Bunny Rabbit's Diary

By

Mary Frances Blaisdell



Bunny Rabbit's Diary

Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit and the three little rabbits lived in the woods.

Each little rabbit had a name.

There was Bunny Rabbit, Bobtail Rabbit, and Billy Rabbit.

Bunny was full of fun, and liked to play tricks on his brothers.

Bobtail liked to play with Bunny.  He was always ready to join in all the fun.

But Billy was lazy.  He did not like to work, and he did not like to play.

He liked to curl up in the tall grass and sleep.

The rabbits had many playmates in the woods and fields.

They played with the gray squirrels that lived in the big oak tree.

They played with the red squirrels that lived in the old stone wall.

Sometimes Bunny ran down to the brook to visit old Mr. Green Frog.

Sometimes he talked to Mrs. Duck, when she came to the brook to teach her little ones to swim.

There was always something to do; and Bunny, and Bobtail, and Billy were always doing something.

One Christmas Mrs. Rabbit gave Bunny a book.

She made it herself out of maple leaves.

She pinned the leaves together with thorns from the rose-bush that grew on the wall.

When Bunny saw the book he jumped up and down and clapped his hands.

"Oh, goody, goody!" he said.  "What a pretty book this is."

"I will sit down on the old stump and read the stories this very minute."

So Bunny sat down on the stump and opened his book.

He opened the book and looked at the first leaf.

There was no story to read.

He looked at the next leaf.

There was no story to read.

He turned one leaf and then another.

They were all alike.

There was not a story in the book, and Bunny could not find one picture.

"This is a funny book," he said to himself.  "I will run and ask Mother Rabbit what kind of a book this is."

So Bunny jumped off the stump and ran to find Mother Rabbit.

"Mother Rabbit," he said, "what kind of a book is this?

"There are no pictures, and I can not find one story to read."

"That is a diary," said Mother Rabbit.  "You must write the stories in the book yourself."

"What stories shall I write?" asked Bunny.

"You can write about the good times you and Bobtail and Billy have, playing in the woods," said Mother Rabbit.

"What fun!" said Bunny.  "I am going to write a story in my book this very morning."

So Bunny Rabbit ran back to the big stump.

But he did not know just how to write a story.

He had never written one before.

He thought, and thought, and thought.

Bobtail and Billy hopped up to see what their brother was doing.

"Come down and play with us," said Bobtail.

But Bunny shook his head, and shook his long ears.

"Run away now," he said; "I am going to write a story."

"What story are you going to write?" asked Billy.

But Bunny did not answer.  He had just thought of something funny.

It was about the slide on the long hill beside the pond.

And about the way Billy slid down, -- right into the cold water.

Bobtail and Billy ran away and left Bunny alone on the stump.

Ho was very busy writing in his maple-leaf book.

When he finished the story, he hid his book in the hollow tree.

"No one will find it there," he said to himself, as he hopped off toward home.

"I'll write a story every day until the book is full."

But one day I went walking in the woods.

I found the hollow tree, and I found the little maple-leaf book.

"Bunny Rabbit's Diary" was the name of the book.

It was all full of stories about the three little rabbits that lived in the woods.




Billy's Slide

I

One morning in winter Bunny opened his eyes, just as the big round sun peeped up from behind the hills.

He jumped up and shook himself.

Then he pulled Bobtail's long ears to wake him up.

Bobtail rolled out of bed, and that waked Billy.

"Oh, I am so sleepy!" said Billy.  "I don't want to get up now."

"Let's run out and find something for breakfast," said Bunny.  "I am as hungry as a bear."

"Yes, let's run out and find some breakfast," said Bobtail.

"I don't want to go far," said Billy.  "It is too cold."

The three little rabbits hopped off through the woods, hunting for something good to eat.

The ground was covered with snow and they could not find very much.

As they hopped along they were talking about what they could do to have some fun.

"Let's make a long slide to-day," said Bunny.

"Oh, let's make a big pile of snowballs," said Bobtail.

"Let's make a snow rabbit," said Billy.  "We can make it in front of our house."

Bunny jumped up and down in the snow.  He made a snowball and threw it at Billy.

"Oh!  I like to play in the snow," he said.  "I like to play in the snow."

Plump!  Something hit Bunny on the head.

"I like to play, too," some one called to the rabbits.

Bunny looked up to see who was talking.

Plump!  Something hit him right on the end of his nose.

"Hello, Bunny!" called Bobby Gray Squirrel.  "I hit you that time."

"Come down here and I will catch you," said Bunny, as he rubbed his little pink nose.

But Bobby only laughed and ran higher up among the branches of the oak tree.

"I will catch you some day," said Bunny as he hopped away.

"Oh, no!" answered Bobby.  "You can never catch me.  You cannot climb a tree."

The three rabbits soon found some tender little roots hidden under the blanket of snow.

"This is a good breakfast," said Bunny.

"Yes, it is a very good breakfast," said Billy, as he nibbled on the root he had found.

At last Bunny jumped up and shook his long ears.

"I have finished my breakfast," he said.

"So have I," said Billy.

"So have I," said Bobtail.

"Now we can make a long slide over in the meadow," said Bunny.

"I know where we can make the best slide," said Bobtail.

"Where, where?" asked Bunny.

"Over on the hill beside the pond," said Bobtail.

"That is too far away," said Billy.  "I think I will go home."

But Bunny and Bobtail would not let him.  They took hold of his hand, and made him hop along with them through the snow.

"Where are you going?" called Bobby Gray Squirrel.

"Follow us and you will see," answered Bunny.

"Oh, no," said Bobby.  "I like best to run about in this big tree.

"After I have found something to eat I shall curl up in my warm nest and go to sleep.

"Summer is the time to play, but winter is the time to sleep."



II

The little rabbits hopped off through the woods.

Soon they came to the long hill.

They stood at the top of the hill and looked down at the pond.

"Is the ice thick on the pond?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, yes," said  Bobtail.  "Jack Frost covered the pond with ice last night."

"But Mr. Sun is shining to-day," said Billy.

"Sometimes he turns the ice back to water again."

"I know that ice is very thick," said Bobtail.

"All right," said Bunny; "now let's make the slide."

Bunny hopped down the hill and made a little path in the snow.

Bobtail hopped down the path after him.  Then Billy hopped down the path.

The three rabbits hopped up and down the path until the slide was smooth and hard.

At last Billy said, "Now let's try the slide.  Here is a sled that belongs to one of the boys."

Billy sat down on the sled and tucked his feet under him.

Bobtail sat down behind Billy.

And last of all came Bunny.

"Hold on tight," called Bunny.  "I will give you a good start."

Bunny pushed hard and the sled began to slide.

He pushed harder and the sled began to slide faster.

"Now I am going to jump on," cried Bunny.

He ran as fast as he could and gave a good big jump.

Down he came, but not on the sled.

Oh, no!  He came down hard on the slide.

He bumped his nose and that made two little tears roll down his cheeks.

When he brushed the tears away he looked to see where the sled was.

It was half way down the hill and going faster every minute.

"Wait for me," shouted Bunny, and he started to run after the sled.

Bobtail heard Bunny call, and turned around to see what had happened.

"Look, look!" he said to Billy.  "Bunny has fallen off the sled and hurt himself.

"What shall we do?  What shall we do?"

Then Bobtail did a very silly thing.

He jumped up on the sled to call to Bunny.

He jumped up, and the sled went on down the hill.

It left Bobtail rolling over and over in the snow.

And he rolled, head first, right into a snow-bank.

Bobtail didn't like that very well.  He kicked and kicked to get out of the snow.

He shook his fur coat and he shook his long ears.

Then he looked down the hill to see what had become of Billy.

Billy was on the sled.  And the sled was sliding down the hill.

It came to the pond.

Crack, crack!  Splash, splash! it went.

Crack, crack!  Splash, splash! and Billy slid right into the water.

It was not very deep, but it was very wet.

When Billy climbed out on the bank he was very wet, too.

"Oh, dear me!" he said, "the water is cold."

"Oh, dear me!" said Bobtail, "the snow is cold."

"Oh, dear me!" said Bunny, "I hurt my nose."

"Let's run home to Mother Rabbit," said Billy.

"Yes, let's run home!"

So the three little rabbits hopped along the path through the woods as fast as they could go.

Bobby Gray Squirrel was running up and down in the big oak tree.

"Come and play with me," he said.

But the little rabbits did not stop to answer.

They hopped along the path as fast as they could go.

And they didn't stop once until they were safe in their own cosy home.




A Christmas Tree

I

The little pine tree stood near the path that led through the woods.

In summer the rabbits often sat under this tree to rest.

The tree listened to the stories they told of the good times they had together.

The birds flew to its branches and talked to each other about the things they had seen in the woods.

Bobby Gray Squirrel and his brothers often ran up into the pine tree to play tag.

But Sammy Red Squirrel knew something about this tree that no one else knew.

He knew where there was a small hole in one of the branches.

He found it one day when he ran up into the tree to eat a nut.

And when he saw the hole he said to himself, "That is a good place to hide some nuts for the winter."

The hole was not very large, but Sammy hid ten acorns in it.  He packed them in one by one.

Last of all he put a piece of bark in the hole.

"This is a good door for my store-house," he said, "I am sure no one will find these acorns."

And no one did find them.

Sammy ran to the hole very often and lifted the door just a crack.

The ten little acorns were just where he had put them.

"I will eat these nuts last of all," he said to himself.

All through the fall the little red squirrel hunted for nuts under the trees.

Sometimes he could not find any on the ground.

Then he would run round and round hunting for holes where he had hidden acorns away.

If the holes were empty Sammy knew some other little squirrel had been there before him.

And sometimes Sammy found nuts that other squirrels had stored away.

The hunting was always good, and no squirrel ever went to bed hungry.

But at last Jack Frost came and covered everything with snow.

All the nuts and acorns were frozen into the ground so the squirrels could not dig them out.

Then Sammy went to his store-house in the stone wall or in some old stump.

At last it became very cold.

North Wind blew through the woods.

The water in the little brook was covered with ice.

The birds tried to keep warm among the branches of the evergreen trees.

The rabbits slept in their warm home and did not come out very often.

The squirrels slept in their nests, and did not come out for days and days.

Blacky Crow stayed in the deep woods where the largest trees helped to keep him warm.

The ground had been covered with snow for two or three weeks.

And the squirrels and rabbits had taken long, long naps.



II

A few days before Christmas, Mr. Sun came up from behind the hills and shone brightly all day long.

He melted the snow in the warm hollows, and softened the ice on the brooks.

Bunny Rabbit and his brothers came out and hopped around to find roots to eat.

The squirrels ran up and down the trees, and all around everywhere to find hidden nuts.

All at once Bunny Rabbit heard a noise.

He sat up on his hind legs and held up his long ears.

The other rabbits listened, too.

Sammy and Bobby heard the noise and scampered up into the little pine tree.

"Bow-wow-wow!" barked Jip, as he ran through the woods.

"It's the dog!" cried Bunny.  "Let's run and hide."

The little rabbits whirled around and hopped back to their house.

Sammy and Bobby were safe in the tree, so they did not try to run away.

They heard some one talking and they looked to see who it was.

They saw two children and a man.

The man had an axe in his hand.

The two children ran along the path, talking and laughing.

They were looking at all the evergreen trees.

"This is a good one," said the little boy.

"This is a better one," said the girl, and she pointed right at the little pine tree where Sammy and Bobby were hiding.

"They are going to cut down this tree," whispered Sammy.  "What shall we do?  What shall we do?"

But the man did not cut down the tree.

He looked at it and said, "That is too large for our Christmas tree.

"We must find one that is much smaller."

So the man and the two children went along the path into the woods.

And before long the sound of the axe rang out through the stillness.

"I never was so frightened in my life," said Sammy.   "I thought they were going to cut down this tree."

"I thought so, too," said Bobby.  "But I was not frightened.  I could jump to that next tree.  It is not very far."

"I know that," said Sammy.  "But I have a store-house in this tree."

"Where is it?" asked Bobby.  "I wish you would show it to me.  I am as hungry as a bear."

"So am I," said Sammy.  "Let's have dinner now."

"We will call it a Christmas dinner.  The children said this would make a good Christmas tree," said Bobby.

"I wonder what a Christmas tree is like," said Sammy, as he ran along the branch to find the store-house.

Bobby followed Sammy and peeped into the hole where the ten acorns were hidden.

Sammy took out a nut, and Bobby took out a nut.

They sat up on their hind legs and nibbled away happily.

And as they nibbled, the man and the two children and the dog came back through the woods.

They were dragging a little tree over the snow.

The dog ran along beside them barking loudly.

"That must be a Christmas tree," said Bobby.  "I wonder what they are going to do with it."

"Tweet, tweet!" sang a little sparrow.  "I can tell you.  I saw one last year.

"I peeped in at the window after the tree had been set up in the warm room.

"I saw many pretty things hanging on the branches.

"I saw the candles lighted, and Santa Claus came in to give away the toys to the happy children.

"Oh, it was pretty!  But I like to see the tree in the woods better."

Then the little sparrow flew away, and the two squirrels ate another nut.

"I think this is a good Christmas tree," said Bobby.

"Yes," said Sammy.  "A tree with a hole full of nuts is better than one covered with candles and toys."

"It is better for squirrels," said Bobby.  And then he took another nut.




Bobtail's Kite

I

North Wind was playing a game.

He was blowing the dry leaves over the ground.

He piled them up under the oak tree at the edge of the woods.

"Bend your head and bow to me, big oak tree," said North Wind.

The oak tree bowed and bowed its head.

North Wind blew on and on.

As he blew through the woods, every tree bowed, and bowed its head.

Bobtail and Billy and Bunny heard North Wind as he blew past their house.

"Oh, how the wind blows!" said Bunny.

"I shall stay in the house to-day," said Billy.  "I do not like the wind."

But Bobtail did not like to stay in the house all day and sleep.

"Let's go out and have a game of tag," he said to his two brothers.

"I will reach the big oak tree first."

Now Bunny and Billy always liked to have a game of tag with Bobtail.

So they both hopped out of their warm house.

"Look out for me!" called North Wind.  "I can catch you all."

Hippity-hop went Bobtail down the path that led to the big oak tree.

And hippity-hop went Billy and Bunny after him.

Just as they came to the oak tree Bobtail saw the pile of leaves.

"Who put all those leaves under this tree?" he said.

"I did, I did," called North Wind.  "And here are some more to make the pile larger."

Then North Wind puffed out his cheeks and blew more leaves under the oak tree.

"Oh, what fun!" said Bunny.  "I should like to do that."

Bunny puffed out his cheeks and blew and blew, as hard as he could blow.

But the leaves did not move, until North Wind came to help him.

"This is just the day to fly a kite," said Bobtail.

"Yes," said Billy.  "The children always fly kites when the wind blows."

"I wish we had a kite," said Bunny.  "I should like to see it sail up in the air and over the trees."

"I can make a kite," said Bobtail.

"How, how?" asked both the other little rabbits together.

"See this big oak leaf," said Bobtail.  "This would make a good kite, if we had a long string."

"I know where there is a string," said Bunny.  "One of the boys dropped it out of his pocket the other day.

"It is on the ground, under the pine tree.  I will get it for you."

So Bunny hopped off, and in a minute he was back with the long string.

Bobtail tied the string to the short stem of the oak leaf.

"Let me fly the kite," begged Bunny.

"No, let me," said Billy.

"We will take turns," said Bobtail.  "Bunny may have his turn first."

So Bunny took hold of the string.

He picked the kite up and tossed it into the air just as he had seen the boys do.

The kite fluttered and fell to the ground at Bunny's feet.

"This is not a good kite," he said.  "It will not fly up into the air."



II

"Let me try now," said Billy.  "I know how to make a kite fly."

So Billy took hold of the string.

Then he climbed up on the old stump and tossed the kite into the air.

"Look, look!" he cried.  "See the kite fly this time."

But the oak leaf just fluttered and fluttered, and fell to the ground at Billy's feet.

"Something is the matter with this kite," said Billy.  "You did not make it the right way."

"Oh, yes, I did," said Bobtail.  "I will show you how to make it fly."

All this time North Wind had been very still.

He was watching the three little rabbits trying to fly their kite.

He laughed softly to himself when the leaf fluttered and fell to the ground.

But North Wind could not keep still very long.

He saw Bobtail take hold of the string of the kite.

"Watch me, watch me!" said Bobtail.

"Watch me, watch me!" sang North Wind.

Then he puffed out his cheeks and blew on the oak leaf as Bobtail gave it a toss.

Up, up in the air flew the kite, and Bobtail hopped faster and faster over the ground.

"Look, look!" he cried, "now my kite is going over the tall trees."

Bunny and Billy were sitting on the ground looking up in the air.

They watched the kite fly higher and higher.

"There it goes," called Bobtail.

And just then something else went, too.

Of course Bobtail could not see where he was hopping.

It took both his eyes to watch his kite fly higher and higher.

So he did not see the big stone in the path.

Over the stone he fell, -- right into the big pile of leaves under the oak tree.

Head first he went, and in a second he was all covered up with leaves.

He lost hold of the string, and the kite flew away up in the air.

One of the branches of the oak tree caught the string and held the kite fast.

"Oh, oh!" whistled North Wind.  "Now it is my turn to fly the kite."

Bobtail did not say a word.

He picked himself out of the big pile of leaves, and shook his long ears back and forth.

"I don't like to fly kites," he said.  "Let's go home and take a nap."

So the three little rabbits hopped back along the path through the woods.

North Wind puffed out his cheeks.

"See me fly the kite," he called to the rabbits.

He puffed out his cheeks and blew and blew.

But the leaf only fluttered and fluttered because the branch held the string fast.

North Wind blew and blew, but he could not make the kite fly away.

"I don't like to fly kites this morning," he said.  "I am going to pile some more leaves under the oak tree."

So he danced over the ground, and through the woods, singing a gay little song:

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day.

"Come o'er the meadow with me and play.

"Put on your dresses of red and gold,

"For summer has gone and the days grow cold."




April Fool's Day

I

"Wake up, Billy!" called Bunny.  "Wake up and see how hard it is snowing."

Billy opened his sleepy eyes and rolled out of bed.

Then he went to the door and peeped out.

"April fool, April fool!" shouted Bunny.

Billy laughed.  Then he hopped out of doors.

It was a warm sunny day, -- just the day to run around and play jokes.

But first the little rabbits had to find their breakfast.

Now that the warm days were coming they could find plenty to eat.

And Bunny and Billy and Bobtail were growing very fat.

Bobby Gray Squirrel and Sammy Red Squirrel could find plenty to eat, too.

In the fall they had stored away nuts and acorns in little holes in the ground.

When Jack Frost covered the ground with snow the squirrels could not dig up these nuts.

But now the ground was soft again, and Bobby and Sammy had plenty to eat.

Bunny and Billy and Bobtail saw the squirrels hide the nuts.

They did not like acorns so they never opened the store-house doors.

They just hopped around under the trees looking for green leaves and tender roots.

But on this first day of April Bunny found the biggest acorn he had ever seen.

It was hidden in a little hole, and he saw it when he sat down to eat his breakfast.

"Oh, oh!" he said to himself.  "Now I can play a joke on Bobby Gray Squirrel.

"I am going to tie a string to this acorn, and when Bobby tries to pick it up I shall pull it away from him."

He told Bobtail and Billy about the joke he was going to play on the gray squirrel.

"Ho, ho!" laughed Billy.

"Ha, ha!" laughed Bobtail.

"We must hurry and finish our breakfast," said Bunny.

"Bobby will be out hunting for nuts very soon."

In a few minutes the three rabbits had finished their breakfast.

Then Bunny hopped away to find a string he had seen under the oak tree.

It was the same string they had used to fly their kite.

The string had held the kite to the branch for a long time.

Then one day North Wind came again and tried to carry it away.

He puffed and puffed, and at last the branch let go of the string.

The kite flew up in the air and far away, but the string dropped to the ground under the oak tree.

There Bunny found it, and he tied the string around the acorn.

Then he scampered back to his brothers.

They were waiting for him near the old stone wall.

"Let's fool Sammy Red Squirrel first," said Billy.

"I saw him run out of his hole just a minute ago."

Bunny put the acorn in front of Sammy's door.

Then he held on to the other end of the string and hid behind a big rock.

Bobtail and Billy hid behind the pine tree.

They all kept as still as mice.  They did not even shake one of their long ears.

"There is Sammy now," whispered Billy.  "I can see him running along the path."

"Don't make a noise," said Bobtail.

Bunny saw the little red squirrel coming down the path.

He kept very still and held on to the string.



II

Sammy came skipping down the path.

He was singing a gay little tune:

"One, two, three, four, five, six,

"I'll watch out for April tricks."

Just then he saw the acorn lying on the ground near his door.

"Look at that!" he said.  "Bobby Gray Squirrel must have been here.

"Something frightened him, and made him drop that nut near my door."

Now Sammy was very fond of big acorns and he had not had one for a long time.

So he pounced on the acorn.

But it was not there!  Bunny had given the string a quick pull.

Sammy put his hand down on a rock.  There was no acorn to be seen.

"April fool!" shouted Bunny.

"April fool!" shouted Billy and Bobtail.

The three rabbits hopped out from their hiding places.

They laughed and laughed, and Sammy laughed, too.

"That was a good trick," he said.

"We are going to play it on Bobby Gray Squirrel, now," said Bunny.

"May I go with you?" asked Sammy.

"Oh, yes!" said the three rabbits.

So off through the woods they all went.

"Bobby often comes to the big oak tree," said Billy.  "I think that will be a good place to play the trick."

Bunny put the acorn on the ground, and then they all hid behind the tree.

They did not wait very long before they saw Bobby coming.

And in another minute Bobby saw the acorn.

"Ho, ho!" he said.  "Sammy Red Squirrel must have dropped that big acorn.  I will pick it up."

He ran along the ground toward the oak tree.

Bunny held on to the string.

He was going to wait until Bobby took hold of the acorn and then pull it away.

It was so still that the rabbits could hear Bobby's feet as they pattered on the ground.

Then all at once it was not still in the woods.

Jip, the dog, came bounding along the little path.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow!" he barked.  "Look out for me.  I am coming."

What a scampering there was!

Bobby forgot all about the acorn and skipped up the oak tree.

Sammy skipped up the tree after him.

The three little rabbits put their ears down on their heads, and hopped away out of sight.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow!" said Jip.  "Where has every one gone?

"I thought I saw some one under this tree as I came along the path."

The acorn lay on the ground where Bunny had left it.

Four little bright eyes watched Jip from the oak tree.

Sammy wished he could call out "April fool," to Jip.

But he was afraid of dogs, so he kept very still.

Bobby kept still, too, and the three little rabbits hopped along towards home.

After a while Jip went home.

Then there was a quick scampering down the tree.

One of the squirrels had that big acorn for his dinner.

Was it Sammy or Bobby?




Mrs. Duck's Secret

I

Mrs. Duck had a secret.

Bunny knew she had a secret, but she would not tell him what it was.

Bobtail knew she had a secret, and so did Billy.

Bunny saw Bobby Gray Squirrel and asked him if he knew Mrs. Duck's secret.

But Bobby did not know it, and Sammy Red Squirrel did not know it.

Every day Bunny saw Mrs. Duck walking along the little path that led through the field.

Sometimes she was going to the barn.

Sometimes she was coming from the barn.

She was always alone.  And she was always in a hurry.

She did not stop to talk to Bunny.

She did not stop to catch any of the little bugs that she saw in the path.

"I wonder what is the matter with Mrs. Duck," Bunny said to himself.

"I wonder why she walks along this little path every day."

Bunny thought and thought about the secret.

"I will ask Mrs. Duck to tell me her secret," he said.

So Bunny sat down under the maple tree to wait for Mrs. Duck.

He waited and waited.

It was very warm in the field.

After a while Bunny shut his eyes and he fell fast asleep.

He slept such a long time that when he opened his eyes the sun was just going to bed.

"Well, well!" he said.  "Mrs. Duck must have gone long ago."

Just then he saw Sammy Red Squirrel.

"Have you seen Mrs. Duck to-day?" he asked.

"Oh, yes!" answered Sammy.  "She walked along the path early this afternoon."

The next day Bunny sat down under the maple tree to watch again.

But this time he was not alone.

He had asked Billy to come with him.

"If you are with me, I shall not to sleep," he said.

So the two little rabbits sat down to wait for Mrs. Duck.

They waited and waited.

It was very warm in the field.  After a while Bunny shut his eyes. Then Billy shut his eyes, and they both fell fast asleep.

They slept such a long time that when they opened their eyes the sun was just going to bed.

Bobby Squirrel was sitting in the maple tree over their heads.

"Have you seen Mrs. Duck?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, yes!" answered Bobby.  "She walked along the path early this afternoon."

"Well, well!" said Bunny.  "I will try again to-morrow.  I will ask Bobtail to come with me.  Perhaps he can keep awake."



II

The next day the three little rabbits sat under the maple tree to watch for Mrs. Duck.

They waited and waited.

It was very warm in the field.

After a while the three little rabbits became sleepy.

Then Bobtail jumped up on his feet and began to hop around.

"Let's play tag," he said.  "If we sit here in the sun we shall go to sleep.

"Then we shall not see Mrs. Duck when she walks along the path."

So the three rabbits played tag.

They ran round and round the maple tree.  They ran back and forth along the little path.

All at once Bunny heard Mrs. Duck coming across the field.

She was going to the barn.

"Good-morning, Mrs. Duck," said Bunny.

"Where are you going this fine morning?"

"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck, "I am going to the barn."

"Where have you been?" asked Billy.

"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "That is a secret.  I can not tell you."

Then Mrs. Duck walked quickly along the little path and across the road.

She went into the barn-yard and hunted around for something to eat.

She talked to the other ducks and hens.  But she did not tell them her secret.

When she had eaten all she wanted she went out of the yard and across the road.

Then she walked back again along the path across the field.

When she came to the maple tree she saw Bunny and Bobtail and Billy.

And Bunny and Bobtail and Billy saw Mrs. Duck.

"Where are you going, now?" asked Bunny.

"I am going down to the brook," she said.  "That is where my secret is."

"May we go with you?" asked Billy.

"Yes," said Mrs. Duck.  "I will show you my secret if you will all promise not to tell."

So the three little rabbits hopped along behind Mrs. Duck until they came to the brook.

The water in the brook was running over the stones and singing a sweet little song.

Mr. Green Frog was sitting on a stone taking a nap in the warm sun.

"Now, follow me," said Mrs. Duck.  "I will show you my secret."

She led the three rabbits to some bushes that grew close beside the water.

"Quack, quack!" she said.  "Look in here.  What can you see?"

Bunny peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said, "how pretty they are."

Billy peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said, "how many there are."

Bobtail peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said.  "That is a very good secret."

Now what do you think the three rabbits saw hidden away under the bushes?

Perhaps you have guessed Mrs. Duck's secret by this time.

Yes! there was a nest full of eggs, -- just the prettiest eggs you ever saw.

Mrs. Duck was very proud of them.

She let the rabbits look at the eggs for a few minutes.

"Now I must cover my eggs up," she said.  "I must keep them warm."

So Mrs. Duck sat down on the nest and cuddled the eggs under her soft warm wings.

Not one egg could be seen.  And Mrs. Duck sat so still that Bunny thought she had gone to sleep.



III

Every day after that the rabbits went to visit Mrs. Duck.

But they did not tell the secret to any of their friends.

Then, one day, when the rabbits went to visit Mrs. Duck, she would not get off the nest.

"Quack, quack!" she said.  "I can not let you see the eggs to-day.  I you will come to-morrow I will show you what I have in my nest."

So the rabbits hopped away, leaving Mrs. Duck alone on her nest under the bushes.

The next morning, bright and early, the rabbits hopped along the little path.

They found Mrs. Duck still sitting in the nest.

They saw some little yellow heads peeping out from under her wings.

"Quack, quack!" she said.  "See my ducks.  They are the prettiest ducks you ever saw.

"And they have the brightest eyes in the world."

One little duck wriggled out from under her mother's wing and tried to stand on her little yellow feet.

But they were not strong yet.

"Come back, come back!" said Mrs. Duck.  "You must stay in the nest until you are strong."

And the little duck wriggled back again under her mother's wing.

"We will come again to see your ducks," said Bunny.

After two or three days the three rabbits went back to see the little ducks.

There was nothing in the nest under the bushes but a few broken shells.

"Where can the ducks be?" said Bunny.

"Tweet, tweet!" sang the sparrow.  "I saw Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks going to the barn."

"There they are now," sang another sparrow.

Bunny and Bobtail and Billy looked across the field.

They saw Mrs. Duck leading her family to the barnyard.

Mr. Rooster saw them coming.

He flapped his big wings and flew up on the fence.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he said.  "See Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks."

The three rabbits watched the ducks until they were in the barnyard.

Then they hopped off to the woods to tell Mrs. Duck's secret to all their friends.




The Swimming Lesson

I

"Quack, quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck, as she walked along the little path through the meadow.

"Quack, quack, quack!  Follow me, little ducks."

One, two, three, four, five, six little yellow ducks waddled after their mother along the little path through the meadow.

Bunny Rabbit was sitting under a tree, fast asleep, and he did not hear them coming.

He was dreaming of flying away with the little birds.

He could fly high up over the trees and over the houses.

Oh, it was great fun!  All the other rabbits were sitting on the ground watching him.

"Good-by," he called to Billy.

Then he waked up, and he was not under the oak tree.

"Quack, quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "What are you talking about, Bunny?  I cannot see Billy anywhere."

"I was dreaming of flying," said Bunny.  "I said good-by to Billy because I was going far away."

"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "I should like to see you fly.  You can't even swim."

"Perhaps I could," said Bunny, "if you would teach me."

"Come with me," said Mrs. Duck "I am going to teach my little ones to swim, and I will teach you, too."

"Quack, quack!" said all the little ducks, as they waddled after their mother.

"Come and see how soon we will learn to swim."

Bunny did not like to think that these little ducks could do something that he could not do.

"I have four feet," he said to himself, "and they have only two.  I am sure I can do what they can do."

So Bunny jumped up and followed the ducks along the path through the meadow.

In a few minutes they came to the brook.

The water looked cool to the little ducks.

But the water looked very wet to Bunny.

Mrs. Duck stood on the bank for one minute to talk to her ducklings.

"Follow me," she said, "and do what I do.  Swimming is the easiest thing in the world.

"When I count three we will all go into the water together."

"I think I will wait and see how you do it," said Bunny.  "That will be the best way for me to learn."

So Bunny sat down on the bank, and the little ducks stood in a row behind their mother.

"Now," said Mrs. Duck, "one, two, three, -- go!"

At the word "go" they all waddled into the water.

Paddle, paddle, paddle!  Mrs. Duck made her feet go so fast that she was soon in the middle of the brook.

Paddle, paddle, paddle, went all the little ducks, and they were swimming after their mother.

"Oh, what fun this is!" said the littlest duck.

"How cool the water is," said the biggest duck.

"Come in, Bunny," called all the ducks.  "Swimming is the easiest thing in the world."

"Why don't you try it, Bunny?" asked Mr. Green Frog, who was sitting on a rock close by.

"The water is cool, and swimming is the easiest thing in the world."



II

Bunny sat still on the bank, but he did not say a word.

He watched the ducks swimming round and round in the water.

"All they have to do is to paddle their feet," he said to himself.

"I am sure I can do that.  But I do wish the water was not so wet."

"Are you afraid to come in?" asked Mrs. Duck.

"Are you afraid to come in?" asked Mr. Green Frog.

Of course Bunny was afraid, but he did not like to say so.

At last he stood up and went down to the edge of the brook.

He put one foot in the water, but he pulled it out again very quickly.

"Oh, dear!" he said, "the water is so wet."

"You can't swim on dry land," said Mrs. Duck.  "Jump in, and you will like it, I know."

"Jump in!" said Mr. Green Frog.

Bunny went a step nearer and put two feet in the water.

"Oh, dear!" he thought to himself.  "I never can learn to swim.  I wish I were back under the tree, fast asleep."

Splash, splash!  Mr. Green Frog jumped into the water close to Bunny's feet.

It frightened the poor little rabbit and he slipped into the water, too.

"Paddle your feet, paddle your feet!" Mrs. Duck called to him.

But, of course, Bunny did not know how to paddle his feet.

He kicked and kicked and scrambled and splashed around in the brook.

The water ran into his eyes and he could not see.

The water ran into his ears and he could not hear.

The water ran into his mouth and he could not speak.

He kicked and splashed and scrambled until at last he felt his feet touch the ground.

Then he scrambled up on the bank and threw himself on the soft grass.

"You did not paddle your feet," said Mrs. Duck.

"Watch us," said all the little ducks.  "Do it the way we do."

"Oh, oh!" laughed Mr. Green Frog.  "Do try it again.  It was the funniest sight I ever saw."

"It may have been funny for you," said Bunny.  "But it was not funny for me.

"I am so wet, that I shall never be dry again.  And I am afraid I have spoiled my fur coat."

But Mr. Sun shone down brightly and Bunny was soon dry and warm.

Then he hopped along home by the little path through the woods.

"Swimming may be easy for ducks," he said to himself.

"And flying may be easy for birds.

"Rabbits and squirrels can run and hop and jump.  And that is easy for them."




The Clover Patch

I

It was a lovely day in June.

Bunny had been playing all the morning with Billy and Bobtail.

They had played tag, and hide-and-seek, and ever so many other games.

At last they were all tired and hungry.

"I know where there is a great big patch of clover," said Bunny.

"Oh, Bunny!" begged Bobtail, "show us where it is.  I have not had a taste of clover for ever so long."

"I like clover, too," said Billy.  "Is it very far from here?"

"Oh, no," said Bunny.  "It is down beside the brook."

The three little rabbits hopped off to find the big patch of clover.

They hopped down to the brook, but they could not see any clover there.

"Perhaps it was in the meadow," said Billy.

"The brook runs through the meadow."

"Yes," said Bobtail, "and then it runs through the woods."

"Clover would not grow under the trees," said Bunny.  "It grows in the fields where the sun shines."

"The sun shines in the meadow," said Billy.  "Let's go down there and look for the clover patch."

So the three little rabbits hopped off through the field.

They hopped along beside the brook all the way.

"Oh, look!" said Bunny.  "See the fishes swimming in the water."

Billy hopped very close to the brook.

Splash, splash! went something right under his feet.

Billy hopped back and looked all around to see what had happened.

"What was that?" he asked.

"That was old Mr. Green Frog," said Bunny.  "There he is now, sitting on a rock laughing at you."

"Ho, ho!" laughed Mr. Green Frog.  "I frightened you that time."

"I frightened you, too," said Billy.  "That was why you jumped into the water."

"Well," said Mr. Green Frog, "you almost hopped on my back.

"Of course I was frightened.  I jumped into the water without looking to see what was the matter."

"Come, come," said Bunny.  "We must find that clover patch.  I am as hungry as a bear."

So the three little rabbits hopped off across the meadow.

They could not hop so near the brook now because the ground was soft and wet.

And the rabbits did not like to wet their feet.

They hopped along, and at last Bunny called out, "Here it is.  Here it is."

Billy and Bobtail hopped up close to Bunny.

Sure enough, there was the biggest patch of clover they had ever seen.

And how green every leaf was!

The clover was all in blossom, too.

The white blossoms held their heads up to the sun.

The sun smiled to see the pretty white flowers among the green leaves.

Many bees were flying over the clover patch.

They were asking the blossoms for nectar to make sweet honey.

"Buzz, buzz!" sang the bees, as they flew from flower to flower.



II

Bunny and Billy and Bobtail began to nibble the greenest leaves.

They nibbled and nibbled and nibbled.

The bees buzzed and buzzed and buzzed.

"What good honey we can make," said the bees.  "Clover honey is best of all."

"Oh, how good this clover is," said Billy.  "I am glad I came so far."

"Yes," said Bunny.  "It is the sweetest clover I ever tasted."

"Yes, it is," said Billy.  "I -- 

"Oh, oh, oh!" he cried.  "Oh, my nose!"

Billy jumped up and hopped round and round.  He rubbed his nose and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

Bunny and Bobtail stopped eating, and went to see what had happened to Billy.

"What is the matter?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, my nose!" said Billy.  "I took a bite of clover and something stung me on the nose."

A bee flew up from the clover and sailed round and round in the air.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!" said the bee.  "I stung your nose, Billy.  I thought you were going to eat me."

Bunny saw the bee flying round and round over their heads.

"It must have been a bee that stung you," said Bunny.

Billy looked at the bee.

"I am going home," he said.  "I did not want to come so far anyway. There are plenty of good things eat in our own field."

So Billy hopped along home very slowly.

He stopped every few steps to rub his poor little nose.

Mother Rabbit saw him coming and went to the door to meet him.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"I went to the meadow to eat clover," said Billy.  "The bees were there and one stung me on the nose."

"Rub your nose in the dirt and that will make it feel well again," said Mother Rabbit.

Billy put some dirt on his nose, and the pain soon went away.

Then Mother Rabbit took him to a place where the grass was tender.

He ate all the dinner he wanted and then went home to take a nap.

Bunny and Bobtail ate their dinner in the meadow.

The clover was so sweet and tender that they wanted to eat it all.

They nibbled and nibbled and nibbled.

But they were both very careful not to nibble any of the blossoms where the bees were gathering honey.




Moving Day

I

It was warm and sunny in the meadows.

It was warm and sunny in the fields.

But in the woods it was cool and shady under the pine trees.

The red squirrels had been playing all the morning.

They had chased each other up and down the trees and along the little path.

Now Sammy was sitting on the branch of a pine tree resting.

All at once he heard a noise over in the field.

It was a very loud noise and he wondered what it could be.

He could not see the field from the tree where he was sitting.

So he ran down to the ground and skipped along -- to the old stone wall.

"Whirr, whirr, whirr!" the noise came nearer and nearer.

"Oh, dear me!" said Sammy.  "I know what that is.  Mr. Man is cutting the grass in the field.

"Now all the families that live there will have to move out."

Sammy sat still and watched to who would be the first to move.

He had not been sitting on the wall very long when he saw the whole rabbit family coming out of the field, one behind the other.

Mrs. Rabbit had on her bonnet and shawl.  She was carrying Baby Rabbit in her arms.

Father Rabbit had a big basket.

Bunny and Bobtail and Billy were hopping along behind, laughing and talking.

"What fun it is to move," said Bunny.

"I hope we shall find a good home somewhere," said Mother Rabbit.

Bunny and Bobtail and Billy hopped and skipped along.

They hopped ahead of Father Rabbit along the little path that led through the woods.

When they came to the stone wall they saw Sammy Red Squirrel.

"Good-morning," they called.  "We are moving to-day.  We are looking for a new home.

"Do you know where we can find one large enough for all of us?"

"No," answered Sammy.  "I know where the house is that Mrs. Robin left, but that is too small for you."

"Come, come," called Mother Rabbit, "we cannot stop to talk.  We must find a new home soon.  It is dinner time this very minute."

So the family of rabbits hopped off along the path.

Then Sammy heard a little squeaking noise and he looked to see where it came from.

"Squeak, squeak!" said Mrs. Field Mouse.  "I was not ready to move.

"I did not want to leave my home in the field this week."

"We can soon find another home," said Mr. Field Mouse.

"Here is one right here.  This is the very place we are looking for."

Mr. Mouse set his bag down beside a hole that he had found near the stone wall.

Mrs. Mouse looked at the hole and so did all the little mice.

"Perhaps that will do until we can go back to our home in the sunny field," said Mrs. Mouse.

Then she shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh, dear!" she said.  "I know I shall be very lonely here."

"But we could not stay in the field," said Mr. Mouse.  "A man was cutting the grass, and I am afraid of that big cutter."

"That is so," said Mrs. Mouse, as she wiped another tear out of her eye.  "But I shall be glad when we can move back."

"I think this hole will do," said Mr. Mouse.  "I will go in and see."



II

Sammy sat on the wall and watched the mice.

He saw them stop in front of the hole and peep into it.

Then he saw Mr. Mouse go in -- head, tail and all.

"That house belongs to some one else," said Sammy.

But Mr. Mouse was in the hole and did not hear what he said.

Mrs. Mouse and the little mice were peeping into the hole and they did not hear what he said.

In a minute Sammy heard Mr. Mouse call to his family to follow him.

Mrs. Mouse picked up the bag and started into the hole.

All the little mice followed her.

Sammy sat on the wall watching them.

All at once he heard a noise.

Mrs. Mouse heard the noise and jumped back.

She dropped the bag, and it flew open.  Everything spilled out on the ground.

The next minute Mr. Mouse came scrambling out of the hole.

He had lost off his glasses, and his cap was gone.

"Oh, oh, oh!  That is no home for us.  Some one lives there, now," he said.

"Who, who, who?" asked all the little mice at once.

Mr. Toad came out to the edge of the hole, winking and blinking.

"I do," he said.  "This is my home.  Who came to visit me?"

"I told you that some one lived there," chattered Sammy Red Squirrel.

"I told you, but you would not listen to me."

"Well, there is no harm done," said Mr. Mouse.  "I just paid Mr. Toad a visit."

"We must find a home any way," said Mrs. Mouse.  "If we stay here the cat will catch us."

"There comes the cat now," said Sammy.  "She heard Mr. Mouse squeal when he came out of the hole."

When the mice heard that the cat was coming, what a scampering there was.

It did not take the whole family of mice long to find a home under a big stone.

Sammy jumped off the wall and ran up into the pine tree.

The cat came along the path very slowly.

"Meow, meow!" she said to herself.  "I must find something for breakfast."

But she did not find the little mice.  They were hiding away under the big stone.

And she did not find Sammy.  He was safe in the pine tree.

Of course she knew where the mice were hiding.

She saw them when they ran into the hole.

But the stone was too heavy for her to move.

She sat down beside the hole and waited and waited, but not one little mouse put out his nose.

At last the cat grew tired of waiting, and walked back along the path to the house.

She found a saucer of milk on the kitchen floor.

And the best of it was that it could not run away and hide like the mice and squirrels.




A Summer Shower

I

"Rain, rain, rain!" called Robin Redbreast.

"Rain, rain, rain!  I wish it would rain."

The pretty flowers heard the robin calling for rain.

They lifted up their heads and listened.

They were wishing it would rain, too.  The ground was so dry they could not find a drop of water to drink.

Mr. Green Frog wished it would rain.

The brook was almost dry, and he did not like that very well.

"Rain, rain, rain!" Robin Redbreast called again.

"Don't call for rain," said Bunny Rabbit.  "I like to have the sun shine all the time."

"So do I," said Sammy Red Squirrel.  "I do not like to have it rain on my fur coat."

"See how the flowers hang down their heads," said the robin.

"I am sure they would like to have a drink of fresh water."

"The flowers are sleepy," said Bunny.  "That is why they hang their heads."

"Quack, quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "Come, children, we will go down to the brook."

The duck and all the little ducks waddled across the road and into the meadow.

Bunny saw them coming and hopped over to meet them.

"Good-morning, Mrs. Duck," he said.  "Where are you going?"

"We are going to the brook to have a swim," said the duck.  "Will you come with us??

"No, no!" answered Bunny.  "I can not swim.  You did not teach me."

"Perhaps I could teach you this morning," said the duck.  "There is not much water in the brook to-day."

"I don't want to learn to swim," answered Bunny, and he hopped off to find Bobtail.

But he could not find Bobtail, and he could not find Billy.

So at last Bunny sat down under the oak tree to take a nap.

Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks waddled along the path until they came to the brook.

It was just a very tiny brook, now.  It was really nothing but mud.

"Oh, dear me!" said Mrs. Duck "I wish it would rain to-day."

"Rain, rain, rain!" called Robin Redbreast.  "I wish it would rain."

"I think it will rain," said Mr. Green Frog.  "And I think it will rain to-day."

Mrs. Duck let the little ducks play in the muddy brook.

They pushed their flat bills into the mud to find something to eat.

Their little yellow feet were black with mud, but they liked it.

Mr. Sun looked down and smiled at them.  He smiled his brightest smile.

Then a cloud came and hid the sun.

A gentle wind began to blow over the tall grass in the field.

"Bow your heads!" the wind said to the flowers and grass.

Then the wind puffed out its cheeks and blew harder.

It rushed along to the woods.

"Bow your heads!" it said to the pine trees and the oak trees.

They bowed their heads and waved their branches to and fro.

The wind blew harder, and the clouds sailed faster and faster across the sky.

"It is going to rain," said Mrs. Duck.

"Yes," called Robin Redbreast.  "It is going to rain.  I know it is.  I must fly to the woods until the shower is over.

"Come, little ducks," said their mother.

"We must so back to the barn until the shower is over.  I think the wind will blow very hard, and I do not like the wind."

So the robin flew to the woods, and the ducks went back to the barn.

Sammy Red Squirrel saw the shower coming, and he scampered home as fast as he could go.

Billy and Bobtail were playing in their yard, when the wind rushed by and called to them.

"Run in, little rabbits," said the wind.  "I am bringing a shower.  Run in or you will get your fur coats wet."

So Billy and Bobtail hopped into the house and curled up to take a nap until the shower was over.



II

The wind puffed out his cheeks and blew harder and harder.

The clouds sailed across the sky faster and faster.

It was almost as dark as night.

And Bunny slept on, under the big oak tree.

Patter, patter, patter! the rain drops fell on the oak leaves.

Easter and faster they fell.  In a few minutes the leaves were wet.

Then the water began to fall down on the ground at the foot of the tree.

One great big drop fell on Bunny's nose.  Then another fell on his ear.

He waked up with a start.

"What is the matter?" he said.  "What is the matter?"

He opened his eyes wide and then he knew what was the matter.

"Oh, dear me!" he said to himself.  "Robin Redbreast has her wish at last.  It is raining hard."

Faster and faster the rain drops fell from the black clouds.

The ground was soon wet under the oak tree.

And Bunny was wet, too.

But he could not go home.  He knew better than to leave the oak tree and skip out into the field.

So he curled himself up in a very tiny ball and waited for the shower to be over.

It grew lighter and lighter.

The wind stopped blowing, and at last Mr. Sun peeped out from behind the cloud.

He looked right down on Bunny, and laughed to see how he was rolled up in such a tiny ball.

"Cheer up, cheer up!" sang Robin Redbreast.  "That was a fine rain.  I am going to take a bath in that puddle of water."

Mr. Green Frog came out of his hole.

"Croak, croak!" he said.  "That was a fine rain.  I like to see the water running in the brook again."

Bunny jumped up and shook himself.

He was just as wet as he could be.

His feet were wet.  His back was wet.  And his nice long ears were wet.

He jumped up and shook himself.  Then he started off toward home.

On his way he met Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks.

They were going to the brook to have a swim.

"That was a fine rain," Mrs. Duck called to Bunny.

"Just see how the flowers hold up their heads."

But Bunny did not look at the flowers.  He could not see why anything liked to be wet.

"That was a fine rain," said Mrs. Duck, again.  "That was a fine rain."

"Perhaps it was," said Bunny.  "But I like best to have the sun shine."

And then, without saying another word, Bunny hopped off home.

Mrs. Duck and the little ducks went to the brook to have a swim in the fresh water.

And Robin Redbreast took a bath in the puddle under the oak tree.




Sammy's Flying Machine

I

Sammy Red Squirrel was sitting on the stone wall eating a nut.

"Caw, caw!" called Blacky Crow, as he flew over the field.

"Caw, caw, caw!" he called.  "What are you doing, Sammy?"

Sammy stopped eating the nut, and looked up to see who was talking to him.

He saw Blacky Crow sailing round and round over his head.

"I am eating my breakfast," he answered.  "Would you like to have a nut to eat, too?"

"Oh, no," answered Blacky Crow.  "I can find something better than that.

"I am going to the pasture now to get my breakfast."

Then Blacky Crow flapped his big wings and flew far, far away.

Sammy watched the crow fly over the tallest tree and out of sight.

"I wish I could fly," he said to himself.  "I know I could if I had some wings."

Just then a flock of sparrows flew over head.

"Twitter, twitter!" they said.

"Twitter, twitter, twitter!"

Sammy watched the sparrows flying until they were out of sight.

"I know I could fly," he said to himself again, "if I had some wings.

"Perhaps I could make some wings," he thought.

Just then something hit Sammy on the head.

He looked up to see what it was, and there at his feet lay an oak leaf.

He looked up in the top of the tree.

West Wind flew by and shook the branches of the tree very gently.

And another leaf floated softly down to the ground beside its brother.

Sammy sat there watching the leaves for a few minutes.

Then he jumped up and clapped his hands.

"I know what I can do," he said.  "I can make some wings for myself out of those oak leaves.

"I will ask all the other squirrels to come and watch me fly."

Sammy hunted on the ground until he found two very large oak leaves.

"I can hold them out with my front paws," he said.  "I think they will look just like wings."

Sammy put the two leaves on the ground and covered them with a stone.

He was not going to let West Wind carry them away.

Then he scampered off to tell all the other squirrels what he was going to do.

He told all the red squirrels first.

He told them he was going to fly from the big oak tree.

"If you wish to see me fly," he said, "you must be at the tree in a few minutes."

All the red squirrels scampered off to get the best seats among the branches of the oak tree.

Sammy saw Bobby Gray Squirrel and told him to ask all the gray squirrels to come and see him fly.

Then Sammy found Bunny Rabbit.

When Bunny heard what Sammy was going to do, he wanted to try to fly, too.

"You are much too large for my wings," said Sammy.

"You would have to go to Mr. Man's garden and ask him for some of the leaves from the rhubarb plants."

Blacky Crow was flying over the field.  He heard Sammy tell Bunny that he was going to fly.

"Ho, ho!" he laughed, "I should like to see Sammy fly with those oak-leaf wings.

"I will fly to the oak tree this very minute."

As he flew over the meadow he saw the sparrows and told them where he was going.

They wanted to go, too.

Every one wanted to go and watch Sammy fly.



II

When they were all seated, Sammy picked up the two leaves he had found and skipped gaily up the tree.

He ran up the tree and out on one of the longest branches.

"Now, watch me!" he called to all his friends.

"See me fly just like a bird."

Sammy took one leaf in each of his front paws and held them out as far as he could.

He stood on the very end of the branch for just one minute.

He saw that every one was watching him.

"You must flap your wings," called Blacky Crow.

"Hop off the branch," called one of the sparrows.

So Sammy flapped his wings, and then he hopped off the branch.

But, oh, dear me!  The wings would not hold Sammy up in the air.

Sammy forgot to hold his wings out straight and they hung down at his side without a flutter.

And down to the ground Sammy fell.

Bump! he came down at the foot of the oak tree.

He almost fell on top of Bunny Rabbit.

But Bunny saw him coming and jumped out of the way just in time.

Sammy lay very still where he had fallen.

All the squirrels ran down to see if he had hurt himself.

Bobby Gray Squirrel ran to pick the fallen bird up from the ground.

Sammy had given his nose such a bump that it was all black and blue.

He had hurt his paw.  And his make-believe wings were all crushed and broken.

Sammy rubbed his nose and then he looked at his friends.

"I don't believe oak leaves make good wings," he said.

"No," said the tiniest sparrow, "the best wings are made of feathers."

"Caw, caw!" said Blacky Crow.  "My wings are made of feathers.  See how I can fly."

Then Blacky Crow flapped his big wings and flew away.

The sparrows flew away, too.

All the squirrels scampered off to hunt for nuts.

And the rabbits went back to their home to take a nap.

Sammy was left sitting alone on the old stone wall.

Every few minutes he rubbed his poor little nose.

And as he rubbed his nose he thought:

"Flying may be fun for birds, and swimming may be fun for ducks.

"But running and jumping among the branches of the big oak tree is more fun for squirrels."




The Cabbage Patch

I

"Oh, dear me!" said Billy.  "I am so hungry.  I wish I could find something good to eat."

"I know where there is a big cabbage patch," said Bunny.

"Where, where?" asked Billy.

"Where, where?" asked Bobtail.

"Follow me," said Bunny, "and I will show you."

"Is it far?" asked Billy.

"No," said Bunny.  "It is not very far, -- just down in Mr. Man's garden."

"I think I will stay here," said Billy.  "This clover is very good."

So Billy stayed and ate the clover, but Bobtail and Bunny hopped off down the road.

They hopped along the road until they came to Mr. Man's barn.

Then they stopped to listen.

Bunny sat up straight and held up his long ears.

Bobtail sat up straight and held up his long ears.

They listened and listened, but they did not hear a sound.

"I think Jip is asleep in the house," said Bunny.

"I think Mr. Man is eating his dinner," said Bobtail.

"Let's hurry," said Bunny.  "We can reach the garden without any one seeing us, I am sure."

So the two little rabbits laid their ears down on their heads and hopped away.

They hopped behind the barn.

Mr. Rooster saw them coming.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he said.  "Who are you?  Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"We are going to the garden to get our dinner," said Bunny.

"Mr. Man never lets me go to the garden," said Mr. Rooster.

"Mr. Man never lets me go to the garden if he knows about it," laughed Bunny.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" said the rooster, as he flapped his wings and flew up on the fence.

"Please do not make so much noise," begged Bobtail.  "Mr. Man will hear you and come out to see what is the matter."

But the rooster just flapped his big wings and crowed again.

"Come," said Bunny.  "This is no place for us.

"Let's hop into the garden and get some cabbage."



II

The two rabbits hopped off across the yard and into the garden.

There they found the biggest cabbages they had ever seen.

There were rows and rows of them.

They were great big green cabbages.  How good they did look to the hungry little rabbits!

"I aim going to eat this one," said Bunny.  And he stopped at a big, big cabbage at the end of one long row.

Bobtail picked out a big one for himself and began to nibble the sweet leaves.

Nibble, nibble, nibble!  Not a word did the little rabbits speak.

They could not talk.  They were so busy eating that they could not say a word.

Nibble, nibble, nibble!  How still it was in the garden!

Bunny heard the bees humming as they flew among the flowers.

Once Blacky Crow flew over and called to the rabbits.

But he did not fly down to the garden.  There was nothing there for him to eat, now.

He liked the corn when it had just peeped out of the ground.

Then it was tender and sweet, and he often pulled it up for his dinner.

Nibble, nibble, nibble!  How still it was everywhere.

Then all at once there was a noise.

It was a noise the rabbits knew too well.

"Bow-wow-wow!" said Jip, as he bounded across the field.

"Bow-wow-wow!  I think some one is in my master's garden."

Bunny and Bobtail knew who was coming.  They did not have to wait and see.

Off through the garden they hopped.

They hopped so fast that they were soon out of sight.

But Jip knew where they had gone, and he ran after them, barking louder and louder at every step.

"Oh, dear me!" cried Bobtail.  "What shall we do?  Jip will catch us before we reach home."

"Follow me," said Bunny, "I know where there is a hole big enough for both of us to hide."

So Bobtail followed Bunny.

They hopped across the field and into the woods.

"Bow-wow-wow!" said Jip.  "I am going to catch you this time."

And then, all at once, Jip could not see the rabbits anywhere.

They had hopped into a hole under the big rock at the foot of the oak tree.

They hopped into the hole and then they were safe.

Jip could not reach them.

He sat down beside the hole to wait until they came out, but they were too wise to come out.



III

Jip waited and waited, and the rabbits waited and waited, too.

At last Jip grew tired of watching the hole and ran off home.

Then the two rabbits knew it was safe for them to go home, too.

Bunny put his nose out and looked around.

There was no one in sight.

"I am going now," he said to Bobtail.  "Jip has gone away."

And then Bunny started to get out of the hole.

He put out his head, but he could not get any farther.

"What is the matter?  What are you waiting for?  Is Jip coming back?" asked Bobtail.

But Bunny did not answer.  He just kept on wiggling and twisting.

He twisted and wiggled, twisted and wiggled.  But he could not get out of that hole.

At last he pulled his head back through the hole.  Then he sat down and looked at Bobtail.

"What shall we do?" he said.  "The hole has grown small since we came through it."

"Perhaps I can get out," said Bobtail.  "Let me try."

So Bobtail put his head out and then he hopped out the rest of the way.

"I'm out," he called to Bunny.  "You can get out, I am sure."

Bobtail hopped off home leaving Bunny to get out the best way he could.

Of course Bunny got out; but he scratched his poor little nose and he scratched his back.

He hurt his long ears and he hurt his foot.

But he did get out at last.

And when he was safe on the outside of the hole he turned around and looked at it.

"I'll never go in there again," he said as he rubbed his nose.

"I thought it was a big hole, but I must be bigger than the hole."

Then Bunny hopped off home.

Mother Rabbit was standing at the door watching for him.

Bobtail and Billy were watching, too.

"How did you get out of the hole?" they asked.

"This is the way I got out," said Bunny, and he pointed to his poor little scratched nose.

When Mother Rabbit saw that Bunny had hurt himself she took him into the house.

She gave him some hot cabbage soup.

Then she wrapped his nose up in flannel and made him stay in bed a whole day until he was all well again.




The White Rabbit

I

It was a warm summer day.

Bunny and Billy were over in the meadow eating clover.

Mother Rabbit and Bobtail were in the garden eating cabbage.

Billy was fond of cabbage, too.  But the garden was far away, across the field and over the other side of the road.

So Billy ate clover in the meadow.

Bunny had eaten cabbage the day before.  So he ate clover in the meadow with Billy.

The two little rabbits nibbled at the tender leaves.

"I have had enough to last me all day," said Bunny.  "Now let's go and play."

"Oh, no!" said Billy.  "I am going home and take a nap."

"Oh, do come and play with me," said Bunny.

But Billy only shook his head and hopped off toward home.

Bunny looked around to see if there was any one to play with.

He could not see any of his friends.

"I think I will go over to the garden and find mother and Bobtail," he said to himself.

Now when Bunny thought of anything he always did it the very next minute.

So he hopped off as fast he could go.

He hopped across the field and across the road.

When he came to the barn he stopped to see if Mr. Man or Jip were anywhere in sight.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" called the rooster, who was sitting on the fence.

"Where are you going so fast this bright day?"

"I am going to the garden again," said Bunny.  "Mother and Bobtail are there eating cabbage."

Bunny hopped along past the hen-yard fence, and into the orchard.

All at once he stopped.  He saw something in the grass ahead of him.

It was white and round and furry.  And it had two long ears just like his own.

Bunny stood very still and looked and looked.

"That must be a snow rabbit," he said to himself.

"But I never saw a snow rabbit in the summer.  I am sure this hot sun would melt the snow."

Just then the white rabbit saw Bunny.

"Who are you?" he asked.  "I never saw you before."

"I never saw you," said Bunny.  "Where did you come from?"

"I live in a little house near the barn," said the white rabbit.

"Jack left the gate open this morning when he fed me, and so I thought I would take a walk."

"Do you like to live in a little house?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, yes," answered the white rabbit.  "I always have something to eat and I am never cold.

"And when Jack forgets to close the gate, I have a good play in the field."

"I live in the woods," said Bunny.  "My door is never closed, and I can run out any time I wish.

"But sometimes I am hungry, and sometimes I am cold."

"Come and live with me," said the white rabbit.  "There is room enough in my house for two."

Now Bunny knew he would not like to live in a house all the time, but he thought he might go and visit the white rabbit.

So Bunny and Whitie, as Bunny called him, hopped off toward the barn.

"That is my home," said the white rabbit, and he pointed to a little house under the apple tree.

There was a yard in front of the house.  And there was a fence around the yard, -- a fence with a gate that could be shut and locked.

Bunny saw the house and he hopped along after Whitie.

But he was frightened.  He had never been so near the barn before.

What if Mr. Man or Jip should see him.



II

At last they reached Whitie's house and the two little rabbits hopped through the gate.

"Oh, see these cabbage leaves," said Whitie.  "Jack left them here for my dinner."

But Bunny did not look at the cabbage leaves, for just at that moment he heard Jip barking.

And then he heard Jack talking to the dog.

Poor Bunny's heart began to beat very fast.

"What shall I do?  What shall I do?" he said.

"Jack and Jip will not hurt you," said Whitie.  "I think Jack is coming to close the gate."

Bunny hid himself in one corner of the house and held his breath for fear Jack would see him.

"Why, Whitie!" Bunny heard Jack say, "I left your gate open this morning.  I must close it now or you will be taking a walk in the garden."

Jack closed the gate, and Bunny was caught.

When Jack had gone away, Whitie called to Bunny to come out in the yard.

"Come and eat some of these good cabbage leaves," he said.

But Bunny could not eat.  He could only sit and look at the closed gate.

"I want to go home," he said to Whitie.  "I don't like to stay in this yard all the time."

"But you will never be hungry here," said Whitie.  "Come and eat something now."

Bunny was not hungry.  He could not eat.

All day long he sat in the house.

He wondered what Bobtail and Billy were doing.

He wondered if Mother Rabbit was hunting for him.

Just before dark he heard Jack coming to see Whitie again.

He did not hear Jip barking.

"Perhaps Jack is alone," thou| Bunny.  "If he is I think I can get away."

He sat very still and listened.

Then he peeped out and saw Jack coming across the grass.

He was all alone.  The dog was not running along beside him.

Bunny turned around and looked at Whitie.

"Good-by," he said.  "I am going to hop out when Jack opens the gate.

"You have a very good home here.  But I like my home in the woods much better.

"Sometime when you run away come and see me."

Just then Jack opened the gate and out jumped Bunny!  Jack was so frightened that he dropped Whitie's supper on the ground.

He looked around to see what had flashed by him so quickly.

But Bunny was out of sight!

He did not stop or look around until he was safe in his own home.

"Where have you been?" asked Mother Rabbit.  "I thought you were lost."

"I thought so, too," said Bunny.

"I went to visit the white rabbit who lives in a little house under the apple tree.

"And then Jack came and shut the gate and I could not get away."

"Oh, Bunny, Bunny!" said Mother Rabbit.  "I thought you were too wise to get caught in a trap."

"I am now," Bunny answered, and he ran out to have a game of tag with Billy and Bobtail.




Teddy Bear

I

Teddy Bear lay on the grass in the meadow.

He lay there all day and he lay there all night.

Baby May had dropped him there and forgotten all about him.

So the little brown bear lay on the soft grass in the meadow.

Blacky Crow flew over the meadow and called to the bear.

"Caw, caw!" he said.  "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you liked to stay in the playroom with the rest of the toys."

Of course Teddy did like to stay in the playroom.

But if May dropped him in the meadow how could he get back to the house?

Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks waddled along the path that led to the brook.

"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "Look here, look here!  Where did you come from?  What are you doing in this meadow?"

Teddy stared at the duck with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

Perhaps he did not like to tell her that May had forgotten all about her little playmate.

"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck.  "I teach my children to speak when they are spoken to."

Teddy just stared and stared, but he did not say a word.

"Very well," said Mrs. Duck, "I will go to the pond and see Mr. Green Frog.

"I will ask him if he knows who you are."

So off to the pond waddled Mrs. Duck, and all her children waddled after her.

"Bow-wow!" barked Jip as he ran through the meadow.

"I am trying to find some one to play with me.

"I wish I could find Bunny Rabbit.  I should like to have a game of chase with him."

Just then Jip saw Teddy Bear.

"Bow-wow-wow!" he said.  "What are you doing in this meadow?

"I thought you lived in the playroom."

Teddy Bear stared at Jip with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

I am sure he wished the dog would run away and not talk to him.

But Jip wanted to play.  He thought it was fun to play with Teddy.

It was fun to pick him up and toss him into the air.

It was fun to hide him where May could not find him.

Jip picked Teddy up in his mouth and ran along through the meadow.

He ran through the meadow and into the woods.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow!" he said.

When Jip opened his mouth to bark, Teddy hopped out and fell to the ground.

Jip picked him up again.  He tossed him up in the air and then caught him in his mouth.

He shook him, and shook him, but Teddy did not say a word.

Then Jip started along the path in the woods.

"I am going to hide Teddy where May will never find him," he said to himself.

"Then I can have him to play with every day."

But the next minute Jip forgot all about Teddy Bear, because he saw Bobby Gray Squirrel.

Bobby Gray Squirrel wag skipping over the ground hunting for nuts.

Jip liked to play tag with Bobby, so he dropped Teddy Bear and ran after the little gray squirrel.

But Bobby saw the dog coming and skipped up into the oak tree.

He sat down on the lowest branch and began to scold Jip.

"Chatter, chatter, chatter!" he said.  "Why did you run after me?  I had just found a nut for my breakfast."

"Bow-wow!" said Jip.  "Come down out of that tree and play chase with me."

But Bobby would not come down and so at last Jip ran away home.

He forgot about Teddy and left him under the tree.

When Jip had run away, Bobby came down out of the tree.

He saw Teddy and ran over to speak to him.

"Good-morning," Bobby said to the little brown bear.  "What are you doing under this tree?"

Teddy stared at the squirrel with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

"My mother taught me to speak when I am spoken to," said Bobby.

But Teddy did not speak, and so at last Bobby ran away and left him.



II

Oh, Teddy was so lonely!

He wished that he were back in the playroom with the other toys.

He thought of Jack-in-the-box, and the bright tin soldiers.

He thought of the new automobile and of all the pretty dolls.

Then at last he fell asleep and dreamed that he was back in the playroom.

All at once some one took him by the arm.

"Wake up and talk to me," said Bunny Rabbit.  "I want some one to play with me."

Teddy stared at Bunny with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

Bunny shook him and shook him.

"Now will you speak to me?" he said.

But Teddy Bear would not open his mouth.

"Well, well," said Bunny.  "I don't like to talk to you.  I will find some other playmate."

"Bow-wow, bow-wow!" said Jip.  "I will play with you, Bunny."

But when Bunny heard Jip coming along the path he forgot all about playing.

He hopped off down the path as fast as he could go.

He did not look around once to see where the dog had gone.

Jack came along the path with Jip.  When he came to the tree he saw Teddy Bear lying on the ground.

"Why, Teddy," he said, "how did you get away out here all alone?"

Teddy stared at Jack with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow!" barked Jip.  He was trying to tell Jack that he put Teddy under the tree.

But Jack did not listen.

He just picked Teddy up in his arms and carried him back to the house.

He took the little brown bear up to the playroom.

May was sitting on the floor playing with her dolls.

Teddy was so happy to get back home that he jumped out of Jack's arms.

"Oh, oh!" cried May.  "You dropped poor Teddy Bear."

She picked Teddy up and gave him a great bear hug.

"Why did you run away from me?" she asked.

Teddy stared at May with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.

He just stared at everything in the playroom, and thought of the story he would tell his friends about his day in the woods.




Bobby's Party.

I

Bang, bang, bang!

Snap, snap, snap!

All day long Bobby Gray Squirrel hid in his nest because he did not like the noise.

He poked his nose out once or twice to see what was the matter.

But each time he heard a loud bang, snap!

Then he jumped back in his nest to hide.

All day long he lay there and listened.  And all day long the children played with their fire-crackers.

Fourth of July is fun for boys and girls.

But it is not so much fun for rabbits and squirrels.

At last it was quiet.

Bobby had not heard a sound for a long time.

So he peeped out of his door once more.

The sun was not shining now.  The big round moon was looking down to see if all the children were in bed.

He was looking to see if all the rabbits and squirrels were in bed, too.

Bobby saw the moon and then he skipped back into his house once more.

"Oh, dear me!" he said to himself.  "I am hungry.  But I must wait until the sun comes up again.

"I am afraid I could not find anything to eat by the light of the moon."

Bobby went to sleep and the next time he opened his eyes it was morning.

He jumped up and ran out of doors.

He ran down the branch of the oak tree and off through the woods.

"Good-morning," Bunny called to him, as he ran past the three rabbits who were eating clover for breakfast.

"This is a good morning," said Bobby.  "It is so still and quiet."

Bobby ran on and on.

Every few minutes he stopped to hunt for some hidden nut.

But he could not find many.

At last he said to himself, "I am going to the orchard to get an apple.

"I like to eat the seeds.  I might find an apple on one of the trees."

Bobby skipped through the woods and across the field.

He came to the stone wall that ran along one side of the road.

Bobby jumped up on the highest stone to look around and see if any one were in sight.

He looked up the road, and he looked down the road.  But no one was in sight.

He jumped down from the wall, and then he stood still.

Right at his feet wag a paper bag.

And the bag smelled so good that the little squirrel stopped to take another sniff.

"That smells like peanuts," Bobby said to himself.

"I will make a hole in the bag and see what is inside."

Bobby took hold of the bag with his sharp little teeth and tore a big round hole.

He tore a hole big enough to put his paw through.

And then he was just like little Jack Horner.

He put in his thumb And pulled out a plum,

And said, "What a big squirrel am I."

He pulled out the kind of plum he liked best of all.  It was a peanut.

He pulled out one peanut, and then he pulled out another.

"This bag is full of peanuts," he said to himself.  "There are so many here I can never eat them all."

"I know what I can do.  I can have a party."

Now squirrels must like to have parties just as well as little boys and girls.

Because when Bobby thought of the party he jumped up and down and clapped his hands.

Then he started off to invite all the other gray squirrels.

But he stopped when he reached the top of the wall.

He had just thought that some one might come while he was away and find the peanuts.

"I will hide them in the wall," he said to himself.  "Then they will be out of sight."

So Bobby jumped down again and began to carry the nuts to a safe place.

It took so long, and Bobby worked so hard that he had to go back home to take a nap when he had finished.



II

Bobby Gray Squirrel slept and slept.

But Sammy Red Squirrel was not asleep.

He had been wide awake all day.

He had seen Bobby hiding the peanuts in the old stone wall.

He was sitting up in the maple tree watching him all the time.

"I wonder what Bobby is hiding all those nuts for," he said to himself.

"I think I will wait here and see what he is going to do."

So for a long time Sammy sat still in the maple tree watching Bobby work.

When the last nut was hidden Bobby skipped off toward home.

"Now is my chance," said Sammy.  "I am going to play a trick on Bobby."

Sammy skipped down the tree and ran along the wall to the place where the nuts were hidden.

He took the nuts out of their hiding place and carried them to a hole behind the big rock.

It took a long time to do it, but Sammy liked to play tricks.

Back and forth he ran until the very last nut was stored away in the new hiding place.

Then he skipped around to tell the red squirrels about the joke he had played on Bobby Gray Squirrel.

"Run to the maple tree near the stone wall," said Sammy.  "You will see what Bobby does when he finds his nuts are gone."

So the red squirrels all ran to the maple tree to watch for the gray squirrels to come to the party.

At last Bobby waked up.  And the minute he opened his eyes he thought of the peanuts.

He skipped down the tree and ran to tell his friends about the party.

"Meet me at the old stone wall," he said.  "That is where I am going to have my party."

So the gray squirrels all ran along to the stone wall.

The red squirrels were in the maple tree, but the gray squirrels did not see them.

As soon as Bobby came to the stone wall all his friends ran to meet him.

"Follow me," said Bobby.  "I will show you the biggest pile of peanuts you ever saw."

So the gray squirrels skipped along after Bobby.

But when they came to the storehouse they all stopped and looked at the hole.

Not one peanut could they see.

"I wonder who found my nuts," said Bobby.  "I thought I had put them where they could not be found."

The gray squirrels sat down in a row and looked very sad.

Just then they heard a sound up in the maple tree.

They looked up and saw all the red squirrels laughing.

"Ho, ho, ho!" Sammy was laughing.  "That was a good joke.  I took your nuts and hid them in another hole."

"Ho, ho, ho!" all the red squirrels were laughing.

They all laughed again, and then Sammy said, "I will give a peanut party.  Follow me."

Sammy led the red squirrels and the gray squirrels to the place where he had hidden the nuts.

And what a party they had!

They ate all the nuts they wanted, and then carried some home for dinner the next day.

<eob>

Bunny Brown And His Sister Sue On Grandpa's Farm

By

Laura Lee Hope



Chapter I

A Letter From Grandpa


"Bunny! Bunny Brown! Where are you?"

Bunny's mother stood on the front porch, looking first in the yard, then up and down the street in front of the house. But she did not see her little boy.

"Sue! Sue, dear! Where are you, and where is Bunny?"

Again Mrs. Brown called. This time she had an answer.

"Here I am, Mother. On the side porch."

A little girl, with brown eyes, came around the corner of the house. By one arm she carried a doll, and the doll was "leaking" sawdust on the porch. Mrs. Brown smiled when she saw this.

"Why, Sue, my dear!" she exclaimed.

"What is the matter with your doll? She is 'bleeding' sawdust, as you used to call it."

"Oh, well, Mother, this is just my old doll," Sue answered. "It's the one I let Bunny take to play Punch and Judy show with, and he hit her with a stick, and made her sawdust come out. Did you want me, Mother?"

"Yes, Sue, and I want Bunny, too. Where is he?"

"He was here a little while ago," the brown-eyed girl answered. "But oh, Mother! you're all dressed up. Where are you going? Can't I go with you?"

"Yes. That is what I called you for. And I want Bunny, too. Have you seen him?"

"No, Mother. But shall I go in and wash my face, if I'm going with you? Where are we going?"

"Just down to the store, and then I'm going to stop in the post-office and see if there are any letters for us. Yes, run in and wash your face and hands. Your dress is clean enough. I'll look for Bunny."

Mrs. Brown walked out to the front gate, and again called:

"Bunny! Bunny Brown! Where are you?"

No one answered, but a nice old man, limping a little, and leaning on a stick, came around from the back yard. He looked like a soldier, and he had been in the war, many years ago.

"Oh, Uncle Tad!" Mrs. Brown asked, "have you seen Bunny?"

The nice old man laughed.

"Yes, I've seen him," he replied. "He went off down the street in his express wagon. That dog, Splash, was pulling him."

"I hope he hasn't gone too far," observed Mrs. Brown. "When Bunny gets to riding with his dog he doesn't think how far away he goes."

"I'll see if I can find him for you," offered Uncle Tad, with another laugh. "That Bunny Brown is surely a great boy," he murmured, as he limped off down the street.

He did not have far to go, nor did Mrs. Brown have long to wait, for, in about a minute, a barking was heard. Then came a rattle of wheels on the sidewalk, and a boy's voice called out:

"Gid-dap, Splash! Gid-dap! Go fast now! Go as fast as you can! Hurrah! That's the way to do it!"

Up dashed a small express wagon, drawn by a big, fine shaggy dog, that seemed to be having almost as much fun as was the blue-eyed, curly-haired boy who rode in the cart.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! Don't go so fast!" cried his mother. "You'll spill out and hurt yourself! Don't go so fast!"

"Have to go fast, Mother!" said Bunny Brown. "We have to go fast; don't we, Splash?"

The dog barked, but he slowed up, for Uncle Tad held out his hand to pat the big fellow, and Splash dearly loved Uncle Tad.

"We're a fire engine, and we're going to a fire," Bunny Brown explained. "Fire engines always have to go fast; don't they, Splash? Old Miss Hollyhock's house is on fire, and we're going to put it out.

"Only make-believe, of course!" cried Bunny quickly, for he saw that his mother looked a bit frightened when she heard him speak of a fire. "We're just pretending there's a blaze. Here we go! Got to put out the fire! See, I've got a can of water all ready for it!"

Bunny turned to show his mother and Uncle Tad where, in the back of his express wagon, he had set the garden sprinkling-can full of water.

Just as Bunny did that Splash, his big dog, started to run. Bunny fell over backward off the seat, out fell the sprinkling-can full of water, splashing all over Uncle Tad's feet. Then Bunny himself fell out of the wagon, but he landed on some soft grass at the edge of the sidewalk, so he was not in the least hurt.

Splash ran on a little way, pulling the empty wagon, but Bunny, jumping to his feet, called out: "Whoa, Splash!" and the dog stopped.

For a few seconds they all stood there, Uncle Tad looking down at his wet feet, Bunny looking rather surprised at having fallen over backward, and Mrs. Brown hardly knowing whether to laugh or scold. As for Splash he just stood still, his long red tongue hanging out of his mouth, while his breath came fast. For it was a hot day, and he had been running with Bunny.

"Oh dear, Bunny!" said Mrs. Brown at last, "see what you've done! You've made Uncle Tad all wet!"

"I didn't do it, Mother. It was Splash," said the little boy. "He started before I was ready. I -- I'm sorry, Uncle Tad. Will it hurt your rheumatism?"

"No, I guess not, Bunny boy. It's a hot day, and a little water won't do me any harm. But it's all spilled now, and how are you going to put out the fire?"

"Oh, I guess we'll make believe the fire's out," said Bunny. "I was going to stop playing, anyhow. Where are you going, Mother?" he asked, for he saw that his mother was dressed as she usually was when she went down town.

"I am going to the store," she said, "and I was looking for you and Sue to go with me. Sue is getting washed."

"If that water had splashed on Bunny, instead of on me, he would have been washed too!" said Uncle Tad with a laugh.

"Oh, Mother! I'll go and wash myself right away!" Bunny cried. Going down town with their mother was a treat that he and Sue liked very much. "May Splash come, too?" Bunny asked.

"Not this time, dear. Now hurry. I'll wait for you on the porch."

"And I guess I'd better go and put on dry shoes," said Uncle Tad. "I didn't know I was going to be the make-believe fire, and get put out, Bunny."

Bunny laughed. Then he drove Splash into the yard, put away the sprinkling-can, unhitched the dog from the express wagon, and put the wagon in the barn, where it was kept.

Splash went off by himself to lie down and rest in the shade, while Bunny hurried into the house to wash his hands and face. Soon he and Sue were walking down the village street with their mother.

As the children passed a little toy and candy shop, kept by Mrs. Redden, Bunny looked in the window, and said:

"Oh, Mother! She's got a new kind of candy in there!"

"So she has!" cried Sue, pressing her little nose flat against the glass.

Mrs. Brown smiled.

"Perhaps we may stop and get some on our way back," she said. "We haven't time for candy now. I want to see if we have any letters in the post-office."

A little later they passed a house, in the side yard of which was a lady, weeding the flower garden.

"Good-morning, Miss Winkler!" called Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, good-morning!" was the answer. "Won't you come in?"

"No, thank you. We haven't time now."

"Oh, Mother, do go in!" begged Bunny. "Sue and I want to see Wango!"

Wango was a little pet monkey, which Mr. Winkler, an old sailor, had brought home with him from one of his many ocean voyages. The monkey did a number of tricks, and Bunny and Sue liked him very much, and often petted him.

"No, dears. We can't stop to see Wango now. Some other time," Mrs. Brown said.

And so she and the children went on to the stores. When they reached the post-office, Mrs. Brown found three letters in her box. She opened one, and read it, she called to Bunny and Sue:

"Oh, my dears! I have good news for you. Here is a letter from Grandpa Brown, who lives away out in the country, on a farm. He wants us to come and stay all Summer with him!"

"Oh, goodie!" cried Sue, clapping her fat little hands.

"May we go, Mother?" asked Bunny. "Oh, let's go to grandpa's farm!"

"Perhaps we may go," said Mrs. Brown. "We'll keep right on down to papa's office now, and ask him."



Chapter II

The Runaway Monkey


Mr. Brown, who was the father of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, was in the boat business in the seaside village of Bellemere. Mr. Brown rented fishing, sailing and motor boats to those who wanted them, and he had his office on the dock, which was built out into Sandport Bay.

"Oh, Mother! Do you think daddy will let us go to grandpa's farm?" asked Bunny, as he and his sister Sue walked along the street, on their way to their father's office, after having gotten the letter from Grandpa Brown.

"Please ask him to let us go," begged Sue.

"Yes, I think he will," said Mrs. Brown.

The children clapped their hands in joy. Once, some years before, they had gone to their grandfather's farm in the country, and they remembered what fun they had had. Now they were older, and they were sure they would have many more good times.

"Well, well!" cried Daddy Brown, as he saw his wife and the two children come into his office on the dock. "What brings you all down here? Do you want some fish, or is Bunny looking for another big lobster claw, so he can put it on his nose and play Mr. Punch?"

"No, I don't want any lobster claws now, Papa," Bunny said. "But can we go to grandpa's farm in the country?"

Mr. Brown looked at his wife.

"What has happened now?" he asked. He was almost sure that something had happened, because Bunny and Sue looked so excited.

"Oh!" cried the little girl, "Bunny went to a fire, and he was upset, and Splash spilled the water all over Uncle Tad, and we got a letter, and --  -- "

Sue had to stop. She had talked so fast she was all out of breath.

Mr. Brown laughed.

"What is it all about?" he asked his wife.

Mrs. Brown told him how Bunny had been playing fire engine in his express wagon, with the dog, and about the upset, when the water was spilled on Uncle Tad.

"But what we came to see you about, Daddy," she went on, "is this letter from father." Grandpa Brown was Mr. Brown's father, you see, and Mr. Brown and his wife always spoke of the children's grandpa as "father."

"Father wants us to bring the children, and spend the Summer on the farm," went on Mrs. Brown. "I think it would be nice, if we could go."

"Oh, let us, Daddy!" cried Bunny and Sue.

Mr. Brown looked thoughtful.

"Well," he said slowly, "I suppose we could go. I could have the business here looked after all right, and I guess I need a little rest myself. Yes, I think we'll go," he said. "It will take me about a week to get ready. You may write to father that we'll come," he said to Mrs. Brown. "Was there anything else in his letter?"

"Well, yes," and Mrs. Brown spoke slowly. "It's some bad news --  -- "

"Bad news!" Bunny interrupted. "Can't we go to the farm?"

"It isn't that," Mrs. Brown said quickly. "It's about grandpa's horses. It seems," she said to her husband, while Bunny and Sue listened with all their might, "that there was some Gypsies camping near the farm."

"Did the Gypsies -- did they take grandpa away?" asked Sue, for she had often heard of Gypsies taking persons off with them. But, really, this hardly ever happens.

"No, dear. The Gypsies didn't take grandpa, but they took his best team of horses," answered her mother. "That's what he says in his letter. Some of the Gypsies' horses were taken sick, and they could not pull the Gypsy wagons, when they wanted to move their camp. Some of the Gypsy men borrowed grandpa's team and said they would pay him for the use of it a little while, until they could pull their wagons to a new place."

"And did father let them take his horses?" asked Daddy Brown.

"Yes. He says in his letter that he wishes, now, he had not. For, though the Gypsies promised to bring the horses back, they did not do so."

"Oh, did the Gypsies keep Grandpa's horses?" asked Bunny.

"Yes. That's what he says."

"Then we can't go to the farm!" and Bunny looked very sorry.

"Why can't we go? What have the horses to do with it?" asked Bunny's mother.

"Because, if he hasn't any horses, grandpa can't come to the station for us, and drive us out to the farm."

"Oh, well, I guess he has more than one team. Though he says it was his best one the Gypsies borrowed, and did not bring back," said Mrs. Brown to her husband. "It will be quite a loss to father, and he was so proud of that team of horses!"

"Yes," answered Mr. Brown, "it's too bad!"

"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue. "Aunt Lu lost her diamond ring, and now grandpa has lost his horses. But maybe you can find them, Bunny, just as you found Aunt Lu's diamond ring!"

"Huh! Aunt Lu's ring was in my lobster claw! How could a team of horses get in a lobster claw?" asked Bunny, with a laugh.

"Oh, I don't mean that!" said Sue. "But maybe you could find the horses in the woods, same as you found the ring in the claw."

"Maybe!" agreed Bunny. "But when can we go to the farm?"

"Next week, perhaps," answered his mother. "It depends on your father."

"Yes, we can go next week," Mr. Brown said.

"Even if Grandpa Brown doesn't get his horses back from the Gypsies?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I think we can manage to reach the farm without grandpa's horses. I have a new plan for going out there -- something we have never done before," and Daddy Brown nodded at his wife, and smiled.

"Oh, what is it?" Bunny asked eagerly.

"It's a secret," said his father. "I'll tell you after a while."

The children begged and teased to know what it was, but Mr. Brown only laughed, and said they would have to wait.

Then Mrs. Brown took Bunny and Sue home, and on the way the brother and sister talked of nothing but what fun they would have on grandpa's farm, and of how sorry they were about the Gypsies having borrowed the horses, and keeping them, instead of bringing them back, as they should have done.

"But maybe you'll find them," said Sue. "I hope so, anyhow. I'll help you look, Bunny."

"I hope so, too," replied Bunny. "We did find Aunt Lu's diamond ring, when she thought she never would."

I will tell you a little about that, though, if you like, you may read of it in the first volume of this series, which is named: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue."

In that I told how the Brown family lived in the seaside town of Bellemere, on Sandport Bay. Bunny, who was six years old, and Sue, who was five, were great chums and playmates. They were together nearly all the while, and often got into trouble; though of course they had fun, and good times also.

Their Aunt Lu came to visit them from New York, and the first night she was at the Brown house she lost her diamond ring, when she was helping Mrs. Brown make a salad from a big lobster that was brought ashore in one of Mr. Brown's boats. A lobster is a sort of fish only it has legs and claws to pinch with.

Aunt Lu felt sorry about losing her ring, and Bunny and Sue promised to help her find it. They looked, but, for a long time, could not discover it. Finally Bunny found it in the queerest way.

Besides finding Aunt Lu's diamond ring, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did many other things, which are told of in the first book. They had good fun with their friends Charlie Star, Harry Bentley, Mary and George Watson, and Sadie West and Helen Newton, children of about their own age.

Bunny and Sue got locked in an empty house, and thought they would have to stay there all night, but they did not. They went on a trolley ride, and got lost, and wandered into a moving picture show, and up on the stage, where they made everybody laugh.

Bunny Brown was always thinking of new things to do, and Sue was always ready to help him do them. The children were not naughty, but they did get into trouble and out again more easily than any tots of whom I ever heard. They had many friends, and everybody in town knew and liked them.

"And now we're going to have more good fun!" said Bunny, on the afternoon of the day when Grandpa Brown's letter came. "Oh, I just love it on the farm."

"We can play in the hay, and go after the cows, and hunt eggs," said Sue.

"But you mustn't fall into any hen's nest, as you did once in our barn, and get your dress all egg," said Bunny.

"I won't," promised Sue. "Oh, Bunny, I can hardly wait!" and she jumped up and down, she was so excited and happy.

"Neither can I," said her brother. "I'll tell you what let's do!"

"What?" asked Sue.

"Let's go down to Mrs. Redden's and get a lollypop. We have our penny, and mother said we could each spend one this afternoon."

"All right," Sue replied. "And then shall we go in and see Wango, the monkey?"

"I guess so. But we'd better eat our lollypops first, or he'll beg them away from us."

Wango was very fond of candy, and if the children stood in front of him, eating any, he would beg so hard for some, and hold out his little paws in such a sad way, that they could not help sharing their treat with him.

Wango was sometimes kept in a big cage, but he was also often allowed to be outside, on the porch, with a chain fastened to his collar, and then snapped to a ring in the porch post.

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue bought their lollypops at Mrs. Redden's store, and then went on to Mr. Winkler's house, to see the monkey. Mr. Winkler, the old sailor, lived with his sister, Miss Winkler. The sister did not like her brother's monkey very much.

"Shall we tell Miss Winkler about going to grandpa's farm?" asked Sue, as she and Bunny walked along the street, hand in hand, eating their candy.

"Yes, and we'll tell her about the Gypsies taking grandpa's horses. Maybe she might see them, and tell the bad men to give them back."

"Maybe," agreed Sue. "Is your lollypop good, Bunny?"

"Awful good. Is yours?"

"Yep."

The two children walked on, and soon were within sight of Mrs. Winkler's house.

"There's Wango, tied on the porch," cried Bunny.

"I see him," answered Sue. "And oh, Bunny! Listen! I hear music!"

"Oh, it's a hand-organ!" Bunny exclaimed.

"Oh, see, he has a monkey!" Sue cried, pointing to a little furry creature on top of the music box.

Wango saw the strange monkey at the same time. Wango jumped up, and ran toward the organ grinder as far as the chain would let him. Then Mr. Winkler's monkey chattered and screamed loudly.

All at once the Italian stopped playing, for his own monkey suddenly jumped down to the sidewalk, gave a hard pull on the string that was about his neck, broke loose and ran away, far off down the street, while Wango chattered louder than ever.



Chapter III

The Big Automobile


"Bunny! Bunny! Look! Look! The hand-organ man's monkey has run away!" cried Sue.

"Yes!" answered Bunny. "Let's run after him! Maybe we can catch him, and the man will let us play the organ!"

That was all Bunny Brown and his sister Sue thought about -- doing whatever they happened to think of first, and this time it was racing after the runaway monkey.

For the hand-organ man's monkey was really running away. He was frightened at Wango, I think, for Wango was larger than he, though Wango was quite gentle, even if he did make lots of trouble, such as upsetting the jars in Mrs. Redden's candy store.

"Here! Come back! Come back!" cried the Italian to his monkey, speaking in what sounded to Bunny and Sue very queer talk. But then the Italian could speak his own language well, even if he could not talk the kind Bunny and Sue used.

"We'll get your monkey for you, Mr. Organ-man!" cried Bunny. "Come on, Sue!"

"Well, don't run so fast -- I can't keep up to you!" called the little girl. "Wait for me, Bunny!"

Bunny turned and clasped Sue's hand in his own. He did not want to leave his little sister behind. Each child still held a half-eaten lollypop.

The hand-organ man set down his music box, and he, too, raced down the street after his runaway monkey. Of course the man could run faster than could Bunny and Sue.

All this while Wango was jumping about on the porch, chattering and squealing. He tried to break the chain that was fast to the collar around his neck, but it was too strong for his efforts.

Once, after Mr. Winkler had fastened his pet out of doors, Wango broke away, and hid in Mrs. Redden's candy shop. And, oh! how he did smash the candy jars, and what a lot of lollypops he took! But his master, Mr. Winkler, the old sailor, paid for them, so it was all right. Then Mr. Winkler put a stronger chain on Wango. And that is why the pet monkey could not now get away.

But he tried very hard, for he wanted to run away also, I think, and have a good time with his friend, the hand-organ monkey. Only the hand-organ monkey seemed to be afraid of Wango.

"But he didn't need to be," Bunny said, as he trotted on with Sue, "for Wango wouldn't hurt him."

"Of course not!" said Sue, "any more than our dog Splash would have hurt the little yellow dog he ran after one day."

I have told you about that in the first book, how Splash ran away with Bunny and Sue, hurrying down the street to make friends with a little yellow dog, that once had had a tin can tied to his tail.

And, also in the first book, I told you how Bunny and Sue got their dog Splash. Bunny and Sue were carried away in a boat, and landed on an island in the river. There Sue fell in, and the big dog pulled her out. As no one came for the dog the Browns kept him, and Bunny and Sue named him "Splash," because, as Sue said, "he splashed into the water to pull me out."

On ran the hand-organ man after his monkey, and on ran Bunny Brown and his sister Sue after the hand-organ man. But Wango had to stay behind. He made so much noise, though, with his chattering and screaming, to say nothing of rattling the chain, that Miss Winkler came running out. She was making a cake, and her hands were all covered with flour, while there was a white spot on the end of her nose.

"Oh, what is the matter? What is the matter?" she cried.

"The hand-organ man's monkey ran away because Wango scared him," said Bunny, "and we are running after him."

"After Wango?" Miss Winkler wanted to know.

"No! After the hand-organ monkey," answered Bunny. "Come on, Sue!"

They turned the corner, and there, half way down the street, they saw the hand-organ man standing under a tree.

"Oh, maybe the monkey is up the tree!" cried Bunny.

"Yes, ma monk -- he up-a de tree!" said the Italian, in his funny way. "He no comea down! Jacko! Jacko!" he called. "Comea down -- pleasa!"

But, though the hand-organ man held up his arms, and begged his monkey to come down, the little furry creature would not come. He sat perched on a high limb, looking with his bright eyes at Bunny, Sue and the man. Several boys and girls, as well as some men, came over to see what was going on.

"I'll climb the tree and get him," offered George Watson.

"Better not. Monkeys can bite and scratch," said Mr. Gordon, who kept the grocery store. "What happened to him, Bunny?"

Bunny told him how Wango had frightened the organ monkey.

"Maybe if you play, Mr. Italian man, he'll come down!" exclaimed Sue, after a bit.

"Ha! That's a good idea!" said Mr. Reinberg, who sold drygoods in Bellemere. "Go get your hand organ, Mr. Italian."

