Six little Bunkers at Grandma Bell'sHope, Laura Lee
General
Six little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's
Hope, Laura Lee
Detective and mystery stories; Siblings -- Juvenile fiction
"'Course 'tisn't!" agreed Russ. "I don't mean _that_. I mean give the
_dolls_ a ride."
"Oh, yes, we can do that!" cried Laddie. "It'll be fun! Will you let us?"
he called to the two little girls.
"Let you what?" asked Rose.
"Let us give your dolls a ride on the boat?"
Russ had taken a board, whittled one end sharp, like the prow, or bow, of
a boat, and had rounded the other end for the stern. In the middle he had
bored a hole and stuck in this a stick for a mast. On the mast he had
tied a bit of cloth for a sail. And when the boat was put in the shallow
water of the lake, near shore, the wind blew it along nicely.
"Oh, yes! Let's give our dolls a ride!" cried Vi.
"You can give yours a ride, but I'm not," declared Rose.
"Why?" Russ wanted to know.
"'Cause she might fall off into the water."
"I can put a stone on her so she won't fall off the boat," said Russ.
"Huh! Think I'm going to let you put a stone on my doll? I will not!" Rose
exclaimed.
"I could tie her on," suggested Laddie. "I've a piece of string."
"Well, maybe _that's_ all right," Rose agreed, and then she and Violet let
Russ and Laddie take the dolls, which they tied on the sailboat. Then
along in the little sheltered cove of the lake the boat sailed, giving the
dolls a ride.
But, suddenly, there came a strong puff of wind, and the boat tipped to
one side. Laddie could not have tied the string on Vi's doll very strong,
for she slipped off into the water.
"Oh, your doll will be drowned!" cried Rose.
"No, she can't drown! She's rubber," answered Vi. "I'll just play she had
a bath in the lake."
"Well, it's a good thing it was your doll and not mine, that fell in,"
went on Rose, "'cause my doll's a sawdust one--this one is. But I have a
rubber doll up at the house, a nice one.
"Go and get her!" suggested Russ. "Then I can sail the boat in deeper
water and it won't hurt if it tips over with two rubber dolls on."
So Rose got her other doll, and then the children had fun sailing the boat
with two make-believe passengers, who did not mind how wet they got. If
the boat didn't tip over of itself, Russ or Laddie made it, just to see
the dolls go splashing into the water.
The children played at this game for some time, and then Jane called them
to come to lunch. At the table Laddie and Russ told about taking sugar to
the sheep, and how the ram chased them.
"You mustn't do it again," their father said. "Not only that it isn't good
to waste sugar by giving it to the sheep, but the old ram might hurt you.
Don't do it again."
The boys promised they wouldn't, and then Rose and Vi told of their fun
with the rubber dolls and the boat.
In the afternoon, when Mrs. Bunker and Grandma Bell were getting ready to
go for a walk with the children, Russ came running up to the house, from
down near the barn, crying:
"Oh, Rose! Margy took your rubber doll, and now she's down in the well!
She's down in the well!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account