When Mr. Bunker heard his wife calling as she did, he stopped and looked back, for he was walking on ahead with Russ and Laddie. Then all the other Bunkers stopped, too, and gathered around the fruit stand. All except Mr. Bunker and the two boys knew what had happened, for they had seen Margy crawl under.
The man who owned the stand, who had gone away from it a moment to talk to the man who kept a socks-and-suspender stand next to him, had not seen the kitten crawl under his pile of fruit, nor had he seen Margy go after it. But when he saw the seven Bunkers gathered in a group he at once thought they wanted to buy some apples, pears, or oranges.
"Nice fruit! Nice fruit!" said the man,who was an Italian. "Very nice good fruit and cheap."
"No, we don't want any fruit now," said Mrs. Bunker. "I want my little girl."
"Lil' girl? Lil' girl!" exclaimed the Italian.
"No got lil' girls. Only got fruit, banan', orange, apple! You want to buy? Good nice fruit cheap!"
"No, I want Margy!" cried Mrs. Bunker.
"Where is she?" asked Mr. Bunker, who, as I have told you, had not seen where Margy went.
"She's under the stand," explained his wife.
"She went to get a kitten," added Rose.
"No got kittens nor cats needer," said the Italian. "Only got fruit. Nice fruit, cheap!"
Mr. Bunker stooped down to look under the stand.
"No fruit there!" the owner said. "All fruit on top. Nice fruit, cheap!"
"I am looking for my little girl," explained Mr. Bunker. "She crawled under there—under your stand—after a kitten."
And just then could be heard a loud:
"Mew! Mew! Mew!"
"Oh, she's caught it! Margy's caught the kittie," cried Mun Bun. "I can hear him holler."
Certainly something seemed to have happened to the kitten, for it was mewing very loudly. Mr. Bunker reached in under the fruit stand, and made a grab for something. He gave a pull and out came—Margy!
And as Margy came into view, being pulled by one leg by her father, who found that was the only way he could reach her, it was seen that the little girl held, clasped in her arms, the kitten after which she had crawled.
"I got it! I got it!" cried Margy, as she sat down on the sidewalk in front of the fruit stand.
The kitten was a soft, furry one, but it was rather mussed and bedraggled now, from the way Margy had mauled it. And the little Bunker girl was rather tousled herself, for there was not much room underneath the stand where she had crawled.
"Oh, my dear Margy!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "You are such a sight!"
"But I got my kittie!" said the little girl.
By this time quite a crowd had gatheredaround the six little Bunkers and their father and mother. Margy still sat on the sidewalk, with the kitten in her lap, petting and rubbing it.
"Come! We must hurry!" exclaimed Mr. Bunker. "We may miss the boat. Get up, Margy. Rose, you help your mother dust Margy off, and then we must hurry."
"Can't I take the kittie?" asked the little girl.
"No, dear," answered her mother. "It isn't yours. And besides, we never could take it to Cousin Tom's with us. Put it down, Margy, my dear!"
"Oh, oh, I don't want to!" cried the little girl, and real tears came into her eyes. "I got this kittie out of a dark corner, and it loves me and I love it! I want it."
"But you can't take it," said Daddy Bunker. "The kittie must stay here. It belongs to the fruit stand. It's your cat, isn't it?" he asked the Italian.
"My keeten? No. I have no keeten. I sell banan', orange, apple! You buy some I give you keetie. Me no want!"
"No, and we don't want it, either," saidMrs. Bunker. "I was hoping it was yours so you could say you had to keep it here to drive the mice away. If Margy thought it was yours she wouldn't want to take it away."
"Ah, I see!" exclaimed the Italian with a smile. "All right, I keep the keeten," and he said the name in a funny way.
"There, Margy!" exclaimed her father. "You see you'll have to leave the kitten here to keep the mice away from the oranges."
"Can't I take it to Cousin Tom's with me?"
"No. And you must put it down quickly, and hurry, or we shall miss the boat."
Margy started to cry, but the Italian, who seemed to understand children, quickly offered her a big, yellow orange. Then Margy let go of the kitten, and the fruit man quickly picked it up and put it down in a little box out of sight.
"She no see—she no want," he whispered to Mrs. Bunker.
"I want an orange!" exclaimed Mun Bun, seeing Margy beginning to eat hers. "I likes oranges!"
"All right, we'll all have some," said Mr.Bunker. It seemed like disappointing the stand-owner to go away without buying some, after all that had gone on at his place of business.
So Mr. Bunker bought a large bag of oranges, telling his wife they could eat them on the boat. Margy forgot about the kitten, and, being dusted, for she was dirty from her crawl under the stand, the six little Bunkers once more started off. This time their father and mother watched each one of the boys and girls to see that none of them did anything to cause further delays. Russ and Rose and Laddie and Violet were not so venturesome this way as were Margy and Mun Bun.
"Now here we are at the dock, and all we have to do is to walk straight out to the end of the pier and get on the boat when it comes," said Mr. Bunker. "It is nearly time for it. I don't believe anything more can happen."
And nothing did. There was a long walk, or platform, elevated at one side of the covered pier, and along this the children hurried with their father and mother. A whistlesounded out on the Hudson River, which flowed past the far end of the dock.
"Is that our boat?" asked Russ.
"I hope not," his father answered. "If it is, we may miss it yet. But I do not think it is. There are many boats on the river, and they all have whistles."
A little later they were in the waiting-room at the end of the dock, where there were a number of other passengers, and soon a big white boat, with the name "Asbury Park" painted on one side, was seen steering toward the dock.
"Here she is!" cried Mr. Bunker, and, a little later, they were all on board and steaming down New York Bay.
They steamed on down past the Statue of Liberty, that gift from the French, past the forts at the Narrows, and so on down the bay. Off to the left, Daddy Bunker told the children, was Coney Island, where so many persons from New York go on hot days and nights to get cooled off near the ocean.
"Is Seaview like Coney Island?" asked Vi.
"Well, it may be a little like it," her father answered; "though there will not be so manymerry-go-rounds there or other things to make fun for you. But I think you will have a good time all the same."
