Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo\'s
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo\'sSIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S
BY LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES," "THE BUNNY
BROWN SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES," ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
BOOKS
By LAURA LEE HOPE
* * * * *
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 50 cents per volume._
* * * * *
=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
* * * * *
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES=
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 BUNNY BROWN SERIES=
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 AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
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
* * * * *
=THE OUTDOOR GIRL SERIES=
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE
=GROSSET & DUNLAP,= PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
Copyright, 1918, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
* * * * *
_Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's_
[Illustration: THE CHILDREN WERE HAVING LOTS OF FUN WITH THEIR FUNNY
LITTLE PET.
_Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's._ _Frontispiece_--(_Page 158_)]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A QUEER HUNT 1
II. GOOD-BYE TO GRANDMA 11
III. ON THE BOAT 22
IV. IN BOSTON 32
V. ALEXIS IS SPLASHED 42
VI. THE POCKETBOOK 52
VII. A SAD LETTER 62
VIII. RUSS MAKES A FOUNTAIN 72
IX. WHAT HAPPENED TO WILLIAM 83
X. ROSE MAKES AN AIRSHIP 92
XI. VI IS LOST 103
XII. MARGY TAKES A RIDE 112
XIII. MUN BUN DRIVES AWAY 122
XIV. THE WHISTLING WAGON 133
XV. LADDIE'S FUNNY "RIDDLE" 144
XVI. ROSE BREAKS HER SKATE 151
XVII. THE SKATE WAGON 163
XVIII. THE SPINNING TOPS 171
XIX. FLYING A KITE 181
XX. THE JUMPING-ROPE 191
XXI. MUN BUN IN A HOLE 202
XXII. OUT TO NANTASKET BEACH 210
XXIII. THE MERRY-GO-ROUND 219
XXIV. ROSE FINDS HER DOLL 228
XXV. THE POCKETBOOK OWNER 238
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS
AT AUNT JO'S
CHAPTER I
A QUEER HUNT
"Let me count noses now, to see if you're all here," said Mother Bunker
with a laugh, as her flock of children gathered around her.
"Don't you want some help?" asked Grandma Bell. "Can you count so many
boys and girls all alone, Amy?"
"Oh, I think so," answered Mother Bunker. "You see I am used to it. I
count them every time we come to the woods, and each time I start for
home, to be sure none has been left behind. Now then, children!
Attention! as the soldier captain says."
Six little Bunkers, who were getting ready to run off into the woods to
frolic and have a good time at a good-bye picnic, laughed and shouted
and finally stood still long enough for their mother to "count noses,"
as she called it.
"And I'll help," said Grandma Bell, at whose country home in Maine, near
Lake Sagatook, the six little Bunkers were spending part of their summer
vacation.
"Russ and Rose!" called Mother Bunker.
"Here we are!" answered Russ, and he pointed to his sister.
"Vi and Laddie!" went on Mrs. Bunker.
"We're here, but we're going to run now," said Laddie. "I'm going to
think of a riddle to guess when we get to the woods."
"Where are you going to run to?" asked Vi, or Violet, which was her
right name, though she was more often called Vi. "Where you going to run
to, Laddie?" she asked again. But Laddie, her twin brother, did not stop
to answer the question. Indeed it would take a great deal of time to
reply to the questions Vi asked, and no one ever stopped to answer them
all, any more than they tried to answer all the riddles--real and
make-believe--that Laddie asked.
"Well, that's four of them," said Grandma Bell with a laugh.
"Yes," said Mother Bunker. "And now for the last. Margy and Mun!"
"We's here!" said Margy, who, as you may easily guess, was, more
properly, Margaret. "Come on, Mun Bun!" she called. "Now we can have
some fun."
And for fear you might be wondering what sort of creature Mun Bun was,
I'll say right here that he was Margy's little brother, and his right
name was Munroe Ford Bunker; but he was called Mun Bun for short.
"They're all here," said Grandma Bell, with a smile.
"Yes," answered Mrs. Bunker, as she saw the six children running across
the field toward the woods. "They're all here now, and I hope they'll
all be here when we start back."
"Oh, I think they will," said Grandma Bell with a smile. "I'm sorry this
is your last picnic with me. I certainly have enjoyed your visit
here--yours and the children's."
The two women walked slowly over the field and toward the woods, in
which the six little Bunkers were already running about and having fun.
The woods were on the edge of Lake Sagatook, and not far from Grandma
Bell's house.
