CHAPTER VI
ADRIFT IN A BOAT
Bunny Brown was a brave little chap, even though he was only a bit oversix years old, "going on seven," as he always proudly said. And one ofthe matters in which he was braver than anything else was about hissister Sue.
His mother had often spoken to him about his sister when he and Sue wereallowed to walk up and down in the street, but not to go off the homeblock.
"Now, Bunny," Mrs. Brown would say, "take good care of little Sue!"
And Bunny would answer:
"I will, Mother!"
Now was a time when he must look after her and take special care of her.The first thing he said to Sue was:
"Don't cry, Sister!" Sometimes he called her that instead of Sue.
"I--I'm not going to cry," Sue answered, but, even then, there weretears in her eyes. "I'm not going to cry, but oh, Bunny, we're lockedin, and there's nobody here----"
"I'm here!" said Bunny quickly.
"Yes, of course," answered Sue. "But you can't get the doors open,Bunny, and we can't get out when the doors are shut."
Bunny thought for a moment. What Sue said was very true. One could notgo through a locked door.
"If we were only fairies now," said Bunny slowly, "it would be allright."
"How would it be?" Sue asked, opening her eyes wide.
"Why, if we were fairies," Bunny explained, "all we would have to dowould be to change ourselves into smoke and we could float right outthrough the keyhole."
"Oh, but I wouldn't like to be smoke!" cried Sue. "That wouldn't be anyfun. Why we couldn't play tag, or eat ice cream cones or--or anything.And the wind would blow us all away, if we were smoke."
"Oh, we wouldn't be smoke all the while," Bunny said. "Only just whilewe were going through the keyhole. Once we were on the other side wecould change back into our own selves again."
"Oh, that would be all right," Sue said. She went up close to thekeyhole of the front door and peeped through. Maybe she was trying towish herself small enough to crawl out of the locked, empty house,without changing into smoke.
But of course Bunny and Sue were not fairies, and of course they couldnot turn into smoke, so there they had to stay, locked in.
"But, Bunny, what are we going to do?" asked Sue, as they went back andforth from the front to the back door.
"Maybe I can open a window," Bunny said. But he was not tall enough toreach more than past the window sill. The middle of the sash was faraway, and he could see that the catch was on. If there had been a chairin the house, perhaps Bunny might have stood on it and opened a window,but there was none.
In one of the rooms Bunny did find an empty box. Moving this up to thewindow to stand on he found he could reach the middle of the sash, andturn the fastener.
"Now if I can only push up the window, Sue!" he cried.
"I'll help you," the little girl said. "Here's a stick, I can push withthat."
So with Bunny standing on the box, and Sue, on the floor, pushing withthe stick, they tried to put up the window in order to get out of theempty house.
But the window would not go up, and all of a sudden Sue's stick slippedand banged against the glass.
"Oh! Look out!" cried Bunny. "You nearly broke it."
"I didn't mean to."
"No. But I guess we'd better not try to raise the window. We might breakthe glass."
Bunny knew a boy who, when playing ball, broke a window, and he had tosave up all his pennies for a month to pay for the new glass. Bunny didnot want to do that.
So the children went away from the window.
"Say, Sue," said Bunny, after a bit, "we can play we are camping outhere. That would be fun, and we can make a bed of the pieces of bagsthat I fell on off the banister, and--"
"But I'm hungry, and there's nothing to eat!" Sue exclaimed. "When wecamp out, or go on a picnic, there are things to eat."
"That's so," agreed Bunny. "This isn't as much fun as I thought it was.I wish I hadn't tried to get any red paint."
"So do I," Sue said, but she was not blaming her brother. She had beenjust as anxious to go into the vacant house as he had been.
The children did not know what to do. They were both ready to cry, butneither Wanted to. It was getting dark now.
"Let's holler!" exclaimed Sue. "Maybe somebody will hear us and come andlet us out."
"All right," said Bunny. They both called together. But the vacant housewas not near any other, and none of the neighbors heard the childishvoices.
"I--I guess I'd better get the bags and make a bed, for we'll have tostay here all night," said Bunny, when they were quite tired fromcalling aloud.
"Then make my bed near yours, Bunny," said Sue. "I--I don't want to bealone."
"I'll take care of you," promised the little blue-eyed chap, as heremembered what his mother had told him.
Bunny went to the front hall to get the cloth bags. Sue went with him,for she did not want to be left alone in the room that was now gettingquite dark.
But Bunny and Sue did not have to stay all night in the empty house.Just as they were picking up the bags, they heard a noise at the frontdoor and a voice called:
"Bunny! Sue! Are you in there?"
For a moment they did not answer, they were so surprised with joy. ThenBunny cried:
"Oh, it's Uncle Tad! It's Uncle Tad!"
While Sue exclaimed:
"We're here! Yes, we're here, Uncle Tad! Oh, please let us out!"
There was a squeaking noise and the front door was pushed open. In camethe old soldier, and Bunny and Sue made a jump for his arms. He caughtthem up and kissed them.
"Well, little ones, I've found you!" he cried. "I thought maybe you werein here. My, but what a fright you've given your mother and all of us!"
