Before Sue and Uncle Tad could do anything, even if they had known what to do, something very queer happened. The goat, on whose back Bunny was riding, jumped up on the big, circular platform of the merry-go-round. It was on this platform that the wooden animals, birds, and fishes were built, and where, also, were the broad wooden seats for older folk, who did not like to get on the back of a lion or a camel and be twirled around.
The platform was broad, for boys and girls had to step up on it to make their way to whatever animal they wanted to sit on, and the men who collected the tickets also had to walk around on this wooden platform while the machine was in motion. And it was in motion when the live goat jumped on it.
There was plenty of room for "Billy" on the merry-go-round, though why he jumped up on it I cannot say. You can hardly ever tell why a goat does things, anyhow.
THE GOAT LEAPED UPON THE MOVING MERRY-GO-ROUND.THE GOAT LEAPED UPON THE MOVING MERRY-GO-ROUND.
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove.Page 104
Right up on the moving merry-go-round leaped the goat, with Bunny clinging to the long hair of his back. The goat slid along until he came up beside a lion, on whose back a frowsy young person was riding.
"Oh, my!" cried this girl, "one of the wooden animals has come to life." She screamed and would have fallen from the lion, Sue thought, but for the fact that a young man was standing beside her. He had come around to collect her ticket and when he heard her scream and saw her sway back and forth he grasped her.
"Sit still!" advised the ticket-taker.
"But look! Look!" cried the girl. "One of the wooden animals has come to life! Oh, I'm so afraid! And look! He has a little boy on his back!"
The goat on which Bunny was riding was quite large, really as big as one of the wooden goats of the merry-go-round, and, as the make-believe creatures were painted to resemble the real animals as nearly as possible, the sight was a surprising one.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the young man ticket-taker. "It isn't one of the wooden animals! It's a real goat from the ones over by the ponies. He's alive, of course."
The frowsy girl giggled.
"And I'm alive, too!" added Bunny, his hands wound in the goat's long hair. "But I didn't want to ride the goat up here!"
"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" shouted Sue from the outer edge of the merry-go-round, which she and Uncle Tad had now reached. "Look out, Bunny, or you'll fall off!"
There was a laugh from the crowd of evening pleasure-seekers that had gathered at the shore resort.
"I am holding on!" cried Bunny. "Whoa now, goat!" he called.
"Stop the machine!" exclaimed Uncle Tad.
"All right; we'll stop it," said the ticket-taker, who still held to the frowsy young person on the back of the lion.
The goat seemed quiet enough now. Afterit had jumped up on the moving platform, with Bunny on its back, the animal just stood there, looking around. Perhaps it felt quite at home with the wooden horses, the ostriches, lions, tigers, camels, and other creatures so gaily painted and with pieces of looking glass stuck all over them.
Slowly the merry-go-round came to a stop, and the ticket-taker, letting go of the girl, who had not fallen from the back of the lion, hurried to Bunny's side.
"I'll lift you off," he said.
"Thank you," answered Bunny. A moment later he was walking over to join Sue and Uncle Tad, while a man stepped from the crowd and took charge of the goat, which he led to the edge of the platform. The goat leaped down and off as Bunny had done.
"I hope my goat didn't hurt you when he ran away with you," said the man, walking up to Bunny, Sue, and Uncle Tad and leading the horned creature.
"Oh, no, he didn't hurt me," Bunny answered. "But I didn't think he'd run away with me just 'cause I got on his back."
"He isn't used to having boys and girls on his back unless he wears a saddle," the man explained.
"Did you jump on the goat's back, Bunny?" asked Uncle Tad.
"Well, I didn't exactlyjumpon," replied the little boy. "I was leaning over, looking at him, and I sort of wanted to see how it would feel to get on his back. And I did, and then he ran up on the merry-go-round with me. But I held on so I wouldn't fall."
"It's a good thing you did!" declared Sue.
"How did it happen?" asked Uncle Tad.
"All I know about it is this," said the man who owned the goat. "I have a few of these Billies and Nannies for children that don't want a ponyback ride. But I was getting the goats ready to put in the stable for the night, and I'd taken off the saddles. I had my back turned, and the first I knew I heard a shout. I turned and saw this boy on Nero's back, heading for the merry-go-round. I followed as fast as I could. Nero is a gentle goat, but I couldn't tell what he'd do when he got mixed up with the wooden animals," he finished.
"No," said Uncle Tad, "that's so. You did wrong, Bunny, to get on the goat's back without asking permission."
"I—I didn't mean to," said the little boy. "When you and Sue were looking at the glass-blower I went over to look at the ponies and the goats. And I just sort of leaned over this goat, and, first I remember, I was on his back and he ran away with me."
"There's no harm done," said the goat's owner, as the people in the crowd smiled and laughed at what had happened. "Come over in the morning and I'll let you have a regular ride on a saddle—you and your sister," he added as he looked at Sue.
"Thank you," she answered. "I'll come if mother will let me."
"I guess we have to go on to Christmas Tree Cove in the morning," announced Bunny. "Anyhow, I'm much obliged for this ride," he said. "Nero's a good goat," and he patted the head of the animal.
