SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S

BY LAURA LEE HOPE

  AUTHOR OF "SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S," "SIX
  LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S," "SIX LITTLE BUNKERS
  AT UNCLE FRED'S," ETC.

  _ILLUSTRATED_

  NEW YORK
  GROSSET & DUNLAP
  PUBLISHERS

  Copyright, 1920, by
  GROSSET & DUNLAP




CONTENTS


     I. THE SMOKING CHIMNEY

    II. THE CLIMBING MAN

   III. THE INVITATION

    IV. ANOTHER VACATION

     V. THE MISSING WATCH

    VI. OFF TO GRAND VIEW

   VII. THE STORM

  VIII. A QUEER NIGHT

    IX. IN THE DITCH

     X. THE BAD RAM

    XI. THE APPLE BOY

   XII. OFFERING HELP

  XIII. THE MISSING BOY

   XIV. IN THE OLD LOG

    XV. THE BUNKERS GET TOGETHER

   XVI. AN UNEXPECTED RIDE

  XVII. THE RAGGED MEN

 XVIII. MORE THINGS GONE

   XIX. LOTS OF FUN

    XX. THE FLOOD

   XXI. AN ISLAND PICNIC

  XXII. AFTER THE TRAMPS

 XXIII. THE OLD SATCHEL

  XXIV. TAD'S NEWS

   XXV. THE CAPTURE




SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S




CHAPTER I

THE SMOKING CHIMNEY


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

Russ Bunker counted thus, pointing his finger at five children in turn,
until he reached himself, when he stooped down and turned a somersault
on the floor of the attic.

"Oh, look at Russ!" cried Rose, the sister nearest him in age. "How
funny he did it!"

"What made you do it, Russ?" asked Violet, or Vi as she was called for
short. "What made you flop over that way? Did it hurt your head? Did
you get any splinters in your hands? Did you----"

"Say! Hold on a minute! Wait!" cried Russ, with a laugh, as Vi stood
with her mouth open all ready to ask another question. "If we're going
to play the steamboat game I can't answer all those questions."

"Are you going to play the steamboat game?" cried Vi, jumping up and
down so that her curly hair bobbed back and forth in and out of her
grey eyes. "Oh, what fun! But please tell me, Russ, what made you count
us all that way, as if we were going to play tag? And what made you
flop over, and what----"

"There you go again with your questions!" interrupted Russ, with
another laugh. "You can't seem to stop, Vi. You don't give any one else
a chance."

"And I know a nice riddle I can ask, too," broke in Laddie, who was his
sister Violet's twin. "I know a riddle about what makes the paper stick
on the wall and if it falls off----"

"I asked first!" broke in Vi. "Just tell me what made you count us all
out just as if we were going to play tag, Russ, and then what made you
do a flop-over. Tell me that, and then we'll play the steamboat game."

"All right, I'll answer just those questions and no more," promised
Russ. "Then we'll have some fun. I counted you all out--one, two,
three, four, five--six--that's me--because I wanted to see if we were
all here."

As there were six little Bunkers, it was sometimes needful to count
them, one by one, to make sure all were on hand. This was what Russ had
done.

"And I turned a somersault when I came to myself, just because I felt
so good," the dark-haired boy went on with a merry whistle. "Come
on, we'll play the steamboat game now. Rose, you please get out the
spinning wheel, and Margy and Mun Bun, you bring over the littlest
footstools. Don't bring the big ones, 'cause they're too heavy for you."

"Shall we sit on 'em footstools?" asked Mun Bun, as he shook his golden
hair out of his blue eyes.

"Yes, you sit on one footstool and Margy can sit on the other," said
Russ. "Now, don't both of you try to sit on the same one, or there'll
be a fuss, and we'll never get to playing. Can you bring the spinning
wheel all alone, Rose?"

"Yes, it isn't heavy," answered Rose, the oldest girl of the six
little Bunkers. "It drags over the floor easy." And as she pulled to
the middle of the attic, from the dark corner where it had stood all
summer, a big, old-fashioned spinning wheel, Rose hummed a little
song. She generally was humming or singing, when she was not helping
her mother in the housework. For where there were so many children,
there were more matters to attend to than Mrs. Bunker, Norah, the Irish
cook, or Jerry Simms, the odd-chore man, could well look after, and
Rose was glad to aid. She was a regular little "mother's helper," and
her father often called her that.

So while Rose brought over the spinning wheel and Margy and Mun Bun the
footstools, Laddie and Violet appealed to their older brother.

"I want to do something!" complained Vi.

"So do I," added Laddie. "If I don't do something I'm goin' to think up
another riddle. I know one about----"

"No, you don't!" cried Russ, with a laugh. "No more riddles until we
get the steamboat started. Here, you bring over some of the bigger
footstools, Laddie. And Vi can help you. Now we're all working--all six
of us;" and as Russ spoke he began dragging out of the corners of the
attic some chairs and light boards, with which he intended to build the
"steamboat."

Of course it was not a regular vessel, nor did it sail on water. In
fact, there was no water in the attic of the house where the six little
Bunkers lived. There was no water even when it rained, for the roof had
no holes in it, and the attic made a lovely place for the children to
play.

It was not raining now, and, if they had wished, the children could
have had fun out in the yard. But they had just returned from a jolly
vacation spent in the open on Uncle Fred's ranch in the West, and
perhaps they felt that to play indoors would be a welcome change. They
were as brown as berries from having been so much out in the sun and
the wind.

"All aboard! All aboard the steamboat!" called Russ, when the boards,
chairs, footstools, spinning wheel and other things had been put in
place near the center of the attic. "All aboard! Toot! Toot! Don't
anybody fall into the water! Hand me that bundle, Rose, please," said
Russ to his sister nearest him in age.

"Has it got life preservers in it?" asked Violet. "If it has, can I put
one on, and will you let me make-believe fall in the water, Russ? And
will you pull me out, and----"

"There you go again! As bad as ever!" laughed Russ. "No, these aren't
life preservers! They're sugar cookies, and I got them for us to eat on
the steamboat! All aboard! Toot! Toot!"

"Oh, sugar cookies! I'm glad!" cried Mun Bun. "I likes sugar cookies,
don't you, Margy?" he asked, as he sat close to his little sister on
the footstool.

"I 'ikes any kind," she lisped, a form of talk she had not altogether
gotten over since her "baby" days.

"Here we go!" cried Russ at last, and he took his place in a chair in
front of the big spinning wheel, the package of cookies beside him.
The spinning wheel was the only part of the "steamboat" that really
moved. It could be turned around in either direction, and was almost as
large, and almost the same shape, as the big steering wheel on the big,
real steamers. Of course it had no "spokes" on the outer rim to take
hold of, but Russ did not need them. The spinning wheel was an old one
that had belonged to Mrs. Bunker's great-grandmother, and though the
children were allowed to play with it they were always told they must
be very careful not to break it. And I must do them the credit to say
that they were, nearly always, very careful.

"All aboard!" called Russ again, just as he had often heard the men on
real boats say it. "Don't anybody fall off."

"I don't want to fall off till I gets my cookie," remarked Mun Bun.

"And if we fall we don't have to fall as far as Russ does, 'cause he's
so high up on a chair and we're low down, on little stools," added
Margy.

"That's so!" laughed Russ, as he twisted the spinning wheel around, to
make-believe steer the steamboat out into the middle of the pretend
river.

Of course the steamboat did not move at all. It just remained in one
place on the attic floor. But the six little Bunkers did not mind that.
They pretended that they were steaming along, and, every once in a
while, Russ would toot the whistle, or give some order such as might be
given on a real boat.

"When are we goin' to eat?" asked Laddie, after a time, during which
the boat had made make-believe stops at London, Paris and Asbury Park.
"Can't I have a sugar cookie, Russ?"

"Yes, I guess it's time to eat now," agreed the older boy.

"Whoa, then!" cried Laddie.

"What are you saying 'whoa' for?" demanded Russ, looking around.

"'Cause I want the steamboat to stop," answered Laddie. "It jiggles
so--make believe, you know--I'm afraid I'll drop my sugar cookie in the
water."

"You mustn't say 'whoa' on a boat!" went on Russ.

"Laddie was thinking he was out on Uncle Frank's ranch, riding a cow
pony, I guess," said Rose. "That's why he said 'whoa'; didn't you,
Laddie?"

"I guess so," answered the little fellow. "And I know a riddle about a
cow. Why is it that a brown cow eats green grass that makes white milk
and turns into yellow butter?"

"That isn't a riddle--it's just something funny. And, besides, you've
said that before," said Rose.

"Well, anyhow, can't I have a sugar cookie?" asked Laddie. "And we'll
make believe the steamboat has stopped, and we can pretend we're on a
picnic."

"All right," agreed Russ, as he gave the spinning wheel a few more
turns. "I'll bank the fires--that means I'll turn 'em off so they won't
get so hot--and we'll go ashore."

"All ashore!" yelled Laddie.

"Is they enough sugar cookies for all of us?" asked Mun Bun, as he and
Margy arose from the low stools where they had been sitting.

"Oh, yes, plenty," Russ answered. "I asked Norah to put a lot of 'em
in a bag and I guess she did. Here, Rose, you can pass 'em around, and
I'll tie the steamboat fast."

"Do you have to tie it same as Uncle Fred tied his cow ponies?" asked
Vi.

"Pretty near the same," her biggest brother answered. "And after a
while we'll----"

Russ stopped suddenly and looked at his sister Rose. She had just
passed some of the cookies to Mun Bun and Margy, and was getting ready
to hand one each to Laddie and Vi, when she saw something that made her
point to the big brick chimney which passed through the roof in the
middle of the attic.

"Look! Look!" exclaimed Rose.

"What's the matter?" asked Russ.

"The chimney! It's smoking!" went on Rose.

"That's what chimbleys is for," said Laddie. "I know a funny riddle
about smoke in a chimbley and----"

"But the smoke from the chimney shouldn't come out into the _room_ or
the _attic_," interrupted Rose. "I can smell it, and I can see it! Oh,
Russ!" she cried.

"Yes, you can see it and smell it!" agreed Russ. As he spoke quite a
puff of thick smoke came into the attic. It seemed to spurt right out
of the side of the chimney, at a place where some bricks were rather
loose and had large cracks between them.

"Oh, Russ!" cried Rose. "Maybe the house is on fire!"




CHAPTER II

THE CLIMBING MAN


Almost as soon as she had spoken these words, Rose wished she had not.
For looks of fear came over the faces of Mun Bun and Margy, and Laddie
and Vi, though a little older, also acted as if frightened. And yet
Rose had spoken what was in her mind. The smoke poured out into the
attic through a hole in the chimney. It was getting thicker and more
murky, and Mun Bun began to cough.

"Is there a fire?" asked Violet.

"Yes, I think so," answered Rose. And then it came to her mind that she
must not frighten the smaller children, so she quickly added: "But I
guess it's only a little fire. Maybe Norah is burning up papers in the
stove and they smoke. I heard her tell mother there was a lot of trash
to be burned since we came back from Uncle Fred's ranch."

"Well, she must be burnin' a awful lot!" exclaimed Laddie, and he
choked as he swallowed a mouthful of smoke.

Just then a larger cloud of it seemed to pour out into the attic, and
from outside the home of the six little Bunkers, and from the rooms
below them, came shouts and exclamations.

"Oh, Russ!" exclaimed Rose, looking at her older brother, "something is
the matter, I'm sure!"

"I guess there is," he agreed, as he ran to a window. "I'll let some of
the smoke out and then----"

He suddenly ceased speaking as he looked to the street below. To the
ears of the other children, playing in the attic, came a loud clatter
and clang.

"Is it the puffers?" asked Mun Bun, meaning the fire apparatus.

"Yes, the engines are all out in front of our house!" cried Russ. "We'd
better get down out of here. It's too far to jump!"

"Don't dare jump!" screamed Rose. "Come on, Russ. You take Vi and
Laddie and I'll look after Mun Bun and Margy." And she caught the two
youngest children by their hands and Russ did the same for the twins,
Vi and Laddie.

The smoke continued to grow thicker in the attic, and the cloud of it
was now so dense that the chimney itself, whence the choking fumes
came, could scarcely be seen.

But under the leadership of Russ and Rose the four smaller children
were being led to safety, and while this is going on I shall take the
chance to tell some of my new readers something of the other books in
this series, as well as about the six boys and girls who are to have a
part in this story.

Six was the number of the little Bunkers. That is, there was an even
half dozen of them. Russ, aged nine years, was a great whistler and a
lad who was often engaged in making toys, or building something, like
make-believe steamboats or engines, to amuse his smaller brothers and
sisters.

Next to Russ was Rose, a year younger. As I have told you, she was a
great help to her mother--a girl of cheerful, sunny disposition, always
making the best of everything.

Next came Violet and Laddie. They each had curly hair and gray eyes,
and were twins. As you have noticed Vi was a great one for asking
questions. It did not seem to matter to her what she asked questions
about, nor how many, as long as she could keep some one busy answering
them, or trying to answer. For not always could answers be found to
Vi's questions. Laddie, her twin brother, had a different curious
habit. He was always asking riddles--at least he called them riddles,
though some of them were as funny as Vi's questions.

Last of all in the half dozen little Bunkers were Margy and Mun Bun.
Margy's real name was Margaret, and the complete name of her small
brother was Munroe Ford Bunker.

Now that we have finished with the children we will start on the
grown-ups of the family. Daddy Bunker's name was Charles, and he was in
the real estate business in Pineville, Pennsylvania. Mother Bunker's
name was Amy, and before her marriage she was Miss Amy Bell.

Then there was Norah O'Grady, the good-natured cook, and Jerry Simms,
an old soldier who could tell fine stories about the time he fought
in battle. Of course Norah and Jerry were not real Bunkers--that is,
they were not members of the family. But they had been in the home of
our friends so long that the children began to think of these two kind
servants as almost some of their own relatives.

There were enough other relatives in the Bunker family, too. There
was Grandma Bell, and the first book of this series is named "Six
Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's." After some glorious days at their
grandmother's, the six little Bunkers went to Aunt Jo's, next to Cousin
Tom's, after that to Grandpa Ford's, and then they went out West to a
ranch. The story of their trip there, and what they did, is set down
in the volume just before this one. It is called "Six Little Bunkers
at Uncle Fred's," and Russ, Rose, and the others had not long returned
from this enjoyable visit before they began a new series of adventures.

The first of them I have already started to relate to you. It is about
the fire, or at least the smoke, in the attic where they had been
playing steamboat.

"Russ!" exclaimed Rose, as she made her way through the smoke-filled
room to the stairs, leading Mun Bun and Margy, while her oldest brother
followed with Vi and Laddie, "oh, Russ!" went on Rose, "you didn't
start any fire in the make-believe boiler of the pretend steamboat, did
you?"

"Course--course not!" answered Russ, somewhat choking over the words,
for some smoke got down his throat. "I never play with matches!"

"Well, there's a fire somewhere!" declared Rose.

"Maybe it's across the street," suggested Russ, "and the smoke just
blew in the windows." But, even as he spoke, he looked over his
shoulder and saw smoke pouring out of a place in the attic chimney
where some bricks were broken loose and large cracks showed.

"It's our chimney that's on fire, all right," said Russ to himself.
"It's the first fire we ever had. I want to see the engines work and
squirt water!"

Down the attic stairs to the second floor went the six little Bunkers.
There was very little smoke on the second floor, and as Russ and Rose
were leading the four smaller ones toward the head of the stairs they
were met by their mother and Norah rushing up, each of them out of
breath and much excited.

"Oh, children! are you all right?" gasped Mrs. Bunker. "I have been so
frightened. You're all right, aren't you? Not hurt or burned?"

"We're all right, Mother!" Russ hastened to say.

"Is our house on fire?" demanded Vi. Even in this excitement she could
not forget to ask a question.

"Yes, darlin', the house is burnin'!" cried Norah. "Oh, sorrow the day
I should live to see this. Oh, come to Norah, little darlin's!" and she
tried to gather in her arms all four of the smallest children at once.

"Don't frighten them!" called Mrs. Bunker, as she caught up Mun Bun
in one arm, and Margy in the other. "The house isn't exactly on fire,
children. It's just the chimney. A lot of soot got in while we were at
Uncle Fred's, and it is the soot which is now burning."

"But I heard a fireman say if the chimney fire wasn't soon put out it
might set the house afire!" declared Norah, as all of them started down
the front stairs.

There was plenty of excitement now in the home of the six little
Bunkers. Outside could be heard the whistle of a fire engine and the
shouts of many men and boys.

Russ, Rose, the other four children and Mrs. Bunker and Norah safely
reached the first floor. There was no smoke at all here, as yet. As
Russ hurried out on the porch he saw Jerry Simms running around holding
the garden hose, out of the nozzle of which trickled a little stream of
water.

"Let me get at it!" cried the old soldier, who acted as gardener and
furnace man by turns. "Let me get at the blaze! I'll put the fire out
if I can see it!"

"You won't put much of a blaze out with that stream!" exclaimed a
fireman in a rubber coat, as he hurried up the steps. "There isn't
enough force to it."

"Oh, I forgot to turn the water on full!" said Jerry Simms. "Wait
a minute. I'll go turn it on full force, and then I'll put out the
blaze," he said, putting the hose down on the porch and hurrying to the
faucet which came through the foundation wall of the house.

"That won't be any good for this fire, no matter how much force of
water you have," cried the fireman. "The fire's down inside the
chimney, and we can't get at it until we climb up on the roof and stick
a hose down the flue."

"Is that what you are going to do?" asked Mrs. Bunker, who was not
frightened, now that she knew her children were safe.

"Yes, we want to get up on the roof so we can turn a hose down the
chimney," the fireman answered. "But we can't get up!"

"Why not?" asked Russ, who stood near his mother on the porch, while
the yard and the street around the house were rapidly filling with
people.

"Our ladder isn't long enough," the fireman answered. "We had a long
ladder, but it is broken, and without it we can't get up on the roof to
pull up a hose and squirt water down the chimney."

"But something must be done!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "The more the chimney
fire burns, the hotter it will get, and it may set the whole house
ablaze before long. Something must be done!"

"Yes'm," agreed the fireman. "We're trying to do something. We got two
engines pumping, and the men are on the ground trying to shoot the
water up in the air and let some of it fall down the chimney hole.
But they aren't having very good luck. I came to see if you had a long
ladder."

"Oh, a long ladder!" cried the mother of the six little Bunkers. "You
had better ask Jerry Simms."

"If he's the old man running around with the garden hose, it won't do
much good to ask him," said the fireman with a smile. "He is so excited
he hardly knows what he is doing."

"Here comes Jerry now; ask him," suggested Mrs. Bunker again, while
Norah stood holding to Mun Bun, Laddie, Margy and Violet--at least
she was trying to hold them, though, every now and again, one of the
children would break away and run to the front fence to watch the
puffing engines.

"Have you a long ladder--one that will reach to the roof--so we can
climb up and pull a hose to the chimney top?" asked the fireman, while
the wind blew a swirl of black smoke around those on the porch.

"A long ladder? Oh, I don't know--I--oh, good land! I turned the water
off instead of on," cried Jerry, as he looked at the nozzle of the
garden hose which he had laid down on the porch. Not even a trickle
was coming from it now.

"Never mind that! Get us a ladder!" cried the fireman. "Ours is broken,
and if we don't douse this chimney pretty soon there'll be a bad blaze."

"What is it you want?" cried a man, making his way to the stoop through
a crowd of people in the yard around the Bunker house. "What's the
trouble? Why don't somebody get on the roof with a hose?"

"Because we have no ladder long enough to reach there!" the fireman
answered. "If only somebody could climb up he might----"

"Get me a piece of clothesline, and I'll climb up!" cried the man,
taking off his coat. And as Mrs. Bunker turned to look more closely at
him she gave a cry of surprise.

"Oh, Captain Ben!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker.




CHAPTER III

THE INVITATION


"Oh, ho! So you know me then, do you?" cried the man who had so
suddenly and unexpectedly appeared and offered to climb to the roof of
the house where the chimney was on fire.

"Yes, I know you by your picture," answered Mrs. Bunker. "But I never
expected to see you so soon. Where did you come from?"

"No time to talk now--excuse me--got to hustle as I did in the army in
France!" was the answer. "I'll tell you all about it later. Now, if
you'll get me a clothesline, I'll climb to the roof and put out the
chimney fire!"

"You can't put out a fire with a clothesline, can you?" asked Violet.
"Don't you need a hose?"

"Yes, little girl. I don't know what your name is, but I'll find out
later," said the man who had been called "Captain Ben" by Mrs. Bunker.
"What I want the clothesline for is to carry it up to the roof with me.
I can't take a hose, but I can tie the rope around my waist, climb up,
and then the fireman can tie the end of the hose to the line. Then I
can haul up the hose, the fireman can turn on the water, I'll squirt
the water down the blazing chimney, and the fire will soon be out."

"Oh!" exclaimed Vi. She very seldom had such a long answer given to any
of the questions she asked. "Oh," she said again.

"Where's a clothesline?" cried Captain Ben.

"I'll get you one," offered Norah, and she rushed around to the side
yard, coming back in a few seconds with a long, trailing length of line
she had cut from the posts. Meanwhile more and more black smoke was
coming from the chimney, and some was drifting out of the attic window
Russ had opened.

"Good! Thank you!" exclaimed Captain Ben.

"Do you think the house is catching fire?" asked Mrs. Bunker of the
chief of the department, who came up on the porch just then.

"Not yet; but it may soon," he answered. "What are we going to do?" he
went on. "We have no ladder to get to the roof, and----"

"This gentlemen is going to climb up to the roof for us," interrupted
the fireman who had been talking to Mrs. Bunker. He pointed to Captain
Ben, who was making some loops in the clothesline that Norah had
brought him.

"How's he going to get to the top of the high roof of this house when
we can't get up ourselves without long ladders?" asked the fire chief.
"And our long ladder is broken. How are you going to get up, if I may
ask?" he inquired of Captain Ben.

"You don't need to ask one of Uncle Sam's soldier-sailors a question
like that," was the answer. "I was one of the marines in the late war,
and doing hard things is just what the marines like. I'll show you how
I'm going to get up to the roof without a ladder. Be ready to bend on
the hose when I give the word."

"We'll be all ready," the fire chief promised. "I'm ashamed of our
department for not being able to put out a simple chimney fire before
this, but I didn't know our long ladder was broken. That makes all the
trouble."

"The trouble will soon be over when I get up there!" declared the
young soldier with a look at Russ, Rose, and the other little Bunkers.
They all wondered who he was and how it was their mother knew him from
having seen his picture. Not even Russ, the oldest, remembered any
relative named Captain Ben.

"Now we're all ready!" exclaimed the former marine, as he had called
himself. "We'll have this fire out in no time!"

He seemed to know just what to do, and even the fire chief was waiting
for Captain Ben. With the clothesline tied around his shoulders in a
knot that could quickly be loosed, the stranger ran to a large copper
rain pipe fastened to the side of the house. Near the rain pipe, or
leader, as it is called, was also a lightning rod, and there was a
strong ivy vine growing and climbing up a wire trellis which was nailed
on the wall of the house.

"Up I go!" cried Captain Ben, and in another moment he was going up the
side of the house, climbing hand over hand by means of the lightning
rod, the copper leader, and the vine. None of these, alone, would have
been strong enough to have held him, but by using all three together
the soldier-sailor managed to get up to the roof.

The roof of the Bunker house, where the blazing chimney came through,
was a peaked one, though it was not of a very steep slant. Russ
wondered how Captain Ben was going to climb this peak, which was like
a hill, only covered with shingles. But the sailor had on low shoes
with rubber soles, and these did not let him slip. Stooping down, and
helping himself along with his hands when he reached the roof, Captain
Ben made his way close to the chimney.

From it now could be seen coming flames and sparks as well as smoke,
and it began to look as though the whole house might soon be ablaze.

"Fasten on the hose!" suddenly called Captain Ben.

On the ground below firemen made fast to the lower end of the
clothesline the length of hose from which the water had been turned off.

"If their hose isn't enough I'll let 'em have mine," said Jerry Simms,
who now had the water turned full on in the garden line. And he was so
excited that, before he knew it, he had sent a shower of spray up on
the porch.

"Mind what you're doing, Jerry!" called Norah. "Be easy now!"

"Oh, excuse me!" begged the old soldier. "I'm so excited I don't know
at all what I'm doing!"

He turned the hose aside, but this time he sprayed the fire chief and
one of his men. But as they had on rubber coats and rubber boots, as
well as thick helmets, they did not mind the water in the least and
only laughed.

By this time other firemen had fastened an empty line of hose to the
end of the clothesline. The other end of the rope was held by Captain
Ben on the roof of the Bunker home, and now he began hauling up.

"I have it!" he cried as he reached the nozzle, and took off the
clothesline. "Wait until I get close to the chimney, and then turn on
the water."

"All right!" the chief answered.

Captain Ben, in his rubber-soled shoes that did not slip on the shingle
roof, crawled over until he was close to the blazing chimney. It was
low enough for him to point the hose right down in it, and when he had
done this he shouted:

"Turn on the water!"

"Turn on the water!" echoed the chief. The hose, that was almost like
a big snake trying to climb up the side of the house of the six little
Bunkers, straightened out and twisted as the water filled it, being
pumped in by one of the engines.

Captain Ben directed the stream down the blazing chimney. There were
puffs of steam, the white clouds of which mingled with the black smoke
of the chimney, and the water poured down into the kitchen, spurting
out of the range where the fire had been built. The water put out the
fire in the stove, as well as the fire in the chimney, and made muddy
puddles on Norah's kitchen floor. But this could not be helped. It was
better to have a little water in the house than a lot of fire.

"How are you making out?" the chief called up to Captain Ben on the
roof.

"Fine!" was the answer. "The fire is almost out!"

And it was all out a minute or two later. Then the water was shut off,
so that the house would not be flooded, and Captain Ben dropped the
hose from the roof down to the ground.

"Is he going to jump down, Mother?" asked Vi, who, with the others of
the family, stood in the side yard, where they could all get a view of
the roof on which stood Captain Ben.

"No, indeed, he will not jump down!" said Mrs. Bunker.

"I guess he'll climb down the same way he went up--like a monkey," said
Laddie. "He's a good climber. Some day I'm going to climb up to the
roof like Captain Ben did. But who is he, Mother? Is he what Uncle Fred
is to us?"

"Not exactly," was the answer. "I'll tell you about Captain Ben a
little later when there isn't so much excitement. He is coming down
now, and I must thank him for what he did."

