THAT PIGEON WING
Greatly as the two little Bunkers were alarmed, and as much as their
father and Mr. Armatage worried about their safety, they really were not
so very badly off. Not only were the roof boards of the hut in which
Russ and Rose had taken refuge sound, but soon the panther stopped
clawing at the boards.
It heard the crowd of men coming and the baying of the hounds. It stood
up, stretched its neck as it listened, snarled a defiance at Bobo and
his mates, and then leaped into the nearest tree and so away, from tree
to tree, into the deeper fastnesses of the wood.
The dogs might follow the scent of the panther on the ground to the
clearing where the hut stood; but beyond that place they could not
follow, for the wary cat had left no trail upon the ground.
At first, when the dogs came baying to the spot, Russ and Rose were
even more frightened than before. The dogs' voices sounded very savage.
But soon Bobo smelled the children out and leaped, whining, against the
door of the cabin. He was doing that when Daddy Bunker and Mr. Armatage
and the negroes reached the clearing.
"The creature is in that hut," said Daddy Bunker.
"Not much!" returned his friend. "Bobo would not make those sounds if it
was a panther. Mr. Panther has beat it through the trees. It is
something else in the charcoal burner's hut. Come on!"
He strode over to the door, snapped back the lock, and threw the door
open. The torchlight flooded the interior of the place and revealed Russ
and Rose Bunker, still fearful, clinging to each other as they crouched
in a corner of the hut.
"Well!" exclaimed Daddy Bunker. "Of all the children that ever were
born, you two manage to get into the greatest adventures! What are you
doing here?"
"A big cat chased us in here, Daddy," said Russ.
"And he tried to get at us through the roof," added Rose.
Daddy Bunker and Mr. Armatage looked at each other pretty seriously.
"We didn't get here a minute too soon," said the planter.
"I believe you," returned Mr. Bunker gravely. "This might have been a
very serious affair."
But in the morning, after Russ and Rose were refreshed by sleep and had
told the particulars of their adventure at the breakfast table, the
youngsters really took pride in what had happened to them. The smaller
children looked upon Russ and Rose as being very wonderful.
"What would you have done, Russ, if that big cat had got into the house
with you and Rose?" Vi asked.
"But he didn't," was the boy's reply.
"Well, if he had what would you have done?"
But that proved to be another question that Vi Bunker never got
answered. This was so often the case!
"So you thought it was a ghost at first, and then it turned out to be a
big cat," Laddie said to Rose. "I think I could make up a riddle about
that."
"All right," said Rose, with a sigh. "You can make up all the riddles
you want to about it. Making a riddle about a panther is lots better
than being chased by one."
Laddie, however, did not make the riddle. In fact he forgot all about it
in the excitement of what directly followed the rescue of Russ and Rose
from the wild animal. Mr. Bunker felt so happy about the recovery of the
two children that he determined to do something nice for the colored
people who had so enthusiastically aided in hunting for Russ and Rose.
"Let 'em have another big dance and dinner, such as they had Christmas
eve," Mr. Bunker suggested to the planter. "I'll pay the bill."
"Just as you say, Charley," agreed Mr. Armatage. "That will please 'em
all about as much as anything you could think of. I'll get some kind of
music for them to dance by, and we'll all go down and watch 'em. Your
young ones certainly do like dancing."
This was true. And especially was Russ Bunker anxious to learn to dance
as some of the colored boys did. He was constantly practising the funny
pigeon wing that he had seen Sam do in Aunt Jo's kitchen, in Boston. But
the white boy could not get it just right.
"Never mind, Russ," Laddie said approvingly, "you do it better and
better all the time. I guess you can do it by and by--three or four
years from now, maybe." But three or four years seemed a long time to
Russ.
When they went down to the quarters the evening of the party Russ
determined to try to dance as well as Frane, Junior, and the negro boys.
Mammy June was much better now, and she was up and about. To please her
Mr. Armatage had a phaeton brought around and the old nurse was driven
to the scene of the celebration. Mun Bun and Margy rode in the phaeton
with Mammy June and were very proud of this particular honor.
The old nurse was loved by everybody on the plantation, both white and
black. Mother Bunker said that Mammy held "quite a levee" at the
quarters, sitting in state in her phaeton where she could see all that
went on.
The dinner was what the negroes called a barbecue. The six little
Bunkers had never seen such a feast before, for this that their father
gave them was even more elaborate than the dinner the planter had given
his hands at Christmas.
There was a great fire in a pit, and over this fire a whole pig was
roasted on a spit, and poultry, and 'possums that the boys had killed,
and rabbits. There were sweet potatoes, of course. How the little
Northerners liked them! The white children had a table to themselves and
ate as heartily as their colored friends.
