Home > Authors Index > Laura Lee Hope > Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's > This page
Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
||
Chapter 9. The Sand House |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER IX. THE SAND HOUSE "What's the matter?" called Mr. Bunker from the bungalow porch. He had heard the sobbing voice of Rose. "Has anything happened?" he went on. "Tell Daddy what it is." "I have lost my lovely gold locket!" sobbed Rose. "The one Grandma gave me! I dropped it in the sand, I guess, when I was digging the holes for gold. I wish I hadn't dug!" "Stand right where you are!" called Daddy Bunker. "I'll bring my electric flashlight and look around for your locket. It may have dropped on the sand right where you are. So don't move until I get there and can see the place. I'll find your gold locket, Rose." The moon was bright, and, shining on the ocean and on the white sand, made the beach very light. But still, as Rose looked about her and over to where Russ stood, she could not see her gold locket. And she wanted very much to get it back, as it was a present from Grandma Bell, and Rose liked it more than any of her other gifts. She did not often wear it, but on this occasion, coming on the trip from Aunt Jo's, Rose had begged to be allowed to hang the ornament on its gold chain about her neck, and her mother had allowed her to do so. Rose had promised to be careful, and she had been. She had noticed the locket after supper and when she came out in the evening to dig in the sand with Russ. But now it was gone, and just where she had dropped it Rose did not know. "And now my lovely locket is gone!" she sobbed. "Never mind! I'll get it for you," said Daddy Bunker. Russ and Rose stood still as he had told them to do, and now they saw their father coming toward them waving his pocket electric light. He usually carried it with him to peer into dark corners. It would be just the thing with which to look for the lost locket. "Did you remember where you had it on you last?" asked Daddy Bunker, as he came close to Rose. "Just before Russ and I started to dig with the clam shells to find the gold," she answered. "Where was that?" her father asked. Russ and his sister pointed to where two little piles of sand near some holes could be seen in the moonlight. "That is where we dug for gold," said Rose. "But we didn't find any," added Russ. "You may now, if you dig--or to-morrow," said their father. "Really?" inquired Russ. "You may dig up Rose's gold locket," went on Mr. Bunker. "I don't believe there is any other gold in these sands, even if Sammie Brown's father did find some on a desert island. But if Rose dropped her locket here, there is surely gold, for the locket was made of that. Now don't walk about, or you may step on the locket and bend it. I will flash my light as I go along, and look." Daddy Bunker did this, while Rose, standing near her brother, looked on anxiously. Would her father find the piece of jewelry she liked so much? It was hard to find things, once they were buried in the sand, Rose knew, for that afternoon Cousin Ruth had told about once dropping a piece of money on the beach, and never finding it again. "And maybe my locket slipped off my neck when I was digging the deep hole," thought Rose; "and then I piled up the sand and covered it all over." Daddy Bunker must have thought the same thing, for he flashed his light about the sand piles made by Russ and his sister. He did not dig in them, however. "We won't do any digging until morning," he said. "We can see better, then, what we are doing. I thought perhaps the locket might lie on top of the sand, and that I could pick it up. But it doesn't seem to. You had better come in to bed, Russ and Rose." "But I want my locket," sighed the little girl. "And I thought I could find it for you," said Mr. Bunker. "I think I can, in the morning, when the sun shines. Just now there are so many shadows that it is hard to see such a little thing as a locket." "Will it be all right out here all alone in the night?" asked Rose. "Oh, yes, I think so," her father said. "As it is gold it will not tarnish. And as no one knows where it is it will probably not be picked up, for no one will be able to see it any more than I. And I don't believe many persons come down here after dark. It is rather a lonely part of the shore. I think your locket will be all right until we can take a look for it in the morning." "Maybe a starfish might get it," said the little girl. "Oh, no!" laughed Daddy Bunker. "Starfish like oysters, but they do not care for gold lockets. I'll find yours for you in the morning, Rose." This made Rose feel better, and she went inside the bungalow with Russ and her father. Mrs. Bunker, as well as Cousin Tom and his wife, felt sorry on hearing of Rose's loss, but they, too, felt sure that the ornament would be found on the sand in the morning. I do not know whether or not Rose dreamed about her lost locket. Certainly she thought about it the last thing before she fell asleep. But she slumbered very soundly, and, if she dreamed at all, she did not remember