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Six Little Bunkers at Cowboy Jack's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 25. Something That Was Not Expected |
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_ CHAPTER XXV. SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT EXPECTED There was great excitement at the Indian camp during the next few minutes. Everybody came running to the spot when they heard that Mun Bun was found but could not be got at. Everybody but Chief Black Bear. He had gone off to a place at some distance from the camp, and a man on pony-back had to go to get him, for Black Bear had the key of the big box. Daddy Bunker and mother came with the other Bunker children, and Vi began to ask questions as usual. But nobody paid much attention to her questions. Laddie said he thought he could make up a riddle about Mun Bun in the box, but before he managed to do this the chief arrived with the key. When the lid of the box was lifted the first person Mun Bun saw was Daddy Bunker, and he put up his arms to him and cried: "Daddy! Daddy! Mun Bun don't want to stay in this place. Mun Bun wants to go home." "And I must say," said Mother Bunker, who had been much worried, "that home will be the very best place in the world after this. I will not let Mun Bun out of my reach again. How does he manage to get into so much trouble?" "Why, Muvver!" sobbed the littlest Bunker, "I just tumble in. I tumbled into this box and then they locked me in." "How does he tumble into trouble?" demanded Vi, staring at Mun Bun. "I _know_ there is a riddle about it," said Laddie thoughtfully. "Only I can't just make it out yet." They were all very glad that Mun Bun was not hurt. But it did seem that he would have to be watched very closely or he might disappear again. "He's just like a drop of quicksilver," said Cowboy Jack. "When you try to put your finger on him, he isn't there." Just then the great horn blew to call everybody to the fort, for Mr. Habback was ready for the big scene of the picture. The little Bunkers--at least, all but Mun Bun--were eager to respond, for they wanted to be in the picture. Mother, however, kept the little boy with her, and they only watched the picture when it was made. That satisfied Mun Bun just as well, for he did not believe that he looked nice enough to go to a photographer just then. "I guess I'll have my picture taken when I get back to Pineville, Muvver," he said. "I'll like it better." But the rest of the party would never forget that exciting day. The Indians led by Black Bear attacked the fort, and there was much shooting and shouting and riding back and forth. The shooting was with blank cartridges, of course, so that nobody was hurt. But even the ponies seemed to be excited, and Russ told Rose he was quite sure Pinky and his pinto, who were both in the picture, enjoyed the play just as much as anybody! "Only, they will never see the picture when it is on the screen. And daddy says we will, if nothing happens. When the picture comes to Pineville we can take all the children we know at school and show 'em how we worked for the picture company and helped make 'A Romance of the Santa Fe Trail!'" This, later, they did. But, of course, you will have to read about that in another story about the Six Little Bunkers. Mr. Habback thanked the Bunkers when the work was done, and in the middle of the afternoon Cowboy Jack took them all back to the ranch house again in his big blue car, one of his cowboys leading in Pinky and the pinto pony later. On the way to the ranch Russ and Rose heard daddy tell mother that he had managed to fix up Mr. Golden's business for him and that it would soon be time to start East. "I don't care--much," Rose said, when she heard this. "We have had a very exciting time, Russ. And I guess I want to go to school again. They must have coal in Pineville. I should think they would have some by now." "I hate to lose my pinto pony," said Russ. "Can't we take him and Pinky with us?" Laddie asked. "I do wish we could." "Can't do that," said daddy seriously. "We have enough pets now for Jerry Simms to look after." "I tell you what," said Cowboy Jack heartily. "I'll take good care of the ponies, little folks, so that when you come out to see me again they will be all ready for you to use." "And Jerry, too?" cried Mun Bun. "I like that pony. He doesn't run so fast." "And Jerry, too," agreed the ranchman. So the little Bunkers were contented with this promise. When they got to the ranch house everybody there seemed very glad to see them, and Maria, the Mexican cook, had a very nice supper ready for the six little Bunkers. She seemed to know that she would not cook for the visitors much longer, and she tried to please them particularly with this meal. There were waffles again, and all the little Bunkers were fond of those delectable dainties. Only Mother Bunker would not always let them eat as many as they wanted to. But there was something at the ranch besides supper that evening that interested the children very much. There was some more mail from the East, and among it a little package that had been registered and sent to Mother Bunker by Captain Ben from Grand View. "I guess he has sent Mother Bunker a nice present," declared Rose eagerly. "Captain Ben likes mother." "Don't we all like her?" demanded Vi. "I like her very much. Can't I give her a present too?" "You are always picking flowers and finding pretty things for me," said Mrs. Bunker kindly. "I appreciate them just as much as any present Captain Ben could give me." "But what is it, Mother?" asked Rose, quite as excited as Vi and the others. "We shall have to open it and see," her mother said. But she would