make sure all his +family was together, ready to start in the automobile with Jerry Simms for +the depot, stopped suddenly when he found that little Margy was not with +the other children. At the same time Mother Bunker also saw that one of +her little girls was missing. + +"Where did Margy go?" asked Mrs. Bunker. "I told her not to run back into +the house." + +"She didn't," said Norah. "I was standing right by the door all the while, +and she didn't go in." + +"Maybe she went in the back way," said Russ. + +"The back door is locked," returned Norah. "She must have run down the +street to say good-bye to some of her playmates while the expressman was +loading in the trunks." + +"I'll go and look," offered Russ. + +"And you look in the back and side yards, Rose," said Mr. Bunker. + +Rose ran around to the back yard. A hasty look showed her that her little +sister was not there, and she hurried around to the front porch to tell +her father and mother. + +At the same time Russ came back from his trip down the street. + +"I didn't see her anywhere," he reported, "and I called, but she didn't +answer." + +"Where can the child be?" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Norah, are you sure she +isn't in the house?" + +"Positive. But I'll take a look." + +Just then Russ cried: + +"Here comes the expressman back again. Maybe he forgot some of the +trunks!" + +"No, he took them all," said Mr. Bunker. "I don't see----" + +The express auto stopped in front of the Bunker house. + +"Did you miss anything?" asked the man, laughing. + +"Miss anything?" repeated the children's father. + +"Oh! Margy! We missed her!" said Mrs. Bunker. + +"Well, I guess I've got her here on my truck," went on the expressman, +laughing some more. + +"You have my little girl?" cried Mrs. Bunker, "How did she get into your +auto?" + +"That I don't know," the expressman said, "but here she is," and he lifted +out the big bundle loosely wrapped in an old blanket. The bundle had in it +the things that wouldn't go in the trunks. It was open at both ends, and +tied with straps and ropes. + +Out of one end stuck the dark, and now tangled, curls of Margy Bunker, and +Margy was laughing. + +"Oh, what a girl you are!" cried her mother. "How did you get in there, +Margy?" + +"I--I wiggled in," was the answer, as the expressman carried the bundle, +little Bunker and all, to the porch. "I wanted to get my rubber ball that +was inside so I just wiggled in, I did." + +"Did you really find her in that bundle?" asked Mr. Bunker, as the +expressman put it down on the porch, and Margy, with the help of her +mother, "wiggled" out. + +"Yes, she was in there," was the man's answer. "I loaded that bundle on +last, I remember, because it was soft and I didn't want to crush it with +the heavy trunks. It's a good thing I did, though I didn't know there was +a little girl inside." + +"How did you find out she was in there?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"Well, I stopped my machine when I got down the street a way, to take on +some more packages," answered the expressman, "and I heard a funny sound. +It was like a sneeze." + +"I did sneeze," said Margy, while Norah was busy smoothing the wrinkles +out of her dress. "Some dust got up my nose and I sneezed." + +"First I thought it was a little puppy dog, or a cat--sometimes people +send animals by express," explained the driver. "But when I looked back I +saw a little girl's head sticking out of the bundle, and I knew right away +where she belonged. I thought you didn't want to ship her as baggage or +by express, so I brought her back as fast as I could." + +"I'm glad you did," said Mrs. Bunker. "We couldn't imagine where she had +gone." + +"What did you do, Margy?" asked Russ. + +"I--I just crawled inside the bundle," replied the little girl "I +'membered I put my rubber ball inside, and I wanted it, so I wiggled +inside. And when I got there I was so tired I went to sleep, I guess." + +And that is just what happened. Margy had wiggled herself all the way +inside the bundle, which was not wrapped very tightly. It was big enough +to hold her, and neither her feet nor her head stuck out of either end. + +The bundle had been put on the porch with the trunks, and Margy found it +easy to crawl into it after her ball, which, with other toys of the +children, had been put in the bundle at the last minute. + +"Well, now we'll start off again," said Daddy Bunker. "Don't any of you +children crawl into any bundles, or shut yourselves up in trunks! We all +want to go to Grandma Bell's together." + +The expressman once more carried the bundle to his auto truck, and found +it a little lighter this time, for Margy was not snuggled up inside it. +Then, after "counting noses," Mr. Bunker, his wife and the children got +into the auto with Jerry Simms, and started for the depot. + +"Now I guess we're all right," said the children's father, as he saw that +the baggage was safely put on the train, including the bundle into which +Margy had "wiggled" herself. "All aboard!" + +"That's what you called when we were playing steamboat," said Rose to +Russ, as they got into the passenger car. + +"Yes. We had lots of fun that day, didn't we?" he asked. + +"Yes. And we'll have a lot of fun at Grandma Bell's," said his sister. + +As the six little Bunkers were to stay on the train all the rest of that +day and night, as well as part of the next day, they did not go in an +ordinary day coach. They went in one that had big, deep seats, which, when +the time came, could be turned into beds, with sheets, pillow cases, and +curtains hanging in front. But, until the beds were needed, the seats +were used by the passengers, some riding backward and some forward. + +As there were eight Bunkers, including the father and mother, they needed +several beds for sleeping at night. Daddy would take Mun Bun in with him, +and Margy would be tucked in with her mother. + +Russ and Laddie said they wanted to sleep together, while Rose and Violet +were to share a berth between them, and thus they would be as comfortable +as possible on the trip. + +"But it will be quite a while before the berths are made up," said Mr. +Bunker to the children. "So sit beside the windows and look out." + +It was lots of fun riding in the train to Grandma Bell's. The smaller +children had not traveled much, and everything was new to them. Rose and +Russ had been on little trips, though, so they did not so much marvel at +the things they saw. But every time the train passed cows or horses in a +field, went under a bridge or over one, or through a tunnel, it was +something for the other four little Bunkers to wonder at and say: + +"Oh!" and "Ah!" + +After a while, though, they grew less excited, and sat in the big, deep +seats more quietly, looking at the trees and telegraph poles that seemed +to rush by so swiftly. There were a few other passengers in the +sleeping-car--that is, it would be a sleeping-car when the berths were +made up--and for a time the children looked at the men and women who were +traveling. + +"I wonder if they have any Grandma Bell to go to?" asked Vi of her mother. + +"Oh, yes, I suppose so," was the answer, for Mrs. Bunker was busy reading, +and hardly knew what she said. + +"Are they going to our Grandma Bell's?" asked Vi quickly. + +"To our Grandma Bell's? No, I don't suppose that!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, +realizing that Vi was surprised. "But they have some place to go." + +"I don't believe they have any place as nice as our Grandma Bell's house," +went on Vi. "When'll we get there, Mother? Do you know?" + +"Oh, not for a long while. Now please don't ask so many questions, Vi. I +want to read. Look out of the window." + +Vi did for a little while. Then she turned to her father and asked: + +"How many telegraph poles are there?" + +"Oh, I don't know," he answered. Then, knowing that once Vi started to ask +questions she would never stop, he bought her a picture book from the +train boy. + +"I want a book, too," demanded Laddie. + +"So do I," said Margy. + +"Here! Give 'em each one!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker with a laugh. "Maybe that +will keep 'em quiet until bedtime." + +"I don't want a book now, thank you," said Rose. "I'm going to get my doll +to sleep." She had brought with her the largest doll she owned, almost as +large, it was, as herself, and this she held in her arms as she sat in the +seat away from the others, as the car was not crowded. + +Five little Bunkers sat looking at the picture books Daddy Bunker had +bought them. Mr. and Mrs. Bunker were reading papers and Rose was getting +her doll to "sleep." The doll did really shut its eyes, so Rose did not +have to pretend very hard that her pet was soon in slumberland. + +"Now I'm going to put her to bed," she whispered, and, walking down to the +end of the car ("where it'll be quiet," the little girl said to herself), +she laid the doll, wrapped in a shawl, down in the deep corner of the +seat. + +The afternoon wore on. The little Bunkers looked at their picture +books--taking turns--and again gazed out of the window. Rose thought her +doll had slept long enough, so she walked down to the end of the car to +get her pet. + +The little girl came back with a bundle in her arms, and, sitting down +beside her mother, began unwrapping the shawl. + +And then something very queer happened. There was a tiny little cry, and +the bundle in Rose's arms moved! The little girl cried: + +"Oh, Mother, look! Look, Mother! My dollie has come alive! It has turned +into a real, live baby! Look! Oh, Mother!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WRONG DADDY + + +Mrs. Bunker turned from her paper to look down at what Rose held in her +arms. And, to the surprise of the children's mother, she saw that her +little girl held, not a doll, that could open and close her eyes, but a +real, live baby, which was kicking and squirming in its blankets, and +wrinkling up its tiny face, making ready to cry. + +"Oh, Rose!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "What have you done?" + +"I--I--didn't do anything!" Rose answered. "But my doll turned into a live +baby!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "You have--you have----" + +And just then, down at the other end of the car, a woman's voice cried: + +"Oh, my baby! My baby! Where is my baby? This is only a doll!" + +At once the car was a scene of great confusion. Mr. Bunker ran to where +Rose and her mother sat, Rose still holding the live baby. The other +little Bunkers wondered what had happened. + +At the other end of the car a woman rushed frantically along, holding out +a doll. + +"Look! Look!" she cried. "Somebody took my dear baby and left this doll! +Oh, conductor, stop the train!" + +Daddy Bunker seemed to be the first to understand what had happened. He +hurried to Rose, and tenderly lifted up the little baby, which was now +crying hard. Perhaps it knew that something had happened, or perhaps it +was hungry. + +"Here is your baby, madam," said Mr. Bunker to the woman. "And I guess you +have my little girl's doll. It's just a mix-up--just a great, big mistake. +Here is your baby!" + +The woman, whose face showed delight now instead of fear and worry, +clasped her baby in her arms, first handing the doll to Mr. Bunker. + +"Oh, my baby! My precious!" she crooned, pressing her face close to the +child. "I thought some one had taken you!" + +"I--I guess I took up your baby for my doll," put in Rose. "I laid my doll +down in a seat at the end of the car so she would go to sleep nice and +quiet." + +"That's just what I did with my baby," said the woman. + +"And then I went to get my doll, and I thought she'd come to life," went +on Rose. + +"The seats where the baby and doll were must have been right next to one +another," said Mrs. Bunker. "That's how Rose picked up your little one in +mistake for her doll." + +"I suppose so," the baby's mother answered with a smile. "Well, it has all +come out right, I'm glad to say. But at first I was dreadfully +frightened." + +"It was a queer mistake," said Mr. Bunker. "Rose put her doll down to +sleep in the seat right next to where the live baby was sleeping. And the +seats looked so much alike, and Rose's doll was in a white shawl, just +like the real baby, so that's how it happened." + +"And the baby is such a little one, and Rose's doll is so big, that no +wonder she didn't know the difference until she saw the real baby open its +eyes," went on Mother Bunker. "Well, it was a funny happening." + +The other passengers laughed and talked about it, and so did the six +little Bunkers. Then it was time to go into the dining-car for supper, +after which the berths would be made up, so those who wished could go to +bed. + +The children were all sleepy, for they had gotten up early, so they +hurried through their supper. They were interested in seeing the colored +porter make the beds when they got back to their own coach. + +He pulled out the bottom parts of two seats, until they met in the middle. +Then he fastened them together, pulled down what seemed to be a big shelf +overhead, and from this recess, or closet, he took blankets, curtains, +sheets, pillows, cases and everything needed for nice, clean beds. + +As Mrs. Bunker was afraid the children might roll out of the upper berths +in the night if the train went fast or swayed, they all had lower berths. +Soon the children with their heaviest clothing taken off, were stretched +out and, a little later, lulled by the clickity-click-clack of the wheels, +they were deep in slumber. + +The younger children did not awaken all night, but Rose and Russ both said +they did once during the hours of darkness. + +"And I heard a baby cry," said Rose. "Was it the one I took for my doll?" + +"I guess it was, Little Helper," answered her mother, the next morning +when Rose told about it. + +After breakfast, eaten at little tables in the dining car, the lady +brought the baby down for Rose and all the other little Bunkers to see. + +"Oh, isn't she cute?" cried Rose, "I wish we could keep her!" + +"I'm glad you like her," said the baby's mother, "but I want to keep her +for myself." + +Once more it was daylight, and as the train rumbled on toward Lake +Sagatook, the Bunkers looked from the windows, or looked again at the +picture books their father had bought for them. + +"When shall we be there?" asked Russ, for perhaps the tenth time. He was +getting a bit tired of train travel. + +"We'll get in at the station about noon," his father told him, "but we +have to drive about five miles in a wagon or an auto to get to Grandma +Bell's place. That is on the shore of Lake Sagatook." + +"And I hope none of you fall in," said Mrs. Bunker. + +"We'll get a boat," said Russ. + +"And I hope it won't sink," added Vi, remembering her last boat ride. + +"Oh, say! I've thought of a new riddle!" shouted Laddie. "Why don't the +tickets get mad when the conductor punches 'em? Why don't they?" + +"I don't know--I give up," said Daddy Bunker. "What's the answer?" + +"Oh, I haven't thought of a good answer yet," said Laddie with a laugh. "I +just thought of the riddle!" + +And he sat by the window, murmuring over and over to himself: + +"Why don't the tickets get mad when the conductor punches 'em?" + +On and on rumbled the train. They were getting near the end of the trip, +and the children were counting the time before they would get to the +station where they could start to drive to Lake Sagatook and Grandma +Bell's house, when the conductor came through the coach and told Mr. +Bunker that if he changed cars, and took another train at a junction +station, he could save all of an hour. + +"We'll do that," decided the children's father. "We'll change at +Clearwell, and get on a train there that will take us to Sagatook +earlier." The name of the station where they were to start to drive to +grandma's was Sagatook. The lake was five miles back in the woods. + +They were soon near the junction, where two railroad lines came together, +and there the Bunkers were to change. They gathered up their belongings +and stood ready to get off the car in which they had been nearly a whole +day. + +Clearwell was quite a large place, and the station, where the two +different railroad trains came in, was a big one. There was quite a crowd +getting off the train on which the Bunkers had ridden, and more of a +crowd on the platform. + +"Follow me!" called Daddy Bunker to his wife and children. "And don't lose +any of your bundles." + +He was carrying Mun Bun, while Mrs. Bunker had Margy in her arms. Russ, +Rose, Laddie and Vi came along behind. + +Laddie stopped for a moment to look at some pictures on the magazine +covers at the news stand, and then, as he gave a quick glance, and saw the +others crossing the platform, and leaving him, he ran on to catch up to +them. + +He saw a man's hand dangling among others in the crowd, and in another +instant, Laddie had grasped it. He thought it was his father's, and he +called, above the noise of the crowd: + +"Why don't the tickets get mad when the conductor punches 'em?" + +"Eh? What's that? Tickets? A conductor? I'm not the conductor!" a voice +exclaimed. "Who's this grabbing my hand?" + +Laddie looked up. + +He had hold of the wrong daddy! