Mr Bunker

“ The man started and stared hard at the Baron, and presently that unconscious nobleman, pacing the platform in growing wonder at Mr Bunker’s lengthy absence, and looking anxiously round him on all sides, noticed with surprise that a number of quietly dressed men, with no apparent business in the station, were eyeing him with, it seemed to him, an interest that approached suspicion. ”

“ Mr. Bunker suggested to the planter. "I'll pay the bill."
"Just as you say, Charley," agreed Mr. Armatage. "That will please 'em all about as much as anything you could think of. I'll get some kind of music for them to dance by, and we'll all go down and watch 'em. Y [239] our young ones certainly do like dancing."
This was true. And especially was Russ Bunker anxious to learn to dance as some of the colored boys did. He was constantly practising the funny pigeon wing that he had seen Sam do in Aunt Jo's kitchen, in Boston. But the white boy could not get it just right. ”

“ Russ and Margy being the only Bunker chil [88] dren in sight, Mr. Bunker "shooed" them back to the Pullman car. He saw Rose and Mun Bun disappearing up the high steps, and he presumed Laddie and Violet were ahead. The train had started and the four children and daddy came to mother's seat before it was discovered that there were two little Bunkers missing.
"Oh, Charles!" gasped Mrs. Bunker. "Where are they?" The train began to move more rapidly. "They are left behind!" ”

“ Bunker carrying Margy across the floor. "They often feel a bit faint from riding too much, or from the motion. The air makes 'em all right. Take her right down to the beach. That would be best, I think."
"I will," said Mr. Bunker.
Tenderly he looked down at the little white face on his arm. Mrs. Bunker and Aunt Jo looked worried, as they hurried after Mr. Bunker, and Rose and Russ, who, with Violet, Mun Bun and Laddie had gotten off the merry-go-round, followed through the crowd. ”

“ CHAPTER VI THE POCKETBOOK
"Where are they?" asked Daddy Bunker, looking at his wife.
"They must be in the bathroom," she answered. "Oh, do go and look please, and see what is happening."
"What is it? May I go and see?" cried Vi, going toward the bathroom without waiting to have her questions answered.
Mr. Bunker ran down the hall. The bathroom door was open and within he saw a strange sight.
Mun Bun and Margy had, somehow or other, got the big dog Alexis to jump into the bathtub. Perhaps the dog had done it before. ”

“ Of course it was quite natural that Mr Bunker should find it pleasant to walk for a few minutes by the side of the fairest creature on earth, and very possibly he was artfully [pg 149] pleading his friend’s cause. Yet the Baron felt uneasy. He remembered Mr Bunker’s invariable success with the gentler sex, his wit, his happy smile, and his good looks; and he began to wish most sincerely that these fascinations were being exercised on the now somewhat breathless Countess, for his efforts to overtake the pair in front had both annoyed and exhausted Lady Grillyer. ”

“ In two minutes they came to the clearing in which Mammy June's cabin stood. One end of the little house was all ablaze.
"The poor soul hasn't got out," cried Mr. Armatage, and with Mr. Bunker he charged for the door, burst it in, and dashed into the smoke which filled the interior.
Russ thought that Daddy Bunker was very brave indeed to do this. It looked to the boy as though both men would be burned by the [170] raging fire. But he was brave himself. He fought back his tears and ran to the stream to fill with water both the pails he carried. ”

“ Bunker to his wife, "and I'll look for Margy. I'll find her in a jiffy, which is very quick time, indeed," he told the children. "Run along now, Mun Bun, and you too, Vi and Laddie. Rose, you go with your mother and help take care of Mun Bun."
"Shall I come with you, Daddy?" asked Russ.
"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker, "you may come with me, Russ. You can run faster [34] than I can, and if we find Margy playing tag with some of the other little boys and girls on the steamer you can catch her more easily than I can."
Mr. Bunker said this for fun. He didn't really think Margy was playing tag. ”