"I want to thank him, too," said the fire chief. "I'd never have
thought of getting to the roof that way. But it's a good thing he did,
or that chimney might be burning yet."

Captain Ben made his way down the vine, the lightning rod, and the
copper pipe as he had gone up. Several in the crowd gathered about
him, and many told him he had done just the right thing. But Captain
Ben paid little attention to these strangers. He made his way to where
Mrs. Bunker stood with the six little Bunkers gathered about her.

"I didn't expect my visit would have so much excitement connected with
it," he said, with a smile, as he put on his coat. "But I arrived just
about the same time as did the engines. I saw what the trouble was, and
decided that was the best way to help."

"I am glad you did," remarked Mrs. Bunker. "Though I have not seen you
for several years, I knew you at once by your picture, which I recently
saw in the paper. You evidently got safely back from the war."

"Yes, I got nothing worse than a few scratches. But, unless I am much
mistaken, here comes Mr. Bunker."

"Oh, here's Daddy!" cried Rose, as a very much excited man rushed up
the front walk, pushing his way in among the throng that had been
attracted by the alarm of fire.

"Are you all right? Is anyone hurt? How did it happen? Is the fire
out?" asked Daddy Bunker, and, really, he asked almost as many
questions as Violet would have done had she had the chance.

"Yes, we are all safe!" answered Mrs. Bunker. "No one hurt and very
little damage done. But I have a surprise for you! Look!" and she
stepped from in front of the marine who had put out the blazing chimney.

"Captain Ben!" cried Daddy Bunker. "Where in the world did you come
from?"

"Just back from the war," was the answer, as Captain Ben shook hands
with Daddy Bunker. "I'm going to take a long rest, and I came to bring
an invitation to you--to you and the six little Bunkers," he went on,
looking from one of the children to the other.

"An invitation!" cried Rose.

"Yes, and I do hope you will accept," said Captain Ben. "The summer is
not quite over," he went on to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker, "and I'm sure these
youngsters will be all the better for some more vacation. Let's go in,
away from the crowd, and I'll explain about my invitation."

And each and every one of the six little Bunkers wondered what was
going to happen.




CHAPTER IV

ANOTHER VACATION


Captain Ben, as both Daddy and Mother Bunker had called him, caught
up in his arms Mun Bun and Margy. He was so big and strong that the
children seemed feathers to him, and he easily held them both on one
arm. Then he reached down his other hand and took the two hands of
Laddie and Vi in his.

"Now come on!" cried Captain Ben, laughing. "I have four of the half
dozen little Bunkers, and the other two can hang on my coat tails.
Let's go in and have a nice talk and visit."

"Yes! Yes!" cried Mun Bun and Margy and Laddie and Violet.

"Where are we going and what are you going to tell us?" asked Vi, not
forgetting, even in all the excitement about the fire, to ask her
usual questions. "What are we going to do?"

"Oh, you'll find plenty to do--all six of you--if you come to my
seashore place!" laughed Captain Ben. "That's what I came especially to
talk about," he went on to Daddy and Mother Bunker. "I want to get out
of my mind all thoughts of the great war, and if I can have this happy
bunch of children around me it will be the best thing in the world.
You'll let them come, and you'll come with them, won't you?" he asked,
as he stood on the door sill.

"We just got back from Uncle Fred's!" answered Mr. Bunker. "I don't
see how we can give the children another vacation so soon after they
have just finished one. But I do want to have you pay us a long visit,
Captain Ben. And we'll go in, as you say, and talk. But I must first
make sure that the fire is out. Some one telephoned to me at the office
that my house was burning up. I ran out, hailed the first man I saw in
an auto, and he brought me here flying. I can't tell you how glad I was
when I saw the house still standing."

"It isn't really harmed at all," said Captain Ben. "The chimney is
used to having a fire in it, and all that happened in the kitchen is
that a little water got spilled. Don't worry about the fire any more.
Let's go in and talk. I want to get down to my place at the shore, and
take you there with me."

Indeed there was no more danger from the fire. The crowd, seeing there
was no further excitement, began to move away. The firemen coiled up
their hose, and the engines and carts rumbled away. Norah shook her
head dubiously as she saw the sloppy kitchen that she always kept so
clean and bright, but Jerry Simms consoled her.

"I'll help you mop it up, Norah!" he kindly offered. "Water is easily
gotten rid of--much more easily than fire. I'll help you clean up."

Norah was very thankful for this, and soon she and Jerry were busy
setting things to rights in the kitchen while Daddy and Mother Bunker,
with the children and Captain Ben, went into the sitting room. There
was a smell of smoke all over, but no one minded this. Norah felt very
bad, thinking that she might be blamed for the fire, since the chimney
caught from the blaze she started in the kitchen range.

Mrs. Bunker realized this, and so she said:

"Don't worry, Norah. It would have happened to anyone. If I had started
the fire the chimney would have caught just the same as it did when you
started it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that," remarked Norah, as she and Jerry
continued the cleaning-up work.

The excitement caused by the fire was over now, and a little later the
Bunker family, including the half dozen children of course, and Captain
Ben were sitting down and talking like old friends. In fact, they were
all old friends except the new man who had climbed up on the roof to
put out the fire.

"What makes you call him Captain Ben?" asked Vi, as she looked up at
the stranger.

"Because he is Captain Ben," answered Mrs. Bunker. "And he is one of
our relations, children!"

"My, what a lot of relations we have!" exclaimed Laddie. And when they
all laughed he made haste to add: "But I like 'em all and I like you."
He said this as he stood near the knees of Captain Ben.

"I'm glad you do," said the sailor-soldier. "And I hope we shall all
become better acquainted and have good times together."

"Will you tell us about the war?" asked Rose. "Jerry Simms tells us
lots of funny stories about the war he was in."

"This was a different war," said Captain Ben, "and I may be able to
think of something funny about it. I'll try, anyhow. But now let's talk
about going away. I want to get as far from the war as I can, and I
think my place at the seashore will take my mind off it--especially if
I can have you children with me."

"I'll have to see about that," said Daddy Bunker, with a smile. "But at
least we can talk about it."

So they talked, and Mother Bunker told the children that Captain Ben
was a distant relative of hers, whom she had not seen for a long time.
But his picture had been printed in the paper as one of the heroes of
the war, and though Mrs. Bunker had not seen him for some years, she
knew him the moment he rushed up on the porch to help in putting out
the fire.

"Is Captain Ben like Cousin Fred?" asked Russ, when the matter of
relationship was being talked about.

"He is a sort of cousin," answered Mother Bunker, "but I think it will
be better if we all call him Captain Ben."

"I am most used to hearing that," said the soldier. "That is what I was
in the marine corps--a captain. And though I am discharged now, many of
my friends still call me captain."

"I like a captain," said Rose. "I think it's ever so much nicer than a
general or a major. They always sound like names of dogs; but a captain
is nice."

"I am glad you think so!" laughed Captain Ben, and so he was called
that by the children.

"But what's your last name?" asked Vi. You might have known she would
find some question to ask, and she did.

"My last name is Barsey," was the answer of Captain Ben. "But I don't
imagine you children will have much use for it. Just say Captain Ben
and I'll know who you mean."

There was more talk and laughter, and the six little Bunkers began to
feel very well acquainted with Captain Ben. At dinner he told something
of how he had enlisted and fought in the war, but he did not dwell much
on this, for he guessed, rightly, that Mr. and Mrs. Bunker did not
want to have the children think too much about the terrible fighting
that had taken place in France.

"And so, after I was discharged and was free to leave the army, I
decided to take a long rest," said Captain Ben. "As you know, Cousin
Amy," he said to Mrs. Bunker, "I have a very nice bungalow down on the
Jersey coast at Grand View. It is all ready for me to go down there and
spend the rest of the summer, and I want you all to come with me."

"Is there any more summer?" asked Laddie. "I thought we spent all the
summer at Uncle Fred's."

"There is still some summer left," answered Captain Ben.

"That sounds funny!" laughed Laddie. "_Some summer!_ Maybe I could make
up a riddle about it."

"Do you like riddles?" asked Captain Ben.

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Vi's twin brother. "Do you know any?"

"I might think of one," the young marine replied. "Let me see. Can you
tell me when a door is like a little mouse?"

"A door like a little mouse!" exclaimed Rose. "I never heard of such a
thing. A door can't be like a mouse because it's too big--I mean the
door is."

"Oh, yes it can!" said Laddie, quickly. "Things in riddles can be like
anything they want to. Don't tell me, Captain Ben!" he begged. "Let me
see if I can guess it myself!"

"It isn't very hard," the soldier-sailor said. "I just happened to
think of it, and perhaps you won't call it a riddle at all. But when is
a door like a mouse?"

"Is it when it sticks fast and won't open?" asked Rose.

"A mouse can't open and shut!" objected Russ.

"It can open and shut its mouth, and a door can open and shut," said
Laddie, who seemed to know more about riddles than any of his brothers
or sisters.

"Is that the answer?" inquired Russ, while Mun Bun and Margy stood
silently looking at Captain Ben.

"No, that isn't the answer," replied the soldier from France. "I guess
I'll tell you, for you've had enough excitement to-day. A door is like
a mouse when it squeaks. The door's hinges squeak, you know, and the
little mouse squeaks when he finds a piece of cheese."

"That's a good riddle!" declared Laddie. "I'm going to remember that,
and ask Jerry Simms and Norah."

A little later supper was served, and at the table Captain Ben told
more about his bungalow at Grand View.

"You have been to the seashore," he said to the six little Bunkers, "so
there is no need to tell you how nice the ocean and the beach is to
rest near. But Grand View is especially nice, because my bungalow is up
on a high bluff and you can look away off across the water to a place
called Sandy Hook."

"Do they catch fishes on Sandy Hook?" asked Rose, with a laugh.

"No, not exactly," answered Captain Ben. "Sandy Hook is a place----"

"We know, thank you," said Russ. "We passed near Sandy Hook when we
went to Atlantic Highlands on our way to Cousin Tom's at Seaview."

"How did you like the seashore?" asked Captain Ben.

"Oh, we love it!" cried Rose, and all the other Bunkers echoed this.
"Of course it was nice at Uncle Fred's ranch out West," Rose went on.
"But the seashore is so nice and cool."

"Then I'll take you all there for another vacation!" said Captain Ben.
"You don't need to unpack any more of your things," he went on to Daddy
and Mother Bunker. "Just leave them as they are, load them in my auto,
and we'll all go to my seaside bungalow at Grand View."

"Has you got a big auto?" asked Mun Bun, speaking for the first time in
nearly half an hour.

"Yes, I have a great big machine," said Captain Ben. "I left it at a
garage in town while I looked you folks up, as I was not sure where you
lived. And you can guess how surprised I was to see a crowd of people
in front of the house, to which the postman directed me, and to see
fire and smoke coming out of the chimney."

"We were surprised, too," said Russ, as he started out on the porch
to bring in the evening paper the boy had just tossed up. "We were
playing steamboat in the attic, and a lot of smoke came out and----"

"Don't talk any more about it," begged Mother Bunker. "I don't want it
to get on your minds, or you may not sleep. I shall never forget how
frightened I was."

"All the more reason for the whole family coming and spending the rest
of the season with me," urged Captain Ben. "It is still late summer,
and the fall is really the best part of the year to be at the shore.
You'll come, won't you?" he asked Mr. Bunker.

The father of the six little Bunkers shook his head.

"It is too near school time," he said. "The new term will open next
week. That, really, is what made us come back from the ranch. I don't
want the children, especially the two older ones, to miss any of their
classes. No, Captain Ben, I am sure we're all much obliged to you for
your kind invitation, but it will be impossible for us to go on account
of school."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Rose, and looks of disappointment came over the
faces of the other children when they heard this.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "Losing a week or so of school will
not matter. I have just set my heart on the six little Bunkers coming
to my seashore bungalow."

Again Daddy Bunker shook his head. But, as the looks of sorrow deepened
on the faces of Rose and the others, Russ came running in off the porch
with the evening paper. He generally opened it and read the headings
before delivering it to his father or mother.

"Oh, look! Look at this!" cried Russ as, holding the opened paper out
in front of him, he hastened in where the others were. "I guess we can
go to Captain Ben's after all! Look what's in the paper!"




CHAPTER V

THE MISSING WATCH


"What's the matter? Oh, let me see!" begged Rose, as Russ came in with
a fluttering paper. "Are we going to have another school play?"

There had been one the previous winter, and Rose and Russ had taken
part in it. Their pictures, as well as those of other young performers,
were in the newspaper, and Russ and Rose were quite proud of this.

"No, it isn't another school play," Russ answered. "But there was an
accident at our school, and now it can't open when it was going to.
Oh, I'm glad! Now we don't have to go back to school and we can go to
Captain Ben's bungalow at Grand View!"

"Let me see," requested Mr. Bunker, reaching out one hand for the
paper, while with the other he sought for his glasses in his vest
pocket.

"Yes, that's right," he said, after he had read the item on the front
page, the sight of which had so excited Russ. "There has been an
accident at Montgomery school, where our children go."

"An accident!" exclaimed Mother Bunker. "Was any one hurt?"

"No, it wasn't that sort of accident," her husband answered. "It was
just a break in the water pipes and the boiler that heats the school
in cold weather. Of course they will not need heat right away, but
the boiler will have to be fixed, and it will take over a month. This
article in the paper says that the opening of Montgomery school will be
postponed for a month. That means our six little Bunkers will not have
to go back to their classes as soon as we thought they would," he added.

"All the better for me!" cried Captain Ben. "Now I can take you all to
Grand View in my auto. You won't have any objections now, will you?" he
asked Mr. Bunker.

"No," answered the father of Russ and the other five children, "I don't
see how I can object. As I told you, we came back from the West mainly
on account of school, and if we had known in time that the Montgomery
building was not to open we would have stayed at Uncle Fred's ranch."

"I'm glad you didn't," laughed Captain Ben. "For now I can have you
visit me. I'll go right uptown and get my automobile, as I see you have
a garage here. Then we'll all be ready to start for the seashore in the
morning."

"Oh, my goodness! we can't go so soon as _that_," cried Mrs. Bunker.

"Why not?" asked the captain.

"I have to look over the children's clothes and see what they need for
this second, unexpected vacation. We couldn't possibly get ready for
to-morrow."

"Well, the next day, then," insisted Captain Ben. "I'll go and get my
auto and have it all ready."

"No, we can't go the next day, either," Mrs. Bunker answered with a
laugh. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I learned that in the army, I guess," remarked the soldier. "But how
soon can you go?"

"In about a week, I think," was the answer, and with that Captain Ben
must needs be content.

He arose to go after his automobile, which he had left in a public
garage uptown, and Rose and Russ obtained permission to go with him and
ride back. The other children also wanted to go, but it was a little
too far for their short legs.

"Oh, say, this is a dandy big car!" exclaimed Russ, as he and his
sister climbed into it for the ride back home.

"Glad you like it," said Captain Ben. "We'll need all the room there
is to take six little Bunkers and all their baggage to the shore for a
second vacation."

The next few days were busy ones in the Bunker home. Every one was so
occupied, helping to unpack, pack and get ready, that Laddie had no
time to ask Norah or Jerry Simms about the riddle of the mouse and the
squeaking door. But he did not forget it, and he thought he might find
some one at Captain Ben's place at the shore whom he might puzzle with
the riddle.

The damage done by the chimney fire was soon cleared away and the
chimney repaired, and the day after the newspaper contained an account
of the happening. It interested the six little Bunkers almost as much
as did the account of the accident to the Montgomery school.

On making some inquiries, Mr. Bunker found that what the paper had
stated about the needed repairs at the school was true. No classes
could start for more than a month after the date set for the regular
opening of the other schools, and therefore the children could remain
away without getting any black marks. There was no room for the pupils
of Montgomery school in any of the other schools of Pineville.

As I have said, these were busy days at the Bunker home during the
visit of Captain Ben, for he stayed at the Bunker residence until it
was time to go to the seashore. Captain Ben helped pack, too, and he
seemed to know just how to do it.

"This was another thing I learned when I was a marine," he said, as
he showed Mrs. Bunker how to get more into a trunk than she had ever
supposed it would hold.

Margy and Mun Bun, Laddie and Vi and Rose and Russ also helped pack,
though, to tell you the truth, I do not believe that the four smallest
children really did much helping. But they thought they did, and this
gave them as much joy as if they had done it all themselves.

"Time to stop and eat!" exclaimed Captain Ben one noon, when several
valises and trunks had been filled in readiness for the trip next day.
"It's twelve o'clock," and he looked at a watch he wore on his wrist.

"Does your watch keep good time?" asked Violet.

"Yes, it is a very good watch," was the answer. "It was given to me by
a French soldier who was hurt in the great war. I think a great deal of
this watch, and I would not want to lose it. The man who gave it to me
was in great danger, and I was able to help him out of it. He gave me
this wrist watch as a keepsake. I prize it very much."

Though Captain Ben did not say so, he had really saved the life of the
French soldier, venturing out on the battlefield and bringing in the
wounded man.

The watch was an expensive gold one, set in a strong leather strap,
which was buckled about Captain Ben's wrist. Wearing the watch there
enabled the former soldier to see what time it was without stopping to
fish in his pocket for his time piece.

As the watch had indicated, it was noon--twelve o'clock--and soon the
six little Bunkers were sitting down to the table. They talked over
their plans as they ate the meal.

Large as was Captain Ben's auto, it would hardly hold the eight
Bunkers, himself and the baggage that first would be needed. So it was
decided that Mother Bunker would go down to Grand View on the train,
taking Mun Bun and Margy with her. That would leave Daddy Bunker,
Captain Ben, Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi to come in the soldier's big
car. They would have room enough then for several valises.

The rest of the afternoon and part of the next morning was spent in
packing, while Mrs. Bunker made arrangements for again shutting the
house up, after having opened it on her return from the West.

"This year has been the longest vacation the children ever had," she
remarked. "Goodness! it doesn't seem any time at all since we started
for Uncle Fred's, and here we are starting off on another trip."

"I hope you will like my place," said Captain Ben, as he finished
strapping a large valise. "I wish we might have started a little
earlier to-day, but I think we shall get there before dark."

"I think I shall be there ahead of you, going as I am in the train with
Margy and Mun Bun," said Mrs. Bunker.

"I am not so sure about that!" laughed Captain Ben. "My auto can travel
very fast when I get started. But what time does your train go?"

"At ten o'clock," answered the children's mother. "How much time have
I?"

Captain Ben thrust out his arm as he always did when he wanted to look
at his wrist watch, and, as he glanced down, an appearance of surprise
came over his face.

"Why, my watch is gone!" he exclaimed.

"Gone?" echoed Mrs. Bunker. "Did you take it off and put it down
somewhere?"

"No, I haven't had it off to-day," was the answer. "I had it on just
before I strapped that valise! It must have accidentally come off! I
must find it! I wouldn't have that watch lost for anything!"

He began looking about the room.

"I'll call the children," offered Mrs. Bunker. "One of them may have
seen it. Oh, Russ! Rose!" she called. "Come, children, and see if you
can find Captain Ben's missing watch."




CHAPTER VI

OFF TO GRAND VIEW


The six little Bunkers, who had been scurrying around all over the
house, helping, or at least thinking they were helping, to get ready
for the trip, gathered in the big living room at the sound of their
mother's voice.

"What's the matter?" asked Vi, beginning her usual questioning. "Is the
chimney on fire again?"

"No," answered her mother. "But Captain Ben has lost his watch--the
one the French soldier gave him. He thinks it became loose when he was
helping pack the valises and trunks; so look around, children."

So the search began, but it was without result. Everything on the floor
was lifted up, trunks and valises were moved aside, and even Norah and
Jerry came in to help look. However, the watch could not be found,
though the six little Bunkers aided all they could.

"Can't we go to Captain Ben's if he doesn't find his watch?" asked Vi.

"Oh, yes, that won't keep us from the trip," said the sailor-soldier.
The marines are both soldiers and sailors, so either name fitted them.
"But I would like to find my watch," Captain Ben added.

"Oh, I guess I got it--I mean I guess I stepped on it!" suddenly
exclaimed Laddie, as he trod on something that was under a piece of
paper.

There was an anxious moment, but when the paper was lifted up all that
was under it was a tin whistle that Mun Bun had been playing with.

"Oh, dear!" said Laddie. "I thought sure I had it!"

The watch remained unfound, but the packing went on. Soon it was time
for Mrs. Bunker to start for the train with Margy and Mun Bun. They
were to go on ahead, as the way to Grand View by the train was longer
than by the automobile road.

Captain Ben was to take Mrs. Bunker and the two smaller children to
the railroad station in his car, leaving Mr. Bunker to attend to the
last details of the packing with Russ and Rose, Violet and Laddie. Of
course, Jerry Simms and Norah also helped.

[Illustration: MRS. BUNKER AND THE TWO SMALLER CHILDREN STARTED FOR THE
RAILROAD STATION.]

"Good-bye, children! I'll see you at Grand View!" called Mother Bunker,
waving her hand to her four children as she sat beside Mun Bun and
Margy in the automobile.

"Good-bye!" echoed Russ and the others. And the two smaller Bunkers
waved their hands. They were delighted at the idea of a ride in the
steam cars.

In a little while Captain Ben came back from the station with his empty
automobile. As he alighted to go into the house, to see that the others
were ready for the trip, he thrust out his left arm and looked down at
his wrist.

"Oh, I forgot my watch was lost," he said with a grim laugh. "I have
been so used to looking at the time that it comes natural to stick out
my hand where I can get a good view of my wrist. Well, if my watch is
gone--it's gone--that's all there is to it."

"Maybe Norah will find it after we have left," suggested Rose. "Lots
of times she finds things we lose."

"I hope she does," echoed Captain Ben. "Well, never mind the watch now.
Let's get ready to start. We must be off. It is getting late!"

The last valise was strapped shut, the expressman had taken the trunks
that did not go as baggage, and now the four little Bunkers with their
father and Captain Ben, went out on the porch, after saying good-bye to
Norah and Jerry Simms.

Into the captain's big car piled the four children.

"It seems funny not to have mother and Margy and Mun Bun with us,
doesn't it?" asked Rose, as she took her place with Russ, Vi and
Laddie, her father and Captain Ben being in the front seat.

"Yes, it does," agreed Russ. "But we'll be with them to-night again,
won't we, Captain Ben?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, we'll all be at my bungalow at Grand View this evening," said
the sailor-soldier. "Your mother may get there first, but I have told
her where to find the keys, so she can get everything all ready if she
gets there ahead of us."

"Well, I think we're all ready to start," said Daddy Bunker at length.
"Everything is all right, isn't it, Norah?"

"Oh, yes," answered the cook. "But it's sorry I am to see you go away
again so soon after coming home. You're taking two vacations the same
summer, children."

"Yes, and it's lots of fun!" cried Russ. "I'm glad the boiler in the
school got leaky. I didn't want to go back so soon, anyhow."

Final good-byes were said, and then Captain Ben started his automobile
down the street, the four children looking back as long as they could
see Norah and Jerry Simms and waving farewells to them.

Out through the streets of Pineville they rode, Rose and Russ calling
to various children of their acquaintance whom they met.

"Did you ride in this kind of an auto in France?" asked Russ of Captain
Ben.

"Not very often," was the answer. "I had to walk most of the time, and
I was glad I could. Lots of poor fellows were so crippled they couldn't
walk."

"Do you know any French riddles?" Laddie wanted to know, as they turned
out on a country road.

"French riddles?" repeated Captain Ben. "Do you mean you want me to
tell you a riddle in the French language?"

Laddie shook his curly head.

"I don't know how to speak French," he said. "What I want is a French
riddle that will be different from any riddle I know in English."

"I'm sorry, but I can't think of any," replied Captain Ben Barsey.

"Could you tell us a funny story about the war?" asked Russ.

Captain Ben thought for a moment.

"There wasn't very much chance to have fun when the fighting was going
on," he answered, "but of course I didn't have to fight all the while.
I remember once, being in a trench--that's like the big ditch over
there," and he pointed to one at the side of the road along which the
automobile was traveling at the time.

"Did you sleep in the ditch?" asked Vi.

"Yes," answered Captain Ben, "at times we slept in the trench ditch,
and very often we ate in them. I was going to tell you about a funny
thing that happened to me when I was getting ready to eat my dinner in
a trench one day.

"We had been fighting all morning, but had stopped about noon, and then
they brought us soldiers in the trench something to eat. I was very
hungry and so were my friends. I got a piece of bread and some meat and
made myself a sandwich. I also had a tincup of coffee.

"I laid the sandwich down on a stone for a moment to take a drink of
coffee, and when next I reached out my hand for the bread and meat I
felt it jump away."

"Oh, was it alive?" asked Russ.

"Well, I thought so, for a moment," answered the captain. "But when I
looked, after getting over my first surprise, I saw that I had put my
hand on a big, gray rat. He had come out of his hole in the trench and
was eating my bread and meat. Of course he moved when I touched him."

"I'm glad I wasn't there," said Rose. "I don't like rats!"

"I wish I could just look at him--but that's all," said Russ.

"Did you make him give you back your sandwich?" questioned Vi.

"Hardly!" laughed Captain Ben. "I didn't want it after the rat had
nibbled it. So I shooed him away, and managed to get some more bread
and meat. But I'll never forget how funny it seemed when I thought I
felt my sandwich moving under my hand."

The children laughed at this story of the funny side of war, and by
this time the automobile was well away from Pineville and on the way to
Grand View.

"I think this is the nicest summer I ever knew," said Rose to Russ. "We
are having two vacations."

"It is lots of fun," he agreed.

Laddie was saying little. He seemed very sober.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked him.

"I know a good riddle about an automobile, but I can't just think of
it," said the little boy. "I want to ask Captain Ben a riddle, but I
can't think of the right one."

"Don't worry!" laughed the sailor-soldier. "I'll be with you the rest
of the summer, and you can ask me all the riddles you think of."

"Oh, I can think of a lot!" declared Laddie. "But I have an extra good
one about an auto, only I don't know what it is."

As the automobile was passing through a little country village, Vi saw
a candy store, where, also, soda water was sold.

"Can't we stop here and get a drink?" she asked. "I'm thirsty!"

"Yes, we can stop," her father said, and he was just asking Captain Ben
to slow up at the store when a woman ran from it in great excitement,
waving her hands and calling aloud:

"Stop! Stop! Oh, wait a minute! Something terrible has happened! Oh,
come in! Come in!"

And from the store, out of which the woman had rushed, came a loud
hissing sound, while what seemed to be a lot of steam, or a spray of
water, floated from the door behind her.




