So down to the sand pile he and his sister went. Mun Bun and Margy played in the grass in the side yard, Russ whittled away at his wooden cannon, whistling the while, and Rose, after she had done a little dusting, made a new dress for her doll. "'Cause I want her to look nice for Grandma Bell," said the little girl. And thus they played at these and other things, and had a good time. A few mornings after this Russ was suddenly awakened by hearing a loud noise under his window. "What's that?" he cried. "Thunder?" "It's Fourth of July!" answered his father. "Some boy must have shot off a big early fire-cracker! Get up, children! It's Fourth of July, and we are going to have some fun! Get up!" "Hurray!" cried Russ. "Hurray for the Fourth of July!" CHAPTER V THE TRAMP Such fun as the six little Bunkers had! Daddy Bunker was up before any of them, to see that little fingers were not burned by pieces of punk or stray ends of fire-crackers, and before breakfast Russ and Laddie had made enough noise, their mother said, to last all day. "It's a good thing we decided not to go to Grandma Bell's until after the Fourth;" she said. "Dear mother never could have stood this racket." "We like it," said Russ. He and Laddie did, and Mun Bun did not mind it very much, though he did shut his eyes and jump when a big cracker went off. Rose, Margy and Vi didn't like the fire-crackers at all, though they didn't mind tossing torpedoes down on the sidewalk, to hear them go off with a little bang. Mrs. Bunker was afraid some of the children might get burned or hurt with the fireworks, and she wished they hadn't had any; but Daddy Bunker promised to stay with the little folk all day, and see that they got into no danger. And he did, firing off the big fire-crackers himself. The wooden cannon Russ made didn't work very well. The first fire-cracker that was shot off in it burst the wooden affair all to pieces. "But I don't care," said Russ with a jolly whistle. "It made _one_ awfully good noise, anyhow." "To-night we'll go down to the Square and see the big fireworks," said Daddy Bunker, for the town of Pineville was old-fashioned enough to have a Fourth-of-July celebration. "And you said we could have ice cream and cake this afternoon," said Rose to her mother. "Yes, I did," agreed Mrs. Bunker. "Norah is freezing the cream now, and she made the cake yesterday." "Oh, goody!" cried Laddie, clapping his hands. "Ice cream and cake. Is it chocolate cake, Mother?" he asked. "I don't know--you'll have to ask Norah," was the answer. "Come on, let's!" said Rose, and they ran around to the kitchen door, looking in where the good-natured cook was busy with pots and pans. "Chocolate cake is it? Sure it's _both_ kinds," Norah answered with a laugh. "It's regular thunder-and-lightning cake--you wait an' see!" "Thunder-and-lightning cake! Oh, what kind is that?" asked Rose. "Maybe it's a riddle," suggested Laddie.