"We're going to dig for gold, like Sammie Brown's father," declared Laddie. "If we find a lot of it we can buy a ticket for Coney Island."
"What makes them call it Coney Island?" asked Vi. "Did they find some coneys there?"
"I don't know," her father replied.
"What's a coney, anyhow?" went on the little girl.
"I don't know the answer to that question, either," said Mr. Bunker. "You'll have to ask me something else, Vi."
"Maybe it's an ice-cream cone they meant," said Russ, "and they changed it to coney."
"Did they, Daddy?" Vi wanted to know.
"Well, you have a questioning streak on to-day," laughed her father. "I'm sorry I can't tell you how Coney Island got its name."
So the children looked, first on one side of the boat and then on the other as they steamed along. Now and then Vi asked questions. Russ whistled and thought of manythings he would make when he reached Cousin Tom's. Laddie tried to think up a riddle about why the smoke from the steamer did not stack up in a pile, instead of blowing away, but he couldn't seem to think of a good answer. And, as he said:
"A riddle without an answer isn't any fun, 'cause you don't know when people guess it wrong or right."
Finally the boat turned toward land and, a little later, Daddy Bunker said they were near Atlantic Highlands. Then the steamer slowly swung up to a big pier, the gangplank was run out, and the six little Bunkers, with their father and mother and the other passengers, got off, their tickets being taken up as they left the boat.
A train was waiting at the pier, and soon, with the Bunkers in one of the coaches, it was puffing down the track, along the edge of the water. Above the train towered the high hills which gave Atlantic Highlands its name.
On the heights, at a station called "Highlands," are two big lighthouses.
The Highland light is as bright as ninety-five million candles, and on a clear night can be seen flashing for many miles.
"Could we come down and see the light some night?" asked Russ, as his father told him about it.
"Yes, I think so," was the answer. "But get ready now. We shall soon be at Cousin Tom's place."
The train rumbled over a bridge across the Shrewsbury river, which flows into Sandy Hook Bay, and then, after passing a few more stations, the brakeman cried:
"Seaview! Seaview! All out for Seaview!"
"Oh, now we're at Cousin Tom's!" cried Rose. "Won't we have fun?"
"Lots!" agreed Russ.
"And don't forget about digging for gold!" added Laddie.
They got off the train, and Cousin Tom, who was waiting for them, hurried up, all smiles. Behind him came his pretty wife.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" said Cousin Ruth.
"Are all the six little Bunkers here?" Cousin Tom wanted to know, with a grin.
"Every one!" answered Mother Bunker. "But we nearly lost Margy. She crawled under a fruit stand after a kitten. Where is she now? Margy, come back!" she called, for she saw the little girl running toward the train. "Don't get on the cars!" cried Mrs. Bunker. The train was beginning to move. "Come back, Margy! Oh, get her, some one!"
But Margy was not going near the train. Suddenly she stooped over and caught up in her arms a little, white, woolly poodle dog.
"Look what I found!" she cried. "If I can't have a kittie cat, I can have a dog. He is a nice dog and he jumped off the train 'cause he likes me!"
And, just as Margy picked up the dog in her arms, a woman thrust her head out of one of the windows of the moving train and screamed.
The dog began to bark, the engine of the train whistled, the woman with her head out of the car window kept on screaming, and the conductor, standing out on the platform, shouted something, though no one could tell what it was.
"It sounded," said Daddy Bunker, afterward, "like that Mother Goose story, where the fire begins to burn the stick, the stick begins to beat the dog, the dog begins to chase the pig and the old lady got home before midnight."
"What is the matter?" asked Cousin Tom, who had stopped greeting the six little Bunkers to look at Margy and the dog, and listen to the screaming of the woman on the train.
No one seemed to know, but, suddenly, the engine whistled loudly once, and then the train came to a stop. Out of the car rushedthe woman, down the steps and toward Margy.
"My dog!" she cried. "Oh, my pet dog! I thought he was killed!"
"No'm, I picked him up," explained Margy, as the woman took her pet animal. "I saw him, and he came to me, 'cause he liked me. I almost got a little kitten, but it went under a stand and when I pulled it out Mother wouldn't let me keep it. Now I can't have the doggie, either," and Margy acted as if she were going to cry.
"I'm sorry, little girl," said the woman, "but I couldn't give up my pet Carlo. He is all I have!" and she cuddled the dog in her arms as she would a baby.
"Did you stop my train, lady?" asked the conductor, and he seemed rather angry.
"Yes," was the answer. "My Carlo ran off, just as it started, and I saw the little girl pick him up. Then I pulled the whistle-cord, and stopped the train. I just had to jump off and get my Carlo!"
"Well, now that you have him, please get back on again," said the conductor. "We are late now, and must hurry."
"I'm sorry I can't leave Carlo with you, for I'm sure you would love him," said the woman to Margy. "But I could not get along without him."
Margy did not have time to answer, as the woman had to hurry back to the train. The conductor was waiting, watch in hand, for the train had stopped after it had started away from the station, and would be a few minutes late. And on a railroad a few minutes mean a great deal.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Margy. "I had a little kittie and then I didn't have it. Then I had a little dog and now I haven't that, either! Oh, dear!"
"Never mind," said Cousin Tom, as he patted the little girl on the head. "You can come down to the bungalow and play in the sand, and maybe you can find a starfish or something like that."
"Oh, are there fish down in your ocean?" asked Russ.
"Lots of 'em, if you can catch 'em," said Cousin Tom, laughing.
"And is there any gold?" Laddie asked.
"I never found any, if there is," was theanswer. "But then I never had much time to dig for it. You may, if you like. But now are you all ready?"
"All ready, I think," said Mother Bunker. "Don't pick up any more stray dogs or cats, Margy, my dear."
"This one came to me," said the little girl. "I loved him, I did, but now he is gone."
However there was so much new to see and talk about down at the seashore that Margy soon forgot about her little troubles. There were some carriages and automobiles at the station, and, dividing themselves between two of these, the Bunkers and Cousin Tom and his wife were soon driving down toward the ocean, for Cousin Tom lived on a street not far from the beach. He was the son of Mr. Ralph Bunker, who had been dead some years, and Mr. Ralph Bunker was Daddy Bunker's brother. So the children's father was Cousin Tom's uncle, you see.
