BUNNY AND SUE GET LOST IN THE WOODS.BUNNY AND SUE GET LOST IN THE WOODS.
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove.Page 154
Then the children walked on together, making their way through the dark Christmas woods. They really did not know where they were going. It was some time since Bunny had glimpsed a sight of the bungalow.
All at once, as they walked along, they heard the distant bark of a dog. At once Suestood still and pulled her brother to a stop also.
"Bunny! did you hear that?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied, "I did. It's nothing but a dog, and he's a good way off, 'cause his bark was real little."
"But, Bunny! maybe it's the dog that took mother's pocketbook and ring," Sue went on. "If it is we ought to chase him!" She was forgetting her fear of being lost now in the excitement over hearing the dog bark and in thinking he might be the one that had caused the loss of the diamond ring.
"Listen!" whispered Bunny.
He and Sue stood in the fast-darkening woods and to their ears the bark of the dog sounded fainter now.
"He's going away," announced Bunny. "Anyhow, I don't s'pose he was the same dog. That dog never could get away up here. It must be some other one."
"Well, maybe it is," agreed Sue. "Oh, Bunny, when are we going to get home?" she asked, and this time it sounded very much as though she were going to cry in earnest.
"I guess we'll be home pretty soon now," said Bunny hopefully. "Let's walk over this way;" and he pointed to a new path that crossed the one they had been walking along for some time.
Sue was very willing to leave it to Bunny, and she walked along beside her brother, never once letting go his hand. All at once the children heard a rustling in the leaves of the bushes that grew amid the trees. They could hear little sticks being broken, as though some one were stepping on them.
"Oh, Bunny!" exclaimed Sue, shrinking close to her brother, "maybe it is the dog coming after us!"
"It couldn't be," said Bunny quickly. "If it was the dog he'd bark, wouldn't he?"
"I guess he would," Sue answered. "But we—we'd, better look out, Bunny."
"I'll get a stick," offered the little boy, "and if it's a bad dog I'll——"
He was interrupted by a cry from Sue—a joyful cry.
"Oh, Bunny," shouted the little girl, "it isn't a dog at all! It's Bunker Blue! Here he is!Did you come for us, Bunker?" she asked, as Mr. Brown's boat boy came brushing his way through the shrubbery.
"Yes, I've been looking for you," answered Bunker. "Your mother was getting worried, but Rose and Jimmie Madden said they'd seen you come up into these woods, and I thought I'd find you here."
"Oh, I'm so glad you did, Bunker!" cried Sue, catching hold of one of his hands. "We were lost—Bunny and I were—and we heard a dog bark; and maybe he was the one that took my mother's pocketbook. Did you hear him, Bunker?"
"Yes, I heard him, Sue," he said, with a smile at the children who were no longer lost. "But it isn't the same dog, I'm pretty sure. That pocketbook and ring are gone forever, I guess. Now come on home."
"Do you know the way?" asked Sue, as Bunny took hold of Bunker's other hand.
"Oh, yes. And it isn't far to the bungalow," answered the fish boy. "You couldn't see it on account of the thick trees."
And, surely enough, in a little while he ledthem out on the path to the beach and they were soon at the bungalow again.
"You must not go off into these woods alone again," said Mrs. Brown. "They are thicker and darker than the woods at home, Bunny, and it is easier for you to get lost in them. Don't go to them alone again."
"No'm, I won't," promised the little fellow. "But wouldn't it have been fine, Mother, if we could have found the dog that took your diamond ring?"
"Yes, Bunny, it would be lovely," said Mrs. Brown. "But I'm afraid that will never happen."
There were so many things to do to have fun at Christmas Tree Cove that Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to play at first. Each day brought new joys. They could build houses on the sand, paddle or bathe in the cool, shallow water, sail tiny boats which Uncle Tad made for them, or take walks with their mother.
Daddy Brown stayed for several days at the cove, and then he had to go back to Bellemere to his dock and boat business. But he said hewould come to the cove again as soon as he could.
Uncle Tad and Bunker stayed at the bungalow to help Mrs. Brown, and Bunker often took Bunny and Sue out in a rowboat on the quiet waters of the cove.
One day Mrs. Brown took some sewing, packed a small basket of lunch, and said to the children:
"Now, Bunny and Sue, we will have a little picnic all by ourselves. Bunker and Uncle Tad are going fishing, so we will go down to the beach and stay all the afternoon. We will eat our lunch there, and while I sit and sew you children can play around."
Bunny and Sue thought this would be fun, and soon they started off. It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, and soon Mrs. Brown was busy with her needle while Sue and her brother played on the sand.
Mother Brown was trying to thread a very fine needle, which seemed to have closed its eye and gone to sleep, when suddenly Sue came running up to her so fast that she almostoverturned the sun umbrella which Mrs. Brown had raised to make a shade.
"Oh, Mother! Mother!" gasped Sue, so out of breath that she could hardly speak. "Oh, Mother! Come quick!"
"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, getting quickly to her feet.
"Oh, it's Bunny's toe! It's Bunny's toe!" was all Sue said, and, catching hold of her mother's hand, she pulled her down toward the water.
Mrs. Brown was used to seeing things happen to Bunny and Sue. They were lively children, getting into mischief fully as often as other tots of their same age did, and it was not unusual to have one of them hurt slightly.
So when Sue ran up to her mother and began to cry out about Bunny's toe, Mrs. Brown looked down the beach where she had left the two children playing. There she saw Bunny dancing around on one foot in a shallow pool of water, left there when the tide went out. And as he danced on one foot Bunny held the other up in the air, and he was crying something which his mother could not hear.
"Sue," asked Mrs. Brown, as she hurried down the slope leading to the beach proper, "did Bunny step on a broken bottle and cut his toe?"