CHAPTER VII

THE STORM


Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker, on the front seat of the automobile,
looked in astonishment at the excited woman and at the white spray
coming from her little store.

Russ and Rose and Laddie and Violet, four of the six little Bunkers
in the rear of the car, were also much surprised, wondering what had
happened.

"It must be a fire!" exclaimed Russ, remembering what had happened that
day he and the others were playing steamboat in the attic, when the
chimney began to smoke in the wrong way.

"What makes the fire?" questioned Vi. It was just like her to ask a
question at this critical time.

As for Laddie, he said nothing. But his eyes opened big and round, and
perhaps he was trying to think up a riddle about the woman who had
rushed from the store with a cloud of steam behind her.

And this woman--the one who owned the candy store--was still waving her
hands and crying excitedly to Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker.

"Oh come in! Please come in and see what the matter is!" she begged.

By this time Captain Ben had stopped the automobile, and he was getting
out, followed by Mr. Bunker. The latter turned to Russ, Rose, Vi and
Laddie and said:

"Now you little Bunkers stay right in the car until we see what the
matter is."

"Can't I come and see, too?" Vi asked.

"No, indeed! There may be danger!" her father said.

Several persons from the village streets were now running toward the
little candy and soda water store, and one boy began to shout:

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Quickly the woman turned to him.

"Don't say that, Johnnie Mack!" she exclaimed. "It isn't a fire at all,
and I don't want a lot of engines and hose carts coming and mussing my
place up!"

"If it isn't a fire, then what is it?" asked Captain Ben. "Though it
does look more like steam than smoke," he added, as he glanced at the
white cloud still coming from the doorway of the store.

"What is it? What's the matter? What happened?" were some of the
questions asked of the woman.

"I don't know what it is! I can't exactly tell, but it's something
dreadful!" she said to Captain Ben, who, with Daddy Bunker, was about
to enter the place. "All I know is that I was drawing a glass of soda
water for a little girl when, all of a sudden, there was a big noise
down in the cellar and then a lot of steam shot up into my store. I ran
out, and the little girl ran out, and that's all I know about it."

"I think I know what it is," said Captain Ben. "There isn't any fire
and there's nothing serious. One of the soda water tanks in the cellar
has sprung a leak and the water is shooting out in a fine spray. It is
just as if you left one of the faucets of your soda fountain open," he
went on.

"Dear me! All my nice soda water running to waste!" exclaimed the
woman. "But I'm glad it isn't a fire."

"Won't there be any soda water left for us to drink?" asked Vi.

"There won't unless I shut it off pretty soon!" said Captain Ben. "How
do you get down into your cellar?" he asked the candy store woman. "I'm
afraid I can't see my way to go in through the front door," he added,
as he looked at the cloud of fizzy spray which almost hid the little
store from sight.

"You can get down the outside cellar stairs," she answered. "I'll show
you."

While the crowd and the four little Bunkers looked on, Captain Ben went
down the outside stairs to the cellar in which stood the tanks of soda
water. The tanks were filled with a gas which makes the bubbles in soda
water.

The soldier-sailor knew just what to do, and in a little while the
hissing sound stopped, the clouds of watery spray blew away, and it was
possible to enter the store.

Not much damage had been done, for, after all, it was only a fine spray
of water that had floated about, and it was such a fine spray that it
was almost like steam. The crowd swarmed about, looked in, and, seeing
nothing to wonder at, passed on.

"I'm ever so much obliged to you, sir," said the candy store woman to
Captain Ben. "For a time I thought my place was going to be blown up.
I'm glad it wasn't, for I have to make my living by my little store."

"Have you any soda water left?" inquired Vi, who, with the other little
Bunkers, had got out of the automobile when the crowd melted away.

"Yes, I have some in bottles. I don't suppose I could draw any from the
fountain, could I?" she asked Captain Ben.

"Not very well until the broken pipe is mended," he answered.

"Bottled soda is all right," declared Russ. "We can drink it from
straws if you have any," he added.

"Yes, I have some," the store woman said, and soon the four little
Bunkers were sitting on stools in front of the counter, sucking soda
water through straws out of bottles. Captain Ben insisted on using a
straw also, but Daddy Bunker drank his from a glass.

"My, that tastes good!" said Captain Ben, as he drained the last of his
sweet drink. "Many a time, in the army in France, I'd have walked ten
miles to get a cool drink like that."

"The soda from the fountain is better," the woman said. "But I guess I
won't have any of that to-day. I'll telephone for some one to come and
mend the broken pipe."

"Can't I go down and see where it broke?" asked Laddie, when it was
time for the little Bunkers to travel again. "I want to see it."

"There wouldn't be much to look at," Captain Ben told him. "It would
only be a hole in a pipe, just as there might be a hole in the water
pipe at home if it burst."

"Our water pipe did burst once," said Vi, "and I got awful nice and
wet, and it was a hot day, too."

"That was lucky!" laughed Captain Ben.

"If I could see this broken pipe maybe I could make up a riddle about
it," went on Laddie. "I didn't make up a riddle in a long, long time.
And if I don't make up one pretty soon I'll have to ask the old ones
over again."

"I'll tell you some new riddles when I get a chance," promised Captain
Ben. "It's dark down in the cellar, and you couldn't see anything much
anyhow. Besides, we don't want to be late getting to Grand View, or
your mother, with Margy and Mun Bun, will be there ahead of us. I'm not
so sure, after all, but what they'll be there first anyhow," he said to
Daddy Bunker. "It is later than I thought."

"Then we must hurry," said the children's father. "I wouldn't like Amy
and the two children to be there alone after dark."

"They'll be safe enough," declared Captain Ben. "The key to my bungalow
is at the house next door, and Cousin Amy can go in and make herself
and Mun Bun and Margy perfectly at home in case they get there first.
But we'll try to arrive ahead of them. I'll make the auto go a little
faster."

"Doesn't it seem funny not to have Mun Bun and Margy with us on this
trip?" asked Rose, as they all prepared to get into the automobile
again.

"Indeed it does," said her father. "But you six little Bunkers will
soon all be together again."

"Pile in!" called Captain Ben, and he helped Vi up into the seat to
which Russ had already assisted Rose. Laddie was just going to enter
the car when he suddenly turned back and hurried toward the store.

"What's the matter now?" his father called after him. "Are you still
going to look for the hole in the pipe where the soda water came out?"

"Maybe he left one of his riddles in there," suggested Captain Ben,
with a laugh.

A moment later they saw what it was Laddie had gone back after--it was
a little bag of cookies he had asked Rose to buy for him. He had laid
them on the counter when he was drinking his soda water through a straw
stuck in the bottle, and he did not intend to leave his lunch behind.

"Give me some!" begged Violet, when she saw what her brother had in his
hand.

"I'll give us all some," he promised generously.

"All aboard, then!" called Captain Ben, and once more they were on
their way toward Grand View. They stopped for lunch at a hotel in a
small town, and the children were delighted at this. They always liked
a change, no matter what it was.

"And we never had a summer like this," said Rose. "Two different
vacation trips--one to Uncle Fred's and the other to Captain Ben's."

"We aren't at Captain Ben's yet," said Rose, as they started off again
after their lunch.

"But we shall be pretty soon, shan't we, Daddy?" asked Rose.

"I don't know just how much farther it is," was the answer. "What do
you say?" he asked, turning to the soldier-sailor.

The latter did not reply for a moment, and then he looked up at the
sky, studied the clouds for a moment before he said:

"I don't want to look on the dark side, but I'm very much afraid we are
going to be later getting to Grand View than I thought."

"Why?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"Because I think we are going to run into a storm, and that will delay
us," said Captain Ben. "The roads are none too good, and with a heavy
rain, such as it seems likely we'll have, we can't make very fast time."

"I just love to be in a rain in an auto when the side curtains are up,
don't you?" asked Rose of Russ.

"I do if they don't leak," he answered.

"It's just like playing house in our attic," said Vi. "When do you
think it will rain, Captain Ben?" she went on.

"Very soon, I'm sorry to say," he replied.

The sun went behind the clouds, and the afternoon changed from a
bright, smiling one to a dark, frowning one. Then the wind began to
blow, and in the west, behind some dark clouds, flashes of lightning
could be seen.

Captain Ben made the automobile go as fast as was safe, hoping they
might reach some place of shelter before the storm broke. It was not
possible to get to his bungalow, as they were too far away.

Suddenly the machine began to slow up, just after a loud clap of
thunder which followed a bright flash of lightning.

"What's the matter?" exclaimed Rose. "Did it strike us?"

"Pooh! Of course not!" exclaimed Russ. "If we'd been hit you'd know it!"

"No, there is no danger yet," answered Captain Ben. "But I think we'd
better stop and put up the side curtains before it rains, as it is
going to soon, and rain hard," he said to Daddy Bunker.

The automobile was run beneath a tree at the edge of the road, and the
two men began fastening up the side curtains. Hardly had they finished
and climbed back into the machine, than there was a louder howl to the
wind, the thunder rolled and crashed overhead, the lightning blazed
in the black sky, and then the rain came down with pelting force,
pattering on the top and sides of the automobile as it did on the
shingle roof at the home of the six little Bunkers.




CHAPTER VIII

A QUEER NIGHT


"Isn't this fun!" shouted Rose, leaning back in the seat and putting
her arm around Violet. "It's just like camping out."

"It's better'n camping out," declared Russ, who sat next to Laddie. The
two smaller children were on the back seat of the automobile between
Russ and his sister.

"What makes this better'n camping out?" Violet wanted to know. "Is it
'cause it rains harder?"

"No," Russ answered, "it's because we're under better shelter than we
would be in a tent, camping out in the rain. No water can get through
this auto top."

"Yes it can, too!" cried Laddie. "I just felt a drop on my nose."

"Oh, that just leaked in around the side curtains," declared Russ,
with a laugh. "We'll not get wet; shall we, Captain Ben?"

"I hope not," was the marine's answer, as he got ready to drive the car
through the storm. He and Daddy Bunker were on the front seat, with the
glass wind shield in front of them, and curtains at the sides, as there
were at the back and at the sides near the seat where the children sat.

"You'll have to drive slowly," said Mr. Bunker in a low voice to
Captain Ben.

"Yes, we can't make any speed," said the sailor. "The roads are mud
puddles already."

Indeed it had rained so hard that in a very short time it seemed as
though the automobile was going along through a small brook instead of
along a country road. It was very dark, though it was only the middle
of the afternoon. But by the lightning flashes, which came every now
and then, the four little Bunkers, looking out through the celluloid
windows in the side curtains, could see the streams of muddy water
rushing along in the middle and on either edge of the country road
along which they were traveling.

The thunder, too, boomed out every now and then, a sound at which
Laddie and Vi would jump in startled surprise and nestle closer to Russ
and Rose. The smaller children were not exactly afraid, but they could
not help jumping at the loud sound made by the claps of thunder.

Uncle Ben had to drive the car more and more slowly, for it was
slippery on the muddy roads, and he did not want an accident. Finally,
after he had to come almost to a standstill where a brook had
overflowed the road, Russ and Rose heard their father talking to the
soldier-sailor.

"Do you think it is safe to go on?" asked Mr. Bunker.

"No, I can't say that I do," answered Captain Ben. "I think we shall
never be able to get to Grand View to-night."

"That's too bad," went on Daddy Bunker. "I'm not worrying about Amy and
Mun Bun and Margy," he added. "They will be all right in your bungalow.
But what are we going to do?"

"Well, we shall have to put up somewhere over night," answered Captain
Ben.

"Oh, are we going to stay at a hotel?" asked Rose. "I like hotels;
don't you, Russ?" she asked her brother.

"Sometimes I do, when they have good things to eat," he answered, but
his last words were almost lost in a crash of thunder. When the echoes
of that had quieted down, Captain Ben said:

"I don't believe there is a hotel within ten miles of us, and we
certainly can not travel that much farther in this storm."

"Then what are we going to do?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"Can't we stay in the auto all night?" asked Russ. "We have some
blankets and things in our satchels."

"I'm afraid none of you would sleep much," said Captain Ben, as he
slowed the machine to pass a bad spot in the road. "No, what we shall
have to do," he added, "will be to stop at the first house we come to
and ask them if they can take us in for the night. Some farmer may be
kind enough to let us stay in his barn, if there isn't room in the
house, but I guess they can manage, even if they have to make beds on
the floor."

"I like to sleep on the floor!" spoke up Laddie. "It doesn't hurt then
if you fall out."

"No, it doesn't," agreed his father, with a laugh, and just then Rose
looked ahead and exclaimed:

"There's a house! Maybe we can stop there!"

A lull had occurred in the storm, and through the mist and driving rain
she pointed to a large, white house at the side of the road.

"I'll try that," said Captain Ben, and he steered the automobile up
the drive. He got out, ran up the steps and knocked on the door. A
pleasant-faced woman answered. What was said the four little Bunkers
could not hear, but presently Captain Ben came running back.

"They will let us all stay here over night," he said. "They are
very kind, and we shall be most comfortable. Hurry up on the porch,
children, before it starts to pour again."

Hardly had Rose and Russ, Vi and Laddie got under the shelter of the
broad porch of the farmhouse than it began to rain harder than ever.
But the children did not mind now, for they were soon to be in better
shelter than even the curtained automobile gave.

The farmer, who seemed as pleasant as his wife, came out to show
Captain Ben where to put the automobile in the wagon house, and soon
the party was safe and snug in the comfortable house, while the storm
raged outside.

"Now if we only had mother and Margy and Mun Bun here, we'd be all
right," observed Rose.

"What's that? Are there any more of you?" asked the farmer, with a
hearty laugh as he looked at the visitors. "One, two, three, four!" he
counted the children. "Are there any more?"

"Oh, yes," answered Rose, also laughing. "There are six of us little
Bunkers. Margy and Mun Bun are with my mother."

"Well, well! Six little Bunkers!" exclaimed the farmer. "And I have
four of 'em! Wish I had all six to visit me!" he added. "I like
children," he continued, turning to Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker. "I
have none of my own, but my sister is visiting me, and she has three.
Hear 'em?" he asked, holding up his hand for silence.

As the four little Bunkers and the others listened during a lull in
the storm, there came from upstairs the sound of merry laughter and
shouting.

"The harder it rains and thunders the harder they play and laugh," said
Mr. White, as the farmer said his name was. "I'll bring my sister's
three youngsters down and let 'em play with your four. Then there'll
be some little Bunkers and little brooks," he went on. "My sister's
name is River, and I call the children little brooks," he added, with
another laugh.

"Oh, that's almost like a riddle!" declared Laddie.

"Oh, ho! So you know riddles, do you?" asked the farmer.

Just then there was a loud noise out in the hall, and down the stairs
came trooping the three little "brooks," as Mr. White called his
sister's children. They soon made friends with the four little Bunkers,
and then the storm was forgotten.

But it still rained hard, and the automobile could not have traveled
in it, so it was a good thing they all stayed at the comfortable
farmhouse. Mr. White said he had plenty of room for them all to sleep,
even if his sister was visiting them, and Russ was rather disappointed
that he was not permitted to sleep out in the haymow.

"I wish I could get word to my wife that we will not be along until
to-morrow," said Daddy Bunker, when it was certain they would have to
stay all night.

"You can send her a telegram," suggested Mr. White.

So a telegram was telephoned to the nearest telegraph office, being
sent to Mrs. Bunker, who, by this time, had reached Grand View. Then
the Bunkers settled down to stay for the night. First, however, they
were given supper, and such fun as the seven children had! They laughed
and talked, and Laddie told all the riddles he knew.

Tom, Jack and Bess, the three little "brooks," were jolly children
about the same age as the four little Bunkers, and Tom, the oldest boy,
and Russ were soon fast friends, while Jack and Bess, who were nearer
the age of Laddie and Vi, went off in a corner of the big living room
after the meal and played games.

At night Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben had one room, while Vi went in
with Rose and Laddie slept with Russ.

The children were tired, and went to bed early. Just what time it was
Rose did not know, but she was suddenly awakened by feeling a little
hand on her face, and a voice said in her ear:

"I want to come in with you!"

"Is that you, Margy?" Rose asked, half asleep. She thought for a moment
that she was back at home, and that Margy had come to "bunk in," as she
often did.

"No, I'm not Margy," was the answer. "I'm Bess. An' I can't sleep with
Jack 'cause he fumbles so." I think Bess meant tumbles, but she said
"fumbles."

"Oh, you're one of the little brooks, aren't you?" asked Rose, more
wide awake now.

"I'm Bess," was the answer, "an' I want to come in with you!"

Rose hardly knew what to do. There was scarcely room in the bed where
she and Vi were sleeping, but this strange little girl insisted on
climbing up.

Rose was thinking perhaps she had better call her father or Captain
Ben and ask one of them what to do, when, from the room across the
hall where Russ and Laddie had a bed, came a cry from the little
riddle-asking chap.

"Here! Quit that!" cried Laddie. "Let me alone! Stop pulling me out of
bed!"

"Gracious, what a queer night!" thought Rose, as she sat up in bed. The
storm had ended and it was very quiet except for the shouts of Laddie.
He kept on calling:

"Let me alone! Oh, there you go! Now I'm out of bed!"

There was a thud, and the whole house seemed to shake.




CHAPTER IX

IN THE DITCH


Rose jumped out of bed, brushing aside the little River girl who had
stolen so silently into her room, and hurried out into the hall, where
a night light burned. As she hastened out, Rose gave a hasty glance at
Violet. Her little sister had not awakened.

There was a patter of bare feet behind Rose, and she knew that Bess was
following. As she went after Rose into the hall Bess exclaimed:

"Oh, there he goes! There he goes! He's gone and done it again!"

At the same time there was a confusion of voices in several rooms, and
some one called:

"Never mind, Jack. Mother's coming!"

This was just what Rose had often heard her mother say when there had
been some scare in the night among the six little Bunkers.

"He's gone and done it again!" cried Bess, and she now clung to Rose's
nightgown. Then from the room whence the thud of the fall had come,
sounded another voice crying:

"I didn't mean to!"

"Well, this is getting more and more queer all the while!" thought
Rose, rubbing her eyes to make herself more widely awake. "First it was
Laddie who was calling about being pulled out of bed, but that wasn't
Laddie who spoke last, nor Russ."

A moment later Russ appeared, coming from the room where he had been
sleeping with his small brother Laddie. There was a strange look on
Russ' face. As Rose looked at him she saw the little figure of Jack
come out of the room behind Russ, even as Bess had followed her out of
her room. And then came Laddie, making a procession of three little
pajama-clad small boys.

At the other end of the hall Daddy Bunker appeared in his dressing
gown, and then came Mrs. River and Mr. White.

"What's the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"I don't know," Rose answered. "But this little girl--Bess--came into
my room and woke me up. I didn't know what to do, and then I heard
Laddie call about being pulled out of bed, and----"

"And I was pulled out of bed, too!" Laddie interrupted. "Somebody came
into my room in the night and pulled all the covers off me, and then he
pulled me, and it wasn't Russ, either!" he added.

"No, it was him!" and Bess pointed an accusing finger at her small
brother Jack. "He did it again, Uncle Ned," she added, looking toward
Mr. White.

"Dear me! what is it all about?" asked Captain Ben, now appearing. "I
don't quite understand."

"I think I can explain," said Mrs. River, who had slipped on a dressing
gown and slippers. "Jack walked in his sleep again, didn't he, Bess?"

"Yes, Mother, he did. He got awful scrambly when I was sleeping with
him, and I thought he was going to kick me out of bed, as he does lots
of times, so I got out first."

"You did?" exclaimed her mother. "And where did you go?"

"In with her," answered Bess, pointing to Rose.

"Then Jack must have got up a little later and pulled this little boy
out of bed," said Mrs. River. "I hope he didn't hurt you," and she
patted Laddie on the head.

"Oh, no'm. I fell on a pile of bedclothes," he answered. "But it felt
funny at first."

Jack, the innocent cause of all the trouble, stood scratching his back,
or rather, trying to reach an itchy place in the very center. But his
arms were not long enough.

"I'll scratch it for you," offered Laddie, and he did, amid the
laughter of the grown folk.

"Is that all that happened?" asked Daddy Bunker, when quiet was
restored.

"Yes," was the answer from Russ. "First I knew I heard Laddie yelling,
and then he rolled out of bed."

"I didn't roll--I was pulled. He pulled me!" said Laddie, pointing to
the poor little "brook" boy.

"I--I didn't mean to," said the poor little culprit. "I didn't know
what I was doing. I didn't even know I got out of my bed."

"I think, when you get back in, I'll have to tie you with a piece
of clothesline," his mother said. "He has often walked in his sleep
before," she explained; "but I never knew him to pull any one out of
bed until now."

The excitement was soon over, and the children went back to their beds
and to sleep. Mrs. River took Jack in with her, and Bess was allowed to
sleep with Rose and Violet, much to the delight of Bess. Violet never
awakened through all these happenings, nor did Tom, the oldest River
boy.

The sun was shining when the four little Bunkers came down to breakfast
the next morning, and they laughed with the little "brooks" at the
memory of what had happened in the night.

"As soon as I heard that big bang I knew what had happened," said Bess.
"I knew Jack had gone and done it again, but I didn't know who it was
he had pulled out of bed."

Breakfast over, the four little Bunkers, with Captain Ben and their
father, got ready to resume their trip to Grand View. They still had
many miles to go, but they thought they could make it by night, even
though the roads were bad.

"And they are pretty sure to be in poor condition," said Captain Ben,
as he brought the automobile around to the side porch. "We shall have
to drive slowly on account of so much slippery mud after the rain."

Mr. White would not accept any money for having taken care of the
travelers over night, and after thanking him and saying good-bye to
the little "brooks," promising to come and visit them some time, the
Bunkers started off once more.

"We'll have lots to tell mother when we see her," said Rose as she
settled herself in the rear seat of the car.

"I should say so!" exclaimed Russ. "It surely was funny to wake up and
hear Laddie yelling, and then to hear him fall out of bed!"

"And I didn't know what to think when I felt Bess touch me," remarked
Rose. "At first I thought it was Margy."

"I guess Margy and Mun Bun are playing near the ocean now," said Vi. "I
wish we were."

"You'll soon be with them," promised Captain Ben.

"And I'm going to try to think up a riddle about falling out of bed,"
said Laddie.

Though the sun shone and the weather was fine now, there were traces
of the night's storm on every side. In some places there were brooks
still running high with water, and in one or two sections the road
bed had been washed away, so that Captain Ben had to drive slowly and
carefully.

They had just left a small village, after a stop to get something to
eat and to let the children have soda water, when they passed a man
driving an empty farm wagon.

"You folks want to watch out just the other side of the white bridge,"
this man called to Captain Ben.

"What's the matter?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"There's a bad piece of road just after you cross the white bridge,"
was the answer. "It's clay, and clay is slippery when it's wet. Watch
out!"

"We will," promised Captain Ben, and he drove slowly along. They soon
came in sight of the white bridge. It went over a canal, and there was
a hill on either side of the bridge, which was raised high over the
canal to allow boats to pass under it.

"I should say it was a bad, slippery road!" said Captain Ben, as the
machine started down the slope after crossing the bridge. "I'll just
have to crawl."

He shut off all power and put on the brakes. For a little way the
car went down well, and it seemed as if nothing would happen. Then,
suddenly, the wheels slipped in the slimy clay and Daddy Bunker shouted:

"Look out!"

But, even as he spoke, the automobile slid to one side, and the
next moment there was a crash and the four little Bunkers and their
father and Captain Ben were almost standing on their heads inside the
automobile, which slid into a deep ditch partly filled with water at
the side of the road.




CHAPTER X

THE BAD RAM


There was silence for a moment, following the crash of the big touring
car in the ditch, and then Violet piped up in her shrill voice asking,
as of course you have guessed, a question.

"What happened?" demanded Violet, and then, as Captain Ben looked back
and saw that all four little Bunkers were safe in the rear seat, though
somewhat mixed up, and as he saw Daddy Bunker straightening up after
having slid from the front seat, Captain Ben laughed.

"I guess more things happened than we'll know about right away,"
answered the marine. "Are any of you hurt?"

"I--I guess my nose got bumped," said Laddie. "It feels so, anyhow."

"You ought to know whether or not you bumped it," his father said.

"I didn't bump it--my nose bumped itself on the back of your seat,"
explained Laddie. "Anyhow, I don't guess it's bloodin', is it?" he went
on, holding his hand to his nose. "Bloodin'" was Laddie's word for
bleeding.

"No, it isn't bloodin' any," Vi told her brother. "But, oh, wasn't it
funny the way we slid into the ditch?"

"I'm glad it is no worse than funny," said Captain Ben. "I felt the car
sliding on the slippery road, but the brakes would not hold her back.
I'm afraid something is broken, but I'm glad none of our bones are."

"Lessen Laddie's nose is," put in Vi.

By this time Daddy Bunker and the children had climbed down from the
car. They could see now what had happened. It had slid almost head
first into the roadside ditch, which was partly filled with muddy
water from the last night's rain. The radiator, or that part of the
automobile which is kept filled with water to cool the engine, was
thrust into the muddy bank on the far side of the ditch. One of the
front wheels was broken, and, in addition, the car was tilted on one
side. If it had not been for the edges of the ditch holding the car
up, it would have turned right over on its side.

"Oh, the wheel is broken!" exclaimed Rose, as she looked at the
splintered spokes.

"And we can't go on to Grand View and see mother!" added Vi.

"Shall we have to stay here all night?" Laddie asked. "If we do,
we'd better get a tent, 'cause it won't be any fun sleeping in the
automobile like that."

"No, it will not," said Captain Ben, as he walked around the car and
looked at it from all sides to see the worst of the damage. "But we
won't stay here all night. If we can't go on in this machine, we'll get
another."

"I don't see how you can go on in this when a wheel is smashed," said
Daddy Bunker.

"I have an extra wheel," Captain Ben said. "If that is the worst of
the damage we can get over that, provided we can get pulled out of the
ditch. That's the first thing to be done--get pulled out of the ditch.
But it looks as though we should not get to Grand View even to-night,
and I don't know what Cousin Amy will think of me for keeping her four
little Bunkers away from her two nights in succession, not to say
anything about her big Bunker," and as he said this Captain Ben looked
at the children's father.

"Yes, I fear Amy will be missing us," said Mr. Bunker. "But we don't
want to desert you, Captain Ben. If I had some way of talking to Amy
and telling her just what has happened, letting her know the children
are safe, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we stayed on the road another
night--that is if we have to."

