One day Bunny and Sue played Punch and Judy, Bunny wearing the big red lobster claw on his nose. Aunt Lu laughed at the funny tricks of the children.
"Some day we'll get up a real show, and charge money," said Bunny, as he put away the lobster claw to use another time.
Not far from the Brown's house was a small river that flowed into the bay. Part of the Brown land was right on the edge of this river and at a small dock Mr. Brown kept, tied up, a rowboat which he sometimes used to go fishing in, or to go after crabs, which are something like lobsters, only smaller. They are just as good to eat when they are cooked, and they turn red when you boil them.
One day Bunny and Sue went down to the edge of the river. They asked Aunt Lu to go with them, but she said she had a headache, and wanted to lie down.
"Don't go far away, children," called Mrs. Brown after the two tots, as they wandered down near the little stream.
"We won't," promised Bunny, and he really meant it. But neither he norSue knew what was going to happen.
It was quite warm that day, and, as Bunny and Sue sat in the shade of a tree on the bank of the river, the little boy said:
"Oh, Sue, wouldn't it be nice if we could go on the river in the boat?"
"Yes," said his sister, "but mother said we weren't to."
"I guess she meant we weren't to go ROWING in a boat—I mean a loose boat—one that isn't tied fast," said Bunny. "I guess it would be all right if we sat in the boat while it was tied fast to shore."
"Maybe," said Sue. She wanted, as much as did Bunny, to sit in the boat, for it was cooler down there.
"Let's do it!" proposed Bunny. "The boat is tied fast, but we can make believe we are rowing. We'll pretend we are taking a long trip."
Neither of the children meant to do wrong, for they thought it would be all right to sit in the boat as long as it was tied fast. So into it they climbed. Then such fun as they had! They took sticks and made believe to row. They tied their handkerchiefs on other sticks and pretended to be sailing. They rocked the boat gently to and fro, and Bunny called this "being out in a storm."
Then they lay down on the broad seats and made believe it was night and that, when they awakened, they would be in a far-off land where coconuts grew on trees and where there were monkeys to toss them down.
And, before they knew it, both children were fast asleep, for the sun was shining warmly down on them. Bunny awoke first. He felt the boat tossing to and fro:
"Don't do that, Sue!" he called. "You'll tip us over."
"Don't do what?" asked Sue, sleepily.
"Don't jiggle the boat," said Bunny. Then he opened his eyes wider and looked all about. The boat was far from shore and was drifting down the river. It had become untied while the children slept.
"On, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "We're having a sail!We're sailing!"
"Yes," answered her brother, "that's what we are, but—"
He looked toward the shore and wondered if it were too far away for him to wade to it. The river looked quite deep, though, and Bunny decided he had better not try it.
"Don't you like sailing," asked his sister Sue.
"Oh, yes, I like it all right," was the reply, "but mother told us not to go out in the boat and we've done it."
"But we didn't mean to," came from the little girl. "The boat did it all by itself, and it isn't our fault at all."
"That's so," and Bunny smiled now and seemed happier.
"I wonder how it happened?" asked Sue.
"I guess we jiggled it so much, making believe we were sailing, that the rope got loose," Bunny explained. "And now we're sailing!"
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue really were sailing down the river and the boat was bobbing up and down and swinging from side to side, for it was not steered. And it was not exactly "sailing" either, for it was only a row-boat and there was no sail to hoist.
But the river was flowing down hill to the sea and it was the river that was carrying the boat along.
"I like it; don't you?" asked Sue, after a bit.
"Yes," answered Bunny. "Only we musn't go too far away. Mother wouldn't like that even if it wasn't our fault that the boat got loose. I wonder if there's anything to eat here."
"Let's look," proposed Sue, so the two children looked under the boat seats and lifted the oars over to one side. Sometimes they were allowed to go with their father or mother for a row or sail, and, once in a while, Mrs. Brown would take with her some sandwiches or cake for a little lunch. Bunny and Sue thought something to eat might have been left over since the last time, but there was nothing.
"Oh dear!" sighed Sue. "I'm terrible hungry, Bunny!"
"So am I!"
"Don't you s'pose you could catch a fish, so we could eat that?"
"I might," Bunny answered, "if I had a fish line."
"I have a piece of string," and Sue put her chubby hand in her pocket. She had had her mother sew two pockets in her dress, almost like the ones Bunny had in his little trousers. For Sue said she wanted to carry things in her pockets, just as her brother and the other boys did.
She now pulled out a tangled bit of string, white cord that had come off some bundles from the grocery.
"There's a fish line, Bunny," said Sue.
"Yes, if I only had a hook," and the little fellow pulled the tangles out of the cord, "You can't catch fish without a hook, Sue."
"I know that. And here's a pin. You can bend that into a hook. SadieWest and I did that one day up at the frog pond."
"Did you get any fish?" Bunny asked.
"No," answered Sue slowly. "But there wasn't any fish in the pond. Mr. Winkler came along and told us so, and we didn't fish any more. We caught frogs."
"How?"
"In a tin can."
"We haven't any tin can now," went on Bunny, looking about the boat, as if he would, perhaps, rather catch frogs than fishes.
"Don't try to get any frogs," Sue begged him. "They aren't any good to eat."
"Their legs are!"
"Oh, they are not! I wouldn't eat frogs' legs. I'd eat chickens' legs though, if they were cooked."
"So would I. But some folks do eat frogs legs. I heard Aunt Lu telling mother so the other day."
"They must be funny people to eat frogs' legs," Sue exclaimed.
"But I won't catch any now," Bunny promised. "Where's the pin, Sue? So I can make a hook."
"I'll take one out of my dress where a button's off," offered the little girl. "Only you'll have to give the pin back to me after you stop fishing, 'cause I'll have to pin my dress up again."
