Laura Lee Hope

“ The ram may try to horn some of the children," returned the soldier-sailor. It was just like Captain Ben not to run away from a fight, either with some enemy on the battle field or a savage ram in a meadow.
Not much hurt by having been knocked head over heels, Captain Ben caught up a stick, like Daddy Bunker, and, leaping across the ditch, started to run toward the ram. The big, woolly creature stood on a little hill, looking at the partly overturned automobile, then at the two men rushing toward him, and then at Russ and the other children. ”

“ In a little while Captain Ben came back from the station with his empty automobile. As he alighted to go into the house, to see that the others were ready for the trip, he thrust out his left arm and looked down at his wrist.
"Oh, I forgot my watch was lost," he said with a grim laugh. "I have been so used to looking at the time that it comes natural to stick out my hand where I can get a good view of my wrist. Well, if my watch is gone—it's gone—that's all there is to it."
"Maybe Norah will find it after we have left," suggested Rose. "Lots of times she finds things we lose." ”

“ Russ, Rose, Laddie, and Vi, who had been sitting in chairs on the porch near Mr. Brown, listening to him talk about the uncertainties of an automobile, also jumped up as the boarding-house keeper cried out and left his seat. Russ looked in the direction the farmer pointed and saw, amid the trees in the apple orchard, a boy about his own size running as fast as he could run toward a fence. And, as the boy ran, apples dropped from his pockets to the grass. ”

“ Yes!" cried Mun Bun and Margy and Laddie and Violet.
"Where are we going and what are you going to tell us?" asked Vi, not forgetting, even in all the excitement about the fire, to ask her usual questions. "What are we going to do?"
"Oh, you'll find plenty to do—all six of you—if you come to my seashore place!" laughed Captain Ben. "That's what I came especially to talk about," he went on to Daddy and Mother Bunker. "I want to get out of my mind all thoughts of the great war, and if I can have this happy bunch of children around me it will be the best thing in the world. ”

“ The latter did not reply for a moment, and then he looked up at the sky, studied the clouds for a moment before he said:
"I don't want to look on the dark side, but I'm very much afraid we are going to be later getting to Grand View than I thought."
"Why?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Because I think we are going to run into a storm, and that will delay us," said Captain Ben. "The roads are none too good, and with a heavy rain, such as it seems likely we'll have, we can't make very fast time."
"I just love to be in a rain in an auto when the side curtains are up, don't you?" asked Rose of Russ. ”

“ Come back!" cried Russ, holding his hand to his mouth to make a sort of funnel, or megaphone, as he had often seen the fishermen do, and also the cowboys on Uncle Fred's ranch.
Across the water came faintly to the ears of Rose and Russ the sobs and cries of Laddie and Vi in the rowboat.
"Those men are taking 'em away!" cried Rose. "What shall we do?"
Just then Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker came down from the bungalow, up on the hill, to the beach where the children had gone to play. At once the two men saw that something was the matter. Then they noticed the two little Bunkers out in the boat. ”

“ No, Captain Ben, I am sure we're all much obliged to you for your kind invitation, but it will be impossible for us to go on account of school."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Rose, and looks of disappointment came over the faces of the other children when they heard this.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "Losing a week or so of school will not matter. I have just set my heart on the six little Bunkers coming to my seashore bungalow."
Again Daddy Bunker shook his head. But, as the looks of sorrow deepened on the faces of Rose and the others, Russ came running in off the porch with the evening paper. ”

“ Bunker and Norah safely reached the first floor. There was no smoke at all here, as yet. As Russ hurried out on the porch he saw Jerry Simms running around holding the garden hose, out of the nozzle of which trickled a little stream of water.
"Let me get at it!" cried the old soldier, who acted as gardener and furnace man by turns. "Let me get at the blaze! I'll put the fire out if I can see it!"
"You won't put much of a blaze out with that stream!" exclaimed a fireman in a rubber coat, as he hurried up the steps. "There isn't enough force to it." ”

“ I'm only sorry that it spoils our island picnic."
"Well, we can have fun here," said Russ. "We can make believe we're on a house boat, and that we're sailing to China."
"And can't we go somewhere to get something to eat?" asked Laddie. "Maybe they won't have anything I like in China. They have tea, and I don't like that very much."
"Yes, we'll make-believe sail to the North Pole, and maybe we'll see Santa Claus and he'll give us something good," laughed Rose, catching up Margy in her arms and dancing about the room.
"I want to see Santa Claus!" cried Margy.
"And I want candy!" added Mun Bun. ”