"Sure. Me maka de nicea de music!" agreed the man. "Maybe Jacko comea down den!"

Off he ran to get his organ, which he had left on the grass in front of Miss Winkler's house. But, even when the organ was played, the monkey up in the tree would not come down. He chattered, and climbed farther up.

"Oh, I know what let's do!" suddenly cried Bunny Brown.

"What?" asked his sister Sue.

"Let's give him our lollypops -- that is, what we have left of 'em. Wango likes lollypops, you know, and this monkey ought to like 'em just as well. I'll give him mine," and Bunny looked at his half-eaten candy.

"And he can have mine, too!" exclaimed Sue.

"Better let the hand-organ man give him the candy," said Mr. Gordon. "The monkey will know him better. I guess it's a good idea, though -- offering him the lollypops."

"Much-a thank-a you!" said the Italian, smiling, as he took the pieces of candy on the sticks, which the children gave him. He held them up to Jacko, and said something in Italian. The monkey chattered, just as if he were talking back, and then he began slowly climbing down the tree.

"Oh, Bunny! He's coming! He's coming!" cried Sue.

"He much-a like-a de candy!" said the Italian organ-grinder, who was now smiling. "Come on, Jacko! Come on!"

The runaway monkey did not seem so much afraid now, or perhaps he was very hungry for the candy. Anyhow down he came, until he could jump to his master's shoulder. Then he put one little hairy paw around the Italian's neck, and, with the other, held the lollypops, which he at once began to eat.

"Say, that's the time you and Sue did it, Bunny!" cried Mr. Gordon. "It was a good trick. But the monkey will eat all your candy."

"Oh, I don't mind," Bunny said. But he did care, just a little, and so did Sue. However the Italian was so glad to get his monkey back that he gave Bunny and Sue each a penny, so they could buy new lollypops. Then the organ-man fastened the string on the monkey's collar again, and started off up the street.

"Let's follow him," said Sue to Bunny. "Maybe the monkey will run away again, and we can help get him out of a tree."

"No, we'd better go home," Bunny said. "Mother may be looking for us."

So home they went, and just in time, for Mrs. Brown was about to ask Uncle Tad to look for the children.

Every day, for the next week, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue would ask when they could start for grandpa's farm. And their mother would say:

"Pretty soon now. Daddy hasn't his surprise quite ready."

"Oh, why can't you tell us?" begged Sue.

"Because, then it wouldn't be any surprise," said Mrs. Brown, with a laugh.

Bunny and Sue had some good times while they were waiting, but they were anxious to have fun on the farm. And, one morning, soon after breakfast, they went out in the yard to play, and saw a strange sight.

Into the drive rumbled a big automobile, almost like a large moving van. Bunny and Sue ran out of the way. The big automobile came to a stop. The man on the front seat jumped down, and, going around to the back, opened the doors. Bunny and Sue peeped inside the van.

"Oh, look, look, Bunny!" cried Sue. "It's just like a play-house inside. It's got beds, and a table and even a stove! Oh, what is it all for?"

"My, what a big, queer auto!" said Bunny. "And it's even got windows in it. Why we could camp out in it! Is it ours?" he asked the man.



Chapter IV

A Queer Slide


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue stood looking at the queer, big automobile. They had seen some like it once before passing through the town, loaded with tables, chairs, a piano and other things, when someone was moving. But this automobile was different.

Inside, as the children could see, were four small beds -- "bunks" they were called, as Bunny knew, for that was what a bed was called on a ship, or big boat. And a bunk was like a shelf, sticking out from the side of the wall.

Besides the bunks, inside the big automobile van, there were chairs, a table, and a cupboard, in which, through the glass doors, could be seen dishes.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "We're going to eat! We're going to eat! I see the dishes. We're going to eat in this auto!"

"Yes, and we must be going to cook, too," said Bunny. "I see an oil stove, and some pots and pans. That is we are going to eat if this is our auto," he went on, looking again at the man who had steered it into the yard of the Brown house. "Is it ours?" Bunny asked.

"Well, your father told me to bring it up here, and leave it, so I guess it must be yours, or his," and the man smiled at Bunny and Sue.

"Oh, goodie!" cried the little girl, dancing up and down for joy. "It's our auto! It's our auto!"

"Fine!" exclaimed Bunny, with eyes that sparkled almost as brightly as did Aunt Lu's diamond ring, which was found in the lobster claw. "And are we going to have a long ride in it?" Bunny asked.

"Well, as to that, I don't know," answered the man. "Your father told me to bring the auto up here and leave it. He'll be home pretty soon, I guess, and tell you all about it. I'll be going now."

The man had put the brakes on, so the wheels could not turn, and thus let the automobile run away. Now he waved his hand in good-bye to the children and walked off. Bunny and Sue raced into the house.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Sue.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny.

Then both together they fairly shouted:

"Come on out and look at the big auto!"

Mrs. Brown smiled, and went out with the children. She did not seem as much surprised as they had been.

"What's it for, Mother?" asked Bunny. "The man said papa sent it up. Are we going to take a long ride in it?"

"Well, I think so, Bunny."

"But if we go riding in this how can we go to grandpa's farm?" Sue wanted to know.

"You had better wait until your father comes home, and he'll tell you all about it," her mother replied.

"May we go inside and look at it?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, come along," and Mrs. Brown led the way up the little pair of steps that were fastened at the back of the big automobile.

Once inside Bunny and Sue thought they had never seen such a fine place. It was just like a little house of two rooms, one room being shut off from the other by heavy curtains.

The first room they went into was where they would eat and cook, and, when the table was cleared off, they could sit around it and read, or play games. There was a hanging lamp over the table.

There were two windows in this room, with nice, white curtains draped over them. And along the sides of the room were cupboards, and little places where dishes, pans and other things could be put away. There was even a clock on the wall, to tell the time.

In the next room, as Bunny and Sue could see through the curtains, which were pulled back, were four beds, two little ones, Bunny's and Sue's, and two larger beds, or bunks, for Mr. and Mrs. Brown. In this room were also two boxes, or chests.

"That is where we shall keep our clothes when we are traveling," said Mother Brown. There was a lamp in this room, and windows, with pretty, flowered silk curtains over them.

"Then we are really going to travel in this auto?" asked Bunny eagerly.

"Yes," answered his mother with a smile.

"But I thought we were going to grandpa's!" remarked Sue. She did not know what it all meant.

"Well, I think this is papa's secret," went on her mother, "and you will have to wait until he comes home when he can tell you all about it."

Bunny and Sue shook their heads. They did not know what it all meant, but they thought the automobile was fine, and they could hardly wait for the time to come when they should travel and live in it.

"It's just like a sleeping car on the railroad train," said Sue.

"It's better!" Bunny cried. "You can eat in it too. Once I ate on a train, but my milk all spilled in my lap when I tried to drink out of my glass."

Bunny and Sue had once traveled all night on the railroad, and had slept in a bed on the car, and had also eaten in the dining coach, so they knew something about it.

For some time the two children looked about inside the queer, big automobile that was made into a little house, and then they climbed down the steps again.

"And it's real, too. It isn't make-believe!" said Bunny, as if that were the best part of it.

"Shall we have real things to eat?" asked Sue.

"Oh, I think so," her mother told the little girl.

"I -- I feel hungry now," observed Bunny, with a sigh.

"Well, run to the house and get some cookies," his mother said. "Then you and Sue may go off and play for a while. But don't go too far. It will make the time pass more quickly, and when you come back daddy will be here, and will tell you all about the big automobile."

"Come on, Sue!" cried Bunny. "We'll have some fun."

Soon the children, a cookie in each hand, were racing about the yard, playing with Splash, the big dog. Splash liked cookies, too, and I think he had almost as much of Bunny's and Sue's as did the children themselves.

Mrs. Brown had gone into the house, and Bunny and Sue were left in the yard. They soon grew tired of playing with Splash, and, as the dog himself was rather hot, he went to lie down in the shade.

"I know what let's do!" said Bunny, after a bit.

"What?" asked Sue, who was always ready to go where her brother led. "What can we do, Bunny, to have some fun?"

"We'll go over to the pond and catch frogs," answered Bunny. "I'll get my net, and you can take a tin can to keep 'em in."

"But we won't hurt the frogs; will we Bunny?"

"No. We'll just catch 'em, and let 'em go again, to watch 'em hop. Come on!"

Bunny had made himself a little net out of a bean pole, with a bent wire, in the shape of a hoop, and some mosquito netting pinned over it. Not far away from the Brown house was a pond where there were many frogs and tadpoles, which are little frogs before they have any legs.

The pond was in a hollow place, where the clay had been dug out to make bricks, for near Bellemere was a large brick factory. The water rained into the pond, and stayed there for some time, as it could not run out or soak down through the clay. Bunny and Sue were allowed to go to the clay-pond because it was not deep, and not far away. But Mrs. Brown always told them to be careful not to slip down in the wet and sticky clay or muddy water.

So now, with the net and the tin can to catch frogs, away the two children started. They had not been frog-hunting since Aunt Lu went back to New York.

"There ought to be lots of frogs now," said Bunny.

"Yes," agreed Sue. "I hear them singing every night."

"Frogs don't sing!" her brother said.

"Yes they do too!"

"No they don't!"

"Then what do they do?" Sue wanted to know.

"They croak!" said Bunny. "Frogs can't sing, they just croak."

"Well, they can hop then!" Sue was sure of that. "'Cause the ones George Watson let loose at our party hopped."

"Oh, yes, frogs can hop," Bunny knew that well enough.

"All 'ceptin' pollywoggles," went on Sue. "They jest wiggle."

"That's right," said her brother. "Pollywogs can't hop, 'cause they've got no legs. Come on."

The two children were soon at the frog pond. They could hear the frogs croaking, or "singing," whichever you call it, and with his net Bunny was soon scooping around in the water, to catch some of the hopping, swimming creatures.

"Oh, I've got a big one!" the little boy suddenly cried, as he lifted the net into the air. "Where's your can, Sue?"

"Here it is, Bunny!"

Sue held up an old tomato can, with the cover off, while her brother turned his net upside down over it. Some black mud and water splashed from Bunny's net, some splattering on Sue's dress. She looked eagerly into the can.

"There isn't any frog at all, Bunny!" she exclaimed, much disappointed.

"No frog?" shouted Bunny. "Of course there is!"

With a stick he poked in the mud on the bottom of the can. No frog was there.

"Well, he must have hopped out," he said.

"Maybe you didn't have one, Bunny."

"Yes I did. But he got away. He was a big one, too. But I'll get another."

A little later Bunny did catch two frogs, though they were small ones. He put them in Sue's can. She looked at them for a while and then asked:

"Oh, Bunny, oughtn't I to put some water in the can, so the frogs can swim? They won't like us if we don't let them swim."

"Well, put a little water in," said Bunny.

With the frogs in the can, Sue dipped it into the pond, at the water's edge. Then she gave a sorrowful cry.

"Oh, Bunny! The frogs hopped out! They got away!"

"Oh, dear!" the little boy said. "What made you let 'em go?"

"I didn't. They wented themselves! They swimmed right out!"

"Oh, well, never mind. I can get more." Bunny was real nice and cheerful about it; wasn't he? Some boys would have made a fuss if their sister let their frogs go, but Bunny Brown was different.

Soon he caught four more frogs, and this time he helped Sue put water in the can, scooping it up with his hands. So the frogs did not get out.

But catching frogs gets tiresome after a while, and, after a bit, Bunny and Sue were ready to stop. They looked about for something else to do. Not far from the pond was a high bank of clay, partly dug away. It was like a little hill, and sloped down to the edge of the pond.

"Oh, Sue, I know what let's do!" cried Bunny.

"What?"

"Let's go up to the top of the clay-hill and roll stones down into the water."

"All right -- let's!"

Sue set down her can of frogs, and Bunny laid aside his net. The clay-hill was too slippery to climb, so the children went around to the side, on a part where the grass grew. Soon Bunny and Sue stood at the top of the hill. It was not very high, nor very steep, and at the top were a number of stones.

"We'll roll 'em down, and watch 'em splash in the water," said Bunny.

Down the slippery clay slide the children rolled the stones, watching them splash into the little pond at the bottom of the hill.

All of a sudden, as Sue rolled one stone, larger than any of the others she had yet played with, she gave a cry.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! I'm slipping! I'm falling!" she called.

Bunny gave a jump toward Sue, hoping he could catch her. But he, too, slipped on the smooth clay at the top of the hill.

And the next second Bunny and Sue went sliding down. Right down the clay-hill toward the shallow pond at the bottom they slid, like Jack and Jill, who went up the hill, after a pail of water, and then tumbled down.



Chapter V

Off To Grandpa's Farm


"Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, as she slid along. "Oh, Bunny! I can't stop!"

"I -- I can't, either," answered her brother. "But don't be afraid! You won't get hurt, Sue!"

"No, but, Bunny, if I go into the water I'll get all -- all wet!"

"Well, I'll get wet too, and then mamma will know it was an accident. Say, we're sliding fast, Sue! Aren't we?"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were certainly sliding fast. The clay-hill was wet with rain that had come down in the night, and the clay was as slippery as glass. The little boy and girl dug their heels in, or they tried to, but the clay was hard, as well as slippery.

Down and down they went, faster and faster. Sue tried to dig her fingers into the clay, but she could not, any more than Bunny, neither of them could stick the heels of their shoes in. On and on they slid, faster and faster.

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "I wish our dog Splash were here!"

"He couldn't stop us!" replied Bunny. "He'd slide too, same as we're sliding."

"Well -- well, anyhow!" said Sue, almost ready to cry, "he -- he could pull me out when I fall in the water -- an' -- an' I'm goin' to fall in, Bunny! I know I am! I'm goin' to fall in! Oh, dear!"

"Never mind, Sue. I'll fall in with you, and I'll pull you out. It isn't deep."

"No, but it's aw -- awful muddy, Bunny!"

Bunny did not have time to answer. He only had time to yell:

"Look out, Sue! Here we go in!"

And -- "splash!" in went Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Right in the shallow pond of muddy water they slid, sitting down. It did not hurt them, for the clay was soft and smooth where the water covered it. But, though the two children were not hurt -- oh, so dirty and muddy as they were! They had made such a hard splash into the puddle that the water was sprinkled all over them, like a shower from a fountain.

For a moment, after sliding in, and coming to a stop, Bunny and Sue looked at one another, not saying a word.

"Well," said Bunny, after a bit, with a long breath, "you didn't get hurt; did you, Sue?"

"No, not hurt, Bunny -- but -- but look at my -- my dress!"

Sue's lips quivered, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Don't care," said Bunny kindly. "I'm all mud, too."

"Le -- let's go home," Sue went on. "I must get a clean dress. And I don't want any more frogs, Bunny."

"I guess I don't, either. We'll let 'em go."

Bunny tried to get up from where he was sitting in the puddle of muddy water and clay, but it was so slippery that, almost as soon as he stood on his feet, he went down again.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Sue. "You're splashing me more, Bunny!"

"I -- I couldn't help it," he said. He looked at Sue and laughed.

"What are you laughin' at?" she asked.

"At you. You do look so funny! There's a lump of clay right on the end of your nose!"

"Oh, is there?" Sue reached for her pocket handkerchief to wipe off the mud, for she did not like a dirty face. But she found that her pocket was under water, and of course her handkerchief was wet through.

"Lend me yours, Bunny," she begged. And Bunny, who had his handkerchief in his waist pocket, up above the wetness, wiped the clay from his sister's nose. Then, by being careful, he managed to stand up. He helped Sue to her feet, and the children waded to shore. The water was not more than a few inches deep, but it was very muddy.

Bunny and Sue emptied the frogs out of the can. The little green fellows seemed glad to hop back into the pond again. Then the two children started for home.

"Oh my goodness me! what has happened to you?" cried their mother when she saw them coming through the gate.

"We -- we fell in," said Sue.

"No, we slid in," Bunny said.

"Oh, dear! Well, however it happened, you are perfect sights!" gasped Mrs. Brown. "I never saw such children!"

Bunny and Sue told how it had happened -- their sudden slide down the clay-hill -- and, as they had not meant to get in the mud puddle, Mrs. Brown did not scold very much. It was an accident.

"But you must be more careful next time," she said.

"We will," promised Bunny.

He was always ready to promise.

"Anyhow," said Sue. "If we're going to grandpa's we can't go to play near the frog pond any more."

"That's so," agreed Bunny. "Or even if we go for a ride in the big automobile. We won't get muddy any more, Mother."

Mrs. Brown and the cook took the muddy clothes off the children, and then Bunny and Sue each had a fine bath in the clean, white tub. Soon they were as nice and neat as ever.

"Now don't go away from the house," said their mother. "Stay in the yard and play. It will soon be time for your father to come home to supper, and then --  -- "

"Then he'll tell us about the big automobile!" cried Bunny.

"And about the secret!" said Sue.

Sue played with her dolls, while Bunny spun a musical top his Aunt Lu had sent him from New York, and, almost before they knew it, the children heard some one at the front gate ask:

"Well, how do you like it?"

"Oh, Daddy!" they cried, and they raced down the walk to meet their father.

"What's it for?"

"Is it for us?"

"Are we to live in it?"

"When are we going to grandpa's farm?"

"Can we take the auto with us?"

Bunny and Sue asked so many questions of their father, and they asked them so fast, that he could not answer them. He could only laugh. Then, catching Sue up in one arm, and Bunny in the other, Mr. Brown carried them into the house.

"Well, Mother," he asked his wife, "how do you like it?"

"I think it's fine," said Mrs. Brown.

"And do you think you could live in it, and sleep in it, for three or four days on a trip to grandpa's farm?"

"Why, yes, I think it would be very nice."

"Oh, Daddy! are we going to grandpa's in the big auto?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I think we shall."

"And is that the secret?" Sue asked.

"It is," her father answered. "I'll tell you about it. This automobile is an old moving van. I bought it from a man, and I thought it would be nice if it could be fixed up like a Gypsy wagon, so we could travel in it, and eat and sleep in it. I had it made into a sort of little house, you see, with beds, a table, chairs and an oil stove. I thought we would take a little vacation in it this Summer.

"Then, after grandpa sent us the invitation to spend the Summer at his farm, I thought how nice it would be if we could go there in our big auto, instead of in the train. Would you like that?" he asked Bunny and Sue.

"Oh, of course," Bunny replied. Sue clapped her hands and nodded her head. She liked it, too.

"Well, then, that's what we'll do," Mr. Brown went on. "We will make the trip to grandpa's in the big auto. We'll live in it just as the Gypsies live in their wagons, that are drawn by horses, and we can camp out if we want to."

"But we won't take anybody's horses, and not bring 'em back, the way the Gypsies did to grandpa," said Bunny. "Will we?"

"Oh, no, of course not!" echoed Sue.

"Well, then, if it's all settled, we'll have supper, and talk more about our trip afterward," said Mr. Brown.

That night, when the table was cleared, the little family gathered about it talked about what fun they would have.

"Can I steer?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Oh, no. I'm going to let Bunker Blue do that," his father said. Bunker was a big, strong young man, with red hair, who helped Mr. Brown in the boat business.

Bunny and Sue could hardly sleep that night, thinking of the fun they were going to have in the big automobile, and on grandpa's farm. The next morning they helped their mother get ready to start.

Bed clothes were put on the four bunks, the oil lamps and the stove were filled, and things to eat were put in the cupboard. On the way they could stop at stores along the road, and buy more things, when they were hungry.

Very soon all was in readiness. Two days later, the house having been locked up for the Summer, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, with their father and their mother, took their places in the little house that was made inside the big automobile. Bunker Blue was out on the front seat to steer, and make the automobile go.

"Are you all ready?" asked Bunker of Mr. Brown.

"All ready, Bunker. You may start now!"

"Chug! Chug!" went the automobile, and away it rolled, out of the yard and into the street.

"Hurrah!" cried Bunny Brown. "We're off for grandpa's farm!"



Chapter VI

Just Like Gypsies


Away down the road rumbled the big automobile, which was just like a little house on wheels. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue sat, one at each window, on cute little chairs, and looked out.

"Oh, isn't this fun?" cried Sue.

"The best fun we ever had," agreed Bunny. "It was more fun than when we were shipwrecked on the island; 'member?"

"Yes. When we played Robinson Crusoe," went on Sue, "and we couldn't find Mr. Friday because it was Thursday," and she laughed.

"And you fell in," added Bunny.

"And Splash pulled me out!"

"Oh, Father!" suddenly cried Bunny, as Sue mentioned the name of the pet dog, "couldn't we take Splash with us?"

"Well, I don't know," said Mr. Brown slowly. "You know we weren't going to take him down on the farm, because grandpa has a dog. But I guess, if you want Splash very much, we have room for him. What do you say, Mother?" and he looked at Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, let the children have their pet," said Mother Brown.

"Fine!" shouted Bunny.

"We'll stop at Mr. West's and get him," said Mr. Brown.

When the Brown family decided to go away, they had not planned to take Splash with them, and he was left at the home of Sadie West, a little girl with whom Sue played. Sadie said she would take good care of Splash. But now Bunny and Sue wanted him with them.

So the big automobile was steered down toward the West home, and a little later, Splash was barking joyously inside the little room, and trying to kiss, with his red tongue, Bunny, Sue and Mr. and Mrs. Brown, all at the same time.

"Oh, I'm so glad we're going to take you!" cried Sue, hugging her pet. Half of Splash belonged to Sue, and half to Bunny. They made believe to divide the dog down the middle, lengthwise, so each would have part of the tail, which always wagged so joyfully when Splash saw either of the children.

Once again the automobile -- a little house on wheels -- set off.

"Good-bye!" called Sadie West to Sue, waving her hand.

"Good-bye!" echoed Bunny and his sister.

Down the main street of the village they went, many of Mr. Brown's friends stopping to wave their hands or hats to him. Such an automobile, fitted up inside so a family could live in it, was seldom seen in Bellemere.

"There's Charlie Star!" called Bunny, as he saw a boy on the street.

"Yes, and there's Helen Newton," added Sue. "Oh, I wish they were going with us!"

"We haven't room, my dear," said her mother, for sometimes Sue would invite her friends to stay to dinner or to supper without knowing whether her mother thought it best. "Besides," went on Mrs. Brown, "you will find many playmates, and enough to do, on grandpa's farm."

"Yes, I guess we will," said Bunny. "I'm going fishing."

"And I'm going to pick flowers," Sue said. "I don't like fishing, 'cause the worms on your hook are so squiggily."

Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat in easy chairs in the little dining room of the automobile. It was also the sitting room, when the table was not set. And it was the kitchen when the cooking was being done on the oil stove, so you see it was three rooms in one.

Beyond the dividing curtains was the bed room, with the four bunks against the wall. There were windows in that room, but the Brown family seemed to like best sitting in the one nearest the back doors of the automobile.

"It's just like being in a railroad train," said Bunny, as he looked out of the window, and waved to Harry Bentley, one of his friends, whom he saw, just then, on the steps in front of Harry's house.

"Yes," said Sue. "It's like a train, 'ceptin' it jiggles you more," for the street was a bit rough, and the car bumped unevenly along, and swayed from side to side.

"It will run more smoothly when we get out on the soft, dirt country road," Mr. Brown said.

A little later they had passed out of the village. On the front seat Bunker Blue steered the machine, and made it go faster or slower, just as he needed to.

Inside Splash walked about, feeling a little strange at first, perhaps. But he saw Bunny and Sue, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown, so of course he knew it was all right, and that he was one of the family.

"Mother, I'm hungry," said Sue. "Could I have something to eat?"

"Maybe a jam tart," added Bunny. "The kind Aunt Lu used to make, with the jam squashing up through the three little holes on top."

"Yes, I have made some of them," Mrs. Brown said. "I'll give you some. You must be hungry, as we had an early breakfast."

Mrs. Brown knew how to make jam tarts just like those Aunt Lu used to bake. A little cupboard was opened, and a plate of the nice tarts set on the table for the children.

"Oh!" murmured Sue.

"Ah!" said Bunny.

"And would you like a glass of cool milk?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"But how can we have cool milk, on a hot day, when we have no ice?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, but we have ice!" said Mrs. Brown, laughing. "See, Daddy had a little ice box put in, and I keep the butter, milk and other things that need to be cool, in there."

And, surely enough, in one corner of the dining-sitting-room and kitchen was a little icebox, out of which Mrs. Brown took a bottle of milk. So Bunny and Sue were having a nice little lunch, which tasted all the better because they were eating it as they rumbled along in the automobile-house-on-wheels.

Splash looked on hungrily, until Mr. Brown tossed him a dog biscuit. Sadie West had bought some for him, thinking she was going to keep the dog, but she had put the biscuits in the automobile when Bunny and Sue came for their pet.

Mile after mile, along the road, rumbled the big automobile van, like a circus wagon. Bunny and Sue sometimes sat near the back doors, looking out, or else they climbed up on boxes near the side windows. Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat and talked, and laughed at the funny things the children said. Out on the front seat Bunker Blue held the steering wheel.

"Could I ride outside, with him?" asked Bunny, after a while. "I want to ride outside, Daddy!"

"No, indeed, little man," answered his father. "You might get bounced off, and hurt. This auto isn't like Mr. Reinberg's, in which you once had a ride. It would not be safe for you or Sue to ride outside."

"But I want to talk to Bunker," persisted the little boy.

"Well, I think I can manage that," Mr. Brown went on. "There is a window in the front part of the auto, right close to the back of Bunker's seat. I'll open that window, and you can talk to him through it. Go into the bed room."

Bunny and Sue walked into the front part of the automobile, through the hanging curtains. And, surely enough, when Mr. Brown opened a window he had had cut in the front of the van, there was Bunker's smiling face looking in. He saw Bunny and Sue, and laughed.

"Oh, Bunker! Isn't this lovely?" asked Sue.

"Well, it's better than rowing a boat full of fish, anyhow, Sue."

"And we had something to eat," went on Bunny. "Are you hungry, Bunker?"

"Well, no, not real hungry. I had some chewing gum a while ago."

"I can give you a sandwich, Bunker, if you'd like it," said Mrs. Brown, looking out of the window, over the heads of Bunny and Sue. "Chewing gum isn't good to eat."

"Oh, I didn't swaller it," said the red-haired young man. "But I'm not hungry. I'll wait until dinner. I couldn't eat and steer this big auto at the same time. I'll wait."

"It will soon be time for dinner," said Mrs. Brown.

On went the car, and at noon it came to a stop in the road, near a shady bit of woods.

"Here's where we'll eat," said Mrs. Brown. "Shall we set the table inside, or out on the grass?"

"Out on the grass!" cried Bunny. "Then, we'll be just like Gypsies at a picnic."

So Mr. Brown lifted the table out of the automobile, and he and Bunny and Sue helped put on the dishes and the knives and forks. Mrs. Brown cooked the dinner on the oil stove. There were meat and potatoes and green peas, besides tomato soup, which Bunny liked very much.

There was milk for the children, and tea for the older folk, and they sat on chairs, under the trees, and ate what Bunny said was the best dinner he had ever had. Sue liked it too, and so did Bunker Blue.

Then, after a little rest, they went on again. Oh, I forgot to say that of course Splash had his dinner, also. He ate the scraps of meat, and the bread and potatoes left over when all the others had finished. He liked his dinner very much.

On rumbled the big automobile over the country roads. Many persons who passed it -- some in other cars, and some in carriages -- turned to look at the funny house-on-wheels. Perhaps they wished they had one like it.

"And are we going to sleep in it to-night?" asked Sue, when the sun began to go down.

"Yes," answered her mother. "I'll make up your little beds just as I do at home."

"But I can't sleep if it jiggles and squiggles so much, Mother!"

"We'll not travel at night," said Mr. Brown. "We'll find a nice place beside the road, run the auto under the trees, and stay there until morning. Then the auto won't jiggle you, Sue."

"All right, Daddy. That's nice!"

Just before dusk they stopped for supper. This was just as much enjoyed as was the dinner. Mrs. Brown made lemonade, when Bunker found a spring of cold water.

Just as supper was over, and they were sitting about the table, which was out on the ground near the back of the automobile, Mrs. Brown pointed to some smoke that was to be seen coming up through the trees, not far away.

"That looks like some one camping over there," she said to her husband.

"Maybe it is. There are several bands of Gypsies around here," he said. "It may be some of them."

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked at one another. They were both thinking of the same thing. Could these be the Gypsies who had taken grandpa's horses?

The smoke rose higher and higher through the trees, as Mr. and Mrs. Brown, with the help of Bunker, began to wash the supper dishes. Bunny and Sue walked a little distance away from the car, toward the smoke.

"Don't go too far!" their mother called to them.

"We won't," answered Bunny.



Chapter VII

The Woodland Camp


The two children walked slowly down the road, at the side of which, under some big willow trees, the automobile was drawn up for the night, which would soon come. Mrs. Brown was busy making up the beds. One for Bunker Blue was to be made on the ground, right under the automobile itself. An extra cot had been brought along for him, but it was folded up in the automobile.

Mr. Brown was busy looking over the machinery of the engine, or motor, that made the automobile go. He wanted to be sure it had not broken, so they would be able to go on again in the morning, and finally get to grandpa's farm.

"Where are you going, Bunker?" called Bunny, as he and Sue saw the big, red-haired boy start down the road with a pail on his arm.

"I'm going for water," Bunker replied.

"Why, we have some in the ice box," cried Sue, for she had had a glass a little while before. "You can drink that water, Bunker."

"Oh, I don't want a drink, Sue. It's the automobile that wants one," Bunker answered.

"How funny!" laughed Sue. "Automobiles can't drink."

"Oh, yes, they can," replied Bunker. "I have to pour water in ours so the engine won't get too hot. It doesn't exactly drink it, but it needs it to cool itself off. That's why I'm going for water now."

"I'll come with you," offered Bunny. And of course where Bunny went, Sue went too. So the brother and sister were soon walking with Bunker down to the spring.

There he filled the pail with water, and, coming back with it, he poured it into what is called the radiator of the automobile -- the place where the water itself is kept cool so it will cool the hot engine.

"There!" exclaimed Bunker, when he had finished. "Now the auto has had a good drink, and it can go to sleep when it wants to."

"Oh, do autos go to sleep?" Sue wanted to know.

"Well, they stay nice and quiet all night," her father told her. "At least I hope ours will, and that is almost the same as going to sleep. Now, Mother, have we everything ready for the night?"

"I think so," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunker, if you'll get out your cot, I'll make it for you, and then you can slide it under the automobile."

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Brown," replied the big boy, "but I can make my own bunk. I'm used to it."

Mrs. Brown looked through the ice box, and in the cupboard. She wanted to see if she had everything she needed for breakfast. And, as soon as she opened the ice box she exclaimed:

"There! The milk! We won't have any for the children. There's only a little bit left. Where can we get any?"

Mr. Brown came back from having looked at the engine, which he found was all right.

"Milk?" he said. "Why, there's a farmhouse a little way over on that road," and he pointed to it. "I guess we could get milk over there."

"Then we'll have to do it. Bunker -- no -- you're making up your bed; aren't you? You can't go. You and I will go for the milk," she said to her husband.

"And take Bunny and Sue with us?"

"No, I think not. They seem to be having a good time and they'll be all right here with Bunker until we come back. There might be cross dogs at the farmhouse, and it may be too far for them to walk. You stay here, Bunny and Sue," she went on, "while daddy and I go for some fresh milk. Don't go far away now."

"No'm," promised Bunny again.

He and Sue saw many things to look at near the place where the automobile had stopped for the night. There were some flowers and ferns growing in the grass and Sue made a nice bouquet. Then Bunny found a place where he could break off long, willow branches from a tree, and he had fun playing he was the ring-master in a circus, cracking the willow whip, and making the make-believe horses jump over "pretend" elephants.

Sue looked up from her flower gathering, and said to her brother:

"Oh, Bunny! Look what a lot of smoke!"

She pointed to where the smoke had been seen before, curling up through the trees of the woods.

"It is a lot of smoke," said Bunny. "Maybe the trees are on fire! Let's go and look!"

Bunny did not stop to think that if the woods were on fire it was not a very good place for him and his sister to go. But the trouble was with Bunny Brown, that he did what he wanted to do first, and thought about it afterward.

"If I had my fire engine here I could put out the fire," said Bunny. But his fire engine was only a toy, and though it did squirt water when he turned the handle, it only sprayed out a little -- about a tin cup full. So I guess it could not have put out a very big fire.

"We'll go to see what it is," decided Sue. She was always willing to go where Bunny led her.

Bunny looked back toward the automobile. Bunker Blue was not to be seen. He was under the big van fixing up his cot for the night, that would soon be turning everything dark. Down a side road Bunny could see his father and mother, going to the farmhouse for the milk.

"We'll just walk a little way and look at the fire," said Bunny. "Mother or father won't care about that. And maybe we'll have to tell 'em there is a fire, so they can telephone for the engines."

"There aren't any telephones here in the woods," said Sue.

"Well, then they can holler for the engines," Bunny remarked. He did not care much about that part -- he wanted to see the fire. "Come on!" he called to his sister.

And so the two tots started toward the place where they could see the smoke curling up over the trees. If Bunker Blue had seen the children, he would have called to them to come back. So would their father and mother.

But Mr. and Mrs. Brown were hurrying toward the farmhouse, and Bunker was under the automobile. And just then he had struck his head on a piece of wood, and his head hurt so that Bunker had to rub it. And tears came into his eyes, though he did not exactly cry; but the tears did not let him see very good. That is why he did not see the children set out toward the fire.

So Bunny and Sue walked on toward the woods. The woods were darker than the road, and reaching the edge of the trees, Sue hung back.

"I don't want to go in," she whispered. "I'se afraid."

"Oh, don't be afraid," answered Bunny. "I won't let anything hurt you. Where's Splash? He won't let any one hurt you, either."

But the big dog was, just then, racing over the fields after a bird he thought he could catch. So no one saw Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, as they went into the woods. They could see the smoke of the fire much more plainly now.

And then, all of a sudden, they came to a place in the woods where there was a camp. There were white tents, and a number of wagons, with looking glass on the sides, were standing near some horses which were eating grass. And, in and about the tents and wagons, in the woodland camp, were a number of dark-colored men, women and children. They looked like Indians, but Sue knew who they were as soon as she saw the gay wagons.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue whispered. "They're Gypsies! Maybe they have grandpa's horses. This is a Gypsy camp, Bunny!"



Chapter VIII

A Night Scare


Perhaps if Sue had not spoken of grandpa's lost horses Bunny might not have wanted to keep on toward the Gypsy camp. But when his sister spoke the little boy seemed to become brave, all at once.

"That's so, Sue!" he whispered to her, as he took hold of her hand, so she would not be frightened. "Maybe grandpa's horses are here. These folks are Gypsies, sure enough."

"Just like the pictures in the books," added Sue, also whispering.

She and Bunny could see where several Gypsy women and children were standing about the fire, over which were pots, from which steam came. The Gypsies were cooking their supper.

The men Gypsies stood near the horses and Wagons, talking. Some of the men were smoking, and they all seemed to be having an easy time.

"Shall we go up and ask 'em if they have grandpa's horses?" Bunny inquired of Sue.

"Yes," she said. "But you won't let the Gypsies take me, will you?"

"Nope," said Bunny.

He and Sue had often heard their little playmates talk about Gypsies taking children away, but I do not believe this ever happens. The Gypsies have children of their own -- children who like to live and travel in the queer wagons -- and why should the Gypsies take other children who might be a trouble to them, and cry to come home?

Still Bunny and Sue thought the Gypsies might take them away in one of the wagons, with the shining looking glasses on the sides, or that they might be kept in one of the tents. But the two children wanted to find out about grandpa's horses, so they kept on.

By this time some of the Gypsy women had seen the two tots. One woman, who wore a bright handkerchief on her head, came up to Bunny and Sue and asked:

"Where are you going? Where do you live? Aren't you lost?"

"No'm," said Bunny, while Sue sort of slid around behind him. "We're not lost. Our automobile is over there," and Bunny pointed to the road. "We just came to see if you had our grandpa's horses."

The Gypsy woman seemed surprised, and called to one of the men, who came up, smoking a pipe.

"We are Gypsies, too," said Sue bravely. Perhaps she thought if she said that she would not be taken away. Or maybe she thought that would be the best way of finding the lost horses.

"You are Gypsies!" exclaimed the woman, smiling. Bunny thought it was queer she could speak just as he did. But most Gypsies, in this country, can talk our talk.

"We're going to grandpa's in a big automobile," said Bunny, to explain what Sue meant, "and it's got beds in, and a table and a stove, just like your wagons," and he waved his hand toward the queer carts in which the Gypsies traveled from camp to camp.

"You are funny little Gypsies," laughed the woman. "But what is this about grandpa's horses?"

"Maybe their grandfather has horses to sell -- or trade," suggested the Gypsy man. "Where does he live, little chap?"

"Oh, a good way off," answered Bunny, hardly at all afraid now. "But he hasn't any horses, 'cause he let some Gypsies take his horses to pull their wagons, and they didn't bring 'em back. So my grandpa has no horses, but I thought maybe you had 'em."

Some other Gypsies, who had gathered around to hear what was being said, laughed at this. Then the man spoke.

"We have some horses," he said, "but they are not your grandfather's, little chap. But I think you had better run home, or run back to where ever your automobile is. Your mother may be looking for you."

Bunny and Sue had not thought of that.

"I -- I guess we had better go home," said Sue.

"Yes," agreed Bunny. "If grandpa's horses aren't here we had better go back."

"Do you know the way?" asked the Gypsy woman. "If you are afraid I will go with you, if you tell me where your automobile is."

"I -- I guess we can find it -- thank you," said Bunny. He was not sure that he could, for it was almost dark now, and the Gypsy fire looked bright and cheerful. But Bunny did not want to walk along through the woods with the Gypsy woman. She might, after all, take him and his sister.

"Come on, Sue," said Bunny to the little girl, and they turned back on the path by which they had come.

"Good-bye!" called the Gypsy woman after them. "Come again and see us, and I will tell your fortunes."

"All right," answered Bunny, waving his hand.

"What's a fortune?" asked Sue, when they had walked on a little way.

"It means what's going to happen to you."

"Well, lots happened to us, Bunny. I slid down the clay-bank hill and so did you; and once I sat in a hen's nest and broke the eggs."

"That isn't a fortune," said Bunny. "That's just bad luck! But let's run, Sue. It's getting awful dark, and maybe we can't find the automobile. Let's run!"

Bunny set off, fairly dragging Sue after him. But she called out:

"Oh, Bunny! I can't run! My legs is too tired! Let's go back, and get the Gypsy woman to take us."

"No," said Bunny. "I can find our auto all right."

He kept on. He went more slowly, though, so Sue would not get tired. At first Bunny managed to keep to the path through the woods -- the path that led from the main road, on which their automobile was standing. But, in a little while, Bunny found himself walking into a patch of bushes.

"Oh! oh!" cried Sue, as the bushes scratched her face. "Where are you going, Bunny?"

Bunny did not answer, for he did not know himself. He was off the path.

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "Let's go back to the Gypsy camp, Bunny!"

"No, I'll find the way," he said. "I'll find our automobile."

Just then there was a rustling in the bushes, and in the dried leaves under them, and Sue, somewhat frightened, exclaimed:

"Oh, Bunny! What was that?"

Once again Bunny did not answer for a moment for he did not know what the noise was. But he did not have to speak, for, a second later, there came a loud bark.

"Oh, it's a dog!" cried Sue. "Maybe it's one of the Gypsy dogs come after us!"

A dog did rush up to Bunny and Sue, but it was a good, friendly dog, and seemed very glad to see them. It jumped about Bunny, and, no sooner had the little boy put his hands on the shaggy back of the frisking animal, than Bunny cried out:

"Why it's Splash! It's our dog Splash!"

"Oh, how glad I am!" laughed Sue. "Now we're all right. Oh, you dear old Splash!"

She put her arms about the neck of Splash, and he seemed as glad to meet Bunny and Sue as they were to see him. Then a voice called from the darkness:

"Bunny! Sue! Where are you?"

"Oh, it's daddy!" Bunny cried.

"Oh you children!" another voice said.

"It's mother!" shouted Bunny. "Here we are!" he added. "We went to the Gypsy camp to look for grandpa's horses, but we're coming back now. We didn't find the horses, but Splash found us."

The next minute Mr. and Mrs. Brown were beside Bunny and Sue, while Splash frisked about and barked, as though he had done it all.

"Oh, Bunny and Sue!" said Mrs. Brown. "You shouldn't have gone away. You should have stayed with Bunker. He was quite frightened about you, and so were we."

"But you're not scared now; are you Mother?" asked Bunny. "'Cause we're not lost any more."

"But I'm tired and sleepy," said Sue. "I want to go to bed."

"Yes, I guess bed is the best place for all of us," said Mr. Brown. "Now, Bunny -- Sue -- you must not go away like this again. You might have been lost in the woods all night."

"The Gypsies would have brought us home," observed Bunny. "One Gypsy lady wanted to, but I thought I could get home myself. And I almost did," he added.

"Tell me about the Gypsies," said Mrs. Brown, as she looked off through the woods, where a faint glow of the camp fire could be seen.

Bunny and Sue told of their little adventure. They were sorry they did not find grandpa's horses for him.

"I guess the Gypsies who have them are far away from here," remarked Mr. Brown. A light was seen flickering through the trees, along the path, and a voice called:

"Where are you?"

"It's Bunker Blue," said Mother Brown. "I told him to come after us with a lantern."

Soon Bunker came up.

"Did you find 'em?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes," Mr. Brown answered. "They're all right."

And, a little later, they were all safely at the big automobile. Bunny and Sue had some bread, with the milk their father and mother had bought at the farmhouse. Then they were undressed and tucked in the little bunks. Bunker went to sleep in his cot, under the van, and Splash curled up on the grass near him. And, after seeing that everything was snug for the night, Mr. and Mrs. Brown went to bed also. Their first day's travel was over.

Every one had been sleeping soundly for some time, and Bunny was dreaming that he had found grandpa's horses, and was riding down a slippery hill on one of them, when, all of a sudden, in the middle of the night there came a loud yell:

"Let me alone! Get away from here!"

"That's Bunker Blue!" Bunny heard his father say. Bunny sat up, hardly awake. Sue also sat up in her bunk.

Then Splash began barking under the automobile, where Bunker was sleeping. Only Bunker was not sleeping now, for he was wide awake, and he called out again:

"Quit, I say! Oh, Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown! Somebody's trying to upset the auto!"

"Oh Mamma!" wailed Sue.

Bunny did not know what to do.

"Wait a minute! I'm coming!" called Mr. Brown, as he jumped out of bed.



Chapter IX

The Lost Horse


"What is it?" cried Bunny Brown. "What's the matter?"

"Is it a Gypsy after Bunker Blue?" asked his sister Sue.

Mrs. Brown pulled aside the light curtains that hung in front of the children's bunks.

"Don't be frightened," she said. "It isn't anything. Perhaps Bunker is dreaming, and talking in his sleep. Daddy will make it all right."

"Is Splash barking in his sleep?" Sue wanted to know.

Mother Brown laughed, and Bunny and Sue felt better after that.

Once more Bunker Blue called out:

"Hey! Quit, will you? Stop it! Ouch! I'm being tickled! Oh!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue laughed again. They could not help it, for it seemed so funny -- Bunker Blue being tickled in his sleep.

By this time Mr. Brown had lighted a lantern, slipped on a bath robe, put some slippers on his feet and was going down the back, outside steps of the van. These steps, you remember, folded up, out of the way, when the automobile was traveling.

"What is it, Bunker? What's the matter?" Bunny and Sue heard their father ask.

"Why -- why, I don't know what it is," answered the red-haired lad who steered the automobile. "But it's some big animal after me. He poked his head right into my cot, and he struck me with something sharp. Maybe he tried to bite me."

Mr. Brown flashed his lantern under the automobile where Bunker was sleeping. Only, of course, as I told you, Bunker was not asleep now. Nor was Splash, for the dog was running about and barking.

"Why, this is funny," said Mr. Brown. "I don't see anything, Bunker. Are you sure you didn't dream it all?"

"Dream it? No, sir! I felt it!"

Just then there came a loud "Moo! Moo! Moo!"

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue knew right away what that was.

"A cow!" they both cried. "It's only a cow!"

Their father, outside, looking under the automobile where Bunker Blue had his cot, heard them.

"Yes, it is a cow," he said, and his lantern flashed on a big, brown cow. There she stood, a little way back from the automobile, looking at Mr. Brown and Splash, and blinking her eyes at the lantern. She could not see Bunker under the automobile.

"Yes, it was the cow that scared you, Bunker," said Mr. Brown. "She must have been tied to a stake, in some pasture, but she pulled herself loose, and came over to see you."

"Well I didn't want to see her!" exclaimed Bunker, poking his head out from beneath the van. "She can just go right back where she came from."

"And I guess she wanted to get some of the long, sweet grass that grows under your cot," went on Mr. Brown. "That's why she came."

And that was what had happened. The cow had pulled up the stake to which she was fastened, and had wandered from her pasture, down the road, to where Bunker was asleep under the automobile. The cow had not meant to wake him up, but as she reached for the grass her horns must have poked Bunker as he slept on his cot. That was what made him cry out.

Mr. Brown took hold of the cow's rope, and led her far enough off to keep her from bothering Bunker again that night. Then Mr. Brown tied the rope to a fence, and came back to tell Bunny, Sue and their mother all about it.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't Gypsies," said Sue, as she curled up in her bunk again, to go to sleep.

"Pooh!" cried Bunny. "Gypsies don't have horns like cows!"

They were soon quiet again, though Splash did growl once in a while, as he heard the cow moving about, a little way off. But at last even Splash went to sleep, and so did Bunker. Nothing more bothered them, and it was broad daylight, and the sun was shining, when Bunny Brown and the others opened their eyes again.

"Breakfast! Breakfast!" cried Mother Brown. "Bunny! Sue! Wash for breakfast!"

There was a wash basin and stand in one corner of the automobile bed-room, and though it was quite different from the big bath room at home, Bunny and Sue washed their faces and hands very nicely, and thought what fun it was.

While they were doing this, Mother Brown was cooking the breakfast on the oil stove, and Daddy Brown, and Bunker Blue were setting the table out under the trees. Splash was not doing anything except looking hungry.

"Where's the cow?" asked Bunny, as he came down the automobile steps.

"Did she give us any milk for our breakfast?" Sue wanted to know.

"No," answered her father. "The farmer who owned her came to get her a little while ago. He said she often strayed away from her field in the night. He might have given us some milk, if he had had a pail, but we have plenty in our ice box. Now then -- breakfast!"

And what a fine breakfast it was! eaten at the table, out of doors, under the willow tree. There were oranges, oatmeal and big glasses of cool milk, with soft-boiled eggs. Daddy and Mother Brown bought the eggs at the farmhouse the night before, when they went for the milk.

Splash, too, had his breakfast, and then he went roaming off over the fields, perhaps looking for another dog with which to have a game of tag -- or whatever game it is that dogs play.

"Are you going to see the Gypsies this morning?" asked Bunny. He seemed very much interested in the strange folk who went about the country, living in their gay wagons.

"No, I think we'll travel on to grandpa's farm," his father answered. "We won't go to see the Gypsies. They aren't the ones who took grandpa's horses."

A little later the automobile started, Bunker Blue sitting on the front seat to steer. Mr. Brown sat with him, to tell him the right road to take, so they would not be lost.

Mrs. Brown, with Bunny and Sue, sat inside the automobile, near the windows, which were opened to let in the breeze, as the day was quite hot. It was lovely traveling this way.

They did not go as fast as they might, for Mr. Brown wanted Bunker to go carefully. Then, too, there was no hurry. It was such fun, traveling in this new way, that Bunny and Sue would not have minded if they could have kept it up all Summer.

They stopped, that noon, near a little brook to eat their dinner. It was not far from a small town, and Bunker walked in and came back with some ice cream.

After dinner they went on again, and, as it looked as though it might rain that night, Mr. Brown said they would stop near the next village, so, in case the storm was a bad one, they could go to a hotel to sleep.

"But the rain won't come in the auto," said Bunny.

"No, but it might wet Bunker if he sleeps outside, under it," his mother said.

"Let Bunker sleep in the dining room," suggested Bunny.

"Well, we can do that, if it rains too hard for him to sleep out of doors," Mrs. Brown agreed, with a laugh.

The automobile was stopped in a grove of trees, not far from the town, and, when Mrs. Brown was getting supper, Bunny and Sue, with their dog, Splash, walked down the road.

"Don't go too far," their mother called after them. "It might rain any time."

"We'll be back soon," answered the little boy.

He and Sue walked on, not thinking they were going far. The clouds did not seem so dark now, and the children thought that perhaps, after all, it might not rain.

All at once Sue, who had gone on a little ahead of Bunny, called out:

"Oh, look! A horse! It's a horse, Bunny, and nobody's with him! Maybe it's one of grandpa's!"

"Maybe it is!" Bunny agreed. "It's lost, anyhow. I'll catch him, and we'll keep him. We'll take him to our auto, and fetch him to grandpa. He'll be real glad."

Bunny was not afraid of horses, especially one as kind and gentle as this one looked to be. Bunny had often fed grass to the grocer's horse, when it stopped in front of their house, and once the grocer's boy had held Bunny on the back of the horse, and had given him a ride.

So now, as Bunny walked up to this horse, which was coming slowly along the road, the little fellow was not in the least afraid.

"Whoa, horsie!" he called, and the horse stood still.

"Oh, I know it's grandpa's horse!" cried Sue, clapping her hands "Grandpa's horses always stand still when you say 'whoa!' and that's what this one did. Oh, Bunny! Aren't you glad?"



Chapter X

At Grandpa's Farm


Bunny Brown walked right up to the horse. Around the animal's neck was a long rope, that dangled to the ground. Bunny took hold of this rope, and called:

"Gid-dap! Come on!"

That was what he had heard the grocery boy call to his horse, and it was what Bunny said to his dog Splash, when he wanted Splash to run with the express wagon, to which he was sometimes harnessed. Splash, who had run on ahead of Bunny and Sue, now came trotting back. He did not seem surprised to see Bunny with a horse. To Splash, everything Bunny did was all right.

The dog barked at the horse once or twice, but that was only his way of speaking, I suppose, and the horse lowered his head, and put his nose close to the dog.

"Oh, now they're friends!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "But don't let him bite you, Bunny."

"Let who bite me?"

"That horse."

"Horses don't bite," said Bunny. "They just eat hay and grass and oats. Anyhow his head's too high up. He can't reach me to bite me."

Bunny now started back down the road towards the automobile, leading the horse by the rope. Sue followed, but she did not like to go so near the horse as her brother went. Sue was just a little bit afraid.

"Isn't it good we found one of grandpa's horses," Sue cried. "I wish I could find the other one, Bunny."

"Maybe you will, to-morrow. We'll take this one to the auto, and then we can look for the second one."

"How'd you s'pose he came to be on the road?"

"I don't know," Bunny answered. "Maybe he got away from the Gypsies."

"Oh, I hope grandpa's other horse gets away," Sue cried. "And I hope I find it. But I'll let you lead it for me, Bunny. 'Cause it might step on me."

"I'll lead it. I'm not afraid," said the little boy.

This horse did not seem to mind in the least being led along by Bunny. It walked slowly, and Splash followed behind. Perhaps the dog thought he, too, was helping drive the horse along, and, for all I know, he may have been. Dogs drive sheep, and I should think they could drive horses too; shouldn't you?

Pretty soon Bunny and Sue, with the horse they had found, came within sight of the big automobile, around a turn of the road. They saw their mother and father looking down the highway.

"We thought you had run away again," called Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, no!" answered Bunny, as if he and Sue never did such a thing as that. And really, they never, at any time, exactly intended to run away. It was always an accident!

"Well, come along to supper!" Mr. Brown said. "We're glad you're home."

Then Mrs. Brown happened to notice the horse that Bunny was leading.

"Oh my goodness me!" she cried. "That horse! Is it chasing you, Bunny -- Sue!"

"No'm!" answered Bunny, quite proudly. "I'm leading it. We found it. It's a lost horse. It's one of grandpa's! We'll take it home to him!"

For a moment Mr. Brown did not speak. Mrs. Brown did not know what to say, either. She just stood there, looking at Bunny and Sue. Then Mr. Brown began to laugh.

"Well, what will you youngsters do next?" he cried. "Why, you're as bad as the Gypsies, taking horses that don't belong to you!"

"But we found this one, Daddy!" said Bunny. "He was all alone on the road, and when I told him to whoa he whoaed."

"Just like grandpa's horses," explained Sue.

"So I took him," went on Bunny. "He's one of grandpa's horses, and to-morrow Sue and I are going to find the other one."

Mr. Brown laughed harder than ever.

"Oh, do take that horse away from Bunny!" begged Mrs. Brown. "He may run away, or bite the children, or do something! Take him away!"

"Why, he's an awful nice horse," Bunny said. "He didn't step on us, or run away, or do anything. And Splash likes him, and so do I and Sue. We're going to take him to grandpa."

"Bunny is lucky," said Sue. "He found Aunt Lu's diamond ring, and now he has found one of grandpa's horses; haven't you, Bunny?"

"Yep. But I guess the horse is hungry, Daddy. Shall I tie him to the automobile where he can get some grass?"

"No indeed!" cried Mr. Brown. "If we tie the horse to our auto he may run off with it. I'll just tie him to the fence, as I did the cow, and when the man who owns him comes along he can take him away."

"Take him away!" cried Bunny. "Why, it's grandpa's horse!"

"Oh, no, son!" said Mr. Brown kindly. "I don't like to make you feel bad, but this isn't grandpa's horse. It belongs to some one around here, and it probably strayed away, just as the cow did last night. Some one will be along after it soon, so I'll tie it to the fence."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Sue, as her father fastened the horse. "I thought it was grandpa's, and he'd be so glad; didn't you, Bunny?"

"Yes, but never mind. Maybe we can find another horse, to-morrow, that will be grandpa's. Anyhow I'm hungry now."

It did not take much to make Bunny think of something new.

"I'm hungry, too," said Sue. "We'll look for another horse to-morrow."

The one they had found straying down the road was now eating grass near the fence. He did not seem to mind where he was. Splash lay down near him, as though to watch, so he would not stray off again.

"Shall we eat outside?" asked Mr. Brown of his wife, "or do you think it will rain?"

"I think not. We'll have an early supper. And unless it rains too hard we won't go to the village hotel. We'll stay here."

"And let Bunker put his cot in the dining room," added Mr. Brown, "if it's too wet under the auto."

"Oh, I don't mind the rain," said Bunker, who was washing the potatoes for supper.

The little table was set out under a tree, and there supper was eaten. It was almost over when a man came along the road.

"Good evening!" he called, and he looked surprised to see the big automobile, and the little supper party. "Good evening. Have you folks seen a stray horse? One of mine ran away --  -- "

Then he saw the one Bunny had found, which Mr. Brown had tied to the fence.

"Why, there's my horse now!" the man cried. "How'd it get here?"

"I found it," said Bunny. "I thought it was my grandpa's, but it isn't, daddy says. Is it yours?"

"Why, yes, little man, it is. And I'm glad you found him. He might have gone off a good way if you hadn't stopped him."

Then Bunny told how he had led the horse along the road, and Mr. Brown explained why it was he and his family were traveling in the big automobile to grandpa's farm.

"If you'll send over to my place," promised the farmer, as he led his horse away, "I'll give you some peaches and pears."

"Thank you," answered Mr. Brown. "We'll be glad to get them."

And, after supper, Bunker Blue went over, coming back with a nice basket of fruit.

"So it's a good thing, Bunny, that you found the horse after all," said his mother, "even if it wasn't grandpa's."

Bunny thought so too, as he looked at the nice peaches and pears which the farmer had sent over.

It did rain that night, but not very hard, and Bunker, instead of coming into the automobile to sleep, hung some canvas curtains around his cot under the car, and slept there. He said he liked to be out in the rain, and he had often been on one of Mr. Brown's boats, all night, out on the bay in a storm.

It was bright and clear in the morning, and, after a good breakfast, they started off again. Bunny and Sue, looking from the windows of the automobile, hoped to see some other horses, which might really be grandpa's missing ones, but they were disappointed.

Nothing much happened for the rest of the trip, which lasted another day. If Mr. Brown had wished to hurry he could have gone to grandpa's in two days, but he took his time.

On the afternoon of the third day Bunker Blue steered the big machine down a little hill. At the foot was a big white house, with a red barn back of it.

"There's grandpa's!" called Mr. Brown.

"Yes, and there is grandpa himself standing at the gate to meet us!" Mrs. Brown said. "Wave your hands to him, Bunny and Sue!"

The children did, from the windows of the automobile. Then Bunker steered it up the driveway. Bunny and Sue jumped out.

"Hello, Grandpa!" cried Bunny.

"Hello, Grandma!" laughed Sue.

And, a second later, they were being hugged by the dear old couple, while Mr. and Mrs. Brown got out of the automobile more slowly.

"Oh, Grandpa, did you find your horses the Gypsies took?" Bunny asked.

"No," answered Grandpa Brown. "I guess I'll never see 'em again! And it was my best team, too!" and he shook his head sadly.



Chapter XI

In The Garden


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue walked up the path to the house with Grandpa Brown. Sue had hold of one of grandpa's hands, and Bunny the other. Behind them came father and mother, with Grandma Brown.

"Are you glad to see us, Grandpa?" asked Sue.

"Glad to see you? Well I should say I am!" cried grandpa. "I thought you would never get here. And what a fine big auto you came in!"

"It's a moving van," Bunny explained. "You put pianos and chairs and tables in it, and you take them to the new house, when you move. Only we didn't move our things -- we moved just ourselves."

"We had lots of fun!" cried Sue.

"It certainly is a nice way to travel," said Grandpa Brown. "Better than with a horse and wagon, or even the steam cars."

"Yes," agreed Bunny. "We're awful sorry about your horses, Grandpa. We saw some Gypsies, and we asked them if they had your team, but they said they hadn't."

"No. I guess the Gypsies that took my horses, to use for a little while, but forgetting to bring them back, are far enough away from here now," said Grandpa Brown. "I'd like to get my team back, though. They cost a lot of money."

"We almost had a horse; didn't we, Sue?" asked Bunny, as he told of the one they had found walking along the road.

"Yes, we almost had a horse; and we did have a cow, Bunny."

Grandpa Brown laughed when they told him how the cow had put her head under the automobile, where Bunker Blue was sleeping, and had tickled him in the ribs.

"Well, well!" laughed Grandpa Brown. "That was funny! But now you're here, and I guess you're hungry; aren't you? Mother, these children are hungry!" cried Grandpa Brown to his wife, though Bunny and Sue had not said so. But probably Grandpa Brown knew that boys and girls are almost always hungry.

"Well, come right in," was Grandma Brown's invitation, "and I'll get you all something to eat."

Bunker Blue had run the automobile up to the big red barn. The doors were open, and in the automobile went on the barn floor. The barn was large enough to take in a load of hay, and the automobile was not quite so high as that.

Soon Bunny and Sue, with their father and mother, were seated at the table, eating a little lunch, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown talked about the trip, and Grandpa Brown told more about his lost horses.

"You see it was this way," said Grandpa Brown. "The Gypsies were camped not far from here. They had been around here some time, and they had done no harm, as far as I could see. Then, one day, a Gypsy man came over and wanted to buy horses from me.

"But I needed my teams, and so I wouldn't sell him any horses. Then he wanted to borrow my two horses to pull some of their wagons, for they were going to a new camp. He said two of his horses had died.

"I wanted to help the Gypsies, for some of them are good, so I let the man take my best team of horses. He said he would bring them back the next day. But he never did. I hunted all over, and I had the police look, too, but we never could find the Gypsies, or my horses. It's too bad!" and once more Grandpa Brown shook his head.

"I found Aunt Lu's diamond ring," said Bunny, "and maybe I'll find your horses, Grandpa."

"Well, I wish you would, little man, but I'm afraid you can't. They're gone!"

"Haven't you any horses left?" asked Sue. "'Cause if you haven't I'll give you all the money in my bank, and you can buy some new ones."

"Bless her little heart!" cried grandma, giving Sue a hug.

"Oh, I have some horses left," Grandpa Brown said, "and I'll take you out to the barn and show them to you. But my best ones are with the Gypsies."

"Well, maybe we'll find 'em!" said Bunny. But even Sue, who nearly always thought what Bunny said was just right, shook her little head.

The two children, when they had finished the meal, started out of doors.

"Where are you going?" asked Mother Brown.

"Out to the barn, to see the horses," Bunny answered.

"Better get on your old clothes," their mother advised. "You and Sue might want to slide down the hay, and sit in a hen's nest again, and old clothes are best for that."

"Yes, I guess so," laughed Sue, as she thought of what had once happened to her.

A little later, wearing their play clothes, which would not be harmed, even if they rolled in the dirt, Bunny and Sue set out for the barn to see what they could find. Bunny knew his way about grandpa's farm, for he was older than Sue, and he remembered having been there once before.

"Oh, here's a horse, Sue!" he cried, as he went into the barn.

Looking over the edge of the manger, or box where his hay and oats were put, was a brown horse. He sniffed at the children, and whinnied, as if glad to see them. When a horse whinnies it is just as if he laughs.

"Hullo!" said Bunny, and, liking horses, and not being afraid, he went up and patted this one on the nose. "Come on, Sue, rub him."

"No, Bunny, I'm afraid!"

"Oh, he won't hurt you."

"Well, I -- I can't reach!"

"I'll get you a box to stand on, Sue."

Bunny looked around, and found a box. He was putting it in front of the stall of the brown horse, stooping over to get it just right, when he felt some one pulling on his coat.

"Don't do that, Sue!" cried Bunny.

"I'm not doing anything," she answered.

"Yes you are, too! You're pulling my coat, and I can't fix the box."

"Oh, Bunny Brown! I am not!" And Sue stood right in front of her brother so he could see that she was not touching him. And, just then, Bunny's coat was pulled again. Certainly, this time it was not Sue.

"Why -- why -- what is it?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, Bunny! It's a goat! A goat is pulling your coat!" Sue cried.

"A goat!"

"Yes, look! He has hold of you now!"

Bunny turned around quickly as he felt his coat being pulled again.

"Ho! That's a sheep -- not a goat!" he cried. And indeed it was an old sheep, or, rather, a ram, with queer, curling horns. And the ram had reached over a low door of the stall, next to the brown horse, and was pulling Bunny's coat.

"I thought it was a goat," said Sue.

"And I thought you were pulling my coat," laughed Bunny, "so we're even. Hello, sheep!" he called. "What do you want?"

"Ba-a-a-a-a-a!" bleated the ram.

"Maybe he's hungry," said Sue.

"Then we'll go and pull some grass for him, and we'll pull some for the horse, too," cried Bunny.

Out into the field, back of the barn, went Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They pulled up big handfuls of the sweet, green grass. At least it was sweet to horses, sheep and cows, though it would not taste sweet to you boys and girls.

Then back into the barn went the children. And the horse and ram seemed very glad to get the grass. Three times Bunny and Sue ran out and got more grass. And every time Bunny would feed the horse any grass, the ram would reach over and pull on his coat.

"I guess the sheep wants you to love him instead of the horsie," said Sue. "I'll pat the sheep, Bunny. I'm not afraid of him."

So Sue rubbed the ram's black nose. He seemed glad to see her, and put out his red tongue to lick her hands.

"Oh, it feels so funny!" laughed Sue. "It tickles me and feels almost as squiggily as when you pick up a worm. Come on out and play, Bunny."

They went out in the garden, and there they saw one of Grandpa Brown's hired men stooping down between the rows of onions.

"Are you picking them?" asked Bunny. "Are you picking the onions?"

"No, little man. I'm pulling up the weeds."

"I'll help you," offered Bunny, and, stooping over, he began to pull up some tall, round green stalks.

"Don't! Oh, don't do that!" cried the man.

"Why?" asked Bunny, and Sue, who had started to do as her brother was doing, looked up, wondering what was wrong.

"Why, you're pulling up the onions!" said the man. "We want them to grow."

"Oh!" said Bunny. He looked, but he could not tell which were the weeds and which the onions.

"Is this a weed?" asked Sue, and she pulled up something green. "It smells like a weed! Oh, I don't like the smell!" and she made a funny face, as she brought her hands near her nose.

"That's an onion," the hired man said. "I guess you had better run in from the garden, and let me do the weeding. When you get older you can tell which are weeds and which are onions."

"I'm never going to eat onions, anyhow!" Sue said, making another funny face, with her nose all wrinkled.

"I don't like onions, either," Bunny said. "They have an awful funny smell; haven't they, mister?"

"Well, some folks think so," and the hired man went on with his weeding while the children ran away.

But they did not go to the house. Instead they walked farther on through the garden, until they came to some rows of boxes.

"Oh, look at the cute play-houses!" cried Sue. "Let's look at them, Bunny."

"All right," answered her brother.

They went up to one of the houses. A queer sort of buzzing sound came from it.

"Let's look inside," said Bunny.

"All right," agreed Sue. "There's a lot of flies in front, Bunny," and she pointed to them.

As Bunny was about to lift off the top of one of the boxes, he heard the hired man, from the onion patch, calling:

"Get away! Run away from there or you'll be stung! Run! Run!"



Chapter XII

Bunny's Waterfall


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, at first, did not know what the hired man meant. They did not see why they could not stay and play with the queer little boxes, which, as Sue said, were just like doll houses. She was even going back to the farmhouse and get one of her dolls, for she had brought three or four with her in the big automobile.

But now the hired man was running toward Bunny and Sue. He had stopped weeding the onions.

"Run away! Run away!" he cried again, waving his arms at the children. "Run away! Hurry!"

"What for?" asked Bunny.

Bunny was always good at asking questions.

"Why should we run?" Bunny asked.

Before the man could answer Sue cried out:

"Oh, Bunny! Look at the flies! They're buzzing all around me. I don't like them. Come on!"

At the same time a number of the "flies," as Sue called them, began buzzing around Bunny's head. He waved his hands to drive them off.

"Don't do that! Keep your arms still and come away!" cried the hired man. "If you don't run away you'll be badly stung!"

By this time he was close to Bunny and Sue. He caught the little boy up in one arm, and Sue in the other, and ran with them away from the little "play houses." Then, when they were some distance from the buzzing insects the man put the children down.

"Never go there again," he said.

"Why?" asked Bunny. "Why mustn't we go near the flies?"

"Because those are not flies, they are bees. They may sting you, and hurt you very much. You must keep away from them!"

"But don't bees give you honey?" asked Sue.

"Yes, little lady, they do, but if you go near their hives they think you are going to take their honey. They don't like that, so they sting folks to drive them away."

"We didn't know they was bee hives," said Sue, looking up to see if any of the bees were still buzzing around her.

"We thought they were play-houses," said Bunny, "and I was going to take the top off one, and look inside."

"It's a good thing you didn't," said the man. "Now remember -- keep away from the bees."

"But how does grandpa get the honey out without being stung?" Bunny wanted to know.

"He blows smoke on them, from a smoking-machine," said the hired man. "The smoke quiets the bees, and then they don't sting. Of course your grandpa leaves the bees some honey for themselves. They have to have some to eat when it is winter, and when there are no flowers."

"Do flowers make honey?" asked Sue.

"The bees suck honey from the flowers," the hired man told the children. "Now run away, and don't ever again play in that part of the garden where the bees are."

"We won't," promised Bunny and Sue.

"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Grandpa Brown when Bunny and Sue told him what had happened. "I forgot to speak about the bees. You see I didn't have any when you were here before, and now I should have told you to keep away from them. I'm glad the hired man saw you in time, or you might have been badly stung."

"Does it hurt to be stung?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Indeed it does!" his father told him. "It's worse than fifty mosquito bites made into one. So keep away from the bees."

Bunny and Sue were sure they would. They told about having fed the horse, and how the old ram pulled Bunny by the coat.

The next day Bunny and Sue started in to have all sorts of good times on Grandpa Brown's farm. Early in the morning they got up and had breakfast. Then, wearing their old clothes, so they could romp and roll as they liked, they began the day.

First they went with Grandma Brown to feed the chickens. Mother Brown also went with them. And how the hens and roosters flocked about grandma when she scattered the feed!

"And now we'll gather the eggs," she said, as she tossed down the last grains of corn.

"Oh, I know how to hunt eggs!" cried Sue. "I hunted some once for Mrs. Gordon, who lives next door to us."

"She sat in the nest!" laughed Bunny.

"Well, I hope you don't do that here," said Sue's mother, smiling.

Sue had no such bad luck. Indeed it was easy to hunt the eggs on grandpa's farm, for the hens were all kept in houses and yards, with wire fences about them so they could not fly away and hide their nests. The eggs were all in cute little boxes, and all grandma had to do was to lift up the cover, and take the eggs out.

Bunny and Sue helped put the eggs in baskets, but they did not carry them for fear they would spill and break them -- break the eggs, not the baskets, I mean. For if you break a basket you can fix it, but if you break an egg, no one can mend it -- you have to eat it.

After the eggs were gathered they all went to pick strawberries. That is grandma and Mother Brown and Bunny and Sue did. Papa Brown, with grandpa and Bunker Blue, went over to look at some colts, or little horses, in a field, or pasture, far from the house.

"Oh, I wish I could see the ponies," said Sue. Bunny wished so too.

"The next time you may," his father said.

"We'll have fun getting strawberries," said Grandma Brown, and the children did.

They picked the big, red, sweet berries, putting them in baskets. They would have some of them for dinner, with cream and sugar.

"And for supper I'll make a strawberry short-cake," promised Grandma Brown.

Bunny and Sue thought it was great fun to pick the berries. Of course they ate almost as many as they put in the baskets, but that was all right, and just what grandma expected.

"Strawberries were made for children to eat," she said with a smile. "Now see, I'll show you how to string them on a piece of grass, to keep them from crushing."

With a little pointed stick Grandma Brown would make a tiny hole through a strawberry. Then through the hole she would put a long thin grass. In this way she strung the berries on the grass stem just as you string glass beads on a string. Then when Bunny and Sue had a string of strawberries, they could sit in the shade, and pull them off, eating them one by one.

"Oh, what fun this is!" said Sue, when she could eat no more. Her hands and face were red with the juice of the strawberries.

"Yes," said Bunny, "grandpa's farm is the nicest place in the whole world, I think."

And how good the strawberries tasted at the table, when sugar was sprinkled over them, and covered with rich, yellow cream, from one of grandpa's cows. And with some of grandma's bread, covered with the golden-yellow butter --  -- 

Oh dear! I'll just have to stop writing about it, I'll want to go to Grandpa Brown's farm myself, and have some strawberries. And if I do that I'll never get this book finished, I know.

Anyhow, I'll just say that Bunny and Sue thought they had never tasted anything so good as those strawberries. And then the short-cake at supper that night! There I go again!

Well, anyhow, it was the nicest cake you can imagine.

"Aren't you glad we came here, Sue?" asked Bunny, when he had been given a second, and very small, piece of the strawberry short-cake.

"Oh, aren't I just, though!" sighed Sue.

The sun was shining brightly when Bunny Brown and his sister Sue awakened the next morning, and went down to breakfast.

"What can we do to-day, Bunny?" asked Sue. She always waited to see what Bunny was going to do before she began her play.

"Oh, I think we'll go over by the brook," he said.

"Fishing?"

"No, Sue. Not fishing. Mother won't let me have a regular fish hook. She's afraid I'll get it stuck in my hands. And you can't catch any fish on a bent-pin hook. So we won't go fishing."

"I'm glad!" Sue exclaimed, "'cause worms, for bait, is so squiggily in your hands."

Over to the brook went the two children. Their mother had said they might play near it, if they did not get wet, and they had on their old clothes.

At first, after reaching the bank of the little brook, which rippled over green, mossy stones, Bunny and Sue had fun just tossing in bits of wood and bark, making believe they were boats. Then Bunny thought of something.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "I'm going to make a waterfall!"

"What's that?" asked his sister.

"Well, you put some mud and sticks and stones in the brook, all the way across. That makes a deep place, for the water can't run away. And, after a while, the water runs over the pile of mud and stones, and makes a waterfall. Will you help me build one?"

"Yes," said Sue.

"Then take off your shoes and stockings, 'cause we got to wade in the mud and water. And roll up your sleeves. We'll build a big waterfall."



Chapter XIII

The Turkey Gobbler


Bunny Brown had seen some of the older boys, near his house, build a sort of wall across a brook, so that the water was held back, making a little pond. And then, when the pond was full, the water ran over the top of the mud wall, and down on the other side. That was why it was called a "waterfall."

"Now I'll put some stones down first," Bunny explained to Sue. "You get some pieces of grass, with the dirt on the roots, and put them on top of the stones. That's good to hold the water back."

"Shall I get wood, too?" asked Sue.

"No. Wood will only float away on top of the water," Bunny said. "We have to have something that will sink, like stones and dirt."

The two children were soon making the waterfall. They splashed about in the mud and water, but they did not mind. For they had taken off their shoes and stockings, though their mother had not said they could do so.

"But she wouldn't want us to go into the water with our shoes and stockings on would she, Sue?" asked Bunny.

"No, I guess not."

"So we'll have to take them off."

That was all there was to do. The children rolled up their sleeves, for they had to reach down in the mud to get the stones and clumps of grass to make the waterfall.

Pretty soon Bunny and Sue had built such a high wall of stones, mud and grass across the little brook, that no more water ran down the little stream. The water had gathered into a sort of pond, that was getting larger all the while, as it rose behind the stones.

"Oh, now it's running over!" cried Sue.

"Yes, now it's a waterfall!"

The water was trickling over the edge of the top of the wall. In a moment it ran down in quite a stream on the other side.

"If I only had a water-wheel the water would make it go around," said Bunny.

"Can't you make one?" Sue wanted to know. She was always anxious to see something new and different.

"I guess water-wheels are hard to make," Bunny said. "But I'll ask Bunker Blue when we go home."

Bunker Blue had also stayed on grandpa's farm. He helped with the work, and he said he liked it almost as much as going out in boats, or helping catch fish.

But as they did not have a water-wheel, and as Bunny could not make one there, the children had what fun they could. They floated sticks, and bits of bark from the trees, on the little pond that was made at the waterfall, and they watched the tiny "boats," sucked over the edge of the fall by the current. The fall was about a foot high, about as far as from Bunny's knee down to his toes.

"If we had a real boat we could go for a ride on the pond," said Sue, for the water back of the fall looked like a little pond now, though of course it was not large enough for any boat bigger than a make-believe one.

"Maybe I could make a boat," Bunny answered. He began looking in the woods on either side of the brook for some boards, of which to make a boat, but of course he could not find any.

"I could make a raft, like Robinson Crusoe did, if I could get some big pieces of trees," Bunny said to his sister. He tried to pull down to the water's edge some big tree branches that had been broken off in a storm, but he was not strong enough.

"Maybe we could fish in our pond," suggested Sue, when she saw that her brother could not build a raft, on which to go sailing.

"We haven't anything to fish with," replied Bunny. "And, anyhow, I guess there wouldn't be any fish. They won't come where you play in the water. They're scared to come. But, oh, Sue! I know what we can do!"

"What?"

"We can go wading in the water. It's real nice and deep, now."

"Yes," said Sue, as she looked at the pond of water back of the fall. "It's deep, Bunny."

"Oh, come on!" cried Bunny. "I'll go in first, Sue, and show you how deep it is!"

Bunny rolled up his little trousers as far above his knees as they would go. Then, taking a stick, to poke in the water ahead of him, to make sure it was not too deep, he started to wade.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "This is fun! Come on in!"

"I'm afraid I'll get my dress wet, Bunny."

"Oh, come on!" Bunny cried. "This is fun! It's just like --  -- "

Bunny suddenly stopped speaking, and a queer look came over his face.

"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he cried. "I'm sinking down in the mud! I -- I can't pull my feet loose! Oh dear! Help me out, Sue!"

But Sue was not going to step into that deep-looking water. For if Bunny was stuck fast she would be stuck, too.

"I -- I'm afraid, Bunny," she called to him.

"But I have to get out, Sue! I can't get out if you don't help me!"

Bunny tried to raise first one leg, and then the other. Both were held fast in the sticky mud under the water. He almost fell over, he tried so hard to pull loose his feet.

"Oh, look, out!" cried Sue, as she saw her brother nearly fall.

"Oh, Sue! Sue!" and Bunny was almost crying. "What am I going to do? Will I have to stay here forever?"

Sue didn't know just what to answer. But finally she said:

"Wait, Bunny. I'll get a long stick, and let you take hold of one end of it. I'll keep hold of the other end, and I'll stay here and pull you out."

"All right! But hurry up! I'm sinking down deeper all the while."

Sue looked about on the bank of the stream, until she found a long, thin branch from a tree, where it had blown to the ground. She held one end of this branch out to her brother, and he took hold of it.

"Now I'll pull you out!" cried Sue, as she held her end of the branch in both her hands.

But instead of Sue pulling Bunny, it was Bunny who pulled Sue, as he was stronger than she was.

"Oh, look out, Bunny! Look out!" cried the little girl. "I'll fall in!"

"Yes," said Bunny, as he stopped pulling on the stick Sue held, "I guess you will. But oh, Sue! You'll have to help me! I'm sinking down more and more."

And Bunny was. The water was nearly up to his trousers now. He was sinking down deeper in the mud.

"I'll go and tell papa and mamma!" Sue cried, as she threw down the tree branch, and ran through the woods. "They'll know how to get you out."

Away ran Sue, but she did not go far before she met Bunker Blue.

"Well!" he cried. "I was just wondering where you were. Your mother sent me to look for you. Where's Bunny, Sue?"

"Oh, he's sinking down in the mud!"

"Sinking down in the mud? Why, what do you mean?"

"Oh, hurry, Bunker Blue! Bunny made a waterfall, and then he went wading in it, and he can't get his feet out, and he 'most pulled me in and he's scared and so am I and -- and --  -- "

But poor Sue could say no more.

"Well, well!" cried Bunker. "I don't know what it's all about, but show me where Bunny is."

He took hold of Sue's hand, and hurried back with her, and pretty soon Bunker saw Bunny in the middle of the little pond. Bunker did not stop to take off his shoes and stockings.

Wading in, with his shoes on, Bunker reached Bunny, who was just about to cry. In his strong arms Bunker lifted Bunny up out of the mud and water and waded with him to dry land.

"There! Now you're all right," he said. "What did you do that for, Bunny?"

"Well, we -- we wanted to make a waterfall, and then we couldn't go sailing on it in a boat, or on a raft, so I thought I'd go wading. I did wade, but I got stuck in the mud."

"I should say you did!" replied Bunker, looking at Bunny's bare, muddy feet and legs, and at his own dripping shoes and trousers. "You sure did get stuck in the mud! It is better to keep out of these ditches, and little brooks. The bottom is almost always soft mud, and you'll sink away down in it. Now go over there, where the bottom is sandy. You won't sink there. And you can wash the mud off your legs. I'll have to wash, too, I guess."

Bunker showed Bunny a shallow place in the brook where there was no danger of sinking in the mud, and soon the little fellow was quite clean. His trousers were wet on the bottoms, but the sun and wind would soon dry them.

Bunny and Sue were telling Bunker how they had built the waterfall, when they heard a rustling in the bushes, and a noise as if some one, or something, were coming nearer.

"I guess it's our dog, Splash," said Bunny.

"No, Splash was asleep in the barn when I came to look for you," said Bunker.

And then, through the trees, came a man.

"Hello, children!" he cried. "Oh, ho! So this is the trouble; eh?" he went on. "I wondered why no water was running down into my chicken yard, and I came to see what had stopped up my brook. It's your waterfall!"

"Ye -- yes, I made it." Bunny said, wondering whether he had done something wrong.

"And he got stuck in the mud," added Sue. She always wanted to tell everything.

"Yes this mud is pretty sticky," remarked the man. "But if you are done playing waterfall I guess I'll just take it away. You see it stops the water from coming down the brook -- that is, it stops nearly all of it. And I need the water."

With a long stick the man began poking away the mud and stones Bunny and Sue had piled up to make the waterfall.

"This little brook goes right through my chicken yard," the man explained, "and the chickens like to drink the water. When I saw, a while ago, that there was only a little coming down, not enough for the hens and roosters to drink, I thought something had happened. And it was you children who did it all," and the man smiled.

"Well, I know you want to have fun, but please don't stop up my brook any more; will you?" he asked.

"No, sir," answered Bunny. He had had enough of waterfalls, for a while at least. Then he and Sue went back to grandpa's.

"Oh, Bunny, Bunny!" was all his mother said when she heard what had happened. "What will you and Sue do next?"

"I don't know, Mother," Bunny answered.

Two days after that, Bunny and Sue, nicely washed and combed, with Sue wearing her new red dress, started for the next farmhouse to play with a little boy and girl who lived in it. They went across the fields. Sue stopped to pick some flowers, while Bunny went on ahead.

Pretty soon he heard his little sister calling:

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! Come quick! He's after me!"

Bunny turned, thinking it might be a goat running after his sister, as one had done, though it did not hurt Sue.

But this time it was no goat. Bunny saw a big bird, with his wings dragging along on the ground, his feathers all puffed up, and with what looked like a red tassel hanging dangling, dangling down over his beak, strutting toward Sue.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny! What is it?" Sue cried. "Take him away!"

"It's a big turkey gobbler!" said Bunny. "I'll drive him away for you, Sue! Don't be afraid."

"Gobble -- obble -- obble!" cried the turkey, but of course Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know what the gobbler was saying.

"Oh, take him away, Bunny! Take him away!" cried the little girl, dancing up and down, her red dress fluttering in the wind.



Chapter XIV

Lost In The Woods


Bunny Brown did not just know how he was going to drive the angry turkey gobbler away from his sister Sue. He did not stop to think of that, but, like the brave little fellow he was, he ran toward Sue, ready to do something. The gobbler was closer to Sue now.

"I've got to drive him away! I've got to drive him away!" said Bunny to himself, over and over again.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue. "Take him away! Take him away!"

This would have been hard for Bunny to do, for the gobbler was a very big one, and Bunny could never in the world have lifted him.

"I wish my dog Splash were here!" thought Bunny. "He'd make that old gobbler run!"

But Splash was not there. He had run off down the road with another dog, just before Bunny Brown and his sister Sue set off together.

"Gobble-obble-obble!" cried the turkey. He spread out his wings wider than ever, and the red thing that hung down over his "nose," as Sue called his beak, seemed to stand up straight, he was so angry.

"Oh, Bunny!" and Sue was screaming now. "Help me, Bunny!"

And then, all at once, Bunny thought of something.

In his hand he carried a tin pail, which he and Sue had hoped to fill with wild strawberries on their way back from playing with the children in the next house. Raising this pail over his head, Bunny threw it as straight as he could at the gobbler.

And, to Bunny's surprise, the pail went right over the turkey's head. It caught by the wire handle around the gobbler's neck, and hung in such a way that the gobbler could no longer see Sue and her red dress. And I think the little girl's red dress made the gobbler more angry than he would otherwise have been. Gobblers don't like red, for some reason or other.

"Gobble-obble-obble!" called the big turkey. Oh, but he must have been surprised! He did not know what to do. He just danced around and around, trying to shake the pail off his neck. If he had only lowered his head, as he did when picking up corn, the pail would have slid off. But the gobbler did not think of that.

Perhaps he still thought he could find Sue, and pick her legs with his sharp beak because she wore a red dress that he did not like. And it was such a pretty red dress, too, and Sue looked so nice in it.

"Gobble-obble-obble!" went the turkey, louder than ever.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, as she ran toward her brother. "What did you do to him?"

"I -- I tried to hit him with the pail, to make him let you alone," said Bunny, "but the pail went on his neck. Wasn't I a good shot, Sue?"

"Yes," she said. "And now let's run before he comes after us again. Run, Bunny, run!"

"But I -- I want my pail!" Bunny said, holding back. "The turkey has my pail, and we can't get any strawberries."

But though Sue was younger than Bunny she knew it would never do to try and take the pail away from the turkey now.

"You can't get it, Bunny," she said. "If you take it away from him he'll bite you. 'Sides, when he has it on him that way it's just like the blinkers on a horse. He can't see us. Come on."

What Sue said was true. The turkey could not see the children as long as the pail was on his neck in that way.

"When he drops it off we can come back and get it -- maybe when he has gone to bed, Bunny," said Sue. "Turkeys go to bed early; don't they?"

"Maybe," answered her brother. He knew chickens went to bed, or to "roost" as it is called, quite early, and a turkey, after all, was like a big chicken, or rooster.

"Well, when he goes to bed we'll come and get the pail," said Sue. "Only we can't get any strawberries then, 'cause it'll be dark."

"All right," agreed Bunny, as he hurried across the field with Sue. "We'll let him have the pail for a while."

It seemed the only thing to do, as the turkey was waltzing, dancing and strutting about, with the pail still on his neck, making his funny noise.

"Gobble-obble-obble!"

He did not try to find Sue, and her red dress, or even Bunny now. Probably the gobbler was trying to get the pail off his head. And, just as Bunny and Sue reached the fence, and crawled through, to the road, where the gobbler could not get them, the big turkey did manage to get rid of the pail.

He put his head down, and the pail handle slipped over his neck. Then, with a loud gobble, he ran toward Bunny and Sue. But they were safe on the other side of the fence by this time.

"Oh, Bunny, I'm so glad!" said Sue. "It's a good thing you had that pail with you!"

"Well, if I couldn't throw that at him I could throw a stone," said Bunny.

But I think the pail was just the very best thing the little boy could have thrown at the gobbler. Besides, it did not hurt him, as a stone might have done.

Looking back, to see where the pail lay, Bunny went on with Sue to the house where they were to spend the afternoon. They found their little friends waiting for them, and, after telling about the turkey, the children had fine fun.

"That was Mr. North's turkey," said Gladys Parker, one of the little girls. "He's real mean, that turkey is, and chases everybody."

"Well, he chased me," said Sue, "only Bunny made him stop."

"I'm glad you did," said Ethel Burke. "Maybe he'll be a better gobbler after this."

The children played many games, they had fun in the swing, and Mrs. Parker gave them all some milk and cookies for lunch.

When it came time for Bunny and Sue to go home they went past the field where the gobbler had been. He was not there now, as the children found, after looking carefully about. Maybe he had gone to bed, for it was about time for the chickens to go to roost. Turkeys like to roost in trees, you know, and not in a coop, as chickens do. And perhaps the big gobbler was, even then, perched up in some tree, with his head under his wing. And, for all I know, perhaps he was dreaming of a little girl in a red dress, and a boy who threw a pail over a turkey's head. That is if gobblers do dream.

"Oh, there's the pail!" cried Bunny, as he saw the shining tin in the middle of the field. "I'm going to get it, Sue."

And Bunny did. It was too late, then, to pick any of the wild strawberries, but Bunny and Sue knew they could come some other time.

They reached home safely, and told about the gobbler.

"My!" exclaimed Grandma Brown. "But that was quite an adventure, Bunny and Sue!"

"Oh, we have lots of them," said Bunny. "Don't we, Sue?"

"Yes, Bunny. But I don't like turkey adventures."

The next day the two children went after wild strawberries. Grandpa Brown told them of a place, not far from the house, on a little hill, where many berries grew.

"And you won't have to go near the turkey to get there, either," he said. "Though I see you haven't your red dress on, Sue, so even if the gobbler did see you, I don't believe he would chase you this time."

"I only wear my red dress when I go visiting," said Sue. "But I'm not going to visit turkey gobblers any more."

Bunny and Sue found many berries on the hill their grandpa had told them about, and soon their pail was half full. A little way off were some woods, but before one came to the place where the trees grew thick, with green moss beneath them, there was a field, and in this field Bunny saw some bushes with deep, purple berries growing on them.

"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "Let's pick some raspberries! There's lots on those bushes, and grandma can make raspberry jam, and put it in tarts, like Aunt Lu did. Let's pick raspberries! We've got enough strawberries!"

"All right," answered Sue, for she was always ready to do what Bunny wanted her to.

The two children were soon in the field, picking the purple raspberries. They walked on and on, from one bush to another, and by the time their pail was full, with the raspberries on top of the strawberries, they were close to the woods.

"Let's go in and rest in the shade," Sue said. "I'm awful tired and hot, Bunny."

"All right, we'll go in," and in they went. It was nice and cool beneath the trees, and the children found a spring of water where they had a drink, for they were thirsty.

"And I'm hungry, too," said Sue, after a bit. "Bunny, do you s'pose we could eat some of the berries? We can pick more before we go home."

"Yes, we'll eat some, Sue."

Seated on the green moss, in the shade of a tree, Bunny and Sue ate the berries, getting their faces and hands stained red and purple.

"But we can wash in the spring before we go home," Sue said, "so it will be all right."

"Yes," agreed Bunny.

After resting a while the children washed at the spring, and took another drink. Then they saw a big frog hopping along. He must have been having a bath in the spring, which was almost as large as a washtub.

"Let's see if we can catch that frog!" cried Bunny. "We won't hurt him, though."

So he and Sue followed the frog. But the frog was a good jumper, and led the children quite a chase. And then, just when Bunny thought he was going to put his hands on him, the big green fellow found another spring, and into that he went with a splash, grunting as he did so:

"Ker-ugh! Ker-ung!"

"Oh, he's gone!" cried Sue, quite sadly.

"Never mind," replied Bunny. "We'll find another."

But they did not, though they waited around the second spring for some time.

"I guess we'd better go home," said Bunny.

"Yes," agreed Sue, looking around at the trees on every side of them. The children started, but going home was not as easy as it seemed. They walked on and on, and soon Sue began to get tired.

"Aren't we at the place where we picked the berries?" she asked, after a bit.

"Almost," answered Bunny. But though he looked and looked through the trees he could not see the field and the little hill that was not far from Grandpa Brown's house.

The children went on a little farther, until, all at once, Bunny stumbled over a stone and fell.

The pail flew from his hand, and the berries spilled all over the ground.

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. Then she added quickly: "But I'll help you pick them up, Bunny."

Bunny sat up and rubbed his knee. He wrinkled up his nose in a funny way.

"Does it hurt?" asked Sue.

"My leg does, a little, but not my nose," Bunny said. And then he laughed.

The children picked up the scattered berries. Their pail was only half full now, for they could not find all the berries that had spilled.

"We'll have to pick a lot more," remarked Sue.

"Yes," said Bunny. "We will when we find the bushes."

On they went again. But it seemed that they would never get out of the woods. After a while Bunny stopped, sat down on a log and said:

"Sue, I know what's the matter!"

"What?" asked the little girl. "Does your leg hurt? Is that what's the matter?"

"No," answered Bunny. "The matter is -- we're lost. That's why we can't find the berry-bushes. We're lost, Sue!"



Chapter XV

The Old Hermit


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had been lost before, several times. Maybe that is why Sue was not so frightened now, when Bunny spoke as he did. As for the little boy, he seemed more tired than worried.

"Yes, Sue," he said again. "I guess we're lost. I've looked all over, and I can't see the hill where we picked the strawberries, nor the field where we got the raspberries."

"I can't either," said Sue. "And I wish we had some berries, Bunny."

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm hungry right now again."

"Well, you can eat these, Sue. I don't want 'em."

Bunny Brown was hungry himself, and he did want some of the berries very much. But there were, now, only a few left in the pail, and Bunny remembered that his mother had said to him that he must always look after Sue when she went walking with him.

And the best way he could look after her, this time, he thought, like the brave little fellow he tried to be, was to give her all the berries.

"Are you sure you don't want 'em, Bunny?" asked his sister.

"Sure!" he said. "Anyhow, we'll find more when I get hungry."

"All right," and Sue began eating the berries. She was very hungry.

After a while Bunny said:

"Now I'm going to look for the field again. If we find the field we can find the hill, and then we'll be almost home."

"All right," replied Sue, putting the last of the berries into her mouth. "Do I have to wash again, Bunny?" she asked, as she looked at her stained hands. Her mouth was stained, too, but she could not see that.

"I don't know where the spring of water is," Bunny said, "so I don't see how you can wash."

"All right." Sue did not much mind. She was not very fond of washing in cold spring water, anyhow.

