Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove

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"What is going on at Christmas Tree Cove that you should want to take us
there?" asked Mrs. Brown, as she passed her husband some sliced peaches.

"I have been trying to think of a nice place where you and the children
might spend the summer," he answered, "and when I heard that Captain
Ross had his motor boat _Fairy_ to hire for trips, I thought it would be
just the chance for us.

"There is a bungalow at Christmas Tree Cove I can hire for the summer,
and, if you want to go, we can all pile on board the _Fairy_ and make
the trip."

"Would you come, too?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I would be with you part of the time," said Mr. Brown. "Of course
I should also have to be at my dock down here in Bellemere part of the
time to look after business, but I could come up and down. Christmas
Tree Cove is not far away, and there are boats going up and down the
river and the bay each week. So, if you think you will like it, we will
spend the summer in a bungalow at Christmas Tree Cove."

"Oh, we'll just love it!" cried Sue, dancing around and clapping her fat
hands.

"Will you like it, Mother?" asked Bunny. "Even if you don't find your
diamond ring?"

"Yes, my dear, I think I shall like it there," said Mrs. Brown, with a
smile. "Though, of course, I want to find my diamond ring that the dog
carried away. I hope Bunker Blue finds it in the shavings or the sawdust
of Mr. Foswick's shop before we go."

"I hope so, too," said Bunny.

"Then it's decided. We shall go to Christmas Tree Cove," said Mr.
Brown. "I am sure you will have a nice summer. I'll tell Captain Ross
that we will hire his boat for the trip and the voyage back."

"Is he the funny Captain Ross who is always cracking jokes or asking
riddles?" Mrs. Brown asked.

"Yes, that's Captain Dick Ross," her husband replied. "He's very jolly,
and I'm sure the children will like him. In fact, they may see him and
his boat this afternoon if they wish."

"How?" asked Bunny eagerly. And Sue waited for the answer.

"He is down at my dock, with his boat _Fairy_," was the answer. "He is
having some repairs made to it. The boat is a sailing boat with a motor
in it, so it can travel both ways. If you like, Bunny and Sue, you may
come down to the dock with me and see Cap'n Dick!"

"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed the children in delight, and they hurried through
their meal that they might go with their father.

On the way to the boat and the fish dock, where Mr. Brown carried on
his business, the children and their father stopped at Mr. Foswick's
carpenter shop to ask if anything had been found.

"No, not yet," answered the old man, looking at Bunny and Sue through
his spectacles all dim and dusty with wood dust. "But I haven't got all
the sawdust and shavings out yet. I hope to find your wife's ring."

"So do I," said Mr. Brown. "She feels quite bad over the loss, and I'm
afraid she will not have a happy summer even at Christmas Tree Cove."

"It is too bad," agreed Mr. Foswick. "Well, when Bunker Blue comes this
afternoon, he and I will go all over the place. You haven't seen
anything of the dog since, have you?" he asked.

"No," answered Bunny, while Sue shook her head.

"I'll send Bunker Blue back as soon as I get to the dock," promised Mr.
Brown, and then he and the children went on.

Tied up at the end of the wharf was the boat _Fairy_, of which jolly Mr.
Ross was captain.

"May we go on board?" asked Bunny, as they ran down the pier while their
father was telling Bunker Blue to make a good search in the sawdust and
shavings for the pocketbook containing the diamond ring.

"Yes," answered Mr. Brown. "I think Captain Ross is on board himself,
puttering away in the cabin."

But he was not, though that did not matter to Bunny and Sue. They knew a
great deal about boats, having lived near water all their lives and
their father having been in the boat business for years.

"Come on!" called Bunny to his sister, and they easily jumped from the
dock to the deck of the _Fairy_. No one was on board, it seemed, and
Bunny and Sue enjoyed themselves by running about. They thought what fun
it would be to make the trip to Christmas Tree Cove in such a craft.

