COUSIN TOM BROKE OPEN THE BOX WITH A PIECE OF DRIFTWOODCOUSIN TOM BROKE OPEN THE BOX WITH A PIECE OF DRIFTWOODSix Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's.—Page210
"Is that all that's in it?" cried Russ.
"Wait and see," advised his father. "There may be something under the paper."
Cousin Tom put his hand in and raised the covering. Some bright colors were seen and then what appeared to be a lot of pieces of cloth.
"A lot of dresses!" exclaimed Russ in disappointed tones. "That's all!"
"But here is something inside the dresses," said his father with a smile.
"Something in the dresses?"
"Yes. Unless I am very much mistaken there are Japanese dolls in this box—maybe half a dozen of them—and it is their gaily colored dresses which you see. Isn't that it, Cousin Tom?"
"You are right, Daddy Bunker! There they are! Japanese dolls!" and Cousin Tompulled out one about two feet long and held it up in front of the two boys.
"Dolls!" gasped Laddie.
"Japanese dolls!" added his brother.
"A little spoiled by the salt water, but still pretty good," said Cousin Tom, as he pulled another doll out of the box. "They were wrapped in oiled silk and the box is lined with a sort of water-proof cloth, so they didn't get as wet as they might otherwise. Some of the dresses are a bit stained, and I see that the black-haired wig of one of the dolls has melted off. But we can glue that on again. Well, that's quite a find—six nice, large Japanese dolls," laughed Cousin Tom.
"They aren't any good for us!" exclaimed Russ. "I was thinking maybe there'd be a toy steam engine in the box."
"If there had been it would have been spoiled by the sea water," said Cousin Tom with a smile. "Dolls are about the best thing that could be in the box. They are light and wouldn't sink. And, being so well wrapped up, they didn't get very wet. We can take them home to Rose and Mun Bun and Margy and——"
"Oh, there'll be one for Violet!" cried Russ. "Now I can give her back a doll for the one that sunk when my boat upset! Save the nicest doll for Violet!"
"Yes, I think that would be no more than fair," said Daddy Bunker. "The sea took Violet's doll and the sea gives her back another. How many dolls did you say there were, Cousin Tom?"
"Six. One for each of the six little Bunkers."
"Pooh! I don't want a doll!" exclaimed Russ. "I'm too big!"
"So'm I!" added Laddie.
"Very well. And as there are six dolls and only four who will want them, that will leave two over, so if Rose or Violet or Mun Bun loses a doll we'll have two extra ones. Only I hope they won't lose anything more while we're here," and Daddy Bunker smiled.
"Where do you suppose the dolls came from?" asked Russ as Cousin Tom packed them back in the box so the case could be carried to the bungalow.
"It's hard to say," was the answer. "As the tag on the box has been washed off wedon't know to whom the dolls belonged. They may have gotten in a load of refuse from New York by mistake, from one of the big stores, and been dumped into the sea, or they may have been lost off some vessel in a storm. Or there may even have been a wreck.
"Anyhow the box of dolls, well wrapped up from the water, has been floating around for some time, I should say. It came to us once but we lost it. Then we had another chance at it and we didn't lose it. Now we'll take the dolls home and see what Rose, Violet and the others have to say about them."
It was a jolly home-going, even though no fish had been caught. Long before they were at the bungalow but within sight of it Laddie and Russ cried:
"Look what we got!"
"We found the box again!"
Rose, Violet, Margy and Mun Bun came running out to see what it all meant.
"Did you find my gold locket?" asked Rose eagerly.
"No, my dear, we didn't find that," her father answered.
"Did you get my doll back from the bottom of the ocean?" Violet called.
"Well, we pretty nearly did," answered Russ. "Anyhow, we got you one I guess maybe you'll like as well."
Cousin Tom gave Russ one of the Japanese dolls from the box and, with it in his arms, Russ ran toward his little sister.
"Look! Here it is!" he cried.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Violet, hardly able to believe her eyes. "Oh, what a lovely, lovely doll!"
