Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 17

"Better not hide yourself away again," cautioned his father. "You must be extra careful aboard a boat so your mother will not have to worry, or this trip to Christmas Tree Cove will not be any pleasure to her."

"When shall we get there--to the place where the Christmas trees are, Daddy?" asked Sue.

"Oh, to-morrow, I guess," answered Captain Ross. "I'll land you up there, and then I'll cruise back. And I'll come after you, to bring you home, whenever you want me," he added to Mr. Brown.

"We're going to stay all summer," said Bunny. "Wouldn't it be funny if we could find that big dog and your pocketbook at the Cove, Mother?" he asked.

"Oh, that could never happen!" declared Sue.

So the lost Bunny was found, and then it was nearly time to get supper.

The wind had all died out now, and it was so calm in the cove that Captain Ross decided to start the boat without further delay.

"We can tie up wherever you want to over night, or we can anchor out in the bay, or keep on going," he said to his pa.s.sengers.

"I think we'd better keep on going," said Mrs. Brown. "I shall worry less about Bunny and Sue when they are lost if it happens on dry land.

I'll know then that they haven't fallen overboard."

"We could fall in off sh.o.r.e, just the same as off a boat," suggested Bunny.

"Not quite so easily. And you must be careful when you get to the bungalow in Christmas Tree Cove," said Daddy Brown. "The bungalow is right on the sh.o.r.e, but the water is shallow for a long distance out,"

he went on.

"Oh, I'm not going to fall in!" declared Bunny.

"Then we'll start and travel all night," said Captain Ross. "Speaking of falling into the water," he said, with a jolly laugh, "can you tell me the answer to this riddle, Bunny or Sue? Why should you tie a cake of soap around your neck when you go in swimming?"

"I never tied a cake of soap around my neck," said the little girl.

"I like to play the cake of soap is a boat in the bathtub," remarked Bunny. "It's lots of fun."

"But this is a riddle," went on the seaman. "Why should you tie a cake of soap around your neck if you go in swimming in deep water?"

"It can't be for you to eat if you get hungry," said Bunny, "can it, Captain Ross?"

"Of course not!" cried his sister. "How could you eat a cake of _soap_?"

"You could if it was a chocolate cake," returned the little boy. "But that isn't the answer to the riddle. Please tell us, Captain," he begged, as Bunker Blue began to pull up the anchor.

"When you go swimming in deep water and get carried too far out, if you have a cake of soap tied around your neck it might wash you ash.o.r.e! Ha!

Ha! Ha!" laughed the jolly old sailor. "Do you see, Bunny--Sue? If you had a cake of soap on your neck it could _wash you ash.o.r.e_. Soap washes, you know."

"That's a pretty good riddle," said Uncle Tad, while the two children laughed. "I must remember that to tell my old friend Joe Jamison when I get back to Bellemere. A cake of soap washes you ash.o.r.e! Ha! Ha!"

"Oh, I know a lot of better ones than that," said Captain Ross. "Only I can't think of 'em just now. Well, all clear, Bunker?" he called.

"Yes, sir," was the answer.

"Then start the motor."

And soon the _Fairy_ was under way again.

Supper was served as the boat slipped through the blue water of the big bay. It was a calm, quiet, peaceful night, quite different from the one of the storm, and Bunny and Sue did not have to be strapped in their bunks. They slept well, and when they came on deck in the morning they looked over toward sh.o.r.e.

"Oh, what a lot of Santa Claus trees!" cried Sue. "Look, Bunny!"

"That's Christmas Tree Cove up there," said Captain Ross, pointing to the evergreens where they were thickest. "We'll soon be there."

"And, oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Bunny. "I'm going to dig clams and catch crabs, and we'll have a clambake on sh.o.r.e, Sue."

"And my dolls can come to it, can't they?" asked the little girl. "I brought some of my dolls with me, but they're packed up," she added.

"Oh, yes, your dolls can come to the clambake," agreed Bunny. "Will there be any other boys up at Christmas Tree Cove to play with?" he asked his father.

"Or girls?" Sue wanted to know.

"Yes. It is quite a summer resort," was the answer. "I fancy you will have plenty of playmates."

"I had better be getting things ready to go ash.o.r.e, I suppose," said Mrs. Brown.

"Yes," answered her husband. "I'll help you."

They were just going down into the cabin, and Bunny and Sue were on deck, looking at the distant green trees, when there was a sudden shock, a b.u.mp, and the boat keeled far over to one side. It seemed as if the _Fairy_ had struck something in the water.

"Oh, we're going to sink!" cried Sue.

CHAPTER XIII

A CRASH

Bunker Blue, who was at the steering wheel of the _Fairy_, heard the dull noise, felt the shock, and saw the boat tip over to one side.

Instantly he pulled the wire which shut off the motor, and then he turned the steering wheel over, trying to make the boat come upright again.

This the craft did, though Sue kept on calling:

"We're going to sink!"

Soon the boat was resting quietly in the water, on a "level keel," as a sailor would say, and floating slowly along.

"Now we're all right, Sue!" said Bunny. "Stop your yelling! We're not going to sink!"

"How do you know?" she asked. "We b.u.mped into something, and maybe there's a hole, and the water's coming in, and----"

Just then Mr. and Mrs. Brown came running up on deck, followed by Uncle Tad and Captain Ross. The old seaman, with an anxious look around, called to Bunker Blue.

"What happened? Did some one run into us?"