Six Little Bunkers at Aunt Jos | Page 7

little boy,
his eyes shining, for he loved to make up riddles.
"Well, go on. Tell us the answer," said his mother.
"It's a gravy boat!" laughed Laddie. "You know, a gravy boat. It's the
kind of a dish we have on the table, with gravy in it, for your bread.
You don't have to put that kind of a boat in water."
"That's right! You don't," said Mr. Bunker. "That was a good riddle,
Laddie."
"And maybe I could think up another one," went on the little boy. "I
almost got one. It's about what makes bread always fall with the

butter-side down. But I haven't thought of the answer yet."
"Well, don't tell us any more riddles now," said Russ. "We want to hear
about the boat we're going to ride on to Aunt Jo's. Tell us, Daddy."
"All right, I will," promised the children's father.
Then he went on to tell that, by taking a train to a station on the coast,
they could get a boat that would take them to Boston.
"We shall have to travel all night though, just as we did in the
sleeping-car," said Mr. Bunker.
"Why?" asked Vi.
"Because it will take that long to reach Boston," explained her father.
Rose had quite a large doll, her best one, which she carried with her in
her arms whenever the family went traveling. Rose had brought her
doll to Grandma Bell's and something funny had happened to the doll
in the sleeping-car. You may read about it in the book before this one.
"I must see if my doll is asleep," said Rose.
She had put her toy in a cosy corner of the auto seat, and covered her
with a blanket. But when Rose went to look for Sue, as she called her
doll, Sue was not to be found.
"Oh! Sue's gone! Sue's gone!" cried Rose. "Somebody has taken my
Sue!"
"Who did?" asked Vi.
"Are you sure she hasn't fallen to the floor of the car?" asked Mrs.
Bunker.
"No, she isn't here at all," wailed Rose.
"Maybe you didn't bring her. Perhaps you left her at Grandma Bell's,"

said Mr. Bunker.
"Oh, no! I'm sure I had her," sobbed Rose. "Don't you all 'member that
I held her up and wiggled her hand at grandma to say good-bye?"
"Yes, I do remember that," said Mrs. Bunker. "Rose surely had her doll
when we started. Have any of you children seen Sue?" she asked.
None of them had, and then Daddy Bunker called to the man driving
the auto to stop.
"What are you going to do?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"I thought I'd walk back a little way and see if Sue had not dropped out
along the road," answered her husband.
"Have we got time for that? Won't the train go?"
"Well, we've got a little time," said the driver. "I'll get out and help you
look, Mr. Bunker."
"Why'd you lose Sue, Rose?" asked Vi.
"Why, Vi Bunker, I didn't mean to lose her!" exclaimed Rose.
Rose was still searching among the blankets, hoping that, somehow or
other, the doll might be found, and her father and Mr. Mead, the auto
driver, were getting out, when they heard a shout behind them.
"That's some one calling," said Mrs. Bunker.
They looked and saw riding toward them a boy on a bicycle. He had
something in one hand, and clung to the steering bars with the other.
"Oh, he has my doll! He has my doll! I can see Sue!" cried Rose,
clapping her hands in joy. "He found her!"
"I do believe he has the child's doll," said Mother Bunker.

"But where did he get her?" asked Vi.
"He must have picked her up along the road after she slipped out of the
auto," answered Mrs. Bunker.
By this time the boy on the bicycle had caught up to the auto, which
had stopped in a shady place.
"This doll dropped out of your car in front of our house," panted the
bicycle boy. "I saw it fall, and I picked it up and rode after you. But I
had hard work to catch you."
"I'm glad you did catch us," said Mr. Bunker, taking the doll from the
boy's hand. "You had quite a ride. Aren't you tired?"
"Oh, I'm a little tired, but not much," said the boy. "The doll is all right.
She had a little dust on her, but I brushed it off."
"I'm ever so much obliged to you," said Mr. Bunker.
"Thank you--a whole lot!" murmured Rose. "I was 'fraid my doll was
lost forever."
"And here is something for your trouble," said Mr. Bunker, giving the
boy a silver quarter.
"Oh, I don't want to take it!" he said, backing away.
"Of course