"S'posin' a fish swallers it?" Bunny asked.
"Swallers what?"
"Swallers the hook!" Bunny explained. "If a fish eats the bent pin hookI can't give it back to you; can I?"
"No," said Sue slowly. "But we could get it out when we cook the fish," she said, after thinking about it a little while.
"Yes," agreed Bunny. "But I guess they don't cook pins in fish. Anyhow we haven't got a fire to cook with."
"Oh, well, then we'll pretend. Here's the pin, Bunny," and Sue took it from a place on her dress where, as she had said, a button was off. "Try and catch a big fish with it."
Bunny had the piece of string untangled now and he bent the pin into a sort of hook. All this while the boat was slowly drifting down the river, but Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had talked so much about fishing that they had not noticed where they were going. They were not so frightened as they had been at first.
Bunny tied the bent pin on the end of his piece of string and was about to toss it over the side of the boat into the water when he happened to think.
"I'll have to have a sinker," he said to Sue. "You can't catch fish if you don't have a sinker to take the hook down to the bottom of the water. Fish only bite near the bottom. I must have a sinker."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "Fishing is a lot of work; isn't it, Bunny?"
"It's fun," said the little boy. "I like it, but I have to have a sinker."
"I could give you a button from my dress," Sue said. "One's almost off, and I could pull it the rest of the way. Only I haven't another pin to fasten me up with. This is an old dress, anyhow. That's what makes it have one button gone and another almost off," she explained.
"Never mind. Don't pull off the button, Sue," Bunny said. "I guess it wouldn't be heavy enough to sink. Maybe I can find a regular sinker. Oh, yes, here's one!" he cried, as he picked up from the bottom of the boat a piece of lead. It had been dropped there when Mr. Brown, or perhaps Bunker Blue, had used the boat for fishing a few days before.
"This will be just the thing!" cried Bunny, as he fastened it to his line. "Now I can fish real," and he tossed the bent pin over the side of the drifting boat into the water. The bent pin sank out of sight, and both children watched eagerly, wondering how long it would be before they would catch a fish.
But suddenly their boat bumped against something, and stopped moving.The bump was so hard that Bunny was knocked over against Sue.
"Oh, Bunny, don't!" she exclaimed. "You hurt my arm!"
"I—I couldn't help it," Bunny said.
"Was it a fish?" asked Sue, hopefully, "Did he pull you over?"
Bunny shook his head. Nothing had taken hold of the pin-hook. Then he turned his head and looked around.
"Oh, Sue!" he cried. "We've run ashore on an island. Now we can get out and have some fun! This is great!"
The boat, in which Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had gone adrift, had really "bunked into an island," as Bunny told about it afterward. He said "bunked," and he meant bumped, for that is what the boat had done.
There were a number of islands in the river, some small and some larger, and it was at one of the larger ones that Bunny and Sue now found themselves. Their boat swung around in the shallow water, and did not move any more. It was fast aground on the edge of the island.
"Let's get out," suggested Bunny, and he did so, followed by Sue. As Bunny pulled his fish line from the water, his sister saw the dangling bent-pin hook, and cried out:
"Oh, Bunny, you didn't get a fish after all!"
"No," the little fellow answered. "I guess I can fish better from the island, anyhow. We'll fish here now, and if we catch anything we can build a fire and cook it. That is, we could if we had any matches."
"Mother told us we musn't play with fire," remarked Sue.
"That's so," her brother agreed. "Well, we can wait till we get home to cook the fish. But we've got to fasten the boat, or it may go away and leave us."
Bunny's father was in the boat business and the little fellow had often heard how needful it was to tie boats fast so they would not drift away or be taken out by the tide. So it was one of the first things he thought of when he and Sue landed on the island.
There was a rope in the front part, or bow of the rowboat, and Bunny tied one end of this rope to a tree that grew near the edge of the island.
"Now I can fish," he said.
"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I wish I had one of my dolls with me—even the old sawdust one, with the sawdust coming out. I could play house with her. What can I do, Bunny?"
"Well, you can watch me fish, and then I'll let you have a turn. If you had another pin I could make you a hook."
"Nope, I haven't anymore," and Sue looked carefully over her dress, thinking she might find another pin. But there was none.
Bunny was about to cast in the line from the shore of the island, near the boat, where he and Sue were standing, when he suddenly thought of something.
"Oh, I forgot! I haven't any bait on my hook!" he said. "No wonder I didn't get a bite. I'll have to get a worm, or something the fish like to eat. Come on, Sue, you can help at that—hunting for worms."
"I—I don't want to," and Sue gave a little shiver.
"You don't like to hunt worms?" asked Bunny, as if very much surprised."I like it—it's fun!"
"Oh, but worms—worms are so—so squiggily!" stammered Sue. "They make me feel so ticklish in my toes."
"You don't pick up worms in your toes!" cried Bunny. "You pick 'em up in your hands!"
"I know," and Sue smiled at her brother, "but they are so squiggily that they make me feel ticklish away down to my toes, anyhow."
"All right," Bunny agreed. "I'll pick up the worms, but you can have a turn fishing just the same."
"Thank you," answered Sue.
Mrs. Brown had taught the children to be kind and polite to each other, just as well as to strangers and to "company." Though of course Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had little troubles and "spats" and differences, now and then, just like other children.
Bunny began looking for worms, and he dug in the soft dirt of the island, near the edge of the water, with a stick. But either there were no worms there, or Bunny did not dig deep enough for them, for he found none.
"Guess I'll have to fish without any bait," he said, after a while. But, as I suppose you all know, fish hardly ever bite on an empty hook, especially when it is made from a bent pin; so, after he had dangled the line in the water for quite a while, Bunny said:
"Here, Sue. It's your turn now. Maybe you'll have better luck than I had."
