THE STORM
Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker, on the front seat of the automobile,
looked in astonishment at the excited woman and at the white spray
coming from her little store.
Russ and Rose and Laddie and Violet, four of the six little Bunkers
in the rear of the car, were also much surprised, wondering what had
happened.
"It must be a fire!" exclaimed Russ, remembering what had happened that
day he and the others were playing steamboat in the attic, when the
chimney began to smoke in the wrong way.
"What makes the fire?" questioned Vi. It was just like her to ask a
question at this critical time.
As for Laddie, he said nothing. But his eyes opened big and round, and
perhaps he was trying to think up a riddle about the woman who had
rushed from the store with a cloud of steam behind her.
And this woman--the one who owned the candy store--was still waving her
hands and crying excitedly to Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker.
"Oh come in! Please come in and see what the matter is!" she begged.
By this time Captain Ben had stopped the automobile, and he was getting
out, followed by Mr. Bunker. The latter turned to Russ, Rose, Vi and
Laddie and said:
"Now you little Bunkers stay right in the car until we see what the
matter is."
"Can't I come and see, too?" Vi asked.
"No, indeed! There may be danger!" her father said.
Several persons from the village streets were now running toward the
little candy and soda water store, and one boy began to shout:
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
Quickly the woman turned to him.
"Don't say that, Johnnie Mack!" she exclaimed. "It isn't a fire at all,
and I don't want a lot of engines and hose carts coming and mussing my
place up!"
"If it isn't a fire, then what is it?" asked Captain Ben. "Though it
does look more like steam than smoke," he added, as he glanced at the
white cloud still coming from the doorway of the store.
"What is it? What's the matter? What happened?" were some of the
questions asked of the woman.
"I don't know what it is! I can't exactly tell, but it's something
dreadful!" she said to Captain Ben, who, with Daddy Bunker, was about
to enter the place. "All I know is that I was drawing a glass of soda
water for a little girl when, all of a sudden, there was a big noise
down in the cellar and then a lot of steam shot up into my store. I ran
out, and the little girl ran out, and that's all I know about it."
"I think I know what it is," said Captain Ben. "There isn't any fire
and there's nothing serious. One of the soda water tanks in the cellar
has sprung a leak and the water is shooting out in a fine spray. It is
just as if you left one of the faucets of your soda fountain open," he
went on.
"Dear me! All my nice soda water running to waste!" exclaimed the
woman. "But I'm glad it isn't a fire."
"Won't there be any soda water left for us to drink?" asked Vi.
"There won't unless I shut it off pretty soon!" said Captain Ben. "How
do you get down into your cellar?" he asked the candy store woman. "I'm
afraid I can't see my way to go in through the front door," he added,
as he looked at the cloud of fizzy spray which almost hid the little
store from sight.
"You can get down the outside cellar stairs," she answered. "I'll show
you."
While the crowd and the four little Bunkers looked on, Captain Ben went
down the outside stairs to the cellar in which stood the tanks of soda
water. The tanks were filled with a gas which makes the bubbles in soda
water.
The soldier-sailor knew just what to do, and in a little while the
hissing sound stopped, the clouds of watery spray blew away, and it was
possible to enter the store.
Not much damage had been done, for, after all, it was only a fine spray
of water that had floated about, and it was such a fine spray that it
was almost like steam. The crowd swarmed about, looked in, and, seeing
nothing to wonder at, passed on.
"I'm ever so much obliged to you, sir," said the candy store woman to
Captain Ben. "For a time I thought my place was going to be blown up.
I'm glad it wasn't, for I have to make my living by my little store."
"Have you any soda water left?" inquired Vi, who, with the other little
Bunkers, had got out of the automobile when the crowd melted away.
"Yes, I have some in bottles. I don't suppose I could draw any from the
fountain, could I?" she asked Captain Ben.
"Not very well until the broken pipe is mended," he answered.
"Bottled soda is all right," declared Russ. "We can drink it from
straws if you have any," he added.
"Yes, I have some," the store woman said, and soon the four little
Bunkers were sitting on stools in front of the counter, sucking soda
water through straws out of bottles. Captain Ben insisted on using a
straw also, but Daddy Bunker drank his from a glass.
"My, that tastes good!" said Captain Ben, as he drained the last of his
sweet drink. "Many a time, in the army in France, I'd have walked ten
miles to get a cool drink like that."
"The soda from the fountain is better," the woman said. "But I guess I
won't have any of that to-day. I'll telephone for some one to come and
mend the broken pipe."
"Can't I go down and see where it broke?" asked Laddie, when it was
time for the little Bunkers to travel again. "I want to see it."
