Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 20

The next day and the many that followed were full of joy for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. They played with Rose and Jimmie, they waded in the water, they sailed little boats, and they made houses in the sand.

Often, as they sat on the beach, Bunny would look back toward the thick green clumps of evergreen trees which gave the place its name.

"Couldn't we go and take a walk in them?" he asked Jimmie one day.

"Yes," was the answer. "Only you want to be careful."

"Why?" asked Bunny.

"'Cause the woods are awful thick. You can't see your way very well, and once Rose and I got lost."

"Oh, we wouldn't go in very far," said Bunny. "Some day I'm going into those woods."

Two or three days after that, when he and Sue had played in the sand until they were tired, Bunny said:

"Let's go to the woods!"

"All right!" agreed Sue. "Shall we get Jimmie and Rose?"

"No, let's go by ourselves," said her brother. "I want to see if we can find our way all by ourselves."

And so, not telling their father or mother or Uncle Tad or Bunker Blue anything about it, off the two children started.

It was pleasant, shady and cool in the evergreen woods of Christmas Tree Cove. On the ground were brown pine needles and the shorter ones from the spruces and the hemlocks. Here and there the sun shone down through the thick branches, but not too much. It was like being in a green bower.

On and on wandered Bunny and Sue, thinking what a nice place it was.

They found pine cones and odd stones, with, here and there, a bright flower.

All of a sudden Sue looked around.

"Bunny, it's getting dark," she said. "I can't see the sun any more. I guess it's night, and we'd better go back home."

"I don't believe it's night," said the little boy. "I guess the trees are so thick we can't see the sun. But we can go home. I'm getting hungry, anyhow. Come on."

They turned about to go back, and walked on for some time. Sue took hold of Bunny's hand.

"It's getting terrible dark," she said. "Where's home, Bunny?"

The little boy looked around.

"I--I guess it isn't far," he said. "But it is dark, Sue. I wish I had a flashlight. Next time I'm going to bring one. But we'll soon be home."

However, they were not. It rapidly grew darker, and at last Bunny Brown knew what had happened.

"We're lost, and it's going to be a dark night," he said, holding more tightly to Sue's hand. "We're lost in the Christmas trees!" he added, and his sister gave a little cry and held tightly to him.

CHAPTER XV

BUNNY'S TOE

For some little time Bunny Brown and his sister Sue stood among the Christmas trees, as they called the evergreens that lined the sh.o.r.e of the cove. The night seemed to get darker and darker. It was really only dusk, and it was much lighter out on the open beach than it was under the trees. But the trouble was that Bunny and Sue were in among the evergreens and they thought it later than it really was.

"Oh, Bunny, what are we going to do?" asked his sister after a while, during which she had held tightly to his hand and looked about.

Bunny was looking around also, trying to think what was the best thing to do. He was older than his sister, and he felt that he must take care of her and not frighten her.

"I--I guess we'd better walk along, Sue," said Bunny at last.

"But maybe then we'll get lost more," Sue suggested.

"We can't be lost any more than we are," declared Bunny. "We can't see our bungalow and we don't know where it is and--and, well, we'd better walk on."

Bunny looked at his sister. He saw her lips beginning to tremble, dark as it was under the trees. And when Sue's lips quivered in that way Bunny knew what it meant.

"Sue, are you going to cry?" he asked, coming to a stop after they had walked on a little way. "Are you going to cry--real?"

"I--I was, Bunny," she answered. "Don't you want me to?"

"No, I don't!" he said, very decidedly. "It's of no use to cry, 'cause you can't find your house that way, and it makes your nose hurt. Don't cry, Sue."

"All right, I won't," bravely agreed the little girl. "I won't cry real, I'll just cry make-believe."

And then and there some tears rolled out of her eyes, down her cheeks, and dropped on the ground. Sue also "sniffled" a little, and she seemed to be holding back gasping, choking sounds in her throat.

Bunny looked at her in some surprise. He saw the salty tears on her cheeks.

"That's awful like real crying, Sue," he said.

"Well, it isn't. It's only _make-believe_, like--like the crying we saw the lady do in the mov-movin' pictures!" exclaimed Sue, choking back what was really a real sob. "I'm only making believe," she went on. "But if we don't stop being lost pretty soon, Bunny, maybe I'll have to cry real."

"Well," answered the little boy, with a sigh, as he took a firmer hold of Sue's hand, "maybe you will."

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUNNY AND SUE GET LOST IN THE WOODS.

_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove._ _Page 154_]

Then the children walked on together, making their way through the dark Christmas woods. They really did not know where they were going. It was some time since Bunny had glimpsed a sight of the bungalow.

All at once, as they walked along, they heard the distant bark of a dog.

At once Sue stood still and pulled her brother to a stop also.

"Bunny! did you hear that?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I did. It's nothing but a dog, and he's a good way off, 'cause his bark was real little."