CHAPTER IV
IN BOSTON
Daddy Bunker and Mother Bunker were used to having things happen to thesix little Bunkers. Not that they liked to have things happen--that is,unpleasant things--but the father and the mother knew they could nottravel around with half a dozen children and not find a bit of troublenow and then.
And now trouble had come! Margy was not to be found!
"I'm sure she came on the boat with us," said Daddy Bunker.
"Yes, I know that," said his wife, as she looked quickly around thedeck. "I saw her with the rest not a minute ago."
"Then where can she have gone?" asked Mr. Bunker. "As the steamer hasnot moved away from the dock, maybe she ran back to shore to getsomething, or look at something."
"Why'd Margy go away?" asked Vi.
"Margy is too little to go off by herself," said Mrs. Bunker.
"Do you mean some one took her--maybe a gypsy?" asked Russ.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Rose. "Are there gypsies here?"
"Nonsense! Of course not!" answered Mr. Bunker, seeing that what Russhad said might frighten the children. "No one has taken Margy. Maybe sheis just playing hide-and-go-seek!"
Mr. Bunker didn't really believe Margy was doing this, but he said it tomake the children feel better.
"You take the children down to the stateroom," said Mr. Bunker to hiswife, "and I'll look for Margy. I'll find her in a jiffy, which is veryquick time, indeed," he told the children. "Run along now, Mun Bun, andyou too, Vi and Laddie. Rose, you go with your mother and help take careof Mun Bun."
"Shall I come with you, Daddy?" asked Russ.
"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker, "you may come with me, Russ. You can runfaster than I can, and if we find Margy playing tag with some of theother little boys and girls on the steamer you can catch her more easilythan I can."
Mr. Bunker said this for fun. He didn't really think Margy was playingtag. But he had to say something so the others would not be frightened.And, to tell the truth, Mr. Bunker was a little bit frightened himself,and so was his wife.
"Where do you suppose Margy can be?" Mrs. Bunker asked her husband, asshe started down the stairs for the staterooms, or bedrooms, where theywere to spend the night.
"Oh, she's around somewhere," he answered. "She may be watching the menload the steamer." Boxes and barrels were still being put into the hold,or "cellar," of the steamer, which would soon start for Boston. Margy,from the upper deck, might have seen this work going on, and havestepped out of sight to watch.
"Come on, Russ, we'll find her," said Mr. Bunker.
Many people were now coming on board the steamer. There were some boysand girls, and certainly a number of them were tired and sleepy. As Mrs.Bunker went down the stairs with the four little Bunkers, she looked atevery other child she saw, hoping it might be Margy. But she did not seeher smallest daughter.
Russ and his father walked around the upper deck. They met several menwho worked on the steamer, and asked them if they had seen a little girlabout five years old, with dark hair and eyes, for that is how Margylooked.
Each of the men Mr. Bunker asked said he had not seen the little lostgirl, and then Mr. Bunker said:
"Well, Russ, we'll go down on the next deck. Maybe she is there."
There were several decks to the steamer, just as there are severalfloors in a large house. Russ and his father went downstairs, and asthey started to look on the lower deck they met a man who had shiny goldbraid on the sleeves of his coat, and also on his cap.
"Are you looking for some one?" asked this man, who was a mate, orhelper, to the captain.
"We are looking for my little girl," said Mr. Bunker. "She has wanderedaway since we came on board."
"Was she a very little girl?" asked the mate.
"Rather small," answered Daddy Bunker.
"And did she have dark hair?"
"Yes!" exclaimed Russ eagerly. "Oh, have you seen her? She's my sisterMargy."
"Well, I just happened to pass a stateroom, where I chance to know nolittle girl belongs on this trip. The door was open, and I looked in,"went on the mate. "On the bunk, which is what we call the beds on asteamer," he told Russ, "I saw a little girl with dark hair curled up ina heap. She seemed to be asleep, and there was a little white poodle dogwith her."
"A little white poodle dog!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker. "Then I'm afraid itcan't be my little girl. We have no white poodle dog."
"Maybe Margy found one, Daddy, and that's why she didn't come with us,"said Russ.
"Better take a look at this little girl," went on the mate. "She seemsto be all alone in this stateroom, and she may be yours."