"No, Mother, it isn't that," answered the little girl. "I don't know just what it is. I was making a little house on the sand, and Bunny was wading in the water. All of a sudden he yelled, and told me to go and get you 'cause there was something the matter with his toe."
"He probably cut himself," said Mrs. Brown, and she began to search in her pocket for an extra handkerchief. It would not be the first time Bunny or Sue had suffered a cut foot because of stepping on a sharp shell or a piece of glass while in wading.
But when Mrs. Brown and Sue reached the edge of the little pool in which Bunny was hopping about on one foot, holding himself up by leaning on a piece of driftwood he had picked up and was using as a crutch, his mother saw what the matter was.
"Take it off my toe! Take it off my toe!" cried Bunny.
"It's a big, pinching crab," said Mrs. Brown. "Oh, Bunny, I'm so sorry! Come out of the water and I'll make it let go of you. Come out!"
By this time Sue, also, had seen the cause of the trouble. A big crab had been caught when the tide went down, and was in the pool of water, which, surrounded by sand, was like a little lake. Bunny must have stepped on the creature when wading. It had nipped the big toe of his left foot, and was holding on, though Bunny had raised his foot out of the water as far as he could.
"Come here, Bunny. I'll get him off for you," his mother called.
"I can't come! How am I going to walk on one foot?" and Bunny howled, for the crab was pinching hard.
"Can't you skip, as we do when we play hopscotch?" asked Sue.
"Maybe," her brother answered.
He was about to try it, and his mother was just going to tell him that a better way would be to dip his foot back in the water when the crab might swim away, when the pinching creature decided to let go anyhow. It loosened its claws and dropped with a splash into the puddle of water.
"Oh, he's gone! He let go my toe!" criedBunny, and then he ran up the sandy shore as fast as he could go.
"Let me see where he pinched you," said Mrs. Brown, when Bunny had reached her side. "Is it bleeding?"
"Yes, I guess it is! And maybe he pinched my whole toe off," said Bunny, almost ready to cry.
He held up his bare foot, and his mother looked at the toe. It was quite red, but the skin was not broken and there was no blood.
"Is it—is it off?" asked Bunny, his voice trembling.
"No, you silly boy, it isn't even bleeding," laughed his mother.
"Well, it—it felt as if it was off," said Bunny. "I don't like crabs."
"No, they aren't very pleasant when they nip you," agreed his mother. "But this one took such a big pinch and his claw was so much over your toe nail that he really did very little damage. You'd better not wade in that pool any more."
"I won't," decided Bunny.
He sat down and softly rubbed his toe wherethe crab had pinched him. As Mrs. Brown had said, there was no blood, though it does not take much of a nip from even a small crab to break the skin and cause a bleeding. And sometimes the pinch of a crab, where it does draw blood, becomes very sore.
However, Bunny was well out of this adventure, and when he had got over his fright his mother took him and Sue up under the shady umbrella and gave them some lunch.
"But I don't want any more crabs to bite me," said Bunny.
The remainder of the day was spent in happy fashion, though Bunny waded in no more pools.
"I'm glad the crab didn't pinch me," said Sue, as she wiggled her toes in the soft sand. "'Cause my foot's littler than Bunny's," she went on, holding it near his, "and maybe that crab would have taken hold of two of my toes, and bitten them all off."
"Oh, I think that wouldn't have happened," said Mrs. Brown. "A crab doesn't really want to nip children just for fun. They'll get away from you if they can; but if they think youare going to hurt them they'll open their claws and pinch. Bunny must have stepped on the one that took hold of his toe."
"Maybe I did," said Bunny. "I stepped on something, and I thought it was a clam shell, but it wiggled out from under my foot and then my toe was grabbed."
When Bunny and Sue went back to the bungalow that night they saw Bunker Blue busy at work on a small boat at the dock, which was at the end of the walk leading down from "Bark Lodge," as their place was named, for it was made of logs with the bark on.
"What are you doing, Bunker?" Sue called to him.
"I got bit by a crab!" announced Bunny, not giving the fish boy time to answer. "He held on to my toe and I lifted him right out of the water, same as we catch crabs on a string and fishhead."
"Is that so?" asked Bunker, and he went on hammering away at the boat. It was another craft than the one Mr. Brown had hired for the use of his family.
"What are you making?" Bunny wanted toknow, satisfied, now that he had told the story of the crab.
"Oh, I'm making a little sailboat," answered Bunker. "A man on the other side of the cove, where your Uncle Tad and I were fishing to-day, sold me this boat cheap, and I'm going to rig up a sail for it. I don't want to row around all summer, so I'm going to sail."
"Oh, can we go with you?" asked Sue.
"I can help you sail, can't I, Bunker?" questioned Bunny.
"Yes, if your mother lets you," was the answer.
After supper Uncle Tad helped Bunker put the sail on the boat. It was not a very large boat nor did it have a very large sail, but the fish boy said it would do for cruising about the cove.
"May we sail with him, Mother?" asked Bunny the next day, when Bunker announced that the boat was ready for a trial.
"Is it safe?" asked Mrs. Brown of the tall lad.
"I think so," he answered. "I'll give it a tryout by myself first, though."
Bunny and Sue watched Bunker Blue sailing to and fro in Christmas Tree Cove, and finally he headed back for the dock.
"I'll take Bunny and Sue out now if you'll let them come with me," said Bunker to Mrs. Brown, who, with the children, was watching the trial of the new sailboat.
"Very well. But be careful and don't go too far!" cautioned the children's mother.
Delighted by the prospect of a ride before the wind around the cove, Bunny and Sue got into the boat. There was just about room enough for three. Bunker had rigged up a rudder on the boat and there was a small centerboard in the middle to keep the craft from tipping over in a hard blow.
