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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"I won't," decided Bunny.

He sat down and softly rubbed his toe where the crab had pinched him.
As Mrs. Brown had said, there was no blood, though it does not take much
of a nip from even a small crab to break the skin and cause a bleeding.
And sometimes the pinch of a crab, where it does draw blood, becomes
very sore.

However, Bunny was well out of this adventure, and when he had got over
his fright his mother took him and Sue up under the shady umbrella and
gave them some lunch.

"But I don't want any more crabs to bite me," said Bunny.

The remainder of the day was spent in happy fashion, though Bunny waded
in no more pools.

"I'm glad the crab didn't pinch me," said Sue, as she wiggled her toes
in the soft sand. "'Cause my foot's littler than Bunny's," she went on,
holding it near his, "and maybe that crab would have taken hold of two
of my toes, and bitten them all off."

"Oh, I think that wouldn't have happened," said Mrs. Brown. "A crab
doesn't really want to nip children just for fun. They'll get away from
you if they can; but if they think you are going to hurt them they'll
open their claws and pinch. Bunny must have stepped on the one that took
hold of his toe."

"Maybe I did," said Bunny. "I stepped on something, and I thought it was
a clam shell, but it wiggled out from under my foot and then my toe was
grabbed."

When Bunny and Sue went back to the bungalow that night they saw Bunker
Blue busy at work on a small boat at the dock, which was at the end of
the walk leading down from "Bark Lodge," as their place was named, for
it was made of logs with the bark on.

"What are you doing, Bunker?" Sue called to him.

"I got bit by a crab!" announced Bunny, not giving the fish boy time to
answer. "He held on to my toe and I lifted him right out of the water,
same as we catch crabs on a string and fishhead."

"Is that so?" asked Bunker, and he went on hammering away at the boat.
It was another craft than the one Mr. Brown had hired for the use of his
family.

"What are you making?" Bunny wanted to know, satisfied, now that he had
told the story of the crab.

"Oh, I'm making a little sailboat," answered Bunker. "A man on the other
side of the cove, where your Uncle Tad and I were fishing to-day, sold
me this boat cheap, and I'm going to rig up a sail for it. I don't want
to row around all summer, so I'm going to sail."

"Oh, can we go with you?" asked Sue.

"I can help you sail, can't I, Bunker?" questioned Bunny.

"Yes, if your mother lets you," was the answer.

After supper Uncle Tad helped Bunker put the sail on the boat. It was
not a very large boat nor did it have a very large sail, but the fish
boy said it would do for cruising about the cove.

"May we sail with him, Mother?" asked Bunny the next day, when Bunker
announced that the boat was ready for a trial.

"Is it safe?" asked Mrs. Brown of the tall lad.

"I think so," he answered. "I'll give it a tryout by myself first,
though."

Bunny and Sue watched Bunker Blue sailing to and fro in Christmas Tree
Cove, and finally he headed back for the dock.

"I'll take Bunny and Sue out now if you'll let them come with me," said
Bunker to Mrs. Brown, who, with the children, was watching the trial of
the new sailboat.

"Very well. But be careful and don't go too far!" cautioned the
children's mother.

Delighted by the prospect of a ride before the wind around the cove,
Bunny and Sue got into the boat. There was just about room enough for
three. Bunker had rigged up a rudder on the boat and there was a small
centerboard in the middle to keep the craft from tipping over in a hard
blow.

"All aboard!" cried Bunny, pretending to help Sue to her place.

"All aboard!" answered Bunker, as he pulled over the tiller and let the
boat swing out from the dock. Then for some time the children sailed
about the cove, while Mrs. Brown watched them from the bank. Mr. Brown
was to come up to the cove that night on the evening train, to stay for
several days.

As Mrs. Brown was watching, she saw something dark slide suddenly over
the side of the sailboat, and at the same time she heard Sue's screams
and saw Bunker let go the sail and make a grab for an object in the
water.

"Bunny has fallen overboard!" cried his mother, springing to her feet
and running down to the dock. "Uncle Tad, come quickly! Bunny has fallen
overboard!"

CHAPTER XVII

THE NEW BOY

Uncle Tad, who was mending a broken fishing rod just outside the
bungalow, heard Mrs. Brown's cry and saw her running down to the dock.
He also looked across the cove and saw the sailboat in which he knew
Bunny and Sue had gone for a ride with Bunker Blue. And then Uncle Tad
guessed what had happened.

"Man overboard!" he cried, though of course Bunny was only a little boy.
But that is what is always said when anybody--man, woman, or
child--falls into the water.

"Man overboard!"

Uncle Tad raced down to the dock and saw Mrs. Brown trying to loosen the
rope that held to the pier the boat Mr. Brown had hired for the summer.

"Let me do it," said Uncle Tad, who knew considerable about boats from
having lived so long with the Browns.

