A QUEER NIGHT
"Isn't this fun!" shouted Rose, leaning back in the seat and putting
her arm around Violet. "It's just like camping out."
"It's better'n camping out," declared Russ, who sat next to Laddie. The
two smaller children were on the back seat of the automobile between
Russ and his sister.
"What makes this better'n camping out?" Violet wanted to know. "Is it
'cause it rains harder?"
"No," Russ answered, "it's because we're under better shelter than we
would be in a tent, camping out in the rain. No water can get through
this auto top."
"Yes it can, too!" cried Laddie. "I just felt a drop on my nose."
"Oh, that just leaked in around the side curtains," declared Russ,
with a laugh. "We'll not get wet; shall we, Captain Ben?"
"I hope not," was the marine's answer, as he got ready to drive the car
through the storm. He and Daddy Bunker were on the front seat, with the
glass wind shield in front of them, and curtains at the sides, as there
were at the back and at the sides near the seat where the children sat.
"You'll have to drive slowly," said Mr. Bunker in a low voice to
Captain Ben.
"Yes, we can't make any speed," said the sailor. "The roads are mud
puddles already."
Indeed it had rained so hard that in a very short time it seemed as
though the automobile was going along through a small brook instead of
along a country road. It was very dark, though it was only the middle
of the afternoon. But by the lightning flashes, which came every now
and then, the four little Bunkers, looking out through the celluloid
windows in the side curtains, could see the streams of muddy water
rushing along in the middle and on either edge of the country road
along which they were traveling.
The thunder, too, boomed out every now and then, a sound at which
Laddie and Vi would jump in startled surprise and nestle closer to Russ
and Rose. The smaller children were not exactly afraid, but they could
not help jumping at the loud sound made by the claps of thunder.
Uncle Ben had to drive the car more and more slowly, for it was
slippery on the muddy roads, and he did not want an accident. Finally,
after he had to come almost to a standstill where a brook had
overflowed the road, Russ and Rose heard their father talking to the
soldier-sailor.
"Do you think it is safe to go on?" asked Mr. Bunker.
"No, I can't say that I do," answered Captain Ben. "I think we shall
never be able to get to Grand View to-night."
"That's too bad," went on Daddy Bunker. "I'm not worrying about Amy and
Mun Bun and Margy," he added. "They will be all right in your bungalow.
But what are we going to do?"
"Well, we shall have to put up somewhere over night," answered Captain
Ben.
"Oh, are we going to stay at a hotel?" asked Rose. "I like hotels;
don't you, Russ?" she asked her brother.
"Sometimes I do, when they have good things to eat," he answered, but
his last words were almost lost in a crash of thunder. When the echoes
of that had quieted down, Captain Ben said:
"I don't believe there is a hotel within ten miles of us, and we
certainly can not travel that much farther in this storm."
"Then what are we going to do?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Can't we stay in the auto all night?" asked Russ. "We have some
blankets and things in our satchels."
"I'm afraid none of you would sleep much," said Captain Ben, as he
slowed the machine to pass a bad spot in the road. "No, what we shall
have to do," he added, "will be to stop at the first house we come to
and ask them if they can take us in for the night. Some farmer may be
kind enough to let us stay in his barn, if there isn't room in the
house, but I guess they can manage, even if they have to make beds on
the floor."
"I like to sleep on the floor!" spoke up Laddie. "It doesn't hurt then
if you fall out."
"No, it doesn't," agreed his father, with a laugh, and just then Rose
looked ahead and exclaimed:
"There's a house! Maybe we can stop there!"
A lull had occurred in the storm, and through the mist and driving rain
she pointed to a large, white house at the side of the road.
"I'll try that," said Captain Ben, and he steered the automobile up
the drive. He got out, ran up the steps and knocked on the door. A
pleasant-faced woman answered. What was said the four little Bunkers
could not hear, but presently Captain Ben came running back.
"They will let us all stay here over night," he said. "They are
very kind, and we shall be most comfortable. Hurry up on the porch,
children, before it starts to pour again."
Hardly had Rose and Russ, Vi and Laddie got under the shelter of the
broad porch of the farmhouse than it began to rain harder than ever.