"Maybe there aren't any fish in this river."
"Oh, yes there are. Bunker Blue caught a lot one day. But he had worms for bait."
However Sue did not mind fishing without any worms on the pin-hook, and she sat down on a log, near the water and let the line dangle in it, while Bunny walked about the island. He had never been on this one before, though there was a larger one, farther down the river, where he and his sister Sue had often gone on little picnics with their mother and father.
Walking back a little way from the edge of the water, Bunny saw a place where a tangle of vines, growing over an old stump, had made a place like a little tent, or bower. All at once Bunny remembered a story his mother had read to him. Back he ran to where Sue was fishing.
"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he exclaimed. "I know what we can do!"
"What?"
"We can play Robinson Crusoe!" cried Bunny.
"Is that like tag, or hide-and-go-to-seek?" the little girl wanted to know.
"Neither one," answered her brother. "Robinson Crusoe was a man who was shipwrecked on an island, and he lived there a long time with his man Friday. We can play that."
"But we aren't shipwrecked," Sue said. Living near the sea the children had often heard of shipwrecks, and had once seen one, when a big sail boat had beep blown up on the beach and broken to pieces by the heavy waves. The sailors were taken off by the life-savers. "We're not shipwrecked," said Sue. "There's our boat all right," and she pointed to the one in which they had gone adrift.
"Oh, well, we can pretend we've been shipwrecked," Bunny said.
"Oh, yes!" and Sue understood now. "What is the rest of the game?" she asked.
"Well, mother read the story to me out of a book," explained Bunny. "Robinson Crusoe was wrecked, and he had to live on this island, and he had a man named Friday."
"What a funny name! Who named him that?" asked Sue.
"Robinson Crusoe did. You see, Friday was a colored man, very nice, too, and he helped Robinson a lot. Robinson called him that name because he found him on Friday."
"But this isn't Friday," objected Sue. "It's Thursday."
"Well, it's only pretend," went on Bunny.
"Oh, yes. I forgot. So Robinson had a colored man named Friday to help him."
"Yes," Bunny said, "and we'll play that game. I'll be Robinson."
"But who is going to be Friday?" Sue wanted to know.
"You can be."
"But I'm not a man, and I'm not colored, Bunny."
"We'll have to pretend that, too. You'll be my man Friday, and we'll go to live in the little tent over there," and Bunny pointed toward the leafy bower he had found. "And you can be colored, too, if you want, Sue," he said. "You could rub some mud on your face and hands."
"Oh, let's! That's what I'll do!" and Sue laid aside the stick to which Bunny had tied the fishline and the bent pin. "That will be fun!" Sue said. "It will be better than the Punch and Judy show with the lobster claw on your nose."
"But you mustn't get your dress muddy," Bunny cautioned his sister."Mother wouldn't like that."
[Illustration with caption: FOR A MOMENT SUE LAY THERE, STILL CHOKINGAND GASPING]
"I won't," promised Sue. "And when we get through playing I can wash the mud off my face and hands."
"Yes," said Bunny. "Now I'll go over to my cave—we'll call the place where the vines grow over the stump a cave," he went on, "and I'll be there just like Robinson Crusoe Was in the cave on his island. Then I'll come out and find you, all blacked up with mud, and I'll call you Friday."
Sue clapped her hands in delight, and, when Bunny went off to the cave, which, he remembered, was the sort of place where the real Robinson Crusoe lived, in the story book, Sue found a place where there was some soft, black mud.
Very carefully, so as not to soil her dress, the little girl blackened her hands and face, rubbing on the dirt as well as she could.
"Bunny! Bunny!" she called after a bit.
"Well, what is it?" asked her brother, as he was sitting in his make-believe cave.
"Come and look at me," said Sue, "and see if I'm black enough to beFriday."
Bunny came and looked.
"You need a little more mud around behind your ears," he said. "I'll put it on for you," and he did so.
Then the two children played the Robinson Crusoe game; that is, as much of it as Bunny could remember, which was not a great deal. But they had good fun, walking about the island, and going into the green vine-bower now and then to get out of the sun, which was very hot.
But even as much fun as it was playing at being shipwrecked on an island, like Robinson, in the story book, the children soon tired of it.
"I guess we'd better go home," said Sue after awhile. "I'm terribly hungry, Bunny."
"So'm I."
"And if we can't catch any fish, and can't find any place to get things to eat from, we'd better go home."
"Yes, I guess we had. I wonder if I can row the boat?"
Bunny had often seen his father, or Bunker Blue, or sometimes his mother, row a boat, so he knew how it was done. But he knew the oars in the boat in which he and Sue had gone adrift were heavy, and he was not very strong, though a sturdy little chap for his years.
"I'll help you," Sue said. "But first I'll have to un-Friday myself. I must wash off this mud."
"I'll help you—around behind your ears where you can't see," offeredBunny.
Sue went to a place near the water, where there was a flat rock, and leaned over to dip her handkerchief in. She was going to use it as a washcloth.
But, whether she slipped, or leaned over too far, Sue never knew. At any rate, soon after she had washed off the first bit of mud from her hands and wrists, she suddenly toppled, head first, right into the river!
"Oh! Oh! Bunny!" Sue cried, as she found herself in the water.
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had often been in the water bathing. They had even been allowed to go in the ocean, a little way, when their father or mother was with them, and they were just beginning to learn to swim.
But to fall suddenly into the water, with all one's clothes on, is enough to frighten anybody, even someone older than Sue; so it is no wonder she began splashing about, instead of trying to swim, as her father had told her to do.
Bunny, for a moment, did not know what to do, but he had one great thought, and that was that he must help his sister. He was a little distance away from her, and he called out:
"I'm coming, Sue! I'll get you out! Don't be afraid!"
