Six little Bunkers at Captain Ben's

by Laura Lee Hope

"I like it, too," said Laddie. "And maybe I can think of a funny riddle about going in the ditch to tell mother."

"All right; then we'll stay with Captain Ben and help get the machine out of the ditch," said Daddy Bunker. "After it is on level ground we can try to put on the extra wheel, and perhaps then we can travel and get to Grand View rather late to-night."

"I hope so," said Captain Ben. "If we could get some fence rails, perhaps we could raise the auto out of the ditch ourselves. I used to do such things in France during the war."

"There's lots of fences around here," observed Russ.

This was true enough. The auto had gone into the ditch near the canal, and it was in a part of the country where there were many fields, bordered by rail fences. A long fence rail makes a very good lever, or lifter, for an auto, Captain Ben explained.

While the four little Bunkers wandered along the roadside, gathering flowers and tossing stones into a little brook, Captain Ben and Daddy Bunker took some rails from the fence. They intended to put them back when they had finished using them. With stones they built up a sort of pile, or pyramid, on which to rest part of the rail, while one end of it was shoved under the wheel that was deepest in the mud of the ditch. Then the two men pressed down on the other end of the rail.

Russ, who did not care much about picking flowers, came back to watch his father and the captain. Russ wanted to help, but he knew this was no time to ask, so he sat on the grassy bank whistling softly, and making a little boat out of a piece of wood.

"I think we'll have to get help," said Captain Ben, as he straightened up after he and Daddy Bunker had pressed down heavily on the long end of the rail. "The two of us together are not strong enough to raise the car out of the ditch."

"Maybe I could help!" offered Russ eagerly.

"Not just yet," his father said, with a laugh. "Though a little later on we may call on you. I wonder if there is a place around here where we could get a couple of farmers to give us a hand," he went on.