CHAPTER XVILEFT BEHIND

CHAPTER XVILEFT BEHIND

Very calm was the sea over which Bunny and Sue were being rowed toward the cocoanut island, as the children called it. The waves were not at all high and the ocean was more like Sandport Bay, on which Bunker Blue often took the Brown children for a row.

“It hardly seems like the ocean at all,” said Mrs. Brown.

“True,” agreed her husband. “We could almost land on the island through the open surf.”

“Better not try it, though,” said one of the sailors, whose name was Will Gand. “We’ll put in the little bay.”

“It will be safer,” agreed the other man from theBeacon. His name was Sam Trend. “We might get in safe, because there isn’t much surf to speak of,” he went on. “Butsometimes a big roller will come up out of the calmest sea, and it might upset the boat and get the children’s feet wet.”

“I could take off my shoes and stockings and wade,” declared Sue.

“Yes, but Sam is right,” said Mrs. Brown. “We don’t want to get wet when there is no need.”

“We’re often wet,” announced Sue.

“I wouldn’t be afraid if the boat upset!” boasted Bunny. “I can swim!”

“So can I!” added Sue, and it was true. Young as they were, the two little Browns had been taught by their father to take care of themselves in the water.

“Well, if the boat upset the things to eat in it might get wet,” said the sailor, Will Gand. “That would be a pity.”

“Oh, have we got things to eat in this boat?” cried Bunny. “I didn’t know that! We can have a picnic on the island, can’t we?”

“I had one of the stewards pack up some food in a basket,” said Mr. Brown, pointing to a large hamper under a seat. “I thought maybe we would eat our lunch here. It willbe afternoon before the tide will rise high enough to float the ship.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean that your picnic lunch would get wet,” said the sailor who had spoken of the danger of the boat upsetting. “I meant that the provisions this boat is stocked with might get soaked.”

“Is there other food in this boat than that which Mr. Brown has in the basket?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Oh, yes’m,” said Will Gand. “You see Captain Ward always keeps his lifeboats stocked with things to eat. He says you never can tell when you’ll have to launch them in a hurry, and there might be no time in case of a wreck when you have to leave the ship in a rush to put things in the boats. So they’re kept stocked.”

“And there’s fresh water on board this boat, too.” The sailor pointed to a locker, or compartment, up in the bow and nodded toward another locker in the stern. “They are both well filled with things to eat,” he said. “It’s mostly canned stuff, though.”

“Oh, well, that would keep us alive if wehad to stay here,” said Mr. Brown, with a laugh. “That’s a good idea of Captain Ward’s—to have the lifeboats stocked with food and water.”

“Yes,” agreed Sam Trend. “You never can tell when you’re going to be wrecked, and sometimes you have to take to the boats a thousand miles from land. In that case the shipwrecked ones could live for a week or more on what’s aboard.”

“But we aren’t shipwrecked, are we?” asked Bunny.

“No, little man, you aren’t,” answered Will Gand. “But if we had been going fast and had hit the sand-bar harder, we might be going to pieces now instead of having our ship safe and sound.”

“I don’t like to think of it,” said Mrs. Brown.

By this time the boat was nearer the island and it could be seen that Bunny’s guess was right—the trees that fringed the shore were cocoanut palms.

“And if there are cocoanuts on them can we eat some?” Sue asked.

“We’ll see about it,” was her mother’s answer.

“Cocoanuts are all right if you don’t eat too many,” said Sam Trend. “The milky pulp of a cocoanut makes a fine drink.”

“I want some!” announced Bunny Brown.

“Be patient until you get on shore,” said his father.

The boat was rowed around to the little bay where two long, sheltering rocky points kept the big waves from breaking. It was a calm and safe place to land.

The boat grated on the sandy, pebbly shore, and as one of the sailors jumped out to pull it farther up the beach, Bunny scrambled over the edge.

“I’m on shore! I’m on shore!” he cried, gayly dancing about.

“It certainly is a good feeling to know we are once more on solid land,” sighed Mrs. Brown, with an air of contentment. “I like voyaging,” she added quickly, “but I’m glad to be ashore once again.”

“Yes, so am I,” said Mr. Brown.

Sue was lifted out of the boat, and then thesailors took out the basket of lunch and carried it up, putting it under some of the green, graceful palm trees. Mr. Brown told the sailors they could roam about wherever they liked, but to come back to the boat at noon, when they would be given something to eat.

“Thank you, sir,” said Will, touching his cap, and Sam did likewise. Then Mr. Brown stretched out on his back under one of the palm trees.

“Oh, it’s fine here!” he said with a long breath of contentment.

“Lovely,” agreed his wife.

“I’m going to get a cocoanut!” cried Bunny.

“Don’t eat any without showing them to us first!” warned his mother, as Sue and the little boy raced off toward another clump of trees which were laden with nuts. “He might eat the wrong thing,” she added.

“You can’t make much of a mistake with a cocoanut,” said Mr. Brown, laughing. “Still, it’s best to be on the safe side. Anyhow, they can’t open a cocoanut without help. I guess we’ll have to depend on the big knives of the sailors for that.”

A little later Bunny and Sue came running back, each with a large cocoanut, having picked them up off the ground where they had doubtless been blown by the late storm.

“Open it and let us drink some of the juice!” begged Bunny.

Mr. Brown called to the sailors, and with their heavy clasp knives they cut through the soft, but thick, fibrous husk which encloses all cocoanuts. The nut itself was much smaller than it appeared on first view, and the shell enclosing the white meat was much thinner than the husk covering.

On the end of each inner nut were three small dark dots, and, being softer than the rest of the shell, these places were easily pierced by a sort of drill blade, or punch, in Will’s knife.

“Now, if you have a cup I’ll pour the milk out for you,” he said to Bunny, for he had first opened the nut of the little boy.

There were cups in the lunch basket, and into one of these was soon gurgling the white, sweet milky fluid—the milk of the cocoanut, than which there is no better drink.

Bunny and Sue much enjoyed theirs. Other nuts were gathered and opened, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, as well as the sailors, drinking the milk.

Then Bunny and Sue played on the sand, finding pretty shells and pebbles and now and then a bit of coral. The two sailors strolled down the sands while Mr. and Mrs. Brown rested under the shade of the cocoanut palm trees.

They could look off to theBeaconwhich was still aground on the sand-bar, no effort having as yet been made to pull her off into deep water.

Almost before the children realized it noon had come, and Mrs. Brown set out a lunch from the well-filled basket. Some was given the sailors, who took their portions down near the rowboat, pulled up on the beach.

“That steward gave us enough for several meals,” said Mrs. Brown. “We shall have to take a great deal of it back with us. There is no use leaving it here on the island. No one lives here.”

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