A disappointed look came over the face of Rose, but it changed to one of joy when her father took out another doll and gave it to her. Then Mun Bun set up a cry:
"I want one!"
"So do I!" echoed Margy.
"There is one for each of you," laughed Cousin Tom, as he took out two more dolls.
"And two left over!" added Russ.
"Oh, where did you get them?" asked Rose. "Oh, I just love mine!" and she hugged it to her closely.
"My doll's wet!" exclaimed Mun Bun, as he saw the damp dress on his plaything.
"Mine is, too," said Violet. "But all dolls have to be wet when they come out of the ocean, don't they, Daddy?"
"Yes, I suppose so. And that is where these dolls came from—right out of the ocean."
Then the children were told how the queer box had been found again floating near the beach and how Cousin Tom had waded out in his high rubber boots and brought it to shore.
Mother Bunker and Cousin Ruth came out to see the find and they, too, thought the dolls were wonderful.
"And we saw a fish that could walk," added Laddie when the dolls had been looked at again and again.
Then he and Russ told about the queer-looking skate.
The doll with the wig of black hair that had been soaked off was laid aside to be mended, as was the one the dress of which was badly stained by sea water. But the other dolls were almost as good as new. And, in fact, Rose and Violet would rather have had them than new dolls right out ofthe store, because there was such a queer story connected with them.
"I wonder if they came right from Japan," mused Rose as she made believe put her doll to sleep.
"We can pretend so, anyhow," said Violet. "I'm not going to cry about my other doll that was drowned now, 'cause I got this one. She's the nicest one I ever had."
"Mine, too," added Rose.
I might say that the six little Bunkers never found out where the dolls came from. But most likely they had fallen off some ship and the oiled silk and other wrappings kept them in good shape until the box was washed up on the beach the second time.
"Well, if the seashore is a bad place to lose things on account of so much sand it is also a good place to find things," said Mother Bunker that night when the six little Bunkers had been put to bed and the dolls were also "asleep."
"I'm glad you like it here," said Cousin Ruth. "But I am sorry that Rose lost her locket."
"Well, it couldn't be helped," said the littlegirl's mother. "I did have hopes that we would find it soon after she lost it. But now I have given up."
"Yes," agreed her husband. "The locket is gone forever."
But I have still a secret to tell you about that.
A few days after the finding of the dolls all six of the little Bunkers were playing down on the beach. Four of them had the Japanese dolls, but Russ and Laddie did not.
Laddie was digging a hole in the sand and trying to think of a new riddle, and Violet had just finished asking Russ a lot of questions when, all of a sudden, George Carr, the little boy whose dog had been bitten by the Sallie Growler, came running around a group of sand dunes, crying:
"Oh, the boat's upset! The boat's upset, and all the men are spilled out! And the fish, too! Come and see the upset boat!"
"What do you mean—the boat upset?" asked Russ, looking up from the sand fort he was making on the beach. "Do you mean one of your toy boats and is it make-believe men that are spilled out?"
"No, I mean real ones!" exclaimed George. "It's one of the fishing boats, and it was just coming in from having been out to the nets. It was full of fish and they're all over, and you can pick up a lot of 'em and they're good to eat. And maybe one of the men is drowned. Anyhow, there's a lot of 'em in the water. Come on and look!"
"Where is it?" asked Laddie.
"Right down the beach!" and George pointed. "'Tisn't far."
"Come on, Mun Bun and Margy!" called Rose as she saw Russ and Laddie start downthe beach with George and his dog. "We'll go and see what it is. Vi, you take Mun Bun's hand and I'll look after Margy."
"Shall we leave our dolls here?" asked Vi.
"Yes. There's nobody here now and we can go faster if we don't carry them," answered Rose. "Here, Mun Bun and Margy, leave your dolls with Vi's and mine. They'll be all right."
Rose laid her doll down on the sand and the others did the same, so that there were four Japanese dolls in a row.
"Won't the waves come up and get 'em?" asked Margy as she looked back on the dolls.
"No, the waves don't come up as high as the place where we left them," said Rose, who had taken care to put the dolls to "sleep" well above what is called "high-water mark," that is, the highest place on the beach where the tide ever comes.