"We'll look," said Mr. Bunker. "But I hardly think it can be Margy."
He followed the mate, holding Russ by the hand so the little boy wouldnot get lost, though Russ was almost too big for this.
"Here she is," said the mate, as he came to a stop at an open door of astateroom. And there, on the clean, white bunk, curled up with one armaround a white poodle dog was a little girl, whose dark hair mingledwith the white coat of the poodle.
"Oh, it is Margy!" exclaimed Russ.
"Yes, so it is," said Mr. Bunker. "Thank you," he added to the captain'shelper. "Now we are all right. We have found our lost little girl."
"I was wondering to whom she belonged," said the mate. "And I was goingto tell the captain about her. Now I won't have to."
When Mr. Bunker and Russ went into the room, the little poodle dograised up his head, opened one eye, and wagged his little stump of atail, as if he were saying:
"It's all right. You don't need to worry. I'm taking care of Margy andshe's taking care of me."
And it was Margy asleep in the bunk! Poor, tired, sleepy little MargyBunker.
"My dear little girl," said Daddy Bunker softly, as he took her up inhis arms. "We were so worried about you. Where have you been?"
"I--I founded a little dog," said Margy sleepily, as she put her headdown on her father's shoulder. "He was a little white dog an' I lovedhim an' I went with him an' we went to--went to--we----"
And then Margy herself went to where she was trying to tell her daddyshe had gone--to sleep.
"We'll ask her about it in the morning," said Mr. Bunker. "I'll carryher to her mother now, so she won't be anxious any more."
Margy was in slumberland once more, and so was the little white poodledog. He just looked up, with one eye, when he saw Mr. Bunker carryinghis little girl away, and then doggie went to sleep again also.
"Aren't you glad we found Margy?" asked Russ, as he walked back with hisfather to where Mrs. Bunker and the other children were waiting.
"Indeed I am," said Margy's daddy.
"Where was she?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as she saw her lost little girl.
"She had wandered into some other stateroom, and had gone to sleep," Mr.Bunker answered.
"And the little poodle dog was asleep with her," added Russ.
"Where's the little poodle dog?" demanded Laddie, who was almost asleephimself.
"Oh, we couldn't bring him," Russ said. And then his father told howMargy had been found.
The little girl was still too sleepy to talk, so her mother undressedher and put her to bed.
"We can ask her in the morning what happened," she said.
Now the six little Bunkers were together again, and happy once more, andMr. and Mrs. Bunker were no longer worried. They all went to bed, andthen the steamer traveled through the night, getting to Boston the nextday.
The children were awake early, and when they were dressed they went outon deck. They had breakfast on board, in the big dining-saloon.
"When shall we get to Aunt Jo's?" asked Rose, as she helped her motherpick up some of the things the other children had scattered about thestateroom.
"We'll be there in time for dinner," said Mr. Bunker. "But we haven'tyet heard what happened to Margy. Why did you go to sleep in the strangebed?" he asked his little girl.
"'Cause I wanted the doggie," she answere
d. And then she told how it hadhappened, though they had to ask her many questions to get the wholestory.
Soon after coming on board the steamer Margy, walking a little distanceapart from the other little Bunkers, had seen the white poodle dogrunning about the deck. She made friends with him, and when the dog, whobelonged to an elderly lady passenger, went off by himself, Margyfollowed.
The poodle went into the stateroom where his mistress was to sleep, andjumped up on the bed. Margy did the same thing, and then they both fellasleep. Through the open door the mate saw them and then Mr. Bunker cameand got his little girl.
"But you mustn't do it again, Margy," he said.
"No, Daddy. I won't," she promised. "But he was an awful nice littledog."
"Could we have him?" Mun Bun wanted to know, for they had seen the whitepoodle running about the deck that morning.
"Oh, no," replied Mrs. Bunker. "We're going to Aunt Jo's, and she mayhave a dog herself."
"That'll be fun!" laughed Margy. "I likes a dog!"
"Has Aunt Jo a dog, really?" asked Vi.
"Well, maybe," returned her mother.
A little later the six little Bunkers were riding through the Bostonstreets on their way to Aunt Jo's house.