what her visions of the night were. But she thought of her locket as soon as she awoke, however, and, dressing quickly, she ran down on the sand. Her father was ahead of her, though, and, with a rake in his hand, he was going over the beach near the place where Russ and Rose had dug the holes. "Is this the only place you children hunted for gold?" asked Mr. Bunker, as he saw Rose coming along. "Yes, Daddy," she answered. "And we were right there when I didn't have my locket any more. Can't you find it?" "I haven't yet," he answered. "I've raked over the sand as carefully as I could, but I didn't see the locket." "Did you look down into the holes we dug, Daddy?" "Yes, and all around them. It's queer, but the locket seems to have disappeared." "Maybe a starfish came up and took it down into the ocean with him." "No, Rose. If the locket was dropped on the beach it is here yet. But it is rather a large place, and perhaps I am not looking just where I ought to. However I will not give up." Daddy Bunker looked for some little time longer, pulling the sand about with the rake, but no locket showed. Then others looked, including the children, Cousin Tom, his wife and Mother Bunker. But they had no better luck. "Well, we know one thing," said Daddy Bunker. "There is gold in this sand now if there was not before. Rose's gold locket is here." "And I don't guess I'll ever find it," said the little girl with a sigh. "Oh, dear!" "Maybe it slipped off your neck in the house," suggested Cousin Ruth. "I'll look carefully, and you may help me." But this did no good either, and though the search was a careful one, and though the sand was gone over again, the lost locket was not picked up. "I'm going to dig every day until I find it!" said Rose. "And I'll help!" added Russ. "So will I!" said Laddie; and the other children, when they knew what a loss had come to Rose, said they, also, would help. If it had not been for this accident the visit of the six little Bunkers to Seaview would have been without a flaw. Even as it was, it turned out to be most delightful. Seaview was a fine place to spend the end of the summer, and Cousin Tom and his wife made the children feel so at home, and did so much for them, that Russ and the others said they never had been in a nicer place. "If I only had my locket!" sighed Rose, as the days passed. But it seemed it would never be found, and after a time, the thought of it passed, in a measure, from the little girl's mind. She did not speak of it often, though sometimes when she went down on the beach, near the holes she and Russ had dug in the moonlight, Rose looked about and scraped the sand to and fro with a shell or a bit of driftwood. But as the beach looks pretty much alike in many places, it is hard to know whether, after the first few times, Rose dug in the right place. Cousin Ruth looked again all through the bungalow for the gold locket, and, whenever any one thought of it, he or she poked about in the sand. But the locket seemed gone forever. There was plenty to do at Seaview to have fun. The children could go in wading and swimming, they could play in the sand, they could sail toy boats in the inlet and they could go out in a real boat with their father or Cousin Tom. More than once they were taken out on the quiet waters, and they sat in the boat while their father or his nephew fished. Once Russ held the pole and he caught a funny, flat fish, that seemed as if it had been put through the wringer which squeezed the water out of the clothes on wash day. "What kind of fish is that?" asked Violet, when she saw it flapping about in the bottom of the boat. "It's a flounder," answered Cousin Tom. "Is it good to eat?" "Yes, very good." "Maybe it swallowed Rose's locket. Do you think so, Daddy?" asked the little girl. "Oh, no, Vi. Now don't ask so many questions, please." "Could I ask a riddle?" Laddie wanted to know. "Oh, I suppose so," laughed his father. "What is it?" "I haven't made it up yet," went on Laddie. "It's going to be about a flounder and a wringer, but I got to think. When I get it ready I'll tell you." "Don't forget!" laughed Cousin Tom. It was about a week after Rose had lost her locket and it had not been found, that one day Russ called to Rose: "Come on down to the beach. I know how we can have some fun." "What can we do?" asked his sister. "We'll build a house and have a play party," answered Russ. "Where?" "On the beach. We can build a house in the sand." So the children started off, with their shovels and sand pails. Their mother watched them, thinking how nice it was that they could be at the shore in hot weather. It was about an hour after Rose and Russ had started down the beach together to make a sand house that Mrs. Bunker, who was just thinking of taking a walk and having another look for the lost locket, heard cries. "Mother! Mother! Come quick!" she heard Russ calling. "What's the matter?" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Oh, come quick!" went on Russ. "Rose is in the sand house! Rose is in the sand house!" Not knowing what had happened, Mrs. Bunker set off on a run down the beach. _ |
||