CHAPTER XVIIAN ISLAND HUT
Mrs. Brown was so excited that she began running up and down the beach, waving her handkerchief toward theBeacon, which was fast sailing away from the cocoanut island.
But Mr. Brown appeared to be very cool about it.
“Don’t worry, my dear,” he said to his wife. “Captain Ward wouldn’t go away and leave us on this island.”
“But he is going away!” cried Sue Brown.
“Can’t you see the ship leaving us?” asked Bunny, and he pointed to it.
“Yes, it is going away, but only off the sand-bar,” said Mr. Brown. “The captain wants to get into deep water before the tide begins to fall.”
“That’s all it is,” said Will Gand. “You can depend on that. Captain Ward wouldn’tleave us cast away on a desert island—though this isn’t exactly a desert island,” the man said, with a laugh. “We have things to eat, and there’s plenty of cocoanuts.”
“And it’s so warm that we could sleep out of doors all night,” added Sam Trend. “That is, all except the children, maybe,” he concluded.
“Oh, are we going to stay here all night?” cried Bunny. “I’d like to do that!”
“If we are, I’m going to make a bed for Elizabeth,” said Sue.
“I think there will be no need of that,” said Mrs. Brown. “I did fear at first that the ship was going away from us. But if you think she will stop and come back for us, it will be all right,” she said to her husband.
“Oh, the ship will stop as soon as she gets into deep water,” said Mr. Brown. “As for coming back, I hardly think it would be safe for her to do that. She will probably come to anchor well beyond the bar and wait for us to row out to her.”
“Then we had better begin rowing out at once,” Mrs. Brown said. “It’s getting late,and we don’t want to stay here all night.”
“Yes, we can start rowing,” agreed the children’s father.
“Right you are, sir!” exclaimed Will Gand. “Come on, mate!” he called to his companion. “Shove off!”
The sailors ran the boat down to the edge of the water and helped Mrs. Brown, Bunny and Sue into the craft. Then Mr. Brown got in, with what remained of the lunch in the basket, and the sailors pushed the boat into the little bay until she floated.
Then they began rowing out toward theBeacon. But of course a ship, going by steam power, moves faster than a rowboat, and after a little while Mrs. Brown, who had been looking across the water that separated them from the steamer, called out:
“We aren’t gaining on them!”
“No,” said Mr. Brown, with a puzzled look on his face, “we aren’t. I should think they would be in deep water now, shouldn’t you?” he asked the sailors.
“Yes, sir,” answered Sam. “It’s deep enough water where she is now. Out there,there’s no danger of going aground again on the bar.”
“Then why doesn’t Captain Ward stop so we can get on board?” demanded Bunny.
“That’s what I’ve been wondering,” said the sailor, Will, as he rested on his oars, for both men had been pulling hard. “It looks like to me, sir,” he said to Mr. Brown, “that they’re going on faster. They aren’t going to drop anchor, nor yet turn around and come back for us.”
“It does seem so,” said Mr. Brown, and again he had that worried, curious look on his face.
“Oh, they must stop! They must stop and come back for us!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. “We can’t stay here alone! Can they have forgotten us?”
“They can’t have forgotten us!” said Mr. Brown. “Captain Ward and his mate knew we were coming ashore!”
“They wouldn’t deliberately go away and leave us, would they, Walter?” asked his wife. Bunny and Sue wondered what all this would lead to.
“Oh, no, Captain Ward would never do a thing like that!” said Will Gand. “He isn’t that kind of a sailor. But he certainly is leaving us behind.”
“Something’s wrong on board, you can depend on that,” stated Sam Trend, and he, too, ceased rowing.
“Something wrong, what do you mean?” asked Mr. Brown.
“I mean with the ship,” answered Sam. “Maybe they can’t turn around and come back after us. The steering gear might have broken when she went aground.”
“Yes, that could have happened,” said Mr. Brown. “But that wouldn’t prevent them from stopping, would it? They could shut off the engines, anchor, and wait for us, couldn’t they?”
“Surely they could!” cried Mrs. Brown. “Something dreadful must have happened.”
“It does look queer,” admitted Will Gand. “I don’t see why they don’t stop. Something sure is wrong on board.”
“Unless,” said the other sailor, “the water is shallower than we know anything about andCaptain Ward isn’t taking any chances. He may want to get a mile or two away from the sand bar.”
“Maybe,” said Mr. Brown. But while they waited and anxiously watched, theBeaconsteamed farther and farther off until it was plain that she was not going to stop.
“They have gone away and deserted us!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. “What are we going to do?”
“What are we going to do?” repeated her husband quickly. “Why, we are going back and camp on Cocoanut Island and have a regular picnic until the ship comes back for us! That’s what we’re going to do!” he said.
“Hurray!” cried Bunny Brown. “We’ll camp on Cocoanut Island and have lots of fun!”
“Hurray!” echoed Sister Sue.
In a low voice Mr. Brown said to his wife:
“Don’t let the children see that you are worried. I don’t know why the ship has gone and left us, but I know she will come back. We mustn’t frighten the children.”
“No; you’re right,” answered his wife.“I’m sorry I let myself show worry. I’m sure it will be all right. As you say, we mustn’t let the children know.”
So, pretending that it was all a jolly lark, Mr. and Mrs. Brown smiled at Bunny and Sue. The sailors also realized that they must pretend it was all in fun, and they were quite ready to play their parts.
“Well, shall we row back to the island?” asked Sam.
“Yes,” answered Mr. Brown. “There is no use in rowing after the ship any longer. She may not be back until late to-night.”
“Shall we stay here until then?” asked Bunny.
“Yes,” answered his mother.
“We have enough to eat,” went on the little boy. “There’s some in our basket yet and there’s more in the boat.”
“Yes, there’s plenty in the boat for all of us for a week,” said Sam Trend.
“Where are we going to sleep?” Sue asked.
“Under the boat,” answered Will.
“Under the boat?” repeated the little girl curiously.
“Yes,” went on the sailor. “We’ll haul the boat up on the sand and turn her over. You can crawl under it and sleep.”
“I’ve done that many a time,” said Sam. “It’s as good as a tent when the weather is as warm as it is down here.”
“Oh, won’t that be nice!” cried Sue.
“It will be just like camping out,” added Bunny.
Owing to the change in the tide, they did not land on the same stretch of the beach on which they had first come ashore, but about a mile to the south. And as the boat was pulled up on the sand and the castaways got out, Bunny looked toward the pine trees and some low bushes growing under them and, pointing, said:
“Look! There’s a little house!”
To the surprise of all, they beheld a small hut made of pieces of driftwood and palm leaves and branches. It stood in a clump of trees, and the opening was closed with a grass mat, or curtain, which flapped in the wind.
“Oh, what a nice little house!” cried Sue,running toward it. “We can stay in there instead of under the boat to-night!”
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Mr. Brown, catching hold of Sue before she could run very far.
“But I want to go into the little house,” she said.
“Some one may already be living there,” said her mother in a low voice. “We must wait and see first, Sue.”
Silently they all stood looking toward the island hut.