Bunco

“ It is a regular bunco steer, but he is different from the genuine article. The g. a. will enveigle you somewhere and beat you on the sly. The Mexican artist stops in the broad sunlight, right in front of your hotel and beats you to your teeth. ”

“ He was a full-grown tiger with a beautifully marked skin, which Bunco was not long in stripping from the carcass, while the Spaniard, who was highly delighted by this success, set about preparing breakfast. They were all too much excited to think of going to bed again; and, besides, it was within an hour of daybreak.
During the morning Will Osten persuaded his host to give him one of his old guns in exchange for a beautiful silver-mounted hunting knife, which was the only article of value that he happened to possess. ”

“ Bunk′er, a large bin or chest used for stowing various things, as coals, &c.: a hazard in a golf-links, originally confined to sand-pits, but now often used for hazards generally. [Prob. of Scand. origin; cf. Ice. bunki, Dan. bunke, a heap.]
Bunko, Bunco, bung′kō, n. (U.S.) a form of confidence-trick by which a simple fellow is swindled or taken somewhere and robbed.—v.t. to rob or swindle in such a way.—n. Bunk′o-steer′er, that one of the swindling confederates who allures the victim.
Bunkum, bung′kum, n. ”

“ When they got to the ranch house everybody there seemed very glad to see them, and Maria, the Mexican cook, had a very nice supper ready for the six little Bunkers. She seemed to know that she would not cook for the visitors much longer, and she tried to please them particularly with this meal. There were waffles again, and all the little Bunkers were fond of those delectable dainties. Only Mother Bunker would not always let them eat as many as they wanted to. ”

“ But sometimes the little folks slipped away from even Mother Bunker's observation.
The gardener often talked to the littlest [196] Bunkers, and he saw, too, that they did no more mischief around the greenhouse. When he saw them that afternoon trotting down the hill toward the poultry houses he failed to follow them. He had his work to do, of course, and it did not enter his head that Mun Bun and Margy could get into much trouble with the poultry.
Margy and Mun Bun were delighted with the "chickens" as they called most of the fowl the Armatages kept. ”

“ It’s like sliding for first base when you’re playing ball.”
By this time the six little Bunkers in charge of their mother were ready to walk back toward their house. They made a pretty picture as they stood in the street, Mun Bun and Margy were first, side by side, and holding hands as the two youngest generally did. Then came the twins, Violet and Laddie, next largest in size, and back of them were Rose and Russ, while Mrs. Bunker came behind the two oldest, smiling at her “brood,” as she sometimes called them, pretending they were hungry chickens. ”

“ Just what made Bunny awaken he did not know. But, all at once the little fellow sat up on his cot, and looked with wide-open eyes toward the entrance. There was a lantern burning in the tent, and by the light of it Bunny Brown saw a big shaggy animal, standing on its hind legs, and sniffing with its black nose. At first Bunny could not make a sound, he was so frightened, but finally he screamed:
"Oh, Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! It's a bear! A bear! A big black bear in the tent!"
Then Bunny slipped down between the blankets and covered up his head with the bed clothes. ”

“ He knew he was hungry, and being hungry is not at all a pleasant experience.
Meanwhile the search for the smallest Bunker was carried on all about the Oxbow Bend. In the brush and along the river's edge where the cottonwoods stood, and in every little coulee, or hollow, back of the camps.
"I don't see," complained Rose, "why we Bunkers have to be losing things all the time. There was my wrist-watch and Laddie's pin. Next came Vi and Laddie. Then Mun Bun was lost in the tumble-weed. Then I got lost myself. Now it's Mun Bun again. Somehow, Russ, it does seem as though we must be awful careless." ”

“ I’m looking for a family named Bunker. Do you know if they live around here?”
“We’re the Bunkers!” quickly answered Russ. “Anyhow, we’re the most of ’em,” he [Pg 19] added, laughing. “All but daddy and——”
“Oh!” murmured the driver of the truck. “Are there more of you?”
“It is rather a large family,” said Mrs. Bunker. “I have two more boys.”
“My daddy’s in his office,” volunteered Violet, who was now satisfied that her doll, Esmeralda, was all right except for a little dirt.
“And Laddie and Mun Bun are digging a hole to China,” added Margy. ”

“ Bunker, sitting up in bed. She looked at her husband. "Where is Mun Bun?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "He was sleeping with me, but, all of a sudden, I woke up and Mun Bun was not with me."
"He must have awakened and got up to get a drink, or something," said Mrs. Bunker. "Then when he went to go back again, he couldn't find the place where you were, and he's either crawled in with Russ [62] and Laddie, or with Rose and Violet. We must look for him."
"I'll look," said Mr. Bunker. "You stay with Margy. If she wakes up and finds you gone, she'll cry and disturb the whole car. ”

“ Medicine heap good. Indian like!"
"You'd better get yourself a toy train," said Bunny.
"No got money," returned Eagle Feather. "Like 'em very much for boy papoose when he grow big so like you." [Pg 80]
"Maybe I'll be tired of mine by that time and give it to him," said Bunny.
"Too nice. You no get tired long while," said the Indian. "Heap big medicine. Come, Sue, we wait for you."
As the Indian and Bunny waited they heard, off in the distance, the lowing of a cow.
"Hark!" cried Bunny.
"That my cow," said Eagle Feather. "I tell you boy and gal medicine heap good—find cow soon. Over this way! ”