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FUNNY VOICE + + +The man whose hand Laddie had taken hold of in the crowd, thinking it was +his father's, looked down at the little fellow and smiled. And when Laddie +saw the smile he felt better. + +"What was it you were asking me, little boy?" the man kindly inquired. + +"I was--I was asking you a riddle," said Laddie. + +"What about?" the man wanted to know. + +"It was about a conductor punching tickets on the train," said Laddie. +"But I don't know the answer." + +"First, what is the question?" the man inquired, still smiling. + +"It's why don't the tickets get mad when the conductor punches 'em?" +Laddie repeated. + +"Hum," mused the man. "I don't believe that I know the answer to that +riddle. Did you think I did?" + +"Well, I--I didn't know," said Laddie slowly. "Nobody seems to know the +answer to that riddle. But, you see, I thought you were my father when I +took hold of your hand." + +"Oh, you did!" and the man laughed and gave Laddie's hand a gentle +squeeze. "Well, I thought you were my little boy, for a moment. But then I +happened to think that he is away down in New York City, so, you see, it +couldn't be my little boy. But are you lost?" + +"Oh, no," answered Laddie. "That is, I'm not very much lost. You see, +we're going to my Grandma Bell's, and we changed cars here." + +"How many of you are going to Grandma Bell's?" asked the man as he stopped +in the crowed and began looking around. + +"My father and my mother and six of us little Bunkers," answered Laddie. + +"Six little Bunkers!" repeated the man. "Is that another riddle?" + +"Oh, no. But you see there _are_ six of us. There's Russ and Rose, and Vi +and Margy, and then there's me--I'm Laddie--and Mun Bun." + +"Mun Bun!" cried the jolly man. "Is that some pet?" + +"No, he's my little brother," explained Laddie. "His real name is Munroe +Bunker, but we call him Mun Bun for fun." + +"Oh, I see," and the man laughed again. "Six little Bunkers, on a train +arrive, one gets lost and then there are five," he chanted. + +"Oh, that's like ten little Injuns!" laughed Laddie, and though he had +picked the wrong daddy out of the crowd of railroad passengers, he didn't +feel at all lost now. + +"Yes, it is a little like 'ten little Injuns, standing in a line, one fell +out and then there were nine,'" the man went on. "But are you sure you are +not lost?" + +"Oh, no. Only a little," answered Laddie. "My real daddy must be around +here somewhere." + +"With the rest of the little Bunkers?" asked the man. + +"Yes, I--I guess so," said Laddie, looking around for his father and +mother, as well as brothers and sisters. "We came on the train from +Pineville," he went on, "and we're going to Grandma Bell's. I stopped to +look at some pictures by the news stand and then I----" + +"And then you picked me out of the crowd for your daddy," finished the +man, as Laddie stopped, not knowing what else to say. "Well, there is no +harm done. And, unless I'm much mistaken, here comes your daddy now, +looking for you." + +"Oh, yes! That is my daddy!" cried Laddie, as he saw his father pushing +his way through the crowd, looking on all sides, as if hunting for +something--or for somebody. Why, to be sure, for Laddie himself! + +"Better call to him," suggested the man. "I don't believe he sees you." + +"Here I am, Daddy!" shouted Laddie, and, letting go of the man's hand, he +ran straight into Mr. Bunker's arms. + +"Why, Laddie! where have you been?" asked his father. "Your mother thought +maybe you might have been left on the express train, but I was sure I saw +you get off." + +"I did," Laddie said. "I walked along but I picked out the wrong daddy." + +"The wrong daddy?" asked Mr. Bunker, not knowing just what to think. "Is +this another riddle, Laddie?" + +"He means me," the man said, coming up just then. "I believe I got off the +same train you did. Anyhow this little boy came along behind me in the +crowd and began asking something about a conductor and punching tickets." + +"That is a riddle, but the other wasn't," Laddie explained. "Only I don't +know the answer." + +"Well, never mind. You must hurry with me," said his father, "We missed +you, and I had to come back to hunt you up. The other train is almost +ready to start. + +"Thank you for taking care of the boy," went on Laddie's father to the +man. "If you have ever traveled with children you know what a task it is +to watch out for them." + +"Oh, indeed I know. I have four of my own," said the man. Then he waved +his hand to Laddie, saying: "Good-bye, Little Bunker." + +"Good-bye!" Laddie called to the man whose hand he had taken in mistake, +then he hurried off with his father to where Mrs. Bunker and the others +were waiting. + +"Laddie! where were you?" asked his mother. + +"He had the wrong daddy," explained Mr. Bunker. + +"And he told me something like a riddle, only it wasn't," went on the +little boy. "It was like the Injuns verse. 'Six little Bunkers in a bee +hive, one got lost and then there were five.'" + +"But we weren't in a bee hive!" cried out Russ. + +"I know. The man didn't say bee hive, either," Laddie admitted. "But I +don't know what it was. Anyhow he was a nice man and it was a funny little +verse." + +A little later the family got aboard another train, and started off on a +short ride that would bring them to Sagatook, whence they could drive to +the lake where Grandma Bell lived. + +This part of the railroad journey was not very long, and they rode in an +ordinary day coach, and not in a heavy sleeping car with big seats. + +Now and then the train passed through places where there were big trees +growing. + +"Are they the woods?" asked Russ with much interest. + +"Yes," his father told him. "Maine has in it many woods, and there are big +forests around Lake Sagatook where Grandma Bell lives. You must be careful +not to get lost in them." + +"I'll be careful," promised Russ. + +A little later the train puffed in at a small station and there the +Bunkers got out. They saw, waiting, a big automobile, though it was not as +nice as the one they had at home. + +"Are you the Bunkers?" asked a man standing near the automobile. + +"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker. "Were you waiting for us?" + +"I was. Mrs. Bell hired me to come over and get you. You see I'm about the +only one that's got an auto in these parts, and as it's quite a drive +through the woods for a team, Mrs. Bell thought maybe I'd better come in +my machine." + +"I'm glad you did," said Mr. Bunker. "There will be room for all of us in +it." + +"Yes, and the baggage too," said the man, who said he was Mr. Jim Mead. +"When I get an auto I want one big enough for the whole family. Pile in +now, children, and make yourselves at home." + +"Do you know our Grandma Bell?" asked Russ of Mr. Mead. + +"I should say I did!" he answered. "She and I are neighbors and good +friends. Pile in and I'll soon have you out at the lake." + +"Is it a nice lake?" asked Vi. + +"It is indeed, little pussy," answered Mr. Mead, playfully pinching her +chubby cheek. "It's the finest lake in the world. And it's as blue as his +eyes," and he pointed to Mun Bun, who was kicking the big auto tires with +the toes of his shoes to see how hard they were. + +"I guess we'll like it there," said Rose, as she smoothed out her doll's +dress. + +"I'm going to swim!" declared Russ. + +"Well, pile in, and I'll soon have you at Grandma Bell's," said Mr. Mead, +and very quickly the automobile was chugging along a woodland road, under +tall, green trees. + +"There's the house," said Mr. Mead, in about half an hour, as he pointed +through the trees. The children had a glimpse of a big white house near +the shore of a blue lake amid the trees, and a little later they were +getting out of the machine on the drive, while a dear old lady, with +pretty white hair, was kissing Mother Bunker. + +"Oh, I'm glad to see you! Glad to see you--every one!" cried Grandma Bell. +"I'm very glad you came. Let me see if you're all here. Daddy, mother, and +six little Bunkers, that's right. Now come right in and get something to +eat! I'm so glad to see you!" + +And as the six little Bunkers started to go into the house, suddenly a +strange voice that seemed to come from the woods cried: + +"Let me out! Let me out! Take me! Don't leave me behind!" + +Every one looked at every one else. Were any of the little Bunkers +missing? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +RUSS COULDN'T STOP + + +"Mercy me!" cried Grandma Bell as she heard the strange voice. "What is +that?" + +As if in answer the call came again: + +"Take me out! Don't leave me here! I want to go! Take me! Oh, my eye, give +me some pie!" + +"It's in the automobile!" said Daddy Bunker. + +"But who can it be?" asked his wife. + +"You must have forgotten and left one of the children under a robe, though +goodness knows it's hot enough without any covering to-day," said Grandma +Bell. "Are all the children here?" + +Once more she counted them, naming each one in turn: Russ, Rose, Vi, +Laddie, Margy and Mun Bun--six little Bunkers. + +"All here--every one," said Grandma Bell. "Unless you bought a little +baby on the way up." + +"Oh, I almost had one!" exclaimed Rose. "I laid my doll down in a seat, +and when I picked her up she was alive, but it was a lady's baby and----" + +Once more the voice called from the auto: + +"Take me out! Don't leave me here! Oh my eye, give me some pie!" + +"There is a child in there!" said Grandma Bell "Who is it?" she asked of +Mr. Mead, who had been taking some of the Bunkers' baggage into the house, +and who came out just then. + +"Who is what?" asked the man who had so kindly given the children a ride +over from the station. + +"What child is hidden in that auto?" asked Grandma Bell. "It isn't one of +the six little Bunkers, for they're all here. But there is some child in +that auto." + +"Why no, there isn't," said Mr. Mead. "There's nobody in my machine +but----" + +"Let me out! Oh, let me out!" cried the voice again. + +"There!" exclaimed Grandma Bell. + +A queer look came over Mr. Mead's face. Then he laughed. Once more the +voice sounded. + +"Let me out! Let me out!" + +"Who is it?" asked Grandma Bell. + +"Why that's Bill Hixon's parrot!" said the owner of the big auto. "I've +got him in a cage in the back of my car. He's doing that yelling. I forgot +all about him!" + +"Are you sure it's a parrot and not a child in there?" asked Grandma Bell. + +"Oh, sure!" answered Mr. Mead. "There he goes again. Listen!" + +Again came the cry: + +"Let me out! Let me out! Take me with you! Oh my eye, give me some pie!" + +And this time it could be told that the voice was that of a parrot, +though, at first, it had sounded like a little child crying. + +"Now you keep still there, Polly," said Mr. Mead. + +"Polly wants a cracker! Give Polly a cracker!" shrieked the parrot. + +"I'll give you a fire-cracker if you don't keep still," said Mr. Mead with +a laugh. + +"Well, I do declare!" said Grandma Bell. "How did Bill Hixon's parrot get +in your auto, Mr. Mead?" + +"Oh, Bill's sending him over to his mother's to keep for him while he's +off in the woods lumbering," said Mr. Mead. "He knew I was coming up this +way, Bill Hixon did, so he asked me to bring his parrot along. I put the +bird in his cage under the back-seat of the auto, and I forgot all about +him, or her, whichever it is. I guess Polly has been asleep all the while +until just now." + +"Oh, let us see the parrot!" begged Rose. "I love to hear them talk," and +she tucked her doll under her arm and walked toward the auto. + +"Be careful, he might bite!" said Mother Bunker. + +"Oh, he's in a cage--he or she--whichever it is," said Mr. Mead. "Bill +said the parrot was a good one, and likes children. I guess it won't hurt +any to let the tots see the bird." + +Mr. Mead opened a sort of little cupboard under the back seat of his auto, +and brought out a parrot's cage. In it was a green bird, which, as soon as +it came out into the sunlight, began preening its feathers and moving +about, climbing up on the wires, partly by its claw feet and partly by its +strong beak. + +"Polly wants a cracker! A sweet cracker!" squawked the parrot. "Lovely +day! How are you? Here, Rover, sic the cats!" and the parrot whistled as +well as Russ himself could have done. + +"Oh, what a nice parrot!" + +"Could we keep him?" + +"Doesn't he talk plain?" + +"Listen to that whistle!" + +"Oh, isn't she nice!" + +These were some of the things the six little Bunkers said as they listened +to Bill Hixon's parrot, as it moved about in the cage on the back seat of +Mr. Mead's auto. + +"Couldn't we keep it, Mother?" asked Rose. "I'd like it almost as much as +my doll!" + +"Oh, mercy no, child! We couldn't keep Mr. Hixon's parrot!" said Mrs. +Bunker. + +"Have you one, Grandma Bell?" asked Russ. + +"No, I'm thankful to say I haven't," said Mrs. Bell with a laugh. "I like +children, and I love to hear them talk and laugh; but I don't like +parrots. I have a dog and a cat; so I think we'll let Mr. Hixon have his +own parrot." + +"I don't care for 'em myself," said Mr. Mead. "Well, I'll be getting along +with this one now. I guess I've got out all your baggage." + +"Yes, and thank you very much," said Mr. Bunker. + +"Come on! Gid-dap! Go 'long, horses!" cried the parrot. "Give me a +cracker! Go long, horses!" + +"He thinks you're driving horses," said Russ. + +"I don't know what he _thinks_," said Mr. Mead. "He talks a lot, that's +sure. I won't be lonesome for the rest of the way. I'll let the parrot +ride outside with me, I guess. He'll be sort of company for me." + +"Pretty Poll! Give me a cracker! Let me out and give me a cracker!" cried +the green bird. + +"Here's one!" said Laddie, holding out a bit of cracker which he had left +from a package his mother had bought for him on the train. + +"Look out! He might bite you!" said Laddie's father. + +"Bill said his bird was gentle, but, still, maybe the little boy had +better be careful," said Mr. Mead. "Here, I guess I had better feed him." + +He held out the bit of cracker to Polly, who took it in one black claw, +and then began to bite off pieces, saying, meanwhile: + +"That's the way to do it! That's the way I do it!" + +"Oh, he's awful cute!" said Rose. "I wish we had one!" + +"But if grandma's got a dog and a cat, maybe the parrot wouldn't like +'em," put in Russ. + +"Have you a dog and a cat, grandma?" asked Rose, as Mr. Mead drove off in +his auto with the parrot. + +"Yes, I have, my dear." + +"Oh, where are they?" + +"Zip, my dog, is out in the barn, I imagine. He generally goes out there +when Tom is working around." + +"Who's Tom?" asked Laddie. "Is he the cat?" + +"No, Tom is the hired man. Thomas Hardy is his name." + +"And where's the cat?" asked Vi, looking around the front yard, as if she +might see the pussy under some flower bush. + +"Oh, Muffin is in the house, I presume," said Grandma Bell. "And that's +where we'd better go. I guess you're all hungry after your trip, aren't +you? My, but I'm glad to see you--every one!" and she smiled at the six +little Bunkers through her glasses. + +"And I guess they're glad, to be here--I know _we_ are," said Mrs. Bunker. +"They've talked of nothing but Grandma Bell's ever since we got your +letter inviting us to come here." + +"Well, I hope they'll like it," said the dear old lady. + +"We like it already," said Russ. "Please, may I go out and see the dog?" + +"I want to go, too," put in Laddie. + +"And I want to see the cat," added Rose, "Is her name Muffin?" + +"That's her name," said Grandma Bell. "And I call my dog Zip because he +runs around so much. But you'd better rest a bit first, and eat. Then you +can go out and see things." + +"I want to see the lake!" exclaimed Laddie. "Can we sail boats on it?" + +"Now, first of all," said Mr. Bunker, and he spoke seriously, "I don't +want any of you children to go near that lake unless some of us older folk +are with you. Mind! Don't go too close unless we are with you, or until +you have been here a little while and know your way about. You must be +careful of the water." + +The children promised they would; and then, when Grandma Bell's hired girl +had set out a lunch, and it had been eaten, and the children had put on +old clothes, out they ran--all six of them--to have fun. + +"Will they be all right?" asked Mother Bunker. + +"Oh, yes. They can't come to any harm if they keep away from the lake, and +that isn't deep near the shore. Don't worry about them. Let them have a +good time." + +And this the children seemed bent on having. They raced around, shouting +and laughing. A big maltese cat came out on the porch to see what all the +noise was about, and did not run away, even when all six of the little +Bunkers charged down on her at once. + +"Oh, isn't she just too lovely!" cried Rose, as she caught the cat up in +her arms. "She's almost as big as my doll!" + +Muffin seemed to like children, and did not mind being petted. Rose, Vi +and Margy as well as Mun Bun, stroked the soft fur, but Russ and Laddie +soon tired of this. + +"Come on, let's go out to the barn and find the dog," said Russ to his +brother. + +"That's what we will!" said Laddie, and away they went, Russ whistling a +merry tune. + +Grandma Bell's house was built on the edge of a patch of woods, with +fields at the back and the lake to one side. There were some farms in that +part of Maine, and about five miles from grandma's home was the village of +Sagatook. It was a smaller place than Pineville. + +The barn was back of the house. Once the place had been a big farm, but +when Grandpa Bell died his widow sold off most of the land to other +farmers, keeping the house, barn, a field or two and a patch of woods for +her home. It was a lovely place, just the nicest spot in the whole world +for the six little Bunkers. + +"I hear a dog barking," said Laddie, as he and Russ drew near the barn. + +"So do I," said Russ. "I guess that's Zip." + +They went on a little farther, and saw a man standing in the barn door +with a dog beside him. The dog barked, but wagged his tail, to show that +he was friendly. + +Russ and Laddie came to a halt, but the man waved his hand to them and +asked: + +"Are you some of the six little Bunkers?" + +"Yes, we're two of 'em," answered Russ. + +"Well, that leaves four. They're in the house, I suppose. Mrs. Bell told +me you were coming to-day." + +"Are you the hired man?" asked Laddie. "And is that Zip?" + +"That's who I am, and that's who he is. Come and meet Zip. He's a fine dog +and loves boys and girls." + +Zip soon made friends with Laddie and Russ, and the boys, who felt sure +they would like Tom Hardy, the hired man, ran about the barn, seeing all +sorts of chances in it to have good times. + +"Oh, I know we'll like it here!" said Russ. + +"'Course we will," agreed Laddie. + +Zip followed the boys about the barn as they poked into all the nooks and +corners. Tom, as every one called the hired man, was busy about his work +and paid little attention to Laddie and Russ. + +It was about half an hour after the boys had gone out to the barn, and +Mrs. Bunker was wondering if they were all right, when Laddie came running +to Grandma Bell's house, very much excited and out of breath, crying: + +"Oh, come quick! Come quick!" + +"Mercy me! what's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"Russ can't stop! Russ is going and he can't stop!" panted Laddie. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE RED-HAIRED MAN + + +For a moment or so no one seemed to know what answer to make to Laddie. He +stood there, all out of breath, looking at his father and mother and +Grandma Bell, who were sitting on the side porch. + +"What--what did you say?" asked Mr. Bunker. + +"It's Russ," Laddie answered. "He's going and he can't stop! I tried to +make him, and he tried himself, but he can't stop, and he's running like +anything!" + +"What in the world does he mean?" asked Mother Bunker. + +"Tell me about it!" said Grandma Bell. + +"It's out in the barn," explained Laddie. "Russ got on something, and he +can't stop running!" + +"Maybe he's in a trap!" exclaimed Laddie's mother. + +"If he was in a trap he couldn't run," said her husband. "I'll go out and +see what it is." + +The other little Bunkers were still playing with Muffin, the big gray cat, +as Mr. and Mrs. Bunker and Grandma Bell hurried out to the barn. + +As they drew near it they heard a voice shouting: + +"Oh, make it stop! Make it stop going! I'm so tired! My legs are so +tired!" + +At the same time a low rumbling could be heard, like that of very distant +thunder. + +"Oh, what is it?" gasped Mother Bunker. "Oh, Russ, what have you done +now?" + +But a moment later they were all relieved to see Tom, the hired man, come +to the door of the barn, leading Russ by the hand. The boy looked +frightened, but not hurt. + +"What was it?" asked his father. + +"I got to going and I couldn't stop," explained Russ, who was breathing +almost as hard as Laddie had done after his run. + +"What did you get to going on, and why couldn't you stop?" his mother +wanted to know. + +"Oh, it was a--a sort of wooden hill," explained Russ. "I was running on +it and----" + +"What does he mean--a _wooden hill_ in the barn?