"Did you have a nice trip?" asked Cousin Ruth, of Mrs. Bunker, as she rode beside her in the automobile.
"Yes, very. Laddie thought a search-lightwas a thunderstorm, when we were coming down on the Fall River boat, Margy crawled under a fruit stand in New York to get a stray kitten, and Mun Bun got mixed up with another little boy. But we are used to such things happening, and we don't mind. I hope you will not be driven wild by the children."
"Oh, no, I love them!" said Cousin Ruth with a smile, as she looked over at the six little Bunkers.
"That's good," said their mother with a smile. "Of course they get into mischief once in a while, but they are usually pretty good and don't give much trouble. They play very nicely together."
"I'm sure they must. I shall love them all—every one! I wonder if they are hungry."
"They generally are ready to eat," said Mrs. Bunker. "But don't fuss too much over them. They can wait until meal time."
But the six little Bunkers did not have to do this, for when they reached the bungalow, not far from the beach, where Cousin Tom and his wife lived, there was plenty of bread and jam for the hungry children—and hungry they were, you would have believed, if you could have seen them eat. Cousin Ruth seemed to think it was fun.
"Welcome to Seaview!" cried Cousin Tom, when the children were eating and Mr. and Mrs. Bunker had laid aside their things and the baggage had been carried to the different rooms. "Now I want you all to have a good time while you're here. Make yourselves right at home."
"They seem to be doing that," said Daddy Bunker, for the children just then finished their bread and butter and jam, and began to run all around the house.
Cousin Tom's bungalow was about a block from the ocean, and on a new street in Seaview, so there were no other houses very near it. Not far away was what is called an "inlet." That is, the waters of the ocean came into the land for quite a distance, making a place where boats could get in and out without going through the surf, or heavy waves. This inlet was called Clam River, for toward the upper end, a mile or so from the sea, it was shallow and sandy, and many clams were found there.
Clam River was a harbor for fishing and lobster boats, and they could run into it and be safe from storms at sea.
"I'm going out and dig in the sand!" cried Mun Bun.
"I'll come, too," said Margy.
"Well, don't pick up any stray dogs or cats," warned her mother. "Perhaps you had better go with them, Rose," she said to the oldest girl.
"All right, Mother. I'll look after them," was the answer, and Rose became her mother's little helper again.
Vi and Laddie seemed to be looking for something. They wandered about the big porch of the bungalow, and out in front, up and down.
"What do you want?" asked Cousin Ruth, who saw them.
"Something we can use to dig for gold," answered Laddie.
"Dig for gold!" exclaimed Cousin Ruth. "Is that a riddle?" for she had heard that Laddie was very fond of asking riddles.
"No, this is real," answered the little fellow. "'Tisn't a riddle at all. SammieBrown's father dug for gold, and we're going to. There is always gold in sand."
"Oh, I'm glad to know that," answered Cousin Ruth. "We have so much sand around us that if it all has gold in it I'm sure we shall soon be rich. But I wouldn't be too sure about it, Laddie. Some sand may not have any gold in it. But you may dig all you like. You'll find some shovels and pails on the side porch. I put them there on purpose for you children."
Vi and Laddie found what they wanted, and hurried down to the beach to dig. Margy and Mun Bun went also, with Rose, while Russ, having found some bits of driftwood, began to whittle out a boat which he said he was going to sail on Clam River, where the water was smooth.
Mr. and Mrs. Bunker sat in the bungalow talking to Cousin Tom and his wife, telling them about their trip and the visit to Aunt Jo's, from whose house they had just come.
"I hope you can stay the rest of the summer with us," said Cousin Tom.
"It is a lovely place," said Mrs. Bunker, "And we shall stay as long as you like tohave us, for I think the children will like it here. And we are more than glad to be with you and Cousin Tom. But we have half promised to visit Grandpa Ford."
"Yes, and he surely expects us," added her husband. "Is it all right for the children to play on the beach?" he asked his nephew.
"Oh, yes, surely. Did you think anything could hurt them?"
"Well, I didn't know. It's so near the water——"
"The beach is a very safe one, and the water is shallow, even at high tide," said Cousin Tom. "At low tide you can wade quite a distance out. The children will be all right. But do they really expect to find gold by digging?"
"I believe they do. It's a story they heard," said Mr. Bunker with a laugh. "Near Aunt Jo's lived a boy whose father was a sea captain, and who, I believe, did once find gold on an island. It set Laddie and Vi to thinking they might do the same. But, of course, there isn't any gold here."
"Of course not," said Cousin Tom.
So Mr. and Mrs. Bunker talked withCousin Tom and his wife, while the children played outside. The sun was going down, and it would soon be time for supper, when Mrs. Bunker, who had gone upstairs to change her dress, heard Rose calling:
"Come back, Laddie! Come back! You mustn't get into that boat!"
"Into a boat? Oh, I should say not!" cried Mrs. Bunker, who could not see from her window what was going on. "What are you doing, Laddie?" she called, as she hurried down.
She heard her little boy's voice in answer:
"I'm going off in the boat and dig for gold. No, I won't come back, Rose. I'm going to dig for gold. Come on, Vi!"
Fearing that something was going to happen, Mrs. Bunker ran out on the porch, from where she could see the beach.
Mrs. Bunker gave a quick glance about to see what was happening. She noticed Margy and Mun Bun, well up on the beach, digging holes and making little piles of sand. But down near the inlet, where a boat was tied, Rose was having trouble with Laddie.
The little boy who was so fond of asking riddles, and his sister Violet, who liked to ask questions, had left the place where they first had begun to "dig for gold," as they called it, and Laddie was about to get into the boat, calling to his sister Vi to follow.
"No, you mustn't go!" declared Rose. "You mustn't get into the boat. Mother told me to stay and watch you, and you've got to keep here on the beach and dig for gold!"
"There isn't any gold here!" declared Laddie. "I've dug all over, and we can't find any; can we, Vi?"
"Nope, not a bit," and Vi shook her curly hair.
"So we're going out in the boat, like real sailors. That's what Sammie Brown's father did," went on Laddie. "Then we'll find gold."