Once more the children went on. But though they followed many paths through the woods they did not get on the one that led out and to the field and hill.

"Oh, dear!" said Sue, in a sad little voice.

"What's the matter?" asked Bunny, stopping and turning around, for he had walked on ahead.

"I'm so tired, Bunny!"

"Well, we'll rest a while."

They sat down on a log, Bunny looking through the trees, here and there, thinking he might see some path that led out of the woods. But he saw none.

"Are you rested now, Sue?" he asked, after a while.

"A little," she answered. "I can walk some more."

So they went on again. It was getting late afternoon now, for the children had not started to pick berries until after dinner. The sun was going down, and of course it was darker in the woods, with all the trees around, than it was out in the open fields.

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were surely lost in the woods, and they did not know how to get home. As I have told you, this was not the first time this had happened to them, and they were not as frightened as they had been other times. But still it was no fun.

Through the woods were many paths. Some had been made by cows, or horses, perhaps, while others were those taken by persons who walked among the trees. But there were no persons now in the woods; that is Bunny and Sue could see none.

All at once Bunny gave a yell.

"Hoo-oo! Hoo-oo! Hoo-oo!" he cried, as loudly as he could.

"Oh!" cried Sue. "What's the matter, Bunny? Did a snake bite you; or a mud turtle?"

"Nope. I was just hollerin' so some one would hear me."

"What for?" Sue wanted to know.

"So they would come and take us out of the woods."

"Oh," and Sue laughed then. "I'll holler too," she said.

So she did. Then Bunny called again, and he and Sue called together, as loudly as they could.

But no one answered them.

All they could hear was an echo -- the sound of their own voices coming back to them, "bouncing" like a rubber ball. They had heard that before, so they knew what an echo was. But an echo only repeats the same things that are said. It does not help to find the way out of the woods, and Bunny and Sue were still lost.

They went on farther, but they did not know whether they were going toward home, or away from it. Sue, in spite of brave little Bunny, was beginning to get frightened now. Tears came into her eyes, though they did not fall.

"I -- I'm so tired, Bunny," she said. "I want to go home!"

"So do I, Sue. But we've got to get on the right path, and I can't find it."

"Let's try this one," said the little girl, as they came to a place where there were two paths through the woods. One went off toward the left side, and the other to the right.

"I'll take one path," said Bunny, "and you can take the other, Sue."

"Oh, no!"

"Why not?"

"'Cause then we'd both be lost."

"Well, we're both lost now."

"Yes," said Sue, "I know. But now we're both lost together, but if we were lost all alone I'd be scareder than I am now. Don't go away, Bunny."

"I won't. But which path shall we take?"

Sue thought for a minute. Then she tried a little game that the children sometimes played.

Shutting her eyes, Sue pointed her fat little hand first at one path, and then the other, while she said:

"My-mother-told-me-to-take-this-one!"

And she moved her hand back and forth, pointing first at one path and then at the other. When she said the last word -- "one" -- her hand was pointing at the left hand path.

"We'll take this one, Bunny," she said.

"All right, Sue. Maybe this one will take us home."

So they walked on and on. But Sue's guess had not been a very good one, even though she had played her queer little game. She and Bunny were deeper in the woods than ever.

"Oh, dear!" cried the little girl. "I've just got to sit down, Bunny. My legs is so tired!"

"Mine is too," Bunny said, too weary to speak more properly. "We'll both rest, Sue, and then we'll holler some more."

"And what will we do if nobody comes to get us?"

"We'll go back and take the other path, Sue. Maybe we came on the wrong one."

"Maybe we did." Sue was glad to have the other path to think about. Perhaps that might be the one that would lead them home. She and Bunny sat on a log to rest, and then, once more, Bunny gave a loud shout.

"Hello! Hello!" he cried. "We're lost! Somebody come and find us!"

Sue joined in, crying in her shrill little voice. But, for a while, no one answered.

"Well, we'll go back and take the other path," said Bunny. He was getting very hungry, and he wished he would come to another place where strawberries or raspberries grew.

Before starting back, however, Bunny gave one more shout.

"Hello! Hello!" he cried.

To the surprise of himself and Sue there was an answer.

"Hello! Hello!"

Bunny and Sue looked at one another.

"Did -- did you hear that?" asked Bunny in a whisper.

"Yes," answered Sue. "It was the echo!"

But, as they waited the call came again.

"Hello! Hello! Who are you? Where are you? What do you want?"

"That wasn't any echo," said Bunny, "'cause we didn't speak. It's somebody after us, Sue."

"Oh, I'm so glad!"

"So'm I!"

There was a crackling of the bushes, and through the trees came walking an old man, with long, white hair and a beard. He had a kind face, and Bunny and Sue liked him at once.

"Oh, did you come for us?" asked Bunny.

"Well, no, not exactly," the man answered with a smile. "I heard you calling, though. What is the matter?"

"We're lost," replied Sue. "Will you please take us home?"

"I would if I knew where your home was, little girl."

"Do you live in the woods?" Bunny asked. The man looked as though his home might be in some hollow tree, or woodland cave.

"Yes, boy, I live here."

"All alone?" asked Sue, looking around.

"All alone, yes, little girl. I'm a sort of hermit, I suppose. At least folks call me that, and hermits always live alone, you know." The man smiled very kindly at the children.

"Well, Mr. Hermit," said Sue, "please take us home, and give me and Bunny something to eat. We're awful hungry."



Chapter XVI

Looking For The Horses


Once again the hermit smiled at the children.

"I can give you something to eat," he said, "for I have that, though I do live in the woods. But I do not know whether I can take you to your home. Where do you live?"

"We live in Bellemere, near the ocean," said Sue.

The hermit shook his gray head.

"That is very far from here," he said. "I do not believe I could find the place. I have not been out of these woods for many years, except to go to the village. But how did you get so far from home?"

"Oh, we came to see our grandpa," explained Bunny.

"And what is his name?"

"Grandpa Brown!" exclaimed Sue. "And he's awful nice. Grandma Brown is nice, too, and she gives us cookies and milk. Can you give us cookies and milk, Mr. Hermit?"

"Well, I can give you some milk," answered the old man of the woods. "But I have no cookies. I have bread, though."

"Bread and milk is good," said Bunny with a sigh. He was hungry enough to be glad of even some bread, without the milk. But he was glad the hermit had milk.

"Where is your house?" asked Sue.

"It isn't what you would call a house," said the old man. "It is a sort of log cabin. I built most of it myself. But it is over there through the trees," and he pointed behind him.

"I can't see it," said Sue, standing up and looking through the trees.

"It's there just the same," and the hermit smiled again.

"Please take us there, give us some bread and milk, and then take us to Grandpa Brown's house," said Sue. "We're staying there, and so is our papa and mamma."

"And so is Bunker Blue," put in Bunny. "Do you know Bunker Blue, Mr. Hermit?"

"No, I can't say that I do," and the old man shook his head. "But I know your grandfather, Mr. Brown. I can take you to his farm, though it is quite a way off. You must have wandered far."

"We were picking berries, and we got lost," Bunny explained. "But we don't mind now, if you'll give us some bread and milk, and take us to grandpa's."

"Well, I can do that for you," and the old man smiled again at the two children. "Come," he said, and he held out a hand to each of them.

Bunny and Sue toddled along. They were quite happy now. They did not stop to think that their parents and their grandparents might be worried, for it was quite late. Bunny and Sue did not often worry. They just let things happen the way they would.

"Here's my house," said the hermit, after he had gone along a winding path. He pointed to a log cabin amid the trees.

"Oh, that's nice!" exclaimed Bunny.

"It's like a play-house!" cried Sue. "Don't you wish we had that, Bunny?"

"Yes, I do. But we couldn't have it; could we?" and he looked up into the face of the hermit.

"No, I'm afraid not, little boy. I need it to live in, and to keep the rain and snow from me."

"Oh, do you stay here in the winter?" asked Sue, surprised.

"Yes."

"Isn't it cold?"

"Sometimes. But I have a fireplace, and I pile on logs, and make a hot fire. Then I am warm."

"I'd like it here in winter," said Bunny. "Do you slide down hill, Mr. Hermit?"

"No, I'm too old for that, little boy. But come in now, and I'll give you something to eat. Then I'll take you home. I'll try and get you there before dark, so your folks won't be worried. They may be out hunting for you now."

"They always look for us when we get lost," said Sue.

"But we didn't know we were going to get lost this time," added Bunny.

The hermit set out two plates, with some slices of bread on them. Then from down in his spring, where he kept it cool, he brought a pail of milk. Soon Bunny and Sue were eating a nice little supper. It was lighter in the log cabin than it had been in the woods, for the trees were cut down around the hermit's home.

"Oh, Bunny!" exclaimed Sue, as she drank the last of her milk. "Oh, Bunny, we forgot to look for them!"

"Look for what?" Bunny wanted to know, as he crumbled some more bread into his bowl of milk. "What did we forget to look for, Sue?"

"Grandpa's horses. The Gypsies took them and didn't bring them back," she explained, so the hermit would know what she and Bunny were talking about.

"The Gypsies took your grandpa's horses, little girl?"

"Yes. They borrowed them, grandpa says, but they didn't bring them back. I guess maybe the Gypsies got lost, Bunny, and that's why they didn't bring the horses back. But we looked all over, and we couldn't find them, Mr. Hermit."

"I almost found one," said Bunny. "It was a horse walking along the road. But it wasn't grandpa's."

"And a cow tickled Bunker Blue in the ribs, when he was sleeping under our automobile," Sue explained. "I mean Bunker was sleeping, not the cow. The cow was eating grass, she was, and her horns tickled Bunker."

The hermit shook his head.

"You are queer children," he said. "But tell me about your grandpa's horses."

Between them, one telling part, and the other helping, Bunny and Sue told the story of the Gypsies taking Grandpa Brown's best team of horses.

"And we've looked, and looked, but we can't find them," said Sue. "Once Bunny found Aunt Lu's diamond ring that was lost. It was in the lobster claw all the while, and we didn't know it."

"But we forgot to look for the horses to-day," said Bunny. "You didn't see them; did you, Mr. Hermit?"

"Well, now, I don't know about that," said the old man who lived all alone in the woods. "Come to think of it I did see a camp of Gypsies in the woods, not far from here, the other day. I was out taking a walk, as I often do, and, down in a little valley I saw something shining."

"Oh, I know what it was!" cried Bunny, his eyes bright with eagerness.

"What was it?" asked the hermit.

"You saw the looking glasses, on the Gypsy wagons, shining in the sun."

"That was it, little man. But how did you know?"

"'Cause Sue and I saw it too, once. It was when we came in the big automobile. We went to the Gypsy camp, and we 'most got lost then. But mamma and papa and our dog, Splash, found us."

"What a queer name for a dog," said the hermit.

"We called him that 'cause he splashed into the water and pulled me out when I fell in, the time Bunny and me were shipwrecked," said Sue. "We got shipwrecked on an island."

"Like Robinson Crusoe," added the little boy.

"But we couldn't find Mr. Friday," said Sue. "You could be Mr. Friday, if we ever played Robinson Crusoe; couldn't he, Bunny?" Sue asked. "You look like the pictures of Robinson in the book. You could be him, and Bunny could be Friday -- that would be better. Would you like to, Mr. Hermit?"

"Well, I don't know, my dear. I guess my play-days and make-believe days are over."

"You are just like Robinson Crusoe," Sue went on. "It's better to be him, 'cause Mr. Friday is black. You'd have to black up. I did, with black mud, and I was washing it off when I fell in and Splash pulled me out."

"You can tell me about that another time," said the old man. "I think, now, I had better start home with you. And, on the way, we will look in the valley for the Gypsies. Perhaps they are there yet."

"And maybe they have grandpa's horses!" cried Bunny. "Oh, wouldn't that be good Sue, if we could find them?"

"It would be just lovely!"

"Well, it's possible these may be the same Gypsies," said the old man, "though they may not be, and they may not have your grandpa's horses. But we'll look, anyhow."

So they set out to look for the missing horses. Bunny and Sue were not lost any more, for they felt sure the hermit would take them home to grandpa's house.



Chapter XVII

In The Storm


"Say, Mr. Hermit," said Bunny, as he and his sister Sue walked along with the nice, but strange man, who lived in the log cabin in the woods, "is it far to where grandpa's horses are, Mr. Hermit?"

"Well, little man, I'm not sure we can find your grandfather's horses," said the aged man with a smile at the two children. "All I know is that I saw some Gypsies camped over in the valley. It may be that they are the ones your grandfather is looking for. Would you know the horses if you saw them?"

"I would!" exclaimed Sue. "One of 'em has an awful nice long tail."

The hermit laughed.

"I fear that wouldn't be a very good way of telling your grandfather's horses from any others," said the old man. "Many horses have long tails. But if there are some Gypsies camping in the valley you can tell your folks, and your grandfather can come and see if they have his horses."

"Is it very far?" asked Bunny again. He was not as tired as before he had eaten the bread and milk, but still he did not want to walk any more than he had to. Sue, also, looked weary.

"Oh, no, it isn't far," the hermit said. "It's only a little way to the valley, but it is quite a long way to your grandfather's house. I don't know whether you can walk it or not."

"I'm tired," said Sue. "I want to ride."

"I'm sorry I haven't anything to give you a ride on," returned the old man. "I can carry you, though, little girl, if your brother can walk."

"I can walk!" said Bunny. His fat little legs were tired, but he was not going to say so.

"All right. Then I'll carry your sister."

"Piggy-back?" Sue asked. "Will you give me a piggy-back? That's the way my papa carries me."

"Yes, I'll take you pickaback," said the hermit, and he almost whispered. Bunny, who was looking at him, was sure he saw tears in the old man's eyes. Or was it a drop of rain? For there were clouds in the sky now, and it seemed as if it was going to storm.

The old man looked around. He saw a flat stump not far away, and up on this he lifted Sue.

"Now you can get up on my back from there," he said, "and I will carry you so you won't be tired any more, little girl."

"That's good," murmured Sue, rather sleepily, as she cuddled her head down on the hermit's shoulder. "You know how to make a nice piggy-back," she went on. "Did you ever ride your little girl this way?"

"Yes," said the old man. "Once I had a little girl, just like you, and I used to ride her this way."

"Where is your little girl?" Sue asked.

"She is up -- there," and the old man pointed to the sky. This time Bunny was sure the hermit had tears in his eyes. But, a little later Bunny was not quite sure, for he felt a drop of something wet on his own cheek.

"Why, it's raining!" he exclaimed. "It's raining water!"

"So it is, I do believe!" said the hermit. He stopped, still holding Sue on his back, and lifted up his face. He felt several drops from the clouds, and then there came a pattering on the leaves of the trees. It was getting quite dark now. There were many clouds in the sky, and, every now and then, a flash of lightning could be seen. Off in the west there was a rumble of thunder.

"Oh!" cried Sue. "I want to go home. I don't want to be out in the storm."

"I like the rain," said Bunny, "but I don't like the thunder and lightning; do you, Mr. Hermit?"

"I don't mind them very much," answered the old man. "But if you are afraid I'll take you back to my cabin, and leave you there, while I go to your house and get them to come for you in a carriage."

"I like to ride in a carriage," said Sue, "though you gave me a nice piggy-back, too. But I like a carriage and horses."

"Well, then that's what I'll do. I think it is going to rain hard soon, and if I carried you through it you'd get wet. So we'll go back, and I'll see about the horse and carriage."

"But can't we go and get grandpa's horses from the Gypsies?" asked Bunny.

"I'm afraid not this time," answered the old man. "If the Gypsies are in the valley they will stay all night, anyhow, and we can look for the horses in the morning, when it has stopped raining. We'll go back to my house now."

By this time the rain was coming down quite hard. But, as they walked along under the trees, Bunny and Sue did not get very wet, nor did the hermit. Sue was almost asleep, she was so tired, and Bunny was glad they did not have to walk all the way back to grandpa's farm.

It was nearly night, and Bunny thought his father and mother, as well as the others, might be worrying about him and Sue. But then the hermit would soon go and tell them that the children were safe in his log cabin.

Back through the woods they went. Now it lightened very often, and it thundered so loudly that Sue awakened on the back of the hermit, and began to cry.

"I want to go home!" she sobbed. "I want my mamma!"

"I'll get her as soon as I can," said the old man. "Don't cry little girl. The thunder is only a big noise, like Fourth of July, and the lightning is only a great big firefly -- that is make-believe you know."

"Oh, yes, let's pretend that way!" cried Bunny, for he was not as frightened at the storm as was Sue.

She stopped crying. Sue always liked anything make-believe, even if it had to do with thunder and lightning.

"And will you get a carriage and ride me and Bunny home?" she asked.

"Yes," answered the hermit.

"All right. Then I won't be 'fraid."

Once more she cuddled her head down on the hermit's shoulder. In a little while they were back at his cabin. The aged man went in, and lighted a lamp, for it was quite dark. It was now raining hard, and the stormy wind was blowing the tree branches all about.

"Now you stay right here until I come back with your father, or grandfather," said the hermit, as he put on an old coat to go out in the rain.

"Aren't you got an umbrella?" asked Sue.

"I don't need one, little girl. Umbrellas aren't much good in the woods. They catch on the trees. I'll be all right. I don't mind getting wet. Now don't you go away. I can't take you with me, or I would, but you'll be all right here."

"We're not afraid," said Bunny bravely. "Once we got locked in an empty house; didn't we, Sue?"

"Yep. And we slided down the banister rail. It was fun."

"Well, I haven't any banister here for you to slide down," said the hermit. "But you may go to sleep if you like."

He went out, shutting the door after him, first having put the lamp on a high shelf where it could not be knocked over, if Bunny and Sue happened to be playing about the cabin.

But Bunny and Sue did not feel much like playing. They were not so frightened by the storm just now, but they were tired and sleepy. Sue saw, in one corner of the room, a sort of bed, or bunk, with blankets and pillows spread out on it.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried the little girl. "There's a bed just like those in our automobile. I'm going to sleep!"

"All right," answered Bunny. "You go to sleep, and I'll sit up and be on guard like the soldiers do in camp. I'll pretend I'm a soldier."

"That will be fun!" exclaimed Sue.

She climbed up in the hermit's bed, and put her head down on the pillow. It was a nice, clean bunk, as clean as those her mother had made in the traveling automobile.

Bunny curled up in a chair near Sue. His eyes were wide open, and he tried to feel just as he thought a soldier on guard would feel. His mother had read him stories about soldiers staying awake all night.

Bunny was not sure he could do this.

"But I won't go to sleep until the hermit man comes back with papa, or Grandpa Brown," he thought. "Then Sue and I can go to sleep in the carriage."

The rain came pattering down on the log cabin roof. Bunny could not see the lightning now, because of the lamp which the hermit had lighted. But he could hear the thunder. It did not frighten him, though. Sometimes, when it sounded very loud, the little boy pretended it was a big circus wagon rumbling over a bridge -- the tank-wagon, with water in it, where the big hippopotamus splashed about. That circus wagon, Bunny was sure, would make the most noise. So he "made-believe."

Sue was curled up on the bed. Once she roused up enough to say:

"Bunny!"

"Yes, Sue?" he answered. "What do you want?"

"Are you there, Bunny?" she asked, sleepily.

"Yes, Sue. I'm right here." He reached over and touched her hand. "What do you want, Sue?"

"I -- I just wanted to know are you there," and with that Sue turned over again, and soon was fast, fast asleep.

Several times Bunny felt himself nodding. His head would bob down and his eyes slowly go shut. Then he would rouse up, and say to himself:

"Soldiers mustn't sleep when they are guarding the camp! I'm a make-believe soldier, and I mustn't sleep!"

Then he would be wide awake for a little while. But soon his head would nod again. And finally Bunny slept, just as Sue was doing, only he was asleep in the chair, and she was in the hermit's bed.

Just how long he slept Bunny did not know. But, all at once, he was awakened by a noise at the door. At first he thought it was the hermit, who had come back with his papa or mamma.

But then, instead of a knock, a scratching sound was heard. Then Sue awoke, and heard it too.

"Scratch!" went something on the door.

"Oh, Bunny, what is it?" asked Sue, sitting up in bed. "What is it, Bunny?"



Chapter XVIII

The Picnic


Bunny Brown did not answer his sister Sue right away. He was listening to the queer scratching sound. He wanted to try and think what it was.

"Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!" it went.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, rolling over in the bunk, so she could easily slip over the edge, and be nearer to her brother. "It's something trying to get in."

"Yes," said Bunny. "It does sound like that."

"Maybe -- maybe it's a wolf, Bunny!"

Bunny looked at the door and windows to make sure they were closed.

"There aren't any wolves up here," he said, shaking his head.

"How do you know?" Sue asked.

"'Cause I asked Grandpa Brown if there were any bears, and he said there wasn't any -- not a one. And wolves are always where bears are. So if there aren't any bears there aren't any wolves. Sue."

"Maybe," said Sue. "But what is it scratching at the door, Bunny?"

"I don't know, Sue. I could open it and look out. Shall I?"

"No," she cried. "For, if you opened the door, it would come in. Now it can't get in, or else it would. It can only scratch."

Bunny thought it would be best not to open the door. But what could that queer noise be? He wished he knew. Again it sounded.

"Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!"

And then, all at once there came a bark. Both Bunny and Sue cried out at the same time:

"A dog!"

And Bunny added:

"Oh, I guess it's Splash! I'll let him in!"

He ran to the door and opened it, for it was not locked. And, a second later, in bounded good old Splash, the big dog. He was all wet with the rain, but oh! how glad he was to see Bunny and Sue! He barked, and jumped all over the cabin, getting the children wet from his dripping coat. But Bunny and Sue did not mind that. They were so glad to see Splash.

"And I -- I thought you were a wolf!" laughed Sue, putting her arms around the neck of Splash. Sue was wide awake now.

"I wonder how he got here?" questioned Bunny. "Maybe he ran on ahead of the folks. They must be coming for us now."

"I think Splash just came by himself," said Sue, and that was what had happened.

Bunny and Sue listened, but they did not hear their father or mother or the hermit coming along. It was still raining, but the thunder and lightning had stopped. The children were glad of that.

"Splash just came off by himself and found us, just as he did lots of times before," said Sue. "Didn't you, doggie?" she asked.

Splash barked, and that might have meant "yes" or "no." Bunny and Sue did not know dog language, and I don't either, so I can't tell you.

But, anyhow, Splash was there, and Bunny and Sue were very glad. It was not at all lonesome in the hermit's cabin now. There was no clock, so Bunny did not know how late it was, though he could have told time had there been a clock.

After shaking some of the water from his shaggy coat, sending it in a shower over Bunny and Sue, and about the cabin, Splash lay down on the rug, and seemed quite happy. He looked from Bunny to Sue, and then put his head out on his paws, as if to go to sleep. It was as if he said:

"Well, everything's all right now. I'm here with you. You can go to sleep just as I'm doing."

But Bunny and Sue were not so sleepy now. They were glad Splash had come, but they also wanted their papa and mamma, and their own little beds at grandpa's house.

"I -- I wish they would come for us," said Sue, after at bit.

"So do I," returned Bunny. "It must be 'most morning."

The children talked for a while. They did not feel very happy, though Bunny tried to get Sue to play some "make-believe" games.

"I don't want to," she said. "I want to go home."

All at once Splash, who had been asleep, sprang up and began to bark loudly.

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue, who had fallen into a little sleep. "What is it, Bunny?"

Splash barked so loudly that Bunny could not make his voice heard. The dog ran to the door, and scratched at it as he had done before.

"He wants to go out," said Sue.

"It's somebody coming for us!" Bunny cried. "I guess it's papa and mamma!"

He opened the door. Out bounded Splash, barking joyously. Then a voice cried:

"Bunny! Sue! Are you all right?"

"Yes, Daddy!" cried Bunny.

"Well, well! What a scare you gave us!" said another voice.

"But we didn't mean to, Grandpa!" called Sue, for she heard her grandpa's voice.

"Is it -- is it 'most morning?" Bunny asked.

"Only a little after nine," answered his grandpa. "It isn't late."

Grandpa Brown took Sue in his arms, and Papa Brown carried Bunny. Splash ran along by himself. No one had to carry him. Mr. Brown thanked the hermit for his care of the children during the storm. And then, through the rain, that was falling gently now, Bunny and Sue were taken out to the carriage which was in the road, at the edge of the woods.

A little later they were on their way to the farmhouse, Splash running along beside the carriage.

"Can Splash see his way in the dark?" sleepily asked Bunny.

"I think so," answered Papa Brown. "Anyhow we haven't any room for him in the carriage. How did you get lost this time?"

"It was the frog that made us," said Bunny. "We chased after him, and we couldn't find the right path again. But the man found us."

And oh! how glad mamma and Grandma Brown were to see the children when they came home!

"Don't you ever get lost again!" said Mamma Brown, as she undressed Sue for bed.

"No'm, we won't," promised the little girl, and Bunny said the same thing.

The family had become very much worried when Bunny and Sue did not come back from having gone for berries. Supper time came, and no children. Then Grandpa Brown, his hired men, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Grandma Brown, and even Bunker Blue, began to look for the lost ones.

They did not find Bunny and Sue, of course, for they were far away with the kind hermit. Then the storm came and the family at the farmhouse were more worried than ever.

They did not know what to do, but everything was all right when the hermit came along through the storm, and said he had found the children.

Then Grandpa Brown hitched up a horse to a big carriage and he and Papa Brown, taking the hermit with them, went to the cabin. Before that, though, Splash had gone off by himself, and had found Bunny and Sue. Then along came papa and Grandpa Brown, and that ended the little adventure. Everything was all right.

"He is a nice man -- that hermit," said Sue. "He gave me a piggy-back, and once he had a little girl of his own, but she is in the sky now."

"Yes, he is a good old man," said Grandpa Brown. "I know him, though he hardly ever comes to see me. He has lived in his cabin in the woods, all alone, for many years. Once he had a wife and children, but they all died, and he became very sad. So he went to live by himself. He hardly ever speaks to any one, but he loves children. Bunny and Sue could not have been cared for by any one better than old Mr. Wright, the hermit."

"And he knows where the Gypsies are that have your horses, Grandpa," said Bunny.

That was not just what the hermit had said, but it was as near as Bunny could remember.

Grandpa Brown shook his head.

"I'm afraid I'll never see my horses again," he said. "But I'll ask Mr. Wright where the Gypsies that he saw are camping. Then I'll have a look for my horses."

This Grandpa Brown did next day. He went over to the hermit's cabin, taking with him a nice basket of good things to eat, that grandma and Mrs. Brown had put up.

"The children ate his bread and milk," said Mother Brown, "so we must give him something else in place of it."

And I think Mr. Wright, the hermit, was very glad to get the basket of good things, for of course a man, living all alone in the woods, can not make pies, and jam tarts and cake as good as mothers and grandmothers can.

The hermit showed Grandpa Brown the valley where the Gypsies had been seen, with their wagons shining with looking glasses. But the queer Gypsies were gone, though the ashes of their campfires showed where they had stopped. And of course there were no horses left behind.

"They don't stay very long in one place," said Grandpa Brown. "If they had my horses, they took them away. I guess I'll never see them again."

For several days, after getting lost, Bunny and Sue did not have any adventures. They played about the farmhouse, or in the barn, having much fun. Once they went fishing with Bunker Blue. Bunker did the fishing, and caught five or six, which Grandma Brown fried for supper.

One morning, when Bunny and Sue came down stairs, after a good night's sleep, they saw their mother and grandmother busy in the kitchen putting cake and pies, sandwiches, pickles, knives, forks, spoons, and other things, in baskets.

"What's that for?" asked Bunny.

"A picnic," answered his mother.

"Oh, are we going on a picnic?" asked Sue, clapping her hands.

"Yes, off in the woods," her grandmother replied. "It is a Sunday-school picnic, and grandpa and I go every year. This time we will take you with us."

"Oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Bunny Brown. "I just love a picnic; don't you, Sue?"

"Awful much!" answered the little girl.



Chapter XIX

The Tramps


Bunny Brown and his sister Sue watched their mother and grandmother put in the baskets the good things they were to eat on the picnic, which was to be held in a woodland grove about two miles away.

"Oh, what a big cake!" exclaimed Sue, as she saw a cocoanut-custard cake being taken from the shelf by her mother.

"Do you like that kind?" asked Grandma Brown.

"I just love it!" cried Sue, standing on her tip-toes to look over the table.

"So do I," added Bunny.

"Yes, it is their favorite cake," said Mother Brown. "I always make it when they have a birthday, and on Christmas and New Year's day."

"But I don't know where we're going to put it," said Grandma Brown. "It is a fine, big cake, but all the baskets are filled. If we crowd it in it will crush, and --  -- "

"Oh, don't squash our cocoanut cake!" begged Sue. "Don't spoil it, Mother!"

"I'll not, my dear. Perhaps we had better not take it along," she said to Grandma Brown. "We have enough to eat without it."

"And we can eat it when we come home!" exclaimed Bunny. "We'll be hungry then. I'm always hungry after a picnic; aren't you, Sue?"

"Yes, Bunny. But, Mother, maybe we could take along some of the cake."

"Oh, we have enough without that," her grandmother told Sue. "We'll save that until we get home. I'll put it in the pantry. Now all the baskets are packed. Get ready, children. Grandpa will soon be here with the wagon, and we'll ride off to the picnic grounds. It's a lovely day."

It was. The sun was shining down from the blue sky, and there was a nice, cool wind, so that it was not too hot. There had been a little rain the night before, and the roads were not dusty. It would be cool and fresh in the woods. No better day for a picnic could be wished for. Bunny and Sue were very happy.

So was Splash, the big dog, for he ran about, here and there, barking and wagging his tail. To look at him you would have thought that he had gotten up the whole picnic, all by himself.

Clean napkins were put over the lunch baskets. Lemon juice had been squeezed into glass jars, with sugar, so that only water from a spring, or well, would have to be put in to make lemonade.

Bunny and Sue were washed, combed and dressed, all ready for the picnic. They did not wear their best clothes, for they wanted to romp about and play in the woods. Bunny said he was going to climb trees, and you can't do that if you wear your best clothes.

"But if you climb a tree," remarked Sue, "don't get your foot caught in one, as you did before, Bunny, and have to have your shoe taken off."

"I won't do that," promised the little boy. "I'll only climb easy trees."

"I'm going to take two of my dolls," said Sue. "Then if I see a little girl that hasn't any, I can lend her one of mine, and we can play together."

"That will be nice," said Grandma Brown. "Here comes grandpa with the horses."

Grandpa Brown drove up to the side door with a wagon that had three seats in it. He and Papa Brown would sit on the front one, where grandpa could drive the horses. Bunny and Sue were to sit on the middle seat, and on the last one grandma and Mother Brown would sit.

"But what about Bunker Blue?" asked Bunny. "Isn't he coming, too?" For both Bunny and Sue liked the big red-haired boy very much, and he liked them.

"Oh, yes, Bunker is coming," said Mother Brown.

"He is going to sit on a box in back of the last seat, and hold the lunch baskets, so they won't bounce out of the wagon," explained Grandpa Brown.

"And I'll hold 'em good and tight!" laughed Bunker. "I won't let 'em go overboard."

To go "overboard," means, of course, to fall out of a boat.

Now the wagon, in which Bunny Brown and the others rode to the picnic, was not a boat. But you see Bunker Blue was so used to being in and about boats that he always talked of them, speaking as sailors do. If anything is lost out of a boat, it goes "overboard," and that was what Bunker was not going to let happen to the lunch baskets on the picnic trip.

"For if the lunch goes overboard we'd go hungry," he said. "So I'll hold the baskets."

"These horses can't go as fast as my nice team, that the Gypsies took," said Grandpa Brown, when they were all ready to start.

"Well, we're in no hurry," said Grandma Brown. "The picnic will last all day."

As grandpa drove out on the road Bunny and Sue saw many wagons, from other farms, coming along. It seemed that all who could were coming to the Sunday-school picnic, which was held every year. In many of the farm-wagons were boys and girls. Bunny and Sue looked at them, wondering if any of the little folks would play with them.

Even if grandpa's second team of horses did not go very fast, they were soon at the picnic grounds, in a grove of trees, near a pretty little lake. Grandpa put his wagon and horses under a shed, with many others. The baskets of lunch were left there in the shade, and while the older folk found some benches to sit on, and talk, Bunny and Sue, with other boys and girls, walked off through the woods to see what they could find.

They found a pump, where they had a drink of water. Then they tossed sticks into the lake, to make believe they were boats. There were also swings in the shade, and in these Bunny and another boy had a fine time.

Sue said she did not care to swing just then. She had two dolls, one under each arm, and she walked about, looking for some little girl to whom she might lend one, so they could "play house" together.

Finally Sue saw a little girl in a blue dress, who seemed to be all alone. This little girl stood by herself, watching the others play "Ring-around the Rosey."

Sue went up to her and said, kindly:

"Wouldn't you like to play dolls?"

"Yes -- yes, I would, but I haven't any doll."

"I'll let you take one of mine." Sue held out her best doll to the little girl. It is always polite, you know, to give company, and your friends, the best that you have, instead of keeping it yourself, no matter how much you want it.

"Oh, what a lovely doll!" exclaimed the little girl, her eyes shining bright.

"Her name is Ethel," said Sue.

"Why, that's my name!" exclaimed the little girl in the blue dress. "Did you know that?"

"No," answered Sue. "I didn't, but I'm glad it is your name. Now we'll find a place to play house."

Sue found a spot where some vines grew over an old stump, making a sort of green tent, or leafy bower, like the one on the island where she and Bunny had played Robinson Crusoe. In that Ethel and Sue had a fine time with the dolls.

When it was time to eat the lunch from the baskets, Bunny and Sue asked if they could not take theirs, and eat it with some of the other children, who were going off by themselves. Sue wanted to be with Ethel, and Bunny had found a boy named John, at one of the swings. He brought John to eat with him.

"Yes, you children may take your lunch off by yourselves," said Mother Brown. "I thought you would want to do that, so I put it up in a separate basket for you."

Bunker Blue carried the lunch for Bunny and Sue to a nice place in the woods where a number of children were going to eat the good things their fathers and mothers had brought for them.

The children had nearly finished eating, when, all at once, the bushes near where Bunny was sitting were pushed to one side, and two rough-looking men, one large and one smaller, with ragged clothes, and red handkerchiefs tied around their necks in place of collars, stepped out.

And then one of the tramps, for that is what the men were, made a grab for the lunch basket that was near Bunny Brown.



Chapter XX

The Missing Cake


The tramps had come through the bushes so quickly, and had made such a sudden grab for the lunch basket, that, for a second or two, Bunny Brown did not know what to do. Neither did his sister Sue. Nor were the other children any better off.

They just sat there, looking at the rough men, one of whom had Bunny's basket, and was taking out what was left of the sandwiches, cake and other good things.

"Is there anything to eat in it?" asked the little tramp of the big one, who had Bunny's basket.

"Yes, some," was the answer. "But there are more lunch baskets. Grab one for yourself."

Of course that was not a nice way to talk -- not very polite you know. But perhaps tramps are different from other folks. They get so hungry at times that they forget to be polite, I guess.

The smaller tramp, for one was much bigger and taller than the other, looked around to see what he could find. He saw little John Boland holding tightly to a basket. It still had some good things to eat in it, for John had not eaten all his lunch.

"Here, give me that!" cried the tramp.

"No! No!" John exclaimed, and he turned to run away, for he did not like the tramps, any more than did Bunny Brown, or Sue, or any of the others. But, as John turned, his foot caught in a root of a tree, and down he went, striking the ground quite hard. His lunch basket bounced out of his hand, and rolled to one side.

"Ha! That's what I want!" said the tramp. "I don't want you, little boy. All I want is something to eat."

But John, I suppose, thought the tramps might take him away, as some people think Gypsies will take children away (only they won't) and John began to cry.

Now it is a funny thing, but very often if one little boy or girl in a crowd of others begins to cry, why two or three more will do the same thing. And, no sooner had John begun to sob, than Tillie Simpson, Nellie Hadden, Flo Benson, Tommie Jones and Harry Kennedy all began to cry, too. About the only ones who were not crying were Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, and Sue had some tears all ready to let fall out of her eyes.

But Sue watched to see what Bunny would do. She did not want him to call her a "cry-baby" afterward, though Bunny hardly ever called his sister names, except maybe in fun.

"You let us alone! Let my basket alone! Let John's basket alone! Go on away from here!"

The big tramp, who was eating what was left in Bunny's basket, looked up and laughed.

"You're a spunky little chap," he said, "but we're not going away until we get something to eat. We're hungry!"

"That's what we are," said the small tramp, who had picked up the basket that had rolled from the hand of John. Out of this the small tramp was eating pieces of cake and sandwiches as fast as he could. John, who had stopped crying now, sat up and looked on, his eyes wide open.

"We haven't had anything to eat all day!" went on the big tramp, who was also eating fast. "We're terrible hungry! You children have had enough. We'll take the rest."

"Yes, and then maybe we'll take some of them," said the small tramp, blinking his eyes and looking around. Of course he was only fooling, but the children did not know this, and some of the little girls screamed, and ran away.

But Bunny Brown was not so frightened as were the others. He was older, and then, too, he felt that he must look after his sister. So he cried out again:

"Go on away from here, you -- you bad tramps!"

The tramps only laughed. Then Bunny Brown thought of something. Turning around he called, as loudly as he could:

"Here Splash! Come Splash! Come on old dog!"

Then Bunny whistled. He had only just learned how, from Bunker Blue a few days before, and he could not whistle very loudly, but still he did very well for a small boy.

"Come Splash! Come on, old dog!" he cried, and he whistled once more.

The tramps looked at one another.

"He's callin' his dog," said the big one.

"Yes," said the little tramp, "we'd better go. Come on. We've had enough to last us for awhile. We'll empty the baskets and run."

The two roughly dressed men, with red handkerchiefs around their neck, in place of collars, quickly emptied into their pockets the sandwiches and cake that were left in some of the baskets which the children had dropped. They mixed the cake and bread and meat all up together; those tramps did. Perhaps they were so hungry they did not mind.

Then off they ran through the bushes the way they had come.

"Oh, I'm so glad they're gone!" exclaimed Sue.

"So am I," said Tommie Jones. "If they hadn't gone your dog would have bit them, Bunny Brown; wouldn't he?"

Bunny Brown laughed.

"My dog isn't here," he said.

"He isn't!" exclaimed Tommie. "Why, he called him, and whistled to him; didn't he?" he asked the others.

"Yep!" said Flo Benson. "He did."

"That was only make-believe," explained Bunny. "I thought maybe if I pretended Splash was here the tramps would be afraid. Tramps are always afraid of dogs. My papa said so. That's why I made believe to call Splash. But he isn't here. We left him back on grandpa's farm with the hired man. Mamma thought he might be in the way at the picnic, so we didn't bring him."

"Oh, that was a fine trick!" exclaimed Sue. "I forgot Splash wasn't here with us. I thought sure he'd come when you whistled, Bunny."

"So did the tramps, I guess," laughed Bunny Brown. "I'm glad I thought of it. And if Splash had been here he would make the tramps go away, anyhow."

"But they took all my lunch!" sobbed John. "And I fell down, and I bumped my nose and -- and --  -- "

But that was all the trouble he could think of just then.

"Never mind," said Sue, helping him to stand up, and brushing the dirt from his clothes. "You're not hurt very much, John, and you're not hungry; are you?"

"No, but -- but I fell down!"

"Well, never mind. The tramps are gone now. And they won't come back."

But, just as Sue said that some one was heard coming through the woods. The bushes shook, and some of the little girls cried out.

"Oh, there are the tramps again!" shouted John.

But it was not. It was only Bunker Blue, who had come to find Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

"Well, how are you all?" Bunker asked. "Why, what's the matter?" he went on, for he saw that something had happened.

"It was two bad tramps, with red handkerchiefs on their necks," said Bunny Brown. "But I made believe to whistle for Splash, and they ran away."

"They did?" cried Bunker Blue, much surprised.

"Yep. And next time I'm really going to bring Splash to the picnic, and he can keep the tramps away."

"Maybe it would be a good idea," said Bunker. "But it was a good thing you thought to pretend your dog was near by. A very good trick. I'll see if I can see anything of the bad men."

Bunker went through the bushes where the tramps had gone, but he saw nothing of them. They must have run a long way off. Perhaps they were afraid Bunny's dog, Splash, would chase them.

It was nearly time for the picnic to be over. The children had eaten as much as was good for them, even if they had not had all they wished, and I think most of them did have all they wanted. Bunny and Sue did, anyhow.

Bunny's basket, of course, was emptied by the tramps, as was that of John and some of the others. But the grown folks still had good things left in theirs, and toward evening, when it was time to start for home, the little folks who had not had enough were given a little more.

"I didn't know there were tramps around here," said Mother Brown to grandpa, when he was backing the horses out of the shed, so Bunny and the others could get into the wagon.

"Oh, yes, we have a few tramps in the Summer," said Grandpa Brown. "They don't like to work, but they are always ready to eat. But probably we'll not be bothered with many. These two must have heard of the picnic, and come around to see what they could pick up."

And now the picnic was over. The farmers began driving home. Every one had had a fine time, and there had been no trouble except for the tramps. Oh yes, there had been another little bit of trouble.

A little boy named Sammie Perkins, in trying to catch a frog in a pond, leaned too far over and fell in. But a man pulled Sammie out very quickly, and the little boy only got wet through. Of course he cried, and was frightened. But his mother took off some of his clothes and dried them in the sun. So no great harm was done. And that was all that happened, except that every one had such a fine time that they said they wished there was a picnic every day.

"But that would be too much!" said Grandma Brown. "You would soon get tired of it."

The Brown family drove home, getting there just as the sun was going down.

Splash, who had been chained up by the hired man, so he would not follow the wagon, was now let loose. And oh! how glad he was to see Bunny Brown and his sister Sue!

Splash jumped about, barking and wagging his tail. He even tried to kiss Bunny and Sue with his red tongue.

"Oh, Splash!" cried Bunny. "I wish you had been to the picnic. Then you could have run after the tramps!"

"Well, the tramps ran anyhow, so it was all right," said Papa Brown. "Though the next time you see any rough men, Bunny, you had better come and tell me, or your mother, and not try to drive them away all by yourself."

"All right, I will, Daddy. But we'll take Splash to the next picnic anyhow. He was lonesome without us."

And I think Splash was.

"Well, now we'll have supper," said Grandma Brown. "That is if you children are hungry?"

"Oh, I am!" cried Sue, and Bunny said the same thing. The drive home had given them good appetites. But then children are very often hungry anyhow, even without picnics.

"Shall we have some of that nice cocoanut custard cake?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," his grandmother told him. "I'll get it from the pantry." But when she went there, the cupboard was not exactly bare, like Mother Hubbard's, but something had happened. For Grandma Brown cried:

"Oh the cake! The lovely cake is gone! And so are a lot of my pies and crullers! Oh, some one has been in my pantry!"



Chapter XXI

Bunny's Big Idea


Bunny Brown ran to the pantry where his grandmother had gone. Sue followed. The two children saw Grandma Brown looking at some empty shelves. On one shelf, before they had started for the picnic, had stood the big cocoanut-custard cake, that was too large to go in any of the baskets. That was why it had been left at home for supper.

"Oh, is it really gone?" asked Bunny sadly.

"It isn't here," said Grandma Brown.

"Could the hired man have taken it?" asked Bunny's mother.

"Oh, no! He wouldn't do such a thing as that," replied Grandma Brown. "I left his dinner in the kitchen, as I always do when we go away. No, some one must have gotten in the house, while we were gone, and taken the cake, besides some of my pies and other things."

"Was it -- was they burglars?" asked Sue. She had often heard, at home, of burglars getting into houses and taking money and other things.

"No, I don't believe it was burglars," said Grandma Brown. "But I see how they got in. I left the pantry window open, though the shutters were closed. They opened the shutters and climbed in. The shutters were tied with a string, and the string has been cut -- see!"

She showed Bunny and Sue, also Mother Brown, where the cut string hung dangling from the edge of one shutter.

"They climbed in that window and took the cake," went on Grandma Brown.

"Oh, my lovely cake!" exclaimed Sue. "And I wanted some for supper!"

"So did I!" said Bunny Brown. "Is there any other kind of cake, Grandma?"

"Oh, yes, I can give you cookies. But I would like to know who it was got in my pantry. We don't generally trouble to lock our doors and windows around here in the day time," she went on, "for none of us was ever robbed before. But if this is going to happen I'll have to be more careful."

She pushed open the shutters, which were partly closed, and looked out. Then she called:

"Oh, here's a box they stepped on to get in the window. Look, children, they brought a box from the barn, stepped up on it, and crawled in the window. And see! One of them dropped his handkerchief!"

Bunny and Sue, looking under Grandma Brown's arms, one on each side of her, saw, down on the ground, a red handkerchief. At the sight of it Bunny Brown cried:

"Oh it was the tramps! It was the tramps that took our cake, Grandma!"

"How do you know, Bunny?"

"Because the tramps that scared us had red handkerchiefs on their necks just like that one down there. I'm sure they were the same tramps, Grandma."

The two children, grandma and Mother Brown went outside, under the pantry window. There lay the red handkerchief on the ground, and it was twisted up in just the way a handkerchief would be twisted if it had been around any one's neck.

"Those tramps didn't get enough to eat out of our baskets," said Bunny Brown, "so they came here and took grandma's things. Let's go after 'em! I'll get Splash and --  -- "

Bunny Brown started to run after his dog, that had gone out to the barn with Bunker Blue. But his mother caught the little boy by the arm.

"You had better stay right here," she said. "You are too small to go chasing off after tramps, even with Splash. We'll let Papa Brown and grandpa find the bad men, if they are still here."

Daddy Brown and grandpa came back from the barn, where they had been putting away the horses, and they were told of the missing cake, pies and crullers. Then they looked at the red handkerchief, lying where one of the tramps must have dropped it.

"Yes, I should not be surprised if the same tramps who scared the children came here and took your things, Mother," said Papa Brown. "They must have been frightened, and have run off in a hurry, to have dropped their handkerchief this way. We'll ask the hired man."

But the hired man had been working in the garden, some distance away from the house, and he had seen nothing of any tramps. He had come in to his dinner, and he said he had looked in the pantry then, and had noticed that the big cake was all right.

"Then the tramps came here after dinner, and after they were at the picnic grounds," said Grandpa Brown. "I must look around. They may be hiding in my barn, and sometimes tramps smoke in the hay, and set it on fire. We'll look for them."

But no tramps were found.

"Maybe they heard Splash barking, and ran away in such a hurry that they dropped their handkerchief," said Bunny.

"Maybe," agreed his mother. "Well, it's better to have them take the crullers, the pie and the cake instead of a cow or a horse."

"Indeed it is!" said Grandpa Brown. "I don't want to lose any more horses."

"I can bake you another cocoanut-custard cake, children," said Grandma Brown. "I'll make it to-morrow. To-night you will have to eat cookies with your milk."

And the cookies were very good, as was everything Grandma Brown made, so Bunny and Sue were not hungry after all.

That night Grandpa Brown went all around the house, to make sure that all the doors and windows were locked.

"For we don't want any tramps coming here in the middle of the night, waking us up from our sleep," he said.

And nothing happened. Probably the tramps ran a good way off with the fine big cocoanut-custard cake. They must have had a good feast on that, and on the pies and crullers.

For two or three days after the picnic Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had good times at grandpa's farm. One day it rained, but the children played a part of the time in the barn, and the rest of the time in the big attic of grandpa's house.

This attic had in it even more things, to have a good time with, than did the attic at Bunny's home.

There were big fur rugs that Grandpa Brown put in the sled when it was winter. There were strings of sleigh bells that jingled when they were touched. And there was a spinning wheel, like the one in Mother Brown's attic, only it was larger.

Then, too, there were piles of old clothes, old picture-papers, trunks with many strange things in them, and so many other things that Bunny and Sue did not get tired of playing all day long.

But the attic was only nice to play in on rainy days. On days when the sun shone down hot on the roof it was too warm up there. So the next day, when the storm was over, Bunny and Sue looked for something else to do to have a good time.

"Come on, and we'll play ball," said Bunny.

He and Sue did not exactly play ball the way big boys did. But Bunny would throw the ball, and when Sue had caught it she would toss it back. They went out behind the house to play this game.

Back and forth they tossed the ball, until Sue missed it when Bunny threw it to her. The ball rolled under a currant bush, but when Sue ran to pick it up, the little girl suddenly stopped, and stood looking at the bush.

"What's the matter?" asked Bunny. "Why don't you pick the ball up, and throw it to me, Sue?"

"I -- I can't," she answered

"Why not?"

"'Cause a hen's got it."

"A hen's got my ball?" asked Bunny, much surprised.

"Yep," said Sue, shaking her head up and down to make Bunny understand. "The ball is right by the hen, and she's got her bill on it. I dassn't pick it up, 'cause she'll peck me."

Bunny ran to where Sue stood. Surely enough, the ball had rolled under the edge of the currant bush, close to where a big hen was all cuddled up in a heap. And the hen did have her bill on the ball with which the children had been playing.

"Why -- why that hen is on a nest!" exclaimed Bunny. "I guess grandma doesn't know there's a hen's nest out here. We'll go and tell her."

"But aren't you going to take your ball?" asked Sue. "Maybe the hen will eat it if you don't."

"Hen's can't eat balls," said Bunny. "The ball is too big for them to swaller."

"Well, anyhow, they could pick holes in it, and then we couldn't play with it any more."

"That's so," agreed Bunny. "I'll see if I can get it away from her."

But when Bunny crept under the currant bush, and reached for his ball, the hen made a funny clucking noise, ruffled up her feathers and looked so angry, that Bunny was afraid.

"Maybe she's got little chickens in her nest," said Sue. "If she has she'll peck you if you go close to her -- grandma said so."

"Maybe she has," agreed Bunny. "But I'll get a long stick and poke my ball out. Then she can't peck me."

But it was not easy to make the ball roll out of the way of the hen. The stick would slip off it when Bunny reached for it, and whenever the stick came near the hen she would peck at it. Once she almost knocked it from Bunny's hand.

And, all the while, the hen made that queer clucking noise, and fluffed up her feathers so that she looked twice as big as she really was.

"Oh, come away! Come away!" begged Sue. "She'll bite you, Bunny!"

Bunny Brown was a little afraid of the hen. And when he found he could not roll the ball out of her way he ran to the house, with Sue, and told his mother and grandmother what had happened.

"Why, that must be the old gray hen, sitting on her nest that she went off and made by herself," said Grandma Brown. "I wondered where she was hiding, but I never thought to look under the currant bush. I'm glad you found her, Bunny. I'll get your ball for you."

The hen did not seem to mind when Grandma Brown went close to her. Very carefully Grandma reached for Bunny's ball. Then she gently lifted up one of the hen's wings, and showed the children the eggs under her feathers.

"Soon some little chickens will hatch out of the eggs," said grandma. "Some of the shells are already cracked, and the chickies may be out to-morrow."

"Oh, I'll just love to see them!" cried Sue.

Now that they had their ball again, Bunny and Sue could play once more. And the next day the little chickens did hatch. Up to the house came the old mother hen with eleven little, fluffy, yellow balls, almost as round as Bunny's ball, but of course not so big.

"Peep! Peep!" went the little chickens, as they followed the hen-mother around.

"Cluck-cluck!" said the hen-mother.

"OH, AREN'T THEY CUTE!" -- Page 208. Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm.

"Oh, aren't they cute!" cried Sue.

Every one thought they were, and I think the hen mother was very proud of them, for if any one went too near she would make a queer noise, and ruffle up her feathers, just as she had when Bunny reached for his ball near her.

It was two or three days after this that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue awakened one morning, and saw something queer out on the side of grandpa's barn.

"Oh, look!" exclaimed Sue, who saw it first. "What a big picture, Bunny!"

Indeed it was a large one, brightly colored, showing elephants, lions, tigers and horses, all in a big ring. And there were men and ladies jumping from the top of a tent, into nets underneath.

"Oh, it's a circus picture!" cried Bunny. "How did it get there, Grandpa?"

"A man came along early this morning, and pasted it up," said Grandpa Brown.

Bunny and Sue ran out to look at the circus picture. It was a fine, big one, and the more they looked at it the more the children liked it. Finally Bunny said:

"Sue, I've got an idea! Such a big idea!"

"Oh, what is it," asked Sue. "What's an idea? Is it good to eat?"

Bunny did not exactly know what an idea was, but he had heard his mother and father say that word.

"Sue!" exclaimed Bunny in a sort of whisper, "if that circus is coming to town we'll go -- you and me. We'll go to the circus!"

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "That will be just fine! But how can we go?"



Chapter XXII

Off To The Circus


Bunny Brown thought for a minute. He and Sue looked at the gay circus poster, and the more he looked at it the more he felt that he and his sister must go and see the big show in the white tent.

"How can we go, Bunny?" asked Sue.

Bunny Brown wrinkled up his forehead. He always did that when he was thinking hard, and now that the "big idea" had come to him he was thinking harder than ever.

"First we'll have to find out where the circus is going to be," he said. "We'll ask grandpa. He'll know."

"Do you s'pose mother will let us go?" asked Sue.

"I don't know. We'll have to ask. First we'll find out where the show is going to be."

Bunny and Sue stood a little while longer looking at the circus picture. As they turned this way and that, peering at the big elephant, the savage-looking lion, the striped tiger and the hippopotamus, with his mouth so widely open, Bunker Blue came along whistling.

"Maybe Bunker knows!" cried Sue.

"Knows what?" asked the red-haired lad, stopping near the two children. "What do you think I know?"

"Where the circus is going to be," replied Bunny. "Do you know where they'll put up the tent?"

Bunker squinted at the circus poster.

"No, I don't know exactly where it will be," he said, "and it doesn't tell on that sign. But it says the circus is coming day after to-morrow. You could find out from your grandpa's hired man, though, where the tents will be. I guess they will put them up in the same place they had them last year, and the hired man was here then. He's worked for your grandpa a good many years. Ask the hired man."

"We will," Bunny said.

"Are you thinking of going to the circus?" asked Bunker.

"We -- we'd like to," answered Sue softy.

"And maybe we will," added her brother.

"You're too little to go to a circus," said Bunker Blue, "and I don't believe any of the big folks are going. I'd like to go myself, but I don't believe I can."

"Well, we're going, anyhow," whispered Bunny to Sue, so Bunker would not hear.

"Are you sure, Bunny?"

"Sure we'll go!" he said. "Just you leave it all to me."

At dinner that day Bunny and Sue talked of nothing but the circus, and the big picture-poster on grandpa's barn.

"It's the same show that was here last year," said the hired man. "I saw the fellow who pasted the picture on the barn, and he was the same one who was around last year."

"And -- and will the tent be in the same place?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," said the hired man. "The circus always shows in the same place when it comes to town. They put the tents up by the baseball grounds, just outside of the town."

Bunny had found out what he wanted to know. If he and Sue could get to town, all they would have to do would be to ask where the baseball grounds were. Any one could tell them that, and then they would find the circus.

But first Bunny wanted to find out if his papa and mamma, or grandfather and grandmother, were going to the show. It would be so much easier for him and Sue if they were. So Bunny asked:

"Could we go to the circus, Mother?"

"Oh, I hardly think so," answered Mother Brown. "I don't like a circus, and your father has to go to the city that day to look after his boat business. Grandpa is too busy to go, and I'm sure grandma and I don't want to go."

"No, indeed!" exclaimed Grandma Brown. "I always was afraid of wild animals, and I don't like a circus anyhow."

"Bunker Blue could take us," said Bunny.

"No, dear. I'm sorry, but Bunker is going to drive papa into town on that day, so he could not take you. You had a nice time at the picnic, and that ought to be enough for you. This is only a small circus, and I don't believe it would be nice for you to go," said Mother Brown.

But Bunny Brown and his sister Sue wanted very much to go to this circus, even if it was only a small one.

"Oh, Bunny! We can't go!" said Sue, with tears in her eyes, when she and Bunny went out in the yard after dinner. "We can't go to the circus!"

"Maybe we can," insisted Bunny.

"But how can we? Mother isn't going, nor father, nor grandma nor grandpa. How can we go?"

"We can go by ourselves. It isn't very far in to town. Not more than a mile. We can walk a mile, Sue."

"Yes, but who will give us the money for tickets? Do they sell tickets to the circus for pins, Bunny? If they did maybe we could find enough pins in grandma's house, on the floor. Nobody wants those pins. We could pick 'em up."

"They don't sell real circus tickets for pins," explained Bunny. "They sell them for money."

"I've got five cents," said Sue.

"So have I. But that won't be enough. It's twenty-five cents for children. Bunker read that on the circus poster."

"Oh, we'll never get that much money!" sighed Sue.

"Maybe we will," Bunny said.

"How?"

"Well, I might carry water to the elephant, and the man might give me a ticket for that. Bunker said he once got in the circus that way."

"But, I couldn't carry water to an elephant," objected Sue. "I'd be afraid he'd bite me."

"I'd carry it for you," kindly offered Bunny. "I'm not afraid of an elephant. If you're kind to them they won't bite you."

"But elephants is so big, they take an awful lot of water," Sue went on. "They'd drink a whole tub full. You could never carry that much."

"I'll try," said Bunny. "I want to go to that circus!"

"And so do I, Bunny."

"They didn't say we mustn't go," the little boy went on. "Mother just said she and grandma couldn't take us. I don't think they'd mind if we went by ourselves."

"Maybe not, Bunny. But, s'posin' they wouldn't let us in the tent?"

"Oh, I guess they will. You could carry some water for the ponies. You're not afraid of them; are you?"

"No," said Sue slowly. "I'm not 'fraid of ponies. I'll get them some water, Bunny. But maybe they have all the water they want, and they won't let us in, no matter what we do."

Bunny thought that over for a minute. Then he said:

"We could do our Punch and Judy show for the circus man, Sue. Maybe he'd let us in if he saw that."

"Maybe. But, Bunny, you haven't any lobster claw to put on your nose, to make you look like Mr. Punch."

Bunny sighed.

"That's so," he said. "The lobster claw is broken. I guess we'll have to carry the water, Sue. I'll get some for the elephant, and you can carry some for the ponies. Then the circus man will give us tickets to the show. We'll go, anyhow."

So Bunny had it all planned out. Neither he nor Sue said anything to their father, mother or grandparents about what they were going to do. Bunny was quite sure if they asked they would not be allowed to go, and he did not want to do anything he was told not to do. But he and Sue had not really been forbidden to go to the circus, though of course Mrs. Brown had no idea the children were planning to see the show in the tent, with the wild animals, and the men and women jumping into nets.

The rest of the day Bunny and Sue spent pretty much out near the barn, looking at the big circus poster, wondering if they would see all the animals in the picture. They spent part of the next day doing the same thing.

Mrs. Brown was so busy helping Grandma Brown, and Mr. Brown was so busy getting ready for his trip to the city, that no one paid much attention to the children.

"We'll start off early to-morrow morning," said Bunny, the night before the circus was to come to town. "We'll take a lunch with us. I'll save some of my supper and some of my breakfast. We can take some bread and cake, and we've each got five cents, to get some pink lemonade with."

"I want a circus balloon, too," said Sue.

"Well, maybe a man will give you one," said Bunny, hopefully.

Sue clapped her hands in joy.

"I hope he gives me a red one!" she cried.

Early the next morning, right after breakfast, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue went quietly from the house. They had wrapped some slices of bread, and some cookies, in pieces of newspaper, and this lunch they carried with them as they started off for the circus. No one saw them start, and down the road they went, hand in hand, off toward town.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, as she toddled along beside her brother. "Isn't it just fine!"

"Wait till you see the circus!" said Bunny, his eyes shining with delight. "We'll have lots of fun!"



Chapter XXIII

The Gypsies


Along the dusty road, on the way to town, walked Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. Hand in hand they toddled on, thinking of the fun they were going to have. They did not stop to think that they were running away to go to the circus, but that is just what they were doing. They had not asked their mother if they might go. They were pretty sure she would say they could not.

Bunny and Sue did not mean to do wrong -- they just did not think. They only wanted to have a good time.

"Do you s'pose we'll really see elephants, Bunny?" asked Sue.

"'Course we will!"

"Like in the picture?"

"Sure!"

"With two tails, and his big teeth sticking out like lollypop handles, that Wango put in his mouth? Elephants like that?"

"Yes, Sue. Only an elephant hasn't two tails. One end is his tail, and the other is his trunk -- his long nose that he breathes through, and squirts water in. I told you about it."

"Yes, I know, Bunny. But I forgot. And are you going to give the elephant water to squirt in his trunk?"

"Maybe. But I hope he doesn't squirt it on me."

"Or on me," added Sue. "I'm going to water the ponies. They haven't any trunks; have they Bunny?"

"No. Oh, we'll have a good time, Sue."

"And will I get a red balloon?"

"I don't know about that," Bunny Brown shook his head. The more he thought about the circus the harder it seemed to be to get inside the tent. Suppose they wouldn't let him water the elephant? How was he going to get a ticket to the show, or one for Sue? Bunny was beginning to feel worried -- that is he didn't know just what he was going to do. But he would not give up yet.

There were many persons going into town that day. Many of them were going to the circus, it seemed. Some wagons and carriages had many children in with the grown folks.

At first Bunny and Sue thought it fun to walk along by themselves. But, after a bit, Sue began to get tired. It was hot and dusty, and the town was farther away than even Bunny had thought.

"Oh, Bunny!" Sue cried at last. "I want to ride!"

"But how can you?" asked the little boy.

"If you had brought Splash, and the express wagon, we could have a nice ride."

"That's so," said Bunny slowly. He had not thought of that. He stood in the road and looked back toward grandpa's house. Just then there were no wagons or carriages in the road. But Bunny saw a small cloud of dust coming toward him. Faster and faster it came. Then he heard a bark.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "Is that Splash?"

"I -- I don't know," began Bunny Brown, but in another second he saw that it was their big, shaggy dog.

"Oh, it is Splash!" cried Sue. "I'm so glad he came. Now, if an elephant tries to bite us when you're watering it, Bunny, Splash will bite him."

"Elephants aren't afraid of dogs," said Bunny. "But I'm glad you came, Splash."

"I wish he'd brought the express wagon, and I could ride," said Sue, with a sigh.

But that was too much to wish for. The two children had slipped away that morning without calling for Splash to go with them. Bunny thought if the dog came Mother Brown might see, and ask Bunny and Sue where they were going. And of course they would have to tell.

But Splash had come anyhow, and he could not be sent back. He barked happily, and was very glad to be with the children once more. He would never have stayed at home if he could have had his way about it.

"Well, come on," said Bunny, after a bit. "We don't want to be late for the circus, Sue."

"No. I want to see everything. Will they let Splash in too, Bunny?"

"I guess so. They have trained dogs in circuses."

"But Splash isn't trained."

"He can draw us in the express wagon," Bunny reminded her.

"Yes," said Sue. "And I wish we had it now. I'm awful tired."

"But you can sit down when we get in the circus, after I water the elephant."

That seemed to make it all right, and once more the children went on, hand in hand, Splash now running on ahead, and sometimes trotting back.

Pretty soon a wagon, drawn by a white horse, and driven by a fat, good-natured-looking man came up from behind the children. The man looked down at Bunny and Sue, and cried out: "Whoa!"

He was talking to his horse, of course, and the horse stopped. So did Bunny and Sue.

"Want a ride?" asked the fat man, with a jolly laugh.

Bunny and Sue wanted a ride very much, and they both said so.

"Get in," said the fat man. "Or, wait a minute, and I'll lift you in. You're too small to get up by yourselves. Is this your dog?"

"Yes," answered Bunny. "And, please, could he ride, too? He gets tired running along."

"Yes, he can get in too. I've got plenty of room. Up you go, doggie!"

"His name is Splash," said Sue, as the fat man lifted first her and then Bunny up into the wagon.

"Oh, Splash; eh? That's a good name. Well, up with you, Splash!"

Splash, seeing that Bunny and Sue were in the wagon, leaped in himself. Then off they went again. Sue was happy now.

"Where are you tots going?" the fat man wanted to know.

"To the circus," said Bunny. "I'm going to water the elephant."

"And I'm going to water the pony," added Sue.

The fat man laughed. He seemed to be doing that most of the time.

"Well, you're pretty small to be going to a circus alone," went on the fat man. "But I s'pose your folks will meet you there. Don't get lost, that's all."

"Are you going to the circus?" asked Bunny.

"No indeed," laughed the fat man. "I haven't time. But I'm going close to the circus grounds, where the tents are. I'll let you off there."

"Thank you," said Bunny.

He was glad he and Sue and Splash would not have to walk, as he was also beginning to feel tired.

"Here you are, youngsters!" finally called the man, as the wagon went around a turn in the road. "There are the circus grounds. You can get out here and walk straight ahead. But don't get lost. Where is your father, or mother, going to meet you?"

Bunny did not answer that question. For of course mother or father did not know that the two children had gone to the circus at all. Bunny began to be a little worried.

But the fat man did not ask any more questions. For, just then, a band began to play music, and the horse wanted to hurry away. So the fat man helped Bunny and Sue out of the wagon, and drove off with a wave of his big hand. Splash jumped out himself.

"Now we'll go over and see the circus," said Bunny.

And oh! what a lot there was for him and Sue to look at. There were big white tents, and from the poles were flags of all colors, fluttering in the wind. In another tent, the sides of which were raised up to let in the air, were many horses and ponies.

In another tent there was a long table, on which were many dishes, and seated on benches, were men and women eating at the table.

"Oh look, Bunny!" suddenly cried Sue. "There's your elephant!"

Bunny looked, and saw a big elephant, pushing a large red wagon, by putting his head against it, while some men steered it.

"Are you going to water that elephant?" asked Sue.

"I -- I don't know," replied Bunny. Now that he saw how very big an elephant was he began to think that, after all, perhaps he had better water just a pony, as Sue was going to do.

"When can we go in the circus, Bunny?" asked Sue, as she heard the band playing again. It was not time for the show to begin. In fact, the parade had not yet started, but Bunny and Sue did not know this. The circus was just getting ready to have the parade. "I want to go in and see the animals," went on Sue.

"Have to get a ticket first," said Bunny. "I'll ask a man to let me water a pony. I guess an elephant is too big."

"And I'll water a pony, too, Bunny."

The elephant, pushing the big wagon, came close to where Bunny and Sue were standing. Splash barked at the elephant, and ran back. So did Bunny and Sue. The elephant looked bigger than ever.

A man carrying a long whip, came hurrying up to the tent where the horses and ponies were eating their hay.

"Please mister!" cried Bunny. "I want to go to the circus! So does my sister. We'll water the ponies if you give us a ticket."

The man looked at the two children. At first he looked cross, and then he smiled, just as the fat man had done. No one could look cross for very long at Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

"You're too little to water ponies, or to go to circuses," said the man with the whip. "You had better go back home. I guess you're lost. I'll send a man to take you home."

Then he hurried off, cracking his whip.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "Did you hear what he said? He said he was going to send us home! And we won't see the circus. Oh dear!"

"Yes, we will see the circus!" cried Bunny. "I'll ask another man! Come on, Sue. We'll stand in another place, and then he can't find us when he comes back."

Bunny went around to the other side of the horse-tent, followed by his sister and Splash. It would be dreadful to be sent home now, just when the circus was ready to start.

"We'll ask some one else to let us water the ponies, and then they'll give us tickets to get in," said Bunny. "Take hold of my hand, Sue, and then you won't get lost."

As the two children stood there they hardly knew what to do. All about them men were hurrying here and there, some leading horses or camels. Bunny and Sue could hear music in the big tent.

And as they stood there, they saw two men coming along who did not look like those who belonged with the circus. The two men had gold rings in their ears, and the faces of the men were very dark. They had on coats with silver buttons, and wore red sashes around their waists. Each man was leading a horse, but the horses were not like circus horses.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "Look -- those are Gypsies -- like the ones we saw in the woods."

"Yes!" cried Bunny. "And they have two horses. Maybe those are grandpa's horses. Oh, Sue! S'pose they should be! Maybe we've found 'em! Maybe we've found the Gypsies who took grandpa's horses, and didn't bring 'em back."



Chapter XXIV

Bunny And Sue Are Sad


Bunny and Sue watched the two Gypsy men closely. The children were sure the men were Gypsies, for they looked just like those others the children had seen in the woods, when the two youngsters wandered away on the first night of their automobile trip.

The two men, with their bright red sashes, and the gold rings in their ears, stood together. Each one had hold of the halter of a horse he was leading. And the horses did not seem to be the kind that belonged in a circus, for they pranced about, and did not like to hear the music. Nor did they like the sight of the elephants and camels, that were now walking about, getting ready for the parade.

"Do you s'pose they could be grandpa's horses?" asked Sue, of her brother.

"Maybe," said Bunny.

"What did the Gypsy men bring them here for?" Sue wanted to know.

"Maybe they want to train them to be circus horses, or maybe they want to sell them," Bunny answered.

"We ought to go to tell grandpa," declared Sue. "Then he could come and get his team. He wants it awful much."

"We can tell him after the circus," Bunny said. "We want to see the show, Sue."

"Yes, and I want a red balloon, or maybe a blue one. Which goes up the highest, Bunny?" For, just then a man walked past, with many balloons, blue, red, green and yellow, floating in the air.

"Oh, I guess they all go up the same, Sue," said Bunny. The little boy was thinking hard. Suppose those should be his grandfather's horses that the Gypsy men had? How could Bunny get them? It seemed too hard for the little boy to do.

Then, too, Bunny wanted to take Sue in to see the circus. That was what they had come for. But how could he get in when he had no money? And, now that he had seen an elephant close by, he did not feel like carrying water to one of the big animals. Suppose one of them should accidentally step on Bunny Brown?

The little boy looked around for some one to whom he could speak. He wanted to ask about getting into the show, and he wanted to talk about his grandfather's horses and the Gypsies.

But every one seemed to be too busy to stop to speak to the two children, all alone on the circus grounds.

Watching the two Gypsies, with the horses, Bunny and Sue saw the men talk to some of the circus people. The Gypsies pointed to the horses several times, and Bunny and Sue felt sure that the men with the red sashes, and the gold rings in their ears, were trying either to sell the horses, or have them trained to become circus animals.

"Oh, look, Bunny!" Sue suddenly cried. "The circus is starting!"

From one of the tents came a long line of elephants, camels and horses. On the backs of the animals were men and women who wore red, green, blue, yellow, pink and purple clothing, which sparkled in the sunshine as if covered with diamonds like the one in Aunt Lu's ring.

"THAT'S THE PARADE!" SAID BUNNY. -- Page 233. Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm.

"That's the parade!" said Bunny. "That isn't the circus. That's in the tent. Oh, I wish I could find a man to give us a ticket, or some money, for watering the ponies!"

Bunny looked all around. But he saw no one whom he could ask. Every one seemed to be looking at the parade which was to march through the streets of the town, and then back to the circus grounds.

Even the Gypsy men, with the horses that Bunny and Sue thought might be those belonging to their grandfather, were watching the parade.

"Come on!" cried Bunny. "We'll look at it, too. We can go to the circus later. Come on, Sue!"

They found a good place where they could watch the start of the parade. They saw the horses, elephants and camels. They saw the cages of lions and tigers, and even bears. And they saw the big steam piano, playing its funny tooting tunes, rumbling along. The steam piano was the last thing in the parade.

"Now we'll go and see if we can find some one to let us in the show," said Bunny, when the gay procession had passed.

"But I'm hungry!" exclaimed Sue. "I got five cents, Bunny. Can't I have some peanuts or -- or pink lemonade?"

"Why -- why, I guess so," said the little boy. "I got five cents, too. I'll tell you what we can do, Sue. You buy five cents worth of peanuts, and give me half. I'll buy a glass of pink lemonade, and give you half. We can get two straws. You can drink half and I'll drink half."

"All right, Bunny. Only you mustn't drink faster than I do, 'cause I'm awful thirsty."

"I'll let you drink more than half then, Sue."

The children bought the peanuts and lemonade, and when they had finished drinking the red lemonade through two straws, and were chewing the peanuts, they saw one of the circus men, with a long whip, come up to the two Gypsies with the horses.

What was said Bunny and Sue could not hear, but they saw the circus man walk off, while the two Gypsies, leading their horses, went after him.

"Oh, Sue!" exclaimed Bunny. "There go grandpa's horses!"

"Well, when we go home we can tell him they are here in the circus, and he can come after them, Bunny. Now I want to go in and see the animals."

But Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were not to go to the circus right away. Just as Bunny was going up to another circus man he saw, to ask him how he could get a ticket to the show, a voice cried:

"Well, if there aren't those Brown children! And all alone, too! They must be lost! We must take them home!"

Bunny and Sue looked up to see Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, who lived on the farm next to Grandpa Brown's, standing near.

"Bunny Brown! How did you get here?" asked Mrs. Kendall.

"We walked," said Bunny. "We're going to see the show."

"A fat man gave us a ride, and Splash, too," said Sue, as she patted her dog's head. "Bunny was going to water the elephant, but he's too big -- I mean the elephant is too big. So we're going to water the ponies and then we're going in the circus."

"Bless your hearts!" cried Mrs. Kendall. "Does your mother know you came here?"

"Well -- er -- maybe," said Bunny. "But we didn't have time to tell her."

"They ran away, that's what they did," said the farmer. "Their folks will be wild about them. I'd better take them home."

Bunny Brown and his sister Sue felt sad when they heard this.

"But we don't want to go home," said Bunny.

"We want to see the circus!" cried Sue.

"I know, my dear," explained Mrs. Kendall, kindly, "but your family don't know where you are, and they will worry and be frightened. We will take you home, and perhaps your folks will bring you back to see the circus. You can't go in alone, anyhow."

Sue's eyes filled with tears. Bunny wanted to cry, but he did not like to. Some one might see him.

"And we -- we found grandpa's horses, too," Sue went on.

"What's that?" cried Mr. Kendall. "You found the horses the Gypsies took? Where are they?"

"They're gone now," said Bunny, and he told what he and Sue had seen.

"Oh, well, maybe they weren't the same Gypsies, or the same horses at all," Mrs. Kendall said. "These children guess at lots of things," she told her husband.

"Yes," he answered. "But I'll just about have time to drive them home, and come back to see the circus myself."

"I'll come with you," said his wife. "Their mother is probably looking for them now. Come, Bunny, Sue -- you'll ride home with us."

"Then we can't see the circus!" cried Sue, tears falling from her brown eyes.

"Maybe you can to-morrow," suggested Mrs. Kendall. "The circus will be here two days."

"That's good!" said Bunny.

He and Sue did not feel so sad now. But they were a little disappointed. Mrs. Kendall took them to where her husband's wagon was standing in the shade, with the horse eating oats from a bag. Into the wagon the children were lifted. Splash jumped up all by himself, and then they were driven back to grandpa's farm, leaving the circus, with its big white tents, the fluttering flags, the jolly music, the elephants, camels and horses far behind.

"We'll tell grandpa about the Gypsies and his horses," said Bunny.

"Yes," said Sue. "And then maybe he'll bring us back to the show."



Chapter XXV

Grandpa's Horses


"Well, well! You children do the queerest things!" cried Grandpa Brown, when Mr. and Mrs. Kendall drove up to the farmhouse with Bunny Brown and his sister Sue in the wagon, Splash standing up in the back, and barking as though he had done it all. "Yes, you certainly do queer things! The idea of running off to a circus!"

"We -- we didn't run -- we walked," corrected Sue.

"And we saw the elephants, but I didn't water any," said Bunny.

"Oh, I was so worried about you!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she put her arms around Bunny and Sue. "Why did you do it?"

"We -- we wanted to see the circus," said Bunny.

"And oh! we saw grandpa's horses!" cried Sue. "Two Gypsy mans had them!"

Every one looked surprised on hearing this.

"What's that? What's that?" cried Grandpa Brown. "You saw my two horses that the Gypsies borrowed, and didn't bring back?"

"Yes, we saw them," said Bunny. "Anyhow they looked like your horses, 'cause they weren't circus horses."

"What about this, Mr. Kendall?" asked Grandpa Brown of the kind farmer who had brought Bunny and Sue home.

"I don't know anything about it," was the answer. "My wife and I went to the circus, and when we were standing around, waiting for the show to begin, we saw these tots there. They were all alone, so we knew something must be wrong. They told us they'd run away, and we brought them back. But I didn't see your horses, though I did see two Gypsy men hanging around one of the tents."

Grandpa Brown thought for a few seconds. Then he said:

"Well, it might be that the Gypsies came back with my team, and are trying to sell them to the circus. I guess I'd better go over and see about it."

"You can ride back with us," said Mr. Kendall. "My wife and I are going right back to the circus."

"Oh, can't we go?" cried Bunny.

"Please!" begged Sue.

"Not this time, my dears," said Mother Brown. "But if all goes well, you shall go to-morrow, when daddy comes back. The circus will be here for two days."

Bunny and Sue were glad to hear this. Grandpa Brown rode off with Mr. and Mrs. Kendall; and Bunny and Sue were given a good dinner and put to sleep that afternoon, for they were tired, sleepy and hungry.

It was late in the afternoon when Bunny and Sue awoke. They went out on the porch, and the first thing they saw was Grandpa Brown coming down the road, riding on one horse and leading another which trotted by the side of the first.

"Oh, look!" cried Bunny. "Grandpa did get his horses back from the Gypsies!"

"That's just what I did, little man!" cried Grandpa Brown, as he rode up the drive. "Those were my horses you saw the Gypsy men have, though of course you only guessed it."

"Are they really yours?" asked Mother Brown.

"Yes, the same ones the Gypsies took. If it had not been for Bunny and Sue I might never have gotten them back."

"I thought we'd find them!" cried Bunny. "We found Aunt Lu's diamond ring, and now we have found grandpa's horses."

"Good luck!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.

And the horses did really belong to Grandpa Brown. He told how he got them back.

"The Gypsy man, who borrowed my team, just before you folks came to the farm," grandpa said to Bunny, Sue and Mother Brown, "that Gypsy man really meant to bring my horses back, when he got through with them, but he was taken ill. Then some of the bad Gypsies in the tribe ran away with the team -- they took them far off and kept them.

"Where they went I don't know, but to-day they came back, and, seeing the circus, the Gypsies thought they could sell my horses, to do tricks, maybe, though I never trained them to do any more than pull a plow or wagon.

"Anyhow, when I got to the circus I found one of the circus men was just going to buy my horses from the Gypsies. I told him the team was mine, and that the Gypsies had no right to sell it to him. The Gypsies ran away when they saw me, and the circus man gave me my horses. So I have them back. But if Bunny and Sue had not gone to the circus I never would have known about my horses."

"And did you see the elephants?" asked Sue.

"No, I didn't have time to look at them," said her grandfather with a laugh. "I was too glad to get my horses back."

"I -- I wish we could go to the circus," begged Bunny.

"So you shall -- to-morrow!" cried Grandpa Brown. "My goodness you certainly shall go! You must have a reward for finding my horses for me, so I'll take you and Sue and everybody to the circus to-morrow. We'll all go and have a good time!"

"Will you take Bunker Blue?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, Bunker shall go."

"And can I get a blue balloon?" Sue wanted to know.

"Yes, or a red or green or yellow one."

"And me, too?" asked Bunny.

"Of course."

"And can we have peanuts, and more pink lemonade, 'cause it was awful good, and can we feed the elephant, and -- and --  -- "

Sue had to stop, for she was all out of breath.

"You can have the best time ever!" cried Grandpa Brown, giving her a hug and a kiss.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Sue, and that was all she could say, she felt so happy. Bunny was happy too, and, a little later, he and Sue went out to the barn to see grandpa's team of horses the Gypsies had taken, but which were now safe in their stalls.

Of course Papa Brown was surprised when he came to the farm the next day, and heard that Bunny and Sue had found grandpa's horses for him.

"My, such children!" he cried. But I think he was proud of them just the same.

"Oh, Bunker! We're going to the circus!" cried Sue. "And you're going too!"

"And so am I!" shouted Bunny. "And maybe we'll get up a circus of our own, Sue!"

"Oh, will we?"

"Maybe!"

And what sort of show the two children gave you may read about in the next book of this series, which will be called: "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus."

In a big farm wagon, the children, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Grandpa and Grandma Brown, and Bunker Blue went to the big circus on the baseball grounds. Bunny and Sue saw the elephants, the camels, the lions, and the tigers. And the children did not have to carry water to get in to see the show, for Grandpa Brown bought tickets for them.

Bunny and Sue sat looking at the men and women turn somersaults in the air, and fall down safely into the big nets. They saw the races, when monkeys rode on the backs of ponies and dogs. They saw the cages of wild animals, and they fed the elephants peanuts by the bagfull.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue when they came out, each carrying a toy balloon. "Wasn't the circus wonderful!"

"Fine!" cried Bunny Brown. "But you just wait until we get up our circus! That will be better yet!" And we will all wait and see what happened.

<eob>

The Curlytops On Star Island

Or

Camping Out With Grandpa

By

Howard R. Garis



Chapter I

The Blue Light


"Mother, make Ted stop!"

"I'm not doing anything at all, Mother!"

"Yes he is, too! Please call him in. He's hurting my doll."

"Oh, Janet Martin, I am not!"

"You are so, Theodore Baradale Martin; and you've just got to stop!"

Janet, or Jan, as she was more often called, stood in front of her brother with flashing eyes and red cheeks.

"Children! Children! What are you doing now?" asked their mother, appearing in the doorway of the big, white farmhouse, holding in her arms a small boy. "Please don't make so much noise. I've just gotten Baby William to sleep, and if he wakes up --  -- "

"Yes, don't wake up Trouble, Jan," added Theodore, or Ted, the shorter name being the one by which he was most often called. "If you do he'll want to come with us, and we can't make Nicknack race."

"I wasn't waking him up, it was you!" exclaimed Jan. "He keeps pulling my doll's legs, Mother and --  -- "

"I only pulled 'em a little bit, just to see if they had any springs in 'em. Jan said her doll was a circus lady and could jump on the back of a horse. I wanted to see if she had any springs in her legs."

"Well, I'm pretending she has, so there, Ted Martin! And if you don't stop --  -- "

"There now, please stop, both of you, and be nice," begged Mrs. Martin. "I thought, since you had your goat and wagon, you could play without having so much fuss. But, if you can't --  -- "

"Oh, we'll be good!" exclaimed Ted, running his hands through his tightly curling hair, but not taking any of the kinks out that way. "We'll be good. I won't tease Jan anymore."

"You'd better not!" warned his sister, and, though she was a year younger than Ted, she did not seem at all afraid of him. "If you do I'll take my half of the goat away and you can't ride."

"Pooh! Which is your half?" asked Ted.

"The wagon. And if you don't have the wagon to hitch Nicknack to, how're you going to ride?"

"Huh! I could ride on his back. Take your old wagon if you want to, but if you do --  -- "

"The-o-dore!" exclaimed his mother in a slow, warning voice, and when he heard his name spoken in that way, with each syllable pronounced separately, Ted knew it was time to haul down his quarreling colors and behave. He did it this time.

"I -- I'm sorry," he faltered. "I didn't mean that, Jan. I won't pull your doll's legs any more."

"And I won't take the goat-wagon away. We'll both go for a ride in it."

"That's the way to have a good time," said Mrs. Martin, with a smile. "Now don't make any more noise, for William is fussy. Run off and play now, but don't go too far."

"We'll go for a ride," said Teddy. "Come on, Jan. You can let your doll make-believe drive the goat if you want to."

"Thank you, Teddy. But I guess I'd better not. I'll pretend she's a Red Cross nurse and I'm taking her to the hospital to work."

"Then we'll make-believe the goat-wagon is an ambulance!" exclaimed Ted. "And I'm the driver and I don't mind the big guns. Come on, that'll be fun!"

Filled with the new idea, the two children hurried around the side of the farmhouse out toward the barn where Nicknack, their pet goat, was kept. Mrs. Martin smiled as she saw them go.

"Well, there'll be quiet for a little while," she said, "and William can have his sleep."

"What's the matter, Ruth?" asked an old gentleman coming up the walk just then. "Have the Curlytops been getting into mischief again?"

"No. Teddy and Janet were just having one of their little quarrels. It's all over now. You look tired, Father."

Grandpa Martin was Mrs. Martin's husband's father, but she loved him as though he were her own.

"Yes, I am tired. I've been working pretty hard on the farm," said Grandpa Martin, "but I'm going to rest a bit now. Want me to take Trouble?" he asked as he saw the little boy in his mother's arms. Baby William was called Trouble because he got into so much of it.

"No, thank you. He's asleep," said Mother Martin. "But I do wish you could find some way to keep Ted and Jan from disputing and quarreling so much."

"Oh, they don't act half as bad as lots of children."

"No, indeed! They're very good, I think," said Grandma Martin, coming to the door with a patch of flour on the end of her nose, for it was baking day, as you could easily have told had you come anywhere near the big kitchen of the white house on Cherry Farm.

"They need to be kept busy all the while," said Grandpa Martin. "It's been a little slow for them here this vacation since we got in the hay and gathered the cherries. I think I'll have to find some new way for them to have fun."

"I didn't know there was any new way," said Mother Martin with a laugh, as she carried Baby William into the bedroom and came back to sit on the porch with Grandpa and Grandma Martin.

"Oh, yes, there are lots of new ways. I haven't begun to think of them yet," said Grandpa Martin. "I'm going to have a few weeks now with not very much to do until it's time to gather the fall crops, and I think I'll try to find some way of giving your Curlytops a good time. Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll keep the Curlytops so busy they won't have a chance to think of pulling dolls' legs or taking Nicknack, the goat, away from his wagon."

"What are you planning to do, Father?" asked Grandma Martin of her husband.

"Well, I promised to take them camping on Star Island you know."

"What! Not those two little tots -- not Ted and Jan?" cried Grandma Martin, looking up in surprise.

"Yes, indeed, those same Curlytops!"

It was easy to understand why Grandpa Martin, as well as nearly everyone else, called the two Martin children Curlytops. It was because their hair was so tightly curling to their heads. Once Grandma Martin lost her thimble in the hair of one of the children, and their locks were curled so nearly alike that she never could remember on whose head she found the needle-pusher.

"Do you think it will be safe to take Ted and Jan camping?" asked Mother Martin.

"Why, yes. There's no finer place in the country than Star Island. And if you go along --  -- "

"Am I to go?" asked Ted's mother.

"Of course. And Trouble, too. It'll do you all good. I wish Dick could come, too," went on Grandpa Martin, speaking of Ted's father, who had gone from Cherry Farm for a few days to attend to some matters at a store he owned in the town of Cresco. "But Dick says he'll be too busy. So I guess the Curlytops will have to go camping with grandpa," added the farmer, smiling.

"Well, I'm sure they couldn't have better fun than to go with you," replied Mother Martin. "But I'm not sure that Baby William and I can go."

"Oh, yes you can," said her father-in-law. "We'll talk about it again. But here come Ted and Jan now in the goat-cart. They seem to have something to ask you. We'll talk about the camp later."

Teddy and Janet Martin, the two Curlytops, came riding up to the farmhouse in a small wagon drawn by a fine, big goat, that they had named Nicknack.

"Please, Mother," begged Ted, "may we ride over to the Home and get Hal?"

"We promised to take him for a ride," added Jan.

"Yes, I suppose you may go," said Mother Martin. "But you must be careful, and be home in time for supper."

"We will," promised Ted. "We'll go by the wood-road, and then we won't get run over by any automobiles. They don't come on that road."

"All right. Now remember -- don't stay too late."

"No, we won't!" chorused the two children, and down the garden path and along the lane they went to a road that led through Grandpa Martin's wood-lot and so on to the Home for Crippled Children, which was about a mile from Cherry Farm.

Among others at the Home was a lame boy named Hal Chester. That is, he had been lame when the Curlytops first met him early in the summer, but he was almost cured now, and walked with only a little limp. The Home had been built to cure lame children, and had helped many of them.

Half-way to the big red building, which was like a hospital, the Curlytops met Hal, the very boy whom they had started out to see.

"Hello, Hal!" cried Ted. "Get in and have a ride."

"Thanks, I will. I was just coming over to see you, anyway. What are you two going to do?"

"Nothing much," Ted answered, while Jan moved along the seat with her doll, to make room for Hal. "What're you going to do?"

"Same as you."

The three children laughed at that.

"Let's ride along the river road," suggested Janet. "It'll be nice and shady there, and if my Red Cross doll is going to the war she'll like to be cool once in a while."

"Is your doll a Red Cross nurse?" asked Hal. "If she is, where's her cap and the red cross on her arm?"

"Oh, she just started to be a nurse a little while ago," Jan explained. "I haven't had time to make the red cross yet. But I will. Anyhow, let's go down by the river."

"All right, we will," agreed Ted. "We'll see if we can get some sticks off the willow trees and make whistles," he added to Hal.

"You can make better whistles in the spring, when the bark is softer, than you can now," said the lame boy, as the Curlytops often called him, though Hal was nearly cured.

"Well, maybe we can make some now," suggested Ted, and a little later the two boys were seated in the shade under the willow trees that grew on the bank of a small river which flowed into Clover Lake, not far from Cherry Farm. Nicknack, tied to a tree, nibbled the sweet, green grass, and Jan made a wreath of buttercups for her doll.

After they had made some whistles, which did give out a little tooting sound, Ted and Hal found something else to do, and Jan saw, coming along the road, a girl named Mary Seaton with whom she often played. Jan called Mary to join her, and the two little girls had a good time together while Ted and Hal threw stones at some wooden boats they made and floated down the stream.

"Oh, Ted, we must go home!" suddenly cried Jan. "It's getting dark!"

The sun was beginning to set, but it would not really have been dark for some time, except that the western sky was filled with clouds that seemed to tell of a coming storm. So, really, it did appear as though night were at hand.

"I guess we'd better go," Ted said, with a look at the dark clouds. "Come on, Hal. There's room for you, too, Mary, in the wagon."

"Can Nicknack pull us all?" Mary asked.

"I guess so. It's mostly down hill. Come on!"

The four children got into the goat-wagon, and if Nicknack minded the bigger load he did not show it, but trotted off rather fast. Perhaps he knew he was going home to his stable where he would have some sweet hay and oats to eat, and that was what made him so glad to hurry along.

The wagon was stopped near the Home long enough to let Hal get out, and a little later Mary was driven up to her gate. Then Ted and Jan, with the doll between them, drove on.

"Oh, Ted!" exclaimed his sister, "mother'll scold. We oughtn't to have stayed so late. It's past supper time!"

"We didn't mean to. Anyhow, I guess they'll give us something to eat. Grandma baked cookies to-day and there'll be some left."

"I hope so," replied Jan with a sigh. "I'm hungry!"

They drove on in silence a little farther, and then, as they came to the top of a hill and could look down toward Star Island in the middle of Clover Lake, Ted suddenly called:

"Look, Jan!"

"Where?" she asked.

"Over there," and her brother pointed to the island. "Do you see that blue light?"

"On the island, do you mean? Yes, I see it. Maybe somebody's there with a lantern."

"Nobody lives on Star Island. Besides, who'd have a blue lantern?"

Jan did not answer.

It was now quite dark, and down in the lake, where there was a patch of black which was Star Island, could be seen a flickering blue glow, that seemed to stand still and then move about.

"Maybe it's lightning bugs," suggested Jan.

"Huh! Fireflies are sort of white," exclaimed Ted. "I never saw a light like that before."

"Me, either, Ted! Hurry up home. Giddap, Nicknack!" and Jan threw at the goat a pine cone, one of several she had picked up and put in the wagon when they were taking a rest in the woods that afternoon.

Nicknack gave a funny little wiggle to his tail, which the children could hardly see in the darkness, and then he trotted on faster. The Curlytops, looking back, had a last glimpse of the flickering blue light as they hurried toward Cherry Farm, and they were a little frightened.

"What do you s'pose it is?" asked Jan.

"I don't know," answered Ted. "We'll ask Grandpa. Go on, Nicknack!"



Chapter II

What The Farmer Told


"Well, where in the world have you children been?"

"Didn't you know we'd be worried about you?"

"Did you get lost again?"