"I'm almost sure we'll have to," said Captain Ben. "I am very sorry,
but I seem to have brought you nothing but bad luck ever since I came.
When I arrived your chimney was on fire. Then almost as soon as we
start out we run into a storm and have to stay all night. We can't even
have a peaceful night, for Jack made Laddie fall out of bed and there
were all kinds of excitement."

"That was only fun!" laughed Rose.

"It sure was," agreed Russ. "And maybe this will be fun, too. That is,
if mother doesn't worry, and we can get the car out of the ditch," he
added.

"Oh, we can get the car out of the ditch, sooner or later," Captain Ben
remarked. "And I fancy we can get word to your mother--perhaps on the
telephone. We'll try, anyhow."

As he spoke he thrust out his left arm and glanced down at his wrist.

"Ha! I forgot about my watch being gone," he exclaimed. "I'm so in the
habit of looking at it that I forget it isn't on my wrist any more."

"Didn't you find your watch?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"No, it was lost in the excitement of packing, and I haven't seen it
since," the soldier-marine answered. "I'd give a good reward to get
it back, too, for I prize it very much because it was the gift of a
Frenchman. But I don't suppose I'll ever find it."

"You may," said Daddy Bunker hopefully. "As soon as we get to your
bungalow at Grand View I'll write back and ask Jerry Simms or Norah if
they have found it. They may have picked it up after we left."

"Yes, they might," agreed Captain Ben. "And I'll give five dollars as a
reward to whoever finds my lost watch," he added.

"Does that mean any of us?" asked Russ eagerly.

"Yes, any of the six little Bunkers," answered Captain Ben. "Or either
of the two big Bunkers, which means daddy or mother," he added. "But we
won't worry about my lost watch now. The main things to do are to get
our auto out of the ditch and to let Mother Bunker know that we are all
right and that we'll not be at Grand View to-night, unless you folks
go on in the train and let me come later in the machine after I get it
fixed."

"No, we'll stay with you," said Daddy Bunker. "We won't desert the
ship, as the sailors would say. Of course I suppose I could send the
children on and stay with you myself," he remarked.

"Oh, no! Please let us stay!" begged Russ. "It's lots of fun being
wrecked in an auto."

"I like it, too," said Laddie. "And maybe I can think of a funny riddle
about going in the ditch to tell mother."

"All right; then we'll stay with Captain Ben and help get the machine
out of the ditch," said Daddy Bunker. "After it is on level ground we
can try to put on the extra wheel, and perhaps then we can travel and
get to Grand View rather late to-night."

"I hope so," said Captain Ben. "If we could get some fence rails,
perhaps we could raise the auto out of the ditch ourselves. I used to
do such things in France during the war."

"There's lots of fences around here," observed Russ.

This was true enough. The auto had gone into the ditch near the canal,
and it was in a part of the country where there were many fields,
bordered by rail fences. A long fence rail makes a very good lever, or
lifter, for an auto, Captain Ben explained.

While the four little Bunkers wandered along the roadside, gathering
flowers and tossing stones into a little brook, Captain Ben and Daddy
Bunker took some rails from the fence. They intended to put them back
when they had finished using them. With stones they built up a sort of
pile, or pyramid, on which to rest part of the rail, while one end of
it was shoved under the wheel that was deepest in the mud of the ditch.
Then the two men pressed down on the other end of the rail.

Russ, who did not care much about picking flowers, came back to watch
his father and the captain. Russ wanted to help, but he knew this was
no time to ask, so he sat on the grassy bank whistling softly, and
making a little boat out of a piece of wood.

"I think we'll have to get help," said Captain Ben, as he straightened
up after he and Daddy Bunker had pressed down heavily on the long end
of the rail. "The two of us together are not strong enough to raise the
car out of the ditch."

"Maybe I could help!" offered Russ eagerly.

"Not just yet," his father said, with a laugh. "Though a little later
on we may call on you. I wonder if there is a place around here where
we could get a couple of farmers to give us a hand," he went on.

"Here comes a canal boat," said Russ, looking down the still, quiet
stream of water which was not like a brook or a river. The water in the
canal did not run, but remained as still as the water in a bath tub.

"It's a nice canal boat," went on Russ, "and it's got some mules
pulling it, and a man is driving the mules. Maybe he'd lend us his
mules to help pull the auto out of the ditch."

"Maybe he would," agreed Mr. Bunker. "We'll ask him. But first let's
put the fence rail back under the wheel so when the canal boat man
comes along we may show him what we want to do."

As Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben leaned over to put the fence rail
in place, Russ turned from looking at the canal boat to glance over
the field near the half overturned auto. And the boy caught sight of
something that made him cry:

"Oh, look out! Look out! Here he comes!"

"Who's coming?" asked Daddy Bunker. "If it's a farmer who is going to
find fault because we borrowed his fence rails, we can offer to pay
him."

"Oh, it isn't a farmer!" cried Russ. "It's worse! It's a bad ram! A
big, ugly sheep with horns, and he's going to bunk into Captain Ben, I
guess! Oh, look out!"




CHAPTER XI

THE APPLE BOY


What Russ had said was perfectly true. Daddy Bunker looked around just
in time to see a big ram bounding out of the meadow toward Captain Ben,
who was stooping to put the fence rail under the broken wheel of the
automobile. And it was because of the rails that had been taken off the
fence that the ram was able to get out of his meadow.

"Oh, look!" screamed Rose, who, with Laddie and Vi, had come back to
the automobile, their hands full of wayside flowers.

"Don't let him bunk into me!" shrieked Vi.

"I'll make him go back! I'll throw stones at him!" cried Laddie.

"Indeed you'll not do anything of the sort!" exclaimed Rose. "Come
back here, Laddie Bunker!" and she caught her little brother by his
jacket and stopped him from running forward. Laddie had dropped his
flowers, and was going to pick up some stones.

Russ had jumped to his feet and seized a stick. With that he intended
to do as Laddie had said he was going to--attack the ram. But as the
sheep creature with his long horns came nearer, and as Laddie saw what
a big, ugly animal he was, the boy did not feel much like standing his
ground.

[Illustration: THE BIG RAM RUSHED AT CAPTAIN BEN.]

By this time Captain Ben, who had not as yet seen the ram, straightened
up.

"What's the matter?" asked the marine. "Has another accident happened?"

Just as he said this, and before Daddy Bunker could do as he was going
to do, and thrust a fence rail between the ram's legs to trip him, the
big sheep rushed full at Captain Ben.

"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated the ram, and with lowered head and curved horns,
he struck Captain Ben "amidships," as the marine said after it was all
over.

There was a dull thud, and Captain Ben was knocked over and down
into the same ditch into which the automobile had nearly turned a
somersault.

"Hi, there! Stop that! Go on away!" yelled Russ, jumping up and down,
swinging his hat in one hand and waving a stick in the other. "Go on
away!"

But the ram paid no attention to the shouts of the boy, nor to the
screams of Rose, Laddie and Violet in the road a safe distance away.

"Are you hurt, Captain Ben?" asked Daddy Bunker, as he caught up a
heavy rail and started toward the ram.

"No, not at all," came the answer from Captain Ben, who was getting up,
after having been knocked down into the ditch. "Luckily for me I fell
on a lot of soft grass."

"Don't get up or come this way, or this brute will butt you down
again," warned Daddy Bunker. "I'll see if I can drive him away. Stay on
the other side of the ditch."

"No, I'm coming to help you. The ram may try to horn some of the
children," returned the soldier-sailor. It was just like Captain Ben
not to run away from a fight, either with some enemy on the battle
field or a savage ram in a meadow.

Not much hurt by having been knocked head over heels, Captain Ben
caught up a stick, like Daddy Bunker, and, leaping across the ditch,
started to run toward the ram. The big, woolly creature stood on a
little hill, looking at the partly overturned automobile, then at the
two men rushing toward him, and then at Russ and the other children.

"You get back where you belong and let me work on my auto!" called
Captain Ben, as he raised his fence rail to push the ram away. "Get
back in your own meadow!"

"We can't make him stay there unless we put back the fence rails, I
guess," said Daddy Bunker. "And we have to use them to get the auto out
of the ditch."

The two men, with the long rails, rushed at the ram. But he stood his
ground, shaking his head, stamping with his forefeet, and uttering loud
"Baa-a-as!"

Just as Daddy Bunker and Uncle Ben were going to thrust at the ram, a
voice behind them called:

"Look out, friends! That's a bad animal! Once he goes on a rampage
there's no stopping him."

The four little Bunkers and their father and Captain Ben turned to see
the canal mule driver rushing to their aid with a long whip in his
hand.

"I know old Hector, the ram!" said the mule driver. "He's butted me
more than once, and he tried to butt one of my mules. But that time he
got the worst of it. Better let him alone!"

"But we want to drive him away," called Captain Ben. "He knocked me
into the ditch, and he won't let us get our auto out. We've got to
drive him away."

"Well, then, I'll help you," offered the mule driver. "Maybe if all
three of us go at him at once we can scare him away."

"Let me help!" begged Russ. "I can throw stones!"

"No! No!" exclaimed his father. "You look after Rose and the children.
Better climb back into the auto. He can't get at you there."

Russ started to do as his father had requested, and then the three men
rushed at the ram together. The mule driver cracked his whip, making
sounds like Fourth of July fire-crackers. Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker
shouted and waved their fence rails. The ram stood for a moment, poised
on top of a little mound of grass, where he had climbed after butting
Captain Ben.

"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated the big sheep, as though saying he was not afraid
of all of them.

But before Captain Ben or Daddy Bunker could reach at him with the
rails, and before the mule driver could flick him with the cracking
whip, the ram thought better of his idea. He uttered another loud
"Baa-a-a!" and then, turning, ran back into the field whence he had
come.

"Oh, I'm so glad he's gone!" cried Rose, who, with the other little
Bunkers, had been about to climb into the tilted automobile.

"He may come back again," said the mule driver. "He's a bad one, all
right, that ram is. I've been traveling this canal towpath for five
years, and I know old Hector. Whenever he gets loose there's trouble."

"I guess we were too much for him this time," said Daddy Bunker. "I
fancy he did not like the cracking of your whip."

"That's about the only way I can scare him," said the mule driver.
"I'll keep it handy in case he comes back."

But Hector, the ram, did not seem to have any idea of coming back.
He ambled off over the green meadow, now and then looking back and
uttering a "Baa-a-a!" It was as though he had decided he had had enough
fun for one day. And he must have laughed to himself, if rams ever
laugh, at the funny manner in which he had butted Captain Ben head over
heels into the ditch.

"My, but you seem to be in a peck of trouble," said the mule driver, as
he looked at the automobile in the ditch. "Can I help any?"

"I was just going to ask you to, when my little boy called out about
the ram," answered Daddy Bunker. "Do you think you can help us get the
auto on level ground, so we can put on an extra wheel?"

"I'll do my best," offered the mule driver. "I saw something was wrong,
so I ran over from the towpath. There's another man on the boat. I'll
call him. I guess the four of us can manage it. But it will probably
take some time."

"Yes, I think it will," said Daddy Bunker. "And it is nearly noon, too.
Do you know if there is a hotel around here, or a place where I can
take the children to stay while we are working on the car?"

"There isn't any hotel," said the mule driver, "but about a quarter
of a mile down the road is Mr. Brown's place. He has a big farm and
orchard, and he sells meals to auto travelers, and sometimes keeps them
over night."

"That might be just the place for us," said Daddy Bunker. "We may have
to stay all night again."

"If we do," said Rose, "I hope nobody walks in his sleep."

"What's she mean?" asked the mule driver.

"That's what happened where we stayed last night," explained Mr.
Bunker. "There were some other children at the farmhouse, and one of
them walked in his sleep."

"There aren't any children at Mr. Brown's," said the mule driver, "and
I never heard of him or his wife walking in their sleep. They have good
meals there, too--roast chicken, hot biscuits, pie, cake----"

"Oh, I'm so hungry!" cried Vi. "Mayn't we stay there, Daddy?"

"At least we'll go there for dinner," said her father. "And then,
later, we'll decide about to-night. Come on, children, I'll take you
to Mr. Brown's country farm hotel, and then I'll come back to help
Captain Ben."

Mr. Brown's place proved to be a sort of wayside boarding house, where
automobile parties often stopped. He and his wife said they would look
after the children while the men worked on the automobile. And, if need
be, the party could stay all night.

"The only thing is I must get word to my wife. I'd like to talk to her
on the telephone," said Daddy Bunker.

"I have a long distance telephone right in the house," said Mr. Brown.
"You call her up and see what she says."

This Mr. Bunker did, managing to get his wife on the telephone in Grand
View. He told her briefly what had happened, and said they might not be
at Captain Ben's bungalow that night even, on account of the accident.

Mrs. Bunker told her husband not to worry, as she was all right with
Margy and Mun Bun, though of course lonesome for him and the other
little Bunkers.

"Then we'll remain here to-night if we can't get the car fixed," said
Daddy Bunker to Mr. Brown. "I'll let the children stay here now, and
Captain Ben and I will come and get our dinner a little later."

Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi thought the Brown homestead was one of the
nicest places they had ever visited. While dinner was being got ready
they sat on the broad porch and told Mr. Brown some of their adventures
so far on this trip.

"My, you've had a lot happen to you," he said. "Automobiling is a risky
business I take it. I'll stick to horses. I remember once I was in an
auto and I----"

Mr. Brown stopped suddenly, looked down toward his orchard and cried:

"There he is again! That pesky apple boy! I'll get him this time, and
I'll teach him to steal my fruit! Hi there, you pesky apple boy!" he
shouted, as he leaped from his chair and started on a run toward the
orchard.




CHAPTER XII

OFFERING HELP


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

"Hi there, stop, you pesky apple-taker of a boy!" yelled Mr. Brown.
"What do you mean by coming into my orchard and taking my apples!"

The boy said never a word, but ran all the faster toward the fence.

"Come on!" called Russ to Rose. "Let's go and see if he catches him!"

Laddie and Vi followed their older brother and sister down off the
porch, and ran after Mr. Brown into the apple orchard, which was not
far from the house.

"What's the matter, children?" cried Mrs. Brown, coming from her
kitchen where she was getting dinner ready. "Are you running away?"

"We're going to see Mr. Brown catch the apple boy," Russ answered back
over his shoulder.

"Is that pesky apple boy here again?" asked the farmer's wife.

"What's a pesky apple boy?" asked Laddie, as he ran along beside Russ.
"Is it a riddle? If it is I wish she or Mr. Brown would tell me the
answer."

"No, 'pesky' is sort of mean, I think," explained Russ.

"Hi there! Don't you run off with my apples!" shouted the farmer again,
and by this time the boy had reached the fence. He started to climb
over it, but it was too high, or else he was too small, and as he
wiggled and struggled many more apples kept dropping from his pockets.
He seemed to have filled his coat and trousers pockets pretty full
with Mr. Brown's apples.

"Now I have you!" cried Mr. Brown, as he rushed up to the boy and
pulled him back just as the little fellow might have gotten over the
fence if he had had a moment more. "Now I have you! I'll teach you to
take my apples! I warned you if I caught you in my orchard again I'd
have you arrested, and now I'm going to! I told you to keep out of my
orchard!"

"No, you didn't," answered the boy in a sullen voice, as the farmer
took hold of his collar and began to drag him toward the house.

"What makes you say I didn't?" demanded Mr. Brown, while Russ, Rose,
and the others looked on wonderingly. "Didn't I tell you not to take
any more of my apples?"

"No, you didn't!" exclaimed the boy. "And I wish you'd let me go! I
never was in your orchard before, and I never took any of your apples
before, and I wouldn't have taken any now only I was so hungry I was
almost starved!"

His chin began to tremble, and so did his lips, and it was easy to see
he was almost ready to cry.

Mrs. Brown came down through the orchard to meet her husband.

"I see you caught him," she said. "We'll teach him not to take any more
of our apples! Bring him along and send for the constable. He'll take
him to the lockup!"

"Oh, please don't have me arrested!" begged the boy, who was a little
older than Russ. "I never took any of your apples before, and I
wouldn't have taken any now, only I was so hungry I couldn't help it.
I didn't have any supper, and I didn't have any breakfast and I didn't
see where I was going to get any dinner, and----"

"Here, Abner Brown, you let that boy go!" suddenly exclaimed Mrs.
Brown, and there was a new note in her voice and a different look on
her face. "Poor child! He's half starved, anybody can see that! And I
have a good dinner almost cooked and ready to serve. You come right
along with me, poor child. I'll give you your dinner with these other
children."

"Oh, thank you!" said the boy, as the farmer let go of him. "Honest, I
never took any of your apples before. I only just got here," he went
on. "I've been walking a long way, and when I saw the apples I was so
hungry I just couldn't help taking a few."

"Are you sure you were never in my orchard before?" asked Mr. Brown.

"Sure!" was the answer. "I never was in this town before. I don't even
know the name of it."

"Of course this isn't the same boy, Abner," went on Mrs. Brown. "A body
could see that with their eyes shut. The other boy, who's been taking
our apples, has red hair. This boy's is brown. 'Tisn't the same one at
all!"

"I'm glad of it," said the farmer. "But I would like to catch that chap
who's been stealing from my orchard. Not that I mind a few apples. I'd
give 'em to him willingly if he'd come and ask me. But I don't like a
pesky apple thief! Though how you can see even red hair with your eyes
shut, Mother, I don't know," he added, with a laugh at his wife.

"Never mind about that," she said to her husband. "He isn't the same
boy, and I'm glad of it. Come on up to the house," she went on. "I
reckon I can give you a better dinner than just apples, though they're
good enough to eat when you want 'em."

"Thank you," said the boy gratefully. "I'll do some chores for you to
pay for my meal and the apples I took, if you'll let me," he went on.
"I offered to work for a man last night, to pay for my supper, but he
wouldn't let me, and he said if I didn't get off his place he'd set his
ugly old ram after me."

"Maybe that's the same ram that butted Captain Ben!" exclaimed Rose.

"Did that old ram of Hank Yardon's get loose?" asked Mr. Brown, as he
walked back to the house with the children.

"Yes," answered Russ, and he told what had happened.

"Well, well!" said the farmer. "It's a good thing the canal mule driver
happened along. Hector is a bad one!"

"Do you live here?" asked the "apple boy," as Rose called him. He put
his question to Russ, beside whom he was walking to the house.

"No," was the answer. "We're on our way to Captain Ben's at Grand View
and----"

"Where'd you say?" interrupted the boy quickly.

"Captain Ben's," said Rose.

"No, I mean the name of the place."

"Oh! Grand View," went on Russ. "It's on the seashore, and we're going
there for our second vacation. We had one at Uncle Fred's ranch in the
West, but something went wrong with the pipes in our school, and we
couldn't go back for a month, so Captain Ben invited us to Grand View."

"Hum! Yes. Grand View," murmured the apple boy, who had said his name
was Tad Munson.

"Do you know where it is?" asked Rose, while Laddie and Vi ran on
ahead, racing to see who would first reach the front porch of the
farmhouse.

"Yes, I know," was the low-voiced answer. "And I wish I was there. But
I don't see how I can get there. All my money is gone, and none of the
farmers want any work done that I can do. But I'm glad I'm going to
have some dinner," he went on. "I can smell it now, and it makes me
hungrier than ever."

"I'm hungry, too," said Russ.

"Are you going around in an automobile?" asked Vi, coming back after
she had beaten Laddie in a race to the porch.

"An automobile? I should say not!" cried the boy. "I travel on shanks'
mules, I do."

"Are they like canal mules?" Vi wanted to know.

"Not exactly," answered the boy, smiling. "They're my legs--shanks I
call 'em--and I've walked many a mile on 'em since I--well, for the
last week," he said quickly.

Russ looked at the boy sharply. There seemed to be something strange
about him--as though he wanted to hide something--to hide something
more than the apples he had stuffed into his pockets.

"If I could get back anywhere near Grand View I'd never go away again,"
said the boy in a low voice. "I guess I did wrong, but it's too late
now. I wish----"

Just then the voice of Mrs. Brown was heard calling:

"Come to dinner, children!"

"Ah! That sounds good!" murmured Tad Munson.

Russ, Rose and the others thought the same, and soon they were sitting
down to a bountifully supplied table. As the canal mule driver had
said, there was roast chicken, hot biscuits with plenty of gravy, and
many other good things.

"I wish Daddy and Captain Ben could have some of this," said Rose, as
she passed her plate for a second helping.

"Oh, I'll save plenty for them," said Mrs. Brown. "I always cook a lot,
because automobile folks are almost always hungrier than the general
run. Are you feeling better?" she asked the strange boy who had taken
the apples.

"Oh, I feel a lot better," he said. "I can't thank you enough, nor tell
you how sorry I am I took your apples," said Tad. "I'll do some chores
to pay for my meal."

"I think we shan't worry about that," said Mr. Brown, with a laugh. "I
didn't mean to collar you quite so roughly, but I've been bothered a
lot with the pesky apple boys."

"I know a riddle about apples," said Laddie.

"Do you?" asked Mrs. Brown. "What is it?"

"It's like this," went on Laddie. "Why is an apple like a wax doll?"

"Why is an apple like a wax doll? I never heard of such a thing!"
laughed the farmer's wife. "An apple isn't any like a wax doll that I
can see."

"Yes it is," said Laddie. "An apple is like a wax doll 'cause they
both have red cheeks. A wax doll has red cheeks, and an apple has red
cheeks."

"What about a green apple?" asked Mr. Brown, as the others laughed at
Laddie's little riddle.

"Oh, well, I didn't mean a green apple," said the little boy.

Dinner was half over when Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben came in.

"Did you get the auto out of the ditch?" asked Russ.

"Yes. But it's more badly broken than I thought," Captain Ben replied.
"It can't be fixed until to-morrow, so we shall have to stay here all
night. You don't mind as long as your mother and the other two little
Bunkers are all right, do you?" he asked Russ.

"Oh, no," was the answer. "It's fun here!"

"And there was a pesky apple boy, only he wasn't the same one 'cause
he didn't have red hair," explained Vi, "and there he is now!" and she
pointed to Tad, whose face got as red as the wax doll's cheeks that
Laddie told about in his riddle.

"Oh, another youngster," remarked Captain Ben. "Are you a stalled
autoist, too?"

"No such luck," replied the boy. "I have to walk when I travel. And I
wish I could hurry and travel right now to Avalon."

"Avalon on the coast?" asked Captain Ben quickly.

"Yes," answered the boy. "Avalon is where I want to get to. But I don't
see how I'm going to."

"Avalon is only a little distance from Grand View, where I have my
summer bungalow," went on the sailor. "If you'd like to get there I can
take you as far as I'm going. And you can get a trolley car to Avalon
from Grand View."

"Yes, I know I can," went on the boy. "I'd be ever so much obliged if
you'd take me as far as Grand View."

"I guess we can do that," promised the captain. "We'll give you help
along the way as soon as our car is in shape, which won't be until
morning, however."

"I'll wait and ride along with you, if they'll let me sleep here in
the barn," said the boy, with a look at Mr. Brown.

"Oh, shucks! We have plenty of room for you in the house," said the
farmer's wife. "Stay and welcome!"

"All right, I will, and thank you," the boy replied.

"And now you men folks had better sit up and get your dinner," went on
Mrs. Brown. "Getting autos out of ditches is hungry work."

"Indeed it is!" agreed Captain Ben.

He and Daddy Bunker had almost finished their pie, which was the last
course of the meal, when a man came rushing up the front path.

"Say, whoever owns that auto that's stuck in the ditch had better hurry
back there!" the man called. "Something's the matter! I can hear a lot
of yelling around the bend in the road!"

Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben hurried from the table.

"Goodness! what's going to happen now?" said Rose to Russ.




CHAPTER XIII

THE MISSING BOY


The four little Bunkers had finished their dinner before their father
and Captain Ben had started to eat. Tad Munson, the "apple boy," had
also completed his meal, and as the man came running in from the road,
calling out that something was wrong down where the automobile had been
left, Russ, Rose, Vi and Laddie, together with Tad, started after Mr.
Bunker and Captain Ben.

"What you s'pose it is?" asked Vi, as she pattered along with her twin
brother, holding his hand.

"I don't know," answered Russ, who was running with Rose. "This is no
time to ask a lot of questions, Vi."

"I didn't ask a _lot_. I asked only _one_," retorted the little girl.
"And I think you might answer that."

"I would if I knew the answer," said Russ, smiling a little; "but I
don't. We'll run along and see what's happening."

"Maybe somebody is trying to take the auto," suggested Tad, who had
made good friends with the four little Bunkers.

"I guess they couldn't take Captain Ben's car unless they put on a new
wheel and did a lot of other things," said Russ. "It was pretty badly
smashed and they couldn't have fixed it so soon."

"No, I guess not," agreed Tad. "Anyhow, something's happening."

This was true enough. As the children ran out of the gate and down the
road after the man who had given the alarm, their father, and Captain
Ben, they could hear through the quiet, still country air a loud
shouting around the bend in the road where the auto was in the ditch,
about a quarter of a mile away.

As the little Bunkers and the others hurried away from his house Mr.
Brown was heard to say:

"I knew it! You can't tell me autos are safe! Something's always
happening to 'em! Give me a horse every time!"

A little later Russ, Rose and the others came within sight of the place
where Captain Ben's car had gone into the ditch. The children saw their
father and Captain Ben approaching a crowd of men, who surrounded the
car.

"What'd I tell you?" cried Tad. "Some thieves are trying to take your
auto!"

"It does look so," agreed Russ, for certainly there was quite a throng
about the machine, and all the men seemed much excited.

Suddenly, however, the crowd about the stalled car parted, and out from
among them ran a mule, who brayed loudly and kicked up his heels as
though he were having a good time.

"Oh, look! Look!" cried Vi. "Look at the funny mule!"

"He's a circus mule!" added Laddie. "See him kick up his heels! I could
think of a funny riddle about him if I had time!"

"What do you s'pose is the matter?" asked Rose. "Were they trying to
make the mule do some tricks, Russ?"

"I guess the mule did tricks without any making," her brother answered.
"Oh, look at him kick up his heels!"

Indeed the canal animal was flying around in a circle, every now and
then rising up on his forefeet and letting fly with his hind ones, and
the men took good care to keep out of his way.

Then, with a loud bray, the mule started over toward the canal bank,
and one of the men followed him, shouting to the animal to stop.

By this time Russ and the other children had reached the place of
excitement. They saw their father and Captain Ben laughing, and then
they knew nothing serious had happened.

"What was it? What made the mule kick up so funny? Was he a circus
mule, and did he run back to the circus?" asked Vi, getting in all the
questions possible in as short a time as she could.

"No, he wasn't exactly a circus mule, but he acted like one," her
father answered. "Did any of you get kicked?" he inquired of the men
around the automobile.