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"It was the treadmill," explained Thomas Hardy. "I was in another part of +the barn, and I guess Russ must have wandered upstairs, where we keep the +old treadmill they used for the threshing machine and churn. He started to +walk on the wooden roller platform, and it moved from under him. He had to +keep running so he wouldn't slip down. That's what he meant when he said +he couldn't stop." + +"That was it," explained Russ. "I saw a funny machine upstairs in the +barn, and I got on it. I didn't know it would move." + +"Well, you couldn't get hurt on it, that's one good thing," said Grandma +Bell. "At the same time it's better not to get on queer machines, or play +with things you don't know about, Russ. The next time you might be hurt." + +"I'll be careful," promised the little boy. + +"What is the treadmill?" asked Vi, who had come out to the barn to see +what all the excitement was about. + +"It's a sort of engine," Grandma Bell explained. "You see out here, years +ago, when Grandpa Bell ran the farm, we didn't have gasoline engines such +as are now used in automobiles and for pumps and other farm work. So we +had to use a sort of engine that one or two horses could make go. It was +called a treadmill, and some were made so that even dogs, trotting on a +moving wooden platform, could work a churn. We used to have one of those, +but the one Russ got on was a treadmill for one horse." + +"I saw it," said Laddie. "Russ wanted me to get on, but I wouldn't. He did +and then he couldn't stop. He couldn't stop running!" + +"That's right!" exclaimed Russ. He could laugh now, as he remembered what +had happened. "Then I told Laddie to run and get somebody to help me," he +added. + +"I ran, but I didn't run on that funny machine," Laddie said. "And maybe I +can think up a riddle about it, after a while." + +By this time the rest of the little Bunkers had come out to the barn and, +led by Tom, they went upstairs to see the treadmill. It was a big +machine, with wheels and rollers; and a wooden platform, made of cross +sticks, so the feet of the horse would not slip, was what Russ had run on. +As he walked up a "wooden hill," as he called it, the slats moved from +under his feet, for this is what they were meant to do when the horse +should walk on them. And this moving platform of wood spun a wheel around, +which, in its turn, would work a churn, a machine for threshing wheat or +rye or do other work on the farm. + +"But we haven't used the treadmill for years," said Grandma Bell. "I +forgot about its being in the barn. Well, I'm glad no one was hurt. But be +careful after this." + +"I'd like to see it work," remarked Rose, so Tom Hardy got on the wooden +platform and walked up the little hill it made. Then came the rumbling +sound, and the faster Tom walked the faster the treadmill went around. + +The weather was warm, it being early in July, soon after the Fourth, and a +more delightful time of year would be hard to find during which to spend +a vacation in the woods on the shore of Lake Sagatook. + +"May we go down and paddle in the water?" asked Russ of his mother, after +he and the other little Bunkers had wandered out to the barn and had seen +Zip, the dog, and Muffin, the cat. "Mayn't we go down and wade in the +lake?" + +"Do you think it will be safe?" asked Mrs. Bunker of her husband. + +"Well, I'll go down there and have a look," he said. "If we are to stay +here for a month or so the children will have to get used to playing near +the water. If it's safe we'll feel we won't have to be with them all the +while." + +"I think it will be safe if they keep near the shore out on the little +point of land that extends into the lake," said Grandma Bell. "There is a +sandy beach there, and the water is not deep. Let the children play there. +You can see them from the house; so, if we look out every now and then, +we'll be sure they are all right." + +"Very well," said Daddy Bunker. "We'll first have a look at the lake." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Russ. + +"Now we can have a lot of fun and sail boats!" added Laddie. "We can have +a whole lot of fun." + +"I'll take my doll down and give her a bath," said Rose. + +"Oh, won't water spoil your doll, my dear?" asked Grandma Bell. + +"I don't mean my big one, that the lady took for her baby," explained the +little girl. "I mean my small rubber doll." + +"Oh! Well, I guess it will be all right to bathe her in the lake," said +Grandma Bell with a laugh. + +Daddy Bunker found that the sandy point, which Grandma Bell told about, +was a very nice and safe place for the children to play. So, dressed in +their old clothes which water and sand would not soil, they all trooped +down to Lake Sagatook, and there, in the shade of the big woods, they +began to have fun. + +Russ and Laddie made little boats and set them adrift in the blue water. +Rose and Vi played with their dolls, for they had each brought two or +three of them. Mun Bun and Margy dug in the sand with sticks which they +picked up on the shore of the lake. + +"It's almost like the seashore," said Rose, when she came back from having +given her rubber doll a dip in the lake, "only the water doesn't taste +salty like when you cry tears." + +"I like it here," said Vi. "I wish we could stay always." + +The children were having lots of fun when, in the midst of their play, +they heard the sound of water being splashed and the noise made by the +oars of a boat. Looking up, they saw a rowboat not far from shore, and in +it sat a big man. + +And, at the sight of this man, Russ dropped the chip he was floating +about, pretending it was a submarine, and, in a whisper, said: + +"Hi, Laddie! do you see his hair?" + +"Yes--it's red," returned Laddie. + +"Well, maybe that's the tramp lumberman that took daddy's old coat and +real estate papers," went on Russ. "He had red hair! Maybe this is the +same one! Oh, Laddie! If it should be!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE DOLL'S BUTTONS + + +For a little while Laddie and Russ watched the man in the boat as he rowed +slowly toward the sandy point of land in the lake, on which the six little +Bunkers were playing. The man's hair was certainly very red. The sun shone +on it, and Russ and Laddie could see it quite plainly. And, too, he had on +a ragged coat. + +Rose and the other children were farther in toward shore, playing away. +Laddie and Russ, as the two older boys of the family, thought they ought +to do something toward getting back Daddy Bunker's papers. + +"He's coming nearer," said Laddie, in a whisper to his brother. + +"Yes," agreed Russ. "He'll soon be near enough for us to ask him if he's +got 'em." + +The red-haired man in the boat rowed nearer and nearer to the sandy point +in Lake Sagatook. He did not seem to see the two small boys who were so +anxiously waiting for him. + +"What's he doing?" asked Laddie, for the man now and then would stop +rowing and handle something he had in front of him. + +"He's fishing," said Russ. "I can see his pole." + +Laddie saw it too, a moment later. The man in the boat was a fisherman. + +Pretty soon he was near enough for the boys to call to him. + +"Hey!" exclaimed Russ. "Have you got 'em?" + +He supposed, of course, that the man would know what he was talking about. +And so it might seem, for the man made answer: + +"Well, I had 'em but I lost 'em. But I'll get 'em again." + +"Oh, daddy will be so glad!" cried Laddie. "Did you lose 'em out of your +coat?" + +The man looked up quickly. + +"Lose 'em out of my coat? Why, no," he said. "I lost 'em off my hook--two +of the biggest fish I've caught this day! But I'll get 'em back--or some +just like 'em which will be as good. Hello, youngsters," he added with a +smile. "Do you live at Mrs. Bell's place?" + +"We're just visiting her," explained Russ. "She's our grandma. We're the +six little Bunkers." + +"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the man with a laugh. "That's so--there are six of +you! I can see now," and he looked beyond Russ and Laddie to where Rose, +Vi, Margy and Mun Bun were playing on the sandy point and having lots of +fun. + +"But are you fond of fishing, that you ask if I lost 'em?" the man went +on. + +"If you please," replied Russ, "we didn't mean to ask about your fish, +though we're sorry you lost any. But have you daddy's papers?" + +"Daddy's papers? I don't know what you mean," the man said. + +"Aren't you a lumberman?" asked Laddie, not liking to use the name +"tramp," as the man, though he did have on a ragged coat, did not seem +like the lazy wanderers who prowl about the country asking for food but +not wanting to work. + +"No, I'm not a lumberman," said the man. "What makes you ask that?" + +"Well, you look like the lumberman--only he was a tramp--that my father +gave a ragged coat to," went on Russ. "And there were real estate papers +in the coat, and daddy wants 'em back." + +"Ha! Is that so?" asked the man, "Well, I'm sorry but I don't know +anything about 'em. I never saw your father that I know of, though I do +know Mrs. Bell. I live on the other side of the lake. But I come over here +fishing once in a while." + +"And haven't you daddy's papers?" asked Laddie. + +"No, I'm sorry to say I haven't." + +"But you have red hair," went on the little boy. + +"Yes, my hair is red all right," laughed the man, as he ran his hand +through the fiery curls on his head. "My hair is very red. Sometimes I +wish it wasn't so red. But it's of no use to worry about it, I suppose. +But what has my red hair to do with your father's papers?" + +Then Laddie and Russ, taking turns, told about their father's clerk in +the real estate office giving the tramp lumberman the old coat, and how, +in one of the pockets, were the valuable papers. The boys told of the +search for the tramp, and also of their trip from Pineville to Lake +Sagatook. + +"And so you haven't yet found the red-haired man with the papers, have +you?" asked the fisherman, smiling at the two boys. + +"No," said Russ, a bit sadly. "First we thought you might have 'em." + +"Do you know any red-haired lumberman--one that's a tramp?" Laddie asked. + +"No, I can't say that I do. But tell your father, and also your Grandma +Bell, that I'll be on the watch for one. My name is Hurd--Simon Hurd. Your +grandma knows me. Tell her I'll be on the watch for a red-haired +lumberman. We have all sorts up here in Maine, and some of 'em have red +hair, though I don't know that any one will have your father's papers. Ha! +There's one I've got, anyhow!" the man suddenly exclaimed. + +He dropped the oars, with which he had been slowly rowing the boat, and +caught up his pole. Then, as the boys watched, they saw him reel in his +line and lift from the water a big fish, which sparkled in the sun as it +leaped and twisted, trying to get off the hook. + +"Hi, that's a big one!" cried Russ, leaping up and down on the sand, he +was so excited. + +"Yes, he's as big as one of the two I lost," the man went on. + +He landed his prize in the boat, while the boys and, the other little +Bunkers crowded to the end of the sandy point to watch what was going on. + +"I guess you children brought me good luck," said Mr. Hurd, the red-haired +fisherman. "I'm going to row along now, but I'll keep my eyes open for the +tramp lumberman that may have your father's papers." + +"Thank you," said Russ. + +The six little Bunkers watched until the fisherman was out of sight around +the next point, and then they started to play again. + +"I thought sure he was the one that daddy wanted," said Russ, a little +sadly. + +"So did I," added Laddie. He, too, was disappointed. "Maybe I could make +up a riddle about a red-haired man," he added more cheerfully. + +"Maybe you could," agreed Russ. + +"I guess I will, too," said Laddie. "I can think of a riddle the next +time." + +A little later the children heard a voice asking: + +"Well, are you having a good time?" + +They looked up to see Daddy and Mother Bunker walking toward them through +the woods. + +"Oh, we're having lots of fun!" said Rose, who had been amusing Vi, Margy +and Mun Bun. + +"And we almost found your lost papers," added Russ. + +"How?" asked Mr. Bunker. + +Then the boys told about the red-haired man. + +"I'm afraid my papers are gone for ever," said Mr. Bunker with a shake of +his head, "I'll have to lose that money. But it might be worse. Don't +worry about it any more, children." + +But, though the children were too little to worry very, much about their +father's trouble, Russ and Laddie could not help thinking about it now +and then. + +"This is a lovely place for the children to play," said Mother Bunker. "I +shall never feel worried about them when they are here. The water is so +shallow near the shore." + +And so it was. The six little Bunkers--even Mun Bun, the smallest of them +all--could wade out quite a distance from shore on the smooth, sandy +bottom, and not be in danger. + +All that day--except when it was time to go in to eat--the children played +on the shore of Lake Sagatook. They saw boats come and go--some with +fishermen in them, like Mr. Hurd, and others that carried lumber and other +things from shore to shore. + +"Can we go out in a boat some day?" asked Russ of his father. + +"Yes, some day I'll get a boat and take you all for a row," Mr. Bunker +promised. + +But there were many other things to do at Grandma Bell's to have fun +besides going out on the lake in a boat. There were chickens and cows to +look at; there was Zip to play with, and Muffin too; and there were +lovely places in the woods where they could take their lunches and have +picnics. + +"Grandma Bell's is the nicest place in the world!" said Rose. + +"That's what!" exclaimed Russ. + +And Laddie tried to think up a riddle about why Grandma Bell's house was +like fairyland, only he couldn't get just the right sort of answer, he +said. + +One day Russ, Laddie, and Rose went out to the barn with Tom Hardy to +watch him feed the chickens. He gave them grains of yellow corn. + +"Where do you get the corn?" asked Laddie. + +"Out of the corn crib," answered Tom. "See it over there," and he pointed +to a shed, through the slat sides of which could be seen the yellow ears +of corn. + +"How do you get the little pieces off the cobs?" asked Rose. + +"Oh, I shell the corn in a sheller," answered Tom. "Come on, I'll show +you," and he took the children to the corn crib where there was a queer +machine, turned by a handle on a wheel. In an iron spout Tom dropped big, +yellow ears of corn. Then he turned the wheel. There was a grinding noise, +and out of one spout ran the yellow kernels of corn in a stream, while +from another hole dropped the shelled cob, with nothing left on it. + +"That's how I shell the corn cobs for the chickens," said the hired man. +"But be careful not to put your hands down the spout where I drop the ears +of corn." + +"Why not?" asked Rose, who was catching Vi's trick of asking questions. + +"Because if you do that it might shuck the fingernails off your hand," +answered Tom. "Keep away from the corn-sheller." + +It was later that same afternoon when Rose, who had been out to the barn +with Russ and Laddie, came running back, tears streaming from her eyes. + +"Oh, Mother! Come quick!" she cried, "Come quick!" + +"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"Oh, it's my doll!" answered Rose. "Laddie and Russ are shucking off all +her buttons! Come quick!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADDIE'S QUEER RIDE + + +When Rose, with tears streaming from her eyes, came running to her mother, +Mrs. Bunker felt sorry for her little girl; but she was just a little +puzzled to understand what was wrong. "Shucking off all her buttons" +certainly sounded queer. + +"What is it, Rose?" she asked. "What are Russ and Laddie doing?" + +"They're shucking all the buttons off my doll." + +"Shucking the buttons off your doll?" + +"Yes. In the corn shucker, where Tom shucks the ears of corn for the +chickens." + +Mrs. Bunker didn't yet quite know what Rose meant, for the mother of the +six little children had not been out to the corn crib, and did not know +what was there. + +"It's my middle-sized doll," explained Rose. "Please come and take her +away from Russ and Laddie 'fore they shuck off all her buttons. Don't you +know--she's got yellow shoe buttons on her dress--rows of 'em down the +front and in the back. It's my messenger girl doll." + +Mrs. Bunker followed Rose out to the corn crib. She began to understand +what had happened. Among the many dolls Rose had was one she called her +"messenger girl" doll It was about a foot tall, and the doll wore a blue +dress, in color something like the suits worn by the telegraph messenger +boys in the cities. To make the doll's dress more like a uniform, Rose had +sewed on the back and front several rows of yellow shoe buttons, which she +had cut from old tan shoes at home. The doll really had on her dress more +buttons than she needed, but as some messenger and elevator boys in hotels +and apartment houses have the same, I suppose Rose had a right to decorate +her doll that way if she liked. + +"How did it happen?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as she followed her little girl +out to the corn crib. + +"It was after we saw Tom shuck some corn to feed the chickens--he showed +us how he did it," Rose answered. + +"But what did Russ and Laddie do?" + +"Oh, they went in and looked at the corn shucker. But they didn't put +their hands in and turn the wheel, 'cause Tom said if they did that their +fingernails would come off." + +"Mercy me! I shouldn't want that to happen," said Mrs. Bunker with a +laugh. "But go on, Rose, tell me what they did do?" she went on, for she +saw that Rose felt very sad. + +"Well, they wanted to shuck some corn," went on the little girl, "but they +didn't durst do it. Then Russ saw me have my messenger girl doll, with the +yellow shoe buttons down her back and front, and he said she looked just +like an ear of corn." + +"That wasn't very nice of him," put in Mrs. Bunker. + +"Oh, well, I didn't mind," said Rose. "The yellow shoe buttons are like +the grains of corn the chickens eat. One button did come off and a rooster +picked it up and swallowed it." Rose was no longer crying. + +"Poor rooster! I hope it won't hurt him," laughed Mrs. Bunker. + +"I don't guess it will," said Rose, "'cause he crowed awful loud right +after it. He must have liked it. But, anyhow, Russ said my doll looked +like an ear of corn, so he asked me to let him take her to shuck off her +buttons." + +"And did you?