"Yes, he's a good goat," agreed the owner.
Then he took his horned steed back to the pony stand, the merry-go-round started offagain with the loud music, and Uncle Tad took Bunny and Sue back to theFairy.
Of course there was considerable talk and some laughter on board the boat when the story was told of Bunny's goat ride. His mother, laughing, told him never to do such a thing again, and, of course, Bunny said he wouldn't.
"Did you like that ride?" questioned Sue, when they were getting ready to go to bed.
"I did and I didn't," was Bunny's answer. "I got on the goat so sudden-like I didn't have time to make up my mind about it. He was an awful quick goat, Nero was."
"I guess most goats are quick. Once I saw a goat go after a man who was pasting up bills on a board. My, but that man had to run to get out of the way!"
"Maybe the goat wanted his bills or his paste," said Bunny. "I once heard that goats love to eat billboard paper just for the paste on it."
"Maybe so."
Bright and early the next morning Bunker Blue arose and began to wash down the decksof the boat. As he was splashing the water around in his bare feet with his trousers rolled up, a young man with a bundle under his arm came down to the dock.
"Here are the dresses and things Mrs. Brown lent to the young ladies," said the young man. "They are very much obliged. I brought them early, for I thought maybe you'd want to get an early start."
"Yes, I believe we are going to leave soon," answered Bunker. "But I don't like the looks of the weather," he added. "It seems to me we are going to have a storm. If you get another canoe and paddle out in it," he said, "I wouldn't go too far from shore."
"Thank you, I'll be careful," was the answer.
Bunny and Sue awakened and got ready for breakfast, and Bunker told about the visit of the young man. Then the children went out on deck to look at the sea and sky.
I say the "sea," though really it was all part of Sandport Bay, and not exactly the open ocean, though it was a very large body of water.
"Do you think it's going to rain, Bunker?" asked Sue.
"I think it's going to rain and blow, too," answered the fish and boat boy, who had learned to read the weather signs. "But theFairyis able to stand it, I think. How are you after your goat ride, Bunny?"
"Oh, I feel fine!" declared the little boy. "But I want to get to Christmas Tree Cove before long."
"So do I," added Sue. "I'm going to make a little bungalow there for my dolls."
"And I'm going to make one to camp in," declared her brother.
They started off right after breakfast, and as Bunny and Sue played around on the deck they could see their father and Captain Ross talking together and looking up at the sky every now and then.
"We'll keep near shore," they heard the captain say. "Then if the storm breaks we can tie up."
But, though the clouds scudded across the sky all day, the storm did not break. It was black and lowering when evening came, but,after another look all around, Bunny heard the captain say to their father and mother:
"We may as well keep on. It may blow over, and if we tie up over night it will take us just so much longer to get there. I'd better keep on, don't you think?"
"Yes," said Mr. Brown, "keep on."
So theFairykept on through the waters of the bay. Bunny and Sue, after being allowed out on deck to watch the distant twinkling lights of other vessels, were put to bed in their bunks, and Mrs. Brown fastened some broad canvas straps up in front of their berths.
"What are they for?" asked Sue, as she kissed her mother good night.
"So you won't fall out if the boat rolls and rocks too much in the storm," was the answer.
"Oh, I like to be out in a storm!" exclaimed Bunny.
"I do if it's not too hard a storm," said Sue.
"I think this will be only a small one," replied Mrs. Brown, but as she went out on deck and felt the strong wind and noticed how high the waves were she felt a trifle uneasy.
Some hours later Bunny and Sue were each awakened about the same time by feeling themselves being tossed about in their berths. Bunny was flung up against the canvas straps his mother had fastened, and at first he did not know what was happening. Then he heard Sue ask:
"What's the matter?"
"Don't be afraid," said Bunny. "It's only the storm, I guess. Oh, feel that!" he cried, and as he spoke theFairyseemed to be trying to stand on her "head."
Sue Brown did not know quite what to do. As she cuddled up in the little berth aboard theFairy, she felt herself being tossed over toward the edge. At first she was afraid she would be thrown out on the cabin floor, but the strips of canvas her mother had fastened in place stopped the little girl from having a fall, just as they had stopped Bunny.
Sue looked up at the tiny electric light, operated by a storage battery. Captain Ross had put it there so the children would not be in the dark if they awakened in the night and needed something.
"Bunny! Bunny!" exclaimed Sue, "I don't like a storm on a boat at night!"
Before Bunny could answer his sister the door of the little stateroom where they were was opened and Mother Brown looked in.She was dressed, and her head, face and hair were wet as though she had been out in the storm. And she really had, for a moment.
"So you're awake, children," she said. "The storm is a bad one, and we are heading for a quiet cove where we will soon be sheltered and more quiet."
"Can't I get up, Mother, and dress?" asked Bunny. "Maybe we'll have to get off theFairyand into the rowboat, and I want my clothes on."
"Yes, you may get up and dress," said Mrs. Brown. "But there is no danger that we shall have to take to the small boat. It is just a severe summer storm, with much wind and rain, but not much else."
"Does it thunder and lightning?" asked Sue.