Then a place was cleared for the dancing. Mammy June's phaeton was drawn
to the edge of this dance floor. The music struck up, and there was a
general rush for partners.
After a while the dancers got more excited, and many of them danced
alone, "showing off," Frane, Junior, said. They did have the funniest
steps! Russ Bunker was highly delighted with this kind of dancing.
"Now let me! Let me dance!" he cried, starting out from his seat near
Mammy June. "A boy showed me in Boston how to cut a pigeon wing. I guess
I can do it now."
"You can't cut no pigeon wing, w'ite boy," said 'Lias, Mammy's grandson.
"I can try," said Russ bravely, and he danced with much vigor for
several minutes.
"Oh, my, he done cut Sneezer's pigeon wing!" cried one of the darkies
presently.
"What's dat? Cut Sneezer's pigeon wing?" cried Mammy June, sitting up to
watch Russ more closely.
"Dat's jest what he's doin'."
Russ continued to dance, and did his best to imitate the colored boy at
Aunt Jo's house. He was hard at it when Mammy June, with her eyes almost
popping out of her head, cried:
"For de lan's sake, boy, come here! I want to ask you sumpin."
Russ was in the midst of cutting the pigeon wing again, and this time he
was fortunate enough to imitate Sam in almost every particular. Then he
stopped and walked over to the old colored woman's side.
"How come you try to do it that way, Russ Bunker?" asked Mammy June as
Russ approached the phaeton. "I ain't never seen you do that before. Who
showed you?"
"Sam. The boy in Boston. He said he was called after his Uncle Sam. He
came from down South here, you know, Mammy."
"Was he a cullud boy?" demanded the old woman earnestly.
"Of course he was. Or he couldn't dance this way," and Russ tried to cut
the pigeon wing again.
"Wait! Wait!" gasped the old woman. "Tell me mo' about that boy who
showed you. You ain't got it right. But dat's the way my Sneezer done
it. Only he knows just how."
"Why, Mammy June!" cried Rose, "you don't suppose that Sam can dance
just like your Sneezer?"
The old nurse was wiping the tears from her cheeks. Her voice was much
choked with emotion as well. Mrs. Bunker came over to see what the
matter was.
"Yo' please tell me, Ma'am, all about dat boy dese children say was in
Boston? Please, Ma'am! Ain't nobody know how to dance dat way but
Sneezer. And he didn't like his name, Ebenezer Caliper Spotiswood
Meiggs. No'm, he didn't like it at all, 'cause we-all shortened it to
Sneezer.
"He had an Uncle Sam, too. My brudder. Lives in Birmingham. Sneezer
always said he wisht he'd been born wid a name like Uncle Sam."
"Perhaps it is the same boy," Mother Bunker said kindly. "Tell me just
how Ebenezer looks, Mammy June. Then I can be sure."
From the way Mammy described her youngest son, even the children
recognized him as Sam the chore boy at Aunt Jo's in Boston. Mun Bun and
Margy, when the matter was quite settled that Sam was Sneezer, began to
take great pride in the fact that it was their bright eyes that had
first spied the colored boy walking in the snow and had been the first
to invite him into Aunt Jo's house.
"He will be there when we go to Boston again, Mammy June," Rose said,
warmly. "And Daddy and Mother will send him home to you. I guess he'll
be glad to come. Only, maybe you'd better stop calling him Sneezer. He
likes Sam best."
"Sure enough, honey," cried Mammy June, "I'll call him anything he likes
'long as he comes home and stays home with me. Yes, indeedy! I'd call
him Julius Cæsar Mark Antony Meiggs, if he wants I should."
"But maybe," said Russ thoughtfully, "he wouldn't like that name any
better than the other. I know I shouldn't."
In a short time it was a settled matter that Mammy June's lost boy would
return. For she could tell Mrs. Bunker so many things about the absent
one that there was not a shadow of a doubt that the Sam working for Aunt
Jo would prove to be Mammy June's boy.
The holidays on the Meiggs Plantation ended, therefore, all the more
pleasantly because of this discovery. The plantation was a fine place to
be on, so the six little Bunkers thought. But when Daddy Bunker
announced that his business with his old friend, the planter, was
satisfactorily completed, the children were not sorry to think of
returning North.
"This doesn't seem like winter at all down here," said Russ. "We want to
slide downhill, and roll snowballs, and make snowmen."
"And it is nice to go sleigh riding," Rose added. "They never can do
that on the Meiggs Plantation."
"But you can make riddles here," put in Laddie.
Vi might have added that she could ask questions anywhere!
