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Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 4. Russ Makes A Balloon |
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_ CHAPTER IV. RUSS MAKES A BALLOON "What is it? What's the matter?" cried Mother Bunker as she opened a door leading on to the porch, where she had heard the crashing noise. Those were the first things the mother of the six little Bunkers always asked whenever anything unusual happened. "What is the matter?" she cried. Then she saw. Lying on the porch, under the hammock, was Russ. He was huddled in a heap, and he was doing his best not to cry. Mrs. Bunker could tell that by the way his face was wrinkled up. Near him stood Rose, and she looked startled. "What's the matter?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "Are you hurt, Russ?" "No'm--that is, not very much. I--I fell out of the hammock." "Yes, I see you did. What made you? Did you swing too high? I've told you not to do that." "What does it all mean?" asked Daddy Bunker, while Grandpa Ford looked on. "Were you trying to do some circus tricks in the hammock, Russ?" "No. I--I was just climbing up, like a sailor when he goes up a rope, you know, and----" "I call that a circus trick!" interrupted Mr. Bunker. "I wouldn't try those, if I were you, Russ. You aren't hurt much this time, I guess, but you might be another time. Don't try any tricks until you get older." "Well, it wasn't exactly a trick," explained Russ, and then he saw Rose looking at him in a queer way and he stopped. "As long as you're all right it's a blessing," said his mother. "I thought the house was falling down," remarked Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "Oh, you'll get used to all sorts of noises like that, Father, if you're very long around the six little Bunkers," said his stepson. "As soon as we hear a louder noise than common we rush out. But we have been very lucky so far. None of the children has been badly hurt." "I hope they'll be as lucky as that when they come to my place at Great Hedge," said Grandpa Ford. "Oh, are we going to stay with you, Grandpa Ford?" cried Russ, forgetting all about his pains and bruises, now that there was a prospect of a new place to go to. "Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Rose. "I'm going to tell Laddie and Vi!" "No, don't, please, Rose," said her mother. "It isn't settled yet. We haven't really decided to go." "Oh, but you must come if I have to come down with my big hay wagon and cart you up!" said Grandpa Ford. "But we'll talk about that later. I'm glad neither of you two children was hurt. Now here is five cents each. Run down and buy a lollypop. I imagine they must be five cents apiece now, with the way everything has gone up." "No, they're only a penny apiece, but sometimes you used to get two for a cent," explained Russ, as he took one coin and Rose the other. "Thank you," he went on. "We'll get something, and give Mun Bun and Margy a bit." "And Violet and Laddie, too," added Rose. Russ looked at the five-cent piece in his hand as if wondering if it would stretch that far. "Send the other children to me, and I'll give them each five cents," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "Then we can all go to the store!" said Rose, clapping her hands. "They have lovely five-cent grab-bags down at Henderson's store." "Well, don't eat too much trash," said Mrs. Bunker. Then, turning to Grandpa Ford, she said: "Now we can go back in the house and you can finish what you were telling us when Russ fell out of the hammock." "I didn't zactly fall _out_ of it," the little boy explained. "I wasn't in it. I was climbing up on one side, and I--I----" "Well, you fell, anyhow," said his father. "Please don't do it again. Now we'll go in, Father." Russ and Rose were left standing on the porch, each holding a five-cent piece. Russ looked at Rose, and Rose looked at Russ. "We didn't hear what the ghost was at Great Hedge," said the little girl. "No," agreed Russ. "He was saying that, 'all of a sudden,' just like in a story, you know, when----" "When you fell all of a sudden!" interrupted Rose. "I couldn't help it," declared Russ. "If you'd had the mat, I wouldn't 'a' made any noise." "Oh, well, let's go and spend our five cents," suggested Rose. "And we can tell Laddie and Vi and Margy and Mun Bun to go for theirs. We'll have to wait for them to go to the store with us, anyhow. Mun Bun and Margy can't go alone." "All right, you go and tell 'em," returned Russ. "Shall I go and listen some more at the window?" "No, I guess not," said Rose. "They might see you." For it was in listening at the window that Russ had fallen. As he had partly explained, he had climbed up the hammock, as a sailor climbs a rope. The hammock swung on the side porch, but when it was not in use it hung by one hook, rather high up, and by twisting it together it could be made into a sort of rope. Russ and Rose, as I have told you, had been listening under the porch window to what Grandpa Ford had been telling about the queer happenings at Great Hedge Estate. Just as he reached the point where he was going to tell about the strange noise at midnight, Russ decided he could hear better if he were higher up, and nearer the window. The hammock had been left hanging by one hook, after Laddie and Vi had finished swinging in it a little while before, and up this Russ climbed. But his hands slipped, and down he fell, making a good deal of noise. Of course if Rose had put the mat under him, as he had told her to do, there would not have been such a racket. "And now we sha'n't ever know about the ghost," said Russ, just before his sister hurried off to tell the others that Grandpa Ford had a treat for them. "Yes, we shall," said the little girl. "How?" "We'll wait till we get there. We're all going, 'cause Grandpa Ford said so. When we get to Great Hedge we can find the ghost for ourselves." "Yes, maybe we can," agreed Russ. "Anyhow, I'm not going to climb up