Mother Martin, Grandpa Martin and Grandma Martin took turns asking these three questions as Ted and Jan drove up to the farmhouse in the darkness a little later.

"You said you wouldn't stay late," went on Mother Martin, as the Curlytops got out of the goat-wagon.

"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Ted.

"Oh, but we're so scared!" exclaimed Jan, and as Grandma Martin put her arms about the little girl she felt Jan's heart beating faster than usual.

"Why, what is the matter?" asked the old lady.

"Me wants a wide wif Nicknack!" demanded Baby William, as he stood beside his mother in the doorway.

"No, Trouble. Not now," answered Ted. "Nicknack is tired and has to have his supper. Is there any supper left for us?" he asked eagerly.

"Well, I guess we can find a cold potato, or something like it, for such tramps as you," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But where on earth have you been, and what kept you?"

Then Ted put Nicknack in the barn. But when he came back he and Jan between them told of having stayed playing later than they meant to.

"Well, you got home only just in time," said Mother Martin as she took the children to the dining-room for a late supper. "It's starting to rain now."

And so it was, the big drops pelting down and splashing on the windows.

"But what frightened you, Jan?" asked Grandma Martin.

"It was a queer blue light on Star Island."

"A light on Star Island!" exclaimed her grandfather. "Nonsense! Nobody stays on the island after dark unless it's a fisherman or two, and the fish aren't biting well enough now to make anyone stay late to try to catch them. You must have dreamed it -- or made-believe."

"No, we really saw it!" declared Ted. "It was a fliskering blue light."

"Well, if there's any such thing there as a 'fliskering' blue light we'll soon find out what it is," said Grandpa Martin.

"How?" asked Ted, his eyes wide open in wonder.

"By going there to see what it is. I'm going to take you two Curlytops to camp on Star Island, and if there's anything queer there we'll see what it is."

"Oh, are we really going to live on Star Island?" gasped Janet.

"Camping out with grandpa! Oh, what fun!" cried Ted. "Do you mean it?" and he looked anxiously at the farmer, fearing there might be some joke about it.

"Oh, I really mean it," said Grandpa Martin. "Though I hardly believe you saw a real light on the island. It must have been a firefly."

"Lightning bugs aren't that color," declared Ted. "It was a blue light, almost like Fourth of July. But tell us about camping, Grandpa!"

"Yes, please do," begged Jan.

And while the children are eating their late supper, and Grandpa Martin is telling them his plans, I will stop just a little while to make my new readers better acquainted with the Curlytops and their friends.

You have already met Theodore, or Teddy or Ted Martin, and his sister Janet, or Jan. With their mother, they were spending the long summer vacation on Cherry Farm, the country home of Grandpa Martin outside the town of Elmburg, near Clover Lake. Mr. Richard Martin, or Dick, as Grandpa Martin called him, owned a store in Cresco, where he lived with his family. Besides Ted and Jan there was Baby William, aged about three years. He was called Trouble, for the reason I have told you, though Mother Martin called him "Dear Trouble" to make up for the fun Ted and Jan sometimes poked at him.

Then there was Nora Jones, the maid who helped Mrs. Martin with the cooking and housework. And I must not forget Skyrocket, a dog, nor Turnover, a cat. These did not help with the housework -- though I suppose you might say they did, too, in a way, for they ate the scraps from the table and this helped to save work.

In the first book of this series, called "The Curlytops at Cherry Farm," I had the pleasure of telling you how Jan and Ted, with their father, mother and Nora went to grandpa's place in the country to spend the happy vacation days. On the farm, which was named after the number of cherry trees on it, the Curlytops found a stray goat which they were allowed to keep, and they got a wagon which Nicknack (the name they gave their new pet) drew with them in it.

Having the goat made up for having to leave the dog and the cat at home, and Nicknack made lots of good times for Ted and Jan. In the book you may read of the worry the children carried because Grandpa Martin had lost money on account of a flood at his farm, and so could not help when there was a fair and collection for the Crippled Children's Home.

But, most unexpectedly, the cherries helped when Mr. Sam Sander, the lollypop man, bought them from Grandpa Martin, and found a way of making them into candy. And when Ted and Jan and Trouble were lost in the woods once, the lollypop man --  -- 

But I think you would rather read the story for yourself in the other book. I will just say that the Curlytops were still at Cherry Farm, though Father Martin had gone away for a little while. And now, having told you about the family, I'll go back where I left off, and we'll see what is happening.

"Yes," said Grandpa Martin, "I think I will take you Curlytops to camp on Star Island. Camping will do you good. You'll learn lots in the woods there. And won't it be fun to live in a tent?"

"Oh, won't it though!" cried Ted, and the shine in Jan's eyes and the glow on her red cheeks showed how happy she was.

"But I'd like to know what that blue light was," said the little girl.

"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Grandpa Martin. "I'll get that blue light and hang it in our tent for a lantern."

I think I mentioned that Jan and Ted had such wonderful curling hair that even strangers, seeing them the first time, called them the "Curlytops." And Ted, who was aged seven years, with his sister just a year younger (their anniversaries coming on exactly the same day) did not in the least mind being called this. He and Jan rather liked it.

"Let's don't go to bed yet," said Jan to her brother, as they finished supper and went from the dining-room into the sitting-room, where they were allowed to play and have good times if they did not get too rough. And they did not often do this.

"All right. It is early," Ted agreed. "But what can we do?"

"Let's pretend we have a camp here," went on Jan.

"Where?" asked Ted.

"Right in the sitting-room," answered Jan. "We can make-believe the couch is a tent, and we can crawl under it and go to sleep."

"I wants to go to sleeps there!" cried Trouble. "I wants to go to sleeps right now!"

"Shall we take him back to mother?" asked Ted, looking at his sister. "If he's sleepy now he won't want to play."

"I isn't too sleepy to play," objected Baby William. "I can go to sleeps under couch if you wants me to," he added.

"Oh, that'll be real cute!" cried Janet. "Come on, Ted, let's do it! We can make-believe Trouble is our little dog, or something like that, to watch over our tent, and he can go to sleep --  -- "

"Huh! how's he going to watch if he goes to sleep?" Ted demanded.

"Oh, well, he can make-believe go to sleep or make-believe watch, either one," explained Janet.

"Yes, I s'pose he could do that," agreed Teddy.

Baby William opened his mouth wide and yawned.

"I guess he'll do some real sleeping," said Janet with a laugh. "Come on, Trouble, before you get your eyes so tight shut you can't open 'em again. Come on, we'll play camping!" and she led the way into the sitting room and over toward the big couch at one end.

Many a good time the children had had in this room, and the old couch, pretty well battered and broken now, had been in turn a fort, a steamboat, railroad car, and an automobile. That was according to the particular make-believe game the children were playing. Now the old couch was to be a tent, and Jan and Ted moved some chairs, which would be part of the pretend-camp, up in front of it.

"It'll be a lot of fun when we go camping for real," said Teddy, as he helped his sister spread one of Grandma Martin's old shawls over the backs of some chairs. This was to be a sort of second tent where they could make-believe cook their meals.

"Yes, we'll have grand fun," agreed Jan. "No, you mustn't go to sleep up there, Trouble!" she called to the little fellow, for he had crawled up on top of the couch and had stretched himself out as though to take a nap.

"Why?" he asked.

"'Cause the tent part is under it," explained his sister. "That's the top of the tent where you are. You can't go to sleep on top of a tent. You might fall off."

"I can fall off now!" announced Trouble, as he suddenly thought of something. Then he gave a wiggle and rolled off the seat, bumping into Ted, who had stooped down to put a rug under the couch-tent.

"Ouch!" cried Ted. "Look out what you're doing, Trouble! You bumped my head."

"I -- I bumped my head!" exclaimed the little fellow, rubbing his tangled hair.

"He didn't mean to," said Janet. "You mustn't roll off that way, Trouble. You might be hurt. Come now, go to sleep under the couch. That's inside the tent you know."

She showed him where Ted had spread the rug, as far back under the couch as he could reach, and this looked to Trouble like a nice place.

"I go to sleeps in there!" he said, and under the couch he crawled, growling and grunting.

"What are you doing that for?" asked Ted, in some surprise.

"I's a bear!" exclaimed Baby William. "I's a bad bear! Burr-r-r-r!" and he growled again.

"Oh, you mustn't do that!" objected Janet. "We don't want any bears in our camp!"

"Course we can have 'em!" cried Ted. "That'll be fun! We'll play Trouble is a bear 'stead of a dog, and I can hunt him. Only I ought to have something for a gun. I know! I'll get grandpa's Sunday cane!" and he started for the hall.

"Oh, no. I don't want to play bear and hunting!" objected Janet.

"Why not?"

"'Cause it's too -- too -- scary at night. Let's play something nice and quiet. Let Trouble be our watch dog, and we can be in camp and he can bark and scare something."

"What'll he scare?" asked Ted.

Meanwhile Baby William was crawling as far back under the couch as he could, growling away, though whether he was pretending to be a bear, a lion or only a dog no one knew but himself.

"What do you want him to scare?" asked Ted of his sister.

"Oh -- oh -- well, chickens, maybe!" she answered.

"Pooh! Chickens aren't any fun!" cried Ted. "If Trouble is going to be a dog let him scare a wild bull, or something like that. Anyhow chickens don't come to camp."

"Well, neither does wild bulls!" declared Janet.

"Yes, they do!" cried Ted, and it seemed as if there would be so much talk that the children would never get to playing anything. "Don't you 'member how daddy told us about going camping, and in the night a wild bull almost knocked down the tent."

"Well, that was real, but this is only make-believe," said Janet. "Let Trouble scare the chickens."

"All right," agreed Ted, who was nearly always kind to his sister. "Go on and growl, Trouble. You're a dog and you're going to scare the chickens out of camp."

They waited a minute but Trouble did not growl.

"Why don't you make a noise?" asked Janet.

Trouble gave a grunt.

"What's the matter?" asked Ted.

"I -- I can't growl 'cause I'm all stuck under here," answered the voice of the little fellow, from far under the couch. "I can't wiggle!"

"Oh, dear!" cried Janet.

Teddy stooped and looked beneath the couch.

"He's caught on some of the springs that stick down," he said. "I'll poke him out."

He caught hold of Trouble's clothes and pulled the little fellow loose. But Trouble cried -- perhaps because he was sleepy -- and then his mother came and got him, leaving Teddy and Janet to play by themselves, which they did until they, too, began to feel sleepy.

"You'll want to go to bed earlier than this when you go camping, my Curlytops," said Grandpa Martin, as the children came out of the sitting-room.

"Are you really going to take them camping?" asked Mother Martin after Jan and Ted had gone upstairs to bed.

"I really am. There are some tents in the barn. I own part of Star Island and there's no nicer place to camp. You'll come, too, and so will Dick when he comes back from Cresco. We'll take Nora along to do the cooking. Will you come, Mother?" and the Curlytops' grandfather looked at his gray-haired wife.

"No, I'll stay on Cherry Farm and feed the hired men," she answered with a smile.

"Why do they call it Star Island?" asked Ted's mother.

"Well, once upon a time, a good many years ago," said Grandpa Martin, "a shooting star, or meteor, fell blazing on the island, and that's how it got its name."

"Maybe it was a part of the star shining that the children saw to-night," said Grandma Martin. "Though I don't see how it could be, for it fell many years ago."

"Maybe," agreed her husband.

None of them knew what a queer part that fallen star was to have in the lives of those who were shortly to go camping on the island.

Early the next morning after breakfast, Ted and Jan went out to the barn to get Nicknack to have a ride.

"Where is you? I wants to come, too!" cried the voice of their little brother, as they were putting the harness on their goat.

"Oh, there's Trouble," whispered Ted. "Shall we take him with us, Jan?"

"Yes, this time. We're not going far. Grandma wants us to go to the store for some baking soda."

"All right, we'll drive down," returned Ted. "Come on, Trouble!" he called.

"I's tummin'," answered Baby William. "I's dot a tookie."

"He means cookie," said Jan, laughing.

"I know it," agreed Ted. "I wish he'd bring me one."

"Me too!" exclaimed Janet.

"I's dot a 'ot of tookies," went on Trouble, who did not always talk in such "baby fashion." When he tried to he could speak very well, but he did not often try.

"Oh, he's got his whole apron full of cookies!" cried Jan. "Where did you get them?" she asked, as her little brother came into the barn.

"Drandma given 'em to me, an' she said you was to have some," announced the little boy, as he let the cookies slide out of his apron to a box that stood near the goat-wagon.

Then Baby William began eating a cookie, and Jan and Ted did also, for they, too, were hungry, though it was not long after breakfast.

"Goin' to wide?" asked Trouble, his mouth full of cookie.

"Yes, we're going for a ride," answered Jan. "Oh, Ted, get a blanket or something to put over our laps. It's awful dusty on the road to-day, even if it did rain last night. It all dried up, I guess."

"All right, I'll get a blanket from grandpa's carriage. And you'd better get a cushion for Trouble."

"I will," said Janet, and her brother and sister left Baby William alone with the goat for a minute or two.

When Jan came back with the cushion she went to get another cookie, but there were none.

"Why Trouble Martin!" she cried, "did you eat them all?"

"All what?"

"All the cookies!"

"I did eat one and Nicknack -- he did eat the west. He was hungry, he was, and he did eat the west ob 'em. I feeded 'em to him. Nicknack was a hungry goat," said Trouble, smiling.

"I should think he was hungry, to eat up all those cookies! I only had one!" cried Jan.

"What! Did Nicknack get at the cookies?" cried Ted, coming back with a light lap robe.

"Trouble gave them to him," explained Janet. "Oh dear! I was so hungry for another!"

"I'll ask grandma for some," promised Ted, and he soon came back with his hands full of the round, brown molasses cookies.

"Hello, Curlytops, what can I do for you to-day?" asked the storekeeper a little later, when the three children had driven up to his front door. "Do you want a barrel of sugar put in your wagon or a keg of salt mack'rel? I have both."

"We want baking soda," answered Jan.

"And you shall have the best I've got. Where are you going -- off to look for the end of the rainbow and get the pot of gold at the end?" he asked jokingly.

"No, we're not going far to-day," answered Ted.

"Well, stop in when you're passing this way again," called out the storekeeper as Ted turned Nicknack around for the homeward trip. "I'm always glad to see you."

"Maybe you won't see us now for quite a while," answered Jan proudly.

"No? Why not? You're not going to leave Cherry Farm I hope."

Ted stopped Nicknack that they might better explain.

"We're going camping with grandpa on Star Island."

"Where's that you're going?" asked a farmer who had just come out of the store after buying some groceries.

"Camping on Star Island in Clover Lake," repeated Ted.

"Huh! I wouldn't go there if I were you," said the farmer, shaking his head.

"Why not?" asked Ted. "Is it because of the blue light?" and he looked at his sister to see if she remembered.

"I don't know anything about a blue light," the farmer answered. "But if I were your grandfather I wouldn't take you there camping," and the man again shook his head.

"Why not?" asked Janet, her eyes opening wide in surprise.

"Well, I'll tell you why," went on the farmer. "I was over on Star Island fishing the other day, and I saw a couple of tramps, or maybe gypsies, there. I didn't like the looks of the men, and that's why I wouldn't go there camping if I were you or your grandpa," and the farmer shook his head again as he unhitched his team of horses.



Chapter III

Off To Star Island


"Oh Ted!" exclaimed Janet, as she drove home in the goat-wagon with her brother and Baby William, "do you s'pose we can't go camping with grandpa?"

"Why can't we?" demanded Teddy.

"'Cause of what that farmer said."

"Oh, well, I guess grandpa won't be 'fraid of tramps on the island. It's part his, anyhow, and he can make 'em get off."

"Yes, he could do that," agreed Janet, after thinking the matter over. "But if they were gypsies?"

"Well, gypsies and tramps are the same. Grandpa can make the gypsies get off the island too."

"They -- they might take Trouble," faltered Jan in a low voice.

"Who?" asked Ted.

"The gypsies."

"Who take me?" demanded Trouble himself. "Who take me, Jam?"

Sometimes he called his sister Jam instead of Jan.

"Who take me?" he asked, playfully poking his fingers in his sister's eyes.

"Oh -- nobody," she answered quickly, as she took him off her lap and put him behind her in the cart. She did not want to frighten her little brother. "Let's hurry home and tell grandpa," Jan said to Ted, and he nodded his curly head to show that he would do that.

On trotted Nicknack, Trouble being now seated in the back of the wagon on a cushion, while Ted and Jan were in front.

"Maybe it was tramps making a campfire that we saw last night," went on Jan after a pause, during which they came nearer to Cherry Farm.

"A campfire blaze isn't blue," declared Ted.

"Well, maybe this is a new kind."

Ted shook his head until his curls waggled.

"I don't b'lieve so," he said.

"Bang! There, me shoot you!" suddenly cried Trouble, and Ted and Jan heard something fall with a thud on the ground behind them.

"Whoa, there!" cried Ted to Nicknack. "What are you shootin', Trouble baby?" he asked, turning to look at his little brother.

"Me shoot a bunny rabbit," was the answer.

"Oh, there is a little bunny!" cried Jan, pointing to a small, brown one that ran along under the bushes, and then came to a stop in front of the goat-wagon, pausing to look at the children.

"Me shoot him," said Trouble, laughing gleefully.

"What with?" asked Ted, a sudden thought coming into his mind.

"Trouble frow store thing at bunny," said the little boy. "It bwoke an' all white stuff comed out!"

"Oh, Trouble, did you throw grandma's soda at the bunny?" cried Jan.

"Yes, I did," answered Baby William.

"And it's all busted!" exclaimed Ted, as he saw the white powder scattered about on the woodland path. "We've got to go back to the store for some more. Oh, Trouble Martin!"

"I's didn't hurt de bunny wabbit," said Trouble earnestly. "I's only make-be'ieve shoot him -- bang!"

"I know you didn't hurt the bunny," observed Jan. "But you've hurt grandma's soda. Is there any left, Ted?" she asked, as her brother got out of the wagon to pick up the broken package.

"A little," he answered. "There's some in the bottom. I guess we'll go back to the store and get more. I want to ask that farmer again about the tramps on Star Island."

"No, don't," begged Jan. "Let's take what soda we have to grandma. Maybe it'll be enough. Anyhow, if we did go back for more Trouble might throw that out, too, if he saw a rabbit."

"That's so. I guess we'd better leave him when we go to the store next time. How'd he get the soda, anyhow?"

"It must have jiggled out of my lap, where I was holding it, and then it fell in the bottom of the wagon and he got it. He didn't know any better."

"No, I s'pose not. Well, maybe grandma can use this."

Teddy carefully lifted up the broken package of baking soda, more than half of which had spilled when Trouble threw it at the little brown rabbit. Baby William may have thought the package of soda was a white stone, for it was wrapped in a white paper.

"Well, I'm glad he didn't hit the little bunny, anyhow," said Jan. "Where is it?" and she looked for the rabbit.

But the timid woodland creature had hopped away, probably to go to its burrow and tell a wonderful story, in rabbit language, about having seen some giants in a big wagon drawn by an elephant -- for to a rabbit a goat must seem as large as a circus animal.

"I guess Trouble can't hit much that he throws at," observed Ted, as he started Nicknack once more toward Cherry Farm.

"He threw a hair brush at me once and hit me," declared Jan.

"Yes, I remember," said Teddy. "Here, Trouble, if you want to throw things throw these," and he stopped to pick up some old acorns which he gave his little brother. "You can't hurt anyone with them."

Trouble was delighted with his new playthings, and kept quiet the rest of the way home tossing the acorns out of the goat-wagon at the trees he passed.

Grandma Martin said it did not matter about the broken box of soda, as there was enough left for her need; so Ted and Jan did not have to go back to the store.

"But I'd like to ask that farmer more about the tramps on Star Island," said Ted to his grandfather, when telling what the man had said at the grocery.

"I'll see him and ask him," decided Grandpa Martin.

It was two days after this -- two days during which the Curlytops had much fun at Cherry Farm -- that Grandpa Martin spoke at dinner one afternoon.

"I saw Mr. Crittendon," he said, "and he told me that he had seen you Curlytops at the store and mentioned the tramps on Star Island."

"Are they really there?" asked Jan eagerly.

"Well, they might have been. But we won't let them bother us if we go camping. I'll make them clear out. Most of that island belongs to me, and the rest to friends of mine. They'll do as I say, and we'll clear out the tramps."

"I hope you will, Grandpa," said Janet.

"Did Mr. Crittendon say anything about the queer blue light Jan and Ted saw?" asked Grandma Martin.

"No, he hadn't seen that."

"Where did the tramps come from? And is he sure they weren't gypsies?" asked Jan's mother.

"No, they weren't gypsies. We don't often see them around here. Oh, I imagine the tramps were the regular kind that go about the country in summer, begging their way. They might have found a boat and gone to the island to sleep, where no constable would trouble them.

"But we're not afraid of tramps, are we, Curlytops?" he cried, as he caught Baby William up in his arms and set him on his broad shoulder. "We don't mind them, do we, Trouble?"

"We frow water on 'em!" said Baby William, laughing with delight as his grandfather made-believe bite some "souse" off his ears.

"That's what we will! No tramps for us on Star Island!"

"When are we going?" asked Ted excitedly.

"Yes, when?" echoed Jan.

"In a few days now. I've got to get out the tents and other things. We'll go the first of the week I think."

Ted and Jan could hardly wait for the time to come. They helped as much as they could when Grandpa Martin got the tents out of the barn, and they wanted to take so many of their toys and playthings along that there would have been no room in the boat for anything else if they had had their way.

But Mother Martin thinned out their collection of treasures, allowing them to take only what she thought would give them the most pleasure. Boxes of food were packed, and a little stove made ready to take along, for although a campfire looks nice it is hard to cook over.

Trouble got into all sorts of mischief, from almost falling out of the haymow once, to losing the bucket down the well by letting the chain unwind too fast. But a hired man caught him as he toppled off the hay in the barn, and Grandpa Martin got the bucket up from the well by tying the rake to a long pole and fishing deep down in the water.

At last the day came when the Curlytops were to go camping on Star Island. The boat was loaded with the tents and other things, and two or three trips were to be made half-way across the lake, for the island was about in the middle. Nicknack and his wagon were to be taken over and a small stable made for him under a tree not far from the big tent.

"All aboard!" cried Ted, as he and Jan took their places in the first boat. "All aboard!"

"Isn't this fun!" laughed Janet, who was taking care of Trouble.

"Dis fun," echoed the little chap.

"I'm sure we'll have a nice time," said Mother Martin. "And your father will like it when he, too, can camp out with us."

"I hope the tramps don't bother you," said Mr. Crittendon, who had come to help Grandpa Martin get his camping party ready.

"Oh, we're not afraid of them!" cried Ted.

"Well, be careful; that's all I've got to say," went on the farmer. "I'll let you have my gun, if you think you'll need it," he said to Grandpa Martin.

"Nonsense! I won't need it, thank you. I'm not afraid of a few tramps. Besides I sent one of my men over to the island yesterday, and he couldn't find a sign of a vagrant. If any tramps were there they've gone."

"Wa-all, maybe," said the farmer, with a shake of his head. "Good luck to you, anyhow!"

"Thanks!" laughed Grandpa Martin.

"All aboard!" called Ted once more.

Then Sam, the hired man, and Grandpa Martin began to row the boat.

The Curlytops were off for Star Island, to camp out with grandpa.



Chapter IV

Overboard


"Trouble! sit still!" ordered Janet.

"Yes, Trouble, you sit still!" called Mother Martin, as the Curlytops' grandfather and his man pulled on the oars that sent the boat out toward the middle of the lake. "Don't move about."

"I wants to splash water."

"Oh, no, you mustn't do that! Splashing water isn't nice," said Baby William's mother.

"'Ike drandpa does," Trouble went on, pointing to the oars which the farmer was moving to and fro. Now and then a little wave hit the broad blades and splashed little drops into the boat.

"Trouble want do that!" declared the little fellow.

"No, Trouble mustn't do that," said his mother. "Grandpa isn't splashing the water. He's rowing. Sit still and watch him."

Baby William did sit still for a little while, but not for very long. His mother held to the loose part of his blue and white rompers so he would not get far away, but, after a bit, she rather forgot about him, in talking to Ted and Jan about what they were to do and not to do in camp.

Suddenly grandpa, who had been rowing slowly toward Star Island, dropped his oars and cried:

"Look out there, Trouble!"

"Oh, what's the matter?" asked Mother Martin, looking around quickly.

"Trouble nearly jumped out of the boat," explained Grandpa Martin. "I just grabbed him in time."

And so he had, catching Baby William by the seat of his rompers and pulling him back on the seat from which he had quickly sprung up.

"What were you trying to do?" asked Mrs. Martin.

"Trouble want to catch fish," was the little fellow's answer.

"Yes! I guess a fish would catch you first!" laughed Ted.

"I'll sit by him and hold him in," offered Janet, and she remained close to her small brother during the remainder of the trip across the lake. He did not again try to lean far over as he had done when his grandfather saw him and grabbed him.

"Hurray!" cried Teddy, as he sprang ashore. "Now for the camp! Can I help put up the tents, Grandpa?"

"Yes, when it's time. But first we must bring the rest of the things over. We'll finish that first and put up the tents afterward. We have two more boatloads to bring."

"Then can't I help do that?"

"Yes, you may do that," said Grandpa Martin with a smile.

"Can't I come, too?" asked Janet. "I'm almost as strong as Teddy."

"I think you'd better stay and help me look after Trouble," said Mrs. Martin. "Nora will be busy getting lunch ready for us, which we will eat before the tents are up."

"Oh, then I can help at that!" cried Janet, who was eager to be busy. "Come on, Nora! Where are the things to eat, Mother? I'm hungry already!"

"So'm I!" cried Ted. "Can't we eat before we go back for the other boatload, Grandpa?"

"Yes, I guess so. You Curlytops can eat while Sam and I unload the boat. I'll call you Teddy, when I'm ready to go back."

"All right, Grandpa."

The tents were to be put up and camp made a little way up from the shore near the spot at which they had landed. Grandpa Martin took out of the boat the different things he had brought over, and stacked them up on shore. Parts of the tents were there, and things to cook with as well as food to eat. More things would be brought on the next two trips, when another of the hired men was to come over to help put up the tents and make camp.

"Oh, I just know we'll have fun here, camping with grandpa!" laughed Jan, as she picked up her small brother who had slipped and fallen down a little hill, covered with brown pine needles.

"Let's go and look for something," proposed Ted, when he had run about a bit and thrown stones in the lake, watching the water splash up and hundreds of rings chase each other toward shore.

"What'll we look for?" asked Janet, as she took hold of Trouble's hand, so he would not slip down again.

"Oh, anything we can find," went on Ted. "We'll have some fun while we're waiting for grandpa to get out the things to eat."

"I want something to eat!" cried Trouble. "I's hungry!"

"So'm I -- a little bit," admitted Jan.

"Maybe we could find a cookie -- or something -- before they get everything unpacked," suggested Teddy, and this was just what happened. Grandpa Martin had some cookies in a paper bag in his pocket. Grandma Martin had put them there, for she felt sure the children would get hungry before their regular lunch was ready on the island. And she knew how hungry it makes anyone, children especially, to start off on a picnic in the woods or across a lake.

"There you are, Curlytops!" laughed Grandpa Martin, as he passed out the molasses and sugar cookies. "Now don't drop any of them on your toes!"

"Why not?" Ted wanted to know.

"Oh, because it might break them -- I mean it might break your cookies," and Grandpa Martin laughed again.

"Come now, we'll go and look for things," proposed Ted, as he took a bite of his cookie, something which Jan and Trouble were also doing.

"What'll we look for?" Jan asked again.

"Oh, maybe we can find a cave or a den where a -- where a fox lives," he said, rather stumbling over his words.

At first Ted had been going to say that perhaps they would look for a bear's den, but then he happened to remember that even talk of a bear, though of course there were none on Star Island, might scare his little brother and Jan. So he said "fox" instead.

"Is there a fox here?" Jan asked.

"Maybe," said Ted. "Anyhow, let's go off and look."

"Don't go too far!" called Grandpa Martin after them, as he started to unload the boat and get the camp in order. "And don't go too near the edge of the lake. I don't want you to fall in and have your mother blame me."

"No, we won't!" promised Ted. "Come on," he called to his little brother and sister. "Oh, there you go again!" he cried, as he saw Trouble stumble and fall. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"It's these pine needles. They're awfully slippery," answered Janet. "I nearly slipped down myself. Did you hurt yourself, Trouble?" she asked the little fellow.

He did not answer directly, but first looked at the place where he had fallen. He could easily see it, because the pine needles were brushed to one side. Then Baby William tried to turn around and look at the back of his little bloomers.

"No, I isn't hurted," he said.

Janet and Ted laughed.

"I guess maybe he thought he might have broken his leg or something," remarked Teddy. "Now come on and don't fall any more, Trouble."

But the little fellow was not quite ready to go on. He stooped over and looked at the ground where he had fallen.

"What's the matter?" asked Janet, who was waiting to lead him on, holding his hand so he would not fall.

"Maybe he lost something," said Teddy. "Has he got any pockets in his bloomers, Jan?"

"No, mother sewed 'em up so he wouldn't put his hands in 'em all the while -- and his hands were so dirty they made his bloomers the same way. He hasn't any pockets."

"Then he couldn't lose anything," decided Ted. He was always losing things from his pockets, so perhaps he ought to know about what he was talking. "What is it, Trouble?" he asked, for the little fellow was still stooping over and looking carefully at the ground near the spot where he had fallen.

"I -- I satted right down on him," said Trouble at last, as he picked up something from the earth. "I satted right down on him, but I didn't bust him," and he held out something on a little piece of wood.

"What's he got?" asked Ted.

"Oh, it's only an ant!" answered Janet. "I guess he saw a little ant crawling along, just before he fell, and he sat down on him. Did you think you'd hurt the little ant, Trouble?"

"I satted on him, but I didn't hurt him," answered the little boy. "He can wiggle along nice -- see!" and he showed the ant, crawling about on the piece of wood. Perhaps the little ant wondered how in the world it was ever going to get back to the ground again.

"Put him down and come on," said Ted. "We want to find something before grandpa puts up the tent. Maybe we can find the den where the fox lives."

Trouble carefully put the little ant back on the ground.

"I satted on him, but I didn't hurted him," again said the little fellow, grunting as he stood up straight again. Janet took his hand and they followed Teddy off through the forest.

It was very pleasant in the woods on Star Island. The sun was shining brightly and the waters of the lake sparkled in the sun. The children felt glad and happy that they had come camping with their grandpa, and they knew that the best fun was yet to happen.

"Let's look around for holes now," said Teddy, after they had gone a little way down a woodland path.

"What sort of holes?" asked Janet.

"Holes where a fox lives," answered her brother. "If we could find a fox maybe we could tame it."

"Wouldn't it bite?" the little girl asked.

"Well, maybe a little bit at first, but not after it got tame," said Teddy. "Come on!"

They walked a little way farther, and then Jan suddenly cried:

"Oh, I see a hole!"

She pointed to one beneath the roots of a big tree.

"That's a fox den, I guess!" exclaimed Teddy. "We'll watch and see what comes out."

The children hid in the bushes where they could look at the hole in the ground. For some time they waited, and then they began to get tired. The Curlytops were not used to keeping still.

"I'm going to sneeze!" said Trouble suddenly, and sneeze he did. And just then a little brown animal bounced out from under a bush and ran into the hole.

"Oh, it's a bunny rabbit!" cried Janet. "He lives in that hole! Come on, Ted, let's walk. We've found out what it was. It isn't a fox, it's a bunny! Let's go and find something else on the island. Maybe we can find a big cave."

"And maybe we'll find out what that blue light was," cried Ted eagerly.

"I guess I don't want to look for that," remarked Jan slowly.

"Why not?"

"'Cause don't you 'member what Hal said about there bein' ghosts on this island?" and Janet looked over her shoulder, though it was broad daylight.

"Pooh!" laughed her brother. "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts."

"I don't -- but --  -- "

"I'm not afraid!" declared Teddy. "And I'm going to look and see if I can't find the lost star that fell on the island."

"Grandpa said it all burned up."

"Well, maybe a little piece of it was left. Anyhow I'm going to look."

So they looked, but they found nothing like the blue light, and then Ted said he was hungry and wanted to eat.

Nora and Mrs. Martin had set out a little lunch for the children on top of a packing box, and the Curlytops and Trouble were soon enjoying the sandwiches and cake, while their grandfather and the hired man finished unloading the boat. In a little while Grandpa Martin called:

"All aboard, Teddy, if you're going back with me!"

"I'm coming!" was the answer. "I'm coming!"

It did not take Grandpa Martin long to pull back to the mainland in the boat which was empty save for himself and Ted. The lake was smooth, a little wind making tiny waves that gently lapped the side of the boat.

"I think we'd better bring Nicknack over this trip," said Grandpa Martin, when a second farm hand met him on shore and began to help load the boat for the second trip. "The sooner we get that goat over on the island the better I'll feel."

"Why, you're not afraid of him, are you?" asked the hired man whose name was George.

"No. But I don't know how easy it's going to be to ferry him over. He may start some of his tricks. So we won't put much in the boat this time. We'll leave plenty of room for the goat and the cart."

"Oh, Nicknack will be good," declared Ted. "I know he will. Won't you, Nicknack?" and he put his arms around his pet. The goat had been driven down near the dock whence the boat started for Star Island.

"Well, unharness him and we'll get him on board," said the farmer. "Then we'll see what happens next."

Nicknack made no fuss at all about being unharnessed. His wagon was first wheeled on the boat, which was a large one and broad. Then Ted started Nicknack toward the craft.

"Giddap!" cried Teddy to Nicknack. "We're going to camp on Star Island, and you can have lots of fun! Giddap!"

Nicknack stood still on the dock for a few seconds, and he seemed to be sniffing the boat and the water in which it floated. Then with a little wiggle of his funny, short tail, he jumped down in near his wagon, and began eating some grass which Ted had pulled and placed there for him.

"It's a sort of bait, like a piece of cheese in a mouse trap," remarked Ted, as he saw the goat nibbling. "Isn't he good, Grandpa?"

"He's good now, Teddy; but whether he'll be good all the way over is something I can't say. I hope so."

George put in the boat as much as could safely be carried, with the goat as a passenger, and then he and Grandpa Martin began rowing toward Star Island. At first everything went very well. Nicknack seemed a little frightened when the boat tipped and rocked, but Ted patted him and fed him more grass, which Nicknack liked very much.

"I knew he'd be good!" Teddy said, when they were almost at the island, and could see Jan waving to them. "I knew he'd like the boat ride, Grandpa."

"Yes, he seems to like it. Now if we --  -- "

But just then something happened.

The wind suddenly blew rather hard, roughening the water and causing the boat to tip. Nicknack was jostled over against the wagon, and some water splashed on him.

"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated the goat.

Then, before anyone could stop him, he gave a leap over Teddy's head, and into the water splashed Nicknack.

The goat had leaped overboard into the deepest part of Clover Lake!



Chapter V

The Bag Of Salt


"Oh! Oh!" cried Teddy. "Oh, there goes my nice goat! Catch him, Grandpa! Stop him!"

Grandpa Martin stopped rowing and looked in surprise at the goat. So did the hired man.

"Well, just look!" exclaimed George.

"Oh, he'll be drowned! He'll be drowned!" wailed Teddy, tears coming into his eyes, for he loved Nicknack. "He'll be drowned!"

Grandpa Martin rested his hands on the oars and looked into the water. Then he smiled.

"I guess you'd have hard work drowning that goat," he said. "He's swimming like a fish!"

"And right straight for Star Island!" added the hired man. "That's a smart goat all right! He knows where he wants to go, and the shortest way to get there!"

Surely enough Nicknack was swimming toward the island. When he jumped out of the boat he floundered a little in the water, and splashed some on Teddy. Then he struck out, paddling as a dog does with his front feet. Nicknack turned himself about until he was headed toward the island, and then he swam straight toward it.

"Oh, won't he drown, Grandpa?" asked Teddy.

"I don't believe so, my boy! I guess Nicknack knows more than we thought he did. Maybe he didn't like the way we rowed, or he may have wanted a bath. Anyhow he jumped overboard, but he'll be all right."

"See him go!" cried the hired man.

Nicknack was swimming quite fast. Of course a goat is not as good a swimmer as is a duck or a fish, but Ted's pet did very well. On shore were Nora, Mrs. Martin, Janet, Trouble, and the farm hand who had gone over in the first boatload. They were watching the goat swimming toward them.

"Did you throw him into the water, Teddy?" asked Janet, as soon as the boat was near enough so that talking could be heard.

"He jumped in," Ted answered. "Isn't he a good swimmer?"

"I should say so! Here, Nicknack! Come here!" Janet called.

The goat, which had been headed toward a spot a little way down the island from where Janet and her mother stood, turned at the sound of the little girl's voice and came in her direction.

"Oh, he knows me!" she cried in delight. "Now don't shake yourself the way Skyrocket does, and get me all wet!" she begged, as Nicknack scrambled out on shore, water dripping from his hairy coat.

But the goat did not act like a dog, who gives himself a great shaking whenever he comes on shore after having been in the water. Nicknack just let it drip off him, and began to nibble some of the grass that grew on the island. He was making himself perfectly at home, it seemed.

The goat-wagon and the other things were soon landed, and then Grandpa Martin and one of the hired men went back for the last load. When that came back and the things were piled up near the tents, the work of setting up the camp went on. There was much yet to be done.

Ted and Jan helped all they could in putting up the tents. So did Mother Martin and Nora, who was large and strong. She could pull on a rope about as well as a man, and there were many ropes that needed tightening and fastening around pegs driven into the ground so the tents would not blow over in the wind.

Nicknack had been tied to a tree, near which, a little later, Ted and Jan were going to make him a little bower of leaves and branches. That was to be his stable until a better one could be built by Grandpa Martin -- one that would keep Nicknack dry when it rained.

At last the tents were up, one for sleeping, another for cooking, and a third where the Curlytops and the others would eat their meals. It was a fine camp that Grandpa Martin made, and he knew just how to do it right, even to digging little trenches, or ditches, around the tents so the water would run off when it stormed.

"And now let's take a walk and see what we can find," suggested Ted to Janet, when Mother Martin said they might play about until supper was ready, for they had called the lunch they had eaten their dinner.

"Don't go too far," cautioned Mother Martin.

"Oh, we can't get lost on this island," said Ted. "All we'd have to do, if we were, would be to walk along the shore until we came to this camp."

"I know that. But it wasn't so much about your getting lost that I was thinking," said Mrs. Martin.

"Oh, you mean -- the tramps?" half whispered Janet.

"Well, I don't know whether there are any here or not," went on her mother. "But it's best to be careful until grandpa has had a chance to look about. Where is grandpa now?"

"He's getting some water at the spring," Ted answered.

There was a fine spring on Star Island, not far from the place where the tents had been set up, and Mr. Martin was now bringing pails of water from that and pouring them into a barrel which would hold so much that even Trouble would have plenty to drink no matter how thirsty he was.

"Well, don't go too far away until either grandpa or I have a chance to go with you," added Mrs. Martin.

"Me come, too," called Trouble, as he saw his brother and sister starting off.

"Oh, Mother!" exclaimed Teddy.

"No, you stay with mother," said Mrs. Martin. "I'll give you a nice drink of milk."

"Don't want milk. I's had milk. Trouble want Ted an' Jan."

"But you can't go with them, my dear. Come on, we'll go and throw stones into the lake and make-believe it's a great, big ocean!"

Baby William pouted a little at first. He liked to have his own way. But when he saw what fun his mother was having tossing stones into the lake and making the water splash up, Trouble did the same, laughing at the fun he was having.

"Dis a ocean, Momsey?" he asked as he set a little stick afloat, making believe it was a boat.

"Well, we'll call it an ocean," Mrs. Martin answered. "But this water is fresh, and that in the ocean is very salty. Some day I'll take you and my two little Curlytops to the real ocean, and you can taste how salty the waves are. Now we'll throw some more stones."

Meanwhile Ted and Jan started for a little walk down the path that went the whole length of Star Island.

"Shall we take Nicknack?" asked Jan.

"No, let's wait until he dries off after his bath," decided Teddy. "I don't like wet goats."

"Why, Teddy Martin! Nicknack got dried out hours ago!"

"Well, anyway, a goat isn't like a dog. We don't want a goat along when we are going out walking."

So Nicknack was left to nibble the grass, while the Curlytops wandered on and on. Grandpa and the hired men, having finished putting up the tents, were getting the stove ready so Nora could get supper.

"What are you looking for?" asked Jan when she noticed that her brother walked along as if searching for something. "Are you trying to see if any tramps or gypsies are here on the island?"

"No. I was thinking maybe I could find that fallen star."

"But didn't grandpa say it all melted up?"

"Maybe a piece of it's left," went on Ted. This was the second time that he had spoken of the star that day. "If I can't find a chunk of it, maybe I can find the hole it made when it hit," he added. "I'd like to find that. Maybe it would be bigger than the one I dug when I thought I could go all the way through to China."

"Yes. The time Skyrocket fell in!" laughed Jan. "'Member that, Teddy?"

"I guess I do! Daddy had to go out in the night and bring him in. Come on, let's look for the hole the shooting star made."

"All right."

The two Curlytops walked on over the island, looking here and there for star-holes. They found a number of deep places, but after looking at them, and poking sticks down into them, Ted decided that none of them had ever held a shooting star.

"Maybe bears made them," half whispered Jan.

"There aren't any bears on this island!" Teddy declared.

"I hope not," murmured his sister, as she looked over her shoulder and then kept close to her brother during the rest of the walk.

Pretty soon the children heard their mother's voice calling them. They could hear very plainly, for the air was clear.

"I guess supper is ready," said Janet.

"I hope it is!" sighed Ted. "I'm awful hungry!"

Supper was ready, smoking hot on the table in the dining-tent, when Ted and Jan reached the camp grandpa had made.

"Oh, how good it smells!" cried Ted.

"And how nice the white tents look under the green trees," added his sister. "I just love it here!"

"It is the nicest place we have yet been for the summer vacation," said Mother Martin. "This and Cherry Farm are two lovely places."

They sat down under the tent and began to eat. Nora had gotten up a fine supper, for a regular cook stove had been brought along, and it was almost like eating at Grandma Martin's table, only this was out of doors, for the sides of the tent were raised to let in the air and the rays of the setting sun.

"What's the matter, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin, as she saw the children's grandfather pause after tasting the potatoes. "Is anything wrong?"

"I think I'd like a little more salt on these."

"Yes, they do need salting. Nora, bring the salt please."

"There isn't any, except what I used when I was cooking -- a little I had in a salt-shaker."

"Oh, yes, there must be. I brought a whole bagful. I saw it when I unpacked some of the things. There was a sack of salt."

"Well, it isn't here now," said Nora, as she looked among her kitchen things.

"Has anyone seen the bag of salt?" asked Mrs. Martin.

She looked at Ted and Jan, who shook their heads. Then Trouble's mother looked at him. He was busy with a piece of bread and jam. One could have told Trouble had been eating bread and jam just by looking at his mouth and face.

"Did you see the salt, Trouble?" asked his mother.

"Iss, I did," he answered, taking another bite.

"Where is it?"

"In de water," he replied. "I puts it in de water."

"You put the salt in the water? What water? Tell mother, Trouble."

"I puts salt in de lake water to make him 'ike ocean. Trouble 'ike ocean. Come on, I show!" and, getting down out of his chair, he toddled toward a little cove near the camp. The others, following him, saw something white on the ground near the edge of the lake. Grandpa Martin touched it with his finger and tasted.

"The little tyke did empty the whole bag of salt in the lake!" cried the farmer. "Fancy his trying to make it like the ocean! Ho! Ho!"

"Oh, Trouble!" cried Mrs. Martin. "You wasted a whole bag of salt, and now grandpa hasn't any for his potatoes!"



Chapter VI

Ted And The Bear


Baby William looked a little bit frightened and ashamed as his mother spoke to him in that way. He loved his grandfather, and of course he would not have done anything to make him feel bad if he had thought. But Trouble was a very little fellow, though his father often said he could get into as many kinds of mischief as could the larger Curlytops.

"Oh dear! This is too bad!" went on Mrs. Martin. "Why did you do it, Trouble? What made you empty the bag of salt into the lake?"

"Want to make ocean wif salt water," was the answer.

"I suppose it's my fault, for telling him so much about the big sea and its salt water," said Trouble's mother. "He liked to hear me talk about the ocean, and I guess he must have been thinking about it more than I had any idea of.

"He must have tasted the water of the lake, and found it wasn't salty, and then he thought that, to make an ocean and big waves out of a lake, all he had to do was to put in the salt. I'm sorry, Father."

"Oh, that's all right," laughed Grandpa Martin. "I guess I can get along without any more salt."

"Trouble sorry, too," said the little fellow, when he understood that he had done something wrong. "Me get salt water for you," and he started toward the place where he had emptied the bag into the water, carrying a spoon from the table.

"No, Trouble! Come back!" ordered his mother. "I guess he wants to dip up some salt water for you," she said laughingly to the children's grandfather, "but he'd be more likely to fall in himself."

She caught Trouble up in her arms and kissed him, and then Nora managed to find a little salt in the bottom of the shaker, so Grandpa Martin had some on his potatoes after all. But Trouble was told he must never again do anything like that.

He promised, of course, but Jan said:

"He'll do something else, just as bad."

"I guess he will," laughed Teddy.

Supper over, Mr. Martin took his two men over to the mainland. On his return they all gathered about a little campfire grandpa made in front of the sleeping tent. The cot beds had been set up, and a mosquito netting was hung at the "front door" of the white canvas house, though really there was no door, just two flaps of the tent that could be tied together. But the netting kept out the bugs. Fortunately there were no mosquitoes, though all sorts of moths, snapping bugs and other flying things came around whenever a lantern was lighted.

"Tell us a story, Grandpa!" begged Janet, when they had finished talking about the many things that had happened during the first day in camp.

"Tell us about the shooting star that fell on this island," begged Teddy.

"Tell us about de twamps!" exclaimed Trouble, who ought to have been asleep, but who had begged to stay up a little longer than usual.

"I don't know anything about the tramps," laughed grandpa, "and I don't believe there are any on the island, though it is a large one, and it will take two or three days for us to walk all about it.

"As for the shooting star, which Teddy thinks about so much, I really didn't see it fall, and all I know is what the old men in the village have told me. It was many years ago."

"And did you ever see the blue light?" asked Ted, thinking of what he and his sister had seen the night they were coming home from the little visit to Hal Chester.

"No, I never did; though I'd like to, so I might know what it was."

"Children, how is grandpa ever going to tell you a story if you keep asking him so many questions?" laughed Mrs. Martin.

"All right -- now we'll listen," promised Teddy, and Grandpa Martin told a tale of when he was a little boy, and lived further to the north and on the edge of a big wood where there were bears and other wild animals. His father was a good hunter, Grandpa Martin said, and often used to kill bears and wolves, for the country was wild, with never so much as one automobile in it.

Grandpa finished his story of the olden days by telling of once when he was a small boy, coming home through the woods toward dark one evening and being chased by a bear. But he crawled into a hollow log where the bear could not get him, and later his father and some other hunters came, shot the bear and got the little boy safely out.

"Whew!" whistled Teddy, when this was finished. "I'd like to have been there!"

"In the log, hiding away from the bear?" asked his mother.

"No, I -- I guess not that," Ted answered. "I'd just like to have seen it up in a tree, where the bear couldn't get me."

"Bears can climb trees," remarked Janet.

"Well, I'd go up in a little tree too small for a bear," her brother answered.

"I guess you'd all better go to your little beds!" laughed Mother Martin. "It's long past your sleepy time."

And the Curlytops and Trouble were soon sound asleep.

It must have been about the middle of the night -- anyhow it was quite late -- when Teddy, who was sleeping in his cot next to one of the side walls of the tent, was suddenly awakened by a noise outside, and something seemed to be trying to get through.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Teddy, quickly sitting up in bed, and wide awake all at once. "Oh, Mother! Something's after me! It's a bear! It's a bear!"

"Hush!" quickly exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "You'll waken William, and frighten him!"

"But Mother! I'm sure it's a bear! He growled!"

"What is it?" asked Jan, from her cot on the other side of the tent.

"It's a bear!" cried Ted again.

There did seem to be something going on outside the tent near Ted's side. There was a crackling in the bushes, and once something came pushing hard against the side of the white canvas house with force enough to make a bulge in it. Teddy jumped up from his cot and ran over to his mother, who was sitting up on her bed.

"Oh, Mother! It's coming in!" cried Teddy.

"Nonsense!" and Mrs. Martin laughed as she put her arms around her small son.

"What is it?" asked Grandpa Martin from the curtained-off part of the tent where he slept.

"It's a bear!" cried Janet.

Just then, from outside came a loud:

"Baa-a-a-a-a!"

Teddy looked very much surprised. Then he smiled. Then he laughed and cried:

"Why, it's our goat Nicknack!"

"I guess that's what it is," added Grandpa Martin. "But he seems to be in trouble. I'll go outside and look."

Taking a lantern with him, while Mrs. Martin and the children waited a bit anxiously, Grandpa Martin went to see what had happened. The Curlytops heard him laughing as they saw the flicker of his light through the white tent. Then they heard Nicknack bleating again. The goat seemed, to those inside, to be kicking about with his little black hoofs.

"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Grandpa Martin. "I'll soon get you loose!"

There was more noise, more tramping in the bushes and then, after a while, Grandpa Martin came back.

"What was it?" asked Ted and Jan in whispers, for their mother had begged them not to awaken Trouble, who was still sleeping peacefully.

"It was your goat," was the answer. "He had got loose, and his horns were caught between two trees where he had tried to jump. He was held fast by his horns and he was kicking his heels up in the air, trying to get loose."

"Did you get him out?" asked Jan.

"Yes, I pried the trees apart and got his head loose. Then he was all right. I tied him good and tight in his stable, and I guess he won't bother us again to-night."

"Then it wasn't a bear after all," remarked Jan, laughing at her brother.

"No, indeed! There aren't any bears on this island," said her grandfather. "Go to sleep."

Nothing else happened the rest of the night, and they all slept rather late the next morning, for they were tired from the work of the day before. The sun was shining over Clover Lake when Nora rang the breakfast bell, and Ted and Jan hurried with their dressing, for they were eager to be at their play.

"What'll we do to-day?" asked Janet, as she tried to get a comb through her thick, curly hair.

"We'll go for a ride with Nicknack," decided Ted, who was also having a hard time with his locks. "Oh, I wish I was a barber!" he cried, as the comb stuck in a bunch of curls.

"Why?" asked his mother, who was giving Trouble his breakfast.

"'Cause then I'd cut my own hair short, and I'd never have to comb it."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to see you without your curls," Mother Martin said. "Here, I'll help you as soon as I feed Trouble."

Trouble could feed himself when his plate had been set in front of him, and while he was eating Mrs. Martin made her two Curlytops look better by the use of their combs.

After breakfast the children ran to hitch Nicknack to the wagon. Grandpa Martin was going back in the rowboat to the mainland to get a few things that had been forgotten, and also another bag of salt.

"And I'll hide it away from Trouble," said Nora with a laugh. "We don't want any more salty oceans around here."

"Let's drive away before Trouble sees us," proposed Jan to her brother. "He'll want to come for a ride and we can't go very far if he comes along."

"All right. Stoop down and walk behind the bushes. Then he can't see us."

Jan and Ted managed to get away unseen, and were soon hitching their goat to the wagon. Trouble finished his breakfast and called to them, wanting to go with them wherever they went. But his mother knew the two Curlytops did not want Trouble with them every time, so Baby William had to play by himself about camp, while the two older children drove off on a path that led the long way of the island.

"Maybe we'll have an adventure," suggested Jan, as she sat in the cart driving the goat, for she and her brother took turns at this fun.

"Maybe we'll see some of the tramps," he added.

"I don't want to," said Jan.

"Well, maybe we'll see a bear."

"I don't want that, either. I wish you wouldn't say such things, Teddy."

"Well, what do you want to see?"

"Oh, something nice -- flowers or birds or maybe a fairy."

"Huh! I guess there's no fairies on this island, either. Let's see if we can find an apple tree. I'd like an apple."

"So would I. But we mustn't eat green ones."

"Not if they're too green," agreed Teddy. "But a little green won't hurt."

They drove on, Nicknack trotting along the path through the woods, now and then stopping to nibble at the leaves. At last the children came to a beautiful shady spot, where many ferns grew beneath the trees, and it was so cool that they stopped their goat, tied him to an old stump and sat down to eat some cookies their mother had given them. The Curlytops nearly always became hungry when they were out on their little trips.

"Wouldn't it be funny," remarked Ted, after a bit, "if we should see a bear?"

"The-o-dore Martin!" gasped Janet. "I wish you'd keep quiet! It makes me scared to hear you say that."

"Well, I was only foolin'," and Teddy dropped a "g," a habit of which his mother was trying to break him. And he did not often forget.

"If I saw a bear," began Janet, "I'd just scream and --  -- "

Suddenly she stopped because of a queer look she saw on her brother's face. Teddy dropped the cookie he had been about to bite, and, pointing toward a hollow log that lay not far off, said, in a hoarse whisper:

"Look, Jan! It is a bear!"



Chapter VII

Jan Sees Something


For a moment after her brother had said this Janet did not speak. She, too, dropped the cookie she had just taken from the bag, and turned slowly around to see at what Teddy was pointing.

She was just in time to see something furry and reddish-brown in color dart into the hollow log, which was open at both ends. Then Jan gave a scream.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ted, who was as much frightened by Janet's shrill voice as he was at what he had seen. "Oh, Jan! Don't!"

"I -- I couldn't help it," she answered. "I told you I'd scream if I saw a bear, and I did see one. It is a bear, isn't it, Teddy?"

"It is," he answered. "I saw it first. It's my bear!"

"You can have it -- every bit of it," said Jan, quickly getting up from the mossy rock on which she had been sitting. "I don't want any of it, not even the stubby tail. I like to own half of Nicknack with you, but I don't want half a bear."

"Then I'll take all of it -- it's my bear," went on Ted. "Where're you going, Jan?" he asked, as he saw his sister hurrying away.

"I'm going home. I don't like it here. I'm going to make Nicknack run home with me."

Teddy got up, too. He did not stop to pick up the cookie he had dropped.

"I -- I guess I'll go with you, Jan," he said. "I guess my bear will stay in the log until I come back."

"Are you coming back?" asked Janet, as with trembling fingers she unfastened Nicknack's strap from around the stump to which he had been tied.

"I'm going to get grandpa to come back with me and shoot the bear," replied Ted. "I want his skin to make a rug. You know -- like grandpa did with the bear his father shot."

Jan did not say anything. She got into the cart and turned the goat about, ready to leave the place. She gave a look over her shoulder at the hollow log into which she and Ted had seen the furry, brown animal crawl. It did not seem to be coming out, and Jan was glad of that.

"Giddap, Nicknack!" she called to the goat, and as the animal started off Ted jumped into the wagon from behind.

"I wish I had a gun," he said.

"You're too little," declared Jan. "Oh, Ted! what if he should chase us? Was it an awful big bear? I didn't dare look much."

"It wasn't so very big."

"Was it as big as Nicknack?"

"Oh, bigger'n him -- a lot."

"Oh!" and again Jan looked back over her shoulder. "I hope he doesn't chase us," she added.

"I'll fix him if he does!" threatened Ted. "I'll fix him!"

"How? You haven't any gun, and maybe you couldn't shoot it if you had, lessen maybe it was your Christmas pop gun."

"Pooh! Pop guns wouldn't be any good to shoot a bear! You've got to have real bullets. But I can fix this bear if he chases us," and Ted tried to look brave.

"How?" asked Jan again. She felt safer now, for Nicknack was going fast, and the hollow log, into which the furry animal had crawled, was out of sight.

"I'll make our goat buck the bear with his horns if he chases us, that's what I'll do!" declared Ted.

"Oh, that would be good!" exclaimed Jan in delight. "Nicknack is brave and his horns are sharp. 'Member how he stuck 'em in the fence one day?"

"Yes," answered Ted, "I do. And I'll get him to stick 'em in the bear if he comes too close. Giddap, Nicknack!" and Ted flicked the goat with the ends of the reins. I think he wanted the goat to go faster so there would be no danger of the bear's chasing after him and his sister. Perhaps Ted thought Nicknack might be afraid of the bear, even if the goat did have sharp horns.

The Curlytops were greatly excited when they reached the camp. Trouble was playing out in front and Grandpa Martin had just landed in the boat.

"What's that?" he cried, when he heard Ted's story. "A bear in a hollow log? Nonsense! There are no bears on Star Island."

"But I saw it, and so did Janet. Didn't you, Jan?" cried Ted.

"I saw something fuzzy with a big tail going inside the log," answered Teddy's sister.

"Then it couldn't have been a bear," laughed Grandpa Martin. "For a bear has only a little short, stubby tail. I'll go to see what it is. I think I know, however."

"What?" asked Mother Martin. "Don't go into any danger, Father."

"I won't," promised the farmer. "But I won't tell you what I think the animal is until I see it. I may be mistaken."

"Maybe it's a twamp," put in Trouble, who seemed to be thinking about them as much as Ted thought about the fallen star.

"Tramps aren't animals," laughed Jan.

"Furry animals, anyway," added Ted.

"Well, you stay here and I'll go see what it was," went on grandpa, and he started off toward the hollow log with a big club. He was not gone very long, and when he came back he was laughing, as he had the night before when Nicknack gave them a scare.

"Just as I thought!" cried the children's grandpa. "It was a big, red fox in the hollow log."

"And not a bear?" asked Ted.

"Not a bear, Curlytop! Only a fox that was more frightened by you than you were by him, I guess. I knew it couldn't be a bear."

"How did you get it out of the log?" asked Jan.

"Oh, I just tapped on the log with my club, and Mr. Fox must have thought it was somebody knocking at his front door. For out he ran, looked at me with his bright eyes, and then away he ran into the woods. So you Curlytops needn't be afraid. The fox won't hurt you."

"I'm glad of that," said Jan. "Now let's go fishing, Ted."

"All right," he agreed.

"Can't you take Trouble with you?" asked his mother. "I want to help Nora and grandpa do a little work around the camp."

"Yes, we'll take him," agreed Jan. "But you mustn't put any salt in the water, Trouble, and scare the fish."

"I not do it. I tatch a fiss myself."

They gave him a pole and a line without any hook on it so he could not scratch himself, and then Jan and Ted sat down under a shady tree, not far from camp, to try to catch some fish.

They knew how, for their father had taught them, and soon Jan had landed a good-sized sunfish. A little later Ted caught a perch which had stripes on its sides, "like a zebra," as Jan said. After that Jan and Ted each caught two fish, and they soon had enough to cook.

"What do you Curlytops want me to do with these?" asked Nora, as the two children came along, laughing and shouting, with the fish dangling from strings each of them carried.

"Cook 'em, of course!" cried Teddy. "That's what we caught them for, Nora -- to have you cook them."

"But won't they bite me?" asked the cook, pretending to be afraid.

"Oh, no! They can't!" explained Jan.

"They bit on our hooks, and now they can't bite any more, but we can bite them," said Teddy.

"Oh, would you bite the poor fish?" asked Nora.

For a moment the Curlytops did not know what to answer. Then Teddy replied:

"Oh, well, it can't hurt 'em to bite 'em after they're cooked, can it?"

"No, I guess not," laughed Nora, "no more than it can hurt a baked potato. Well, run along and I'll get the fish ready for dinner, or whatever you call the next meal. I declare, I'm so mixed up with this camping business that I hardly know breakfast from supper. But run along, and I'll fry the fish for you, anyhow."

"Let's go and take a walk," proposed Jan, when they had washed their hands in the tin basin that Mother Martin had set on a bench under a tree, with a towel and soap near by, for fish did leave such a funny smell on your hands, the little girl said.

"Where'll we walk to?" asked Teddy.

"Oh, let's go and look. Maybe we can find that cute little bunny we saw when we were looking for the den where the fox lived but didn't find him," proposed Jan.

"All right," answered Teddy, and they set off.

They had not gone very far before Teddy stopped near a bush and began to look about him.

"What's the matter?" asked his sister.

"Why, I saw a bird fly out of here," answered her brother, "and it seemed just as if it had a broken wing. It couldn't fly -- hardly."

"Where is it?" asked Jan eagerly. "Maybe if we take it to mother she can fix the wing. Once she mended a dog's broken leg, and he could walk 'most as good as ever when he got well, only he limped a little."

"But a dog can't fly," said Teddy.

"I know it," agreed Jan. "But if mother can mend a broken leg, she can fix a broken wing, can't she?"

"Maybe," admitted her brother. "Oh, there's the bird again, Jan! See how it flutters along!" and the little boy pointed to one that was dragging itself along over the ground as though its wings or legs were broken or hurt.

"Come on!" cried Teddy. "Maybe we can catch the bird, Jan!"

Brother and sister started after the little feathered songster, which was making a queer, chirping noise. Then Jan suddenly called:

"Oh, here's another!"

And, surely enough, there was a second bird acting almost as was the first -- fluttering along, half hopping and half flying through the grass.

"We'll get 'em both!" yelled Teddy, and he and Jan hurried along. But, somehow or other, as soon as they came almost to the place where they could reach out and touch one of the birds, which acted as though it could not go a bit farther, the little creature would manage to flutter on just beyond the eager hands of the children.

"That's funny!" exclaimed Teddy. "I almost had one of 'em that time!"

"So did I!" added Janet. "Now I'm sure I can get this one!" and she ran forward to grasp the fluttering bird, but it managed to hop along, just out of her reach.

The one Ted was after did the same thing, and for some time the children hurried on after the birds. At last the two songsters, with little chirps and calls, suddenly flew high in the air and circled back through the woods.

"Well, would you look at that!" cried Teddy, in surprise.

"They can fly, after all!" gasped Janet. "What d'you s'pose made 'em pretend they couldn't?"

"I -- I guess they wanted to fool us," said her brother.

And that really was it. The little birds had built a nest in a low bush, close to the ground where the children could easily have reached it if they had seen it. And they were very close to it, though their eyes had not spied it.

But the birds had seen the Curlytops and, fearing that Jan and Ted might take out the eggs in the nest, the wise little birds had pretended to be willing to let the boy and girl catch them instead of robbing the nest.

Of course, Jan and Ted wouldn't have done such a thing as that! But the birds knew no differently. Not all birds act this way -- pretending to be hurt, or that they can't fly -- to get people to chase after them, and so keep far away from the little nests. But this particular kind of bird always does that.

Some day, if you are in the woods or the fields, and see one bird -- or two -- acting in this queer way, as though it could not fly or walk, and as though it wanted you to hurry after it and try to catch it -- if you see a bird acting that way you may be sure you are near its nest and eggs and this is the way the bird does to get you away.

"Let's look for their nest," suggested Teddy, when the two birds had flown far away, back through the woods.

"Oh, no," answered Jan. "We don't want to scare them. Maybe we can look at the nest of a bird that won't mind if we watch her feeding her little ones."

And, a little later, they came to a bush in which was a robin's nest. In it were some tiny birds, and, by standing on their tiptoes, and bending the nest down a little way, the Curlytops could look in. The baby birds, which had only just begun to grow feathers, opened their mouths as wide as they could, thinking, I suppose, that Jan and Ted had worms or bugs for them.

But the children did not have.

"Your mother will soon be along to feed you," said Janet, and soon the mother bird did come flying back from the field. She seemed afraid at first, when she saw how close Jan and Ted were to her nest, but the children soon walked away, and then the robin fed her young.

Ted and Jan had a nice walk through the woods and then they went back to camp.

"We'll take Trouble for a walk, so mother won't have to look after him so much," said Janet. "Come, Trouble!"

"Show me where the fox was," begged Baby William, and Ted and Jan turned their steps that way. But there was no sign of the big-tailed animal in the hollow log, though the children pounded on it as Grandpa Martin said he had done.

Then they wandered on a little farther in the beautiful woods. Jan saw some flowers she wanted to gather, and leaving the path where Ted stood to take care of his little brother, she began picking a handful.

Janet saw so many pretty blossoms that she went a little farther than she meant to, and, before she knew it, she had lost sight of her two brothers, though she could hear them talking.

Suddenly, after crawling through some bushes, Jan found herself on another path. On the other side of it she saw some black-eyed Susans.

"Oh, I must get some of them!" she cried.

She darted across the path, and, as she was about to pick the flowers, she saw, standing behind a big tree, a man who had on very ragged clothes. He looked at Jan, who dropped her bouquet and gasped:

"Oh! Oh, dear!"

The ragged man looked at Janet and smiled. But Jan did not smile. One thought only was in her mind.

"Here is one of the tramps!"



Chapter VIII

Trouble Falls In


Janet Martin thought it must have been all of five minutes that she stood staring at the ragged man and he at her, though, very likely, it was only a few seconds. A little while seems very long sometimes; for instance, waiting for a train, or for the day of the party to come.

"Are you looking for anything?" the man asked of Janet after a while.

"He doesn't speak like a tramp," thought the little girl, who had occasionally heard them asking Nora, at the back door at home, for something to eat. "I guess I'll answer him."

So she replied:

"I'm looking for flowers."

"Well, there are some pretty ones here in the woods," went on the ragged man. "I saw some fine red ones a little while ago. If I had known I should meet you I would have picked them for you."

"I wonder if he can be a tramp," thought Janet. "Do tramps pick flowers, or want to pick them?"

What she said was:

"Thank you, but I think I have enough now."

"Yes, you have a nice bouquet," went on the ragged man, still smiling.

He was dressed like a tramp, that was certain. But, somehow or other, Janet did not feel as afraid as she expected she would be when she thought of meeting a tramp.

"Do you live around here?" the man continued.

"Yes, we're camping in a tent," Jan replied. "My grandfather owns part of this island and we're with him -- my mother and my brothers. We like it here."

"Yes, it's fine," said the ragged man, who Janet thought must be a tramp, even if he did not talk like most of them. "So you live in a tent? Does the professor stay here all the while?"

"The professor?" repeated Janet, and she wondered what the long word meant. She was sure she had heard it before. Pretty soon she remembered. At school she had heard some of the teachers speak of the principal as "Professor."

"My grandpa isn't a professor," explained Janet with a smile. "He's a farmer."

"Well, some farmers are scientists. Maybe he is a scientist," went on the tramp. "I was wondering if some one else was on this island looking for the same thing I'm looking for. Can you tell me, little girl --  -- ?"

But just then, from somewhere back in the woods, a voice called. The ragged man listened a moment, and then he cried:

"All right! I'm coming!"

Janet saw him stoop and pick up off the ground a canvas bag, through the opening of which she saw stones, such as might be picked up on the shore of the lake or almost anywhere on the island.

"I hope I shall see you again, little girl," went on the tramp, as Janet called him afterward when telling the story. "And when I do, I hope I'll have some red flowers for you. Good-bye!"

Janet was so surprised by the quick way in which the man ran off through the woods with his bag of stones that she did not answer or say good-bye. She just stood looking at the quivering bushes which closed up behind him and showed which way the man had gone. Janet could not see him any longer.

A moment later she heard the bushes behind her crackling, and, turning quickly, she saw Ted and Trouble coming toward her.

"What's the matter?" called her older brother. "Did you see another bear -- I mean a fox?"

"No. But I saw a tramp man," replied Janet. "Oh, but he was awful ragged!"

"A tramp!" cried Ted. "Then we'd better get away from here. We'd better go and tell grandpa!"

Janet thought the same thing, and, after telling Ted all that had happened and what she and the man had said, the Curlytops hurried back through the woods to the camp.

"A ragged man on the island; is that it?" asked Grandpa Martin, when Jan told him what had happened. "It must be as Mr. Crittendon said, that there are tramps here. Though what they are doing I don't know. There isn't anything to eat here, except what we brought. And you haven't missed anything, have you, Nora? Has anybody been taking your strawberry shortcake or apple dumplings from the tent kitchen?"

"No, Mr. Martin, they haven't," Nora answered.

"Well, maybe it was a tramp and perhaps it wasn't," said Grandpa Martin. "Still it will be a good thing to have a look about the island. I don't want strange men roaming where they please, scaring the children."

"Oh, he didn't scare me, except at first," Janet hastened to say. "He spoke real nice to me, but his clothes were old and awful ragged. He wanted to know if you were a professor."

"Well, I guess I'm professor enough to drive away tramps that won't work, and only want to eat what other people get," returned the farmer. "I'll have a look around this island to-morrow, and drive away the tramps."

"And until then, don't you Curlytops go far away. Stay where I can watch you," went on Mrs. Martin, shaking her finger at them, half in fun, but a great deal in earnest.

"We'll stay near the tent," promised Jan.

"I'm going to help grandpa hunt the tramps," declared Ted.

"No, Curlytop, you'd better stay with your sister and mother," said the farmer. "I don't really believe there are any tramps here."

"But I saw him!" insisted Janet.

"I know you saw some one, Curly Girl," and grandpa smiled at her. "Of course there may be a strange man -- maybe two, for you say you heard one call to the other. But they may have just stopped for a little while on this island. I'll have to ask them to go away, though, for we want to be by ourselves while camping. So, as there might be strangers around here who would not be pleasant, you'd better stay here, too, Teddy."

"All right, I'll stay," Teddy promised, and he tried to be happy and contented about it, though he did want to go with his grandfather on the "tramp-hunt" as he called it. But, though Teddy was quite a good-sized boy for his age, there were some things that it was not wise for him to do. This was one of them.

The next day Grandpa Martin, rowing over to the mainland, brought back with him one of his hired men. The two walked all over the island, only stopping for their lunch, and at night they had found no trace of anyone.

"If tramps were here they have gone," said Grandpa Martin. "I can't think why that man who talked to Janet should speak of a professor, though."

"It is queer," said Mrs. Martin. "Never mind, I'm glad it is safe for the children to run about now. It has been hard work to keep them about the tents all this day."

"I guess it has been," laughed Grandpa Martin. "Well, to-morrow they can run as much as they like."

Ted and Janet had lots of fun, playing on the shores of Clover Lake. They took off their shoes and stockings, and went wading. Trouble did the same, splashing about in his bare feet until he saw a little crawfish, darting from one stone to another under water to hide away.

"Trouble 'fraid of dem big water-bugs," he said, as he ran out on the grassy bank. "Don't want to wade any more," and Ted and Jan could not get him to come in again that day.

By this time the camp was well settled. They had stored away in the cooking tent many good things to eat, and whenever they wanted anything more Grandpa Martin would row over to the store on the mainland for it.

Daddy Martin wrote from Cresco, where he was looking after his store, that he would soon be back at Cherry Farm, and then he would come out to the camp and spend a week.

The Curlytops played all the games they knew. They took long rides with Nicknack, and often Trouble went with them. But it was not all play. Mrs. Martin thought it wise for Ted and Jan to have some work to do; so, each day, she gave them little tasks. They had to bring a small pail of water from the spring, gather wood for the evening campfire, and also some for Nora to use when she made the fire in the cook-stove. For Nora was a good cook, and many a fine pie or cake came out of the oven. Sometimes Ted and Jan helped around the kitchen by drying the dishes or helping set the table or clear it off.

One afternoon, when it was almost time to get supper, Mrs. Martin sent Ted to the spring for a pail of water. She wanted one so they could all have a fresh drink, as it was rather warm that day.

"I'll go with you," offered Janet.

"Me come too," added Trouble.

"Yes, take him," said his mother to Janet. "He hasn't been out much to-day." So Trouble toddled off with his brother and sister.

Ted filled the pail at the bubbling spring, which was a large one, out of sight of the tents of the camp. Then he heard a strange bird whistling in a tree overhead, and, setting down the pail, he ran to see what it was.

"Oh, Jan," called her brother a moment later, "it's a big red and black bird. Awful pretty! Come and see him!"

Jan ran to get a look at the scarlet tanager, as grandpa said later it was, and, without thinking, she left Trouble alone.

Well, you can well imagine what Trouble did!

For a long while -- ever since he had been in camp, in fact -- Baby William had wanted to dip a pail of water out of the spring. But of course he could not be allowed to do this, for he might fall in. Now, however, he saw his chance.

"Trouble bring de water," he said, talking to himself while Teddy and Janet were looking at the pretty bird.

The little fellow carefully emptied the pail his brother had filled. Then with it in his hand he went slowly toward the spring. He leaned over, but longer arms than his were needed to reach the pail down into the bubbling water.

Trouble reached and stretched and reached again, and then --  -- 

"Splash!"

Baby William had fallen in!



Chapter IX

Ted Finds A Cave


Janet and Ted returned from looking at the pretty scarlet bird just in time to see what happened to Trouble. They saw him fall into the spring.

"Oh!" cried Janet, clasping her hands. "Oh, look!"

"He'll be drowned!" yelled Ted, and then he ran as fast as he could toward the place where he had last seen his little brother, for Baby William was not in sight now. He was down in the water.

Perhaps Trouble might not have come to any harm, more than to get wet through by the time Ted reached him. Perhaps the little fellow might not have been drowned. At any rate, no harm came to him, even though Jan and her brother did not get there in time to help.

The two Curlytops, their fuzzy hair fluttering in the wind, were half way to the spring when they saw coming from the bushes a ragged man.

"There he is!" cried Janet.

"Who?" asked Ted.

"The man who -- talked to me -- while I was picking flowers," and Jan's voice came in gasps, for she was getting out of breath from having run so hard. "There he is!" and she pointed.

"That's the tramp!" cried Ted. "They are on the island, only grandpa couldn't find 'em!"

"Do you -- do you s'pose he's goin' to take Trouble?" faltered Janet.

Before Ted could answer, the Curlytops saw what the ragged man was going to do. They saw him stoop over the spring, reach down into it and lift something up. The "something" was Baby William, screaming and crying in fright, and dripping wet.

The ragged man set Trouble down on a rock near the spring, and then, waving his hand to Ted and Jan, he cried:

"He's all right -- swallowed hardly any water. Take him home as soon as you can, though. I haven't time to stop -- have to go to see the professor!"

With that the man seemed to dive in between some high bushes, and the Curlytops could not see him any more. But Trouble was still sitting on the rock, the water from his clothes making a little puddle all around him, and he was crying hard, his tears running down his cheeks.

"Oh, Trouble!" gasped Jan, putting her arms around him, all wet as he was.

"Are you hurt?" asked Ted, looking carefully at his little brother.

"I -- I -- I fal -- falled in an' -- an' I's all -- all wetted!" wailed Trouble, his breath coming in gasps because of his crying, which he had partly stopped on seeing his brother and sister. "I falled in de spwing, I did!"

"What made you?" asked Ted, while Jan tried to wring some of the water out of the little fellow's waist and rompers.

"I wanted to get de pail full for mamma."

"But I filled the pail, Trouble. You oughtn't to have touched it," said Teddy. He went to the spring and looked down in it. The pail was at the bottom of the little pool.

"It's a good thing that tramp got him out," remarked Janet. "He must be a nice man, even if his clothes are ragged."

"I guess so, too," agreed Ted. "But he said we must take Trouble home. I guess we'd better."

"Yes," assented Jan. "But he isn't hurt."

"He wasn't in very long," Ted said. "The man got him out awful quick -- quicker than we could. You lead him home, Jan, and I'll get the pail out of the spring. It's sunk like a ship."

"How're you going to get it?"

"With a stick, I guess. You mustn't lean over the spring any more, Trouble."

"No," promised Baby William.

But the Curlytops could not be sure he would keep his promise. He might for a time, while he remembered what had happened to him.

With a crooked stick Teddy managed to fish up the pail after two or three trials. Then, filling it with water from the spring, he carried it back to camp, while Jan led the wet and dripping Trouble.

"Oh, my goodness! What's happened now?" asked Nora, as she saw the three children coming into camp. "Did you go in swimming with all your clothes on, Trouble?"

"No. I falled into de spwing, I did!"

"And the tramp got him out!" added Jan.

Then she and Teddy, taking turns, told what had happened. Mrs. Martin scolded Trouble a little, to make him more careful the next time. Then Grandpa Martin said:

"Well, there must be strangers on this island after all, though I could not find them. They must be hiding somewhere, and I'd like to know what for."

"Maybe they're living in gypsy wagons," suggested Jan.

"Or in a cave," added Ted. "They look as if they lived in a cave."

"There isn't any cave on the island, as far as I know," his grandfather told Ted. "But I don't like those strange men roaming about our place here. They may not do any harm, but I don't like it. I'll have another look for them."

"So will I," added Teddy, but he did not say this aloud. Teddy had made up his mind to do something. He was going to look for those men himself, either in a cave or a gypsy wagon. Ted wanted to find the ragged man -- find all of them if more than one; and there seemed to be at least two, for the one who had pulled Teddy out of the spring had spoken of another -- a "professor."

"What's a professor?" asked Jan.

"Oh, it's a man or a woman who has studied his lessons and teaches them to others," answered her mother. "One who knows a great deal about something, such as about the stars or about the world we live in. Professors find out many things and then tell others -- young people generally -- about them."

"I'm going to be a professor," said Teddy.

"Are you?" inquired his mother with a smile. "I hope you will get wise enough to be one."

But Teddy did not speak all that was in his mind. If a professor was one who found out things, then the small boy decided he would be one long enough to find out about the tramps, and perhaps find the cave where they lived, and then he could tell Jan.

When Trouble had been put into dry clothes and sent to sleep by his mother's singing, "Ding-dong bell, Pussy's in the well," Jan and Ted sat by themselves, talking over what had happened that day. Ted was making a small boat to sail on the lake, and Jan was mending her doll's dress, where a prickly briar bush had torn a little hole in it.

Early the next morning Ted slipped away from his place at the breakfast table, and motioned to Jan to join him behind the sleeping tent. Ted held his finger over his lips to show his sister that he wanted her to keep very quiet.

"What's the matter?" she whispered, when they were safe by themselves. "Did you see the tramp-man?"

"No, but I'm going to find him!"

"You are?" cried Janet, and her eyes opened wide with wonder and surprise.

"Don't tell anybody," went on Ted. "We don't want Trouble to follow us. Come on off this way," and he pointed to a path that led through the bushes back of the tent.

Trouble was busy just then, playing in the sand on the shore of Clover Lake, while Mrs. Martin and Nora were clearing away the breakfast things. Grandpa Martin was raking up around the tents, so no one saw the Curlytops slip away.

"Which way are you going?" asked Jan of her brother.

"Over to the spring."

"What for? To get more water? Where's your pail?"

"I don't have to get water yet," answered Ted. "I'm going to the spring to look to see if I can tell which way that tramp went. Don't you know how Indians do -- look at the leaves and grass in the woods, and they can tell by the marks which way anybody went? Mother read us a story once like that."

"I don't like Indians," remarked Jan somewhat shortly, half turning back.

"Oh, there's no Indians!" exclaimed Ted impatiently. "I was only sayin' what they did. Come on!"

So Jan followed her brother, though she was a little bit afraid. However, she saw nothing to frighten her, and it was nice in the woods. The wind was blowing through the trees, the birds were singing and it was cool and pleasant. The Curlytops soon came to the spring where Trouble had fallen in.

"Now we must look all around," declared Teddy.

"What for?" his sister demanded again.

"To tell which way the tramp-man went. Then we can find his cave."

"Maybe he lives in a wagon or a tent."

"Then we'll find them. Come on, help look!"

"I don't know how," confessed Janet.

"Well, look for a place where the bushes are broken down and where you see footprints in the dirt. That's the way Indians tell. Mother read it out of a book to us."

So Jan and Ted looked all around the spring, and at last Ted found a place where it seemed as if some one had run through in a hurry, for twigs were broken off the bushes, and, by looking down at the ground, he saw the marks of shoes in the dirt.

Of course Ted could not tell who had made them, but he thought surely it must have been the tramp who had pulled Trouble from the spring. Ted was sure they were not the footprints of himself and his sister, for their own were much smaller.

"Come on, Jan!" cried Teddy. "We'll find that tramp now or, anyway, the place where he hides."

He pushed on through the bushes. There seemed to be a sort of path leading away from the spring, which was not the same path that Ted and Grandpa Martin took when they went from the camp to the water-hole to fill the pail each day.

On and on went Ted, with Jan following. She was so excited now at the thought that perhaps they might find something, that she was not a bit frightened.

"Wait a minute! Wait for me, Teddy!" she called, as her brother hurried on ahead of her.

"Come on, Jan!" he called. "There's a good path here, and I guess I see something. Oh, look here! Oh, Jan! Oh! Oh!" suddenly cried Teddy. Then his voice seemed to fade away, as if he had all at once gone down the cellar, and Jan could hear him calling faintly.

"Oh, Teddy! What's the matter? What's the matter?" she cried as she ran on through the bushes.

"I've found the cave!" was his answer, so faint and far away that Jan could hardly hear. "I've found the cave. I fell right into it! Come on!"



Chapter X

The Grapevine Swing


Wondering what had happened to her brother, Jan hurried on toward the place from which his voice came. It sounded more than ever as if he were down a cellar.

"But there can't be any cellars in these woods," thought the little girl.

"Where are you, Teddy?" she called after a bit. "I can't see you!"

"Here I am, right behind you!" was the answer, and Jan, turning quickly, saw the head of her brother sticking up out of a hole in the ground.

"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Ted's sister. "Where's the rest of you? Where's your legs and your feet?"

"Down in the hole," explained Teddy. "I'm in the cave. I fell in. That's how I found it."

"Is it a real cave?" asked Janet.

"It is. It goes away back under the ground, only I didn't go in 'cause it's so dark. I'm going to get a light and see what's there."

"I'm not!" said Jan, very decidedly.

"Well, then I'll get grandpa. Maybe this is the cave where the tramps live. Come and look where I am. You won't fall in."

"How did you find it?" asked Janet, as she walked toward the hole, down in which Teddy was standing. It was a little way from the path the two Curlytops had walked along through the woods -- the path leading from the spring.

"I just fell in it, I told you," Ted answered. "I was walking along, and, all at once, I slipped down through the dried leaves. First I thought I was going down in a big hole, but it isn't over my head and a lot of leaves went down with me, so I didn't get jounced hardly at all."

Jan went to the edge and looked down in the hole. It seemed to be a large one in between two big rocks, and Ted showed her where the hole slanted downward and went farther underground. It was dark there, and Jan made up her mind she would never go into it, even if Ted did.

"You'd better come up," she said at last. "Maybe mother wouldn't like it. Besides, there might be snakes down in there."

"Oh! I didn't think about them!" exclaimed Ted, and he tried to scramble up, but it was not so easy as he had hoped. He was a little excited, too, since Janet had spoken of snakes. Teddy did not like them, and they might be in among the leaves that had fallen down into the hole with him.

"Can't you get up?" Jan asked, when her brother had slipped back two or three times.

"Maybe I could if you'd let me take hold of your hand," suggested Teddy.

"Then you'd pull me in, and we'd both be down there."

Ted saw that this was so. He tried again to get out, but could not, for mixed with the leaves were many dry, brown pine needles from the trees growing overhead; and if you have ever been in the woods you know how slippery pine needles are when the ground is covered with them. Teddy slipped back again and again.

"Oh, Ted! can't you ever get up?" asked Janet, almost ready to cry.

"Oh. I'll get out somehow," he said. Then dangling down from a tree behind his sister, he saw a long wild grapevine, which was almost like a piece of rope.

"If I had hold of that I could pull myself out," Teddy said. "See if you can reach it to me, Jan."

After two or three trials his sister did this. Then, holding to a loose end of the grapevine while the other end was twined fast round a tree, Teddy pulled himself out of the hole. Once on firm ground he made the loose end of the grapevine fast to a stone that lay near the edge of the hole.

"What made you do that?" asked Janet.

"So the next time I get down there I can pull myself out," Teddy answered.

"Are you going down there again?" Jan queried.

"Course I am!" declared Ted. "I didn't half look in the cave. It's a big place. I could see in only a little way, 'cause it was so dark. I'm goin' to tell grandpa and have him bring a lantern."

Grandpa Martin was surprised when Ted and Jan told him what they had found in the woods.

"I didn't suppose there was a cave on the island," said the farmer. "I must have a look at it."

"And may I come? And will you take a lantern?" asked Teddy eagerly.

"Well, yes, I guess so," said grandpa slowly.

"Oh, Father, do you think it is safe?" asked Mrs. Martin.

"Yes, I think so. I won't go very far in with the children. It may be only the den of a fox or some small animal, and not a real cave."

"I think it's a big cave," declared Ted. "Come on, Grandpa."

"Me come!" cried Trouble, as the two Curlytops set off with Grandpa Martin through the woods, toward the place where Teddy had fallen down with the pile of leaves. "Me come!"

"No, you stay with me," laughed Mother Martin, catching him up in her arms. Trouble did not want to stay behind, not having been with his brother and sister of late as much as he wished. "We'll bake a patty-cake!" Mrs. Martin added, and then Trouble laughed, for he liked to help Nora bake. That is, he thought he helped. And at least he helped to eat what Nora took out of the oven.

"Now show me where the cave is," said Grandpa Martin to Ted, as they neared the place. "But be careful not to fall into it again."

"Oh, I've got a grapevine rope so I can pull myself out," said Jan's brother. "Here it is, over this way."

Teddy Martin was an observing little fellow. He could find his way around in the woods very well, once he had been to a place, and he did not go wrong this time. He led his grandfather right to the entrance of the cave.

And it proved to be a real cave. Grandpa Martin found this out when he jumped down into the place where Teddy had fallen, and when the lantern had been lighted and flashed into the dark hole.

"Yes, it's a cave all right," the children's grandfather said. "And to think the many times I've been on this island I never found it! Well, I'll go in a little way."

"Can't I come?" asked Ted, as he saw his grandfather start into the dark hole which spread out from the open place into which Ted had fallen.

"I'm not coming," declared Janet, "and I don't want to stay here all alone."

"You stay there with your sister, Curlytop," directed Mr. Martin. "If I find out it's all right and is safe, I'll come back and take you both in a little way."

Grandpa Martin walked into the dark hole, his lantern flickering like a firefly at night. The Curlytops watched it until they could no longer see the gleam. Then they waited expectantly.

"Maybe somethin'll grab grandpa," said Jan, after a bit.

"What?" asked Ted.

"A fox -- or somethin'!"

"Pooh, he isn't afraid of a fox!"

"Well, a bear, maybe!"

"There isn't any bears here, Janet Martin! I'm not afraid."

Perhaps Ted said this because, just then, he saw his grandfather coming out of the cave. The farmer had not been gone very long.

"Is it a cave?" called Ted.

"A sure-enough one?" added his sister.

"Yes, it's a sure-enough cave. But there's nothing in it."

"No wild animals?" Jan demanded.

"Not even a mouse, as far as I could see," laughed Mr. Martin. "But some one had been in the cave eating his lunch."

"Maybe there was a picnic, Grandpa," suggested Ted.

"No, I think only one or two persons were in the big hole," said his grandfather. "For it is a big hole, larger than I thought it was. I could stand up straight once I was inside."

"Take us in!" begged Ted.

"Yes, I think it will be all right. Come along, Jan. I'll hold your hand, and there isn't anything of which to be afraid. Come on!"

So Janet and Teddy went into the cave. By the light of grandpa's lantern they could see that it was a large place, a regular underground house -- a cave just like those of which they had read in fairy stories.

"And was there somebody here, really?" asked Ted eagerly.

"Yes," answered his grandfather. "See. Here are bits of bread scattered about, and papers in which some one brought his lunch here."

"Maybe it was the tramps," whispered Janet.

"Maybe," agreed Mr. Martin. "I must have another look over the island."

There was not much else in the cave that they could see with the one lantern. Grandpa Martin wanted to look about more, and back in the far corners, but he did not like to take the children along, and Jan held tightly to his hand as if she feared she would lose him.

"I'll come here alone some other time, and see what I can find," thought Grandpa Martin to himself, as they came out.

"I don't like it in there," said Jan, once they were again out in the sunshine. "I don't like caves."

"I do," declared Ted. "When Hal Chester comes to visit me, as he said he would, he and I will look all through this cave."

"Is Hal coming?" asked Jan, remembering the boy, once lame but now cured, who had played with them and told them about Princess Blue Eyes.

"Yes, mother asked him to come and spend a week, and he said he would. We'll have some fun in the cave."

"What do you suppose the big hole can be?" asked Mrs. Martin, when Grandpa Martin and the children reached camp after their visit to the strange place.

"I don't know," he answered. "It doesn't seem to have been dug with picks and shovels. It's just a natural cave I guess, and some fishermen may have eaten their lunch there one day when it rained. But there is no one in it now."

Ted and Jan talked much about the cave the rest of that day. They went for a ride in the wagon drawn by Nicknack, taking Trouble with them. On their way back Jan said:

"Oh, I wish I had a swing."

"It would be fun," agreed Ted. "Maybe I can make one."

"You'll have to get a rope," said his sister. "Grandpa is going to row over in the boat to-morrow. Ask him to bring us one."

"No, he don't need to bring us a rope," went on her brother.

"Why not?"

"'Cause I can get a rope in the woods."

"A rope in the woods? Oh, Teddy Martin, you can not! Ropes don't grow on trees."

"The kind I mean does," answered Ted with a laugh. "Wait and I'll show you."

When Nicknack had been put in the new stable which Grandpa Martin had built for him, Teddy, followed by Jan and Trouble, walked a little way into the woods. Ted carried with him a piece of old carpet.

"What's that for?" his sister asked.

"For a swing board," he answered.

"But where's the swing rope?"

"Here!" cried Ted suddenly. He pointed to a long wild grapevine, which hung dangling between two trees, around which it was twined. The vine was a very long one, and as thick around as the piece Teddy had used to pull himself out of the hole near the cave. It did seem like a regular swing.

"Well -- maybe," murmured Jan.

"Now we can have some fun!" cried Ted. He folded the piece of carpet and laid it over the grapevine. Then he sat down, gave a push on the ground with his feet, and away he swung as nicely as though he was in a regular swing, made with a rope from the store.

"Oh, how nice!" cried Janet. "Let me try it, Teddy."

"Wait till I see if it's strong enough."

He swung back and forward several more times and then let his sister try it. She, too, swayed to and fro in the grapevine swing, which was in a shady place in the woods. Then Trouble, who had seen what was going on, cried:

"I want to swing, too! I want to swing!"

"I'll take you on my lap," offered Janet, and this she did.

"I'll push you," offered Teddy, and he gave his sister and his baby brother a long push in the grapevine swing.

But, just as they were going nicely and Trouble was laughing in delight, there was a sudden cracking sound and Janet cried:

"Oh, I'm falling! I'm falling! The swing is coming down!"

And that is just what happened.



Chapter XI

Trouble Makes A Cake


With a crackle and a snap the grapevine swing sagged down on one side. Janet tried to hold Trouble in her arms, but he slipped from her lap, just as she slipped off the piece of carpet which Ted had folded for the seat of the swing. Then Janet toppled down as the vine broke, and she and her little brother came together in a heap on the ground.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ted. "Are you hurt?"

Neither Jan nor Trouble answered him for a moment. Then Baby William began to cry. Jan lay still on the ground for a second or two, and then she jumped up with a laugh.

"I'm not hurt a bit!" she said. "I fell right in a pile of leaves, and it was like jouncing up and down in the hay."

"What's the matter with Trouble?" asked Ted.

Baby William kept on crying.

"Never mind!" put in Jan. "Sister'll kiss it and make it all better! Where is you hurt, Trouble dear?"

The little fellow stopped crying and looked up at Jan, his eyes filled with tears.

"My posy-tree is hurted," he said, holding a broken flower out to his sister. "Swing broked my posy-tree!"

Trouble called any weed, flower or bunch of grass he happened to pick a "posy-tree."

"Oh, I guess he isn't hurt," remarked Teddy. "If it's only a broken posy-tree I'll get you another," he said kindly. "Are you all right, Trouble? Can you stand up?" for he feared, after all, lest Baby William's legs might have been hurt, since they were doubled up under him.

Trouble showed he was all right by getting up and walking about. He had stopped crying, and Ted and Jan could see that he, too, had fallen on a pile of soft leaves near the swing, so he was only "jiggled up," as Jan called it.

