Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus' Reading List

by A. A. Milne

  The hammock swung on the side porch, but when it was not in use it hung by one hook, rather high up, and by twisting it together it could be made into a sort of rope. Russ and Rose, as I have told you, had been listening under the porch window to what Grandpa Ford had been telling about the queer happenings at Great Hedge Estate.

  Just as he reached the point where he was going to tell about the strange noise at midnight, Russ decided he could hear better if he were higher up, and nearer the window.

  The hammock had been left hanging by one hook, after Laddie and Vi had finished swinging in it a little while before, and up this Russ climbed.

  But his hands slipped, and down he fell, making a good deal of noise. Of course if Rose had put the mat under him, as he had told her to do, there would not have been such a racket.

  "And now we sha'n't ever know about the ghost," said Russ, just before his sister hurried off to tell the others that Grandpa Ford had a treat for them.

  "Yes, we shall," said the little girl.

  "How?"

  "We'll wait till we get there. We're all going, 'cause Grandpa Ford said so. When we get to Great Hedge we can find the ghost for ourselves."

  "Yes, maybe we can," agreed Russ. "Anyhow, I'm not going to climb up any more hammocks. It hurts too much when you fall." And he walked from the porch, limping.

  Then, after Russ and Rose had gone away, Grandpa Ford told Mr. and Mrs. Bunker more about the strange doings at his house, which was surrounded by the great hedge. And the old gentleman ended with:

  "And now I want you all to come out there with me and help solve the mystery. I want you, Son," and he turned with a kindly look to Mr. Bunker, "and I want your wife and the six little Bunkers."

  "Maybe the children will be afraid of the ghost," said their mother.

  "We won't tell them anything about it," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "They'll never know a thing about it."

  If he had only seen Russ and Rose listening on the porch under the window!

  "Well, as long as they don't know about it, I don't see that they can be frightened," said Mr. Bunker. "As you say, it is queer, but maybe Mr. Ripley can explain the queer noises and other things."

  "Maybe he can," agreed Grandpa Ford. "That's what I came on to see about, and I'll take you all back with me."

  "But it will soon be cold weather," objected Mother Bunker.

  "All the better!" laughed Grandpa Ford. "There is no nicer place in the world in winter than Great Hedge. The big hedge made of what are almost trees, keeps off the cold north wind. We always have plenty of snow up in New York state, and the children will have no end of good times. You must all arrange to come back with me."

  "Well, I suppose we'll have to," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we won't say anything to the children about the ghost."

  "Unless they find it out for themselves," remarked Daddy Bunker. "And if they do I don't believe it will frighten them much. Laddie will, most likely, make up a riddle about it."

  "He certainly is good at them," said Grandpa Ford with a chuckle.

  Meanwhile Russ and Rose had told the good news to the other little Bunkers—that is, the news about the five-cent pieces.

  "Oh, come on down to the store! I know what I'm going to buy!" exclaimed Laddie, when they all had their money.

  "What?" asked Vi. "Some candy? Oh, let's all buy candy and then we can have a play-party with it!"

  "I'm not going to buy candy!" exclaimed Laddie.

  "What are you going to get?" Rose asked.

  "A toy balloon," Laddie answered. "I'm going to see how far up I can make it go."

  "How are you going to get it back?" asked Russ.

  "I'll tie a string to it. I know how to do it. And if your doll wants a ride, Vi, I'll give her one in my balloon. I can tie a basket to the balloon and put your doll in it—in the basket, I mean."

  "Oh, no!" cried Vi. "Rose's doll went up into the air in a balloon like that once, when we were at Aunt Jo's, and it was a goodwhile before she got her back. I'm not going to lose my doll."

  "Well, I'll send my balloon up, anyhow," said Laddie.

  "I guess I'll get a balloon, too," said Russ. "Then we can have a race."

  "Aren't you going to get any candy?" asked Rose.

  "No, I don't guess so," answered Russ. "Maybe Grandpa Ford will give us more money for candy to-morrow."

  "I'll give you a little of mine if you let me hold your balloon," said Vi to Laddie.

  "Then I will."

  "So will I," said Rose to Russ.