"All aboard!" cried Bunny, pretending to help Sue to her place.
"All aboard!" answered Bunker, as he pulled over the tiller and let the boat swing out from the dock. Then for some time the children sailed about the cove, while Mrs. Brown watched them from the bank. Mr. Brown was to come up to the cove that night on the evening train, to stay for several days.
As Mrs. Brown was watching, she saw something dark slide suddenly over the side of the sailboat, and at the same time she heard Sue's screams and saw Bunker let go the sail and make a grab for an object in the water.
"Bunny has fallen overboard!" cried his mother, springing to her feet and running down to the dock. "Uncle Tad, come quickly! Bunny has fallen overboard!"
Uncle Tad, who was mending a broken fishing rod just outside the bungalow, heard Mrs. Brown's cry and saw her running down to the dock. He also looked across the cove and saw the sailboat in which he knew Bunny and Sue had gone for a ride with Bunker Blue. And then Uncle Tad guessed what had happened.
"Man overboard!" he cried, though of course Bunny was only a little boy. But that is what is always said when anybody—man, woman, or child—falls into the water.
"Man overboard!"
Uncle Tad raced down to the dock and saw Mrs. Brown trying to loosen the rope that held to the pier the boat Mr. Brown had hired for the summer.
"Let me do it," said Uncle Tad, who knewconsiderable about boats from having lived so long with the Browns.
Just then a voice behind Mrs. Brown cried:
"He's got him out! Bunker Blue has got him out!" And there, on the pier, stood Jimmie Madden with his sister Rose. He pointed across to the now motionless sailboat.
Uncle Tad and Mrs. Brown had not looked at it for the last few seconds, as they were busy trying to get ready the other boat to go to the rescue. But, looking now, they saw Bunker Blue lift Bunny Brown from the water. And a moment later Bunker's voice rang out as he called:
"You don't need to come! Bunny is all right! I'll soon bring him to shore!"
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, and she dropped the rope she had been trying to loosen, while Uncle Tad, who had knelt down on the pier to do the same thing, stood up.
As Jimmie had said and Uncle Tad and Mother Brown had seen, Bunker had pulled Bunny from the water, and a little later the sail was filled with wind and was bringing theboat to the dock. Bunny and Sue could be seen sitting safely in it, and Bunny did not appear much the worse from having fallen overboard, though, of course, he was soaking wet.
"I saw him fall in," explained Jimmie Madden. "Then I ran over here."
"And I ran over, too," said his sister Rose.
"I could 'a' jumped in and got him out if he'd been near shore. I can swim," went on Jimmie, who was a regular seashore boy and quite at home in the water.
"I can swim, too," went on Rose.
"I'm glad neither of you had to jump in after Bunny," said Mrs. Brown, as the boat neared the dock. "I wonder how Bunny happened to fall overboard."
This was explained when the wet, dripping little chap was helped out of the boat to which Bunker had fitted a sail.
"He saw something floating in the water," said Bunker, "and he reached for it, though I told him not to, as I was going about. But he did, and he lost his balance, and in he went."
"But Bunker got him right out again!" Sue made haste to say.
"It wasn't Bunker's fault," added Bunny. "He told me not to lean over."
"Then you should have minded," said his mother. "It was very wrong of you, Bunny, to do that. I told you to mind Bunker when you went out with him. Now, as a punishment, you may not go sailing again this week."
And though Bunny cried and said he would never disobey again, he was punished just as his mother said he must be. Sue was allowed to go for a sail, while Bunny had to stay on shore.
"You must be made to understand that you have done wrong," his mother said.
There was really very little danger, for the water in the cove was not deep, and Bunker was such a good swimmer that he, very likely, could have managed to get out both Bunny Brown and his sister Sue if they had fallen in together.
After his days of punishment, however, Bunny was allowed to go sailing again, and Bunker even let him steer a little, which made Bunny very happy.
"Some day I am going to learn all aboutsteering," declared Bunny to Sue, "and then I'll be able to take out a boat all alone."
"You be careful, Bunny Brown, or maybe the boat will sail off with you," warned Sue, earnestly. "And it might sail 'way off to—to Boston, or—or China—or—or Mexico."
"It couldn't sail that far. I wouldn't let it."
"It might run away with you."
"Boats can't run—they sail. You ought to know that."
"It could sail away ever so far, if it wanted to, Bunny Brown. An' if it sailed 'way off to—to China, how ever would you get back?"
"I'd sail back."
"How could you if you didn't know the way?"
"I'd ask some—some Chinaman. I know how to talk to 'em. I can talk to that Chinaman who has the laundry near the school."
"Huh! He ain't a real Chinaman—he's an American Chinaman. I mean a real Chinaman Chinaman—that can't talk like we do."
"I'd find a way—just you wait and see," said Bunny confidently.
The summer days passed pleasantly at Christmas Tree Cove. Mr. Brown found it possible to come up more often than he had expected, and he and his wife, with the children, Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue, went on excursions on land and water.
Often when her husband would arrive at the bungalow, coming up from his dock office at Bellemere, Mrs. Brown would ask:
"Did you hear anything about the strange dog or my lost pocketbook and ring?"
And her husband would shake his head and answer:
"There is no news. I saw Mr. Foswick, the carpenter. He said he keeps looking around his shop, thinking he may find the things the dog dropped, but they have not been discovered yet."
Then Mrs. Brown would be sad for a little while as she thought of her lovely diamond engagement ring, but she did not let Bunny or Sue see that she was unhappy.
One afternoon it was very hot at Christmas Tree Cove. The sun's rays beat down and there was scarcely any breeze.
"Come on, kiddies!" called Mother Brown to Bunny and Sue. "We will put on our bathing suits and go down to the water. If there is any cool place this hot day it is there."