Just then a voice behind Mrs. Brown cried:

"He's got him out! Bunker Blue has got him out!" And there, on the pier,
stood Jimmie Madden with his sister Rose. He pointed across to the now
motionless sailboat.

Uncle Tad and Mrs. Brown had not looked at it for the last few seconds,
as they were busy trying to get ready the other boat to go to the
rescue. But, looking now, they saw Bunker Blue lift Bunny Brown from the
water. And a moment later Bunker's voice rang out as he called:

"You don't need to come! Bunny is all right! I'll soon bring him to
shore!"

"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, and she dropped the rope she
had been trying to loosen, while Uncle Tad, who had knelt down on the
pier to do the same thing, stood up.

As Jimmie had said and Uncle Tad and Mother Brown had seen, Bunker had
pulled Bunny from the water, and a little later the sail was filled with
wind and was bringing the boat to the dock. Bunny and Sue could be seen
sitting safely in it, and Bunny did not appear much the worse from
having fallen overboard, though, of course, he was soaking wet.

"I saw him fall in," explained Jimmie Madden. "Then I ran over here."

"And I ran over, too," said his sister Rose.

"I could 'a' jumped in and got him out if he'd been near shore. I can
swim," went on Jimmie, who was a regular seashore boy and quite at home
in the water.

"I can swim, too," went on Rose.

"I'm glad neither of you had to jump in after Bunny," said Mrs. Brown,
as the boat neared the dock. "I wonder how Bunny happened to fall
overboard."

This was explained when the wet, dripping little chap was helped out of
the boat to which Bunker had fitted a sail.

"He saw something floating in the water," said Bunker, "and he reached
for it, though I told him not to, as I was going about. But he did, and
he lost his balance, and in he went."

"But Bunker got him right out again!" Sue made haste to say.

"It wasn't Bunker's fault," added Bunny. "He told me not to lean over."

"Then you should have minded," said his mother. "It was very wrong of
you, Bunny, to do that. I told you to mind Bunker when you went out with
him. Now, as a punishment, you may not go sailing again this week."

And though Bunny cried and said he would never disobey again, he was
punished just as his mother said he must be. Sue was allowed to go for a
sail, while Bunny had to stay on shore.

"You must be made to understand that you have done wrong," his mother
said.

There was really very little danger, for the water in the cove was not
deep, and Bunker was such a good swimmer that he, very likely, could
have managed to get out both Bunny Brown and his sister Sue if they had
fallen in together.

After his days of punishment, however, Bunny was allowed to go sailing
again, and Bunker even let him steer a little, which made Bunny very
happy.

"Some day I am going to learn all about steering," declared Bunny to
Sue, "and then I'll be able to take out a boat all alone."

"You be careful, Bunny Brown, or maybe the boat will sail off with you,"
warned Sue, earnestly. "And it might sail 'way off to--to Boston, or--or
China--or--or Mexico."

"It couldn't sail that far. I wouldn't let it."

"It might run away with you."

"Boats can't run--they sail. You ought to know that."

"It could sail away ever so far, if it wanted to, Bunny Brown. An' if it
sailed 'way off to--to China, how ever would you get back?"

"I'd sail back."

"How could you if you didn't know the way?"

"I'd ask some--some Chinaman. I know how to talk to 'em. I can talk to
that Chinaman who has the laundry near the school."

"Huh! He ain't a real Chinaman--he's an American Chinaman. I mean a real
Chinaman Chinaman--that can't talk like we do."

"I'd find a way--just you wait and see," said Bunny confidently.

The summer days passed pleasantly at Christmas Tree Cove. Mr. Brown
found it possible to come up more often than he had expected, and he and
his wife, with the children, Uncle Tad and Bunker Blue, went on
excursions on land and water.

Often when her husband would arrive at the bungalow, coming up from his
dock office at Bellemere, Mrs. Brown would ask:

"Did you hear anything about the strange dog or my lost pocketbook and
ring?"

And her husband would shake his head and answer:

"There is no news. I saw Mr. Foswick, the carpenter. He said he keeps
looking around his shop, thinking he may find the things the dog
dropped, but they have not been discovered yet."

Then Mrs. Brown would be sad for a little while as she thought of her
lovely diamond engagement ring, but she did not let Bunny or Sue see
that she was unhappy.

One afternoon it was very hot at Christmas Tree Cove. The sun's rays
beat down and there was scarcely any breeze.

"Come on, kiddies!" called Mother Brown to Bunny and Sue. "We will put
on our bathing suits and go down to the water. If there is any cool
place this hot day it is there."

Of course Bunny and Sue were delighted with this. They never tired of
bathing, and soon they were splashing about in the cove. They were not
the only ones, for many of the neighboring cottagers and bungalow
residents took advantage of the water to cool off.

