Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's Part 18

For a moment there was no answer to the cry Rose gave when she saw her sister disappear from sight. The other children, frightened by Rose's scream, gathered about.

"What's the matter?" asked Russ, who was whirling one of the spinning wheels, while Laddie spun the other.

"Margy's gone!" exclaimed Rose. "She's gone, and maybe----"

"Where'd she go?" asked Russ. "Come on, Laddie, we'll find her."

Before Rose could answer Margy spoke for herself by uttering loud cries and sobs. They seemed to come from a dark hole in the attic, but the little girl herself could not be seen by her brothers and sisters.

"Oh, get me out! Get me out!" screamed Margy. "I don't like it here!

It's dark!"

The five little Bunkers were puzzled. It was worse than some of Laddie's riddles. They could hear Margy, but they could not see her. She had gone into a dark corner and that seemed to be the last of her.

"Oh, what shall we do?" asked Rose.

"We better go for Daddy or Mother or Grandpa," said Russ.

"I'll go," offered Laddie.

But there was no need, for just then up the attic stairs came Mrs.

Bunker and Grandma Ford. They knew right away that something was the matter.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Margy's gone, and we can't find her, but we can hear her," explained Rose.

She need not have said the last, for Margy was still screaming:

"I want to get out! Take me out! It's terrible dark here!"

"Oh, the poor child's in the nut cubby-hole!" cried Grandma Ford. "Of course it's dark there! Wait a minute, my dear, and I'll get you out,"

she said.

Grandma Ford quickly crossed the attic. Then she stooped over in the dark corner, reached down, and lifted something up and there was--Margy!

The little girl was carried into the light, crying and sobbing; but, as soon as she found out there was nothing the matter with her, and that she was with her mother and grandmother and brothers and sisters, she stopped crying.

"What happened to you, Margy?" asked Russ.

"I--I don't know," she answered. "I just slipped like once when I rolled downhill."

"She fell into the nut cubby-hole," explained Grandma Ford. "There are many nut trees on Great Hedge Estate, and the Ripley family used to gather the nuts and store them here in the attic to dry. But the rats and mice used to take a great many of the nuts, so they built a sort of big box down in a hole in the floor. The hole was there anyhow, being part of the attic. But it was lined with tin, so the mice could not gnaw through, and the nuts were stored in it.

"I meant to tell you children to look out for it, as it is like a hole in the floor, though it is not very deep, and one end slopes down, like a hill, so you slide into it instead of falling.

"But I forgot about it, and I forgot that the cover has been off the nut cubby-hole for some time. So Margy, walking in the dark corner, slid into this hole."

"That's what I did," said the little girl. "I slid just like going downhill."

"That's why she disappeared so suddenly," went on Grandma Ford. "The tin, being smooth, didn't hurt her a bit, as she slid. And it is very dark in there. But after this I'll keep the cover on, so no more of my little Bunkers will get into trouble."

By the gleam of a candle which she lighted, Grandma Ford showed the children the nut cubby-hole into which Margy had fallen. Then the cover was put on so there was no more danger.

"And now you may go out and play in the snow," said Mrs. Bunker. "I have unpacked your rubber boots and old, warm coats, so run out and have some fun."

Laughing, shouting, and whooping, the six little Bunkers ran out to play. It was their first sight of Great Hedge in winter by daylight, and Russ and Rose paused for a moment after getting out of doors to look at the big house, on all sides of which was the tall hedge.

"It's a terribly big house," said Russ to his sister as they tramped on through the white snow. "I wonder what part the ghost lives in, don't you?"

"I thought he was up in the attic, and took Margy," said Rose.

"So did I, at first," admitted Russ. "But I don't guess he stays there.

I guess the ghost lives down cellar. We'll hunt for him after a while, and Grandpa Ford will be glad we found him."

But it was now such a fine, sunny day outside, after the storm, that the six little Bunkers thought of nothing but having fun. They raced about in the snow, threw soft b.a.l.l.s of it at one another, and then went out to the barn.

d.i.c.k, the hired man, was there feeding the horses, and the children saw the animals that had pulled them over the snow from the railroad station the night before.

There were several small sleds in the barn--some that Grandma Ford had bought when it was decided that the six little Bunkers would visit Great Hedge Estate--and they were just the proper toys for the six little children. Soon they were coasting down a small hill which d.i.c.k showed them and also helped trample down smooth for them. For snow on a hill has to be packed hard and made smooth before one can coast well.

"Let's have a race!" cried Russ, as he and Laddie had their turn riding down the slope.

"All right, I can beat you!" Laddie shouted. And he would have done so, too, only he guided wrong, and his sled went into a bank of snow, upsetting and tumbling him off.

"But I like it!" he shouted as he got up and shook the snow from him.

"When are you going to make the snow man?" asked Vi. "I want to see a snow man. And are you going to put a phonograph inside him, Russ, and make him talk?"

"I am if I can find a phonograph little enough," said Russ.

But Russ did not wait for that. With Laddie to help him, he rolled two or three b.a.l.l.s of snow. It was soft, for the sun was now warm, and the snow packed well. The s...o...b..a.l.l.s were put together, and thus the snow man was started. The six little Bunkers then made arms and legs for him, stuck pieces of coal in for b.u.t.tons on his coat and for his eyes and nose and mouth, and then d.i.c.k gave them an old hat to put on the snow man's head.

"Now he won't catch cold," said d.i.c.k, when the hat had been stuck on.

"Could he catch cold?" asked Vi. "I don't see how he could, 'cause he's cold already. He makes my hands cold," and she showed her little red fingers.

"Well, if you hear him sneeze come in and tell me," said d.i.c.k with a smile. "If a snow man sneezes that's a sure sign he's catching cold. So listen if you hear this one go 'a-ker-choo!' That means we'll have to get the doctor."

"I guess that's only a joke, like some of Laddie's riddles," remarked Russ, when d.i.c.k had gone back to the barn.

"I'm going to make up a riddle about a snow man, but I haven't got it thought out yet," said Laddie. "Come on, Russ, let's make a snow fort."

The snow man being finished, the two older Bunker boys let the smaller children play with it, and throw s...o...b..a.l.l.s at it, trying to knock off the old hat, and Laddie and Russ started work on the fort.

They had great fun at this, and made quite a big fort, getting inside it and throwing s...o...b..a.l.l.s at a make-believe enemy on the outside.