“Of course not,” said Cousin Tom.

So Mr. and Mrs. Bunker talked with Cousin Tom and his wife, while the children played outside.  The sun was going down, and it would soon be time for supper, when Mrs. Bunker, who had gone upstairs to change her dress, heard Rose calling: 

“Come back, Laddie!  Come back!  You mustn’t get into that boat!”

“Into a boat?  Oh, I should say not!” cried Mrs. Bunker, who could not see from her window what was going on.  “What are you doing, Laddie?” she called, as she hurried down.

She heard her little boy’s voice in answer: 

“I’m going off in the boat and dig for gold.  No, I won’t come back, Rose.  I’m going to dig for gold.  Come on, Vi!”

Fearing that something was going to happen, Mrs. Bunker ran out on the porch, from where she could see the beach.

CHAPTER VIII

ROSE’S LOCKET

Mrs. Bunker gave a quick glance about to see what was happening.  She noticed Margy and Mun Bun, well up on the beach, digging holes and making little piles of sand.  But down near the inlet, where a boat was tied, Rose was having trouble with Laddie.

The little boy who was so fond of asking riddles, and his sister Violet, who liked to ask questions, had left the place where they first had begun to “dig for gold,” as they called it, and Laddie was about to get into the boat, calling to his sister Vi to follow.

“No, you mustn’t go!” declared Rose.  “You mustn’t get into the boat.  Mother told me to stay and watch you, and you’ve got to keep here on the beach and dig for gold!”

“There isn’t any gold here!” declared Laddie.  “I’ve dug all over, and we can’t find any; can we, Vi?”

“Nope, not a bit,” and Vi shook her curly hair.

“So we’re going out in the boat, like real sailors.  That’s what Sammie Brown’s father did,” went on Laddie.  “Then we’ll find gold.”

“But you mustn’t get into the boat, Laddie, unless Daddy or Cousin Tom is with you!” said Mother Bunker.  “Do as Rose tells you, and come away.”

Laddie did not want to, but he always minded his mother, except when he was very bad, and this was not one of those times.  So he went slowly away from the boat, which was tied to a little pier.

“I was going after gold,” he said.  “We can’t find any here,” and he pointed to the holes he and his little sister had dug.

“But if you went out in the boat alone, or with Vi, you might fall into the water,” said his mother.  “Never get into the boat unless some big person is with you, Laddie.  And I mean you, too, Vi.”

“All right,” said the two children.  “We won’t.”

“Come on!” called Rose to them, now that the dispute was over.  “We will go farther down the shore and dig.  And if we don’t find any gold maybe we’ll find some pretty shells, or a starfish.”

“Does a starfish twinkle, Mother?” asked Vi.