“ While Mother Bunker thought he was with the other children, they had no idea Mun Bun had refused to take his usual nap and had followed them from the house.
The mule colts in the paddock were just the cunningest things! Margy and Vi squealed right out loud when they saw them.
"And their cunning long ears flap so funny!" cried Rose. "Did you ever?"
"But their tails are not skinned down like the big mules' tails," objected Laddie.
"Oh, they'll shave those later. That is what they do to the big mules—shave the hair off their tails, all but the 'paint-brush' at the end," said Russ, who knew. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As the four little Bunkers and the others listened during a lull in the storm, there came from upstairs the sound of merry laughter and shouting.
"The harder it rains and thunders the harder they play and laugh," said Mr. White, as the farmer said his name was. "I'll bring my sister's three youngsters down and let 'em play with your four. Then there'll be some little Bunkers and little brooks," he went on. "My sister's name is River, and I call the children little brooks," he added, with another laugh.
"Oh, that's almost like a riddle!" declared Laddie. ”

“ Bunning-Ford's life was excitement. His temperament bordered on the lethargic. He felt that unless he could obtain excitement life was utterly unbearable. He had sought it all over the world before he had adopted the life of a rancher. Here in the West of Canada he had found something of what he sought. There was the big game shooting in the mountains, and the pursuit of the "grizzly" is the most wildly enthralling chase in the world. There was the taming and "breaking" of the wild and furious "broncho"—the most exemplary "bucking" horse in the world. ”

“ The bungo was about forty feet long, dug out of the trunk of a Guanacaste tree, about five feet wide and nearly as deep, with the bottom round, and a toldo, or awning, round like the top of a market-wagon, made of matting and bulls' hides, covered ten feet of the stern. Beyond were six seats across the sides of the bungo for the oarsmen. The whole front was necessary for the men, and in reality I had only the part occupied by the awning, where, with the mules as tenants in common, there were too many of us. ”

“ But another look, as Bunny tried to slow-up [Pg 63] his rolling, told him it was another man. He was just as ragged as the hermit who kept a cow, but he did not have long hair, nor a long white beard, and his face was very dark.
"Oh, that's one of the Indians!" quickly thought Bunny. "Well, he saved my train all right. I'm glad of that."
With a slide and a roll Bunny reached the foot of the hill, and by catching hold of a small tree he saved himself from slipping into the water.
The Indian looked up from the toy train at which he was gazing in puzzled fashion. ”

“ Bunny shut Judy up in his pencil box, as the easiest way of carrying the little alligator, and soon he was on his way home with his pet.
"Why, Bunny! what's the matter?" his mother asked, as he came into the house. "Why are you home?"
"I had to bring back one of the alligators," he explained.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Uncle Tad. "Like Mary's lamb, the alligator followed you to school one day, did it, Bunny?"
"She didn't 'zactly follow me," Bunny explained, as he took his pet out to the tank in the barn. "I carried Judy in my pencil box, but I didn't know it." ”

“ He filled himself a strong glass of whisky and soda and began feverishly to drink.
Bunning sat down.
"Don't be such a blooming fool. Take off your gown if you're going to stop."
Bunning meekly took off his gown. His spectacles seemed so large that they swallowed up the rest of his face; the spectacles and the enormous flat-toed boots were the principal features of Bunning's attire. He sat down again and gazed at Olva with the eyes of a devoted dog. Olva looked at him. Over Bunning's red wrists the brown ends of a Jaeger vest protruded from under the shirt. ”

“ Bunny thought for about half a minute.
"Are you going to make a trap to catch something?" the little boy asked. Ever since he had come to Camp Rest-a-While he had begged Bunker to make a trap to catch a fox, or a squirrel, or something like that. Bunny did not want to hurt the wild animals, but he thought he would like to catch one in a trap, and try to tame it.
"No, I'm not making a trap," answered Bunker. "I don't believe you children could guess what these sticks are for if you tried all day. ”

“ 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." ”

“ Six hungry little Bunkers sat down to the supper table, and pretty soon there were no more six hungry little Bunkers, for they ate so many of the good things Norah cooked for them that they were no longer hungry. But there was still six little Bunkers, and they were anxious to try Rose’s strawberry shortcake.
“I’ll bring it in to the table and Rose can cut it,” said Norah.
She went to the pantry, but in less than half a minute she came hurrying back with a strange look on her face.
“What’s the matter?” asked Daddy Bunker. “Did you see a ghost, Norah?” ”

“ In the other corner sits Fred himself, and at his feet a sonsy cat and a dachshund dog.
Standing on the floor behind this group is the fisherman's wife, tall and bony, rough, but kindly-looking withal, and in front of her, with the firelight streaming on his strangely uncouth face, is Bunko, the fool of the village.
But "fool" is too harsh a word to use; for although but half-witted, there is a deal of sense and shrewdness under that towsy mop of his. Bunko holds in one hand a rough stick or pole higher than himself. ”

“ To expect a summons to death and public shame, to find—Bunning. Bunning—that soft, blithering, emotional, religious, middle-class maniac—Bunning! "Soft-faced" Bunning, as he was called, was the man of Olva's year in whom the world at large found most entertainment. The son of some country clergyman, kicked and battered through the slow, dreary years at some small Public School, he had come up to Saul's with an intense, burning desire to make a mark. ”

“ I'm going to find the men that are taking the cattle!"
When the six little Bunkers awoke the next morning, there was so much going on at Three Star Ranch that they did not know what to make of it. Cowboys were riding to and fro, Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker were dressed in old clothes, Captain Roy had a gun slung over his shoulder, and many [239] horses were standing outside the corral, saddled and bridled.
"Are we going on a picnic?" asked Vi. "Is there going to be a parade? Is the circus coming? What makes so many horses? Is there going to be a prairie fire?" ”