But Sue was afraid. Her head went under water, and she had swallowed some, for she had forgotten another thing her father had told her, and this was:
"When your head goes under water, hold your breath—don't breathe—and then the water won't get in your mouth and nose."
But Sue forgot this, and she was choking and gasping in the river. Luckily it was not deep, and he might easily have stood up at the place where she had fallen in. The water would not have been quite up to her waist.
"I'll get you out, Sue! I'll get you!" cried Bunny.
He ran toward Sue, but before he reached her there was heard a loud barking, and a big, shaggy dog rushed down to the edge of the island. Right into the water the dog jumped, and, getting hold of Sue's dress, he pulled her up on the shore.
For a moment Sue lay there, still choking and gasping, while the dog stood over her, wagging his tail, and barking as hard as he could bark. He seemed to know that everything was all right now.
"Oh, Sue! Sue!" cried Bunny, rushing up to his sister, and putting his arms around her. "You aren't drowned now; are you, Sue?"
"I—I don't—don't know—Bun-Bunny!" she stammered. "I—I guess I'm 'most drowned, anyhow. Oh, take me home! I want my mamma!"
"I'll take you home right away!" Bunny promised. "But wasn't the dog good to pull you out?"
The dog shook the water from himself, and wagged his tail harder than ever. He jumped about, barking, and then, with his big red tongue, he licked first Sue's face, and then Bunny's.
Sue was much better now. She could sit up, and, as the river water was not salty, as is the water of the ocean, what she had swallowed of it did not hurt her.
"I guess the dog will lick all the Friday-mud off my face," she said, smiling at Bunny through her tears.
"The mud's all off anyhow," said her brother. "Falling in the river washed you clean."
"But it got my dress all wet. I don't care, it's an old one."
"That's good," said her brother. "Now we'll go home. Maybe you will be all dry when we get there," he added hopefully, "and your dress won't show any wet at all."
"But I'll have to tell mother I fell in."
"Oh, of course!"
"But it was a—a accident," Sue said, speaking the big word slowly. "Now take me home, Bunny. I don't want to play Friday any more, and I'm hungry."
The dog jumped about the children, but he kept nearer to Sue. Maybe he thought she belonged to him, now that he had pulled her from the water. Perhaps he had saved Sue's life, though the little girl might have gotten out herself, or Bunny might have pulled her from the water.
"He's a nice dog," said Sue. "I wish we could keep him."
"Maybe we can. He doesn't seem to belong to anybody, and nobody lives on this island."
"He was shipwrecked too," said Sue. "Or maybe he wanted to play RobinsonCrusoe with us."
"Robinson didn't have a dog—anyhow, mother didn't read about any in the story," replied Bunny. "But he had a goat."
"We can pretend this dog is a goat," remarked Sue, as she patted the big shaggy fellow, who barked in delight, and wagged his tail.
"We'll take him home in the boat with us," decided Bunny. "I hope mother lets us keep him."
Getting into the boat was easy enough for Bunny and Sue, for they only had to step over the side, the boat being partly on shore. And the dog jumped in after them. He seemed very glad Indeed that he had found two such nice children to love, and who would love him.
But when Bunny tried to push the boat away from the island, as he had seen his father and Bunker Blue often do, he found it was not easy. The boat was stuck fast in the soft mud of the edge of the island.
"I—I can't do it," Bunny said, puffing, as he pushed on the oar, with which he was trying to shove off the boat. "I can't do it, Sue."
"Will we have to stay here forever?"
"No, not forever. Maybe papa, or somebody will come for us. But I can't push off the boat."
"I'll help you," offered Sue. The oar was too heavy for her, however, so Bunny got her a long stick. But, even with what little help Sue could give, the boat would not move.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Bunny, sitting down on a seat. He looked worried, and so did Sue.
"If we had a harness for our new dog we could hitch him to the boat, and maybe he could pull it into the water," remarked Bunny, after a bit.
"Oh, that would be fine!" cried the little girl. "And maybe he could swim, and pull us all the way home."
"But we haven't any harness," said Bunny with another sigh.
"Couldn't we use the fish line? I've got another piece of string."
"We can try."
With the string, which he knotted together, Bunny made a sort of "harness," putting one end around the dog's neck, and tying the other end to the bow, or front of the boat.
"Now pull us, Towser!" Bunny cried.
"Is his name Towser?" Sue wanted to know.
"Well, we'll call him that until we can think of a better name. Go on, pull!" ordered Bunny.
But the dog only barked and stood still. He did not seem to mind being "hitched up." It seemed as though he had often had children play with him.
"Oh, I know how to make him pull us!" Sue exclaimed.
"How?"
"Throw a stick in the water, and he'll chase after it."
"Fine!" cried Bunny, and he tossed a chip out into the river. With a bark the dog rushed after it. But I think you can guess what happened. Instead of the dog's pulling the boat, the string broke, and, of course, that was the end of the harness.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Sue. "We'll never get home, Bunny!"
The little boy did not know what to do next. But, all at once, as he and his sister looked at each other, quite worried and anxious, they heard a voice shouting:
"Bunny! Sue! Are you there? Where are you? Bunny! Sue!"
"Who—who is that?" asked Sue of her brother in a whisper. "Oh, it's papa come for us!"
"That isn't papa," Bunny answered, for well he knew his father's voice.
"Well, it's SOMEBODY, anyhow," and Sue smiled now, through her tears."It's somebody, and I'm so glad!"
"Bunny! Sue!" called the voice again, and the big dog barked. Perhaps he was also glad that "somebody" had come for him, as glad as were the children. But, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked all about, they could see no one. Then, all of a sudden, Sue thought of something.