"Let's make-believe I'm the captain and you're the cook," said Bunny to
his sister after a while. "I'll go down in the cabin, and you must bring
me my dinner, and we'll pretend there's a storm."

"All right," agreed Sue, and then began this little game, one of many
with which the children amused themselves.

"Now, you know, I'm a reg'lar captain," said Bunny, putting on his most
important manner. "So you must serve me real nice."

"Real captains have uniforms," said Sue. "You ought to have a
uniform--and if I am to be the cook I ought to have a big white apron."

"I'll look for a uniform," said Bunny, and after hunting around a bit
found a storm coat and a rubber hat. "I'll put these on."

The coat was much too big for him and so was the hat. But he did not
mind this. Then Sue hunted around and at last found a white apron a good
deal soiled.

"Oh, I don't like that," she pouted. "It's not a bit clean. Good cooks
always have real clean aprons."

"There is a clean towel--you pin that on for an apron," suggested Bunny.
And then he did the pinning himself.

They were both down in the cabin, and Bunny was making believe he was
very hungry and he was asking Sue to bring him some more "plum duff"
when the little girl gave a sudden cry.

"What's the matter?" asked Bunny, as he sat at Captain Ross's cabin
table.

"We're moving!" cried Sue. "The _Fairy_ is moving away! She isn't fast
to the wharf any more!"

With a cry, Bunny scrambled up on deck.

Surely enough, the boat was adrift and he and Sue were alone on board!

CHAPTER VI

THE STRANGE DOG

Sue followed her brother Bunny up on the deck of the _Fairy_. They were
quite a distance out from the dock now, and were drifting farther and
farther each minute, for the tide was running out. Sandport Bay
connected with the ocean, and twice every day there is a great movement
of the water in the ocean, called the tide. The tides make the water
high twice each twenty-four hours, and then the tides get low, or run
out. The moon and sun are thought to cause the tides, as you will learn
when you get a little older and have to study about such things.

And the tide, after having run up into Sandport Bay, was now running
out, or ebbing, and in some way it was taking the _Fairy_ with it,
floating the boat along as the rain water in the gutter floats chips
along.

"How do you s'pose we got loose?" asked Sue.

"I don't know, lessen the rope came unhitched," Bunny answered. "But if
Cap'n Ross tied his boat to the dock, I don't see how it could come
unhitched."

Bunny was enough of a sailor to know that no boat captain ever tied such
a knot as could easily come loose. And yet this is what seemed to have
happened. For when Bunny and Sue ran to the side of the _Fairy_ to look
over, they saw, trailing in the water, the long rope, or cable, by which
the boat had been made fast to the dock. As Bunny had said, it had come
"unhitched." The children did not know how this had happened.

But there they were, alone on rather a large sailing boat, which also
had a gasolene motor, like that in a motor boat, to make it travel when
there was no wind to blow on the sails. And each moment they were being
carried by the tide farther and farther away from their father's dock.

Bunny and Sue looked across the water toward the wharf whereon Mr. Brown
had his office. They could not see their father, nor any one else. The
dock was deserted.

"What are we going to do?" asked Sue; and there was a catch in her
voice, as though she was frightened; and she was.

"Well," said Bunny slowly, "I guess maybe we'd better call."

"Call!" exclaimed Sue. "What for?"

"So daddy or Cap'n Ross will hear us and come and get us."

"How are they going to come and get us?" asked Sue. "They can't swim
that far."

"Oh, yes, they could!" declared Bunny. "But I don't s'pose they'll have
to swim. They can come and get us in a boat."

"Oh, yes!" cried Sue, more joyfully. "So they can. And I wish they
would. Let's call, Bunny!"

[Illustration: BUNNY AND SUE SHOUTED FOR HELP.

_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove._ _Page 61_]

Together the two children raised their voices in a shout. They were
healthy and strong and had excellent voices. And, as sound carries a
long distance over open water, the shouts of Bunny and Sue were heard on
Mr. Brown's dock.

