Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 12

Bunny knew what that meant. It meant that somebody ought to jump to the rescue or throw into the water something the person who had fallen in could grab. There were, on his father's dock, a number of life buoys--round rings of cork covered with canvas and having a long rope attached to them. And there were some of these same things on the deck of the _Fairy_.

"Man overboard!" cried Bunny again, and, running to the nearest life ring, he took it off the hook and sent it spinning into the water. Bunny knew that the end of the rope was fast to the rail, so the buoy would not be lost.

Bunker Blue also acted quickly. Near the wheel by which the _Fairy_ was steered was a wire, which, when pulled, shut off the motor down in the hold of the craft. Bunker Blue pulled this wire, and the boat began to slow up. Then Bunker leaped to the side of the _Fairy_ near Bunny, and Bunker caught up another life ring and tossed it over the rail.

As Bunny and Sue leaned over to catch sight of the four people in the water, Captain Ross and Daddy Brown came hurrying up on deck from the little cabin, where they had been talking with Mrs. Brown.

"What's the matter?" cried Captain Ross. "Did we hit anything, Bunker?"

"Yes, a canoe with four people in it. We ran 'em down. They crossed right in front of our bows! I'll get 'em!"

The next minute Bunker peeled off his coat, slipped from his feet the loose, rubber-soled shoes he wore, and leaped over the rail.

"Oh! Oh!" gasped Sue.

"He's going to save 'em!" cried Bunny. "I wish I could jump in and----"

"Don't dare try that, Bunny Brown!" cried his mother, who heard what he started to say, and she put a hand on his shoulder to hold him.

"They're all right," reported Mr. Brown, looking over the side of the boat. "All four of them can swim, and the young men have given the young ladies the life rings. They don't seem to be much frightened. Bunker is swimming for the canoe. I guess they'll be all right."

"Yes, it looks so," said Captain Ross, also taking a look over the side. "Though the canoe may be stove in so it'll leak. Mighty foolish of 'em to try to cross in front of our bows! I expect we'll have to take 'em all on board here."

"Oh, yes, we must!" cried Mrs. Brown. "But what shall we do about dry clothes for them? Possibly I can let the young ladies have some of my extra dresses, but the young men----"

"Oh, I guess we can fit 'em out," broke in Captain Ross. "It's warm, and they won't want much. First thing to do is to get 'em on board I reckon.

How about you?" he called down to the struggling people in the water.

"Need any more help?"

"We're all right," answered one of the young men. "But will you take us aboard? The canoe's smashed!"

"Sure, we'll take you on board," answered the captain.

And then, as Bunny and Sue watched, they saw their father and Captain Ross help pull up to the deck of the _Fairy_ first the two young women, dripping wet. They looked very much bedraggled, but they were laughing and did not seem to mind what had happened.

Next the two young men scrambled up, pulling themselves by means of the ropes from the life buoys. And last of all came Bunker Blue. He had the rope of the smashed and overturned canoe in one hand and was towing it along as he swam slowly. It was not easy work to drag the canoe through the water, submerged as it was, but Bunker did it, fastening the canoe rope to the rail of the _Fairy_.

Then he scrambled up on deck, shook the water from his face and hair, and said:

"I'll get a boat hook and fish up the paddles. They're floating around down there."

"Oh, don't bother," urged one of the young ladies. "It was all my fault.

I steered the canoe right in your way. We ran into you--you didn't run into us."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way about it," said Captain Ross, while Bunny and Sue watched the little puddles and streams of water dripping from the recent occupants of the canoe and from Bunker Blue.

"Is the canoe worth saving?" asked Mr. Brown, as he looked down to where it now floated at the side of the _Fairy_, held fast by the line Bunker had brought on board.

"I don't think so," said one of the young men. "It was an old one, and now the side is stove in. Let it go. It will drift ash.o.r.e anyhow, and we can get it later if we want to. You might save the paddles if you can.

I'll help," he offered.

"I'll help," offered the other young man, and while these two, with Bunker, sought to save the paddles with boat hooks, the broken canoe was cast loose from the _Fairy_ and allowed to drift off.

"If you'll come down to the cabin with me," said Mrs. Brown to the young ladies, "I'll see if I can lend you some other clothes while yours are drying."

"Oh, don't bother!" said one of the young ladies. "It was all just fun.

We had on old clothes, for we half expected to be upset before we got back."

But Mrs. Brown insisted on making them change, and so she led them down into the cabin. Uncle Tad helped in the work of recovering the paddles, and then he suggested that the two young men might also like to take off their wet things.

"Oh, not at all," said one. "We're used to being wet. And we'll soon dry, anyhow. It was very decent of you to jump in after us," he said to Bunker. "As it happens, we can all swim pretty well, and it isn't the first time we've been upset. But I was afraid one of the girls might have been hurt. As it is, we're all right."

"And mighty lucky you are to be that way," commented Captain Ross. "I'm glad it was no worse. Now where do you want to be set ash.o.r.e?"

"We're staying at that hotel," said Mr. Watson, for such was the name of one of the young men. He pointed to a large seaside resort on the sh.o.r.e not far away.

"Well, we'll head for the dock," decided the captain, and soon the _Fairy_ was moving along again, the floating paddles having been recovered.

The young ladies soon came on deck, wearing some garments belonging to Mrs. Brown. They were laughing and joking at the upset. The young men refused to change, saying it was not worth while.

"It's too bad you lost your canoe," said Bunny, as he and his sister listened to the talk of the rescued party.

"Oh, it was only an old one I owned," said Mr. Watson. "It isn't a great loss. I'm afraid you girls had some things sunk, though," he added.

"There wasn't much time to save anything."

"I lost my pocketbook," said one of the young women, who was called Mildred by her companions. "There was only about a dollar in it, though," she added.

"My mother lost her pocketbook, and it had five dollars and her diamond ring in it," put in Sue.

"Did you? Do you mean to-day?" asked the other young lady, who had been addressed as Grace.

"Oh, no. It was some time ago," explained Mrs. Brown.

"A dog took it," volunteered Bunny. "And he ran into a carpenter shop, and we ran after him--Sue and I did--and we got locked in and I busted a window and----"

"He's going into all the details!" laughed Mr. Brown.

But the young men and the young women were so interested in what the children said that they had to hear the whole story.

"I'm sure I hope you get your engagement ring back," said Mildred to Mrs. Brown, and the young lady looked at her own hand, on which sparkled a diamond. Perhaps it was her engagement ring.

"It is too much to hope for," replied Mrs. Brown. "I am trying not to think of it."

"Did you see me throw the life buoy to you?" asked Bunny, changing the subject.

"I'm afraid I didn't," answered Grace with a laugh.

"And my eyes were too full of water," added Mildred.