"There wouldn't be much to look at," Captain Ben told him. "It would
only be a hole in a pipe, just as there might be a hole in the water
pipe at home if it burst."
"Our water pipe did burst once," said Vi, "and I got awful nice and
wet, and it was a hot day, too."
"That was lucky!" laughed Captain Ben.
"If I could see this broken pipe maybe I could make up a riddle about
it," went on Laddie. "I didn't make up a riddle in a long, long time.
And if I don't make up one pretty soon I'll have to ask the old ones
over again."
"I'll tell you some new riddles when I get a chance," promised Captain
Ben. "It's dark down in the cellar, and you couldn't see anything much
anyhow. Besides, we don't want to be late getting to Grand View, or
your mother, with Margy and Mun Bun, will be there ahead of us. I'm not
so sure, after all, but what they'll be there first anyhow," he said to
Daddy Bunker. "It is later than I thought."
"Then we must hurry," said the children's father. "I wouldn't like Amy
and the two children to be there alone after dark."
"They'll be safe enough," declared Captain Ben. "The key to my bungalow
is at the house next door, and Cousin Amy can go in and make herself
and Mun Bun and Margy perfectly at home in case they get there first.
But we'll try to arrive ahead of them. I'll make the auto go a little
faster."
"Doesn't it seem funny not to have Mun Bun and Margy with us on this
trip?" asked Rose, as they all prepared to get into the automobile
again.
"Indeed it does," said her father. "But you six little Bunkers will
soon all be together again."
"Pile in!" called Captain Ben, and he helped Vi up into the seat to
which Russ had already assisted Rose. Laddie was just going to enter
the car when he suddenly turned back and hurried toward the store.
"What's the matter now?" his father called after him. "Are you still
going to look for the hole in the pipe where the soda water came out?"
"Maybe he left one of his riddles in there," suggested Captain Ben,
with a laugh.
A moment later they saw what it was Laddie had gone back after--it was
a little bag of cookies he had asked Rose to buy for him. He had laid
them on the counter when he was drinking his soda water through a straw
stuck in the bottle, and he did not intend to leave his lunch behind.
"Give me some!" begged Violet, when she saw what her brother had in his
hand.
"I'll give us all some," he promised generously.
"All aboard, then!" called Captain Ben, and once more they were on
their way toward Grand View. They stopped for lunch at a hotel in a
small town, and the children were delighted at this. They always liked
a change, no matter what it was.
"And we never had a summer like this," said Rose. "Two different
vacation trips--one to Uncle Fred's and the other to Captain Ben's."
"We aren't at Captain Ben's yet," said Rose, as they started off again
after their lunch.
"But we shall be pretty soon, shan't we, Daddy?" asked Rose.
"I don't know just how much farther it is," was the answer. "What do
you say?" he asked, turning to the soldier-sailor.
The latter did not reply for a moment, and then he looked up at the
sky, studied the clouds for a moment before he said:
"I don't want to look on the dark side, but I'm very much afraid we are
going to be later getting to Grand View than I thought."
"Why?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Because I think we are going to run into a storm, and that will delay
us," said Captain Ben. "The roads are none too good, and with a heavy
rain, such as it seems likely we'll have, we can't make very fast time."
"I just love to be in a rain in an auto when the side curtains are up,
don't you?" asked Rose of Russ.
"I do if they don't leak," he answered.
"It's just like playing house in our attic," said Vi. "When do you
think it will rain, Captain Ben?" she went on.
"Very soon, I'm sorry to say," he replied.
The sun went behind the clouds, and the afternoon changed from a
bright, smiling one to a dark, frowning one. Then the wind began to
blow, and in the west, behind some dark clouds, flashes of lightning
could be seen.
Captain Ben made the automobile go as fast as was safe, hoping they
might reach some place of shelter before the storm broke. It was not
possible to get to his bungalow, as they were too far away.
Suddenly the machine began to slow up, just after a loud clap of
thunder which followed a bright flash of lightning.
"What's the matter?" exclaimed Rose. "Did it strike us?"
"Pooh! Of course not!" exclaimed Russ. "If we'd been hit you'd know it!"
"No, there is no danger yet," answered Captain Ben. "But I think we'd
better stop and put up the side curtains before it rains, as it is
going to soon, and rain hard," he said to Daddy Bunker.
The automobile was run beneath a tree at the edge of the road, and the
two men began fastening up the side curtains. Hardly had they finished
and climbed back into the machine, than there was a louder howl to the
wind, the thunder rolled and crashed overhead, the lightning blazed
in the black sky, and then the rain came down with pelting force,
pattering on the top and sides of the automobile as it did on the
shingle roof at the home of the six little Bunkers.