CHAPTER XII
RUSS COULDN'T STOP
"Mercy me!" cried Grandma Bell as she heard the strange voice. "What isthat?"
As if in answer the call came again:
"Take me out! Don't leave me here! I want to go! Take me! Oh, my eye, giveme some pie!"
"It's in the automobile!" said Daddy Bunker.
"But who can it be?" asked his wife.
"You must have forgotten and left one of the children under a robe, thoughgoodness knows it's hot enough without any covering to-day," said GrandmaBell. "Are all the children here?"
Once more she counted them, naming each one in turn: Russ, Rose, Vi,Laddie, Margy and Mun Bun--six little Bunkers.
"All here--every one," said Grandma Bell. "Unless you bought a littlebaby on the way up."
"Oh, I almost had one!" exclaimed Rose. "I laid my doll down in a seat,and when I picked her up she was alive, but it was a lady's baby and----"
Once more the voice called from the auto:
"Take me out! Don't leave me here! Oh my eye, give me some pie!"
"There is a child in there!" said Grandma Bell "Who is it?" she asked ofMr. Mead, who had been taking some of the Bunkers' baggage into the house,and who came out just then.
"Who is what?" asked the man who had so kindly given the children a rideover from the station.
"What child is hidden in that auto?" asked Grandma Bell. "It isn't one ofthe six little Bunkers, for they're all here. But there is some child inthat auto."
"Why no, there isn't," said Mr. Mead. "There's nobody in my machinebut----"
"Let me out! Oh, let me out!" cried the voice again.
"There!" exclaimed Grandma Bell.
A queer look came over Mr. Mead's face. Then he laughed. Once more thevoice sounded.
"Let me out! Let me out!"
"Who is it?" asked Grandma Bell.
"Why that's Bill Hixon's parrot!" said the owner of the big auto. "I'vegot him in a cage in the back of my car. He's doing that yelling. I forgotall about him!"
"Are you sure it's a parrot and not a child in there?" asked Grandma Bell.
"Oh, sure!" answered Mr. Mead. "There he goes again. Listen!"
Again came the cry:
"Let me out! Let me out! Take me with you! Oh my eye, give me some pie!"
And this time it could be told that the voice was that of a parrot,though, at first, it had sounded like a little child crying.
"Now you keep still there, Polly," said Mr. Mead.
"Polly wants a cracker! Give Polly a cracker!" shrieked the parrot.
"I'll give you a fire-cracker if you don't keep still," said Mr. Mead witha laugh.
"Well, I do declare!" said Grandma Bell. "How did Bill Hixon's parrot getin your auto, Mr. Mead?"
"Oh, Bill's sending him over to his mother's to keep for him while he'soff in the woods lumbering," said Mr. Mead. "He knew I was coming up thisway, Bill Hixon did, so he asked me to bring his parrot along. I put thebird in his cage under the back-seat of the auto, and I forgot all abouthim, or her, whichever it is. I guess Polly has been asleep all the whileuntil just now."
"Oh, let us see the parrot!" begged Rose. "I love to hear them talk," andshe tucked her doll under her arm and walked toward the auto.
"Be careful, he might bite!" said Mother Bunker.
"Oh, he's in a cage--he or she--whichever it is," said Mr. Mead. "Billsaid the parrot was a good one, and likes children. I guess it won't hurtany to let the tots see the bird."
Mr. Mead opened a sort of little cupboard under the back seat of his auto,and brought out a parrot's cage. In it was a green bird, which, as soon asit came out into the sunlight, began preening its feathers and movingabout, climbing up on the wires, partly by its claw feet and partly by itsstrong beak.
"Polly wants a cracker! A sweet cracker!" squawked the parrot. "Lovelyday! How are you? Here, Rover, sic the cats!" and the parrot whistled aswell as Russ himself could have done.
"Oh, what a nice parrot!"
"Could we keep him?"
"Doesn't he talk plain?"
"Listen to that whistle!"
"Oh, isn't she nice!"
These were some of the things the six little Bunkers said as they listenedto Bill Hixon's parrot, as it moved about in the cage on the back seat ofMr. Mead's auto.
"Couldn't we keep it, Mother?" asked Rose. "I'd like it almost as much asmy doll!"
"Oh, mercy no, child! We couldn't keep Mr. Hixon's parrot!" said Mrs.Bunker.
"Have you one, Grandma Bell?" asked Russ.
"No, I'm thankful to say I haven't," said Mrs. Bell with a laugh. "I likechildren, and I love to hear them talk and laugh; but I don't likeparrots. I have a dog and a cat; so I think we'll let Mr. Hixon have hisown parrot."
"I don't care for 'em myself," said Mr. Mead. "Well, I'll be getting alongwith this one now. I guess I've got out all your baggage."
"Yes, and thank you very much," said Mr. Bunker.
"Come on! Gid-dap! Go 'long, horses!" cried the parrot. "Give me acracker! Go long, horses!"
"He thinks you're driving horses," said Russ.
"I don't know what he _thinks_," said Mr. Mead. "He talks a lot, that'ssure. I won't be lonesome for the rest of the way. I'll let the parrotride outside with me, I guess. He'll be sort of company for me."
"Pretty Poll! Give me a cracker! Let me out and give me a cracker!" criedthe green bird.
