Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Fords | Page 9

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
listening under the porch window to what Grandpa Ford had been
telling about the queer happenings at Great Hedge Estate.
Just as he reached the point where he was going to tell about the
strange noise at midnight, Russ decided he could hear better if he were
higher up, and nearer the window.
The hammock had been left hanging by one hook, after Laddie and Vi
had finished swinging in it a little while before, and up this Russ
climbed.
But his hands slipped, and down he fell, making a good deal of noise.
Of course if Rose had put the mat under him, as he had told her to do,

there would not have been such a racket.
"And now we sha'n't ever know about the ghost," said Russ, just before
his sister hurried off to tell the others that Grandpa Ford had a treat for
them.
"Yes, we shall," said the little girl.
"How?"
"We'll wait till we get there. We're all going, 'cause Grandpa Ford said
so. When we get to Great Hedge we can find the ghost for ourselves."
"Yes, maybe we can," agreed Russ. "Anyhow, I'm not going to climb
up any more hammocks. It hurts too much when you fall." And he
walked from the porch, limping.
Then, after Russ and Rose had gone away, Grandpa Ford told Mr. and
Mrs. Bunker more about the strange doings at his house, which was
surrounded by the great hedge. And the old gentleman ended with:
"And now I want you all to come out there with me and help solve the
mystery. I want you, Son," and he turned with a kindly look to Mr.
Bunker, "and I want your wife and the six little Bunkers."
"Maybe the children will be afraid of the ghost," said their mother.
"We won't tell them anything about it," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.
"They'll never know a thing about it."
If he had only seen Russ and Rose listening on the porch under the
window!
"Well, as long as they don't know about it, I don't see that they can be
frightened," said Mr. Bunker. "As you say, it is queer, but maybe Mr.
Ripley can explain the queer noises and other things."
"Maybe he can," agreed Grandpa Ford. "That's what I came on to see
about, and I'll take you all back with me."

"But it will soon be cold weather," objected Mother Bunker.
"All the better!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "There is no nicer place in the
world in winter than Great Hedge. The big hedge made of what are
almost trees, keeps off the cold north wind. We always have plenty of
snow up in New York state, and the children will have no end of good
times. You must all arrange to come back with me."
"Well, I suppose we'll have to," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we won't say
anything to the children about the ghost."
"Unless they find it out for themselves," remarked Daddy Bunker.
"And if they do I don't