Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Fords | Page 8

Russ. He was huddled in a heap, and he was doing his best not to cry. Mrs. Bunker could tell that by the way his face was wrinkled up. Near him stood Rose, and she looked startled.
"What's the matter?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "Are you hurt, Russ?"
"No'm--that is, not very much. I--I fell out of the hammock."
"Yes, I see you did. What made you? Did you swing too high? I've told you not to do that."
"What does it all mean?" asked Daddy Bunker, while Grandpa Ford looked on. "Were you trying to do some circus tricks in the hammock, Russ?"
"No. I--I was just climbing up, like a sailor when he goes up a rope, you know, and----"
"I call that a circus trick!" interrupted Mr. Bunker. "I wouldn't try those, if I were you, Russ. You aren't hurt much this time, I guess, but you might be another time. Don't try any tricks until you get older."
"Well, it wasn't exactly a trick," explained Russ, and then he saw Rose looking at him in a queer way and he stopped.
"As long as you're all right it's a blessing," said his mother.
"I thought the house was falling down," remarked Grandpa Ford with a laugh.
"Oh, you'll get used to all sorts of noises like that, Father, if you're very long around the six little Bunkers," said his stepson. "As soon as we hear a louder noise than common we rush out. But we have been very lucky so far. None of the children has been badly hurt."
"I hope they'll be as lucky as that when they come to my place at Great Hedge," said Grandpa Ford.
"Oh, are we going to stay with you, Grandpa Ford?" cried Russ, forgetting all about his pains and bruises, now that there was a prospect of a new place to go to.
"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Rose. "I'm going to tell Laddie and Vi!"
"No, don't, please, Rose," said her mother. "It isn't settled yet. We haven't really decided to go."
"Oh, but you must come if I have to come down with my big hay wagon and cart you up!" said Grandpa Ford. "But we'll talk about that later. I'm glad neither of you two children was hurt. Now here is five cents each. Run down and buy a lollypop. I imagine they must be five cents apiece now, with the way everything has gone up."
"No, they're only a penny apiece, but sometimes you used to get two for a cent," explained Russ, as he took one coin and Rose the other. "Thank you," he went on. "We'll get something, and give Mun Bun and Margy a bit."
"And Violet and Laddie, too," added Rose.
Russ looked at the five-cent piece in his hand as if wondering if it would stretch that far.
"Send the other children to me, and I'll give them each five cents," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.
"Then we can all go to the store!" said Rose, clapping her hands. "They have lovely five-cent grab-bags down at Henderson's store."
"Well, don't eat too much trash," said Mrs. Bunker. Then, turning to Grandpa Ford, she said: "Now we can go back in the house and you can finish what you were telling us when Russ fell out of the hammock."
"I didn't zactly fall out of it," the little boy explained. "I wasn't in it. I was climbing up on one side, and I--I----"
"Well, you fell, anyhow," said his father. "Please don't do it again. Now we'll go in, Father."
Russ and Rose were left standing on the porch, each holding a five-cent piece. Russ looked at Rose, and Rose looked at Russ.
"We didn't hear what the ghost was at Great Hedge," said the little girl.
"No," agreed Russ. "He was saying that, 'all of a sudden,' just like in a story, you know, when----"
"When you fell all of a sudden!" interrupted Rose.
"I couldn't help it," declared Russ. "If you'd had the mat, I wouldn't 'a' made any noise."
"Oh, well, let's go and spend our five cents," suggested Rose. "And we can tell Laddie and Vi and Margy and Mun Bun to go for theirs. We'll have to wait for them to go to the store with us, anyhow. Mun Bun and Margy can't go alone."
"All right, you go and tell 'em," returned Russ. "Shall I go and listen some more at the window?"
"No, I guess not," said Rose. "They might see you."
For it was in listening at the window that Russ had fallen. As he had partly explained, he had climbed up the hammock, as a sailor climbs a rope.
The hammock swung on the side porch, but when it was not in use it hung by one hook, rather high up, and by twisting it together it could be made into a sort of rope. Russ and Rose, as I have told you, had been