not open the little package until after supper. Perhaps that is why the little Bunkers were willing to eat fewer of Maria's nice waffles. They were all eager to see what was in the package. Even daddy claimed to be curious. So, when the lamps were lit in the big living room and everybody was more than ready, as Russ complained, Mother Bunker began to untie the string which fastened the package from Captain Ben. "I guess it is a diamond necklace," declared Rose earnestly. "Oh, maybe it is a pretty pearl brooch," said Russ. "What do you suppose it is, Daddy?" asked Mother Bunker, busy with the string and seals and smiling at Mr. Bunker knowingly. "It isn't a white elephant, I am sure," chuckled Daddy Bunker. "Oh! Now he is making fun," cried Rose. "It is something pretty, of course, for mother." "I know! I know!" cried Laddie suddenly. "I know what it is." "If you know so much," returned his twin "tell us." "It's a riddle," declared Laddie. "I guess it must be," laughed his mother. "'Riddle-me-ree! What do I see?'" and she opened the outside wrapper and displayed a little box with a letter wrapped about it. "From Captain Ben to be sure," she said, unfolding the letter and beginning to read it. "And it is a riddle!" repeated Laddie with conviction. Mother Bunker began to laugh. She nodded and smiled at them. "It certainly is a riddle," she said. "It is almost as good a riddle as that one Laddie told about the splinter." "I know! I know!" cried the little boy. "'I went out to the woodpile and got it.' I remember that one. But--but that isn't a splinter he has sent you, is it, Mother?" "It is something that Captain Ben looked for and could not find. But all the time he had it. What is it?" The little Bunkers stared at each other. Laddie murmured: "That is a riddle! What can it be?" Suddenly Rose uttered a little squeal and clasped her hands. "Oh, Mother!" she cried. "Is it--is it my _watch_?" At that Laddie began fairly to dance up and down. He was so excited he could scarcely speak. "Is it my pin?" he wanted to know. "My stick-pin that I left at Grand View, Mother? Is it?" There certainly was great excitement in the room until Mother Bunker opened the box. And there lay in cotton-wool the missing watch and stick-pin. Captain Ben had hunted a second time for the lost treasures the little Bunkers had so carelessly left behind, and had found the watch and pin. Rose and Laddie were so delighted that they could only laugh and dance about for a few minutes. But Vi was rather disappointed that it was not, after all, a present for Mother Bunker. It was quite late before the little Bunkers could get settled in their beds that night. That is, all but Mun Bun. He fell asleep in Mother Bunker's lap and did not know much about what went on. Rose and Laddie promised not to lose their treasures again. And, of course, they had not meant to leave the watch and pin behind at Grand View. But daddy told them that thoughtlessness always bred trouble and disappointment. "Like Mun Bun getting into the Indian's trunk," said Vi seriously. "He made us a lot of trouble to-day." Mun Bun made them no more trouble while they remained on the ranch, for Mother Bunker and Rose were especially careful in watching him. The little boy did not mean to get lost; but Cowboy Jack laughingly said that Mun Bun seemed to have that habit. "Some day you folks are going to mislay that boy and won't find him so easily. I tell you, he is a regular drop of quicksilver." But after that, although the six little Bunkers had plenty of fun at Cowboy Jack's, they had no dangerous adventure. They rode and drove the ponies, and played with the dogs, and watched the cowboys herd the cattle and some of the men train horses to saddle-work that had never been ridden before and did not seem to like the idea at all of carrying people on their backs. "It is lucky Pinky and your calico pony don't mind carrying us," Laddie remarked on one occasion to Russ. "I guess if they pitched like those big horses do, they would throw us right over their heads on to the ground." "Well, my pinto threw me once," said Russ rather proudly. "But it only shook me up a little. And, of course, accidents are apt to happen anywhere and to anybody." But Laddie did not think he would care to be thrown over Pinky's head. Rose had told him it was not a nice experience at all! In a few days the Bunkers packed their trunks and bags and the big blue automobiles came around to the door, and they bade everybody at Cowboy Jack's ranch good-bye. They had had a lovely time--all of them. "And I've had the best time of all having you here," declared the ranchman. "I hate to have you little Bunkers go. I don't see, Charlie, why you can't spare two or three of them and let 'em stay with me." "I guess not!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "We have just enough children. We couldn't really stand another one, but we can't spare one of these we have. Could we, Mother?" Mother Bunker quite agreed. She "counted noses" when the six little Bunkers were packed into the cars with the baggage. You see, after all, it was quite a task to keep account of so many children at one time. And especially if they chanced to be as lively as were the six little Bunkers, who never remained--any of them--in one spot for long at a time. That made them particularly hard to count. Russ and Rose and Laddie and Violet and Margy and Mun Bun all told Cowboy Jack that they had had a good time, and they hoped to see him again. If they do ever go to Cowboy Jack's ranch again I hope I shall know about it. And if I do, I will surely tell you all that happens to the Six Little Bunkers. [THE END] _ |
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