CHAPTER XIXCAMPING OUT
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue began to think that never in all their lives had they felt so sad and unhappy. They were on a strange island, and though at first it had seemed fun, now, without any soft bed to sleep in, sheltered under only a grass and palm leaf hut, and with the rain coming in—well, it is no wonder Sue cried. Bunny started to shed a few tears, and then he remembered that his daddy, only a few days before, had said that “boys of your age, Bunny, don’t cry.”
Mr. and Mrs. Brown, too, began to think that this was the most miserable of all the many adventurous trips they had taken with the children. They were wondering about the ship’s coming back, though Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not think so much of this matter.
But Mr. Brown quickly saw that he must do something to cheer up his family. There was no real danger, he decided.
“Don’t cry, Sue!” he called to his little girl, who was already in her mother’s arms. “A little rain isn’t going to hurt, is it, Son?” he asked the small lad.
“No—I—now—I like it,” replied Bunny, thus turning himself into a little hero.
“See, Sue,” laughed Mr. Brown, as he pulled the rug and grass bed of the children out from under the hole in the roof, “Bunny likes it. Don’t cry.”
“I wasn’t crying ’cause—’cause—Bunny was getting wet,” said Sue.
“Then why are you crying, dear?” asked her mother.
“’Cause—maybe—I guess—’cause I’m afraid Elizabeth will catch cold,” was the answer.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown laughed at this, and even Bunny smiled. Really Sue made up that excuse right out of her own head, so to speak. She was crying because she was a little afraid and things were strange, but she did not wantto say so, and that is why she spoke of Elizabeth’s catching cold.
“Well, we will cover your doll up so she won’t get wet,” said Mrs. Brown. “But, dear me!” she added to her husband, “I’m afraid we’re all going to get wet. Look, the roof is leaking in another place, Walter.”
Surely enough, drops were coming through just over the pile of grass and leaves which had served for Mrs. Brown’s and her husband’s bed.
“Looks as if we’d have to move out of our picnic hut,” said Mr. Brown. “I guess there will be room for all of us beneath the boat.”
Before they could make a move to get out the parents of the children, and Bunny and Sue also, heard voices calling to them outside the hut.
“Hello in there!” a voice shouted.
Another asked:
“Are you all right in the hut?”
“It’s the two sailors,” said Mr. Brown. His wife said:
“No, we’re not quite all right. The roof is leaking.”
“That’s what we came up to fix,” said Will Gand. “I saw last night that that roof wasn’t very tight. Sam and I have a big piece of canvas from the boat. We’ll throw it over the roof and that will keep out the rain. Can you show a light? It’s as dark as a coal bin out here.”
“Wait a minute!” said Mr. Brown.
He stepped to the door of the hut and flashed the powerful little electric torch. In its glow he could see the two sailors standing in the rain. Mrs. Brown also had a glimpse of them and called:
“Oh, you poor men, you’re getting soaking wet!”
“We don’t mind that!” laughed Sam Trend. “We’re used to it. And it’s a warm rain—it will do us good.”
The sailors were carrying a large piece of canvas between them, and as Mr. Brown held the light one of them climbed a tree near the hut and tossed the tarpaulin over the grass shelter. It was pulled down over the sides and made fast with ropes, as only sailors know how to do work like that.
“Now you’ll be dry,” said Will.
“Yes; but you two are all wet,” replied Mrs. Brown from within the shelter of the hut, through the roof of which no more rain came.
“Oh, we don’t mind,” said Sam.
Fastening the big canvas over the hut was exactly like putting the grass shelter inside a tent. And now, no matter how hard it rained, Bunny and his sister would not get wet. The men ran back to their shelter under the boat and the storm raged harder than ever.
The rain seemed to come down in bucketfuls, as one of the sailors said afterward, and the wind blew hard, though not hard enough to rip off the canvas or tear apart the frail hut.
“Well, we’re better off than we were,” said Mr. Brown, when it was certain that no more rain was coming in.
“Yes, indeed,” said Mrs. Brown. “Now go to sleep, my dears.”
“Shall we go on the ship to-morrow?” Sue wanted to know. “I don’t think Elizabeth likes it here very much.”
“Everything will be nicer to-morrow,” said Mrs. Brown, not giving any decided answerabout the ship, for in her heart she did not believe it would come back. But she did not want to say so. “To-morrow the sun will be shining,” she went on, “and we’ll pick some more cocoanuts and have a picnic in the woods.”
“Oh, shall we?” cried Bunny, smiling now.
“Surely we will.”
“And maybe you’ll bake a cocoanut cake, Mother!” exclaimed Sue.
“Well, we have plenty of cocoanuts, that’s sure,” laughed Mrs. Brown. “But I’m afraid I couldn’t quite make a cake. However, we’ll have some fun when the sun shines to-morrow.”
“Yes, we’ll have lots of fun,” echoed Bunny. “And I’m going in swimming.”
“We’ll see about that,” was all his father would promise. And when the children were once more asleep, with the rain pattering on the canvas roof, Mrs. Brown said to her husband:
“I only hope the sun will shine to-morrow and that theBeaconwill come back for us.”
“I think everything will be all right,” repliedMr. Brown. “Storms don’t generally last very long down here at this time of year. And the ship will surely return. She would have done so at once, I’m sure, only something must be wrong with the machinery.”
“Why didn’t they anchor and wait for us to row out to them?” asked Mrs. Brown. “That’s what I can’t understand.”
“Perhaps Captain Ward was afraid of anchoring so near a sand-bar with another storm coming up,” suggested her husband. “I’m sure they will be back for us to-morrow.”
“I hope so!” sighed Mrs. Brown, as she again lay down on the pile of grass and tried to get a little sleep.
She dozed off, as did her husband, for they were very tired. When they awakened it was to hear Bunny gayly shouting:
“The sun is shining! The rain has stopped! I’m going in swimming in the ocean!”
“So am I! I’m going swimming, too!” cried Sue.
“Stop them! Don’t let them go in yet! It would be just like them to dash into the water. Stop them, Walter!” cried Mrs. Brown.
Mr. Brown jumped up from the grass bed and saw Bunny and Sue going out of the door of the hut, Sue carrying her Elizabeth doll whom, doubtless, she intended bathing.
“Wait a minute!” laughed Mr. Brown, catching hold of the children. “Let’s see about this swimming business! I must pick out a good place for you—you don’t want to go in where there are any whales.”
“Oh, no, of course not!” cried Sue.
“All right—we’ll wait,” agreed Bunny, who had not thought of this.
As Bunny had said, the storm had stopped and the sun was shining. It was a lovely morning and the sea was calm. Cocoanut Island was a beautiful place.
Will and Sam had come out from beneath the boat and were down at the edge of the sea washing their hands and faces.
“We’ll soon have some hot coffee made for you!” called Will, for the alcohol stove had been put back in the boat locker with the spare food.
In a little while Mr. and Mrs. Brown were sipping the hot coffee while Bunny and Suewere drinking warm milk. No, it was not real, fresh milk, for the milkman did not stop at Cocoanut Island and there were no cows on it, so far as the castaways knew. But in the boat were cans of evaporated milk, and when this had been warmed with a little hot water it made a good drink for the children.
“Now we’ll get ready to camp out for the rest of the day or until the ship comes back,” said Mr. Brown. “One of the first things to do, I think, is to make another grass hut for the sailors. I don’t like to think of them sleeping under the boat.”
“We don’t mind it,” laughed Will. “But we can easily make another hut, if you like. And we’ll fix the roof on yours to-day.”
Mrs. Brown was gazing out over the ocean. Suddenly she pointed and cried:
“Is that the ship coming back?”