As it happened, the children's father was in the office talking with
Captain Ross about the coming trip to Christmas Tree Cove when they
heard the cries of distress.

"That's Bunny and Sue!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, leaping from his chair.

"Gracious sakes alive! I hope they haven't fallen overboard!" shouted
Captain Ross.

"I think they know enough not to do that," Mr. Brown answered.

He ran out on the wharf, followed by the captain and some of the men who
worked for Mr. Brown. There they saw the _Fairy_ drifting out into the
bay, and they could see the figures of Bunny and Sue at the boat rail.

"Stay there! We'll send a boat for you!" called Mr. Brown, making a sort
of trumpet of his hands. "Stay on board! You'll be all right."

Bunny and Sue heard him and felt better. They had no notion, of course,
of jumping overboard and trying to swim to shore. They knew they were
safe on the _Fairy_ while it was in the rather quiet water of Sandport
Bay. Out on the rough ocean it would be a different matter, though they
had sailed on the open sea with their father and mother, of course in a
larger boat.

"How are we going to get 'em back?" asked one of Mr. Brown's men.

"Oh, we'll do that easily enough," was the answer. "Bring around the big
motor boat. We'll have to tow the _Fairy_ back here. I don't see how she
ever got adrift," went on Mr. Brown. "I'm sure neither Bunny nor Sue
loosened the cable."

"I'm positive they didn't," said Captain Ross. "It must have been that
greenhorn cabin boy I had. I hired him yesterday, and let him go this
morning because he didn't know one end of a rope from the other. I told
him to make the _Fairy_ fast to your dock while I came up here to talk
to you. But he must have tied a grannie's or a landlubber's knot, and
she pulled loose. I'm glad I'm rid of that boy!"

"Yes," agreed Mr. Brown, "a boy who doesn't know enough to tie a safe
knot isn't of much use around boats. But there's no great harm done. She
isn't drifting fast, and the motor boat will soon pick her up."

"I'll go along with you," offered Captain Ross, and soon he and Mr.
Brown, with one of the dock men, were racing after the drifting _Fairy_.

On deck Bunny Brown and his sister Sue watched the rescue.

"It's just like being shipwrecked, isn't it, Bunny?" suggested Sue, as
they sat down on deck to wait.

"Yes. It's fun when you know daddy is coming," said the little boy.

In a short time the motor boat reached the drifting _Fairy_. Mr. Brown
and Captain Ross went on board, and you can just imagine how glad Bunny
and Sue were to see them.

"Guess you'll have to tow us back," said Captain Ross to Mr. Brown. "The
motor of my boat needs fixing. That's one reason why I tied up at your
dock. There isn't enough wind to blow us back against the tide that's
running out now."

"My motor boat will tow you back all right," said Mr. Brown.

And while this was being done Bunny and Sue sat on the deck of the
_Fairy_ with their father and Captain Ross.

"Well, you had quite an adventure, didn't you?" laughed Captain Ross,
taking Sue up on his knees. "And it reminds me of a riddle. When is a
boat not a boat?"

"When is a boat not a boat?" repeated Bunny. "Why, a boat is always a
boat, Cap'n Ross, lessen you mean it's like a house 'cause people
sometimes live in it."

"No, I don't mean that," chuckled Captain Ross. "I'll ask you again.
When is a boat not a boat? Can you guess?"

Bunny and Sue shook their heads sideways to say "No."

"Do you give up?" asked Captain Ross.

Bunny and Sue shook their heads up and down to say "Yes."

"When is a boat not a boat?" asked the Captain again. "When she's a
_drift_, of course, like this one of mine was! Ho! Ho!" and he laughed
heartily. "You see a boat's not a boat when she's adrift--a sort of snow
_drift_! Ha! Ha! That's a riddle," and he laughed so heartily that Sue
slipped from his lap.

Bunny and Sue laughed also, and they liked Captain Ross.

