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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"Oh, it's lots of fun to sail!" cried Bunny.

"I like it better than motoring!" added Sue, who was no longer yelling.

Soon the white sail was hoisted, and, as the wind blew, the _Fairy_
slipped easily along through the water. There was no "jiggle" now, as
Bunny called it, for the motor was not running like a sewing machine
down in the hold of the boat.

Nearer and nearer the boat approached the shore. The clumps of green
trees became more plain. Soon little houses and bungalows could be seen.
Then the children saw a long dock extending out into the water.

"That's where we tie up," said Captain Ross. "I think the wind will hold
until we get there."

"It's too bad you had such bad luck bringing us here," said Mrs. Brown.
"I'm sorry, Captain, that your boat is broken."

"Oh, a smashed propeller isn't anything," he answered, with a laugh. "I
was going to get a new one, anyhow. I'll just land you folks and then
I'll sail back to Bellemere and have my boat fixed."

"And then you can come back and get us," said Sue; "but not for a long,
long time, 'cause Bunny and I are going to stay at Christmas Tree Cove
and have fun."

"That's what we are!" said Bunny Brown.

Slowly the boat swept up to the dock. Then the sail was lowered, and she
was tied fast. Next began the work of unloading the things the Browns
had brought with them to keep house all summer in the little bungalow,
which was not far from the dock.

Mr. Brown, Uncle Tad, Captain Ross and Bunker Blue unloaded the things,
and Mr. Brown hired a man to cart them to the bungalow. Bunny and Sue
said good-bye to Captain Ross, who, with the help of a man whom he could
hire at Christmas Tree Cove, would sail his boat back later that day.
Then the children, with their mother, walked up a little hill to the
little house where they hoped to spend many happy days.

"Oh, isn't it pretty!" exclaimed Sue, as she strolled up the path,
bordered with clam shells. "It's awful nice here."

"I hope you will like it," said Mrs. Madden, the woman who had been
engaged by Mr. Brown to open the bungalow and sweep it out in readiness
for the family. "I live near here, and we like it very much," she added,
as she held the door open for Mrs. Brown and the children.

"Can you catch any fish?" asked Bunny, looking down toward the water and
the dock where his father and the others were lifting things out from
the boat.

"Oh, yes, there's fine fishing and clamming and crabbing," said Mrs.
Madden. "My boy and girl will show you the best places."

"That will be nice," said Mrs. Brown. "Now we'll have a look at the
place." Neither Mother Brown nor the children had yet seen the bungalow
which Mr. Brown had engaged for them.

They went inside, and while Mrs. Madden was showing Mrs. Brown about the
house Bunny and Sue ran off by themselves to see what they could find.

Mrs. Madden was just pointing out to Mrs. Brown what a pleasant place
the dining-room was, giving a view of the bay, when suddenly a great
crash sounded throughout the house. It was followed by silence, and then
Sue's voice rang out, saying:

"Oh, Mother! Come quick! Bunny's in! Bunny's in!"

CHAPTER XIV

IN THE DARK

Mrs. Brown, who had been looking at the beautiful view of Christmas Tree
Cove from the window of the bungalow dining-room, turned to Mrs. Madden
when Sue's cry rang out.

"Something has happened to those children!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Where
are they calling from? I must go to them."

"That cry sounded as if it came from the pantry," answered the other
woman. "It's just through that door," and she pointed.

As Mother Brown started for the place Sue called again:

"Please come quick! Bunny's in and he can't get out!"

"What can't he get out of?" asked Mrs. Brown.

Mother Brown pushed open the door leading into the pantry, and there
she saw a strange sight. Sue was standing beside Bunny and trying to
pull him out of a barrel in which he was doubled up in a funny way,
almost as a clown in a circus sometimes doubles himself up to slide
through a keg. Only Bunny was not sliding through. He was doubled up and
stuck in the barrel.

"He's in," explained Sue, "and I can't get him out."

"And I can't get out either!" added Bunny. "I'm stuck!"

"Are you hurt?" asked his mother.

"No, not 'zactly," he replied. "'Cept it sort of pinches me."

Mrs. Brown did not stop to ask how it had happened. She took hold of
Bunny on one side, and Mrs. Madden took hold of him on the other. Then,
while Sue helped them hold down on the barrel, they pulled up on the
little fellow and soon had him out. Luckily the edge of the barrel was
smooth and without any nails, so that Bunny was not scratched nor were
his clothes torn.

"Now tell me about it," said his mother, as she set him on the floor
and led him and Sue out of the small pantry.

