CHAPTER XVI
Mother and Daddy Bunker, who with Laddie, Russ and Rose, had also been awakened by the knock on the bungalow door, heard Captain Ben quickly open the door when that question came.
"Tad Munson!" exclaimed the captain. "He was with us this evening. He stayed here to supper and got on a trolley car to go to some relatives in Avalon, he said. Who are you?" went on the captain, and those who were listening heard some one come into the bungalow from outside.
"I'm Tad's father," was the answer. "I've been looking for him some time, and to-night I heard he was seen over here in Grand View. I traced him to you folks, but now you tell me he's gone again."
"Yes, he started for Avalon," went on Captain Ben, while Russ, who was listening, wondered how it felt to be away from your home and all one's family.
"Well, if Tad started for home he never got there—at least he hadn't when I left, about two hours ago," said Mr. Munson. "Poor, foolish boy! I feel sorry for him!"
"Did he run away from home?" asked Captain Ben.
By this time Mr. Bunker had got up, slipped on a bath robe, and was now with the two other men. Russ, Rose, Laddie and their mother still listened to the talk, which could plainly be heard. Vi, Mun Bun and Margy were sound asleep in their beds.
"Yes, Tad ran away," said Mr. Munson. "He was a little bad, but not very, and I said I'd have to punish him. I wasn't going to whip him, or anything like that, but I was going to take his bicycle away from him and not let him ride it for a week. But he is a foolish, quick-tempered boy, and he didn't wait to see what I was going to do. He just rode off on his wheel, and I haven't seen him nor heard from him since."
"But he started for home," said Daddy Bunker. "We brought him as far as here, and he said he could go the rest of the way on the trolley car."
"Didn't he have his bicycle?" asked Mr. Munson.
"No, he was on foot when we first saw him in a farmer's apple orchard," Captain Ben answered.
"Then he must have sold his wheel to get money to live on," remarked Tad's father. "And, I suppose, after he started back home, and perhaps even got on the trolley car, he was afraid to come back on account of not having his bicycle. So he must have run away again."
"That's too bad!" exclaimed Captain Ben. "How did you come to learn he had been with us?" he asked Mr. Munson.
"Oh, I've been searching for my boy ever since he ran away," answered Tad's father. "I come over here to Grand View every day to make inquiries. This evening I heard that my boy had been seen in an automobile. I made inquiries, and learned you were the only folks who had come to town in an auto with some children, so I came here as soon as I could. I'm sorry I had to wake you up in the middle of the night."
"Oh, that's all right," said Captain Ben. "I'm sorry about your boy. If I had known he felt afraid to go home alone, I'd have taken him over in my car."
"Maybe he'll come back in the morning, after he spends another night alone," said the father. "Tad is a queer boy. I don't exactly understand him, I feel sometimes. Well, if he isn't here I suppose I might as well go back home."
"I'm sorry," said Captain Ben. "Won't you stay the rest of the night, it's so late?"
"No, I'd better get back," was the answer. "If you see anything of my boy just send him back home and say I'll forget and forgive everything."
"We will," promised Daddy Bunker. "I think he may be hiding out around here somewhere, as we found him hiding in the hollow log."
"Did he do that?" asked Mr. Munson.
"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker, and he and Captain Ben told all they knew about the runaway boy. Then Mr. Munson left, the three little Bunkers who had awakened to listen to the talk went to sleep again, and the bungalow was quiet once more.
"Did you find Tad?" asked Laddie, as soon as he was up next morning.
"Oh, ho, you little tykes! So you were awake, were you?" asked their father, with a laugh, as he pulled Vi's hair playfully. "No, poor Tad doesn't seem to be around here, but I think he'll be all right."
"And you mustn't worry about him and spoil your extra vacation at my place," said Captain Ben. "You came to Grand View to have a good time, and I came to forget about the war. I want you to be as happy as you can. Come along, as soon as you've had breakfast, and we'll go out on the water."
"Oh, it's just a lovely place here!" exclaimed Rose, as she looked from the window. "Are all those your boats there?" and she pointed to several craft floating near a dock that extended out into a small bay.
"Not all of them," said Captain Ben. "I have a motor boat and two rowboats. I'm going to take you for a motor-boat ride this morning."
"That'll be fun!" cried Laddie.
"Well, be ready to start in half an hour," went on Captain Ben, and he thrust out his arm and glanced down at his wrist. "There I go again!" he exclaimed. "Looking for my watch that's lost! I don't seem to get used to being without it."
"It is too bad," said Mother Bunker. "I did hope I might find it among the things when I unpacked, but it wasn't there."
"Oh, never mind," and Captain Ben laughed, trying to show that he did not feel bad. "We won't worry about it any more than we'll worry about Tad. They may both turn up together some day."
"And maybe we'll find Mrs. Brown's jewelry," added Russ.
"Not much chance of that," remarked his father. "I imagine the tramps took the box of rings and other things, and Mrs. Brown will never see them again."
"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, who knew how Mrs. Brown must feel at losing her keepsakes.
But, as Captain Ben had said, the grown folks did not want the six little Bunkers to worry over matters which could not be helped, and so spoil their late vacation.
"May we go down and play on the beach while we're waiting for Captain Ben to take us out in the motor boat?" asked Rose of her mother, when breakfast was finished.
"Yes," was the answer. "And look after Mun Bun and Margy. I think they'll be careful, but watch them just the same."
Rose promised, and soon the six little Bunkers were shouting and laughing on the sands of the bay which came up almost to Captain Ben's bungalow at Grand View. The bungalow stood on a little hill, at the foot of which was the water. This water was the bay, and, farther out, was the big ocean. On the bay were many boats, for it was a place of shelter during storms. Not far from the bungalow was a pier that extended out into the water, and the captain's rowboats, motor boat, as well as the boats belonging to several other bungalow and cottage owners, were tied near by.
"I think this is the loveliest place!" exclaimed Rose, as she sat down on the sand and looked out across the water.
"Yes, it's dandy," replied Russ. "And this is the nicest part of the year. I'm glad we don't have to go back to school right away."
"Can I make some sand pies?" asked Mun Bun, coming up to Rose with some shells in his hand.
"Yes, make all you want, but don't get wet," Rose warned him.
"I'm going to make pies, too," said Margy, and soon the two youngest children were busy playing in the sand.
Russ walked up and down the beach looking for odd shells, for he had started to make a collection of them. Rose remained on the sand, watching some men who were working on a motor boat. She saw that Mun Bun and Margy were all right, and the last she had heard from Laddie and Vi was when Laddie was trying to guess the answer to a riddle about seaweed. It was a riddle which Laddie had made up himself, and perhaps it was not as easy as some other riddle would have been.
At any rate, Laddie and Vi were talking about this riddle the last Rose heard them. She was thinking how nice it was to be at Grand View, and she was wondering if Captain Ben would ever find his lost watch when she was suddenly startled by a scream. That it came from one of the little Bunkers Rose knew at once, and her first glance was toward Mun Bun and Margy. They were still playing quietly on the sand.
Rose next looked for Laddie and Violet and, to her surprise, she saw them in a rowboat some distance from shore, and the rowboat was being pulled along by the motor craft on which the men had been working. Most unexpectedly Laddie and Vi were being ridden out on the broad bay!
"Oh, come back! Come back!" cried Rose, springing to her feet and waving her hands to her brother and sister. "Come back here!"
"We can't! We can't come back!" cried Laddie, and then he and Vi fell down in a huddled heap in the middle of the rowboat which was being pulled rapidly along by the motor boat.