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Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 25. The Ghost At Last |
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_ CHAPTER XXV. THE GHOST AT LAST "Merry Christmas!" called the six little Bunkers. "Merry Christmas!" answered Grandpa and Grandma Ford and Daddy and Mother Bunker. "Merry Christmas!" "Merry Christmas!" called Dick as he tramped in from the barn, all covered with snow. And such a jolly Christmas as it was! If each of the six little Bunkers did not get exactly what he or she wanted, all got something just as good. There were toys, dolls, sleds, games and picture books. There was a magic lantern for Russ--something he had long wanted. There was a toy airship, that could be wound up and would fly, for Laddie. This he had wished for many times. And the grown folks were not forgotten. There were fur-lined slippers for both Grandpa and Grandma Ford, a gold pin for Mother Bunker, and a new shaving set for Daddy Bunker. Dick had some new neckties, a pipe, and a pair of rubber boots. "Just what I wanted!" he exclaimed. And I wish you could have seen the Christmas tree! It was a beautiful one, and covered with colored balls that sparkled red, green, blue, and yellow in the candle light. It was wonderful! "I wish I could try my new skates," said Russ. But this was a vain wish, as the ice on the pond, as well as the ground, was covered with snow. "But we can have lots more rides now, 'cause I got my big new sled, and you can all take turns on it," said Laddie. "And, oh, I've thought of a new riddle!" he cried. "Why would your dress be good to go fishing with, Mother?" he asked. "Why would my dress be good to go fishing with?" repeated Mrs. Bunker. "It wouldn't, Laddie. I wouldn't want to soil my nice dress by going fishing in it." "Anyhow, what's that got to do with your new sled?" asked Russ. "Nothing," answered Laddie. "Only I just happened to think of this riddle. Why would Mother's dress be good to go fishing with?" "Well, why would it?" asked Grandma Ford. "I want to hear the answer, because I have to go out into the kitchen and see about getting the dinner. Why would your mother's dress be good for fishing with, Laddie?" "'Cause it's got hooks on," he answered with a laugh. "I heard her ask you to hook it up this morning. Isn't that a good riddle?" "Very good," answered Grandma Ford. "Now see if you can think of one about roast chicken, as that's what we're going to have for dinner. Get good and hungry, all of you." "Better go out into the air and play a while," suggested Daddy Bunker. "That will give you good, healthy appetites." So the six little Bunkers went out to play. It was not very cold, but Grandpa Ford said it looked as though there would be more snow. "Then we can make more snow men!" shouted Russ. "And maybe I'll make an ice boat, too, when the snow melts so we can go on the pond." Out in the snow rushed the six little Bunkers, and they had fun playing near the big hedge which gave Grandpa Ford's place its name. When the children were romping about, sliding down a little hill they made, and tumbling about in the snow, along came Mr. Thompson. "Merry Christmas!" he called to Russ, Rose and the others. "Merry Christmas!" they answered. Mun Bun and Margy, who had been making a little snow man all by themselves, stopped their play and walked toward the house. "Where are you going?" asked Russ. "I'm going to ask Grandma for a cookie," explained Mun Bun. "I'm hungry." "So'm I," added Margy. "Don't eat before dinner," advised Rose. "Save your 'hungry' for the roast chicken." And Grandma Ford told the little ones the same thing, but they insisted that they wanted a cookie each, so she gave them one apiece, but they were rather small. "Because," said Grandma, "I want you to eat my nice, brown, roast chicken." And Mun Bun and Margy did. For, when dinner time came, they had as good appetites as any of the others. Every one seemed to be hungry, and, for a while, the sound of the clatter of the knives, forks and plates was louder than the talk. After dinner they sat about the open fire on the big hearth in the living-room, and cracked nuts. Or, rather, Grandpa Ford cracked them and the children ate them. "Wouldn't it be funny," began Russ, "if we should----" And, just then, there suddenly sounded throughout the house that strange, groaning sound. "O-u-g-h-m!" It seemed louder than ever, and, for a moment, every one was startled. Mun Bun and Margy ran to their mother. "Come on!" called Grandpa Ford to Daddy Bunker. "We must find out what that noise is. It has been going on long enough, and now to have it come when we are all so happy at Christmas time is too much! We must find where it is." "Can't we help hunt?" asked Russ. "Yes, let us, Mother, won't you?" added Rose. "But what is it?" asked Laddie. "What makes the funny groaning noise?" "Maybe Mr. Thompson is blowing his horn," said Vi. The groaning noise kept up longer this time than ever before. Every few minutes it would echo through the house. Sometimes it sounded as though upstairs, and again down in the cellar. "We'll try the attic," said Grandpa Ford. He and Daddy Bunker went up there. Grandma Ford and Mother Bunker stayed in the sitting-room with Mun Bun and Margy. "Come on!" called Russ to Rose. "Let's go and look." Rose followed her brother. "Want to come?" she asked Violet and Laddie. "Yep," the twins said exactly together, just as twins should, I suppose. Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi walked slowly through the different downstairs rooms. In each one they listened. In some they could hear the noise more plainly than in others. Finally they came to the kitchen. "It sounds plainer here," said Russ. And, just then, the groan sounded so near at hand that Rose jumped and caught Russ by the arm. "O-u-g-h-m!" Again the groan sounded. "It's over in there!" cried Laddie, pointing to a large storeroom opening out of the kitchen. The door of this room was open, and the noise, indeed, did seem to come from there. "Let's go in!" suggested Russ, and he started toward it. "Maybe you'd better call Grandpa and Daddy, and let them look," said Vi. Just then Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford, followed by the two smallest children, came into the kitchen. "Oh, we've found the ghost!" cried Rose to her mother. "It's in the storeroom! Listen!" The two women listened. The groan sounded very plainly, and did seem to come from the room off the kitchen. Grandma Ford walked in. All was quiet for a moment, and then the noise sounded again. "I've found it!" cried Grandma Ford. "I've found the ghost at last!" "What is it?" exclaimed Mother Bunker. "I don't know exactly what makes it," said Grandma Ford; "but the noise comes out of this rain-water pipe under the window of the storeroom. We'll call Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford and have them look. But come in and listen, all of you." With their mother the six little Bunkers went into the storeroom. Just as they entered the groan sounded loudly, and, as Grandma Ford said, it came from a rain-water pipe that ran slantingly under the window. "That's the ghost!" cried Mother Bunker. "No wonder we couldn't find it. We never looked here before." And when Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford came down out of the attic, where they had not been able to find the "ghost," though they heard the sound of it faintly there, they were told what the six little Bunkers had discovered with the help of Grandma Ford. "Yes, the noise comes from the rain-water pipe," said Grandpa Ford, when he had looked and listened carefully. "What makes it?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Well, the pipe is broken, and partly filled with water from the rain or melted snow. There are also some dried leaves in the pipe. One end has sunk down and the wind blows across that and makes a hollow, groaning sound, just as you can make by blowing across the open mouth of a big, empty bottle. That was the ghost--the wind blowing across the broken water pipe." "Yes, that is what made it," said Daddy Bunker, when he had taken a look and had listened again. "The sound comes loudest when the wind blows." "The noise sounded, sometimes, when the wind didn't blow," said Grandpa Ford, as he took the pipe apart, "because of the dried leaves that were in it. The leaves became water-soaked, and were in a lump. Then, when this lump slid down it made a sort of choking sound like a pump that runs out of water. The wind blowing across the pipe, and the wet leaves sinking down, made the queer noises. I'm glad we've found out about them." "But what made it blow all through the house?" asked Mother Bunker. "Because there are rain-water pipes, or drain pipes, from the gutters on all sides of the house," explained her husband. "The pipes are connected, and the sound, starting in the broken pipe under the window in the storeroom, vibrated all around the house from the attic to the cellar. That ends the ghost, children." And so it did, for when that pipe and some others were mended, and fastened together after being cleaned out, no more groans were heard. And so the "ghost" at Great Hedge was found to be nothing more than all ghosts are--something natural and simple. "Now I can make a riddle about it," said Laddie. "I can ask why is a ghost like an umbrella?" "Why is it?" asked Violet. "'Cause it hid in a rain-water pipe. 'Course that isn't a _very_ good riddle," admitted Laddie. "Maybe I'll think of a better one after a while." "Well, it's good enough this time," laughed Grandpa Ford. "Now the ghost is 'laid,' as they call it, we'll have lots of fun at Great Hedge." And so the children did. The Christmas holidays passed and New Year's came. The snow melted, and there was a chance for more skating and for rides in the ice boat. Russ kept his word and made one, but it upset more times than it sailed. "I wonder what we'll do next Winter," said Rose, as she and Russ were sliding downhill one day. "Summer comes before next Winter," he said. "Maybe we'll go visiting again." And where the children went and what they did you may learn by reading the next volume of this series, to be called: "Six Little Bunkers at Uncle Fred's." He had a ranch out West and---- But there, I'll let you read the book for yourselves. "Oh, but we're having lots of fun here," said Laddie that night, as he sat trying to think of a new riddle. "Lots of fun." "And the best fun of all was finding the ghost that wasn't a ghost," said Russ. And I think so myself. So, having been on many adventures with the six little Bunkers, we will leave them for a while. [THE END] _ |
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