CHAPTER XVGOING ASHORE
Mrs. Brown, hearing some one say that the ship was aground, was not as worried as she was when she thought that theBeaconwas in a collision.
“If we’re aground, we can go ashore and be safe and not have to drift around in small boats,” said Mrs. Brown to her husband.
“We can if the island or the sand-bar that we have struck on is high enough out of water,” said the children’s father. “But sometimes these islands or bars are below the surface, in which case we naturally couldn’t land on it. But I don’t believe we shall have to go ashore. The ship struck so easily that I think we may soon be able to pull off again. I’ll go to the captain and see if I can find out what the matter is.”
“May I go with you?” Bunny Brown wanted to know.
“Oh, I should say not!” said his mother. “It’s time you and Sue were in your bunks.”
“But if we’re going ashore, Mother,” said Bunny, “I’ll have to get dressed again.”
“I’m going to take Elizabeth,” added the little girl.
“We aren’t going ashore—not right away, anyhow,” declared their mother. “Now get into your bunks and go to sleep.”
This was easy enough to say, but not so easy to do. Bunny did not want to go alone to the stateroom he shared with his father. He wanted his mother to go with him.
“Well, I’m not going to stay alone!” declared Sue. “Mother has to stay with me until daddy comes back to stay with you, Bunny!”
It being out of the question for Mrs. Brown to be in both staterooms at the same time, she ended the matter by saying:
“You may crawl into my bunk and stay here with Sue and me until daddy returns, Bunny. If you fall asleep daddy will carry you into his room.”
“I won’t fall asleep,” said the little boy.“I’m going to stay awake until daddy comes back.”
By this time the ship had ceased trembling and shivering. She had come to a stop and seemed to be resting calmly and quietly on some island or sand-bar. She was on an even keel; that is, she was not tilted to one side or the other. And had it not been for that startling bump, any one on board might have thought theBeaconstill floating quietly in the water.
“Anyhow the foghorn doesn’t blow any more,” said Sue. “I’m glad of that.”
“So am I,” agreed her mother. “It was getting on my nerves, blowing all the while.”
Though the ship herself was quiet, there was much confusion on board, it seemed. Outside in the corridors beyond the staterooms men could be heard hurrying to and fro. Voices also were heard, and Bunny and Sue caught such words as:
“We’re in no danger.”
“We’ll be off in the morning.”
“Yes, the tide will lift us off the bar.”
Hearing this talk, either from the ship’s officersor some of the passengers, made Mrs. Brown and the children feel that they would be all right when daylight came.
Bunny and Sue had crawled into the berths of Mrs. Brown’s stateroom, determined to remain awake until their father should return. But with the ship so quiet and the fog whistle no longer blowing, a calmness seemed to settle over the children. Mrs. Brown sat on a little stool, saying nothing, and soon she could tell by the deep, regular breathing of Sue that the little girl was fast asleep.
Mrs. Brown smiled and looked at Bunny lying in the upper berth. She saw him with his hands on his eyes.
“Bunny Brown, what are you doing?” she whispered to him, so as not to awaken Sue.
“I’m holding my eyelids open,” he answered in a low voice.
“Holding your eyelids open!” gasped his mother. “What for?”
“So I won’t go to sleep,” he answered. “I want to stay awake until daddy comes back, but my eyes—my eyes—now—keep going shut, so I’m holding them open.”
“Oh, you funny boy!” softly laughed his mother.
But soon, even with Bunny holding his eyelids up by means of his fingers, the little fellow fell asleep, as had his sister. Then Mrs. Brown sat there thinking over the many things that had happened since they had left their home in Bellemere.
“And I wonder how poor Mr. Pott, in the hospital, is getting along,” thought Mrs. Brown. “I hope he has some word of his lost son and the missing treasure.”
A little later her husband returned to the stateroom. Mrs. Brown held up a warning finger to let him know the children were asleep, and he made no noise.
“What happened?” she whispered to him.
“We went aground in the fog,” he answered. “But the ship isn’t damaged and Captain Ward thinks we shall get off in the morning. He isn’t going to try it to-night, as he can’t see what’s around him.”
“Are we on an island?” asked Mrs. Brown.
