Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jos | Page 3

longer ride
than I give them. Anyway, they'll soon get tired of the raft, and then
you and I can play sailor, and steamboat around as much as we like."
"And will you let me help push with the pole?" asked Rose.
"Yes, you can do that, of course," Russ agreed.
"All right," assented Rose. "I'll wait. Go on, Violet and Laddie. You
may have your ride first."
With shouts of glee the twins ran down to the edge of the lake where
the raft, or, as Russ called it, the "steamboat," was tied by a rope to an
old stump. Russ, with the help of Tom 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