But the children did not mind now, for they were soon to be in better
shelter than even the curtained automobile gave.
The farmer, who seemed as pleasant as his wife, came out to show
Captain Ben where to put the automobile in the wagon house, and soon
the party was safe and snug in the comfortable house, while the storm
raged outside.
"Now if we only had mother and Margy and Mun Bun here, we'd be all
right," observed Rose.
"What's that? Are there any more of you?" asked the farmer, with a
hearty laugh as he looked at the visitors. "One, two, three, four!" he
counted the children. "Are there any more?"
"Oh, yes," answered Rose, also laughing. "There are six of us little
Bunkers. Margy and Mun Bun are with my mother."
"Well, well! Six little Bunkers!" exclaimed the farmer. "And I have
four of 'em! Wish I had all six to visit me!" he added. "I like
children," he continued, turning to Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker. "I
have none of my own, but my sister is visiting me, and she has three.
Hear 'em?" he asked, holding up his hand for silence.
As the four little Bunkers and the others listened during a lull in
the storm, there came from upstairs the sound of merry laughter and
shouting.
"The harder it rains and thunders the harder they play and laugh," said
Mr. White, as the farmer said his name was. "I'll bring my sister's
three youngsters down and let 'em play with your four. Then there'll
be some little Bunkers and little brooks," he went on. "My sister's
name is River, and I call the children little brooks," he added, with
another laugh.
"Oh, that's almost like a riddle!" declared Laddie.
"Oh, ho! So you know riddles, do you?" asked the farmer.
Just then there was a loud noise out in the hall, and down the stairs
came trooping the three little "brooks," as Mr. White called his
sister's children. They soon made friends with the four little Bunkers,
and then the storm was forgotten.
But it still rained hard, and the automobile could not have traveled
in it, so it was a good thing they all stayed at the comfortable
farmhouse. Mr. White said he had plenty of room for them all to sleep,
even if his sister was visiting them, and Russ was rather disappointed
that he was not permitted to sleep out in the haymow.
"I wish I could get word to my wife that we will not be along until
to-morrow," said Daddy Bunker, when it was certain they would have to
stay all night.
"You can send her a telegram," suggested Mr. White.
So a telegram was telephoned to the nearest telegraph office, being
sent to Mrs. Bunker, who, by this time, had reached Grand View. Then
the Bunkers settled down to stay for the night. First, however, they
were given supper, and such fun as the seven children had! They laughed
and talked, and Laddie told all the riddles he knew.
Tom, Jack and Bess, the three little "brooks," were jolly children
about the same age as the four little Bunkers, and Tom, the oldest boy,
and Russ were soon fast friends, while Jack and Bess, who were nearer
the age of Laddie and Vi, went off in a corner of the big living room
after the meal and played games.
At night Daddy Bunker and Captain Ben had one room, while Vi went in
with Rose and Laddie slept with Russ.
The children were tired, and went to bed early. Just what time it was
Rose did not know, but she was suddenly awakened by feeling a little
hand on her face, and a voice said in her ear:
"I want to come in with you!"
"Is that you, Margy?" Rose asked, half asleep. She thought for a moment
that she was back at home, and that Margy had come to "bunk in," as she
often did.
"No, I'm not Margy," was the answer. "I'm Bess. An' I can't sleep with
Jack 'cause he fumbles so." I think Bess meant tumbles, but she said
"fumbles."
"Oh, you're one of the little brooks, aren't you?" asked Rose, more
wide awake now.
"I'm Bess," was the answer, "an' I want to come in with you!"
Rose hardly knew what to do. There was scarcely room in the bed where
she and Vi were sleeping, but this strange little girl insisted on
climbing up.
Rose was thinking perhaps she had better call her father or Captain
Ben and ask one of them what to do, when, from the room across the
hall where Russ and Laddie had a bed, came a cry from the little
riddle-asking chap.
"Here! Quit that!" cried Laddie. "Let me alone! Stop pulling me out of
bed!"
"Gracious, what a queer night!" thought Rose, as she sat up in bed. The
storm had ended and it was very quiet except for the shouts of Laddie.
He kept on calling:
"Let me alone! Oh, there you go! Now I'm out of bed!"
There was a thud, and the whole house seemed to shake.