TREASURE HOPES
Laddie Bunker looked up at his mother as she finished reading the
letter. Then he shook his head and said:
"We can't go to Cousin Tom's!"
"Can't go to Cousin Tom's!" repeated his mother. "Why not, Laddie, my
boy?"
"'Cause we're going to dig for gold here. Sammie Brown's father is a sea
captain, and he has divers. He knows a lot about digging gold on desert
islands, Sammie's father does, and we're going to make believe Aunt Jo's
back yard is a desert island, and we're going to dig for gold there."
"But there isn't any," replied Mrs. Bunker, wanting to laugh, but not
doing it, as she did not want to hurt Laddie's feelings.
"Well, we're going to dig, just the same," insisted Laddie. "We can go
to Cousin Tom's after we find the gold."
"Oh, I see," said Mrs. Bunker with a smile. "Well, don't you think it
would be nice to go to the seashore? There is plenty of sand there, and
perhaps there may be a desert island, or something like that, near
Cousin Tom's. Couldn't you dig for gold and treasure at the seashore?"
"Oh, maybe we could!" cried Laddie. "I guess that would be nice, Mother.
I'll go and tell the others. We're going to Cousin Tom's! We're going to
Cousin Tom's!" he sang joyously, as he raced back to where he had left
Sammie Brown telling his story, and the other little Bunkers who wanted
to dig for gold.
"I think it will be just lovely for the children at Cousin Tom's," said
Mrs. Bunker to her husband, who came out to see if there were any
letters for him. "They can play in the sand and never get a bit dirty."
"Yes, they can do that," said Mr. Bunker. "So Cousin Tom wrote, did he?
Well, I suppose that means we will soon be leaving Aunt Jo's."
"I shall be sorry to see you go," said Aunt Jo herself--Miss Josephine
Bunker, to give her complete name and title. She was Daddy Bunker's
sister, and had never married, but she had a fine home in the Back Bay
section of Boston, and the six little Bunkers, with their father and
mother, had been spending some weeks there.
While Mr. and Mrs. Bunker are talking about the coming trip to the
seashore, and while Laddie is hurrying back to tell his brothers and
sisters the good news, there will be a chance for me to let my new
readers hear something about the children who are to have the largest
part in this story.
This book is complete in itself, but it forms one of a series about the
six children, and the first volume is called "Six Little Bunkers at
Grandma Bell's." In that I introduced the boys and girls.
First there was Russ, aged eight years. He had dark hair and eyes, and
was very fond of whistling and making things to play with, such as an
automobile out of a soap box or a steamboat out of a broken chair. Rose,
who was next in size, was seven years old. She often helped her mother
about the house and looked after the younger children. And that she was
happy when she worked you could tell because she nearly always sang.
Rose had light hair and blue eyes.
Vi, or Violet, was six years old. As you have noticed, she was very fond
of asking questions, and she looked at you with her gray eyes until you
answered. Laddie, her twin brother, was as persistent in making up queer
little riddles as Vi was with her questions, and between the two they
kept their father and mother busy.
Margy, or Margaret, was five years old, and almost as dark as a little
Gypsy girl. Margy and Mun Bun usually played together, and they had a
great deal of fun. Lest you might think "Mun Bun" was some kind of
candy, I will say that it was the pet name of Munroe Ford Bunker, and it
was shortened to Mun Bun as the other was too long to say. Mun Bun was
rather small, even for his age of four years. He had blue eyes and
golden hair and looked almost as I have an idea fairies look, if there
are any real ones.
So there you have the six little Bunkers. When they were at home, they
lived in the town of Pineville, on the Rainbow River. Mr. Bunker was a
real estate dealer, whose office was about a mile from his home.
In the first book of the series I told you of a trip the Bunkers took to
Grandma Bell's at Lake Sagatook, in Maine. Grandma Bell was Mrs.
Bunker's mother, and in the Maine woods the children had so many good
times that it was years before they forgot them. They had quite an
adventure, too, with a tramp lumberman, who had a ragged coat, but I
will not spoil that story by telling it to you here.
Before the Bunkers left Grandma Bell's they received an invitation to
visit Aunt Jo in Boston, and they were at her Back Bay home when the
present story opens.
There had been adventures in Boston, too, and the pocketbook which Rose
found, with sixty-five dollars in it, was quite a mystery for a time.
But, finally, the real owner was discovered, and very glad she was to
get the money back.
