CHAPTER XVII
A RED COAT
When Mun Bun had said that a bear had come up out of the lake, at firstRose felt she was going to be frightened, but when she saw that herlittlest brother and sister were also afraid, Rose made up her mind thatshe must be brave.
She looked at Vi, and Vi was a little frightened, too, but not as much soas Mun Bun and Margy.
"What was it you saw, Mun?" asked Vi, even now not able to stop askingquestions. "Where was it?"
"It was a big bear, I guess," answered the little fellow.
"Pooh!" cried Rose, in a voice she tried to make sound brave. "Therearen't any bears in these woods. Grandma Bell said so."
"Well, anyhow, it was a--a _something_!" said Mun Bun. "It came up out ofthe water and it made a big splash."
"It splashed water on me," said Margy.
"What did you think it was?" asked Vi.
"Maybe--maybe a--a elephant," replied the little girl. "It had a big longtail, anyhow."
"Then it couldn't be a elephant," declared Rose.
"Why not?" Vi wanted to know.
"Because elephants have little, short tails. I saw 'em in the circus."
"But they have _something_ long, don't they?" Vi went on.
"That's their _trunk_," explained Rose. "But it isn't like the trunk weput our things in. Elephants only put _peanuts_ in their trunks."
"Then what makes 'em so big? Their trunks, I mean," asked Vi.
"I don't know," Rose confessed. "Only I know elephants have little tails."
"This animal had a big tail," declared Mun Bun.
"Maybe it was the elephant's trunk they saw," suggested Vi. "Do you thinkit was?"
"Elephants don't live in the lake," decided Rose. Then she started downtoward the shore where Mun Bun and Margy had been paddling in their barefeet.
In truth, she did not want to go very much. That was why she had done somuch talking before she started.
"Where are you goin'?" asked Violet.
"I'm going to see what it is!" declared Rose.
"Oh-o-o-o!" exclaimed Vi. "Maybe it'll bite you. Did it have a mouth, MunBun?"
"I didn't see its mouth, but it had a flappy tail."
"I'm going to call mamma!" exclaimed Vi, "Don't you go, Rose!"
But Rose was already halfway to the shore of the lake. In another momentshe called out:
"Oh, I see it! I see it!"
"What is it?" asked Mun, made brave by what he saw Rose doing, and hefollowed her. Vi and Margy trailed after them. "What is it?"
"It's a big rat, that's all, but it isn't the kind of rats we saw thehired man catch in a trap at the barn. It's a nicer rat than that, andit's eating oysters on a rock near the shore."
"Oh, is it _really_ eating oysters?" asked Vi.
"They look like oysters," replied Rose. "Oh, there he goes!" and, as shespoke, the animal, which did look like a rat, plunged into the water andswam away, only the tip of its nose showing.
"Tisn't a bear," said Rose, "and 'tisn't an elephant."
"Then what is it?" asked Vi.
Rose did not know, but when the children went to the house and toldGrandma Bell about it, she said:
"Why, that was a big muskrat. They won't hurt you. There are many of themin the lake, and in the winter the men catch them for their skins to makefur-lined coats from. It was only a big muskrat you saw, Mun Bun."
"And was he eating oysters?" asked Vi, who liked to know all about things.
"They were fresh-water clams," said Grandma Bell. "There are many of themin the lake, too. The muskrats bring them up from the bottom in theirpaws, and take them out on a rock that sticks up from the water. Therethey eat the clams."
"Well, I'm glad it wasn't a bear I saw," put in Mun Bun.
"So am I," said Mother Bunker with a laugh. "But you needn't beafraid--there are no bears here."
While this had been going on Laddie and Russ, with their father in theboat, had been having a good time. They rowed up the lake, and once ortwice Mr. Bunker let the boys take the oars so they might learn how torow.
"If you are going to be around the water," said Mr. Bunker, "you ought tolearn how to row a boat as well as how to swim."
"I can swim a little," said Russ.
"Yes, you do very well," returned his father. "And before we go back Imust teach Laddie."
"I like to wade in my bare feet," said the smaller boy.
"Well, when you learn to swim you'll like that," replied his father. "Butnow let's see if we can catch some fish. I told mother I'd try to bringsome home, and I guess Muffin is hungry for fish, too. So we'll baitour hooks and see what luck we have."