Of course Bunny and Sue were delighted with this. They never tired of bathing, and soon they were splashing about in the cove. They were not the only ones, for many of the neighboring cottagers and bungalow residents took advantage of the water to cool off.
"Be careful and don't go out too far!" called Mrs. Brown to Bunny and Sue, as she went up on the beach to talk to some friends, leaving the children in the water. "The tide is coming in."
"We'll be careful!" promised Bunny. "Here, Sue, give me your hand and we'll wade out to the float."
The float was made of some planks fastened to empty barrels, and it was a fine place to play. As Sue and Bunny were wading out they noticed a boy whom they had not seen before wading beside them.
"Hello!" said Bunny, in friendly spirit. "Did you just come?"
"Yes. We came to the hotel last night," was the answer. "I never was at the ocean before. We're going to stay all through August."
"This isn't the ocean," said Bunny. "It's just Christmas Tree Cove. The ocean is lots bigger."
"I'd like to see it," said the new boy.
"Look out!" suddenly called Sue. "Here comes a big wave!"
She had just time to take a tighter hold of Bunny and turn, but the new boy did not seem to know much about bathing or waves. He stood waiting, and, an instant later he was knocked down and his head went under water.
The first that Mrs. Brown knew of what was happening was when a woman near her screamed. Then this woman hurried down the sands to the edge of the water in which Bunny, Sue, and a number of other children were bathing.
Mrs. Brown had been talking to several women of the summer bungalow colony near Bark Lodge, and one of these ladies had just remarked that a new family had come to the hotel.
"It is Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Slater," Mrs. Brown was told. "They have a little boy named Harry, about as old as your Bunny."
And just as Mrs. Blaney, who was telling this to Mrs. Brown, finished, Mrs. Brown heard a woman scream and saw her run down to the water.
"That's Mrs. Slater now," said Mrs. Blaney. "I wonder what the matter is."
"Her little boy was just knocked down by a big wave," said another woman who had been sitting on the sand talking to Mrs. Brown. "Perhaps we had better go and help her."
It was Harry Slater, the new boy to whom Bunny had been talking, who had been knocked down and rolled over by the big wave. His mother, sitting on the beach, had seen what had taken place. Then she had screamed and had hurried down the sands.
But, as it happened, Bunny Brown was nearer at hand to give the needed help. He and Sue were used to the big waves, which came in Christmas Tree Cove only when one of the large excursion steamers stopped at a nearby dock. The propeller of the steamer sent the waves rushing inshore almost like the surf of the larger ocean outside.
"Oh, the wave knocked him down!" cried Sue, who had seen the mass of water coming, and had held to Bunny while they turned a little and jumped so they did not fall. "Look, Bunny, he's down in the water!"
"I know!" exclaimed Bunny! "I see him! I'll get him up!"
Bunny and Sue had lived so long in Bellemere near the water that, young as they were, they knew the thing to do when people fall into or down in the water is to get them out as soon as possible, in order that they may not be smothered.
So, as soon as he had made sure that Sue was all right, Bunny leaned down, and, catching hold of Harry Slater, the new boy, who was floundering around under water, lifted him up. It was easy for Bunny to do this, as a body in water weighs less than outside.
Thus Bunny easily lifted Harry up and held him on his feet, while the new boy choked and gasped to get his breath. By this time his mother was at the edge of the water, where the waves broke on the sand, and she was just going to go in, all dressed as she was, for she did not wear a bathing suit.
"Harry," cried Mrs. Slater, "mother is coming!"
"There isn't any need, lady!" said Duncan Porter, the life-saver who was always on dutyduring the bathing hour. "I'll bring him in to you. But, anyhow, Bunny has him safe."
The guard, who had been on another part of the beach, had run up when he heard Mrs. Slater scream, and now he waded out and brought Harry to shore in his arms. The new boy was more frightened than hurt, and was soon all right again, though he coughed a little because of the water he had swallowed.
"Oh, Harry Slater, you were nearly drowned!" cried some of the other children.
"Oh, he wasn't in much danger," said the life guard. "I'd have had him out in another second or two. But, as it was, Bunny Brown got him out of the water all right."
"How can I thank you?" said Harry's mother, as she gave Bunny a hug, all wet as he was, for he and Sue, with many other children, had followed the life-saver to shore when he carried the choking, gasping new boy.
"Oh, it wasn't anything much!" protested Bunny, who did not like a fuss being made over him. "The big wave just knocked him down, and I picked him up."
"He's a brave and clever little boy!" saidseveral ladies on the beach, and if Bunny had not been so tanned and sunburned he might have blushed.
"It was a big wave knocked him down," said Sue. "One of the steamer waves. You have to look out for 'em! I saw him go down and I yelled."
"You were both very watchful of Harry," said Mrs. Slater. "Your mother should be proud of you children."
"There's my mother now," said Bunny, pointing to Mrs. Brown, who had come down with a number of other women.
Thus it was that Bunny, Sue and the new boy became acquainted and Mrs. Slater also formed a friendship for Mrs. Brown. Soon the excitement had passed and the children were in bathing again, while their mothers either bathed, too, or sat on the beach and talked. Bunny and Sue liked Harry, and you may be sure the new boy was very thankful to Bunny Brown for pulling him up out of the water.
"Do they have bigger waves in the ocean than the one that knocked me down?" askedHarry, when the three children were once more having a good time in the bathing pool.
"Oh, I guess they do!" cried Sue. "He should see some of the big waves, shouldn't he, Bunny?"
"Well, I'd like to see 'em," said Harry, with a laugh. "But I wouldn't want to be knocked down by 'em—not if they were bigger than the wave that hit me."
"The waves in the ocean are ever so much bigger," went on Bunny. "And in a storm they're twice as big."
