CHAPTER XIX
"Did the bad tramps take your motor boat?" asked Rose quickly, as she saw visions of the many nice rides she hoped to have in theSpray, as the captain's splendid boat was called, fade away.
"No, they didn't take the motor boat," answered the marine. "I take good care to lock that every night, and I fix the motor so no one not in the secret can start it. But the tramps, or whoever they were who paid us a midnight visit, took one of my best rowboats—one I use when I go fishing."
"Oh, may we go fishing?" asked Vi, who, with Laddie and the two little ones, had now come down. The thefts of the midnight visitors did not trouble her very much, it seemed.
"Yes, we'll go picnicking and fishing and have lots of fun," Captain Ben answered. "But first I must see if any one else around here has missed anything, and we must try to catch the tramps."
"Do you think it was tramps?" Laddie wanted to know.
"Well, I can't be sure of the last," remarked Captain Ben. "But I'm pretty sure it was tramps of some sort. As I said, they generally come around at the end of the season, when cottages and bungalows are being closed. They take anything they can find. But these fellows didn't wait for us to leave."
Captain Ben had a talk with some of his neighbors, who also missed various articles from around their cottages or docks, but the captain was the only one from whom a boat had been taken.
"I guess the tramps walked around the shore from their camp in the woods," remarked Daddy Bunker. "They took what they wanted here, and elsewhere, and then they rowed off in your boat, Ben."
"I guess that was it," remarked the marine. "I should have locked up the oars, but I left one pair out, and now I wish I hadn't. But I'll not let those tramps get away if I can help it."
"What will you do?" asked Russ.
"I'll take after 'em!" the captain said. "Now we know where they have their camp in the woods, we know where to find them."
"May I come and help you catch 'em?" begged the oldest of the six little Bunkers.
"No, indeed!" laughed his father. "Chasing after tramps isn't the same as roasting marshmallows."
"Well, I'd like to come," Russ continued wistfully. "I could stand back and throw stones at 'em, while you and Captain Ben caught 'em. Please let me come!"
But of course this could not be, and when the six little Bunkers had been taken for a walk by their mother, Mr. Bunker, Captain Ben and some other men started to search for the tramps who had taken the rowboat.
Russ, Rose and the others had lots of fun. They played in the sand, waded in the water, and, after their father and Captain Ben had come back, the captain said they might go crabbing.
"Did you get the tramps?" asked Russ, as he saw theSpraycome gliding up to Captain Ben's dock.
"No, we couldn't even get sight of them," was the answer. "I guess they have gone for good. Don't worry about them. I have another rowboat, though I am sorry to lose that one."
"You're losing lots of things," commented Rose. "First you lose your wrist watch and now your boat is gone."
"I'd rather have that watch back than three boats," the captain declared. "But now, little Bunkers, we'll have some fun. We'll go crabbing from the end of the pier."
Crabs were plentiful in that part of the bay near the captain's bungalow, and soon even Margy and Mun Bun were trying to catch the creatures which had such big, pinching claws. Of course Mrs. Bunker helped her two little children, but Russ and Rose and Vi and Laddie had crabbed before, and knew all about that sport.
Each of the six little Bunkers was given a string with a piece of meat or a fish head on the end. This bait was dropped into the water at the side of the pier.
Pretty soon the crabs, crawling along on the bottom or swimming half way toward the surface, saw or smelled the bait. They went up to it and grasped it in their big claws, holding fast with one, while they picked off bits of meat with the other large claw.
"Oh, I got one!" suddenly whispered Laddie. "I got one!"
"Pull up easy!" his father said. Mr. Bunker had a long-handled net. Catching crabs is not like catching fish. There is no hook for the crab to bite on and be held fast. He only holds by his claws, and if the bait is lifted too far out of the water the crab drops off. That is why Daddy Bunker had a net ready.
"Lift your string slowly," said Laddie's father, and the little boy did this. Inch by inch the string came up, and Laddie, looking down, could see the crab clinging by his claws to the chunk of meat.
"He's a big blue-clawed one!" exclaimed Laddie.
"Careful now," said Daddy Bunker. "Careful!"
He slipped the net down into the water, working it under the crab, which was eating away at Laddie's bait, not thinking of the danger of being caught.
Suddenly Daddy Bunker swooped with the net, dipped it and raised it again from the water. Something wiggled in the net.
"Did you get him?" shouted Laddie. "Oh, did you get him?"
"I did; and he's a dandy big one!" his father answered. In the net was the great crab, clashing his blue claws together. He had let go of the meat now, and was much surprised at being disturbed at his meal in this fashion.
Laddie lifted the meat from the net by raising the string, and then Daddy Bunker turned the net upside down over a basket. Out fell the crab, scuttling into a corner of the basket.
There he sat, with his two claws held up, ready to pinch any one who might put his fingers too near him. But no one did this. Some wet seaweed was put over the crab, and Laddie tossed back into the water his bait and string, to wait for another crab. After that every one had good luck, even Mun Bun and Margy. Their mother helped them pull up their crabs off the bottom, and Daddy Bunker scooped them into the net. Russ, Rose and Violet also caught a number of crabs, and when the basket was full they stopped fishing.
"No use catching any more than we need to make salad of," said Mother Bunker.
"I don't want any crab salad," said Mun Bun, shaking his head.
"Well, it isn't good for little boys, anyhow," said Captain Ben. "But why don't you want any?"
"I don't want to be pinched!" said Mun Bun.
"Oh, he thinks the crabs are alive, with their claws, in the salad," laughed Vi. "Why, silly, they take the crabs claws off before they eat 'em," she said.
"Well, maybe they might forget and leave one claw on, and that would pinch me if I ate some, but I'm not going to," and Mun Bun shook his head very decidedly.
The crabs clashed their claws and frothed at the mouths as they were carried in a basket up to the bungalow where Mother Bunker boiled them. Then the meat was picked out, as though the crabs were nuts, and a nice salad was made.
This was only one of the jolly days, full of fun, that the six little Bunkers enjoyed at Captain Ben's. There seemed to be something new to do every time the sun rose. Nothing more was heard of the tramps, though the constables, or policemen, tried to find the ragged men and get back the captain's boat.
More than once Russ or Rose would wonder if that runaway boy, Tad Munson, ever reached his home in Avalon. But there was no chance to find out, though Mr. Bunker said he was going over some day and ask.
Though the days were shorter now that fall was at hand than they had been in the summer time, when the six little Bunkers were at Uncle Fred's, there was still plenty of time for fun. Sometimes Captain Ben took the whole party off on a fishing trip in his motor boat, and again they would walk through the woods, taking their lunches in boxes and baskets.
Letters came from Norah and Jerry Simms, saying that all was well at home, but no trace was found of Captain Ben's watch.
One day when it had rained so hard in the morning that the six little Bunkers had to stay in the bungalow, it cleared in the afternoon. Mrs. Bunker let the children go out to play, telling them not to get in any boats and not to go far away from the house.
She was busy writing letters, and she was just beginning to wonder if the children were all right, when suddenly Rose came rushing in, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Rose, "Laddie's in and he can't get out. Laddie's in and he can't get out, and he's being picked to pieces! You'd better come quick!"