“ I'm sorry I had to wake you up in the middle of the night."
"Oh, that's all right," said Captain Ben. "I'm sorry about your boy. If I had known he felt afraid to go home alone, I'd have taken him over in my car."
"Maybe he'll come back in the morning, after he spends another night alone," said the father. "Tad is a queer boy. I don't exactly understand him, I feel sometimes. Well, if he isn't here I suppose I might as well go back home."
"I'm sorry," said Captain Ben. "Won't you stay the rest of the night, it's so late?" ”

“ As the automobile was passing through a little country village, Vi saw a candy store, where, also, soda water was sold.
"Can't we stop here and get a drink?" she asked. "I'm thirsty!"
"Yes, we can stop," her father said, and he was just asking Captain Ben to slow up at the store when a woman ran from it in great excitement, waving her hands and calling aloud:
"Stop! Stop! Oh, wait a minute! Something terrible has happened! Oh, come in! Come in!" ”

“ Russ had brought in some wood for the fire his mother wanted to start in the kitchen stove and Rose was getting ready to help set the table. When these tasks were done Margy and Mun Bun came up to Rose and Russ who were sitting down, resting.
"You please be doctor," begged Mun Bun of Russ.
"And you be nurse. Our babies are sick," said Margy to Rose.
"What in the world do you mean?" asked Russ.
"You be doctor and bring medicine to the dolls in a satchel," went on Margy, pulling at the sleeve of Russ. "I'll show you where the satchel is. You put medicine in, and come and be doctor." ”

“ The meal was soon on the table, and the hungry little Bunkers ate with good appetites. At first they had felt sorry about Tad's absence, but they soon forgot about him in thinking of the fun of traveling again in Captain Ben's car.
"And we'll see mother and Mun Bun and Margy to-night," said Rose, as she hummed a merry song.
"I'll be glad!" cried Russ, and he whistled, while a catbird in a tree outside tried to imitate him. Catbirds are relatives of the mocking birds, and they often imitate other birds, just as the mocking birds do. ”

“ Just as Daddy Bunker and Uncle Ben were going to thrust at the ram, a voice behind them called:
"Look out, friends! That's a bad animal! Once he goes on a rampage there's no stopping him."
The four little Bunkers and their father and Captain Ben turned to see the canal mule driver rushing to their aid with a long whip in his hand. ”

“ Stop pulling me out of bed!"
"Gracious, what a queer night!" thought Rose, as she sat up in bed. The storm had ended and it was very quiet except for the shouts of Laddie. He kept on calling:
"Let me alone! Oh, there you go! Now I'm out of bed!"
There was a thud, and the whole house seemed to shake. ”

“ Russ walked up and down the beach looking for odd shells, for he had started to make a collection of them. Rose remained on the sand, watching some men who were working on a motor boat. She saw that Mun Bun and Margy were all right, and the last she had heard from Laddie and Vi was when Laddie was trying to guess the answer to a riddle about seaweed. It was a riddle which Laddie had made up himself, and perhaps it was not as easy as some other riddle would have been. ”

“ Russ, who did not care much about picking flowers, came back to watch his father and the captain. Russ wanted to help, but he knew this was no time to ask, so he sat on the grassy bank whistling softly, and making a little boat out of a piece of wood.
"I think we'll have to get help," said Captain Ben, as he straightened up after he and Daddy Bunker had pressed down heavily on the long end of the rail. "The two of us together are not strong enough to raise the car out of the ditch." ”

“ Do you know if there is a hotel around here, or a place where I can take the children to stay while we are working on the car?"
"There isn't any hotel," said the mule driver, "but about a quarter of a mile down the road is Mr. Brown's place. He has a big farm and orchard, and he sells meals to auto travelers, and sometimes keeps them over night."
"That might be just the place for us," said Daddy Bunker. "We may have to stay all night again."
"If we do," said Rose, "I hope nobody walks in his sleep." ”

“ For though roosters do not appear to be savage they have strong wings and sharp spurs and a beak, and they can harm a small child greatly.
Holding Rose by the hand, Mrs. Bunker ran toward the chicken yard of the man next door. Before she reached it, she could hear a great commotion there.
A rooster was crowing and flapping his wings, and Mother Bunker could hear the voices of Laddie, Mun Bun, Margy and Violet, and Laddie seemed to be making the most noise. Russ, as it happened, was down at the dock with his father and Captain Ben, or he might have helped his little brother. ”