"No; but I come pretty near on to it," answered one of them. "He sure
was a high performer."

"What happened?" asked Russ of Captain Ben.

"Yes, tell us," murmured Rose.

"As nearly as I can find out," said Captain Ben, "when your father and
I went to dinner, after getting the auto as far out of the ditch as we
could, some of the men from the canal decided they would hitch one of
their mules to the car and see if he could pull it out. Mules are very
strong, you know."

"Are they strong kickers, too?" asked Laddie.

"Indeed they are, very strong," Captain Ben answered. "Well, as I said,
while we were down at Mrs. Brown's, getting our dinner, the men tried
to hitch the mule to the auto that was still partly in the ditch. But
the mule didn't like the work, for he began to kick out, and finally he
broke loose and did as he pleased."

"That's the racket I heard as I was coming along the road," said the
man who had run to Mr. Brown's to give the alarm. "I heard a mule
braying and men shouting, and a boy told me about the auto accident a
little while before. This boy said the man who owned the car was at
Brown's boarding house, so I ran there to tell you."

"I'm glad you did," said Daddy Bunker. "I'm sorry there was so much
trouble, but I'm glad no one was hurt. I guess we can't depend on a
mule for hauling our car out of the ditch."

"I guess not," said the canal boat man who had proposed using the
long-eared animal. "General Sherman is all right, but he doesn't like
to pull automobiles."

"Who's General Sherman?" asked Russ.

"That's my mule's name," answered the canal boat man.

"You children had better run back to Mr. Brown's now," said Daddy
Bunker to Russ and the others. "We'll see what we can do toward getting
the car out, though I don't see how we can travel any farther to-day.
It means another night on the road."

"Oh, it's fun! I like it," said Rose.

"It will be all right if nobody walks in his sleep," added Russ.

"But I want to see mother and Mun Bun and Margy," said Vi, in a sad
little voice.

"We'll see them to-morrow," promised her father. "And I talked to
mother on the telephone, so I know she's all right, and she knows
we're all right."

Vi looked more cheerful on hearing this, and soon she and the others
were ready to start back to Mr. Brown's pleasant farmhouse.

"Aren't you coming back with us, Daddy, and finish your dinner?" Laddie
asked his father.

"We had enough," said Mr. Bunker.

"You didn't eat your pie," said Laddie.

"Well, then, I'll take two pieces at supper," said Mr. Bunker, and he
laughed with Captain Ben.

The rest of the day passed quickly for the four little Bunkers and Tad
Munson, who played with them around the barn and the farmhouse. Tad
seemed happier, now that he had been promised a ride almost to the town
near Grand View where he wanted to go. But with all his good-nature,
there seemed to be something strange about this boy who had taken
apples because he was hungry.

"I have my own ideas about that lad," is what Russ heard Mr. Brown
saying to his wife when milking time came.

"What do you think," asked Mrs. Brown.

"I think he's been in some kind of trouble," went on the farmer. "Too
bad, it is, for he seems like a nice lad."

Russ wondered what could be the matter with Tad.

Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben came up the road from the ditch where they
had been working on the automobile. They looked tired, and they were
very dirty.

"Did you get it out of the ditch?" asked Russ of his father.

"Yes," was the answer, "it's out of the ditch. And we managed to get
it to a garage where we hope it will be fixed so we can go on in the
morning."

"If we don't get to Grand View pretty soon," said Captain Ben, "I'm
afraid the six little Bunkers will think I'm a pretty poor sort of a
vacation planner. I haven't given you a very good time yet."

"Oh, we've had lots of fun!" Rose hastened to say.

"And the mule was awful funny the way he kicked up his heels," laughed
Vi.

"I wish I could think of a riddle about him," said Laddie.

The others laughed at the little fellow, and then, when Daddy Bunker
and Captain Ben had washed off as much of the oil and grease as
possible, they all sat down to supper. Tad was with the four little
Bunkers.

"Will you be ready to ride back to Grand View with us in the morning?"
asked Captain Ben of the strange boy.

"Oh, yes, thank you," was the answer. "I want to get to Avalon as soon
as I can."

After supper the visitors sat out on the broad porch in the pleasant
shadows of evening. Mr. Brown was telling some simple riddles he knew,
and Laddie was trying to guess them, when, suddenly, the farmer started
from his chair and looked down toward the orchard.

"What's the matter?" asked his wife. "Do you see that red-haired boy
after our fruit?"

"Well," said the farmer slowly, "it's a little too dark to see if he
has red hair or not, but there's somebody down in my orchard. I'll go
and take a look."

"Better be careful," warned his wife.

"I'm not afraid," was the answer, and he stepped quietly from the porch
and walked off in the darkness.

"Maybe we'd better go with him," suggested Captain Ben. But just as he
and Daddy Bunker were starting to follow the farmer, Mr. Brown came
back.

"I reckon it was only some tramps sneaking around," he said. "But I'll
turn old dog Major loose, and he'll drive 'em off if they try to rob my
hen roost."

Russ, Rose and the others were so sleepy that they were sent to
bed early by their father. Russ and Rose wondered if they would be
disturbed as they had been the previous night by the little River
children.

"You don't walk in your sleep, do you?" asked Russ of Tad, who was to
have a little room to himself.

"No, I never did that I know of," he answered.

The night passed quietly, as far as the Bunker children knew, and they
all slept soundly. Rose did wake up once during the night to get Vi a
drink, and it was then that Rose heard the distant barking of a dog.
But as this often happened, even at home, she did not wonder at it, and
she soon went to sleep again.

The sun was shining brightly when she and the others awoke.

"Well, I didn't hear anybody walk in his sleep," said Russ with a
laugh, as he came downstairs.

"All I heard was a dog barking," declared Rose.

"Where's Tad?" asked Captain Ben.

No one seemed to know. He had been given a room on the third floor.

"Guess I'd better go up and call him," said Captain Ben. "He may have
overslept and we want to get an early start--that is, we do if the
garage men have my car fixed. I'll call Tad."

He went upstairs, but came down with a queer look in his face.

"That's funny," he said.

"What is?" asked Daddy Bunker.

"Tad isn't in his room," answered Captain Ben. "And, what's more, his
bed hasn't been slept in. Tad is missing!"




CHAPTER XIV

IN THE OLD LOG


Everybody, even the four little Bunkers, was surprised to hear this.

"Tad missing!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "Are you sure he hasn't got up
early to help with the chores?" and he looked at Mr. Brown, who had
just come in to breakfast.

"No, he wasn't helping me," was the answer. "He did help with the
chores last night. Said he was doing it to pay for his dinner and
supper, and I must say he was spry about it, too. I'd like to have such
a boy around the farm, and I asked him if he didn't want to work for
me. But he said he wanted to get to Avalon, and that he was going to
ride as far as Grand View with you folks this morning."

"I did promise to take him," said Captain Ben; "but he seems to have
made an early start to get ahead of us."

"I'm sorry for the poor fellow," said Mrs. Brown. "But if he's gone,
he's gone, and that's all there is to it. My private opinion is that
Tad ran away from home, and now he's anxious to run back again. That's
what I think."

"I think so, too," said her husband. "Well, he seems able to take care
of himself, and I'm glad he wasn't an apple thief; anyhow he only took
a few to keep from starving, and I didn't begrudge him those. Now let's
get breakfast. I suppose you folks are anxious about your auto."

"Yes," said Captain Ben. "Though the garage man said he'd work on it
all night to get it ready for me this morning. I'll go down directly
after breakfast."

The meal was soon on the table, and the hungry little Bunkers ate with
good appetites. At first they had felt sorry about Tad's absence, but
they soon forgot about him in thinking of the fun of traveling again in
Captain Ben's car.

"And we'll see mother and Mun Bun and Margy to-night," said Rose, as
she hummed a merry song.

"I'll be glad!" cried Russ, and he whistled, while a catbird in a tree
outside tried to imitate him. Catbirds are relatives of the mocking
birds, and they often imitate other birds, just as the mocking birds do.

"You children stay here while Captain Ben and I go to the garage to
see if the car is ready," directed Daddy Bunker, as he and the marine
started off.

They had hardly reached the front gate before Mrs. Brown came running
out on the porch. She seemed much excited, and was waving her hands in
the air as Norah had waved hers the time the Bunker chimney caught fire.

"Wait a minute!" she called to Captain Ben and Mr. Bunker.

"What's the matter?" asked the children's father. "Have you found the
missing Tad?"

"No. But some of my things are missing, too!" exclaimed the farmer's
wife. "I left a box of my jewelry on the table at the head of my bed.
Now it's gone--my box of jewelry is gone!"

"You don't say so!" cried her husband, who had heard what his wife
said. "Your box of rings gone, and those ear rings I gave you! I know
what happened! That boy Tad took 'em and skipped off in the night!
That's the reason he didn't sleep in his bed. He took my wife's things!"

The four little Bunkers stared.

"Hm," said Captain Ben slowly. "It seems hard to accuse a boy of
anything like that, but it does look bad for him. Where were your
things, Mrs. Brown?"

The farmer's wife showed them her bedroom on the first floor, as is the
case in many old-fashioned country houses.

"I always put my box of jewelry on the table at the head of my bed,"
Mrs. Brown explained. "That's so I can run out quickly with it in case
of fire."

"And it's also very easy for some one to reach in from the outside and
take it," said Daddy Bunker. "Was this window open?" he asked, pointing
to the one at the head of Mrs. Brown's bed.

"Yes," she answered. "It was a hot night, so I left the window open."

Mr. Bunker looked at the ground beneath the window.

"That's how it happened," he said. "Some one has been walking around
under the window. I can see the footmarks in the ground, which is still
soft from the rain. Whoever it was, came here, reached in through the
open window from outside, and took the jewelry."

"It must have been that boy Tad!" said the farmer.

"Let's have a look at the footprints in the dirt," suggested Captain
Ben.

All of them, including the four little Bunkers, went out under the
window. Daddy Bunker allowed no one to walk too near, as he said he
wanted to see how many footmarks there were. After he had looked he
said:

"There was only one person here in the night. Whether it was the boy
Tad or not, I can't say. The footprints aren't very big, and might have
been made by a boy with large feet or a man with small feet."

"Tad's feet were big," said Rose. "Or, anyhow, he had on big shoes. He
said they didn't belong to him, but they were the best he could find."

"Wait a minute now, before we get to thinking Tad did this," said
Captain Ben. "Weren't there some tramps around last night, Mr. Brown?"

"Well, there was somebody in my orchard," answered the farmer. "I
reckon they were tramps."

"Maybe one of the tramps took your wife's box of jewelry from your
room," went on the marine.

"I never thought of them!" said Mrs. Brown. "I don't want to lose my
nice jewelry, but I'd rather it was taken by tramps than by Tad. He
seemed to be a nice boy!"

"Maybe it isn't stolen at all," suggested Russ. "Once my mother thought
her watch was stolen and she found it afterward in the bathroom."

"Well, I wish I could find my wrist watch," said Captain Ben.

"Was that taken, too, last night?" asked Mr. Brown.

"No, I missed that when we were packing to take the six little Bunkers
to my bungalow at Grand View," was the answer. "I guess I'll never
find my watch. But it is possible that you may have put your jewelry
somewhere else, Mrs. Brown. We'd better look."

But the farmer's wife was sure she had placed the box on the table at
the head of her bed near the open window, and a search all through the
house did not bring it to light. So the jewelry was gone, and Tad was
gone, and there was no sign of the tramps.

Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben helped in the search for the missing rings
and other things, and when they could not be found they went down after
the automobile. It had been repaired so it would go again, and soon
the four little Bunkers and their father and the marine were ready to
travel on again.

"If you see anything of Tad or some tramps, ask them if they have my
jewelry," called the farmer's wife to the little party as they started
off.

"We will," promised Russ.

Once more they were on the way. The weather was fine, and the roads
firm and Captain Ben's automobile was almost as good as before it had
gone head-first into the ditch by the canal.

"I almost forget how mother and Mun Bun and Margy look," said Rose, as
they were on the last stage of their journey.

"Yes, though it is only two days since we have seen them, it seems much
longer," said her father. "But we'll all be together this evening, and
then for some glorious times!"

"Hurray!" cried Laddie. "I'm going to think up a lot of new riddles,
too!"

They stopped at a wayside spring to get a drink. The spring was not far
from a farmhouse, and as Russ, Rose and the other children were looking
at the flowers in the front yard they noticed a dog barking at a big
log which lay in a meadow not far from the road.

"Is that your dog?" asked Russ of a farm boy who came out to look at
the automobile party.

"Yes," was the answer. "And he's been barking around that log all
morning. I guess maybe something's inside. Maybe a groundhog is in
there."

"Oh, I'd love to see a groundhog!" exclaimed Rose. "Let's go up and
look!"

"All right," agreed Russ. "May we?" he asked his father, who was
talking to the farmer while Captain Ben was oiling one of the springs
of the car where a squeak had sounded since they started.

"Yes; but be careful," cautioned Mr. Bunker. "It may be a skunk instead
of a groundhog that the dog is barking at."

"Oh, I don't believe so," said the farm boy. "Come on!" he called to
the Bunker children, and they approached the big log in the field.

"It's hollow," said Russ, as they neared it.

"Yes, it's been there a good many years," the farm boy said.
"Sometimes, when my sister and I are playing hide and seek, I crawl in
there. What's the matter, Towser?" he asked his dog, who was barking
louder than ever. "What's in the log?"

Russ stooped down and looked through it. He straightened up suddenly.

"There is something in it," he said. "And it's something that wears
shoes! I can see 'em!"




CHAPTER XV

THE BUNKERS GET TOGETHER


Russ Bunker quickly drew back away from the end of the log after he had
stooped down and had seen "something with shoes," as he said.

"Maybe it's a bear!" said Vi.

"Pooh! How could a bear wear shoes?" asked Laddie.

"Well, I don't care!" exclaimed Vi. "I saw a bear in a circus once, and
he wore roller skates. And if a bear can wear roller skates I guess a
bear can wear shoes."

"There aren't any bears around here," said the farm boy. "Let me take a
look."

He stooped down as Russ had done, and looked within the log for some
little time, the dog, meanwhile, leaping around and barking.

"Do you see anything?" asked Russ.

"Yes, I do," answered the farm boy. "I see something with shoes on,
and I see two legs and I see----"

Just then there was a movement inside the log, the dog barked louder
than ever, and then, from the other end of the fallen, hollow tree
came--the missing boy Tad!

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Russ, Rose, and Laddie in turn. As for Vi, she
had just opened her mouth to ask a question and she was so surprised
that she forgot what it was, and she had no time to cry "Oh!" as did
the others.

As for Tad, he brushed off some of the dry, rotten wood that clung to
his clothes, and then he stood looking at the four little Bunkers, at
the farm boy, and at the dog. The dog went up, smelled of Tad's legs,
and, seeming to count him as a friend, stopped barking.

"How'd you get in there?" asked Russ.

"I crawled in to rest and sleep," was the answer. "I'd been walking
nearly all night, except I got a ride on a milk wagon part of the way."

"What made you run away from Mr. Brown's?" asked Rose.

"Oh, I was in a hurry to get--I just wanted to get away, and I didn't
want to wait all night till you folks started in the morning," was the
hesitating answer. "I was afraid maybe your auto wouldn't work, and I
was in a hurry. So I started off by myself."

"Didn't you go to bed?" asked Rose.

"No," answered Tad.

Just then Daddy Bunker, who had finished his talk with the farmer,
while Captain Ben was oiling the automobile spring, called:

"Come, children! We must be moving!"

"Look! We found Tad!" cried Laddie.

"In a hollow log!" added Vi.

Mr. Bunker and Captain Ben, looking up and seeing the missing boy,
hurried to the children.

"So you thought you'd rather travel on by yourself, did you?" asked
Daddy Bunker.

"Yes, sir. I was in a hurry," was the answer. "I went up to the room
where I was to sleep, but I got to thinking I could travel all night,
on account of having so many good things to eat. So I sneaked out when
nobody was looking, and I walked along. I got a ride part of the way on
a milk wagon, and walked the rest. It was almost daylight when I got
here, and I saw this hollow log, so I crawled in and went to sleep."

Daddy Bunker walked closer to the tramp boy, for that is what he really
seemed now.

"Tad," said the children's father kindly, "I am going to ask you a
question, but I don't want you to feel bad about it. This morning, when
we awoke and found you gone, there was also something else missing from
Mr. Brown's house. It was his wife's box of jewelry. Now, Tad----"

"I didn't take it! I didn't take a thing!" cried Tad earnestly. "I
just went away by myself because I was in a hurry to get to Avalon,
and I was afraid maybe your auto would break down. I didn't take Mrs.
Brown's jewelry! I never even saw it! I've been a bad boy in some
ways," he went on, "but the only thing I took was some apples, and you
saw me have them. And I wouldn't have taken them only I was so terribly
hungry! I never stole any jewelry--honest I didn't!"

He looked at Mr. Bunker with clear, bright eyes, and tears began to
come into them.

"Tad, I believe you," said Mr. Bunker.

"So do I!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "I presume it was those tramps, or
one of them, who reached in the window and took the jewelry box. I'm
glad it was not you, Tad. And, now that we have found you and the auto
is all right again, don't you want to ride with us the rest of the way?"

"Yes, thank you, I'd like to," was the answer.

"Did you have any breakfast?" asked Vi. "We had some lovely pancakes at
Mrs. Brown's."

"No, I didn't have any," Tad answered.

"My mother'll give you something," offered the farm boy.

"I think we might all stop for lunch if your mother will sell us a
meal," said Daddy Bunker.

"Yes, she sometimes gets a meal for autoists," the boy answered.

Soon the Bunker children, with the newly-found Tad, Daddy, and Captain
Ben were sitting down to a nice lunch.

"We've had a terrible lot of adventures since we started," said Rose,
as she took a second piece of cake which the farmer's wife offered.

"Yes," agreed Russ. "It's been a lot of fun--a heap sight more fun
than going to school."

"But you'll have to go to school when we get back from Captain Ben's,"
said Daddy Bunker.

"That'll be a long while, and we'll have a lot of fun before we go,"
laughed Russ.

"Did you think of any riddles when you slept out in that log all
night?" asked Laddie of Tad, when it was time to start again.

"No, I can't say I did," was the answer. "All I thought of was getting
back to--back to Avalon, and I wondered where I'd get my breakfast. I
didn't think I'd sleep until nearly noon. Now I've had my breakfast and
dinner all in one," and he looked at his emptied plate.

A little later the four little Bunkers, with Tad, Captain Ben and Daddy
were on the road once more. All went well and they arrived at the
seashore bungalow in Grand View without any more accidents.

"Oh, Mother, I'm so glad to see you!" cried Rose, as the car came to
a stop in front of Captain Ben's pretty summer home not far from the
beach.

"And I'm glad to see you, my darlings!" cried Mother Bunker. "It seems
a week since I've had you. My, what a lot of things must have happened!"

"They did--lots!" said Russ. "And, Mother, this is Tad, and he lives in
Avalon."

"And Mr. Brown thought he was a pesky apple boy but he wasn't," said
Vi. "He only took a few 'cause he was hungry."

"I wants an apple!" said Mun Bun, as he scampered around his brothers
and sisters.

"And I want two apples!" said Margy.

Mrs. Bunker wanted Tad to stay to supper, but he said he had some
relatives in Avalon, the next town, which could soon be reached by a
trolley car. So he left, after thanking the Bunkers, and saying he
would come over to see them soon.

"There's something queer about that boy," said Mr. Bunker, when Tad had
gone to the trolley station. "I believe he has run away from home and
is anxious to get back."

"Do you think he had anything to do with taking the jewelry?" asked his
wife.

"No," was the answer, "I do not. I believe the tramps took it."

"You didn't find my wrist watch in any of the things you unpacked, did
you?" asked Captain Ben of Mrs. Bunker.

"No," was the answer, "I did not. It's too bad you had to lose it."

There was a happy time when all the Bunkers were united again.

"We'll all be bunked together to-night--the Bunkers will bunk
together," said the children's mother, as she made up the beds, or
"bunks," as Captain Ben called them. Before going to bed the children
who had made the automobile trip told most of what had happened during
their journey from the time they were caught in the storm and were
awakened by the sleep-walking Jack until they left Mr. Brown's.

"What kind of a time did you have?" asked Daddy Bunker of his wife.
"You didn't lose Mun Bun or Margy on the way down here, that's sure."

"No, we hadn't a bit of trouble," she said. "We got here in good time,
though of course I missed you and the children."

So the Bunkers were put in their bunks, and soon they were all asleep.
It was some time past midnight, as they learned later, when Mr. Bunker
and Captain Ben heard a knock at the bungalow front door.

"Hello, who's there?" called the captain, turning on the electric
light, for his bungalow was almost like a city home in some respects.
"Who's there and what do you want?" asked the marine.

"Maybe it's tramps," said Laddie to Russ, with whom he was sleeping.
The two boys had been awakened by the knock.

"Tramps wouldn't knock," Russ said. "Maybe it's a telegram, or maybe
somebody is lost and wants to know the way."

Russ heard Captain Ben get up and go to the door.

"Who's there?" asked the marine again.

"Have you seen anything of a boy named Tad Munson?" was the question
asked. "I heard he came on with you in an auto, and I'm looking for
him. Have you seen Tad Munson?"




CHAPTER XVI

AN UNEXPECTED RIDE


Mother and Daddy Bunker, who with Laddie, Russ and Rose, had also been
awakened by the knock on the bungalow door, heard Captain Ben quickly
open the door when that question came.

"Tad Munson!" exclaimed the captain. "He was with us this evening. He
stayed here to supper and got on a trolley car to go to some relatives
in Avalon, he said. Who are you?" went on the captain, and those who
were listening heard some one come into the bungalow from outside.

"I'm Tad's father," was the answer. "I've been looking for him some
time, and to-night I heard he was seen over here in Grand View. I
traced him to you folks, but now you tell me he's gone again."

"Yes, he started for Avalon," went on Captain Ben, while Russ, who was
listening, wondered how it felt to be away from your home and all one's
family.

"Well, if Tad started for home he never got there--at least he hadn't
when I left, about two hours ago," said Mr. Munson. "Poor, foolish boy!
I feel sorry for him!"

"Did he run away from home?" asked Captain Ben.

By this time Mr. Bunker had got up, slipped on a bath robe, and was
now with the two other men. Russ, Rose, Laddie and their mother still
listened to the talk, which could plainly be heard. Vi, Mun Bun and
Margy were sound asleep in their beds.

"Yes, Tad ran away," said Mr. Munson. "He was a little bad, but not
very, and I said I'd have to punish him. I wasn't going to whip him, or
anything like that, but I was going to take his bicycle away from him
and not let him ride it for a week. But he is a foolish, quick-tempered
boy, and he didn't wait to see what I was going to do. He just rode off
on his wheel, and I haven't seen him nor heard from him since."

"But he started for home," said Daddy Bunker. "We brought him as far
as here, and he said he could go the rest of the way on the trolley
car."

"Didn't he have his bicycle?" asked Mr. Munson.

"No, he was on foot when we first saw him in a farmer's apple orchard,"
Captain Ben answered.

"Then he must have sold his wheel to get money to live on," remarked
Tad's father. "And, I suppose, after he started back home, and perhaps
even got on the trolley car, he was afraid to come back on account of
not having his bicycle. So he must have run away again."

"That's too bad!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "How did you come to learn he
had been with us?" he asked Mr. Munson.

"Oh, I've been searching for my boy ever since he ran away," answered
Tad's father. "I come over here to Grand View every day to make
inquiries. This evening I heard that my boy had been seen in an
automobile. I made inquiries, and learned you were the only folks who
had come to town in an auto with some children, so I came here as soon
as I could. I'm sorry I had to wake you up in the middle of the night."

"Oh, that's all right," said Captain Ben. "I'm sorry about your boy. If
I had known he felt afraid to go home alone, I'd have taken him over in
my car."

"Maybe he'll come back in the morning, after he spends another
night alone," said the father. "Tad is a queer boy. I don't exactly
understand him, I feel sometimes. Well, if he isn't here I suppose I
might as well go back home."

"I'm sorry," said Captain Ben. "Won't you stay the rest of the night,
it's so late?"

"No, I'd better get back," was the answer. "If you see anything of my
boy just send him back home and say I'll forget and forgive everything."

"We will," promised Daddy Bunker. "I think he may be hiding out around
here somewhere, as we found him hiding in the hollow log."

"Did he do that?" asked Mr. Munson.

"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker, and he and Captain Ben told all they knew
about the runaway boy. Then Mr. Munson left, the three little Bunkers
who had awakened to listen to the talk went to sleep again, and the
bungalow was quiet once more.

"Did you find Tad?" asked Laddie, as soon as he was up next morning.

"Oh, ho, you little tykes! So you were awake, were you?" asked their
father, with a laugh, as he pulled Vi's hair playfully. "No, poor Tad
doesn't seem to be around here, but I think he'll be all right."

"And you mustn't worry about him and spoil your extra vacation at my
place," said Captain Ben. "You came to Grand View to have a good time,
and I came to forget about the war. I want you to be as happy as you
can. Come along, as soon as you've had breakfast, and we'll go out on
the water."

"Oh, it's just a lovely place here!" exclaimed Rose, as she looked
from the window. "Are all those your boats there?" and she pointed to
several craft floating near a dock that extended out into a small bay.

"Not all of them," said Captain Ben. "I have a motor boat and two
rowboats. I'm going to take you for a motor-boat ride this morning."

"That'll be fun!" cried Laddie.

"Well, be ready to start in half an hour," went on Captain Ben, and he
thrust out his arm and glanced down at his wrist. "There I go again!"
he exclaimed. "Looking for my watch that's lost! I don't seem to get
used to being without it."

"It is too bad," said Mother Bunker. "I did hope I might find it among
the things when I unpacked, but it wasn't there."

"Oh, never mind," and Captain Ben laughed, trying to show that he did
not feel bad. "We won't worry about it any more than we'll worry about
Tad. They may both turn up together some day."

"And maybe we'll find Mrs. Brown's jewelry," added Russ.

"Not much chance of that," remarked his father. "I imagine the tramps
took the box of rings and other things, and Mrs. Brown will never see
them again."

"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, who knew how Mrs. Brown
must feel at losing her keepsakes.

But, as Captain Ben had said, the grown folks did not want the six
little Bunkers to worry over matters which could not be helped, and so
spoil their late vacation.

"May we go down and play on the beach while we're waiting for Captain
Ben to take us out in the motor boat?" asked Rose of her mother, when
breakfast was finished.