"But you mustn't get into the boat, Laddie, unless Daddy or Cousin Tom is with you!" said Mother Bunker. "Do as Rose tells you, and come away."
Laddie did not want to, but he always minded his mother, except when he was very bad, and this was not one of those times. So he went slowly away from the boat, which was tied to a little pier.
"I was going after gold," he said. "We can't find any here," and he pointed to the holes he and his little sister had dug.
"But if you went out in the boat alone, or with Vi, you might fall into the water," said his mother. "Never get into the boat unless some big person is with you, Laddie. And I mean you, too, Vi."
"All right," said the two children. "We won't."
"Come on!" called Rose to them, now thatthe dispute was over. "We will go farther down the shore and dig. And if we don't find any gold maybe we'll find some pretty shells, or a starfish."
"Does a starfish twinkle, Mother?" asked Vi.
"No, I don't believe it does, my dear."
"Then what makes 'em call it a starfish?" the little girl wanted to know.
"Because it has five arms, or perhaps they are legs, and as a star, such as you see in our flag, has five points, they call the fish that name. It is shaped like a star, you see. It doesn't twinkle, and it eats oysters, so I have read."
"How does it crack the oyster shells?" asked Vi.
"Oh, now you are asking too many questions for a little girl, and some that I can't answer," said Mrs. Bunker with a laugh. "Run along and play in the sand with Rose. But don't go too far, for it will be time for supper soon. And don't forget about the boat!"
"I hope we find a starfish," said Laddie, glad he had something new to think about.
"Could I make up a riddle about one, Mother?"
"I guess so, if you tried hard."
"I know a riddle about the sand," went on the little chap. "Why is the sand like a boy?"
"It isn't," said Rose. "Sand isn't at all like a boy."
"Yes, it is," went on Laddie. "A boy runs and so does sand."
"Sand doesn't run," declared Rose.
"Yes, it does," insisted her little brother. "I heard you say that some sand ran down into your shoe. So sand runs and a boy runs and that's a riddle."
"Yes, I guess it is," laughed Mother Bunker. "Well, you run along and play."
And Rose and Laddie and Violet did. They went to where Margy and Mun Bun were digging holes in the sand.
"Did you find any gold?" asked Laddie.
Mun Bun shook his head until his hair was in his eyes.
"We found a lot of funny little white bugs that jump," he said.
"They were awful nice little bugs, and theywiggled and wiggled in the sand," added Margy.
"Oh, I want to see some!" cried Vi, and then Margy and Mun Bun dug until they found some "sand hoppers," for the other children. They are a sort of shore shrimp, I think, and very lively, jumping about, digging themselves holes in the sand in which they hide.
Margy and Mun Bun and Laddie and Vi became so interested in looking for the sand hoppers that they forgot about digging for gold, and it was almost time for supper when Russ came whistling down the beach calling:
"Who wants to come and see me sail my boat?"
"I do! I do!" cried Mun Bun and Laddie, and the girls, Rose also, said they would go.
"I haven't got all the sails on yet," explained Russ, "but I guess it will sail a little this way, and I can put some more sails on to-morrow."
From an old shingle and some sticks Russ had made a nice little boat, fastening to the mast a bit of cloth, which looked like a sail. Followed by his smaller brothers and sistersRuss took his boat to a place in the inlet where the water was not deep, and there he let the wind blow it about, to the delight of all.
Then came a call from the bungalow.
"Supper, children! Come on in and get washed!"
"Oh, I'm so hungry!" cried Rose.
"So'm I," agreed Russ.
Margy and Mun Bun didn't say anything, but they looked as if they could eat.
"I thought of another riddle," said Laddie, as he went along with Russ. "It's about why does the sand run."
"No! That isn't it!" laughed Rose. "You've started it backward, Laddie, and spoiled it."
"Oh, yes, now I know. Why is sand like a boy?"
"Because they both run," answered Russ. It was easy to guess the riddle after Laddie had partly told it to him.
"Cousin Tom said lobsters run backwards," put in Violet, having heard Rose say that Laddie started his riddle backwards. "What makes lobsters go that way, Russ?"
"I don't know. I s'pose 'cause they like it."
"Do fish go backwards?" the little girl went on.
"I never saw any," Russ answered.
"And can they stand on their heads?" went on the little girl.
But no one could answer this question, and there was no time to do so, anyhow, as they were now at Cousin Tom's bungalow, and from it came the smell of many good things that had been cooked for supper.
"My! you have a houseful with all of us Bunkers," said the children's mother, as they gathered about the table.
"Yes. There wouldn't be room for many more," said Cousin Tom's pretty wife. "But I like company."
"Even if they eat so much it will keep you busy buying more?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Oh, I guess they won't do that," replied Cousin Tom, laughing.
"We're going to dig gold in the sand, and then we can buy our own things to eat," declared Laddie.
"Well, until you do that I'll see that you get enough to eat," said his cousin.
After supper they went for a ride on the inlet in Cousin Tom's big rowboat.
"I think we had better go back," said Mother Bunker, after they had ridden about a bit. "It is getting late, and I see two of my little tots are getting sleepy."
This was true, for Margy and Mun Bun were nidding and nodding, hardly able to keep their eyes open, though it was hardly dark yet. But they had been up early and they had traveled far that day.
Back to the bungalow they went, and soon the four smaller children were in bed.
"And it will be time for you, Russ and Rose, in a little while," said Mrs. Bunker. They were allowed to stay up a half hour longer than the others.
While Daddy Bunker and Cousin Tom and the two Mrs. Bunkers were talking on the side porch, and watching the moon rise, as though it came right from the ocean, Russ and Rose sat down on the beach. They were within call from the bungalow, though about a block away from it, Cousin Tom's place being the first one up from the water.
Russ picked up a shell, and started to dig.
"What are you looking for?" asked Rose.
"I was just wondering if there was any gold here," said her brother. "Sammie Brown said there was gold in sand, and there's lots of sand here; isn't there, Rose?"
"Yes, but Laddie and Violet dug in a lot of places to-day, and so did Margy and Mun Bun, and they didn't find any gold."
