ow, along came Mr. Thompson.

"Merry Christmas!" he called to Russ, Rose and the others.

"Merry Christmas!" they answered.

Mun Bun and Margy, who had been making a little snow man all by
themselves, stopped their play and walked toward the house.

"Where are you going?" asked Russ.

"I'm going to ask Grandma for a cookie," explained Mun Bun. "I'm
hungry."

"So'm I," added Margy.

"Don't eat before dinner," advised Rose. "Save your 'hungry' for the
roast chicken."

And Grandma Ford told the little ones the same thing, but they insisted
that they wanted a cookie each, so she gave them one apiece, but they
were rather small.

"Because," said Grandma, "I want you to eat my nice, brown, roast
chicken."

And Mun Bun and Margy did. For, when dinner time came, they had as good
appetites as any of the others. Every one seemed to be hungry, and, for
a while, the sound of the clatter of the knives, forks and plates was
louder than the talk.

After dinner they sat about the open fire on the big hearth in the
living-room, and cracked nuts. Or, rather, Grandpa Ford cracked them and
the children ate them.

"Wouldn't it be funny," began Russ, "if we should----"

And, just then, there suddenly sounded throughout the house that
strange, groaning sound.

"O-u-g-h-m!"

It seemed louder than ever, and, for a moment, every one was startled.
Mun Bun and Margy ran to their mother.

"Come on!" called Grandpa Ford to Daddy Bunker. "We must find out what
that noise is. It has been going on long enough, and now to have it
come when we are all so happy at Christmas time is too much! We must
find where it is."

"Can't we help hunt?" asked Russ.

"Yes, let us, Mother, won't you?" added Rose.

"But what is it?" asked Laddie. "What makes the funny groaning noise?"

"Maybe Mr. Thompson is blowing his horn," said Vi.

The groaning noise kept up longer this time than ever before. Every few
minutes it would echo through the house. Sometimes it sounded as though
upstairs, and again down in the cellar.

"We'll try the attic," said Grandpa Ford.

He and Daddy Bunker went up there. Grandma Ford and Mother Bunker stayed
in the sitting-room with Mun Bun and Margy.

"Come on!" called Russ to Rose. "Let's go and look."

Rose followed her brother.

"Want to come?" she asked Violet and Laddie.

"Yep," the twins said exactly together, just as twins should, I
suppose.

Russ, Rose, Laddie and Vi walked slowly through the differe