After the children had gone to bed—­each one eager to dream about Grandma Bell—­Mr. and Mrs. Bunker sat up and talked about what was to be done.

“It’s too bad about those papers the tramp took in the old coat,” said Mrs. Bunker.

“Yes, I am sorry to lose them,” said her husband.  “But perhaps the tramp may be found, and I may get them back.”

Russ, Rose, and all the rest of the six little Bunkers got up early next morning.

“Is It Fourth of July yet?” asked Munroe.

“No, not yet, Mun Bun,” answered Rose with a laugh.  “But it soon will be—­in a few days.”

“I’m going to finish my cannon,” said Russ.

“Come on!” called Laddie to his twin sister Vi.  “Let’s go down and dig a hole in the sand pile.”

“What for?” she asked.  Violet hardly ever did anything without first asking a question about it.

“Huh?”

“What for we dig a hole?”

“To put fire-crackers in,” answered Laddie.  “And when they shoot off—­’Bang!’—­they’ll make the sand go up in the air.”

“Like a sky-rocket?” asked Vi.

“Yes, I guess maybe like a sky-rocket,” answered Laddie.

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.