"No; or you would have heard it and seen it before this," her mother said. "Here, Sue, I'll take you over in my room and you may dress there. Bunny, can you manage by yourself?"
"Yes, Mother," he answered.
Mrs. Brown carried Sue in her arms to the room across the main cabin. It was not easywork with the boat pitching and tossing as it was, but finally the affair was managed, and Sue had her clothes put on. Bunny dressed himself, though not without some difficulty, for when he tried to stand on his right foot to put his left shoe on he slid across the little room and against the opposite wall. But he was not hurt.
Soon all of them except Captain Ross were in the main cabin. In answer to a question about the sailor, Mr. Brown said:
"He's out steering the boat. He wants to bring her safe into Clam Cove, he says, and then we'll anchor for the night. But he thought it best for us all to be dressed. The storm is worse than any of us thought it would be."
After the first feeling had worn off of being suddenly awakened in the night, Bunny and Sue did not mind it much. They sat around, looking a little anxiously at their father or mother as the boat plunged and rolled, but when they saw how calm their father, mother, Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue were, the children took heart also.
"Here are some cookies," said their mother, bringing out a bag from a locker. "I'd give you some milk to drink, only it would spill the way the boat is rocking."
"Yes," said Mr. Brown, with a smile, "there'd be as much milk on the floor, I imagine, as the children would drink."
The storm grew worse instead of less, but Captain Ross was a good seaman, and in about an hour he brought theFairyinto a sheltered harbor known as Clam Cove, because of the number of clams that were dug there.
"Now we'll ride easier," said Bunker Blue. "I'll go up and help get the anchor over," he added.
Soon Bunny Brown and his sister Sue heard sounds on deck which told of the big anchor being put over the side, and then the boat came to rest. She still pitched and tossed a little, but not nearly as much as before. The wind still blew and the rain came down in pelting drops. But the craft was water-tight and it was, as Bunker Blue said, "as dry as a bone" inside.
"You children can go back to your berthsnow," said Mother Brown, when the cookies had all been eaten. "I don't believe you'll be tossed out now."
"All right," assented Bunny and Sue, for they were beginning to feel sleepy in spite of the excitement of having been awakened by the storm.
And soon, save for the uneasy motion of the storm, which was not felt much in Clam Cove, there was once again calm aboard theFairy.
In the morning, though the wind was still high, the rain had stopped. The outer bay, though, was a mass of big waves, and after one look at them Captain Ross said:
"I think we'd better stay here until it quiets down. We could navigate, but there's no special hurry."
"No," agreed Mr. Brown, "there isn't. We are not due at Christmas Tree Cove at any special time, so we'll take it easy."
"Then we can watch the clam boats," said Bunny. "I like to watch them."
The clam boats were of two kinds, large rowing craft in which one or two men went out and with a long-handled rake pulled clamsup from the bottom of the cove. The other boats were sailing craft. They would start at one side of Clam Cove, spread their sails in a certain way, and drift across the stretch of water. Over the side of the boat were tossed big rakes with long, iron teeth. These rakes, fastened to ropes attached to the boat, dragged over the bottom of the cove much as the fishermen in the small boats dragged their rakes.
Of course the sailboats could use much larger rakes and cover a wider part of the cove. Now and then the men on board the sailboats would haul up the rakes, which were shaped something like a man's hand is when half closed and all the fingers and the thumb are spread out. The clams were dumped on deck, afterward to be washed and sorted.
The sight was not new to any of the Browns, and of course Bunker, Uncle Tad, and Captain Ross had often taken part in clam raking. But Bunny and Sue never tired of watching it. Now they sat on deck, as much out of the wind as possible, and looked at the drifting boats and at the clammers in their dorries.
The storm was passing. Gradually thewind was dying out and the waves were getting smaller.
"I think we can start again by this afternoon," said Mr. Brown, coming up on deck following a short nap in the cabin. He had felt sleepy after dinner.
"Yes, we can leave before evening if you say so," replied Captain Ross. "How are you enjoying it?" he asked Sue. "Let's see, I know a riddle about a clam, if I can think of it. Let me see now, I wonder——"
"Where's Bunny?" asked Mrs. Brown, coming up on the deck at that moment.
"Wasn't he with you?" asked her husband.
"No, he didn't come down. I asked Bunker some time ago about him, and Bunker said he was on deck with Sue. But he isn't. Where is Bunny?"
When a family is making a trip on a boat and one of the children becomes lost, or is missing, there is always more worry than if the same thing happened on land. For the first thing a father and a mother think of when on a boat and they do not see their children or know where they are, is that the missing child has fallen into the lake, river or ocean—whatever the body of water may be.
So when Mrs. Brown came up on the deck of theFairyand did not see Bunny, who she had thought was with Sue, she asked at once where he was.
And when Mr. Brown heard his wife say that Bunny had not come to the cabin he, too, began to wonder where the little boy was.
"Where did Bunny go, Sue?" asked Mother Brown. "Wasn't he sitting here with you?"
"Yes, he was here a little while ago," answered Sue. "And then I was watching two of the sailboats to see if they would bump together, and I didn't look at Bunny. When I did look he was gone, but I thought he was downstairs."