“ The range bosses ride around in automobiles now because it is easier and cheaper than wearing out ponies. And I read only the other day," added Mr. Bunker, "of a Montana ranch where they hunt strays in the mountains from an airplane. What do you think of that?"
"Are you sure Mr. Scarbontiskil got your message, Charles?" asked Mrs. Bunker of daddy. "Perhaps we had better go to a hotel."
"Oh!" cried Laddie, "I want to go right out where the cows and horses are."
"So do I," said Russ. "A hotel isn't very different from a Pullman coach." ”

“ Brown came running out on the porch. She seemed much excited, and was waving her hands in the air as Norah had waved hers the time the Bunker chimney caught fire.
"Wait a minute!" she called to Captain Ben and Mr. Bunker.
"What's the matter?" asked the children's father. "Have you found the missing Tad?"
"No. But some of my things are missing, too!" exclaimed the farmer's wife. "I left a box of my jewelry on the table at the head of my bed. Now it's gone—my box of jewelry is gone!" ”

“ 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. ”

“ Bunker to her husband, who came out to see if there were any letters for him. "They can play in the sand and never get a bit dirty."
"Yes, they can do that," said Mr. Bunker. "So Cousin Tom wrote, did he? Well, I suppose that means we will soon be leaving Aunt Jo's."
"I shall be sorry to see you go," said Aunt Jo herself—Miss Josephine Bunker, to give [Pg 15] her complete name and title. She was Daddy Bunker's sister, and had never married, but she had a fine home in the Back Bay section of Boston, and the six little Bunkers, with their father and mother, had been spending some weeks there. ”

“ THE TRAMP’S STORY.
“Joseph Bunker and I have been friends from boyhood. We always lived near each other and grew up together. We never quarrelled as most boys will. The families of both of us were in well-to-do condition. The war came and reduced us to poverty. I forgot to tell you that we were natives of and then living in Virginia. After the war I learned the trade of a machinist, while Mr. Bunker wandered North to try his luck. ”

“ Brown thought he was a pesky apple boy but he wasn't," said Vi. "He only took a few 'cause he was hungry."
"I wants an apple!" said Mun Bun, as he scampered around his brothers and sisters.
"And I want two apples!" said Margy.
Mrs. Bunker wanted Tad to stay to supper, but he said he had some relatives in Avalon, the next town, which could soon be reached by a trolley car. So he left, after thanking the Bunkers, and saying he would come over to see them soon.
"There's something queer about that boy," said Mr. Bunker, when Tad had gone to the trolley station. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Who the devil brought it here, and what’s the meaning of this d—d nonsense?”
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” roared Mr Bunker; while like sheepish mushrooms the people sprang up on all sides.
[pg 99] “My dear sir,” said Mr Bunker, coming up to the old gentleman, and raising his hat with his most affable air, “permit me to congratulate you on recovering your lost property, and allow me further to introduce my friend the Baron Rudolph von Blitzenberg.”
“Baron von damned-humbug!” cried the old gentleman. “Did you take my bag, sir? and if so, are you a thief or a lunatic?” ”

“ Bunker placed it in his pocket. From the closet he dragged his empty oil-board telescope valise, and into this he threw a few garments. From the neat pile of Orobotoro Gold Mine shares he selected enough to represent three thousand dollars par value, and these he placed in the telescope valise on top of the garments.
"Pa," asked Mrs. Bunker anxiously, "be you goin' to take a trip somewheres?"
"Yes, Ma, I be," said Mr. Bunker, his eyes twinkling; "us bunco men don't ever know when we got to go travelin'."
"Are ye goin' to be gone long, Jabez?" asked his wife. ”

“ The watch remained unfound, but the packing went on. Soon it was time for Mrs. Bunker to start for the train with Margy and Mun Bun. They were to go on ahead, as the way to Grand View by the train was longer than by the automobile road.
Captain Ben was to take Mrs. Bunker and the two smaller children to the railroad station in his car, leaving Mr. Bunker to attend to the last details of the packing with Russ and Rose, Violet and Laddie. Of course, Jerry Simms and Norah also helped.
MRS. BUNKER AND THE TWO SMALLER CHILDREN STARTED FOR THE RAILROAD STATION.
"Good-bye, children! ”