  Down to the toy and candy store they went, and while four of the six little Bunkers got sweets, Russ and Laddie each bought a five-cent balloon, that would float high in the air. They had lots of fun playing with them, and Rose and Violet kept their words about giving their brothers some candy in exchange for the treat of holding the balloon strings part of the time.

  After a bit Mun Bun and Margy went back to the house with Vi and Rose. Laddie and Russ remained in the side yard, flying their balloons.

  "I know what we can do!" suddenly exclaimed Russ.

  "What?" asked his smaller brother.

  "We can make a big balloon."

  "How?"

  "I'll show you. Come on."

  "All right."

  Russ, letting his toy balloon float over his head, while Laddie did the same, went out to the barn back of the house. It was not really a barn any longer, as Daddy Bunker kept his automobile in it, but it looked like a barn, so I will call it that instead of a garage.

  "How are you going to make a balloon?" asked Laddie as he saw Russ tie his toy to a picket of the fence.

  "You wait, I'll show you. First you go in and get the big clothes basket. Don't let Norah see you, or she might stop you. Bring me out the clothes basket."

  Laddie did as he was told. As he came back with the basket, which was a large, round one, Laddie said:

  "Do you think we can fasten our two balloons to this and go up in it?"

  "No, I'm not going to make my balloon that way," Russ answered. "You'll see. Come on into the barn. We have to go upstairs."

  Overhead in the barn was a place where hay had once been kept for the horse. There was a little door in the peak of the second story, to which the hay could be hoisted up from the wagon on the ground below. The hay was hoisted by a rope running around a wheel, or pulley, and this rope and pulley were still in place, though they had not been used in some time.

  Into the rather dark loft of the barn went Russ and Laddie. They had climbed up the ladder, as they had done oftentimes before.

  "It's dark!" Laddie exclaimed.

  "I'll make it light," announced Russ.

  He opened the little door in the front of the barn, and then he and Laddie could look down to the ground below. Russ loosened the pulley rope and let one end fall to the ground.

  "That's how we'll make our balloon," he said. "We'll fasten the rope to the clothes basket, and pull it up like a balloon. Won't that be fun?"

  "Lots of fun!" agreed Laddie.

  It was about half an hour after this that, as Mother Bunker was beginning to think about supper, she heard, from the direction of the barn, a shrill yell for help.

  "Oh, I can't get him down! I can't get him down!" was the cry.

  "Dear me! Something else has happened!" cried Mother Bunker. "Come on, Norah. We must see what it is!"

  The Big Bang Noise

  It did not take Mrs. Bunker long to see what the matter was this time. As she came in sight of the barn she beheld the clothes basket dangling about half-way to the roof, swinging this way and that from one end of a rope.

  On the other end of the rope Russ and Laddie were pulling, while in the clothes basket, his little face peering over the side, was Mun Bun.

  "What are you doing? Let him down!" cried Mother Bunker, for Mun Bun was crying.

  "We can't get him down!" shouted Russ. "The balloon won't come down!"

  "Balloon? I don't see any balloon!" cried Mrs. Bunker. She thought, pe
rhaps, as sometimes did happen, a balloonist from a neighboring fairground might have gone up, giving an exhibition as was often the case in the Fall. But all the balloons she saw were the toys Russ and Laddie had tied to the fence.

  "Where is the balloon, and what do you mean by pulling Mun Bun up in the basket that way?" she asked.

  "Mun Bun's in the balloon!" cried Russ.

  "We got him up, but we can't get him down," added Laddie. "The rope's stuck."

  And that is just what had happened. I think you can guess the kind of game Russ and Laddie had been playing when the accident happened? They had tied the clothes basket to the rope running over the wheel. The pulley had been used when Mr. Bunker kept a horse, for pulling the hay up from the ground to the second story of the barn.

  Then, with the basket tied to the rope, Laddie and Russ had taken turns pulling one another up. The rope went around several pulleys, or wheels, instead of one, and this made it easy for even a small boy, by pulling on the loose end, to lift up quite a weight. So it was not hard for Russ to pull Laddie in the basket up to the little door of the hay-loft. Laddie could not have pulled Russ up, if Russ, himself, had not taken hold of the rope and pulled also. But they had lots of good times, and they pretended they were going up and down in a balloon.