"He isn't," said Mrs. Brown, "and he isn't here on deck. Oh, if he——"
She did not finish what she was going to say, but quickly ran to the side of the boat and looked down into the water, as if she might see Bunny paddling around there. TheFairywas still anchored in Clam Cove, waiting for the storm to blow out.
"Is Bunny in swimming?" asked Sue.
"What's the matter?" asked Captain Ross, who was up "for'ard," as he called it, meaning the front of the boat. He and Bunker Blue were mending one of the sails. "Anything wrong, Mrs. Brown?" asked the jolly old sailor.
"I can't find Bunny," she answered. "He was here with Sue a moment ago. Oh, I'm afraid Bunny——"
"Now, don't think that anything has happened!" interrupted Mr. Brown. "He's probably hiding somewhere."
"Bunny wouldn't do that," declared his mother.
"No, we weren't playing hide and go seek," said Sue.
"Then he must be downstairs in one of the cabins, or he is asleep in his berth," said Mr. Brown. "I'll look."
"I'll help," offered Uncle Tad, who, himself, had been taking a nap in his berth.
"I suppose he must be down below if he isn't up here," said Mrs. Brown, hoping this was true. "I want to look, too."
Sue was beginning to be a bit frightened now, and she started to follow the others below, while Captain Ross and Bunker Blue, seeing how worried Mr. and Mrs. Brown were, dropped the sail on which they were working and decided to join in the search.
It did not take them long to make a search of the boat below decks. No Bunny was to be found. He was not in his own bunk, nor in that of any one else, nor was he in the small room where the gasolene motor was built,though Bunny liked to go there to watch the whirring wheels when the motor was in motion.
"Where can he be?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.
Then, suddenly, Sue gave a joyful cry and clapped her hands.
"I think I know where he is!" exclaimed the little girl. "I just happened to think about it. Come on!"
Wonderingly they followed her. Sue ran to the stern of theFairy, where the steering wheel was placed. Here was a small rowboat turned bottomside up. It was kept for the purpose of going to and from shore when the larger craft was anchored out in the bay.
Going close to this overturned boat Sue leaned down so she could look under it. The two ends of the boat, being higher than the middle, raised it slightly from the deck, leaving a sort of long, narrow slot. And Sue called into this slot:
"Bunny! are you there? Answer me. Are you there?"
For an instant there was no reply, and Mrs.Brown, who had begun to think she should have looked there first, was about to conclude that, after all, it was a wrong guess, when suddenly a voice answered:
"Yes; here I am."
The boat tilted to one side and out from beneath it came rolling Bunny Brown. He seemed sleepy, and his clothes were mussed while his hair was rumpled. And there was a queer look on his face.
"Why, Bunny! Bunny Brown, what possessed you to crawl under that boat and go to sleep?" asked his mother. "You have frightened us! We thought perhaps you had fallen overboard."
"No," said Bunny slowly, shaking his head, "I didn't."
"We see you didn't," said his father, a bit sternly. "But why did you hide under the boat?"
"I wasn't hiding," answered Bunny. "And if I had fallen overboard into the water you would have heard me yell," he went on, speaking slowly.
"I suppose so," agreed Mr. Brown. "Butif you weren't hiding under that boat, what were you doing?"
"I was—I was thinking," answered Bunny sheepishly.
"Thinking!" exclaimed his mother.
"Yes, about the dog that took your pocketbook," went on the little boy. "I wanted to be in a quiet place where I could think about him and maybe guess where he was so I could make him give back your diamond ring, Mother. So I crawled under the boat. It was nice and warm there, and the wind didn't blow on me, and I was thinking and I was thinking, and——"
"And then you fell asleep, didn't you?" asked Uncle Tad, as they all stood around Bunny on deck.
"Yes, I guess I did," was the answer. "And I didn't dream about the dog, either."
"Did you think of any way to find him?" asked Captain Ross.
"No," answered Bunny, "I didn't. But I wish I could."
"Oh, you mustn't think any more about that dog," said his mother, with a smile, as shepatted the little boy's tousled head. "I'll manage to get along without my diamond ring, though I would like to have it back."
"Well, I couldn't think," complained Bunny, with a sigh. "I guess maybe I was too sleepy."
"Better not hide yourself away again," cautioned his father. "You must be extra careful aboard a boat so your mother will not have to worry, or this trip to Christmas Tree Cove will not be any pleasure to her."
"When shall we get there—to the place where the Christmas trees are, Daddy?" asked Sue.
"Oh, to-morrow, I guess," answered Captain Ross. "I'll land you up there, and then I'll cruise back. And I'll come after you, to bring you home, whenever you want me," he added to Mr. Brown.
"We're going to stay all summer," said Bunny. "Wouldn't it be funny if we could find that big dog and your pocketbook at the Cove, Mother?" he asked.
"Oh, that could never happen!" declared Sue.
So the lost Bunny was found, and then it was nearly time to get supper. The wind had all died out now, and it was so calm in the cove that Captain Ross decided to start the boat without further delay.