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"Yes'm, I did, Mother. He and Laddie put my doll in the corn shucker and +they started to turn the wheel. Then I thought maybe my doll would be +hurt, and I wanted her back again. But they wouldn't give her to me, so I +came to tell you!" And once more the tears came into the little girl's +eyes. + +"Well, I'll fix it all right," said Mrs. Bunker. "Don't cry, Rose. Even if +her buttons are all shucked off we can sew more on. Don't cry!" + +So Rose dried her tears and hurried on after her mother out to Grandma +Bell's corncrib. + +As they came near it they could hear a grinding noise, and then the voice +of Laddie called: + +"Oh, Russ! here come some of the buttons." + +"Yes! A lot of 'em!" Russ added. "Oh, she's shucking fine, Laddie--just +like an ear of corn!" + +"Dandy!" exclaimed Laddie. "It's too bad Rose didn't wait to see what we +were doing. This is fun!" + +"I'm here now! And you just give me my doll!" cried Rose. "I told mamma on +you, that's what I did!" + +The grinding noise kept up for a moment or two longer, and the laughter of +the two little boys could be heard. Then Mrs. Bunker, followed by Rose, +went into the corncrib. Mrs. Bunker saw a curious sight. + +Standing at one side of the corn-shelling machine was Russ, turning the +big wheel, which went round quite easily. On the other side was Laddie, +and in his hat he was catching a little stream of yellow shoe buttons that +came down through the spout. + +"Boys! Boys! What are you doing?" cried Mrs. Bunker. + +"Hello, Mother!" cried Russ. "She shucks dandy. All the buttons are coming +off, just the way Tom made the kernels of corn come off the cobs for the +chickens! Look!" and he pointed to the buttons dropping from the tin +spout into Laddie's hat. + +"Oh, my doll! My nice doll!" cried Rose. "She'll be spoiled now. She won't +have any buttons left! Oh, I--I'm mad at you!" and she cried again and +stamped first one foot and then the other at Laddie and Russ. + +"Oh, you mustn't do that," said Mrs. Bunker gently. + +"I don't care!" pouted Rose, half tearfully. "They ought not to shuck all +the buttons off my doll!" + +"Are you doing that, Russ?" asked his mother. + +"Yes'm. But Rose said we could, and then, after she let us take her doll, +she wanted it back, and we can't get her out till she goes through the +shucker and all her buttons come off. Then she'll pop out the other spout +like an ear of corn." + +"Here she comes!" shouted Laddie. "All the buttons are off now! But, gee! +you can sew more on, Rose. And here's your doll!" + +As he spoke the doll dropped from a tin spout on the other side of the +machine, at the place where the shelled cobs dropped out. And there +wasn't a single yellow shoe button left on the doll. + +"Oh--oh, dear!" sobbed Rose. "She's all spoiled!" + +"Never mind," said Mrs. Bunker. "We can sew the buttons on again. But you +boys shouldn't have done it," she told Russ and Laddie. "What made you?" + +"Well, we wanted to shuck something," said Russ, who was beginning to feel +a little sorry for what he had done, "Tom told us not to shuck any kernels +off the corn, 'cause he'd fed the chickens enough. And he said we mustn't +put our hands or any sticks in the machine. But we wanted to shuck +something." + +"And the yellow shoe buttons on Rose's doll looked just like corn," added +Laddie. + +Mrs. Bunker wanted to laugh, but she did not even smile. Rose felt too +bad. + +"There's a wheel inside this machine, Tom told us," said Russ, "and it's +got a lot of sharp points on it. And when it goes around and the ears of +corn get down inside, the points on the wheel knock and pull all the +kernels off. + +"We didn't durst take any ears of corn, so we took Rose's doll and we put +her through the sheller. Rose said we might. And all her buttons came off +just like kernels." + +"So I see," said Mrs. Bunker. "Well, don't do it again." + +"We won't," promised Laddie. "Here's your doll, Rose," he added, as he +picked it up off the floor. Every button had been pulled off in the +machine. + +"Oh, dear!" sighed his sister. "She's spoiled!" + +"Oh, no. I'll help you make her look like a messenger again, Rose," said +her mother "But you boys had better keep away from the corn-shelling +machine. You might be hurt." + +Russ and Laddie promised. They had not really meant to annoy Rose, but +they had just not stopped to think. They did so want to see the yellow +shoe buttons pulled off their sister's doll. And that's just what +happened. The doll was shaped something like an ear of corn, and the +yellow buttons stuck out like kernels. And so the doll was "shucked." + +After a while Rose got over feeling bad, and the next day all the yellow +buttons were sewed back on the doll. And Tom kept the corncrib locked, so +Laddie and Russ could not get into it again. + +"But it was lots of fun seeing the yellow buttons drop out the spout," +said Russ. + +"And I could almost make up a riddle about it," added Laddie. + +"I don't want any riddles about my doll," objected Rose. "She's too nice. +I'm going to sew some yellow buttons on now, and black ones too, 'cause +you lost some of the yellow ones." + +"Well, we won't shuck her any more," promised Russ. + +These were happy days at Grandma Bell's. Something new could be played by +the children all the while. They loved it in the woods, and on the shores +of beautiful Lake Sagatook. + +"When are you going to get the boat, Daddy, and take us out?" asked Russ +one afternoon, when they had seen the red-haired fishermen once more. He +came close to the sandy point, and talked to the six little Bunkers, but +he said he had not yet found the lumberman who had been given the ragged +coat with Mr. Bunker's papers in the pocket. + +"I'll get a boat next week," promised Mr. Bunker. "Then we can all go for +a row." + +"And fish, too?" asked Russ. + +"Yes, we'll fish also," said his father. + +But, as it happened, Laddie got tired waiting for the boat, and made one +himself. At least he made a sort of raft. + +He nailed some boards and pieces of wood together, and when he pushed the +raft into the shallow water, near the shore of Sandy Point, as the +children called their play-spot, Laddie found that he could stand up on +his raft and push himself along. The raft floated with him on it, as +though it were a boat. Of course the water came up over the top, but as +Laddie went barefooted this did not matter. + +One day he went down to the lake with a piece of clothesline. On the way +he whistled to Zip, the playful dog. + +"What are you going to do with him?" asked Russ. + +"I'm going to see if he'll give me a ride," answered Laddie. + +"A ride? How? There isn't any express wagon here." + +"I don't need an express wagon," said Laddie. "I'm going to make Zip be a +whale, or maybe a shark, and pull me on my raft-boat." + +"How can you?" asked Russ. + +"I'll show you," Laddie answered. + +He tied one end of the piece of clothesline to his raft, and on the other +end of the line he made fast a round stick. + +"Here, Zip! Zip!" cried Laddie, "Go after the stick!" + +He threw the stick, still tied to the rope, into the water of the lake, as +far as he could from shore. + +"You run down the shore a little farther and whistle to Zip," said Laddie +to Russ. "You can whistle better than I can. When Zip swims to you with +the stick in his mouth he'll pull me on the raft." + +"Oh, I wonder if he will!" exclaimed Russ. + +Zip, the big dog, was already swimming out to get the floating stick, and +Laddie took his place on the raft, which he had pushed out from shore. + +"I'll have a fine ride!" said the little boy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MUN BUN SEES SOMETHING + + +"Here, Zip! Ho, Zip! Come here!" called Russ, and he whistled to the dog, +which was swimming along with the stick in his mouth. + +The dog heard, and, turning toward the shore of the lake, made his way to +Russ, who was standing on the little sandy beach. And, as Zip swam along, +and pulled on the clothesline, which was fast to the stick in his mouth, +and also fast to the raft on which stood Laddie Bunker, the little boy was +given a ride. + +Zip was a strong dog, and as the raft was light, and as Laddie was not +heavy, the swimming animal had no trouble in pulling the queer boat after +him. + +"Oh, I'm having a fine ride!" shouted Laddie, as he stood in his bare feet +on the raft, over which the water washed. "Come on, Russ! You can have a +ride after I do." + +"Will your raft hold me?" asked his brother. + +"We can put some more boards on and make it," Laddie answered. "Oh, we'll +have lots of fun!" + +"Come on, Zip! Come on! That's a good dog!" called Russ, and the dog, +which was used to swimming out into the lake and bringing back sticks that +the children threw, swam on toward shore with the round piece of wood to +which the clothesline was fastened still in his mouth. And of course as +Zip pulled on the line he also pulled the raft along, and so gave Laddie a +ride. + +"Oh, it was lots of fun!" shouted the little boy, as the raft came into +shallow water where it would no longer float. For Zip had reached shore by +this time, and had dropped the stick at the feet of Russ. Then Zip stood +there, wagging his tail, and shaking the water off his shaggy coat, +waiting for Russ to toss the stick into the water again. + +"Here you go, Zip! Bring it back!" cried Russ. "Bring the stick back +again!" and, once more, he tossed it into the water. + +"Don't you want him to give you a ride?" asked Laddie. + +"Wait till we see if he gives you another one," suggested Russ. + +And Zip did. Out he swam to where the piece of wood floated, still tied to +the clothesline that was fast to the raft. And when Zip swam along, of +course he pulled the raft after him. + +"Oh, he does it! He does it again!" cried Laddie, capering up and down on +the raft. "Now we'll make the boat bigger, Russ, and you can have a ride, +and so can----" + +But then, all of a sudden, something happened. Laddie was doing too much +capering about on the raft. Before he knew it he stepped off with one +foot, and, though he tried to get back on, he couldn't. + +Off he fell, right into the water, splashing down with his clothes on. Zip +pulled the raft along without the little boy on it. + +"Hi! What are you doing?" asked Russ. + +"I--I didn't mean to! I slipped off!" answered Laddie. "But the water +isn't cold." + +"You're all wet, though," Russ said. "Oh, you'll get it!" + +"These are my old clothes," answered the smaller boy. "Mother said it +wouldn't hurt to get 'em wet." + +"Did she say you could fall in with 'em on?" asked Russ. + +"No," answered Laddie slowly, "I didn't know I was going to fall in, so I +couldn't ask her. But I'm glad I did, 'cause it feels so nice, and he +kicked around in the water. The bottom being of clean sand, there was no +mud, and, as Laddie had said, he wore old clothes." + +"Say, Zip is a regular steamboat engine!" exclaimed Russ, as the dog kept +on pulling the raft, though Laddie had fallen off. "We'll make it bigger, +Laddie, and then I can ride on it." + +"Maybe we both can," said Laddie, who got up out of the water, and waded +to shore. + +"No, I guess the two of us would be too heavy for Zip to pull. We'll take +turns," said Russ. "Come on, we'll make a bigger raft. There's lots of +wood out by the barn." + +And so the boys did. Russ was stronger than Laddie, and could handle +bigger boards and pieces of wood. Soon the raft was made big enough so +that Russ could stand up on it and not have it sink to the bottom of the +lake near the shore. + +"Do you like it? asked Laddie. + +"It's lots of fun," answered Russ. "I'm glad you thought of this." + +"I was trying to think of a riddle," said Laddie. "It was something about +what makes the lake wet when it rains, and then I saw some pieces of board +floating along and I thought of a raft and I made one." + +"And I'm glad you thought of it instead of the riddle," said Russ with a +laugh. "You can't ride on a riddle." + +"You could if a riddle was a train or a boat," Laddie said. "And I made +up a riddle about the conductor punching the tickets and they didn't get +mad. Don't you 'member?" + +"Oh, yes, I remember," said Russ. "But come on, we'll have some more +rides." + +So the boys took turns having Zip pull them along on the raft until the +dog, much as he liked to go into the water after sticks, grew tired and +would not splash out any more. + +"Well, we'll play it to-morrow," said Laddie. + +"Or this afternoon, maybe," said his brother. + +They tied the raft to a tree near shore, leaving the stick fast to the +rope, ready for more fun. + +"Mercy, Laddie, what happened to you?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as she saw the +two boys come through the garden up to Grandma Bell's house. "Did you fall +into the water?" + +"I--I sorter--sorter--stepped in--off the raft," answered the little boy. +"Oh, it was lots of fun!" + +"But you must be more careful," said his mother. "Was the water deep?" + +"No, Mother. It was near shore," explained Russ, and he told how Zip had +given them rides. + +"Well, come into the house, and get on dry clothes," said Grandma Bell. +"And, to make sure you won't catch cold--though I don't see how you can on +such a hot day--I'll give you some bread and jam!" + +"Oh, goody!" cried Laddie, for he knew how nice the bread and jam made by +Grandma Bell tasted. + +"I wish I'd fallen in," said Russ. + +"Well, you may have some bread and jam also," said his grandmother, +laughing. "And we'll call one, two, three, four more little Bunkers, and +they may have bread and jam, too." + +That afternoon and the next day the other little Bunkers had rides on the +raft pulled by Zip. And when the dog got tired of splashing out in the +water to bring back the stick and tow the raft, Laddie and Russ, in their +bare feet, pulled it themselves, giving Rose, Vi, Margy and Mun Bun rides +along the shore. + +They had lots of fun, and thought Lake Sagatook the nicest place in all +the world to spend part of their vacation. + +Daddy Bunker and Mother Bunker liked it, too. They took long walks in the +woods, and also went for rows in the boat Daddy Bunker hired. + +For the children's father did as he had promised, and got a large, safe +rowboat, in which they went for trips on the lake, and also went fishing. +Mrs. Bunker did not care to fish, but she went along to hold the smaller +children and keep them from falling out of the boat. + +Several times Laddie, Russ or the other children saw Mr. Hurd, the +red-haired fisherman. Each time they asked him if he had seen the tramp +lumberman with the papers Mr. Bunker wished so much to get back, and each +time the fisherman had to say that he had not seen the man wanted. + +Once Mr. Hurd came in his boat and showed Daddy Bunker a good place to +fish. Russ and Laddie went along also, and Russ caught two fishes. Laddie +got only one, but as it was bigger than either of those his brother +caught, Laddie felt very proud. + +One day, when Laddie and Russ had gone with their father for a row in the +boat, Mrs. Bunker, who was in the house with Grandma Bell helping her sew, +said to Rose: + +"You might take the smaller children down to the woods by the lake and +play there. It's cool and shady, and you may take some cookies, or other +little lunch with you, and have a sort of picnic." + +"And may we take Muffin?" asked Vi. + +"Yes, take Muffin," said Grandma Bell, for the maltese cat liked to be +with the children as much as they liked to have her. Zip, the dog, had +gone off with Tom Hardy. + +Grandma Bell put up a lunch for the children, and then Rose led them down +to the shady shore of the lake, where they were to have some fun. + +"I'm going to make a dress out of green leaves for my doll," said Vi. + +"And I'm going to make a new bathing suit for my rubber doll," said Rose. +"What are you two going to do?" and she looked at Margy and Mun Bun, who +were toddling along hand-in-hand. + +"We's goin' in swimming'," said Mun Bun. + +"He means wading with his shoes and stockings off," said Vi. "He asked +mother if he could, and she said yes." + +"Did she say Margy could, too?" asked Rose. + +"Yes. Both of 'em." + +Soon the two smaller children were paddling about in the water near the +shore of the lake, while Rose and Vi sat under the shade of trees, not far +away, and sewed. + +The two older girls were trying on their dolls' dresses when, all of a +sudden, Mun Bun came running up from the lake, his eyes big with wonder, +and after him ran Margy. + +"Oh, I saw it! I saw it!" cried Mun Bun. "It's a great big bear! He came +right up out of the lake! Oh, come and look, Rose!" and he ran to take his +sister's hand, while Margy hid behind Violet. + +"What is it, Mun Bun?" asked Rose. + +"Oh, I saw something big--an animal--I--I guess it's a bear--come up out +of the lake!" cried the little fellow. "Come and look!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A RED COAT + + +When Mun Bun had said that a bear had come up out of the lake, at first +Rose felt she was going to be frightened, but when she saw that her +littlest brother and sister were also afraid, Rose made up her mind that +she must be brave. + +She looked at Vi, and Vi was a little frightened, too, but not as much so +as Mun Bun and Margy. + +"What was it you saw, Mun?" asked Vi, even now not able to stop asking +questions. "Where was it?" + +"It was a big bear, I guess," answered the little fellow. + +"Pooh!" cried Rose, in a voice she tried to make sound brave. "There +aren't any bears in these woods. Grandma Bell said so." + +"Well, anyhow, it was a--a _something_!" said Mun Bun. "It came up out of +the water and it made a big splash." + +"It splashed water on me," said Margy. + +"What did you think it was?" asked Vi. + +"Maybe--maybe a--a elephant," replied the little girl. "It had a big long +tail, anyhow." + +"Then it couldn't be a elephant," declared Rose. + +"Why not?" Vi wanted to know. + +"Because elephants have little, short tails. I saw 'em in the circus." + +"But they have _something_ long, don't they?" Vi went on. + +"That's their _trunk_," explained Rose. "But it isn't like the trunk we +put our things in. Elephants only put _peanuts_ in their trunks." + +"Then what makes 'em so big? Their trunks, I mean," asked Vi. + +"I don't know," Rose confessed. "Only I know elephants have little tails." + +"This animal had a big tail," declared Mun Bun. + +"Maybe it was the elephant's trunk they saw," suggested Vi. "Do you think +it was?" + +"Elephants don't live in the lake," decided Rose. Then she started down +toward the shore where Mun Bun and Margy had been paddling in their bare +feet. + +In truth, she did not want to go very much. That was why she had done so +much talking before she started. + +"Where are you goin'?" asked Violet. + +"I'm going to see what it is!" declared Rose. + +"Oh-o-o-o!" exclaimed Vi. "Maybe it'll bite you. Did it have a mouth, Mun +Bun?" + +"I didn't see its mouth, but it had a flappy tail." + +"I'm going to call mamma!" exclaimed Vi, "Don't you go, Rose!" + +But Rose was already halfway to the shore of the lake. In another moment +she called out: + +"Oh, I see it! I see it!" + +"What is it?" asked Mun, made brave by what he saw Rose doing, and he +followed her. Vi and Margy trailed after them. "What is it?" + +"It's a big rat, that's all, but it isn't the kind of rats we saw the +hired man catch in a trap at the barn. It's a nicer rat than that, and +it's eating oysters on a rock near the shore." + +"Oh, is it _really_ eating oysters?" asked Vi. + +"They look like oysters," replied Rose. "Oh, there he goes!" and, as she +spoke, the animal, which did look like a rat, plunged into the water and +swam away, only the tip of its nose showing. + +"Tisn't a bear," said Rose, "and 'tisn't an elephant." + +"Then what is it?" asked Vi. + +Rose did not know, but when the children went to the house and told +Grandma Bell about it, she said: + +"Why, that was a big muskrat. They won't hurt you. There are many of them +in the lake, and in the winter the men catch them for their skins to make +fur-lined coats from. It was only a big muskrat you saw, Mun Bun." + +"And was he eating oysters?" asked Vi, who liked to know all about things. + +"They were fresh-water clams," said Grandma Bell. "There are many of them +in the lake, too. The muskrats bring them up from the bottom in their +paws, and take them out on a rock that sticks up from the water. There +they eat the clams." + +"Well, I'm glad it wasn't a bear I saw," put in Mun Bun. + +"So am I," said Mother Bunker with a laugh. "But you needn't be +afraid--there are no bears here." + +While this had been going on Laddie and Russ, with their father in the +boat, had been having a good time. They rowed up the lake, and once or +twice Mr. Bunker let the boys take the oars so they might learn how to +row. + +"If you are going to be around the water," said Mr. Bunker, "you ought to +learn how to row a boat as well as how to swim." + +"I can swim a little," said Russ. + +"Yes, you do very well," returned his father. "And before we go back I +must teach Laddie." + +"I like to wade in my bare feet," said the smaller boy. + +"Well, when you learn to swim you'll like that," replied his father. "But +now let's see if we can catch some fish. I told mother I'd try to bring +some home, and I guess Muffin is hungry for fish, too. So we'll bait +our hooks and see what luck we have." + +Mr. Bunker stopped rowing the boat and got his own fishing-rod and line +ready. Russ could fix his own, but Laddie needed a little help. Soon the +three, sitting in the boat, were waiting for "bites." + +All at once there was a little shake and nibble on Laddie's line. He grew +excited and was going to pull up, but his father whispered to him: + +"Wait just a moment. The fish hasn't taken hold of the hook yet. He is +just tasting the bait. If you pull up now you'll scare him away. Wait a +little longer." + +So Laddie waited, and then, as he felt a sudden tug on his line, he +quickly lifted the pole from the water. Up in the air went the dripping +line, and on the end of it was a fine fish. + +"Laddie has caught the first one," said Mr. Bunker. "Now we'll have to see +what we can do, Russ." + +"I think I have one now," said Russ in a low voice. + +Mr. Bunker looked at his son's pole. The end of it was shaking and +bobbing a little, and the line was trembling. + +"Yes, you have a bite," said Mr. Bunker. "Pull up, Russ! Pull!" + +Russ pulled, as Laddie had done, and he, too, had caught a fine fish. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker, as he took this second one off the +hook. "You boys are beating me all to pieces. I'll have to watch out what +I'm doing!" + +"Why don't you pull up your line. Daddy, and see what you've got on your +hook?" asked Laddie. + +"I believe I will," his father answered. "Here we go! Let's see what I +have!" + +Up came his line, and the pole bent like a bow, because something heavy +was on the hook. + +"Oh, daddy's got a big one! Daddy's got a terrible one!" cried Laddie. + +"It's bigger than both our fishes put together," added Russ. + +"I certainly have got something," said Mr. Bunker, as he kept on lifting +his pole up. "But it doesn't act like a fish. It doesn't swim around and +try to get off." + +Something long and black was lifted out of the water. At first the two +little boys thought it was a very big fish, but when Mr. Bunker saw it he +laughed and cried: + +"Well, look at my luck! It's only an old rubber boot!" + +And so it was. His hook had caught on a rubber boot at the bottom of the +lake and he had pulled that up, thinking it was a fish. + +"Never mind, Daddy," said Russ kindly. "You can have half of my fish." + +"And half of mine, too," added Laddie. + +"Thank you," said their father. "That is very nice of you. But I must try +to catch one myself." + +And he did, a little later, though it was not as big as the one Russ has +caught. + +But after that Mr. Bunker caught a very large one, and Russ and Laddie +each got one more, so they had enough for a good meal, as well as some to +give to Muffin. + +Then Daddy Bunker and the boys rowed home, and were told all about the +muskrat that Mun Bun had seen come out of the lake to eat the fresh-water +clams. + +"How would you all like to go after wild strawberries to-day?" asked +Grandma Bell of the six little Bunkers one morning, about two days after +the fishing trip. + +"Oh, we'd just love it!" said Rose. + +"Well, get ready then, and we'll go over to the hill across the sheep +meadow, and see if we can find any. There used to be many strawberries +growing there, and I think we can find some to-day. Come on, children!" + +Mrs. Bunker got ready, too, but Daddy Bunker did not go, as he had some +letters to write. Margy wore a little red coat her mother had made for +her, and she looked very pretty in it. + +Down by the brook, and along the shore of the lake they went, until they +came to a meadow, around which was a fence. + +"What's the fence for?" asked Violet. + +"To keep the sheep from getting out," said Grandma Bell. "There are sheep +in this meadow belonging to Mr. Hixon, the man who owns the funny parrot." + +They climbed in between the rails of the fence and started across the +sheep meadow. Grandma Bell and Mother Bunker were talking of the days when +the children's mother was a little girl. Russ and Rose were walking along +together, and Laddie was trying to think of a riddle. Violet walked with +Mun Bun, and, for a moment, no one thought of little Margy in her red +coat. + +"Are you all right?" asked Mrs. Bunker, turning to look back at the +children. And then she saw Margy straggling along at the rear, all by +herself. Margy had lagged behind to pick buttercups and daisies. + +"Come, Margy! Come on!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "You'll get lost." + +"Doesn't she look cute in her red coat?" asked Rose. + +[Illustration: THE RAM WALKED TOWARD MARGY. + +_Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's--Page_ 171] + +And hardly had she said that when there came from a clump of tall weeds +near Margy the bleating of a ram, and the animal himself jumped out and +started for the little girl, whose red coat made her look like a bright +flower in the green meadow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +LADDIE AND THE SUGAR + + +"Oh! Oh, Margy!" cried Mrs. Bunker. + +"Oh, the poor little dear!" exclaimed Grandma Bell. "The old ram has seen +her red coat and doesn't like it! I must get her away." + +"I'll help!" cried Mother Bunker. Meanwhile they were both running toward +Margy, where she stood with her back turned toward the ram, picking +flowers. + +"You had better leave the old ram to me. I know how to drive him off," +said Grandma Bell. "You take the children, Amy, and get on the other side +of the fence. It isn't far," and she pointed to the fence ahead of them. + +"Won't the ram hurt you?" asked Rose, who had taken Mun Bun and Violet by +their hands to lead them along. + +"No, I'm not afraid of him," said Grandma Bell. "I've seen him before. You +see he's like a bull--or a turkey gobbler--they don't any of 'em like the +sight of red colors. Run, children! Amy, you look after them," she said to +Mrs. Bunker. "I'll get Margy." + +Mrs. Bunker knew that Grandma Bell knew a lot about farm animals. So, +calling to Violet, Mun Bun and Rose, and seeing that Russ and Laddie were +on the way to the fence, Mrs. Bunker followed the two boys. + +"I could throw stones at the ram," said Russ. + +"So could I," added his brother. "Let's go do it!" + +"No. You do as grandma told you, and get on the other side of the fence," +said his mother. "Grandma Bell can take care of the ram." + +The ram, which had big, curving horns, walked toward Margy, now and then +stopping to stamp his foot or give a loud: + +"Baa-a-a-a!" + +"What's he saying?" asked Vi. + +"Never mind what he's saying," said Mrs. Bunker. "Run! Don't stop to ask +questions." + +"I guess the ram's saying he doesn't like red coats," put in Russ. + +They were soon at the fence and out of any danger from the ram. Grandma +Bell was now close to Margy, who had stopped picking flowers, and was +looking at the animal with his shaggy coat of wool and his big, curved +horns. + +"Come to me, Margy!" cried her grandmother, and Margy ran, and was soon +clasped in Mrs. Bell's arms. + +"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated the old ram, again stamping his foot, as he shook his +lowered head. + +"Oh, he's going to bunk right into Grandma Bell!" cried Laddie, on the +safe side of the fence. + +"I'll go back and help her drive the ram off," said Mother Bunker. "You +children stay here." + +"Will the old ram-sheep come and get us?" asked Vi. + +"No, he can't get through the fence," her mother answered after a look +around. "Don't be afraid." + +By this time Margy's grandmother had caught the little girl up in her +arms, and was walking away from the ram. + +"I must cover your red coat up with my apron, and then the ram can't see +it," said Grandma Bell. "It's the red color he doesn't like." + +"'Cause why?" asked Margy. + +"I don't know why--any more than I know why turkey gobblers and bulls +don't like red," answered her grandmother. "But we had better get out of +this meadow. I didn't know the ram was so saucy, or we should have gone +around another way." + +"Will he bite us?" Margy went on. + +"Oh, no. He may try to hit us with his head. But that won't hurt much, as +his horns are curved, and not sharp. Go on back, Bunko!" called Grandma +Bell to the ram, Bunko was his name. "Go on back!" + +But Bunko evidently did not want to go back. He bleated some more, stamped +his feet, and shook his head. Margy's red coat was almost all covered now +by her grandmother's big apron that she wore when she want to pick wild +strawberries. But still the ram came on. + +"Go on, Mother!" called Mrs. Bunker to Grandma Bell. "You take Margy to +the fence and I'll throw clumps of dirt at the ram." + +This she did, hitting the ram on the head with soft clods of earth, while +Grandma Bell hurried to the fence with Margy. + +"There we are!" cried the grandmother, as she set the little girl safely +down on the far side, away from the ram. "Now Bunko can't get us." + +"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated Bunko. He shook his big, curved horns at Mrs. Bunker, +but he did not try to run at her and strike her with his head. Perhaps he +felt that, as long as the little girl with the red coat had gone out of +his meadow, everything was quite all right again. + +"Well, that was quite an adventure," said Mother Bunker, as they were all +together again, and on their way to the strawberry hill. "Did the ram ever +chase you before, Mother?" + +"Oh, no, but he often comes up to sniff at my dress when I take a short +cut through the pasture. But I'm not afraid of him, and he knows it. I +suppose he wondered what sort of new red flower Margy was." + +"I picked some flowers," said the little girl, "but I dropped 'em when you +carried me, Grandma." + +"Never mind. We can get more," returned Mrs. Bell. + +On they went to the place where the wild strawberries grew. They brushed +aside the green leaves, and saw the fruit gleaming red underneath. They +filled little baskets with the berries, though I think the children ate +more than they put in the baskets. + +"The old ram wouldn't like it here," said Russ, as he popped a berry into +his own mouth. + +"Why not?" asked Vi. + +"'Cause there's so much red here. He wouldn't like it at all." + +"Oh, I think he wouldn't mind strawberries," said Grandma Bell with a +laugh. "However, the next time we won't go through the ram's meadow. We +can go back another way. Now let's see who will get the most berries. +We'll take some home to Daddy Bunker!" + +The children had lots of fun on the warm, sunny hillside, picking the +sweet, red, wild strawberries, but if Daddy Bunker had had to depend on +the six little Bunkers to bring him home some of the fruit he would have +got very few berries, I'm afraid. For the children ate more than they +picked. But then, one could hardly blame them, as the strawberries were +good. + +However, Grandma Bell and Mother Bunker saved some for daddy, so he had a +chance to taste them, and he ate them at supper that night as he listened +to the story of the ram and Margy's red coat. + +The next day, as Laddie, Russ and Rose were out in front of Grandma Bell's +house, playing under the trees, they saw a farmer going down the road with +a box under his arm. + +"Do you suppose he's going after strawberries?" asked Rose. + +"If he is we'd better tell him to look out for the old ram," remarked +Laddie. + +"I will," said Russ. And then he called out loudly: + +"Hey, Mr. Parker!" for that was the farmer's name. "Hey, Mr. Parker, +you'd better look out!" + +"Look out for what?" + +"For the old ram. He chased my grandma and my sister Margy yesterday," +went on Russ. "But Margy had a red coat on." + +"Well, I haven't anything red on," the farmer said with a laugh. "But I'm +much obliged to you for telling me. And, as it happens, I'm going right +where that old ram is." + +"Oh, aren't you 'fraid?" asked Laddie. + +"No," answered the farmer. "The ram will be glad to see me. You see, I'm +taking him and the sheep some salt," and he showed the children that he +had salt in the box under his arm. "I'm going to give my cattle some +salt," went on the farmer, "and Mr. Hixon, who owns the sheep, asked me to +salt them, too. So I'm going to. The ram will be so glad to see me with +the salt that he won't hurt me at all." + +"It's funny sheep like salt," said Laddie. + +"It is. But they do," said the farmer, as he went on down the road. + +It was a little later that afternoon that Russ, who had been making a toy +sailboat, whistling merrily the while, wanted to go down to the lake to +sail it. + +"Come on, Laddie!" he called. "Let's go to the lake to sail the boat." + +"Laddie went in the house," said Rose. "I'll find him then," returned +Russ, and into the house he went, calling: + +"Laddie! Laddie! Where are you? Come on and help me sail the boat!" + +"Laddie was here a minute ago," said Jane, the hired girl, when Russ +reached the kitchen in his search. "He asked me to give him some sugar in +a cup." + +"What'd he want of sugar?" asked Russ. + +"I don't know," answered Jane. "But I gave him some and he went out in a +hurry." + +"Maybe he's going to make candy," said Russ. + +"No, I don't believe so. He'd have to cook sugar on a fire to make candy, +and you know your grandmother or your mother wouldn't let you play with +fire." + +"That's so," agreed Russ. "I wonder what Laddie wanted of the sugar. I've +got to find him." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DOWN IN THE WELL + + +Russ went out of the kitchen and looked all around the house for his +brother Laddie. He did not see the little fellow, but, on the side steps +he saw some white grains of sugar, and Russ could follow them a little +way. The trail led down across the brook and toward the meadow. + +"He went this way," Russ thought to himself, "and he had the sugar with +him. Maybe he's going out to the woods to feed the birds. Or maybe he's +going to have a play party with Rose and the others. I'll find 'em and +have some fun myself." + +But Laddie was not with the other little Bunkers, for Russ saw Rose, Vi, +Margy and Mun Bun playing under one of the trees. + +"Hi, Rose!" called Russ. "Have you found Laddie?" + +"No," Rose answered, "I didn't look for him." + +"I saw him," said Tom, the hired man. "He went over that way," and he +pointed across the brook. + +"Do you mean over to Strawberry Hill?" asked Russ, for so they had come to +call the place where the wild red berries grew. + +"Well, yes, I s'pose you might say towards Strawberry Hill," replied Tom. + +Across the brook hurried Russ, and, a little way ahead of him, he saw his +brother. + +"Hi, Laddie!" he called. "Wait for me! Where are you going?" + +Laddie waited, and Russ soon caught up to him. But Laddie did not at once +answer his older brother's question. So Russ asked again: + +"Where are you going?" Then, before Laddie had a chance to say anything, +Russ went on: "I know! You're going to pick wild strawberries, and put +sugar on 'em." + +"No, I'm not," returned Laddie slowly. "I'll tell you what I'm going to +do. I'm going to give some sugar to the sheep." + +"Give sugar to the sheep?" cried Russ in surprise. "What're you going to +do that for?" + +"'Cause they don't like salt, I guess," answered Laddie. "I don't like +salt, and I don't guess a sheep does. The farmer said he was going to give +salt to the sheep, but they must like sugar better. So I got Jane to give +me some, and I'm going to take it to the sheep." + +"I'll help you take it," said Russ. "I should think sheep would like sugar +better than salt." + +Together the two little boys kept on over the meadow until they came to +the field where the sheep were grazing. There were quite a number of them. + +"What'll we do if the old ram runs at us?" asked Russ, as he and Laddie +crawled under the fence. + +"He won't run at us," said the smaller boy, who seemed to have thought it +all out. "We haven't got anything red on, and he only runs at you if you +have red on. Anyhow, if he does, we can give him some sugar and that will +make him like us." + +"Yes, I guess it will," agreed Russ. + +With Laddie holding the bag of sweet stuff, the two boys walked toward +the sheep. They were eating grass, but soon some of the woolly creatures +noticed the two little fellows and stopped eating to walk toward them. + +"Here they come!" exclaimed Russ. "Get the sugar ready, Laddie. And there +comes the old ram over from the other side of the field. Save some sugar +for him." + +"I will," Laddie said. Then he poured some of the sugar out from the bag +on the ground, and the sheep began to nibble at it. + +I am not sure whether sheep like sugar better than salt or not. I should +think they might, and yet salt on some things is better than sugar would +be. I wouldn't like my roast chicken with sugar on it, but I do like it +with salt. Anyhow, the sheep licked up the sugar that Laddie sprinkled on +the grass for them. + +"Let me give 'em some!" begged Russ, and he reached for the bag. Just how +it happened the boys did not know, but the bag was knocked from Laddie's +hand, and the rest of the sugar was spilled out on the ground. More sheep +came up and soon all began eating it. + +"They like it lots better'n salt!" said Laddie. + +"Sure they do!" agreed Russ. "We'll bring more sugar, and we'll tell Mr. +Hixon about it. I guess he'd like to give his sheep the things they like +best. They like 'em to grow good and fat." + +The boys were so interested watching the sheep eat the sugar, that they +forgot all about the ram that had seemed so angry because of Margy's red +coat. The first they knew was when they heard a loud: + +"Baa-a-a-a-a!" + +Then they heard a pounding of hoofs on the ground and the ram came running +at them. + +"Oh, look!" cried Russ. "Here