“ A percentage on the cost, with a trifling charge for time, is all he seeks in return. He is generally known as the Benevolent Bunker; he is everybody's friend; especially he is beloved by persons behindhand with their rents, he is——"
Here Mr. Bunker drew out his watch, and observed with severity that his time was valuable, and that he came about business.
Angela observed that the sallies of his nephew were received with disfavor.
"Can we not," pursued Harry, regardless of the cloud upon his uncle's brow—"can we not escape from affairs of urgency for one moment? ”

“ I am still perfectly clear?”
“Perfectly,” replied Bunker, with the same profound gravity.
“In consequence,” resumed the millionaire, with the impressiveness of a logician drawing a conclusion from two irrefutable premises—“in consequence, Count Bunker, I demand—and my daughter demands—and my son demands, sir, that the nobleman should possess an unusual number of high-class, fire-proof, expert-guaranteed qualities. That is only fair, you must admit?”
“I agree with you entirely.”
Mr. Maddison glanced at the clock and sprang to his feet. ”

“ Don't do nothin' you'll be ashamed of, but if you have a chance to bunk, bunk good and hard. A man had ought to put his whole heart in his work."
"Yes, Ma," he answered; "I wouldn't feel honest if I slighted my work."
Once before, Mr. Bunker had had occasion to do business with a small printer in one of the side streets off Fifth Avenue, and now he went there again. The printer looked up as Mr. Bunker entered.
"Hello!" he said. "How's the Italian-American War Supply Company?" for that was the name Mr. Bunker had had printed on certain stock-certificates at his former visit. ”

“ Bunker. "Matter of fact, Ma, I aint startin' for nowhere; I'm arrivin' from Oroduna, as you may say. I'm an old fool of an Iowa farmer arrivin' in New York and gawkin' up at the tall buildings. I'm a jay with straw clingin' to my heel, and the stable smell not quite wafted out o' my clothes."
"Jabez!" said Mrs. Bunker sharply, "don't you talk to me that way! Where be you makin' this trip to?"
"Well, Ma," said Mr. Bunker seriously, "I'm goin' down to Wall Street to bunk folks there. I'm goin' down to sell some o' this Orobotoro Gold Mine stock before it gets fly-specked. Don't you fret, Ma ”

“ Russ Bunker told himself. "They are not doing anything dangerous. It's a—a play, that's what it is. Why, those men have got moving picture cameras!
"Oh, I know what the surprise is now—Mr. Cowboy Jack's surprise! It's a moving picture company!" said Russ Bunker aloud. "They are make-believe soldiers, even if Black Bear and his people are real Indians. They are making moving pictures—that is what they are doing, Rose." ”

“ She went out and Aunt Jo and Mother Bunker laughed. The youngsters were suddenly excited at that moment by the stopping of a taxicab at the door. Vi had spied it from the window, for hard as it snowed she could see that.
"Here's Daddy! Here's Daddy!" she cried, dancing up and down.
Mun Bun and Margy joined in the dance, while the other three children entered upon a whirlwind rush down the stairway to meet Mr. Bunker at the front entrance.
He came in, covered with snow, and with his traveling bag. The children's charge upon him would su [34] rely have overturned anybody but Daddy Bunker. ”

“ Mr. Bunker agreed with her. Not for all the money in the world would he have turned his hand to anything dishonest, but bunco-steering was an easy, respectable. calling. It kept Mr. Bunker from getting rusty, and as the cashier of the Oroduna Bank had once told Mr. Bunker: "It's a favor to take money from them New Yorkers; when they aint being stung, they don't know they're alive."
The Jebbersons were a different couple entirely. Colonel Jebberson was an elderly and distinguished-looking gentleman, but at the time Mr. and Mrs. Bunker first entered Mrs. ”