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Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 22. An Upset |
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_ CHAPTER XXII. AN UPSET Russ followed his sister over the snow to the place where Dick had made the little hill. If there was trouble Russ wanted to help, for, though Rose was the "little mother," Russ felt he must do his share to help her. They found that Mun Bun had rolled off the sled in going down a little hill and had toppled into a snow bank. "But that didn't hurt you!" said Rose, laughing as she picked him up. "There, sister will kiss the place and make it better. You only got a little snow up your sleeve, and it makes your arm cold." "But I bumped my head, too!" sobbed Mun Bun. "Well, I'll rub that and make it well," said Rose, and she did. "But I'm hungry, too," added Mun Bun. "Oh, I can't rub your hungry away," and Rose laughed so merrily that Mun Bun stopped his crying and laughed too. So did Margy. "What makes us get hungry?" asked Violet, as Mun Bun let Rose brush the snow from him. "What makes us?" "It's when something tickles us in our stomachs," answered Laddie. "I know, 'cause I feel that way right now. I wish I had something to eat." "So do I," said Margy. "My stomach doesn't zactly tickle, but it's hungry." "Well, I'll go and ask Grandma for some cookies," offered Russ. "She always has a lot in a jar, and they taste awful good. I'll be back in a minute." Away he ran to the house which was surrounded by the great, high hedge, and soon he came back with both hands and his pockets filled with sugar and molasses cookies. "I brought two kinds," he said, "'cause I thought some of you would want one kind, and I might want both kinds." The making of the snow man and the coasting down the little hill stopped while the children ate their cookies, and then, after a while, Russ said: "Well, we must finish the White family." "What's that?" asked Violet, brushing some cookie crumbs off her jacket. "Oh, it's a snow family we're making," explained Rose. "There's Mr. White and Mrs. White and we're going to make some little White snow children." "Like us six little Bunkers?" asked Mun Bun. "No, I guess not so many as that," replied Laddie. "That would take us all day. We'll just make two children, a girl and a boy." "Oh, I'm going to help make the White children!" cried Vi. "Let's go an' watch 'em!" called Margy to Mun Bun. "We've had enough coasting, haven't we?" "Yes," said Mun Bun. "We'll make some snow mans ourselves." With the smaller children dragging their sleds and following them, Russ and Rose and Laddie and Vi went back to where they had left Mr. White standing. There he was, very fine and brave-looking with his tall silk hat on his head, his coal-black eyes glistening in the sun, and his row of black buttons also shining. All at once, as Russ, who was in the lead of the procession of children, looked at the snow man, he cried: "Oh!" "What's the matter?" asked Rose. "Did you hear some funny noise?" questioned Violet. "No, but look at Mr. White!" cried Russ. "He took off his hat and made a bow to me!" "Why, Russ Bunker!" gasped Vi. "Took off his hat?" cried Laddie. "Made a bow to you!" exclaimed Rose. "Why, how could he? Mr. White is only a snow man. He isn't alive!" "Well, he made a bow just the same!" cried Russ. "You just watch, and he'll do it again!" Eagerly the children watched. Mr. White did not move. He just stared at them with his black eyes, smiled at them with his red cloth lips, and the tall, silk hat upon his snowy head never moved. "You're fooling us, Russ!" exclaimed Laddie. "No, I'm not--really!" Russ declared. "I saw him take off his hat and wave it at me." For a moment the six little Bunkers stood in a row and looked at Mr. White. Then, just as naturally as if he had been used to doing it all his life, Mr. White's tall, black silk hat came off his head, was lowered before the children and was put back again. This time they all saw it. "Oh, look! Oh!" exclaimed Rose. "Why--why----" and that was all Laddie could say as he stood with his mouth wide open, he was so surprised. "You made him do it, Russ!" exclaimed Violet. "I? How could I make him do it?" Russ demanded. "It's one of your tricks. You pulled a string and made his hat come off. It's a trick!" "Well, maybe it is a trick, but I didn't do it," declared Russ. "I haven't got any string fast to his hat. And, anyhow, if I did, maybe I could pull his hat off with a string, but I couldn't pull it back on again, could I?" "Well, maybe not, but you did it!" insisted Vi. "No, I didn't!" said Russ. "You watch and I won't move my finger even, and maybe Mr. White will take his hat off again." "Did you know he was going to do it?" asked Rose, as she looked at the snow man carefully. "No, I didn't know anything about it," said Russ. "I was walking along with you all, just now, and, all of a sudden, I saw the hat come off. First I thought the wind blew it, and then, when I saw it