"They didn't know how to look for it," declared Russ. "You have to dig deep for gold."
"I'll help," offered Rose. "I like to dig in the sand."
She found a clam shell, as large as the one Russ had, and with those for shovels, the children began digging on the beach in the moonlight. They could look back and see the bungalow, and Mr. and Mrs. Bunker could see the children from where they sat.
The ocean surf made a loud noise.
"Doesn't it sound nice and scary-like?" asked Rose, as she reached her arm down into the hole she was digging, and scooped up some damp sand.
"Yes. It's like the desert island Sammie told about," agreed Russ, listening to theboom and hiss of the waves as they broke on the beach. "Have you found any gold yet, Rose?"
"No. Have you?"
Russ shook his head.
"I guess we've got to go deeper," he said.
It grew later. The moon rose higher, and it became a little more "scary-like." Presently Mrs. Bunker called:
"Come, Rose! Russ! Time to go to bed!"
"All right!" they answered. They were tired enough to want to go to sleep.
They dropped their clam shells near the holes they had dug, and started up the beach. Suddenly Rose gave a cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Russ.
"My locket! My gold locket that Grandma gave me! It's gone! Oh, I have lost my lovely gold locket!"
"What's the matter?" called Mr. Bunker from the bungalow porch. He had heard the sobbing voice of Rose. "Has anything happened?" he went on. "Tell Daddy what it is."
"I have lost my lovely gold locket!" sobbed Rose. "The one Grandma gave me! I dropped it in the sand, I guess, when I was digging the holes for gold. I wish I hadn't dug!"
"Stand right where you are!" called Daddy Bunker. "I'll bring my electric flashlight and look around for your locket. It may have dropped on the sand right where you are. So don't move until I get there and can see the place. I'll find your gold locket, Rose."
The moon was bright, and, shining on the ocean and on the white sand, made the beachvery light. But still, as Rose looked about her and over to where Russ stood, she could not see her gold locket. And she wanted very much to get it back, as it was a present from Grandma Bell, and Rose liked it more than any of her other gifts. She did not often wear it, but on this occasion, coming on the trip from Aunt Jo's, Rose had begged to be allowed to hang the ornament on its gold chain about her neck, and her mother had allowed her to do so.
Rose had promised to be careful, and she had been. She had noticed the locket after supper and when she came out in the evening to dig in the sand with Russ. But now it was gone, and just where she had dropped it Rose did not know.
"And now my lovely locket is gone!" she sobbed.
"Never mind! I'll get it for you," said Daddy Bunker.
Russ and Rose stood still as he had told them to do, and now they saw their father coming toward them waving his pocket electric light. He usually carried it with him to peer into dark corners. It would be just thething with which to look for the lost locket.
"Did you remember where you had it on you last?" asked Daddy Bunker, as he came close to Rose.
"Just before Russ and I started to dig with the clam shells to find the gold," she answered.
"Where was that?" her father asked.
Russ and his sister pointed to where two little piles of sand near some holes could be seen in the moonlight.
"That is where we dug for gold," said Rose.
"But we didn't find any," added Russ.
"You may now, if you dig—or to-morrow," said their father.
"Really?" inquired Russ.
"You may dig up Rose's gold locket," went on Mr. Bunker. "I don't believe there is any other gold in these sands, even if Sammie Brown's father did find some on a desert island. But if Rose dropped her locket here, there is surely gold, for the locket was made of that. Now don't walk about, or you may step on the locket and bend it. I will flash my light as I go along, and look."
Daddy Bunker did this, while Rose, standing near her brother, looked on anxiously.Would her father find the piece of jewelry she liked so much? It was hard to find things, once they were buried in the sand, Rose knew, for that afternoon Cousin Ruth had told about once dropping a piece of money on the beach, and never finding it again.
"And maybe my locket slipped off my neck when I was digging the deep hole," thought Rose; "and then I piled up the sand and covered it all over."
Daddy Bunker must have thought the same thing, for he flashed his light about the sand piles made by Russ and his sister. He did not dig in them, however.
"We won't do any digging until morning," he said. "We can see better, then, what we are doing. I thought perhaps the locket might lie on top of the sand, and that I could pick it up. But it doesn't seem to. You had better come in to bed, Russ and Rose."
"But I want my locket," sighed the little girl.
"And I thought I could find it for you," said Mr. Bunker. "I think I can, in the morning, when the sun shines. Just nowthere are so many shadows that it is hard to see such a little thing as a locket."
"Will it be all right out here all alone in the night?" asked Rose.
"Oh, yes, I think so," her father said. "As it is gold it will not tarnish. And as no one knows where it is it will probably not be picked up, for no one will be able to see it any more than I. And I don't believe many persons come down here after dark. It is rather a lonely part of the shore. I think your locket will be all right until we can take a look for it in the morning."
"Maybe a starfish might get it," said the little girl.
"Oh, no!" laughed Daddy Bunker. "Starfish like oysters, but they do not care for gold lockets. I'll find yours for you in the morning, Rose."
This made Rose feel better, and she went inside the bungalow with Russ and her father. Mrs. Bunker, as well as Cousin Tom and his wife, felt sorry on hearing of Rose's loss, but they, too, felt sure that the ornament would be found on the sand in the morning.
I do not know whether or not Rose dreamed about her lost locket. Certainly she thought about it the last thing before she fell asleep. But she slumbered very soundly, and, if she dreamed at all, she did not remember what her visions of the night were.
But she thought of her locket as soon as she awoke, however, and, dressing quickly, she ran down on the sand. Her father was ahead of her, though, and, with a rake in his hand, he was going over the beach near the place where Russ and Rose had dug the holes.
"Is this the only place you children hunted for gold?" asked Mr. Bunker, as he saw Rose coming along.
"Yes, Daddy," she answered. "And we were right there when I didn't have my locket any more. Can't you find it?"
"I haven't yet," he answered. "I've raked over the sand as carefully as I could, but I didn't see the locket."
"Did you look down into the holes we dug, Daddy?"
"Yes, and all around them. It's queer, but the locket seems to have disappeared."
"Maybe a starfish came up and took it down into the ocean with him."