"We can tie up wherever you want to over night, or we can anchor out in the bay, or keep on going," he said to his passengers.
"I think we'd better keep on going," said Mrs. Brown. "I shall worry less about Bunny and Sue when they are lost if it happens on dry land. I'll know then that they haven't fallen overboard."
"We could fall in off shore, just the same as off a boat," suggested Bunny.
"Not quite so easily. And you must be careful when you get to the bungalow in Christmas Tree Cove," said Daddy Brown. "The bungalow is right on the shore, but the water is shallow for a long distance out," he went on.
"Oh, I'm not going to fall in!" declared Bunny.
"Then we'll start and travel all night," said Captain Ross. "Speaking of falling into thewater," he said, with a jolly laugh, "can you tell me the answer to this riddle, Bunny or Sue? Why should you tie a cake of soap around your neck when you go in swimming?"
"I never tied a cake of soap around my neck," said the little girl.
"I like to play the cake of soap is a boat in the bathtub," remarked Bunny. "It's lots of fun."
"But this is a riddle," went on the seaman. "Why should you tie a cake of soap around your neck if you go in swimming in deep water?"
"It can't be for you to eat if you get hungry," said Bunny, "can it, Captain Ross?"
"Of course not!" cried his sister. "How could you eat a cake ofsoap?"
"You could if it was a chocolate cake," returned the little boy. "But that isn't the answer to the riddle. Please tell us, Captain," he begged, as Bunker Blue began to pull up the anchor.
"When you go swimming in deep water and get carried too far out, if you have a cake of soap tied around your neck it might wash youashore! Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed the jolly old sailor. "Do you see, Bunny—Sue? If you had a cake of soap on your neck it couldwash you ashore. Soap washes, you know."
"That's a pretty good riddle," said Uncle Tad, while the two children laughed. "I must remember that to tell my old friend Joe Jamison when I get back to Bellemere. A cake of soap washes you ashore! Ha! Ha!"
"Oh, I know a lot of better ones than that," said Captain Ross. "Only I can't think of 'em just now. Well, all clear, Bunker?" he called.
"Yes, sir," was the answer.
"Then start the motor."
And soon theFairywas under way again.
Supper was served as the boat slipped through the blue water of the big bay. It was a calm, quiet, peaceful night, quite different from the one of the storm, and Bunny and Sue did not have to be strapped in their bunks. They slept well, and when they came on deck in the morning they looked over toward shore.
"Oh, what a lot of Santa Claus trees!" cried Sue. "Look, Bunny!"
"That's Christmas Tree Cove up there,"said Captain Ross, pointing to the evergreens where they were thickest. "We'll soon be there."
"And, oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Bunny. "I'm going to dig clams and catch crabs, and we'll have a clambake on shore, Sue."
"And my dolls can come to it, can't they?" asked the little girl. "I brought some of my dolls with me, but they're packed up," she added.
"Oh, yes, your dolls can come to the clambake," agreed Bunny. "Will there be any other boys up at Christmas Tree Cove to play with?" he asked his father.
"Or girls?" Sue wanted to know.
"Yes. It is quite a summer resort," was the answer. "I fancy you will have plenty of playmates."
"I had better be getting things ready to go ashore, I suppose," said Mrs. Brown.
"Yes," answered her husband. "I'll help you."
They were just going down into the cabin, and Bunny and Sue were on deck, looking atthe distant green trees, when there was a sudden shock, a bump, and the boat keeled far over to one side. It seemed as if theFairyhad struck something in the water.
"Oh, we're going to sink!" cried Sue.
Bunker Blue, who was at the steering wheel of theFairy, heard the dull noise, felt the shock, and saw the boat tip over to one side. Instantly he pulled the wire which shut off the motor, and then he turned the steering wheel over, trying to make the boat come upright again.
This the craft did, though Sue kept on calling:
"We're going to sink!"
Soon the boat was resting quietly in the water, on a "level keel," as a sailor would say, and floating slowly along.
"Now we're all right, Sue!" said Bunny. "Stop your yelling! We're not going to sink!"
"How do you know?" she asked. "We bumped into something, and maybe there's a hole, and the water's coming in, and——"
Just then Mr. and Mrs. Brown came running up on deck, followed by Uncle Tad and Captain Ross. The old seaman, with an anxious look around, called to Bunker Blue.
"What happened? Did some one run into us?"
"Felt more as if we ran into something," Bunker answered. "But I didn't see so much as a canoe."
"We struck something under water, of that I'm sure," said Captain Ross. "We'd better take a look. We're near shore, anyhow, and it won't take long to row over if we have to," he added. "But we surely did hit something."
"Maybe it was a whale," suggested Sue.
"Whales don't come up in the bay. They're too big and fat," declared Bunny.
"Well, maybe then it was a shark," the little girl went on. "They're not so fat."
Captain Ross and Mr. Brown hurried below deck again, but presently came up, and the seaman said:
"We can't find anything wrong below—no leak or anything. We may have hit a big, submerged log or piece of a wreck. Start themotor again, Bunker, and we'll see if that's all right."