"Come on! Hurry if you want to see the men from the upset boat!" George called back to Rose and the others.
"Let's wait for 'em," proposed Laddie. "Maybe they'll be lonesome. I'm going to wait."
"Well, we'll all wait," said George, who was a kind-hearted boy. "If you can't see the men swim out you can see the lot of fish that went overboard."
As the children came out from behind the little hills of sand they saw, down on the beach, a crowd of men and boys. And out in the surf and the waves, which were high and rough, was a large white boat, turned bottom up, and about it were men swimming.
"Oh, will they drown?" asked Russ, much excited.
"No, I guess not," answered George. "They're fishermen and they 'most all can swim. Anyhow the water isn't very deep where they are. They're trying to get their boat right side up so they can pull it up on the beach."
"What made 'em upset?" asked Laddie.
"Rough water. There's going to be a storm and the ocean gets rough just before that," George explained.
The children watched the men swimming about the overturned boat, and noticed that the water all about them was filled with floating, dead fish.
"Did the men kill the fish when they upset?" asked Violet.
"No, the men got the fish out of their nets," explained George, who had been at the seashore every summer that he could remember. "There are the nets out where you see those poles," and he pointed to a place about a half mile off shore. "The men go out there in a big motor-boat," he went on, "and pull up the net. They empty the fish into the bottom of the boat and then they come ashore. They put the fish in barrels with a lot of ice and send them to New York.
"But sometimes when the boat tries to come up on the beach with the men and a load of fish in it the waves in the surf are so big that the boat upsets. That's what this one did. I was watching it and I saw it. Then I came to tell you, 'cause I saw you playing on the sand."
"I'm glad you did," said Russ. "I'm sorry the men got upset, but I like to see 'em."
"So am I. Will they lose all their fish?" demanded Laddie.
"Most of 'em," said George. "They can scoop up some in nets, I guess, but a lotthat wasn't quite dead swam away and the waves took the others out to sea. The fish hawks will get 'em and lots of boys and men are taking fish home. The fishermen can't save 'em all and when a boat upsets anybody that wants to, keeps the fish."
After hard work the men who had been tossed into the water when the boat went over managed to get it right side up again. Then a rope was made fast to it and horses on shore, pulling on the cable, hauled the boat up out of reach of the waves, where it would stay until it was time to make another trip to the nets.
"Could we take some of the fish?" asked Russ of George.
"Oh, yes, as many as you like," said his friend. "The fishermen can never pick them all up."
So the six little Bunkers each picked up a fish and took it home to Cousin Ruth. They were nice and fresh and she cooked them for dinner.
"Well, you youngsters had better luck than Cousin Tom and I had," said Daddy Bunker with a laugh as he saw what Russ and theothers had picked up. "I guess, after this, we'll take you fishing with us."
The promise of the storm brought by the big waves that upset the fishing-boat, came true. That night the wind began to rise and to blow with a howling and mournful sound about the bungalow. But inside it was cosy and light.
In the morning, when the children awakened, it was raining hard, the drops dashing against the windows as though they wanted to break the glass and get inside.
"Is the sea very rough now, Daddy?" asked Russ after breakfast.
"Yes, I think it is," was the answer. "Would you like to see it?"
Russ thought he would, and Laddie wanted to go also, but his mother said he was too small to go out in the storm.
"It is a bad storm," said Cousin Tom. "I saw a fisherman as I was coming back from the village this morning early and he said he never felt a worse blow. The sea is very high."
Daddy Bunker and Cousin Tom put on "oilskins," that is, suits of cloth covered witha sort of yellow rubber, through which the water could not come.
A small suit with a hat of the same kind, called a "sou'wester," was found for Russ, and then the three started down for the beach. It was hard work walking against the wind, which came out of the northeast, and the rain stung Russ in the face so that he had to walk with his head down most of the time and let his father and Cousin Tom lead him.
