he children under a robe, though
goodness knows it's hot enough without any covering to-day," said Grandma
Bell. "Are all the children here?"

Once more she counted them, naming each one in turn: Russ, Rose, Vi,
Laddie, Margy and Mun Bun--six little Bunkers.

"All here--every one," said Grandma Bell. "Unless you bought a little
baby on the way up."

"Oh, I almost had one!" exclaimed Rose. "I laid my doll down in a seat,
and when I picked her up she was alive, but it was a lady's baby and----"

Once more the voice called from the auto:

"Take me out! Don't leave me here! Oh my eye, give me some pie!"

"There is a child in there!" said Grandma Bell "Who is it?" she asked of
Mr. Mead, who had been taking some of the Bunkers' baggage into the house,
and who came out just then.

"Who is what?" asked the man who had so kindly given the children a ride
over from the station.

"What child is hidden in that auto?" asked Grandma Bell. "It isn't one of
the six little Bunkers, for they're all here. But there is some child in
that auto."

"Why no, there isn't," said Mr. Mead. "There's nobody in my machine
but----"

"Let me out! Oh, let me out!" cried the voice again.

"There!" exclaimed Grandma Bell.

A queer look came over Mr. Mead's face. Then he laughed. Once more the
voice sounded.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

"Who is it?" asked Grandma Bell.

"Why that's Bill Hixon's parrot!" said the owner of the big auto. "I've
got him in a cage in the back of my car. He's doing that yelling. I forgot
all about him!"

"Are you sure it's a parrot and not a child in there?" asked Grandma Bell.

"Oh, sure!" answered Mr. Mead. "There he goes again. Listen!"

Again came the cry:

"Let me out! Let me out! Take me with you! Oh my eye, give me some pie!"

And this time it could be told that the voice was that of a parrot,
though, at first, it had sounded like a little child crying.

"Now you keep still there, Polly," said Mr. Mead.

"Polly wants a cracker! Give Polly a cracker!" shrieked the parrot.

"I'll give you a fire-cracker if you don't keep still," said Mr. Mead with
a laugh.

"Well, I do declare!" said Grandma Bell. "How did Bill Hixon's parrot get
in your auto, Mr. Mead?"

"Oh, Bill's sending him over to his mother's to keep for him while he's
off in the woods lumbering," said Mr. Mead. "He knew I was coming up this
way, Bill Hixon did, so he asked me to bring his parrot along. I put the
bird in his cage under