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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 12. At The Fire |
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_ CHAPTER XII. AT THE FIRE Holding the Teddy bear so the light from its eyes shone all about, the two men stood on the back steps of the automobile and looked around them. All about was swiftly running water. The evening before, in coming to a stop for the night, Mr. Brown had noticed, not far away from their camping place, a small stream. Behind it were some high hills or small mountains, but, though the storm was a hard one, no one thought the little brook would turn into such a river. "But that's what it's done," said Uncle Tad. "It's risen so high that it's covered the side of the road near where we were, and it's floated us off." "Yes. I fear we'll soon be flooded inside." Bunny, listening at the outer door of the big car, heard above the noise of the flood and the rain, his father say this. For a moment he was frightened, then he happened to think: "Well, I've got rubber boots, and if the water comes in here I can wade around and get things. But I guess I won't tell Sue and Momsie about it. They might be scared." Bunny Brown was a brave little chap when it came to something like this. In fact he had shown his bravery more than once, as those of you who have read the other books about him and his sister well know. Out on the steps of the automobile, with the glaring eyes of Sue's Teddy bear to let them see what was going on, Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad again looked about. They could see the rain coming down hard, and on both sides of them was what seemed to be a big river of water. Many little brooks in the mountains, joining together, had made such a big stream that it had shoved along the heavy auto. "It can't shove us very far, I think," said Mr. Brown. "We are too heavy for that. But it might tip us over, this water might, or send us into a ditch out of which we would have a hard time to climb. I'd like to anchor fast, if I could." "Why don't you tie fast to a tree?" asked Uncle Tad. "We have the heavy towing rope with us." "I guess that's a good idea," said Mr. Brown. "We are being swept along the road and there are plenty of trees on either side." Bunny Brown was not listening at the door any longer. His mother had called him and Sue to the dining-room table and given them some bread and milk to eat. She thought this would take their attention off the trouble they were in. For that there was trouble Mrs. Brown was sure. Otherwise her husband and Uncle Tad would not have stayed so long outside looking about in the wind and the rain. "Yes," said Mr. Brown, after once more looking about with the aid of the lights from the eyes of Sue's Teddy bear. "We had best try to fasten the auto to some tree. Then we'll be held fast, for I do not believe the flood will reach much higher. I have heard of high water in this part of the country, but it never gets much higher than this, if I remember rightly." "I'll go in for the rope," said Uncle Tad, "and we'll try to make fast to some tree. We'll be lucky if we can do it before we run into something," and he opened the door. "Oh, what is the matter?" "What has happened?" "Tell us all about it!" This is what Mrs. Brown, Bunny and Sue said as Uncle Tad, dripping wet, came back into the auto. Dix and Splash thumped their tails on the floor, as though also asking what the matter was. "Oh, it isn't much," said Uncle Tad. "The brook rose into a river in the night, and tried to carry us away. But we are going to anchor to a tree until morning." Bunny and Sue could easily understand what this meant, and they were not frightened, even though the automobile swayed about from side to side and bumped as a boat does when it goes over the bottom in shallow water. Uncle Tad got the towrope out from a box, or locker, as Mr. Brown called it. The rope was a strong one, as it was intended to be used in case the big automobile went into a ditch, in which event it could be pulled out. With the rope Uncle Tad went out on the back steps again. "We're still moving," said Mr. Brown. "Are we any nearer the trees, so it will be easier to catch hold of one of them with a loop of the rope?" asked Uncle Tad. "No, we're farther off from the trees," said Bunny's father and, if the little boy had been listening, he would have felt worried about this. But Mr. Brown was a good sailor, and if he knew how to anchor, or make fast, a boat in a big ocean, he might be supposed to know how to anchor, or stop, an automobile in a flood on the road. Mr. Brown took the rope, while Uncle Tad held the Teddy bear and flashed her eyes about on the flood that was moving the car along. Bunny's father was trying to catch sight of a tree around a limb of which he could cast the rope and so bring the drifting automobile to a stop. It was not moving quite so fast now, as the stream was not quite so swift. In fact if the flooded stream had not been so swift it never could have carried the heavy auto along at all. "I suppose," said Mr. Brown, "I could start the motor and make the car go itself. But I would not know where to steer her." "No, it is better to make her fast, I think," said Uncle Tad. Just then they passed under a tree. Mr. Brown tried to catch the rope to it, but the auto rolled past too quickly. "Better luck next time," he said. Presently they were swept under another tree, and this time, as Mr. Brown cast the rope, it whirled about a big limb and was held fast. The other end had been tied to the automobile near the back door and now the big car came to a slow stop. "If she only holds we'll be all right," said Mr. Brown, his hand still on the rope. The automobile moved a little bit farther, as the rope stretched, and then it stopped altogether, and Mr. Brown tied tighter the end of the rope that was about the tree. "Anchored at last!" cried Uncle Tad, as he got ready to go inside the car. "Now let it rain and flood as much as it likes." "Are we all right?" asked Bunny as his father and his Uncle Tad came in. "We won't go out to sea, will we?" Sue questioned. "No indeed, to your question, Sue," answered her father. "And as to yours, Bunny, we are anchored safe and sound I hope. Now we can go back to bed and sleep." But first Bunny and Sue had to ask many questions, and Sue had to take off her Teddy bear's water-proof cloak, in spite of which the toy was wet. "But it won't hurt her batteries inside or her eyes," said the little girl. "And as for her fur, that will soon