THE APPLE BOY
What Russ had said was perfectly true. Daddy Bunker looked around just
in time to see a big ram bounding out of the meadow toward Captain Ben,
who was stooping to put the fence rail under the broken wheel of the
automobile. And it was because of the rails that had been taken off the
fence that the ram was able to get out of his meadow.
"Oh, look!" screamed Rose, who, with Laddie and Vi, had come back to
the automobile, their hands full of wayside flowers.
"Don't let him bunk into me!" shrieked Vi.
"I'll make him go back! I'll throw stones at him!" cried Laddie.
"Indeed you'll not do anything of the sort!" exclaimed Rose. "Come
back here, Laddie Bunker!" and she caught her little brother by his
jacket and stopped him from running forward. Laddie had dropped his
flowers, and was going to pick up some stones.
Russ had jumped to his feet and seized a stick. With that he intended
to do as Laddie had said he was going to--attack the ram. But as the
sheep creature with his long horns came nearer, and as Laddie saw what
a big, ugly animal he was, the boy did not feel much like standing his
ground.
[Illustration: THE BIG RAM RUSHED AT CAPTAIN BEN.]
By this time Captain Ben, who had not as yet seen the ram, straightened
up.
"What's the matter?" asked the marine. "Has another accident happened?"
Just as he said this, and before Daddy Bunker could do as he was going
to do, and thrust a fence rail between the ram's legs to trip him, the
big sheep rushed full at Captain Ben.
"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated the ram, and with lowered head and curved horns,
he struck Captain Ben "amidships," as the marine said after it was all
over.
There was a dull thud, and Captain Ben was knocked over and down
into the same ditch into which the automobile had nearly turned a
somersault.
"Hi, there! Stop that! Go on away!" yelled Russ, jumping up and down,
swinging his hat in one hand and waving a stick in the other. "Go on
away!"
But the ram paid no attention to the shouts of the boy, nor to the
screams of Rose, Laddie and Violet in the road a safe distance away.
"Are you hurt, Captain Ben?" asked Daddy Bunker, as he caught up a
heavy rail and started toward the ram.
"No, not at all," came the answer from Captain Ben, who was getting up,
after having been knocked down into the ditch. "Luckily for me I fell
on a lot of soft grass."
"Don't get up or come this way, or this brute will butt you down
again," warned Daddy Bunker. "I'll see if I can drive him away. Stay on
the other side of the ditch."
"No, I'm coming to help you. The ram may try to horn some of the
children," returned the soldier-sailor. It was just like Captain Ben
not to run away from a fight, either with some enemy on the battle
field or a savage ram in a meadow.
Not much hurt by having been knocked head over heels, Captain Ben
caught up a stick, like Daddy Bunker, and, leaping across the ditch,
started to run toward the ram. The big, woolly creature stood on a
little hill, looking at the partly overturned automobile, then at the
two men rushing toward him, and then at Russ and the other children.
"You get back where you belong and let me work on my auto!" called
Captain Ben, as he raised his fence rail to push the ram away. "Get
back in your own meadow!"
"We can't make him stay there unless we put back the fence rails, I
guess," said Daddy Bunker. "And we have to use them to get the auto out
of the ditch."
The two men, with the long rails, rushed at the ram. But he stood his
ground, shaking his head, stamping with his forefeet, and uttering loud
"Baa-a-as!"
Just as Daddy Bunker and Uncle Ben were going to thrust at the ram, a
voice behind them called:
"Look out, friends! That's a bad animal! Once he goes on a rampage
there's no stopping him."
The four little Bunkers and their father and Captain Ben turned to see
the canal mule driver rushing to their aid with a long whip in his
hand.
"I know old Hector, the ram!" said the mule driver. "He's butted me
more than once, and he tried to butt one of my mules. But that time he
got the worst of it. Better let him alone!"
"But we want to drive him away," called Captain Ben. "He knocked me
into the ditch, and he won't let us get our auto out. We've got to
drive him away."
"Well, then, I'll help you," offered the mule driver. "Maybe if all
three of us go at him at once we can scare him away."
"Let me help!" begged Russ. "I can throw stones!"
"No! No!" exclaimed his father. "You look after Rose and the children.
Better climb back into the auto. He can't get at you there."
Russ started to do as his father had requested, and then the three men
rushed at the ram together. The mule driver cracked his whip, making
sounds like Fourth of July fire-crackers. Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker
shouted and waved their fence rails. The ram stood for a moment, poised
on top of a little mound of grass, where he had climbed after butting
Captain Ben.