The gasolene engine was not damaged, but something else was wrong. As soon as the machinery started there was a trembling and throbbing throughout the whole boat, but she did not move ahead.
"I see what the matter is!" said Captain Ross. "The propeller is broken. It hit something."
"Oh, can't we go to Christmas Tree Cove?" asked Sue.
"We'll get there somehow," answered Captain Ross. "But the propeller is surely broken."
And so it proved. The propeller, you know, is something like an electric fan. It whirls around underwater and pushes the boat ahead. The propeller on theFairyhad struck a floating log and had been broken, as they found out later.
"If we can't go by means of the engine we can sail," remarked Captain Ross, when it was found that the boat would not move an inch, no matter how fast the motor whirled around."Hoist the sail, Bunker. We'll get Bunny Brown and his sister Sue to Christmas Tree Cove yet! Hoist the sail!"
"Oh, it's lots of fun to sail!" cried Bunny.
"I like it better than motoring!" added Sue, who was no longer yelling.
Soon the white sail was hoisted, and, as the wind blew, theFairyslipped easily along through the water. There was no "jiggle" now, as Bunny called it, for the motor was not running like a sewing machine down in the hold of the boat.
Nearer and nearer the boat approached the shore. The clumps of green trees became more plain. Soon little houses and bungalows could be seen. Then the children saw a long dock extending out into the water.
"That's where we tie up," said Captain Ross. "I think the wind will hold until we get there."
"It's too bad you had such bad luck bringing us here," said Mrs. Brown. "I'm sorry, Captain, that your boat is broken."
"Oh, a smashed propeller isn't anything," he answered, with a laugh. "I was going toget a new one, anyhow. I'll just land you folks and then I'll sail back to Bellemere and have my boat fixed."
"And then you can come back and get us," said Sue; "but not for a long, long time, 'cause Bunny and I are going to stay at Christmas Tree Cove and have fun."
"That's what we are!" said Bunny Brown.
Slowly the boat swept up to the dock. Then the sail was lowered, and she was tied fast. Next began the work of unloading the things the Browns had brought with them to keep house all summer in the little bungalow, which was not far from the dock.
Mr. Brown, Uncle Tad, Captain Ross and Bunker Blue unloaded the things, and Mr. Brown hired a man to cart them to the bungalow. Bunny and Sue said good-bye to Captain Ross, who, with the help of a man whom he could hire at Christmas Tree Cove, would sail his boat back later that day. Then the children, with their mother, walked up a little hill to the little house where they hoped to spend many happy days.
"Oh, isn't it pretty!" exclaimed Sue, as shestrolled up the path, bordered with clam shells. "It's awful nice here."
"I hope you will like it," said Mrs. Madden, the woman who had been engaged by Mr. Brown to open the bungalow and sweep it out in readiness for the family. "I live near here, and we like it very much," she added, as she held the door open for Mrs. Brown and the children.
"Can you catch any fish?" asked Bunny, looking down toward the water and the dock where his father and the others were lifting things out from the boat.
"Oh, yes, there's fine fishing and clamming and crabbing," said Mrs. Madden. "My boy and girl will show you the best places."
"That will be nice," said Mrs. Brown. "Now we'll have a look at the place." Neither Mother Brown nor the children had yet seen the bungalow which Mr. Brown had engaged for them.
They went inside, and while Mrs. Madden was showing Mrs. Brown about the house Bunny and Sue ran off by themselves to see what they could find.
Mrs. Madden was just pointing out to Mrs. Brown what a pleasant place the dining-room was, giving a view of the bay, when suddenly a great crash sounded throughout the house. It was followed by silence, and then Sue's voice rang out, saying:
"Oh, Mother! Come quick! Bunny's in! Bunny's in!"
Mrs. Brown, who had been looking at the beautiful view of Christmas Tree Cove from the window of the bungalow dining-room, turned to Mrs. Madden when Sue's cry rang out.
"Something has happened to those children!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Where are they calling from? I must go to them."
"That cry sounded as if it came from the pantry," answered the other woman. "It's just through that door," and she pointed.
As Mother Brown started for the place Sue called again:
"Please come quick! Bunny's in and he can't get out!"
"What can't he get out of?" asked Mrs. Brown.
Mother Brown pushed open the door leading into the pantry, and there she saw a strange sight. Sue was standing beside Bunny and trying to pull him out of a barrel in which he was doubled up in a funny way, almost as a clown in a circus sometimes doubles himself up to slide through a keg. Only Bunny was not sliding through. He was doubled up and stuck in the barrel.
"He's in," explained Sue, "and I can't get him out."
"And I can't get out either!" added Bunny. "I'm stuck!"
"Are you hurt?" asked his mother.
"No, not 'zactly," he replied. "'Cept it sort of pinches me."
Mrs. Brown did not stop to ask how it had happened. She took hold of Bunny on one side, and Mrs. Madden took hold of him on the other. Then, while Sue helped them hold down on the barrel, they pulled up on the little fellow and soon had him out. Luckily the edge of the barrel was smooth and without any nails, so that Bunny was not scratched nor were his clothes torn.