any more hammocks. It hurts too much when you fall." And he walked from the porch, limping. Then, after Russ and Rose had gone away, Grandpa Ford told Mr. and Mrs. Bunker more about the strange doings at his house, which was surrounded by the great hedge. And the old gentleman ended with: "And now I want you all to come out there with me and help solve the mystery. I want you, Son," and he turned with a kindly look to Mr. Bunker, "and I want your wife and the six little Bunkers." "Maybe the children will be afraid of the ghost," said their mother. "We won't tell them anything about it," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "They'll never know a thing about it." If he had only seen Russ and Rose listening on the porch under the window! "Well, as long as they don't know about it, I don't see that they can be frightened," said Mr. Bunker. "As you say, it is queer, but maybe Mr. Ripley can explain the queer noises and other things." "Maybe he can," agreed Grandpa Ford. "That's what I came on to see about, and I'll take you all back with me." "But it will soon be cold weather," objected Mother Bunker. "All the better!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "There is no nicer place in the world in winter than Great Hedge. The big hedge made of what are almost trees, keeps off the cold north wind. We always have plenty of snow up in New York state, and the children will have no end of good times. You must all arrange to come back with me." "Well, I suppose we'll have to," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we won't say anything to the children about the ghost." "Unless they find it out for themselves," remarked Daddy Bunker. "And if they do I don't believe it will frighten them much. Laddie will, most likely, make up a riddle about it." "He certainly is good at them," said Grandpa Ford with a chuckle. Meanwhile Russ and Rose had told the good news to the other little Bunkers--that is, the news about the five-cent pieces. "Oh, come on down to the store! I know what I'm going to buy!" exclaimed Laddie, when they all had their money. "What?" asked Vi. "Some candy? Oh, let's all buy candy and then we can have a play-party with it!" "I'm not going to buy candy!" exclaimed Laddie. "What are you going to get?" Rose asked. "A toy balloon," Laddie answered. "I'm going to see how far up I can make it go." "How are you going to get it back?" asked Russ. "I'll tie a string to it. I know how to do it. And if your doll wants a ride, Vi, I'll give her one in my balloon. I can tie a basket to the balloon and put your doll in it--in the basket, I mean." "Oh, no!" cried Vi. "Rose's doll went up into the air in a balloon like that once, when we were at Aunt Jo's, and it was a good while before she got her back. I'm not going to lose my doll." "Well, I'll send my balloon up, anyhow," said Laddie. "I guess I'll get a balloon, too," said Russ. "Then we can have a race." "Aren't you going to get any candy?" asked Rose. "No, I don't guess so," answered Russ. "Maybe Grandpa Ford will give us more money for candy to-morrow." "I'll give you a little of mine if you let me hold your balloon," said Vi to Laddie. "Then I will." "So will I," said Rose to Russ. Down to the toy and candy store they went, and while four of the six little Bunkers got sweets, Russ and Laddie each bought a five-cent balloon, that would float high in the air. They had lots of fun playing with them, and Rose and Violet kept their words about giving their brothers some candy in exchange for the treat of holding the balloon strings part of the time. After a bit Mun Bun and Margy went back to the house with Vi and Rose. Laddie and Russ remained in the side yard, flying their balloons. "I know what we can do!" suddenly exclaimed Russ. "What?" asked his smaller brother. "We can make a big balloon." "How?" "I'll show you. Come on." "All right." Russ, letting his toy balloon float over his head, while Laddie did the same, went out to the barn back of the house. It was not really a barn any longer, as Daddy Bunker kept his automobile in it, but it looked like a barn, so I will call it that instead of a garage. "How are you going to make a balloon?" asked Laddie as he saw Russ tie his toy to a picket of the fence. "You wait, I'll show you. First you go in and get the big clothes basket. Don't let Norah see you, or she might stop you. Bring me out the clothes basket." Laddie did as he was told. As he came back with the basket, which was a large, round one, Laddie said: "Do you think we can fasten our two balloons to this and go up in it?" "No, I'm not going to make my balloon that way," Russ answered. "You'll see. Come on into the barn. We have to go upstairs." Overhead in the barn was a place where hay had once been kept for the horse. There was a little door in the peak of the second story, to which the hay could be hoisted up from the wagon on the ground below. The hay was hoisted by a rope running around a wheel, or pulley, and this rope and pulley were still in place, though they had not been used in some time. Into the rather dark loft of the barn went Russ and Laddie. They had climbed up the ladder, as they had done oftentimes before. "It's dark!" Laddie exclaimed. "I'll make it light," announced Russ. He opened the little door in the front of the barn, and then he and Laddie could look down to the ground below. Russ loosened the pulley rope and let one end fall to the ground. "That's how we'll make our balloon," he said. "We'll fasten the rope to the clothes basket, and pull it up like a balloon. Won't that be fun?" "Lots of fun!" agreed Laddie. It was about half an hour after this that, as Mother Bunker was beginning to think about supper, she heard, from the direction of the barn, a shrill yell for help. "Oh, I can't get him down! I can't get him down!" was the cry. "Dear me! Something else has happened!" cried Mother Bunker. "Come on, Norah. We must see what it is!" _ |
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