"We were in a storm coming here," explained Sue. "We were on a boat and it rocked like anything, didn't it, Bunny?"
"Yes, it rocked a lot," he agreed. "Come on," he called to his sister. "Let's go over and dig clams."
"Where can you dig clams?" asked Harry eagerly. Anything about the seashore interested him, as it was his first summer at the beach.
"They get hard clams away out in the cove," explained Bunny. "But soft clams grow over there where the tide is out."
"Clams don't grow," declared Sue. "They aren't like apples."
"Yes, clams do grow," declared Bunny. "Else how could a little clam get to be a big one. They grow over there, in that place where there isn't any water," went on Bunny. "And when the tide is out we dig for 'em."
"I was up on my grandpa's farm once, and I helped dig for potatoes in the ground," said Harry. "But I never dug for clams. I'd like to."
"We'll show you how," offered Bunny. "Mother lets us dig soft clams, and she makes chowder of 'em. Come on, we'll go over and dig clams."
Harry was very glad of this chance for fun, and when Mrs. Brown had said her two children might go, and when Mrs. Slater had also consented to let her boy accompany his two new playmates, they set off.
"There isn't any water on the flats when the tide is out," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny and Sue often go there to dig clams, and we can see them from here."
Soft clams are not like hard clams. Theshell is a sort of bluish black and is quite thin, so it is easily crushed. The soft clam is long and thin, instead of being almost round, like a hard clam.
A soft clam lives down in the mud or sand under water. Within his shell the soft clam has a long tube, which seems as if made of rubber, for it can be stretched out greatly, or made so small as to fit inside the shell.
When the tide covered the low flats at one part of Christmas Tree Cove the soft clams could not be found. But when the tide went out it left bare a large space of sand and sticky mud, or muck. Then was the time to dig soft clams.
Bunny and Sue knew how to do it. They used a little shovel, though a regular clammer uses a short-handled hoe, digging the wet earth away much as a farmer digs away the earth from a hill of potatoes. Down under the surface the clams are found.
"Here's a good place to dig," said Bunny, as he led Sue and Harry through little pools of water to the clam flats. "Sue, you hold the basket and Harry and I will dig."
"Well, this time I will, 'cause Harry's new," answered Sue. "But after this I'll dig, too."
Bunny had brought two shovels, and, giving the new boy one, Sue's brother used the other. He dug a hole in the mucky, black sand, and Harry did likewise.
"When you see something that looks like a black stone pick it up," advised Bunny. "'Cause that's a clam."
The two boys dug away for some time, and at last Harry cried:
"I got one!"
"Yes, that's a soft clam, and a nice big one," declared Bunny. "And I've got one myself!"
Soon the two little boys had found a number of clams, which they put in the basket Sue held. Bunny was just digging out an extra large one when, all of a sudden, Sue cried:
"Bunny, I'm stuck! I can't get my feet up! Oh, Oh!"
"Maybe a big clam has hold of her," said Harry. "What'll we do, Bunny?"
The two boys stopped their clam-digging and stood staring at Sue, who was holding the basket of shellfish and looking at her brother and Harry.
"I'm stuck fast!" cried Sue again. "I can't lift up either of my legs, Bunny! What shall I do?"
"Is it a clam that has hold of you?" asked Harry.
"Clams don't grab hold of you like crabs," declared Bunny. "Once a crab got hold of my toe, and it pinched like anything."
"Maybe it's a crab, then," said Harry.
"This isn't a crab or a clam," said Sue. "But my feet are all tight in the mud, and I can't lift 'em out! Look!"
She struggled hard, trying first to lift one foot and then the other. But she only swayedin a little pool of water that collected around her bare legs.
"Oh, I know what the matter is!" exclaimed Bunny, as he looked again at his sister. "It's like getting into a muck hole in the swamp. There's a lot of soft sand and muck here on the flats, and you've stepped into one of the holes, Sue."
"Shall I—shall I sink down through the hole all the way to—to China?" asked the little girl, and it looked as if she might be going to cry, as she had the time she and Bunny were lost in the Christmas Tree woods.
"We'll get you up," said Bunny. "Come on, Harry. You take hold of Sue on one side and I'll take hold of her on the other. Then maybe she can lift up her own legs."
The boys went toward her.
"Take the basket of clams," directed Sue. "I don't want to spill 'em!"
She handed Bunny the basket of soft clams which the two boys had dug, and Bunny set it on top of the pile of dirt that had been piled up as he and Harry dug holes to get at the shellfish. Then the two boys stood, one oneither side of Sue, so she could put her hands on their shoulders.
"Maybe we'll get stuck in the mud, too," suggested Harry.
"Oh, I guess not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, if we do, it'll be fun."
Seeing Bunny and Harry about to help her, Sue felt better. She gave up the notion of crying, and began to pull up, first on one foot and then on the other.
At first it seemed that neither one would move, so sticky was the mud and muck. But at last Sue felt one giving, and she cried:
"Oh, I'm getting loose! I'm getting loose, Bunny!"
"Pull harder!" directed her brother. "Pull as hard as you can!"
Just about this time Mrs. Brown, who was sitting on the sand under the sun umbrella talking to Mrs. Slater, happened to look over toward the children who had gone clam-digging. She saw Bunny and Harry standing close to Sue, and she knew, by the way the children were acting, that something had happened.
Then Mrs. Slater, too, looked toward the three children.
"Is Harry in trouble again?" asked his mother.
"No, this time it seems to be Sue," said Mrs. Brown. "I think she is stuck in the mud."
"Is that serious?" asked Mrs. Slater, for she had not been to the seashore enough to know anything about clam-digging.