"Oh, Bunny!" she cried. "Do you s'pose it could be him?"
"Be who?"
"Robinson Crusoe's man Friday. Here on the island, you know. Maybe he heard we were here, and came to help us catch fish, or make a fire. Oh, Bunny, if it should be Mr. Friday!"
"Pooh! It couldn't be," said Bunny. "Mr. Friday was only make-believe, and we were only pretending, anyhow. It couldn't be!"
"No, I 'spose not," and Sue sighed. "Anyhow, it's somebody, and they know us, and I'm glad!"
Bunny was also glad, and a few seconds later, while the dog kept on barking, and running here and there, Bunny and Sue raw, coming around the end of the island, a boat, and in it was Jed Winkler, the old sailor who owned Wango, the monkey. Only, of course, the old sailor did not have the monkey with him this time.
"Bunny! Sue! Oh, there you are!" called Mr. Winkler as he saw the two children.
"Oh, Mr. Winkler!" cried Bunny. "We're so glad to see you!"
"Yes, and I guess your folks will be glad to see YOU!" answered the old sailor. "They've been looking all over for you, and only a little while ago I noticed that your boat was gone. I thought maybe you had gone on a voyage down the river, so I said I'd come down and look, as far as the island, anyhow. And here you are!
"I wonder what you'll do next? But there's no telling, I reckon. What have you been doing, anyhow, and whose dog is that?"
"He's mine," said Sue quickly. "He pulled me out of the water."
"He's half mine, too," said Bunny. "I saw him before you did, Sue. You couldn't see him 'cause your head was under the water," he went on, "and when a feller sees a dog first, half of it is his, anyhow; isn't it, Mr. Winkler?"
"Oh, you may have half of him," agreed Sue kindly. "Do you want the head half, or the tail hall, Bunny?"
"Well," said Bunny slowly, "I like the tail end, 'cause that wags when he's happy, but I like the head end too, because that barks, and he can wash our hands with his tongue."
Bunny did not seem to know which half of the dog to take. Then a new idea came to him.
"I'll tell you what we can do, Sue!" he exclaimed. "We can divide him down the middle the other way. Then you'll have half his head end, and half his tail end, and so will I."
"Oh, yes!" Sue agreed, "and we can take turns feeding him."
"Say, I never see two such youngsters as you!" declared the old sailor, laughing. "What happened to you, anyhow?"
"Well, we didn't mean to go off in the boat, but we did," Bunny explained. "Then we got wrecked on this island, just like Robinson Crusoe did."
"Only we didn't find Mr. Friday," put in Sue.
"But we found a cave—a make-believe one," Bunny said quickly.
"And I fell in, but we didn't get any fish," added the sister.
"And the dog did pull her out, and we're going to keep him," went on Bunny. "And will you take us home, Mr. Winkler? 'Cause we're hungry, and maybe our dog is, too, and it's getting dark, and we couldn't make our boat go, even if we did hitch the dog up to it."
"Bless your hearts, of course I'll take you home, and the dog, too!" the old sailor cried, "though I didn't expect to find a dog here. Come now, get in my boat, and I'll fasten yours to mine, and pull it along after me. Come along!"
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were soon in the old sailor's boat, the dog following them, and, a little later, they were safely at their own dock, where their father and mother, as well as Aunt Lu and Bunker Blue, were waiting to greet them.
"Oh, Bunny! Oh, Sue!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she gathered them both into her arms. "Why did you do it? Oh, such a fright as you have given all of us!"
"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Bunny, himself a little frightened at what had happened. "The boat came untied, and floated off with us, and then we played Robinson Crusoe, just like you read to me out of the book, and—"
"But we didn't find Mr. Friday," interrupted Sue, who seemed to feel this was quite a disappointment.
"Never mind," remarked Aunt Lu, "you had plenty of other adventures, I should think. Why, Sue!" she exclaimed, "your dress is quite damp!"
"She fell in," explained Bunny, "and—"
"Mercy! Where did that dog come from?" cried Mrs. Brown, for the big shaggy animal had been lying quietly in the bottom of Mr. Winkler's boat, and now, with a bark, he suddenly sprang up, and jumped out on the dock.
"It's our dog," said Sue. "He pulled me out."
"Pulled you out, child? Out of where?" Mrs. Brown wanted to know. "What happened? Tell me all about it!"
Which Bunny and Sue did, taking turns. Then they begged to be allowed to keep the dog, and Mr. Brown said they might, if no one came to claim it.
"I guess it must be a lost dog," said the old sailor. "Maybe it jumped off some boat that was going down the river, and swam to the island. I guess it's glad enough to get off, though, for there's nothing there for a dog to eat."
"We couldn't find anything, either," said Bunny, "and we're hungry now,Mother."
"And we're going to take turns feeding the dog," came from Sue. "I own one half, down the middle, and so does Bunny."
"Bless your hearts!" Mrs. Brown cried. "She was very glad the children had been found, and Mr. Brown told Bunny and Sue they must not get in the boat again, unless some older person was with them, even if the boat was tied to the dock. Then it was supper time, and the big, shaggy dog ate as much as Bunny and Sue together, which showed how hungry he was.
"What are you going to call the dog?" asked Aunt Lu.
"I called him Towser," Bunny said, "but we can take another name, if we don't like that."
"Oh, let's call him Splash!" exclaimed Sue.
"Splash? What a funny name!" her mother remarked.
"Well, he did splash in the water after me, and pulled me out. Maybe we could call him Pull, but I like Splash better," and Sue shook her curly head.
"Call him Splash, then," agreed Mr. Brown, and so the big dog was called that name. He did not seem to mind how funny it was, but wagged his tail, and barked happily whenever he was spoken to.