As for Margy and Mun Bun, they were contented to go anywhere that Mother
Bunker and Daddy went. Something exciting was always happening to all of
the six little Bunkers. But we will let you guess, with Russ and Rose
and Vi and Laddie and Margy and Mun Bun, where the next exciting
adventures of the half dozen youngsters from Pineville will take place.
Then came the time to leave the plantation. The children had many little
keepsakes to take home with them and they promised to send other
keepsakes to the Armatage children as soon as they got back to
Pineville.
"It's been just the nicest outing that ever could be!" said Rose, when
the good-byes were being spoken. "I'm sure I'll never forget this
lovely place."
"I's coming back some day if they want me," put in Mun Bun quickly. And
at this everybody smiled.
Then all climbed into the automobile which was to take them to the
railroad station. There was a honk of the horn, and amid the waving of
hands and a hearty cheer, the six little Bunkers and their parents
started on their journey for home.
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Books,"
"The Bunny Brown Series,"
"The Make-Believe Series," Etc.
* * * * *
Durably Bound. Illustrated. Uniform Style of Binding
* * * * *
Delightful stories for little boys and girls which sprung into immediate
popularity. To know the six little Bunkers is to take them at once to
your heart, they are so intensely human, so full of fun and cute
sayings. Each story has a little plot of its own--one that can be easily
followed--and all are written in Miss Hope's most entertaining manner.
Clean, wholesome volumes which ought to be on the bookshelf of every
child in the land.
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COWBOY JACK'S
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of the popular "Bobbsey Twin Books" and "Bunny Brown" Series.
* * * * *
UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS.
* * * * *
These tales take in the various adventures participated in by several
bright, up-to-date girls who love outdoor life. They are clean and
wholesome, free from sensationalism, and absorbing from the first
chapter to the last.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
Or Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
Or The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
Or Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
Or Wintering in the Sunny South.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
Or The Box that Was Found in the Sand.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
Or A Cave and What it Contained.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE
Or Doing Their Bit for Uncle Sam.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS HOUSE
Or Doing Their Best for the Soldiers.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT BLUFF POINT
Or A Wreck and A Rescue.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT WILD ROSE LODGE
Or The Hermit of Moonlight Falls.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
Or The Girl Miner of Gold Run.
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS
For Little Men and Women
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Bunny Brown" Series, Etc.
* * * * *
12mo. DURABLY BOUND. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING
* * * * *
Copyright publications which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Books that
charm the hearts of the little ones and of which they never tire.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
* * * * *
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of the Popular "Bobbsey Twins" Books
Wrapper and text illustrations drawn by
FLORENCE ENGLAND NOSWORTHY
* * * * *
12mo. DURABLY BOUND. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING
* * * * *
These stories by the author of the "Bobbsey Twins" Books are eagerly
welcomed by the little folks from about five to ten years of age. Their
eyes fairly dance with delight at the lively doings of inquisitive
little Bunny Brown and his cunning, trustful sister Sue.
Bunny was a lively little boy, very inquisitive. When he did anything,
Sue followed his leadership. They had many adventures, some comical in
the extreme.
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
THE TOM SWIFT SERIES
By VICTOR APPLETON
* * * * *
UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS.
* * * * *
These spirited tales, convey in a realistic way, the wonderful advances
in land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the
memory and their reading is productive only of good.
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE
TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE
TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER
TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON
TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL
TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH
TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES
BY VICTOR APPLETON
* * * * *
UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS.
* * * * *
Moving pictures and photo plays are famous the world over, and in this
line of books the reader is given a full description of how the films
are made--the scenes of little dramas, indoors and out, trick pictures
to satisfy the curious, soul-stirring pictures of city affairs, life in
the Wild West, among the cowboys and Indians, thrilling rescues along
the seacoast, the daring of picture hunters in the jungle among savage
beasts, and the great risks run in picturing conditions in a land of
earthquakes. The volumes teem with adventures and will be found
interesting from first chapter to last.
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AND THE FLOOD
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT PANAMA
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS UNDER THE SEA
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE WAR FRONT
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON FRENCH BATTLEFIELDS
MOVING PICTURE BOYS' FIRST SHOWHOUSE
MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT SEASIDE PARK
MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON BROADWAY
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS' OUTDOOR EXHIBITION
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS' NEW IDEA
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
* * * * *
Transcriber's notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 9: "Gooodness" changed to "Goodness". (Goodness! it's cold)
Page 31: "begger" changed to "beggar". (allowing a beggar)
Page 67: "swin" changed to "swim". (could not swim)
Page 150: "fire-cracker" changed to "firecracker" to conform to rest of
text. (It's firecrackers.)
One instance each of "white-washed" and "whitewashed" appears in the
original and was retained.
Christmas Eve is capitalised once and lowercased once. This was
retained.