"Oh, what big waves!" cried Russ as he got within sight of the beach. And indeed the surf was very high. The tide was in and this, with the force of the wind, sent the big billows crashing up on the beach with a noise like thunder.
"I guess no fishermen could go out in that, could they, Daddy?" asked the little boy.
"No, indeed, Son! This weather is bad for the fishermen and all who are at sea," said Mr. Bunker.
They remained looking at the heavy waves for some time and then went back to the house. Russ was glad to be indoors again, away from the blow and noise of the storm.
"Do you often have such blows here?" asked Mother Bunker of Cousin Ruth.
"Well, I haven't been here, at this beach, very long, but almost always toward the end of August and the beginning of September there are hard storms at the shore."
It rained so hard that the six little Bunkers could not go out to play and Cousin Ruth and their mother had to make some amusement for them in the bungalow.
"Have you ever been up in the attic?" asked Cousin Ruth.
"No!" cried the six little Bunkers.
"Well, you may play up there," said Cousin Ruth. "It isn't very big, but you can pretend it is a playhouse and do as you please."
With shouts of joy the children hurried up to the attic. Indeed it was a small place. But the six little Bunkers liked it. There were so many little holes into which they could crawl away and hide.
The four who liked to play with dolls brought up their Japanese toys, and Russ and Laddie found some of their playthings, so they had lots of fun in the bungalow attic.Cousin Ruth gave them something to eat and they played they were shipwrecked sailors part of the time. With the wind howling outside and the rain beating down on the roof, it was very easy to pretend this.
The storm lasted three days, and toward the end the grown folks in Cousin Tom's bungalow began to wish it would stop, not only because they were tired of the wind and rain, but because the children were fretting to be out.
At last the wind died down, the rain ceased and the sun shone. Out rushed the six little Bunkers with gladsome shouts. Laddie and Russ had some large toy shovels which their mother had bought them.
"What are you going to do?" Rose asked her two older brothers as she saw them hurrying down to the beach when the sun was out.
"We're going to make a sand fort and have a battle," answered Russ. "The sand will pack fine now 'cause it's so wet. We're going to make a big sand fort."
And he and Laddie began this play. Something very strange was to come from it, too.
"Here's a good place to make the fort," said Russ as he and Laddie reached the beach not far from Cousin Tom's bungalow and looked about them. "We'll build the fort right here, Laddie, near this hill of sand."
"What's the hill for?"
"That's where we can put our flag. They always put a flag on a hill where everybody can see it."
"But we haven't a flag. Where are we going to get one?"
"Say, you ask almost as many questions as Vi," exclaimed Russ. "We'llmakea flag!"
"How?"
"Out of a handkerchief. You've a handkerchief and so have I. One is enough forboth of us and we can take the other and make a flag of it."
"But that'll be a white flag, Russ, and soldiers don't ever have a white flag lessen they give up and surrender. We didn't surrender, 'cause we haven't even got our fort built. We don't want a white flag."
"Oh, well, I didn't mean to have a white flag. That's just the start. We'll take a white handkerchief for a flag and we can make it red and blue."
"How?" Laddie certainly was asking questions.
"Well, Cousin Tom has some red and blue pencils. I saw 'em on his desk the other night. He marks his papers with 'em. You go and ask Cousin Ruth if we can't take a red and a blue pencil and then I'll show you how to make a red, white and blue flag out of a handkerchief."
"You won't make the fort till I come back, will you?"
"No, I'll only start it. Now you go and get the pencils."
Laddie ran back to the bungalow and Cousin Ruth let him have what he wanted.He promised not to lose the pencils, and soon he was helping Russ mark red stripes and blue stars on Laddie's white handkerchief. They did make something that looked like our flag, and then, finding a long piece of driftwood to use as a flag-pole they planted it on top of the hill.
Making a fort in the damp sand at the seashore is very easy. It is even easier than making one of snow, for you don't have to wait for the snow to fall and often after it has snowed the flakes are so cold and dry that they will not pack and hold together. But you can always find damp sand at the seashore. Even though it is dry on top if you dig down a little way you will find it moist. Now, on account of the rain, the sand was wet all over and was just fine for making forts.