"Here's one!" said Laddie, holding out a bit of cracker which he had leftfrom a package his mother had bought for him on the train.
"Look out! He might bite you!" said Laddie's father.
"Bill said his bird was gentle, but, still, maybe the little boy hadbetter be careful," said Mr. Mead. "Here, I guess I had better feed him."
He held out the bit of cracker to Polly, who took it in one black claw,and then began to bite off pieces, saying, meanwhile:
"That's the way to do it! That's the way I do it!"
"Oh, he's awful cute!" said Rose. "I wish we had one!"
"But if grandma's got a dog and a cat, maybe the parrot wouldn't like'em," put in Russ.
"Have you a dog and a cat, grandma?" asked Rose, as Mr. Mead drove off inhis auto with the parrot.
"Yes, I have, my dear."
"Oh, where are they?"
"Zip, my dog, is out in the barn, I imagine. He generally goes out therewhen Tom is working around."
"Who's Tom?" asked Laddie. "Is he the cat?"
"No, Tom is the hired man. Thomas Hardy is his name."
"And where's the cat?" asked Vi, looking around the front yard, as if shemight see the pussy under some flower bush.
"Oh, Muffin is in the house, I presume," said Grandma Bell. "And that'swhere we'd better go. I guess you're all hungry after your trip, aren'tyou? My, but I'm glad to see you--every one!" and she smiled at the sixlittle Bunkers through her glasses.
"And I guess they're glad, to be here--I know _we_ are," said Mrs. Bunker."They've talked of nothing but Grandma Bell's ever since we got yourletter inviting us to come here."
"Well, I hope they'll like it," said the dear old lady.
"We like it already," said Russ. "Please, may I go out and see the dog?"
"I want to go, too," put in Laddie.
"And I want to see the cat," added Rose, "Is her name Muffin?"
"That's her name," said Grandma Bell. "And I call my dog Zip because heruns around so much. But you'd better rest a bit first, and eat. Then youcan go out and see things."
"I want to see the lake!" exclaimed Laddie. "Can we sail boats on it?"
"Now, first of all," said Mr. Bunker, and he spoke seriously, "I don'twant any of you children to go near that lake unless some of us older folkare with you. Mind! Don't go too close unless we are with you, or untilyou have been here a little while and know your way about. You must becareful of the water."
The children promised they would; and then, when Grandma Bell's hired girlhad set out a lunch, and it had been eaten, and the children had put onold cl
othes, out they ran--all six of them--to have fun.
"Will they be all right?" asked Mother Bunker.
"Oh, yes. They can't come to any harm if they keep away from the lake, andthat isn't deep near the shore. Don't worry about them. Let them have agood time."
And this the children seemed bent on having. They raced around, shoutingand laughing. A big maltese cat came out on the porch to see what all thenoise was about, and did not run away, even when all six of the littleBunkers charged down on her at once.
"Oh, isn't she just too lovely!" cried Rose, as she caught the cat up inher arms. "She's almost as big as my doll!"
Muffin seemed to like children, and did not mind being petted. Rose, Viand Margy as well as Mun Bun, stroked the soft fur, but Russ and Laddiesoon tired of this.
"Come on, let's go out to the barn and find the dog," said Russ to hisbrother.
"That's what we will!" said Laddie, and away they went, Russ whistling amerry tune.
Grandma Bell's house was built on the edge of a patch of woods, withfields at the back and the lake to one side. There were some farms in thatpart of Maine, and about five miles from grandma's home was the village ofSagatook. It was a smaller place than Pineville.
The barn was back of the house. Once the place had been a big farm, butwhen Grandpa Bell died his widow sold off most of the land to otherfarmers, keeping the house, barn, a field or two and a patch of woods forher home. It was a lovely place, just the nicest spot in the whole worldfor the six little Bunkers.
"I hear a dog barking," said Laddie, as he and Russ drew near the barn.
"So do I," said Russ. "I guess that's Zip."
They went on a little farther, and saw a man standing in the barn doorwith a dog beside him. The dog barked, but wagged his tail, to show thathe was friendly.
Russ and Laddie came to a halt, but the man waved his hand to them andasked:
"Are you some of the six little Bunkers?"
"Yes, we're two of 'em," answered Russ.
"Well, that leaves four. They're in the house, I suppose. Mrs. Bell toldme you were coming to-day."
"Are you the hired man?" asked Laddie. "And is that Zip?"
"That's who I am, and that's who he is. Come and meet Zip. He's a fine dogand loves boys and girls."
Zip soon made friends with Laddie and Russ, and the boys, who felt surethey would like Tom Hardy, the hired man, ran about the barn, seeing allsorts of chances in it to have good times.
"Oh, I know we'll like it here!" said Russ.
"'Course we will," agreed Laddie.
Zip followed the boys about the barn as they poked into all the nooks andcorners. Tom, as every one called the hired man, was busy about his workand paid little attention to Laddie and Russ.
It was about half an hour after the boys had gone out to the barn, andMrs. Bunker was wondering if they were all right, when Laddie came runningto Grandma Bell's house, very much excited and out of breath, crying:
"Oh, come quick! Come quick!"
"Mercy me! what's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"Russ can't stop! Russ is going and he can't stop!" panted Laddie.