  Then along came Mun Bun.

  "I want to play, too!" he cried.

  "We'll pull him up!" said Russ. "He's light and little, and we can pull him up fast!"

  So Mun Bun got into the clothes basket, and Russ and Laddie, hauling on the rope, pulled him up and let him come down quite swiftly.

  "Oh, it's fun!" laughed Mun Bun. "I like the balloon!"

  And it was fun, until the accident happened. Then, in some way, the rope became caught in one of the wheels, and when Mun Bun was half-way between the ground and the second story of the barn, there he stuck!

  "We'd better holler for mother!" said Laddie, as Mun Bun, looking over the edge of the basket, began to cry.

  "Maybe we can get him down ourselves," said Russ. "Pull some more."

  He and Laddie pulled as hard as they could. But still Mun Bun was stuck in the "balloon."

  "I want to get down! I want to get down!" he cried.

  Then Laddie and Russ became frightened and shouted for their mother.

  "Oh, you poor, dear little boy!" said Mrs. Bunker, as she saw what the matter was. "Don't be afraid now. I'll soon get you down."

  She looked at the rope, saw where it was twisted so it would not run easily over the pulley wheels. Then she untwisted it, and the basket could come down, with Mun Bun in it.

  "I don't like that old balloon!" he said, tears in his eyes.

  "Well, Laddie and Russ mustn't put you in again," said his mother. "Don't cry any more. You're all right."

  And, as soon as he saw that he was safe on the ground, and that the clothes basket balloon wasn't going to take him up again, the little chap dried his tears.

  "What made you think of that game to play?" asked Mrs. Bunker of Russ and Laddie, when she had seen to it that they took the clothes basket off the rope.

  "Oh, we thought of it when we saw our toy balloons go up in the air," said Russ. "We had a race with 'em, and Laddie's went higher than mine. Then he said wouldn't it be fun to have a real balloon. And I said yes, and then I thought of the rope at the barn and Norah's clothes basket and we made a hoister balloon, and Mun Bun wanted to go up in it, he did."

  "And we pulled him, we did, and he got stuck," added Laddie. "I guess I could make up a pretty good riddle about it, if I thought real hard."

  "Well, please think hard and don't get your little brother into a fix like that again," said Mrs. Bunker.

  Of course Russ and Laddie promised that they wouldn't play that game any more, but this was not saying they wouldn't do something else just as risky. They were not bad boys, but they liked to have fun, and they did not always stop to think what might happen when they had it.

  "What'll we do next?" asked Laddie, as they carried the clothes basket back to Norah's laundry.

  "Well, we could——" began Russ.

  Just then the supper bell rang.

  "We'll eat!" cried Laddie. "That'll be lots of fun."

  And after supper the six little Bunkers were too tired and sleepy to do anything except go to bed.

  "But we'll have lots of fun at Grandpa Ford's," murmured Rose as she went up to her room.

  "Yes," agreed Russ. "We'll have lots of fun, and we'll hunt around and find——"

  Rose gave her brother a queer look and cried:

  "That's a secret!"

  "Oh, yes, so it is! That's a secret!" agreed Russ.

  "What's a secret?" asked Vi, not too sleepy to put a question, if it was the last thing she did that day.

  "Oh, we can't tell!" laughed Russ. "Wait until we all get to Great Hedge, and then we'll all hunt for it."

  "Hunt for the secret?" asked Vi.

  "Yes," answered Rose.

  "Mother, Russ and Rose have a secret and they won't tell me!" exclaimed the little questioning girl. "Please make 'em!"

  "Not to-night, my dear," said Mrs. Bunker. "Besides, if it is their secret it wouldn't be fair for you to know."

  "But I want to, Mother!"

  "We're not going to tell!" exclaimed Russ.

  "Come now! Go to bed, all of you!" cried Daddy Bunker. "You'll have plenty of fun, and secrets, too, if you go to Great Hedge."

  "Oh, then we must be going!" cried Rose, and Vi was so excited about this that she forgot to ask any more about the secret.