"No, Rose. If the locket was dropped on the beach it is here yet. But it is rather a large place, and perhaps I am not looking just where I ought to. However I will not give up."
Daddy Bunker looked for some little time longer, pulling the sand about with the rake, but no locket showed. Then others looked, including the children, Cousin Tom, his wife and Mother Bunker. But they had no better luck.
"Well, we know one thing," said Daddy Bunker. "There is gold in this sand now if there was not before. Rose's gold locket is here."
"And I don't guess I'll ever find it," said the little girl with a sigh. "Oh, dear!"
"Maybe it slipped off your neck in the house," suggested Cousin Ruth. "I'll look carefully, and you may help me."
But this did no good either, and though the search was a careful one, and though the sand was gone over again, the lost locket was not picked up.
"I'm going to dig every day until I find it!" said Rose.
"And I'll help!" added Russ.
"So will I!" said Laddie; and the other children, when they knew what a loss had come to Rose, said they, also, would help.
If it had not been for this accident the visit of the six little Bunkers to Seaview would have been without a flaw. Even as it was, it turned out to be most delightful. Seaview was a fine place to spend the end of the summer, and Cousin Tom and his wife made the children feel so at home, and did so much for them, that Russ and the others said they never had been in a nicer place.
"If I only had my locket!" sighed Rose, as the days passed.
But it seemed it would never be found, and after a time, the thought of it passed, in a measure, from the little girl's mind. She did not speak of it often, though sometimes when she went down on the beach, near the holes she and Russ had dug in the moonlight, Rose looked about and scraped the sand to and fro with a shell or a bit of driftwood.
But as the beach looks pretty much alikein many places, it is hard to know whether, after the first few times, Rose dug in the right place.
Cousin Ruth looked again all through the bungalow for the gold locket, and, whenever any one thought of it, he or she poked about in the sand. But the locket seemed gone forever.
There was plenty to do at Seaview to have fun. The children could go in wading and swimming, they could play in the sand, they could sail toy boats in the inlet and they could go out in a real boat with their father or Cousin Tom.
More than once they were taken out on the quiet waters, and they sat in the boat while their father or his nephew fished. Once Russ held the pole and he caught a funny, flat fish, that seemed as if it had been put through the wringer which squeezed the water out of the clothes on wash day.
"What kind of fish is that?" asked Violet, when she saw it flapping about in the bottom of the boat.
"It's a flounder," answered Cousin Tom.
"Is it good to eat?"
"Yes, very good."
"Maybe it swallowed Rose's locket. Do you think so, Daddy?" asked the little girl.
"Oh, no, Vi. Now don't ask so many questions, please."
"Could I ask a riddle?" Laddie wanted to know.
"Oh, I suppose so," laughed his father. "What is it?"
"I haven't made it up yet," went on Laddie. "It's going to be about a flounder and a wringer, but I got to think. When I get it ready I'll tell you."
"Don't forget!" laughed Cousin Tom.
It was about a week after Rose had lost her locket and it had not been found, that one day Russ called to Rose:
"Come on down to the beach. I know how we can have some fun."
"What can we do?" asked his sister.
"We'll build a house and have a play party," answered Russ.
"Where?"
"On the beach. We can build a house in the sand."
So the children started off, with theirshovels and sand pails. Their mother watched them, thinking how nice it was that they could be at the shore in hot weather.
It was about an hour after Rose and Russ had started down the beach together to make a sand house that Mrs. Bunker, who was just thinking of taking a walk and having another look for the lost locket, heard cries.
"Mother! Mother! Come quick!" she heard Russ calling.
"What's the matter?" cried Mrs. Bunker.
"Oh, come quick!" went on Russ. "Rose is in the sand house! Rose is in the sand house!"
Not knowing what had happened, Mrs. Bunker set off on a run down the beach.
The mother of the six little Bunkers was used to having things happen to them. She did not have half a dozen children without knowing that, nearly every day, some one of them would fall down and bump a nose, cut a finger, get caught in a fence, or have something like that happen to make trouble. So, in a way, Mrs. Bunker was used to calls for help.
"But this seems different," she said to herself, as she ran along. "I'm afraid something has happened to Rose."
And something had. As Mrs. Bunker came within sight of Russ and his sister, where they had gone to dig their sand house, their mother saw her oldest boy dancing about on the beach.
"Where is Rose?" called Mrs. Bunker. "What have you done with Rose?"
"I didn't do anything to her, Mother!" answered Russ. "But she's in the sand house and she can't get out!"
Mrs. Bunker kept on running toward the children; at least toward Russ. Rose she could not see.
"She can't get out of the sand house 'cause it fell down on her," explained Russ. "I tried to pull her out, but I couldn't, so I hollered for you, Mother!"
"Something dreadful must have happened! I wish I had stopped for Daddy!" thought Mrs. Bunker.
By this time she was close beside Russ, who was capering about like an Indian doing a war dance. But Russ was not doing it for fun. He was just excited, and couldn't keep still.
"Where is your sister?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"There!" answered Russ, pointing.
Then Mrs. Bunker understood why she had not seen Rose before. It was because the little girl was hidden behind a pile ofsand. But there was more than this the matter. For Rose was down in a hole, and the sand had caved in on her feet and legs, covering her up almost to her waist. Rose was held fast in a heap of sand, and, wiggle and twist though she did, she could not get out.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sobbed the little girl, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm all fast and I can't get out!"
"I'll get you out! There! Don't cry any more," said Mrs. Bunker. "I'll soon have you out. Get a shovel, and help me dig Rose loose," she called to Russ.
"All right," answered the little boy. He had stopped jumping about now.
"Where are your shovels, Russ?" asked his mother, looking about for something with which to dig.
"We didn't have any. We used big clam shells," he answered. "Here's one, and I'll get another."
The large clam shells were pretty good to use as shovels, though Mrs. Bunker felt that she could have worked faster with a regular one. However, she had to do the best shecould, and really the shell scooped the sand out very well. Russ helped, and they both set to work to dig Rose out of the hole in which she was partly buried.
"It's a good thing the sand didn't slide in on you and cover your head," said Mrs. Bunker. "How did it happen, Russ?"
