Six Little Bunkers at Mammy Junes | Page 6

stood up at the bottom of the house
steps, he seemed to waver just like a slim reed in the fierce wind that
drove the snowflakes against him. He hesitated, too. It seemed that he
scarcely knew whether it was best to mount the steps to Aunt Jo's front
door or not.
"Come up here!" cried Mun Bun again, and continued to beckon to him
through the glass of the outer door.
Margy held up her coat and cap, and beckoned to the boy also. He
looked much puzzled as he slowly climbed the steps. His lips moved
and the children knew he asked:
"What yo' want of me, child'en?"
Mun Bun tugged at the outer door eagerly, and finally it flew open. He
shouted in the face of the driving snow:
"Come in here, snowman. Come in here!"
"I ain't no snowman," drawled the colored boy. "But I sure is as cold as
a snowman could possibly be."
"It's warmer inside here than it is out there," Margy said. "Although
we're not any too warm. Our steampipes don't hum. But you come in."
"Yes," said Mun Bun, grabbing at the colored boy's cold, wet hand.
"You come in here. We have some coats and things you can put on so
you won't be cold."
"Ma goodness!" murmured the boy, staring at the garments the children
held out to him.
"You can wear 'em," said Margy. "We have more."
"You put on my coat," urged Mun Bun. "It's a boy's coat. You won't
want Margy's, for she's a girl."

"Ma goodness!" ejaculated the colored boy again, "what yo' child'en
s'pose I do wid dem t'ings? 'Less I puts 'em up de spout?"
The two children hadn't the first idea as to what he meant by putting the
clothing up the spout. But the colored boy meant that he might pawn
them and get some money. He did not offer to take the coats and other
things that Margy and Mun Bun tried to put into his hands.
Just at this moment Mother Bunker and Aunt Jo, followed by Russ and
Rose, appeared on the stairs. They had missed the two little folks and,
as Aunt Jo had said, wrinkling her very pretty nose, that she could "just
smell mischief," they had all come downstairs to see what the matter
was.
The colored boy spied them. He had evidently been ill used by
somebody, for he was very much frightened. He thrust the coats back at
the children and turned to get out of the vestibule.
But the door had been sucked to by the wind and it was hard to open
again. It was really quite wonderful that Mun Bun had been able to get
it open when he and Margy had called the strange colored boy in.
"Don't go!" cried Margy.
"Take my coat, please," urged Mun Bun. "I know it will keep you
warm."
And all the time the colored boy was tugging at the handle of the outer
door and fairly panting, he was so anxious to get out. Mother Bunker
was the first to reach the door into the vestibule, and she opened it
instantly.
"Wait!" she commanded the strange boy. "What do you want? What are
you doing here?"
But by this time the young fellow had jerked open the outer door, and
now he darted out and almost dived down the snowy steps.

"Oh, Mother!" cried Mun Bun, "he's forgot his coat and cap and scarf. I
wanted him to wear mine because he was so cold and snowed on."
"And he could have had mine, too," declared Margy quite as earnestly.
"What do these tots mean?" gasped Aunt Jo, holding up both hands.
But Mother Bunker, who understood her little Bunkers very well
indeed, in a flash knew all about it. She cried:
"The poor boy! Bring him back! He did look cold and wet."
"Oh, he's just a tramp," objected Aunt Jo.
"He's poor, Josephine, and unfortunate," answered Mother Bunker, as
though that settled all question as to what they should do about the
colored boy.
Russ Bunker had already got his cap and mackinaw. He darted out of
the house, down the steps, and followed the shuffling figure of the
colored boy, now all but hidden by the fast-driving snow. How it did
snow, to be sure!
"Say! Wait a minute!" Russ called, and caught the strange youth by the
elbow.
"What yo' want, little boy?" demanded the other. "I ain't done nothin' to
them child'en. No, I ain't. Dey called me up to dat do' or I wouldn't
have been there."
"I know that," said Russ, urgently detaining him. "But come back. My
mother wants to speak to you, and I guess my Aunt Jo'll treat you nice,
too. You're cold and