"Oh, there is no danger," said Mrs. Brown. "They may get very muddy. But they have on their bathing suits, and can easily wash. However, we might walk over as near as we can go, so they may see us."
"Very well," agreed Mrs. Slater. "I don't want Harry frightened again to-day."
But she need not have worried. The children were laughing as Sue used the two boys like a pair of crutches to help her lift her feet from the muck. Soon she had pulled loose, and she held one foot out so she could see it.
"Oh, look!" cried the little girl. "There's so much mud on my foot I can't see my toes wiggle!"
And this was really so.
"It looks as if you had a black shoe on," added Bunny. "Come on now, you'd better step away from here if you don't want to get stuck again, Sue."
"And I'm getting stuck myself!" exclaimed Harry, as he felt one foot sinking. "Is it all like this on the clam flats?"
"No," answered Bunny, "only in some places. It was all right where you and I stood."
By this time Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Slater had reached the edge of the clam flats, and they saw that the three children were all right. Harry and Bunny again started to dig for the shellfish and Sue held the basket for them. But she took care to stand on a big flat stone, so there was no more danger of sinking down.
"Mother!" cried Harry, when he saw Mrs. Slater with Mrs. Brown, "digging clams is lots of fun, and Sue got stuck in the mud."
"So we saw," his mother answered. "The seashore is a funny place. You don't seem to know what will happen on land or in the water."
"Oh, it is all right when you get used to it,"said Mrs. Brown, laughing. "Have you enough clams, Bunny?"
"Not quite," he answered. "I like lots of 'em in my chowder."
"Well, you may dig a few more. We'll sit here and wait for you," said his mother, and, finding a place on shore where a clump of trees gave a little shade, she and Mrs. Slater sat down.
Bunny, Sue, and Harry kept on digging, Sue finally insisting on taking a turn with the shovel.
"I'm coming to the seashore every year," declared Harry, as he dug out an extra large clam. "I guess my dog would like it here, too. He's fond of water."
"Where is your dog?" asked Bunny. "I didn't see you have any."
"We didn't bring him with us 'cause he's lost," said Harry, leaning on his shovel. "He's an awful nice dog, too. We were going to bring him here with us, but one day, when we were out in the automobile, he jumped out and ran away and we never saw him again."
"We had a dog Splash, and he ran away, too," said Sue.
"My dog would carry things in his mouth," went on Harry. "He used to carry our paper, and sometimes he would take things you didn't want him to, and carry them away."
"Oh, Bunny!" suddenly exclaimed Sue, "that's just what the big yellow dog did. He took mother's pocketbook when we didn't want him to and carried it away. Maybe this is the same dog!"
"What kind of a dog was yours?" asked Bunny of his new friend.
"He was a big yellow one," was the answer. "But he was never here in this place, 'cause we were never here ourselves before this summer. So he couldn't have taken your mother's pocketbook."
"But the pocketbook wasn't taken from here," said Bunny. "It was where we live—in Bellemere. And it was a big, yellow dog! Could your dog run fast?" he asked Harry.
"Oh, yes, terribly fast. But what's that about your mother's pocketbook?"
Bunny and Sue told the story by turns, howthey had seen the dog running away with the pocketbook containing the five-dollar bill and their mother's diamond ring.
"And he ran into a carpenter shop, and we ran in after him, and Mr. Foswick locked us in, and Bunny broke a window, and we had a terrible time!" explained Sue.
"I don't believe that was my dog," said Harry. "But Sandy—that was my dog's name—would carry away lots of things in his mouth. I wish I had him back. My father said he'd give a lot of money to find him—a reward, you know."
"And I guess my father would give a reward if he could get back my mother's diamond ring," added Sue. "But he can't. Bunker Blue says it's gone forever."
"Children! Children!" called Mrs. Brown from the shore. "I think we had better go now. It is getting late and it looks as if we might have another storm. Come along. You have clams enough."
"Yes, I guess we have," said Bunny, looking in the basket.
The children started for the mainland, stopping in a little pool to wash the mud off themselves and also to cleanse their shovels.
Bunny "sozzled" the basket of clams in the water to wash them, and when Mrs. Brown explained how she made them into chowder Mrs. Slater remarked:
"I wish they served that at the hotel."
"Won't you and Harry come over and have supper with us this evening?" asked Mrs. Brown. "We'll give you some of the chowder then."
"Oh, yes, Mother, please do!" begged Harry, and Mrs. Slater consented.
"I'll tell you more about my lost dog when I come over to-night," called Harry to Bunny and Sue, as they parted.
That evening Mrs. Slater and her son Harry were guests of the Browns at supper, at which was served the chowder made from the clams dug by the children that afternoon.
"It is delicious!" said Mrs. Slater, as she was helped to a second plateful.
"I like it lots!" declared Harry. "I guess Sandy would, too, if he was here."
"What's this about your dog being lost?"asked Mr. Brown, for he had heard the children talking about it.
"We did lose a very valuable animal," explained Mrs. Slater. "We were out automobiling one day, and in driving through a place called Bellemere, on Sandport Bay——"
"Bellemere!" cried Bunny Brown. "Why, that's where we live!"
"That's where our dog was lost," said Mrs. Slater, smiling at him. "For some reason he leaped out of the auto and went bounding away down the street. My husband stopped and tried to get him back, but he would not come. And he has been lost ever since. Harry misses him very much."
"What day was it that your dog ran away?" asked Mr. Brown, with a look at his wife.
"Why, it was—let me see," answered Mrs. Slater slowly. "It was on——"
Her words were interrupted by a loud crash of thunder that shook the bungalow, and all the electric lights suddenly went out.
"Oh!" cried Bunny, Sue, and Harry, all at the same time.
"I presume we're in for another storm,"said Mr. Brown. "Sit still until I light some candles. Often the electric lights go out in a severe thunderstorm."