"Well, we were digging a sand house—it was just a hole in the sand, you know," the little boy explained. "We were going to put some sticks across the top, when we got it deep enough to stand up in, and put some seaweed over the sticks for a roof. I saw some boys on the beach make a sand house like that yesterday.
"But after we dug down a way," he went on, "Rose got down in the hole so she could dig better. She scooped the sand up to me and I put it in a heap on the beach. And then, all of a sudden, a lot of the sand slid in on Rose and she was held fast and—and——"
"And I couldn't get out, but I tried like anything!" added Rose, as her brother stopped for breath. "And then Russ screamed for you and—and—Oh, I'm so gladyou came!" and Rose leaned her head against her mother, who was busy digging out the sand with the clam shell.
"I'm glad I came, too, my dear," said Mrs. Bunker. "After this don't dig such deep sand holes, or, if you do, don't get into them. Sand, you know, is not like other dirt. It doesn't stay in one place, but slips and slides about."
"But we want to have something to play in!" exclaimed Russ.
"Well, we want you to have fun while you are here at Cousin Tom's, but we don't want you to get hurt," said Mrs. Bunker. "Can't you make a little playhouse of the driftwood on the beach? That would be nicer to play in than a damp hole."
"Oh, yes, we could do that!" cried Rose. "Let's make a wooden house on the beach, Russ! There's lots of wood!"
"And then we can play pirates!" added the little boy.
A little later Rose had been dug out of the sand, and though her dress was a little damp, for the sand, as one dug down into it, was rather wet, she was not hurt.
All along the sands at Seaview, after high tide, were bits of planks and boards and chips, and after Rose had been dug out of the sand house she and Russ began gathering all the wood they could pick up to make what Russ said would be a "pirate bungalow."
Mrs. Bunker, after telling the children once more not to dig deep holes, left them on the beach to play, herself going back to Cousin Tom's bungalow.
Margy and Mun Bun, who had been gathering shells and stones down on the sand, had come up to play in front of the house, on a bit of green lawn. Laddie and Vi, who had walked up and down the beach, looking for some starfish, which they did not find, came to where Russ and Rose were getting ready to play.
"What are you making?" asked Laddie.
"A pirate bungalow," answered Russ. "Want to help?"
"Yep," answered Laddie.
"And I will, too," said Vi. "What are you going to put in it? Will it be big enough for all of us, and what makes so much wood here, Russ?"
"Now if you're going to ask a lot of questions you can't play!" said Rose. "You just help pick up the wood, Vi."
"Can't I ask just one more question?"
"What is it?" asked Russ, smiling.
"What makes the ocean so salty?" Vi asked this time. "I got some water on my hands and then I put my finger in my mouth and it tasted just like I'd put too much salt on my potatoes. What makes the ocean so salty?"
"I don't know," said Russ. "We'll ask Daddy when we go up. But come on, and let's build the bungalow. I'll be a pirate, and we'll play shipwreck and everything."
"I'll be a pirate, too," added Laddie. "I know a good riddle about a pirate, but I can't think of it now. Maybe I will after I've been a pirate for a while."
"We'll be pirates, too," said Vi.
"No, girls can't be," said Russ. "You can be our prisoners. Pirates always have prisoners."
"Prisoners? What's them?" asked Vi.
"They're what pirates have," explained Laddie. "I know, 'cause I saw some pictures of 'em in a book. Pirates always keep their prisoners shut up in a cave."
"I'm not going to be in a cave," said Rose. "I was in the sand house when it caved in, and I don't like it."
"But you get good things to eat," explained Russ. "Pirates always have to feed their prisoners good things to eat."
"Then I'll be one, 'cause I'm hungry," said Vi.
"So'll I," added Laddie. "I'll be a prisoner. I guess I'd rather be a prisoner than a pirate, Russ. You can be the pirate and get us all good things to eat."
"All right, I will. Now come on, we've got to get a lot more wood to make this pirate bungalow. Get all the wood you can."
"Why don't you get some?" asked Laddie, as he saw his brother sitting down on a pile of drift pieces that had already been gathered.
Russ Bunker looked up at his brother Laddie and smiled. Still he made no move toward helping gather the driftwood for the bungalow they were going to make.
"Well, why don't you help get wood?" asked Laddie again. "Think we're going to do all the work and have you sit there?"
"Say, I'm a pirate, ain't I?" asked Russ, not getting his words just right, though his brother and sisters understood what he meant. "Didn't you say I was to be the pirate?"
"Yes, 'cause we don't want to be," retorted Rose.
"Well, all right then, I'm going to be the pirate," went on Russ.
"But you've got to get us good things to eat," said Vi. "We're the prisoners, an' you said they had good things to eat."
"I'll get good things to eat if Cousin Ruth'll give 'em to me," promised Russ. "But I'm the pirate, and pirates don't ever work. They just boss the prisoners. Now come on, prisoners, and build me the bungalow!" and Russ leaned back on a pile of sea weed and looked very lazy and comfortable.
"Don't pirateseverwork?" asked Laddie.
"Nope! Not the kind I ever heard Mother read about in books," went on Russ. "They just tell the prisoners what to do, 'ceptin', of course, when there's any fighting. Pirates are 'most always fighting, but we won't play that part, 'cause Mother doesn't like that. I'll be a good pirate, and I'll let you prisoners build the bungalow."
"But you've got to get us something to eat," said Vi again.
"I'll do that," promised Russ. "I'll go up now and ask Cousin Ruth for some, and you prisoners can be getting a lot of wood."
The plans Russ made came out all right. Cousin Tom's pretty young wife was very glad to give the children some crackers and cookies to take down on the beach to eat, and when Russ got back with the bag ofgood things he found that Rose, Laddie and Violet had collected a large pile of driftwood.
"Now we'll make the bungalow," decided Russ. "I'll help work at that, 'cause the pirates want it made just so. But you prisoners have got to help."
"Can't we eat first, 'fore we make the bungalow?" asked Violet. "I'm as hungry as anything!"
"Yes, I guess we could eat first. I'm hungry, too," returned the "pirate."