For two or three days after they had gone off in the boat, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not go far from home. They remained about the house, playing different games with some of the children who lived near them. Now and then they would go down the street with Aunt Lu, or to the dock, to see the fish boats come in. And, often, as she walked along, Aunt Lu would look down at the ground.
"Are you looking for your lost diamond ring?" Bunny or Sue would ask.
"Well, not exactly," Aunt Lu would say. "I'm afraid I shall never find it," she would add, in rather a sad voice. "I am afraid it is gone forever."
"We'll keep on looking," promised Bunny. "And maybe we'll find it."
Splash, the big dog, proved to be very gentle and kind. He seemed to love the two children very much, and went everywhere with them. No one came to claim him. There was only one place Bunny and Sue could not take him, and that was to Mr. Winkler's house, and it was on account of the monkey.
"I'm afraid Splash might scare Wango," the old sailor said. "Monkeys are easily frightened, and Wango might try to get out of his cage and hurt himself. So, much as I love your dog, children, please don't bring him where Wango is."
"We won't," promised Bunny and Sue. So, whenever they paid a little visit to their friend, the old sailor, Splash was chained outside the gate, and the poor dog did not seem to understand why this was done. But he would lie down and wait until Bunny and Sue came out. Then how glad he was to see them!
One day Aunt Lu gave Bunny and Sue each five cents. They said they wanted to buy some toy balloons, which they had seen in the window of Mrs. Redden's store.
"Maybe we could tie two balloons together, and fasten them to a basket and have a ride, like in an airship," Sue said to Bunny, for they had been looking at some pictures of airships in a magazine.
"Maybe we could," Bunny agreed.
But Bunny and Sue did not buy the toy balloons. They were on their way to get them, with Splash, the dog, walking along the street behind them, when a trolley car came along. The trolley ran from Bellemere, where Bunny and Sue lived, to Wayville, the next town. In Wayville lived Uncle Henry, who was a brother of Mrs. Brown's.
"Oh, Sue! I know what let's do!" Bunny suddenly cried, as the trolley car stopped to take on some passengers at the street corner.
"What shall we do, Bunny?" Sue was always ready to follow where her brother led.
"Let's take our five cents and have a trolley ride! We can go toWayville and see Uncle Henry. He'd like to see us."
"But if we go on the trolley it costs five cents," Sue objected, "and we can't buy the balloons."
"Maybe Uncle Henry will give us some pennies when we tell him we had to spend our five cents to come to see him," Bunny suggested.
"Maybe. All right, let's go!"
Hand in hand, never thinking that it was in the least wrong, Bunny and Sue ran for the trolley. The conductor, though perhaps he thought it strange to see two such small children traveling alone, said nothing, but helped them up the high step. Often the people of Wayville or Bellemere would put their children on the car, and ask the conductor to look out for them, and put them off at a certain place. But no one was with Bunny and Sue.
"We want to go to Wayville, to our Uncle Henry's," explained the blue-eyed little boy.
"All right," answered the conductor. "I'll let you off at Wayville, though I don't know your Uncle Henry." He rang the bell twice, and off went the trolley car, carrying Bunny and Sue to new adventures.
Bunny and Sue leaned back in the trolley car seat, and felt very happy. They loved to ride and travel, and they did not think they were doing wrong to take a trolley ride without asking their mother or father. If they had asked, of course, Mrs. Brown would not have let them go alone. But that is the way matters generally went with Bunny and Sue.
Faster and faster went the trolley car. Bunny looked at Sue and smiled, and she smiled at him. The conductor came along the step of the car, which was an open one, to collect the fares. Bunny and Sue each handed him a five cent piece, and he handed them each back two pennies.
"Oh, I didn't know we got any change!" exclaimed Bunny, in surprise
"The fare to Wayville is only three cents, for such little tots as you," the conductor said. "Are you sure you know where you are going?" he asked.
"We're going to our Uncle Henry's," replied Bunny. "And he lives near the big, white church."
"Well, I can let you off there all right. Now be careful, and don't lean over out of your seats. You're pretty small to be taking trolley rides alone."
"We went alone in a boat the other day," Bunny told the conductor, "and we got shipwrecked."
"On an island in the river," added Sue, so the conductor would know what her brother meant.
"Well, if you've been shipwrecked, I guess you are able to take a trolley ride," laughed the motorman, for Bunny and Sue were riding in the front seat.
"Hey, conductor!" called a man in the back seat of the car, "there's a dog chasing after us!"
"Why, so there is!" The conductor seemed much surprised as he looked back.
Bunny and Sue stood up and also looked behind them. There, indeed, was a big shaggy dog, running after the car, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He seemed very tired and hot.
"Why—why!" cried Sue, "that's our dog—it's Splash, and he splashed in and pulled me out of the water when I fell in, the time Bunny and I were shipwrecked!"
"Oh, we forgot all about him, when we got on the car," Bunny cried. He felt very sorry for Splash.
"I thought he'd come right on the car with us," Sue said. "And we'd have money enough to pay his fare, too," she added, looking at the two pennies in her chubby fist. "Is it three cents for dogs, too, mister?" she asked the conductor.
The conductor laughed, and some of the passengers did also. Then Bunny, who had been looking at poor Splash, racing along after the trolley car, which was now going quite fast, called out:
"Please stop the car, Mr. Conductor. We want our dog!"
"But you can't take a dog on the car, my boy. It isn't allowed. I'm sorry."
Bunny thought for a minute. Then he said:
"Well, if we can't bring our dog on the car, We'll get off and walk; won't we, Sue?"
"Yes, that's what we will."
"All right," agreed the conductor. "I'm sorry, for I'd like to do you the favor, but I'm not allowed." He rang the bell, and the car slowed up. Splash barked joyfully, for he Was very tired from running after his little friends, who went so fast and so far ahead of him.