he comes! We'd better get on the other side +of the fence! Come on, Laddie!" + +"I'm coming!" answered the little fellow. "Hurry!" + +"It--it's too bad we didn't save him some sugar," panted Russ, as he and +Laddie ran on. "Maybe that's what makes him mad at us." + +"Maybe it is," agreed Laddie. "Hurry, Russ!" he shouted, looking over his +shoulder. "He's coming closer!" + +The ram was, indeed, running faster than the boys, and only that they had +a start of him he would have caught them before they got to the fence, and +then he might have butted them with his head. + +But, as it was, Russ reached the fence first. He turned to wait for +Laddie, who was a little behind him. + +"And if that old ram had hurt you I'd 'a' thrown stones at him," said Russ +afterward. But Laddie, with an extra burst of speed, managed to get to the +fence, and Russ helped him through. The ram was so close that his head +struck the rails with a bang. + +"It's a good thing it wasn't us he hit," said Russ, as they found +themselves safe on the other side. + +"That's right," agreed Laddie. "He's terrible mad 'cause we didn't save +him any sugar. I was going to, but it all spilled." + +They stood on the safe side of the fence looking at the ram, which shook +its head, stamped its feet, and, now and then, uttered a loud +"Baaa-a-a-a-a!" + +I don't really believe the ram was angry at Russ and Laddie for not giving +him sugar. I think the leader of the flock thought perhaps the boys might +be troubling the sheep, and wanted to drive them from the field. That's +just what he did, anyhow--drive them from the field. + +For a little while the boys stood watching the sheep. Those that had come +to eat the sugar seemed to have licked up all there was on the grass, and +they came with the others, to stand behind the ram, near the fence. They +all looked at the boys. + +"I guess they like us," said Laddie. + +"All but the ram," said Russ. "And I don't like him." + +"Neither do I," agreed his brother. + +"Well, come on," said Russ, after a bit. "We can't have any fun here. +Let's go and sail the boat I made. I was looking for you when Jane said +she gave you the sugar. I couldn't think what you were going to do." + +"I thought about the sugar for the sheep when I saw the man going with the +salt," explained Laddie. "But I guess I won't do it any more--not while +the old ram is in the field. Come on, we'll go and sail your boat." + +The boys went back to the house and got the new sailboat Russ had made. +Going down to the sandy shore of the lake with it, they found Rose and +Violet sitting in the shade, playing with their dolls. + +"Oh, I know what we can do!" exclaimed Russ, who was carrying the boat. + +"What?" asked his brother. + +"We can take the dolls--those Rose and Vi have--and give 'em a ride on the +boat." + +"Give Rose and Vi a ride on the boat?" asked Laddie, who had not been +listening very closely. "It isn't big enough." + +"'Course 'tisn't!" agreed Russ. "I don't mean _that_. I mean give the +_dolls_ a ride." + +"Oh, yes, we can do that!" cried Laddie. "It'll be fun! Will you let us?" +he called to the two little girls. + +"Let you what?" asked Rose. + +"Let us give your dolls a ride on the boat?" + +Russ had taken a board, whittled one end sharp, like the prow, or bow, of +a boat, and had rounded the other end for the stern. In the middle he had +bored a hole and stuck in this a stick for a mast. On the mast he had +tied a bit of cloth for a sail. And when the boat was put in the shallow +water of the lake, near shore, the wind blew it along nicely. + +"Oh, yes! Let's give our dolls a ride!" cried Vi. + +"You can give yours a ride, but I'm not," declared Rose. + +"Why?" Russ wanted to know. + +"'Cause she might fall off into the water." + +"I can put a stone on her so she won't fall off the boat," said Russ. + +"Huh! Think I'm going to let you put a stone on my doll? I will not!" Rose +exclaimed. + +"I could tie her on," suggested Laddie. "I've a piece of string." + +"Well, maybe _that's_ all right," Rose agreed, and then she and Violet let +Russ and Laddie take the dolls, which they tied on the sailboat. Then +along in the little sheltered cove of the lake the boat sailed, giving the +dolls a ride. + +But, suddenly, there came a strong puff of wind, and the boat tipped to +one side. Laddie could not have tied the string on Vi's doll very strong, +for she slipped off into the water. + +"Oh, your doll will be drowned!" cried Rose. + +"No, she can't drown! She's rubber," answered Vi. "I'll just play she had +a bath in the lake." + +"Well, it's a good thing it was your doll and not mine, that fell in," +went on Rose, "'cause my doll's a sawdust one--this one is. But I have a +rubber doll up at the house, a nice one. + +"Go and get her!" suggested Russ. "Then I can sail the boat in deeper +water and it won't hurt if it tips over with two rubber dolls on." + +So Rose got her other doll, and then the children had fun sailing the boat +with two make-believe passengers, who did not mind how wet they got. If +the boat didn't tip over of itself, Russ or Laddie made it, just to see +the dolls go splashing into the water. + +The children played at this game for some time, and then Jane called them +to come to lunch. At the table Laddie and Russ told about taking sugar to +the sheep, and how the ram chased them. + +"You mustn't do it again," their father said. "Not only that it isn't good +to waste sugar by giving it to the sheep, but the old ram might hurt you. +Don't do it again." + +The boys promised they wouldn't, and then Rose and Vi told of their fun +with the rubber dolls and the boat. + +In the afternoon, when Mrs. Bunker and Grandma Bell were getting ready to +go for a walk with the children, Russ came running up to the house, from +down near the barn, crying: + +"Oh, Rose! Margy took your rubber doll, and now she's down in the well! +She's down in the well!" + +"Oh, mercy sakes!" cried Grandma Bell, who heard what Russ said. "Is Margy +in the well or the doll?" + +But Russ didn't stop to answer. Back toward the well he ran, as fast as he +could go, having picked up the rake near the fence of the kitchen garden. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DOG-CART + + +Mrs. Bunker saw Grandma Bell hurrying down toward the barn, halfway +between which and the house, was the well, and at once the children's +mother began to fear that something was wrong. + +"Has anything happened?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"I'm afraid there has," answered Grandma Bell. "Russ came running up to +the house, and said something about a doll having fallen into the well. +Then he grabbed up the rake and ran back before I could ask him what he +meant." + +"Oh, I do hope none of the children will try to get it out!" cried Mrs. +Bunker. + +Then Grandma Bell and Mother Bunker ran down to the well. There they saw +Mr. Bunker with the long-handled rake fishing down in the round hole, at +the bottom of which was deep water. + +"What has happened?" demanded Mrs. Bunker. + +"It's all right--don't be frightened," her husband told her, as he looked +around. "It's only a doll that has fallen into the well. I'm trying to get +it out with the rake." + +"Only a doll--that isn't so bad," said Mrs. Bunker. "Whose doll is it?" + +"Mine," answered Rose. She and the other children now stood about the well +house. "Margy took it, Russ says, and dropped it into the water." + +"I was givin' the dollie a bath," Margy explained. "The other dolls had a +ride on Laddie's boat, and they felled in the water and had a nice swim, +but this doll didn't have any and I was givin' her one." + +"Oh, but you shouldn't have done that without asking mother," said Mrs. +Bunker. "And besides, I've told you to keep away from the well. You might +fall in." + +"Oh, I didn't go very near," said Margy. "I--I just throwed the dollie in. +I stood 'way back and I throwed her in 'cause I wanted her to have a swim +like the other dolls." + +"Can you get it out?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"I think so," answered her husband. "The doll is caught on one of the +buckets, halfway down the well. I sent Russ up to get the rake, for I'm +afraid If I pull up the bucket the doll will drop off and fall to the +bottom of the well." + +All watched Daddy fishing for the doll. The rake was not quite long +enough, but by fastening a stick onto the handle it could be reached down +far enough so the iron teeth caught in the doll's dress, and up she came. + +"Why--why!" exclaimed Margy, "she isn't wet at all." + +"No," said Daddy Bunker, "she didn't get down to the water. If she had I +don't believe I could have gotten her up, as the well is very deep. But +don't do it again, Margy." + +Rose took the doll, whose dress had been torn a little by the rake. + +"I'll make believe she's had a terrible time and been sick," said the +little girl, "and I'll give her bread pills." + +The rake was carried back to the kitchen garden, Daddy Bunker put on his +coat, which he had taken off to get the doll up from the well, and then +Grandma Bell brought some pails and baskets from the kitchen. + +"What are we going to do?" asked Russ. + +"We are going after berries," his mother told him. + +"Strawberries?" cried Laddie. + +"Not this time," said Grandma Bell. "This time we are going to gather +huckleberries." + +"Then you must be going to bake huckleberry pies!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. + +"Well, I'll bake some if the children don't eat more berries than they put +in the pails and baskets," said Grandma Bell, with a funny twinkle in her +eyes. + +"We won't eat very many," promised Russ. "We'll pick a lot of berries for +the pies, won't we, Laddie?" + +"Sure we will!" + +Off to the place where the huckleberries grew went the six little Bunkers, +with their mother and their grandmother. + +"And I'm coming, too," said Daddy Bunker. "I'm too fond of huckleberry pie +to risk having all the berries go into the children's mouths. I'll go +along and pick some myself, then I'll be sure of one pie at least." + +But the six little Bunkers were really very good. Of course, I'm not +saying they didn't eat _some_ berries. You'd do that yourself, when they +grew on bushes all around you. But the children put into the pails and +baskets so many that Grandma Bell said there would be a big pie for daddy, +and several smaller ones for the children. + +As the little party of berry pickers came back from the fields late that +afternoon, Russ and Laddie, walking ahead, saw Zip, the dog, dragging +along a piece of rope, fastened to a heavy bit of log. + +"He's terrible strong, Zip is," said Laddie. "Look at him pull that log." + +"Yes, he is strong," agreed Russ. And then he suddenly cried: "Oh, I know +what we can do!" + +"What?" asked Laddie, always ready for anything. + +"We can make a cart and have Zip pull us in it. If grandma had a pony I +guess she'd have a pony-cart, but she hasn't, so we can make a dog-cart." + +"How can we do it?" asked Laddie. + +"Well, you just take an old box--we saw some of the kind I want down at +the grocery store--and you put wheels on it." + +"Where are you going to get the wheels?" asked Laddie. + +Russ had to stop and think about that part. Then he happened to remember +that he had seen two wheels from an old baby carriage out in the barn. +Grandma Bell had once had a woman working for her who had a little baby, +and this woman had kept the carriage at the Bell farmhouse. But after a +while it broke, or wore out, and when the woman and her baby went away +there were only two wheels of the carriage left. + +"We can take them," said Russ, "and maybe we can find two more somewhere. +We'll ask daddy or grandma." + +"Say, it'll be lots of fun if we can make a dog-cart!" cried Laddie. +"Could we really ride in it, do you s'pose?" + +"Why, yes!" answered Russ. "Zip is strong enough to pull us both. Look at +him pull that log. Feel how hard he pulls on the rope!" + +The boys took hold of the rope and tried to hold back on it. But Zip was +so strong that he dragged them along a little way, as well as the log. And +Zip growled and snarled, pretending he was very angry. + +"Look out!" cried Mother Bunker. "He might bite you!" + +"Zip is only playing," said Grandma Bell. "He never bites. But what are +you doing?" she asked Russ and Laddie. + +"We're trying how hard Zip can pull, to see if he can pull us when we make +a dog-cart," explained Russ. + +"Please, Grandma, may we?" asked Laddie. "And may we have the two old baby +carriage wheels out in the barn?" + +"Yes, certainly," his grandmother said. "But I don't know where there are +any more wheels. You'll have to get along with two." + +"Well, we could do that," Russ said. "But four would be better. Oh, +Laddie! We'll have a lot of fun making the dog-cart!" + +"That's what we will!" said the smaller boy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RUSS HEARS NEWS + + +When Daddy Bunker heard about the plan of Russ and Laddie to make a +dog-cart, he at first thought the boys could not do it. + +"How are you going to harness Zip to the cart?" he asked. + +"Oh, we can do it," declared Russ. "We can make a harness out of pieces of +rope and some straps in the barn. And we can get a box and put some wheels +on it for a cart. It'll be easy." + +"But maybe Zip won't let himself be hitched up," said Daddy Bunker. He +wanted the boys to have fun while at Grandma Bell's, but he did not want +them to go to a lot of work making something, and then be disappointed if +it did not work. + +"Oh, I guess Zip won't mind being harnessed," said Grandma Bell. "Once we +had a man working for us who had a small boy. This boy--his name was +Bobbie--made a little cart and used to drive Zip hitched to it, and the +dog pulled Bobbie all around very nicely." + +"Did he? Hurray! Then he'll pull us!" shouted Laddie. + +As soon as Russ and Laddie got back to Grandma Bell's house they began to +look for things of which to make the dog-cart and the harness. Two wheels +were all they could find, but Daddy Bunker thought they would answer very +nicely. + +"I'll help you make the harness," said Tom Hardy. "I guess there are +enough odd straps around the barn to make a harness for two dogs." + +Russ and Laddie were glad to hear Tom say this. They felt that making the +harness would be the hardest part of the work. The cart would be easier; +at least so they hoped. + +From the grocery store, down at the "Four Corners," where Grandma Bell +traded, the boys, the next day, got a fine large soap box. It was quite +strong, too. + +"And it's got to be strong if you boys are going to ride around behind +that dog Zip!" said the storekeeper. "He's a goer, Zip is! A goer!" + +Tom helped the boys fasten the old baby carriage wheels to the box, and +also helped them make a pair of shafts, just like those in between which a +horse trots, only, of course, the ones for Zip were smaller. The hired man +was as good as his word in the matter of a harness, and soon everything +was in readiness for the first ride. + +"The only thing I'm afraid of," said Mother Bunker, "is that Zip won't let +himself be harnessed. He may not like it." + +But the big dog did not seem to mind in the least. He came when Russ +called him, and he wagged his tail when the boys showed him the soap-box +cart and the harness. + +"Now we're going to have some fun when you give us a ride!" said Russ, +patting Zip's shaggy head. + +"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, as much as to say: + +"That's right! We'll have fun!" + +Daddy Bunker, as well as his wife and Grandma Bell, came out to see how +the first trip would turn out. Tom put the harness on Zip. The dog only +sniffed at it and wagged his tail. Perhaps he thought of the time when he +had been harnessed this way by Bobbie. + +"Oh, it's nice! I like it!" cried Mun Bun, when he saw the home-made +dog-cart with the baby carriage wheels. "I want a ride now." + +"So do I," added Margy, who never liked to be left, out of anything in +which her smaller brother had a share. + +"You little folks had better not get in until Russ and Laddie try it," +said Mr. Bunker "And they had better keep on the soft grass when they +start to drive Zip." + +"Why should we stay on the grass?" asked Laddie. + +"So if you fall out of the cart you won't get hurt," his father answered +with a merry laugh. + +"Oh, we won't fall out," declared Russ. "The cart is big enough for two of +us." + +And the soap box was large enough for Russ, Laddie and one more little +Bunker, though two made a more comfortable load than three. Tom had nailed +in a board for a seat, and really the dog-cart, though rather roughly +made, was very nice. + +"Get in now, and let's see how you go," said Daddy Bunker. He was holding +Zip by part of the harness that went around the dog's head. To this, which +was a sort of muzzle, there were fastened two pieces of real horse reins, +and by these Zip's head could be pulled to the left or the right, +according to which way the little drivers wanted him to go. + +"He guides just like a real horse or a boat," said Laddie. Of course there +was no bit in Zip's mouth, as there is in the mouth of a horse, for dogs +have to keep their mouth open so much, to cool off when they are hot, that +a bit would be in the way. + +In the soap box Laddie and Russ took their places. Daddy Bunker handed +them the lines and let go of the dog's head. + +"Gid-dap!" called Russ. + +"Go fast!" ordered Laddie. + +"Hold tight and don't get spilled out!" begged Mother Bunker. + +"We will!" promised Laddie. + +Russ was driving and he didn't feel much like talking just then. He had +to give all his attention to Zip. + +Away trotted the dog, pulling after him the cart with the two boys in it. +Over the grass he went, and when Russ saw that the dog seemed to know just +what to do, and didn't show any signs of wanting to turn around and upset +the cart, Russ turned his steed toward the path. + +"We can go faster here, where it isn't so soft," he said. + +And Zip did pull the cart along at good speed. Around and around on the +gravel paths he pulled the boys, and he seemed to be having as much fun +from it as they were. + +"He goes very nicely," said Daddy Bunker, smiling. + +"I'd like a ride in the cart myself, if I were small enough," said the +children's mother, laughing. + +"Yes, Zip is a good dog for the six little Bunkers to play with," observed +Grandma Bell. "They'll have a good time with that cart." + +"Give us a ride! Give us a ride!" begged Rose. + +"Yes, can't you take some of them for a turn now?" asked Mrs. Bunker. + +"As soon as Laddie and I go around once more," promised Russ. + +Zip didn't seem a bit tired, though he had run fast part of the time. +Laddie got out and this made room for Rose and Violet, for Daddy Bunker +said Russ had better stay in and do the driving. + +"But I'm going to drive after a while? when I learn how," declared Rose, +and they said she might. + +Zip gave Russ, Rose and Vi as nice a ride as he had given the two boys, +and the girls clapped their hands in glee and laughed joyously as they +rattled along over the paths. + +Then came the turn of Margy and Mun Bun, and they liked it more than any +one, I guess, and didn't want to get out