dry," added Mother Brown. "She gave us good light," said Father Brown. "Now, off to bed with you." No one slept very much the rest of the night except the children and the dogs. Dix and Splash did not think of worrying, and as for Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, they thought that whatever Daddy Brown and Uncle Tad did was just right anyhow. So they had no fear. Mrs. Brown, her husband, and Uncle Tad did not sleep very soundly, however. The rain still came down in torrents and the wind blew hard. The rush of the flood beneath the auto could still be heard. But it came no higher. The rope held to the tree, the big car did not drag, and when morning came the travelers found themselves some distance from the place where they had been the evening before. They were about a mile down the road, and all about them, over the road and the adjacent fields, was a lake of water. But it was not raining so hard now. The storm seemed to be about over. The water was going down, Mr. Brown said, and when Bunny, at the breakfast table, asked how his father knew, Mr. Brown pointed to a fence not far from the tree to which they were tied. "Do you see the muddy marks and the bits of leaves and grass caught on the fence?" asked Mr. Brown. "I see," said Bunny. "Well, that shows how high the water got," explained his father. "You see the top of the water is below that now, which shows that the flood is going down. And I am glad enough of it." "So am I," said Mrs. Brown. "We've had water enough for once." The storm had been such a heavy one that it could not last long, and by noon the sun was out. But it would take some time for the flood to go down and the roads to dry up. "We'll probably stay here three days," said Mr. Brown. "It looks like a nice place, and we have plenty to eat. We'll stay and let things dry out. Traveling on a muddy, slippery road, with a heavy automobile like this, is not safe. We'll wait a while." Anything suited Bunny and Sue as long as they were seeing or having something new. And when the rain stopped their mother let them put on their rubber boots and wade where the water was not too deep. After wading about awhile, Bunny thought of something to do. "Let's make a raft!" he said to Sue. "Oh, that will be fun!" she cried. Sue knew what a raft was from living near the seashore. Many times she and her brother had made them, and they had often heard stories of sailors coming ashore from wrecks on rafts. Rafts are flat boards, or planks, nailed or tied together, and they will float on top of the water and carry a number of people, though they are so low that the water washes over them and wets one's feet. This last part Bunny and Sue did not mind, for they had on rubber boots. They quickly made a raft by collecting some boards and logs that had come down with the flood, and had caught in the fence corner near which their auto was anchored. Uncle Tad helped them nail the boards together, and then Bunny and Sue floated the raft over into a little rain-water lake in the middle of a field and began shoving it about with long poles. They had ridden up and down one side of the little lake, stopping at places on the "shore," to which they gave the names of sea-coast towns near their home. "Now we'll go across to the other side," said Sue. But when she and Bunny had the raft about in the middle of the "lake," it stuck fast, because the water was not deep enough just there. "Push!" cried Bunny. "Push hard, Sue!" Sue pushed so hard that, all of a sudden, her pole broke, and she fell off the raft into the water. "Oh dear!" she cried. "Oh dear!" For a moment Bunny did not know what to do. Then he saw that the water was not more than up to Sue's knees and he knew she would not drown. But, as she had fallen in backwards, she was wet from top to toe. Sue began to cry as she got up, choking and gasping, for she had swallowed a little water. "Don't cry!" begged Bunny. "Let's pretend you're a swimmer on the beach and went out too far." "Wha-what good would that do, me pre-pre-tendin' that?" half-sobbed Sue. "Well, then I'll pretend I'm a life-guard, and I'll swim out and pull you to shore," said Bunny. By this time Sue had managed to stand up firmly on her feet, though she was very wet. "There's no use in you're pretending you're a life-guard and getting all wet like me, when I can just as well get on the raft myself," said Sue practically. "Oh, I want to be a life-guard," said Bunny. "Here I come!" and with that he jumped off the raft feet first, landing near Sue with a splash. "Oh, now you've got _yourself_ all wet, for it went over your boots," said the little girl. "Mother will scold." "Well, now I can take half the scolding, for I'm half as wet as you," said Bunny. "Anyhow she won't scold much. For you couldn't help falling in, Sue, and she'll be glad I pretended to be a life-guard to help you out." With that he put Sue on the raft again. By this time the raft had floated free of the little hill of mud in the meadow lake where it had gone aground, and Bunny and Sue poled it toward the road. When their mother saw how wet they were she did not scold them. That is, not much. For, after all, part of it could not be helped. Dix and Splash enjoyed the flood, for they both liked to be in the water. They swam about, playing their sort of "tag" and racing after sticks which Bunny and Sue threw for them. A few days after this, when the flood had all gone down, and having waited for the roads to dry, Mr. Brown once more set off with his family in the big machine. For two or three days they traveled along. Once, when they stopped for their noon-day lunch under a big oak tree, Uncle Tad built a small fire of twigs and Bunny and his sister roasted marshmallows at the blaze. At a number of places Mr. Brown asked about Fred Ward, the missing boy, but no trace of him could be found, nor was anything more heard of the traveling medicine show with the colored banjo player. It was one evening at dusk, when the automobile had come to a stop for the night, and the family were all sitting out under the tree near the road, that Uncle Tad, looking down the highway, said: "Isn't that a fire over there?" He pointed toward a neighboring farmhouse. "Do you mean a campfire or a bonfire?" asked Bunny. "Neither one. I mean a real fire," said Uncle Tad. "It is a fire!" suddenly cried Mr. Brown. "A shed near that barn is blazing. See the men running to put it out!" "We'd better go to help," said Uncle Tad. "Let us come, too!" begged Bunny and Sue. _ |
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