The conductor helped Bunny and Sue down. The car had stopped along a country road, near a patch of woods, in rather a lonesome place.
"Here, youngsters," went on the trolley man, while Splash rushed up to Bunny and Sue, barking happily, "here, youngsters, take your money back. You didn't ride three cents' worth, hardly, and I'll fix it up all right with the company. You'd better take the next car back home. Your dog can find his way all right."
And then the car rattled off again, leaving Bunny and Sue, still with five cents each, Standing in the road, with their dog Splash.
"Poor fellow," said Bunny, putting his arms around the shaggy neck of his pet, "you must be awful tired!"
"He is," Sue agreed. "We'll sit down in the shade with him, and let him rest."
They found a nice place, where the grass was green, and where some trees made a shade, and near by was a spring of cool water.
Bunny made a little cup, from an oak leaf, and gave Sue a drink. Then he took some himself, and, a little later, Splash lapped up some water where it ran in a tiny stream down the grassy side of the road.
"Now he's rested, and we can go on," Sue remarked after a bit. "Where shall we go, Bunny—to Uncle Henry's?"
"Well, it's too far to walk, and we don't want to ride in the car, and make Splash run, so maybe we'd better go back home. We can get the balloons now. The conductor was good not to take our money."
"Yes, I like him," and Sue looked down the track on which, a good way off, could be seen the trolley car they had left.
"We can walk back home," went on Bunny. "It isn't far. Come on, Sue!"
Down the country road started the two children, Splash following, or, now and then, running off to one side, to bark at a bird, or at a squirrel or chipmunk that bounded along the rail fence.
Bunny and Sue thought they would have no trouble at all in going back home, but they did not know how far away it was.
"All we'll have to do will be to keep along the trolley track," said Bunny. "If we had my express wagon now, and a harness for Splash, he could pull us."
"Oh, that would be fun!" Sue cried. "It would be just like a little trolley car of out own. You could be the motorman and I Would be the conductor."
"We'll play that when we get home," her brother decided. "Oh, look!What's Splash barking at now?"
The dog had found something beside the road, and was making quite a fuss over it. It looked like a black stone, but Bunny and Sue could see that it was moving, and stones do not move unless someone throws them.
"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" and Sue hung back as Bunny ran toward the dog.
"Snakes aren't big and round like that," her brother answered. "They're long and thin, like worms, only bigger."
"Oh, it's a mud-turtle!" Bunny exclaimed as he came closer, "A great big mud-turtle, Sue."
"Will he—will he bite?"
"He might. He's got a head like a lobster's claw," replied Bunny. "But he won't bite me 'cause I won't let him get hold of my finger."
"He might bite our dog! Come away, Splash!" Sue cried.
But the dog knew better than to get too near the turtle, which reallycould bite very hard if he wanted to. Bunny got a stick, and poked atMr. Turtle, who at once pulled his head and legs up inside his shell.Then he was more like a stone than ever.
And, as it was not much more fan than looking at a stone, to watch the closed-up turtle, Bunny and Sue soon grew tired of watching the slow-moving creature. Splash, too, seemed to think he was wasting time barking at such a thing, so he ran off to find something new.
Once more the two children walked along the road. The sun grew warmer and warmer, and finally Bunny spoke, saying:
"Let's walk in the woods, Sue. It will be cooler there."
"Oh, yes," agreed the little girl. "I love it in the woods."
So into the cool shade they went, Splash following. They found another spring of water, and drank some. They gathered flowers, and found some cones from a pine tree. With these they built two little houses, doll size.
Pretty soon Sue said she was hungry, and Bunny also admitted that he was.
"We'll coon be home now," he said. "And we'll stop at Mrs. Redden's, and get our balloons."
"Then we'll have lots of fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
But the patch of woods through which the children had started to walk was larger than they thought. There seemed to be no end to it, the trees stretching on and on.
"Where's home?" Sue asked, after a bit. She was tired of walking.
Bunny stopped and looked about him.
"I can't see our house from here," he said, "but it's only a little way now. I guess maybe we'd better go out on the road, Sue. We can see better there."
But the road, too, seemed to have disappeared. Bunny and Sue went this way and that, but no road could they find. They listened, but they could not hear the clanging of the trolley car gong. It was very still and quiet in the woods, except, now and then, when Splash would run through the dried leaves, looking for another mud-turtle, perhaps.
"I'm hungry!" Sue exclaimed. "I want to go home, Bunny!"
"So do I," said the little fellow, "but I don't seem to know where our home is."
"Oh! Are we—are we lost?" whispered Sue.
Bunny nodded.
"I—I guess so," he answered.
Getting lost in the woods is different from getting lost in the city. In the city, or even in a little country town, there is someone of whom you can ask the way to your house. But in the woods there is no one to talk to.
Bunny and Sue thought of this when they had looked around through the trees, trying to find some way to, at least, get back to the road.
"If I could find the trolley car tracks we'd be all right," Bunny said."We could wait for a car and ride home."
"But what could we do with Splash?" asked Sue.
"Oh, he could run along after us. It isn't far, and he's had a good rest now."
"Well, I wish I were home," sighed the little girl. "I'm awful hungry!"
Bunny Brown did not know what to do. He wanted to be brave, and help his sister, but he, himself, felt much like crying, and he thought he could see tears in Sue's eyes.
Where was their home, anyhow? Where were their papa and mamma and dear Aunt Lu? Bunny felt he would give all of his five cents if he could see the house where he and Sue lived. But all around them were only trees.
"Will we have to stay here all night?" Sue wanted to know.
"Well, if we do, we can make believe we have a camp here, and live in the woods. And we've got Splash with us."