Russ and Laddie had some toy shovels their mother had bought for them. The shovels had long handles and were larger than the kind children usually play with at the shore, so the boys could dig faster with them.
"How do you make a fort?" asked Laddie.
"Well," explained Russ, "you dig a sort of hole and you pile the sand up in front of you in a sort of half ring and then you can lie down behind it and if anybody throws bullets at you they won't hit you."
"Do you have a roof to your fort?"
"No! Course forts don't ever have a roof."
"Then you get wet when it rains."
"Yes, but a soldier doesn't ever mind rain. All he minds is bullets, and they can't hit him in the fort."
"Supposin' they come over the top where there isn't a roof?"
"I don't guess they'll come that way," said Russ. "Anyhow, you mustn't throw any that way."
"Oh! am I going to throw the bullets?"
"Yes," Russ replied, "We'll take turns being in the fort. After we get it made I'll be captain of it and you must come up and try to take it away. You must shoot bullets at me."
"Real ones?"
"No, course not! Make 'em of paper. Then they won't hurt. After a while I'll takedown the flag—that means I surrender—and you can be in the fort and I'll fire bullets at you."
"That'll be fun!" exclaimed Laddie.
"Lots of fun!" agreed Russ.
So they dug in the sand with their shovels, piling it up in front of them in a long ridge shaped like a half circle. The ridge of sand which was to be the outer wall of the fort was in front of the hill over which floated the red, white and blue handkerchief flag. Between the hill and the outer wall of the fort was a hole which was made as Laddie and Russ tossed out the sand.
"I'll sit down in this hole," Russ explained, "and then it will be all the harder for you to hit me with the paper bullets."
The boys fairly made the sand fly as they dug with their shovels, and soon they had quite a high ridge of it half way around the little hill with the flag on top. There was also quite a hole for Russ to stand in and throw paper bullets back at Laddie.
"Now I guess we can have the battle," said Russ. "You get a lot of paper, Laddie, and roll it up into bullets."
"And I'll make some big ones!" exclaimed the little fellow.
"We can call the big bullets cannon balls," said Russ, and Laddie agreed to this. "I'll help you make the bullets," Russ offered.
There were plenty of old papers at the bungalow, and soon Russ and Laddie were tearing them up on the beach near their fort and wadding and rolling them up into "bullets" and "cannon balls."
"I guess we have enough," said Russ at last. "Come on now, we'll have a battle."
"Are Rose and Vi going to play?" asked Laddie.
"Nope! Girls never can be in a battle. They can be Red Cross nurses if they want to. But we won't call 'em until after the fight. They'd only holler like anything."
Rose and Violet were up in the bungalow playing jackstones, while Margy and Mun Bun had gone for a walk with their mother. So Russ and Laddie had the beach to themselves to play on.
Russ got inside the fort and crouched down in the hole he had dug. Laddie took up his position not far away, a little distance downthe beach, having with him a pile of paper wads that he was to throw at his brother.
"Are you ready?" asked Laddie.
"All ready!" answered Russ. "Go ahead and fire!"
"Bang! Bang!" shouted Laddie, making believe he was shooting off a gun. The boys often played this game so they knew just how to do it. "Bang! Bang!"
Then Laddie began throwing large and small wads of paper at the sand fort behind which crouched Russ. And Russ threw wads of paper at his smaller brother.
The sand walls of the fort kept Russ from being "shot" in the battle. Laddie's "bullets" and "cannon balls" hit the sand walls of the fort more often than they struck his brother and Russ only laughed at them, at the same time he was pelting Laddie.
"Oh, say! this is no fun," complained the smaller boy after a bit. "I'm getting hit all the while and you don't get any at all."
"I do so! I got hit twice!"
"Well, that was when I threw cannon balls up in the air and they came down on your head like rain."
"Well, you shoot me a few more times and then I'll let you come into the fort," agreed Russ. "I'll pull down the flag and surrender. Go on, shoot me some more!"