As Mr. Brown arose to strike a match another loud clap of thunder pealed out.
The electric light service in Christmas Tree Cove was uncertain in storms, and Mr. Brown always kept a supply of candles on hand, as well as some kerosene lamps. Soon there was plenty of light in the room, and as supper was about over when the storm broke the family and their two visitors went into the sitting-room of the bungalow.
"I don't like storms," said Harry, and he kept close to his mother.
"There isn't any danger," remarked Mr. Brown. "The lightning hardly ever strikes near the ocean or the bay. I think it may hit out far from shore. But no houses have ever been struck up here."
"I guess the Christmas trees keep it away," said Bunny.
"Perhaps," laughed his mother. "It isn'tbad, now that the worst outburst is over. Come, Harry, tell us about your lost dog. We have lost one, too."
So, while the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed, Mrs. Slater and Harry told about their dog Sandy.
"And so he left us in Bellemere, and we haven't seen him since," finished Harry's mother.
"How strange!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "He left you the same day the strange dog ran into our yard, where Bunny and Sue were playing seesaw, and grabbed up my pocketbook. I wonder if, by any chance, it could be the same animal in both cases."
"This dog was a big, yellow one," said Bunny, and he described the animal that had caused him and Sue so much trouble.
"Sandy was yellow in color," remarked Mrs. Slater. "But I would not call him a very large dog."
"Perhaps the dog that took my wife's pocketbook and diamond ring seemed larger to Bunny and Sue than he really was," said Mr. Brown. "He rushed into the yard andout again so quickly that he may have looked extra big."
"It would be very strange if it should turn out to be our dog who made so much trouble over your pocketbook," went on Harry's mother. "Sandy did have a bad habit of running off with things. We tried to break him of it. And, now that I recall it, he took one of my gloves when he leaped out of the auto that day."
"The big, yellow dog that came into our yard and took my mother's pocketbook didn't have any gloves on," explained Sue.
"No, he wouldn't be likely to have any on," agreed Mrs. Slater. "But he might have carried one in his mouth."
"I didn't see it," said Bunny, shaking his head. "But he took the pocketbook in his mouth and ran away."
They talked over the dog matter for some time, and then, as the storm seemed to be growing worse again, Mrs. Slater began to think it was time for her and Harry to go back to the hotel. A closed automobile was called from the village, and in that the ladyand her son prepared to go to their hotel. It was then about eight o'clock in the evening.
"Mr. Slater has advertised for our lost dog," his wife said, as she was departing. "If we ever find him, Bunny and Sue can look at Sandy and make sure whether or not he is the dog that ran into their yard. Though, of course, that will not bring back your ring, I am sorry to say," she added.
The storm kept up all night and part of the next day. It rained hard and the wind blew, though the thunder and lightning were soon over. It settled into what the cove dwellers called a "nor'easter," and it was not at all pleasant.
Bunny and Sue could not go out to play, but Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue amused the children indoors. Mr. Brown had to go back to Bellemere, but he went on the train, as the bay was so rough the boat did not run, and Captain Ross had not returned with theFairy.
"I wish Harry could come over and play with us," said Bunny on the second day of the storm, as he stood with his nose pressed against the window.
"It will be clear to-morrow," said Bunker Blue, who had come in from a trip to the store. "The wind is working around and the sun will be out to-morrow."
Bunny and Sue certainly hoped so, and when they arose the next morning the first thing they did was to run to the window and look out anxiously.
Bunker's prophecy had come true. The sun was shining and the wind was no longer blowing, though the water in the bay was still rough.
"Let's go down to the beach!" cried Bunny, as soon as breakfast was over. "Maybe we'll find a lot of things washed up on shore."
This was not unusual, for the storms along the coast, even in summer, sometimes caused wrecks, and parts of them were often washed up on the beach.
"Yes, let's," agreed Sue.
A little later Bunny and Sue were running down to the sandy shore, and there they saw their new friend Harry, who was walking along with his mother.
"Wasn't it a terrible storm?" called Mrs.Slater, when she saw the two Brown children. "I never remember a worse one!"
"Yes, it was bad," agreed Bunny. "It was worse than when we were on theFairy. Did you see anything washed up?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied Harry. "What do you find after a storm?"
"Oh, lots of things," answered Bunny. "Once I saw a whale washed up on shore. He was awful big."
"I wish I could see a whale washed up," said Harry longingly.
He looked across the tumbling waters of Christmas Tree Cove, as though he might catch sight of some monster of the sea. But there was nothing in view just then.
The three children, with Mrs. Slater, walked along a little farther. Suddenly Sue, who was a short distance ahead, gave a delighted cry.
"What is it?" asked Bunny. "A cocoanut?" Once a ship laden with cocoanuts had been wrecked and the shore strewn with the nuts.
"Is it a whale?" asked Harry.
"It's a big box," answered Sue, pointing."Look, it's floating out there, and I guess it's coming to shore right here."
The others looked toward the object at which Sue pointed and saw, bobbing up and down in the waves, what appeared to be a large chest. The wind and tide were fast bringing it up to where they stood on the beach.
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue stood with Harry Slater and his mother on the beach and watched the wind and the tide bringing nearer and nearer to shore the floating box. As it came into plainer view, the children could see that it was no ordinary refuse of the sea, like a broken orange or lemon box, some of which floated ashore at Bellemere.
"That's a nice, good box," said Bunny, as he watched it bobbing up and down on the waves. "It's a box just like Mr. Foswick, the carpenter, makes."
"And it isn't broken, either," added Sue. Usually the boxes she and her brother found on the beach were empty and smashed.
"Maybe it has something in it," suggested Harry. "Oh, wouldn't it be funny if my dog was in it!" he cried.