One side of the grapevine swing had torn loose from the tree, and thus it had come down with Jan and Trouble.

"I guess it wasn't strong enough for two," said Ted. "Maybe I can find another grapevine."

"I'd like a rope swing better," Janet said. "Then it wouldn't tumble down."

"I guess that's so," agreed her brother. "We'll ask grandpa to get one."

Grandpa Martin laughed when he heard what had happened to the grapevine swing, and promised to make a real one of rope for the Curlytops. This he did a day or so afterward, so that Ted and Jan had a fine swing in their camp on Star Island, as well as one at Cherry Farm. They were two very fortunate children, I think, to have such a grandfather.

"Where are you going now, Grandpa?" called Jan one day, as she saw the farmer getting the boat ready for use.

"I'm going over to the mainland to get some things for our camp," answered Mr. Martin. "They came from a big store in some boxes and crates, and they're at the railroad station. I'm going over to get them. Do you Curlytops want to come along?"

"Well, I just guess we do!" cried Ted.

"Me want to come!" begged Trouble.

"Not this time, Dear," said his mother. "You stay with me, and we will have some fun. Let Jan and Ted go."

Trouble was going to cry, but when Nora gave him a cookie he changed his mind and ate the little cake instead, though I think one or two tears splotched down on it and made it a bit salty. But Trouble did not seem to mind.

Ted and Jan had lots of fun riding back in the boat to the main shore with their grandfather. When the boat was almost at the dock Mr. Martin let the two children take hold of one of the oars and help him row. Of course the Curlytops could not pull very much, but they did pretty well, and it helped them to know how a boat is made to go through the water, when it has no steam engine or gasolene motor to make it glide along, or sails on which the wind can blow to push it.

"You can't know too much about boats and the water, especially when you are camping on an island in the middle of a lake," said Grandpa Martin. "When you get bigger, Ted and Jan, you'll be able to row a boat all by yourselves."

"Maybe day after to-morrow," suggested Jan.

"I wish I could now," said Ted.

"Oh, but you're too small!" his grandfather said.

The boat was tied to the wharf, and then, getting an expressman to go to the depot for the boxes and crates, Mr. Martin took the children with him on the wagon.

"We're having lots of fun!" cried Jan, as the horse trotted along. "We're camping and we had a ride in a boat and now we're having a ride in a wagon."

"Lots of fun!" agreed Ted. "I'm glad we've got grandpa!"

"And grandpa is glad he has you two Curlytops to go camping with him!" laughed the farmer, as the expressman made his horse go faster.

At the depot, while the children were waiting to have the boxes and crates of things for the camp loaded into the wagon, Ted saw Arthur Weldon, a boy with whom he sometimes played.

"Hello, Art!" called Ted.

"Hello!" answered Arthur. "I thought you were camping on Star Island."

"We are," answered Teddy.

"It doesn't look so!" laughed Arthur, or "Art," as most of his boy friends called him.

"Well, we just came over to get some things. There's grandpa and the expressman with them now," went on Ted, as the two men came from the freight house with a number of bundles.

"I wish I was camping," went on the other boy. "It isn't any fun around here."

"You can come over to see us sometimes," invited Jan. "I'll ask my mother to let you, and you can play with us."

"He don't want to play girls' games!" cried Ted.

"Well, I guess I can play boys' games as well as girls' games!" exclaimed Janet, with some indignation.

"Oh, yes, course you can," agreed her brother.

"And maybe Art can bring his sister to the island to see us, and then we could play boys' games and girls', too," went on Jan.

"I'll ask my mother," promised Arthur.

Grandpa and the expressman soon had the wagon loaded, and Arthur rode back in it with the Curlytops to the wharf where the boat was tied.

"All aboard for Star Island!" cried Mr. Martin, when the things were in the boat, nearly filling it. "All aboard!"

"I wish I could come now!" sighed Arthur.

"Well, we'd like to take you," said Grandpa Martin, "but it wouldn't be a good thing to take you unless your mother knew you were coming with us, and we haven't time to go up to ask her now. The next time maybe we'll take you back with us."

There was a wistful look on Arthur's face as he watched the boat being rowed away from the main shore and toward the island. Ted and Janet waved their hands to him, and said they would ask their mother to invite him for a visit, which they did a few weeks later.

Once back on the island the things were taken out of the boat and then began the work of taking them out of the boxes and crates. There was a new oil stove, to warm the tent on cool or rainy days, and other things for the camp, and when all had been unpacked there was quite a pile of boards and sticks left.

"I know what we can do with them," said Teddy to Janet, when they had been piled in a heap not far from the shore of the lake, and a little distance away from the tents.

"What?" asked the little girl.

"We can make a raft like Robinson Crusoe did," answered Teddy, for his mother had read him a little about the shipwrecked sailor who, as told in the story book, lived so long alone on an island.

"What's a raft?" asked Janet.

"Oh, it's something like a boat, but it hasn't got any sides to it -- only a bottom," answered her brother. "You make it out of flat boards and you have to push it along with a pole. We can make a raft out of all the boards and pieces of wood grandpa took the things out of. It'll be a lot of fun!"

"Will mother let us?" asked Jan.

"Oh, I guess so," answered Teddy.

But he did not go to ask to find out. He found a hammer where grandpa had been using it to knock apart the crates and boxes, and, with the help of Jan, Teddy was soon making his raft. There were plenty of nails which had come out of the boxes and crates. Some of them were rather crooked, but when Ted tried to hammer them straight he pounded his fingers.

"That hurts," he said. "I guess crooked nails are as good as straight ones. Anyhow this raft is going to be crooked."

And it was very crooked and "wobboly," as Janet called it, when Teddy had shoved it into the water and, taking off his shoes and stockings, got on it.

"Come on, Jan!" he cried, "I'm going to have a ride."

"No, it's too tippy," Janet answered.

"Oh, it can't tip over," said Teddy. "That's what a raft is for -- not to tip over. Maybe you can slide off, but it can't tip over. Come on!"

So Janet took off her shoes and stockings.

Now of course she ought not to have done that, nor ought Teddy to have got on the raft without asking his mother or his grandfather. But then the Curlytops were no different from other children.

So on the raft got Teddy and Janet, and for a time they had lots of fun pushing it around a shallow little cove, not far from the shore of Star Island. A clump of trees hid them from the sight of Mother Martin and grandpa at camp.

"Let's go farther out," suggested Teddy, after a bit.

"I'm afraid," replied Janet.

"Aw, it'll be all right!" cried Ted. "I won't let it tip over!"

So Janet let him pole out a little farther, until she saw that the shore was far away, and then she cried:

"I want to go back!"

"All right," answered Ted. "I don't want anybody on my raft who's a skeered. I'll go alone!"

He poled back to shore and Janet got off the raft. Then Teddy shoved the wabbly mass of boards and sticks, fastened together with crooked nails, out into the lake again. He had not gone very far before something happened. One end of the raft tipped up and the other end dipped down, and -- off slid Teddy into the water.

"Oh! Oh!" screamed Janet. "You'll be drowned! I'm going to tell grandpa."

She ran to the camp with the news, and Mr. and Mrs. Martin came hurrying back. By this time Teddy had managed to get up and was standing in the water, which was not deep.

"I -- I'm all right," he stammered. "Only I -- I'm -- wet!"

"I should say you were!" exclaimed his mother. "You mustn't go on any more rafts."

Teddy promised that he would not, and then, when he had put on dry clothes, he and Janet played other games that were not so dangerous. They had lots of fun in the camp on Star Island.

"Come on, Jan!" called her brother one morning after breakfast. "Come on down to the lake."

"What're you goin' to do?" she asked.

"I think he had better look for the 'g' you dropped," said Mrs. Martin with a laugh.

"What 'g?'" asked Jan.

"The one off 'going,'" was the answer. "You must be more careful of your words, Janet dear. Learn to talk nicely, and don't drop your 'g' letters."

She had been trying to teach this to the Curlytops for a long while, and they were almost cured of leaving off the final "g" of their words. But, once in a while, just as Jan did that time, they forgot.

"What are you going to do?" asked Janet, slowly and carefully this time.

"Sail my boat," answered Ted. "I'll give your doll a ride if you want me to."

"Not this one," replied his sister, looking at the one she carried. It had on a fine red dress.

"Why not that doll?" Ted inquired.

"'Cause your boat might tip over and spill my doll in the lake. Then she'd be spoiled and so would her dress. Wait. I'll get my rubber doll. Water won't hurt her."

"My boat won't tip over," Ted declared. "It's a good one."

But even Jan's rubber doll must have been too heavy for Ted's small boat, for, half way across a little shallow cove in the lake, where the Curlytops waded and Ted sailed his ships, the boat tipped to one side, and the doll was thrown into the water.

"There! I told you so!" cried Janet.

"Well, she's rubber, and you can pretend she has on a bathing suit an' has gone in swimming!" declared Ted.

"But maybe a fish'll bite a hole in her and then she can't whistle through the hole in her back!" wailed Jan, ready to cry.

"There's no fish here, only baby ones; and they can't bite," Ted answered. "But I'll get her for you, Jan."

He waded out, set his ship upright again, and brought his sister's doll to shore. Nancy -- which was the doll's name -- did not seem to have been hurt by falling into the lake. Her painted smile was the same as ever.

"I guess I'll dress her now so she won't get cold after her bath," said Jan, who sometimes acted as though her dolls were really alive. She liked her playthings very much indeed.

While his sister went back to the tent with her doll Ted sailed his boat. Then Trouble came down to the edge of the little cove, and began to take off his shoes and stockings to go wading as Ted was doing. Ted was not sure whether or not his mother wanted Baby William to do this, so he decided to run up to the camp to ask.

"Don't go in the water until I come back, Trouble," Ted ordered his little brother.

But the sight of the cool, sparkling water was too much for Baby William.

Off came his shoes and stockings without waiting for Ted to come back to say whether or not Mother Martin would let him go splashing in the water. Into the lake Baby William went. And he was not careful about getting wet, either, so that when Ted came back with his mother, who wanted to make sure that her baby boy was all right, they saw him out in the middle of the cove with Ted's boat. And the water was half way up to Trouble's waist, the lower part of his bloomers being soaked.

"Oh, you dear bunch of Trouble!" cried his mother. "You mustn't do that!"

"Havin' fun!" was all Trouble said.

"Come here!" cried Mrs. Martin.

"Wait till I sail boat," and he pushed Ted's toy about in the cove, splashing more water on himself.

"I guess you'll have to get him," said Mrs. Martin to Teddy, who half dragged, half led his little brother to shore. Trouble got wetter than ever during this, and his mother had to take him back to the tent to put dry things on him.

"Trouble," she said, "you are a bad little boy. I'll have to keep you in camp the rest of the day now. After this you must not go in wading until I say you may. If you had had your bathing suit on it would have been all right. Now you must be punished."

Trouble cried and struggled, but it was of no use. When Mother Martin said a thing must be done it was done, and Trouble could not play in the water again that day.

Toward the middle of the afternoon, however, as he had been pretty good playing around the tent, he was allowed to roam farther off, though told he must not go near the water.

"You stay with me, Baby," called Nora. "I'm going to bake a cake and I'll give you some."

"Trouble bake a cake, too?" he asked.

"No, Trouble isn't big enough to bake a cake, but you can watch me. I'll get out the flour and sugar and other things, and I'll make a little cake just for you."

On a table in the cooking tent Nora set out the things she was to use for her baking. There was the bag of flour, some water in a dish and other things. Just as she was about to mix the cake Mrs. Martin called Nora away for a moment.

"Now, Trouble, don't touch anything until I come back!" warned the girl, as she hurried out of the tent. "I won't be gone a minute."

But she was gone longer than that. Left alone in the tent, with many things on the table in front of him, Trouble looked at them. He knew he could have lots of fun with some of the pans, cups, the egg beater, the flour, the water and the eggs. A little smile spread over his tanned, chubby face.

"Trouble bake a cake," he said to himself. "Nora bake a cake -- Trouble bake a cake. Yes!"

First Baby William pulled toward him the bag of flour. He managed to do it without upsetting it, for the bag was a small one. Near it was a bowl of water with a spoon in it. Trouble had seen his mother and Nora bake cakes, and he must have remembered that they mixed the flour and water together. Anyhow that was the way to make mud pies -- by mixing sand and water.

Trouble looked for something to mix his cake in. The tins and dishes were so far back on the table that he could not get them easily. He must take something else.

Off his head Trouble pulled his white hat -- a new one that grandpa had brought only that day from the village store.

"Make cake in dis," murmured Baby William to himself.

He pushed a chair up to the table and climbed upon it. From the chair he got on the table and sat down. Then he began to make his cake in his hat.

THEN TROUBLE BEGAN TO MAKE A CAKE IN HIS HAT. Page 138



Chapter XII

The Curlytops Go Swimming


"Trouble make a cake -- Trouble make a nice cake for Jan an' Ted," murmured Baby William to himself. Certainly he thought he was going to do that -- make a nice cake -- but it did not turn out just that way.

Trouble's hat, being of felt, held water just as a dish or a basin would have done, but the little fellow had to hold it very carefully in his lap between his knees as he sat on the table, or he would have squeezed his hat and the water would have spilled out. But when Trouble really wanted to do anything he could be very careful. And he wanted, very much this time, to make that cake.

So, when he had the water in his hat he began to dip up some flour from the bag with a large spoon.

When the little fellow thought he had enough flour sifted into the water in his hat he began to stir it, just as he had seen Nora stir her cake batter. Around and around he stirred it, and then he found that his cake was much too wet. He had not enough flour in it, just as, sometimes, when he and Jan made mud pies, they did not have enough sand or dirt in the water to make the stuff for the pies as thick as they wanted it.

So Trouble stirred in more flour. And then, just as you can easily guess, he made it too thick, and had to put in more water.

By this time Trouble's small hat was almost full of flour and water, and some dough began to run over the edges, down on his little bare legs, and also on his rompers and on the table and even to the floor of the kitchen tent.

Trouble did not like that. He wanted to get his cake mixed before Nora came back, so she could bake it in the oven for him. For he knew cakes must be baked to make them good to eat, and he really hoped, knowing no better, that his cake would be good enough to eat.

"Trouble make a big cake," he said, as he slowly put a little more water into his hat, and stirred the dough some more. He splashed some of the flour and water on the end of his stubby nose, and wiped it off on the back of his hand. Then, as he kept on stirring, some more of the dough splashed on his cheeks, and he had to wipe that off. So that, by this time, Baby William had on his hands and face at least as much dough as there was in the spoon.

But finally the little mischief-maker got the dough in his hat just about thick enough -- not too much flour and not too much water in it. When this point was reached he knew that it was time to get ready for the baking part -- putting the dough in the pans so it would go into the oven.

Trouble wanted to do as much toward making his own cake as he could without asking Nora to help. So now he thought he could put the dough in the baking pans himself. But they were on the table beyond his reach. He must get up to reach them.

So Trouble got up, and then --  -- 

Well, you can just imagine what happened. He forgot that he was holding in his lap the hat full of dough and as soon as he stood up of course that slipped from his lap and the table and went splashing all over the floor.

"Squee-squish-squash!" the hat full of dough dropped.

"Oh!" exclaimed Trouble. "Oh!"

His feet were covered with the white flour and water. Some splashed on Nora's chair near the table, some splashed on the table legs and more spread over the tent floor and ran in little streams toward the far edges. And, in the midst of it, like a little island in the middle of a lake of dough, was Trouble's new hat. Only now you could hardly tell which was the hat and which was the dough.

"Trouble's cake all gone!" said the little fellow sadly, and just as he said that back came Nora. She gave one look inside her nice, clean tent-kitchen -- at least it had been clean when she left it -- and then she cried:

"Oh, Trouble Martin! What have you gone and done?"

"Trouble make a cake but it spill," he said slowly, climbing down from the table.

"Spill! I should say it did spill!" cried Nora. "Oh, what a sight you are! And what will your mother say!"

"What is it now, Nora?" asked Mrs. Martin, who heard the noise in the kitchen.

"Oh, it's Trouble, as you might guess. He's tried to make a cake. But -- such a mess!"

Mrs. Martin looked in. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but, as that is rather hard to do, she did neither. She just stood and looked at Trouble. He had picked up his hat, which still had a little of the paste in it, and this was now dripping down the front of his rompers.

"Well, it's clean dirt, not like the time he was stuck in the mud of the brook at home, that's one consolation," said Nora at last. Nora had a good habit of trying to make the best of everything.

"Yes, it's clean dirt and it will wash off," agreed Mother Martin. "But, oh, Trouble! You are such a sight! And so is Nora's kitchen."

"Oh, well, I don't mind cleaning up," said the good-natured maid. "Come on, Trouble, I'll let your mother wash you and then I'll finish the cake."

"Make a cake for Trouble?" asked Baby William.

"Yes, I guess I'll have to, since you couldn't make one for yourself," laughed Nora. "Never mind, you'll be a man when you grow up and you won't have to mess around a kitchen. Here you are!" and she caught him up, all doughy as he was, and carried him to the big tent where his mother soon had him washed and in clean clothes.

Then Nora cleaned up the kitchen and made some real cakes and cookies which Ted and Jan, as well as Trouble, ate a little later. The Curlytops laughed when told of Trouble's attempt to make a cake, and for a long time after that whenever they were telling any of their friends about the queer things their baby brother did, they always told first about the cake he made in his hat one day.

"Oh, Ted, I know what let's do!" cried Janet one day, about a week after Trouble had played with the flour and water.

"What?" asked her brother. "Go fishing?"

"No, I don't like fishing. Anyhow we went fishing once, and I don't like to see the worms wiggle. Let's make a little play tent for ourselves in the woods."

"We haven't any cloth."

"We can make one of leaves and branches, just like the bower we made for Nicknack before grandpa put up the little board barn for him."

"Yes, we can do that," agreed Ted. "It'll be fun. Come on."

A little later the two Curlytops were cutting down branches from low trees, sticking the ends into the soft ground, and tying the leafy tops together with string. This made a sort of tent, and though there were holes in it, where the leaves did not quite come together, it made a shady place.

Jan brought in her dolls, and Ted his sailboat and other toys, and there the two children played for some little time. Trouble was not with them.

"But he'll be along pretty soon," remarked Janet, "and he'll want part of the tent for his. Is it big enough for three, Teddy?"

"Well, we can make Trouble a little bower for himself right next door. He'll want to bring in a lot of old stones and mud pies anyhow, and we don't want them. We'll make a little bower for him when he comes along."

So, waiting for their little brother to hunt them out, which he always did sooner or later if they went off to play without him, Ted and Jan had fun in the little leafy house they had made for themselves.

They were having a good time, and were wondering if Grandpa Martin would ever find the queer ragged man or if they would see the strange blue light again, when Jan suddenly gave a scream.

"What's the matter?" asked Ted.

"Something tickled the back of my neck," explained his sister. "Maybe it's a big worm, or a caterpillar! Look, Ted, will you?"

Teddy turned to look, but, as he did so, he gave a cry of surprise.

"It's a goat! It's our goat! It's Nicknack!" yelled Teddy. "He's stuck his head right through the bower and, oh, Jan! he's eating it!"

And so Nicknack was. His head was half-way through the side of the tree-tent nearest Jan and the goat was chewing some of the green leaves. It was Nicknack's whiskers that had tickled Jan on the back of her neck.

"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Ted, as the goat from the outside pushed his way farther into the tent. "Whoa, there! You'll upset this place in a minute!"

And so it seemed Nicknack would do, for he was hungrily eating the leaves of the branches from which Jan and Ted had made their playhouse.

"How'd he get loose?" asked Jan.

"I don't know," Ted answered. "I tied him good and tight by his rope. I wonder if --  -- "

Just then a voice called:

"Wait for me, Nicknack! Wait for me!"

"It's Trouble!" cried Jan and Ted together.

Ted looked out through the hole the goat had eaten in the side of the bower, and saw Baby William toddling toward him.

"Did you let Nicknack loose?" demanded Ted.

"Ess, I did," answered Trouble. "I cutted his wope with a knife, I did. I wants a wide. Wait for me, Nicknack!"

The goat was in no hurry to get away, for he liked to eat the green leaves, and Ted, coming out of the bower, which was almost ready to fall down now that the goat was half-way inside it, saw where the rope, fast around his pet's horns, had been cut.

"You mustn't do that, Trouble," Ted said to his little brother. "You mustn't cut Nicknack's rope. He might run away into the lake."

"Trouble wants a wide."

"Well, we'll give you a ride," added Jan. "But did mother or Nora give you the knife to cut the rope?"

"No. Trouble got knife offen table."

"Oh, you must never do that!" cried Jan. "You might fall on the sharp knife and cut yourself. Trouble was bad!"

The little fellow had really taken a knife from the table, and had sawed away with it on Nicknack's rope until he had cut it through. Then Nicknack had wandered over to the green bower to get something to eat, and Trouble, dropping the knife, had followed.

Mrs. Martin, to punish Baby William so he would remember not to take knives again, would not let him have a goat ride, and he cried very hard when Ted and Jan went off without him. But even little boys must learn not to do what is wrong, and Trouble was no different from any others.

One afternoon, when the Curlytops had been wandering around the woods of the island, looking to see if any berries were yet ripe, they came back to camp rather tired and warm.

"I know what would be nice for you," said Nora, who came to the flap doorway of the kitchen tent. "Yes, I know two things that would be nice for you."

"What?" asked Jan, fanning herself with her sunbonnet.

"I hope it's something good to eat," sighed Teddy, as he sat down in the shade.

"Part of it," answered Nora. "How would you like some cool lemonade -- that is, when you are not so warm," she added quickly, for Teddy had jumped up on hearing this, and was about to make a rush for the kind cook. "You must always rest a bit, when you are so warm from running, walking or playing, before you take a cold drink of anything."

"But have you any lemonade?" asked Janet, for she, too, was tired and thirsty.

"I'll make some, and you may have it when you are not so heated," went on the cook. "And I'll get some sweet crackers for you."

"That's nice," said Janet. "Are they the two things you were going to tell us to do, Nora?"

"No, I'll count the lemonade and crackers as one," went on the cook with a smile. "The other thing I was going to tell you to do is to take Nicknack and have a ride. That will cool you off if you go in the shade."

"Oh, so it will!" cried Ted. "We'll do it! And can we take the lemonade in a bottle, and the crackers in a bag, and put them in the goat-wagon?"

"Do you mean to give the crackers and lemonade a ride, too?" asked Mother Martin, who came out of her tent just then.

"No, but we can take them with us, and have a little picnic in the woods," explained Teddy. "We didn't find any berries, and so we didn't have any picnic."

"All right, Nora, give them the lemonade and crackers to take with them," said Mrs. Martin, smiling at the Curlytops.

"I'll go and make the cool drink now," said the cook.

"And I'll get the crackers," said the children's mother.

"And we'll go and get Nicknack and harness him to the cart," added Ted.

He and Janet were soon on their way to the little leafy bower where the goat was kept, for it was so warm on Star Island that the goat did not stay more than half the time in the stable Grandpa Martin had made for him.

"Here, Nicknack! where are you?" called Teddy, as he neared the bower.

"Here, Nicknack!" called Janet.

But the goat did not answer. Nearly always, when he was called to in that way, he did, giving a loud "Baa-a-a-a-a!" that could be heard a long way.

"Oh, Nicknack isn't here!" cried Jan, when she saw the empty place. "Maybe he's run away, Ted."

"He must be on the island somewhere," said the little boy. "He can't row a boat and get off, and he doesn't like to swim, I guess, though he did fall into the water once."

"But where is he?" asked Janet.

"We'll look," Teddy said.

So the children peered about in the bushes, but not a sign of Nicknack could they see. They called and called, but the goat did not bleat back to them.

"Oh, where can he be?" asked Janet, and her eyes filled with tears, for she loved the pet animal very much.

"We'll look," said Teddy. "And if we can't find him we'll ask grandpa to help us look."

They wandered about, but not going too far from the leafy bower, and, all at once, Ted cried:

"Hark! I hear him!"

"So do I!" added Janet. "Oh, where is he?"

"Listen!" returned her brother.

They both listened, hardly breathing, so as to make as little noise as possible. Once more they heard the cry of the goat:

"Baa-a-a-a-a-a!" went Nicknack. "Baa-a-a-a!"

"He's over this way!" cried Teddy, and he started to run to the left.

"No, I think he's here," and Janet pointed to the right.

"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mrs. Martin, who came out just then to see what was keeping the children.

"We can hear Nicknack, but we can't see him," answered Ted.

Mrs. Martin listened to the goat's call.

"I think he's down this path," she said, and she took one midway between those Ted and Janet would have taken. "Come along!" she called back to the two children. "We'll soon find Nicknack."

"Here, Nicknack! Here, Nicknack!" called Ted.

"Come on, we want you to give us a ride!" added Janet.

But though the goat answered, as he nearly always did, his voice sounded afar off, and he did not come running to see his little friends.

"Oh, I wonder if anything is the matter with him?" asked Ted.

"We'll soon see," said Mrs. Martin.

Just then the barking of a dog was heard.

"Oh, I wonder if that's Skyrocket?" asked Janet.

"No, we left our dog home," said Mrs. Martin. "That sounds like a strange dog, and he seems to be barking at Nicknack. Come on, children. We'll see what the matter is!"

They hurried on, and, in a little while, they saw what had happened. Nicknack was caught in a thick bush by the rope around his horns. He had pulled the rope loose from his leafy bower, and it had dragged along after him as he wandered away. Then the end of the rope had become tangled in a thick bush and the goat could not pull it loose. He was held as tightly as if tied.

In front of him, but far enough away so the goat could not butt him with his horns, which Nicknack tried to do, was a big, and not very nice-looking, dog. This dog was barking fiercely at Nicknack, and the goat could not make him go away.

"Oh, Mother! don't let the dog hurt our goat!" begged Janet.

"I'll drive him away," cried Ted, catching up a stone.

"No, you had better let me do it," said Mrs. Martin. She picked up a stick and walked toward the dog, but he did not wait for her to get very close. With a last howl and a bark at Nicknack, the dog ran away, jumped into the lake and swam off toward shore. Then the rope was loosed and Nicknack, who was badly frightened, was led back by Ted and Jan and hitched to the wagon. He then gave them a fine ride. The dog was a stray one, which had swum over from the mainland, Grandpa Martin said.

Ted and Janet took the lemonade and crackers with them in the goat-wagon and had a nice little picnic in the woods.

"What can we do to-day?" asked Janet, as she and Teddy finished breakfast in the tent one morning, and, after playing about on the beach of the lake, wanted some other fun.

"Let's go swimming!" cried Teddy.

"And take Trouble with us," added his sister.

In their bathing suits and with Nora on the bank to watch them, the children were soon splashing in the cool water. Ted could swim a little bit, and Jan was just learning.

"Come on out where it's a little deeper," Ted urged his sister. "It isn't up to your knees here, and you can't swim in such shallow water."

"I'm afraid to go out," she said.

"Afraid of what?"

"Big fish or a crab."

"Pooh! those little crabs won't bite you, and when we splash around we scare away all the fish. They wouldn't bite you anyhow."

"Maybe a water snake would."

"No, it wouldn't," declared Ted. "Come on and see me swim."

So Jan waded out a little way with him. Ted was just taking a few strokes, really swimming quite well for so small a boy, when, all at once, he heard a cry from his sister.

"Oh, Ted! Ted!" she called. "Come on in, quick. A big fish is goin' to bite you!"

Ted gave one look over his shoulder and saw something with a pointed nose, long whiskers and two bright eyes swimming toward him.

"Oh!" yelled Ted, and he began running for shore as fast as he could splash through the water.



Chapter XIII

Jan's Queer Ride


"What's the matter? What is it?" cried Nora from the bank where she was tossing bits of wood into the lake for Trouble to pretend they were little boats. "Have you got a cramp, Teddy boy?"

"It's a -- a big fish -- or -- somethin'," he panted, as he kept on running and splashing the water all about, which, after all, did not matter as he was in his bathing suit.

"It's a shark after him!" cried Jan, who, by this time, was safe on shore, stopping on her way to grasp Trouble by the hand and lead him also to safety. "It's a shark!"

She had heard her mother read of bathers in the ocean being sometimes frightened by sharks, or by big fish that looked like sharks.

"Oh, a shark! Good land! We mustn't bathe here any more!" cried Nora.

By this time Ted was in such shallow water that it was not much above his ankles. He could see the bottom, and he hoped no very big fish could swim in so little water. So he thought it would be safe to stop and look back.

"Oh, it's coming some more!" cried Jan, from where she stood on the bank with Nora and Trouble. "Look, Ted! It's coming."

The animal, fish, or whatever it was, indeed seemed to be coming straight for the shore near the place where the Curlytops were playing. Ted, Jan and Nora could see the sharp nose and the bright eyes more plainly now. As for Trouble, he did not know what it was all about, and he wanted to go back in the water to wade, which was as near swimming as he ever came.

Then the strange creature turned and suddenly made for a small rock, which stood out of the water a little way from the sandy beach. It climbed out on the rock, while the children and Nora watched eagerly, and then Ted gave a laugh.

"Why!" he exclaimed, "it's nothing but a big muskrat!"

"A muskrat?" echoed Jan.

"Yes."

"And see, he has a mussel, or fresh-water clam," said Nora. "Look at him crack the shell."

And this is what the muskrat was really doing. It had been swimming in the lake -- for muskrats are good swimmers -- when it had found a fresh-water mussel, which is like a clam except that it has a longer shell that is black instead of white. Muskrats like mussels, but they cannot eat them in water.

They have to bring them up on shore, or to a flat rock or stump that sticks up out of water, where they can crack the shell and eat the mussel inside.

"If I'd a known what it was I wouldn't 'a' been scared," said Ted, who felt a little ashamed of himself for hurrying toward shore. "You frightened me yelling so, Jan."

"Well, I didn't want to see you get bit by a shark, Teddy. First I thought it was a shark."

"Well, sharks live in the ocean, where the water is salty," declared Ted.

"Anyhow maybe a muskrat bites," went on Janet.

"Well, maybe," agreed Ted. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't stay there when he came swimming in," for the big rat passed right over the place where Ted had been about to swim. "I'm glad you yelled, Janet."

"So'm I. I'm not going in swimming here any more."

"Oh, he won't come back," Ted said. "Come on!"

But Janet would not go, and as it was no fun for Ted to splash in the water all alone he stayed near shore and went wading with Trouble and his sister.

This was fun, and the Curlytops had a good time, while Nora, now that she knew there was no danger from sharks, sat in the shade and mended holes in the children's stockings.

"I wish we had a boat," said Ted after a while.

"Why, we have," answered Jan.

"Yes, I know, the big rowboat. But that's too heavy for me and you -- I mean you and me," and Ted quickly corrected himself, for he knew it was polite always to name oneself last. "But I want a little boat that we can paddle around in."

Jan thought for a moment and then cried:

"Oh, I know the very thing!"

"What?" asked Ted eagerly.

"One of the boxes grandpa brought the things in from the store. They're long, and we can make box-boats of them. There's two of 'em!"

"That's what we can!" cried Teddy, as he thought of the boxes his sister meant. Groceries from the store had been sent to the camp in them. The boxes were strong, and long; big enough for Jan or Ted to sit down in them and reach over the sides to paddle, not being too high.

Mother Martin said they might take the boxes and make of them the play-boats they wanted, and, in great delight, Ted and his sister ran to get their new playthings.

Grandpa Martin pulled out all the nails that might scratch the children, and he also fastened strips of wood over the largest cracks in the boxes.

"That will keep out some of the water, but not all," he said. "Your box-boats won't float very long. They'll sink as soon as enough water runs in through the other cracks."

"Oh, well, we'll paddle in them in shallow water," promised Ted. "And sinking won't hurt, 'cause we've got on our bathing suits. Come on, Jan!"

Trouble wanted to sail in the new boats, also, but they were not large enough for two. Besides Mrs. Martin did not want the baby to be in the water too much. So she carried him away, Trouble crying and screaming to be allowed to stay, while Jan and Ted got ready for their first trip. They pretended the boats were ocean steamers and that the cove in the lake, near grandpa's camp, was the big ocean.

They had pieces of wood which their grandfather had whittled out for them to use as paddles, and, as Ted said, they could sit down in the bottoms of the box-boats and never mind how much water came in, for they still had on their bathing suits.

"All aboard!" called Teddy, as he got into his boat.

"I'm coming," answered Janet, pushing off from shore.

"Oh, I can really paddle!" cried Ted in delight, as he found that his box floated with him in it and he could send it along by using the board for a paddle, as one does in a canoe. "Isn't this great, Janet?"

"Oh, it's lots of fun!"

"I'm glad you thought of it. I never would," went on Ted. He was a good brother, for, whenever his sister did anything unusual like this he always gave her credit for it.

Around and around in the little cove paddled the Curlytops, having fun in their box-boats.

"I'm going to let the wind blow me," said Jan, after a bit. "I'm tired of paddling."

"There isn't any wind," Ted remarked.

"Well, what makes me go along, then!" asked his sister. "Look, I'm moving and I'm not paddling at all!"

She surely was. In her boat she was sailing right across the little cove, and, as Ted had said, there was not enough wind to blow a feather, to say nothing of a heavy box with a little girl in it.

"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Janet. "What makes me go this way, Ted? You aren't sailing."

Ted's boat was not moving now, for he had stopped paddling.

Still Jan's craft moved on slowly but surely through the water. Then Ted saw a funny thing and gave a cry of surprise.



Chapter XIV

Digging For Gold


"What's the matter?" called Jan. Her boat was now quite a little distance away from her brother's. "Do you see anything, Teddy?"

"I see you are being towed, Janet."

"Being what?"

"Towed -- pulled along, you know, just like the mules pull the canal boats."

Once the Curlytops had visited a cousin who lived in the country near a canal, and they had seen the mules and horses walking along the canal towpath pulling the big boats by a long rope.

"Who's towing me, Ted?" asked Jan, trying to look over the side of her box. But, as she did so it tipped to one side and she was afraid it would upset, so she quickly sat down again.

"I don't know what it is," her brother answered. "But something has hold of the rope that's fast to the front part of your box, and it's as tight as anything -- the rope is. Something in the water is pulling you along."

On each of the box-boats the Curlytops had fastened a piece of clothes-line their mother had given them. This line was to tie fast their boats to an overhanging tree branch, near the shore of the cove, when they were done playing.

And, as Ted had said, the rope fast to the end of Jan's box was stretched out tightly in front, the end being down under water.

"Oh, maybe it's the big muskrat that has hold of my rope and is giving me a ride," cried Janet. "It's fun!"

"No, I don't guess it's a rat," answered Teddy. "A muskrat wouldn't do that. Oh, I see what it is!" he cried suddenly. "I see it!"

"What?" asked Janet.

Again she got up and tried to look over the side of the box, but once more it tipped as though going to turn over and she sat down.

By this time both her box and Ted's was half full of water, and so went only very slowly along the little cove. The weight of the water that had leaked in through the cracks and the weight of the Curlytops themselves made the boxes float low in the lake.

"Can you see what's pulling me?" asked Janet.

"Yes," answered Teddy, "I can. It's a great big mud turtle!"

"A mud turtle!" cried Janet.

"I guess he's scared, too," said her brother, "for he's swimmin' all around as fast as anything!"

"Where is he?" asked Janet.

"Right in front of your boat. I guess your rope got caught around one of his legs, or on his shell, and he can't get it loose. He must have been swimming along and run into the rope. Or maybe he's got it in his mouth."

"If he had he could let go," answered Janet. "Oh, I see him!" she cried. She had stood up in her box and was looking over the front. The box had now sunk so low in the water that it was on the bottom of the little cove and no longer was the turtle towing it along.

The turtle, finding that it could no longer swim, had come to the top of the water and was splashing about, trying to get loose. Jan could see it plainly now, as Ted had seen it before from his boat, which was still floating along, as not so much water had leaked in as had seeped into his sister's.

"Oh, isn't it a big one!" cried Jan. "It's a big turtle."

"It surely is!" assented Ted. "He could bite hard if he got hold of you."

"Is he biting my rope?" Janet asked.

"No, it's round one of his front legs," replied Ted. "There! he's got it loose!"

"There he goes!" shrieked Jan.

By this time the mud turtle, which was a very large one, had struggled and squirmed about so hard in the water that he had shaken loose the knot in the end of Jan's rope. The knot had been caught under its left front leg and when the turtle swam or crawled along on the bottom, the rope had been held tightly in place, and so the box was pulled along.

But when Jan's boat sank and went aground, the turtle could not pull it any farther, and had to back up, just as Nicknack the goat sometimes backed up his cart. This made the rope slack, or loose, and then the creature could shake the knot of the rope out from under its leg.

"There it goes!" cried Ted, as the turtle swam away. "Oh, what a whopper! It's bigger than the big muskrat!"

"Your muskrat didn't give you a ride Ted, and my turtle gave me a fine one," said Jan. "But I can't sail my boat any more."

"Well, we'll have to empty out some of the water. Then it will float again and you can get in it."

"I'm not going to let the rope drag in the water any more," decided Janet, after Ted had helped her tip her box over so the water would run out. "I don't really want any more rides like that. The next turtle might go out into the lake. I want to paddle."

"I wish a big whale would come along and tow me," laughed Ted. "I wouldn't let him go loose."

"He might pull you all across the lake," Janet said.

"I'd like that. Come on, we'll have a race."

"All right, Ted."

The Curlytops began paddling their box-boats about the cove once more. Ted won the race, being older and stronger than Janet, but she did very well.

Then after some more fun sailing about in their floating boxes the children were called by their mother, who said they had been in the water long enough. Besides dinner was ready, and they were hungry for the good things Nora had made.

"And didn't you find any of them, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin as the farmer pushed back his chair, when the meal was over.

"No, I didn't see a sign of them, and I looked all over the cave, too. Some persons have been sleeping in there, for I found a pile of old bags they had used for a bed, but I didn't find anyone."

"Find who?" Ted inquired.

"The tramps, or the ragged man you and Jan saw," answered his grandfather. "I have been looking about the island, but I could not find any of the ragged men, for I think there was more than one. So I guess they've gone, and we needn't think anything more about them."

"Did you see the blue light?" asked Ted.

"No, I didn't see that, either. I guess it wouldn't show in the daytime. But don't worry. Just have all the fun you can in camp. We can't stay here very much longer."

"Oh, do we have to go home?" cried the Curlytops, sorrowfully.

"Well, we can't stay here much longer," said Mother Martin. "In another month the weather will be too cold for living in a tent. Besides daddy will want us back, and grandpa has to gather in his farm crops for the winter. So have fun while you can."

"Isn't daddy coming here?" asked Jan.

"Yes, he'll be here next week to stay several days with us. Then he has to go back to the store."

The Curlytops had great fun when Daddy Martin came. They showed him all over the island -- the cave, the place where Nicknack nearly ate up the bower-tent, the place where Ted saw the muskrat, and they even wanted him to go riding in the box-boats.

"Oh, I'm afraid I'm too big!" laughed Daddy Martin. "Besides, I'd be afraid if a mud turtle pulled me along."

"Oh, Daddy Martin! you would not!" laughed Janet.

And so the happy days went by, until Mr. Martin had to leave Star Island to go back to his business. He promised to pay another visit, though, before the camp was ended.

Several times, before and after Daddy Martin's visit, Ted and Jan talked about the queer ragged man they had seen, and about the blue light and the cave.

"I wonder if we'll ever find out what it all means," said Jan. "It's like a story-book, isn't it, Ted?"

"A little, yes. But grandpa says not to be scared so I'm not."

"I'm not, either. But what do you s'pose that ragged man is looking for, and who is the professor?"

Teddy did not know, and said so. Then, when he and Jan got back to the tent, having been out with Trouble for a ride in the goat-cart, they found good news awaiting them.

"Here is a letter from Hal Chester, the little boy who used to be lame," said Mrs. Martin, for grandpa had come in, bringing the mail from the mainland post-office.

"Oh, can he come to pay us a visit?" asked Ted. His mother had allowed him to invite Hal.

"Yes, that's what he is going to do," went on Mrs. Martin. "His doctor says he is much better, and can walk with hardly a limp now, and the trip here will do him good. So to-morrow Grandpa Martin is going to bring him to Star Island."

"Oh, goody!" cried Ted and Jan, jumping up and down and clapping their hands. Trouble did the same thing, though he did not know exactly what for.

"We'll have fun with Hal!" cried Ted. "Maybe he'll help us find the tramp-man. Hal's smart -- he can make kites and lots of things."

The next day Hal Chester came to visit the camp on Star Island.

"Say, this is a dandy place!" he exclaimed as he looked about at the tents and at the boat floating in the little cove. "I'll just love it here!"

"It's awful nice," agreed Jan.

"And there's a mystery here, too," added Ted.

"What do you mean?" Hal demanded. "What's a mystery?"

"Oh, it's something queer," went on Ted. "Something you can't tell what it is. This mystery is a tramp."

"A tramp?"

"Yes. Jan saw him when she was picking flowers, and he pulled Trouble out of the spring afterward. And there's a cave here where maybe he sleeps, 'cause there's some bags for beds in it. He's looking for something on this island, that tramp-man is," declared Ted.

"Looking for something?" repeated Hal, quite puzzled.

"Yes. He goes all around, and we saw him picking up some stones. Didn't we, Jan?"

"Yes, we did."

"Picking up stones," repeated Hal slowly. Then he sprang up from where he was sitting under a tree with the Curlytop children.

"I know what he's looking for!" Hal cried.

"What?"

"Gold!" and Hal's voice changed to a whisper. "That tramp knows there's gold on this island, and he's trying to dig it up so you won't know it. He's after gold -- that's what he is!"

"Oh!" gasped Jan, her eyes shining brightly.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ted. "Can't we stop him? This is grandpa's island. He mustn't take grandpa's gold."

"There's only one way to stop him," said Hal quickly.

"How?" demanded Ted and Janet in the same breath.

"We'll have to dig for the gold ourselves! Come on, let's get some shovels and we'll start right away. It must be up near the cave. Come on! We'll dig for the gold ourselves!"



Chapter XV

The Big Hole


Hal Chester was very much in earnest. His eyes shone and he could not keep still. He fairly danced around Janet and Ted.

"Do you really think that tramp-man was looking for gold?" asked Ted.

"'Deed I do," declared Hal. "What else was he after?"

Neither Ted nor Janet could answer that.

"But how will we know where it is?" asked Janet. "We don't know where there's any gold, and mother won't want us to go near that tramp-man."

"And I don't want to, either," answered Hal. "But we can dig down till we find the gold, can't we?"

"If we knowed -- I mean if we knew where to dig," agreed Ted, after thinking about it. "But digging for gold isn't like digging for angle-worms to go fishing. You can dig them anywhere. But you've got to have a gold mine to dig for gold."

"Well, we'll start a mine," decided Hal. "That's what the miners do out West. I read about it in a book at the Home when I was crippled and couldn't walk much. The miners just start to dig, and if they don't find gold in one place they dig in another. That's what we'll do. We'll dig till we find the gold, then well have a gold mine."

"Oh, yes, let's do it!" cried Jan. "I'd love to have some gold to make a pair of bracelets for my doll."

"Pooh!" scoffed Ted, "if we get gold we aren't going to waste it on doll's bracelets! Are we, Hal?"

"Well, if Jan helps us dig she can have her share of the gold. That's what miners always do. They divide up the gold and each one takes his share. Of course Jan can do what she likes with hers."

"There, see, Mr. Smarty!" cried Jan to her brother. "I'll make my gold into doll's bracelets."

"Maybe you won't get any," objected Ted.

"Well, I'll help you dig, anyhow. I helped grandpa dig trenches around the tents so the rain water would run off, and I can help dig a gold mine. I know where the shovels are."

"Good!" cried Hal.

"We don't want any girls in this gold mine!" objected Ted, as his sister hurried off to where Grandpa Martin kept the shovels, hoes and other garden tools he used about the camp.

Usually Ted did not mind what game his sister played with him, but since Hal had spoken of gold the little Curlytop boy had acted differently.

"We don't want girls in the gold mine," repeated Ted.

"Course we do!" laughed Hal. "Jan's a strong digger, and I can't do very much, as my foot that used to be lame isn't all well yet. It used to be almost as strong as the other, but now it isn't. So you and Jan will have to do most of the digging, though I can shovel away the dirt. Anyhow they always have girls or women in gold camps, you know."

"They do?" cried Ted.

"Of course! They do the cooking where there aren't any Chinamen. Mostly Chinamen do the cooking in gold camps, but we haven't any, so we'll have to have a girl. She can be Jan."

"There's a Chinaman who washes shirts and collars in our town," remarked Ted. "Maybe we could get him to cook for us."

"No! What's the use when we've got Jan? Anyhow it'll be only make-believe cooking, and I don't guess that shirt-Chinaman would want to come here just for that. Anyhow we'd have to pay him and we haven't any money."

"We'll get some out of the gold mine," Ted answered.

"Well, maybe we won't find any gold for a week or so."

"Does it take as long as that?"

"Oh, yes. Sometimes longer. And that Chinaman would want to be paid for his cooking every week, or every night maybe. We won't have to pay Jan."

"That's so. Well, then I guess she can come. But we can get my mother or Nora to make us sandwiches and we won't have to cook much of anything."

"That's what I thought, Teddy. But we can let Jan set the table and things like that when she isn't digging. She'll help a lot."

"Yes, she's almost as strong as I am," agreed Ted. "Hurry up, Jan!" he called. "Got those shovels yet?"

"Yes, but I can't carry 'em all. You must help. Come on!"

Jan was walking back toward the boys, dragging two heavy shovels. Seeing this, Hal hurried to help her and Ted followed. They got another shovel and a hoe and with these they started off toward the cave, about which Ted had told Hal.

"That'll be the place where the gold is," decided the visitor. "The tramps must have been looking for it there. We'll start our gold mine right near the cave."

"What about something to eat?" asked Ted, pausing as they started up the path that led to the hole out of which the cave opened.

"That's so. We ought to have something. I'm getting hungry now," remarked Jan, though it was not long since they had had a meal.

"So'm I," announced Ted.

"Better not stop to go back for anything to eat now," decided Hal. "Your mother or grandma might make us stay in camp. Did you tell them we were going to dig for gold, Jan?"

"No. I didn't see any of them when I got the shovels."

"Well then, we'll go on up to the cave. One of us can come back later and get something to eat. They call it 'grub' in the books."

"Call what grub?" Ted asked.

"Stuff the miners eat. We'll send Jan back for the grub after we start the gold mine. You're going to be the cook," Hal informed Ted's sister.

"I am not!" she cried, dropping her shovel. "I'm going to be a gold miner just like you two. If I can't be that I won't play, and I'll take my shovel right back! So there now!"

"Oh, you can be a gold miner too," Hal made haste to say. "But we've got to have a cook -- they always do in a gold camp."

"Well, I'll be a cook when I'm not digging gold," agreed Jan. "But I want to get enough for my doll's bracelets."

"That's all right," agreed Hal. It would not do to have Jan leave them right at the start.

If Mrs. Martin or grandpa saw the children starting out with hoe and shovels they probably thought the Curlytops were only going to dig fish worms, as they often did. Grandpa Martin was very fond of fishing, but he did not like to dig the bait. But Trouble was fretful that day, and his mother had to take care of him, so she did not pay much attention to Jan or Ted, feeling sure they would come to no harm.

So on the three children hurried toward the hole into which Ted had fallen just before they found the queer cave.

"This is just the place for a gold mine!" cried Hal when he looked at the ground around the big hole. "I guess some one must have started a mine here once before."

"It does look so," agreed Ted.

"Let's go into the cave," proposed the visitor.

"No, grandpa told us we must never go in without him," objected Jan. "It's all right to stay outside here and dig, but we mustn't go inside. The tramps might be in there."

"That's right," chimed in Ted. "Well stay outside."

Hal was not very anxious, himself, to go into the dark hole, so they looked at the place where Ted had fallen through the loose leaves and talked about whether it would be better to start to make that hole larger or begin a new one. The children decided the last would be the best thing to do.

"We'll start a new mine of our own," said Hal. "I guess maybe somebody dug there and couldn't find any gold. So we'll start a new mine."

This suited the Curlytops and they soon began making the dirt fly with shovels and hoe, digging a hole that was large enough for all three of them to stand in. Hal said they didn't want to start by making too small a mine.

"If we've got to divide it into three parts we want each one's part big enough to see," he said, and Ted and Jan agreed to this.

The ground was of sand and very easy to dig. There were no big rocks, only a few small stones, and of course this was just what the children liked. So that in about half an hour they had really dug quite a deep hole. It was almost as easy digging as it is in the sand at the seashore, and if any of you have been there you know how soon, even if you use only a big clam shell for a shovel, you can make a hole deep enough for you and your playmates to stand up in.

"Do you see any gold yet?" asked Jan of the two boys, when they had dug down so that only the top parts of their bodies were out of the big hole.

"No, not yet. But we'll come to it pretty soon," Hal said.

"Say, how're we going to get up when the hole gets too deep?" asked Ted. "We ought to have a ladder or something."

"There's a ladder in camp," answered Jan. "Grandpa had it when he put up our real rope swing. Don't you remember, Ted?"

"Yes, that's right. We'd better get it if we're going any deeper, Hal," he added.

"Course we're going deeper. Gold mines are real deep. I guess the ladder would be a good thing."

"Then we'll go for it. Jan, you can come and get us something to eat, too. I'm awful hungry."

"So'm I," said Hal.

While Jan was in the tent-kitchen begging Nora for some cookies and sandwiches, Ted and Hal carried the small ladder, which was not very heavy, up to the big hole they had started. By putting one end of the ladder down inside, allowing it to slant up to the top of the hole, the children could easily get down in and climb up.

After they had eaten the things Jan got from Nora, they began digging again. The hole was soon so deep that the dirt which was shoveled and hoed away from the bottom and sides could no longer be tossed out by Ted and Jan.

"We've got to get a pail and hoist up the dirt," decided Hal. "That's what they do in gold mines. One of us must stay at the bottom and dig the dirt and fill the pail, and the other pull it up by a rope."

"We'll take turns," said Teddy.

"And I want to help, too!" cried Jan, so the boys agreed to let her, especially as they had seen that she could dig and toss dirt almost as well as they could. They found an old pail and part of a clothes-line for the rope, and the work at the "gold mine," as they called it, went on more merrily than before.

By this time the hole was really quite deep -- so deep that Hal Chester could not see over the rim when he stood up straight on the bottom, and only by using the ladder could the children get down and up.

"We ought to find gold pretty soon now," said Hal, as he climbed up to let Ted take a turn at going down in the hole and digging.

Just then from the camp they heard the sound of the supper bell.

"Come on!" called Ted, not waiting to go down into the big hole. "We can dig some more after supper and to-morrow. I'm hungry!"

"So'm I," agreed Hal.

Leaving their shovels and the hoe on the pile of dirt, the children hastened down to the tent where Nora had supper waiting for them, and it had a most delicious smell.

"Where have you children been?" asked Mrs. Martin.

"Oh, havin' fun," answered Ted.

"Don't forget your 'g,' Curlytop," warned his mother with a laugh. "Are you hungry, Hal?"

"Indeed I am! This island is a good place for getting hungry."

"And this is a good place to be stopped from getting hungry," laughed Grandpa Martin, as he pulled his chair up to the well-filled table near which Nora stood ready to serve the meal.

The Curlytops and Hal had just a little idea that the grown folks would not like their plan of digging a gold mine, so nothing was said about it. Hal, Ted and Jan looked at one another when their plates were emptied, and then all three of them started once more back toward the big hole.

"Where are you going?" asked Mother Martin.

"We --  -- " began Jan, then stopped.

"Oh, we -- we're playing a game," answered Ted. It was a sort of game.

"Can't you take Trouble with you? You haven't looked after him to-day," went on Mrs. Martin, "and I want to help Nora. Take Trouble with you."

"All right," agreed Ted, though he thought perhaps Baby William might be in the way at the gold mine.

"Where is he?" asked Jan.

They looked around for the little fellow. He was not in sight.

"He got down from the table and was playing over there on the path a while ago," said Grandpa Martin, and he pointed toward the path that led to the gold mine. But Trouble was not in sight now.

"He must have wandered off into the woods," said his mother. "I've kept him close by me all day, and he didn't like it. Trouble! William!" she called aloud. "Where are you?"

Ted and Jan looked at one another. Hal seemed startled. The same thought came to all three of them:

"Suppose Trouble had fallen down the big hole at the gold mine?"



Chapter XVI

A Glad Surprise


Janet, Ted and Hal started to run.

"Where are you going?" called Mrs. Martin after them. "Wait for Trouble!"

"We're going to find him," answered Janet.

"Maybe he fell down the big hole we dug for a gold mine," added Ted.

"What do you mean?" gasped Mrs. Martin.

"What have you Curlytops been up to now?" asked Grandpa Martin.

"We dug a big hole to find the gold the tramps are looking for on this island," explained Hal, who walked on slowly, following Mrs. Martin, who had run after Ted and Janet. "Maybe the little boy fell into it."

"Where did you dig the big hole?" asked grandpa, and he, too, began to be afraid that something had happened.

"Up near what Ted calls the cave. It's got a ladder in it, our gold mine hole has, and maybe Trouble could climb out on that."

"If it's a hole deep enough for a ladder, I'm afraid he couldn't," said Grandpa Martin. "You children must have dug a pretty big hole."

"We wanted to find the gold," explained Hal.

"What gold?"

"The gold the tramps are looking for here on Star Island. Ted told me about them, and I suppose they were after gold. We want to find it first."

"There isn't any gold here, and you mustn't dig holes so deep that Trouble -- or anyone else -- would wander off and fall into them," said Mr. Martin. "However, I presume it will be all right. But we must hurry there and find out what has happened."

He and Hal hastened on, following Mrs. Martin and the Curlytops, who were now out of sight around a turn in the path that led to the big hole. Hal was rather frightened, for he knew it was his idea, more than the plans of Jan and Ted, that had caused the "gold mine" to be dug.

On and on, along the path and up the hill hurried grandpa and Mrs. Martin and the children. They called aloud for Trouble, but he did not answer. At least they could not hear him if he did. He must have gone quietly away from the table when no one noticed him. He had had his supper before the Curlytops and Hal came from their digging.

"There's the pile of dirt," called back Ted, who was running on ahead. He pointed to the mound of yellow sand that he, Hal and Jan had dug out of the hole.

"And some one is there, digging!" cried Jan. "Oh, maybe it's Trouble!"

"I only hope he hasn't fallen in and hurt himself!" murmured Mrs. Martin.

By this time Grandpa Martin and Hal had caught up to the others. They could all see some one making the dirt fly on top of the yellow mound of sand at one side of the big hole.

As Ted came nearer he saw a man on top of the dirt, using a shovel. The man was digging quickly, and at first Teddy thought it was one of the tramps. But a second look showed him he was wrong. And then came a glad surprise, for the man called:

"I'll have him out in a minute. He isn't under very deep!"

"Why it's the lollypop man!" cried Jan.

And so it was, Mr. Sander, the jolly, fat man who sold waffles and lollypops.

"Is Trouble in the hole? Are you digging him out?" gasped Mrs. Martin, and she felt as though she were going to faint, she said afterward.

"No! Trouble isn't here -- I mean he isn't in the hole!" cried Mr. Sander. "It's your goat, Nicknack, who's buried under the sand. But his nose is sticking out so he won't smother, and I'll soon have him all the way out."

"But where is Trouble?" cried Baby William's mother.

"There he is, safe and sound, tied to a tree so he can't get in the way of the dirt I'm shoveling out. I didn't want to throw sand in his eyes!" cried the lollypop man. "Trouble is all right!"

And so the little fellow was, though he had been crying, perhaps from fright, and his face was tear-streaked and dirty. But he was safe.

With a glad cry his mother loosed the rope by which Mr. Sander had carefully tied Trouble to a near-by tree and gathered him up in her arms.

Meanwhile Grandpa Martin caught up one of the shovels and began to help the lollypop man dig in the sand. The Curlytops and Hal saw what had happened. A lot of the dirt they had shoveled out had slid back into the big hole, almost filling it. And caught under this dirt was Nicknack, their goat. Only the black tip of his nose stuck out, and it is a good thing this much of him was uncovered, or he might have smothered under the sand.

"How did it happen?" asked Ted.

"There must have been a cave-in at our gold mine," said Hal.

"But how did Nicknack get here?" Ted went on.

"I guess Trouble must have untied him and brought him here," suggested Janet.

Then they all watched while Grandpa Martin and the lollypop man dug out the goat.

"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack as he scrambled out after most of the sand had been shoveled off his back. "Baa-a-a-a!"

"My! I guess he's glad to get out!" cried Ted.

"I guess so!" agreed the lollypop man. "I got here just as the dirt caved in on him, and I began to dig as soon as I tied Trouble out of the way so he'd be safe."

"But how did you come to be here?" asked Grandpa Martin.

"And how did our goat get here?" asked Janet.

"I saw Trouble leading him along by the strap on his horns," explained Mr. Sander. "I guess he must have taken him out of his stable when you folks weren't looking. Trouble led the goat up on top of the pile of sand near the hole. I called to him to be careful.

"Just as I did so the sand slid down and I saw the goat go down into the hole. Baby William fell down, but he didn't slide in with the dirt. Then I ran and picked him up, and I tied him to the tree with a piece of rope I found fast to a pail. I thought that was the best way to keep him out of danger while I dug out the goat."

"I guess it was," said Grandpa Martin.

"Poor Trouble cried when I tied him fast, but I knew crying wouldn't hurt him, and falling under a lot of sand might. I dug as fast as I could, for I knew how you Curlytops loved your goat. He's all right, I guess."

And Nicknack was none the worse for having been buried under the sliding sand. As they learned afterward Trouble had slipped off to have some fun by himself with the pet animal. Baby William had, somehow, found his way to the "gold mine," and pretending the pile of sand was a mountain had led Nicknack up it. Then had come the slide down into the big hole which Hal and the Curlytops had dug. If it had not been for Mr. Sander appearing when he did, poor Nicknack might have died.

"But, Trouble. You must never, never, never go away again alone with Nicknack!" warned Mother Martin. "Never! Do you hear?"

"Me won't!" promised the little fellow.

"And you children mustn't dig any more deep holes," said Grandpa Martin. "There isn't any gold on this island, so don't look for it."

"But what are the tramps looking for?" Ted asked.

"I can't tell you. But, no matter about that, don't dig any more deep holes. They're dangerous!"

"We won't!" promised the Curlytops and Hal.

"How did you come to pay a visit to Star Island, Mr. Sander?" asked the children's mother.

"Well, I'm stopping for the night on the main shore just across from here," was the answer, "so, having had my supper and having made my bed in my red wagon, I thought I'd come over and pay you a visit. I heard you were camping here, so I borrowed a boat and rowed over. I walked along this path, and I happened to see Trouble and the goat. Then I knew I had found the right place, but I did not imagine I'd have to come to the rescue of my friend Nicknack," and with a laugh he patted the shaggy coat of the animal, that rubbed up against the kind lollypop man.

"Well, come back to the tent and visit a while," was Grandpa Martin's invitation. "We're ever so much obliged to you."

"What does all this mean about tramps and a gold mine?" asked Mr. Sander. "If there's gold to be had in an easier way than by selling hot waffles from a red wagon with a white horse to pull it, I'd like to know about it," he added with a jolly laugh.

"Oh, ho! Oh, ho!" he cried. "Hot waffles do I sell. Hot waffles I love well!"

"Did you bring any with you?" asked Ted eagerly.

"Indeed I did, my little Curlytop. They may not be hot now, but maybe your mother can warm them on the stove," and picking up a package he had laid down near the tree to which he had tied Trouble, the lollypop man gave it to Mrs. Martin with a low bow.

"Waffles for the Curlytops," he said laughing.



Chapter XVII

Trouble's Playhouse


Safe once more in their camp, the children ate the waffles which Nora made nice and crisp again over the fire. Trouble was comforted and made happy by two of the sugar-covered cakes, and then everyone told his or her share in what had just happened.

"So you think there are gold-hunting tramps here?" asked the lollypop man, just before he got ready to go back to the mainland where he had left his red wagon and white horse.

"Well, there are ragged men here -- tramps I suppose you could call them," answered Grandpa Martin. "But I don't know anything about gold. That's one of Hal's ideas."

"I couldn't think of anything else they'd be looking for," explained Ted's friend. "Don't you think it might be gold, Mr. Martin?"

"Hardly -- on this island. Anyhow we haven't seen the ragged men lately, so they may have gone. Perhaps they were only stray fishermen. We would like to thank one for having pulled Trouble out of the spring, only we haven't had the chance."

"No. He ran away without stopping for thanks," said Baby William's mother. "He must be a kind man, even if he is a tramp."

After a little more talk while they were seated about the campfire Grandpa Martin built in front of the tents, during which time the lollypop man told of his travels since he had helped sell the cherries for the chewing candy, Mr. Sander rowed back to the main shore to sleep in his red wagon, which was like a little house on wheels.

"Come again!" invited Mrs. Martin.

"I will when any more goats fall into gold mines," he promised with a laugh.

The next day Grandpa Martin filled up the hole Ted, Jan and Hal had dug, thus making sure that neither Trouble nor anyone else, not even Nicknack the goat, would again fall down into it. For when the sand slid into the "gold mine," carrying the goat with it, the hole was not altogether filled. Then Grandpa Martin brought away the hoe and shovels, and told the children they must play at some other game.

"Where are you going now?" called Mrs. Martin to the two Curlytops, as they started away from camp one morning. Hal stayed in the tent, as he was tired.

"Oh, we're just going for a walk," answered Teddy.

"We want to have some fun," added his sister.

"Well, don't go digging any more gold mines," warned Grandpa Martin, with a laugh. "All the fun of camping will be spoiled if you get into that sort of trouble again."

"We won't," promised Janet, and Teddy nodded his head to show that he, too, would at least try to be good.

It was not that the Curlytops were bad -- that is, any worse than perhaps you children are sometimes, or, perhaps, some boys or girls you know of. They were just playful and full of life, and wanted to be doing something all the while.

"Do you want to take Trouble with you?" asked Mrs. Martin, as Ted and Janet started away from camp, and down a woodland path.

"Yes, we'll take him," said Janet. "Come on, little brother," she went on. "Come with sister and have some fun."

"Only I can't play in de dirt 'cause I got on a clean apron," said Baby William.

"No, we won't let you play in the dirt," Teddy remarked. "But don't fall down, either. That's where he gets so dirty," Teddy told his mother. "He's always falling down, Trouble is."

"It -- it's so -- s'ippery in de woods!" said the little fellow.

"So it is -- on the pine needles," laughed Grandpa Martin, who was going to the mainland in the boat. But this time he did not want to take the children with him. "It is slippery in the woods, Trouble, my boy. But keep tight hold of Jan's hand, and maybe you won't fall down."

"Me will," said Trouble, but he did not mean that he would fall down. He meant he would keep tight hold of Jan's hand. Then he started off by her side, with Ted walking on ahead, ready for anything he might see that would make fun for him and his sister.

Through the woods they wandered, now and then stopping to gather some pretty flowers, on graceful, green ferns, and again waiting to listen to the song of some wild bird, which flitted about from branch to branch, but which seemed always to keep out of sight amid the leaves of the forest trees.

"Oh, isn't it just lovely here!" said Janet, as they came to a little grassy dell, around which the trees grew in a sort of circle, or magic, fairy ring. "It's just like in a picture book, Teddy!"

"Yes, it is," agreed her brother.

"I don't see any pisshures," complained Trouble.

"No, there aren't real pictures here," explained Janet; "only make-believe ones. But you can sit down on the grass and roll, Trouble. The grass is so clean I guess it won't make your apron dirty. Roll on the grass."

Trouble liked nothing better than this, and he was soon sitting on the soft, green grass, pulling bits and tossing them in the air like a shower. The grass was soft and thick, and did not soil his clean clothes at all.

"Exceptin' maybe a little stain," explained Janet to Teddy; "and Nora can get that out in the wash."

After they had sat in the shade for a while, in the green, grassy place, Ted and Janet wandered off among the trees, leaving Trouble by himself. But they were not going far.

"He'll be all right for a little while," said Teddy, "and maybe we can find some sassafras or wintergreen."

"But we mustn't eat anything we find in the woods, lessen we show it to grandpa or mother," returned Janet.

"No, that's so," agreed her brother. They had been told, as all children should be who live near the woods or fields, never to eat any strange berries or plants unless some older person tells them it is all right to do so.

But Teddy and Janet could easily tell sassafras and wintergreen by the pleasant smell of the leaves. They did not find any, however. They found a bird's empty nest, though, with broken egg shells in it, showing that the little birds had been hatched out and had flown away.

All at once, as the Curlytops were wondering what else they could do, they heard Trouble calling, and his voice sounded very strange.

"Oh, what has happened to him now?" cried Janet.

"We'd better go to see!" exclaimed Teddy.

They ran back to where they had left their little brother. All they could see of him was his back and legs. He did not seem to have any head.

"Oh! Oh!" gasped Janet. "Where is Trouble's head?"

Ted did not know, and said so, and then the little fellow cried:

"Tum an' det me out! Tum an' det me out!"

Then Janet saw what had happened. Trouble had thrust his head between the crotch, or the Y-shaped part, of a tree, and had become so tightly wedged that he could not get out.

"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Janet.

"I'll show you," answered Teddy. "You can help me." Then he pushed on the little boy's head, and Janet pulled, and he was soon free again, a little scratched about the neck, and frightened, but not hurt.

"You must never do such a thing again," said Mrs. Martin, when the children reached camp and told her what had happened.

"No, we won't do it any more," promised Trouble, feeling of his neck, where he had thrust it between the parts of the tree.

"And you mustn't go off again, and leave him by himself," said their mother to the Curlytops. "There is no telling what he'll do."

"That's right," said Grandpa Martin with a laugh. "You may go away, leaving Trouble standing on his feet, but when you come back he's standing on his head. Oh, you're a great bunch of trouble!" and he caught the little fellow up in his arms and kissed him.

For several days Teddy and Janet and Hal had many good times on Star Island. Then they wanted something new for amusement.

"Let's make a trap and catch something," said Ted, after he and Jan had spoken of several ways of having fun.

"How can you make a trap?" Hal asked.

"I'll show you," offered Ted. "You just take a box, turn it upside down, and raise one end by putting a stick under it. Then you tie a string to the stick, and when you pull the string the stick is yanked out and the box falls down and you catch something."

"What do you catch?" Hal asked.

"Oh, birds, or an animal -- maybe a fox or a muskrat -- whatever goes under the box when it's raised up."

"But what makes them go under?" Hal inquired.

"To get something to eat. You see you put some bait under the box -- some crumbs for birds or pieces of meat for a fox or a muskrat. Then you hide in the bushes, with the end of the string in your hand and when you see anything right under the box you pull it and catch 'em!"

"Oh, but doesn't it hurt them?" asked Hal, who had a very kind heart.

"Maybe it might, Ted," put in Jan.

"No. It doesn't hurt 'em a bit," declared Ted. "They just stay under the box, you know, like in a cage."

"I wouldn't like to catch a bird," said Hal softly. "You see the birds are friends of Princess Blue Eyes. She wouldn't like to have them caught."

"Oh, well, we could let them go again," Ted decided, after a little thought.

"Does Princess Blue Eyes like foxes and muskrats too?" Jan asked softly.

"I guess she likes everything -- birds, animals and flowers. Anyway I make-believe she does," and Hal smiled. "Of course she's only a pretend-person, but I like to think she's real. I like to dream of her."

"I would, too," said Janet softly. "We mustn't catch any birds, Ted, nor animals, either."

"Not if we let them go right off quick?" Ted asked.

"No," and Janet shook her head. "It might scare 'em you know. And the box might fall on their legs, or their wings, if it's a bird, and hurt them."

"Well, then, we won't do it!" decided Ted. "I wouldn't want to hurt anything, and I wouldn't want to make your friend, Princess Blue Eyes, feel bad," he added to Hal. He remembered the story Hal had told about the make-believe Princess, when they sat in the green meadow studded with yellow buttercups and white daisies.

"Let's play store!" suggested Jan. "There's lots of pretty stones and shells on the shore, and we can use them for money."

"What'll we sell?" asked Hal.

"Oh, we can sell other stones -- big ones -- for bread, and sand for sugar and leaves for cookies and things like that," Janet proposed.

"I wish we had something real to eat, and then we could sell that and it would be some good," remarked Ted. "I'm going to ask Nora."

"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. "Come on, Hal. We'll get the store ready and Ted can go in and ask Nora for some real cookies and maybe a piece of cake."

Nora, good-natured as she always was, gave Ted a nice lot of broken cookies, some crackers and some lumps of sugar so the children could play store and really eat the things they sold. Hal gathered some mussel shells and colored stones on the shore of the lake, and these were money.

The store counter was made by putting a board across two boxes and they took turns being the storekeeper. Trouble wanted to play, too. But he only wanted to buy bits of molasses cookies, and he ate the pieces as fast as he got them, without pretending to go out of the store to take them home.

"Me buy more tookie!" he would say, swallowing the last crumb and hurrying up to the board counter with another "penny," which was a shell or a stone.

"You mustn't eat them up so fast, Trouble," said Janet. "Else we won't have any left to play store with."

"Oh, well, we can get more from Nora," said Ted. "And the cookies taste awful good."

They played store until there were no more good things left to eat and Nora would not hand out any others from her boxes and pans in the kitchen tent. Then the Curlytops and Hal got in the rowboat and paddled about in the shallow cove.

Trouble did not go with them, his mother saying he must have a little sleep so he would not be so cross in the afternoon. And when Jan, her brother and Hal came up from the lake they found the little fellow making what he called a "playhouse."

"Oh, what funny stones Trouble has!" cried Ted as he saw them. "They're blue."

"They're pretty," decided Janet. "Where'd you get them, Trouble?"

"Over dere," and he pointed to a spot some distance from the camp.

"He found them himself and brought them here in his apron," said Mrs. Martin. "He's been piling them up into what I called a castle, but he says it's a playhouse. He's been very good playing with the blue stones."

"Let's get some too, and see who can build the biggest castle!" cried Janet. "Show us where you got them, Trouble."

But when Baby William toddled to the place where he had picked up the blue stones there were no more. He had gathered them all, it seemed, and now would not let his brother or sister take any from his pile.

However they found other stones which did as well, though they were not blue in color, and soon the Curlytops and Hal, as well as Trouble, were making a little house of stones.

"This is more fun than playing store!" cried Janet, as she made a little round tower as part of her castle.

"Are you making a palace for Princess Blue Eyes, Hal?" asked Ted.

"Yes," he answered, for his stone castle was rather a large one. "But I can't be sure she'll like it. She doesn't want to stay in one place very long. She's like a firefly -- always dancing about."

And so they pretended and played, having a very good time, while Mother Martin watched them and smiled. The children were having great fun camping with grandpa.

The castles finished -- Trouble's being the prettiest because of the blue stones, though not as large or fancy as the others -- the Curlytops, Hal and Baby William went on a little picnic in the woods that afternoon, taking Nicknack with them. Or rather, the goat took them, for he pulled them in the cart along the forest path.

When Jan, Hal and Ted were eating breakfast the next morning they heard a cry from Trouble, who had toddled out of the tent as soon as he had finished his meal.

"Oh, what has happened to him now?" exclaimed Mother Martin. "Run and see, Jan, dear, that's a good girl!"

Janet found her little brother at the place where they had made the castles the night before. Trouble's eyes were filled with tears.

"My p'ayhouse all gone!" he cried. "Trouble's house all goned away!"

It was true. Not a trace of his playhouse was left! In the night someone or something had taken the blue stones away.



Chapter XVIII

In The Cave


Trouble felt very bad about his playhouse of blue stones which had been taken away. He was only a little fellow, and when he had gone to so much work, building up what looked like a fairy castle, he surely thought he would find it where he left it at night to have it to play with the next morning. But it was gone.

"All goned," sobbed Trouble.

"Isn't it funny, though?" said Teddy. "Mine is all right, and so is yours, Jan, and Hal's, too. They just spoiled Trouble's."

"Maybe it was Nicknack," suggested Jan. "He might have got loose in the night and knocked it down. But he didn't mean to I guess, for he's a good goat."

"It couldn't have been Nicknack," declared Hal.

"Why not?" asked Ted. "Didn't he fall down into the big hole when Trouble led him to it?"

"Yes, but Nicknack is there in his stable. He isn't loose at all, and he'd have to be loose to come here and knock over Trouble's playhouse. The goat is tied fast just where he was last night."

So Nicknack was; and Grandpa Martin, who was the first one up in the camp that morning, said the goat was lying quietly down in his stable when he went to give him a drink of water. So it couldn't have been Nicknack.

"Anyhow, Trouble's blue-stone castle wasn't just knocked down," went on Hal, "it's gone -- every stone is gone. Somebody took 'em!"

Jan and Ted noticed this for the first time. When Trouble had called out that his playhouse was gone they had thought he meant it was just knocked over. But, instead, it was gone completely. Not a blue stone was left.

And, strangely enough, none of the other three castles was touched. Hal had built quite a large one, but not a stone had been taken from it.

"Where my p'ayhouse?" asked Trouble, looking all about. "I want my p'ayhouse."

"We'll find it for you," promised Jan, though she did not know how she was going to do it. Perhaps Hal could think of a way. Hal was older than Jan and Ted.

"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mother Martin as she came out of the tent. "Has anything happened? Why is Trouble crying? Did he get hurt?"

"No, but someone took away his nice blue stone castle," explained Jan, and she and the others took turns telling what had happened.

"It is queer," said Grandpa Martin, when he came up and heard what had taken place. "I wonder if any of those --  -- "

Then he stopped talking and looked at the children's mother in a queer way. She nodded her head, glanced down at the Curlytops and Hal, and put her finger across her lips as your teacher does in school when she wants someone to stop whispering.

Hal saw what Mrs. Martin did, but neither Jan nor Ted noticed, for they were running around looking for any of the blue stones that might have been scattered from Trouble's playhouse.

"Never mind," said Mother Martin. "I'll find you something else to play with, Trouble. You shall have a nice ride with Nicknack. You'll take him, won't you, Jan and Ted?"

"Yes," they answered.

"I want my p'ayhouse!" sobbed Baby William, and for a time he made a fuss about his missing blue stones.

"I guess I know what happened to them," said Hal in a whisper to Jan and Ted when their mother had taken Trouble into the tent to find something with which to amuse him.

"What?" asked Ted in a whisper.

"The tramps!" exclaimed Hal, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one but his two little friends heard him. "That's what your grandfather was going to say the time he stopped so quick. Your mother didn't want him to speak of them. But I'm sure the tramps took the blue stones from Trouble's castle."

"What would they do with 'em?" Ted demanded.

"There's gold in 'em!" whispered Hal, more excited than ever now. "There's gold in those blue stones, and the tramps know it. That's what they've been looking for, and when Trouble had 'em all in a nice pile made into a playhouse, the tramps came along in the night and took 'em away."

"Oh, do you s'pose it could happen that way, really?" asked Jan, her eyes big with wonder.

"Course it could!" said Hal, growing more excited all the while. "I remember now, gold doesn't always look yellow when you find it, the way it does in a watch or a ring. Sometimes gold is inside stones and they have to melt 'em in the fire to get the gold out. My nurse at the Crippled Home read me about it. And there was gold in the blue stones. That's why the tramps came and got 'em -- I mean them," and he corrected himself. "They told me not to say 'em,'" he added with a smile.

"Do you really think the blue stones had gold in 'em -- them?" asked Ted.

"Yes, I do! Else why would the tramps want them? They came last night and took Trouble's castle -- every stone, and now they've hid the gold away."

"Where?" asked Jan, as excited as the boys.

"I think it must be up in the cave," went on Hal. "If we could only go there and look we could find it too. Let's go."

"Maybe mother wouldn't let us," suggested Ted.

"We don't have to tell her," said Jan.

"I don't mean to do anything bad, nor have you," went on Hal. "But wouldn't it be great if we could go up to the cave, without anybody knowing it, and get the gold? Then your mother would be glad, and your grandpa, too."

"Maybe they would -- if there was gold in the blue stones," agreed Ted.

"We could pretend there was," said Janet. "Wouldn't that be fun? But I don't want to go into that dark cave 'cept maybe grandpa goes, too, with a light."

"You wouldn't be afraid with us, would you?" asked Hal.

"Hal and I would be with you," added Ted.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't be afraid if you took hold of my hands. But it's dark there -- awful dark."

"I've got one of those little electric lights," Hal said. "My father sent it to me for my birthday when I was in the Home, and I didn't use it hardly at all, 'cause I wasn't up nights. It flashes bright. I brought it with me when I came to visit you, and I can get it and take it to the cave with us."

"That'll be fun!" cried Ted. "Let's go, Jan!" he pleaded.

"Well, maybe I will. But hadn't we better ask mother?"

"Maybe she'd say we couldn't," suggested her brother, speaking very slowly. "We'll tell her when we come back."

Of course this was not just the right thing to do, especially after Ted and his sister had been told not to go to the cave alone. But they forgot all about that when Hal spoke about gold being in the blue stones. Ted and Jan thought it would be wonderful if they could get some gold for their mother and grandfather, who was not as rich as he had been, even if he did sell a lot of cherries.

"We can't take Trouble along," said Jan, as she saw her little brother coming out of the tent. "We've got to leave him here."

"Yes," agreed Hal. "But we don't need to go right away. We can play with him awhile. You and Ted take care of Trouble and I'll go to get my flashlight. I put it under my pillow last night."

"And I'll get something to eat from Nora," added Ted. "We'll make-believe we're going on a little picnic in the woods."

"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. She was not afraid to think of the dark cave now.

"Trouble want p'ayhouse!" cried Baby William, as he toddled up to his sister. "Want b'ue stones."

"I can't get you the blue stones -- not now," said Janet. "But I guess Teddy will let you knock down his playhouse and build up another one. And you can knock down my playhouse, too. Come on, Trouble!"

Knocking over the playhouses of stone which his brother and sister had built the night before seemed such great fun to the little boy, and he had such a good time doing this and, with Jan's help, making another and larger house of his own, that he forgot all about his blue stones.

Ted and Hal did not forget them, though, and the more they thought of the queer way they had been taken away in the night, the more they felt sure that the stones must have gold in them, or, at least, something that the tramps wanted badly enough to come and take it.

And that it was the tramps, or some man, or men, who had taken the blue stones, Hal and Ted felt certain.

"For no dog or other animal could carry away every stone," said Hal. "Anyhow a dog wouldn't want them, nor a fox either. It was the tramps all right."

"Maybe they wouldn't like us to go to the cave and get the stones back," suggested Ted.

"Well, the tramps can't have the blue stones," said Hal, shaking his head. "We found 'em, and they're Trouble's. But he's so little he don't want any gold, so we'll give it to your grandfather and grandmother."

"Don't you want any?" asked Ted.

"No. My father's got lots of money. I just want to find some gold for you. I got my light from under my pillow," and Hal showed it to Ted. They were out behind the sleeping tent talking, and Ted had his pockets full of cookies and little cakes he had begged from Nora.

"Though what in the world the child is going to do with them all, is more than I can guess," laughed the maid. "But I s'pose the children are always hungry."

Ted and Hal were now ready to go to the cave. They looked around the corner of the tent and saw Janet still playing with Trouble. He had gotten over crying for his blue stones, and was now busy making a playhouse of the rocks and pebbles his brother and sister had used.

"Come on, Janet! We're going!" called Ted in a loud whisper, as his sister looked at him. He also made motions with his hands to show that he and Hal were ready to start for the cave.

Janet saw that her little brother was too busy playing to need her to stay with him -- at least for a time. Still she could not leave him alone without calling her mother or Nora to watch what he did.

Very quietly, while Baby William was trying to make one stone stay on top of another in one side of the castle he was making, Janet stepped up to the flap of the tent, inside which her mother was sitting sewing.

"I'm going with Ted and Hal into the woods," said the little girl. "Will you watch Trouble, Mother?"

"Yes, Janet. But be careful, and don't go too far."

Janet did not answer but hurried away. Of course she did not do just right, for she knew her mother would not want her to go to the cave, nor would Mrs. Martin have let Ted and Hal go had she known it. But the Curlytops and Hal were very desirous of finding the blue stones and of seeing if there was any gold in them, and they did not stop to think of what was right and what was wrong.

"Hurry up now!" exclaimed Hal as he went on ahead up the path that led from behind the tents to the queer cave. "We want to get there before anybody knows it."

"What'll we do if the tramps are there?" asked Ted.

"They won't be there," said Hal, though how he could tell that he did not say.

"I've got a little hatchet and we can cut down some clubs," said Ted. He had brought with him a little Boy Scout hatchet, with a covering over the sharp blade. His grandfather had given it to Ted, but had told him never to take it out alone. But Ted did, and this was another wrong thing.

I'm afraid if I speak of all the wrong things the Curlytops did that day I'd never finish with this story. But it wasn't often they did so many acts they ought not to have done.

On they hurried through the woods, the boys hurrying ahead of Janet. She did her best to keep up with them, but her legs were shorter than Ted's or Hal's and it was hard work for the little girl.

"Oh, wait for me!" she called at last. "I'm awful tired."

"Hurry up!" begged Ted. "We want to get the blue stones before the tramps take 'em away!"

"Are they going to?" asked Janet, sitting down on a stone to rest, after she had caught up to the boys.

"Well, they might," answered Hal. "We've got to hurry."

They went on again, walking a little more slowly this time, and when they came to a muddy puddle in the middle of the woodland path, Ted tried to jump over it. But he slipped on the edge and one leg, from his foot to above his knee, got very wet and muddy.

"Oh, wow!" he cried. "Now I've got to stop and clean this off."

He began to wipe off the worst of the mud on bunches of grass, while Janet sat down on a log near by.

"I'm sorry you fell in the mud, Teddy," she said, "but I'm glad I can rest, for I'm awful tired. You go so fast!"

HAL WALKED BOLDLY INTO THE DARK CAVE. Page 224

"Come on, hurry up!" called Hal, as Ted still brushed away with the bunch of grass. "Let it dry and it will come off easier."

"I guess it will," agreed Ted, looking at his muddy stocking. "It won't come off this way."

However, the accident had given his sister a little chance to rest, and now Janet was able to keep up with the boys. Pretty soon they were near the hole into which Ted had fallen, and out of which the cave opened.

"Now be careful!" whispered Hal, as he got out his flashlight. "Maybe the tramps are there!"

"I've got my hatchet!" exclaimed Ted.

"I'm not going in if the tramps are there," declared Janet.

"We'll look first, and see," offered Hal.

"But I don't want to stay here alone!" objected Janet, as her brother and Hal slid down into the hole and looked into the black opening of the cave.

"We won't go very far," promised Ted. "We'll be back in a minute. Don't be afraid."

Then he and Hal went into the cave, while Jan, half wanting to cry, waited outside.



Chapter XIX

The Blue Light Again


Flashing his light about, Hal walked boldly into the dark cave. Ted followed, just a little bit afraid, though he did not want to say so.

"Don't go too far," begged Janet's brother. "Jan'll be afraid if we leave her alone."

"I won't go far," promised Hal. "I just want to see if there're any tramps in here."

"Listen an' maybe you can hear them talking," suggested Ted.

Hal, though larger and older than Ted, was not quite brave enough to go very far into the dark cave, even if he did have his light with him. So, after taking a few steps, he stopped and listened. So did Ted.

They could hear nothing but the voice of Janet calling to them from outside.

"Ted! Hal!" cried the little girl. "Where are you? I'm going back to camp!"

"We're coming!" answered Ted. "Come on back and get her," he added to his chum. "Then we'll look for the blue rocks."

"I guess we can't find them unless they're right around here," returned Hal, as he moved his light about in a circle.

"Why not?" asked Ted.

"Because this cave is so dark, and my flashlamp doesn't give much light. We could hardly see the stones if they were here."

"Then how are we going to get 'em?" Ted demanded.

"I guess we'll have to bring a big lantern. Maybe we ought to bring your grandfather along."

"I guess we had better," agreed Ted. "But we can look a little bit when we're here. Let's go for Janet. She's crying."

Janet was crying by this time, not liking to be left alone outside while the boys were in the cave. They ran back to her and her tears were soon dried.

"Will you come in a little way with us?" asked her brother. "There isn't anything to be afraid of. Is there, Hal?"

"No, not a thing. We won't go in very far, Jan. And maybe you can see the blue stones. We couldn't, but sometimes girls' eyes are better than boys. Come on!"

So with Hal holding a hand on one side, and Ted on the other, Janet went slowly into the cave with her brother and his chum. Hal flashed his light, and by its gleam the Curlytops could see that the cave was large, larger even than it had seemed when they were in it with their grandfather.

"Look on the floor for the rocks," suggested Hal. "That's where the tramp-man would put 'em if he brought 'em here."

But they did not see the blue rocks, nor any others. The floor of the cave seemed to be of stone or hard clay, and there was nothing on it. They did not go in far enough to see the sacks which Grandpa Martin said someone had used for a bed, nor did the children see the bread and other bits of food which might have meant that someone had had a picnic in the cave.

"I guess the rocks aren't here," said Hal, in disappointed tones as Janet said she wanted to turn back, for she did not like it in the cave. "Or else maybe they're away at the far end."

"I'm not going there!" exclaimed Ted.

"No, I guess we won't go," agreed Hal. "We'll go and tell your grandfather and have him come with a big lantern."

"Hark! What's that?" suddenly called Jan, taking a tighter hold of her brother's hand.

From the back part of the cave came a noise. It was as though a rock had fallen -- probably it had -- from the roof of the cavern.

"Someone's throwing stones at us!" cried Ted.

"Who? Who? Who?" a voice seemed to ask.

"Oh, dear! We don't know who it was!" cried Janet. "Come on out of here! I'm afraid!"

"That was only an owl," said Hal with a laugh. "Owls live in dark caves in the daytime and when it's dark they hoot and call 'who!' I've heard 'em lots of times around the Home."

"There isn't any cave at the Home," objected Ted, who was as frightened as Janet was.

"No, but there were owls in the trees. I heard 'em lots of times. But we'll go out. I guess maybe that was a loose stone that fell down and made the first noise. But we don't want any to fall on our heads. Come on!" called Hal.

Together he and Ted led Janet back to the mouth of the cave, where they could see the sunshine. And even Hal, who was not so frightened as the Curlytops had been, was glad to get out.

"It's too bad we couldn't find the blue gold-stones," he said. "But maybe the tramps didn't hide them there, anyhow. We'll look around some more."

"Let's eat," suggested Ted. "I'm hungry, and I've got a lot of cookies in my pockets."

So they sat down on a stone in a shady place not far from the cave and ate the things Nora had given Ted. They then got a drink from a bubbling spring not far away, and pretended they were on a picnic.

Ted's muddy stocking had dried by this time, and he and Jan, using sticks, scraped most of the dirt off.

"Now we'd better be going home," Jan suggested after a bit. "There isn't any fun here."

"Yes, we might as well go," agreed Hal. "And I'll tell you what let's do!"

"What?" demanded Ted.

"Let's look in the place where Trouble found those blue stones and see if we can find any more."

"Oh, yes, let's!" cried Janet. She was happy again, now that she was out in the bright sunshine.

The children remembered where Baby William had found the pretty rocks from which he had made his castle, but when they reached the place not a one was to be had, though they searched all about.

"I guess Trouble took them all," said Janet. "I remember now, I helped him look for more and we couldn't find any."

"Well, maybe there'll be some more somewhere else," suggested Hal hopefully. "Let's look."

So they looked, wandering about in the woods not far from camp, until they heard Nora ringing the bell for dinner.

"Well, where have you children been?" asked Mrs. Martin as they came trooping up to the tent, tired, hungry and dirty.

"Oh, we've been looking for gold," explained Ted, but he did not say they had visited the cave, where they had been told not to go.

"You didn't dig any more deep holes, did you?" asked his grandfather.

"No, sir," answered Ted.

After dinner Ted asked Hal why he didn't speak of having Grandpa Martin go to the cave with the big lantern.

"I thought you were going to do that," he said to Hal.

"Well, I was. But maybe we can find some more of the blue stones for ourselves. We'll look around before we ask your grandpa to help."

Janet wanted to stay around camp and play with her dolls that afternoon, and she took care of Trouble.

"Then we'll go for a goat ride," said Ted. "Come on, Hal."

The two boys hitched Nicknack to the wagon, and set off down the island.

"We'll look for some more blue rocks," suggested Hal, and Ted was willing.

On and on the two boys rode, now stopping to look at some pretty flower, again waiting to hear the finish of some bird's song. They looked on both sides of the woodland path for some of the blue rocks, but, though they saw some of other colors, there were none like those they wanted.

"Whoa there, where are you going now?" Ted suddenly called to Nicknack, and the little boy pulled on the reins by which he guided the goat -- or "steered" it, as he sometimes called it.

"What's the matter?" asked Hal.

"Nicknack wants to go over that way and I want him to go straight ahead," answered Ted.

"Maybe he sees some of those blue rocks the way he wants to go," suggested Hal.

"Oh, I don't guess so," replied his chum. "I guess he just wants to get some new kind of grass to eat. Whoa, Nicknack, I tell you!" and Teddy pulled as hard as he could on the reins, without hurting his goat, for he never wanted to do that.

But the goat would not go straight down the island path. He kept pulling off to one side, and at last Ted cried:

"Here, Hal, you take hold of the lines and pull with me. Maybe we can steer him around then."

"Can we pull real hard -- I mean will the lines break?" asked Hal.

"Oh, no, they're good and strong," answered Ted.

So he and his chum both pulled on the one rein -- the one to get Nicknack's head pointed straight down the path instead of off to one side, but it did no good. The goat knew what he wanted to do, and he was going to do it.

"Look out!" suddenly cried Teddy. "We're going to tip over!"

The next minute the front wheels of the wagon ran up on a little pile of dirt at one side of the path, and the cart gently tilted to one side and then went over with a rattle and a bang.

"There!" laughed Hal, as he rolled out on some soft grass. "We are over, Ted."

"I knew we were going," said Teddy as he, too, laughed and got up. "Whoa there, Nicknack!" he shouted, for the goat was still going on, dragging the overturned wagon after him.

But Nicknack did not stop until he reached a little bush, on which were some green leaves that he seemed to like very much, for he began to chew them.

"That's what he wanted all the while," said Teddy.

"Well, let him eat all he wants, and then he won't be hungry any more and he'll pull us where we want to go," advised Hal.

They did this, after setting the cart up on its wheels. When Nicknack turned away from the bush, and looked at the two waiting boys, Ted said:

"Well, I guess we can go on now."

"Yes," added Hal, "and I hope well find those blue rocks. But I don't believe we're ever going to."

At last, however, when it was getting rather late in the afternoon and Ted had said it was time to go back, Hal, who was driving the goat through a part of the woods they never before had visited, pointed to a big stone buried in the side of a hill and cried:

"Look! Isn't that rock blue, Ted?"

"It does look kind of blue, yes."

"Then it's just what we're looking for. See, there's lots of little blue rocks, too. Let's take some back to camp. Maybe they're the same kind Trouble had, and there may be gold in 'em! Come on."

They piled the rocks, which were certainly somewhat blue in color, into the wagon, and started back with them.

"We found 'em! We found 'em!" they called as they came within sight of the tents. "We got the blue rocks!"

"Well, they're pretty, certainly," said Grandpa Martin, as he picked up one from the wagon, "but they're no better than any other rocks around here, as far as I can see."

"They've got gold in 'em, Hal says," Ted stated.

"Gold? Oh, no, Curlytop!" laughed his grandfather. "I've told you there is no gold on this island."

"There's something in the blue rocks," declared Hal. "Feel how heavy they are -- lots heavier than any other stones around here."

"Yes, they are," agreed Grandpa Martin, as he weighed one of the stones in his hand. "There might be some iron in them, but not gold. Look out!" he suddenly called as the stone slipped from his hand. "Look out for your toes!"