So Laddie got together more paper "bullets" and "cannon balls" and threw them at his brother. But hardly any of them hit Russ. The fort was a good protection and with the flag floating from the top of the hill made a fine place for him to stay.
"This is the last time I'm going to shoot!" cried Laddie, and he took good aim with a large wad of paper which he called a "double cannon ball."
He threw it at Russ and then, from some point back of the fort another "cannon ball" came sailing into it, flying off and hitting Laddie's brother.
"Ouch! Quit that!" cried Russ. "'Tisn't fair throwing sand! A lot of it went down my neck."
"I didn't throw sand!" said Laddie.
"Yes, you did, too! That last cannon ball you threw had a lot of sand wrapped up in it."
"No, I didn't," cried Laddie.
"Don't you think I know!" shouted Russ, scrambling up out of the hole behind his fort. "Can't I feel it?"
Just then another paper "cannon ball" sailed into the fort from a sand hill back of it and it fell at the feet of Russ and burst, letting out a pile of sand.
"There!" cried Russ. "What'd I tell you?"
"But I didn't throw it!" said Laddie. "You looked right at me and I didn't throw it."
"No, you didn't," admitted Russ. "It came from in back of me. I wonder who's throwing sand cannon balls at us."
And then came another which hit Laddie, sending a shower of the gritty grains down his back.
"Hi! Quit that!" cried Russ. He and Laddie looked all around, but they could see no one. A mysterious enemy was shooting at them.
Once more there came sailing through the air a paper "cannon ball." It fell on the ground between Laddie and Russ and burst open, a lot of dry, soft sand spilling out.
"There!" cried Laddie. "See! I didn't throw 'em!"
"No, I don't guess you did," admitted Russ. "But who did?"
Just then a jolly laugh sounded, and out from behind a ridge of sand—one of the dunes made by the wind—came George Carr.
"Did I scare you?" asked George.
"A—a little," admitted Russ, wiggling to get rid of the sand down his back.
"We didn't know who it was," said Laddie. And he, too, squirmed about, for there was sand inside his blouse.
"I thought you wouldn't," said George, laughing again. "I saw you playing soldiers and I thought I'd make believe I was another enemy coming up behind. You didn't make any fort in back of you," he said to Russ, "and so I could easily fire at you."
"But we don't put sand in our paper bullets," complained Laddie.
"Don't you?" asked George. "Then I'm sorry I did. I hope I didn't hurt you, or get any in your eyes."
"No," answered Russ, sort of shaking himself to let the sand sift down through the legs of his knickerbockers. "But it tickles a lot."
"Well, I won't throw any more," promised George. "But lots of times we play soldier down on the beach and we throw sand bullets. Only we don't ever throw 'em at each others' eyes. Sand in your eyes hurts like anything."
"I know it does," agreed Russ. "Mun Bun got some in his the other day and he cried a lot."
"Well, come on, let's play soldier some more," suggested George. "I'll be on Laddie's side. You go in the fort, Russ, and we'llstand against you. Two to one is fair when the one is inside a fort."
"And won't you throw any more sand bullets or cannon balls?"
"No, only paper ones."
"All right, then I'll play."
Russ went back in his fort, and Laddie and George, outside the wall of sand, began pelting him with wads of paper. But now the battle went differently. The attacking force could shoot twice as many paper bullets and balls as could Russ and they soon ran up on him, pelting him so that he had to put his hands over his head.
"All right—I surrender! I give up!" he cried.
"Wait till I haul down the flag!" laughed George.
Then he took down the red and blue penciled handkerchief and he and Laddie took possession of the fort. Russ was beaten, but he did not mind, for it was all in fun. Then he took a turn outside the fort, with Laddie and George inside. However, as this was two against one, Russ could not win, though the three boys had jolly times.
They were pelting away at one another, using paper "bullets" and "cannon balls," shouting and laughing, when, as they became quiet for a moment, they heard a voice asking:
"What is all this?"
They looked up to see Mrs. Bunker with Mun Bun and Margy.
"How-do?" called George, grinning.