"Well, we have had good times here at Aunt Jo's," said Mrs. Bunker to
her husband, when they had read all the letters that had come in the
mail. "And now it is time for us to go. I think we shall enjoy our stay
at Cousin Tom's."
"It will be fine for the children," said their father.
"Yes, they are already counting on digging gold out of the sand," said
Mrs. Bunker with a laugh. "Sammie Brown has been telling them some story
about buried treasure his father found."
"Well, I believe that is a true story," said Mr. Bunker. "I heard my
sister say something about Mr. Brown having been shipwrecked on an
island once, and coming back with gold. But if we go to Cousin Tom's we
shall have to begin packing soon, shall we not?" he went on.
"Yes," agreed his wife. "We are to leave about the middle of next week."
"We have been doing a great deal of traveling so far this summer," went
on Mr. Bunker. "Here it is about the middle of August, and we have been
at Grandma Bell's, at Aunt Jo's and we are now going to Cousin Tom's. I
had a letter from Grandpa Ford, saying that he wished we'd come there."
"And my brother Fred is anxious to have us come out to his western
ranch," said Mrs. Bunker. "If we accept all the invitations we shall be
very busy."
So Mr. and Mrs. Bunker talked over the time of leaving, what they would
need to take, and the best way of going. Meanwhile Laddie had run back
to tell his brothers and sisters the good news.
"We're going to the real seashore!" he exclaimed. "It's down to Seaview
where Cousin Tom lives, and we can dig for treasure there!"
"Can we really?" asked Violet. "What's treasure, Russ? Is any of it good
to eat? And look at that robin! What makes him waggle his tail that way?
And look at the cat! What's she lashing her tail so for?"
"Wait a minute, Vi!" cried Russ with a laugh. "You mustn't ask so many
questions all to once."
"Treasure isn't good to eat!" said Laddie. "But if you find a lot of
gold you can buy ice-cream sodas with it."
"Maybe the robin is flitting its tail to scare the cat," suggested Rose,
who remembered Violet's second question.
"Well, I know why the cat is lashing her tail," said Russ. "Cats always
do that when they think they're going to catch a bird. This cat thinks
she's going to catch the robin. But she won't!"
"Why not?" asked Rose.
"'Cause I'm going to throw a stone at it--at the cat, I mean," explained
Russ. He tossed a pebble at the cat, not hitting it, and the furry
creature slunk away. The robin flew off, also, so it was not caught, at
least not just then.
"I know a riddle about a robin!" said Laddie. "Only I can't think of it
now," he added. "Maybe I shall after a while. Then I'll tell it to you.
Go on, Sammie. Tell us more about how your father got the gold on the
desert island."
"He dug for it," Sammie answered. "He and the other sailors just dug in
the sand for it."
"With shovels?"
"No, they used big shells. It's easy to dig in the sand."
"Is sand the best place to dig for gold?" Rose wanted to know.
"I guess so," answered Sammie. "Anyhow there's always sand on a desert
island, like that one where my father was."
"There's sand down at Cousin Tom's," put in Laddie. "I heard my mother
say so. I'm going to dig for gold, and if I get a lot, Sammie, I'll send
you some."
"I hope you find a big lot!" exclaimed the visiting boy with a laugh.
They talked over their hopes of finding treasure in the seashore sand,
forgetting all about the soap bubbles they had been blowing.
"I'll be lonesome when you go away," said Sammie to Russ. "I like you
Bunkers."
"And we like you," said Russ. "Maybe if we dig for gold down at Cousin
Tom's, and can't find any, you'll come down and help us."
"Sure I will!" exclaimed Sammie, as if that would be the easiest thing
in the world. "I'll ask my father the best way, and then I'll come
down."
"Could you bring a diving suit?" asked Laddie. "Maybe the gold would be
down on the bottom of the ocean, and we'd have to dive for it. Would
your father let you take a diving suit?"
"No, I don't guess he would," said Sammie, shaking his head. "They are
only for big men, and you have to have air pumped down to you all the
while. It makes bubbles come up, and as long as the bubbles come up the
diver is all right."
"Did a shark ever bite your father?" asked Rose.
"No, I guess not," Sammie answered. "Anyhow he never told me about it.
But I must go now, 'cause it's time for my lunch. I'll come over after
lunch and we can have some more fun."
Sammie said good-bye to the six little Bunkers and started down the side
path toward the front gate of Aunt Jo's home. Hardly had he reached the
sidewalk when Russ and the others heard him yelling:
"Oh, come here! Come here quick, and look! Hurry!"