Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 16

"Where's Bunny?" asked Mrs. Brown, coming up on the deck at that moment.

"Wasn't he with you?" asked her husband.

"No, he didn't come down. I asked Bunker some time ago about him, and Bunker said he was on deck with Sue. But he isn't. Where is Bunny?"

CHAPTER XII

CHRISTMAS TREE COVE

When a family is making a trip on a boat and one of the children becomes lost, or is missing, there is always more worry than if the same thing happened on land. For the first thing a father and a mother think of when on a boat and they do not see their children or know where they are, is that the missing child has fallen into the lake, river or ocean--whatever the body of water may be.

So when Mrs. Brown came up on the deck of the _Fairy_ and did not see Bunny, who she had thought was with Sue, she asked at once where he was.

And when Mr. Brown heard his wife say that Bunny had not come to the cabin he, too, began to wonder where the little boy was.

"Where did Bunny go, Sue?" asked Mother Brown. "Wasn't he sitting here with you?"

"Yes, he was here a little while ago," answered Sue. "And then I was watching two of the sailboats to see if they would b.u.mp together, and I didn't look at Bunny. When I did look he was gone, but I thought he was downstairs."

"He isn't," said Mrs. Brown, "and he isn't here on deck. Oh, if he----"

She did not finish what she was going to say, but quickly ran to the side of the boat and looked down into the water, as if she might see Bunny paddling around there. The _Fairy_ was still anch.o.r.ed in Clam Cove, waiting for the storm to blow out.

"Is Bunny in swimming?" asked Sue.

"What's the matter?" asked Captain Ross, who was up "for'ard," as he called it, meaning the front of the boat. He and Bunker Blue were mending one of the sails. "Anything wrong, Mrs. Brown?" asked the jolly old sailor.

"I can't find Bunny," she answered. "He was here with Sue a moment ago.

Oh, I'm afraid Bunny----"

"Now, don't think that anything has happened!" interrupted Mr. Brown.

"He's probably hiding somewhere."

"Bunny wouldn't do that," declared his mother.

"No, we weren't playing hide and go seek," said Sue.

"Then he must be downstairs in one of the cabins, or he is asleep in his berth," said Mr. Brown. "I'll look."

"I'll help," offered Uncle Tad, who, himself, had been taking a nap in his berth.

"I suppose he must be down below if he isn't up here," said Mrs. Brown, hoping this was true. "I want to look, too."

Sue was beginning to be a bit frightened now, and she started to follow the others below, while Captain Ross and Bunker Blue, seeing how worried Mr. and Mrs. Brown were, dropped the sail on which they were working and decided to join in the search.

It did not take them long to make a search of the boat below decks. No Bunny was to be found. He was not in his own bunk, nor in that of any one else, nor was he in the small room where the gasolene motor was built, though Bunny liked to go there to watch the whirring wheels when the motor was in motion.

"Where can he be?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown.

Then, suddenly, Sue gave a joyful cry and clapped her hands.

"I think I know where he is!" exclaimed the little girl. "I just happened to think about it. Come on!"

Wonderingly they followed her. Sue ran to the stern of the _Fairy_, where the steering wheel was placed. Here was a small rowboat turned bottomside up. It was kept for the purpose of going to and from sh.o.r.e when the larger craft was anch.o.r.ed out in the bay.

Going close to this overturned boat Sue leaned down so she could look under it. The two ends of the boat, being higher than the middle, raised it slightly from the deck, leaving a sort of long, narrow slot. And Sue called into this slot:

"Bunny! are you there? Answer me. Are you there?"

For an instant there was no reply, and Mrs. Brown, who had begun to think she should have looked there first, was about to conclude that, after all, it was a wrong guess, when suddenly a voice answered:

"Yes; here I am."

The boat tilted to one side and out from beneath it came rolling Bunny Brown. He seemed sleepy, and his clothes were mussed while his hair was rumpled. And there was a queer look on his face.

"Why, Bunny! Bunny Brown, what possessed you to crawl under that boat and go to sleep?" asked his mother. "You have frightened us! We thought perhaps you had fallen overboard."

"No," said Bunny slowly, shaking his head, "I didn't."

"We see you didn't," said his father, a bit sternly. "But why did you hide under the boat?"

"I wasn't hiding," answered Bunny. "And if I had fallen overboard into the water you would have heard me yell," he went on, speaking slowly.

"I suppose so," agreed Mr. Brown. "But if you weren't hiding under that boat, what were you doing?"

"I was--I was thinking," answered Bunny sheepishly.

"Thinking!" exclaimed his mother.

"Yes, about the dog that took your pocketbook," went on the little boy.

"I wanted to be in a quiet place where I could think about him and maybe guess where he was so I could make him give back your diamond ring, Mother. So I crawled under the boat. It was nice and warm there, and the wind didn't blow on me, and I was thinking and I was thinking, and----"

"And then you fell asleep, didn't you?" asked Uncle Tad, as they all stood around Bunny on deck.

"Yes, I guess I did," was the answer. "And I didn't dream about the dog, either."

"Did you think of any way to find him?" asked Captain Ross.

"No," answered Bunny, "I didn't. But I wish I could."

"Oh, you mustn't think any more about that dog," said his mother, with a smile, as she patted the little boy's tousled head. "I'll manage to get along without my diamond ring, though I would like to have it back."

"Well, I couldn't think," complained Bunny, with a sigh. "I guess maybe I was too sleepy."