Six Little Bunkers at Uncle Freds | Page 4

scooter Russ had
made very long. By squeezing them on, it would hold two children.
"Who's going down first?" asked Russ, as he and Laddie fixed the
ironing-board hill in place, and wheeled the scooter over to it.
"I will!" exclaimed Mun Bun. "I like to ride."

"You'd better let us try first," said Laddie. "It might go so fast it would
knock into something."
"I'll go down!" decided Russ. "It's my scooter, because I made it; and
so I'll go down first."
"But I made the hill!" objected Laddie. "It's my hill."
"Then why don't both of you go down together?" asked Rose. "If it will
hold you two boys it will be all right for us girls. You go three times,
then Vi and I will take three turns."
"All right--that's what we will," said Russ. "Come on, Laddie."
Some boxes had been piled back of the one on which the ironing-board
rested in a slanting position, and these boxes made a level place on
which to get a start. Russ and Laddie lifted the scooter up there, and got
up themselves. Then they carefully sat down on the board to which
were fastened the roller-skate wheels.
"All ready?" asked Russ, who was in front, holding to a rope, like a
sled rope, by which he hoped to guide the scooter. "All ready, Laddie?"
"All ready," was the answer.
"Here we go!" cried Russ.
He gave a little shove with his feet, and down the ironing-board hill ran
the scooter, carrying Russ and Laddie with it. The first time it ran
beautifully.
"This is great!" cried Laddie.
"Fine!" exclaimed his brother.
And then, all of a sudden, something happened. The scooter ran off the
hill sideways, and started over the attic floor toward Rose, Vi, Mun
Bun and Margy. They squealed and screamed and tried to get out of the
way. But Mun Bun fell down, and Margy fell over him, and Vi fell

over Margy, and Rose fell over Violet. So there the four little Bunkers
were, all in a heap, and the scooter, with Russ and Laddie on it, running
toward the brother and sisters.
"Stop! Stop it!" cried Laddie.
"I can't!" shouted Russ, pulling on the guide rope. But that did no good.
"Oh, we're going to knock into 'em!" yelled Laddie.
And right into the other children ran the scooter. Russ and Laddie were
thrown off, and, for a moment, there was a bumping, thumping, yelling,
crying and screaming noise.
Mun Bun, trying to roll out of the way, knocked a box down off a trunk,
and the box had some croquet balls in it, which rumbled over the attic
floor almost like thunder.
In the midst of all this noise and confusion some one came running up
the stairs. A man entered the attic, and took one look at the mass of
struggling children on the floor.
"My good land!" he cried. "I wonder if I can save any of 'em! Oh, what
a mix-up!"
Then the stranger started in to rescue the six little Bunkers, for they
were all tangled up.
CHAPTER II
UNCLE FRED
"Are you hurt? Are any of you hurt? What happened, anyhow? Did part
of the house fall on you?"
The man who had run up the attic stairs went on picking up first one
and then another of the six little Bunkers. For a time they were so
excited over what had happened that they paid no attention to him.

But when the stranger picked Rose up and set her on her feet, the little
girl took a good look at him, and, seeing a strange man in the attic, she
cried:
"Oh, it's a burglar! It's a burglar! Oh, Mother! Norah! Jerry Simms! It's
a burglar!"
"Hush, child! Don't shout like that or you'll have all the neighbors in!"
said the man. "Be quiet, and I'll tell you who I am! Don't yell any
more!"
Rose stopped yelling, her mouth still wide open, ready for another
shout, and looked at the man. He smiled at her and picked up Mun Bun
out from under the box from which the croquet balls had fallen.
"Who is you?" asked Mun Bun.
"I'll tell you in just a moment, if you don't make such a racket," said the
stranger, smiling kindly.
The six little Bunkers became quiet at once, but before I tell you who
the strange man is I want to say just a few words about the children in
this story, and relate to you something about the other books in this
series.
To begin at the beginning, there were six little Bunkers, as I have told
you. There was Russ, aged eight, a great whistler and a boy very fond
of making toys, such as scooters and other things.