"Come on, Rose!" called Russ to his sister. "We'll have a last ride on
the steamboat."
"I want to come, too!" shouted Laddie, dropping a bundle of pine cones
he had picked up.
"So do I," added Vi. "I want a ride."
"Say, we can't all get on the steamboat at once!" Russ cried. "It'll
sink if we do."
"Then we can play shipwreck," proposed Rose.
"Yes, we could do that," Russ agreed. "But if the steamboat sinks it'll
be on the bottom of the lake, and it won't move and we can't have rides.
That'll be no fun!" And the boy began to whistle, which he almost always
did when he was thinking hard, as he was just now.
"Well, what can we do?" asked Rose. "I want a ride on the steamboat."
It wasn't really a steamboat at all, being only some fence rails and
boards nailed roughly together. It was more of a raft than a boat, but
it would float in the shallow water of the lake near the shore, and the
children could stand on it in their bare feet and paddle about in a
small cove that a bend in the shore-line of the lake made. The reason
they had to take off their shoes and stockings was because the water
came up over the top of the raft, and splashed on the children's feet.
Anyhow, it was more fun to go barefooted, and no sooner had the six
little Bunkers reached the shore of the lake in the midst of the woods,
than off came their shoes and stockings.
"I want to ride on the steamer, too," said Mun Bun.
"No, we don't want to do that," put in Margy, who was standing near him.
"Why?" he asked.
"'Cause."
"But why?"
"Don't you 'member? We're goin' to roll downhill where the pine needles
make it so slippery."
"Oh, yes," agreed Mun Bun. "We'll roll downhill, and then we'll ride on
the steamer."
"But I want a ride now!" insisted Violet.
"So do I," added Laddie.
"I asked first," cried Rose. "But I s'pose mother'll make me give in to
you two, 'cause I'm older'n you; but I don't want to," she added.
"My! what's all this about?" asked Mother Bunker, as she came along with
Grandma Bell, the two women having walked more slowly than the children.
"Has anything happened?" She could tell by the faces of the little ones
that everything was not just right.
"Oh, they all want to ride on the steamboat at once, and it isn't big
enough," explained Russ.
"Then you must take turns," said Mother Bunker quickly. "That's the only
way to do. Rose, dear, you are the oldest; you will let Laddie and
Violet have the first ride, will you not?"
"There! I _knew_ you'd ask me to do that!" cried Rose, and her voice was
not just as pleasant as it might have been.
"Never mind, Rose," whispered Russ to her. "I'll give you a longer ride
than I give them. Anyway, they'll soon get tired of the raft, and then
you and I can play sailor, and steamboat around as much as we like."
"And will you let me help push with the pole?" asked Rose.
"Yes, you can do that, of course," Russ agreed.
"All right," assented Rose. "I'll wait. Go on, Violet and Laddie. You
may have your ride first."
With shouts of glee the twins ran down to the edge of the lake where the
raft, or, as Russ called it, the "steamboat," was tied by a rope to an
old stump. Russ, with the help of Tom Hardy, the hired man, had made the
raft, and on it the children had had lots of fun.
Russ now took his place in the middle, holding a long pole by which he
pushed the raft about in the shallow cove of the lake. The water here
was not deep--hardly over the children's knees.
"All aboard!" cried Russ, and Laddie and Violet got on the raft. Mother
Bunker and Grandma Bell sat down in the shade to watch, while Mun Bun
and Margy ran over to a little hill, covered with dry, slippery pine
needles, and there they started to roll over and over down the slope,
tumbling about in the soft grass at the foot, laughing and giggling.
Up and down, and around and around the little cove of Lake Sagatook Russ
pushed his little twin brother and sister. The raft was just about large
enough for three children of the size of those who were on it, but any
more would have made it sink to the sandy bottom of the lake. Then,
though they might have played "shipwreck," it would not be as much fun,
Russ thought.
"Toot! Toot!" cried Russ, making believe he was the steamboat's whistle.
Then he ding-donged the bell and hissed, to let off steam. Violet and
Laddie laughed, and did the same thing, pretending they were part of the
engine of the boat.
"Well, I think you have ridden on the steamboat long enough now, Laddie
and Vi!" called Mother Bunker, after a bit. "Give Rose a turn."
"Just one more ride!" pleaded Laddie.
"All right--just one more. But that's the last," said Russ.