"Here we are now, all shipshape and Bristol fashion!" went on the
captain as the motor boat towed the _Fairy_ back to the wharf. This time
Captain Ross tied the rope himself to make sure it would not come loose
again.

"May we stay on the boat?" asked Bunny, as his father started back up to
his office with Captain Ross.

"Yes, you may play on board until it's time to go home to supper,"
promised Mr. Brown. "But don't fall overboard and don't go adrift
again."

"No, we won't!" said Bunny.

"If you do I'll never tell you any more riddles," laughed Captain Ross.

"Oh, what fun we'll have when the boat goes to Christmas Tree Cove and
takes us there!" shouted Sue, as she and Bunny played about the deck.

The children had almost forgotten about their mother's lost ring and
pocketbook, to say nothing of the five-dollar bill. But that afternoon,
when they were going home with their father, they saw something that
brought the loss back to their minds.

They were walking along the street with Daddy Brown when, all of a
sudden, Bunny cried:

"There he is! There! There!"

"Who?" asked his father.

"That big dog that took mother's pocketbook in his mouth and bounced
away with it!" was the answer. "There he goes!"

Bunny pointed out a large, yellowish-brown dog just running around the
corner of the next street. Then Bunny pulled his hand from his father's
and raced after the strange animal.

"I'll make him show me where mother's ring and pocketbook are!" cried
Bunny as he ran down the street.

CHAPTER VII

THE SLEEP-WALKER

So quickly did Bunny Brown pull away from his father to run after the
strange dog that Mr. Brown had no chance to call to the little boy to be
careful. Sue, however, who had hold of her father's other hand, seemed
anxious.

"Maybe the dog will bite Bunny!" exclaimed the little girl. "Sometimes
Splash used to growl if you took a bone away from him, and maybe this
dog will growl if Bunny takes the pocketbook away from him."

"That might happen if the dog had mother's pocketbook," replied Mr.
Brown. "But I didn't see him have it, and I don't believe Bunny knows,
for sure, whether or not this is the same dog."

"Maybe if he hasn't the pocketbook in his mouth he has it hid somewhere,
and he's going to dig it up just as Splash used to dig up the bones
he hid," went on Sue. "Let's go and look, Daddy!"

This was just what Mr. Brown wanted to do--to see what happened to
Bunny, who had turned the corner running after the strange dog. So,
taking a firmer hold of Sue's hand, daddy started to run. When they
turned the corner they could see the chubby legs of Bunny working to and
fro as he ran along some distance ahead of them. Ahead of him the big,
yellow dog was also racing along and Bunny could be heard calling:

"Stop! Hold on there! Come back with my mother's pocketbook and her
diamond ring!"

Several persons in the street were attracted by the shouts of the boy
and his race after the dog.

"There'll be more excitement here in a little while than I want,"
thought Mr. Brown. "People will think there has been a theft, and they
will join in the chase. Then the dog may get excited and bite some one.
I must catch Bunny and stop him from shouting."

Now Sue could not, of course, run as fast as could her father, and,
though her legs worked to and fro in her very best style, Bunny was
getting far ahead of them.

"I'll have to pick you up and carry you, Sue," said her father. And,
stooping, he caught her up in his arms. It was easier for him to run
fast this way, and he knew he would soon catch up to Bunny. As for the
small boy, he was still chasing the dog. And the dog seemed to know he
was being chased, for he ran on, looking back now and then, but never
stopping.

"What's the matter, Mr. Brown?" asked a man who knew the fish dealer, as
he saw Sue's father hurrying down the street, carrying her and racing
after Bunny. "Has anything happened?"

"Oh, not much," was the answer. "My boy is trying to catch that strange
dog, and I don't want him to--the dog might bite him."

"That's so," said the man.

"Stop, Bunny! Stop!" cried Mr. Brown, getting within calling distance of
his little son. "Don't run after the dog any more!"

"But I want to get mother's pocketbook and ring," Sue's brother
answered, as he slowed up and looked back.