"Yes, I guess I wouldn't be much afraid," agreed Sue. "But it would be dark; wouldn't it, Bunny?"
"Maybe there'd be a moon—or—or lightning bugs."
"I—I'd rather have a real light," said the little girl. "And even ifI'm not very much afraid in the dark, I can't stop being hungry, Bunny.What do you eat when you camp in the woods?"
"Why—er—you eat—I guess you have to have sandwiches, or ice cream cones, or something like that."
"I want a sandwich now!" Sue insisted.
Bunny shook his head.
"We can make-believe," he began.
"But my hungry isn't make-believe!" cried Sue. "It's real—I'm awful hungry. Can't you find our house, Bunny?"
Her brother shook his head. Then, somehow or other, he decided that he must do something besides stand there in the woods.
"Let's look for a path and walk along it," he said. "Maybe we can get home that way."
There were several paths through the woods, and the children soon came to one of them. They walked along it a little way, but it came to an end in a place where the trees and bushes grew thick, making it quite dark.
"Our house isn't here," said Sue, sadly, and she cried a few tears.
"No, it isn't here," answered Bunny. "We'll go back and find another path."
Back they went. But the next path they tried was no better than the first one. It came to an end in a swamp, in which, on logs, were a number of big frogs and turtles, that jumped, or fell in, with much spattering of water as the children and the dog came near.
"I—I'm never going to take a trolley ride again," Sue said, as she andBunny turned back.
"I'm not, either," her brother agreed. "But if we had kept on to Uncle Henry's we'd have been all right. It was Splash's fault that we had to come back."
The dog barked, as he heard his name spoken. And then Sue suddenly thought of something.
"Oh, Bunny!" she exclaimed, "if Splash knew the way home he could take us. Maybe he does. Mother read to us about a dog that found his way home from a long way off. Splash, can you take us home?" she asked, patting the big dog on the head.
Splash barked, and started off on a path which the children had not yet tried.
"That's so. I never thought maybe Splash could show us the way," saidBunny. "We'll try it! Home, Splash!" he cried. "Home!"
The dog barked again, and wagged his tail. He ran along the path a short distance, and then stopped, looking back at Bunny and Sue as if asking:
"Well, why don't you come with me if you want to get home?"
"Oh, Bunny, I believe he does know the way!" Sue cried. "Come on, we'll follow him!"
On ran Splash, turning every now and then to look around and bark, as if telling the children not to worry—that he would lead them safely home.
And he did, or, if not exactly all the way home, the faithful dog made his way out of the woods, until he came to the main road, along which ran the trolley track.
"Oh, now I know where we are!" cried Bunny, in delight, as he saw several houses ahead of them. "Why, Sue, we're right on our own street. We weren't much lost!"
"Well, I'm glad we're found," Sue said.
It was easy to get home now. All the while Bunny and Sue had been only a little way from the road which led to their home, but the trees were so thick they could not find the right path. And Splash had never thought his two little friends were anxious to get home, until Bunny had told him so. Then he led them.
On walked Bunny Brown and his sister Sue, happy now that they were no longer lost. Splash seemed to think he had done all that was needed, for now he ran here, there, everywhere—across the road, back and forth, trying to find something with which to amuse himself. He no longer watched to see that the children followed him. He must have known that they were on the right road at last—that he had led them there.
Bunny and Sue passed Mrs. Redden's store. In the window were the red, blue, green, yellow and other colored toy balloons that they had set out to buy. Bunny and Sue still each had five cents, though it was in pennies now.
"Let's get the balloons," proposed Bunny.
"Oh, yes; let's!" agreed Sue.
So they went in and bought them, letting them float in the air, high above their heads, by the strings to which the balloons were fastened.
Down the street came Aunt Lu.
"Well, children!" she cried. "We were just getting worried about you.Mother sent me to find you. Where have you been?"
"We had a trolley ride," explained Sue, "but Splash couldn't get on the car, so we got off, and we were lost, and Splash found the path for us, and I'm hungry!"
"Bless your heart! I should think you would be!" cried Aunt Lu. "Come right home with me and I'll get you some jam and bread and butter."
And, a little later, Bunny and Sue were telling of their adventure.
"Oh, but you must never do that again!" said their mother. "Never get in the trolley cars alone again!"
"We won't!" promised Bunny and Sue. But you just wait and see what happens.
Bunny Brown was out in the yard, a few days after the funny trolley ride, digging a hole. Bunny had heard his father talk about a queer country called China, which, Mr. Brown said, was right straight down on the other side of the world, so that if one could possibly dig a hole all the way through the earth, one would come to China.
"I guess I'll dig a hole," thought Bunny Blown. "Maybe I won't go all the way to China, but I'll dig a big hole, and see where it ends. I'd like some China boys to play with."
A little while before Bunny started to dig the hole his sister Sue had been playing in the yard with her dolls. But, somehow or other, Bunny forgot all about Sue now. He was taking the dirt out of the hole with his sand shovel when his mother came to the door and called:
"Bunny, where is Sue?"
Bunny looked up from the pile of dirt in front of him. He was standing down in the hole, throwing out the sand and the gravel, and wondering when he would get his first sight of that queer land of China.
"Why, Mother," the little fellow answered, "Sue was here just now. Maybe she has gone down to show Wango her new doll."
"Oh, no, Sue wouldn't go down there alone, Bunny. See if you can find her."
Bunny went to the front gate and looked up and down the street.
"I don't see her, Mother," he called back.
"Oh, dear! I wonder where she can be?" said Mrs. Brown.
"I'll find her," Bunny said. "Come on, Splash!" he called to his dog."We're going to find Sue; she's lost!"
"Wait! Wait! Come back!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Don't you run off and get lost again, Bunny! I'll go with you, and we'll both find little sister."