"We came in for some red paint," explained Bunny, "and we got lockedin."
"No, the door wasn't locked," Uncle Tad explained. "It was just stuckreal hard. You weren't strong enough to pull it open, I suppose. Butdon't ever do anything like this again."
"We won't," promised Bunny. He was always pretty good at makingpromises, was Bunny Brown. "We just wanted to get some red paint so Icould play Mr. Punch with the lobster claw," he went on.
"And we slid down the banister," added Sue, "and I bumped Bunny off thepost."
"But she didn't hurt me," Bunny said.
"How did you find us, Uncle Tad?" asked Sue, as their uncle led themalong the now almost dark street toward their home.
"Why, when you didn't come back your mother was worried," the oldsoldier said. "So your Aunt Lu started out one way after you, and I wentthe other. As I passed this old house I saw a blue ribbon down by thegate and I thought it looked like yours, Sue. So I thought you mighthave come in here."
"Oh, did I lose my hair ribbon?" Sue asked, putting her hand to herhead. The big, pretty bow was gone, but Uncle Tad had found it.
"It's a good thing you lost it," said Bunny. "If you hadn't, Uncle Tadwouldn't have known where to look for us."
"Oh, I guess I should have found you after a bit," Uncle Tad said, witha smile. "But now we must hurry home, so the folks will know you are allright."
And my, how Bunny and Sue were kissed and cuddled by their mother andAunt Lu when Uncle Tad brought them back! "I was beginning to beafraid," said Mrs. Brown, "that you had gone down to the boat-dock,after I told you not to, and I was going to have your father and BunkerBlue look for you."
"We didn't mean to get locked in. Mother," explained Bunny. "It was thewind."
"Well, don't go in empty houses again," Aunt Lu said.
"Nope--never!" promised Sue, "But we were looking for your ring, AuntLu, though we didn't find it."
"No, I'm afraid it's gone forever," said Miss Baker with a sigh, and asad look. "But it was very good of you to try to find it for me."
The children sat down to supper, telling the big folks all about theadventure, and how they had become fastened in, and were afraid theywould have to make a bed on the bags
and stay all night.
"And if we had I'd have taken good care of Sue," Bunny remarked.
"I know you would, my dear," his mother answered, as she kissed him andhis sister, before putting them to bed.
For a few days after this Bunny and Sue did nothing to make any trouble.They went on little trips with Aunt Lu, showing her the many wonderfulsights at the seaside. With her they watched the fish boats come in, andonce they went sailing with her and their mother, Bunker Blue takingcharge of the boat. They gathered pretty shells and pebbles on the beachand had many good times.
One day Bunny and Sue played Punch and Judy, Bunny wearing the big redlobster claw on his nose. Aunt Lu laughed at the funny tricks of thechildren.
"Some day we'll get up a real show, and charge money," said Bunny, as heput away the lobster claw to use another time.
Not far from the Brown's house was a small river that flowed into thebay. Part of the Brown land was right on the edge of this river and at asmall dock Mr. Brown kept, tied up, a rowboat which he sometimes used togo fishing in, or to go after crabs, which are something like lobsters,only smaller. They are just as good to eat when they are cooked, andthey turn red when you boil them.
One day Bunny and Sue went down to the edge of the river. They askedAunt Lu to go with them, but she said she had a headache, and wanted tolie down.
"Don't go far away, children," called Mrs. Brown after the two tots, asthey wandered down near the little stream.
"We won't," promised Bunny, and he really meant it. But neither he norSue knew what was going to happen.
It was quite warm that day, and, as Bunny and Sue sat in the shade of atree on the bank of the river, the little boy said:
"Oh, Sue, wouldn't it be nice if we could go on the river in the boat?"
"Yes," said his sister, "but mother said we weren't to."
"I guess she meant we weren't to go ROWING in a boat--I mean a looseboat--one that isn't tied fast," said Bunny. "I guess it would be allright if we sat in the boat while it was tied fast to shore."
"Maybe," said Sue. She wanted, as much as did Bunny, to sit in the boat,for it was cooler down there.
"Let's do it!" proposed Bunny. "The boat is tied fast, but we can makebelieve we are rowing. We'll pretend we are taking a long trip."
Neither of the children meant to do wrong, for they thought it would beall right to sit in the boat as long as it was tied fast. So into itthey climbed. Then such fun as they had! They took sticks and madebelieve to row. They tied their handkerchiefs on other sticks andpretended to be sailing. They rocked the boat gently to and fro, andBunny called this "being out in a storm."
Then they lay down on the broad seats and made believe it was night andthat, when they awakened, they would be in a far-off land where coconutsgrew on trees and where there were monkeys to toss them down.
And, before they knew it, both children were fast asleep, for the sunwas shining warmly down on them. Bunny awoke first. He felt the boattossing to and fro:
"Don't do that, Sue!" he called. "You'll tip us over."
"Don't do what?" asked Sue, sleepily.
"Don't jiggle the boat," said Bunny. Then he opened his eyes wider andlooked all about. The boat was far from shore and was drifting down theriver. It had become untied while the children slept.