"Yes," was the answer. "And look after Mun Bun and Margy. I think
they'll be careful, but watch them just the same."

Rose promised, and soon the six little Bunkers were shouting and
laughing on the sands of the bay which came up almost to Captain Ben's
bungalow at Grand View. The bungalow stood on a little hill, at the
foot of which was the water. This water was the bay, and, farther out,
was the big ocean. On the bay were many boats, for it was a place
of shelter during storms. Not far from the bungalow was a pier that
extended out into the water, and the captain's rowboats, motor boat,
as well as the boats belonging to several other bungalow and cottage
owners, were tied near by.

"I think this is the loveliest place!" exclaimed Rose, as she sat down
on the sand and looked out across the water.

"Yes, it's dandy," replied Russ. "And this is the nicest part of the
year. I'm glad we don't have to go back to school right away."

"Can I make some sand pies?" asked Mun Bun, coming up to Rose with some
shells in his hand.

"Yes, make all you want, but don't get wet," Rose warned him.

"I'm going to make pies, too," said Margy, and soon the two youngest
children were busy playing in the sand.

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

At any rate, Laddie and Vi were talking about this riddle the last Rose
heard them. She was thinking how nice it was to be at Grand View, and
she was wondering if Captain Ben would ever find his lost watch when
she was suddenly startled by a scream. That it came from one of the
little Bunkers Rose knew at once, and her first glance was toward Mun
Bun and Margy. They were still playing quietly on the sand.

Rose next looked for Laddie and Violet and, to her surprise, she saw
them in a rowboat some distance from shore, and the rowboat was being
pulled along by the motor craft on which the men had been working. Most
unexpectedly Laddie and Vi were being ridden out on the broad bay!

"Oh, come back! Come back!" cried Rose, springing to her feet and
waving her hands to her brother and sister. "Come back here!"

"We can't! We can't come back!" cried Laddie, and then he and Vi fell
down in a huddled heap in the middle of the rowboat which was being
pulled rapidly along by the motor boat.




CHAPTER XVII

THE RAGGED MEN


Russ Bunker, who had been walking along the shore gathering pretty
shells, looked back as he heard Rose scream.

"What's the matter?" shouted Russ. Rose pointed to the rowboat out
in the middle of the bay, in which could be seen Vi and Laddie. The
two small Bunkers were clinging to one another, and were still being
towed, in their boat, by the motor craft. They were not so very far
from shore, but far enough to cause them to be frightened, and also to
frighten Rose and Russ. As for Mun Bun and Margy, they were too small
to be really worried, though they wondered why Laddie and Vi had gone
off in a boat by themselves, especially having a motor boat pull them
along.

And this was just what Rose and Russ were also wondering. Russ ran back
to Rose.

"What made them go off in a boat like that?" asked Russ.

"I don't know," Rose answered. "I thought they were all right, and
then, when I looked again, I saw them there. And they want to come
back, but they can't!"

"Oh, maybe the men in the motor boat are taking them away!" Russ
exclaimed, for there were two men in the boat that was towing the
smaller craft. But these men did not seem to be paying any attention to
the two children in the rowboat behind them. The two men were up in the
front of their craft, and appeared to be working at the steering wheel.

"Come back! Come back!" cried Russ, holding his hand to his mouth to
make a sort of funnel, or megaphone, as he had often seen the fishermen
do, and also the cowboys on Uncle Fred's ranch.

Across the water came faintly to the ears of Rose and Russ the sobs and
cries of Laddie and Vi in the rowboat.

"Those men are taking 'em away!" cried Rose. "What shall we do?"

Just then Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker came down from the bungalow, up
on the hill, to the beach where the children had gone to play. At once
the two men saw that something was the matter. Then they noticed the
two little Bunkers out in the boat.

"Who let them go?" cried Daddy Bunker.

"Nobody let them go," said Russ. "Those men are taking them away!"

Captain Ben laughed when he heard this.

"Those men in the motor boat are friends of mine," he said. "They are
trying their boat, after having fixed it, and I guess Laddie and Vi
asked them for a ride and they're getting a tow."

But just as Captain Ben said this the two men who had been in the front
part, or bow, of the motor boat, turned around, and seemed, for the
first time, to become aware that they were towing a rowboat with two
children in it. One man called to the other, and then the two of them
walked back to the stern, where the rope of the rowboat was fastened.
Then the motor boat went more slowly.

"I see how it is," said Captain Ben. "When Mr. Thompson and Mr. Wade
were in their boat, fixing it, Laddie and Vi must have come up at the
stern, making no noise. The children fastened their rowboat to the
motor boat and were taken for a ride before they knew it. This is the
first my friends knew they had children towing behind them."

[Illustration: LADDIE AND VI WERE BEING TAKEN OUT ON THE BROAD BAY.]

This part, at least, seemed to be true, and those on shore could see
the two men in the motor boat lifting Laddie and Vi out of the small
craft into the larger one. Then the motor boat was headed toward shore,
and the two little Bunkers were soon with the rest of the family.

"We gave them a ride without knowing it," said Mr. Thompson, when
Laddie and Vi were over their fright at being carried off, as they
thought.

"What made you fasten your boat to the motor boat, and why did you get
in the rowboat at all?" asked Daddy Bunker, a bit sternly.

"We just wanted to sit in the boat a minute," explained Laddie. "I was
trying to think of a riddle about a boat, and I thought maybe I could
think of a better one if I got in one, and so did Vi, and then we got a
ride and we got scared."

"Did you get into a boat and row out to the motor boat?" asked their
father, in surprise.

"I'll tell you how it must have happened," said Mr. Wade. "This boat
tied to the stern of the motor craft is ours. We kept it tied so we
could row back and forth while we were fixing our big boat. We pulled
up our anchor to get ready to take a trial ride, and our rowboat must
have swung in near the dock. Then the children must have got in when we
weren't looking, and we started off. Our engine made so much noise that
we didn't hear their cries or the shouts of the children on shore, for
both Mr. Thompson and I were up forward fixing the steering wheel."

"Is that how it happened?" asked Captain Ben of Laddie.

"Yes," answered the little boy. "We got in the little boat and it was
fast with a rope to the big boat, and then we began to move, and I
couldn't think of any riddle at all."

"Well, you'd better keep out of boats unless your mother or I or
Captain Ben is with you," said Daddy Bunker, and the children promised.

"Now I'll take you all for a ride in my motor boat," offered Captain
Ben, when the excitement had quieted down. "We'll take a trip around
the bay."

Mother Bunker put up a lunch for the children, and they were soon in
Captain Ben's big motor boat, speeding over the blue waters of the bay.
Daddy and Mother Bunker also went along.

"Are there any nice places to have picnics here?" asked Rose of the
captain, as she sat near him at the steering wheel.

"Oh, yes, lots of places," he answered. "There are some cute little
islands in the bay, and we'll go camping on one some day."

"That will be lovely!" exclaimed Rose.

Laddie was so interested in watching the water slip along at the side
of the swift motor boat that he forgot about his riddle, though Vi did
not forget to ask questions, and finally her mother said:

"Here, take that!"

The "that" was a molasses cookie, and in munching it Vi forgot about
the questions for a time. Or rather, her mouth was too full to ask any.

The merry party went ashore after about an hour's ride, the captain
steering the boat into a little cove, and back from the sandy shore a
little way was a clump of trees.

"Are we going to eat our lunch in there?" asked Rose.

"Yes," her mother answered, and soon they had spread out their picnic
lunch.

"We'll have a picnic like this on an island some day," promised Captain
Ben.

"And shall we have more to eat?" asked Russ.

"Why, isn't there enough here?" his father inquired, with a laugh.

"Oh, there's enough for now," Russ answered. "But if we go to an island
we could pretend we were shipwrecked, and then we'd be hungry and want
a lot to eat."

While the captain and Daddy and Mother Bunker sat under the shade of
the trees and talked, the four older Bunker children wandered around
the little grove, after having eaten the "snack," as the marine had
called it. Mun Bun and Margy stayed near their mother.

Russ was digging away in the soft earth, to get a queer-looking stone
which he wanted to add to his collection of shells, and Rose was
watching some ants which were busily at work, when suddenly Laddie, who
had wandered off down a little path, came running back, with Vi just
ahead of him. Rose at once saw that something was the matter.

"What is it, Laddie? Did you see a snake?" she asked.

The little fellow, who was out of breath, shook his head.

"Nope! I didn't see--a snake," he answered. "But I saw--a lot--of
ragged men--hiding in the bushes, and Vi saw 'em too. Didn't you, Vi? A
lot of ragged men!"

"Were they tramps?" asked Rose quickly, as she took hold of Vi's hand.

"I guess so," Laddie answered. "They were terribly ragged men! I'm
going back to daddy and mother!" he added.




CHAPTER XVIII

MORE THINGS GONE


Rose Bunker gave one look toward the thick clump of trees, through
which wound a path, along which Laddie and Vi had gone for a little
distance.

"Come on!" exclaimed Rose, taking her small brother and sister by their
hands. "We'll all go back to daddy and mother."

Russ, who was still looking for stones, and any other curious things he
could pick up, glanced toward the other three Bunkers.

"Where are you going?" Russ wanted to know.

"Back home. I mean back to daddy, mother and Captain Ben," explained
Rose.

"What for?"

"'Cause I saw a lot of ragged men in the bushes," answered Laddie.
"They were awful ragged, and they had a fire, and some of 'em were
asleep, and----"

"Tramps!" exclaimed Russ, and he started toward the path, down which
Laddie had pointed as leading to the place where he had seen the
tramps. "I'm going to look at 'em!"

"No, you're not!" cried Rose. "You're coming right back with us, Russ
Bunker, or I'll tell father on you!" and she spoke in a low but very
earnest voice. Russ looked at her a moment, and then at the dark clump
of trees.

"Yes, I guess I'll go back with you," he said. "I'll take you back,
and then daddy and Captain Ben and I will come back here and drive the
tramps away."

"Daddy won't let you," said Rose; and, in his heart, Russ believed his
sister was right.

"Come on!" exclaimed Vi. "I don't want any of the ragged men to get me."

"Oh, they won't get you. See! Daddy and mother and Captain Ben are
right down there," and Rose pointed to where the others of the picnic
party could be seen in the grove on the beach.

"My! What's the matter? Did you see a cow?" asked Captain Ben, with a
smile, when the four children came hurrying back from their excursion.

"I saw some ragged men!" exclaimed Laddie.

"I saw 'em too--and I don't like 'em! They were tramps!" declared Vi.
"And maybe they were the same tramps that took Mrs. Brown's jewelry."

"Oh, I hardly think so," said Mrs. Bunker. But daddy and Captain Ben
looked at each other, and then both men rose quickly to their feet.

"Tramps, eh?" said Captain Ben in a low voice. "We don't want any such
around here. And I don't believe the other cottagers know it. Let's go
and take a look," he said to Mr. Bunker.

"Can't I come?" asked Russ.

"No, you stay with mother," his father answered.

"There! I told you they wouldn't let you!" exclaimed Rose.

"Well, I don't care. Maybe some tramps will come here, and I can drive
'em away," declared Russ. "I'm going to get a lot of stones to throw at
'em!"

"You won't need to!" laughed his mother. "No tramps will come here,
and it may have been only some fishermen you saw. Fishermen sometimes
wear ragged clothes."

"These weren't fishermen, 'cause they didn't have any fishes," declared
Laddie.

"Maybe they didn't have any luck, or else perhaps they hadn't yet gone
fishing," his mother answered. "Anyhow, we'll leave the tramps, if such
they were, to daddy and Captain Ben. And it will soon be time for us to
get back to the bungalow."

"Is there anything more to eat?" Russ wanted to know.

"Not even some cookie crumbs," said his mother. "I threw them to the
birds and squirrels. But when we go on the picnic to the island we'll
take more lunch along."

"I hope we do," sighed Russ, "'cause I'm hungry right now."

The children sat around their mother while daddy and Captain Ben walked
toward the grove where Laddie had seen the tramps.

"Do you suppose they could be the same ones who took Mrs. Brown's
things, Mother?" asked Rose.

"They might be," her mother replied. "Though Mr. Brown's farm is some
distance from here and I don't see how the tramps could arrive here so
soon."

"They could if they had an auto like Captain Ben's," said Laddie.

"Pooh! Tramps don't have autos. Do they, Mother?" scoffed Vi.

"Not very often, I imagine," was the answer. "But don't think about the
ragged men any more."

"Do you think they could have taken Captain Ben's watch?" persisted
Laddie.

"No, of course not!" his mother quickly replied. "Captain Ben's watch
was lost somewhere near our house, and that's almost a hundred miles
from here. Besides, there were no tramps there."

"Well, anyhow, maybe the tramps took Tad Munson," suggested Laddie, who
seemed bound to have the ragged men up to some mischief.

"No, poor Tad ran away by himself," Mrs. Bunker answered. "I feel very
sorry for him, and I hope he is safe at home again by this time. We
must go over to Avalon some day and find out."

A little later Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker came back.

"Did you catch 'em?" asked Russ eagerly.

"No, they had gone. I guess you children scared them away," replied the
marine.

"Were there really tramps there?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Yes, we found a place where they had made a sort of camp," was the
answer of her husband. "They had built a fire and had been cooking
something in empty tomato cans. Whether they took alarm as we
approached, or left because they heard the children talking, I don't
know; but the place was deserted."

"I'm glad our bungalow isn't near here," said Mrs. Bunker.

"Yes, I don't like tramps myself," remarked Captain Ben. "I'll tell
the police of this place, and have them watch. Lots of cottagers and
bungalow owners will soon be leaving and closing their places for the
winter, and it is then that tramps often break in and take things. The
police must be told, and they will be on the watch."

The six little Bunkers, with their father, mother, and Captain Ben,
were soon in the motor boat again and on their way to the bungalow.
The children talked so much about the ragged men, or the tramps, as
they called them, that at length Mrs. Bunker said very firmly:

"Now, my dears, please stop! First you know you'll be dreaming about
these poor men, and then, perhaps, some of you will walk in your sleep,
as the little River boy did."

"It must be fun to walk in your sleep!" laughed Laddie.

"You did it once, when you were smaller," said his father.

"I did!" cried Laddie. "Did I do anything funny?"

"Yes," went on Mr. Bunker, laughing. "It was in the winter, and mother
had just got you a new pair of red mittens. You had played out in the
snow with them, and after supper you put them behind the stove in the
kitchen to dry.

"Then you went to bed, but later in the evening, when Norah was fixing
the fire for the night, you came tramping down the back stairs. You
frightened Norah, and when she asked you what you wanted you didn't say
a word. You just took your little red mittens and carried them back up
the stairs to bed with you."

"I did!" exclaimed Laddie. "I never knew it."

"No, when a person walks in his sleep he generally doesn't know what he
is doing," his father concluded.

That evening Captain Ben gave the children a box of marshmallow
candies, and they had a fire on the beach to roast them. The children
thought this was great fun.

The sailor had cut long sticks for the children. The sticks were
sharply pointed on one end, and when the fire had burned down, so there
was a good bed of hot, glowing coals, Mother Bunker said:

"Now each of you put a marshmallow on the sharp end of your sticks and
hold it over the coals. Be careful not to hold them too close, and
don't let the candies catch fire, as they sometimes do if you are not
careful."

"I know how, 'cause I've roasted marshmallows before," said Rose.

"So've I. And once my candy caught fire," remarked Russ.

"Oh, look at mine blaze!" suddenly cried Laddie.

"Take it away from the fire, and blow out the blaze!" Captain Ben
called. "Burned candies aren't good to eat."

Laddie tried to do as he was told, but he got so excited that his
father had to blow for him. After that Laddie was more careful. Mother
helped Mun Bun and Margy to roast their marshmallows, and soon they
were all eating the dainties, seated on flat pieces of driftwood
gathered along the beach.

The moon rose out of the sea, as it appeared, and the view was a
beautiful one. Then Rose started a song, and they all joined in the
chorus, while Russ whistled--but first, he had to swallow a marshmallow
he was chewing.

"Oh, I just love it here," said Rose, when the song was finished.

"Yes, Captain Ben was very good to ask us to his seashore bungalow,"
said Daddy Bunker.

"Oh, I'm having just as much fun out of it as you folks!" declared the
marine. "I wanted a jolly crowd here with me to help me forget about
the war."

They sang more songs, Captain Ben told some funny stories, Laddie
asked one or two riddles, and I am afraid to say just how many
questions Vi asked, but it was a large number. Finally Mother Bunker
said:

"It's time we went in, I think. Mun Bun and Margy are almost asleep.
Come, Mun Bun," she called to the little boy. "Time you were in by-low
land."

"Yes, I want to go to bed," murmured Mun Bun, who was really almost
asleep. He tried to get up on his feet, off the broad, flat board on
which he had been sitting on the sand while the marshmallows were being
roasted, but it seemed as though he could not stand up.

"Come, Mun Bun!" called his mother. "Come along!"

"I--I can't come!" the little fellow answered. "I can't stand on my
legs."

"What's the matter? Is your foot asleep?" asked his father. You know
that sometimes happens if you sit with your legs cramped.

"No, it isn't my feet, but I just can't get up," went on Mun Bun. "I
guess I'm sewed fast to the board."

"Sewed fast to the board!" cried his mother. "What does the child
mean?"

"I'm fast!" went on Mun Bun, and when he did manage to stand up the
board, on which he had been sitting, came up with him, fast to the seat
of his little trousers.

"Oh, it must be caught on a nail!" said Rose. "You've sat on a nail,
Mun Bun!"

"No, I didn't sit on a nail," said the little fellow. "But I guess it's
something else. It's soft and sticky!"

His mother hurried over toward him. By the light of the beach fire she
looked him over.

"Why, Mun Bun!" cried Mrs. Bunker, "you've sat in a lot of the
marshmallow candies, and that's why the board is sticking fast to
you. Look!" She pulled the piece of drift wood loose from the little
fellow's trousers. A wad of candy came with it.

"Well, I thought it was something funny," said Mun Bun, as the others
laughed. "I put some of my candies on the board and then I forgot 'em,
and I just squashed myself down on top of 'em, didn't I?" he asked.

"You surely did!" laughed his father.

However, not much damage was done, as Mun Bun's trousers were the kind
that could be washed. So after the laughter was over and the fire
had been put out, so no embers would scatter in the night and cause a
blaze, the party strolled up to the bungalow and went to bed, crawling
into the bunks which Captain Ben had built like those on a ship.

Laddie rather hoped he might walk in his sleep again, but he did not.
The night passed quietly, but when Rose and Russ, who were the first
of the children up, came downstairs they saw their father, mother and
Captain Ben out on the porch. The marine was rather excited.

"I was afraid something like this would happen after I heard about the
tramps," he said.

"What has happened?" asked Russ.

"A number of things have been taken from Captain Ben's dock," explained
Daddy Bunker. "There have been thieves here in the night, and a lot of
things are gone."

"Most of all I miss my boat," said the marine. "They took that, too!"




CHAPTER XIX

LOTS OF FUN


"Did the bad tramps take your motor boat?" asked Rose quickly, as she
saw visions of the many nice rides she hoped to have in the _Spray_, as
the captain's splendid boat was called, fade away.

"No, they didn't take the motor boat," answered the marine. "I take
good care to lock that every night, and I fix the motor so no one not
in the secret can start it. But the tramps, or whoever they were who
paid us a midnight visit, took one of my best rowboats--one I use when
I go fishing."

"Oh, may we go fishing?" asked Vi, who, with Laddie and the two little
ones, had now come down. The thefts of the midnight visitors did not
trouble her very much, it seemed.

"Yes, we'll go picnicking and fishing and have lots of fun," Captain
Ben answered. "But first I must see if any one else around here has
missed anything, and we must try to catch the tramps."

"Do you think it was tramps?" Laddie wanted to know.

"Well, I can't be sure of the last," remarked Captain Ben. "But I'm
pretty sure it was tramps of some sort. As I said, they generally come
around at the end of the season, when cottages and bungalows are being
closed. They take anything they can find. But these fellows didn't wait
for us to leave."

Captain Ben had a talk with some of his neighbors, who also missed
various articles from around their cottages or docks, but the captain
was the only one from whom a boat had been taken.

"I guess the tramps walked around the shore from their camp in the
woods," remarked Daddy Bunker. "They took what they wanted here, and
elsewhere, and then they rowed off in your boat, Ben."

"I guess that was it," remarked the marine. "I should have locked up
the oars, but I left one pair out, and now I wish I hadn't. But I'll
not let those tramps get away if I can help it."

"What will you do?" asked Russ.

"I'll take after 'em!" the captain said. "Now we know where they have
their camp in the woods, we know where to find them."

"May I come and help you catch 'em?" begged the oldest of the six
little Bunkers.

"No, indeed!" laughed his father. "Chasing after tramps isn't the same
as roasting marshmallows."

"Well, I'd like to come," Russ continued wistfully. "I could stand back
and throw stones at 'em, while you and Captain Ben caught 'em. Please
let me come!"

But of course this could not be, and when the six little Bunkers had
been taken for a walk by their mother, Mr. Bunker, Captain Ben and some
other men started to search for the tramps who had taken the rowboat.

Russ, Rose and the others had lots of fun. They played in the sand,
waded in the water, and, after their father and Captain Ben had come
back, the captain said they might go crabbing.

"Did you get the tramps?" asked Russ, as he saw the _Spray_ come
gliding up to Captain Ben's dock.

"No, we couldn't even get sight of them," was the answer. "I guess they
have gone for good. Don't worry about them. I have another rowboat,
though I am sorry to lose that one."

"You're losing lots of things," commented Rose. "First you lose your
wrist watch and now your boat is gone."

"I'd rather have that watch back than three boats," the captain
declared. "But now, little Bunkers, we'll have some fun. We'll go
crabbing from the end of the pier."

Crabs were plentiful in that part of the bay near the captain's
bungalow, and soon even Margy and Mun Bun were trying to catch the
creatures which had such big, pinching claws. Of course Mrs. Bunker
helped her two little children, but Russ and Rose and Vi and Laddie had
crabbed before, and knew all about that sport.

Each of the six little Bunkers was given a string with a piece of meat
or a fish head on the end. This bait was dropped into the water at the
side of the pier.

Pretty soon the crabs, crawling along on the bottom or swimming half
way toward the surface, saw or smelled the bait. They went up to it and
grasped it in their big claws, holding fast with one, while they picked
off bits of meat with the other large claw.

"Oh, I got one!" suddenly whispered Laddie. "I got one!"

"Pull up easy!" his father said. Mr. Bunker had a long-handled net.
Catching crabs is not like catching fish. There is no hook for the crab
to bite on and be held fast. He only holds by his claws, and if the
bait is lifted too far out of the water the crab drops off. That is why
Daddy Bunker had a net ready.

"Lift your string slowly," said Laddie's father, and the little boy did
this. Inch by inch the string came up, and Laddie, looking down, could
see the crab clinging by his claws to the chunk of meat.

"He's a big blue-clawed one!" exclaimed Laddie.

"Careful now," said Daddy Bunker. "Careful!"

He slipped the net down into the water, working it under the crab,
which was eating away at Laddie's bait, not thinking of the danger of
being caught.

Suddenly Daddy Bunker swooped with the net, dipped it and raised it
again from the water. Something wiggled in the net.

"Did you get him?" shouted Laddie. "Oh, did you get him?"

"I did; and he's a dandy big one!" his father answered. In the net was
the great crab, clashing his blue claws together. He had let go of the
meat now, and was much surprised at being disturbed at his meal in this
fashion.

Laddie lifted the meat from the net by raising the string, and then
Daddy Bunker turned the net upside down over a basket. Out fell the
crab, scuttling into a corner of the basket.

There he sat, with his two claws held up, ready to pinch any one who
might put his fingers too near him. But no one did this. Some wet
seaweed was put over the crab, and Laddie tossed back into the water
his bait and string, to wait for another crab. After that every one
had good luck, even Mun Bun and Margy. Their mother helped them pull
up their crabs off the bottom, and Daddy Bunker scooped them into the
net. Russ, Rose and Violet also caught a number of crabs, and when the
basket was full they stopped fishing.

"No use catching any more than we need to make salad of," said Mother
Bunker.

"I don't want any crab salad," said Mun Bun, shaking his head.

"Well, it isn't good for little boys, anyhow," said Captain Ben. "But
why don't you want any?"

"I don't want to be pinched!" said Mun Bun.

"Oh, he thinks the crabs are alive, with their claws, in the salad,"
laughed Vi. "Why, silly, they take the crabs claws off before they eat
'em," she said.

"Well, maybe they might forget and leave one claw on, and that would
pinch me if I ate some, but I'm not going to," and Mun Bun shook his
head very decidedly.

The crabs clashed their claws and frothed at the mouths as they were
carried in a basket up to the bungalow where Mother Bunker boiled them.
Then the meat was picked out, as though the crabs were nuts, and a nice
salad was made.

This was only one of the jolly days, full of fun, that the six little
Bunkers enjoyed at Captain Ben's. There seemed to be something new
to do every time the sun rose. Nothing more was heard of the tramps,
though the constables, or policemen, tried to find the ragged men and
get back the captain's boat.

More than once Russ or Rose would wonder if that runaway boy, Tad
Munson, ever reached his home in Avalon. But there was no chance to
find out, though Mr. Bunker said he was going over some day and ask.

Though the days were shorter now that fall was at hand than they had
been in the summer time, when the six little Bunkers were at Uncle
Fred's, there was still plenty of time for fun. Sometimes Captain Ben
took the whole party off on a fishing trip in his motor boat, and again
they would walk through the woods, taking their lunches in boxes and
baskets.

Letters came from Norah and Jerry Simms, saying that all was well at
home, but no trace was found of Captain Ben's watch.

One day when it had rained so hard in the morning that the six little
Bunkers had to stay in the bungalow, it cleared in the afternoon. Mrs.
Bunker let the children go out to play, telling them not to get in any
boats and not to go far away from the house.

She was busy writing letters, and she was just beginning to wonder if
the children were all right, when suddenly Rose came rushing in, her
eyes shining with excitement.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Rose, "Laddie's in and he can't get out. Laddie's
in and he can't get out, and he's being picked to pieces! You'd better
come quick!"




CHAPTER XX

THE FLOOD


"Rose! what are you saying?" cried Mrs. Bunker, jumping up out of her
chair and starting toward the door of the bungalow.

"You'd better come and get him out, Mother! He's in and he can't get
out himself, and he's being picked all to pieces, and Mun Bun and Margy
are crying and--and----"

Rose had to stop just here, as she was all out of breath.

