CHAPTER XV
LADDIE'S FUNNY RIDDLE
"Doesn't it make a nice noise?" asked Mun Bun of Margy.
"Terrible nice," agreed the little girl. "What makes it?"
Mun Bun looked at the whistling wagon. It was, as I have said, atwo-wheeled cart, and was pushed by a man who had gold rings in hisears. His face was very dark, too, but he smiled pleasantly at thechildren.
"It's a teakettle, that's what makes it," said Mun Bun, as he looked."See the steam coming out, just like it does out of the kettle inParker's kitchen," and he pointed to something on one end of the cart.
This something looked like a little stove, and the children could seethe glow of fire in one end of it. And, as Mun Bun had said, steam wascoming from what seemed to be a spout.
"The steam whistles," said Mun Bun.
"Yes," agreed Margy. "I like it!"
The steam did make a shrill whistling sound.
The wagon was out in front of Aunt Jo's house now, and suddenly Mun Bunsniffed the air. He smelled something good.
"Oh, I know what it is!" he cried. "It's peanuts! The man is roastingpeanuts and they whistles to tell him they're done. Don't you 'member,down at the corner by Daddy's office, home, there's a man an' he sellspeanuts and they whistles."
"Oh, yes!" said Margy. "I 'members! I likes peanuts, too!"
"So do I!" said Mun Bun.
The man with the gold rings in his ears was stopping in front of AuntJo's house now. He smiled at the children, while the steam from the hotpeanut-roaster made a louder whistling sound, and the man yelled:
"Hot peanuts, five cents a bag!"
"Oh, I wish we had some!" sighed Mun Bun.
"So do I," added his sister. "Have you five cents, Mun Bun?"
"Nope! Has you five cents, Margy?"
"No."
Mun Bun thought for a few seconds while the smiling Italian man, withthe whistling wagon, looked at the two little Bunkers hanging on AuntJo's gate.
"Please go 'way!" said Mun Bun. "We hasn't got any five cents for yourhot peanuts."
"No gotta five cents?" asked the Italian.
"No," and Mun Bun shook his head.
"An' we like peanuts," added Margy. "If you've any left over you couldgive us some."
"Hot peanuts--five a bag!" said the peddler in a sort of sing-songvoice.
"Please go 'way!" begged Mun Bun again. "They smells awful good, but wehasn't got any five centies!"
"Maybe you go in th' house, li'l' boy, you get money," the Italian wenton.
Margy looked at Mun Bun and Mun Bun looked at Margy.
"Oh, maybe we could!" exclaimed the little girl eagerly. "Let's go an'ask, Mun Bun!"
"All right!" said he. "We will!"
And they did. Into the room where Aunt Jo and Mother Bunker were sewingburst the two children, out of breath from their run up the graveldrive.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Mun Bun. "He wants five cents."
"An' he's got a whistlin' wagon!" added Margy.
"An' they smell awful good!" went on her brother.
"Come an' hear the whistle," begged the little girl.
"My goodness me!" cried Aunt Jo. "What is this all about?"
"It's hot peanuts--five a bag!" answered Mun Bun, in a sing-song voicealmost like the Italian's.
"But we haven't the five cents," added Margy. "An' we want somepeanuts."
"Well, I think you may have some," said Mrs. Bunker. "I'll come down tothe whistling wagon with you and see about it."
Margy and Mun Bun led her down to the front gate, where the peanut man,still smiling, was waiting. The hot oven on his wagon, in which heroasted the peanuts, was still whistling. Afterward Daddy Bunker toldthe children that the steam came out and made the whistling sound bypuffing itself through a tin thing with holes in it, just as a boy blowshis breath through the same kind of tin thing to make a whistle.
"And the reason the Italian puts water in the top of his peanut-roasteris so that the peanuts in the bags, where he puts them to keep warm,will not burn," the father of the six little Bunkers told them. "Thewhistling is like the bell the old-fashioned ice-cream man used to ring.People hear it and come to buy, just as you did."
Mrs. Bunker found the Italian's peanuts fresh and nicely browned androasted, and she bought enough for all the children.
"You have to thank Margy and Mun Bun for them," she said to Russ, Roseand the twins. "They first heard the whistling wagon and ran out to seewhat it was."
The children had a sort of little play-party with the peanuts, thoughLaddie stuffed some of his in his pocket.
"I'm going to save 'em," he said.
"What for?" asked Russ, who had his kite partly finished.
"Oh, maybe I'll see an elephant in a circus parade," the little boyanswered.
"Circus parades never come up in our Back Bay section," said Aunt Jowith a smile. "So I don't believe you'll see an elephant, Laddie."
"Oh, well, then I can eat the peanuts myself," he returned. "But maybe Imight see a squirrel."
"Yes, we have some of them in our parks," went on Aunt Jo. "And I haveseen them so tame that they would come up and take a nut from yourfingers. Some day we'll go to the park and look for the little fellows.But I'm afraid you won't have any peanuts left then, Laddie."
"Well, we can get some more," said the little boy with a laugh.
It was a little later that same afternoon, when Rose, who was out on theporch, getting her doll dressed for supper, as she said, came runningin, looking very much excited.
"Well, what is it now?" asked her mother. "Has Mun Bun or any of theothers, ridden off on a junk wagon?"
"Oh, no," answered the little girl. "But Laddie went off down the streetwith his peanuts in his pocket, and now he's come back and he has afunny riddle."
"A funny riddle!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "What do you mean? Is it ariddle about the peanuts?"
"I don't know," answered Rose. "But Laddie has something hid under hiscoat, and he asked me to guess what it was, so it must be a riddle. Andit makes a funny squeaking noise."
"My goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "I must see what Laddie's riddleis this time!"