So he poled the raft across the cove again, and then his little brother
and sister got off while Rose waded out in her bare feet and got on
board, carrying a pole so she could help push the raft; for it had no
sails like a sailboat, and no motor like a motor-boat, and to make it go
it had to be pushed.
"Come on, Vi. Let's go over and roll downhill with Margy and Mun Bun,"
said Laddie, after watching Rose and Russ a bit. "They're having lots of
fun."
The two smallest of the six little Bunkers did, indeed, appear to be
having a good time. Over and over they rolled down the clean, slippery
hill covered with the brown pine needles.
Soon Laddie and Vi joined in the fun, and their shouts and laughter
could be heard by Mother Bunker and Grandma Bell, where they were
sitting in the shade of the trees.
All at once Laddie, who had rolled to the bottom of the hill, ending
with a somersault in the soft grass, stood up and called:
"Listen! What's that?"
Vi, Margy and Mun Bun listened.
"I don't hear anything," said Vi.
"I do," went on Laddie. "It's some one hollering!"
And, as the children became quiet and listened more intently, they did,
indeed, hear a voice calling:
"Come and get me! Come and get me!"
"Oh, it's somebody lost in the woods!" said Violet.
"A little boy, maybe!" exclaimed Laddie.
"Or a little girl," added Mun Bun, his eyes big with wonder.
"Let's go and hunt for 'em," proposed Laddie. "If we were lost, we'd
like some one to hunt for us. Come on!"
The other children did not stop to think whether or not this was right.
Laddie was the oldest of the four, except Violet, who was just as old,
except maybe a minute or two, and Mun Bun and Margy thought what Laddie
said must be right.
"Come and get me! Come and get me!" cried the voice again, and to the
four little Bunkers it seemed to be a sad one.
"Come on!" exclaimed Laddie. And the children started on a queer hunt.
CHAPTER II
GOOD-BYE TO GRANDMA
Mrs. Bunker, who was busy talking to Grandma Bell, looked up just in
time to see Laddie, Violet, Margy and Mun Bun running off through the
woods.
"Children! Children!" she cried. "Where are you going?"
Faintly came back Laddie's answer:
"There's a little boy or girl lost in the woods, an' they're callin' to
us and we're going to hunt for 'em!"
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Mother Bunker. "Wait, children! Wait for me!" she
continued. "Russ--Rose! Come off the raft! I don't want you on it while
I'm not near you!"
"Where are you going?" asked Grandma Bell, as she saw her daughter
getting up.
"I'm going to see what those children mean," was Mrs. Bunker's answer.
"I can't tell what mischief they may get into."
And while Rose and Russ poled the raft toward shore, as their mother
told them to, and got off, Mrs. Bunker started after the other children,
who were going to find the strange voice that had called to them.
And while this is going on I shall have a chance to tell my new readers
something about the little Bunkers. There were six of them, as, perhaps,
you have counted. Russ, or Russell, to give him the whole of his name,
was eight years old. He was the oldest, a great boy for making things to
play with, such as a steamboat out of some old boards, or an automobile
from a chair and a sofa cushion. He was also very fond of whistling, and
knew several real tunes.
Rose, who came next, was seven years old. She was a regular "mother's
helper," and often sang as she washed the dishes or did the dusting. She
had light hair and blue eyes while Russ had a dark complexion.
Then there came Violet and Laddie, the twins, aged six. Laddie's real
name was Fillmore Bunker, but he was seldom called that. His hair was
curly, and his eyes were gray, and whether that made him so fond of
making up riddles, or of asking those others made up, I can't say.
Anyhow he did it. His twin sister loved to ask questions. She could ask
more questions in a day than several persons could answer. No one ever
tried to answer all Vi asked. Her hair and eyes were just like Laddie's.
Next came Margy and Mun Bun. Margy was five, and her brother was a year
younger. He had blue eyes and golden hair, and, you can easily imagine,
was a pretty picture.
"Daddy" Bunker, whose name was Charles, had a real estate and lumber
office in Pineville, which was in Pennsylvania, and was on the Rainbow
River. About twenty thousand people lived in Pineville, and it was a
very nice place indeed. The home of the Bunkers was on the main street
of the town, and was less than a mile from Daddy Bunker's office.
Then there was Mother Bunker, whose hands were full keeping house and
looking after the six little Bunkers. Her name was Amy, and before she
married Daddy Bunker her last name had been Bell.
