Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jos | Page 2

now," said Laddie. "I'm going to
think of a riddle to guess when we get to the woods."
"Where are you going to run to?" asked Vi, or Violet, which was her
right name, though she was more often called Vi. "Where you going to
run to, Laddie?" she asked again. But Laddie, her twin brother, did not
stop to answer the question. Indeed it would take a great deal of time to
reply to the questions Vi asked, and no one ever stopped to answer
them all, any more than they tried to answer all the riddles--real and
make-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, more
properly, Margaret. "Come on, Mun Bun!" she called. "Now we can
have some 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 right
name 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
across the field toward the woods. "They're all here now, and I hope
they'll all be here when we start back."
"Oh, I think they will," said Grandma Bell with a smile. "I'm sorry this

is your last picnic with me. I certainly have enjoyed your visit
here--yours and the children's."
The two women walked slowly over the field and toward the woods, in
which the six little Bunkers were already running about and having fun.
The woods were on the edge of Lake Sagatook, and not far from
Grandma Bell's house.
"Come on, Rose!" called Russ to his sister. "We'll have a last ride on
the steamboat."
"I want to come, too!" shouted Laddie, dropping a bundle of pine cones
he 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'll sink if
we do."
"Then we can play shipwreck," proposed Rose.
"Yes, we could do that," Russ agreed. "But if the steamboat sinks it'll
be 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
always did 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 and
boards nailed roughly together. It was more of a raft than a boat, but it
would float in the shallow water of the lake near the shore, and the
children could stand on it in their bare feet and paddle about in a small
cove that a bend in the shore-line of the lake made. The reason they had
to take off their shoes and stockings was because the water came 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 six little 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
needles make it so slippery."
"Oh, yes," agreed Mun Bun. "We'll roll downhill, and then we'll ride on
the 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 to
you 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
with Grandma Bell, the two women having walked more slowly than
the children. "Has anything happened?" She could tell by the faces of
the little ones that everything was not just right.
"Oh, they all want to ride on the steamboat at once, and it isn't big
enough," explained Russ.
"Then you must take turns," said Mother Bunker quickly. "That's the
only way to do. Rose, dear, you are the oldest; you will let Laddie and
Violet have the first ride, will you not?"
"There! I knew you'd ask me to do that!" cried Rose, and her voice was
not just as pleasant as it might have been.

"Never mind, Rose," whispered Russ to her. "I'll give you a