"What has happened, Rose?" Mrs. Bunker, herself somewhat breathless,
demanded. "What has Laddie fallen into? Where is he?"

"He's in--but you'd better come and get him out! He's got a stick, but
it isn't much good, and he's being picked and----"

"Being _picked_, Rose? What do you mean? Who's picking him, and where
is Laddie?" cried Mrs. Bunker. "I can't go to him till you tell me
where he is."

"Laddie's in the coop with the big, old rooster that lives next door,"
explained Rose. "And he's picking him--I mean the rooster is picking
Laddie, and he can't get out--I mean Laddie can't get out, and----"

But, once again, Rose had to stop to get her breath, for she talked
very fast in her excitement.

"Oh, the rooster!" Mrs. Bunker hastened on. She remembered that Captain
Ben had told them about a savage rooster that was part of some poultry
kept by the man next door. The rooster was ugly, and would fly at every
one who came near him, and, for this reason, he was usually kept shut
up in the yard, while the other fowls were allowed to go outside. When
the Bunkers had come to Captain Ben's to pay a late summer visit they
had been warned about the rooster and told not to go near his yard, or
if, by chance, he ever got out, they were to run away from him. For
though roosters do not appear to be savage they have strong wings and
sharp spurs and a beak, and they can harm a small child greatly.

Holding Rose by the hand, Mrs. Bunker ran toward the chicken yard
of the man next door. Before she reached it, she could hear a great
commotion there.

A rooster was crowing and flapping his wings, and Mother Bunker could
hear the voices of Laddie, Mun Bun, Margy and Violet, and Laddie seemed
to be making the most noise. Russ, as it happened, was down at the dock
with his father and Captain Ben, or he might have helped his little
brother.

As Mrs. Bunker turned the corner and came within sight of the chicken
yard she saw what was happening. Inside the wire fence, which kept the
savage rooster penned up, was Laddie. Outside, as though looking at
some show, were Mun Bun, Margy and Vi, and they were screaming with
excitement, Vi, every now and then saying:

"Bang him with the stick, Laddie! Bang him with the stick!"

This, as his mother could see, Laddie was trying to do. The small boy
had a stick, and with this he was hitting at the rooster. But the
feathered creature would flap his wings, jump up in the air out of
Laddie's reach and, coming down, would try to hit Laddie with wings,
spurs or beak.

Mrs. Bunker lost no time. Letting go of Rose's hand she rushed into the
chicken yard through the high, wire gate. Then, flapping her skirts at
the rooster, and crying "Shoo! Shoo!" Mrs. Bunker picked her little boy
up in her arms, and before the surprised fowl could attack her she was
safely outside and the gate was closed. The old rooster, with an angry
crow, threw himself against the wire netting, but he would not get out.

Laddie, rather mussed up and with a scratch on his bare leg that was
bleeding, turned around and faced his enemy as soon as his mother put
him down.

"You bad old rooster you!" cried Laddie. "If you were a baseball I'd
knock you over the fence!"

"Laddie, how did you come to go into the rooster's yard?" asked Mrs.
Bunker, when she saw that the little fellow was not any more harmed
than a few scratches.

"I went after my ball," Laddie answered. "It got knocked over into the
chicken yard when we were playing, and I went after it."

"I told him not to," said Rose.

"Well, I thought I could get in and get out again before the bad old
rooster saw me," went on Laddie. "So I went in. But when I wanted to
come out after I got the ball, the gate wouldn't open, and then the bad
old rooster came for me, and I tried to hit him with my ball stick, and
I threw the ball at him, and I hit him, I guess, but he flapped his
wings and he flew at me and--and----"

And then Laddie had to stop for breath, just as Rose had done.

"Dear me!" exclaimed his mother. "It's too bad, but of course you
should not have gone into the chicken yard after your ball. Mr. Wendell
told you not to. He would have got your ball for you. The rooster is
afraid of Mr. Wendell."

"I won't go in any more," said Laddie. "And I wish Mr. Wendell would
get my ball now, for it's in there."

"I'll ask him to," said Mrs. Bunker. "And now you had better come into
the house and let me wash you."

"Oh, o-o-oh, look! Laddie's leg's got the nose bleed!" cried Mun Bun,
pointing to the red spot on his brother's leg. "Laddie's leg's got the
nose bleed!"

"Well, I'm glad it isn't any worse," said Mrs. Bunker, as the others
laughed at Mun Bun's funny remark.

Mr. Wendell, who owned the savage rooster, came over later with
Laddie's ball, which he had got from the chicken yard. Mr. Wendell said
he was sorry for what had happened, and added:

"I'm going to get rid of that bird! He's getting older and more saucy
every day. The best place for him is in a potpie. He won't trouble you
any more, Laddie." And the next day the rooster was sent away.

The six little Bunkers kept on having good times at Captain Ben's. They
went out on the water in his motor boat, and sometimes in a sailboat,
and on these excursions Russ, at least, being the oldest, would look
long and earnestly across the waters of the bay at Grand View.

"What are you looking for?" Rose would ask him. "Are you playing
pirates?"

"No," Russ would answer. "I'm just looking to see if I can find the
tramps that took Captain's Ben's rowboat."

But the tramps were not found, nor did the Bunkers learn whether or not
Tad Munson ever ran back home after having run away. Mrs. Bunker often
said they must take a trip over to Avalon, to inquire about the strange
boy, but something always seemed to happen to put off the journey.
Captain Ben was always thinking of so many things for the six little
Bunkers to do to have fun.

One afternoon the marine, after having taken them all for a ride in his
motor boat, said:

"To-morrow, if it's a nice day, we'll go to that island I was telling
you about, and we'll have a picnic."

"May we take our lunch and stay all day?" asked Rose, breaking off a
song she had started to sing.

"Yes, it will be a regular picnic lunch," the captain said. "That is,
if it's a fair day."

"Do you think it will rain?" asked Russ, who had taken out his knife in
order to make a little jumping jack for Mun Bun.

"It might," the captain remarked. "I don't like the way the sky looks,"
and he gazed up at the clouds that were scuttling along overhead.
"It's about time for the usual storm we get late in the summer, but it
may hold off a week or more. Anyhow, if it does come, we can have the
picnic when it clears."

The six little Bunkers went to bed that night after having talked and
planned for the picnic the next day. But alas for their hopes! The
fears of Captain Ben proved true, and in the morning it was raining
hard.

"Maybe it will clear," said Rose, as she stood at the window with her
nose pressed against the glass, giving her a funny look.

"I hope it does," said Violet. "Say, Daddy, what makes the rain wet?"
she asked. "Wouldn't it be nice if the rain was dry, like snow, and
then we could go out without umbrellas? Wouldn't it be nice?"

"Snow is wet when it melts," her father said. "And if rain were not wet
it would do no good when it fell. Don't complain. Have as much fun as
you can here in the house. I don't believe it is going to clear to-day."

And it did not. It rained harder and harder, but Captain Ben knew how
to provide fun for the six little Bunkers even in a storm. He had many
things of interest in his bungalow, and he knew many stories which
he told the children. Every once in a while, though, he would go to
the door and look out, and Mrs. Bunker saw that the captain's face was
grave.

"Do you think something might happen?" she asked.

"There's a great deal more rain falling than I like to see," answered
Captain Ben.

"Will it make the ocean so high it will wash us away?" asked Violet,
who overheard what was said.

"No," the captain answered. "All the rain that ever fell would not
make the ocean rise any higher. But back of us is a small river, and
sometimes, when it rains too much, this river rises and makes a flood."

"Will it wash this bungalow away?" Russ asked.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. But it sometimes comes into my cellar,"
replied Captain Ben. "However, I don't believe it will this time. Only
I wish it would clear up so I could take my six little Bunkers to the
island on a picnic."

The six little Bunkers wished this themselves, but of course all their
wishes could not stop the rain from falling, and it pelted down all
day.

Rather earlier the next morning than he was in the habit of getting up,
Russ Bunker was awakened by hearing voices out in the bungalow yard
under his window. He quickly jumped from bed, looked out, and what he
saw surprised him. It was still raining hard, and the yard seemed to
be turned into a small lake with chicken coops floating around in it.
Besides the coops, there were planks and boards, and Captain Ben and
other men were wading about with long rubber boots on, trying to secure
the floating coops of chickens.

"Oh, Mother! Dad!" cried Russ in his excitement. "Wake up! The flood
has come!"




CHAPTER XXI

AN ISLAND PICNIC


Mr. and Mrs. Bunker did not need the urging call of Russ to awaken
them. They had already been up more than an hour when the little boy
exclaimed so loudly about the flood. And it was as he had said. The
rain had filled the little river back of the bungalow, the river had
risen and made a lake of the yards and fields back of Captain Ben's
home.

"What's the matter?" called Rose, who had been sleeping and dreaming of
the island picnic until she heard Russ's voice. "What's happened?" she
asked.

"Come and see," answered Russ.

Rose finished dressing and ran to join her brother at the window, which
looked down into the yard. Soon Laddie and Vi were with them, and the
four little Bunkers looked out on a curious scene. The other two little
Bunkers--Mun Bun and Margy--were still asleep in their beds, or bunks.
And it was indeed curious for Rose, Russ, Vi and Laddie to see Captain
Ben and some others, including Daddy Bunker now, wading about and
pulling the floating chicken coops to places of safety.

"Are the chickens going for a ride in their coops?" asked Vi.

"It looks so," Russ answered. "But I guess they'd rather not go.
Chickens don't like water."

"I wish that old rooster that flew at me would get soaking wet!"
exclaimed Laddie.

"Anybody that's out in this rain'll get wet," observed Russ. "See it
pour!"

It was, indeed, a very hard storm, but Captain Ben and his friends,
with Daddy Bunker, who were helping to save the chickens of the
neighbor next door, had on yellow "slickers," or oilskins, as the
fishermen and sailors call them, and with their big rubber boots they
were almost as dry as though under shelter.

"Will the bungalow float away?" asked Vi, as she looked at the big pond
of water which not only filled Captain Ben's back yard, but also the
yards of his neighbors on either side.

"No, the bungalows will not float away," said Mother Bunker, coming
along just in time to hear Vi's question. Mother Bunker thought perhaps
the flood might frighten the children, but they seemed to think it
rather jolly than otherwise.

"It's like being on a house boat, isn't it?" said Rose.

"Oh, wouldn't that be fun!" cried Russ. "We could float all around and
live here and we wouldn't care how hard it rained."

"I'm afraid Captain Ben wouldn't like to see his bungalow go floating
off in the flood," said Mrs. Bunker, with a smile. "But come down to
breakfast now, and then you may watch the men save the chickens. Poor
things! I guess they don't know what to make of it."

"May we go out and help save 'em after we eat?" asked Laddie.

"No, indeed!" his mother told him. "You must stay in while it rains.
But it may stop before the day is over."

However, the downpour showed no signs of letting up. It came down
harder than ever, and when they had finished eating the children stood
at the windows and looked out. The water in the rear yard was not
quite up to the back steps, but when Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker came
in, after having helped save the chickens, the marine said:

"There is water in my cellar now. If it keeps on raining there will be
more in. But there's nothing much down there to spoil."

"Will it wash the bungalow away?" asked Vi.

"Oh, no!" laughed the captain. "We've had floods like this before, and
we never had any serious trouble. I'm only sorry that it spoils our
island picnic."

"Well, we can have fun here," said Russ. "We can make believe we're on
a house boat, and that we're sailing to China."

"And can't we go somewhere to get something to eat?" asked Laddie.
"Maybe they won't have anything I like in China. They have tea, and I
don't like that very much."

"Yes, we'll make-believe sail to the North Pole, and maybe we'll see
Santa Claus and he'll give us something good," laughed Rose, catching
up Margy in her arms and dancing about the room.

"I want to see Santa Claus!" cried Margy.

"And I want candy!" added Mun Bun.

"Play as much as you like," said Captain Ben. "It can't rain forever
and we'll have our island picnic as soon as the weather clears."

But it seemed to be going to rain all day. Inch by inch the water in
the back yard crept nearer the back steps.

"I guess I'd better bring up one of my rowboats from the dock," said
Captain Ben, with a laugh, as, after dinner, he looked out and saw the
flood coming still higher. "Mr. Wendell will have to row around in a
boat to feed his chickens, I believe."

"Oh, could I come?" begged Russ. "It'll be lots of fun to feed chickens
from a rowboat."

"We don't know for sure that that is what Mr. Wendell will do," said
the marine.

The children played about the bungalow as best they could until nearly
supper time, when it was still raining. While Mrs. Bunker was busy with
the meal, Rose and Russ went out on the back porch. The weather was not
cold, and when the children saw how near the large puddle of water was
in the yard, and noticed that it was not raining quite so hard now,
they each thought of something at the same time.

"Let's go in wading!" exclaimed Russ and Rose together.

"We can put on our raincoats," added Russ.

"And take umbrellas," went on Rose.

Not stopping to ask their mother if they might, and seeing that Vi and
Laddie, Mun Bun and Margy were playing together in a distant part of
the house, Rose and her brother got on their storm clothes, took off
their shoes and stockings and soon were wading about in the shallow
part of the flood-pond.

"Isn't it nice?" laughed Rose, as she splashed about.

"Lots of fun," said Russ. Then, as he looked toward the far end of
Captain Ben's flooded yard, Russ uttered a cry of surprise. "Look,
Rose!" he called. "On that board floating down!"

"Oh, it's a cat!" cried Rose.

"And some kittens!" added Russ. "She's taking them for a ride!"

Surely enough, floating down the flooded yard on a board was a mother
cat and four kittens. But they did not seem to be riding for pleasure,
or having a good time. As the board boat slowly turned around and
around, coming nearer and nearer to Russ and Rose, the mother cried
as though asking the children to come and rescue her and her little
family. The little kittens also cried.

"Oh, Russ!" exclaimed Rose. "The poor things! Can't we get 'em and take
'em in?"

"I guess so," Russ answered. "They're floating down this way. If I had
a long stick I could poke 'em nearer to us."

"Here's a clothes stick," said Rose, taking one from the back porch.
Then she and Russ waded farther out and waited for the mother cat and
her kittens to come within reach.

[Illustration: SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY RUSS PULLED THE BOAT TOWARD HIM.]

Just about this time Mrs. Bunker, who had finished setting the table,
went into the pantry, and from a window she could look out into the
back yard. She saw what Russ and Rose were doing--wading in the pond
with their shoes and stockings off, Rose under an umbrella and Russ in
his rain coat.

"Oh, children! what are you doing?" called Mrs. Bunker.

"We're trying to save the kittens!" answered Russ. "I'll have 'em in a
minute."

As he spoke he reached out with the clothes pole Rose had handed him,
and he managed to touch the board on which crouched the little family,
mother and kittens all mewing now. Slowly and carefully Russ pulled the
board toward him, and when it was almost within his reach the mother
cat took one of the kittens up in her mouth. It was as though she knew
they were going to be rescued, and as though she were getting ready for
it.

"Oh, the poor little dears!" exclaimed Rose. She reached forward to
lift off the other three little kittens, while Russ dropped the pole
and got ready to take care of the mother cat. But Rose found that to
hold three kittens she needed to let go of the umbrella, so she tossed
it on the porch back of her.

Then she quickly gathered the three half-drowned kittens in her arms,
while Russ took the mother cat and one kitten, which the mother cat
still held in her mouth. Then, as the board floated away, the children
carried their new pets into the house.

"Oh, my dears, you're all wet!" cried Mother Bunker, while Vi and
Laddie and Mun Bun and Margy crowded around to look at the rescued
animals.

"Well, if we hadn't gone out in the rain we wouldn't have seen the
mother cat and her little ones, and maybe they'd be drowned, so it's a
good thing we went in wading," declared Russ.

His mother laughed but said nothing. The cat and kittens were carried
near the warm stove and given milk, and soon they were purring
contentedly.

"Something good came out of the flood, anyhow," said Captain Ben, when
he saw the now happy little family.

"How do you suppose they got on the board?" asked Russ, as he rubbed
the now soft and dry fur of one of the kittens.

"I presume the old cat had her family out in some barn or woodshed,"
answered the marine. "When the water began to rise she crawled with
them up as high as she could to keep dry. But the water kept on rising
and finally floated her off on the board, as though it were a boat. I
don't know where they came from, but we'll keep them until some one
claims them."

"I'm going to keep one forever and take it home with me!" declared
Margy, who had a black kitten in her lap.

"So'm I!" added Mun Bun, who was lifting up a black and white kitten.

It rained all that night, but the sun shone and the storm was over the
next day. The flood did very little real damage, aside from floating
away Mr. Wendell's chicken coops and filling Captain Ben's cellar with
water. And almost as quickly as it had risen the small river went down
again. The ocean and bay were not changed by all the rain that had
fallen. The tides rose and fell just the same.

One bright, sunny day, shortly after the flood, when the old cat and
her kittens had begun to feel quite at home in the bungalow, Captain
Ben came up from the dock where he and Daddy Bunker had been working on
the motor boat.

"Now the _Spray_ is all ready for a long trip," said the sailor. "We
shall go on our island picnic to-morrow."

"Oh, what fun!" laughed the six little Bunkers.

It was a glorious day for a picnic. They were all up early and the
lunches were packed in boxes and baskets.

"Are we going to take the mother cat and her kittens?" asked Margy,
when the time came for the start.

"Oh, indeed no!" said Mrs. Bunker.

"Well, how are they going to get anything to eat if we leave 'em home
here all alone?" Mun Bun wanted to know.

"I'll put a saucer of milk where they can get it for their dinner,
Margy," answered Captain Ben. "And we'll be home in time to feed them
this evening."

That satisfied the two smaller children, and, after a last pat and rub
of the purring mother and kittens, Margy and Mun Bun joined the others
in the motor boat.

Over the sparkling waters of the bay at Grand View went the _Spray_.
The six little Bunkers looked toward the island where they were to
spend the day on a picnic, and soon they reached it.

"Can we go barefoot?" asked Vi, almost as soon as she had stepped out
on the sandy beach.

"Yes. But be careful about stepping on sharp shells," her mother
cautioned her.

"I'm going to take off my shoes, too!" said Mun Bun, and soon the four
youngest Bunkers were wiggling their toes on the soft, warm sand.

Then such fun as the children had! They raced about, sailed little
wooden boats, built caves of sand, and threw stones in the water. Russ
gathered shells for his collection, and Rose picked flowers for her
dried flower collection, while Daddy and Mother Bunker and Captain Ben
sat in the shade and talked or read books they had brought along.

Rose and Russ had wandered off together down a woodland path on the
island, and Rose was a little ahead of her brother when he suddenly
heard her calling.

"Russ, come here!" said Rose in a strange voice.

Russ hurried forward.




CHAPTER XXII

AFTER THE TRAMPS


Russ saw his sister Rose standing in a little shady group of trees,
looking at some sight down in a small glen, or little valley.

"What's the matter, Rose?" asked Russ.

"Hush. Not so loud," she whispered back, holding her hand up to make
him keep quiet. "You'll scare 'em away if you're not careful."

"Scare who?" asked Russ.

"The tramps," Rose answered. "See, there are the ragged men down there.
They're having a picnic, like us, I guess."

Russ looked and saw a group of the sort of men he had always called
tramps. They were ragged and dirty, and were seated about a fire over
which hung a steaming kettle.

"They're cooking just like gypsies," said Russ. "Maybe they are
gypsies, Rose."

"No, they're tramps," went on the little girl. "And I guess they are
the same ones that took Captain Ben's rowboat and the other things
off the dock. And maybe they're the same ones that took Mrs. Brown's
jewelry."

"Oh, maybe they are!" exclaimed Russ. "What'll we do?"

"Let's go and tell daddy and mother and Captain Ben," answered Rose.
"They'll know what to do."

Russ and Rose turned back on the woodland path. The ragged tramps did
not appear to have seen or heard the children, and a little later the
oldest of the six little Bunkers were excitedly telling the others on
the island beach what they had seen.

"Tramps, eh?" exclaimed Captain Ben. "Well, now I have a chance to
catch them. They can't get away from me now, as the island is too
small. Can you show me where they are, Russ and Rose? Then you can come
back while your father and I round them up."

"Oh, can't I help catch 'em?" pleaded Russ.

"No, indeed!" his father exclaimed, as he and Captain Ben got ready to
go to where the ragged men were cooking some sort of meal in the woods.

"Wait a minute!" called Mother Bunker. "If you two men are going tramp
hunting, that means I shall be left alone here with the children. And
if any of the tramps get away, and come around where we are----"

"That's so!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "I didn't think of that. What
shall we do?" he asked Captain Ben. "It will take two of us to round up
the tramps, and yet----"

Just then the whistle of a boat sounded down near the beach where the
Bunker party had landed in the _Spray_. Captain Ben glanced down, and
as he did so a smile and look of relief came over his face.

"This will make it easy," he said. "There's Captain Blake and some boys
I know. They were in the war with me. Some of them can stay with Cousin
Amy and the children, and the rest can come with us and help catch the
tramps."

"I wish I'd been a soldier boy, then I could help catch tramps, too!"
exclaimed Russ.

"Hello, Captain Ben! What are you doing here?" called Captain Blake,
who had brought a group of boys from a warship to the island for a
day's outing.

"We're having a picnic," replied Captain Ben. "And you're just in time,
boys!" and he greeted the jolly sailor lads.

"Just in time for lunch, do you mean?" asked one rosy-cheeked lad, as
he danced around on the sand after leaping from the motor boat.

"Yes, I guess we have some lunch left, if the six little Bunkers didn't
eat it all up," went on Captain Ben.

"Six little Bunkers!" repeated Captain Blake. "That sounds like a
troupe of circus performers."

"Well, they can get up a circus if they have to!" laughed Captain Ben.
"But here they are," and he pointed to the six little Bunkers, and
introduced Daddy and Mother Bunker as well.

"But what I meant when I said you were just in time," went on Captain
Ben, "is that we've discovered a nest of tramps here on the island. I
think they're the same gang that took my rowboat, and also took some
things off the dock. They're down in a little glen--two of the Bunkers
saw them--I want you boys to help me catch 'em!"

"Whoopee! That's what we'll do! All aboard!" cried one of the sailor
boys.

"But you can't all go," went on Captain Ben. "Some of you must stay
with Mrs. Bunker and the children in case the tramps scatter and some
of them run this way."

"I could drive 'em away, but they won't let me!" complained Russ, who
felt quite indignant that he was not to be allowed to take part in the
chase.

"I'll tell you what we'll do, sonny!" said Captain Blake, with a smile.
"You and I and one of the sailor boys will stay here as a sort of home
guard. The others can go and catch the tramps. And we'll have an extra
piece of cake, maybe, for staying at home instead of having the fun of
the chase."

"Yes, you shall each have two pieces of cake," promised Mrs. Bunker.

"And I want some!" added Mun Bun, who was generally to be heard from
when there was anything like cake to eat.

So it was arranged. Captain Ben, Daddy Bunker and some of the sailor
boys went off over the hill, very quietly, toward the place where Rose
and Russ had seen the tramps around their camp fire. Captain Blake and
a big, hearty, strong sailor boy remained behind as a guard for Mother
Bunker and the six little Bunkers. Captain Blake was a jolly man, and
he soon had the children laughing with his funny stories.

"Do you know any riddles?" asked Laddie, after a while.

"Well, I might think of one," said the captain. "I'll ask you this:
What is the longest word in the world?"

"If I had a dictionary here maybe I could find it," said Russ.

"You don't need a dictionary for this," went on the seaman. "I think
I'll have to tell you. The longest word is smiles."

"Why, that's only a little, short word," said Rose, smiling herself.

"But isn't there a mile between the first and the last letter?" Captain
Blake asked. "You see, first there is a letter S. Then comes the word
mile, and then there's the last S--a mile between the two, and I call
that a very long word."

"Oh, how funny!" laughed Rose. "That's a good riddle."

"And I know another," said Laddie. "What is it that's got only one eye
and carries a long train in it?"

"What is it that has only one eye and carries a long train in it?"
repeated the captain. "Do you mean a train of cars?"

"No, I mean a long train--like that on a lady's dress," Laddie
explained. "It's a needle!" he said quickly, before any one had time to
guess. "A needle has one eye and when there is thread in the eye the
thread makes a long train."

"Ha! Ha! That's pretty good!" laughed the captain. Then he told more
stories, and the sailor with him sang some jolly sea songs and the six
little Bunkers were having a fine time.

"I wonder if daddy and Captain Ben are catching the tramps," said Mrs.
Bunker, after a while, when it seemed as though it was time for the
searching party to return.

Suddenly there was a crackling in the bushes.

"Here comes some one now," said Russ.

The noise in the bushes grew louder, and there was the sound of several
voices. Captain Blake, who had been having fun with Mun Bun and Margy
on the grass, rose to his feet and picked up a stout club. The other
sailor did the same, and they stood in front of Mrs. Bunker and the
children, looking in the direction of the noise.

Russ moved up as though to take his place beside the two protectors,
but his mother called to him to come back to her, where Rose and the
other little Bunkers were now gathered.

Then they all waited to see who should come through the bushes. Would
it be Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben returning with the tramps they had
caught, or the ragged men themselves, scattering and running away?




CHAPTER XXIII

THE OLD SATCHEL


"I see Captain Ben!" suddenly called Rose, pointing toward the bushes
which could now be seen to be moving.

"I'm glad of that!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, and Captain Blake and his
sailor friend dropped the clubs they had taken up.

"Did they catch any tramps?" asked Laddie.

"I don't see any," replied Russ.

And as his father and the others of the party came into view, pushing
their way through the bushes, it was noticed that they had not captured
any of the ragged men.

"What's the matter?" asked Captain Blake. "Did they get away from you?"

"Yes," answered Captain Ben. "The rascals skipped out. They must have
heard us coming and have run down to the beach on the other side of
the island. There the tramps piled into a boat and went away."

"What sort of boat?" asked the seaman who had come with the jolly
sailors.

"It was a motor boat," answered Daddy Bunker. "But they had a rowboat
also, towing behind."

"And I think it was the same rowboat they took from me," went on
Captain Ben. "And I shouldn't be a bit surprised if they had taken the
motor boat, also."

"Oh, they must be terribly bad men!" exclaimed Vi, in such a funny
voice that every one laughed.

"They are bad," declared Captain Ben. "That's why I want to catch them.
They'll be hanging around here all winter if we don't drive them away,
and they'll be taking things that don't belong to them. Captain Blake,
will you help me?"

"Help you in what, Captain Ben?" asked the other captain, while the six
little Bunkers looked and listened.