of the cart. + +"But Zip is tired now," said Mrs. Bunker. "See how fast he is breathing, +and how his tongue hangs out of his mouth," for the dog had been pulling +the cart for over an hour. "Get out, Mun and Margy, and you may have +another ride after Zip rests." + +The little children loved the dog, and wanted to be kind to him; so, when +their mother told them this, they got out of the cart, and Zip was +unharnessed and given some cold water to drink and a nice bone on which to +gnaw. + +"If he was a horse he could have oats," said Russ. "But I guess he likes a +bone better." + +"I guess so, too," said Grandma Bell, and she smiled. + +With the dog-cart, taking rowing trips on the lake now and then, going +fishing, hunting for berries and walking in the woods, the six little +Bunkers at Grandma Bell's had a fine time that early summer. There seemed +to be something new to do every day, or, if there wasn't, Russ or Laddie +made it. + +"And I've thought up a new riddle," said the smaller boy one day. + +"What's it about?" asked Russ. + +"It's about Zip," Laddie replied. "Why is Zip like a little boy when he's +tired? I mean when Zip is tired. Why is he like a little boy then?" + +"'Cause he wants to sit down and rest," answered Russ. + +"Nope; that isn't the answer," said Laddie, shaking his head. + +"Why isn't it?" + +"'Cause it isn't. I know the answer, and it isn't that. Tom helped me +think the riddle up. Maybe it's an old one, but Tom said it was good. Why +is Zip, when he's tired, like a little boy?" + +Russ thought for a while, and then he said: + +"I don't know. I give up. Why is he, Laddie?" + +"'Cause his breath comes in short pants. You see when Zip is tired his +breath is short--he pants, Tom told me. And a little boy, like you and me, +Russ, wears short pants. So that's why Zip is like one." + +"Oh, I see!" laughed Russ. "That's pretty good. I know a riddle too, +Laddie." + +"What is it?" + +"This. What makes a miller wear a white hat?" + +Laddie thought over this for a moment or two and then said: + +"He wears a white hat so the flour dust won't show so plain." + +"Nope; that isn't it," Russ declared. + +"Is it because nobody would sell him a black hat?" asked Laddie. + +"Nope. Shall I tell you the answer?" + +"No. Let me guess!" begged the smaller boy. + +He gave several other answers, none of which, Russ said, was right, and at +last Laddie murmured: + +"I give up! Why does a miller wear a white hat?" + +"To keep his head warm, same as anybody else!" laughed Russ. "Tom told me +that riddle, too," he added. + +"Well," said Laddie slowly, as he took off his own hat to run his fingers +through his hair, "that isn't as good a riddle as the one about Zip's +breath coming in short pants." + +"Maybe not. But it's harder to guess," said Russ. + +Then the two boys, after waiting for Zip's breath to come out of short +pants--that is, waiting for him to get rested--went for a ride in the +dog-cart. + +As they were going down the road they saw, coming toward them, a man with +bright red hair. He was driving a horse and carriage. + +"There's Mr. Hurd," said Russ. "He's the one we thought was the tramp +lumberman that got daddy's real estate papers." + +"I see him," said Laddie. "Look! He's waving to us! Let's go over and see +what he wants." + +Mr. Hurd was driving down a cross road, and waited for the boys to come up +to him. + +"Hello, Russ and Laddie!" he called, "I've got some news for you!" + +"News?" asked Russ. + +"Yes. Do you remember when you took me for the red-haired lumberman that +you thought had your father's papers: Remember that?" + +"Yes," answered Russ, "I do. But you weren't him. I wish we could find +him." + +"Maybe you can," said Mr. Hurd, and Russ looked at him in a queer way. +What did Mr. Hurd mean? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OFF ON A TRIP + + +"Are you sure this tramp lumberman who took the old coat with your +father's papers in it, had red hair?" asked Mr. Hurd as Zip came to a stop +near the carriage, and lay down in the shade, for, not being a big horse, +the dog could do almost as he pleased when harnessed up. + +"Yes, he had red hair," said Russ. "But he really didn't mean to take the +papers. I heard my father say. It was just a mistake." + +"Yes, I guess that was it," agreed Mr. Hurd. "Well, your father would like +to get those papers back, wouldn't he?" + +"Indeed he would!" exclaimed Russ. "He and mother were talking about 'em +only last night. Daddy would like to get 'em very much." + +"Well," went on Mr. Hurd. "I'll tell you the news I spoke about. Do you +know where Mr. Barker's place is?" + +"Yes," answered Russ. Laddie let his brother do most of the talking this +time. "It's over on the road to Green Pond, isn't it?" and Russ, sitting +in the dog-cart beside Laddie, pointed in the direction of the place he +spoke of. It was about three miles from where Grandma Bell lived. Russ had +heard his father, mother and grandmother speak of Mr. Barker's place. He +was a man who owned many fields and woodlands. + +"That's right, Russ," said Mr. Hurd. "Mr. Barker's place is over by Green +Pond. I see you know it all right. Well, now I heard yesterday that there +is a red-haired lumberman working for Mr. Barker, cutting down trees for +him, and getting ready to build an ice-house on the shore of Green Pond." + +"Is he a tramp lumberman?" asked Russ. + +"As to that I don't know," answered Mr. Hurd. "That's what your father +will have to find out for himself. But he can easily do that. All he'll +have to do will be to go over to Mr. Barker's place--it isn't far--and ask +for the red-haired lumberman. Mr. Barker has a big place, and hires a +good many men, but almost anybody would know a red-haired lumber-jack. +There aren't so many of 'em in these parts." + +"And if he's the tramp that got daddy's old coat then he must have the +papers," said Russ. + +"Well, yes, I suppose so. Unless he's lost 'em or sold 'em," went on Mr. +Hurd. "Your father said those real estate papers were worth money, so +maybe the tramp that found them in the pocket of the old coat sold them." + +Russ and Laddie looked sad on hearing this. Suppose, after all, Daddy +Bunker should not get his papers back? That would be too bad! + +"As I say," went on Mr. Hurd, "I know only what some one told me. It was +another man who works for Mr. Barker. He said a red-haired lumberman came +one day last week, and Mr. Barker hired him. I wouldn't be surprised if he +was a tramp, for regular lumbermen wouldn't be down here this time of +year. They'd be up in the woods. But, boys, you tell your father to go +have a look at this red-haired man over at Mr. Barker's place." + +"We'll tell him," said Russ. "And thank you." + +"Gid-dap!" called Mr. Hurd to his horse, and down the road it went, the +carriage soon being out of sight. Zip, the dog harnessed to the cart which +Russ and Laddie had helped make, still lay in the shade. He was taking a +good rest. + +"Oh, wouldn't it be fine if this is the lumberman daddy wants, and he +could get back his papers?" said Laddie. + +"Very fine," agreed Russ. "We'd better go back and tell him right away. +Maybe he'll take us to Mr. Barker's place with him!" + +"Oh, maybe!" cried Laddie. "Let's hurry home." + +But you can not always tell what is going to happen in this world. If, +just then, a white rabbit had not scooted out of the bushes and run +through the woods right in front of Zip, perhaps this part of the story +would never have been written. It is certain that if there had been no +rabbit to chase, Zip wouldn't have run as fast as he did. For he ran very +fast. + +And, just as I told you, it was because the white rabbit popped out of the +bushes right in front of the dog. + +"Bow-wow!" barked Zip, as he saw the bunny. "Bow-wow!" and that meant: "I +guess I'd better chase you!" + +And that's what Zip did. Up he sprang from the grass, and after the white +rabbit he ran. The dog started off so quickly that Russ and Laddie were +almost thrown out of the cart. If they had not held to the sides of the +box very hard they would have fallen out. As it was they were jerked and +tossed about as Zip ran after the rabbit. + +"Oh, what's the matter?" asked Laddie, who had not seen the bunny. "Did a +bee sting Zip?" This had happened once, and the dog had run around yelping +and barking, no one knowing what was the matter with him for a while. + +"No, I don't believe it was a bee," answered Russ. "It was a rabbit. Whoa, +Zip! Whoa!" called the little boy, pulling on the leather lines. + +But Zip did not stop. Very few dogs would, when once they had started to +run after a rabbit. + +[Illustration: "BOW-WOW!" BARKED ZIP, AND ON HE RAN, FASTER AND FASTER. + +_Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's_] + +"Bow-wow! Bow-wow!" barked Zip, and on he ran, faster and faster. He +seemed to enjoy it very much. + +It was a good thing the woods were not of the roughest kind just at this +place, for otherwise the dog-cart would have been smashed to pieces. As it +was it bumped and swayed from side to side, and Laddie and Russ had all +they could do to keep from bouncing out. + +"Whoa! Whoa!" called Russ, but Zip paid no attention. Nor did he care how +much the little boy driver pulled on the lines. As Zip had no bit in his +mouth to hurt him when it was pulled on hard, he was not going to stop. +The leather muzzle around his nose did not hurt him as a bit would have +done. + +I don't know just how far Zip would have run after the white rabbit, if +something had not happened to put an end to the chase. The rabbit, +probably getting tired of being run after, suddenly darted down inside a +hole. This was his burrow, or underground house, and once down in that, +the rabbit knew no dog could get him. + +So into his hole, as if he were going down cellar, went the bunny. And +Zip, with a howl of disappointment, saw the rabbit disappear. The dog +stopped at the outside edge of the hole, and barked as loudly as he could. +Perhaps he thought he was giving the bunny an invitation to come up. + +But the bunny never answered. They don't bark, but they can make a funny +little squeaking sound at times. This one didn't do even that. + +"He's gone, Zip! You can't get him," said Russ. + +"Bow-wow," answered the dog, almost as if he understood what Russ said, +and as though he answered: + +"Yes, he's gone, but I'll get him the next time." + +"He gave us a good ride, anyhow, didn't he, Russ?" asked Laddie. "I guess +he rode us 'most a mile." + +"Half a mile, anyhow," answered Russ. "And oh, look, Laddie! We can see +Green Pond!" + +They were up on top of a hill, and, looking through the trees, they could +see, sparkling in the sun, the waters of Green Pond, about two miles away. + +"That's where Mr. Barker lives," said Laddie. + +"And maybe the red-haired lumberman is there with daddy's papers," said +Russ. "Oh, Laddie! I know what let's do!" + +"What?" + +"Let's go down to Mr. Barker's place and ask the lumberman if he's a +tramp, and if he is the one that took the old coat. Let's do that!" + +"All right," agreed Laddie. "It isn't far and Zip will ride us there and +home again, so we won't get tired. If we get the papers won't daddy be +glad?" + +"Terrible glad! Come on, we'll go!" + +And, calling to Zip to come away from the rabbit hole, Russ and Laddie in +their dog-cart started on a trip which was to have a strange ending. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE LUMBERMAN'S CABIN + + +Along the road that led down the hill, and through the woods to Green +Pond, went Zip the dog; pulling after him the cart in which Russ and +Laddie rode. + +"I'm glad we're riding," said Laddie. "It would be awful far to walk to +Mr. Barker's place at Green Pond and back again, wouldn't it, Russ?" + +"Oh, I don't know," Russ answered slowly, as he guided Zip around a turn +in the crooked path. "I could walk it, but your legs aren't as long as +mine. I walked two miles once, with daddy." + +"What'll we do when we see that red-haired lumberman?" asked the smaller +boy. + +"We'll ask him for daddy's old coat and the papers." + +"But maybe he'll want the old coat," suggested Laddie. + +"Oh, well, he can have that," Russ answered. "Daddy gave him that, anyhow. +But we can ask him for the papers." + +"S'posin' he hasn't got 'em?" + +"What makes you s'pose so much?" demanded Russ. "Wait till we get there, +and we can tell what to do." + +"All right," agreed Laddie. "I can be thinking of a riddle. Maybe I could +ask the lumberman a riddle, Russ. Could I?" + +"Maybe. But maybe he doesn't like 'em. Some folks don't." + +"I could ask him an easy one, about the miller's hat, or about why the +tickets don't get mad when the conductor punches 'em." + +"No, don't ask him that one," Russ said. + +"Why not?" + +"'Cause that one about the tickets is too hard--nobody knows the answer. +You don't yourself." + +"I know I don't, but maybe the lumberman might. Maybe he'd like to answer +it. I guess I'll ask him." + +"No, don't do it," advised Russ. "He's a poor lumberman, or he wouldn't +want an old coat. And if he's poor he wouldn't pay money for tickets, so +he wouldn't know why the conductor punched 'em." + +Laddie thought about this a while. + +"All right," he said, finally, as Zip trotted along down the hill, and +came out on a level road that led to Green Pond. "I'll make up a new +riddle for the lumberman," he went on. "Or I could ask him about Zip's +breath coming in short pants." + +"All right, ask him that," agreed Russ. "I hope he gives us the papers." + +Mr. Barker's place was on the shores of Green Pond. In fact the man owned +the whole pond--or little lake, for that was what it was--and all the +woods around it. His house, a very big one, stood in the woods not far +from the pond, and all about the house were beautiful grounds, with roads +and paths leading through them. And around the house was a high iron +fence, with gate-ways here and there. + +Russ and Laddie, riding in their soap-box dog-cart, came along the public +road. Ahead of them they could see the big iron fence around Mr. Barker's +place. They knew it, for they had driven past it the week before with +Grandma Bell, when she took the six little Bunkers and Daddy Bunker and +Mother Bunker for a picnic ride in the big carriage. + +"There's the place," said Laddie, pointing. + +"I see it," returned Russ. "Now we'll drive in and find the lumberman and +get daddy's papers." + +Russ guided Zip up to one of the big iron gates, and as the boys turned +into the drive a man came out of a little house near the entrance and held +up his hand. It was just as the policeman does in the city street when he +wants the automobiles and wagons to stop, so Russ called to Zip: + +"Whoa!" + +The dog had learned to stop when any one driving him said this, so now he +halted and, being tired, he stretched out on the ground. His harness was +loose, so he could do this. + +"Where are you boys going?" asked the man at the gate. + +"We want to find a lumberman," said Russ. + +"A lumberman?" + +"Yes. One works here and he has daddy's old coat and there are some +papers in the pocket that daddy wants," Russ explained. "He's red-haired," +he went on. "I mean the lumberman is, not my father." + +"Oh," said the man at the gate. "So you're looking for some one. But Mr. +Barker lives here and you can't go in, I'm afraid." + +"We know Mr. Barker lives here," returned Russ. "We live over at Lake +Sagatook--that is, we don't zactly _live_ there, but we're visiting +Grandma Bell." + +"Oh, are you some of the little children staying at Mrs. Bell's house?" +asked the gate-tender. "I heard she had company. I know her well, but I +don't often get a chance to see her. So you're her company." + +"She's our grandma," explained Russ. "And we are the six little +Bunkers--everybody calls us that. 'Course Laddie and I are only two +Bunkers--there're four more at home--Rose, Vi, Margy and Mun Bun." + +"What's Mun Bun?" asked the gate-man. Nearly every one asked this on +hearing the funny name. + +"Mun Bun is our littlest brother," explained Russ, who was doing all the +talking. + +"His right name is Munroe, but we call him Mun Bun for short." + +"Well, as long as you don't eat him for short I guess it will be all +right," said the gate-man with a laugh. + +"Is that a riddle--about eating Mun Bun?" asked Laddie. + +"No. That's supposed to be a joke," explained the gate-man. "Your +brother's nickname is Bun, you say. Well, a bun is something good to eat, +but I hope you don't eat your little brother--joke, you see." + +Russ and Laddie laughed. They didn't exactly understand the joke, but they +thought the gate-man was jolly and they wanted to be jolly too. + +"So you six little Bunkers--at least two of you--came to see Mr. Barker, +did you?" asked the man at the entrance. + +"No, we didn't zactly come to see _him_," answered Russ. "We want to see +the lumberman that took daddy's ragged coat with the papers in the +pocket--only he didn't know they were there and he didn't take the coat. +That was given to him." + +"You want to see a lumberman?" repeated the guard at the gate, for he was +a sort of guard. "But we haven't any lumbermen here." + +"He's red-haired," Russ reminded him. + +"Oh, I guess I know whom you mean!" said the gate-man. "There is a +red-haired man cutting trees over in the woods. Mr. Barker is going to +build a new dock for his boats in Green Pond, and there is a red-haired +man chopping down trees for the work. He is a lumberman, I s'pose." + +"And is he red-haired?" asked Laddie eagerly. + +"Yes, his hair is red. I remember now. He came here one day and asked if +there was any work on the place. I was going to tell him there wasn't, +when one of the gardeners said the foreman was looking for a man to chop +trees. So this red-haired man was hired." + +"And is he a tramp?" asked Russ. + +"Well, he did look sort of like that, ragged and dusty." + +"And did he have a ragged coat?" Russ went on. + +"I didn't notice particularly," answered the gate-man. "He was pretty +much ragged all over, I guess, but I didn't pay much attention to him, as +I was busy. But he certainly was red-haired." + +"Oh, I do hope he's got daddy's papers!" went on Russ. "Mr. Hurd told us +about the lumberman," he went on, "and we came to see him." + +"Well, you can do that," said the guard at the gate. "Just follow this +road until you come to the lake. This lumberman--I think his name is Mike +Gannon--lives by himself in a little cabin near the place where the new +dock is to be built. He said he was used to living by himself, so the +foreman told him he could camp out there. And there you'll find him, if he +isn't chopping down trees in the woods. Just follow this road to the lake. +Will your dog pull you there?" + +"Oh, yes, Zip is a good puller," said Russ. "He gave us this ride from +Lake Sagatook." + +"And he ran after a rabbit!" added Laddie. "And he might 'a' got it, only +the bunny went down a hole." + +"They mostly do that when a dog chases 'em," said the gate-man. "Well, you +just follow the road along until you come to the cabin where the +red-haired lumberman lives--Mike Gannon is his name--and then you can ask +him about the ragged coat and the papers. Stop and tell me about it on +your way out." + +"We will," promised Russ and Laddie. Then Russ called to Zip: + +"Gid-dap!" + +Up jumped the dog with a bark, as much as to say "Good-bye!" to the +gate-man, and down the gravel drive he trotted with the cart. + +"He was a nice man, wasn't he?" observed Laddie. + +"Yes, terrible nice," agreed Russ. "I hope we find the red-haired +lumberman." + +"I forgot to ask him a riddle," went on Laddie. "I mean the man at the +gate. But I can ask him one when we go back." + +"If we have time," Russ said. "We can't stay too long, or mother and daddy +and Grandma Bell will wonder where we are." + +"That's so," agreed Laddie. "Well, we'll just find the lumberman and get +the papers and take them to daddy." + +Only it was not going to be quite as easy as that, the boys were to learn. + +Along the pretty drive, under the trees, they went in the dog-cart. Pretty +soon they came to a part of the road where the little lake came close to +the roadway, and, just beyond, was a log cabin. + +"There's where the lumberman lives," said Russ. + +"Yes, I guess he does," agreed Laddie. + +And just then, all of a sudden, Zip saw a cat out in front of the cabin. +With a growl and a bark the dog began to run toward the cat as fast as he +could go, pulling the cart after him. + +"Whoa! Whoa! Stop!" cried Russ. + +"Stop! Stop, Zip!" yelled Laddie. "Stop!" + +But the dog did not hear, or would not mind. Straight at the cat he +rushed, and pussy, seeing a strange dog coming, and pulling a soap-box +cart in which were two boys--pussy, seeing this strange sight--arched her +back and made her tail get as big as a big bologna sausage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE OLD COAT + + +"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 pussy 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 +darted 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 scrambled 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 ragged. 