"What are you looking for?" Rose would ask him. "Are you playing pirates?"
"No," Russ would answer. "I'm just looking to see if I can find the tramps that took Captain's Ben's rowboat."
But the tramps were not found, nor did the Bunkers learn whether or not Tad Munson ever ran back home after having run away. Mrs. Bunker often said they must take a trip over to Avalon, to inquire about the strange boy, but something always seemed to happen to put off the journey. Captain Ben was always thinking of so many things for the six little Bunkers to do to have fun.
One afternoon the marine, after having taken them all for a ride in his motor boat, said:
"To-morrow, if it's a nice day, we'll go to that island I was telling you about, and we'll have a picnic."
"May we take our lunch and stay all day?" asked Rose, breaking off a song she had started to sing.
"Yes, it will be a regular picnic lunch," the captain said. "That is, if it's a fair day."
"Do you think it will rain?" asked Russ, who had taken out his knife in order to make a little jumping jack for Mun Bun.
"It might," the captain remarked. "I don't like the way the sky looks," and he gazed up at the clouds that were scuttling along overhead. "It's about time for the usual storm we get late in the summer, but it may hold off a week or more. Anyhow, if it does come, we can have the picnic when it clears."
The six little Bunkers went to bed that night after having talked and planned for the picnic the next day. But alas for their hopes! The fears of Captain Ben proved true, and in the morning it was raining hard.