"Well, I--I was climbing up on the barrel to see if there was anything
to eat on the shelves," explained Bunny Brown. "And some boards were on
the barrel. I stepped on them, but they slipped; and then----"

"And then Bunny slipped!" broke in Sue. "I saw him slip, but I couldn't
stop him."

"And then I went right on down into the barrel," resumed Bunny. "And I
was stuck there, and Sue hollored like anything, and--well, I didn't
find a single thing to eat," he ended.

"No, I didn't order any food for you, as I didn't know just what you'd
want," explained Mrs. Madden. "If you're hungry," she said to the
children, "you can come over to my cottage--it isn't far--and I can give
you some bread and milk."

"Oh, I am hungry!" said Bunny.

"So'm I," added Sue.

"I couldn't think of troubling you," put in Mrs. Brown. "We have some
things on the boat, and----"

"I've just baked some cookies," went on Mrs. Madden, who lived at
Christmas Tree Cove all the year around. "I'm sure the children would
like them. My boy and girl, who are about the same age as yours, like my
cookies very much;" and she smiled at Bunny and Sue.

"Oh, Mother," began Bunny, "couldn't we----"

"Let me take them over and give them a little lunch while you are
getting things to rights," urged the kind woman to Mrs. Brown. "It will
be no trouble at all, and Rose and Jimmie will be glad to see them."

"Are they your children?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, dear. And they'll be glad if you'll play with them."

"Very well, they may go. And thank you very much for the invitation,"
said Mrs. Brown. "It will be better to have them out of the way when the
men are bringing in the trunks and things. But I hope they will give you
no trouble. Don't fall into any more barrels, Bunny!"

"I won't," promised the little boy. "I wouldn't 'a' fallen in this one
if the boards hadn't slipped."

"It's the flour barrel," explained Mrs. Madden. "The family that was
here last year used to have a regular cover for the barrel, but one of
the boys took the cover to make a boat of, and after that they put some
loose boards back on."

"I'll have Mr. Brown make a new cover for the barrel," said Mrs. Brown.
"But that doesn't mean, Bunny, that you may climb on it again," she
added.

"Oh, I won't," he agreed. "I was just climbing up to see if there was
anything to eat on the pantry shelves. But I won't have to do that if
you're going to give us some cookies," he added, looking at Mrs. Madden.

"Yes, I'm going to give you some cookies," she laughed. "Come along.
I'll bring them back safely," she added.

So, while Mr. Brown, Captain Ross, Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad carried the
things up to the bungalow from the boat and dock, Bunny and Sue followed
Mrs. Madden to her cottage not far from the bungalow. Mr. Madden was a
clammer and fisherman, and his wife did some work for the summer
colonists.

Bunny and Sue saw a little boy and girl of about their own ages looking
at them as they neared the cottage.

"Here are some new playmates for you, Jimmie and Rose," said their
mother. "They are hungry, too."

"And my brother Bunny fell in a barrel when he was looking for something
to eat on the pantry shelves," explained Sue.

"Did it hurt you?" Jimmie Madden wanted to know.

"No; it was fun," laughed Bunny Brown, and then he told of that
adventure.

Mrs. Madden brought out some glasses of milk, slices of bread and jam,
and also a plateful of cookies, at the sight of which the eyes of Bunny
and Sue opened wide with delight. Then followed a pleasant little play
party on the shady porch of the cottage.

Rose and Jimmie told of the fun to be had at Christmas Tree Cove--how
there were shallow wading places, deeper pools for bathing, and little
nooks where one could fish.

"Can you go out in a boat?" asked Jimmie of Bunny.

"Yes, if somebody bigger goes with us," Bunny answered. "We can get my
Uncle Tad to take us out."

"Sometimes Rose and I go out with my father when he's fishing or digging
clams," said the Christmas Tree Cove lad. "I can dig clams at low tide."

"I've done that, too," said Bunny. "We live on Sandport Bay."

The four children talked and played until it was time for Bunny and Sue
to run back to the bungalow. They found that all the things had been
brought up from the boat and that Captain Ross had sailed away again.
The bungalow was furnished, and Mrs. Brown had only to bring such things
as knives and forks for the table, linen for the beds, and the clothes
they were to wear.

A grocer and a butcher had called while Bunny and Sue were at the Madden
cottage, and now supper was being prepared by Bunker Blue and Uncle Tad,
each of them being almost as good a cook as was Mrs. Brown.

Mrs. Brown and her husband were busy making up the beds for the night,
and as Bunny and Sue came racing in, almost as hungry as though they had
not been given a lunch by Mrs. Madden, their mother called to them:

"Get washed for supper now, children."

A little later they were sitting down to their first meal in the
bungalow at Christmas Tree Cove.

"Do you think you are going to like it here?" asked Daddy Brown.