Those of you who have read the first book of this series, called "Six
Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's," remember that there were two other
members of the "family"--Norah O'Grady, the good-natured Irish cook, and
Jerry Simms, the man who had once been a soldier and who was very kind
to the children. Jerry did odd bits of work about the house, and often
ran the automobile for Mr. Bunker.
The Bunkers had many relatives. There was Grandma Bell, who was Mrs.
Bunker's mother, and there was Grandpa Ford, who was Daddy Bunker's
stepfather. He was kind and good, and had loved Daddy Bunker when Daddy
Bunker was a little boy, and now loved the six little Bunkers as well.
Grandma Bell lived in Maine, near Lake Sagatook, and Grandpa Ford lived
at Tarrington, New York, his place being called Great Hedge Estate.
Then there was Miss Josephine Bunker (she was "Aunt Jo," you know), who
lived in Boston; Uncle Frederick Bell, of Moon City, Montana; and
Cousin Tom Bunker, who lived at Seaview, on the New Jersey coast.
In the first book I told you about the six little Bunkers when on a
visit to Grandma Bell, in Maine, and how they helped solve a mystery and
find some valuable real estate papers that an old tramp lumberman had
carried off in a ragged coat.
I can't begin to tell you, here, all the fun the six little Bunkers had
at Grandma Bell's. They spent the last of July and the first part of
August there, and now, just before leaving, they were planning for the
rest of the summer vacation.
But, just at the present moment, something else was happening. The
children's play had been stopped by the voice in the woods; a voice
heard by Laddie, Vi, Mun Bun and Margy.
"Are you sure it was a little child you heard calling?" asked Mrs.
Bunker, overtaking the four children.
"Oh, yes; sure!" answered Laddie. "It was a little boy."
"I think it was a little girl," said Violet.
"Hark!" exclaimed Grandma Bell, who had come with Mother Bunker. "There
it goes once more!"
And, surely enough, the voice called again:
"Come and get me! I'm lost!"
"Poor thing!" said Grandma Bell. "I wonder whose little boy or girl it
is."
"'Tisn't any of us," said Violet, "'cause we're all here!"
"Yes, I counted to make sure," said Mother Bunker. "But we must find out
who it is. Come on, children. Are we going too fast for you, Mother?"
she asked Grandma Bell.
"Oh, no, indeed!"
"We must find the lost one," Mother Bunker continued, and so they kept
on with the queer hunt. Every now and then they could hear the voice
calling. Pretty soon Mrs. Bell said:
"I can hear some one coming."
Then the voice called again:
"Come and get me! I'm lost!"
"Oh, there it is! Over in that direction!" exclaimed Grandma Bell.
They hurried toward a thick clump of trees, from which the voice seemed
to come. Then, all at once, another voice called:
"Oh, there you are! I see you! Now come right here to me, and don't go
away again!"
"Why, I know who _that_ is!" exclaimed Grandma Bell.
Before the children could ask they heard a funny voice say:
"Oh, hello! Pretty Poll! Pretty Poll! Polly wants a cracker!"
"Well, you'll get one, and it won't be a sweet cracker, either, if you
fly out of your cage again," said a man's voice. "You'll get a
fire-cracker! Now you flutter right down to me and be good!"
"Hello! Hello!" said the funny voice, and then came a strange laugh.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"Why--why! It's a _parrot_!" shouted Laddie. "I can see his green
feathers!"
"Yes, and there is Mr. Hixon after him," said Grandma Bell. "You have
been fooled by Bill Hixon's parrot, children, just as you were teased
once before. It wasn't a little boy or girl lost in the woods at all. It
was just the parrot."
"That's just what it was, Mrs. Bell," said Mr. Hixon, and a man stepped
out from behind a tree. "Were you after him, too?" he asked, as he held
out his hand the parrot flew down out of the tree and alighted on his
finger.
"The children, playing in the woods, heard your parrot calling, and
thought it was a lost child," said Mrs. Bunker. "Did he get out of his
cage?"
"That's what he did," said Mr. William Hixon, or "Bill," as his
neighbors called him. "He got out early this morning, and I've been
looking for him ever since. I followed along through these woods,
because a man said he had seen a green bird flying about in here, and,
surely enough, I heard my Polly singing out about being lost, and
wanting some one to come and get her. She always begs that way when she
gets lost."
"We heard her," said Laddie. "But I thought it was a little boy."
"And I thought it was a little girl," added Violet.
Mun Bun and Margy didn't say anything. They just stood and looked at the
green parrot on Mr. Hixon's finger. The bird seemed happy now, and bent
its head over toward its owner.