"How could your dog be in it, dear?" asked his mother. "Sandy was lost on shore. How could he be out in the ocean?"
"Well, maybe, after he jumped out of our auto he went on a boat and maybe the boat sank and he got in this box, like a little boat, and now he's coming back to me," explained Harry.
"Oh, no, you mustn't hope for any such good luck as that," said his mother, with a smile. "If Sandy were in that box you would hear him barking. And, besides, that box seems to be tightly nailed or screwed shut. We'll soon see what's in it, for it is coming ashore," she added.
"Maybe it's Sandy," insisted Harry.
"I don't think there's any dog in it," Sue remarked. "But maybe there's pirates' gold."
"Maybe," assented Bunny.
"What's pirates' gold?" asked Harry.
"It's gold the robber pirates take off ships," explained Bunny. "And they put it in boxes, and then they bring it on shore and bury it in the sand, and then they make a map in red ink so they won't forget where they buried thebox, and then they go off and get more gold, the pirates do."
"What makes 'em bury the gold they already have?" asked Harry.
"So nobody can find it," explained Bunny.
Bunny and Sue liked to hear tales of the sea. Bunker Blue had told them some, and I am afraid they were not altogether true, however interesting they were.
"But that can't be a pirates' box," said Sue, "'cause I don't see any pirates, and they wouldn't send a box to shore all by itself."
"No," agreed Bunny, "I guess they wouldn't, 'cause a box couldn't bury itself in the sand. But I think there's something in this box."
"It does seem so," said Mrs. Slater, who was now quite as interested as were the children. "Look," she went on. "It is going to come ashore at that little point. Let's walk out on it, and we can pull it up on the sand."
A little tongue of land extended out into the water near the spot where they were standing, and soon Bunny, his sister, and Harry and Mrs. Slater were out on the very tip of it, waiting for the box to be washed ashore. The tide was rising, and the waves were still rather high on account of the storm.
Nearer and nearer the box came, but when it was almost at the point of land it seemed about to be washed away, farther up the coast.
"Oh, it is going past us!" exclaimed Mrs. Slater.
"I can wade in and get it!" said Bunny. "I'll take off my shoes and stockings and get it," and, sitting down, he began to do this.
"I don't want to take off my shoes. You can get it without me, Bunny," remarked Sue.
"May I wade in, Mother?" asked Harry.
"It isn't deep," said Bunny, as Mrs. Slater hesitated. "And we won't have to wade out very far."
"All right," agreed Harry's mother, with a smile. "You two boys may wade in, and Sue and I will watch you. But maybe the box will be too heavy for you."
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Bunny, as Harry began taking off his shoes and stockings. "Things in the water move easy. I can push or pull a big boat all alone, if it's in the water,but I can't if it's on land. And the box isn't very big."
"I wonder what's in it," said Sue, as her brother and Harry prepared to wade out. "Maybe it's a lot of dolls from China."
"What makes you think it might be that?" asked Mrs. Slater, as she put the boys' shoes and stockings up on the sand.
"Once some Chinese dolls came ashore at Bellemere," said Sue. "I got one, but her eyes were washed out. I always had to make believe she was asleep."
"How did they happen to come ashore?" asked Mrs. Slater.
"A ship that was coming from China got wrecked," explained Sue, "and the boxes with the dolls in washed up on shore. But I guess this isn't a doll box," she added.
"It doesn't look so," said Harry's mother. "It seems to be a very heavy case, such as machinery comes in, but of course there can't be machinery in it, or it would sink."
"And there can't be a dog in it, or he'd smother," added Sue, "'cause the cover is nailed on tight."
The box was near the point of land now, and Bunny and Harry were wading out to get it. Mrs. Slater and Sue could see that the box was a square one, about three feet long, and as many high and wide. And there was a cover on it.
"Catch hold now!" cried Bunny to Harry, and the two boys took hold of the sides of the box and easily guided it up to the beach. It soon grounded in the shallow water, but it was so heavy that when Bunny and Harry had got it to the shore of the point of land they could move it no farther.
"It's nailed tight shut all around," Bunny said, as he looked on all four sides.
"Ain't there a cover that you can put back like on a trunk?" Sue wanted to know.
"No, there ain't," answered Harry, "for if there was the hinges would show—they always do."
"Oh, what do you think can really be in it?" cried Sue, dancing around in excitement.
"Maybe it's a boat chest of some sort," suggested Bunny, who had heard Captain Ross speak of such things.
"From China?"
"Oh, I guess it couldn't come from as far away as that."
"Course it couldn't," declared Harry.
"Children, I think we have made quite a find," said Mrs. Slater, as she looked carefully at the box. "I wonder to whom it belongs."
"There's a name printed on it over here," said Bunny, pointing to the side of the box turned away from shore.
"What does it say?" asked Mrs. Slater, for she could not look without stepping into the water.
"There's an F and an R and an A and an N and a K," said Bunny slowly.
"That spells Frank," said Mrs. Slater. "What else is there?"
Bunny spelled out the rest of the name, and also an address.
"Well, then it would seem this box belongs to a Mr. Frank Ravenwood of Sea Gate," said Harry's mother. "Is there anything else on that side, Bunny?"
"No'm," he answered.
"Frank Ravenwood, of Sea Gate," went on Mrs. Slater. "Where is Sea Gate, Bunny?"
"It's on the coast, just down below where we live," was the answer.
"Then we can write and tell Mr. Ravenwood of Sea Gate that we have his box that was washed ashore," went on Harry's mother. "But we must get it higher up on the beach or it will wash away again. I wonder——"
But she suddenly stopped, for Sue gave a cry of alarm and pointed toward shore.
"Oh, look!" exclaimed the little girl. "Look!"