Laughing, the Curlytops and Hal jumped back. The blue stone which Grandpa Martin dropped, struck on the edge of the shovel which was out in front of the tent. As the rock hit the steel tool with a clang, something queer happened.

At once the rock began to burn with a curious blue flame, and a yellowish smoke curled up.

"Oh, the rock's on fire!" cried Janet. "The rock's on fire!"

"Yes, and look!" added Ted. "It's burning blue, just like the light we saw on the island one night."

"And how queer it smells!" exclaimed Hal.

"Sulphur!" ejaculated Grandpa Martin.

He and the children looked at the queer blue fire that seemed to come from inside the rock. What could it mean?



Chapter XX

The Happy Tramp


Grandpa Martin stood looking down at the queer, burning rock. The blue fire was flaming up brighter now, and it made a strange light on the faces of the Curlytops and Hal as they gathered about. The sky was cloudy and it was getting dark.

"Oh, what is it? What is it?" asked Ted and Jan.

"It smells just like old-fashioned sulphur matches that my grandmother used to light," said Nora, who had come out, having seen the queer light from the cook-tent.

"And it is sulphur that is burning," said Grandpa Martin. "That rock has sulphur in it, not gold, Hal. And it is the sulphur that is burning with the blue fire."

"But what makes it?" asked the children.

Grandpa Martin did not answer for a few seconds. He stood again looking down at the flaming blue rock. Mrs. Martin, who had started to put Trouble to bed early, came out and looked.

"It's like something I once saw in the theater," said the maid. "I don't like it -- that blue light. It reminds me of the time our house was struck by lightning -- that sulphur smell."

"It is the same smell," said Mr. Martin. "Curlytops, I think you have found something very queer in this blue rock. I don't know just what it is, but we'll find out. See, the stone is burning like a lump of coal now, but with a blue flame instead of red."

"Just like the night we saw the blue fire on the island before we came camping here," said Ted. "Is it the same thing, Grandpa?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it is. Where did you get the blue rocks?"

"Over in the woods," answered Hal. "There's a great big one there. As big as this tent."

"Is there?" some one suddenly asked. "Then please show me where it is! Oh, can it be that at last I have found what I have been looking for so long?"

The Curlytops and the others turned at the sound of this new and strange voice. A man seemed to spring out of the bushes back of the tent. By the light of the blue fire Ted and Jan saw that his clothes were ragged and torn in many places.

"Oh! Oh!" gasped Jan. "That's the tramp!"

"Well, I guess maybe I do look like a tramp, all ragged and dirty as I am," laughed the man, and his voice sounded pleasant. "But I am not a regular tramp. I am Mr. Weston -- Alfred Weston," he went on, speaking to Grandpa Martin. "I haven't a card with me, but when I get washed and dressed and shaved I'll look more like what I am. Excuse me for intruding this way, but I could not keep from speaking when I heard what you were talking about."

"Then aren't you a tramp?" asked Ted.

"No, though I have been tramping all over this island looking for the very blue rock you children seem to have found. I wear my oldest clothes, just as my friend Professor Anderson does, for we have been going through briar bushes, into caves and mud holes and our clothes are a sad sight. But we are not tramps."

"Is there someone with you?" asked Grandpa Martin, looking over the man's head toward the bushes, out of which he had come.

"There was another. Anderson is his name. But he has gone to the village, and I was on my way to row across the lake to join him when I happened to pass by your tent, saw the blue light, and heard what your children said. Do you really know where there is a big blue rock like this little one that is on fire?" he asked as he pointed to the flaming blue light.

"Yes, we found a big one," said Hal.

"If you will show me where it is you will get a lot of money," said Mr. Weston. "That is, if you will sell me the meteor," he went on to Grandpa Martin. "I understand you own part of this island," he added.

"About half of it, yes. But are you looking for a meteor?"

"Yes, for a meteor, or fallen star, and the blue rock your children found is part of it. We have been looking for it a long time, my friend and myself, and we had about given up. Now we may get it. Will you sell me the fallen star?" he asked.

"I'll see about it," promised Mr. Martin with a smile. "Perhaps you will come into our tent and tell us about it. Are you -- well, I was going to say the tramp -- but are you the man we saw before, wandering about our camp?"

"I presume I am. I don't mind being called a tramp, for I certainly look like one. However, now that the fallen star is found I don't need to be so ragged."

"Are you the ragged man that pulled Trouble out of the spring?" asked Ted, as they watched the blue light die away.

"I did pull a little boy out of the spring," answered Mr. Weston, "though I didn't know his name was Trouble."

"That's only his pet name," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But come and sit down and tell us your story. The children have been wondering a long while what the blue light meant, and who the ragged man was. And, to-day, they've been trying to find what became of the blue rocks that Trouble made into a playhouse."

"I took those rocks, I'm sorry to say," answered the ragged man. "I'm sorry to have spoiled Trouble's playhouse. I wanted those pieces of rock, for I thought perhaps they were all I would ever be able to get of the fallen star."

"Was the blue rock really once a star?" asked Hal.

"Well, yes, a part of one, or at least part of a meteor, or shooting star, as they are called. Now I'll tell you all that happened, and I'm sorry if I have frightened you. My friend and I didn't mean to.

"Some time ago," went on Mr. Weston, "we heard about Star Island -- this place that was so named because it was said a big meteor had landed here many years back. Professor Anderson and I decided to come here and see if we could find it for the museum which is connected with the college in which Anderson teaches.

"For we knew that, though most meteors are burned up as they shoot through the air before they strike the earth, yet some come down in big chunks, and we wanted such a one if we could get it. So we hunted for it all over this island. We saw you, but you were never very near. Sometimes we stayed in the cave at night, but usually went back to the mainland. All the while we were hunting for the blue rocks, for that is the color of this particular meteor.

"A few nights before you folks came here to camp, when we were digging in the ground hoping to find what we wanted, our shovel must have struck a piece of the meteor, for there was a flash of blue fire that burned for quite a while."

"We saw it," cried Ted, "and we didn't know what it was!"

"Teddy and me -- we saw it!" added Jan.

"Well, that was all of the meteor we could find for some time," went on Mr. Weston. "And as that burned up -- was consumed -- we didn't have any. Then, the other night through the bushes we happened to come upon some blue stones, and I took them away.

"Then my friend and I hunted again to find the big piece of the fallen star, but we could not come across it. I was about to give up, but now we are all right. I am so glad! Can you take me to the big blue rock?"

"We will to-morrow," answered Hal. "It's too dark to find it now."

"You had better stay in our camp until morning," was Grandpa Martin's kindly invitation, and Mr. Weston did so.

"This meteor is a good bit like a sulphur match," said Mr. Weston. "When anything hard, like iron or steel, strikes it, blue fire starts and burns up the rock. The big piece will be very valuable.

"But we'll have to be careful not to set it ablaze. We picked up a lot of different rocks on the island, hoping some of them might be pieces of the meteor. But none was. Once I saw your little girl picking flowers, as I was gathering rocks. I guess she thought I was a tramp. Did I scare you?" he asked Janet.

"A little," she answered with a smile.

"Sometimes we stayed in a cave we found on the island," went on Mr. Weston. "I thought once the meteor might be there, but it was not."

The next day Ted, Janet and Hal, followed by all the others in camp, even down to Trouble, whose mother carried him, went to the place where the big blue rock was buried in the side of the hill. As soon as he had looked at it Mr. Weston said it was the very meteor for which he and Professor Anderson had been looking so long. They seemed to have missed coming to the hill.

The museum directors bought the fallen star from Grandpa Martin, on whose part of the island it had fallen many years before, and so the owner of Cherry Farm had as much money as before the flood spoiled so many of his crops.

Thus the story of the fallen star, after which the island was named, was true, you see, though it had happened so many years ago that most folk had forgotten about it.

A few days after Mr. Weston had been led to the queer blue rock, he and Professor Anderson, no longer dressed like tramps, brought some men to the island and the big rock was carefully dug out with wooden shovels, as the wood was soft and could not strike sparks and make blue fire.

"For a time," said Mr. Weston to Grandpa Martin, after the meteor had been taken to the mainland in a big boat, "I thought you were a scientist."

"Me -- a scientist!" laughed the children's grandfather.

"Yes. I thought maybe you had heard about the fallen star and had come here and were trying to find it, too."

"No, I haven't any use for fallen stars," said Mr. Martin. "I had heard the story about one being on this island, but I never quite believed it. I just came here to give the children a good time camping."

"Well, I think they had it -- every one of them," laughed Mr. Weston, as he looked at the brown Curlytops, who were tanned like Indians.

"Oh, we've had the loveliest time in the world!" cried Jan, as she held her grandfather's hand. "We're going to stay here a long while yet. Aren't we, Grandpa?"

"Well, I'm afraid not much longer," said Grandpa Martin. "The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. It will soon be too cold to live in a tent on Star Island."

"Oh, Grandpa!" And Jan looked sad.

"But we want to have fun!" cried Ted.

"Oh, I guess you'll have fun," said his mother. "You always do every winter."

And the children did. In the next volume of this series, to be called "The Curlytops Snowed In; or, Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds," you may read about the good times they had when they went back home.

"Come on, Jan, we'll have a last ride with Nicknack!" called Ted to his sister about a week after the meteor had been dug up. In a few days the Curlytops were to leave their camp on Star Island. Hal Chester had gone back to his home, promising to visit his friends again some day.

"I'm coming!" cried Jan.

"Me, too!" added Trouble. "I wants a wide!"

Into the goat cart they piled and off started Nicknack, waggling his funny, stubby tail, for he enjoyed the children as much as they did him.

"Hurray!" yelled Ted. "Isn't this fun?" and he cracked the whip in the air.

"Hurray!" yelled Jan and Trouble.

"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack. That was his way of cheering.

And so we will leave the Curlytops and say good-bye.

<eob>

Six Little Bunkers At Grandpa Ford's

By

Laura Lee Hope



Chapter I

The Man On The Porch


"Oh, Daddy, come and take him off! He's a terrible big one, and he's winkin' one of his claws at me! Come and take him off!"

"All right, Mun Bun. I'll be there in just a second. Hold him under water so he won't let go, and I'll get him for you."

Daddy Bunker, who had been reading the paper on the porch of Cousin Tom's bungalow at Seaview, hurried down to the little pier that was built out into Clam River. On the end of the pier stood a little boy, who was called Mun Bun, but whose real name was Munroe Ford Bunker. However, he was almost always called Mun Bun.

"Come quick, Daddy, or he'll get away!" cried Mun Bun, and he leaned a little way over the edge of the pier to look at something which was on the end of a line he held. The something was down under water.

"Be careful, Mun Bun! Don't fall in!" cried his father, who, having caught up a long-handled net, was now running down a little hill to the pier. "Be careful!" he repeated.

"I will," answered the little boy, shaking his golden hair out of his blue eyes, as he tried to get a better view of what he had caught. "Oh, but he's a big one, and he winks his claws at me!"

"Well, as long as the crab doesn't pinch you you'll be all right," said Daddy Bunker.

There! I meant to tell you before that Mun Bun was catching crabs, and not fish, as you might have supposed at first. He had a long string, with a piece of meat on the end, and he had been dangling this in the water of Clam River, from Cousin Tom's boat pier.

Then a big crab had come along and, catching hold of the chunk of meat in one claw, had tried to swim away with it to eat it in some hole on the bottom of the inlet.

But the string, to which the meat was tied, did not let him. Mun Bun held on to the string and as he slowly pulled it up he caught sight of the crab. As the little fellow had said, it was a big one, and one of the claws was "winkin'" at him. By that Mun Bun meant the crab was opening and closing his claw as one opens and closes an eye.

"Hold him under water, Mun Bun, or he'll let go and drop off," called Daddy Bunker.

"I will," answered the golden-haired boy, and he leaned still farther over the edge of the pier to make sure the crab was still holding to the piece of meat.

"Be careful, Mun Bun!" shouted his father. "Be careful! Oh, there you go!"

And there Mun Bun did go! Right off the pier he fell with a big splash into Clam River. Under the water he went, but he soon came up again, and, having held his breath, as his father had taught him to do whenever his head went under water, Mun Bun, after a gasp or two, was able to cry:

"Oh, Daddy, Daddy, don't let him get me! Don't let the crab pinch me!"

Daddy Bunker did not answer for a moment. He was too busy to talk, for he dropped the long-handled crab net, ran down to the pier and, jumping off himself, grabbed Mun Bun.

Luckily the water was not deep -- hardly over Mun Bun's head -- and his father soon lifted the little fellow up out of danger.

"There!" cried Daddy Bunker, laughing to show Mun Bun that there was no more danger. "Now the crab can't get you!"

Mun Bun looked around to make sure, and then, seeing that he was sitting on the pier, where his father had placed him, he looked around again.

"Did you -- did you get the crab?" he asked, his voice was a little choky.

"No, indeed I didn't!" laughed Mr. Bunker. "I was only trying to get you. I told you to be careful and not lean too far over."

"Well, I -- I wanted to see my crab!"

"And the crab came near getting you. Well, it can't be helped now. You are soaking wet. I'll take you up to the bungalow and your mother can put dry clothes on you. Come along."

"But I want to get my crab, Daddy!"

"Oh, he's gone, Mun Bun. No crab would stay near the pier after all the splashing I made when I jumped in to get you out."

"Maybe he's on my string yet," insisted the little fellow. "I tied my string to the pier. Please, Daddy, pull it up and see if it has a crab on it."

"Well, I will," said Mun Bun's father, as he jumped up on the pier from the water, after having lifted out his little boy. "I'll pull up the string, but I'm sure the crab has swum back into the ocean."

Both Mun Bun and his father were soaking wet, but as it was a hot day in October they did not mind. Mr. Bunker slowly pulled on the string, the end of which, as Mun Bun had said, was tied to a post on the pier. Slowly Mr. Bunker pulled in, not to scare away the crab, if there was one, and a moment later he cried:

"Oh, there is a big one, Mun Bun! It didn't go away with all the splashing! Run and get me the net and I'll catch it for you!"

Mun Bun ran up on shore and came back with the long-handled net Mr. Bunker had dropped. Then, holding the string, with 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."

Mr. Bunker turned the net over a peach basket, and the crab, slashing and snapping his claws, dropped into it. Then Mun Bun looked down at him.

"I got you, I did!" said the little boy. "My daddy and I got you, we did."

"But it took a lot of work, Mun Bun!" laughed Mr. Bunker. "If I had to jump in and pull you out every time you wanted to catch a crab I wouldn't like it. But he surely is a big one."

Mun Bun and his father were looking at the crab in the peach basket, when a voice called:

"Oh, what has happened to you? You are all wet!"

Mun Bun's mother came down to the pier.

"What happened?" she repeated.

"Look at the big crab I caught!" cried the little fellow. "Daddy pulled him out for me."

"Yes, and it looks as if Daddy had pulled out something more than a crab," said Mrs. Bunker. "Did you fall in, Mun Bun?"

"No, I didn't zactly fall in. I -- I just slipped."

"Oh," said Mrs. Bunker. "I thought maybe you'd say the crab pulled you in."

"Well, he pretty nearly did," said the little fellow.

"He leaned too far over the water," explained Mr. Bunker to his wife. "But I soon got him out. He's all right."

"Yes, but I'll have to change his clothes. However, it isn't the first time. I'm getting used to it."

Well might Mrs. Bunker say that, for, since coming to Cousin Tom's bungalow at Seaview one or more of the children had gotten wet nearly every day, not always from falling off the pier, but from wading, from going too near the high waves at the beach, or from playing in the boats.

"Oh, look at Mun Bun!" cried another voice, as a little girl ran down the slope from the bungalow to the pier. "He's all wet!"

"Did he fall in?" asked another little boy excitedly.

"Oh, look at the big crab!" exclaimed a girl, who, though older than Mun Bun, had the same light hair and blue eyes.

"Did you catch him, Mun Bun?" asked a boy, who seemed older than any of the six children now gathered on the pier. "Did you catch him?"

"Daddy helped me," answered Mun Bun. "And I fell in, I did!"

"That's easy to see!" laughed his mother. "Oh, did the mail come?" she asked, for she saw that the oldest boy had some letters in his hand.

"Yes, Mother," was the answer. "Oh, look at the crab trying to get out!" and with a stick Russ, the oldest of the six little Bunkers, thrust the creature back into the basket.

There were six of the Bunker children. I might have told you that at the start, but I was so excited about Mun Bun falling off the pier that I forgot about it. Anyhow now you have time to count them.

There was Russ, aged eight years; Rose, a year younger; and then came Laddie and Violet, who was called Vi for short.

Laddie and Vi were twins. They were six years old and both had curly hair and gray eyes.

You could tell them apart, even if they were twins, for one was a girl and the other was a boy. But there was another way, for Vi was always asking questions and Laddie was very fond of making up queer little riddles. So in case you forget who is which, that will help you to know.

Then came Margy, or Margaret, who was five years old. She had dark hair and eyes, and next to her was the one I have already told you about -- Mun Bun. He was four years old.

While the six little Bunkers were gathered around the basket, in which the big crab Mun Bun had caught was crawling about, Daddy Bunker and his wife were reading the letters Russ had handed them.

"Then we'll have to go back home at once," Mrs. Bunker said.

"Yes, I think so," agreed her husband. "We were going at the end of the week, anyhow, but, since getting this letter, I think we had better start at once, or by to-morrow, anyhow."

"Oh, are we going home?" cried Rose.

"Yes, dear. Daddy thinks we had better. He just had a letter --  --  Be careful, Mun Bun! Do you want to fall in again?" she cried, for the little fellow, still wet from his first bath, had nearly slipped off the edge of the pier once more, as he jumped back when the big crab again climbed to the top of the peach basket.

"Come! I must take you up to the house and get dry clothes on you," said Mun Bun's mother to him. "Then we must begin to pack and get ready to go home. Our visit to Cousin Tom is at an end."

"Oh, dear!" cried the six little Bunkers.

But children, especially as young as they were, are seldom unhappy for very long over anything.

"We can have a lot of fun at home," said Russ to Rose.

"Oh, yes, so we can. It won't be like the seashore, but we can have fun!"

There was much excitement in Cousin Tom's bungalow at Seaview the next day, for the Bunkers were packing to go back to their home in Pineville, Pennsylvania.

"We are very sorry to see you go," said Cousin Tom.

"Indeed we are," agreed his pretty wife, Ruth. "You must come to see us next summer."

"We will," promised Mr. Bunker. "But just now we must hurry back home. I hope we shall be in time."

Russ and Rose, who heard this, wondered at the reason for it. But they did not have time to ask for, just then, along came the automobile that was to take them from Cousin Tom's house to the railroad station.

Good-byes were said, there was much laughter and shouting; and finally the six little Bunkers and their father and mother were on their way home.

It was a long trip, but finally they reached Pineville and took a carriage from the depot to their house.

"How funny everything looks!" exclaimed Russ, for they had been away from home visiting around, for some time.

"Yes, it does look funny," agreed Rose. "Oh, I see our house!" she called, pointing down the street. "There's our house!"

"Yes," answered Russ. "And oh, look! Daddy! Mother! There's a man on our porch! There's a man asleep on our porch!"

The six little Bunkers, and Daddy and Mother Bunker looked. There was, indeed, an elderly man asleep in a rocking-chair on the porch.

Who could he be?



Chapter II

Grandpa Ford


Eagerly peering from the carriage in which they had ridden from the Pineville station, the six little Bunkers looked to see who the man was on their porch. He seemed to be asleep, for he sat very still in the rocking-chair, which had been forgotten and left on the porch when the family had gone away.

"Do you know him, Daddy?" asked Rose.

"Maybe he is from your office," said Laddie.

"Maybe he's the old tramp lumberman that had your papers in the old coat, Daddy," suggested Russ.

Mr. Bunker hurried down from the carriage, and walked up the steps.

As he did so the old man on the porch woke suddenly from his nap. He sat up, looked at the Bunker family, now crowding up on the steps, and a kind smile spread over his face.

"Well, well!" he exclaimed. "I got here ahead of you, I see!"

"Why, Father!" cried Mr. Bunker.

"Oh, it's Grandpa Ford!" exclaimed Rose.

"Grandpa Ford!" fairly shouted Russ, dropping the valise he was carrying, and hurrying to be clasped in the old gentleman's arms.

"Grandpa Ford!" cried Laddie and Vi together, just as twins often do.

"Yes, I'm Grandpa Ford!" said the old gentleman, smiling and kissing the children one after the other. "You didn't expect to see me, did you?"

"Hardly so soon," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we are glad! Have you been here long?"

"No, not very. I came on a day sooner than I expected, and as I knew from your letters that you would be home to-day, I came here to wait for you."

"I'll get the house open right away and make you a cup of tea," said Mrs. Bunker. "You must be tired."

"Oh, no, not very. I had a nice little nap in the chair on your shady porch. Well, how are you all?"

"Fine," answered Mr. Bunker. "You look well, Father!"

"I am well."

"Do you know any riddles?" asked Laddie.

"Do I know any riddles, little man? Well, I don't know. I might think of one."

"I know one," went on Laddie, not stopping to hear what his grandfather might say. "It's about which would you rather be, a door or a window?"

"Which would I rather be, a door or a window?" asked Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "Well, I don't know that there is much difference, Laddie."

"Oh, yes, there is!" exclaimed the little fellow. "I'd rather be a door, 'cause a window always has a pane in it! Ha! Ha!"

"Well, that's pretty good," said Grandpa Ford with a smile. "I see you haven't forgotten your riddles, Laddie."

"Now you ask me one," said the little boy. "I like to guess riddles."

"Wait until Grandpa has had a cup of tea," said Mrs. Bunker, who had opened the front door that had been locked so long. "And then you can tell us, Father," she went on, "why you had to come away from Great Hedge. Is it something important?"

"Well, it's something queer," said Grandpa Ford. "But I'll tell you about it after a while."

And while the Bunker home is being opened, after having been closed for a long vacation, I will explain to my new readers who the children are, and something about the other books in this series.

First, however, I'll tell you why Daddy Bunker called Grandpa Ford "Father." You see Daddy Bunker's real father had died many years before, and this was his stepfather. Mr. Bunker's mother had married a gentleman named Munroe Ford.

So, of course, after that her name was Mrs. Ford, though Daddy Bunker kept his own name and called his step-parent "Father."

Grandpa Ford was as kind as any real father could be; and he also loved the six little Bunkers as much as if he had been their real grandfather, which they really thought him to be.

Now to go back to the beginning. There were six little Bunkers, as I have told you, Russ, Rose, Laddie, Vi, Margy, and Mun Bun. I have told you their ages and how they looked.

They lived in the town of Pineville on Rainbow River, and Daddy Bunker's real estate office was about a mile from his home. Besides the family of the six little Bunkers and their father and mother, there was Norah O'Grady, the cook, and there was also Jerry Simms, the man who cut the grass, cleaned the automobile, and sprinkled the lawn in summer and took ashes out of the furnace in winter.

The first book of this series is called "Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's." In that I told of the visit of the children to Lake Sagatook, in Maine, where Mrs. Bunker's mother, Grandma Bell, lived. There the whole family had fine times, and they also solved a real mystery.

After that the children were taken to visit another relative, and in the second book, "Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's," you may find out all that happened when they reached Boston -- how Rose found a pocketbook, and how, after many weeks, it was learned to whom it belonged.

Next comes the book just ahead of this one, "Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's." The children came from there to find Grandpa Ford on their porch.

Cousin Tom Bunker was Daddy Bunker's nephew, being the son of a dead brother, Ralph. Cousin Tom had not been married very long, and soon after he and his wife, Ruth, started housekeeping in a bungalow at Seaview, on the New Jersey coast, he invited the Bunkers to visit him.

They went there from Aunt Jo's, and many wonderful things happened at the seashore. Rose lost her gold locket and chain, a queer box was washed up on the beach, Mun Bun and Margy were marooned on an island, and there were many more adventures.

"Did you know Grandpa Ford was coming to visit us when we got home?" asked Rose of her mother, as she helped set the table.

"Yes, that was what he told us in the letter that came the day Mun Bun fell off the pier. It was Grandpa Ford's letter that made us hurry home, for he said he would meet us here. But he came on sooner than we expected, and got here ahead of us," said Mrs. Bunker.

By this time the house had been opened and aired, Norah had come from where she had been staying all summer, and so had Jerry Simms, so the Bunkers were really at home again. Grandpa Ford had been shown to his room, and was getting washed and brushed up ready for tea. The six little Bunkers, having changed into their old clothes, were running about the yard, getting acquainted with the premises all over again.

"Now I guess we're all ready to sit down," said Mother Bunker, for, with the help of Rose and Norah, the table had been set, tea made and a meal gotten ready in quick time. Norah and Jerry had been told, by telegraph, to come back to help get the house in order.

"I'm terrible glad you came, Grandpa Ford," said Mun Bun, as he sat opposite the old gentleman at the table.

"So'm I," said Margy. "Are you going to live with us always?"

"Oh, no, little Toddlekins," laughed Grandpa Ford. "I wish I were. But I shall soon have to go back to Great Hedge. Though I may not go back alone."

"Is that a riddle?" asked Laddie eagerly.

"No, not exactly," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"I know another riddle," went on Laddie. "It's about how do the tickets feel when the conductor punches them. But I never could find an answer."

"I don't believe there is any," said Grandpa Ford.

"Don't you know any riddles?" asked Laddie.

"Well, I might think of one, if I tried real hard," said the old gentleman. "Let me think, now. Here is one we used to ask one another when I was a boy. See if you can guess it. 'A house full and a hole full, but you can't catch a bowlful.' What is that, Laddie?"

"'A house full and a hole full, but you can't catch a bowlful,'" repeated Laddie.

"Is it crabs?" asked Mun Bun. "I helped catch a basketful of crabs, once."

"No, it isn't crabs," laughed Grandpa Ford.

"I give up. What is it?" asked Laddie, anxious to hear the answer.

"It's smoke!" said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "A house full and a hole full of smoke, but, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch a bowlful. For, if you try to catch smoke it just rolls away from you."

"A house full and a hole full -- but you can't catch a bowlful," repeated Laddie slowly. "That's a good riddle!" he announced, after thinking it over, and I guess he ought to know, as he asked a great many of them.

They had a jolly time at the meal, even if it was gotten up in a hurry, and then, just as the children were going out to play again, Daddy Bunker remarked:

"You haven't yet told us, Father, what brought you away from Great Hedge."

"No, I haven't, but I will," said Grandpa Ford.

Great Hedge, I might say, was the name of a large estate Grandpa Ford had bought to live on not a great while before. It was just outside the city of Tarrington, in New York State, and was a fine, big country estate.

Grandpa Ford looked around the room. He saw Russ and Rose over by the sideboard, each taking a cookie to eat out in the yard. The other little Bunkers had already run out, for it was not yet dark.

"As soon as they go I'll tell you why I came away from Great Hedge," said Grandpa Ford in a low voice to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. "It's something of a mystery, and I don't want the children to become frightened, especially as they may go up there," he went on. "I'll tell you when they go out."



Chapter III

Something Queer


Russ Bunker took a cookie from the dish on the sideboard, handed one to Rose, and then the two children went out on the porch. Rose was just going to run along to find Vi, who had taken her Japanese doll to play with, when Russ caught his sister by her dress.

"Wait a minute, Rose."

"What for?" she asked.

"Hush!" went on Russ. "Not so loud. Didn't you hear what Grandpa Ford said?"

"I didn't listen," admitted Rose. "I wanted to see if there were any molasses cookies, but they're all sugar. What was it?" and Rose, too, talked very low.

They were now out on the side porch, under the dining-room windows, which were open, for, as I have said, it was warm October weather.

"He said there was something queer about Great Hedge, where he lives with Grandma," went on Russ. "He didn't want us to hear, 'cause I heard him tell Daddy and Mother so. But we can hear out here if we listen. Let's keep still, and maybe we can tell what it is."

"But that won't be nice," protested Rose. "Mother said we shouldn't peep through keyholes, or listen behind doors."

"There isn't any keyhole here," said Russ. "And we're not behind a door, either."

"Well, but --  -- " But Rose could think of nothing else to say. Besides, just then, she heard her grandfather's voice. He was speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker, and saying:

"Yes, it certainly is very strange. It's quite a puzzle to me -- a riddle, I suppose Laddie would call it. But I don't want the children to know anything about it."

"There, you see!" exclaimed Russ in a whisper. "It's only a riddle he is going to tell. We can listen to it, and have some fun. We won't tell what the answer is when he asks us. We'll make believe we don't know."

"Well, if it's only a riddle, I guess it's all right to listen to it," agreed Rose.

So the two eldest Bunker children crouched down on the side porch, under the dining-room windows, and listened to the talk that was going on inside. Of course this was not right, but they did not know any better, especially after Grandpa Ford spoke about a "riddle."

And so it came about that Rose and Russ heard what it was not intended they should hear.

"You know," went on Grandpa Ford, as Russ and Rose listened outside, "that I bought Great Hedge Estate from a Mr. James Ripley, who lives near here."

"Yes, I know that," said Daddy Bunker. "Well, you like it, don't you, Father?"

"Quite well. Your mother likes it, too. It is a large farm, as you know, and there is a big stretch of woods, as well as land where I can raise fruits and vegetables. There are meadows for grazing, and fields for corn, hay and oats. Great Hedge is a fine place, and your mother and I like it there very much.

"We were a bit lonesome, at first, as it is large, but we hope to get over that part in a little while.

"What brought me down here is to see Mr. Ripley, and find out something about the place he sold me. I must find out something about Great Hedge."

"Here is where the riddle comes in," said Russ in a whisper to his sister. "We must listen hard now."

"What do you want to find out about Great Hedge, Father?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Do you think you paid too much for it?"

"No, I got it very cheap. But there is something queer about it, and I want to find out if Mr. Ripley can tell me what it is."

"Something queer?" repeated Mrs. Bunker.

"Yes, a sort of mystery," went on Grandpa Ford. "It's a puzzle to me. A riddle I should call it if I were Laddie. By the way, I hope the children don't hear me tell this, or they might be frightened."

"No, they have all gone out to play," said Mrs. Bunker. "They can not hear you."

"So there is something wrong about Great Hedge, is there?" asked Daddy Bunker. "By the way," he went on, "I have never been there, but I suppose it is called that because it has a big hedge around it."

"That is it," said Grandpa Ford. "All around the house, enclosing it like a fence, is a big, thick hedge. It is green and pretty in summer, but bare and brown in the winter. However, it keeps off the north wind, so I rather like it. In the summer it shades the house and makes it cool. Yes, the hedge gives the name to the place.

"But now I must tell you what is queer about it -- the mystery or the puzzle. And I don't want you or the children to be alarmed."

"Why should we?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Well, most persons are frightened by ghosts," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"Father, you don't mean to tell me you believe in ghosts!" cried Daddy Bunker.

"Of course not!" answered his stepfather. "There aren't any such things as ghosts, and, naturally, I don't believe in them. But I know that some people do, and children might be frightened if they heard the name."

"Do you hear what he says?" whispered Rose to her brother.

"Yes. But I'm not frightened. Are you?"

"Nope. What's a ghost, anyhow, Russ?"

"Oh, it's something white that comes in the dark and scares you."

"Well, it isn't dark now," went on the little girl, "so we're all right. And at night, when it is dark, we go to bed, so I don't guess we'll see any ghost."

"No, I guess not. But listen!"

Grandpa Ford was speaking again.

"Of course I don't believe in ghosts," he said, "and I only use that name, speaking about the queer things at Great Hedge, because I don't know what else to call them. Your mother," he went on to Daddy Bunker, "calls it the same thing. We say the 'ghost' did this or that. In fact we laugh over it and make fun of it. But, all the same, it is very strange and queer, and I should like to have it stopped, or explained."

"Do you think Mr. Ripley can stop it or explain it?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"I should think he could," said Grandpa Ford. "Mr. Ripley owned Great Hedge a long while before he sold it to me. He ought to know all about the queer, big old house, and why there are so many strange noises in it."

"Is the noise the ghost?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"That's part of it."

"What's the other part?" Daddy Bunker queried.

"Well, it mostly is queer noises," said his stepfather. "I'll tell you how it happened from the very beginning -- the first night your mother and I stayed at Great Hedge. It has been going on for some time, and at last I thought I would come on here, see you, have a talk with Mr. Ripley, and then see if we could not clear up the mystery. In fact, I hope you'll go back with me and help me solve the riddle.

"You and your wife and the six little Bunkers. I want you all to come up to Grandpa Ford's. But now I'll finish telling you about the ghost."

"Please do," begged Mother Bunker with a laugh. "I have always liked ghost stories. It is very jolly when one finds out what caused the queer noises and sights. Let's hear about the ghost!"

"All right," went on Grandpa Ford. "I'll tell you about our first night at Great Hedge. It was just about twelve o'clock -- midnight -- when, all of a sudden --  -- "

At that instant a crash sounded out on the porch.

"Mercy!" cried Mother Bunker. "What can that be?"

She and Daddy Bunker rushed from the room, Grandpa Ford following more slowly.



Chapter IV

Russ Makes A Balloon


"What is it? What's the matter?" cried Mother Bunker as she opened a door leading on to the porch, where she had heard the crashing noise. Those were the first things the mother of the six little Bunkers always asked whenever anything unusual happened.

"What is the matter?" she cried.

Then she saw. Lying on the porch, under the hammock, was Russ. He was huddled in a heap, and he was doing his best not to cry. Mrs. Bunker could tell that by the way his face was wrinkled up. Near him stood Rose, and she looked startled.

"What's the matter?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "Are you hurt, Russ?"

"No'm -- that is, not very much. I -- I fell out of the hammock."

"Yes, I see you did. What made you? Did you swing too high? I've told you not to do that."

"What does it all mean?" asked Daddy Bunker, while Grandpa Ford looked on. "Were you trying to do some circus tricks in the hammock, Russ?"

"No. I -- I was just climbing up, like a sailor when he goes up a rope, you know, and --  -- "

"I call that a circus trick!" interrupted Mr. Bunker. "I wouldn't try those, if I were you, Russ. You aren't hurt much this time, I guess, but you might be another time. Don't try any tricks until you get older."

"Well, it wasn't exactly a trick," explained Russ, and then he saw Rose looking at him in a queer way and he stopped.

"As long as you're all right it's a blessing," said his mother.

"I thought the house was falling down," remarked Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"Oh, you'll get used to all sorts of noises like that, Father, if you're very long around the six little Bunkers," said his stepson. "As soon as we hear a louder noise than common we rush out. But we have been very lucky so far. None of the children has been badly hurt."

"I hope they'll be as lucky as that when they come to my place at Great Hedge," said Grandpa Ford.

"Oh, are we going to stay with you, Grandpa Ford?" cried Russ, forgetting all about his pains and bruises, now that there was a prospect of a new place to go to.

"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Rose. "I'm going to tell Laddie and Vi!"

"No, don't, please, Rose," said her mother. "It isn't settled yet. We haven't really decided to go."

"Oh, but you must come if I have to come down with my big hay wagon and cart you up!" said Grandpa Ford. "But we'll talk about that later. I'm glad neither of you two children was hurt. Now here is five cents each. Run down and buy a lollypop. I imagine they must be five cents apiece now, with the way everything has gone up."

"No, they're only a penny apiece, but sometimes you used to get two for a cent," explained Russ, as he took one coin and Rose the other. "Thank you," he went on. "We'll get something, and give Mun Bun and Margy a bit."

"And Violet and Laddie, too," added Rose.

Russ looked at the five-cent piece in his hand as if wondering if it would stretch that far.

"Send the other children to me, and I'll give them each five cents," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"Then we can all go to the store!" said Rose, clapping her hands. "They have lovely five-cent grab-bags down at Henderson's store."

"Well, don't eat too much trash," said Mrs. Bunker. Then, turning to Grandpa Ford, she said: "Now we can go back in the house and you can finish what you were telling us when Russ fell out of the hammock."

"I didn't zactly fall out of it," the little boy explained. "I wasn't in it. I was climbing up on one side, and I -- I --  -- "

"Well, you fell, anyhow," said his father. "Please don't do it again. Now we'll go in, Father."

Russ and Rose were left standing on the porch, each holding a five-cent piece. Russ looked at Rose, and Rose looked at Russ.

"We didn't hear what the ghost was at Great Hedge," said the little girl.

"No," agreed Russ. "He was saying that, 'all of a sudden,' just like in a story, you know, when --  -- "

"When you fell all of a sudden!" interrupted Rose.

"I couldn't help it," declared Russ. "If you'd had the mat, I wouldn't 'a' made any noise."

"Oh, well, let's go and spend our five cents," suggested Rose. "And we can tell Laddie and Vi and Margy and Mun Bun to go for theirs. We'll have to wait for them to go to the store with us, anyhow. Mun Bun and Margy can't go alone."

"All right, you go and tell 'em," returned Russ. "Shall I go and listen some more at the window?"

"No, I guess not," said Rose. "They might see you."

For it was in listening at the window that Russ had fallen. As he had partly explained, he had climbed up the hammock, as a sailor climbs a rope.

The hammock swung on the side porch, but when it was not in use it hung by one hook, rather high up, and by twisting it together it could be made into a sort of rope. Russ and Rose, as I have told you, had been listening under the porch window to what Grandpa Ford had been telling about the queer happenings at Great Hedge Estate.

Just as he reached the point where he was going to tell about the strange noise at midnight, Russ decided he could hear better if he were higher up, and nearer the window.

The hammock had been left hanging by one hook, after Laddie and Vi had finished swinging in it a little while before, and up this Russ climbed.

But his hands slipped, and down he fell, making a good deal of noise. Of course if Rose had put the mat under him, as he had told her to do, there would not have been such a racket.

"And now we sha'n't ever know about the ghost," said Russ, just before his sister hurried off to tell the others that Grandpa Ford had a treat for them.

"Yes, we shall," said the little girl.

"How?"

"We'll wait till we get there. We're all going, 'cause Grandpa Ford said so. When we get to Great Hedge we can find the ghost for ourselves."

"Yes, maybe we can," agreed Russ. "Anyhow, I'm not going to climb up any more hammocks. It hurts too much when you fall." And he walked from the porch, limping.

Then, after Russ and Rose had gone away, Grandpa Ford told Mr. and Mrs. Bunker more about the strange doings at his house, which was surrounded by the great hedge. And the old gentleman ended with:

"And now I want you all to come out there with me and help solve the mystery. I want you, Son," and he turned with a kindly look to Mr. Bunker, "and I want your wife and the six little Bunkers."

"Maybe the children will be afraid of the ghost," said their mother.

"We won't tell them anything about it," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "They'll never know a thing about it."

If he had only seen Russ and Rose listening on the porch under the window!

"Well, as long as they don't know about it, I don't see that they can be frightened," said Mr. Bunker. "As you say, it is queer, but maybe Mr. Ripley can explain the queer noises and other things."

"Maybe he can," agreed Grandpa Ford. "That's what I came on to see about, and I'll take you all back with me."

"But it will soon be cold weather," objected Mother Bunker.

"All the better!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "There is no nicer place in the world in winter than Great Hedge. The big hedge made of what are almost trees, keeps off the cold north wind. We always have plenty of snow up in New York state, and the children will have no end of good times. You must all arrange to come back with me."

"Well, I suppose we'll have to," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we won't say anything to the children about the ghost."

"Unless they find it out for themselves," remarked Daddy Bunker. "And if they do I don't believe it will frighten them much. Laddie will, most likely, make up a riddle about it."

"He certainly is good at them," said Grandpa Ford with a chuckle.

Meanwhile Russ and Rose had told the good news to the other little Bunkers -- that is, the news about the five-cent pieces.

"Oh, come on down to the store! I know what I'm going to buy!" exclaimed Laddie, when they all had their money.

"What?" asked Vi. "Some candy? Oh, let's all buy candy and then we can have a play-party with it!"

"I'm not going to buy candy!" exclaimed Laddie.

"What are you going to get?" Rose asked.

"A toy balloon," Laddie answered. "I'm going to see how far up I can make it go."

"How are you going to get it back?" asked Russ.

"I'll tie a string to it. I know how to do it. And if your doll wants a ride, Vi, I'll give her one in my balloon. I can tie a basket to the balloon and put your doll in it -- in the basket, I mean."

"Oh, no!" cried Vi. "Rose's doll went up into the air in a balloon like that once, when we were at Aunt Jo's, and it was a good while before she got her back. I'm not going to lose my doll."

"Well, I'll send my balloon up, anyhow," said Laddie.

"I guess I'll get a balloon, too," said Russ. "Then we can have a race."

"Aren't you going to get any candy?" asked Rose.

"No, I don't guess so," answered Russ. "Maybe Grandpa Ford will give us more money for candy to-morrow."

"I'll give you a little of mine if you let me hold your balloon," said Vi to Laddie.

"Then I will."

"So will I," said Rose to Russ.

Down to the toy and candy store they went, and while four of the six little Bunkers got sweets, Russ and Laddie each bought a five-cent balloon, that would float high in the air. They had lots of fun playing with them, and Rose and Violet kept their words about giving their brothers some candy in exchange for the treat of holding the balloon strings part of the time.

After a bit Mun Bun and Margy went back to the house with Vi and Rose. Laddie and Russ remained in the side yard, flying their balloons.

"I know what we can do!" suddenly exclaimed Russ.

"What?" asked his smaller brother.

"We can make a big balloon."

"How?"

"I'll show you. Come on."

"All right."

Russ, letting his toy balloon float over his head, while Laddie did the same, went out to the barn back of the house. It was not really a barn any longer, as Daddy Bunker kept his automobile in it, but it looked like a barn, so I will call it that instead of a garage.

"How are you going to make a balloon?" asked Laddie as he saw Russ tie his toy to a picket of the fence.

"You wait, I'll show you. First you go in and get the big clothes basket. Don't let Norah see you, or she might stop you. Bring me out the clothes basket."

Laddie did as he was told. As he came back with the basket, which was a large, round one, Laddie said:

"Do you think we can fasten our two balloons to this and go up in it?"

"No, I'm not going to make my balloon that way," Russ answered. "You'll see. Come on into the barn. We have to go upstairs."

Overhead in the barn was a place where hay had once been kept for the horse. There was a little door in the peak of the second story, to which the hay could be hoisted up from the wagon on the ground below. The hay was hoisted by a rope running around a wheel, or pulley, and this rope and pulley were still in place, though they had not been used in some time.

Into the rather dark loft of the barn went Russ and Laddie. They had climbed up the ladder, as they had done oftentimes before.

"It's dark!" Laddie exclaimed.

"I'll make it light," announced Russ.

He opened the little door in the front of the barn, and then he and Laddie could look down to the ground below. Russ loosened the pulley rope and let one end fall to the ground.

"That's how we'll make our balloon," he said. "We'll fasten the rope to the clothes basket, and pull it up like a balloon. Won't that be fun?"

"Lots of fun!" agreed Laddie.

It was about half an hour after this that, as Mother Bunker was beginning to think about supper, she heard, from the direction of the barn, a shrill yell for help.

"Oh, I can't get him down! I can't get him down!" was the cry.

"Dear me! Something else has happened!" cried Mother Bunker. "Come on, Norah. We must see what it is!"



Chapter V

The Big Bang Noise


It did not take Mrs. Bunker long to see what the matter was this time. As she came in sight of the barn she beheld the clothes basket dangling about half-way to the roof, swinging this way and that from one end of a rope.

On the other end of the rope Russ and Laddie were pulling, while in the clothes basket, his little face peering over the side, was Mun Bun.

"What are you doing? Let him down!" cried Mother Bunker, for Mun Bun was crying.

"We can't get him down!" shouted Russ. "The balloon won't come down!"

"Balloon? I don't see any balloon!" cried Mrs. Bunker. She thought, perhaps, as sometimes did happen, a balloonist from a neighboring fairground might have gone up, giving an exhibition as was often the case in the Fall. But all the balloons she saw were the toys Russ and Laddie had tied to the fence.

"Where is the balloon, and what do you mean by pulling Mun Bun up in the basket that way?" she asked.

"Mun Bun's in the balloon!" cried Russ.

"We got him up, but we can't get him down," added Laddie. "The rope's stuck."

And that is just what had happened. I think you can guess the kind of game Russ and Laddie had been playing when the accident happened? They had tied the clothes basket to the rope running over the wheel. The pulley had been used when Mr. Bunker kept a horse, for pulling the hay up from the ground to the second story of the barn.

Then, with the basket tied to the rope, Laddie and Russ had taken turns pulling one another up. The rope went around several pulleys, or wheels, instead of one, and this made it easy for even a small boy, by pulling on the loose end, to lift up quite a weight. So it was not hard for Russ to pull Laddie in the basket up to the little door of the hay-loft. Laddie could not have pulled Russ up, if Russ, himself, had not taken hold of the rope and pulled also. But they had lots of good times, and they pretended they were going up and down in a balloon.

Then along came Mun Bun.

"I want to play, too!" he cried.

"We'll pull him up!" said Russ. "He's light and little, and we can pull him up fast!"

So Mun Bun got into the clothes basket, and Russ and Laddie, hauling on the rope, pulled him up and let him come down quite swiftly.

"Oh, it's fun!" laughed Mun Bun. "I like the balloon!"

And it was fun, until the accident happened. Then, in some way, the rope became caught in one of the wheels, and when Mun Bun was half-way between the ground and the second story of the barn, there he stuck!

"We'd better holler for mother!" said Laddie, as Mun Bun, looking over the edge of the basket, began to cry.

"Maybe we can get him down ourselves," said Russ. "Pull some more."

He and Laddie pulled as hard as they could. But still Mun Bun was stuck in the "balloon."

"I want to get down! I want to get down!" he cried.

Then Laddie and Russ became frightened and shouted for their mother.

"Oh, you poor, dear little boy!" said Mrs. Bunker, as she saw what the matter was. "Don't be afraid now. I'll soon get you down."

She looked at the rope, saw where it was twisted so it would not run easily over the pulley wheels. Then she untwisted it, and the basket could come down, with Mun Bun in it.

"I don't like that old balloon!" he said, tears in his eyes.

"Well, Laddie and Russ mustn't put you in again," said his mother. "Don't cry any more. You're all right."

And, as soon as he saw that he was safe on the ground, and that the clothes basket balloon wasn't going to take him up again, the little chap dried his tears.

"What made you think of that game to play?" asked Mrs. Bunker of Russ and Laddie, when she had seen to it that they took the clothes basket off the rope.

"Oh, we thought of it when we saw our toy balloons go up in the air," said Russ. "We had a race with 'em, and Laddie's went higher than mine. Then he said wouldn't it be fun to have a real balloon. And I said yes, and then I thought of the rope at the barn and Norah's clothes basket and we made a hoister balloon, and Mun Bun wanted to go up in it, he did."

"And we pulled him, we did, and he got stuck," added Laddie. "I guess I could make up a pretty good riddle about it, if I thought real hard."

"Well, please think hard and don't get your little brother into a fix like that again," said Mrs. Bunker.

Of course Russ and Laddie promised that they wouldn't play that game any more, but this was not saying they wouldn't do something else just as risky. They were not bad boys, but they liked to have fun, and they did not always stop to think what might happen when they had it.

"What'll we do next?" asked Laddie, as they carried the clothes basket back to Norah's laundry.

"Well, we could --  -- " began Russ.

Just then the supper bell rang.

"We'll eat!" cried Laddie. "That'll be lots of fun."

And after supper the six little Bunkers were too tired and sleepy to do anything except go to bed.

"But we'll have lots of fun at Grandpa Ford's," murmured Rose as she went up to her room.

"Yes," agreed Russ. "We'll have lots of fun, and we'll hunt around and find --  -- "

Rose gave her brother a queer look and cried:

"That's a secret!"

"Oh, yes, so it is! That's a secret!" agreed Russ.

"What's a secret?" asked Vi, not too sleepy to put a question, if it was the last thing she did that day.

"Oh, we can't tell!" laughed Russ. "Wait until we all get to Great Hedge, and then we'll all hunt for it."

"Hunt for the secret?" asked Vi.

"Yes," answered Rose.

"Mother, Russ and Rose have a secret and they won't tell me!" exclaimed the little questioning girl. "Please make 'em!"

"Not to-night, my dear," said Mrs. Bunker. "Besides, if it is their secret it wouldn't be fair for you to know."

"But I want to, Mother!"

"We're not going to tell!" exclaimed Russ.

"Come now! Go to bed, all of you!" cried Daddy Bunker. "You'll have plenty of fun, and secrets, too, if you go to Great Hedge."

"Oh, then we must be going!" cried Rose, and Vi was so excited about this that she forgot to ask any more about the secret.

Mrs. Bunker thought it was only some little joke between her two older children. If she had known what they had heard out on the porch that afternoon she might have talked to them before they went to sleep. But Russ and Rose hid in their hearts what they had heard about the ghost of Great Hedge.

It was fully decided on the next day that the six little Bunkers and Daddy and Mother would go, shortly, with Grandpa Ford to his big estate in the country, just outside of Tarrington, in New York state. Russ and Rose listened carefully to see if they could hear any more about the ghost, but neither Mr. Ford nor Mr. Bunker mentioned it. And Mother Bunker was so busy, with Norah, getting the things ready for another trip, that she did not speak of it, either.

"My!" exclaimed Norah, as she helped sort out the clean clothes, "these six little Bunkers are getting to be great travelers. First they go to Grandma Bell's, then to Aunt Jo's and then to Cousin Tom's, and now to Grandpa Ford's. I wonder where they'll go next?"

"There's no telling," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we must take plenty of warm clothes along for them this time, as it will soon be cold weather and winter."

"I love to be in the country in the winter," said Rose, who was helping her mother. "You can have such fun snowballing."

"And making snow men and snow forts," added Russ, who came in to get a piece of string for something he was making. He went out whistling, and soon he and Laddie were heard pounding away on the back porch.

Russ was not happy unless he was whistling, or unless he was making something, just as Laddie was very fond of asking riddles.

"I guess maybe I got a riddle, now," said the little chap who was Violet's twin.

"Is it about Mun Bun and the balloon basket?" asked Russ.

"No, it's about why is a cat like a kite."

"It isn't," said Russ. "A cat isn't anything like a kite."

"Yes, it is, too!" declared Laddie. "They both have tails."

"Oh, well. But some kites don't have any tails," said Russ. "I know a boy, and he knows how to make kites that go up without any tails. So that riddle's no good!"

"Yes, it is!" insisted Laddie.

"Why is it?"

"'Cause some cats haven't got tails either."

"Oh, there are not any cats without tails."

"Yes, there are! You go and ask Mother. She showed me a picture of one the other day. I think it's called a Banks cat, 'cause maybe it lives in a bank, and it doesn't have any tail so it can't get caught in the door. You go and ask Mother if a kite isn't like a cat 'cause they both have tails, and some kites have no tails and so haven't some cats."

"I will!" exclaimed Russ. "I'll go and ask Mother if there's ever a cat without a tail!"

Away the two boys started, but they had not reached the house before, out in the street in front, they heard a loud bang, a most awfully loud bang. At the same time they heard their Grandpa Ford crying:

"Whoa! Whoa there! Don't run away!"

"Oh, what's that?" asked Laddie.

"We'll go and see!" exclaimed Russ; and the two boys set off on a run.



Chapter VI

Off To Great Hedge


Russ and Laddie saw Grandpa Ford holding the bridle of a horse harnessed to a light carriage, in which sat a pretty young lady. The horse was trying to rise up on its hind legs, and Grandpa Ford was doing his best to make the animal stand still.

Not far away was a large automobile, and smoke was coming from the back of this, while a man, who seemed to have just gotten out of the car, was hurrying toward the prancing horse.

"I guess he's all right now, Miss," said Grandpa Ford. "When that automobile back-fired, and made such a bang, it scared your horse."

"I never knew him to be afraid of an auto before," said the young lady. "But then I never heard one, before, make such a loud bang."

"Nor I," returned Grandpa Ford. "It was enough to scare any horse."

"And I am very sorry it happened," said the man who had gotten out of the car. "My machine is a new one, and it does not run just right, but this is the first time it ever made such a racket. I thought I was going to be blown up, and I guess your horse did too, Miss. I'm very sorry for the fright I caused you. I'll not start my auto again until you drive on. Then, if it should happen to back-fire again, your horse will not mind it so much."

"Thank you," the young lady said. "But I do not want to drive on right away. I came to see you," she announced to Grandpa Ford.

"To see me?" and Mr. Ford was quite surprised. "You drove up here to see me?"

"Yes, if you are Mr. Munroe Ford." And the young lady smiled pleasantly.

"Yes, that's my name," said Mr. Bunker's stepfather. "And if you don't believe me you can ask these boys," and he pointed to Russ and Laddie, who were staring at the pretty young lady. "Only," went on the old gentleman, "they would probably say I was 'Grandpa Ford,' and so I am, to them."

"That's who he is," declared Russ.

"He's grandpa to all us six little Bunkers," added Laddie. "We thought it was a big cannon," he went on, speaking about the noise.

"I seem to have stirred up some excitement," remarked the man who owned the new automobile. "I had better get away from here before I have the police after me," and he laughed, to show he was only joking. Of course it was not his fault that the automobile made so much noise.

"If you are not going to drive on, to get out of the way of my machine, where your horse won't hear any more explosions, I think I had better drive on myself. I'll go as quietly as I can," he said.

"And I'll hold her horse," offered Grandpa Ford. "As long as she has come to see me, and is going to stay, I'll see that her horse doesn't run away."

"You know how to manage horses," said the automobile man. "I don't. But I can run an auto."

"Yes, I've been among horses for a number of years," replied Grandpa Ford. "I have three or four on my place, Great Hedge. I'd rather drive a horse than an auto. But won't you get down and come in, if you want to see me?" asked Grandpa Ford of the young lady.

"Thank you, no. I'm only going to stay a few minutes, Mr. Ford," she answered. "I feel almost like calling you Grandpa Ford myself," she added. "You look just like a grandfather I used to have."

"Call me that as much as you please," laughed Grandpa Ford. "But what shall I call you? I don't remember meeting you before." And he led her horse to a hitching post, where he tied the animal fast. By this time the loud-banging new automobile had rolled around the corner into the next street, luckily without making any great noise.

"I am Mabel Ripley," said the young lady. "You called to see my father, the other day, about the Great Hedge place he sold you, but Daddy was out. However, he got the message you left, and he sent me over to-day with an answer. It's about the gh --  -- "

"Ahem!" loudly and suddenly exclaimed Grandpa Ford. "I rather think, Miss Ripley, you had better come into the house where you can talk to me alone," he said, with a quick glance at Russ and Laddie. "Little pitchers have big ears, you know."

"Oh, yes, I understand!" exclaimed the pretty young lady. She, too, looked at Russ and Laddie in a strange way, smiling the while. "You don't want the little pitchers to know anything about it?" she asked.

"Not yet," answered Grandpa Ford. "It's a sort of secret, you know. I think it will all be easily explained, but I wanted to ask your father about it, since, as he sold me Great Hedge, he would know more about the house than I do, he having lived there so long."

"I lived there, too," said Miss Ripley with a smile. "Well, as long as the banging auto is gone, I think my horse will stand all right, so I'll come in and tell you all I know, and all my father knows, about the place, and the strange things you heard. I'll go in where the little pitchers can't be filled up," and again she smiled at the two boys.

"Is that a riddle, Grandpa Ford?" asked Laddie, as Miss Ripley started toward the front porch.

"Is what a riddle, Laddie boy?"

"About little pitchers and big ears."

"Oh! No, not exactly a riddle. I'll tell you about it some other time. Here is five cents each, for you and Russ. Run along now while I take Miss Ripley into the house."

"Will you tell me one thing before you go in?" asked Laddie, as he slipped into his pocket the nickel his grandfather had given him, while Russ did the same.

"If your question isn't a hard riddle I'll try to answer it," said Grandpa Ford. "Let me hear it."

"It's about kites and tails and cats," explained Laddie. "Isn't there a cat that hasn't a tail, and isn't it a Banks cat?" asked Laddie. "I made up a riddle why is a cat like a kite because it has a tail. And some kites haven't any tails, Russ says. But mother showed me a picture of a Banks cat. And don't they call 'em that because maybe they live in banks and haven't any tails so they won't get shut in a door? Will you answer that question, Grandpa?"

"Really, Laddie boy, I should say there were almost a dozen questions there!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "But I'll answer only one now. About the cats. There is a kind called Manx, and that sounds like banks, I suppose. Manx is an island, near England, and cats that come from there have no tails -- or at least they have only little short ones that you can hardly see. I guess when your mother told you about the Manx cats you thought she said 'banks.' But now run along and have some fun."

Grandpa Ford turned up the walk with Miss Ripley, and Laddie and Russ heard her say:

"Father sent me over to tell you not to be alarmed, as he doesn't believe it is anything. He'll come out and help you look for whatever it may be, if you want him to."

"Oh, the six little Bunkers and their father and mother are coming with me," said Mr. Ford. "The six little Bunkers don't know about the strange goings on, as yet, but their father and mother will help me hunt for the --  -- "

That was all Russ and Laddie heard, for their grandfather turned a corner in the path then, and his voice was not so loud.

"I wonder if they're talking about a riddle," said Laddie.

"I don't guess so," returned Russ. He knew, or thought he knew, what Miss Ripley and Grandpa Ford were talking about. It was the "secret" about which he and Rose had heard something.

But it was not yet time to tell Laddie anything about it. Russ wished Rose had been with him to hear what Miss Ripley said. Rose might know what it all meant.

"But we'll wait until we get to Great Hedge," thought Russ. Then to Laddie he said: "Come on, we'll go and spend our nickels."

"All right," agreed the little boy. "But I was pretty near right about the Banks cat; wasn't I?"

"Pretty near," agreed Russ.

When Russ and Laddie reached home again, after a trip to the store, they found Miss Ripley had gone. And then, for a time, Russ, as well as Rose, forgot about the "secret," as the whole family, six little Bunkers and all, were so busy packing up to go away.

At last, after some weeks, the day came. The trunks and valises had been packed, the house in Pineville had been shut for the winter, the water being turned off so it would not freeze, and everything was all ready for the winter visit to Grandpa Ford at Great Hedge.

"Good-bye, Norah! Good-bye, Jerry Simms!" called the six little Bunkers, waving their hands to the cook and man. "Good-bye!"

"Good-bye!" answered Jerry and Norah. "Come back as soon as you can!"

And so they started for Grandpa Ford's. And not even Russ and Rose, who guessed a little of the "secret," knew all the strange things that were to happen at Great Hedge.



Chapter VII

Mun Bun Takes Something


The trip to Grandpa Ford's was to last all day. The six little Bunkers, with their father and mother, had taken the railroad train about nine o'clock in the morning, and they would reach Tarrington, in New York State, about five in the evening.

"And one of my men will be at the depot to meet us with a carriage," said Grandpa Ford. "We'll drive over with horses, though I have an auto on my place. But I like horses better."

"Will there be room enough for all of us in the carriage?" asked Russ.

"Oh, yes. I sent word to bring the biggest carriage I have. It has four seats, and I guess I can pack you all in."

Having found out this much Russ was satisfied. He looked at Rose and nodded, as they sat together in the railroad train. Russ had feared that, as there were so many of them, some might be left behind after Tarrington was reached. And he wanted to get to Great Hedge as soon as he could, to begin to find out why there was something strange in or about the big house.

"Well, now we can settle down for a long ride," said Mrs. Bunker, as she "counted noses," to make sure all her children were with her and her husband.

It was quite cold, but the car was warm and the six little Bunkers looked out of the windows, and enjoyed the trip. They always liked to travel.

"It looks like snow," said Grandpa Ford to the conductor, when it was time to collect the tickets.

"Yes, I came down from New York State the other night," said the railroad man, "and we were having quite a flurry then. Shouldn't be surprised if we ran into a big blizzard before we reached Tarrington."

"Oh, I hope not," said Grandpa Ford. "I don't want any big blizzard until I get the six little Bunkers safely home at Great Hedge. Then it can snow as much as it likes."

"I hope it snows a lot," said Mun Bun. "I like snow."

"So do I, when I'm at home in my warm house," said Grandpa Ford. "But too much snow isn't any fun. Can you make a snow man, Mun Bun?"

"A little one," he answered. "If you helped me I could make a big one."

"I will!" promised his grandfather with a laugh. "We'll make a big snow man and a snow house and have all sorts of good times."

"What's snow made of?" asked Violet, who had been pressing her nose against the car window, looking out at the telegraph poles that seemed to whiz past so quickly.

"It's frozen rain," said Daddy Bunker.

"Who freezes it?" went on Violet. "Does the ice-cream man freeze the rain to make snow?"

"No, it freezes up in the air -- in the clouds," her father explained.

"Well, what makes it come down?" went on Violet. "Rain comes down 'cause it's heavy. Once a raindrop splashed in my eye and it felt terrible heavy. But snow isn't heavy at all. It's light like a feather. What makes snow and feathers fall when they aren't heavy, Daddy?"

"Oh, now, my little girl is asking too many questions," said Daddy Bunker with a laugh. "Some time, when you are a little older, I'll tell you why it is that things fall, whether they are heavy or light. Things even lighter than snowflakes fall as easily as a chunk of lead, but, as you say, a snowflake is like a feather. It falls from side to side, like a leaf, and not as fast as a drop of rain. But I do believe we shall have snow soon," he went on. "The storm clouds are beginning to gather," and he looked up at the sky.

"I don't mind traveling in the snow, but I don't like it in the rain," said Mother Bunker. "And we must expect snow, as it will soon be winter."

The six little Bunkers amused themselves in different ways in the car, as the train puffed on, over hills and through valleys, to Grandpa Ford's home at Great Hedge. As Daddy Bunker had said, the clouds were gathering, and they seemed to hold snow, which might soon come down with a flurry.

"But it can't hurt us," said Mun Bun, "'cause we're in the train."

"I have a new riddle," announced Laddie, after a while.

"Have you?" asked Grandpa Ford. "Well, let's hear it. I'll try to guess it."

"Why is a train like a boy?" asked the little fellow.

"That's a funny riddle!" exclaimed Russ. "A train isn't like a boy at all. It's too big and it isn't alive."

"Well, it goes," said Laddie; "and anything that goes is almost alive, anyhow."

"Is that why you made a riddle about a train and boy?" asked Grandpa Ford. "A train is like a boy because it goes. Is that it, Laddie?"

"Nope! It's 'cause a train can whistle and so can a boy," said the little chap with a laugh. "Isn't that a good riddle?"

"A train doesn't whistle," declared Russ. "It's only the engine that whistles. Isn't that so, Grandpa?"

"Well, the engine whistles, of course. But the engine is the main part of the train. If it wasn't for the engine there wouldn't be any train, so I guess Laddie's riddle is all right there. A train-engine is like a boy, because it whistles. There it goes now."

As he spoke the engine gave several loud, shrill blasts.

"What makes it do that?" asked Violet. "What makes the engine whistle? Was it 'cause Laddie asked that riddle?"

"You children will make Grandpa Ford sleepy with your questions and riddles," observed Mrs. Bunker to Laddie and Violet. "Please be quiet now, and let him rest."

"Oh, I don't mind," said the old gentleman. "I love the children, and I like Laddie's riddles and Vi's questions. Only don't ask me such hard ones that I can't answer," he went on.

Margy was in the seat with her mother, playing with one of the Japanese dolls that had come ashore on the beach at Cousin Tom's, as I have told you in the book just before this one.

"My doll wants a drink," suddenly announced the little girl. "She's awful thirsty."

"You probably mean you are," laughed her mother. "Rose, will you take Margy to the water tank and get her a drink? Be careful, and hold on to the arms of the seats so you don't fall down. It isn't far."

"I wants a drink, too," announced Mun Bun. "I'm going to drink it myself, too," he announced, "and not give it to any doll."

"Well, Rose can take both of you," said Mrs. Bunker. Rose was a real "mother's helper," and often looked after the two smaller children in such things as getting them drinks of water. The tank was at the end of the car, not far from where the Bunkers were sitting.

Mr. Bunker bought a picture book for Laddie, from the train boy who came through the car every half hour or so, and the little riddle-chap curled up in his seat to look at this.

Russ, with some bits of string, some little sticks he had in his pocket and some paper, was making "something," though just what it was not even he seemed to know. Violet got in the seat with Laddie to look at his picture book. At the same time she may have been thinking up more questions to ask, for all I know.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunker sat together now, near Grandpa Ford, and they talked together in low voices. Russ was too busy with his string and sticks to listen, though, if he had, he might have heard something more about the queer secret.

As for Rose, who shared part of the secret with him, she was taking Margy and Mun Bun to get a drink.

"Ladies first," said Rose to her little brother, when he would have reached for the cup she filled. "Ladies first, Mun Bun. Let Margy have a drink before you."

"Does her doll have to drink, too?" asked Mun Bun. "Is she a lady?"

"She just makes believe drink," said Margy. "I'll give you the cup as soon as I take some, Munny Bunny." Sometimes Margy called her little brother that for fun.

Margy was very thirsty, and wanted two cups of water. But then the cup was not a very large one. Next Mun Bun had to have some, and he tried to drink three cupfuls. But the last one was a little too much for him, and he spilled part of it on himself.

"But I don't care," he said. "It's only like when it rains, or when the water splashes on you when you go in bathing. Only this water isn't salt, like that down in the ocean at Cousin Tom's," he added.

"It's a good thing it isn't salt, or you couldn't drink it," said Rose, as she wiped the water drops off Mun Bun with her handkerchief. "Now come on back to your seats," she went on. "I guess I'd better take you alone first, Margy. Then I'll come back for you, Mun Bun. The train is so jiggily I can't lead you both."

The cars were indeed swaying, for the train was going faster now, and around curves, which always makes it hard to walk along inside a railway coach.

"Stay here, by the water tank, Mun Bun," said Rose. "I'll take Margy to her seat, and then come back for you."

"All right," agreed the little boy. "I'll wait for you."

Now at this end of the car the train boy had left his basket, in which were a number of toys, that he walked up and down the aisles with, selling. He had left the basket there, in a vacant seat, while he went back into the baggage-car to get a magazine for which a lady had asked him.

Mun Bun saw the basket of toys. There were picture books, little dolls, prettily colored boxes, jumping-jacks -- things that fathers and mothers might like to buy to amuse their children with on a long railway journey.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mun Bun, as he turned and saw the train boy's basket of toys. "Oh, my! I'm going to have something!"

Then Mun Bun, reaching in his hand, which was, of course, not right to do, took something from the basket, slipped it around behind him, as he saw Rose coming, and toddled up the aisle to meet her.



Chapter VIII

A Big Storm


"Why didn't you wait for me, Mun Bun?" asked Rose, as she caught her little brother just as he was about to topple over in the aisle, from the swaying of the train. "I told you to wait for me. You might be hurt coming up by yourself!"

"I was in a hurry," explained Mun Bun. He gave one hand to Rose, but the other he held behind his back. In it was the thing he had taken from the train boy's basket.

Once more the six little Bunkers were in their seats, looking out of the windows. The train was puffing along, bringing them nearer and nearer to Grandpa Ford's, though it would still be some hours before they reached Tarrington.

"There!" Russ suddenly exclaimed. "I have it all done!" and he whistled a merry tune, as he turned in his seat and held up something for the others to see.

"What is it?" asked his father.

"It's a buzzy-buzzer," answered the boy. "Look, it goes around this way."

He put the loops of two strings over his thumbs, and pulled his hands apart. Then two pieces of cardboard, strung on the strings, began to whirl about very fast.

"Why, that's like a pin-wheel!" exclaimed Grandpa Ford.

"I call it a buzzy-buzzer," laughed Russ. "I was going to make a wind-mill, but I didn't have enough things here in the train. I'll make you a wind-mill when we get to Great Hedge, Grandpa."

After a while a colored man, dressed in a spotless white suit, came through the car, calling:

"First call for dinner in the dining-car! First call for dinner!"

"What does he mean -- first call?" asked Violet, who, as usual, was the one who asked the first question.

"He means that dinner is now ready in the dining-car," said Mr. Bunker. "You see the car is rather small, and every one can't eat at once. So they take turns, so to speak."

"I wish we could eat first," sighed Vi. "I'm terrible hungry!"

"So'm I," said Margy.

"Me, too," added Mun Bun. He had gone back to his seat, after taking something from the train boy's basket, and he had cuddled up by himself. What he had he showed to no one, and now, when he heard that dinner was ready, he stuffed something down between the edge of the seat and the side of the car next the window.

"This is my seat," Mun Bun announced, "and please don't any one take it when we come back! I got something hid here."

No one paid much attention to him, as it had been decided that they would all go into the dining-car at the first call, and they thought every one else was thinking of that, too.

So the Bunkers and Grandpa Ford walked out of the coach in which they had been riding, to the second car ahead, where dinner was being served at little tables. It took more than two tables to seat the six little Bunkers, their father, their mother, and Grandpa Ford, but soon they were all settled, and the colored waiter, in spotless white, just like the one who had called out that dinner was ready, began to serve the hungry folks.

You may be sure the six little Bunkers were hungry. In fact, they were always that way, except, perhaps, just after a meal, or when they were asleep. Though it was not the first time these little travelers had eaten in dining-cars, and on boats, they always liked the fun it was to sit and eat, and see the trees, fences, and telegraph poles seemingly go whizzing past the windows.

"Have you had enough?" asked Daddy Bunker in about half an hour, as he looked around at his boys and girls. "Anybody want any more?"

"Could I have more pie?" asked Russ.

"Well, a small piece, yes," answered his mother.

"I want a piece, too," declared Laddie. "I didn't have hardly any. Mun Bun reached over and took half of mine."

"I'll have the waiter divide a piece between Russ and Laddie," said Mr. Bunker. And when this had been done, even the two hungry boys announced that they were satisfied. Then back to the other car the Bunkers and Grandpa Ford went.

Now at home, almost always after dinner, the two youngest of the six little Bunkers went to sleep. Mother Bunker called it taking a "nap," and almost always Mun Bun and Margy, and sometimes Laddie and Violet had one.

In a little while Mrs. Bunker noticed that the heads of Margy and Mun Bun were nodding as they sat in their seats.

"I'm going to have those children lie down," she said. "Mun Bun, come over and sit with me. I'll cuddle you to sleep. Margy, you can go with Daddy."

"I want to stay here," said Mun Bun. "I've got something in my seat, and I don't want anybody to take it."

"I want to stay too!" exclaimed Margy. "I want to see what Mun Bun has."

Mr. Bunker turned the seat in front of the two smaller children over so a sort of bed could be made for them with a pile of coats and valises. Soon Mun Bun and Margy, side by side, were having a fine sleep, and the train rumbled on.

Margy's doll was perched up on the seat in front of her, and Margy said her doll was "sleeping" too. But this doll slept with her eyes open.

Violet was looking at the picture book Laddie had finished with, and Laddie was trying to make a buzzer, as Russ had done. For Laddie had broken the one his brother had made for him.

Rose and Russ were sitting together, and for the first time in some days, they had a chance to talk about the ghost at Great Hedge.

"What kind do you s'pose it'll be?" asked Rose.

"Oh, the regular, scary kind," Russ answered.

"I hope it won't be too scary," said Rose.

"I'll be with you when we try to find out what it is," went on Russ. "Boys are never afraid of ghosts or -- or anything."

"Oh, I won't be afraid -- not if you're with me, anyway. Isn't it fun to have a secret? And they don't know we heard about it!" Rose added. "Won't they be s'prised if we find the ghost?"

"I guess they will," agreed Russ. "Maybe they're talking about it now," he went on, for his father and mother, with Grandpa Ford, several seats back, were talking earnestly together, as Russ could see. Just what they were saying the two oldest Bunker children did not know.

But, as a story-teller, or a writer of books, can sometimes be in two places at once, and listen to all sorts of talk, without the people who are talking knowing anything about it, I will tell you, as a special favor, that Mr. and Mrs. Bunker and Grandpa Ford really were talking about the "ghost," at Great Hedge.

"So neither Mr. Ripley nor his daughter, whose horse nearly ran away when she came to see you, could tell what all the queer doings meant at Great Hedge, could they?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"No. They said they never heard any queer noises when they lived at the place before they sold it to me," answered Grandpa Ford. "But your mother and I have heard many strange noises, and we can't account for them.

"Of course," went on Grandpa Ford, "I don't believe in ghosts. But I know we hear the strange noises, and we don't know what they mean. Your mother is annoyed by them. She has an idea, too, that perhaps there is a secret way for some one to get into our house, and that perhaps some persons go in at night, after we are in bed, and make noises."

"But why would any one do that?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Well, it may be some folks who would like to scare me away so they could buy Great Hedge for themselves," said Grandpa Ford. "The place is valuable, and Mr. Ripley sold it to me very reasonably, because his wife and little boy died there and he did not like to stay in the place that reminded him of them so much. So he sold."

"So he never heard the queer noises," said Mr. Bunker musingly.

"He says not. And neither did his daughter, Mabel. But Grandmother Ford and I hear them often enough, and so I thought I'd come down, and get all you Bunkers, to have you help me either find out what it is, or drive the ghost away," and Grandpa Ford smiled.

"Tell us, over again, what sort of noises they are," said Mother Bunker. "I have been so busy the last few days, getting ready to travel, that I hardly remember what you said. Were the noises like yells or groans? Or were they just hangings?"

"Well," began Grandpa Ford, "on some nights the noises are like --  -- "

And just then there came a sudden pop, as of a pistol, and a loud cry from Margy. She sat up in her seat and fairly shouted:

"Now you stop, Mun Bun! Stop shooting my doll! Mother, make Mun Bun stop!" cried the little girl. "He's got a gun, and he shot my doll, and he knocked her off the seat, and maybe she's killed."

"Mun Bun with a gun! What do you mean?" cried Daddy Bunker, jumping up from his seat. "What are you doing, Munroe?" he asked, a bit sternly.

The two youngest children had awakened while Grandpa Ford was telling about the ghost at Great Hedge. Of course they did not hear about it, nor did Rose and Russ.

"I have a popgun, and it shoots a cork," explained Mun Bun, as he held up what he had aimed at Margy's doll. "It didn't hurt, 'cause it only shoots a cork," he said.

"But you shooted my doll, and knocked her over, and maybe she's broken!" sobbed Margy.

By this time Mrs. Bunker had reached the seat where the little girl and her brother had been sleeping. The mother picked the Japanese doll up from where it had fallen to the floor of the car, and said:

"Don't cry any more, Margy. Your doll isn't hurt a bit. But Mun Bun mustn't shoot at her any more, with corks or anything else. Munroe Ford Bunker! where did you get the popgun?" his mother asked, as she saw that he really did have a small one.

"Out of the basket," he answered. "When Margy and I went to get a drink of water I saw the popgun in the train boy's basket, and I took it out. I thought maybe I'd want to shoot at a snow man me and Grandpa are going to make, so I kept the gun. Daddy can give the train boy a penny for it. I hid it in the seat. Then I saw Margy's doll on the seat in front, and she was asleep -- Margy was -- and I shot at the doll, but I didn't mean to make her fall."

"Oh, dear! Such a boy!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "To take the gun without asking! Here comes the boy now. You must give it back."

"Oh, let him keep it," said Grandpa Ford. "I'll buy it for him. We may want to shoot the snow man," he said with a laugh.

So Mun Bun got his popgun after all, though, of course, he did not do right in taking it from the train boy's basket. Nor was it quite right, I suppose, to shoot Margy's doll. But Mun Bun was a very little boy.

However, the train boy was paid, some other toys were bought, and then, as Grandpa Ford, some time later, looked from the train window, he exclaimed:

"Ha! Here comes the snow! I think we are in for a big storm!"

And with great suddenness the train was, almost at once, shut in by a cloud of white snowflakes, like a fog. The swirling white crystals were blown all about, and tapped against the glass of the windows, as if they wanted to come in where the six little Bunkers were. But the glass kept them out.

"How is it out -- cold?" asked Grandpa Ford of a brakeman who came in an hour or so later, covered with white flakes.

"Very cold, sir, and growing more so. I'm afraid we'll run into a bad storm before we reach Tarrington. It's snowing worse all the while."

And so it was.

"Is this the blizzard?" asked Violet.

"Pretty close to it," answered Grandpa Ford.

Just then the train gave a sudden jerk, rattling every one in his seat, and came to a stop.



Chapter IX

At Tarrington


"Are we there?" cried Laddie, as he slid out of his seat and turned to Grandpa Ford. "Are we at Great Hedge?"

"Well, if we are, the train must have run into it, and got stuck fast," answered the old gentleman with a smile.

"What made it bump so?" asked Violet.

"I think we must have hit a snow bank, or else some of the rails and switches are stopped up with snow," answered Daddy Bunker.

It was getting quite dark, because of the snow clouds outside, and the electric lights of the train had been switched on. Every one in the car where the Bunkers rode, and, I suppose, in each of the other cars of the train, had been well shaken up when it stopped so suddenly. But no one had really been hurt.

"Perhaps we had better see what it is," said Daddy Bunker to his stepfather. "Perhaps the train can't go any farther, and we can't get to Tarrington."

"Oh, can't we go to Grandpa's?" asked Rose, looking as if she could not bear to have such a dreadful thing happen. "I want to go!"

"If the train can't go we can get out and walk," suggested Russ. "I like to walk in the snow. If I had some lawn tennis rackets I could make snowshoes for all of us, and we could walk on them."

"But you haven't any tennis rackets," observed Laddie. "And you can't get any on the train, lessen maybe the boy that had Mun Bun's popgun has some."

"They don't play lawn tennis in winter," said Rose.

"Hush, children, dear," begged Mrs. Bunker, for they were raising their voices as they talked. "We want to hear what the trainman says."

"What happened that made us stop so quickly, and with such a bump?" asked Grandpa Ford, as the railroad man came in covered with the white flakes. "Was there an accident?"

"A little one," the man answered. "But we'll soon be all right. The snow clogged and stopped up a switch, and the engineer was afraid he would get on the wrong track, so he put on the brakes quickly and made a short and sudden stop. But we are going to dig away the snow, and then, I think, we can go on again."

"We want to go to Grandpa Ford's," spoke up Violet, as she stood close to the trainman. "Will the train take us there?"

"It will if the snow will let us, little girl," was the answer, and many passengers in the train laughed at Vi's funny question.

The brakeman hurried out, and some of the men passengers, putting on their heavy overcoats, went with him. It was too dark outside for any of the six little Bunkers to see anything that was going on. But by placing their faces close against the windows of the car and holding a hand on either side of the face to shut out the light in the car, they could see a little way into the darkness outside.

"It's snowing hard," reported Russ.

"I like it," said Rose. "We can have some sleigh rides, and coast downhill."

"And build snow men," added Violet, giving a little wriggle of pleasure.

"And snow forts, and have snowball fights!" exclaimed Laddie.

Mun Bun and Margy were eating some cookies their mother had saved for them, so they didn't say anything, just then.

"Could you ever make a snow man that would talk?" asked Vi, when she and the others had tired of looking out at the swirling flakes.

"'Course not!" exclaimed Laddie. "That would be like a riddle."

"I could make a snow man talk," declared Russ.

"You could not! How could you?" asked Laddie.

"I could scoop out a hollow place in his back and put a phonograph inside, and when I wound it up the snow man would talk."

"The phonograph would freeze inside a snow man," said Laddie.

"No, it wouldn't. If it did I could build a little fire and melt it," Russ went on. "Maybe I'll do it, too; that is, if I can find a phonograph."

"But if you built a fire to thaw out the phonograph it would melt the snow man," said Rose.

Russ seemed to be puzzled by this.

"Well, I'd do it somehow," he declared. "I'd just build a little fire, and that wouldn't melt the snow man very much."

Back into the car came trooping some of the men who had gone out to see the switch and rails clogged with the snow.

"Are we able to go on?" asked Grandpa Ford of one of these men.

"I think so," was the answer. "The snow has been shoveled away from the switch, and the engineer is going to try again. But it is a bad storm, and I doubt if we get through to-night."

"Won't we get home to your place, Grandpa?" asked Laddie.

"It's hard to tell," answered the old gentleman. "But, if worst comes to worst, we can stay on the train all night. We can sleep here and eat here, but perhaps we can get almost to Tarrington, and drive in a big sled the rest of the way."

"Where can you get a sled?" asked Violet, always ready with a question.

"Oh, I can hire one, if I can't get my own," said Grandpa Ford. "I told one of my men to meet us at the depot with a big carriage. But when he sees it snowing, as it is now up at Great Hedge, he'll take out the sled, I'm sure."

"I like to ride in a sled," said Rose. "It's such fun to cuddle down in the fur robes."

"Have you got fur robes, Grandpa?" Vi inquired.

"Oh, yes, plenty of them," he answered. "But I hope we'll get to Tarrington," he added in a low voice to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. "I would not want to drive in an open sled through this cold storm with the children."

"They wouldn't mind it," said Daddy Bunker. "If they were well-wrapped they would like it."

"I suppose I should have waited until warmer weather to bring you to Great Hedge," went on Grandpa Ford. "But I wanted to have the children with me, and so did their grandmother. She hasn't seen them all together for some time. So I just thought I'd bring you in the winter, and not wait for summer."

"And I'm glad you did," said Mother Bunker. "We'll be all right, once we get there."

"Another reason why I wanted you at Great Hedge," went on Grandpa Ford, "is that I want you to help me find out about those queer noises, and what makes them. If there's a --  -- "

But just then Grandpa Ford saw Rose and Russ looking at him in a queer and interested way and as if they wanted to hear what was being said, so he stopped with:

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Yes," said Daddy Bunker. "We know."

"I know what they were talking about," said Russ in a whisper to Rose, a little later.

"What?"

"About the ghost. Grandpa has a ghost at Great Hedge, and he wants to find it. We'll find it for him, Rose."

"Yes, but we mustn't tell any one else about it," and Rose nodded toward Mun Bun and the others.

"No, we won't tell them," agreed Russ. "We'll hunt all by ourselves, and s'prise Grandpa and Grandma."

The passengers were now settled in their seats again, and pretty soon the train started off once more. It did not go as fast as at first, because there was so much snow on the tracks. But there were no more sudden stops, and soon a brakeman came through the coach and said he thought everything would be all right.

"Will we get to Tarrington?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"Yes, I am pretty sure we shall," was the answer.

The train did get to Tarrington, though not without some trouble and one or two more stops to clear snow out of the switches. And when Tarrington was reached it was quite late. It was dark, and cold, and snowing hard.

"I don't know about going on to my place to-night," said Grandpa Ford with a shake of his head as he looked at the six little Bunkers. "I'm afraid it will be a long, cold drive for them."

"Wrap them up in robes and we'll try it," said Daddy Bunker. "Is your sled here?"

"Yes, my man is here with a strong team of horses and the big bob sled. He says the roads are pretty good, but it is very cold. Well, we'll try. And, if we can't make it, we'll come back and stay at the hotel here all night."

They were in the Tarrington station now, where it was nice and warm and light. Outside it was dark and cold and snowing hard. But the children did not mind.

"We'll soon be at Grandpa's!" chanted Laddie.

"And have some bread and jam!" added Violet. "What's jam made of?" she asked quickly. "Has it got honey in to make it sweet?"

"No time for questions now," said Mother Bunker. "Save them until we get to Grandpa's."

"I'm hungry!" wailed Margy. "I want something to eat!"

"So do I!" added Mun Bun.

"There's a lunch counter in this station," said Grandpa Ford. "If you want to we can get the children something to eat here, and perhaps we'd better, before we start on the long, cold drive. It may be late before we get to Great Hedge."

"Yes, I think it best to get something," agreed Daddy Bunker. "I'll go and see what there is to eat."

Daddy Bunker started toward the lunch counter, but at that moment there was a loud crash, a breaking of glass, and a voice cried:

"Now you've gone and done it! You busted it, an' spilled 'em all!"



Chapter X

Great Hedge At Last


"Oh, what has happened now?" exclaimed Mother Bunker as she looked around the depot to see if any of the children was in mischief. She noticed Rose and Russ, Laddie and Vi, and Margy. But Mun Bun was not in sight.

"Did he fall out of a window?" asked Violet.

"Mercy! I hope not," cried Mrs. Bunker.

Then they all heard Mun Bun's voice saying, rather tearfully:

"I -- I didn't mean to do it. I only wanted a cake!"

"Well, you busted it, an' now somebody's got to pay for it!" came another voice, and one that was rather angry.

Daddy Bunker hurried around to the other side of the ticket office, and the others, including Grandpa Ford, followed. There, standing near the lunch counter, with a broken bowl at his feet, and cakes scattered around him, stood Mun Bun. In front of him was the young man who had charge of the station lunch counter.

"Oh, Mun Bun!" sighed his mother.

"Why, Mun Bun! what happened?" asked his father.

"He happened -- that!" exclaimed the young man. "He pulled it over, off the counter, and it smashed. And look at the cakes -- all spoiled."

"Not all spoiled," said Mun Bun. "I can eat 'em, an' so can Margy. We're both hungry!"

"Did you pull over the bowl of cakes?" asked Mr. Bunker.

"Yes," admitted Mun Bun, "I did. I reached up to get one, and the bowl tipped over on me and they all spilled."

"And the bowl broke," said the lunch-counter young man.

"I'll pay for it, Tom," said Grandpa Ford, who seemed to know the young man. "That'll be all right. I'll pay for the bowl and the cakes, too. Some of them are all right. They fell on this newspaper."

And this was true. Mun Bun had reached up, standing on his tip-toes, to get a cake out of the bowl. As he said, he was hungry, and while Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford were talking about getting the children something to eat, Mun Bun had wandered off by himself, found the lunch counter, and started to help himself. But he was not quite tall enough, and the glass bowl had fallen with a crash.

The cakes had scattered out, but, as Grandpa Ford had said, some of them had fallen on a clean newspaper which some one had dropped on the depot floor just before the accident.

Grandpa Ford, Daddy Bunker and Tom, the lunchman, picked up the clean cakes and put them in another bowl. The broken pieces of the smashed bowl and the cakes that had gone on the floor were also picked up.

"Well, now that we're all here, we might as well get the children something to eat," said Grandpa Ford. "Tom can give them hot milk and cakes, and we grown-folks can have some hot coffee to get us ready for the ride out to Great Hedge. Tom, can you take care of this big family?"

"Oh, I guess so," was the answer, and the lunchman was not angry now, for he saw he would lose nothing by what Mun Bun had done.

The six little Bunkers ate well, for the other five, as well as Mun Bun, were hungry. Then, when the grown-ups had been fed, and the broken bowl paid for, Grandpa Ford went out into the storm to tell his man, who was in charge of the horses and sled, that the party was ready to start. The horses had been kept waiting under a shed so they would be out of the storm.

"Oh, that sounds just like Santa Claus!" cried Margy, as the sound of jingling bells was heard outside the depot.

It seemed rather hard to leave the cosy, bright, warm station at that hour of the night and start out into the darkness and storm. But the children did not mind it. They were too eager to get to Great Hedge and see Grandma Ford. That is, most of them were. Perhaps Mun Bun and Margy were a bit too sleepy to care much what happened.

"But we can cuddle them down in the straw in the bottom of the sled, cover them with blankets and let them go to sleep," said Grandpa Ford, as he noted the blinking eyes of the two youngest Bunkers. "They'll go to sleep and be at Great Hedge before they know it."

"How can you find it in the dark?" asked Vi.

"Oh, the horses know the way," answered the old gentleman. "Come on."

"I'm going to make up a riddle about a horse," began Laddie. "I have it almost made up. It's about what kind of a tree would you like to drive."

"You can't drive a tree!" exclaimed Russ. "All you can do is to climb it, or cut it down. So there!"

"Yes, you can!" insisted Laddie. "You can drive my riddle kind of tree."

"You can not! Can you, Mother?" appealed Russ. "You can climb a tree and cut it down, and that's all you can do to it, isn't it?"

"You can sit in the shade of it," said Rose.

"Oh, yes, well, but that doesn't count!" said Russ.

"Anyhow it's a riddle," went on Laddie. "What kind of a tree would you like to drive?"

"We haven't any time for riddles now," said Mother Bunker. "Come along, children, Grandpa is waiting!"

And, with Laddie's riddle still unanswered, they went out into the darkness and the storm.

At first it rather took away the breath of the children -- that is, of the four oldest. Mun Bun was carried by his mother, while Daddy Bunker took Margy in his arms. Thus they were cuddled up so the cold wind and snow could not blow on them. Grandpa Ford wanted to carry Violet from the depot out to the waiting sled, but she said she was big enough to walk.

The sled stood near the depot platform, and the lights from the station shone on it, so it was easy to tuck the children in. Down in the warm straw, and under the warm blankets, the six little Bunkers were placed, until no cold wind nor snow could get at them.


DOWN IN THE WARM STRAW AND UNDER THE BLANKETS THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS WERE PLACED. Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's.         -- Page 100

"Well, I guess we're all ready, Dick," said Grandpa Ford to his hired man, who was to drive. "Think we can make it?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Ford," was the answer. "The horses are anxious to get home, and the roads aren't as bad as they'll be in the morning."

"Well, when we get to Great Hedge we can stay there a long time," said Grandpa Ford. "Go ahead, Dick."

"Go 'long, horses!" called Dick, at the same time cracking his whip. Of course he did not hit the horses with it. He just snapped it in the air over their backs.

Away they sprang, with a jingle of bells, their feet making no noise in the soft snow. Away they went, and on down the road which was white with the crystal flakes that sparkled in the light of a lantern that was hung underneath the big sled.

"How long a drive is it?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Oh, about half an hour," answered Grandpa Ford. "We'll be there before you know it. It's downhill, and the horses are anxious to get to their warm stable."

And this seemed to be true, for the animals, with the jingling bells around them, raced bravely along. Mun Bun and Margy fell asleep almost at once, it was so warm and cosy in Grandpa's sled. But the other children peered out now and then from beneath the robes. However, they were soon glad to pull their heads in again, for it was very cold.

The drive, too, was longer than Grandpa Ford thought it would be, as one of the roads was so blocked with a drift that the sled could not get through, and they had to drive around it.

"But we'll get through!" said Grandpa Ford.

On and on they went. It was a long, cold ride, but it came to an end at last. Russ, peering up over a blanket, saw, down the road, a large, black patch, and from it a light seemed to glow.

"Is that another railroad station?" he asked.

"No, that's Great Hedge," answered Grandpa Ford. "The black part you see is the hedge around the house, and the light comes from a lantern I have outside. Here we are at Great Hedge at last!"

The sled turned into a driveway and stopped beneath a sort of covered porch.

"Whoa!" called Dick to the horses.

A door opened, letting out a glow of warm, cheerful light.

"Are the six little Bunkers there?" asked a voice.

"Yes, every one, and the two big Bunkers, too!" answered Grandpa Ford. "Come on, children! Here's Grandma Ford all ready with that bread and jam for you!"

"Oh, I'm so glad!" sighed Rose. "I was getting hungry again."

"So was I," admitted Russ.

"Now I'm going to finish my riddle," declared Laddie, as he untangled himself from the robes.

"And we can begin to hunt for the ghost," whispered Rose to Russ.

"Yes," he whispered back.

Mun Bun and Margy were awakened and carried in the house. Oh, how nice and warm it was after the storm!

"Have you really got bread and jam?" asked Vi.

"Yes, indeed, my dear, I have!" laughed Grandma Ford, hugging and kissing her, and then hugging and kissing, in turn, the other five little Bunkers.

"Wait till you hear my riddle," began Laddie. "What kind of a tree would you like --  -- "

And just then a loud noise sounded through the house. It was as if a giant had uttered a deep groan.

"O-u-g-h-m!"

Grandpa and Grandma Ford looked at each other. So did Daddy and Mother Bunker. And Rose leaned over and whispered to Russ:

"That's the ghost!"



Chapter XI

The Night Noise


Outside of Great Hedge the wind howled and the snow whirled about in white flakes. Inside it was warm, light and cosy. But the queer noise which had sounded, and which had seemed so to startle the grown folk, came from inside, and not outside. At least that is what Rose and Russ thought.

"It's the ghost!" said Rose again.

"Nonsense!" laughed Daddy Bunker. "What do you children know about ghosts? There aren't such things. There never has been a ghost and never will be one. That was the wind."