"Oh, we're having such fun!" cried Laddie. "We're soldiers and we got a fort, and we had a flag——"
"It's made out of a handkerchief and red and blue pencils," added Russ.
"I want to play soldier!" exclaimed Mun Bun.
"No, it's too rough for you," explained Russ.
"I want to play, too!" insisted Margy.
"We're done playing fort and soldier," said Russ. "We'll play something else."
"Let's see who can dig the deepest hole," suggested George. "I'll go and get a shovel, and you have yours, Russ and Laddie. Let's see who can dig the deepest hole!"
The two older Bunker boys thought thiswould be fun, and George ran over to his cottage to get his shovel.
"Can we play that game, Mother?" asked Margy.
"Yes, you and Mun Bun can do that," said Mrs. Bunker.
The warm sun was drying out the beach, and when George came back with his shovel he and Laddie and Russ began three holes in a row, each one trying to make his the deepest. Mun Bun and Margy, each of whom had a small shovel, also began to dig, though, of course, they could not expect to dig as fast as the boys, nor make as deep holes.
"I'll sit on the sand and watch you," said Mrs. Bunker.
"Maybe we'll find a treasure," suggested Russ.
"What treasure?" asked George.
"Oh, before we came down here, when we were at our Aunt Jo's in Boston," Russ explained, "we knew a boy named Sammie Brown. His father dug up some treasure on a desert island once. We thought maybe we could dig up some here."
"But we didn't—not yet," added Laddie.
"And I don't guess we ever will," said Russ. "Only we make believe, lots of times, that we're going to."
The three boys dug away and Mun Bun and Margy did the same, only more slowly. Then along came Rose and Violet.
"What are you doing?" Violet asked, getting in her question first, as usual.
"Digging holes," answered Russ.
"Seeing who can make the biggest," added George. "Mine's deeper than yours!" he said to Russ.
"Yes, but mine's going to be bigger. I'm going to make a hole big enough so I can stand down in it and dig. I'm going to make a regular well."
"I guess I will, too," decided George.
"So'll I," said Laddie.
"Well, if you come to water, don't fall in," advised Mrs. Bunker with a laugh.
"You go get a shovel and dig, too," called Russ to Rose.
"No, I don't want to," said his sister. "I'll watch you."
My, how the sand was flying on the beach now! Russ, Laddie and George were alldigging as fast as they could with their shovels, each one trying to make the biggest hole. Mun Bun and Margy dug also, but, though they made a lot of sand fly, they did not always dig in the same place. Instead of keeping to one hole they made three or four. But they had just as much fun.
Suddenly Laddie, who had made a hole in which he could stand, it being so deep that he was half hidden from sight in it, uttered a cry.
"What's the matter?" asked his mother. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"Did you dig up a Sallie Growler?" asked Vi.
"Maybe it's a crab," said Mun Bun, and he dropped his shovel and started for his mother.
"No, nothing like that," said Laddie. "Only—oh, goody—I guess I've found the treasure!" he shouted.
"Treasure!" cried Russ. "What do you mean?"
"I guess I've found some gold in my hole!" went on Laddie. "Come and look! It shines like anything!"
Russ and George leaped out of the holes they were digging and ran toward Laddie. Mrs. Bunker got up and hurried down the beach. Mun Bun and Margy followed. Rose and Violet went too.
"Where is it?" asked Russ, stooping over the edge of his brother's hole. "Where's the treasure?"
"There," answered Laddie, pointing to something shining in the sand. It did glitter brightly and it was not buried very deeply, being near the top of the hole, but on the far edge, where Laddie had not done much digging.
"It is gold!" cried George. "Whoop! Maybe that boy you knew was right, and there is pirate's treasure here!"
Mrs. Bunker bent down and looked at what Laddie had uncovered. Then she took a stick and began carefully to dig around it.
"Here, take my shovel," offered Laddie.
"No, I don't want to scratch it, if it is what I think," said his mother. "I had better dig with the stick."
She went on scratching away the sand. As she did so the piece of shiny thing becamelarger. It sparkled more brightly in the sun.