"Be careful and don't go out too far!" called Mrs. Brown to Bunny and
Sue, as she went up on the beach to talk to some friends, leaving the
children in the water. "The tide is coming in."

"We'll be careful!" promised Bunny. "Here, Sue, give me your hand and
we'll wade out to the float."

The float was made of some planks fastened to empty barrels, and it was
a fine place to play. As Sue and Bunny were wading out they noticed a
boy whom they had not seen before wading beside them.

"Hello!" said Bunny, in friendly spirit. "Did you just come?"

"Yes. We came to the hotel last night," was the answer. "I never was at
the ocean before. We're going to stay all through August."

"This isn't the ocean," said Bunny. "It's just Christmas Tree Cove. The
ocean is lots bigger."

"I'd like to see it," said the new boy.

"Look out!" suddenly called Sue. "Here comes a big wave!"

She had just time to take a tighter hold of Bunny and turn, but the new
boy did not seem to know much about bathing or waves. He stood waiting,
and, an instant later he was knocked down and his head went under
water.

CHAPTER XVIII

HELD FAST

The first that Mrs. Brown knew of what was happening was when a woman
near her screamed. Then this woman hurried down the sands to the edge of
the water in which Bunny, Sue, and a number of other children were
bathing.

Mrs. Brown had been talking to several women of the summer bungalow
colony near Bark Lodge, and one of these ladies had just remarked that a
new family had come to the hotel.

"It is Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Slater," Mrs. Brown was told. "They have a
little boy named Harry, about as old as your Bunny."

And just as Mrs. Blaney, who was telling this to Mrs. Brown, finished,
Mrs. Brown heard a woman scream and saw her run down to the water.

"That's Mrs. Slater now," said Mrs. Blaney. "I wonder what the matter
is."

"Her little boy was just knocked down by a big wave," said another woman
who had been sitting on the sand talking to Mrs. Brown. "Perhaps we had
better go and help her."

It was Harry Slater, the new boy to whom Bunny had been talking, who had
been knocked down and rolled over by the big wave. His mother, sitting
on the beach, had seen what had taken place. Then she had screamed and
had hurried down the sands.

But, as it happened, Bunny Brown was nearer at hand to give the needed
help. He and Sue were used to the big waves, which came in Christmas
Tree Cove only when one of the large excursion steamers stopped at a
nearby dock. The propeller of the steamer sent the waves rushing inshore
almost like the surf of the larger ocean outside.

"Oh, the wave knocked him down!" cried Sue, who had seen the mass of
water coming, and had held to Bunny while they turned a little and
jumped so they did not fall. "Look, Bunny, he's down in the water!"

"I know!" exclaimed Bunny! "I see him! I'll get him up!"

Bunny and Sue had lived so long in Bellemere near the water that, young
as they were, they knew the thing to do when people fall into or down in
the water is to get them out as soon as possible, in order that they may
not be smothered.

So, as soon as he had made sure that Sue was all right, Bunny leaned
down, and, catching hold of Harry Slater, the new boy, who was
floundering around under water, lifted him up. It was easy for Bunny to
do this, as a body in water weighs less than outside.

Thus Bunny easily lifted Harry up and held him on his feet, while the
new boy choked and gasped to get his breath. By this time his mother was
at the edge of the water, where the waves broke on the sand, and she was
just going to go in, all dressed as she was, for she did not wear a
bathing suit.

"Harry," cried Mrs. Slater, "mother is coming!"

"There isn't any need, lady!" said Duncan Porter, the life-saver who was
always on duty during the bathing hour. "I'll bring him in to you. But,
anyhow, Bunny has him safe."

The guard, who had been on another part of the beach, had run up when he
heard Mrs. Slater scream, and now he waded out and brought Harry to
shore in his arms. The new boy was more frightened than hurt, and was
soon all right again, though he coughed a little because of the water he
had swallowed.

"Oh, Harry Slater, you were nearly drowned!" cried some of the other
children.

"Oh, he wasn't in much danger," said the life guard. "I'd have had him
out in another second or two. But, as it was, Bunny Brown got him out of
the water all right."

"How can I thank you?" said Harry's mother, as she gave Bunny a hug, all
wet as he was, for he and Sue, with many other children, had followed
the life-saver to shore when he carried the choking, gasping new boy.

"Oh, it wasn't anything much!" protested Bunny, who did not like a fuss
being made over him. "The big wave just knocked him down, and I picked
him up."

"He's a brave and clever little boy!" said several ladies on the beach,
and if Bunny had not been so tanned and sunburned he might have blushed.

"It was a big wave knocked him down," said Sue. "One of the steamer
waves. You have to look out for 'em! I saw him go down and I yelled."

"You were both very watchful of Harry," said Mrs. Slater. "Your mother
should be proud of you children."