"Maybe it was," agreed Russ, who was not quite as ready as his sister was to think of ghosts.

"Of course it was!" exclaimed Grandma Ford. "The wind often howls that way in winter. And now come over where it's warmer, and I'll get you all some bread and jam. You must be hungry, aren't you?"

"I am," said Mun Bun. "I went to get some cakes in the depot, and I --  -- "

"Yes, and he pulled over the whole bowl full and it broke," said Margy, interrupting Mun Bun's story. "And the man was awful mad!"

"But we ate the cakes, anyhow," added Mun Bun. "They fell on a paper and most of 'em were clean. Have you got cakes, Grandma?"

"Bless your heart! Lots of 'em. But I don't believe cake will be good for you at night; especially after you've had some, as you did at the depot. But bread and jam and a glass of milk won't hurt you, and you shall have that. Do any of the rest of you want anything to eat?"

"I do!" cried Vi. "Where do you keep your things to eat, Grandma? Have you got a big pantry?"

"I guess Vi is afraid you won't have enough," laughed Mrs. Bunker.

"Oh, I laid in a big stock of food when I heard the six little Bunkers were coming," said Grandpa Ford.

Neither Russ nor Rose said anything then about the ghost. But they saw that their father and Grandpa Ford were talking together in one corner of the room.

"Maybe they're talking about that," whispered Rose.

"Yes," agreed Russ, also in a whisper. "But let's get something to eat, and then we can hunt by ourselves. You're not afraid, are you, Rose?"

"No. Are you?"

"I -- I guess not! No, I'm not afraid," and Russ spoke more firmly now. "It's so nice and light here I'm not a bit afraid," he went on.

Grandma Ford led the six little Bunkers out to the dining-room, where the table was already set waiting for them. There seemed to be plenty of bread and jam on it, and other things, too.

"Can't I tell my riddle now?" asked Laddie when they were all seated at the table and had eaten something. "Don't you want to hear it, Grandma?"

"Yes, of course I do, my dear. What is it?"

"What kind of a tree would you rather drive?" asked Laddie. "That's the riddle. Russ says you can't drive a tree, that you can only climb it or chop it down, or burn it up."

"And I said you could sit in the shade of it," added Rose.

"Well, all of those things can be done to trees," said Grandma Ford with a smile, as she gave Mun Bun some more bread and jam. "I think I should like best sitting in the shade of a tree. But what is your riddle, Laddie?"

"Oh, you have to guess it!" exclaimed the little fellow. "I ask you the question and you have to answer it. That's what a riddle is for. Now, I ask you, what kind of a tree would you rather drive?"

Grandma Ford thought for a moment, and then said:

"A dogwood tree if it wouldn't bite."

"Is there a dogwood tree?" asked Laddie.

"Yes," answered Grandma Ford. "And very pretty blossoms it has on it, too. Is that the answer to your riddle?"

"No'm," answered Laddie. "It's a horse chestnut tree. That's the kind you'd rather drive, wouldn't you? A horse chestnut!" and he laughed gleefully.

"Well, I guess that would be the most proper sort of tree to drive," said Grandpa Ford, who came in just then with Daddy Bunker.

"And I'll take my dogwood tree along to run under the wagon that your horse chestnut is pulling," said Grandma Ford.


"What makes some dogs -- the kind with black spots on -- trot under wagons?" asked Vi. "Is it so they won't get rained on?"

"I guess that's as good a reason as any," said her father.

So the six little Bunkers ate their supper -- rather a late one, for the storm had delayed them -- and then they sat about and talked for a while. Grandma Ford asked the children all about themselves, where they had been visiting and so on, and they told her about having been to Grandma Bell's, to Aunt Jo's, and to Cousin Tom's.

"It was warm while we were at all those places," said Rose. "And now it is winter."

"I guess you'd say so if you looked outdoors!" exclaimed Russ, who came back from having peered from a window. "It's snowing terrible hard."

"Then we can make lots of snow men!" exclaimed Laddie. "That will be heaps of fun."

"You'll have to be well wrapped up when you go out," remarked Grandma Ford. "It is colder here than it is during the winter at your home, so put on your coats every time you go out."

"The place for them to go now is to bed!" said Mrs. Bunker. "Mun Bun and Margy are asleep in their chairs this very minute, and Vi is almost asleep. Come, children, off to bed with you!"

Outside it was darker than ever, and still snowing and blowing hard. But Grandpa's house at Great Hedge was the nicest place in the world.

"Did the horses go to bed?" sleepily asked Mun Bun as his mother carried him up.

"Yes, they're in bed and asleep long ago. And that's where you will soon be yourself."

The children's rooms were close together, some of them sleeping in the same apartment. And Mr. and Mrs. Bunker had a room down at the end of the hall, so that they could go to any of the six little Bunkers who might call in the night. Often one of the four smaller ones wanted a drink.

Russ and Laddie had a room together, and so did Rose and Vi, and before the two older Bunker children went to bed Rose whispered to her brother:

"Shall we get up and hunt for the ghost when the others are asleep?"

"I don't guess we'd better do it to-night," he answered. "I'm too sleepy. Besides we don't know our way around the house in the dark. We'll wait until to-morrow."

"All right," agreed Rose. This suited her. She, too, was ready for bed.

Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford did not, of course, go to bed as early as did the children. And Mother Bunker was going downstairs to talk to Grandma Ford as soon as Margy and Mun Bun were sound asleep.

One after another the six little Bunkers got into bed and, though the two smallest were asleep almost at once, the others turned and twisted a little, as almost every one does in a strange bed. But, finally, even Rose and Russ, in their rooms, were in Slumberland, lulled by the whistle of the wind and the rattle of the snow against the windows.

Russ thought it must be the middle of the night when he was suddenly awakened by a loud noise. It was a banging sound, as though something heavy had fallen to the floor. Then came a rattle of tin and a splash of water, and the voice of one of the little Bunkers cried:

"Oh, I fell in! I fell in! Somebody get me out!"



Chapter XII

Up In The Attic


Russ leaped out of bed and ran into the hall, where a light was burning. The Bunkers always burned one, turned low.

"Mother! Daddy!" cried Russ. "Come on, quick! The ghost has got one of us! Come quick!"

For a moment no one answered his call, and then he heard, from the room where Mun Bun had been put to sleep, the sound of crying.

"What's the matter?" asked Russ, trying to make his voice sound brave. "Are you hurt, Mun Bun? Or Margy?"

"I -- I fell in and I'm all wet," sobbed Mun Bun.

"Oh, Daddy! Come quick!" fairly shouted Russ. "The ghost pushed Mun Bun in, and he can't get out!"

Feet were heard coming upstairs. Then a voice asked:

"What is the matter? What has happened now, Russ? Are you hurt?"

"No, Mother!" answered the oldest Bunker boy. "But I guess it's Mun Bun. It sounds like him, and I guess the ghost has him!"

"Nonsense! There are no ghosts! Don't cry, Mun Bun," Mrs. Bunker went on, as she hurried up the stairs. "I'm coming, and so is Daddy Bunker! You'll be all right."

"But I'm all wet!" sobbed Mun Bun. "I -- I guess I fell in the ocean, and I can't get out!"

"You're dreaming that you're back at Cousin Tom's," laughed Mrs. Bunker, as she turned up the light and went into the room where Mun Bun and Margy slept. "You're dreaming, and -- Oh, you poor little dear!" she cried, as she saw what had happened. "You have fallen out of bed!"

And that is just what happened. Mun Bun, being in a strange bed, had rolled too near one edge, and had fallen out. That was the bumping, banging noise Russ heard.

"But what made the splash?" Russ asked as he came in to see his mother lift Mun Bun from the floor, and put him back in bed.

"That was when he upset a tin cup of water I had put in a chair near his bed, so it would be handy when I wanted to give him a drink in the night," said Mrs. Bunker. "It splashed all over Mun Bun, and that made him think, I guess, that he had fallen into the water. Did it, Mun Bun?" she asked.

"I -- I guess so," he murmured. "I thought I fell into the water, 'cause I was all wet. I didn't like it."

"I don't blame you," said Mrs. Bunker. "Now I'll put a dry nightgown on you, and you can go to sleep again. I'll put a chair by the bed so you won't roll out again, and I'll set the water on the bureau.

"Now, don't make any more noise, Russ, or Mun Bun, and wake up Margy," went on Mrs. Bunker. "She is sleeping too nicely to be awakened." Mun Bun's little sister, though in the same bed with him, had not heard him fall out, knock over the tin cup of water, and call out that he had fallen in. She slept through it all.

Mun Bun was soon dressed in a dry garment, the water on the floor was mopped up, and the light turned down again.

Then the six little Bunkers at Great Hedge quieted down and slept all the way through until morning.

But that same night, when Mother Bunker went downstairs, after having put Mun Bun back to bed, she said to her husband and Grandpa and Grandma Ford:

"What do you suppose has got into Russ to be talking about a ghost?"

"Is that what he said?" asked Grandpa Ford.

"Yes. When he was awakened by Mun's falling out of bed the first thing he called to me was that the ghost had got Mun. I don't understand where the children heard anything about such a thing."

"Nor I," said Daddy Bunker.

"We mustn't let them get the idea that anything is wrong here at Great Hedge," went on Grandpa Ford. "It might frighten them, though, of course, it is nothing like a ghost. I can't imagine where they got the idea, but we must not speak of it again in front of them.

"I do wish we could find out what it is that makes such a queer noise. Your mother and I," he said to Daddy Bunker, "have heard it many times, and now, the first night you are here, it sounds again."

"But only once," said Mr. Bunker, "and that may have been the wind, as we said it was."

"No, it wasn't the wind," declared Grandpa Ford. "For I have heard the same moaning sound when there was hardly any wind. The wind has died down now. It is quieter. I think the storm has stopped, or soon will."

He went to the window to look out, and, as he did so, there sounded through the house a deep, dull groan. It seemed to fill many rooms, and for a moment Daddy and Mother Bunker and Grandpa and Grandma Ford looked at one another. Then they listened to see if any of the children were awake. But upstairs all was quiet.

"There it goes again," said Grandpa Ford.

"I heard it," answered Daddy Bunker. "I wonder what it could have been?"

"The wind," said Mrs. Bunker in a low voice.

"But the wind has stopped blowing," remarked Grandma Ford.

"Oh, well, we'll find out what it is soon," said Daddy Bunker. "Don't let it worry you. We came here, Mother dear, to help you hunt for the queer noise, and that's what we'll do."

The grown folks listened, but the noise did not sound again, and then, as it was getting late, they all went to bed. Nothing disturbed them until morning.

"Hurray! It's stopped snowing!" cried Russ as he ran to the window and looked out. "Now we can make a snow man."

"And a snow fort!" added Laddie.

"And slide downhill, I hope," said Rose. "I wonder if Grandpa Ford has any sleds we can take?"

"He said there were some," declared Vi. "I asked him last night. And there are skates, too. I asked him that."

One might depend on Vi to ask the questions.

"Then we'll have lots of fun!" said Russ. "Come on, now, we'll get our breakfast and then we can go out and have fun."

"I want to go out and see where the horses slept," remarked Mun Bun. "Did any of them fall out of bed, I wonder?"

"No," said Grandma Ford with a laugh. "Horses have beds that are right on the floor. They are made of straw, and the horses can't fall out. But you shall see for yourself. Come, now, while the cakes are hot. And we have maple syrup to eat on them."

"Oh, hurray!" cried Russ. "I love buckwheat cakes!"

And you should have seen the breakfast the six little Bunkers ate! No, on second thought, perhaps it is just as well you didn't see it, for it might have made you hungry. But I'll tell you this much: It was a very good one.

"Now we'll go out and have some fun!" cried Russ, as they left the table. "Shall we make a snow man first, or a fort?"

"A man!" cried Mun Bun.

"A fort!" called Laddie.

"Wait just a minute, all of you," said Mother Bunker. "I don't want any of you to go out just yet."

"Oh!"

"Oh, dear!"

"Oh, Mother!"

"Why?"

Thus, one after another, cried some of the six little Bunkers. They were all much disappointed.

"Oh, I'm going to let you go out and play in the snow all you like," said Mother Bunker quickly, "only I want you to wait until I can unpack your rubber boots and leggings. Then you won't get wet. So just wait an hour or two. That won't hurt you."

"And while you are waiting you can play up in the attic," said Grandma Ford with a smile. "I think you will like it there. Our attic is very large and there are a number of old-fashioned things in it with which you may play. The Ripleys left a lot of things behind. There are old trunks, and they are filled with old clothes that you can dress up in. There is a spinning wheel and candle-moulds, there are strings of old sleigh bells. And there are some things that I used to have when I was a girl. I moved them here from our old home. Don't you think you would like to play up there?"

"Oh, of course we would!" cried Rose. "We can take up our dolls!"

"And have a play-party!" added Violet.

"And dress up and play go visiting," added Margy.

"I'm going to make something!" cried Russ, with a jolly whistle.

"I'll think up some new riddles!" declared Laddie.

"What are you going to do, Mun Bun?" asked his grandmother, for the little chap had said nothing as yet, just listening to the others.

"I -- I'm not going to fall out of bed!" he answered, and then he wondered why all the others laughed.

"Well, trot up to the attic," said Grandma Ford, "and have all the fun you want. Don't be afraid of playing with things, for I don't believe you can hurt them. Then your mother and I will be getting out your rubber boots, and you may play in the snow this afternoon."

With whoops and shouts of delight the six little Bunkers trooped up to the attic. As Grandma Ford had said, it was a large one. It was over about half the house of Great Hedge Estate, and the house Grandpa Ford had bought from Mr. Ripley was a big one.

There were many rooms on the first floor, more on the second and some on the third. Then came the attic, highest of all, and in this attic were stored the things thought to be of no use any more.

As Great Hedge was in the country, though not many miles outside the city of Tarrington, there were country things in the attic, such as a spinning wheel, two of them, in fact, candlesticks, candle-moulds and so on. You all know that a candlestick is something in which to stick a candle so one may carry it around. In the olden days, before we had electric lights, gas or even kerosene lamps, the people used to read and work by means of candles.

A candle is a stick of tallow, wax or something like that, with a string, or wick, in the middle, just as rock candy has a string in the middle. Only you light the string in a candle, and you throw away the string in a stick of rock candy.

Candle-moulds are tin tubes, just the shape of candles, and into these tubes was poured the melted wax or tallow to make the light-givers.

Up into the attic tramped the six little Bunkers. From the windows, high up, they could look across the snow-covered fields. They could see the trees, now bare of leaves, and the great black hedge around Grandpa Ford's house. The big chimney of the house was hot and that kept the attic fairly warm.

"You wouldn't think a ghost could get in, would you?" asked Rose of Russ in a low voice.

"Maybe it was here already," suggested Russ. "An attic is a good place for ghosts. Let's look for one here."

"But don't let the others know," cautioned Rose, motioning to Mun Bun and Margy, Laddie and Vi.

"No," agreed Russ.

He and his sister began to look about the big attic. As Grandma Ford had said, there were many things with which to play and have fun.

"Oh, Russ!" cried Laddie. "Here are two spinning wheels. Couldn't you make something of them -- a steamboat or an auto or something?"

"Yes, I guess I could," agreed Russ. "Let's see if they turn around easy."

He and Laddie were trying the spinning wheels, whirling them around, when there came a sudden cry from Margy. They turned to see her standing in one corner of the big attic, and, the next moment, she seemed to vanish from sight, as if she had fallen down some big hole.

"Oh, Margy! Margy!" cried Rose. "Where are you?"



Chapter XIII

The Old Spinning Wheel


For a moment there was no answer to the cry Rose gave when she saw her sister disappear from sight. The other children, frightened by Rose's scream, gathered about.

"What's the matter?" asked Russ, who was whirling one of the spinning wheels, while Laddie spun the other.

"Margy's gone!" exclaimed Rose. "She's gone, and maybe --  -- "

"Where'd she go?" asked Russ. "Come on, Laddie, we'll find her."

Before Rose could answer Margy spoke for herself by uttering loud cries and sobs. They seemed to come from a dark hole in the attic, but the little girl herself could not be seen by her brothers and sisters.

"Oh, get me out! Get me out!" screamed Margy. "I don't like it here! It's dark!"

The five little Bunkers were puzzled. It was worse than some of Laddie's riddles. They could hear Margy, but they could not see her. She had gone into a dark corner and that seemed to be the last of her.

"Oh, what shall we do?" asked Rose.

"We better go for Daddy or Mother or Grandpa," said Russ.

"I'll go," offered Laddie.

But there was no need, for just then up the attic stairs came Mrs. Bunker and Grandma Ford. They knew right away that something was the matter.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Margy's gone, and we can't find her, but we can hear her," explained Rose.

She need not have said the last, for Margy was still screaming:

"I want to get out! Take me out! It's terrible dark here!"

"Oh, the poor child's in the nut cubby-hole!" cried Grandma Ford. "Of course it's dark there! Wait a minute, my dear, and I'll get you out," she said.

Grandma Ford quickly crossed the attic. Then she stooped over in the dark corner, reached down, and lifted something up and there was -- Margy!

The little girl was carried into the light, crying and sobbing; but, as soon as she found out there was nothing the matter with her, and that she was with her mother and grandmother and brothers and sisters, she stopped crying.

"What happened to you, Margy?" asked Russ.

"I -- I don't know," she answered. "I just slipped like once when I rolled downhill."

"She fell into the nut cubby-hole," explained Grandma Ford. "There are many nut trees on Great Hedge Estate, and the Ripley family used to gather the nuts and store them here in the attic to dry. But the rats and mice used to take a great many of the nuts, so they built a sort of big box down in a hole in the floor. The hole was there anyhow, being part of the attic. But it was lined with tin, so the mice could not gnaw through, and the nuts were stored in it.

"I meant to tell you children to look out for it, as it is like a hole in the floor, though it is not very deep, and one end slopes down, like a hill, so you slide into it instead of falling.

"But I forgot about it, and I forgot that the cover has been off the nut cubby-hole for some time. So Margy, walking in the dark corner, slid into this hole."

"That's what I did," said the little girl. "I slid just like going downhill."

"That's why she disappeared so suddenly," went on Grandma Ford. "The tin, being smooth, didn't hurt her a bit, as she slid. And it is very dark in there. But after this I'll keep the cover on, so no more of my little Bunkers will get into trouble."

By the gleam of a candle which she lighted, Grandma Ford showed the children the nut cubby-hole into which Margy had fallen. Then the cover was put on so there was no more danger.

"And now you may go out and play in the snow," said Mrs. Bunker. "I have unpacked your rubber boots and old, warm coats, so run out and have some fun."

Laughing, shouting, and whooping, the six little Bunkers ran out to play. It was their first sight of Great Hedge in winter by daylight, and Russ and Rose paused for a moment after getting out of doors to look at the big house, on all sides of which was the tall hedge.

"It's a terribly big house," said Russ to his sister as they tramped on through the white snow. "I wonder what part the ghost lives in, don't you?"

"I thought he was up in the attic, and took Margy," said Rose.

"So did I, at first," admitted Russ. "But I don't guess he stays there. I guess the ghost lives down cellar. We'll hunt for him after a while, and Grandpa Ford will be glad we found him."

But it was now such a fine, sunny day outside, after the storm, that the six little Bunkers thought of nothing but having fun. They raced about in the snow, threw soft balls of it at one another, and then went out to the barn.

Dick, the hired man, was there feeding the horses, and the children saw the animals that had pulled them over the snow from the railroad station the night before.

There were several small sleds in the barn -- some that Grandma Ford had bought when it was decided that the six little Bunkers would visit Great Hedge Estate -- and they were just the proper toys for the six little children. Soon they were coasting down a small hill which Dick showed them and also helped trample down smooth for them. For snow on a hill has to be packed hard and made smooth before one can coast well.

"Let's have a race!" cried Russ, as he and Laddie had their turn riding down the slope.

"All right, I can beat you!" Laddie shouted. And he would have done so, too, only he guided wrong, and his sled went into a bank of snow, upsetting and tumbling him off.

"But I like it!" he shouted as he got up and shook the snow from him.

"When are you going to make the snow man?" asked Vi. "I want to see a snow man. And are you going to put a phonograph inside him, Russ, and make him talk?"

"I am if I can find a phonograph little enough," said Russ.

But Russ did not wait for that. With Laddie to help him, he rolled two or three balls of snow. It was soft, for the sun was now warm, and the snow packed well. The snowballs were put together, and thus the snow man was started. The six little Bunkers then made arms and legs for him, stuck pieces of coal in for buttons on his coat and for his eyes and nose and mouth, and then Dick gave them an old hat to put on the snow man's head.

"Now he won't catch cold," said Dick, when the hat had been stuck on.

"Could he catch cold?" asked Vi. "I don't see how he could, 'cause he's cold already. He makes my hands cold," and she showed her little red fingers.

"Well, if you hear him sneeze come in and tell me," said Dick with a smile. "If a snow man sneezes that's a sure sign he's catching cold. So listen if you hear this one go 'a-ker-choo!' That means we'll have to get the doctor."

"I guess that's only a joke, like some of Laddie's riddles," remarked Russ, when Dick had gone back to the barn.

"I'm going to make up a riddle about a snow man, but I haven't got it thought out yet," said Laddie. "Come on, Russ, let's make a snow fort."

The snow man being finished, the two older Bunker boys let the smaller children play with it, and throw snowballs at it, trying to knock off the old hat, and Laddie and Russ started work on the fort.

They had great fun at this, and made quite a big fort, getting inside it and throwing snowballs at a make-believe enemy on the outside.

All that day and the next the six little Bunkers played around Great Hedge, having fun in the snow. Sometimes Mother and Grandma came out to watch them. Grandpa Ford and Daddy Bunker went to town in a cutter, with the merry jingling bells on the horse, and Daddy went home for a week on business.

Nothing more was said about the ghost for several days, and even Russ and Rose seemed to forget there was such a make-believe chap. They coasted downhill, played, and had fun in the snow and were very glad indeed that they had come to Grandpa Ford's.

Then, about a week after their arrival, there came a cold, blustery day when it was not nice to be out.

"Let's go up to the attic and make something with the old spinning wheels," said Russ to Laddie. "Maybe we can make an airship."

"All right," agreed Laddie. "Only we won't sail up very high in 'em, 'cause we might fall down."

Rose was out in the kitchen, watching Grandma Ford make an apple pie, and Rose was singing away, for she was trying to make a pie also -- a little one with pieces left over from her grandmother's crust.

Up to the attic went Russ and Laddie, and Mun Bun followed them.

"I want to come and watch you," he said, shaking his pretty, bobbed hair around his head.

"Shall we let him?" asked Laddie.

"Oh, yes, he can watch us," said Russ, who was always kind to his little brother.

Grandma Ford had said the boys could play with the spinning wheels if they did not break them, and this Russ and Laddie took care not to do.

"First we must make 'em so both wheels will turn around together at the same time alike," said Russ.

"How are you going to do that?" Laddie asked, while Mun Bun sat down in a corner near the big chimney to watch.

"Well, we'll put a belt on 'em, same as the belt on mother's sewing-machine. Don't you know? That has a round leather belt on the big wheel, and when you turn the big wheel the little wheel goes. Same as on our tricycle, only there are chains on those."

"Oh, yes, I know," said Laddie.

They found some string and made a belt of it, putting it around each of the two big spinning wheels. Then, by turning one, the other, at some distance away, could be made to go around.

"This is just like an airship!" cried Laddie. "We'll make believe this is the engine, and we'll go up in it."

This the boys did, even pretending to take Mun Bun up on one trip. Then they played other games with the spinning wheels, making believe they worked in a big factory, and things like that.

By this time Laddie and Russ had forgotten about Mun Bun, and the little fellow had wandered off by himself to the place in the attic where the strings of sleigh bells hung. He had fun jingling these. Then Russ and Laddie found something else with which to play. These were the candle-moulds. Leaving the spinning wheels, with a number of strings and cords still fast to them, the two older boys began to make believe they were soldiers with the candle-moulds for guns.

"I'll be a soldier and you can be an Indian," said Russ to Laddie. "I must live in a log cabin, and you must come in the night and try to get me, and I wake up and yell 'Bang! Bang!' That means you're shot."

"All right, and then I must shoot you, after a while."

"Sure, we'll play that way."

So they did, and had fun. They aimed at one another with the candlestick moulds and shouted so many "bangs!" that the attic echoed with the noise.

Then, suddenly, as they stopped a moment for breath, they heard the voice of Mun Bun crying:

"Oh, stop pulling my hair! Stop pulling my hair! Oh, it hurts!"

Russ and Laddie looked at one another in surprise. Neither of them was near Mun Bun, and yet they could see the little fellow standing close to one of the spinning wheels, and his golden hair stuck straight out behind him, just as if an unseen hand had hold of it and was pulling it hard.

"Oh, stop! Stop! You hurt!" sobbed Mun Bun. "Let go my hair!"

But who had hold of it?



Chapter XIV

Coasting Fun


Russ and Laddie said, afterward, that they were much frightened at what happened. They were really more frightened than was Mun Bun, for he was not so much frightened as he was hurt. He thought some one had crept up behind him and was pulling his hair, as often happened when some of the six little Bunkers were not as good as they should be.

"Let go my hair! Stop pulling!" cried Mun Bun.

"We're not touching you," said Laddie.

"Is any one there?" asked Russ, looking to see if any one stood back of his brother.

But he could look right through the spokes of the spinning wheel, near which Mun Bun was standing, and see no one except his little brother. And the bobbed, golden hair of Mun Bun still stuck straight out behind him, as stiff as if the wind were blowing it, or as if some one had hold of it.

"Make 'em stop pulling my hair!" begged Mun Bun again. And then, as he moved a little to one side, Laddie saw the spinning wheel turn and he cried:

"I know what it is!"

"What?" asked Russ. "Do you see 'em? Is it Margy or Vi?"

"Neither one," answered Laddie. "It isn't anybody."

"Nobody pulling Mun Bun's hair?" asked Russ. "Then what's he hollering for?"

"'Cause the spinning wheel's pulling it. Look! He's caught in one of the spinning wheels, and his leg is tangled in one of the string belts we left on, and he made the wheel go around himself."

Russ dropped his candle-mould gun and ran over to his little brother. Surely enough it had happened just as Laddie had said.

The golden hair of the little boy had become tangled in the slender spokes of the spinning wheel, some of which were a bit splintery.

As I told you, when Russ and Laddie finished making believe the wheels were an airship, they left some strings on them. By pulling on these strings the spinning wheels could be made to go around. And that was what Mun Bun had done, though he did not know it.

At first he did not feel it when, leaning up against one of the wheels, his hair got caught. Then his legs became entangled in one of the strings, and, as he stepped out, he pulled on the string and the wheel began to spin.

Of course that stretched his hair tightly, and it felt exactly as if some one were pulling it, which was the case. Only it was the spinning wheel, and not a ghost or any person.

All ghost stories will turn out that way if you wait long enough. Every time it is something real which makes the funny noises or does the funny things. For there are no ghosts.

"Wait a minute, Mun Bun, and I'll fix you!" cried Russ. "Stand still. The more you move the more you pull your own hair."

"I'm not pulling my hair," said Mun Bun. "Somebody behind me is pulling it."

"It's the spinning wheel," said Laddie with a laugh.

Then, when they had untangled Mun Bun's hair, they showed him how it all had happened. He had really pulled his own hair. Of course, he was not hurt very much, for only a little of his hair had stuck to the wheel.

"I can make a riddle up about this," said Laddie when Mun Bun was free once more.

"How?" asked Russ.

"Oh, I don't know just yet, but it'll be something about how can you pull your own hair and not pull it. And the answer will be a spinning wheel."

"Can I make the spinning wheels go 'round?" asked Mun Bun, who wanted to have some fun after his trouble.

"Yes, you can play with 'em," agreed Russ. "That is, with one of 'em. I'm going to take the other and make it ring the sleigh bells."

"How can you?" asked Laddie.

"I'll show you," answered Russ.

He took the strings off one wheel, letting Mun Bun play with that, and then tied more strings on the second wheel. He also fastened a string of bells on the wheel, and then, standing in a far corner of the attic, and pulling on the string of jingling bells, Russ could make them tinkle and ring.

"This is fun!" cried Laddie, and he and his brother enjoyed themselves very much, and so did Mun Bun. The attic was a great place to have jolly times.

"And I don't believe there's any ghost up there, either," said Russ to Rose that night. "First I thought it might be him pulling Mun Bun's hair, but it wasn't. There's no ghost there."

"I'm glad of it," said Rose.

The weather became somewhat warmer again, and the six little Bunkers could play out in the snow. The hill back of the barn was worn smoother and smoother, and it made a fine place for coasting.

"Let's take our dolls out and give them a ride," said Vi to Rose one day. "They haven't had a sleigh ride for a long while."

"Yes, we'll give 'em a ride," agreed Rose.

"My doll wants a ride, too," said Margy.

Russ, Laddie and Mun Bun were making another snow-man, which was to be a regular "giant," so the girls had the coasting hill to themselves. They took two sleds, for Vi wanted to go by herself. But Margy was almost too little for this.

"You shall ride down with sister," promised Rose. "I'll take care of you."

"And I can hold my doll, can't I?" asked Margy.

"Oh, yes," agreed Rose.

They had brought to Great Hedge with them the Japanese dolls that had come ashore in the box on the beach at Cousin Tom's, and these the three girls took out with them to coast downhill. They had made new clothes for the dolls, as the Japanese dresses were hardly warm enough for the cold weather at Grandpa Ford's.

Reaching the hill, Vi took her place on her sled, holding her doll in her lap, and then, holding to the sled rope, she began pushing herself to the edge of the slope, at the same time calling:

"Gid-ap! Gid-ap!"

"You don't say 'gid-ap' to a sled," objected Rose. "That's only for a horse when you want it to go."

"Well, I want my sled to go, and that's the same thing," declared Vi. "Why can't I say it if I want to? Gid-ap!" she went on, not waiting for an answer to her question. Very often Vi asked questions to which there was no answer.

"Come on, I want a ride like Vi!" exclaimed Margy.

"All right, you shall have it," answered Rose. "And you may say 'gid-ap' to our sled, too, if you like."

"All right -- gid-ap!" cried Margy, and then Rose pushed the sled on which she and her little sister sat to the edge of the hill, and down they coasted.

The three little Bunker girls had great fun on the hill. Now and then Dick, who was working around the barn, would come out to watch them.

"Don't you want a ride?" asked Rose, for a few days before Dick had let her sit on the back of one of Grandpa's horses, and had ridden her around the big barn.

"Oh, I'm afraid my legs are too long for those sleds," laughed the hired man. "I'll have to get a bigger one."

"You can hold my doll if you want to," offered Vi. "I'm going to coast like the boys do, and I can't hold her."

"Well, you had better leave your doll in the barn," said Dick. "I might lose her if I took her."

Vi stretched out face downward on the sled, to ride "boy fashion," and, of course, she couldn't hold her doll that way. So she left the toy in a warm place in the hay in the barn.

Rose, Vi and Margy had great sport coasting on the hill, and they were thinking of going in and getting some of Grandma Ford's good bread and jam when Margy cried:

"Oh, my doll! Where's my doll? She's gone. She went sliding downhill all by herself, and now she's gone! Oh, dear!" And Margy began to cry.



Chapter XV

Jingling Bells


Dick came running out of the barn.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are any of you hurt?"

But as soon as he asked that he could see that none of the three little Bunker girls was hurt, for they all stood on the hill beside the two sleds.

"What's the matter?" asked Dick again, for he could see that Margy was crying, and crying hard.

"She's lost her doll," explained Rose. "I guess it dropped in the snow. Could you find it for her? It's a Japanese doll, and we got her out of the ocean."

"Out of the ocean!" exclaimed Dick. "Well, if you got her out of the ocean I suppose I can get her out of a snow bank. For I guess that's where your doll is now, Margy. Don't cry! I'll try to find her."

Dick loved children, and, as it was rather lonesome at Great Hedge, he was very glad the six little Bunkers had come with their father and mother to stay until Spring.

"Where did you lose your doll, Margy?" asked Dick, stooping down and leaning over the little girl, who was crying so hard now that she could hardly see on account of her tears.

"Oh, I -- I -- don't know," she sobbed. "I -- I had her in my arms, and I was giving her a nice ride and, all of a sudden, I didn't have her any m-more."

"I guess she slipped out when you went over a bump, or something like that," said Dick. "But, as I said, if you found her in the ocean, I guess we can find her when she's only in a snow bank. I never saw the ocean. Is it very big?"

"Terrible big," answered Rose. "We were down at Cousin Tom's, and a box was washed up on shore and some Japanese dolls were in it. We each have one -- all except Russ and Laddie, 'cause they're too big to play with dolls. But now Margy's is lost. But we've two more home, Margy, 'cause there were half a dozen in the box, and you can have one of them."

"Don't want them!" exclaimed Margy. "I want my own doll that I had on the sled. Where is she?" And Margy cried harder than ever.

"We'll look," said Dick.

He went into the barn and came out again with a big wooden rake. In summer the rake was used to clean the lawn. But now it was to be used in the snow.

"You little girls go up to the top of the hill and sit down on your sleds," said Dick. "Or, better still, go into the barn, like the robin in the song, and keep warm. Then I'll look for your doll, Margy."

Then, with the long, wooden rake the man began "combing," as Vi called it, the snow along the hill. There was no need to look in the middle, where the sleds slid down, for there the snow was packed hard, and anything, even smaller than a good-sized Japanese doll, could be seen easily. But Dick raked on each side in the soft snow.

Pretty soon he cried:

"Hurray!"

"Did you find it?" asked Vi.

"Yes, this time I have it!" replied Dick, and he held up to view Margy's lost doll. She had fallen into the soft snow, and was not hurt a bit.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Margy.

After the snow had been brushed off the Japanese doll, Margy hugged her close in her arms.

"I'm never, never, never going to lose you again!" cried the little girl.

"And we're much obliged to you for finding her," said Rose to Dick.

"Oh, yes, I forgot. Mother said I was always to say thank you, and I do!" exclaimed Margy. "I could give you a kiss, too, if you wanted it," she went on, "and so could my doll."

"Well, I'd rather have one from you," laughed Dick. "But I haven't shaved to-day, and my face is rather whiskery."

"My father's face is like that lots of times -- I don't mind," said Margy, so she kissed Dick and was very happy.

Then, after some more coasting, during which time the dolls were left in the barn, the three little Bunker girls went back to the house.

"Ready for bread and jam?" asked Grandma Ford. "That was always what I used to want when I came in out of the cold, and I think you want the same.".

"Yes, please, we do," said Rose.

"Oh, yes, please!" added Vi.

"I lost my doll," said Margy, "but Dick raked her up and I did give him a kiss."

"That was nice!" laughed Grandma Ford.

As she was spreading the bread and jam for Rose, Margy and Vi, in came Russ, Laddie and Mun Bun, leaving, of course, the snow man outside. And you can easily guess what the boys wanted.

Bread and jam!

That's just it, and you may go to the head of the class. I wish I had some bread and jam to give you for guessing right, but I haven't.

The next day when Daddy Bunker, who had come back from business, and Grandpa Ford went out to the barn to look at one of the horses that had a cold, Russ and Laddie followed. On the way they passed a small house, or pen, such as chickens are kept in, and from it came a loud:

"Gobble-obble-obble!"

"What's that?" asked Mun Bun. "Is it a hand-organ monkey?"

"Oh, no!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "That's our prize turkey, and do you know what he says?"

"Did he say anything?" asked Russ.

"Oh, indeed he did!" said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "You see I understand turkey talk, and this bird just said: 'Thanksgiving is coming, and then I'll be gobbled-obbled-obbled!' That's what he said, and it's going to come true. That's going to be part of our Thanksgiving day dinner."

"I like turkey," said Russ. "Is Thanksgiving coming soon?"

"Next week," his father told him. "You want to get up good appetites between now and then."

"I'm hungry now," said Laddie, though how he could be, having only had breakfast a little while before, I don't know. But lots of children are that way.

There was plenty to see and do around Great Hedge Estate, and after the six little Bunkers had peeped in at the big Thanksgiving turkey, they played around the barn a bit and then romped in the snow.

In the afternoon Grandpa Ford hitched a team of horses to a big sled -- the same one that had brought them from the station -- and took them all for a long ride, the bells merrily jingling all the way. They stopped in the city of Tarrington on the way home, and bought some things Grandma Ford wanted for the Thanksgiving dinner.

Coming home in the afternoon, the children went up to the attic to play again, taking some apples with them to have a play party.

"Oh, Grandpa Ford's is just a lovely place!" exclaimed Rose that night as she and the others were going to bed.

"And we didn't hear any more funny ghost noises," said Russ in a low voice. "I guess the ghost has gone, Rose."

"I guess so, too. I didn't hear Daddy or Mother or Grandpa or Grandma say any more about it."

That night Mun Bun awakened, and called to his mother to give him a drink of water. As it happened Rose and Russ were also awake, and Margy, hearing her brother ask for water, wanted some, too. So there were several of the Bunkers awake at once.

Just as Mrs. Bunker was giving Mun Bun his drink, there suddenly sounded through the dim and silent house the loud ringing of a string of sleigh bells.

"What's that?" called Grandma Ford from across the hall. "Is some one stopping out in front?"

"I'll look," said Grandpa Ford. It was bright moonlight, and he could see plainly. "No one there," he said.

The bells jingled again, more loudly.

"They're up in the attic!" cried Russ. "Some one is ringing the bells in the attic!"



Chapter XVI

Thanksgiving Fun


By this time it seemed as if every one in Grandpa Ford's house at Great Hedge was awake. Even Mun Bun and Margy sat up in bed, after having had their drinks, and listened.

"There certainly are bells jingling," said Mother Bunker.

"And they are in this house, too," added Grandma Ford, as she came out in the dimly-lighted hall, wearing a dark dressing-gown. "I thought, at first, it might be a sleigh-riding party out in front. Often they stop to ask their way."

"No sleighs out in front that I can see," remarked Grandpa Ford. "Where do the bells seem to you to be?" he asked Daddy Bunker.

"Up in the attic!" called Russ from his room. "That's where they sound."

"I believe he is right," said Grandma Ford. "I have a good ear for sound, and that jingling is certainly up in the attic. Father, you'd better take a look."

"Aren't you -- aren't you afraid?" asked Rose, rather hesitating over the words.

"Afraid of what?" inquired Grandpa Ford.

"Well, it's so dark up in the attic," went on Rose, and Russ, hearing what she said, knew what she meant. It was the ghost Rose was thinking of, and not the dark.

"I can take a light," said Grandpa Ford. "Then it won't be dark. But you mustn't be afraid in the dark. It can't hurt any one."

Just then the bells gave a very loud jingle, just as if some one had hold of the string and was shaking it hard.

"Oh!" exclaimed Rose.

"I'm goin' to sleep!" announced Mun Bun, and he covered his head with the bedclothes.

"So'm I," said Margy, and she did as her little brother had done, snuggling under the covers.

Rose and Russ heard their father ask Grandpa Ford:

"Did this ever happen before?"

"No," answered Grandpa Ford. "We have heard many strange noises at Great Hedge, noises we thought were caused by -- well, you know what I mean," and he nodded at Mr. Bunker to show that he did not want to use the word "ghost."

Of course, Russ and Rose, being in bed in different rooms, could not see this nod, but they guessed what Grandpa Ford meant.

"Well, we'd better go up and see what it is," said Daddy Bunker. "We can't sleep with all that jingling going on," and even as he spoke the bells rang out again.

"I'll get a light," said Grandpa Ford. "A lantern will be best. There is always more or less breeze up in the attic, and a candle or lamp might blow out. Come on."

Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford went up into the attic, while the six little Bunkers, two of them with their heads under the covers, waited to hear what would happen. So did Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford.

The two men were heard tramping around in the attic, and then, suddenly, just as the bells gave another jingle, there was a loud laugh.

"There! It's all right," said Mother Bunker. "They've found the -- the -- whatever it was," she said quickly. "And it must be funny, for hear them laugh."

Down came Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford. Grandpa Ford carried the lantern, and Daddy Bunker had something in his hand.

"Here's what caused all the trouble!" he said, and he held out something round and red.

"An apple!" cried Russ, who had come out in the hall to see.

"Just an apple," went on Daddy Bunker. "This apple made all the noise, or, rather, was the cause of the bells jingling."

"How could an apple make bells jingle?" asked Laddie. "Is that a riddle, Daddy?"

"Well, almost, you might say. This is how it happened. When Grandpa Ford and I got up to the attic, we saw the string of sleigh bells hanging from a nail, where you children must have left them when you last played with them. But we couldn't see any one near them who might have rung them, and there was no one in the attic, as far as we knew.

"Then, even as we stood there, waiting and looking about, I saw the string of bells move, and then they jingled, and, looking down on the floor, I saw a big rat trying to carry this apple away in his mouth."

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Rose, "how could a rat carrying an apple away in his mouth, make the bells ring?"

"Easily enough," her father answered. "The apple was tied on a string, as I suppose some of you children left it when you got through playing this afternoon. And the other end of the cord was tied to the string of bells. That was also more of your play, I suppose.

"The rat came out of his hole in the attic, smelled the apple on the floor, and tried to drag it into his cupboard. But the string held it fast, and as the rat pulled and tugged he made the sleigh bells jingle; for every time he pulled the apple he pulled the string, and every time he pulled the string he pulled the bells."

"And is that all there was?" asked Grandma Ford.

"All there was," answered Grandpa Ford. "Just a rat trying to have a nice apple supper made the bells ring."

"Well, I'm glad I know what it was," said Mother Bunker. "If I hear a noise in the night I like to know what it is and where it comes from. Now I can go back to sleep."

"So can I," said Rose.

And the other little Bunkers said the same thing. As for Mun Bun and Margy, as soon as they heard that everything was all right they uncovered their heads and went to sleep before any one else.

"Well, well! To think what a little thing can puzzle every one," said Grandpa Ford to Daddy Bunker, as the grown folks went back to their rooms. "Maybe we'll find that the other noises are made just as simply as this one was."

"Maybe," agreed Daddy Bunker. "But of late we haven't heard that groaning noise much, and maybe we shall not again."

"I hope not," said Mother Bunker.

The grown folks did not know that, half asleep as they were even then, Russ and Rose heard this talk. And the two older Bunker children made up their minds to find the ghost -- if there was one -- or whatever sounded like one.

The next day the children all went up to the attic and saw the string where one of them had left it tied to the bells. Daddy Bunker had taken off the apple.

"I wish we could see the rat!" exclaimed Laddie.

"I don't," said Rose. "I don't like rats."

"I guess I've a riddle about a rat," said Laddie after a pause.

"What is it?" asked Russ. "I can guess it, easy."

"No, you can't!" declared his brother.

"I can so!"

"You can not!"

"Well, let's hear it," demanded Russ.

"It's when is a rat not a rat?" asked Laddie. "That's the riddle. When is a rat not a rat?"

"It's always a rat," said Rose.

"Do you mean when a cat is after him?" asked Russ, trying to guess the riddle.

"No," answered Laddie. "That isn't it. I'll give you another guess."

Russ tried to think of several other reasons why a rat was sometimes not a rat, but at last he gave up.

"This is it," said Laddie. "A rat isn't a rat when he's a bell-ringer; like the one in the attic was last night."

"Yes, that's a pretty good riddle," agreed Russ, after a bit. "Some day I'm going to make a riddle. Now I'm going to make snowshoes."

"How do you make them?" asked Laddie.

Russ was going to tell his brother, and take him out to the barn to show him, when Mother Bunker called up:

"Who wants to go for a ride with Grandpa?"

"I do! I! Take me! I want to go!" came in a chorus.

"Well, he has room for all of you, so come along. He's going to Tarrington to get some friends to come out to the Thanksgiving dinner, and you six may all go along," said Mother Bunker.

So the six little Bunkers had another fine sleigh ride, and came back to Great Hedge with fine appetites. They also brought back in the sled with them Mr. and Mrs. Burton, old friends of Grandpa Ford, who generally spent the Thanksgiving holiday with him.

For the next few days there were so many things going on at Great Hedge that if I only told about them I'd fill this book. But, as I have other happenings to relate to you, and the ghost to tell about, I will just skip over this part by saying that every one, even down to Mun Bun, helped get ready for the Thanksgiving dinner.

Such goings-on as there were in Grandma Ford's kitchen! Such delicious smells of cake and pie and pudding! Such baking, roasting, boiling, frying and stewing! Such heaps of good things in the pantry!

And then the dinner! The big roast turkey, and celery, and a big dish of red cranberries, and other good things!

"I got the wish-bone!" cried Rose, as she finished her plate.

"Let me help pull it with you, when it gets dry!" begged Russ, and then, in a whisper, he said: "If I get the wish I'll wish we could find the ghost."

"So'll I," said Rose.

After dinner the children played games in the house, as it blew up cold and blustery and was not nice to go out in the snow. Rose had put the wish-bone over the kitchen stove to dry, and, late in the afternoon, she and Russ went out to get it to break, and wish over it. The one who held the larger part could make a wish.

"Snap!" went the wish-bone.

"Oh, I have it!" cried Rose. "I'm going to wish!"

And just then, all of a sudden, a loud, hollow groan sounded throughout the house.



Chapter XVII

Russ Makes Snowshoes


"There it goes! There it goes again!" cried Rose, and, forgetting all about having gotten the larger end of the bone, so that she had the right to make a wish, she dropped it and ran toward the sitting-room.

The rest of the six little Bunkers and the father and mother, with Grandma and Grandpa Ford and their guests, were gathered in the sitting-room after the Thanksgiving dinner.

There was no doubt that they all heard the noise. It was so loud, and it sounded through the whole house in such a way that every one heard it. Only Mun Bun and Margy and Violet and Laddie did not pay much heed to it. They were playing a game in one corner of the room.

"Did you hear it?" asked Russ, as Rose ran over and crouched down beside her mother.

"I heard a noise, yes," answered Mrs. Bunker quietly.

"We all heard it -- and there it goes again!" exclaimed Grandpa Ford.

"O-u-g-h-m!" came the awful sound.

"It's the wind," said Grandma Ford.

"The wind isn't blowing," said Daddy Bunker. "It must be something else. There is no wind."

There was a little, but not enough to blow the snow about. It had been blustery -- so cold and blowy, in fact, that the six little Bunkers could not go out to play. But now the sun had gone down, and, as often happens, the wind died down with it. The night was going to be still and cold.

"No, I don't believe it was the wind," said Grandpa Ford. "It's the same noise we heard before. We must try to find out what it is, Charles," and he turned to Daddy Bunker.

"It's the ghost! That's what it is!" exclaimed Russ. "We tried to find it, Rose and I did -- but we couldn't. It's the ghost!"

"Nonsense! What do you know about ghosts?" said Mother Bunker, and she tried to laugh, but it did not sound very jolly. "There aren't any such things as ghosts," she went on.

"Well, I got the big end of the wish-bone," said Rose, "and I was just going to wish that I'd find the ghost when, all of a sudden, I heard it!"

"Now see here, you two!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker, speaking to Russ and Rose, while Laddie and Vi, with Mun Bun and Margy, were still at their game. "You mustn't be talking about such things as ghosts. There isn't any such thing, and you may scare the younger children."

"How did you hear about a ghost at Great Hedge?" asked Grandpa Ford curiously.

Russ and Rose looked at each other. The time had come to tell of their listening under the window, and they felt a little ashamed of it. But they had been taught to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurt, and they must do it now.

"How did you know about a ghost?" asked Mother Bunker.

"We -- we heard you and Grandpa Ford talking about it -- the time he came to our house," confessed Russ. He felt that he, being the oldest, must speak first.

"We listened under the window," added Rose. She wanted to do her share of the telling.

"That was very wrong to do," said her mother. "But, of course, I know you didn't mean to do wrong. Still, as it happened, no great harm was done, but you should have told me about it at the time. It was not right to be so mysterious about it, nor to have it as a secret. You two children are too small to have secrets away from Father and Mother, unless they are little ones, like birthday surprises and the like. Now, don't listen under windows again."

"We won't," promised Russ and Rose, who then told the whole story.

"But is there a ghost?" asked Russ, as the strange noise sounded again.

"No, of course not," said Daddy Bunker. "But, since you have heard part of the story, you may as well hear all of it."

Seeing that the four smaller children were busy at their play, and would not listen to what he said, Daddy Bunker drew Russ and Rose up on his lap and began:

"You remember when Grandpa Ford came to see us, he said he wanted to take us back with him, and, if we could, have us help him find out something queer about Great Hedge, which he had bought from Mr. Ripley. The 'something queer' was that, every now and then, noises, such as you heard just now, sound through the house. Grandpa Ford and Grandma Ford couldn't find out where they came from, and neither Mr. Ripley nor his daughter knew what made them.

"Of course," went on Daddy Bunker, "some people, when they hear a strange sound or see a strange sight, think it is a ghost. But there is no such thing."

"We thought it was a ghost made Mun Bun's hair stick out and be pulled," confessed Rose, "but it was only the spinning wheel."

"Now, to go on with my story. As the queer noises kept up, Grandpa Ford came to get me, to see if I could help him. I am in the real estate business, you know -- I buy and sell houses -- and he thought I might know something about the queer noise in his house. I have bought and sold houses that people said were haunted -- that is, which were supposed to have ghosts in," laughed Daddy Bunker. "But I never saw nor heard of any spirits."

"Did you find out what made this noise?" asked Russ.

"No, we haven't yet, but we take a look every time we hear it," said his father. "That is what we are going to do now. So, after this, don't be afraid when you hear it. It is something in the house that makes it -- not a ghost or anything like that. We'll find it sooner or later, Grandpa Ford and I."

"May we help?" asked Russ.

"Please, Daddy?" cried Rose.

"Well, yes, I guess so, if you want to," answered his father slowly. "If you hear the noise, and it sounds anywhere near you, look around and see if you can find out what makes it. Don't cry 'ghost!' and scare the others."

"We won't," promised Rose. "And maybe we'll be lucky and find it."

"I hope you will," put in Grandma Ford.

"It sounded like a cow mooing," remarked Russ.

"Yes, it did," agreed Grandpa Ford. "At first I thought it was a cow that had got into the cellar. But I couldn't find one. Then I thought it was boys playing a trick on us, but I heard the noise in the middle of the night, when no boys would be out. I don't know what makes it, but I'd like to find the ghost, as I call it, though I'm not going to after this. That isn't a good name. We'll just call it 'Mr. Noise.'"

"And we'll help you find 'Mr. Noise'!" laughed Russ.

Laddie came from where he was playing with a new riddle, and, while they were laughing over it, the groaning noise sounded again.

"Listen, all of you, and see if you can tell where it is," said Grandpa Ford.

Russ and Rose listened. So did Laddie and Violet; but Mun Bun and Margy kept on playing with their dolls.

"It's a tree rubbing against the house outside," said Russ.

"I thought so at first," said Grandpa Ford, "but there are now no trees that rub. I cut off the branches of those that did."

Each one thought it was in a different room, but a search showed nothing out of the way. They were all very much puzzled.

"It's worse than one of Laddie's queer riddles," said Daddy Bunker, when he and Grandpa Ford came back from having searched in several of the rooms.

They listened for a while longer, but the noise was not heard again, and then it was time to go to bed. The wind sprang up again and the clouds seemed to promise more snow. And, surely enough, in the morning, the white flakes were falling thick and fast.

"They'll cover up our snow man," said Laddie to Russ.

"Never mind. I know how we can have more fun," said the older boy.

"How?"

"I'll make some snowshoes for us, and we can walk without sinking down in the snow."

"How can you do that?"

"Oh, I'll show you. I started to make 'em before, but I forgot about it. Now I will."

And, when breakfast was over, and the four older children had been warmly wrapped and allowed to go out to play in the storm, Russ led Laddie to the barn.

"We'll make the snowshoes there," he said. "I have everything all ready."

Laddie saw a pile of barrel staves -- the long, thin pieces of wood of which barrels are made, where his brother had stacked them. Russ also had some pieces of rope, a hammer and some nails, and some long poles.

"What are they for?" asked Laddie, pointing to the poles.

"That's to take hold of and help yourself along. It's awful hard to walk on snowshoes -- real ones, I mean. And, maybe, it'll be harder to walk on the barrel kind I'm going to make."

Then Russ began making the snowshoes.



Chapter XVIII

On Skates


You have probably all seen pictures of regular snowshoes, even if you have not seen real snowshoes, so you know how much like big lawn-tennis rackets they look. Snowshoes are broad and flat, and fasten on outside of one's regular shoes, so a person can walk on the soft snow, or on the hard crust, without sinking down in.

The Indians used to make snowshoes by bending a frame of wood into almost the shape of a tennis racket -- except it had no long handle -- and then stretching pieces of the skins of animals across this.

"But I'm not going to make that kind," said Russ.

"What kind are you going to make?" asked Laddie as he watched his brother.

"Oh, mine's going to be easier than that."

Russ took a long, thin barrel stave, that was curved up a little on either end. To the middle of the stave he tacked some pieces of rope and string.

"That's to tie the shoe to your foot," he explained to Laddie.

In a little while, with his brother's help, Russ had made four of the barrel-stave snowshoes -- a pair for himself and a pair for Laddie.

"Now all we have to do," said Russ, "is to tie 'em on and walk out on the snow. We won't sink down in, as we do with our regular feet, and we can go as fast as anything."

"Won't we fall?" asked Laddie.

"We'll hold on to the poles. That's what I got 'em for," said Russ.

In a short time he and his brother had fastened the barrel staves to their shoes, winding and tying the cords and ropes, and even some old straps around and around. Their feet looked very queer -- almost like those of some clown in the circus. But Laddie and Russ did not mind that. They wanted to walk on the home-made snowshoes.

"Come on!" called Russ, as he shuffled across the barn floor toward the door, from which led a big stretch of deep, white snow. "Come on, Laddie!"

"I -- I can't seem to walk," the little fellow said. "I keep stepping on my feet all the while."

This was very true. As he took one step he would put the other snowshoe down on the one he had moved last, and then he could not raise the underneath foot.

"Spread your legs apart and sort of slide along," said Russ. "Then you won't step on your own feet. Do it this way."

Russ separated one foot from the other as far as he could, and then he shuffled along, not raising his feet. He found this the best way, and soon he was at the barn door, with Laddie behind him.

"Come on now, we'll start and walk on the snow, and we'll s'prise Daddy and Mother," cried Russ.

He did manage to glide over the snow, the broad, long barrel staves keeping him from sinking in the soft drifts. Laddie did not do quite so well, but he managed to get along.

The boys held long poles, which helped to keep them from falling over, and, at first, so uneven was the walking that they might have fallen if it had not been for the long staffs.

"I'll make snowshoes for all of us," said Russ, as he and Laddie went slowly around the corner of the barn. "Then we can play Indians, and go on a long walk and take our dinner and stay all day."

Together they walked around the barn. They were getting used to the barrel-stave snowshoes now, and really did quite well on them. Of course, now and then, one or the other's fastenings would become loose, and they would have to stop and tie them. Laddie got so he could do this for himself.

"It's like when your shoelace comes untied," he said. "Did the Indians' laces come untied, Russ?"

"I guess so. But now come on. We'll go to the house and get some bread and jam."

Russ and Laddie started out bravely enough, and they were half-way to the house when Russ said:

"Oh, let's see if we can get across that big drift!"

This was a large pile of snow, made by the wind into a small hill, and it must have been many feet deep -- well over the heads of the two small boys.

"Maybe we might get hurt there," said Laddie.

"No, we won't!" cried Russ. "Come on."

Russ was part way to the top when something happened. All at once one leg sank away down, barrel-stave snowshoe and all, and a moment later he was floundering in the snow, and crying:

"Hey, Laddie, I can't get out. I can't get out. Go and call Daddy or Grandpa! I can't get out!"

"Are you hurt?" asked Laddie.

"No. But my foot is stuck away down under the snow, and I can't pull it out."

"I'll go!" cried Laddie.

He never knew how fast he could travel on the home-made snowshoes until he tried. Up to the side porch he shuffled, and, not stopping to unfasten the pieces of barrel on his feet, he called out:

"Mother, come quick! Russ is upside down and he can't get his leg out!"

Inside the house Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford heard the queer thumping sound on the porch.

"I wonder what that is?" said Grandma Ford.

"Maybe it's our friend that makes the queer noises, making a new one," answered Mrs. Bunker.

Then they heard Laddie calling:

"Oh, come quick! Russ is upside down and his leg is stuck and he can't get it out! Oh, hurry, please!"

"Mercy me!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Something has happened!"

Out of the door she rushed, with Grandma Ford after her, and when they saw Laddie, with the barrel staves on his shoes, his mother asked:

"What has happened? What have you done to yourself? What are those things on your feet?"

"Snowshoes that Russ made," was the answer. "He's got some on his own feet, but he fell into a snow bank and he can't get out and he's hollerin' like anything!"

"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Grandma Ford. "But if he fell into a snow bank it's so soft he won't be hurt. But I'll get Grandpa to dig him out."

But Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford had gone to town in the sled. But Dick, the hired man, was at home, and he came to help Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford.

"I'll get you out, Russ! Don't cry!" shouted Dick, as he ran up with his long rubber boots on. These were so high that he could wade into almost any snowdrift. "Don't cry, Russ!"

"I'm not cryin'," answered Laddie's brother. "I'm only hollerin' so somebody'll come and get me. My foot's stuck!"

And that is just what had happened to him. He had stepped into a soft part of the drift with one foot, and had nearly turned a somersault. Then the long barrel stave, tied fast to his shoe, became caught crossways under the hole in the snow, and Russ couldn't pull his foot out.

He could not stand up, and so had to lie down, and one leg was out of sight down in the hole.

"I'll soon have you out!" cried Dick.

He was as good as his word. Reaching down in, he loosened the barrel-stave snowshoe from Russ's foot, and soon pulled the little boy up straight. Then he carried him to the porch.

"I wouldn't go in deep places with those queer things on my feet any more," said Grandma Ford.

"No, we won't," promised Russ.

So, when the snowshoe was again tied on his foot, he and Laddie shuffled about where the snow was not too deep. They had lots of fun, and the other little Bunkers came out to watch them. Mun Bun wanted a pair of the barrel-stave snowshoes for himself, but his mother said he was too little; but Russ made some for Rose and Vi.

Two days later, when the six little Bunkers got out of bed, they found that the weather had turned warmer, and that it was raining.

"Oh, now the nice snow will be all gone!" cried Rose.

"And we can't make any more snow men and forts," added Russ.

"But you can have fun when it freezes," said his father.

"How?" asked Laddie.

"You can go skating," was the answer. "There is a pond not far from Grandpa Ford's house, and when it freezes, as it will when the rain stops, you and the others can go skating."

"I can skate a little," announced Russ.

"So can I," said Laddie. "Did we bring any skates?"

"Yes, we packed some from home," replied his mother.

"I want to skate!" exclaimed Mun Bun.

"You can have fun sliding, you and Margy," said Rose. "And I'll pull you over the ice on a sled."

This satisfied the smaller children, and then, as the weather was so bad that they could not go out and play, the six little Bunkers stayed in the house and waited for the rain to be over and the ice to freeze.

They played around the house and up in the attic, and, now and then, Russ and Rose found themselves listening for the queer noise. They didn't call it the "ghost" any longer. It was just the "queer noise."

But they did not hear it, and they rather wanted to, for they thought it would be fun to find out what caused it.

After two days of rain the snow was all gone. The ground was bleak and bare, but the six little Bunkers did not mind that, for they were eager for ice to freeze.

Then, one morning, Daddy Bunker called up the stairs:

"Come on out, everybody! The freeze has come! The pond is frozen over, and we're all going skating!"

"Hurray!" cried Russ. "This will be more fun than snowshoes!"

Little did he guess what was going to happen.



Chapter XIX

The Ice Boat


"Now you must all eat good breakfasts," said Grandma Ford, as the six little Bunkers came trooping downstairs in answer to their father's call. "Eat plenty of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup, so you will not be cold and hungry when you go out on the ice to skate."

Russ, Laddie and the others needed no second invitation, and soon there was a rattle of knives, forks and spoons that told of hungry children eating heartily.

The house at Great Hedge was warm and cosy, and the smell of the bacon, the buckwheat cakes and the maple syrup would have made almost any one hungry.

"Are we all going out skating?" asked Rose, as she ate her last cake.

"Yes, I'll take you all," said Daddy Bunker. "Dick went over to the pond, and he says the ice is fine. It's smooth and hard."

"Is it strong enough to hold?" asked Mother Bunker. "I don't want any of my six little Bunkers falling through the ice."

"Nor I," added Daddy Bunker. "We'll take good care that they don't. Now wrap up well. I have skates for all but Margy and Mun Bun. I'm afraid they are a bit too small to try to skate yet, but we'll take over sleds for them."

"Russ and I are going to have a race!" boasted Laddie. "And if I win, you've got to guess any riddle I ask you, Russ."

"I will, if you don't make it too hard," said the older boy with a laugh.

As Daddy Bunker had said, there were skates for Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi, these having been brought from home. Russ and Rose had learned to skate the winter before, and Laddie had made one or two attempts at it. He felt that he could do much better now. Violet, not to be outdone by her twin, was to learn too. Of course, the children could not skate very far, nor very fast, but they could have fun, and, after all, that is what skates are for, mostly.

"Could we take something to eat with us? We may get hungry," said Russ, as they were about to start.

"Bless your hearts! Of course you may!" exclaimed Grandma Ford.

She put up two bags of cookies, and then Daddy Bunker, thrusting them into the big pockets of his overcoat, led the children out into the crisp December air.

It was cold, but the wind did not blow very hard, and the six little Bunkers were well wrapped up. Over the frozen ground they went to the pond, which was back of Grandpa Ford's barn. It was a pond where, in the summer, ducks and geese swam, and where the cows went to drink. But now it was covered with a sheet of what seemed to be glass.

"What makes the ice so smooth?" asked Vi, as she leaned down and touched it.

"Because it freezes so hard," answered her father.

"Well, the ground is frozen hard, too," said the little girl. "But it isn't smooth."

"That's because it wasn't smooth before it was frozen," said Mr. Bunker. "When cold comes it freezes things into just the shapes they are at the time. The ground was cut up into ruts and furrows, and it froze that way. The pond of water was smooth, as it always is except when the wind blows up the waves, and it froze smooth."

"Would my face freeze smooth?" asked Violet, trying to look down at her nose.

"I hope it doesn't freeze at all," her father told her with a laugh. "But if it did your nose would be all wrinkled, as it is now."

"Then I'm going to smooth it," said Violet, and she did.

Russ could put on his own skates, as could Rose, but Laddie had to have help. Then the three children began gliding about the ice, their father watching them.

"Don't go too far over toward the middle," he warned them. "Dick said he thought it was safe there, but it may not be. Stay near shore."

The children promised that they would, and they had great fun gliding about on the steel runners.

Then Daddy Bunker put the skates on Vi and held her up while he taught her how to take the strokes. It was very wabbly skating, you may be sure.

Finally, however, she began to do very well for such a little girl and for such a short time. But after a while she said she was tired.

"Very well, Vi," said Daddy Bunker, "you sit on one sled and take Mun Bun in your lap. Margy can sit on the smaller sled, and I'll fasten the two together with ropes. Then I can pull both."

And Daddy Bunker did this. Over the ice along the shore he pulled the sleds with the three children on them, while Rose, Russ and Laddie skated about not far away. Finally Laddie called:

"Come on, Russ! Let's have a race! Let's see who can skate all the way across the pond first!"

"Oh, you mustn't skate across the pond!" exclaimed Rose. "Daddy said we must stay near the edge."

"But the ice is smoother out in the middle," said Russ. "It's all humpy and rough here, and you can't skate fast. I want to go out in the middle!"

"So do I," added Laddie. "Come on, Russ. I'll race you, but you ought to give me a head-start 'cause you're older than I am and you can skate better."

"All right, I will," said Russ. "I'll let you go first, Laddie."

"Oh, I'm going to tell Daddy you're going out in the middle and across the lake!" cried Rose. "He said you mustn't!"

"All right, go on and be a tattle-tale if you want to!" exclaimed Russ.

Now, of course, it wasn't nice of him to speak to his sister that way, and it wasn't right for him to go where his father had told him not to go. Of course Rose didn't want to be a tattle-tale, but still it was better to be that than to let her brother do what he intended. So, while Russ and Laddie got ready for their race, Rose skated, as quickly as she could, to the other end of the pond, where her father was giving Violet, Mun Bun and Margy some of Grandma's cookies, which they had brought along.

"Come on, now! One, two, three! Race!" cried Russ, after he had let Laddie get a little start of him.

Away the boys skated, toward the middle of the pond. At first Laddie was ahead, but Russ was the better skater and soon passed him. Russ was near the middle of the pond when suddenly there was a loud crack.

Russ heard it and tried to stop himself and turn back. But he was going quite fast, and before he could slow up the ice in front of him cracked open. He saw a stretch of black water, and then, with a yell, into it splashed poor Russ.

BEFORE RUSS COULD SLOW UP, THE ICE IN FRONT OF HIM CRACKED OPEN. Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's.        -- Page 188

"Oh, he's fallen in! Russ has fallen in!" shouted Laddie, who had seen what had happened. And he suddenly tripped and sat down, sliding slowly along, or he, too, might have gone through the hole in the ice.

It was a good thing Rose had run and told her father what her brothers were going to do, for Mr. Bunker was already half-way to Russ when the ice broke.

"I'll get you! I'll get you!" called Mr. Bunker to Russ. "Rose, you look after the others, and I'll get Russ out. The pond is not very deep, and I'll soon have him out!"

Mr. Bunker ran out on the ice right toward the hole where the black water was. Russ had not fallen in head first, luckily, and now stood with the water about up to his waist.

The ice broke under the weight of Mr. Bunker, and into the water he splashed, but he did not mind. Laddie had quickly crawled away from the vicinity of the hole, and he now went back to where Rose was looking after Margy, Mun Bun and Violet.

"I've got you, Russ!" cried Mr. Bunker, as he caught the scared boy in his arms. And then, wet as both of them were, Mr. Bunker managed to get up on ice that was firm enough to hold him, and hurried to the bank, carrying Russ with him.

"I must get you home as soon as I can, and take off your wet clothes," he said. "You must be terribly cold. Laddie and Rose, take off your skates and follow after me. Bring Mun Bun and Margy, and tell Vi to come. Hurry now. Russ, I told you not to go out in the middle, where the ice might break."

"I -- I'm sorry, Daddy!" shivered Russ. "I won't do it any more."

And I am glad to say he did not.

Of course Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford were excited when Daddy Bunker came racing in, all dripping wet, with Russ, also soaked through, in his arms. But Grandmother Ford and Mother Bunker were used to accidents. Dry clothes were put on, the two shivering ones sat by the fire and drank hot milk, and soon they were all right again.

The hole in the ice froze over in a little while, and the ice became so thick that even the grown men could go out in the middle of the pond. Then there was no danger of the children's tumbling in, and they were told they might play wherever they liked.

Russ and Laddie had another race -- one that was finished, and Russ won, so he did not have to guess Laddie's riddle.

"If I had beat you," said Laddie, "I was going to ask you why is an automobile tire like a snake."

"Pooh, that's easy to guess," said Russ. "'Cause it's round and fat."

"Nope," said Laddie. "It's 'cause a snake hisses and so does an auto tire when the air comes out."

"Oh!" said Russ.

They were all in the house, after dinner, when Dick came in to ask Grandpa Ford about something that needed fixing in the barn. The hired man saw the children sitting about with nothing particular to do, and said:

"How would you like to come for a ride in my boat?"

"Where?" asked Russ eagerly.

"On the pond," answered Dick.

"The pond is covered with ice!" said Russ. "Is that a riddle? How can you sail a boat on a pond that is covered with ice?"

"I'm going to sail an ice boat," answered Dick. "Want to come down and see me, and have a ride?"



Chapter XX

Another Night Scare


You can easily imagine what the six little Bunkers said when Dick asked this question about his ice boat.

"I want to come!" cried Russ.

"I want a ride!" shouted Laddie.

"Shall we get wet?" asked Rose.

"Oh, no, not in an ice boat," said Grandpa Ford. "I've seen Dick sail one before. An ice boat is like a big skate, you know. It just slides over the ice. You may take some of the little Bunkers for a ride in your ice boat, Dick, if you'll be careful of them."

"I'll be very careful," promised Dick. "Come along!"

With shouts and laughter the six little Bunkers got ready to go down to the pond with Dick, and ride in his ice boat.

I presume that not many of you have seen ice boats, so I will tell you a little about them. Those of you who know all about them need not read this part.

As Grandpa Ford had said, an ice boat, in a way, is like a big skate or sled. It slides over the frozen ice of a pond, lake or river instead of sailing through the water, as another boat does. And an ice boat really has something like skates on it, only they are called runners. Perhaps I might say they are more like the runners of a sled.

If you will take two long, strong, heavy pieces of wood and fasten them together like a cross, or as you fasten kite sticks, you will see how the frame of an ice boat is built. On the ends of the shorter cross-piece are fastened the runners that slide over the ice. On the end of the longer cross-piece is another runner, but this one turns about from side to side with a tiller, like the tiller of a boat that goes in water, and by this the ice boat is steered.

Where the two sticks cross the mast is set up, and on this is fastened the sail, and between the sail and the tiller is a sort of shallow box. This is the cabin of the ice boat, where the people sit when they are sailing over the frozen pond.

"My ice boat is only a small home-made one," said Dick, "and I can't take you all at one time. But I'll give you each some turns, and I hope you'll like it."

Down to the edge of the pond went the six little Bunkers with Dick. Grandpa Ford and Daddy Bunker went, too, to see the ice boat.

Dick's ice boat was large enough to hold him and two little Bunkers at a time, and first he said he would take Russ and Mun Bun, for Russ could hold on to his little brother.

"I have to manage the sail and steer the boat," explained the hired man, "and sometimes we go pretty fast. Then you have to hold on as tight as you can. But you'll not spill out, for the ice is smooth."

Russ and Mun Bun took their places on some pieces of old carpet that Dick had put in the cabin of his boat. It was not like the cabin of any other boat, for it was open on all sides. Really all it could be called was a shallow box.

"All ready?" asked Dick.

"All ready!" answered Russ, holding tightly to Mun Bun.

Away they sailed over the ice, turning this way and that, and they went so fast that, at times, it almost took away the breath of Mun Bun and Russ. But they liked it, and laughed so gleefully about it that Laddie and Violet were eager to have their turn.

They, too, liked the ride on the ice boat, as it glided across the frozen pond. The wind blew on the sail, and made the ice boat go fast.

Then came the turn of Rose and Margy. At first Margy thought she would not go, but when they told her how much Mun Bun had liked it, and when Mun Bun himself had said he wanted to go again, Margy let Rose lift her in.

"Here we go!" cried Dick, and away glided the boat. Back and forth across the pond it went, and Rose laughed, and so did Margy. She found she liked it very much.

"Could I have another ride?" asked Russ after a bit.

"I guess so," agreed Dick. "I'll take you and Laddie this time. The wind is stronger now, and we'll go faster -- too fast for the smallest ones, maybe."

"I like to go fast!" exclaimed Russ. But he went even faster than he expected to.

As Dick had said, the wind was blowing very strong now, and it stretched the sail of the ice boat away out. Dick had all he could do to hold it while Russ and Laddie got on board.

"All ready?"

"All ready!" answered Russ.

The boat swung around and away it whizzed over the ice. Russ and Laddie clung to the sides of the box-like cabin, and Russ had fairly to shout to make himself heard above the whistling of the wind.

"This is fast!" he called in Laddie's ear.

"Yes, but I like it," said the smaller boy. "I'm going to make up a riddle about the ice boat but it goes so fast as soon as I think of anything in my head I forget it."

"It's fun!" exclaimed Russ. "When I get bigger I'm going to make an ice boat that goes --  -- "

But what Russ intended to do he never finished telling for, just then, there came a stronger puff of wind than before, and Dick cried:

"Lookout!"

Just what they were to look out for Russ and Laddie did not know, but they soon discovered.

The ice boat seemed to tilt up on one side, "as if it wanted to stand on its ear," Grandpa Ford said afterward, and out spilled Russ, out spilled Laddie, and Dick, himself, almost spilled out. But he managed to hold fast, which the two boys could not do.

Out of the ice boat the lads tumbled. But as they had on thick coats, and as they did not fall very far but went spinning over the frozen pond, they thought it was fun.

Over the ice they slid, just as a skater slides when he falls down, and finally they stopped and sat up.

"Huh!" grunted Russ.

"That -- that was fun, wasn't it?" asked Laddie.

"Lots of fun!" agreed Russ. "I wonder if he did it on purpose?"

"Let's ask him to do it again," suggested Laddie.

But the spill was an accident. Dick had not meant that it should happen.

"As for giving you more rides," he said, when he had brought the boat back to shore, "I don't believe I'd better. The wind is getting stronger, and there might be a real accident next time. Some other day I'll give you more rides."

"Oh, Dick, please!" pleaded Violet. But Dick said he was sorry, but they would all have to wait for a calmer day.

So the little Bunkers had to be satisfied with this, and really they had had fine fun, and all agreed that Dick's ice boat was just grand.

Back to the house they went, and, as it was nearly time to eat, they did not come out again until after the meal. Then there was more skating, and some fun on the ice with sleds, until it was time to come in for the day.

"What'll we do to-morrow?" asked Rose, as she and the other little Bunkers were getting ready for bed.

"If it snows we can go coasting," said Russ.

"Well, it looks and feels like snow," said Grandpa Ford, who came in from the barn just then, having gone out to see that the horses and cows were all right.

The grown folks sat about the fire after supper, talking and telling stories while the children were asleep in their beds.

"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Mrs. Bunker.

"What is it?" asked her husband.

"I thought I heard one of the children," she answered.

And just then, through the house, there sounded, as from some distance away, the rattle of a drum.

"Another queer noise!" exclaimed Grandma Ford in dismay. "What will happen next?"



Chapter XXI

Mr. White


Rattle and bang-bang and rattle sounded the noise of the drum in Grandpa Ford's house, and yet, as the grown folks downstairs in the sitting-room looked at one another, they could not imagine who was playing at soldier. And yet that is what it sounded like -- children beating a drum.

"Are any of those little ones up?" asked Mother Bunker. "Could they have gotten out of their beds to beat a drum?"

"I didn't know they had a drum with them," said Daddy Bunker.

"They didn't bring any from home," returned his wife.

"There is an old drum up in the attic," said Grandpa Ford. "It used to belong to Mr. Ripley, I think. Could Russ or Laddie have gone up there and be beating that?"

"The noise has stopped now," remarked Grandma Ford. "Let's go up and see which of the six little Bunkers did it," and she smiled at Mrs. Bunker.

It took only a glance into the different rooms to show that all six of the little Bunkers were in bed. Margy and Mun Bun had not been awakened by the drumming or the talk, but the other four were now waiting with wide-open eyes to learn what had happened.

"There it goes again!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker.

Surely enough the rub-a-dub-dubbing sounded again, this time more loudly than before, because the grown folks were nearer the attic.

"We must see what it is," said Grandpa Ford.

"We surely must," at once agreed Daddy Bunker.

As he and Grandpa Ford started up the stairs to the attic the drumming noise stopped, and all was quiet when the two men went into the attic. It was not dark, as Daddy Bunker took with him his electric flashlight, which he flashed into the different corners.

"Where is that drum you spoke of, Father?" he asked of Grandpa Ford.

"I don't see it now," was the answer. "It used to hang up on one of the rafters. But maybe the children took it down."

Daddy Bunker flashed his light to and fro.

"Here it is!" he cried, and he pointed to the drum standing up at one side of the big chimney, which was in the center of the attic. "The children did have it down, playing with it.

"But I don't see what would make it rattle," went on Daddy Bunker. "Unless," he added, "a rat is flapping its tail against the drum."

The noise had stopped again, but, all of a sudden, as Grandpa Ford and Daddy Bunker stood looking at the drum, the rattle and rub-a-dub-dub broke out again, more loudly than before. The drum seemed to shake and tremble, so hard was it beaten.

"Who is doing it?" cried Grandpa Ford.

Daddy Bunker quickly stepped over where he could see the other side of the drum, which was in the dark. He leaned over, holding his flashlight close, and then he suddenly lifted into view a large, battered alarm clock, without a bell.

"This was beating the drum," he said.

"That?" cried Grandpa Ford. "How could that old alarm clock make it sound as if soldiers were coming?"

"Very easily," answered Daddy Bunker. "See, the bell is off the clock, and the hammer, or striker, sticks out. This is shaped like a little ball, and it stood close against the head of the drum.

"I suppose the children wound the clock up when they were playing with it up here and when it went off the striker beat against the head of the drum and played a regular tattoo."

"Yes, I can see how that might happen," replied Grandpa Ford. "But what made the drum beat sometimes and not at others. Why didn't the alarm clock keep on tapping the drum all the while?"

"Because," said Daddy Bunker, as the clock began to shake and tremble in his hand, "this is one of those alarm clocks that ring for a half minute or so, and then stop, then, in a few minutes, ring again. That is so when a person falls asleep, after the first or second alarm, the third or fourth may awaken him.

"And that's what happened this time. The old alarm clock went off and beat the drum. Then when we started to find out what it was all about, the clock stopped. Then it went off again."

"Another time Mr. Ghost fooled us," said Grandma Ford, when her husband and son came down from the attic.

"Did any of you children have the alarm clock?" asked Mother Bunker, for the four oldest Bunkers were still awake.

"I was playing with it," said Russ. "I was going to make a toy automobile out of it, but it wouldn't work."

"I had it after him, and I wound it up and left it by the drum," said Laddie. "But I didn't think it would go off."

But that is just what happened. Laddie had set the clock to go off at a certain hour, not knowing that he had done so. And he had put it down on the attic floor so the bell-striker was against the head of the drum.

"Well, it's a good thing it didn't go off in the very middle of the night, when we were all asleep," said Mother Bunker. "We surely would have thought an army of soldiers was marching past."

"And it wasn't any ghost at all!" exclaimed Rose, as the grown folks turned to go downstairs.

"No, and there never will be," said her mother. "All noises have something real back of them -- even that funny groaning noise we heard."

"But we don't know what that is, yet," said Russ.

"Go to sleep now," urged his mother, and soon the awakened four of the six little Bunkers were slumbering again.

The next morning they all had a good laugh over the drum and the alarm clock, and Laddie and Russ had fun making it go off again. The clock was one that had never kept good time, and so had been tossed away in the attic, which held so many things with which the children could have fun.

"Want to help us, Rose?" asked Russ after breakfast, when the children had on their rubber boots, ready to go out and play in the snow.

"What you going to do?" she asked.

"Make a snow man," Russ answered. "We're going to make another big one -- bigger than the one the rain spoiled."

"It'll be lots of fun," added Laddie.

"I'll help," offered Rose.

"Comin', Vi?" asked Laddie.

But Violet, Mun Bun and Margy were going to coast on a little hill which Dick had made for them, so the three Bunkers began to make the snow man.

As Russ had said, they were going to make a large one. So big balls were rolled and moulded together, and after a while the pile of white flakes began to look like a man, with arms sticking out, and big, fat legs on which to stand.

"Grandpa said we could have one of his old tall silk hats to put on Mr. White," said Russ. "That will make him look fine."

"Who is Mr. White?" asked Dick, who was passing at that moment.

"The snow man," answered Laddie. "That's what we're going to call him. 'Pleased to meet you, Mr. White!'" he exclaimed with a laugh, as he made a bow.

Soon Mr. White was finished, with the tall hat and all. There were pieces of black coal for buttons, while some red flannel made him look as if he had very red lips. A nose was made of snow, and bits of coal were his eyes.

"Let's make a Mrs. White!" exclaimed Rose. "And then some little White children, and we can have a whole family," she added.

"Oh, yes, let's do it!" cried Laddie.

"All right," agreed Russ.

But just as they were going to start to make Mrs. White they heard a cry from the spot where the other children were coasting.

"Oh, Mun Bun's hurt!" shouted Rose, and, dropping her shovel, she ran toward the hill.



Chapter XXII

An Upset


Russ followed his sister over the snow to the place where Dick had made the little hill. If there was trouble Russ wanted to help, for, though Rose was the "little mother," Russ felt he must do his share to help her.

They found that Mun Bun had rolled off the sled in going down a little hill and had toppled into a snow bank.

"But that didn't hurt you!" said Rose, laughing as she picked him up. "There, sister will kiss the place and make it better. You only got a little snow up your sleeve, and it makes your arm cold."

"But I bumped my head, too!" sobbed Mun Bun.

"Well, I'll rub that and make it well," said Rose, and she did.

"But I'm hungry, too," added Mun Bun.

"Oh, I can't rub your hungry away," and Rose laughed so merrily that Mun Bun stopped his crying and laughed too. So did Margy.

"What makes us get hungry?" asked Violet, as Mun Bun let Rose brush the snow from him. "What makes us?"

"It's when something tickles us in our stomachs," answered Laddie. "I know, 'cause I feel that way right now. I wish I had something to eat."

"So do I," said Margy. "My stomach doesn't zactly tickle, but it's hungry."

"Well, I'll go and ask Grandma for some cookies," offered Russ. "She always has a lot in a jar, and they taste awful good. I'll be back in a minute."

Away he ran to the house which was surrounded by the great, high hedge, and soon he came back with both hands and his pockets filled with sugar and molasses cookies.

"I brought two kinds," he said, "'cause I thought some of you would want one kind, and I might want both kinds."

The making of the snow man and the coasting down the little hill stopped while the children ate their cookies, and then, after a while, Russ said:

"Well, we must finish the White family."

"What's that?" asked Violet, brushing some cookie crumbs off her jacket.

"Oh, it's a snow family we're making," explained Rose. "There's Mr. White and Mrs. White and we're going to make some little White snow children."

"Like us six little Bunkers?" asked Mun Bun.

"No, I guess not so many as that," replied Laddie. "That would take us all day. We'll just make two children, a girl and a boy."

"Oh, I'm going to help make the White children!" cried Vi.

"Let's go an' watch 'em!" called Margy to Mun Bun. "We've had enough coasting, haven't we?"

"Yes," said Mun Bun. "We'll make some snow mans ourselves."

With the smaller children dragging their sleds and following them, Russ and Rose and Laddie and Vi went back to where they had left Mr. White standing. There he was, very fine and brave-looking with his tall silk hat on his head, his coal-black eyes glistening in the sun, and his row of black buttons also shining.

All at once, as Russ, who was in the lead of the procession of children, looked at the snow man, he cried:

"Oh!"

"What's the matter?" asked Rose.

"Did you hear some funny noise?" questioned Violet.

"No, but look at Mr. White!" cried Russ. "He took off his hat and made a bow to me!"

"Why, Russ Bunker!" gasped Vi.

"Took off his hat?" cried Laddie.

"Made a bow to you!" exclaimed Rose. "Why, how could he? Mr. White is only a snow man. He isn't alive!"

"Well, he made a bow just the same!" cried Russ. "You just watch, and he'll do it again!"

Eagerly the children watched. Mr. White did not move. He just stared at them with his black eyes, smiled at them with his red cloth lips, and the tall, silk hat upon his snowy head never moved.

"You're fooling us, Russ!" exclaimed Laddie.

"No, I'm not -- really!" Russ declared. "I saw him take off his hat and wave it at me."

For a moment the six little Bunkers stood in a row and looked at Mr. White. Then, just as naturally as if he had been used to doing it all his life, Mr. White's tall, black silk hat came off his head, was lowered before the children and was put back again. This time they all saw it.

"Oh, look! Oh!" exclaimed Rose.

"Why -- why --  -- " and that was all Laddie could say as he stood with his mouth wide open, he was so surprised.

"You made him do it, Russ!" exclaimed Violet.

"I? How could I make him do it?" Russ demanded.

"It's one of your tricks. You pulled a string and made his hat come off. It's a trick!"

"Well, maybe it is a trick, but I didn't do it," declared Russ. "I haven't got any string fast to his hat. And, anyhow, if I did, maybe I could pull his hat off with a string, but I couldn't pull it back on again, could I?"

"Well, maybe not, but you did it!" insisted Vi.

"No, I didn't!" said Russ. "You watch and I won't move my finger even, and maybe Mr. White will take his hat off again."

"Did you know he was going to do it?" asked Rose, as she looked at the snow man carefully.

"No, I didn't know anything about it," said Russ. "I was walking along with you all, just now, and, all of a sudden, I saw the hat come off. First I thought the wind blew it, and then, when I saw it wave at me, and go back on his head, I knew somebody did it -- or -- or maybe he did himself."

"But he couldn't, 'cause he's a snow man," insisted Laddie. "And I helped make him and you didn't put any phonograph or any machinery in him. You didn't, did you, Russ?"

"No, not a thing. He's just a snow man."

"Then he couldn't do it!" declared Rose. "But maybe it was Mr. Ghost! No, it couldn't be that 'cause he only makes a noise, and, anyhow, there isn't any such thing. But what is it?"

"Look! He's doing it again!" cried Vi.

Surely enough, the snow man once more took off his tall silk hat, and waved it toward the children. Then it went back on his head again, but this time it was not quite straight. It was tilted to one side, and gave him a very odd look.

"Ho! Ho! Isn't he funny!" laughed Mun Bun. "I like that snow man. I'm going to see what makes him take off his hat!"

"No, don't!" cried Rose, catching hold of her little brother's arm as he was about to run toward Mr. White.

"Why not?" Mun Bun wanted to know.

"'Cause he might -- something might -- oh, I don't want you to go!" exclaimed Rose. "I guess we'd better go and tell Daddy."

They stood for a moment looking at the snow man who had acted so strangely.

Suddenly the tall silk hat was straightened on Mr. White's head, and then, once more, it was lifted off and bowed to the six little Bunkers.

"Oh!"

"Come on!" cried Russ to Laddie after a moment. "Let's see what does it."

"Maybe it's a riddle," Laddie suggested.

"If it is, it's a funny one," said his brother.

They started for Mr. White, and, all at once, off came the hat again, and then, suddenly, there was a loud a-ker-choo sneeze!

"Oh, he's alive! The snow man has come to life!" cried Rose. "I'm going to the house."

But just then, out from behind the big snow image, with the tall hat in his hand, stepped -- Grandpa Ford. He was laughing.

"I tried to stop that sneeze, but I couldn't," he said. "It came out in spite of me."

"Oh, was that you, Grandpa?" asked Rose.

"Did you hide behind the snow man?" questioned Russ.

"And tip his hat?" Laddie demanded.

"Why didn't we see you?" inquired Violet.

"My! what a lot of questions," laughed Grandpa Ford. "Yes, I played a little joke on you. I hid behind the snow man, which was so large I could keep out of sight. I hid there when I saw you coming toward it, and I thought it would be fun to make you think it was alive. So I made him bow with the tall hat."

"But we didn't see your arm," said Russ. "How did you do it? Did you put your arm up inside the snow arm of Mr. White?"

"No," answered his grandfather. "I wound this white scarf around my arm, and it looked so much like the snow man himself that you couldn't see when I moved. Did I fool you?"

"Yes, you did -- a lot!" admitted Russ.

"It was better than a riddle," said Laddie.

Then Grandpa Ford showed how he had hidden himself behind Mr. White, and, wrapping his arm in a white scarf, which he wore around his neck in cold weather, Mr. Ford had reached up and lifted off the hat and put it back. The white scarf hid his arm, and it looked exactly as if the snow man had made bows.

"We thought maybe he was alive!" laughed Rose.

"Well, I was going to have him throw snowballs at you in another minute," said Grandpa Ford with a smile, "but I had to sneeze and spoil my trick."

"But it was a good one," said Violet.

"Now, we'll make the rest of the snow family of White," said Russ. "And if Dick or anybody comes along we'll play the same trick on them that Grandpa played on us."

"Well, you can finish making Mr. White's family later," said Grandpa Ford. "I came out now to see if you don't all want to come for a ride with me. I have to go to town for some groceries, and also go a little way into the country to see a man. Do you want to come for a ride?"

Well, you can just imagine how gladly the six little Bunkers answered that they did. They forgot all about the snow people, except to tell Daddy and Mother Bunker about Grandpa's funny trick, and, a little later, they were in the big sled filled with straw, riding over the snow.

Merrily jingled the bells as over the drifts the horses pranced. Down the road they went to the store in Tarrington, where Grandpa Ford bought the things Grandma had sent him after.

"Are we going home now?" asked Russ, as the sled turned down a country road.

"No, not right away," answered his grandfather. "I have to go over to Glodgett's Mills to see a man, and after that we'll turn around and be home in time for supper. It looks like more snow, and I want to get you back before, the storm."

Out on the country roads, where the snow was deep, went the horses, jingling their bells and pulling the sled full of children after them.

"Get along, ponies!" cried Grandpa Ford.

And then, all of a sudden, something happened. The sled went into a big drift, which was deeper than Grandpa Ford thought. A moment later there was an upset, and the six little Bunkers were spilled out into the snow.



Chapter XXIII

In The Cabin


"Whoa! Whoa there, ponies!" cried Grandpa Ford, as he jumped off the seat and held tightly to the reins. "Whoa!"

Grandpa's horses were kind and gentle and well-trained. They did not try to run away, but stood still after the sled was upset in the snow bank.

Russ was one of the first to get to his feet. He rolled out of the drift, shook himself as a dog does coming out of the water, and then looked about him.

"See if the others are all right!" called his grandfather to him. "I'll hold the horses. Get out Margy and Mun Bun and the others."

Russ, though not very big, was a sturdy young chap, and, seeing Mun Bun's legs sticking out from under a pile of blankets, he pulled on them. And, as Mun Bun was still fast to his legs, when Russ pulled on them he pulled his little brother out into view.

"Hi! Quit that! What you doin'?" Mun Bun wanted to know.

"I had to get you out," said Russ. "Where's Margy?"

Margy did not answer in words, but she did by crawling out from where she had been sitting next to Mun Bun.

Then out came Laddie, Vi and Rose, and all the six little Bunkers were accounted for.

"That drift was deeper than I thought it was," said Grandpa Ford. "The sled went up one side of it and just toppled over. It spilled you all out nice and easy."

And that is just what had happened. The sled had gone over on one side so slowly and gently that no one was caught under it. The six little Bunkers had been toppled out, still wrapped in the blankets in which they had ridden from Great Hedge.

"What are we going to do?" asked Russ. "How are we going to get home, Grandpa?"

"Well, I'll see about that in just a minute," answered Grandpa Ford. "I don't believe anything is broken. But I'll have to get help to lift the sled right side up again. Whoa, now, ponies!"

The horses, which Grandpa Ford called "ponies," just for fun, were turning to look at the overturned sled. The six little Bunkers stood in a row, also looking at what had happened.

"It wasn't the ponies' fault, was it, Grandpa?" asked Violet.

"No, dear. It was mine. I shouldn't have driven them into the bank of snow. But I thought it was soft so the sled runners would sink down in it. However, it was hard, and upset us. But we'll soon be all right. Whoa, now, ponies!"

The big basket of things Grandpa Ford had bought at the store for his wife had been spilled out of the sled when the upset came. However, nothing was damaged, and the children helped him pick up the scattered things, while Russ held the horses.

The animals had not fallen down when the sled upset, and were not tangled in the harness, so they did not try to run away. The reason for this was that the front runner of the sled, to which was fastened the tongue, or long pole, on either side of which the horses ran -- the front runner, I say, remained straight on the ground. The sled seemed to have broken off from this front part in turning on its side.

"Yes, it's broken," said Grandpa Ford as he looked at the sled. "I shall have to get it mended before I can drive home again. It's too bad, but I'm glad none of you is hurt."

He let Russ hold the horses, which stood very still, and the small boy was very proud of having charge of the animals. Down the road stood a small house, which looked something like a log cabin.

"Could you get the sled fixed there, Grandpa Ford?" asked Russ, pointing to the cabin.

"No, I hardly think so. I need to go to a blacksmith shop for a bolt to use in place of one that is broken. But I know what I can do. I can leave you children in the cabin until I come back."

"Leave us there all alone?" asked Rose.