"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated the big sheep, as though saying he was not afraid
of all of them.
But before Captain Ben or Daddy Bunker could reach at him with the
rails, and before the mule driver could flick him with the cracking
whip, the ram thought better of his idea. He uttered another loud
"Baa-a-a!" and then, turning, ran back into the field whence he had
come.
"Oh, I'm so glad he's gone!" cried Rose, who, with the other little
Bunkers, had been about to climb into the tilted automobile.
"He may come back again," said the mule driver. "He's a bad one, all
right, that ram is. I've been traveling this canal towpath for five
years, and I know old Hector. Whenever he gets loose there's trouble."
"I guess we were too much for him this time," said Daddy Bunker. "I
fancy he did not like the cracking of your whip."
"That's about the only way I can scare him," said the mule driver.
"I'll keep it handy in case he comes back."
But Hector, the ram, did not seem to have any idea of coming back.
He ambled off over the green meadow, now and then looking back and
uttering a "Baa-a-a!" It was as though he had decided he had had enough
fun for one day. And he must have laughed to himself, if rams ever
laugh, at the funny manner in which he had butted Captain Ben head over
heels into the ditch.
"My, but you seem to be in a peck of trouble," said the mule driver, as
he looked at the automobile in the ditch. "Can I help any?"
"I was just going to ask you to, when my little boy called out about
the ram," answered Daddy Bunker. "Do you think you can help us get the
auto on level ground, so we can put on an extra wheel?"
"I'll do my best," offered the mule driver. "I saw something was wrong,
so I ran over from the towpath. There's another man on the boat. I'll
call him. I guess the four of us can manage it. But it will probably
take some time."
"Yes, I think it will," said Daddy Bunker. "And it is nearly noon, too.
Do you know if there is a hotel around here, or a place where I can
take the children to stay while we are working on the car?"
"There isn't any hotel," said the mule driver, "but about a quarter
of a mile down the road is Mr. Brown's place. He has a big farm and
orchard, and he sells meals to auto travelers, and sometimes keeps them
over night."
"That might be just the place for us," said Daddy Bunker. "We may have
to stay all night again."
"If we do," said Rose, "I hope nobody walks in his sleep."
"What's she mean?" asked the mule driver.
"That's what happened where we stayed last night," explained Mr.
Bunker. "There were some other children at the farmhouse, and one of
them walked in his sleep."
"There aren't any children at Mr. Brown's," said the mule driver, "and
I never heard of him or his wife walking in their sleep. They have good
meals there, too--roast chicken, hot biscuits, pie, cake----"
"Oh, I'm so hungry!" cried Vi. "Mayn't we stay there, Daddy?"
"At least we'll go there for dinner," said her father. "And then,
later, we'll decide about to-night. Come on, children, I'll take you
to Mr. Brown's country farm hotel, and then I'll come back to help
Captain Ben."
Mr. Brown's place proved to be a sort of wayside boarding house, where
automobile parties often stopped. He and his wife said they would look
after the children while the men worked on the automobile. And, if need
be, the party could stay all night.
"The only thing is I must get word to my wife. I'd like to talk to her
on the telephone," said Daddy Bunker.
"I have a long distance telephone right in the house," said Mr. Brown.
"You call her up and see what she says."
This Mr. Bunker did, managing to get his wife on the telephone in Grand
View. He told her briefly what had happened, and said they might not be
at Captain Ben's bungalow that night even, on account of the accident.
Mrs. Bunker told her husband not to worry, as she was all right with
Margy and Mun Bun, though of course lonesome for him and the other
little Bunkers.
"Then we'll remain here to-night if we can't get the car fixed," said
Daddy Bunker to Mr. Brown. "I'll let the children stay here now, and
Captain Ben and I will come and get our dinner a little later."
Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi thought the Brown homestead was one of the
nicest places they had ever visited. While dinner was being got ready
they sat on the broad porch and told Mr. Brown some of their adventures
so far on this trip.
"My, you've had a lot happen to you," he said. "Automobiling is a risky
business I take it. I'll stick to horses. I remember once I was in an
auto and I----"
Mr. Brown stopped suddenly, looked down toward his orchard and cried:
"There he is again! That pesky apple boy! I'll get him this time, and
I'll teach him to steal my fruit! Hi there, you pesky apple boy!" he
shouted, as he leaped from his chair and started on a run toward the
orchard.