Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's Part 8

"We'll go and see!" exclaimed Russ; and the two boys set off on a run.

CHAPTER VI

OFF TO GREAT HEDGE

Russ and Laddie saw Grandpa Ford holding the bridle of a horse harnessed to a light carriage, in which sat a pretty young lady. The horse was trying to rise up on its hind legs, and Grandpa Ford was doing his best to make the animal stand still.

Not far away was a large automobile, and smoke was coming from the back of this, while a man, who seemed to have just gotten out of the car, was hurrying toward the prancing horse.

"I guess he's all right now, Miss," said Grandpa Ford. "When that automobile back-fired, and made such a bang, it scared your horse."

"I never knew him to be afraid of an auto before," said the young lady.

"But then I never heard one, before, make such a loud bang."

"Nor I," returned Grandpa Ford. "It was enough to scare any horse."

"And I am very sorry it happened," said the man who had gotten out of the car. "My machine is a new one, and it does not run just right, but this is the first time it ever made such a racket. I thought I was going to be blown up, and I guess your horse did too, Miss. I'm very sorry for the fright I caused you. I'll not start my auto again until you drive on. Then, if it should happen to back-fire again, your horse will not mind it so much."

"Thank you," the young lady said. "But I do not want to drive on right away. I came to see you," she announced to Grandpa Ford.

"To see me?" and Mr. Ford was quite surprised. "You drove up here to see me?"

"Yes, if you are Mr. Munroe Ford." And the young lady smiled pleasantly.

"Yes, that's my name," said Mr. Bunker's stepfather. "And if you don't believe me you can ask these boys," and he pointed to Russ and Laddie, who were staring at the pretty young lady. "Only," went on the old gentleman, "they would probably say I was 'Grandpa Ford,' and so I am, to them."

"That's who he is," declared Russ.

"He's grandpa to all us six little Bunkers," added Laddie. "We thought it was a big cannon," he went on, speaking about the noise.

"I seem to have stirred up some excitement," remarked the man who owned the new automobile. "I had better get away from here before I have the police after me," and he laughed, to show he was only joking. Of course it was not his fault that the automobile made so much noise.

"If you are not going to drive on, to get out of the way of my machine, where your horse won't hear any more explosions, I think I had better drive on myself. I'll go as quietly as I can," he said.

"And I'll hold her horse," offered Grandpa Ford. "As long as she has come to see me, and is going to stay, I'll see that her horse doesn't run away."

"You know how to manage horses," said the automobile man. "I don't. But I can run an auto."

"Yes, I've been among horses for a number of years," replied Grandpa Ford. "I have three or four on my place, Great Hedge. I'd rather drive a horse than an auto. But won't you get down and come in, if you want to see me?" asked Grandpa Ford of the young lady.

"Thank you, no. I'm only going to stay a few minutes, Mr. Ford," she answered. "I feel almost like calling you Grandpa Ford myself," she added. "You look just like a grandfather I used to have."

"Call me that as much as you please," laughed Grandpa Ford. "But what shall I call you? I don't remember meeting you before." And he led her horse to a hitching post, where he tied the animal fast. By this time the loud-banging new automobile had rolled around the corner into the next street, luckily without making any great noise.

"I am Mabel Ripley," said the young lady. "You called to see my father, the other day, about the Great Hedge place he sold you, but Daddy was out. However, he got the message you left, and he sent me over to-day with an answer. It's about the gh----"

"Ahem!" loudly and suddenly exclaimed Grandpa Ford. "I rather think, Miss Ripley, you had better come into the house where you can talk to me alone," he said, with a quick glance at Russ and Laddie. "Little pitchers have big ears, you know."

"Oh, yes, I understand!" exclaimed the pretty young lady. She, too, looked at Russ and Laddie in a strange way, smiling the while. "You don't want the little pitchers to know anything about it?" she asked.

"Not yet," answered Grandpa Ford. "It's a sort of secret, you know. I think it will all be easily explained, but I wanted to ask your father about it, since, as he sold me Great Hedge, he would know more about the house than I do, he having lived there so long."

"I lived there, too," said Miss Ripley with a smile. "Well, as long as the banging auto is gone, I think my horse will stand all right, so I'll come in and tell you all I know, and all my father knows, about the place, and the strange things you heard. I'll go in where the little pitchers can't be filled up," and again she smiled at the two boys.

"Is that a riddle, Grandpa Ford?" asked Laddie, as Miss Ripley started toward the front porch.

"Is what a riddle, Laddie boy?"

"About little pitchers and big ears."

"Oh! No, not exactly a riddle. I'll tell you about it some other time.

Here is five cents each, for you and Russ. Run along now while I take Miss Ripley into the house."

"Will you tell me one thing before you go in?" asked Laddie, as he slipped into his pocket the nickel his grandfather had given him, while Russ did the same.

"If your question isn't a hard riddle I'll try to answer it," said Grandpa Ford. "Let me hear it."

"It's about kites and tails and cats," explained Laddie. "Isn't there a cat that hasn't a tail, and isn't it a Banks cat?" asked Laddie. "I made up a riddle why is a cat like a kite because it has a tail. And some kites haven't any tails, Russ says. But mother showed me a picture of a Banks cat. And don't they call 'em that because maybe they live in banks and haven't any tails so they won't get shut in a door? Will you answer that question, Grandpa?"

"Really, Laddie boy, I should say there were almost a dozen questions there!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "But I'll answer only one now. About the cats. There is a kind called Manx, and that sounds like banks, I suppose. Manx is an island, near England, and cats that come from there have no tails--or at least they have only little short ones that you can hardly see. I guess when your mother told you about the Manx cats you thought she said 'banks.' But now run along and have some fun."

Grandpa Ford turned up the walk with Miss Ripley, and Laddie and Russ heard her say:

"Father sent me over to tell you not to be alarmed, as he doesn't believe it is anything. He'll come out and help you look for whatever it may be, if you want him to."

"Oh, the six little Bunkers and their father and mother are coming with me," said Mr. Ford. "The six little Bunkers don't know about the strange goings on, as yet, but their father and mother will help me hunt for the----"

That was all Russ and Laddie heard, for their grandfather turned a corner in the path then, and his voice was not so loud.

"I wonder if they're talking about a riddle," said Laddie.

"I don't guess so," returned Russ. He knew, or thought he knew, what Miss Ripley and Grandpa Ford were talking about. It was the "secret"

about which he and Rose had heard something.

But it was not yet time to tell Laddie anything about it. Russ wished Rose had been with him to hear what Miss Ripley said. Rose might know what it all meant.

"But we'll wait until we get to Great Hedge," thought Russ. Then to Laddie he said: "Come on, we'll go and spend our nickels."

"All right," agreed the little boy. "But I was pretty near right about the Banks cat; wasn't I?"

"Pretty near," agreed Russ.

When Russ and Laddie reached home again, after a trip to the store, they found Miss Ripley had gone. And then, for a time, Russ, as well as Rose, forgot about the "secret," as the whole family, six little Bunkers and all, were so busy packing up to go away.