"That dog hasn't it," went on Mr. Brown. "He has nothing in his mouth,
and----"

"Oh, he has something in his mouth. It's red and I can see it sticking
out!" interrupted Sue eagerly. "Maybe it's mother's pocketbook, Bunny."

"It's his tongue!" declared Bunny. "It's the dog's red tongue you see.
Mother's pocketbook was black."

"Well, this dog hasn't it, at any rate," went on Mr. Brown with a smile,
as he put Sue down on the sidewalk beside Bunny, with whom he had now
caught up. "And even if this were the same dog, we could not make him
understand that we wanted him to take us to the place where he dropped
the purse."

"I'm sure it's the same dog," insisted Bunny. "But he's gone now,
anyhow."

This was true. Just as Bunny stopped after his father called to him the
dog ran into an alley between two buildings, and though Mr. Brown, again
holding his two children by the hands, looked in, there was no sight of
the animal.

"Yes, he's gone," agreed Mr. Brown.

"You scared him, chasing after him like that, you did," went on Sue to
her brother. "Didn't he, Daddy?" she asked her father.

"I guess the dog didn't need much scaring," said Mr. Brown. "Are you
sure he's the same one, Bunny?"

Of this Bunny was quite positive, though Sue was not so much so. The
animal looked like the one that had snatched the pocketbook off the
bench and had run into Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop with it. But that
was as far as Sue could go.

The crowd which had started to gather when it saw the chase, now began
to separate when it found there was to be no more excitement, and Mr.
Brown took a short cut through the back streets home with Bunny and Sue.

"We had a lot of adventures, Mother!" said Bunny, when they reached the
house. "We got adrift on a boat, and we had a tow back, and I saw the
dog that had your pocketbook, and I chased him and--and----"

"And I know a riddle about when is a snowdrift like a boat," broke in
Sue, not wanting Bunny to receive all the attention.

"Gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "What does all this mean?" she asked
her husband. "Did you really get back my pocketbook? Oh, if my ring has
been found----"

"I'm sorry to say it hasn't," her husband said. "Bunny did think he saw
the dog that took it, but I very much doubt that."

"And what's that about being adrift?"

"They were on the _Fairy_, and she floated out a little way from the
dock."

"That's rather dangerous," said Mother Brown. "If such things are going
to happen it will not be safe for us to go to Christmas Tree Cove."

"Oh, can't we go?" cried Bunny and Sue, thinking their mother was going
to call off the trip.

"There was no danger," their father said, and he explained how it had
happened. "It was not the fault of Bunny and Sue," he added. "The boat
might have drifted off with any one on board."

"But it is strange if that dog should still be around here, after
running off with my pocketbook," went on Mrs. Brown.

"I am not at all sure it was the same dog," her husband said. "Though
Bunny may have thought it looked the same. But did you have any report
from Mr. Foswick or Bunker Blue about their search in the carpenter shop
for the pocketbook?" he asked his wife.

"Yes," she answered. "Bunker Blue and Mr. Foswick looked carefully. They
swept out the shop, which hasn't happened in over a year, I imagine; but
all they found was an old pair of spectacles Mr. Foswick lost six months
back. Bunker was here a little while ago, and said there was no use of
searching any further. He went back to the dock, as you told him to."

"It's too bad," said Mr. Brown. "Still, it can't be helped, and it shall
not spoil our trip to Christmas Tree Cove. Can you be ready to start day
after to-morrow?" he asked his wife.

"I think so," she answered. "How many of us are going?"

"The children, of course, and you and Uncle Tad; and I'll send Bunker
along to help when I am not there."

"Oh, aren't you going, Daddy?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I'll start with you," Mr. Brown promised. "But I can't always be
with you. I shall have to spend part of each week here at my boat and
fish dock. But Bunker will be with you all summer, and so will Uncle
Tad."

"I'm glad he's going!" exclaimed Bunny. "He'll be lots of fun!"

