if I were you," said Mrs. Bunker. "One
skate is not of much use to you, Rose, and if Russ can make a sort of
wagon, or skatemobile, as I have heard them called, it will be fun for
all of you."

"All right," said Rose, after thinking over what her mother said. "But I
got to have my turns."

"Yes, you may all have turns," said Mother Bunker, who usually settled
disputes in this gentle way. "Now, Russ and Laddie, let us see you make
the funny coaster wagon."

Rose let Laddie take the roller skate off her foot, and then Russ took
the two front wheels from the two back ones. He had looked at a
"skatemobile" a few days before, and, being a clever little chap, he
remembered how it was made.

"I can get the pieces of board out in the garage," said Russ. "I saw
William have some, and he said I could take them."

Russ did not find it quite so easy to make the coaster wagon as he had
thought. To fasten the wheels of the skate to the board he used many
nails, and bent most of them. Then William, who had been doing something
to Aunt Jo's automobile, came out and watched Russ at work.

"Ouch!" Russ suddenly exclaimed.

"What's the matter?" asked the chauffeur.

"I pounded my finger!" said the little boy, as he popped it into his
mouth. "It hurts!" But he did not cry.

"Yes, it generally does hurt when you hit your finger or thumb with a
hammer," said William. "Better let me finish that for you. I can put the
wheels on so they won't come off."

"I wish you would then," said Russ. "We want to see how it works."

William did not take long to fasten the four wheels to the long, narrow
board, two wheels on each end, so that it could easily coast down the
sidewalk hill in front of Aunt Jo's house. Then, to the front of the
narrow board, just as Russ had explained, William nailed a handle,
making it stick straight up, so it could be grasped by whoever was
taking a ride.

"Now your skate wagon is done," he said.

"Let's go out and try it!" cried Laddie.

"But I've got to have a turn," insisted Rose. "It's my skate."

"You shall all have turns," put in Mother Bunker, who had come out to
the garage to see how matters were going. "That is, all except Mun Bun
and Margy. I'm afraid they're too little to coast. They might fall off."

"I'll hold 'em on and give 'em a ride," offered Russ, who was very kind
to his little brother and sister.

"You can have the first ride," said Laddie to Rose, "'cause it's your
roller skate."