Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jos | Page 3

Hardy, the hired man, had made the raft, and on it the children had had lots of fun.
Russ now took his place in the middle, holding a long pole by which he pushed the raft about in the shallow cove of the lake. The water here was not deep--hardly over the children's knees.
"All aboard!" cried Russ, and Laddie and Violet got on the raft. Mother Bunker and Grandma Bell sat down in the shade to watch, while Mun Bun and Margy ran over to a little hill, covered with dry, slippery pine needles, 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 Russ pushed his little twin brother and sister. The raft was just about large enough for three children of the size of those who were on it, but any more 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 and Laddie laughed, and did the same thing, pretending they were part of the engine of the boat.
"Well, I think you have ridden on the steamboat long enough now, Laddie and 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 brother and sister got off while Rose waded out in her bare feet and got on board, carrying a pole so she could help push the raft; for it had no sails like a sailboat, and no motor like a motor-boat, and to make it go it 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 of fun."
The two smallest of the six little Bunkers did, indeed, appear to be having a good time. Over and over they rolled down the clean, slippery hill covered with the brown pine needles.
Soon Laddie and Vi joined in the fun, and their shouts and laughter could be heard by Mother Bunker and Grandma Bell, where they were sitting in the shade of the trees.
All at once Laddie, who had rolled to the bottom of the hill, ending with 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'd like 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 Laddie said must be right.
"Come and get me! Come and get me!" cried the voice again, and to the four little Bunkers it seemed to be a sad one.
"Come on!" exclaimed Laddie. And the children started on a queer hunt.
CHAPTER II
GOOD-BYE TO GRANDMA
Mrs. Bunker, who was busy talking to Grandma Bell, looked up just in time to see Laddie, Violet, Margy and Mun Bun running off through the woods.
"Children! Children!" she cried. "Where are you going?"
Faintly came back Laddie's answer:
"There's a little boy or girl lost in the woods, an' they're callin' to us and we're going to hunt for 'em!"
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Mother Bunker. "Wait, children! Wait for me!" she continued. "Russ--Rose! Come off the raft! I don't want you on it while I'm not near you!"
"Where are you going?" asked Grandma Bell, as she saw her daughter getting up.
"I'm going to see what those children mean," was Mrs. Bunker's answer. "I can't tell what mischief they may get into."
And while Rose and Russ poled the raft toward shore, as their mother told them to, and got off, Mrs. Bunker started after the other children, who were going to find the strange voice that had called to them.
And while this is going on I shall have a chance to tell my new readers something about the little Bunkers. There were six of them, as, perhaps, you have counted. Russ,