"Is it treasure?" asked Laddie eagerly. "Did I find some gold treasure?"
"Yes, I think you did, Son," said Mrs. Bunker. "It is gold and it is a treasure."
"Did the pirates hide it?" demanded Russ.
"No, I think not," said Mrs. Bunker with a smile. "I think Rose lost it."
"Rose lost it!" cried the two Bunker boys. "What?"
"Yes, it is her locket that she dropped when we first came here and never could find," went on Mrs. Bunker. "Laddie, you have found it. You have discovered the golden treasure—Rose's locket!"
Having dug away the sand in which it was imbedded, Mrs. Bunker lifted up a dangling gold chain to which was fastened the gold locket.
"Oh, it is mine!" cried Rose. "Oh, how glad I am to get it back again! Oh, Laddie, how glad I am!"
Her mother handed the little girl her long-lost locket. It was not a bit hurt from having been buried in the sand, for true gold does not tarnish in clean sand. And the ornament was as good as ever. Rose clasped it about her neck and looked very happy.
"How did it get in my hole?" asked Laddie.
"It didn't," said his mother. "You happened to dig in just the place where Rose dropped her locket and you uncovered it. Or this may not have been the exact place where it fell. Perhaps the sands shifted and carried the locket with them. That is why we could not find it before. But now we have it back."
"It was like finding real treasure," said Russ.
"I wish we'd find some more," said George. "I'm going to dig a big hole."
But, though he scooped out more sand, he found no more gold, nor did Russ, though they found some pretty shells.
Daddy Bunker, Cousin Tom and Cousin Ruth came down to the beach to see what all the joyful laughter was about and they were told of the finding of the lost locket Rose had dropped in the sand.
"I never thought I'd get it back," she said, "but I did."
"And I never thought I'd get my dollback," said Vi, "and I didn't. But I got a nicer one out of the sea."
"Well, that was very good luck," said Daddy Bunker. "For once digging in the sand had some results."
They all walked up to Cousin Tom's bungalow.
On the way Laddie seemed rather quiet.
"What's the matter?" asked his father. "Aren't you glad you found your sister's gold locket?"
"Oh, yes, very glad," answered Laddie. "Only I was trying to think up a riddle about it and I can't. But I have one about why is the ocean like a garden?"
"'Tisn't like a garden," declared Russ. "It's all water, the ocean is."
"It's like a garden in my riddle," insisted Laddie.
"Why?" his mother asked.
"The ocean is like a garden 'cause it's full of seaweed," answered Laddie.
"I don't think that's a very good riddle," remarked Russ.
"It wouldn't be a very good garden that had weeds in it," said Mr. Bunker with alaugh. "Anyhow we ought to be happy because Rose has her locket back."
And they all were, I'm sure.
"What makes gold so bright?" asked Vi, as she saw the locket sparkling in the sun.
"Because it is polished," her mother answered.
"What makes it polished?" went on Vi.
"Oh, my dear, if you keep on asking questions I'll get in such a tangle that I'll never be able to find my way out," laughed her mother. "Come, we'll get ready to go crabbing this afternoon and that will keep you so busy you won't want to talk."
"We never came to any nicer place than this, did we?" asked Russ of Rose as they sat on the pier that afternoon catching crabs by the dozen.
"No, we never had any better fun than we've had here. I wonder where we'll go next."
"I don't know," answered Russ. "Home, maybe."
But the children did not stay at home very long, and if you want to hear more about their adventures I invite you to read thenext book in this series. It will be called: "Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's," and in it is told all about what happened that winter and how the ghost——
But there. I guess you'd better read the book.
"Daddy! Daddy! Come quick!" called Mun Bun, as he felt a tug at his line. "I got a terrible big crab!"
"Well, I should say you had!" exclaimed his father, as he caught it in the net. "It's a wonder it didn't pull you off the pier!"
The crab was a large one, the largest caught that day, and Mun Bun was very glad and happy. But he was no more glad than was Rose over her locket that had been lost and found.
And so we will leave them, the six little Bunkers, enjoying the last days of their visit at Cousin Tom's.