"Now tell me about it," said his mother, asshe set him on the floor and led him and Sue out of the small pantry.
"Well, I—I was climbing up on the barrel to see if there was anything to eat on the shelves," explained Bunny Brown. "And some boards were on the barrel. I stepped on them, but they slipped; and then——"
"And then Bunny slipped!" broke in Sue. "I saw him slip, but I couldn't stop him."
"And then I went right on down into the barrel," resumed Bunny. "And I was stuck there, and Sue hollored like anything, and—well, I didn't find a single thing to eat," he ended.
"No, I didn't order any food for you, as I didn't know just what you'd want," explained Mrs. Madden. "If you're hungry," she said to the children, "you can come over to my cottage—it isn't far—and I can give you some bread and milk."
"Oh, I am hungry!" said Bunny.
"So'm I," added Sue.
"I couldn't think of troubling you," put in Mrs. Brown. "We have some things on the boat, and——"
"I've just baked some cookies," went on Mrs. Madden, who lived at Christmas Tree Cove all the year around. "I'm sure the children would like them. My boy and girl, who are about the same age as yours, like my cookies very much;" and she smiled at Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, Mother," began Bunny, "couldn't we——"
"Let me take them over and give them a little lunch while you are getting things to rights," urged the kind woman to Mrs. Brown. "It will be no trouble at all, and Rose and Jimmie will be glad to see them."
"Are they your children?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, dear. And they'll be glad if you'll play with them."
"Very well, they may go. And thank you very much for the invitation," said Mrs. Brown. "It will be better to have them out of the way when the men are bringing in the trunks and things. But I hope they will give you no trouble. Don't fall into any more barrels, Bunny!"
"I won't," promised the little boy. "Iwouldn't 'a' fallen in this one if the boards hadn't slipped."
"It's the flour barrel," explained Mrs. Madden. "The family that was here last year used to have a regular cover for the barrel, but one of the boys took the cover to make a boat of, and after that they put some loose boards back on."
"I'll have Mr. Brown make a new cover for the barrel," said Mrs. Brown. "But that doesn't mean, Bunny, that you may climb on it again," she added.
"Oh, I won't," he agreed. "I was just climbing up to see if there was anything to eat on the pantry shelves. But I won't have to do that if you're going to give us some cookies," he added, looking at Mrs. Madden.
"Yes, I'm going to give you some cookies," she laughed. "Come along. I'll bring them back safely," she added.
So, while Mr. Brown, Captain Ross, Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad carried the things up to the bungalow from the boat and dock, Bunny and Sue followed Mrs. Madden to her cottage not far from the bungalow. Mr. Madden wasa clammer and fisherman, and his wife did some work for the summer colonists.
Bunny and Sue saw a little boy and girl of about their own ages looking at them as they neared the cottage.
"Here are some new playmates for you, Jimmie and Rose," said their mother. "They are hungry, too."
"And my brother Bunny fell in a barrel when he was looking for something to eat on the pantry shelves," explained Sue.
"Did it hurt you?" Jimmie Madden wanted to know.
"No; it was fun," laughed Bunny Brown, and then he told of that adventure.
Mrs. Madden brought out some glasses of milk, slices of bread and jam, and also a plateful of cookies, at the sight of which the eyes of Bunny and Sue opened wide with delight. Then followed a pleasant little play party on the shady porch of the cottage.
Rose and Jimmie told of the fun to be had at Christmas Tree Cove—how there were shallow wading places, deeper pools for bathing, and little nooks where one could fish.
"Can you go out in a boat?" asked Jimmie of Bunny.
"Yes, if somebody bigger goes with us," Bunny answered. "We can get my Uncle Tad to take us out."
"Sometimes Rose and I go out with my father when he's fishing or digging clams," said the Christmas Tree Cove lad. "I can dig clams at low tide."
"I've done that, too," said Bunny. "We live on Sandport Bay."
The four children talked and played until it was time for Bunny and Sue to run back to the bungalow. They found that all the things had been brought up from the boat and that Captain Ross had sailed away again. The bungalow was furnished, and Mrs. Brown had only to bring such things as knives and forks for the table, linen for the beds, and the clothes they were to wear.
A grocer and a butcher had called while Bunny and Sue were at the Madden cottage, and now supper was being prepared by Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad, each of them being almost as good a cook as was Mrs. Brown.
Mrs. Brown and her husband were busy making up the beds for the night, and as Bunny and Sue came racing in, almost as hungry as though they had not been given a lunch by Mrs. Madden, their mother called to them:
"Get washed for supper now, children."
A little later they were sitting down to their first meal in the bungalow at Christmas Tree Cove.
"Do you think you are going to like it here?" asked Daddy Brown.
"It's dandy!" exclaimed Bunny, being careful not to talk with his mouth too full of bread and butter. "And Jimmie is a nice boy."
"I like Rose, too," said Sue.
After supper the children ran over to the cottage to play again, and before bedtime they walked along the sandy beach with their father and mother. But pretty soon it was noticed that Bunny and Sue were not saying much, and their walk was becoming slow.
"Time for little sailors to turn in!" said Mother Brown, and soon Bunny and Sue were slumbering in little white beds in the bungalow.