wave at me, and go back on his head, I knew somebody did it--or--or maybe he did himself." "But he couldn't, 'cause he's a snow man," insisted Laddie. "And I helped make him and you didn't put any phonograph or any machinery in him. You didn't, did you, Russ?" "No, not a thing. He's just a snow man." "Then he couldn't do it!" declared Rose. "But maybe it was Mr. Ghost! No, it couldn't be that 'cause he only makes a noise, and, anyhow, there isn't any such thing. But what is it?" "Look! He's doing it again!" cried Vi. Surely enough, the snow man once more took off his tall silk hat, and waved it toward the children. Then it went back on his head again, but this time it was not quite straight. It was tilted to one side, and gave him a very odd look. "Ho! Ho! Isn't he funny!" laughed Mun Bun. "I like that snow man. I'm going to see what makes him take off his hat!" "No, don't!" cried Rose, catching hold of her little brother's arm as he was about to run toward Mr. White. "Why not?" Mun Bun wanted to know. "'Cause he might--something might--oh, I don't want you to go!" exclaimed Rose. "I guess we'd better go and tell Daddy." They stood for a moment looking at the snow man who had acted so strangely. Suddenly the tall silk hat was straightened on Mr. White's head, and then, once more, it was lifted off and bowed to the six little Bunkers. "Oh!" "Come on!" cried Russ to Laddie after a moment. "Let's see what does it." "Maybe it's a riddle," Laddie suggested. "If it is, it's a funny one," said his brother. They started for Mr. White, and, all at once, off came the hat again, and then, suddenly, there was a loud a-ker-choo sneeze! "Oh, he's alive! The snow man has come to life!" cried Rose. "I'm going to the house." But just then, out from behind the big snow image, with the tall hat in his hand, stepped--Grandpa Ford. He was laughing. "I tried to stop that sneeze, but I couldn't," he said. "It came out in spite of me." "Oh, was that you, Grandpa?" asked Rose. "Did you hide behind the snow man?" questioned Russ. "And tip his hat?" Laddie demanded. "Why didn't we see you?" inquired Violet. "My! what a lot of questions," laughed Grandpa Ford. "Yes, I played a little joke on you. I hid behind the snow man, which was so large I could keep out of sight. I hid there when I saw you coming toward it, and I thought it would be fun to make you think it was alive. So I made him bow with the tall hat." "But we didn't see your arm," said Russ. "How did you do it? Did you put your arm up inside the snow arm of Mr. White?" "No," answered his grandfather. "I wound this white scarf around my arm, and it looked so much like the snow man himself that you couldn't see when I moved. Did I fool you?" "Yes, you did--a lot!" admitted Russ. "It was better than a riddle," said Laddie. Then Grandpa Ford showed how he had hidden himself behind Mr. White, and, wrapping his arm in a white scarf, which he wore around his neck in cold weather, Mr. Ford had reached up and lifted off the hat and put it back. The white scarf hid his arm, and it looked exactly as if the snow man had made bows. "We thought maybe he was alive!" laughed Rose. "Well, I was going to have him throw snowballs at you in another minute," said Grandpa Ford with a smile, "but I had to sneeze and spoil my trick." "But it was a good one," said Violet. "Now, we'll make the rest of the snow family of White," said Russ. "And if Dick or anybody comes along we'll play the same trick on them that Grandpa played on us." "Well, you can finish making Mr. White's family later," said Grandpa Ford. "I came out now to see if you don't all want to come for a ride with me. I have to go to town for some groceries, and also go a little way into the country to see a man. Do you want to come for a ride?" Well, you can just imagine how gladly the six little Bunkers answered that they did. They forgot all about the snow people, except to tell Daddy and Mother Bunker about Grandpa's funny trick, and, a little later, they were in the big sled filled with straw, riding over the snow. Merrily jingled the bells as over the drifts the horses pranced. Down the road they went to the store in Tarrington, where Grandpa Ford bought the things Grandma had sent him after. "Are we going home now?" asked Russ, as the sled turned down a country road. "No, not right away," answered his grandfather. "I have to go over to Glodgett's Mills to see a man, and after that we'll turn around and be home in time for supper. It looks like more snow, and I want to get you back before, the storm." Out on the country roads, where the snow was deep, went the horses, jingling their bells and pulling the sled full of children after them. "Get along, ponies!" cried Grandpa Ford. And then, all of a sudden, something happened. The sled went into a big drift, which was deeper than Grandpa Ford thought. A moment later there was an upset, and the six little Bunkers were spilled out into the snow. _ |
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