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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 6. The Strange Dog |
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_ CHAPTER VI. THE STRANGE DOG Sue followed her brother Bunny up on the deck of the _Fairy_. They were quite a distance out from the dock now, and were drifting farther and farther each minute, for the tide was running out. Sandport Bay connected with the ocean, and twice every day there is a great movement of the water in the ocean, called the tide. The tides make the water high twice each twenty-four hours, and then the tides get low, or run out. The moon and sun are thought to cause the tides, as you will learn when you get a little older and have to study about such things. And the tide, after having run up into Sandport Bay, was now running out, or ebbing, and in some way it was taking the _Fairy_ with it, floating the boat along as the rain water in the gutter floats chips along. "How do you s'pose we got loose?" asked Sue. "I don't know, lessen the rope came unhitched," Bunny answered. "But if Cap'n Ross tied his boat to the dock, I don't see how it could come unhitched." Bunny was enough of a sailor to know that no boat captain ever tied such a knot as could easily come loose. And yet this is what seemed to have happened. For when Bunny and Sue ran to the side of the _Fairy_ to look over, they saw, trailing in the water, the long rope, or cable, by which the boat had been made fast to the dock. As Bunny had said, it had come "unhitched." The children did not know how this had happened. But there they were, alone on rather a large sailing boat, which also had a gasolene motor, like that in a motor boat, to make it travel when there was no wind to blow on the sails. And each moment they were being carried by the tide farther and farther away from their father's dock. Bunny and Sue looked across the water toward the wharf whereon Mr. Brown had his office. They could not see their father, nor any one else. The dock was deserted. "What are we going to do?" asked Sue; and there was a catch in her voice, as though she was frightened; and she was. "Well," said Bunny slowly, "I guess maybe we'd better call." "Call!" exclaimed Sue. "What for?" "So daddy or Cap'n Ross will hear us and come and get us." "How are they going to come and get us?" asked Sue. "They can't swim that far." "Oh, yes, they could!" declared Bunny. "But I don't s'pose they'll have to swim. They can come and get us in a boat." "Oh, yes!" cried Sue, more joyfully. "So they can. And I wish they would. Let's call, Bunny!"
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove._ _Page 61_] Together the two children raised their voices in a shout. They were healthy and strong and had excellent voices. And, as sound carries a long distance over open water, the shouts of Bunny and Sue were heard on Mr. Brown's dock. As it happened, the children's father was in the office talking with Captain Ross about the coming trip to Christmas Tree Cove when they heard the cries of distress. "That's Bunny and Sue!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, leaping from his chair. "Gracious sakes alive! I hope they haven't fallen overboard!" shouted Captain Ross. "I think they know enough not to do that," Mr. Brown answered. He ran out on the wharf, followed by the captain and some of the men who worked for Mr. Brown. There they saw the _Fairy_ drifting out into the bay, and they could see the figures of Bunny and Sue at the boat rail. "Stay there! We'll send a boat for you!" called Mr. Brown, making a sort of trumpet of his hands. "Stay on board! You'll be all right." Bunny and Sue heard him and felt better. They had no notion, of course, of jumping overboard and trying to swim to shore. They knew they were safe on the _Fairy_ while it was in the rather quiet water of Sandport Bay. Out on the rough ocean it would be a different matter, though they had sailed on the open sea with their father and mother, of course in a larger boat. "How are we going to get 'em back?" asked one of Mr. Brown's men. "Oh, we'll do that easily enough," was the answer. "Bring around the big motor boat. We'll have to tow the _Fairy_ back here. I don't see how she ever got adrift," went on Mr. Brown. "I'm sure neither Bunny nor Sue loosened the cable." "I'm positive they didn't," said Captain Ross. "It must have been that greenhorn cabin boy I had. I hired him yesterday, and let him go this morning because he didn't know one end of a rope from the other. I told him to make the _Fairy_ fast to your dock while I came up here to talk to you. But he must have tied a grannie's or a landlubber's knot, and she pulled loose. I'm glad I'm rid of that boy!" "Yes," agreed Mr. Brown, "a boy who doesn't know enough to tie a safe knot isn't of much use around boats. But there's no great harm done. She isn't drifting fast, and the motor boat will soon pick her up." "I'll go along with you," offered Captain Ross, and soon he and Mr. Brown, with one of the dock men, were racing after the drifting _Fairy_. On deck Bunny Brown and his sister Sue watched the rescue. "It's just like being shipwrecked, isn't it, Bunny?" suggested Sue, as they sat down on deck to wait. "Yes. It's fun when you know daddy is coming," said the little boy. In a short time the motor boat reached the drifting _Fairy_. Mr. Brown and Captain Ross went on board, and you can just imagine how glad Bunny and Sue were to see them. "Guess you'll have to tow us back," said Captain Ross to Mr. Brown. "The motor of my boat needs fixing. That's one reason why I tied up at your dock. There isn't enough wind to blow us back against the tide that's running out now." "My motor boat will tow you back all right," said Mr. Brown. And while this was being done Bunny and Sue sat on the deck of the _Fairy_ with their father and Captain Ross. "Well, you had quite an adventure, didn't you?" laughed Captain Ross, taking Sue up on his knees. "And it reminds me of a riddle. When is a boat not a boat?" "When is a boat not a boat?" repeated Bunny. "Why, a boat is always a boat, Cap'n Ross, lessen you mean it's like a house 'cause people sometimes live in it." "No, I don't mean that," chuckled Captain Ross. "I'll ask you again. When is a boat not a boat? Can you guess?" Bunny and Sue shook their heads sideways to say "No." "Do you give up?" asked Captain Ross. Bunny and Sue shook their heads up and down to say "Yes." "When is a boat not a boat?" asked the Captain again. "When she's a _drift_, of course, like this one of mine was! Ho! Ho!" and he laughed heartily. "You see a boat's not a boat when she's adrift--a sort of snow _drift_! Ha! Ha! That's a riddle," and he laughed so heartily that Sue slipped from his lap. Bunny and Sue laughed also, and they liked Captain Ross. "Here we are now, all shipshape and Bristol fashion!" went on the captain as the motor boat towed the _Fairy_ back to the wharf. This time Captain Ross tied the rope himself to make sure it would not come loose again. "May we stay on the boat?" asked Bunny, as his father started back up to his office with Captain Ross. "Yes, you may play on board until it's time to go home to supper," promised Mr. Brown. "But don't fall overboard and don't go adrift again." "No, we won't!" said Bunny. "If you do I'll never tell you any more riddles," laughed Captain Ross. "Oh, what fun we'll have when the boat goes to Christmas Tree Cove and takes us there!" shouted Sue, as she and Bunny played about the deck. The children had almost forgotten about their mother's lost ring and pocketbook, to say nothing of the five-dollar bill. But that afternoon, when they were going home with their father, they saw something that brought the loss back to their minds. They were walking along the street with Daddy Brown when, all of a sudden, Bunny cried: "There he is! There! There!" "Who?" asked his father. "That big dog that took mother's pocketbook in his mouth and bounced away with it!" was the answer. "There he goes!" Bunny pointed out a large, yellowish-brown dog just running around the corner of the next street. Then Bunny pulled his hand from his father's and raced after the strange animal. "I'll make him show me where mother's ring and pocketbook are!" cried Bunny as he ran down the street. _ |
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