The rest of the family, except Bunker Blue, sat up rather late, talking over the events of the past few days. They had enjoyed the trip to Christmas Tree Cove, all except the storm.
"I know we'll have a lovely summer," said Mrs. Brown, as she and her husband went to bed.
When they were passing Bunny's room a dog barked in the distance. The little fellow seemed to hear it, for he sat up in bed and cried:
"There! There he is! There's the dog that has your ring, Mother! I'm going to get it!"
"He's talking in his sleep again," whispered Mr. Brown.
"Yes," agreed his wife in a low voice. "The loss of the pocketbook seems to get on his mind. Go to sleep, Bunny," she murmured to him, going into his room, and pressing his head down on the pillow. Then he turned over and went off to Slumberland again.
The next day and the many that followed were full of joy for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They played with Rose and Jimmie, they waded in the water, they sailed littleboats, and they made houses in the sand. Often, as they sat on the beach, Bunny would look back toward the thick green clumps of evergreen trees which gave the place its name.
"Couldn't we go and take a walk in them?" he asked Jimmie one day.
"Yes," was the answer. "Only you want to be careful."
"Why?" asked Bunny.
"'Cause the woods are awful thick. You can't see your way very well, and once Rose and I got lost."
"Oh, we wouldn't go in very far," said Bunny. "Some day I'm going into those woods."
Two or three days after that, when he and Sue had played in the sand until they were tired, Bunny said:
"Let's go to the woods!"
"All right!" agreed Sue. "Shall we get Jimmie and Rose?"
"No, let's go by ourselves," said her brother. "I want to see if we can find our way all by ourselves."
And so, not telling their father or mother or Uncle Tad or Bunker Blue anything about it, off the two children started.
It was pleasant, shady and cool in the evergreen woods of Christmas Tree Cove. On the ground were brown pine needles and the shorter ones from the spruces and the hemlocks. Here and there the sun shone down through the thick branches, but not too much. It was like being in a green bower.
On and on wandered Bunny and Sue, thinking what a nice place it was. They found pine cones and odd stones, with, here and there, a bright flower.
All of a sudden Sue looked around.
"Bunny, it's getting dark," she said. "I can't see the sun any more. I guess it's night, and we'd better go back home."
"I don't believe it's night," said the little boy. "I guess the trees are so thick we can't see the sun. But we can go home. I'm getting hungry, anyhow. Come on."
They turned about to go back, and walked on for some time. Sue took hold of Bunny's hand.
"It's getting terrible dark," she said. "Where's home, Bunny?"
The little boy looked around.
"I—I guess it isn't far," he said. "But it is dark, Sue. I wish I had a flashlight. Next time I'm going to bring one. But we'll soon be home."
However, they were not. It rapidly grew darker, and at last Bunny Brown knew what had happened.
"We're lost, and it's going to be a dark night," he said, holding more tightly to Sue's hand. "We're lost in the Christmas trees!" he added, and his sister gave a little cry and held tightly to him.
For some little time Bunny Brown and his sister Sue stood among the Christmas trees, as they called the evergreens that lined the shore of the cove. The night seemed to get darker and darker. It was really only dusk, and it was much lighter out on the open beach than it was under the trees. But the trouble was that Bunny and Sue were in among the evergreens and they thought it later than it really was.
"Oh, Bunny, what are we going to do?" asked his sister after a while, during which she had held tightly to his hand and looked about.
Bunny was looking around also, trying to think what was the best thing to do. He was older than his sister, and he felt that he must take care of her and not frighten her.
"I—I guess we'd better walk along, Sue," said Bunny at last.
"But maybe then we'll get lost more," Sue suggested.
"We can't be lost any more than we are," declared Bunny. "We can't see our bungalow and we don't know where it is and—and, well, we'd better walk on."
Bunny looked at his sister. He saw her lips beginning to tremble, dark as it was under the trees. And when Sue's lips quivered in that way Bunny knew what it meant.
"Sue, are you going to cry?" he asked, coming to a stop after they had walked on a little way. "Are you going to cry—real?"
"I—I was, Bunny," she answered. "Don't you want me to?"
"No, I don't!" he said, very decidedly. "It's of no use to cry, 'cause you can't find your house that way, and it makes your nose hurt. Don't cry, Sue."
"All right, I won't," bravely agreed the little girl. "I won't cry real, I'll just cry make-believe."
And then and there some tears rolled outof her eyes, down her cheeks, and dropped on the ground. Sue also "sniffled" a little, and she seemed to be holding back gasping, choking sounds in her throat.
Bunny looked at her in some surprise. He saw the salty tears on her cheeks.
"That's awful like real crying, Sue," he said.
"Well, it isn't. It's onlymake-believe, like—like the crying we saw the lady do in the mov-movin' pictures!" exclaimed Sue, choking back what was really a real sob. "I'm only making believe," she went on. "But if we don't stop being lost pretty soon, Bunny, maybe I'll have to cry real."
"Well," answered the little boy, with a sigh, as he took a firmer hold of Sue's hand, "maybe you will."