"So will Captain Ross!" added Sue. "He can ask awful funny riddles."

During supper the plans for the summer vacation at Christmas Tree Cove
were talked over, the children becoming more and more jolly and excited
as they thought of the fun ahead of them. After the meal Bunny and Sue
went out in the yard to play. George Watson, Harry Bentley and Charlie
Star had a race with Bunny, while Mary Watson, Sadie West and Helen
Newton brought their jumping ropes and the four little girls had a great
game. Of course Bunny and Sue told about the coming trip and,
naturally, all the other children wished they could go.

"Maybe we can come up on a picnic and see you," said Harry.

"Oh, I hope you can!" exclaimed Sue.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat on the porch in the evening glow, watching the
children at play and talking over what it would be necessary to take on
the little voyage which would start aboard the _Fairy_. Every once in a
while Mrs. Brown would give a sigh.

"Are you thinking of your lost pocketbook?" her husband asked.

"I am thinking more of my lovely engagement ring," she answered.

"It is too bad," he agreed. "But never mind. Perhaps it may be found."

"No, I am afraid it never will be," she went on. "You had better come
into the house now," she called to Bunny and Sue. "It is getting late,
and you'll have plenty to do to-morrow to get ready for the trip to
Christmas Tree Cove."

Bunny and Sue said good-night to their playmates, and were soon ready
for bed. Their father and mother sat up a little later. They were about
to retire when a noise on the stairs caused them to look out into the
hall.

There was Bunny, in his blue pajamas, coming down the stairs. His eyes
were wide open, but they had a funny look in them.

"I know where it is!" he said. "That dog has it on his tail."

"What?" asked Mr. Brown. "What do you mean, Bunny? What has the dog on
his tail?"

"Mother's diamond ring," was the answer. "I'm going to get it. The dog
is asleep on the shavings in the carpenter shop."

Bunny came down a few more stairs, and his mother, looking at him,
exclaimed:

"He's walking in his sleep!"

CHAPTER VIII

A COLLISION

Mr. Brown caught the little boy up in his arms. Somehow, Bunny seemed
much smaller in his pajamas.

"Wake up, Bunny! Wake up!" his father said, gently shaking him. "What's
the matter?"

"I've got to find it. I know where it is--on the end of the dog's tail.
And Sue----" Bunny stopped suddenly. A change came over his face, and a
different look flashed into his eyes.

"What--what's the matter? What am I down here for?" he asked
wonderingly. And then his parents knew he was fully awake.

"You have been walking in your sleep, dear," said his mother. "That's
something you haven't done for a long time. The day had too much
excitement in it for you. Are you all right now?" and she patted his
cheeks as he nestled in his father's arms.

"Oh, yes. I'm all right now," Bunny said. "I had a funny dream. I
thought the dog came to me and said the diamond ring was on the end of
his tail, and I was going to get one of Mr. Foswick's hammers and knock
it off. The dog was on a bed of shavings in the carpenter shop
and--and----"

"Yes, and then you got out of bed and walked in your sleep," finished
his father, with a laugh. "I must see if Sue is all right."

She was. In her little bed she was slumbering peacefully, and Bunny was
soon back with his head on the pillow.

"Poor little dears!" said their mother, as the lights were put out and
the house locked for the night. "They are thinking too hard about the
lost ring. I mustn't let them see that I care so much, or it will spoil
their summer at Christmas Tree Cove."

"Yes, forget your loss if you can," suggested her husband.

There was much to do the next day--so much that only once in a while did
Bunny and Sue think of the strange dog that had run away with their
mother's pocketbook and diamond ring. Bunker Blue was busy, also, and so
was Uncle Tad, helping to get ready for the trip.

Bunny and Sue wanted to help pack, but their mother said they could best
help by running on errands. One of these took them to the carpenter shop
of Mr. Foswick for a piece of wood Bunker wanted to nail across certain
shutters in the house, which was to be closed for the summer.

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