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 pointed +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 standing 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. + +"To see _me_!" exclaimed the red-haired lumberman in surprise. "Well, I'm +no great sight to look at, that's sure. But still I'm glad to see you. Are +you sure you wanted me?" + +"You're red-haired," said Russ slowly, as though going over certain +points. + +"That's right," said the lumberman. + +"And you cut down trees," went on Russ. + +"Correct." + +"And were you ever a tramp?" Russ asked. + +"Well, yes, you could call me that," admitted the red-haired man, speaking +slowly. "I'm a sort of tramp lumberman. I never like to stay long in one +place, and so I'm roving all over. You could call me a tramp." + +"That's good," said Russ. + +"Well, sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't," said Mr. Gannon. "It +isn't so bad tramping in the summer, but in the winter it isn't so nice. +You get cold and hungry." + +"I meant it's good 'cause you're the very one we want to see," went on +Russ, who felt quite big and grown-up, now that he and Laddie had come +this far alone. "Now where is the ragged coat?" + +"The ragged coat?" questioned Mr. Gannon. He did not seem to know what +Laddie meant. + +"Didn't you get a ragged cent from my daddy's real estate office about a +month ago?" went on Russ in surprise. "It was in Pineville, where we live +when we aren't visiting Grandma Bell. Did you get a ragged coat there?" + +"Pineville--Pineville?" murmured the red-haired lumberman to himself, as +if trying to remember. "Yes, I did tramp through there and--Hold on!" he +cried. "I remember now! I did ask at an office if they had an old coat +they could give me. I hadn't one worth wearing. I did get an old coat, +and, as you say, it was ragged." + +"Our father gave you that," went on Laddie. "Or he told one of his real +estate men to do it." + +"Yes, that's right--I remember now. I did beg a coat from a real estate +office," said Mr. Gannon. "And that was your father's place, was it? Well, +I'm glad to meet you boys. Your father was kind to me. But Pineville is a +long way from here. It took me almost a month to walk it, stopping to work +now and then." + +"We came in the train," said Laddie, "and I know a riddle about the +conductor punching the tickets, but I don't know----" + +Russ didn't want his brother to get to talking about riddles at a time +like this. So he interrupted with: + +"And have you got that ragged coat now, Mr. Tramp--I mean Mr. Gannon? Have +you got that coat now?" + +"Have I got that ragged coat, you mean?" asked the man. + +"Yes. Our daddy wants it back!" + +Mr. Gannon looked a bit surprised. + +"Not to wear," explained Russ quickly. "He doesn't want it to wear. You +can keep it, I guess. But when he told the clerk in his office to give the +coat to you there were some papers in one of the pockets and----" + +"Real estate papers," broke in Laddie, remembering this part. + +"Yes, real estate papers," said Russ. "They were in the pocket of the old, +ragged coat, and my daddy would like awful much to get 'em back. Have you +got the coat?" + +Mr. Gannon did not speak for a moment or two. He seemed to be trying to +think of something. Then, as Russ and Laddie looked at him, and as Zip sat +looking at the cat, the red-haired tramp lumberman said: + +"Well, now, it's a funny thing, but I _have_ got that old coat yet. It's +too ragged for me to wear--it got a lot more ragged after your father gave +it to me--but I sort of took a liking to it, and I kept it. I've got it +yet." + +"Where is it?" asked Russ eagerly. + +"Right here in my cabin. Mr. Barker lets me stay here while I'm cutting +down trees to build his dock. I like to be by myself. I've got the coat +here. I'll get it." + +He went inside and came out a moment later with a ragged coat in his hand. +It was tattered and torn. + +"This is the coat your father gave me," said the lumberman, "but I'm sorry +to say there are no papers in the pockets. You can look yourself if you +like. There isn't a paper at all!" + +As Russ watched, the red-haired man thrust his hands first into one +pocket and then into the others. But no papers came out. Russ looked sad +and disappointed. So did Laddie. + +"This is the coat all right that I got at a real estate office in +Pineville," said Mr. Gannon. "But every pocket was empty when I got it. I +remember feeling in them. There were no papers at all. If there were ever +any in the pockets they must have dropped out before I got the coat. The +pockets are full of holes, anyhow. I'm sorry!" + +So were Laddie and Russ. They watched while Mr. Gannon went through each +pocket of the ragged coat once more. But it was of no use. No papers were +to be found. + +"Come on, Laddie," said Russ in a low voice to his brother. "We'd better +go back home. Good-bye!" he called over his shoulder to the red-haired +lumberman. + +"Good-bye," answered Mr. Gannon. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I +haven't your daddy's papers." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"HURRAY!" + + +Slowly and sadly Russ and Laddie drove their dog-cart back toward Grandma +Bell's house. They went slowly because it was uphill from Green Pond, and +Zip was tired. He had chased after a rabbit and a cat, and he had pulled +Russ and Laddie all the way. No wonder the dog was tired. So the boys did +not try to drive him fast. + +And the two boys were sad because, though they had found the right +red-haired tramp lumberman--the same one that had Daddy Bunker's ragged +coat--still the real estate papers were not in it. + +"It's too bad," said Russ, as Zip walked along. + +"Yes," agreed Laddie. + +"I thought surely we'd get the papers," Russ went on. + +"And I didn't ask him any riddle," said Laddie. + +"Oh, well, never mind that," went on Russ. + +"Maybe I can ask him again, though," said Laddie, brightening up. "We can +have daddy take us there, and I can ask him then." + +"What would daddy want to take us there for?" asked Russ. + +"To see the old coat. Maybe Mr. Gannon has another, and that has the +papers in." + +"I don't guess so," answered Russ. "Gid-dap, Zip." + +Zip didn't "gid-dap" very fast, but he kept on going. And when he came to +the top of the hill, and began to trot down toward Lake Sagatook, he went +faster. I think he knew he could have a good rest in the barn, and also +have some hot supper. + +For it was getting near to supper-time. The sun was going down in the +west, and in a little while it would be dark. Already the shadows were +longer, and it was already a little dark when the boys drove through +little patches of wood. + +But they did not get lost, for Zip knew the way back, and soon the +dog-cart was rattling up the gravel drive of Grandma Bell's house. + +"There they come!" cried a voice, and there was a general rush to the +porch. Daddy and Mother Bunker, with Grandma Bell, Jane the hired girl, +and the four little Bunkers looked at the wanderers. + +"Where in the world have you two been?" cried Mother Bunker. + +"We were worried about you," said her husband. + +"And we were just going to get Tom to hitch up the horse and go to look +for you," added Grandma Bell. + +"Were you lost?" Rose asked. + +"Did the old ram chase you?" Vi wanted to know. + +Margy and Mun Bun toddled down the steps to look at Zip, who had stretched +out on the grass, still hitched to the cart. + +"Oh-oo-o-o! His nose is all scratched," said Margy. "Does it hurt you, +Zip?" she asked, gently patting him, and the dog wagged his tail. + +"Did some other dog bite him?" asked Mun Bun. + +"No, a cat scratched him," answered Russ. + +"What cat?" the children's mother wanted to know. + +"It was the red-haired lumberman's cat," Russ went on. "We went to his +cabin, over at Green Pond, where Mr. Barker lives. His name is Mike +Gannon--the tramp lumberman, I mean. Mr. Hurd told us about him, and we +went to see him and----" + +"I forgot to ask him a riddle!" broke in Laddie. + +"Never mind about riddles now, my dear," said Mother Bunker softly. "Let +us hear what Russ is saying." + +"Did you really find a red-haired tramp lumberman?" asked Mr. Bunker. + +"Yes," answered Russ. "And he had your ragged coat, but the papers weren't +in it, Daddy. And he was sorry and so were we and I'm hungry!" + +"So'm I!" added Laddie, before the words were fairly out of his brother's +mouth. "I'm awful hungry!" + +"But what does it all mean?" asked Mrs. Bunker. "Have you two boys really +been somewhere?" + +"We found the red-haired tramp lumberman, I told you," said Russ, "but he +didn't have those papers." + +"Let me hear all about it once again," begged Daddy Bunker. He seemed as +much excited as Russ and Laddie had been when they first saw Mr. Gannon. + +"First let me get them something to eat," said Grandma Bell. "We had our +supper--an early one," she went on, "but I saved some for you boys. You +shall eat first, and then tell us your story." + +"I guess Zip wants to eat, too," said Laddie. "He didn't catch the rabbit +and the cat scratched him." + +"I'll have Jane give Zip a good supper," said Grandma Bell. "And there is +strawberry shortcake for you boys." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Russ. + +Laddie clapped his hands in joy. + +And, taking turns, between bites, as it were, when they were eating +supper, Russ and Laddie told of having met Mr. Hurd, who had spoken of the +red-haired lumberman working at Mr. Barker's place. + +"So we went there, and Zip chased his cat," explained Russ. "And we upset, +but he was nice and he showed us the ragged coat, only the pockets were +full of holes and there weren't any papers." + +"Well, that's too bad!" said Daddy Bunker. "You two little boys were very +kind to do as much as you did, though." + +"Do you suppose, by any chance, this tramp lumberman might know something +of your papers, Charles?" asked Grandma Bell. + +"I'll go over and see him in the morning," said Mr. Bunker. + +"May we go along?" asked Rose. "I'd like to see the cat that scratched +Zip." + +"He won't scratch him again," Laddie said. "They're good friends now." + +"I don't want to see Zip scratched," returned Rose. "I just want to see +Green Pond and the red-haired man and the cat." + +"I'll tell you what we can do," said Grandma Bell. "We can all go on a +picnic to Green Pond to-morrow. We'll go in the carry-all and take our +lunch. I know Mr. Barker, and he'll let us eat our lunch in his woods. +Then you can ask the red-haired man about the lost papers, Charles." + +Mr. Bunker said this would be a good plan, and the next morning, bright +and early, after the lunch had been put up, the six little Bunkers, with +their father and mother and grandmother, started for Green Pond. + +In a little while they were traveling along through the woods, down the +same hill on which Zip had chased the rabbit. This time Zip had been left +in the barn with Tom Hardy. Daddy Bunker was driving the horse. + +"Here's the gate where the man told us about Mr. Gannon," said Russ, +pointing out the driveway. The man on guard knew Grandma Bell, and let +them go on through. They were soon at the log cabin. + +Daddy Bunker knocked on the door, but there was no answer. + +"I guess he isn't at home," said Grandma Bell. + +"Are you looking for the lumberman--the red-haired man who cuts trees?" +asked a gardener, coming along just then. + +"Yes, we should like to see him," said Daddy Bunker. + +"Well, he's over in the woods, chopping. I'll call him for _you_." + +They all waited at the cabin, and soon there came the sound of some one +tramping through the bushes along the shore of the pond. Then the +red-haired man came into view. + +"Oh, ho!" he exclaimed, as he caught sight of Russ and Laddie. "The two +little Bunkers who came to see me yesterday!" + +"All of us are here now--the whole of the six little Bunkers," said Russ. +"And here is my father, and mother and Grandma Bell, too!" + +"Well, I'm sure I'm glad to see you all," said Mr. Gannon, who had an axe +over his shoulder. + +"We came to see about that ragged coat," explained Daddy Bunker. "I guess +my two boys told you why I wanted it. I remember you now. You are the man +my clerk gave the coat to, back in Pineville, aren't you?" + +"Yes, and I want to thank you. That coat seemed to bring me good luck. I +got work right after you gave it to me, and I've been working ever since, +though I did tramp a lot." + +"Well, I'm glad to hear you had good luck," said Daddy Bunker. "But I'm +sorry you didn't find the real estate papers I left in the coat pocket. +They must have been in when my clerk let you have it, but perhaps they +dropped out." + +"I guess they must have," said the lumberman. "I never saw any of them, +and I wore the coat right after you gave it to me. I'll get it and let you +see for yourself." + +He set down his axe outside the log cabin and went in. Pretty soon he came +out again with, the ragged coat--the same one he had showed to Laddie and +Russ. + +"Here it is," said the red-haired tramp lumberman, as he handed the +garment to Mr. Bunker, "It's just as I got it from you. I don't wear it +much now, as I have another. But you'll find no papers in the pockets." + +"Yes, that's the old coat I used to wear around the office," said Mr. +Bunker, as he took it from. Mr. Gannon. "And I'm sure I put those papers +in the inside pocket, and then I forgot all about them." + +As he spoke he reached his hand down in the pocket of the old coat. The +pocket must have been pretty deep, for Daddy Bunker's hand went away +down. Then a funny look came over the face of the father of the six little +Bunkers. + +He pulled out his thumb, and his whole hand, and, instead of pulling out a +plum, as Little Jack Horner did, Mr. Bunker pulled out--the missing +papers! + +"Look what I found!" he cried. "Hurray! The very papers I want!" + +"Were they in the coat?" asked the red-haired lumberman in amazement. + +"They were," said Daddy Bunker. "Away down inside the lining. They slipped +through a hole in the pocket. And there they have been all this while--in +the lining of the old coat." + +"And I never knew it," said Mr. Gannon. "Are you sure they are the papers +you want?" + +"The very ones," answered Mr. Bunker, glancing at them. "And they are +worth a lot of money, too. I am very glad I found them." + +"So am I," said the lumberman. "I would hate to think I lost the papers +out of the old coat, even though I didn't know they were in the lining. +Well, I'm glad you have them back." + +"Oh, but this is good luck!" said Grandma Bell. + +"And Russ and Laddie brought it to us, for they found out where the coat +was," said Mother Bunker. + +"But we wouldn't have known if Mr. Hurd hadn't told us," said Russ. + +"And maybe we wouldn't have come, only Zip chased the rabbit," added +Laddie. + +"Well, it was good luck all around, and I have my papers back," said Daddy +Bunker. "And now we'll go on with the picnic." + +Daddy Bunker gave the lumberman some money, as his share in the good luck, +and told him when he was through working for Mr. Barker to come to +Pineville. + +"I'll give you work there," said the children's father. + +"All right, I'll come," promised Mr. Gannon. "And the next time any one +gives me an old coat I'll look in the torn lining, as well as in the +pockets, and if I find any valuable papers I can give them back right +away." + +Then he told of having tramped from place to place after leaving +Pineville, wearing the old coat, until he reached Green Pond. + +"It's just like a story in a book," said Rose. + +"Yes, it surely is," agreed Daddy Bunker, as he put the valuable papers +into his coat pocket, that had no hole in it. + +Then the six little Bunkers and the others went on to a lovely spot on the +shore of Green Pond and ate their picnic lunch. + +"Oh, it's just lovely here," said Rose, as she gave Mun Bun another small +piece of cake. + +"I wish we could stay forever," added Laddie. "I like it! I can think up +awful good riddles here." + +"It's fun to sail boats," said Russ, as he whistled a merry tune. + +"And there are so many things to see and do at Grandma Bell's house," +added Vi. + +"I won't throw any more dollies down the well," promised Margy, who +remembered her little trick. + +"That's good!" laughed Mother Bunker. "But, nice as it is, we can't stay +much longer. We are going somewhere else." + +"Where?" asked Russ eagerly. + +"Well, we have an invitation from your aunt to spend the last of July and +part of August in Boston," said his mother. "Would you like to go?" + +"We love Grandma Bell, but we would like to go to Boston," answered Rose. + +And what the children saw and did there you may learn by reading the next +book in this series, to be called: "Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's." + +"We did have such a lovely time!" said Rose on their homeward way. "Didn't +we, Russ?" + +"Yes. And I'm glad daddy got his papers. Oh, look! There goes a bunny!" +and he pointed. "Margy--Mun Bun! Look! There's a bunny like the one Zip +chased," and Russ turned to the two small children. + +But Mun Bun and Margy were fast asleep on the seat between Mother Bunker +and Grandma Bell. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's +by Laura Lee Hope + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14623 *** |