  Mrs. Bunker thought it was only some little joke between her two older children. If she had known what they had heard out on the porch that afternoon she might have talked to them before they went to sleep. But Russ and Rose hid in their hearts what they had heard about the ghost of Great Hedge.

  It was fully decided on the next day that the six little Bunkers and Daddy and Mother would go, shortly, with Grandpa Ford to hisbig estate in the country, just outside of Tarrington, in New York state. Russ and Rose listened carefully to see if they could hear any more about the ghost, but neither Mr. Ford nor Mr. Bunker mentioned it. And Mother Bunker was so busy, with Norah, getting the things ready for another trip, that she did not speak of it, either.

  "My!" exclaimed Norah, as she helped sort out the clean clothes, "these six little Bunkers are getting to be great travelers. First they go to Grandma Bell's, then to Aunt Jo's and then to Cousin Tom's, and now to Grandpa Ford's. I wonder where they'll go next?"

  "There's no telling," said Mrs. Bunker. "But we must take plenty of warm clothes along for them this time, as it will soon be cold weather and winter."

  "I love to be in the country in the winter," said Rose, who was helping her mother. "You can have such fun snowballing."

  "And making snow men and snow forts," added Russ, who came in to get a piece of string for something he was making. He went out whistling, and soon he and Laddie were heard pounding away on the back porch.

  Russ was not happy unless he was whistling, or unless he was making something, just as Laddie was very fond of asking riddles.

  "I guess maybe I got a riddle, now," said the little chap who was Violet's twin.

  "Is it about Mun Bun and the balloon basket?" asked Russ.

  "No, it's about why is a cat like a kite."

  "It isn't," said Russ. "A cat isn't anything like a kite."

  "Yes, it is, too!" declared Laddie. "They both have tails."

  "Oh, well. But some kites don't have any tails," said Russ. "I know a boy, and he knows how to make kites that go up without any tails. So that riddle's no good!"

  "Yes, it is!" insisted Laddie.

  "Why is it?"

  "'Cause some cats haven't got tails either."

  "Oh, there are not any cats without tails."

  "Yes, there are! You go and ask Mother. She showed me a picture of one the other day. I think it's called a Banks cat, 'cause maybe it lives in a bank, and it doesn't have any tail so it can't get
caught in the door. You go and ask Mother if a kite isn't like a cat 'cause they both have tails, and some kites have no tails and so haven't some cats."

  "I will!" exclaimed Russ. "I'll go and ask Mother if there's ever a cat without a tail!"

  Away the two boys started, but they had not reached the house before, out in the street in front, they heard a loud bang, a most awfully loud bang. At the same time they heard their Grandpa Ford crying:

  "Whoa! Whoa there! Don't run away!"

  "Oh, what's that?" asked Laddie.

  "We'll go and see!" exclaimed Russ; and the two boys set off on a run.

  Off To Great Hedge

  Russ and Laddie saw Grandpa Ford holding the bridle of a horse harnessed to a light carriage, in which sat a pretty young lady. The horse was trying to rise up on its hind legs, and Grandpa Ford was doing his best to make the animal stand still.

  Not far away was a large automobile, and smoke was coming from the back of this, while a man, who seemed to have just gotten out of the car, was hurrying toward the prancing horse.

  "I guess he's all right now, Miss," said Grandpa Ford. "When that automobile back-fired, and made such a bang, it scared your horse."

  "I never knew him to be afraid of an auto before," said the young lady. "But then I never heard one, before, make such a loud bang."

  "Nor I," returned Grandpa Ford. "It was enough to scare any horse."

  "And I am very sorry it happened," said the man who had gotten out of the car. "My machine is a new one, and it does not run just right, but this is the first time it ever made such a racket. I thought I was going to be blown up, and I guess your horse did too, Miss. I'm very sorry for the fright I caused you. I'll not start my auto again until you drive on. Then, if it should happen to back-fire again, your horse will not mind it so much."

  "Thank you," the young lady said. "But I do not want to drive on right away. I came to see you," she announced to Grandpa Ford.

  "To see me?" and Mr. Ford was quite surprised. "You drove up here to see me?"

  "Yes, if you are Mr. Munroe Ford." And the young lady smiled pleasantly.