CHAPTER I
A QUEER HUNT
"Let me count noses now, to see if you're all here," said Mother Bunkerwith a laugh, as her flock of children gathered around her.
"Don't you want some help?" asked Grandma Bell. "Can you count so manyboys and girls all alone, Amy?"
"Oh, I think so," answered Mother Bunker. "You see I am used to it. Icount them every time we come to the woods, and each time I start forhome, 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 tofrolic and have a good time at a good-bye picnic, laughed and shoutedand 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, nearLake Sagatook, the six little Bunkers were spending part of their summervacation.
"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 tothink of a riddle to guess when we get to the woods."
"Where are you going to run to?" asked Vi, or Violet, which was herright name, though she was more often called Vi. "Where you going to runto, Laddie?" she asked again. But Laddie, her twin brother, did not stopto answer the question. Indeed it would take a great deal of time toreply to the questions Vi asked, and no one ever stopped to answer themall, any more than they tried to answer all the riddles--real andmake-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, moreproperly, Margaret. "Come on, Mun Bun!" she called. "Now we can havesome 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 rightname 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 acrossthe field toward the woods. "They're all here now, and I hope they'llall be here when we start back."
"Oh, I think they will," said Grandma Bell with a smile. "I'm sorry thisis your last picnic with me. I certainly have enjoyed your visithere--yours and the children's."
The two women walked slowly over the field and toward the woods, inwhich the six little Bunkers were already running about and having fun.The woods were on the edge of Lake Sagatook, and not far from GrandmaBell's house.
"Come on, Rose!" called Russ to his sister. "We'll have a last ride onthe steamboat."
"I want to come, too!" shouted Laddie, dropping a bundle of pine coneshe 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'llsink if we do."
"Then we can play shipwreck," proposed Rose.
"Yes, we could do that," Russ agreed. "But if the steamboat sinks it'llbe 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 alwaysdid 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 andboards nailed roughly together. It was more of a raft than a boat, butit would float in the shallow water of the lake near the shore, and thechildren could stand on it in their bare feet and paddle about in asmall cove that a bend in the shore-line of the lake made. The reasonthey had to take off their shoes and stockings was because the watercame 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 sixlittle 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 needlesmake it so slippery."
"Oh, yes," agreed Mun Bun. "We'll roll downhill, and then we'll ride onthe 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 toyou 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 withGrandma Bell, the two women having walked more slowly than the children."Has anything happened?" She could tell by the faces of the little onesthat everything was not just right.
"Oh, they all want to ride on the steamboat at once, and it isn't bigenough," explained Russ.
"Then you must take turns," said Mother Bunker quickly. "That's the onlyway to do. Rose, dear, you are the oldest; you will let Laddie andViolet have the first ride, will you not?"
"There! I _knew_ you'd ask me to do that!" cried Rose, and her voice wasnot just as pleasant as it might have been.
"Never mind, Rose," whispered Russ to her. "I'll give you a longer ridethan I give them. Anyway, they'll soon get tired of the raft, and thenyou 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. Youmay have your ride first."
With shouts of glee the twins ran down to the edge of the lake where theraft, or, as Russ called it, the "steamboat," was tied by a rope to anold stump. Russ, with the help of Tom Hardy, the hired man, had made theraft, and on it the children had had lots of fun.
Russ now took his place in the middle, holding a long pole by which hepushed the raft about in the shallow cove of the lake. The water herewas not deep--hardly over the children's knees.
"All aboard!" cried Russ, and Laddie and Violet got on the raft. MotherBunker and Grandma Bell sat down in the shade to watch, while Mun Bunand Margy ran over to a little hill, covered with dry, slippery pineneedles, 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 Russpushed his little twin brother and sister. The raft was just about largeenough for three children of the size of those who were on it, but anymore 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 andLaddie laughed, and did the same thing, pretending they were part of theengine of the boat.
"Well, I think you have ridden on the steamboat long enough now, Laddieand 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 brotherand sister got off while Rose waded out in her bare feet and got onboard, carrying a pole so she could help push the raft; for it had nosails like a sailboat, and no motor like a motor-boat, and to make it goit 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 offun."
The two smallest of the six little Bunkers did, indeed, appear to behaving a good time. Over and over they rolled down the clean, slipperyhill covered with the brown pine needles.
Soon Laddie and Vi join
ed in the fun, and their shouts and laughtercould be heard by Mother Bunker and Grandma Bell, where they weresitting in the shade of the trees.
All at once Laddie, who had rolled to the bottom of the hill, endingwith 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'dlike 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 Laddiesaid must be right.
"Come and get me! Come and get me!" cried the voice again, and to thefour little Bunkers it seemed to be a sad one.
"Come on!" exclaimed Laddie. And the children started on a queer hunt.