Bunyip

“ Great grey kangaroos hop noiselessly over the coarse grass. Flights of white cockatoos stream out, shrieking like evil souls. The sun suddenly sinks, and the mopokes burst out into horrible peals of semi-human laughter. The natives aver that, when night comes, from out the bottomless depth of some lagoon the Bunyip rises, and, in form like monstrous sea-calf, drags his loathsome length from out the ooze. From a corner of the silent forest rises a dismal chant, and around a fire dance natives painted like skeletons. All is fear-inspiring and gloomy. ”

“ Prayers and entreaties to remove the whiskers being of no avail, Bunyip decided to leave home without more ado. The trouble was that he couldn't make up his mind whether to be a Traveller or a Swagman. You can't go about the world being nothing, but if you are a traveller you have to carry a bag, while if you are a swagman you have to carry a swag, and the question is: Which is the heavier? ”

“ Bill and Sam, who were like bloodhounds straining in the leash, sprang out and confronted the scoundrels, while Bunyip and Ben got behind in order to cut off their retreat.
"We've got you at last," said Bill, sparring up at the Possum with the fiercest activity. "Out with our Puddin', or prepare for a punch on the snout."
The Possum turned pale and the Wombat hastily got behind him.
"Puddin'," said the Possum, acting amazement, "what strange request is this?"
"What means this strange request?" asked the Wombat.
"No bungfoodlin'," said Bill, sternly. "Produce the Puddin' or prepare for death." ”

“ But the Possum shook his head. "No, no, Bill," he said, "no glancing," and the Wombat added: "To prove that no deception is intended, all heads must look in the bag together."
"What's to be done about this astoundin' predicament?" said Bill.
"If there is a present, of course we may as well have it.
If there ain't a present, of course we shall simply have to punch
their snouts as usual."
"One must confess," said Bunyip Bluegum, "to the prompting of a certain curiosity as to the nature of this present;" and Sam added, "Anyway, there's no harm in having a look at it." ”

“ From the rouseabout we found that Eversofar and Bingong were also gone. They had not taken horses, doubtless because Billy thought it would hardly be valiant and adventurous enough, and because neither Bingong nor Eversofar owned one, and it might look criminal to go off with mine. We suspected that they had headed for the great Debil-devil Waterhole, where, it was said, the Bunyip appeared: that mysterious animal, or devil, or thing, which nobody has ever seen, but many have pretended to see. ”

“ Bunnikins-Bunny, “I can’t go to sleep, for every time that I do, I dream that the furniture is falling off the ceiling, or that I am walking on my head. Would you be willing to leave this awful place before breakfast?”
“Yes, indeed,” replied Mr. Gray-Squirrel; “I am ready to go whenever you are.”
“Besides,” continued Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, “I think that the people here are becoming much too fond of us, and if we stay any longer, they [Pg 57] may not let us go away at all. I am sure that I don’t wish to spend the rest of my life walking on my head in an upside-down house.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Gray-Squirrel, dropped in to see him, and said at once: “What you need is a change of air, and I know just [Pg 9] the thing for you to do; come for a trip to the Moon with me in my new airship. You’ll have plenty of fresh air, and not too much heat, unless we happen to fall into the Sun.”
“Oh, no, no!” cried poor Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny, almost in tears. “I simply cannot let Mr. Bunnikins go sailing in the air. ”

“ Bunker had dropped. Then, holding the string, with [Pg 6] the chunk of meat on it, in one hand, the meat being just under water, Mun Bun's father carefully dipped the net into the water and thrust it under the bait and the crab.
A moment later he quickly lifted the net, and in it was a great, big crab—one of the largest Mr. Bunker had ever seen, and there were some big ones in Clam River.
"Oh, you got him, didn't you!" cried Mun Bun, capering about. "You caught my terrible crab, didn't you, Daddy?"
"Well, I rather guess we did, Mun Bun!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker. "He is a big one, too." ”