“ When I arrived your chimney was on fire. Then almost as soon as we start out we run into a storm and have to stay all night. We can't even have a peaceful night, for Jack made Laddie fall out of bed and there were all kinds of excitement."
"That was only fun!" laughed Rose.
"It sure was," agreed Russ. "And maybe this will be fun, too. That is, if mother doesn't worry, and we can get the car out of the ditch," he added.
"Oh, we can get the car out of the ditch, sooner or later," Captain Ben remarked. "And I fancy we can get word to your mother—perhaps on the telephone. We'll try, anyhow." ”

“ Catching crabs is not like catching fish. There is no hook for the crab to bite on and be held fast. He only holds by his claws, and if the bait is lifted too far out of the water the crab drops off. That is why Daddy Bunker had a net ready.
"Lift your string slowly," said Laddie's father, and the little boy did this. Inch by inch the string came up, and Laddie, looking down, could see the crab clinging by his claws to the chunk of meat. ”

“ I turned the water off instead of on," cried Jerry, as he looked at the nozzle of the garden hose which he had laid down on the porch. Not even a trickle was coming from it now.
"Never mind that! Get us a ladder!" cried the fireman. "Ours is broken, and if we don't douse this chimney pretty soon there'll be a bad blaze."
"What is it you want?" cried a man, making his way to the stoop through a crowd of people in the yard around the Bunker house. "What's the trouble? Why don't somebody get on the roof with a hose?" ”

“ Mother Bunker put up a lunch for the children, and they were soon in Captain Ben's big motor boat, speeding over the blue waters of the bay. Daddy and Mother Bunker also went along.
"Are there any nice places to have picnics here?" asked Rose of the captain, as she sat near him at the steering wheel.
"Oh, yes, lots of places," he answered. "There are some cute little islands in the bay, and we'll go camping on one some day." ”

“ Margy and Mun Bun, Laddie and Vi and Rose and Russ also helped pack, though, to tell you the truth, I do not believe that the four smallest children really did much helping. But they thought they did, and this gave them as much joy as if they had done it all themselves.
"Time to stop and eat!" exclaimed Captain Ben one noon, when several valises and trunks had been filled in readiness for the trip next day. "It's twelve o'clock," and he looked at a watch he wore on his wrist.
"Does your watch keep good time?" asked Violet. ”

“ Don't bring the big ones, 'cause they're too heavy for you."
"Shall we sit on 'em footstools?" asked Mun Bun, as he shook his golden hair out of his blue eyes.
"Yes, you sit on one footstool and Margy can sit on the other," said Russ. "Now, don't both of you try to sit on the same one, or there'll be a fuss, and we'll never get to playing. Can you bring the spinning wheel all alone, Rose?"
"Yes, it isn't heavy," answered Rose, the oldest girl of the six little Bunkers. "It drags over the floor easy." ”

“ It's too far to jump!"
"Don't dare jump!" screamed Rose. "Come on, Russ. You take Vi and Laddie and I'll look after Mun Bun and Margy." And she caught the two youngest children by their hands and Russ did the same for the twins, Vi and Laddie.
The smoke continued to grow thicker in the attic, and the cloud of it was now so dense that the chimney itself, whence the choking fumes came, could scarcely be seen. ”

“ The firemen coiled up their hose, and the engines and carts rumbled away. Norah shook her head dubiously as she saw the sloppy kitchen that she always kept so clean and bright, but Jerry Simms consoled her.
"I'll help you mop it up, Norah!" he kindly offered. "Water is easily gotten rid of—much more easily than fire. I'll help you clean up."
Norah was very thankful for this, and soon she and Jerry were busy setting things to rights in the kitchen while Daddy and Mother Bunker, with the children and Captain Ben, went into the sitting room. ”

“ All my money is gone, and none of the farmers want any work done that I can do. But I'm glad I'm going to have some dinner," he went on. "I can smell it now, and it makes me hungrier than ever."
"I'm hungry, too," said Russ.
"Are you going around in an automobile?" asked Vi, coming back after she had beaten Laddie in a race to the porch.
"An automobile? I should say not!" cried the boy. "I travel on shanks' mules, I do."
"Are they like canal mules?" Vi wanted to know. ”