“Not exactly; but we aren’t far from one. A sand-bar runs out under water from the islandfor quite a distance. It was the sand-bar we grounded on. But we were going so slowly, on account of the fog, that the ship isn’t damaged.”
“That’s good,” said Mrs. Brown. Then she told of the children wanting to stay with her until their father returned, and how Bunny had tried to hold his eyes open. “I guess you’d better take him in your room now,” she added.
“I will,” said Bunny’s father. Gently he lifted the little sleeping boy in his arms. Bunny did not awaken, but murmured in his sleep:
“Don’t let the cow blow the foghorn!”
“He’s still thinking of it,” said his mother softly.
The next morning when Bunny and Sue awakened after a quiet night they were surprised that they had slept through it all and had not heard their father come back to the stateroom to tell about theBeacongoing aground.
“Why didn’t you wake me up when daddy came back?” Bunny wanted to know.
“And me, too!” added Sue.
“You were sleeping so beautifully I didn’t have the heart,” answered their mother. “Besides, there wasn’t much to tell you and nothing to see in the fog and the darkness. But now the fog has gone, and you may go up on deck and look about you.”
“I’m going up right now!” cried Bunny, and he would have gone in his pajamas if his mother had not caught him and held him back.
Once they were dressed, however, Bunny and Sue hurried out on deck. As far as they could see, there was no bit of land against which theBeaconhad thrust her prow. But about a mile away was a large island with palm trees waving in the wind and white surf breaking on the white sands.
“I thought we had gone aground,” said Bunny. He was somewhat puzzled, for he saw water all around the ship.
“The ground is underneath us,” a sailor explained. “We ran over, and partly on, a sand-bar about five feet under water. That’s why you can’t see it. Our keel is fast in the sand.”
“If we had sand shovels maybe we could dig ourselves out,” said Sue.
“It would take some pretty big shovels, and many of them,” laughed the man. “But I guess when the tide gets higher Captain Ward will start the engines and they will pull us off.”
Bunny and Sue did not understand much about this. All they knew was that the ship was still there in the ocean, not moving, and all about her broke the gentle waves. The waves were gentle, for it was very calm after the fog had blown away, just enough wind moving to carry off the white mist.
“That island looks just like the pictures in the story about Robinson Crusoe,” said Sue, remembering that tale of adventure her mother had read.
“Those are cocoanut trees over there,” declared Bunny. “I can tell by the way they look. And I guess cocoanuts are growing on them. Oh, Sue, wouldn’t you like to go on that island and get some cocoanuts?”
“I just guess I would!” cried the little girl. “And so would Elizabeth!”
“Pooh! A doll can’t eat cocoanuts!” said Bunny.
“My doll can,” Sue said.
“Oh, you mean make believe,” said Bunny.
“Yes, make believe,” answered Sue. “Oh, Bunny,” she went on, “let’s ask daddy and mother if we can go on the island!”
“That’ll be lots of fun!” said the little boy.
They ran to their parents, who were just then coming out on deck, and told what they wanted to do. Mr. Brown said:
“That’s queer! I was just going to ask you if you wouldn’t like to go ashore.” He turned to his wife. “We have been on the vessel several days and you must be getting tired of it.”
“No, not very,” replied Mrs. Brown. “But it would be nice to go ashore on the island if we could.”
“I’ll ask Captain Ward about it,” said Mr. Brown.
He went to find the commander, and, coming back a little later, Mr. Brown reported:
“Captain Ward says we may go ashore if we like. He will have a boat lowered for us and give us two sailors to row us to the shoreof the island. There is a little sheltered bay where we can land without going through the surf. It will be several hours before the tide is high enough to try to get theBeaconoff the sand-bar, and while we are waiting we can go on the island.”
“Are any other passengers going ashore?” Mrs. Brown wanted to know.
“I think we are the only ones,” her husband said. “The children will like it.”
“Yes, they’ll enjoy it,” said their mother.
When the boat was lowered and Bunny and Sue were helped into it, they shouted with delight at the prospect of landing on the island where the cocoanut trees grew.
“Hold fast!” cried one of the sailors, as he and his mate rowed the boat away from the ship and toward the island.