Then the "pirate" and his "prisoners" sat down on the sand together, as nicely as you please, leaning against bits of driftwood covered with seaweed, and ate the lunch Cousin Ruth had given them. It did not take very long. Probably you know what a very short time cookies last among four hungry children.
"Well, now we'll start to build," said Russ, when the last cookie and cracker had been eaten. "First we'll stick up four posts in the sand, one for each corner of the bungalow."
The children had made playhouses before,not only at their home in Pineville, but while they were at Grandma Bell's house, near Lake Sagatook, Maine; so they knew something of what they wanted to do.
Of course the bungalow was rather rough. It could not be otherwise with only rough driftwood with which to make it. But then it was just what the children wanted.
When the four posts were set deep in the sand, in holes dug with clam shells, the children placed boards from one to the other, sometimes making them fast, by driving in, with stones for hammers, the rusty nails which were found in some pieces of the wood. Other boards or planks they tied together with bits of string. Over the top they placed sticks, and on top of the sticks they spread seaweed.
"We don't want the roof very heavy," said Russ, "'cause then if it falls in on us, as our snow house roof did once, it won't hurt us. All we want is something to keep off the sun."
"Won't it keep the rain out, too?" asked Rose.
"No, I don't guess it will," answered Russ,as he looked up and saw several holes in the roof. "Anyhow we won't play out here when it rains. Mother wouldn't let us."
The pirate bungalow was soon finished; that is, finished as much as the children wanted it, and then they began playing in it. Russ pretended that he was the pirate, and that the others were his prisoners. He made them dig little holes in the sand, and bring in shells and stones as well as seaweed. This last he made believe was hay for a make-believe elephant.
"Do pirates have elephants?" asked Violet.
"Sometimes maybe they do," her brother said. "Anyhow I can make believe that just for fun."
"Are we going to eat any more?" asked Laddie. "Or is that only make-believe, too?"
"I'll see if I can get some more from Cousin Ruth," promised Russ. Once more he made a trip up to the real bungalow, and Cousin Ruth, with laughter, filled another bag with cookies. This time Margy and Mun Bun, tired of playing with the shells and pebbles, went down on the beach to the driftwood pirate bungalow.
It was rather a tight squeeze to get all six of the little Bunkers inside, and not have the place burst and fall apart. But they managed it, and then they sat under the seaweed roof and ate the cookies, having a fine time.
"My, this is cozy!" cried Cousin Tom, as, with Daddy Bunker, he came down to see what the children were doing. "And you've had something to eat, too!" he went on, as he saw some crumbs scattered about.
"Yes, we had some," said Russ, "but it's all gone now. But if you are hungry I can get some more," and he started from the bungalow.
"Oh, no!" laughed Daddy Bunker, who had been told by his wife of Russ' two visits to Cousin Ruth's kitchen. "I guess we don't feel hungry now. Anyhow dinner will soon be ready."
The children played in the pirate bungalow all the remainder of the day, stopping only for dinner and supper. The seaweed roof kept off the hot August sun, and, as it did not rain, the holes in the covering did not matter.
Rose and Violet took their dolls down andplayed with them there. Russ, after a while, gave up being a pirate, and said his "prisoners" could all go, but they seemed to like staying around the driftwood house.
"If we had a door on it we could stay in it all night," said Vi. "Why didn't you make a door, Russ?"
"Too hard work," he answered. "Anyhow we don't want to stay down here all night."
"The waves might come up and wash us away," said Rose.
Laddie, who had been smoothing the sand in one corner of the pirate bungalow, now stopped and seemed to be thinking hard.
"What's the matter?" asked Russ.
"I have a new riddle," was the answer. "It's about a door."
"Is it why does a door swing?" asked Violet. "'Cause if it is, I can answer that one. I've heard it before. A door swings because it isn't a hammock."
"Nope! 'Tisn't that," said Laddie. "This is my new riddle. What goes through a door, but never comes into the room?"
"Say it again," begged Russ, who had not been listening carefully.
"What goes through the door, but never comes into the room?" asked Laddie again. "It's a good riddle, and I made it up all myself."
"Does it go out of the room if it doesn't come in?" asked Rose.
"Nope," answered Laddie, shaking his head. "It doesn't do anything. It just goes through the door, but it doesn't come in or go out."
"Nothing can do that," declared Russ. "If a thing goes through the door it's got to come in or go out, else it doesn't go through."
"Oh, yes, it does," said Laddie. "Do you give up?"
"Is it a cat?" asked Vi.
"Nope."
"A dog?"
"Nope."
"A turtle?" guessed Mun Bun, who didn't quite know what it was all about, but who wanted to guess something.
"Nope!" said Laddie, laughing. "I'll tell you. It's the keyhole!"
"The keyhole?" cried Russ. "No!"
"To be sure!" answered his small brother."Doesn't a keyhole go all the way through the door? If it didn't you couldn't get the key in. The keyhole goes through the door, but it doesn't come into the room nor go out. It just stays in the door. Isn't that a good riddle?"
"Yes, it is," answered Rose. "I'd never have guessed it."
"I thought it up all myself while you were talking about a door to this bungalow," said Laddie. "What goes through the door but doesn't come in the room? A keyhole," and he laughed at his own riddle.
The next day Cousin Tom went down to the beach, where once more Russ, Rose and the others were playing in the driftwood bungalow, and called:
"How many of you would like to go crabbing?"
"I would!" cried Russ.
"So would I," said Rose.
"What is it like?" asked Vi, who, you might know, would ask a question the first thing.
"Well, it's like fishing, only it isn't quite so hard for little folk," said Cousin Tom. "Comealong, if you're through playing, and I'll show you how to go crabbing."
"Are Daddy and Mother going?" asked Rose.
"Yes, we'll all go. Come along."
The six little Bunkers followed Cousin Tom up the beach to the inlet. There, tied to a pier not far from Cousin Tom's bungalow, was a large boat. Near it stood Mother and Father Bunker and Cousin Ruth. Cousin Ruth had some peach baskets, two long-handled nets and some strings to the ends of which were tied chunks of meat.
"Are we going to feed a dog?" asked Russ.
"No, that is bait for the crabs," said Cousin Tom. "Come, now, get into the boat, and we'll go for a new kind of fishing."