Mr. Bunker stopped rowing the boat and got his own fishing-rod and lineready. Russ could fix his own, but Laddie needed a little help. Soon thethree, sitting in the boat, were waiting for "bites."
All at once there was a little shake and nibble on Laddie's line. He grewexcited and was going to pull up, but his father whispered to him:
"Wait just a moment. The fish hasn't taken hold of the hook yet. He isjust tasting the bait. If you pull up now you'll scare him away. Wait alittle longer."
So Laddie waited, and then, as he felt a sudden tug on his line, hequickly lifted the pole from the water. Up in the air went the drippingline, and on the end of it was a fine fish.
"Laddie has caught the first one," said Mr. Bunker. "Now we'll have to seewhat we can do, Russ."
"I think I have one now," said Russ in a low voice.
Mr. Bunker looked at his son's pole. The end of it was shaking andbobbing a little, and the line was trembling.
"Yes, you have a bite," said Mr. Bunker. "Pull up, Russ! Pull!"
Russ pulled, as Laddie had done, and he, too, had caught a fine fish.
"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker, as he took this second one off thehook. "You boys are beating me all to pieces. I'll have to watch out whatI'm doing!"
"Why don't you pull up your line. Daddy, and see what you've got on yourhook?" asked Laddie.
"I believe I will," his father answered. "Here we go! Let's see what Ihave!"
Up came his line, and the pole bent like a bow, because something heavywas on the hook.
"Oh, daddy's got a big one! Daddy's got a terrible one!" cried Laddie.
"It's bigger than both our fishes put together," added Russ.
"I certainly have got something," said Mr. Bunker, as he kept on liftinghis pole up. "But it doesn't act like a fish. It doesn't swim around andtry to get off."
Something long and black was lifted out of the water. At first the twolittle boys thought it was a very big fish, but when Mr. Bunker saw it helaughed and cried:
"Well, look at my luck! It's only an old rubber boot!"
And so it was. His hook had caught on a rubber boot at the bottom of thelake and he had pulled that up, thinking it was a fish.
"Never mind, Daddy," said Russ kindly. "You can have half of my fish."
"And half of mine, too," added Laddie.
"Thank you," said their father. "That is very nice of you. But I must tryto catch one myself."
And he did, a little later, though it was not as big as the one Russ hascaught.
But after that Mr. Bunker caught a very large one, and Russ and Laddieeach got one more, so they had enough for a good meal, as well as some togive to Muffin.
Then Daddy Bunker and the boys rowed home, and were told all about themuskrat that Mun Bun had seen come out of the lake to eat the fresh-waterclams.
"How would you all like to go after wild strawberries to-day?" askedGrandma Bell of the six little Bunkers one morning, about two days afterthe fishing trip.
"Oh, we'd just love it!" said Rose.
"Well, get ready then, and we'll go over to the hill across the sheepmeadow, and see if we can find any. There used to be many strawberriesgrowing there, and I think we can find some to-day. Come on, children!"
Mrs. Bunker got ready, too, but Daddy Bunker did not go, as he had someletters to write. Margy w
ore a little red coat her mother had made forher, and she looked very pretty in it.
Down by the brook, and along the shore of the lake they went, until theycame to a meadow, around which was a fence.
"What's the fence for?" asked Violet.
"To keep the sheep from getting out," said Grandma Bell. "There are sheepin this meadow belonging to Mr. Hixon, the man who owns the funny parrot."
They climbed in between the rails of the fence and started across thesheep meadow. Grandma Bell and Mother Bunker were talking of the days whenthe children's mother was a little girl. Russ and Rose were walking alongtogether, and Laddie was trying to think of a riddle. Violet walked withMun Bun, and, for a moment, no one thought of little Margy in her redcoat.
"Are you all right?" asked Mrs. Bunker, turning to look back at thechildren. And then she saw Margy straggling along at the rear, all byherself. Margy had lagged behind to pick buttercups and daisies.
"Come, Margy! Come on!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "You'll get lost."
"Doesn't she look cute in her red coat?" asked Rose.
THE RAM WALKED TOWARD MARGY.
_Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's--Page_ 171]
And hardly had she said that when there came from a clump of tall weedsnear Margy the bleating of a ram, and the animal himself jumped out andstarted for the little girl, whose red coat made her look like a brightflower in the green meadow.