“The ocean,” answered Rose, who came along just then.

“Nope!” and Laddie shook his head.

“Well, the ocean is terrible big,” Violet stated.

“Yes, it is,” agreed Laddie.  “But that isn’t the answer to my riddle.”

“Do you mean the sky?” asked Russ.  “That’s big, too.”

“That isn’t the answer,” said Laddie.  “I’ll tell you, ’cause you never could guess it.  It’s a hole that you dig.  You can dig one so big that you couldn’t put it in anything.  Not even the biggest box that ever was.  Isn’t that a good riddle?”

“Yes, it’s pretty good,” agreed Russ; and he commenced to whistle a merry tune.  “But you could fill a small box with some dirt, and dig a little hole in that, and you’d have a hole in a box,” he added, after a moment.

“Yes, but the answer to my riddle is a big hole,” said Laddie.  “Now come on out and dig!”

“How big a hole are you going to dig?” Vi wanted to know.

“Oh, not the kind in my riddle,” replied her brother.  “We’ll just dig a little one and make believe we’re after treasure.”

Of course I need not tell you that Laddie and Violet did not find any.  Treasure doesn’t usually grow in Boston back yards.  But the children had fun, and that was best of all.

During the next few days there was much packing of trunks and valises to do, for the six little Bunkers were getting ready to go to Cousin Tom’s at Seaview.  This was a place on the New Jersey coast, and none of the Bunkers had ever been there.  For Cousin Tom had been only recently married to a very pretty girl, named Ruth Robinson.  Cousin Tom and his bride had stopped to pay a visit to Daddy and Mother Bunker when the young couple were on their honeymoon trip, and then Cousin Tom and his wife had said that as soon as they were settled in their new seashore home the Bunkers must come to see them.

“And now we are going,” said Mother Bunker, on the morning of the day they were to leave Aunt Jo’s.  The last trunk had been locked and sent away, and the family of travelers was soon to take the train from Boston to Fall River.  There they would get on a boat that would take them to New York, and from New York they could go on another boat to Atlantic Highlands, in New Jersey.  Then they would take a train down the coast to Seaview.

“Well, I certainly shall miss you!” said Aunt Jo, as she kissed the big and little Bunkers good-bye.  “And I hope, children, that you find lots of treasure in the sand.”

“We’ll dig deep for it,” said Laddie.  “Did you hear my riddle, Aunt Jo, about what’s so big you can’t put it in anything?”

“Yes, dear, I heard it.”

“The answer is a big hole,” went on Laddie, lest his aunt might have forgotten.

“I remember,” she said with a laugh.

The trip to Fall River was not a very long one, and the six little Bunkers, who looked out of the windows at the sights they saw, hardly realized it when they were told it was time to get off the train.