"It's dandy!" exclaimed Bunny, being careful not to talk with his mouth
too full of bread and butter. "And Jimmie is a nice boy."

"I like Rose, too," said Sue.

After supper the children ran over to the cottage to play again, and
before bedtime they walked along the sandy beach with their father and
mother. But pretty soon it was noticed that Bunny and Sue were not
saying much, and their walk was becoming slow.

"Time for little sailors to turn in!" said Mother Brown, and soon Bunny
and Sue were slumbering in little white beds in the bungalow.

The rest of the family, except Bunker Blue, sat up rather late, talking
over the events of the past few days. They had enjoyed the trip to
Christmas Tree Cove, all except the storm.

"I know we'll have a lovely summer," said Mrs. Brown, as she and her
husband went to bed.

When they were passing Bunny's room a dog barked in the distance. The
little fellow seemed to hear it, for he sat up in bed and cried:

"There! There he is! There's the dog that has your ring, Mother! I'm
going to get it!"

"He's talking in his sleep again," whispered Mr. Brown.

"Yes," agreed his wife in a low voice. "The loss of the pocketbook seems
to get on his mind. Go to sleep, Bunny," she murmured to him, going into
his room, and pressing his head down on the pillow. Then he turned over
and went off to Slumberland again.

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 shore 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."

[Illustration: 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."

"But, Bunny! maybe it's the dog that took mother's pocketbook and ring,"
Sue went on. "If it is we ought to chase him!" She was forgetting her
fear of being lost now in the excitement over hearing the dog bark and
in thinking he might be the one that had caused the loss of the diamond
ring.

"Listen!" whispered Bunny.

He and Sue stood in the fast-darkening woods and to their ears the bark
of the dog sounded fainter now.

"He's going away," announced Bunny. "Anyhow, I don't s'pose he was the
same dog. That dog never could get away up here. It must be some other
one."

"Well, maybe it is," agreed Sue. "Oh, Bunny, when are we going to get
home?" she asked, and this time it sounded very much as though she were
going to cry in earnest.

"I guess we'll be home pretty soon now," said Bunny hopefully. "Let's
walk over this way;" and he pointed to a new path that crossed the one
they had been walking along for some time.

Sue was very willing to leave it to Bunny, and she walked along beside
her brother, never once letting go his hand. All at once the children
heard a rustling in the leaves of the bushes that grew amid the trees.
They could hear little sticks being broken, as though some one were
stepping on them.

"Oh, Bunny!" exclaimed Sue, shrinking close to her brother, "maybe it is
the dog coming after us!"

"It couldn't be," said Bunny quickly. "If it was the dog he'd bark,
wouldn't he?"

"I guess he would," Sue answered. "But we--we'd, better look out,
Bunny."

"I'll get a stick," offered the little boy, "and if it's a bad dog
I'll----"

He was interrupted by a cry from Sue--a joyful cry.

"Oh, Bunny," shouted the little girl, "it isn't a dog at all! It's
Bunker Blue! Here he is! Did you come for us, Bunker?" she asked, as
Mr. Brown's boat boy came brushing his way through the shrubbery.

"Yes, I've been looking for you," answered Bunker. "Your mother was
getting worried, but Rose and Jimmie Madden said they'd seen you come up
into these woods, and I thought I'd find you here."

"Oh, I'm so glad you did, Bunker!" cried Sue, catching hold of one of
his hands. "We were lost--Bunny and I were--and we heard a dog bark; and
maybe he was the one that took my mother's pocketbook. Did you hear him,
Bunker?"

"Yes, I heard him, Sue," he said, with a smile at the children who were
no longer lost. "But it isn't the same dog, I'm pretty sure. That
pocketbook and ring are gone forever, I guess. Now come on home."

"Do you know the way?" asked Sue, as Bunny took hold of Bunker's other
hand.

"Oh, yes. And it isn't far to the bungalow," answered the fish boy. "You
couldn't see it on account of the thick trees."

And, surely enough, in a little while he led them out on the path to
the beach and they were soon at the bungalow again.

"You must not go off into these woods alone again," said Mrs. Brown.
"They are thicker and darker than the woods at home, Bunny, and it is
easier for you to get lost in them. Don't go to them alone again."

"No'm, I won't," promised the little fellow. "But wouldn't it have been
fine, Mother, if we could have found the dog that took your diamond
ring?"

"Yes, Bunny, it would be lovely," said Mrs. Brown. "But I'm afraid that
will never happen."

There were so many things to do to have fun at Christmas Tree Cove that
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to play at first. Each
day brought new joys. They could build houses on the sand, paddle or
bathe in the cool, shallow water, sail tiny boats which Uncle Tad made
for them, or take walks with their mother.