“ Bunnikins-Bunny sat down on a corner of the chandelier, and held his bewildered head between his front paws.
“If we stay here long,” said he, “I shall go crazy, and you will have to keep me in a cage.”
Meanwhile, the children were racing up and down the little stairways and trying the beds and chairs on the ceiling. It was quite easy for Ruddy and Chippy Gray-Squirrel to hang [Pg 51] on, but it was very difficult for Bobtail and Rosamund Bunny, and it ended by Bobtail’s suddenly falling right on top of his father, who thought that the furniture was coming down, and was scared out of his wits. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When he reached the 61pond, he saw Neddy and Bobtail trying vainly to throw the life-preserver to a brown furry object which was struggling in the water, some little distance from shore.
“Come here, Neddy,” called Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, “and let me get on your back; then you can swim to whatever that is in the water, and I can throw it the life-preserver, when we get near enough.”
“Hee-haw!” said Neddy, which 62meant, “All right, sir”; and Mr. Bunnikins scrambled up on his back, with the life-preserver held tightly in his fore paws, and off they swam. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 held out his hand. "You're Captain Larpent, of course. I wonder we've never met before. I've heard of you often enough. Sorry you had such bad luck with The Night Moth."
"Oh, damnable luck!" said the sailor gloomily.
"Still you came out of it alive," said Bunny consolingly. "And your daughter too. Things might have been worse."
Larpent grunted. "Think so?"
"She does anyway," said Bunny, with a grin.
Larpent grunted again. "Shipboard is not the place for a girl," he remarked.
"Toby seems more at home on horseback than anywhere else," said Bunny.
Larpent gave him a keen look. ”

“ Now, if Mun Bun had been very sleepy and had crept away to take a nap, as he often did after lunch when they were at home, without saying anything to Mother Bunker about it, where would he have gone to take that nap on this steamboat?
Mun Bun was a bold little boy. He was [56] seldom afraid of anything or anybody. Had he not instantly made friends with Sam, the strange colored boy, at Aunt Jo's house? So Russ knew he would not be afraid to run right out on the deck among the other passengers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The monkey knew and liked the boys, who were kind to him, so he did not make a fuss when they lifted him up beside Patter. Then the monkey and dog swung to and fro on the same carpet-covered trapeze board.
“The next thing to do is to teach Wango to [102] jump up the way Patter does,” suggested George. “We’ll do this next.”
So they began on that part of the trick which Bunny and his chums hoped to produce later in some sort of show, or circus. ”

“ He won’t come as long as he sees Miss Winkler there with a broom. He’ll think she wants to beat him.”
“Where do you s’pose Wango is?” asked Harry.
“Oh, I guess he’s hiding around in the trees,” Bunny answered. “That’s where he [114] runs to when Miss Winkler takes after him. Come on, we’ll go back and make Patter do his trapeze trick alone.”
On their way back the boys looked up in the trees they passed for a sight of Wango, but they saw nothing of the pet monkey. Then they turned toward Bunny’s house to go out to the barn and give Patter some practice on the trapeze. ”

“ Paul Bunyan had his setbacks the same as every logger only his were worse. Being a pioneer he had to invent all his stuff as he went along. Many a time his plans were upset by the mistakes of some swivel-headed strawboss or incompetent foreman. The winter of the blue snow, Shot Gunderson had charge in the Big Tadpole River country. He landed all of his logs in a lake and in the spring when ready to drive he boomed the logs three times around the lake before he discovered there was no outlet to it. High hills surrounded the lake and the drivable stream was ten miles away. ”

“ Occasionally they met a good farmer who gave them apples and cabbages to eat. They walked and walked all day long; sometimes Bunny ran ahead over the roofs of the hills, but he always returned to see if Bumps was following him. And all the time Bumps’ little legs were growing stronger and stronger, so that he seldom fell and hardly felt tired at all, which made him very proud. Finally, Bunny vanished over the top of the very last, highest hill, and though Bumps looked and looked for him, he didn’t come back. ”

“ In the woods the blue ox always had to be closely watched, for he would chew up the trees in his jestful moments as fast as they were felled, and on the great drives he would prankishly drink the river dry, leaving the astounded rivermen mired in the mud of the stream bed. He was forever gouging the Big Swede with his sharp horns or tickling Paul Bunyan’s neck with his tongue. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ How much had Bunker seen? How much had he understood? Was it fancy, or did the dog crouch, the tiniest impulse, away from him as he bent to pat him? Bunker was tired; he relapsed on to his haunches, wagged his tail, grinned, but in his eyes there seemed, although the lamplight was deceptive, to be the faintest shadow of an apprehension.
"Good old dog, good old Bunker." Bunker wagged his tail, but the tiniest shiver passed, like a thought, through his body.
Olva left him.
As he passed through the streets he met men whom he knew. They nodded or flung a greeting. ”

“ When at last he saw who it was he started up, his face flushing crimson.
"You!" he cried.
"Yes," said Olva, "I've come to tell you that everything's all right."
For a moment light touched Bunning's eyes, then slowly he shook his head.
"Things can't be all right. It's gone much too far."
"My dear Bunning, I've seen Craven. I've told him. I assure you that all is well."
"You told him?"
"Everything. That I killed Carfax—he knew it, of course, long ago. He went fast asleep at the end of it."
Bunning shook his head again, wearily. "It's all no good. ”