"She wants it scratched," said Mr. Hixon. "Well, I'll be nice to you
now, but I won't like you if you get out of your cage again," he said.
"She can open the door herself," he explained to Grandma Bell and Mrs.
Bunker.
"She talks very plainly for a parrot," said Grandma Bell. "I remember
the day the six little Bunkers first came, and Polly was in the back of
the auto. We thought it was a child then."
"Yes, Polly is a good talker," said Mr. Hixon, who lived not far from
Grandma Bell's. "But I think I'll have to get her a new cage so she
can't get out. It keeps me busy chasing after her."
"Polly wants a cracker! Polly wants a sweet cracker!" chanted the
parrot.
"Well, you'll get a sour one if you aren't good!" said Mr. Hixon, with a
laugh. "I'm sorry my parrot fooled you, and made you think a child was
lost in the woods," he went on.
"Oh, that's all right," said Mother Bunker. "We didn't mind hunting, and
we're glad no one was lost."
"How are all the six little Bunkers?" asked the owner of the green
parrot, as he started for his home.
"Well, these four, as you see, are fine," said Grandma Bell. "The other
two, Russ and Rose, are playing steamboat on the lake. But I am going to
lose them all."
"Lose them all!" cried Mr. Hixon. "How's that?"
"We are going to pay a visit to Mr. Bunker's sister, who lives in
Boston," explained Mrs. Bunker. "She wrote and asked us to come, and
this is our last week at Grandma Bell's."
"Well, I'm sure we'll miss the six little Bunkers when they go," said
Mr. Hixon.
"Indeed we shall!" said Grandma Bell. "But they are coming to see me
again."
"We love it here," put in Vi.
"And we've had lots of fun," added Margy.
"Maybe we'll have fun at Aunt Jo's," said Laddie.
"I'm sure you will. I guess you could have fun anywhere, you six," said
Mr. Hixon with a laugh. "Well, good-bye, if I don't see you again!"
"Good-bye!" said the others.
"Good-bye," echoed the parrot.
Grandma Bell, Mother Bunker and the four children went back to the shady
cove of the lake.
"Where'd you go?" asked Russ and Rose, who were walking along to meet
them.
"Oh, we thought somebody was lost in the woods," answered Laddie.
"But it was Mr. Hixon's parrot," added Vi.
The children went back to their play.
A day or so later they helped pack the things they had brought with them
to Grandma Bell's.
"We're going to Aunt Jo's! We're going to Aunt Jo's!" shouted Rose,
dancing about.
"In Boston! In Boston!" added Russ. "And we'll have Boston baked beans!"
The next day the children said good-bye to Grandma Bell and, with Daddy
and Mother Bunker, started for Aunt Jo's. They hardly even dreamed of
all the good times they were to have there, nor of the strange things
that were to happen.
CHAPTER III
ON THE BOAT
From Grandma Bell's home, near Lake Sagatook, the six little Bunkers,
with their father and mother, were taken to the railroad station in a
big automobile. As the children looked back, waving their hands to their
dear grandmother, who had made their visit such a pleasant one, Russ
said:
"Oh, dear!"
"What's the matter?" asked his father. "You seem sad."
"I wish we could take that nice lake with us," explained Russ. "We had
such fun there."
"And the boat, too," added Rose. "Can we have a boat at Aunt Jo's,
Daddy?"
"I hardly think so," answered Mr. Bunker with a smile. "Aunt Jo lives in
the city--in Boston, in the Back Bay section, and I hardly think there
is a place there where you can paddle a raft."
"Can we go wadin'?" asked Laddie.
"Not unless there is a little lake in some park near by," his father
answered.
"Couldn't we wait for it to rain and make a mud puddle?" asked Vi. "We
could wade in that! We do when we're home!"
"But Boston isn't home. And you can't do in a big city the things you
can do at home in Pineville," said Mrs. Bunker, as the automobile
chugged along through the woods.
"Can't we have _any_ fun?" asked Russ.
"Oh, yes, lots of fun," his father replied. "Aunt Jo wouldn't ask us to
spend two weeks or more at her house, if she didn't know you children
could have fun, even if she does live in a city. Don't worry about
that--you'll have fun."
"But we can't have a boat," sighed Rose. She and the other children
loved the water, and, living so near Rainbow River as they did, they
were used to paddling about, playing with make-believe boats and toys
like that.