Daddy Brown stayed for several days at the cove, and then he had to go
back to Bellemere to his dock and boat business. But he said he would
come to the cove again as soon as he could.

Uncle Tad and Bunker stayed at the bungalow to help Mrs. Brown, and
Bunker often took Bunny and Sue out in a rowboat on the quiet waters of
the cove.

One day Mrs. Brown took some sewing, packed a small basket of lunch, and
said to the children:

"Now, Bunny and Sue, we will have a little picnic all by ourselves.
Bunker and Uncle Tad are going fishing, so we will go down to the beach
and stay all the afternoon. We will eat our lunch there, and while I sit
and sew you children can play around."

Bunny and Sue thought this would be fun, and soon they started off. It
was a beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, and soon Mrs. Brown was busy
with her needle while Sue and her brother played on the sand.

Mother Brown was trying to thread a very fine needle, which seemed to
have closed its eye and gone to sleep, when suddenly Sue came running up
to her so fast that she almost overturned the sun umbrella which Mrs.
Brown had raised to make a shade.

"Oh, Mother! Mother!" gasped Sue, so out of breath that she could hardly
speak. "Oh, Mother! Come quick!"

"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, getting quickly to her feet.

"Oh, it's Bunny's toe! It's Bunny's toe!" was all Sue said, and,
catching hold of her mother's hand, she pulled her down toward the
water.

CHAPTER XVI

OVERBOARD

Mrs. Brown was used to seeing things happen to Bunny and Sue. They were
lively children, getting into mischief fully as often as other tots of
their same age did, and it was not unusual to have one of them hurt
slightly.

So when Sue ran up to her mother and began to cry out about Bunny's toe,
Mrs. Brown looked down the beach where she had left the two children
playing. There she saw Bunny dancing around on one foot in a shallow
pool of water, left there when the tide went out. And as he danced on
one foot Bunny held the other up in the air, and he was crying something
which his mother could not hear.

"Sue," asked Mrs. Brown, as she hurried down the slope leading to the
beach proper, "did Bunny step on a broken bottle and cut his toe?"

"No, Mother, it isn't that," answered the little girl. "I don't know
just what it is. I was making a little house on the sand, and Bunny was
wading in the water. All of a sudden he yelled, and told me to go and
get you 'cause there was something the matter with his toe."

"He probably cut himself," said Mrs. Brown, and she began to search in
her pocket for an extra handkerchief. It would not be the first time
Bunny or Sue had suffered a cut foot because of stepping on a sharp
shell or a piece of glass while in wading.

But when Mrs. Brown and Sue reached the edge of the little pool in which
Bunny was hopping about on one foot, holding himself up by leaning on a
piece of driftwood he had picked up and was using as a crutch, his
mother saw what the matter was.

"Take it off my toe! Take it off my toe!" cried Bunny.

"It's a big, pinching crab," said Mrs. Brown. "Oh, Bunny, I'm so sorry!
Come out of the water and I'll make it let go of you. Come out!"

By this time Sue, also, had seen the cause of the trouble. A big crab
had been caught when the tide went down, and was in the pool of water,
which, surrounded by sand, was like a little lake. Bunny must have
stepped on the creature when wading. It had nipped the big toe of his
left foot, and was holding on, though Bunny had raised his foot out of
the water as far as he could.

"Come here, Bunny. I'll get him off for you," his mother called.

"I can't come! How am I going to walk on one foot?" and Bunny howled,
for the crab was pinching hard.

"Can't you skip, as we do when we play hopscotch?" asked Sue.

"Maybe," her brother answered.

He was about to try it, and his mother was just going to tell him that a
better way would be to dip his foot back in the water when the crab
might swim away, when the pinching creature decided to let go anyhow. It
loosened its claws and dropped with a splash into the puddle of water.

"Oh, he's gone! He let go my toe!" cried Bunny, and then he ran up the
sandy shore as fast as he could go.

"Let me see where he pinched you," said Mrs. Brown, when Bunny had
reached her side. "Is it bleeding?"

"Yes, I guess it is! And maybe he pinched my whole toe off," said Bunny,
almost ready to cry.

He held up his bare foot, and his mother looked at the toe. It was quite
red, but the skin was not broken and there was no blood.

"Is it--is it off?" asked Bunny, his voice trembling.

"No, you silly boy, it isn't even bleeding," laughed his mother.

"Well, it--it felt as if it was off," said Bunny. "I don't like crabs."

"No, they aren't very pleasant when they nip you," agreed his mother.
"But this one took such a big pinch and his claw was so much over your
toe nail that he really did very little damage. You'd better not wade in
that pool any more."

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