"Oh, no," replied Grandpa Ford. "Mr. and Mrs. Thompson live there. I'll leave you with Mrs. Thompson. She is very good and kind. She'll look after you. I'll get Mr. Thompson to help me turn the sled right side up, and then I'll go to the blacksmith shop and get a new bolt in place of the broken one."

"Will you have to walk?" asked Russ.

"No, I'll ride one of the horses."

"Oh! Could I ride the other?" begged Laddie eagerly.

"I'm afraid you're too little," said Grandpa Ford. "Besides, I want to ride fast on the back of Major. And if you rode on Prince, which is the other horse, he might jiggle you off into a snow bank.

"I think all you six little Bunkers had better stay at Mr. Thompson's cabin until I come back," went on Grandpa Ford. "I won't be any longer than I can help, and when I get the sled fixed we'll all ride home. I won't make my trip to the country as I was going to, as it will be too late."

"Can we get something to eat at the cabin?" asked Margy. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, I guess Mrs. Thompson has something to eat," laughed Grandpa Ford.

Grandpa unhitched the horses from the overturned sled and then started to drive them toward the cabin, which was the only house for some distance on that road. The six little Bunkers followed, the highway being well-packed with hard snow, so that walking was easy.

As the procession, led by Grandpa Ford driving the horses, approached the cabin, a door opened and a man came out.

"Had an accident, did you, Mr. Ford?" he asked.

"Yes," answered the children's grandfather. "My sled upset in a drift and spilled out my six little Bunkers. I also broke a bolt, and I shall have to ride to the blacksmith shop to get another. I was wondering if the children couldn't wait in your house until I came back."

"Of course they may!" exclaimed a motherly-looking woman, coming to the door behind her husband. "Bring them in, every one, and I'll give them some bread and milk. I have cookies, too, for I just baked to-day."

"I'm glad of that!" exclaimed Laddie, and the grown folks laughed at him because he said it so earnestly.

"Come right in!" went on Mrs. Thompson. "Are you cold?"

"Not very, thank you," answered Rose. "We had lots of blankets in the sled, and we didn't get much snow on us."

"Well, sit up by the fire, and I'll get you something to eat," said Mrs. Thompson.

"I'll put one of your horses in the stable while you ride to the blacksmith shop on the other," said Mr. Thompson, putting on his hat and overcoat, to go out where Grandpa Ford was waiting.

"Now, you'll be all right, little Bunkers!" called their grandfather to them, as he started away on the back of Major, who had been unharnessed. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Mr. Thompson took Prince to his stable. There was a small one back of the cabin. I have called it a "cabin," though it really was a small house. But it was built like a log cabin, and was much smaller than the house at Great Hedge. It was clean and neat, and on a table covered with a bright red cloth, in front of a glowing fire in the stove, Mrs. Thompson set out some cups, some milk, a plate of bread and some cookies.

"Now come and eat," she said to the six little Bunkers.

They were just drawing up their chairs, and Russ was wondering how long his grandfather would be gone, when, all at once, a hollow groan sounded through the cabin.

"Umph! Urr-rumph!"

It was a most sorrowful and sad sound and, hearing it, Rose cried:

"Why, there's the ghost again! Oh, it's come from Great Hedge down to this house! There's the ghost!"

Again the hollow groan sounded.



Chapter XXIV

Christmas Joys


Russ, who was about to take a bite out of a cookie that Mrs. Thompson had given him, stopped with the piece half-way to his mouth. He looked at Rose with wide-open eyes.

The other little Bunkers also looked at their sister, who had left her chair and was standing in the middle of the room.

"What did you say, my dear?" asked Mrs. Thompson.

Before Rose could answer again came a queer, hollow, groaning noise, that sounded, the children said afterward, "as if a sick bear had hidden down the cellar and couldn't get out."

Just what sort of noise a sick bear makes I don't know, for I never heard one. But this noise at any rate, must have been very strange.

"Umph! Umph! Urr-rumph!" it went.

"There it is!" cried Rose. "That's the ghost! It sounds just like the noise at Great Hedge, doesn't it, Russ?"

"It -- it sounds something like it," Russ had to admit. "But there isn't a ghost -- Daddy said so."

"A ghost, child! I should say not!" cried Mrs. Thompson. "Of course there is no such thing."

"But what makes the sound?" asked Russ. "Don't you hear it?"

"I hear it!" exclaimed Laddie.

"So do I," said Violet.

Mun Bun and Margy probably heard it, also, but they were too busy finishing their bread and milk to say anything. Probably they knew that Russ and Rose, who always looked after them, would take care of the strange noise.

"Oh, that noise!" exclaimed Mrs. Thompson, as once more the hollow groan sounded, throughout the house. "You weren't afraid of that, were you?" And her eyes began to twinkle, then she laughed.

"A -- a little," admitted Rose.

"It sounds like the cur'us noise at Great Hedge," added Russ.

"Well, I didn't know you had a curious noise at your grandfather's place," went on Mrs. Thompson. "First I ever heard of it."

"Oh, yes, there's a ghost there, only it isn't a ghost 'cause there's no such thing! Daddy said so!" exclaimed Rose. "But we got --  -- "

"We've got a funny noise there," said Russ, breaking in on what his sister was saying. "It sounds like your noise, too."

"Well, there's nothing so very curious about this noise," laughed Mrs. Thompson. "That's only my husband playing on the big horn he used to blow when he was in the band. He hasn't used it much for years, and can't blow it as well as he used to. But that's what the noise is. Every once in a while he takes a notion and goes up into the attic and blows on the horn. I imagine he did it this time to amuse you children. I'll ask him.

"Jabez!" she called up the stairs that led to the small second story of the house. "Jabez! Is that you blowing the old bass horn?"

"Yes, Sarah, that's me," was the answer.

"Only I can't seem to blow it just right. Something appears to have got stopped up in the horn, or else maybe it's frozen. It doesn't blow like it used to."

"I should think it didn't!" laughed his wife. "Stop your tooting, and bring the horn down where the children can see it. Some of 'em thought it was a ghost, such as they have at Great Hedge. Did you ever hear of a ghost there?"

"Oh, I've heard some talk of it," answered Mr. Thompson, and now the six little Bunkers could hear him coming downstairs. He seemed to be carrying something large and heavy.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" asked his wife. "I like ghost stories."

"Oh, this isn't really a ghost," quickly explained Rose. "It's just a queer, groaning sound, and it comes in the middle of the night sometimes, and my daddy and grandpa can't find out what it is."

"Maybe it was Mr. Thompson blowing his horn," suggested Russ. "It sounded like that."

"Well, I'm sorry my playing sounds as bad as that," laughed Mr. Thompson, and then he came into the room where the children were, carrying a large brass horn, the kind that play the bass, or heavy, notes in a band. Putting his lips to the mouthpiece Mr. Thompson made the same "umph-umph!" sound that had so startled the children at first.

"Does that sound like the ghost?" he asked Russ.

"Just like it, only louder," was the answer.

"I wonder what it can be at Great Hedge," said Mrs. Thompson. "I should think it would scare you dreadfully," she went on.

"Why, no," answered Rose. "But we want to find out what it is. So does my daddy and Grandpa Ford. We're going to help him, Russ and I, only every time we hear a funny noise it turns out to be Mun Bun falling out of bed, or an alarm clock beating a drum or something like that."

"Mercy sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Thompson. "You must have great goings-on at Great Hedge!" She laughed when Russ and Rose told her of the different queer noises, each one turning out to be something that was only funny and easily explainable.

"Well, I'm sorry I startled you," said Mr. Thompson. "I sometimes take a notion to go off by myself and blow the old horn as I used to in the band when I belonged to it years ago. That wasn't here; it was in another village. But I had no idea I sounded like a ghost."

"Oh, it -- it sounded nice after we knew what it was," said Rose, thinking Mr. Thompson's feelings might be hurt if they said they didn't like his horn.

"Well, I'll not blow it again while you're here," he said. "And now, unless I'm mistaken, I think I see your grandfather coming back. He'll soon have the sled fixed."

The six little Bunkers rushed to the window and saw Grandpa Ford riding down the road on the back of Major. Prince had been left in Mr. Thompson's barn. In a little while Russ and Rose were telling their grandfather about the queer noise of the bass horn.

"I never heard you had a ghost at Great Hedge," said Mrs. Thompson to Grandpa Ford.

"Well, I call it a ghost for want of a better name," he replied. "It's just a noise, and I thought we would find out what it was before this, but we haven't. However, we don't worry about it. What do you think of my six little Bunkers?"

"I love them -- each and every one," said Mrs. Thompson. "Let them come over and see me again."

"I will," promised Grandpa Ford.

"And I promise I won't play the horn for you," added Mr. Thompson, laughing.

He helped Mr. Ford fix the big sled, and soon it had been turned right side up, the horses were again hitched to it, and the children, after bidding their new friends good-bye, got in, and away they drove again, the merry bells jingling.

"Well, I wish we could find out what the queer noise is here at Great Hedge as easily as you children found out what the one was at the cabin," said Grandma Ford, when Russ and Rose and Laddie and Vi, by turns, had told her what had happened when Mr. Thompson blew his horn.

"Did the ghost sound while I was away?" asked Grandpa Ford.

"Yes, and louder than ever," said Mother Bunker. "We looked all over, but we couldn't find out what made the sound."

"Maybe it was Santa Claus," said Violet. "He's coming here, and maybe he's trying the chimney to see if it fits him."

"We thought of that before," said Rose. "But the noise sounded long before Santa Claus comes around. I'm sure it couldn't be him."

"But he's coming, anyhow," said Violet. "Grandpa said so, and I hope he brings me a new cradle for my doll."

"I want a new pair of skates," said Russ. "Mine are getting too small."

"I want a ship I can sail in the Summer, and a bigger sled," came from Laddie.

And so the children began to talk about Christmas, and what they wanted Santa Claus to bring them.

The weather was now cold and blowy and blustery, with a snowstorm nearly every day. But the six little Bunkers went out often to play, even if it was cold. They had lots of fun.

Now and again the queer noise would sound, but, though each time the grown folks went to look for it, they could not find it. It seemed to sound all through the house, almost like the blowing of Mr. Thompson's horn, only not so loud.

"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Grandpa Ford after one night's search, when nothing had been found, "this surely is a mystery!"

"I could make a riddle about it, only I'd never know the answer," said Laddie. "And a riddle without an answer is no good."

"That's very true!" said his grandfather, laughing.

The days passed. Christmas came nearer and nearer. There was to be a tree at Great Hedge, and the children were also going to hang up their stockings. Grandpa Ford and Daddy Bunker went out into the woods and cut the tree, which was placed in the parlor, and the doors shut.

"It wouldn't do for any of you to go in there from now on," said Mrs. Bunker. "You might surprise Santa Claus, and he doesn't like to be surprised."

Finally came Christmas Eve. The children listened to the reading of Bible stories as they sat before the fire, and then went early to bed so "morning would come quicker."

But, in spite of the fact that they wanted to go to sleep, it was some time before the older ones dropped off into Slumberland. Then, in the middle of the night, it seemed, there sounded throughout the house the sound of a horn being blown.

"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Rose, suddenly awakening and sitting up in bed. "Is that -- is that the --  -- "

"It's the horn of Santa Claus!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Wake up! It's Christmas morning!"

And so it was.



Chapter XXV

The Ghost At Last


"Merry Christmas!" called the six little Bunkers.

"Merry Christmas!" answered Grandpa and Grandma Ford and Daddy and Mother Bunker. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" called Dick as he tramped in from the barn, all covered with snow.

And such a jolly Christmas as it was! If each of the six little Bunkers did not get exactly what he or she wanted, all got something just as good.

There were toys, dolls, sleds, games and picture books. There was a magic lantern for Russ -- something he had long wanted. There was a toy airship, that could be wound up and would fly, for Laddie. This he had wished for many times.

And the grown folks were not forgotten. There were fur-lined slippers for both Grandpa and Grandma Ford, a gold pin for Mother Bunker, and a new shaving set for Daddy Bunker. Dick had some new neckties, a pipe, and a pair of rubber boots.

"Just what I wanted!" he exclaimed.

And I wish you could have seen the Christmas tree! It was a beautiful one, and covered with colored balls that sparkled red, green, blue, and yellow in the candle light. It was wonderful!

"I wish I could try my new skates," said Russ. But this was a vain wish, as the ice on the pond, as well as the ground, was covered with snow.

"But we can have lots more rides now, 'cause I got my big new sled, and you can all take turns on it," said Laddie. "And, oh, I've thought of a new riddle!" he cried. "Why would your dress be good to go fishing with, Mother?" he asked.

"Why would my dress be good to go fishing with?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "It wouldn't, Laddie. I wouldn't want to soil my nice dress by going fishing in it."

"Anyhow, what's that got to do with your new sled?" asked Russ.

"Nothing," answered Laddie. "Only I just happened to think of this riddle. Why would Mother's dress be good to go fishing with?"

"Well, why would it?" asked Grandma Ford. "I want to hear the answer, because I have to go out into the kitchen and see about getting the dinner. Why would your mother's dress be good for fishing with, Laddie?"

"'Cause it's got hooks on," he answered with a laugh. "I heard her ask you to hook it up this morning. Isn't that a good riddle?"

"Very good," answered Grandma Ford. "Now see if you can think of one about roast chicken, as that's what we're going to have for dinner. Get good and hungry, all of you."

"Better go out into the air and play a while," suggested Daddy Bunker. "That will give you good, healthy appetites."

So the six little Bunkers went out to play. It was not very cold, but Grandpa Ford said it looked as though there would be more snow.

"Then we can make more snow men!" shouted Russ. "And maybe I'll make an ice boat, too, when the snow melts so we can go on the pond."

Out in the snow rushed the six little Bunkers, and they had fun playing near the big hedge which gave Grandpa Ford's place its name.

When the children were romping about, sliding down a little hill they made, and tumbling about in the snow, along came Mr. Thompson.

"Merry Christmas!" he called to Russ, Rose and the others.

"Merry Christmas!" they answered.

Mun Bun and Margy, who had been making a little snow man all by themselves, stopped their play and walked toward the house.

"Where are you going?" asked Russ.

"I'm going to ask Grandma for a cookie," explained Mun Bun. "I'm hungry."

"So'm I," added Margy.

"Don't eat before dinner," advised Rose. "Save your 'hungry' for the roast chicken."

And Grandma Ford told the little ones the same thing, but they insisted that they wanted a cookie each, so she gave them one apiece, but they were rather small.

"Because," said Grandma, "I want you to eat my nice, brown, roast chicken."

And Mun Bun and Margy did. For, when dinner time came, they had as good appetites as any of the others. Every one seemed to be hungry, and, for a while, the sound of the clatter of the knives, forks and plates was louder than the talk.

After dinner they sat about the open fire on the big hearth in the living-room, and cracked nuts. Or, rather, Grandpa Ford cracked them and the children ate them.

"Wouldn't it be funny," began Russ, "if we should --  -- "

And, just then, there suddenly sounded throughout the house that strange, groaning sound.

"O-u-g-h-m!"

It seemed louder than ever, and, for a moment, every one was startled. Mun Bun and Margy ran to their mother.

"Come on!" called Grandpa Ford to Daddy Bunker. "We must find out what that noise is. It has been going on long enough, and now to have it come when we are all so happy at Christmas time is too much! We must find where it is."

"Can't we help hunt?" asked Russ.

"Yes, let us, Mother, won't you?" added Rose.

"But what is it?" asked Laddie. "What makes the funny groaning noise?"

"Maybe Mr. Thompson is blowing his horn," said Vi.

The groaning noise kept up longer this time than ever before. Every few minutes it would echo through the house. Sometimes it sounded as though upstairs, and again down in the cellar.

"We'll try the attic," said Grandpa Ford.

He and Daddy Bunker went up there. Grandma Ford and Mother Bunker stayed in the sitting-room with Mun Bun and Margy.

"Come on!" called Russ to Rose. "Let's go and look."

Rose followed her brother.

"Want to come?" she asked Violet and Laddie.

"Yep," the twins said exactly together, just as twins should, I suppose.

Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi walked slowly through the different downstairs rooms. In each one they listened. In some they could hear the noise more plainly than in others. Finally they came to the kitchen.

"It sounds plainer here," said Russ.

And, just then, the groan sounded so near at hand that Rose jumped and caught Russ by the arm.

"O-u-g-h-m!"

Again the groan sounded.

"It's over in there!" cried Laddie, pointing to a large storeroom opening out of the kitchen. The door of this room was open, and the noise, indeed, did seem to come from there.

"Let's go in!" suggested Russ, and he started toward it.

"Maybe you'd better call Grandpa and Daddy, and let them look," said Vi.

Just then Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford, followed by the two smallest children, came into the kitchen.

"Oh, we've found the ghost!" cried Rose to her mother. "It's in the storeroom! Listen!"

The two women listened. The groan sounded very plainly, and did seem to come from the room off the kitchen.

Grandma Ford walked in. All was quiet for a moment, and then the noise sounded again.

"I've found it!" cried Grandma Ford. "I've found the ghost at last!"

"What is it?" exclaimed Mother Bunker.

"I don't know exactly what makes it," said Grandma Ford; "but the noise comes out of this rain-water pipe under the window of the storeroom. We'll call Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford and have them look. But come in and listen, all of you."

With their mother the six little Bunkers went into the storeroom. Just as they entered the groan sounded loudly, and, as Grandma Ford said, it came from a rain-water pipe that ran slantingly under the window.

"That's the ghost!" cried Mother Bunker. "No wonder we couldn't find it. We never looked here before."

And when Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford came down out of the attic, where they had not been able to find the "ghost," though they heard the sound of it faintly there, they were told what the six little Bunkers had discovered with the help of Grandma Ford.

"Yes, the noise comes from the rain-water pipe," said Grandpa Ford, when he had looked and listened carefully.

"What makes it?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"Well, the pipe is broken, and partly filled with water from the rain or melted snow. There are also some dried leaves in the pipe. One end has sunk down and the wind blows across that and makes a hollow, groaning sound, just as you can make by blowing across the open mouth of a big, empty bottle. That was the ghost -- the wind blowing across the broken water pipe."

"Yes, that is what made it," said Daddy Bunker, when he had taken a look and had listened again. "The sound comes loudest when the wind blows."

"The noise sounded, sometimes, when the wind didn't blow," said Grandpa Ford, as he took the pipe apart, "because of the dried leaves that were in it. The leaves became water-soaked, and were in a lump. Then, when this lump slid down it made a sort of choking sound like a pump that runs out of water. The wind blowing across the pipe, and the wet leaves sinking down, made the queer noises. I'm glad we've found out about them."

"But what made it blow all through the house?" asked Mother Bunker.

"Because there are rain-water pipes, or drain pipes, from the gutters on all sides of the house," explained her husband. "The pipes are connected, and the sound, starting in the broken pipe under the window in the storeroom, vibrated all around the house from the attic to the cellar. That ends the ghost, children."

And so it did, for when that pipe and some others were mended, and fastened together after being cleaned out, no more groans were heard. And so the "ghost" at Great Hedge was found to be nothing more than all ghosts are -- something natural and simple.

"Now I can make a riddle about it," said Laddie. "I can ask why is a ghost like an umbrella?"

"Why is it?" asked Violet.

"'Cause it hid in a rain-water pipe. 'Course that isn't a very good riddle," admitted Laddie. "Maybe I'll think of a better one after a while."

"Well, it's good enough this time," laughed Grandpa Ford. "Now the ghost is 'laid,' as they call it, we'll have lots of fun at Great Hedge."

And so the children did. The Christmas holidays passed and New Year's came. The snow melted, and there was a chance for more skating and for rides in the ice boat. Russ kept his word and made one, but it upset more times than it sailed.

"I wonder what we'll do next Winter," said Rose, as she and Russ were sliding downhill one day.

"Summer comes before next Winter," he said. "Maybe we'll go visiting again."

And where the children went and what they did you may learn by reading the next volume of this series, to be called: "Six Little Bunkers at Uncle Fred's." He had a ranch out West and --  -- 

But there, I'll let you read the book for yourselves.

"Oh, but we're having lots of fun here," said Laddie that night, as he sat trying to think of a new riddle. "Lots of fun."

"And the best fun of all was finding the ghost that wasn't a ghost," said Russ.

And I think so myself. So, having been on many adventures with the six little Bunkers, we will leave them for a while.

<eob>

The Story Of A White Rocking Horse

By

Laura Lee Hope



Chapter I

Ready For A Race


One by one the lights went out. One by one the shoppers left the toy department of the store. One by one the clerks rode down in the elevators. At last all was still and quiet and dark -- that is, all dark except for a small light, so the night-watchman could see his way around.

"Now we can have some fun!" cried a voice, and it seemed to come from a Calico Clown, lying down in a box next to a Bold Tin Soldier. "Now we can really be ourselves, and talk and move about."

"We can, if we are sure there is no one to watch us," bleated a Lamb on Wheels, who stood on the floor near a White Rocking Horse. "You know, as well as I do, Calico Clown, that we cannot do as we please if there are any eyes watching us," said the Lamb.

"No one can see us," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I am glad the clerks and shoppers are gone. It will be some time before the watchman comes up here, and my men and I will be glad to move about. All ready there!" he called to his soldiers, for he was captain over a brave company of tin warriors. "Attention! Stand up straight and get ready to march! You have been in your box all day, and now it is time to come out!"

It was true; the Bold Tin Soldier and his men had been in a box on the toy counter all day. For, as you have been told, the playthings cannot make believe come to life nor move about when any human eyes are watching them. They must wait until they are alone, which is generally after dark. That is why you have never seen your doll or your rocking horse moving about by itself.

But now, in the toy store, from which every one had gone, some strange things happened. The Calico Clown stood up near the Candy Rabbit and looked about. Then the Calico Clown banged together the shiny brass cymbals he held in his hands.

"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals.

"Ha! that sounds like war," cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come, my men! Forward -- march!"

And then and there the tin soldiers, with their captain holding his shiny tin sword in his hand, marched out of their box and around the toy counter of the big department store.

Yes, I wish you could have seen them; but it isn't allowed, you know. Just the very minute the eyes of a boy or a girl, or, for that matter, a father or mother or aunt, uncle or cousin -- just the very moment any one looks, the toys are as still as clothespins.

"Aren't they fine?" cried a Monkey on a Stick, as he scrambled up to the very top of his staff, so he might look over the pile of building blocks that stood near some picture books. "I wish I were a soldier!"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed a Boy Doll.

"You are funnier as a Monkey," remarked the Calico Clown.

"But I am not as funny as you are," laughed the Monkey. "Tell us a joke, that's a good fellow! Tell us something funny, Calico Clown, so we may laugh. We have had no fun all day."

"All right," agreed the Calico Clown, with a smile, as he softly banged his cymbals together. "I'll see if I can think of a joke."

The Bold Tin Soldier and his men stopped marching to listen to what the Calico Clown might say. The Candy Rabbit raised his big ears up straighter, so that he would miss nothing. The Lamb on Wheels gave herself a shake, seemingly so the kinks would come out of her woolly coat, and the Monkey on a Stick swung by his tail.

"Yes, I'll tell you a joke," said the Calico Clown. "It is a sort of riddle. Listen, and see if any of you can answer it."

"The Sawdust Doll was very clever at answering riddles," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I wish she were here now."

"But she isn't," said the Candy Rabbit. "I liked that Sawdust Doll very much, but she has gone away."

"Yes, some lady bought her for a little girl's birthday," came from the Monkey on a Stick. "You are right, Tin Soldier, that doll was very clever at answering the riddles the Clown used to ask."

"Well, if you don't all stop talking now, how am I going to tell this joke?" asked the Calico Clown crossly. "Now, who is a -- "

"I wonder if the Sawdust Doll will come back and see us once again, as she did before?" asked the Lamb on Wheels, not paying much attention to what the Calico Clown said. "Don't you remember, Tin Soldier, how she once came back to us, after she had been sold and taken away?"

"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals of the Calico Clown.

"What's the matter?" asked the Monkey on a Stick.

"Matter? Matter enough, I should say!" replied the Clown. "Here I am asked to tell a funny joke, and none of you will listen. You keep on talking about the Sawdust Doll. I liked her as much as any one. But she is gone -- she was sold away from us. To-morrow some of us may be sold, and never see the others again. Let's be gay and jolly while we can!"

"That's what I say!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "Really, we are not very polite to go on talking when the Calico Clown wants to amuse us with one of his famous jokes. We should listen to him."

"You are right!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come now," he went on, as he waved his sword over his head, "I do not want to be cross with you, my toy friends, but I command silence! Silence while the Calico Clown tells his joke!"

The toys on the counters and shelves settled down and turned their eyes toward the Clown in his funny calico suit of many colors.

"I'm sure you will all laugh at this joke!" cried the Calico Clown. "It is so funny I have to laugh myself whenever I tell it. Thank you for getting them quiet so they can listen to me, Bold Tin Soldier. I am glad you are a friend -- "

"Say, you'd better tell that joke, if you're going to!" broke in the captain. "I don't know how long they'll stay quiet. And I want to march around some more before morning comes and we have to stay in our box all day. You know it is the Christmas season, and any one of us may be bought any day and taken far off. So let us be jolly together while we may. All quiet now, for the Calico Clown's joke!"

"Thank you," returned the funny fellow again. "Now, why is it that when -- "

And just then there was a rumbling, rolling sound on the floor of the toy department.

"Dear me!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit, "can that be the watchman coming so soon?"

They all listened, and heard the noise more plainly. It rumbled and rolled nearer and nearer.

"Dear me!" said the Calico Clown, "I'm never going to get a chance to tell my joke. What is it, Candy Rabbit? Can you see?"

The sweet chap was just going to say he could see nothing, when there came a whinny from a big White Rocking Horse standing on the floor near a lawn swing.

"Oh, you're here at last, are you?" neighed the White Rocking Horse.

"Yes, I'm here," answered a voice, and with it came again the rumbling, rolling sound. "I'm sorry if I am late, but I had to go over in the sporting goods section to get a pair to fit me."

"A pair of what to fit who? Who is it?" asked the Monkey on a Stick, for he had taken a seat behind a pile of building blocks, and could not see very well.

"What's going on here, anyhow?" he asked, as he began to climb up to the top of his stick.

Then all the toys looked at the White Rocking Horse, and they saw, trundling toward him, an Elephant on roller skates.

"Oh, how funny he looks!" laughed the Calico Clown. "Oh, dear me! This is better than any joke I could tell! Oh, how funny!" And the Calico Clown doubled up in such a kink of laughter that his cymbals tinkled again and again.

"What is so funny?" asked the Elephant on roller skates.

"You are," replied the Clown. "Of course we are glad to see you," he added. "And please excuse me for laughing at you. But, really, I cannot help it! You do look so funny! I -- I never saw an elephant on roller skates before."

"And I never before was on roller skates," answered the toy Elephant. "I don't believe I'll ever put them on again, either," he said. "But when the White Rocking Horse asked me to race with him, that was the only way I could think of to make it fair, as he is so much faster than I. He said I might put anything I liked on my feet."

"What's this? What's this?" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Is there to be a race between an Elephant on roller skates and the White Rocking Horse?"

"Yes," answered the Horse himself, "we are going to have a little race, just for fun, you know. I thought it would be amusing."

"Where are you going to run the race?" asked the Candy Rabbit.

"Down to the elevators and back again," answered the White Rocking Horse. "You see, my friends, it came about in this way," he explained. "The Elephant was always telling how fast he could run. He said the real elephants in the jungle, after whom he is patterned, were swifter than horses. I said I did not think so. I told him I could beat him in a race, so we agreed to try it some night. I said he could put on roller skates if he wished, since I had rockers, like those of a chair, fastened on my hoofs."

The White Rocking Horse was a proud fellow, with his long tail and mane of real hair. Proudly he held up his head. Proudly he rocked to and fro. On his back was a red saddle of real leather.

"Get ready for the race!" called the Calico Clown, clanging his cymbals. "This will be real, jolly fun! Ready for the race!"

The Horse and Elephant stood on a line, which was a crack in the floor, and they were just going to rush toward the elevators when, all of a sudden, the Candy Rabbit cried:

"Hush!"




Chapter II

The Rude Boy


Suddenly all the toys, who had been crowding to the edges of the shelves and counters to watch the race between the Horse and the Elephant, became very quiet. The Candy Rabbit seemed to shrink down behind the Monkey on a Stick. The Bold Tin Soldier slipped his sword back into its scabbard, and his men lowered their guns. The Calico Clown, who had been about to bang his cymbals together, dropped them to his sides. The Lamb on Wheels, who had just been going to ask a Rag Doll if she did not want to get up on her back, so she might see better, rolled herself under the counter, and the White Rocking Horse and the Elephant on his roller skates looked around in surprise.

"What's the matter?" neighed the Horse. "Why did you call out for us to hush, Candy Rabbit?"

"I thought I heard a noise," was the answer. "Maybe the night watchman is coming. If he is, he must never see us at our play. Something dreadful would happen, if he did."

"Hush! Not so loud!" whispered the Calico Clown. "What you say is very true, Candy Rabbit. We dare not move about or talk if we are looked at by human eyes. But I do not think the watchman is coming."

"How can we be sure the watchman is not looking at us?" whispered the Monkey on a Stick. "I'd like to see this race."

"So would I," said the Calico Clown. "And there is only one way we can be certain the watchman is not here."

"Tell us how!" suggested the Bold Tin Soldier.

"This is the way," answered the Calico Clown. "I will recite that funny riddle I started to give you earlier in the evening. If the watchman is here he will laugh at it, and then well know he is watching us."

"That will be a fine way!" said the Lamb on Wheels. "Go ahead, Calico Clown. Tell us the riddle, and we must all listen to see if the watchman laughs."

"All right I Here I go!" agreed the Calico Clown. He banged his cymbals together and then, in a loud voice, asked: "Why is a basket of soap bubbles like a piece of chocolate cake?"

They all listened after the Calico Clown had asked this riddle. But there was no laugh. It was as quiet in the toy department as if none of the playthings had made believe come to life.

"I guess the watchman isn't there," said the Calico Clown, "or else he would have laughed at my riddle."

"Maybe he is waiting for the answer," said the White Rocking Horse. "I think that must be it, for I don't see anything very funny in the riddle itself. Maybe the watchman is waiting for you to give the answer, and then he'll laugh."

"Oh, I'm sure that is it," said the Elephant. "Go ahead, Calico Clown! Tell us the answer! Why is a basket of soap bubbles like a piece of chocolate cake? If we hear that, maybe we'll laugh, as well as the watchman. What's the answer?"

"That's the funny part of it!" said the Calico Clown. "There is no answer."

"No answer!" cried the White Rocking Horse. "That's a funny riddle!"

"I knew you'd think it was funny," returned the Calico Clown. "That is why I tried so hard to tell it earlier in the evening, to make you all jolly. No, there really is no answer. I don't believe a basket full of soap bubbles is a bit like a piece of chocolate cake. But I just thought I'd ask to see if any of you knew."

He waited a moment, but none of the toys answered.

"And the watchman doesn't seem to know, either," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I guess he can't be here, or he would have laughed, Mr. Calico Clown."

"I'm sure he would," said the joking chap. "It must be all right. No one is looking at us. On with the race!"

"Yes," rumbled the Elephant, away deep down in his trunk, "if we are going to have this race let's get it over with. I must go back to my place among the camels and lions and tigers before morning."

The Elephant, who had borrowed a pair of roller skates to race with the White Rocking Horse, lived in a large Noah's Ark with the other animals from the jungle and the desert.

"Get ready now!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "On your marks, Horse and Elephant! I will have one of my men fire his gun as a signal to start the race!"

"Good!" neighed the White Rocking Horse.

Slowly he began to sway back and forth, while the Elephant slid along on his roller skates until both animals stood, once more, on the crack in the floor. When the Candy Rabbit had cried "Hush!" they had both slid back toward the toy counter. Later on the make-believe folk found that the noise was caused by a Jack in the Box springing up quickly to watch the race.

"Bang!" went a toy pop gun. And then the race began!

And such a race as it was! Across the floor, toward the elevators, went the Elephant, gliding along on the roller skates. Back and forth swayed the Rocking Horse, and each time he moved he went a little faster. His tail and mane streamed out in the air and his red saddle of real leather glistened in the light of the one dim electric lamp.

"The Elephant is winning! The Elephant is winning!" cried the Monkey on a Stick. He rather favored the Elephant, for, like the big chap, the Monkey also had come from a jungle.

"The Horse is going faster!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "I'm sure the Horse will win the race!" The Tin Captain rather favored the Horse, since all soldiers like horses.

"It is too soon, yet, to tell who will win," remarked the Calico Clown. "They have to go to the elevators and come back to the starting mark -- the crack in the floor -- before the race is finished. Oh, but this is sport!"

The White Rocking Horse and the Elephant, who wore roller skates, were close together, making their way as fast as they could toward the elevators. This was the half-way mark of the race. The two animals must turn around and come back to the toy counter before it would be known which was the faster. Just now they seemed to be even.

On and on they raced, faster and faster. If you had been there you would have enjoyed it, I am sure. But of course that was not allowed. If you had so much as peeped, even with one eye, the toys would instantly have become as motionless as the pictures in your spelling book.

Back and forth rocked the White Horse. Rumble and roll went the Elephant on his skates. They were close to the elevators in about three minutes after they had started from the crack mark.

"Now they are going to turn around," whispered the Celluloid Doll, as she leaned over the edge of the counter.

"Oh, look!" suddenly called the Monkey on a Stick. "Now the White Rocking Horse will win the race!"

As he spoke there came a loud clattering sound down near the elevators -- the halfway mark of the race. All the toys strained their necks to look, and they saw that one of the roller skates had come off the Elephant. He had turned too quickly, and had lost a skate.

"Never mind! Go on! Go on!" cried the Elephant, who was quite a sporting chap in his own way. "Go on with the race! I can beat you on three skates, Mr. Horse!"

"Ho! Ho! We'll see about that!" whinnied the rocking chap, as he made the turn and started back.

The two toys were going along as fast as they could, the rumble of the rockers on the White Horse mingling with the roll of the skates on the Elephant, when, all of a sudden, a brighter light shone in the toy department, the tread of footsteps was heard, and the Calico Clown had just time to shout:

"The watchman! To your places, every one!"

And instantly the toys were as motionless and quiet as mice. The Elephant, even on three skates, had been going so fast that he rolled behind a big pillar all covered with red and green tissue paper, with which the toy section was decorated. And the White Rocking Horse stayed just where he was when the Clown called out. Up among the toy counters and shelves came a big man carrying a lantern. He was the store watchman, and he went about in the different departments each night to see that all was well.

"What's this?" exclaimed the watchman, as he noticed the White Rocking Horse near the elevators. "This toy is out of place! He belongs over near the counter. Some clerk or customer must have left him here when the store closed last night. I'll take him back," and, picking up the White Rocking Horse, the watchman carried the toy back to where it belonged. And the Horse did not dare give even the smallest kick. He dared not show that he had been alive and in a race.

The watchman walked back toward the elevator, and saw the skate that had come off the Elephant's foot. He did not see the Elephant who was hidden behind the pillar.

"Well, I do declare!" exclaimed the watchman. "The clerks here are getting very careless! This roller skate belongs over in the sporting section. I'll take it there."

He picked it up and walked away. When he was gone, and the light of his lantern no longer gleamed, the Calico Clown slowly raised his head.

"Now you can go on with the race," he said.

"No, the race is spoiled for to-night," answered the Horse. "It will soon be daylight, and the clerks and shoppers will be coming in."

"Yes, and I would have to go to the other part of the store to get back my roller skate," said the Elephant. "I find I cannot get along on three. We'll have the race to-morrow night, Mr. Horse."

"That will suit me very well," said the proud, brave steed.

"And now we had all better get quiet," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I can see the sun peeping up in the east. Daylight is coming, and we dare no longer move about and talk. We have had some fun, but now we must get ready to be looked at by the shoppers. Quiet, everybody!"

And, as he spoke, the light suddenly grew stronger in the toy department, the clerks presently began coming in, and soon, when the sun was a little higher in the sky, the shoppers began arriving.

The White Rocking Horse, proud and stiff, stood near the counter. How his red saddle, of real leather, glistened in the light! How fluffy were his mane and tail!

Suddenly there came marching down the aisle of the store a boy whose feet made a great deal of noise, and who had a loud voice.

"Here's the Rocking Horse I want!" he cried. "I'm going to have this one!" And in an instant he had leaped on the back of the White Horse, banging his heels on the painted sides and yanking on the leather reins.

"Gid-dap! Gid-dap!" cried the rude boy, and he began kicking the White Rocking Horse in the ribs.




Chapter III

A Nice Man


"Dear me!" thought the White Rocking Horse to himself, as he felt the boy banging hard, leather heels into his side. "This is quite dreadful! I hope I am not sold to this boy! He would be a very unpleasant master to have, I am sure!"

Just because the White Rocking Horse and the other toys could not talk and move about when human eyes were watching them, did not stop them from thinking things to themselves, or from having feelings. And you may be very sure the White Rocking Horse felt that his feelings were very much hurt when the boy banged his heels so hard into the sides of the steed.

"I certainly hope I am not going to belong to this boy," thought the White Rocking Horse, and he looked toward the toy counter. He saw the Calico Clown glancing sadly at him, and he noticed the Monkey on a Stick making funny faces at the boy.

"I wish I could make that boy come over here and look at me," thought the Monkey. "Then he would let my friend, the White Rocking Horse, alone."

But the rude boy seemed to like being in the red leather saddle on the back of the Rocking Horse.

"Grid-dap! Go 'long there!" cried the boy, and again he clapped his heels against the wooden sides of the Horse, chipping off bits of paint. With his hands the boy yanked on the reins until he nearly pulled them off the head of the White Rocking Horse.

A young lady clerk, who worked In the toy department, came along just then.

"Please do not be so rough on the Horse, little boy," she said in a gentle voice.

"I'm going to have this Horse!" shouted the rude boy, as he rocked to and fro. "I'm going to make my mother buy him for me for Christmas. Go 'long! Gid-dap!"

"Oh, I never could stand belonging to this boy!" thought the poor White Rocking Horse. "I should want to run away!"

While the unpleasant boy was still in the saddle, swaying to and fro and banging his heels, a lady came walking down the aisle of the toy department.

"Here's the Horse I want!" the boy cried to her. "He's a dandy! He has real hair in his tail and mane, and the saddle is real leather! Buy me this Horse!"

"No, Reginald, I cannot buy you this Horse," said the lady. "It costs too much, and you have a rocking horse at home now."

"Yes, but that one has no ears, his leg is broken, and he has no saddle or bridle," cried the boy. "I want this horse!"

"Your horse was as good as this one when it was new," said the boy's mother. "If you had taken care of it, it would be a good horse yet."

"Well, I couldn't help it 'cause his ears pulled off! I wanted him to stop rocking and he wouldn't!" grumbled the rude boy. "I had to pull his ears!"

"Gracious! Think of pulling off the ears of a rocking horse because he wouldn't stay quiet!" said the Bold Tin Soldier to himself. "I hope our White Horse doesn't get this boy for a master."

"I want this Horse! I want this one!" cried the boy, again banging his heels on the side of the toy.

"No, Reginald, you cannot have it," said his mother,

"Then I want this Calico Clown!" the boy exclaimed, jumping off the horse so quickly that the toy animal would have been knocked over, only the young lady clerk caught it and held it upright.

The boy caught the Clown up in his hands, and began punching the toy in the chest to make the cymbals bang together.

"Dear me, what a dreadful chap this boy is!" thought the Calico Clown. "So rough!"

As for the White Rocking Horse, he began to feel better as soon as the boy was out of the saddle. True, his wooden sides were somewhat dented, but the young lady clerk said to her friend at the doll counter:

"I'll get a little oil and rub the spots out. They won't show, and the Horse will be as good as ever. It's a shame such boys are allowed in the toy department."

"Buy me this Calico Clown!" cried the boy, who was punching the gaily dressed toy, and making the cymbals clang. "I want this, if I can't have the Rocking Horse!"

"No, you can't have anything until Christmas," said his mother. "Put it back, Reginald!"

The boy frowned and tossed the Calico Clown back on the counter so hard one of the cymbals struck the Candy Rabbit and chipped a little piece of sugar off one ear.

And all the toys were glad when the boy's mother finally took him away.

"I must get you a pair of shoes, Reginald," she said.

"I hope she gets him a pair that pinches his toes!" thought the Bold Tin Soldier. "Such boys should be taught not to break toys, and they never, never should be allowed to pull the ears off a rocking horse."

And if the White Rocking Horse could have spoken, he would have said the same thing, I am sure.

Other boys came in to try the White Rocking Horse, and they were all good boys. They took their place in the red saddle very quietly, and did not bang with their heels. Nor did they yank and seesaw on the reins that were fastened on the head of the Rocking Horse.

"I would rather belong to two, or even three, of these good, kind boys, than to that one rude chap," said the White Rocking Horse to himself, as he swayed backward and forward on the floor in the toy department. He and the Lamb on Wheels were too large to be set on the counter with the Calico Clown, the Monkey on a Stick, the Candy Rabbit and the Bold Tin Soldier and other smaller toys.

Slowly the day passed, and night was again coming on. Lights began to glow, for the days were short and evening came quickly -- even before the store was closed.

"I wonder if the Rocking Horse and the Elephant will finish their race tonight?" thought the Bold Tin Soldier, as he felt himself being taken out of his box to be looked at by a lady who was doing her Christmas shopping.

It was almost closing time in the store when the White Rocking Horse, who felt much better since his sides had been rubbed with oil, heard a gentleman's voice speaking near him.

"This is about what I want for Dick's Christmas," said the man to the young lady clerk. "Is this a good Rocking Horse?"

"The best in the store; yes, sir," was the answer. "The tail and mane are real hair, and the saddle and bridle are real leather. The rockers, too, are nice and smooth, so the Horse will go fast."

"Well, I don't want it to go too fast," said the man, smiling down at the White Rocking Horse as he patted its neck, "My son Dick is too small to ride even a rocking horse very fast. I think, though, that I will have Santa Claus bring him this one. And, as it is so near Christmas, and as you are so very busy, if you will have this wrapped up for me, I will take it home in my auto. I will help Santa Claus that much."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to have you help him," replied the young lady, with a smile. "And I hope Dick will like this Horse. I am glad our Horse is going to a boy who will be kind to him."

"Oh, Dick takes good care of his toys," said the man.

"Well, thank goodness for that!" thought the White Rocking Horse. "Now like the Sawdust Doll, my adventures are going to start."

And, if you will turn to the next chapter, you may read what happened.




Chapter IV

The Surprise


Through all this talk between the young lady of the store and the father who was buying something for his son's Christmas, to help busy Santa Claus, the White Rocking Horse never said a word. But he was doing as much thinking as a wooden horse ever did; I am sure of that.

"I'll get some big sheets of paper and wrap the horse up for you," said the young lady clerk to the man. "Are you sure you can get him in your auto?"

"Oh, yes," the man answered. "I have plenty of room. There will be no one in the car but the horse and myself. We shall have a nice ride together. It will seem rather funny to be giving a horse a ride in an automobile. I have often seen a horse pull a broken or stalled automobile along the street, but I never saw a horse in an auto before," he said.

"And I never did, either," replied the young lady, with a laugh, as she went to get the wrapping paper. "But then you know," she added, "this is not a regular horse."

"No, he is a rocking chap," said the man. Then he turned to another part of the toy department.

And as the young lady clerk was gone to get the paper and as the man was around the corner, over near the table where the checkers and dominoes were arranged in piles, the toys about which I have been telling you were left to themselves for a moment. And, of course, as there was no one to see them, they could move about and talk, if they wished. And they certainly did.

"Where do you suppose you are going?" asked the Calico Clown of the

White Rocking Horse.

"I haven't the least idea," was the answer. "But I know one thing: I am very sorry to leave you, my friends. We have had some jolly times together. Only think -- last night the Elephant and I were having a friendly race!"

"Yes, and I wish I could have seen the finish of it," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I am sure you would have won. A Rocking Horse is always faster than an Elephant."

"I am not so sure about that," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I believe the Elephant would have beaten."

"Well, we can't have the race now, that's sure," neighed the Horse. "I shall soon be leaving you."

"Maybe I could race with the Elephant," suggested the woolly Lamb. "I have wheels on, and if the Elephant wears his roller skates that will make us both even. We could have the race to-night, perhaps."

"Well, I hope you have jolly times when I am gone," said the White Rocking Horse. "Try to amuse yourselves."

"We will," answered the Calico Clown. "But perhaps you will come back to see us, as the Sawdust Doll once did."

"I'm afraid not," neighed the Horse. "You see, the Sawdust Doll came back because the little girl, whose mother bought the toy, carried the Doll in her arms. But I am too big to be carried in a boy's arms."

"Yes, that is so," agreed the Bold Tin Soldier. "Horses have to travel along by themselves, or else ride in autos. But perhaps, my dear friend, you may get a chance to gallop back here to see us some night."

"I should like to," the White Rocking Horse said; "but I don't see how it can be done. Some one would be sure to be looking."

"Hush! Quiet, everybody!" whispered the Calico Clown. "The man is coming back!"

And back he came, having finished looking at the checkers and dominoes. The young lady clerk also returned, with some large sheets of wrapping paper and a ball of string.

The toys could talk among themselves no longer, but of course they could still think, and each one who was to be left behind thought how lonesome it would be with the White Rocking Horse gone.

As for that wonderful chap, he was soon covered from the sight of his friends in the wrappings of paper. One sheet was put over his head, so he could see nothing more. Then his body and legs were wrapped in other papers, and the red saddle and bridle of real leather were covered up, as were the mane and tail of real hair.

"There, I think he will ride very nicely in my auto now," said the man, as he paid the clerk for the White Rocking Horse. Then the man carried the Horse down in the elevator.

At first it made the White Rocking Horse a little dizzy to be carried down in the elevator. He had not ridden in one for a long time -- not since he was first brought to the big store from the Land of the North Pole, where he had been made in the work-shop of Santa Claus. Then the White Rocking Horse had been carried up to the toy department in a big freight elevator, with many others like himself. But that freight elevator went more slowly than the passenger one in which the man now carried down his boy's Christmas present, thus helping St. Nicholas, who was to be very busy that year.

As the man went outside the store with his bundle the White Rocking Horse felt a cold chill run over him. He was so used to the warm store that he had forgotten the cold weather outside. It was snowing, too, and one or two white flakes sifted in through cracks of the wrapping paper, and fell on the Horse.

"Well, this is certainly a strange adventure," thought the White Horse; "being carried along this way, out into a storm. I wonder what will happen next?"

And the next he knew he was put in the back of an automobile and away he rode, faster than he ever could have traveled by himself -- faster even than he had gone while racing with the Elephant on roller skates.

The ride in the automobile through the snow made the White Rocking Horse rather sleepy, so he really did not know much about what happened on his trip through the storm. All he remembered was that he went quite fast and at last the car stopped.

Then he felt himself being lifted out of the automobile, and he heard voices.

"Is Dick out of the way?" the man asked.

"Yes, he and Dorothy are up in the playroom," was the answer in a lady's voice. "You can carry the Horse right up to the attic. He can stay there until Santa Claus is ready to put him under the Christmas tree."

"All right," said the man. "As long as Dick and Dorothy are out of the way I'll bring the Horse in. I don't want them to see it until Christmas."

"Dorothy! Dorothy!" thought the Horse to himself. "Where have I heard that name before? I guess some little girl who was called that must have come to the toy department at one time or another. Well, now to see what happens next!"

He felt himself being carried along. Dimly he saw lights, and he felt that he was in a warm place -- as warm as the store had been. Then, suddenly, the wrapping papers were taken off him.

"Oh, what a beautiful Rocking Horse!" exclaimed the lady. "I am sure Dick will be pleased. It's the same one I saw in the store. I am glad you got that one!"

Now the White Rocking Horse was still rather dazed and still rather sleepy from his ride in the cold. Or else perhaps he would have been prepared for the surprise in store for him. Dimly he seemed to remember having heard that lady's voice before, and dimly he recalled having seen her before.

Then, when his wrapping papers had been taken off, he was set down on the floor near a warm chimney in rather a bare and cheerless attic, and left to himself in the darkness.

But the White Rocking Horse could see in the dark. And when he knew that no human eyes were watching him he spoke, in the make-believe language of toy land.

"Is any one here -- any toy to whom I can talk, and with whom I can have a little fun?" asked the White Horse out loud.

There was no answer for a moment, and then a voice said:

"You can talk to me, if you like, but it has been many years since I have had any fun. I am old and broken and covered with dust."

"Who are you?" asked the White Horse.

"I am an old Jumping Jack," was the answer. "Here I am, over by the chimney."

"Oh, now I see you!" said the Horse. "But what is the matter? Are you so very old?"

"Oh, yes, I am almost five Christmases old," was the answer. "My two legs are broken, and one of my arms, and the spring by which I used to jump is all worn out. So, as I am no longer of any use in this world, I am in the Attic Home. That is the last resting place of broken toys, you know."

"I have heard of it," said the Rocking Horse rather sadly. "I hope I am not kept here."

"Indeed you will not be," said the old Jumping Jack. "You are new, and are going to enjoy your first Christmas! Ah, how well I remember that! But there is no use worrying. I had some good times, I once made a little boy happy, and now I am content to stay here in the dust and darkness. I shall be glad to know that you are going to have a jolly time."

"Thank you," said the White Rocking Horse.

Then he and the old Jumping Jack talked together for some hours in the attic. All the next day they were together, and the White Rocking Horse told how he had once lived in a big department store, and how he had been given a ride in an automobile. And the Jumping Jack told his story, how he used to leap about and cut funny capers.

The next night, after dark, a light was seen gleaming in the attic. The White Rocking Horse and the Jumping Jack had just begun to talk together, and the Horse was showing his friend how fast he could rock, when they had to stop, because the man came up. The lady was with him.

"Dick and Dorothy are asleep now," said the lady. "We can take the Rocking Horse down, and leave him for Santa Claus to put under the big Christmas tree."

"Yes, we can do that," the man said. "And here is an old Jumping Jack. It is broken, but the paint on it is still gay. I'll dust it off and take it down for the Christmas tree. It will make it look more jolly." And to his own great surprise the Jack was taken down with the White Rocking Horse.

As for the Rocking Horse, so many things happened at once that he hardly knew where one began and the other left off. He saw some gleaming lights and red, blue, green and golden-yellow balls that seemed brighter than the sun. He saw a big, green tree. He saw many toys scattered under it. And one, in particular, made him open his eyes in wonder.

For there, sitting on the carpet near him, was the Sawdust Doll! The very-same Sawdust Doll who had lived in the toy store with him!




Chapter V

A Night Ride


The White Rocking Horse wanted to gallop across the room and back, because he felt so happy at seeing the Sawdust Doll again. As for the Sawdust Doll, she wanted to stand up and clap her hands, as the Calico Clown used to clap his cymbals together. But neither of the toys dared do anything, because, in the same room with them, were the father and mother of Dick and Dorothy. And the toys, as I told you, never moved or spoke when any one was near them.

"The old Jumping Jack looks well on the Christmas tree," said the lady, as she smoothed out the dress of the Sawdust Doll.

"Yes, I'm glad we brought him down out of the attic, poor fellow," replied the man, as he rocked the Horse slowly to and fro, to make sure he was in a good place. "I wonder if these toys ever know or care what joy they give to the children?" he asked.

"Oh, I think they do," said Dorothy's mother. "Do you know," she went on with a little laugh, "sometimes I think the toys are really alive, and can talk among themselves, and do things."

"What nonsense!" laughed the man. "Do you think this Rocking Horse can come to life?" and he patted our toy friend.

"Well, maybe not exactly come to life," answered his wife. "But I am sure they must have good times when we aren't looking. See that Sawdust Doll! Why, I really think she is looking at the Rocking Horse as if she knew him! And you know they did come from the same store."

"Well, I think everything is ready now for Santa Claus," said the man. "We will leave the rest of the tree to him. It will soon be Christmas morning. Let us go out and leave the toys to themselves. Perhaps they will really have a good time, as you think."

"I am sure they will," the lady said, laughing softly.

Then the door was shut and of course you can guess what happened when no human eyes were there to watch the White Rocking Horse and Sawdust Doll.

The Doll was the first to speak.

"Oh, how glad I am to see you!" she said, as she stood up on her sawdust-stuffed legs and looked at the Horse high above her head. "You can't imagine how glad I am!"

"And I am glad to see you," neighed the Horse. "I never dreamed I should be brought to the house where you were. Tell me, are you to be a Christmas present, too?"

"No, I was bought for Dorothy's birthday," was the answer. "Don't you remember? I left the store some weeks ago. But Dorothy wanted me put under the Christmas tree with the other presents Santa Claus is to bring to her and Dick. But you are a Christmas present, I know."

"Yes, I am," said the White Rocking Horse. "Real jolly, I call it! I never saw a Christmas tree before."

"You haven't really seen this one yet," went on the Sawdust Doll. "Has he, Jumping Jack?" she asked.

"Indeed I should say not," was the reply. "It has not been lighted as yet. I well remember the first Christmas tree I was put on. I was a gay, jumping chap then. My spring wasn't broken. But I am not going to talk about that. This is no time for sadness. Only, when the tree is lighted to-morrow night, Rocking Horse, you will see something very pretty. Will he not, Sawdust Doll?"

"He certainly will! And now, please tell me about my friends in the store," she begged. "How are the Bold Tin Soldier and the Calico Clown?"


"Each sent you his love," said the White Horse. "And the Candy Rabbit, the Lamb on Wheels and the Monkey on a Stick -- each and every one wanted to be remembered to you."

"That was very kind of them, I'm sure," said the Sawdust Doll. "But tell me -- have you had any fun since I left?"

"Oh, a little," was the answer. "Only last night the Elephant, who borrowed some roller skates, started to race with me," said the Rocking Horse. "We got as far as the elevators, but one of his skates came off. We started back and then the watchman came in and spoiled the fun."

"What a shame!" cried the Sawdust Doll. "I wish I had been there to see. But I am so glad you have come to live here."

"Is it a nice place?" asked the Horse.

"Oh, the very nicest!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. "Dorothy is such a kind mistress to me. And you will find her brother Dick a kind master, too. I suppose you are going to belong to him."

"Well, I haven't really heard much about it," said the Horse. "A number of boys came into the store and tried to ride me. One gave me some hard kicks in my side -- so hard that I was afraid all my paint would come off. But a girl in the store oiled me, and I am all right again. I think I remember Dick."

"Yes, he was in the store once, when Dorothy's mother brought her little girl in to look at dolls, and I was the one the mother picked out because I had such brown eyes."

"Nice brown eyes, I think she said," cried the Rocking Horse.

"Well, of course it would not do for me to say that," said the Sawdust Doll, smiling. "At any rate, here we two are, together, and in a happy home, and I am glad of it."

"So am I," the Rocking Horse said.

"And I am, too," came from the Jumping Jack. "If it had not been for you, my rocking friend," he went on, "I might be still dust-covered and in the attic." So the toys under the Christmas tree talked among themselves and even moved about a little, but not too much, for they could not tell at what moment some one might come in.

And in the night Christmas came. The toys under the tree knew it just as well as if they had been real persons. They knew Santa Claus a great deal better than most real persons, too, having been made in the North Pole shop of St. Nicholas.

"Well, you will soon have Dick riding on your back," said the Sawdust Doll to the Rocking Horse as, together, they waited beneath the green tree. "I can see the morning light coming over the hills. And I heard Dorothy and Dick saying yesterday that they were going to get up, even before the sun, to see what Santa Claus had brought them."

"He certainly brought them a fine lot of presents," remarked the Jumping Jack, in a sort of rusty, squeaking voice. "I hope -- "

"Hush! Here they come, now!" whispered the Sawdust Doll.

The door opened. In rushed two happy, laughing, shouting children.

"Merry Christmas!" cried Dorothy.

"Merry Christmas!" echoed Dick.

"Oh, here is the set of dishes I wanted!" Dorothy exclaimed.

"And here is my White Rocking Horse!" shouted Dick. "Oh, it's just the very one I hoped I'd get! Oh, what a dandy!"

With a leap he was up on the red saddle and grasping the red reins in his hands.

"Gid-dap!" cried the boy, and he beat a tattoo on the sides of the horse with his feet. But as Dick had on soft slippers, he did not hurt the White Rocking Horse in the least, nor did he chip off any paint. "Here I go! Here I go!" shouted Dick. "Oh, what a fine horse!"

"He's lovely, Dick," said his sister.

"Merry Christmas, children!" said Mother, as she came in to see the Christmas tree.

"Merry Christmas!" they answered. "See what you have, Mother!"

And there were presents for her and for Daddy also, under the tree. And Daddy came downstairs, rubbing his eyes and saying:

"Merry Christmas!"

The White Rocking Horse felt very happy and so did the Sawdust Doll, and even the Jumping Jack was as jolly as the rest.

"You may have a ride on my horse if you want to, Dorothy," said Dick, as he slowly brought his steed to a stop.

"Thank you," answered his sister. "And when I have a play party with my new Christmas dishes you may come and have some cake."

And so Christmas came and brought happiness with it to Dick and Dorothy and also to the White Rocking Horse and the Sawdust Doll. For the toys were in a fine house and had a kind master and mistress. And that means more than you think to toys.

I cannot begin to tell you all that happened this Christmas Day. Boy and girl playmates of Dorothy and Dick came over to see what Santa Claus had brought their friends, and the visitors showed their own presents. Among the callers were Mirabell and Arnold, the boy and girl who lived next door.

"Oh, what nice things you have!" said Mirabell. "I got nice presents, too. I wanted a Lamb on Wheels, such as I once saw in the store, but I have so many things I don't exactly need that now. Maybe I'll get one later on."

"And I wanted a Bold Tin Soldier," said Arnold, her brother. "But I have a pop gun and a drum, and I'll wait until my birthday for the soldier."

The children had jolly Christmas fun, and at night the tree was lighted.

"Oh, what a beautiful sight!" said the White Rocking Horse to the Sawdust Doll, when they were alone in the room for a moment and could talk without being overheard.

"I told you that you'd see something wonderful," said the old Jumping Jack.

"You were right," said the Rocking Horse. "It is beautiful!"

The fun of Christmas night was as jolly as that during the day, but at last Mother said:

"Come now, children, it is time to go to sleep. You may play with your White Rocking Horse to-morrow, Dick. And you may have a play party for your Sawdust Doll, Dorothy."

And, very happy indeed, brother and sister went to bed.

It became very still and quiet and dark in the house. It was like the hour in the department store when there is no one to see the toys.

"Now I can move about," said the White Rocking Horse, who had been taken up to Dick's room. "I wish I could see the Sawdust Doll and have a talk with her."

"She is in Dorothy's room," said an old Driver, who had once sat on a tin express wagon. "Dorothy always takes her doll to bed with her."

"Then I think I'll go in and see my friend," said the Horse. "I can gallop softly down the hall and into Dorothy's room. As long as no one sees me I am allowed to move about."

"Yes, go ahead," said the Driver. "I'd go with you if I still had my wagon. Go and see the Sawdust Doll."

So rocking softly over the thick carpet, and making no noise, the White Horse made his way out of Dick's room, down the hall, and straight to where Dorothy was sleeping with the Sawdust Doll on the pillow beside her.




Chapter VI

The Broken Leg


The White Rocking Horse stopped in the hall outside of Dorothy's room. The door was open, and in the dim glow of a night-light the Horse could see the Sawdust Doll on the bed.

"Hi there! Hist! Come on out here and have a talk!" called the Rocking Horse.

"What's that? Who is calling me?" asked the Sawdust Doll, for she had fallen asleep, being rather tired from having had so much Christmas fun that day.

"I am calling you," answered the White Rocking Horse. "Come on out into the hall. I don't want to come in, for fear some one might come along. And it would never do to let it be known that we toys can move and talk when no one sees us."

"Indeed, no; never!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. "Wait a minute and I'll come out to you. As you say, it would not do to be caught. I'll slip down and come out."

The White Rocking Horse waited in the hall. Soon he heard a little thud on the carpet. That was the Sawdust Doll sliding down out of Dorothy's bed to the floor. A moment later she stood beside the Rocking Horse in the hall.

"I hope you won't take cold," said the Horse softly. "It is breezy in this hall."

"Oh, no, I have a nice little warm shawl Dorothy made for me," answered the Sawdust Doll. "Thank you for thinking of me, though."

"Well, you see I want to be able to take a good report of you back to your friends in the toy store," neighed the Horse.

"Do you think you will ever get back there again?" the Doll asked, as she snuggled up in a corner, wrapping the shawl around her.

"I don't know," the Horse replied. "Of course I could rock back to the store if no one saw me, but it is a long way, and if I went through the streets I'd almost certainly be seen."

"I think so, too," said the Doll. "I'm afraid we shall just have to stay here together the rest of our lives."

"Well, I like it in this house since you are here," said the Horse. "And who knows, perhaps some of the other toys may join us here on some future Christmas or birthday."

"Wouldn't that be fine!" exclaimed the Doll, clapping her hands. "I'd dearly love to see the Bold Tin Soldier again, and the Calico Clown, the Lamb on Wheels, the Candy Rabbit and the Monkey on a Stick."

"I'd like to finish the race with the Elephant on his roller skates," said the Horse, laughing softly. "But I don't suppose I ever shall. He did look so funny when one skate came off!"

"I wish I had been there to see," said the Sawdust Doll. "Now tell me all that happened in the store after I left."

So the Horse told of the different happenings, how sometimes rough boys ran in and jumped on his back, and how one unpleasant chap punched the Calico Clown so hard that the cymbals were nearly broken, and how the Candy Rabbit had a bit of sugar chipped from one ear.

"Dear me! How exciting!" cried the Sawdust Doll.

"And now tell me about yourself," urged the White Rocking Horse. "Have you had any adventures??"

"Oh, I should say I had! Yes, indeed!" was the answer. "Did I tell you about the time Dick ran over me with the rocking chair, pretending it was a Horse like you? My sawdust ran out of a hole in my side, and I fainted!"

"No! Really? Did you?"

"Indeed I did. It was the strangest feeling!"

"But I should think, if all your sawdust ran out -- and, really, how terrible that must have been -- you wouldn't be here any more," said the Horse.

"Oh, it didn't all run out!" the Doll answered. "Dorothy's father hurried to the carpenter shop and got more sawdust, and Dorothy's mother sewed it, up in me so I was all right again."

"I'm glad of that," remarked the White Rocking Horse.

"So am I," said the Doll. "But do you know, since then, I have not been quite the same."

"In what way?" asked the White Rocking Horse.

"Well, I seem to have a little indigestion," went on the Sawdust Doll. "I think the carpenter shop sawdust they stuffed into me was not the same kind that was put in me when I was made in the North Pole shop of Santa Claus."

"Very likely not," agreed the Horse. "All sawdust is not alike. But still you are looking rather well."

"I am glad you think so," remarked the Doll. "But now let us talk of something pleasant. Tell me, again, about the race you had with the Elephant on his roller skates."

So the White Horse did, but as you know as much of that funny race as I do, there is no need of putting it in here again.

So the two friends talked together in the hall until, all of a sudden, the Doll exclaimed:

"Oh, it is getting daylight! We must go back to our places -- you to Dick's room and I to Dorothy's. Quick!"

The White Rocking Horse galloped back down the hall, and the Doll made her way into the room of the little girl whose birthday present she was.

Now whether the carpenter shop sawdust was not the right kind to enable the Doll to move quickly enough, and whether the oil the clerk had rubbed on the side of the Horse made him a bit slow and slippery, I cannot say. Anyhow, daylight suddenly broke just as the Doll reached the side of Dorothy's bed, and before she had time to climb up into it by taking hold of the blankets.

As for the Horse, he was only half way inside Dick's room when the sun came up and awakened both children. And of course, their eyes being open, Dorothy looking at her Doll and Dick at his Horse, neither toy dared move.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Dick, when he saw that his White Rocking Horse was on the other side of the room from where he had left it when he went to sleep the night before. "Oh! Oh! Some one had my Horse!"

"What makes you think so?" asked his father, coming in to see what Dick was shouting about.

"Because he's moved," the little boy answered. "My Rocking Horse has moved!"

"I guess the wind blew him," said Daddy. "The wind from your open window blew on the horse, made him rock to and fro, and he moved in that way."

But Dick shook his head.

"Either my Horse moved by himself in the night when I was asleep," he said, "or else somebody was riding him."

And when Dorothy awakened and saw her Doll lying on the carpet just under the edge of the bed, the little girl cried out, as Dick had done:

"Oh! Oh! Oh!"

"What's the matter?" asked Mother, hurrying in.

"Somebody took my Doll out of bed, or else she got out herself in the night!" said Dorothy.

"She probably fell out," said Mother, with a laugh. "The Doll couldn't get out herself, and no one has been in your room."

But we know what happened, don't we?

One day, about a week after Christmas, there came a warm, sunny day.

"May I take my Rocking Horse out on the porch and ride him?" asked Dick of his mother.

"Yes," she answered.

"And I'll take my Sawdust Doll out there, and maybe Mirabell and Arnold will come over and we can have a play party," said Dorothy.

The children went out on the porch, and they could look over next door and see their two little friends.

"See how fast I can ride my horse!" called Dick to Arnold.

The boy got up on the back of the White Horse and rocked to and fro. And the Horse traveled across the porch, as a rocking chair sometimes travels across the room.

"Oh, he's a fine Horse!" cried Arnold, as he came over to play, bringing his toy train of cars with him. And Mirabell brought her wax doll. "Let me ride him, Dick, will you?"

After Dick and Arnold had taken turns riding on the White Horse, they left him on the edge of the porch to play with the toy train. Suddenly Carlo, the fuzzy dog that had once carried the Sawdust Doll out to his kennel, hiding her in the straw, ran around the corner of the house, barking loudly.

"Bow-wow! Bow-wow!" barked Carlo, and he ran straight for the White Rocking Horse.

How it happened no one seemed to know, but Carlo upset the Horse, which tumbled down the porch steps with many a bang and bump.

"Dear me!" thought the Horse, "This is not a pleasant adventure at all! What is going to happen?"

"Bang! Bump! Crack!" sounded he rolled over and over down the steps.

"Oh, what a pain in my leg!" said White Rocking Horse to himself.

Dick ran over to his toy, and when he saw his White Horse lying on the sidewalk at the foot of the steps, the little boy cried:

"Oh, his leg is broken! Oh, the leg of my White Rocking Horse is broken! I can never ride him again!"




Chapter VII

In The Toy Hospital


Dick made such a fuss out on the porch, crying, when he saw his toy lying at the foot of the steps, that the boy's mother hurried out to see what the trouble was.

"Dear me! Did you fall off?" asked Mother, as she saw the Horse lying on its side and Dick standing at the bottom of the porch steps near his toy. "Are you hurt, Sonny?"

"Oh, no, Mother. But my Horse is! My Christmas Horse is hurt."

"You can't hurt a wooden rocking horse," said Mother, as she went over to see what had happened.

"Oh, yes you can!" sobbed Dick, for he was so little a boy that he was not ashamed to cry. "My Horse's leg is broken! I can never ride him again! Oh, dear!"

Mother looked at the Horse lying on its side at the foot of the steps. If there had been no one there to look on, the Horse might have tried to get up, even with all his pain. But, as it was against the rules to move or say anything as long as human eyes were watching, the poor White Rocking Horse just had to lie there.

"Dear me, one of the legs really is broken," said Mother, as she set the Horse upright. And, being a wooden horse with rockers under him, such as some chairs have, the Horse could stand upright, even though one of his legs was cracked clear through.

"Yes, his leg is broken, and now I can never have a ride on him any more!" sobbed Dick. "Oh, dear!"

"Oh, it isn't as bad as all that," said Mother, with a kind smile as she patted her little boy's head. "I think we can have the broken leg mended. But how did it happen? Did you ride your Horse off the porch, Dick?"

"No, Mother," he answered. "I was playing with Arnold's train, and Carlo ran around the corner, barking, and he ran between my Horse's legs, I guess, and upset him. Oh, isn't it too bad?"

"Yes; but it might be worse," replied Mother. "If your leg had been broken, or Dorothy's or Mirabell's or Arnold's, it could not so easily be mended."

"Can you mend the broken leg of my White Rocking Horse?" asked Dick eagerly.

"I cannot mend it, myself," Mother answered. "But I will have Daddy take your Horse to the hospital."

"I was in the hospital once," put in Arnold, "and I had some bread and jelly."

"Will they give my Horse bread and jelly in the hospital?" asked Dick of Mother.

"Hardly that," she replied with a smile. "It is not the same kind of hospital. The one where I will have Daddy take your White Rocking Horse is a toy hospital, where all sorts of broken playthings are mended. There your Horse will be made as good as new."

"Oh, I shall be so glad if he is," said Dick.

And the White Horse himself, though he dared say nothing just then, thought how glad he would be to have his broken leg mended. Some of the splinters were sticking him, and though of course I do not mean to say that a wooden horse has the same pain with a broken leg as a boy or girl or a chicken or a rooster would have, still it is no fun.

Patrick, the gardener, came out and carried the broken-legged Rocking Horse into the front hall.

"We'll let him stand there until Daddy comes home with the auto and can take him to the hospital," said Mother.

And then it was that the White Rocking Horse had a chance to speak to the Sawdust Doll. Dorothy laid her Doll on a chair in the hall to help Dick, Mirabell and Arnold bring the toy train inside, as it was getting too cold to play out on the porch.

"I'm sorry," murmured the Doll.

"Oh, ho!" exclaimed Dick's Daddy, when he came home and heard the story. "A Rocking Horse with a broken leg! Of course I'll take him to the toy hospital."

And, not waiting for his supper, lest the hospital be closed, Daddy wrapped the White Rocking Horse in a sheet, put him once more in the back of the automobile and started off.

A little later the White Rocking Horse found himself in the toy hospital. It was not such a place as you have seen if you have ever been in the buildings where sick people are made well. There were no beds and no doctors and no queer smells. Yes, wait a minute, there were queer smells of glue and paste, but the White Rocking Horse rather liked them.

Instead of a doctor there was a jolly-looking man, with a long apron, and a square, paper cap.

"Can you mend the broken leg of this Rocking Horse?" asked Dick's father. The hospital toy doctor looked at the White Rocking Horse.

"I shall have to put a new piece in his leg," he said. "It is badly splintered half way down."

"Will it be as strong as before, so my little boy can ride?" asked Daddy.

"It will be even stronger," answered the hospital toy doctor. "I will have him ready for you in a few days; perhaps tomorrow."

"And will the broken leg show?" asked Daddy.

"Hardly any," was the reply. "I will paint it over so you will never know it."

"Then the Horse will be almost as good as ever," said Daddy.

"Just as good," said the toy doctor, and the Horse felt much better when he heard this. His leg did not pain him so much.

The hospital toy doctor set the White Rocking Horse over in one corner near a work bench. Dick's Daddy, after a look around the hospital started back home in his automobile.

"We'll soon have you fixed, my fine fellow!" said the toy doctor, as he again took up his work of putting a new pair of eyes in a wax doll. "We'll make as good a Horse of you as before."

"I certainly am glad of that," thought the Horse to himself.

It soon became too dark for the toy doctor to see to work any longer, even though he lighted the gas. So he took off his long apron, laid aside his square, paper cap, locked up the place and went home.

And then the White Rocking Horse took a long breath.

"Now that I am alone I'll move about, as well as I can on three legs, and talk to some of the broken toys here," said the White Rocking Horse aloud. "Are you badly hurt?" he asked a Jack in the Box, who was on the work-bench near by.

"My spring is gone," was the answer. "I was brought here to have a new one put in."

"Well, I hope you will soon be mended," said the White Horse. "I wonder if any of my friends are here in this hospital? I say, toys!" he cried, "let's all talk together and -- "

All at once a big white paper spread out on the bench began to move, and out from under it came a toy, at the sight of which the Horse exclaimed:

"Well, I do declare! Who would have thought to find you here? What happened to you? Dear me, what a surprise!"




Chapter VIII

Home Again


Many of the toys, which had been mended since having been brought to the hospital, stood up and looked at the White Rocking Horse as he called to them, and they wondered what had surprised him so.

"My goodness, that Horse is making a great deal of noise," said a large Wooden Soldier, one of whose legs was in splints. It had been broken in three places when the little boy, who owned the Soldier, had struck him with a drumstick.

"I should say that Horse was making a great deal of noise," agreed a Tin Poodle Dog, whose tail needed straightening. "What's it all about, Mr. Horse?" he barked.

"Excuse me, my toy friends, I did not mean to disturb you," said the White Rocking Horse kindly. "But I was so surprised to see an old friend of mine here that I just couldn't help calling out."

"Who is your friend?" asked a Double Humped Camel from a Noah's Ark.

"There he is," said the Horse, and he waved his tail toward the animal which had come out from under the big piece of white paper on the work bench of the toy hospital doctor.

All the other toys looked, and saw an Elephant. But the White Rocking Horse did more than look. He cried out:

"To think of seeing you here, my Elephant friend! Why, the last time we were together was in the toy store!"

"Yes, and I was trying to race with you on roller skates," said the Elephant, with a laugh. "Wasn't it funny when my skate came off?"

The other toys stared in interest.

"Very funny," agreed the Horse. "We must tell our friends here about it. But I am sorry to see what has happened to you, Mr. Elephant!" went on the Horse. "Did you get broken this way when you fell off the roller skates, or anything like that? You certainly do look queer -- not at all like yourself!"

"And I don't feel like myself," said the Elephant.

Well might he say that, for his trunk was broken off short, and you know, as well as I do, that an elephant without a trunk doesn't look at all like himself. He might just as well, or even better, have no tail, as far as looks go.

"What happened to you?" asked the Horse.

"Oh, I have had many adventures," replied the Elephant. "After you were taken away by the man in the automobile, I was sold to a lady and a little boy and taken to their home."

"Was it a nice place?" the Horse wanted to know.

"The place was all right," the Elephant answered. "But that little boy! Dear me! I don't just know what to say about him, he certainly did not treat me very nicely. Why, do you know," he went on, speaking in rather a funny voice on account of his trunk being broken off, "he never gave me a single peanut all the while I was with him!"

"No! Really? Was he as unkind as that?" asked the broken Jack in the Box.

"But that wasn't the worst," continued the Elephant. "After the boy had dropped some bread and jam on me, he thought he'd wash me off in the bath room. He took me up to carry me there, but he dropped me on the hard, tile floor and -- well, you see what happened to me. My trunk was broken off -- broken off short!"

"What a sad accident!" exclaimed the Horse.

"You may well say so," returned the Elephant. "The little boy was sorry for me, I'll say that of him. He called his mother and she tried to fix me. She glued my trunk on, but she got it crooked and when I saw myself in the glass I was ashamed! I was glad none of the other toy animals could see me."

"What happened next?" asked the Horse, as the Elephant stopped to catch his breath. It rather made him out of breath to talk without his trunk.

"Well, after the boy's mother glued my trunk on he played with me for a while, but he dropped me again, and my trunk broke off again in the same place. After that the boy's father said I had better come to the hospital. So here I am."

"But where is your trunk?" asked the Horse.

"Back under that piece of paper where I was sleeping," the big animal answered. "It is to be fastened on me properly tomorrow. The toy hospital doctor first washed the jam off me. I was made clean again, and I was glad of that. Then, to keep the dust off me, he put me under that paper. But when I heard you speaking, White Rocking Horse, I just had to come out, trunk or no trunk."

"I'm glad you did," said the White Rocking Horse. "Really, when I look at you again, I get rather used to seeing you without your trunk, though at first I hardly knew you. Do you suffer much now?"

"Not as much as I did," was the answer. "But I shall be all right after to-morrow, when my trunk is to be put back on. Then I suppose I'll go back to that boy's house."

"I hope he treats you better," said the White Horse.

"I think he will," replied the Elephant. "When his father took me away he said the boy could not have me back after I was mended until he knew how to handle his toys. So I have hopes of being better off with my mended trunk than before."

"Let us all hope so," sighed the Tin Poodle Dog. "It's queer how cruel some children are to us. They think, because we are toys, we have no feelings."

"Yes, that is so," said the White Horse. "But Dick, the boy who owns me, is very kind. It was an accident that my leg was broken. Carlo, a poodle dog something like you, my tin friend, only real, ran too close to me and knocked me down the steps," said the Horse to the Tin Poodle Dog.

"Oh, so you are injured, too, are you?" asked the Elephant. "I have been talking so much about myself, Mr. Horse, that I never thought to ask what your trouble was. Will you kindly pardon me?"

"Certainly," neighed the Horse, politely. "And now, as we are here by ourselves, and no one can see us, suppose we have a little fun-that is, as much fun as we can, broken and twisted as we are."

"Hurray! That's it! Let's have some fun!" cried the Tin Poodle Dog, with a funny little bark.

So the Elephant with the broken trunk told about his queer race on roller skates, the Horse spoke of the Christmas tree, and the other animals related their adventures. They had a good time together until morning came. Then, when it was time for the toy hospital doctor to come to his shop, the Elephant got back under the paper that was to keep him clean until he was mended, the Horse slowly hobbled back to his place, the Tin Poodle Dog leaned up against the broken Jack in the Box, and all the toys became as quiet as though they had never spoken or moved about.

"Hum, lots of work for me to-day!" said the toy hospital doctor, as he put on his apron and his square, paper cap. "I must mend the broken leg of that Rocking Horse as soon as I fix the Elephant's trunk."

Then the toy doctor took the Elephant from under the paper and, after blowing off a little dust, began work. He made a new piece of trunk out of wood and cloth, and painted it until it looked just like part of the Elephant. Then the two pieces were fastened together with wooden pins, and also some glue.

"There! Now you are stronger than you were before," said the toy hospital doctor, putting the Elephant on a shelf. "And now for the broken leg of the Rocking Horse. Dear me, that is quite a bad break," said the toy doctor. "I think I shall have to make him a whole new wooden leg."

The White Rocking Horse felt glad when he heard this. For he was rather a proud chap, and when he had seen part of the Elephant's old trunk put back on that animal, the Horse thought of how he would look with part of his old broken leg glued fast.

"I had much rather have a whole new leg," he said to himself.

And that is exactly what he had. Out of a piece of wood the toy doctor made a new leg for the Rocking Horse. He took off the old, splintered one, that had been broken in the fall off the porch. Then the new leg was put in place.

"There! When it's painted no one will ever know one of his legs was broken," said the toy doctor.

The new leg was smoothed with sandpaper, and then painted just the color of the other legs.

"I'm glad he painted my new leg," thought the Horse. "I would look very funny with three white legs and one brown or red one. Yes, this toy doctor is a very smart man. I feel quite myself now."

The toy hospital doctor was busy in his shop all day, mending things that children break in their play, and toward evening Dick's father came in.

"Is my boy's White Rocking Horse mended?" the man asked.

"Yes, all ready for you," answered the toy doctor. "I finished him sooner than I expected to. The paint is hardly dry, but it will be by morning. I made him a new leg."

"That's good!" exclaimed the man. "My little boy wants to ride his Rocking Horse. He misses him very much."

Back home went the White Rocking Horse. And when Dick saw him he clapped his hands and cried:

"Oh, how glad I am! May I take a ride?"

"If you are careful of the newly-painted leg," his father answered. "I'll lift you up into the saddle."

And when Dick sat in the red leather seat and pulled on the red reins and shouted to his Horse he was a very happy boy, and the White Rocking Horse felt glad also.

"Gid-dap!" called Dick. "Gid-dap, my Rocking Horse!" And the Horse galloped across the room.

All of a sudden Dorothy came running into the playroom where Dick sat on his Horse.

"Oh, Dick! Dick!" cried the little girl. "Come on down to the kitchen, quick! Carlo has something under a chair! Maybe it's a big mouse! Come and see!"




Chapter IX

Two Bad Men


Dick jumped off his Rocking Horse.

"What did you say Carlo had?" he asked his sister.

"I don't know," Dorothy answered. "But I was down in the kitchen, and Mary had just given me some bread and sugar, and I saw Carlo under a chair. He had something in his mouth and he was shaking it. And it was brown and fuzzy and maybe it's a mouse. You'd better come, 'cause Mary's standin' up on a chair and hollerin' awful loud. It's fun."

"Oh, I'll come!" cried Dick. "But where's Mother?"

"Oh, she's in the parlor with some ladies," answered the little girl. "I didn't tell her."

"That's right," said Dick, hurrying over to a closet in the playroom.

"What are you going to do?" asked Dorothy. "You'd better hurry if you want to help Carlo catch that mouse."

"I am hurrying," Dick said. "But I want to get my soldier cap and my pop gun."

"What for?" the little girl wanted to know.

"'Cause I'm going to make believe I'm a captain, and the mouse is an enemy, and I'm going to capture the enemy. Like in war."

Down to the kitchen the children hurried. They could hear their dog Carlo barking and growling, and they could hear Mary, the cook, laughing.

"She isn't very scared, I guess," said Dick.

"Well, she was, and she was up on a chair," declared Dorothy. "Come on, Dick!"

Together they hurried into the kitchen. Mary was no longer standing on a chair. Instead she was sitting down in one, laughing as hard as she could laugh.

Carlo was out in the middle of the floor, tossing up into the air something brown and fuzzy.

"Where's the mouse?" cried Dick. "I want to see if I can shoot it with my pop gun."

"Mouse? There isn't any mouse, Dick!" laughed Mary.

"Dorothy said there was," he declared.

"Yes, and I thought there was, too," went on the cook. "But it was only a piece of fur that Carlo had. It's one of the tails off Martha's fur neck-piece. She dropped it, and Carlo found it. I guess he thought it was a mouse, and I did, too, at first."

"Bow wow! Gurr-r-r-r-r!" growled the poodle dog, as he shook and tossed the fuzzy thing. And as it fell near Dick the boy looked and saw that, indeed, it was only a piece of fur, as Mary had said.

"I thought it was a mouse," said Dorothy. "And I guess Carlo did, too."

"If it had been I could have made it run back to its hole when I banged my pop gun at it!" declared Dick. "Now I guess I'll play I'm a soldier captain on a horse. I'm going to ride my Rocking Horse," he went on, as he hurried back to the playroom.

"I'll take my Sawdust Doll," said Dorothy, "and we'll have some fun."

All day long the children played, and after supper, when it was time for them to go to bed, Dick pulled his Rocking Horse out into the hall.

"Are you going to leave him there all night?" asked his mother.

"Yes," he answered. "I want to put my railroad track down in the playroom in the morning, and there isn't room if I have the Rocking Horse in there too. I'll make believe the hall is his stable."

"Then I'll not leave my Sawdust Doll out there, for she cannot sleep in a stable," said Dorothy.

Dick's mother intended to move the White Rocking Horse out of the way, for it took up too much room in the hall, but she forgot about it when callers came that evening, and, when the family went to bed, the Horse was still out near the head of the stairs that led down to the first floor.

The house became quiet, only a dim light gleaming in the upper hall, and the White Rocking Horse drew a long breath.

"Now I can be myself," he thought. "I can come to life. I wish I could see the Sawdust Doll and talk to her," he said half aloud.

"Well, here I am," and the Sawdust Doll came out of Dorothy's room. "The little girl is asleep," went on the Sawdust Doll, "so I came out to talk to you. I want to hear all that happened in the toy hospital. I haven't had a chance to ask you since you got back."

"And I haven't had a chance to talk to you," went on the White Rocking Horse. "It is nice and quiet, now, and we can talk as long as we like; or at least until morning comes."

"It must be a funny place -- that hospital," said the Sawdust Doll.

"It is," answered the Rocking Horse. "But I would much rather be here with you."

"Thank you," replied the Sawdust Doll.

Now, while the toys were thus talking together in the middle of the night, two bad men were prowling around the house where Dick and Dorothy and their father and mother lived. The two bad men were called burglars, and they wanted to get in, and take the silver knives, forks, and other things that were in the dining room, and perhaps some rings from the dresser in the room of Dorothy's mother.

And as the White Rocking Horse and the Sawdust Doll were talking together at the head of the stairs the two bad men made their way into the house by unlocking the front door with a false key one of them carried.

"Hush! Don't make a noise!" said the big burglar.

"No, we must be very quiet," said the little burglar.

But, quiet as they were, and whisper as softly as they did, the White Rocking Horse heard them.

"Some one is coming," said the Horse to the Sawdust Doll. "We must stop talking now. We dare not talk or move if human eyes look at us, and some one is coming."

"Then I had better hurry back to Dorothy's room," said the Doll.

"Too late! They are coming up the stairs," whispered the Horse. "Stay where you are and I'll stay here too!"

So the Sawdust Doll flopped down on the carpet and the Rocking Horse remained very still and quiet right at the edge of the top step.

Up the stairs came the big burglar walking slowly and softly.

"Look out!" whispered the little burglar, who remained at the foot of the stairs. "I see something white! Look out!"

"It is only a Rocking Horse," whispered back the big burglar. "A White Rocking Horse! And a Sawdust Doll is here, too. I guess the children must have forgotten and left them in the hall. And that Sawdust Doll is just what I want. I know somebody I can give her to. I'll take her!"

The Sawdust Doll would have screamed and run away if she had dared, but she could not while the burglar was looking at her. The bad man reached out to pick up the Sawdust Doll, but his foot slipped, and, to save himself from falling, he made a grab for one of the legs of the White Rocking Horse.

Now whether the Horse kicked out; or not, I cannot say. It may be that he did, and, again, it may be that he did not. Anyhow, all of a sudden the White Horse toppled right over on top of the bad burglar, and down the stairs they went, bumpity-bump! all in a heap, right toward the little burglar standing at the foot. Down the stairs rolled the big burglar and the White Rocking Horse.

"Bang! Bing! Bung!" was the noise they made.




Chapter X

The Grass Party


Standing at the foot of the stairs was the little burglar. He was waiting while the big, bad man went upstairs to see if he could get any jewelry. And when the big burglar touched the White Rocking Horse, and it toppled over on him, and when both of them fell down the stairs together, making a loud noise, they fell right on top of the little burglar.

"Oh! Oh, dear! Oh, dear me!" cried the little burglar when he was struck by the big bad man and the White Rocking Horse. "Oh, what is all this? What are you doing, Jake?" he cried.

"Me? I'm not doing anything!" exclaimed the big burglar, as he went bumpity-bump along the lower hall, turning over and over in somersaults, just as the little burglar was doing.

"Not doing anything? Why, you came tumbling downstairs right on top of me!" cried the little burglar. "Why did you do that?"

"I -- I couldn't help it," answered the big burglar. "That white thing you saw was a Rocking Horse, and there was a Sawdust Doll near it. I reached out to get the Doll, and the Horse stuck out his hind legs and kicked me down the stairs. That's what he did!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the little burglar. "A White Rocking Horse didn't kick you! A wooden horse can't kick!"

"Well, this one did," declared the burglar. "Oh, my back!"

The father and mother of Dick and Dorothy heard the noise out in the hall. So did Martha, the maid, and Mary, the cook. Dick's father sat up in bed.

"I heard a noise," said his wife.

"So did I," said Daddy. "I think everybody in the house must have heard it. Somebody, or something, fell downstairs."

"You had better look and see," said his wife. "Maybe it was burglars."

So Dick's father went out into the hall to look, and there, surely enough, were the two bad burglars. They had been all tangled up in the legs and rockers of the White Horse, and they were just getting untangled. And they were so sore and lame from having been bumped around that they did not know what to do. They were so dazed and surprised that they stood still.

And just then Patrick, the big, strong gardener, came running in from the garage, where he slept. He, too, had heard the noise in the house. And Patrick and Dick's father soon captured the two burglars, and tied them with ropes. Then a policeman came and took the two bad men away and they were locked up for a long, long time. I don't believe they are out of prison yet.

But after the two burglars had been taken away by the police, Dick's father and mother looked at the White Rocking Horse where it lay on its side in the lower hall, after having fallen downstairs.

"How do you suppose it got here?" asked Mother.

"Well, either the burglars tried to carry it off, and they slipped and fell with it, or else they stumbled over it in the dark, and it toppled downstairs with them," replied Daddy. "But it made a great racket and woke us up. If it hadn't been for the White Rocking Horse we would have been robbed of our jewelry and silver."

"What a brave Horse!" said Mother. "Wouldn't it be strange if he really kicked the burglar downstairs?" she asked her husband.

And when the burglars had been taken away, and the Horse stood up on his rockers again, Dorothy and Dick were awakened by hearing so many sounds in the house.

"What's the matter?" asked Dick, coming to the head of the stairs, and rubbing his sleepy eyes. "What's my Rocking Horse down there for?" he wanted to know.

"He fell down with the burglars," said Daddy.

"And, oh, look! Here is my Sawdust Doll out here in the hall!" cried Dorothy. "I had her in my room when I went to sleep. How did she get out here?"

"Maybe the burglars took her and were carrying her away with them when they slipped and fell downstairs with the Horse," said Daddy.

But we know that is not just how it happened, don't we? We know that the Sawdust Doll came out to talk to the White Rocking Horse, and she could not get back when the burglars came, for she dared not move as long as they were looking at her.

For many days Dick and Dorothy had fun playing with the White Rocking Horse and the Sawdust Doll. And though, at times, the Horse and Doll wished they could see their friends in the toy store, still the two toys were very happy.

"I think something is going to happen to-morrow," said the old Jumping Jack one night, when, in the playroom, he was talking to the Horse and Doll. It was spring now, and the grass was green.

"What do you mean -- something going to happen?" asked the White Rocking Horse, as he looked at Jack. The old jumping chap had been allowed to stay in the playroom since he had been brought from the attic on Christmas Eve.

"Dick and Dorothy are going to have a Grass Party, and you are both going to it!"

"A Grass Party!" cried the Sawdust

"What is that?" asked the White Rocking Horse.

"Well, you know what a party is," said Jack. "And a Grass Party is one out on the grass. The boy and girl from next door are coming, and there will be good things to eat, games to play and all things like that. Isn't that jolly?"

"I should say so!" cried the Rocking Horse.

"I love parties!" said the Sawdust Doll.

And the next day, when the sun was shining brightly, Dick and Dorothy had their Grass Party. Not only the little girl from next door came, but other children also. Dorothy brought out her Sawdust Doll, for whom a new apple-green dress had been made.

Dick brought his Rocking Horse to a smooth place under the trees, and he and the other boys took turns riding on the brave steed.

"Let's see where his leg was broken," asked one boy.

"Oh, you can hardly see it," Dick answered. "The toy hospital doctor fixed it so it's as good as new. But this is the leg my Horse broke when Carlo tumbled him down the steps."

"And tell us about how the two bad burglars rolled downstairs with your horse on top of them," begged Arnold, the boy from next door.

"Well, I guess only one burglar rolled down," said Dick. "But he made noise enough for two."

Then he told the story, as best he could.

While Dick and the boys rode the White Rocking Horse Dorothy and the other little girls played with their dolls. And the Sawdust Doll with the brown eyes was the most beautiful of all.

"You children do get such nice presents on your birthdays and for Christmas," said one little boy guest to Dorothy and Dick.

"I'm going to have a nice present for my birthday," said Mirabell, who lived next door to Dick and Dorothy.

"Oh, tell us!" begged the other children.

"I -- I can't, for I don't know," said Mirabell. "But my mother is going to take me down to the toy store next week, and I'm going to have a nice birthday present."

And if you wish to know what the present was you may find out by reading the next book in this series. It is called "The Story of a Lamb on Wheels," and it is the same Lamb whom the Sawdust Doll and the White Rocking Horse knew in the toy store.

After having fun at the Grass Party for some time, the children went into the house to get cake and ice cream. The Sawdust Doll and the White Rocking Horse, as well as some other dolls, were left out on the lawn by themselves.

"Oh, now we can talk," said the White Rocking Horse. "Do you think this Grass Party is any fun?"

"I had rather it were night and we could be by ourselves upstairs with the Jumping Jack," said the Sawdust Doll. "Then we could move about and have some fun."

"Well, it will soon be dark," said the Rocking Horse.

And when night came, and Dick and Dorothy were in bed, the Sawdust Doll had a fine ride on the back of the White Rocking Horse.

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