"Will you help me catch those tramps? We can take after them in our
motor boats. I saw which way they went. I believe they're heading for
Oyster Cove. We can round them up there. Will you come?"

"I most assuredly will!" exclaimed Captain Blake.

"And we'll come, too!" shouted the sailor boys.

"Then can't I come?" asked Russ. "I could steer a boat or throw stones
or--something!"

"I'm afraid this will be no place for little boys," answered Captain
Ben. "We might as well hurry," he added. "I'm sorry to end our island
picnic," he remarked to Mrs. Bunker, "but we must get those tramps."

"Do you want me and the children to stay here on the island while you
men go down to Oyster Cove and capture the tramps?" asked the mother of
the six little Bunkers. "If you do----"

"Oh, no! I wouldn't think of that," answered Captain Ben. "As I said, I
hate to spoil the picnic, but I think it will be best for you to take
the children back to my bungalow. Then Captain Blake and I will go with
the sailors, catch the tramps, and take away the things the ragged men
stole."

"Perhaps that will be best," said Mrs. Bunker. "We have had a good
time here, and it is almost time to go back home."

There was so much excitement going on, and such a prospect of more that
might happen, that the six little Bunkers did not at all mind leaving
the island. They were always ready for something new, were the six
little Bunkers, and this chase after the ragged tramps was decidedly
something new.

"If you catch 'em will you bring 'em back for us to see?" asked Vi, as
the two parties prepared to leave the island.

"No, I think we'll take them right to the lockup," answered her father.
"But come now, gather up everything, and we'll start back. If we let
the tramps get too far away it will be hard to catch them again."

Soon the six little Bunkers were once more in Captain Ben's boat, and
on their way across the bay to the bungalow. Captain Blake and his
sailor boys went at once in the direction of Oyster Cove, there to
round up the tramps if possible.

"I'll come and join you as soon as I leave the six little Bunkers
safe," Captain Ben called to his friend Captain Blake.

"Who'll take care of us after you and daddy go back to get the tramps?"
Rose asked, as the boat neared the dock.

"There will be plenty of neighbors around," her mother answered.

Word soon spread through the little colony at Grand View that the
tramps, who had stolen many things during the late summer, might soon
be caught, and several men joined Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker in the
motor boat that was to go to Oyster Cove.

"But there will be no danger from the tramps," remarked Mr. Wendell,
the next door neighbor, whose rooster had tried to fight Laddie that
time. "The tramps must know they are being chased, and they'll get as
far away as they can."

"I hope they don't get so far away that daddy and Captain Ben can't
catch 'em!" exclaimed Russ.

Russ, Rose and the others stood on the pier and waved their hands to
Captain Ben and their father, who departed in the motor boat _Spray_,
together with several volunteers who wanted to help catch the tramps.
Then the six little Bunkers went up the hill to the bungalow. They
were tired after their outing on the island, and for once they did not
tease their mother to provide them with some amusement.

Margy and Mun Bun found two of their dolls and were satisfied to sit
down and play with them for a time. Laddie found a picture book and
took it off in a corner. Vi got out her sewing basket and began work on
a dress for her doll. But as she had been working on this same dress
all summer, and as it was not nearly finished yet, it seemed as if her
poor doll would have to go out and buy something to wear, Russ said.

Russ had brought in some wood for the fire his mother wanted to start
in the kitchen stove and Rose was getting ready to help set the table.
When these tasks were done Margy and Mun Bun came up to Rose and Russ
who were sitting down, resting.

"You please be doctor," begged Mun Bun of Russ.

"And you be nurse. Our babies are sick," said Margy to Rose.

"What in the world do you mean?" asked Russ.

"You be doctor and bring medicine to the dolls in a satchel," went on
Margy, pulling at the sleeve of Russ. "I'll show you where the satchel
is. You put medicine in, and come and be doctor."

"Oh, she wants you to get a satchel and pretend you're a doctor and
bring medicine like Dr. Gage brings to our house," said Rose. "And they
want me to be a nurse. We'll play with you a little while, until supper
is ready, Margy," she promised her little sister.

"And Russ be doctor," begged Mun Bun.

"Yes, Russ'll be doctor," went on Rose. "Get that old valise we brought
from home with us," she went on, "and make believe it has a lot of
pills and medicine in it, Russ. We'll keep Mun Bun and Margy quiet
while mother finishes getting supper," she whispered to her big brother.

"All right, I'll be the doctor," promised the oldest Bunker boy.
"Where's the valise?"

Rose showed him where, put back in a hall closet, was an old satchel
in which some odds and ends had been put the last minute for the
automobile trip from home. With this in his hand, and pretending to be
a doctor, Russ walked up to the playhouse Mun Bun and Margy had made
for themselves in one corner of the living room.

"Which is the sick baby?" asked Russ, just as Dr. Gage might have done.
He looked at the dolls which Mun Bun and Margy had.

"They're both sick," said Margy, "and they both want a lot of medicine."

"Well, I'll give one some red pills and the other some green," said
"Dr. Russ." He dropped his satchel of make-believe medicine to the
floor and was about to look at Margy's doll, when Rose gave a startled
cry and pointed to the old satchel.

"Look! Look!" she cried. "See what was in the old valise!"




CHAPTER XXIV

TAD'S NEWS


Margy almost dropped her sick doll, she was so surprised at the
astonishment in the voice of Rose and at the manner in which her
sister pointed toward the old valise. Mun Bun, too, looked at the
leather satchel on the floor, and Russ, who had dropped it, stared with
wide-opened eyes at the sight which met his gaze.

"Look! Look!" went on Rose. "There it is!"

"What?" asked Margy.

"Captain Ben's watch--the gold wrist watch he lost when he was helping
us pack to come here," went on Rose. "It just fell out of the old
valise Russ dropped."

"Did it?" asked Russ, who was as much surprised as was Rose.

"Yes," went on Rose, "it did. As soon as you dropped the valise that
little pocket on the side opened and the watch came out. There it is!"

And there, surely enough, was Captain Ben's missing watch--the one he
thought so much of because it was given to him by a soldier in France.

"What's the matter?" asked Mother Bunker, coming in from the kitchen.
She had heard the cries of excitement among the children.

"Look what we found--Captain Ben's watch--it was in the old valise--it
fell out when Russ dropped it--dropped the valise, I mean," answered
Rose. "He was playing doctor, because Mun Bun's doll and Margy's were
sick. Oh, Mother! won't Captain Ben be glad?"

"Yes, I think he will," answered Mrs. Bunker, as she picked the watch
up off the floor. The timepiece was not damaged, and when Mrs. Bunker
had wound it and given it a little shake, it ticked off merrily, though
of course it had to be set to indicate the proper hour.

"Well, I never knew Captain Ben's watch was in that old valise when I
took it to play doctor," said Russ.

"And no one else imagined it was there," said his mother. "The watch
must have slipped from Captain Ben's wrist when he was helping us pack,
and it fell into the side pocket of the satchel. Then it was strapped
shut and put with our luggage. We never had occasion to open the valise
side pocket, and of course we never thought of looking in there. Only
by accident could it have been found."

"I'm glad we found it," said Russ. "Captain Ben'll be glad, too."

There was so much excitement over finding the missing watch that all
thought of playing doctor, nurse and sick dolls passed. Vi and Laddie
had to hear the story all over again.

"Then the tramps didn't take Captain Ben's watch after all, did they?"
asked Vi, when she and Laddie had looked several times in the side
pocket of the valise, whence the watch had slid when Russ dropped the
satchel.

"We never thought tramps had taken it," said her mother. "Captain Ben
missed his watch long before we heard about the tramps."

Speaking of tramps naturally brought the talk to the chase then under
way, and the children were wondering whether their father, Captain Ben,
Captain Blake and the others would be lucky in the pursuit. It was just
getting dusk when steps were heard on the bungalow porch, and in came
Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben. They looked tired and discouraged.

"Did you catch the tramps?" cried Russ eagerly.

"No," and his father shook his head. "They had too much of a start on
us."

"And they got away," added Captain Ben. "We were unlucky to-day."

"But we were lucky here!" exclaimed Rose, with sparkling eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked the marine, looking from one of the six
little Bunkers to the other. Something in their manner told him that
the unusual had happened.

"See if you can guess!" proposed Laddie. "Make believe it's a riddle,
and guess, Captain Ben."

"Hum! Let me see!" and the marine pretended to be thinking very hard.
"Is it----"

"It's your watch!" burst out Mun Bun. "We were playing sick dolls, and
Russ was the doctor and he had a valise and----"

"Oh, what'd you tell him for? Why didn't you let him guess?" asked
Laddie.

But the secret was out now.

"My watch! My wrist watch! Do you mean you found my watch that the
French soldier gave me?" cried Captain Ben.

"Yes, here it is," and Mrs. Bunker handed it to her relative, telling
him how it had been found.

"Well, I never!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "I had given that up as lost
forever. I should say you did have luck here, even if we were not lucky
in catching the tramps."

"So they got away, did they?" asked Mother Bunker, after Captain Ben
had fastened his watch on his wrist.

"Yes. In the motor boat, which they must have stolen, they were too
speedy for us. Then, too, they had a good start. But we have not given
up. Word has been sent to the police all around here and the men may be
caught any moment. They won't bother us again, that's sure."

"I'm glad of that," said Mother Bunker.

Then they all sat down to supper and talked over what had happened
during the day. There was plenty about which to talk, from the picnic
early in the day, to the sighting of the tramps by Rose, the chase
after them and the finding of the captain's watch. As he had promised,
Captain Ben divided the five dollars reward between Rose and Russ.

But all days must come to an end, and this one finally did. The six
little Bunkers went up to bed and soon were sleeping, tired out with
the many adventures.

It was just after breakfast the next morning when Russ, who was
bringing in some wood for the kitchen fire, heard some one coming up
the front walk and looked to see who it was.

"Why--why!" Russ exclaimed. "It's Tad--Tad Munson!"

"Yes, that's who I am," was the answer. "And I've a lot of news for
you. Where's your father and Captain Ben?"

"They're in the house," said Russ. "But what's the matter? What news
have you to tell?"

"You wait and you'll hear!" promised Tad, for it was, indeed, he. But
he was much changed. He was clean and well dressed. Instead of old,
torn shoes he had on nice, shiny ones.

Just then Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker came out on the porch. They
seemed surprised at the sight of the former runaway boy.

"He's got news for us, Daddy!" cried Russ, dropping his armful of wood.




CHAPTER XXV

THE CAPTURE


"Well, Tad," said Mr. Bunker, when he saw the "runaway boy," which was
the name he was often called, "it has been some time since we saw you
last."

"Yes, Mr. Bunker, it has," went on Tad. "I'm sorry I caused you so much
trouble."

"Oh, you didn't cause us so much trouble as you did your father," said
Captain Ben. "He came here one night, very late, inquiring about you,
and----"

"Yes, I know," interrupted Tad. "And I'm sorry I made him so much
trouble. But it's all right now, and I'm never going to run away again.
That's what I came over to tell you."

"Is this the news?" asked Russ, and he began to feel a little
disappointed.

"No, it isn't all the news," Tad went on. "After I ran away, and you
brought me part of the way back, I was going to take the trolley car
to my home in Avalon, just as I said I would. But I got sort of scared
after I went away from you. I was afraid to go home, so I didn't."

"Oh, so that's why your father came here looking for you!" exclaimed
Daddy Bunker. "We often wondered if you ever did go back home."

"Yes, I went a few days after that," Tad said. "And my father was good
to me, and when I told him how kind you folks were to me, he said I
must come right over and thank you, and let you know I was safe at home
again.

"Well, I was going to, but I kept putting it off. But at last my father
and mother decided I must come, so when I got some new clothes and new
shoes I decided to come, and here I am. I just came in on the trolley
car."

"Did you come to tell us about your new shoes and new suit?" Rose asked.

"Oh, I have more news than that!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you want to know
where to find those tramps?" he asked suddenly.

"Tramps? What do you know about the tramps?" asked Captain Ben. "Have
they been over in Avalon, too, taking things?"

"No, I don't think so," answered Tad. "But we heard, over there, about
a gang of tramps being chased off an island and down toward Oyster
Cove. And just now, when I was getting off the trolley car down by the
railroad station, I saw a lot of tramps hiding in the bushes."

"You did?" cried Daddy Bunker. "What were they doing there?"

"Just hiding," answered Tad. "I was near enough to hear what they were
saying, and they spoke about a motor boat. That's what made me think
maybe they were the same tramps you chased."

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "This is
great news, Tad. Come on!" he called to Daddy Bunker. "We'll get some
policemen and round up these fellows. We'll capture them, and send them
to jail. Then maybe I'll get back my rowboat they took, and if we find
the motor boat we can give that back to whoever owns it."

"Maybe the tramps are hiding in the bushes to steal a train of cars,"
suggested Laddie.

"They couldn't carry off a train of cars, that's sure," said Captain
Ben, with a laugh. "Probably they're hiding there so they can get
aboard a freight train when one stops. I guess they want to get away
from here, and they think a freight train will take them away so they
won't be captured. But we'll get after them. Just where did you see the
ragged men, Tad?"

The former runaway boy told, and Captain Ben called the police station
on the telephone and asked that two or three policemen be sent to his
bungalow. From there the capture party could start for the tramps'
hiding place in the bushes by the railroad.

"I'll go along with you and show you the place," Tad offered.

The policemen soon arrived at Captain Ben's bungalow, and then he and
Daddy Bunker set out, with Tad to lead the way to where the ragged men
were hiding.

"Oh, Mother, can't we go and see the tramps run?" begged Rose.

"Yes!" added Russ. "They won't chase us with the policemen there to
make 'em be good! Let's go!"

"Well, we'll go and look on from a distance," said Mrs. Bunker. So,
with the six little Bunkers in charge she started for the railroad.

It was all over in a little while. Daddy Bunker, Captain Ben, and the
police officers silently made their way to the place where the ragged
men were hiding. They surrounded it, so the tramps could not get away,
and soon the vagrants were all captured. They did not fight at all, for
they seemed to be cowards.

One by one they were led out, pushed into a wagon and taken to jail. Of
course the six little Bunkers did not go near the jail. But they had
seen the tramps caught and this was enough for them. Tad was warmly
thanked by Captain Ben, Daddy Bunker and others for telling where the
troublesome men might be caught.

"Did you get your rowboat?" asked Russ of Captain Ben, when the marine
came back after the tramps were locked up.

"They didn't exactly have it with them," laughed Captain Ben, "but I
made them tell me where it was hidden. And the motor boat is there
also. It was stolen from a friend of mine. He'll be glad to get it
back--as glad as I am to get my rowboat and my wrist watch--only,
of course, the tramps didn't have that. But the ragged men will not
trouble any one for a long time, now."

"Did any of them have Mrs. Brown's jewelry?" asked Mother Bunker.

"Not as far as we could learn," her husband answered. "These tramps
said they were never near the Brown place."

"That's too bad. I'm sorry, I mean, that Mrs. Brown won't get back her
rings and things," Mother Bunker went on. "But I'm glad these men have
been captured. Now we don't need to worry about them, for the children
have been a little frightened, I think."

While it may have been true that these particular tramps were not the
ones that robbed Mrs. Brown, yet it was some like them, as the Bunkers
learned later. For another gang of ragged men were arrested not far
from Grand View, and some of these had a few of the trinkets taken from
the farmhouse. These were given back to Mrs. Brown, and, later still,
more of her jewelry was recovered from other tramps, so that most of
her ornaments were restored.

As for Tad, he seemed to have got all over his runaway habits. He
admitted he had been a very foolish little boy, and said he never
was going to do anything like that again. Often after the tramps had
been caught and sent away, Tad came over to play with the six little
Bunkers. One day they had quite an adventure.

Back of Captain Ben's bungalow was a barn. That is, it had been a
barn at one time, but after Captain Ben bought the place, and had an
automobile in place of a horse, he did not use much of the stable,
needing only room enough for his car. But the barn made a fine place
for the six little Bunkers to play, and one afternoon, when Tad had
called, Russ said:

"Let's go out to the barn and have some fun!"

"All right!" Tad agreed.

Rose had gone for a walk with her mother and Margy, but Mun Bun and
Laddie remained behind to play with Russ and Tad. Daddy Bunker and
Captain Ben had gone fishing in the motor boat, and they went out quite
a distance in the bay.

"Let's play hide and go seek!" proposed Tad, and this was agreed to.
It was Tad's turn to close his eyes and give the others a chance to
slip into various hiding places so Tad could not find them after he had
opened his eyes.

"Ready or not I'm coming!" cried Tad, when he had counted up to five
hundred, by fives.

"Wait a minute. I isn't hided yet!" cried Mun Bun, and Laddie, who had
picked out a good place behind a pile of boards on the first floor of
the old barn, saw his little brother going up the stairs that led to a
loft over the place where the horses used to be stabled.

"Don't fall, Mun Bun!" called Laddie in a whisper.

"I won't!" answered the little fellow.

"I'll count a hundred more," offered Tad, and this time, when he called
"ready or not I'm coming," no one objected. They were all well hidden.

When Tad went away from "home," to look for Russ and the others, Laddie
managed to slip in "free," so he did not have to be "it." Russ also
tried it, but he was not so lucky, and he was "spied" by Tad, and it
was Russ's turn to blind his eyes next.

"Where's Mun Bun?" asked Russ, as Tad beat him to the "home."

"He went up there," and Laddie pointed to the stairs.

"Oh, he oughtn't go up there!" exclaimed Russ. "He might fall. Come on
down, Mun Bun," he called.

"All right," was the answer, faint and far away. There was the sound of
footsteps on the loft floor overhead and then suddenly the noise of a
fall, and the voice of Mun Bun burst out crying.

"Oh, I falled! I falled!" wailed the little fellow. "I falled down a
hole, and I can't get out!"

At the same time there was the sound of shoes kicking on wood, and
the sound came from one of the mangers, or the place in the old horse
stalls where the animals were given their feed.

"He must have fallen down through the place where they put the hay!"
cried Russ, and he and Tad hurried to the stall. Just as they reached
it Mun Bun stood up in the manger, which was like a long, narrow box.
He was covered with wisps of hay, and he was crying, but a quick look
showed that he was not hurt.

"What happened?" asked Russ, as he lifted his little brother down out
of the manger.

"Oh, I was hiding upstairs, and I walked across the floor, and then I
falled down a hole, and I thought I couldn't get out, but I did," said
Mun Bun.

"I see how it happened," remarked Tad. "There's a hole cut through the
floor upstairs, and a sort of chute that comes down into the horse
stall manger. They used to shove hay down that chute, and there must
have been some still stuck in it. Mun Bun fell down the hole, and he
wasn't hurt on account of the hay."

So, that was how it had happened. Mun Bun had stepped into the hay
chute, and, there being a wad of old fodder still in it, he had been
dropped down gently, almost as though down a dumb waiter shaft, into
the manger below.

"Well, you didn't find me, anyhow, I comed down myself," said Mun Bun
when he had stopped crying and had been brushed off by Russ and Tad.

Then the boys played hide and seek a little longer, but Mun Bun did
not again go up into the loft of the barn to play.

When the game was over they went back to the house. Mun Bun said he was
hungry, and Russ admitted that he, too, could eat some bread and jam.

"If mother's there she'll give us some," he said to Tad. "But if she
isn't we can get it ourselves."

However, Mrs. Bunker had returned from her walk with Rose, Margy and
Vi, and she gave the boys and girls, including the visitor, some
generous slices of bread, spread thick with raspberry jam which she had
made from berries the children picked on Captain Ben's place.

Just as the six little Bunkers finished this late afternoon lunch,
there was a shouting down at the dock. At first Mrs. Bunker thought
something had happened, but when she saw her husband and Captain Ben
getting out of the motor boat, holding up long strings of fish they had
caught, she knew the reason for the joyful noise.

"Oh, what dandy fish!" cried Russ. "I wish I could catch some!"

"We'll take you along next time," promised his father.

Laddie, who had gone to the boat to look in and see if any more fish
were there, suddenly uttered a cry of pain.

"Oh, did you get stuck on a hook?" exclaimed his mother.

"No, but a big crab bit me!" cried Laddie, and he danced around with
a crab clinging to his finger until his father took off the pinching
creature.

"This crab took told of the bait on my hook," explained Mr. Bunker,
"and he clung on until I lifted him into the boat. I forgot he was
there. Never mind, Laddie, he didn't make your finger bleed." For the
crab had taken hold of the little boy's finger at a thick part, and no
blood was drawn.

The six little Bunkers looked at the fish their father and Captain Ben
had caught, and a little later some of the fish were fried for supper.

"Oh, this is the nicest place we were ever at," said Rose with a happy
little song, when the time came for Tad to take the trolley car back to
Avalon.

"I wish we could always have two vacations every year," remarked Russ.
"I want to make another boat before we go back home."

"And I want to think of another riddle," Laddie exclaimed.

"When are we going back? Will school open soon? Can we come here again?
What are we going to do to-morrow?" asked Vi.

"Oh, what a lot of questions!" laughed her mother. "We are not going
back right away. We shall still have some fun at Captain Ben's."

And so we will leave the six Little Bunkers, hoping to meet them again
amid new scenes.


THE END

       *       *       *       *       *


                        BOOKS By LAURA LEE HOPE


                     THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES

                 SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S
                    SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S
                  SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S
                 SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S
                  SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S
                  SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S


                       THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
                             (Nine Titles)

       *       *       *       *       *

                        THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES

                           By LAURA LEE HOPE

              Author of the Popular "Bobbsey Twins" Books

                Wrapper and text illustrations drawn by
                      FLORENCE ENGLAND NOSWORTHY


These stories by the author of the "Bobbsey Twins" Books are eagerly
welcomed by the little folks from about five to ten years of age. Their
eyes fairly dance with delight at the lively doings of inquisitive
little Bunny Brown and his cunning, trustful sister Sue.

Bunny was a lively little boy, very inquisitive. When he did anything,
Sue followed his leadership. They had many adventures, some comical in
the extreme.


             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW
             BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE

       *       *       *       *       *


                        THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS

                       For Little Men and Women

                           By LAURA LEE HOPE

               Author of "The Bunny Brown" Series, Etc.

Copyright publications which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Books that
charm the hearts of the little ones, and of which they never tire.


                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
                     THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST

       *       *       *       *       *


                       THE OUTDOOR CHUMS SERIES

                        By CAPTAIN QUINCY ALLEN


The outdoor chums are four wide-awake lads, sons of wealthy men of
a small city located on a lake. The boys love outdoor life, and are
greatly interested in hunting, fishing, and picture taking. They have
motor cycles, motor boats, canoes, etc., and during their vacations go
everywhere and have all sorts of thrilling adventures. The stories give
full directions for camping out, how to fish, how to hunt wild animals
and prepare the skins for stuffing, how to manage a canoe, how to swim,
etc. Full of the spirit of outdoor life.


                           THE OUTDOOR CHUMS
          Or The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club.

                     THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE LAKE
                Or Lively Adventures on Wildcat Island.

                    THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE FOREST
                   Or Laying the Ghost of Oak Ridge.

                     THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE GULF
                   Or Rescuing the Lost Balloonists.

                   THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AFTER BIG GAME
               Or Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness.

                   THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON A HOUSEBOAT
                   Or The Rivals of the Mississippi.

                  THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE BIG WOODS
                  Or The Rival Hunters at Lumber Run.

                   THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT
                      Or The Golden Cup Mystery.

       *       *       *       *       *


                   THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES

                        By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON


Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The
girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with
interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track
and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on
the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean,
pure and wholesome.


                       THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH
                       Or Rivals for all Honors.

A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of
mystery and a strange initiation.


                THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA
                         Or The Crew That Won.

Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.


                THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL
                    Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.

Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketball and in
addition, the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high school
authorities for a long while.


                THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE
                   Or The Play That Took the Prize.

How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote a play
which afterward was made over for the professional stage and brought in
some much-needed money.


             THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
              Or The Girl Champions of the School League.

This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved and
up-to-date fashion. Full of fun and excitement.


                   THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP
                    Or The Old Professor's Secret.

The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful time at
boating, swimming and picnic parties.

       *       *       *       *       *


                    THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES

                           By LAURA LEE HOPE

                 Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series."

The adventures of Ruth and Alice DeVere. Their father, a widower, is an
actor who has taken up work for the "movies." Both girls wish to aid
him in his work and visit various localities to act in all sorts of
pictures.


                       THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS
                 Or First Appearance in Photo Dramas.

Having lost his voice, the father of the girls goes into the movies and
the girls follow. Tells how many "parlor dramas" are filmed.


                 THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
             Or Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays.

Full of fun in the country, the haps and mishaps of taking film plays,
and giving an account of two unusual discoveries.


                  THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND
                       Or The Proof on the Film.

A tale of winter adventures in the wilderness, showing how the
photo-play actors sometimes suffer.


               THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS
                   Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida.

How they went to the land of palms, played many parts in dramas before
the camera; were lost, and aided others who were also lost.


                THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH
                   Or Great Days Among the Cowboys.

All who have ever seen moving pictures of the great West will want to
know just how they are made. This volume gives every detail and is full
of clean fun and excitement.


                    THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA
               Or a Pictured Shipwreck that Became Real.

A thrilling account of the girls' experiences on the water.


                 THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS
                   Or The Sham Battles at Oak Farm.

The girls play important parts in big battle scenes and have plenty of
hard work along with considerable fun.

       *       *       *       *       *


                    THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES

                          By VICTOR APPLETON


Moving pictures and photo plays are famous the world over, and in this
line of books the reader is given a full description of how the films
are made--the scenes of little dramas, indoors and out, trick pictures
to satisfy the curious, soul-stirring pictures of city affairs, life
in the Wild West, among the cowboys and Indians, thrilling rescues
along the seacoast, the daring of picture hunters in the jungle among
savage beasts, and the great risks run in picturing conditions in a
land of earthquakes. The volumes teem with adventures and will be found
interesting from first chapter to last.


                        THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS
                  Or Perils of a Great City Depicted.

                  THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST
            Or Taking Scenes Among the Cowboys and Indians.

                 THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST
                  Or Showing the Perils of the Deep.

                 THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE
               Or Stirring Times Among the Wild Animals.

              THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND
                     Or Working Amid Many Perils.

                 THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AND THE FLOOD
                 Or Perilous Days on the Mississippi.

                   THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT PANAMA
             Or Stirring Adventures Along the Great Canal.

                 THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS UNDER THE SEA
                   Or The Treasure of the Lost Ship.