"There's my mother now," said Bunny, pointing to Mrs. Brown, who had
come down with a number of other women.

Thus it was that Bunny, Sue and the new boy became acquainted and Mrs.
Slater also formed a friendship for Mrs. Brown. Soon the excitement had
passed and the children were in bathing again, while their mothers
either bathed, too, or sat on the beach and talked. Bunny and Sue liked
Harry, and you may be sure the new boy was very thankful to Bunny Brown
for pulling him up out of the water.

"Do they have bigger waves in the ocean than the one that knocked me
down?" asked Harry, when the three children were once more having a
good time in the bathing pool.

"Oh, I guess they do!" cried Sue. "He should see some of the big waves,
shouldn't he, Bunny?"

"Well, I'd like to see 'em," said Harry, with a laugh. "But I wouldn't
want to be knocked down by 'em--not if they were bigger than the wave
that hit me."

"The waves in the ocean are ever so much bigger," went on Bunny. "And in
a storm they're twice as big."

"We were in a storm coming here," explained Sue. "We were on a boat and
it rocked like anything, didn't it, Bunny?"

"Yes, it rocked a lot," he agreed. "Come on," he called to his sister.
"Let's go over and dig clams."

"Where can you dig clams?" asked Harry eagerly. Anything about the
seashore interested him, as it was his first summer at the beach.

"They get hard clams away out in the cove," explained Bunny. "But soft
clams grow over there where the tide is out."

"Clams don't grow," declared Sue. "They aren't like apples."

"Yes, clams do grow," declared Bunny. "Else how could a little clam get
to be a big one. They grow over there, in that place where there isn't
any water," went on Bunny. "And when the tide is out we dig for 'em."

"I was up on my grandpa's farm once, and I helped dig for potatoes in
the ground," said Harry. "But I never dug for clams. I'd like to."

"We'll show you how," offered Bunny. "Mother lets us dig soft clams, and
she makes chowder of 'em. Come on, we'll go over and dig clams."

Harry was very glad of this chance for fun, and when Mrs. Brown had said
her two children might go, and when Mrs. Slater had also consented to
let her boy accompany his two new playmates, they set off.

"There isn't any water on the flats when the tide is out," said Mrs.
Brown. "Bunny and Sue often go there to dig clams, and we can see them
from here."

Soft clams are not like hard clams. The shell is a sort of bluish black
and is quite thin, so it is easily crushed. The soft clam is long and
thin, instead of being almost round, like a hard clam.

A soft clam lives down in the mud or sand under water. Within his shell
the soft clam has a long tube, which seems as if made of rubber, for it
can be stretched out greatly, or made so small as to fit inside the
shell.

When the tide covered the low flats at one part of Christmas Tree Cove
the soft clams could not be found. But when the tide went out it left
bare a large space of sand and sticky mud, or muck. Then was the time to
dig soft clams.

Bunny and Sue knew how to do it. They used a little shovel, though a
regular clammer uses a short-handled hoe, digging the wet earth away
much as a farmer digs away the earth from a hill of potatoes. Down under
the surface the clams are found.

"Here's a good place to dig," said Bunny, as he led Sue and Harry
through little pools of water to the clam flats. "Sue, you hold the
basket and Harry and I will dig."

"Well, this time I will, 'cause Harry's new," answered Sue. "But after
this I'll dig, too."

Bunny had brought two shovels, and, giving the new boy one, Sue's
brother used the other. He dug a hole in the mucky, black sand, and
Harry did likewise.

"When you see something that looks like a black stone pick it up,"
advised Bunny. "'Cause that's a clam."

The two boys dug away for some time, and at last Harry cried:

"I got one!"

"Yes, that's a soft clam, and a nice big one," declared Bunny. "And I've
got one myself!"

Soon the two little boys had found a number of clams, which they put in
the basket Sue held. Bunny was just digging out an extra large one when,
all of a sudden, Sue cried:

"Bunny, I'm stuck! I can't get my feet up! Oh, Oh!"

"Maybe a big clam has hold of her," said Harry. "What'll we do, Bunny?"

CHAPTER XIX

ANOTHER STORM

The two boys stopped their clam-digging and stood staring at Sue, who
was holding the basket of shellfish and looking at her brother and
Harry.

"I'm stuck fast!" cried Sue again. "I can't lift up either of my legs,
Bunny! What shall I do?"

"Is it a clam that has hold of you?" asked Harry.

"Clams don't grab hold of you like crabs," declared Bunny. "Once a crab
got hold of my toe, and it pinched like anything."

"Maybe it's a crab, then," said Harry.

"This isn't a crab or a clam," said Sue. "But my feet are all tight in
the mud, and I can't lift 'em out! Look!"

She struggled hard, trying first to lift one foot and then the other.
But she only swayed in a little pool of water that collected around her
bare legs.

"Oh, I know what the matter is!" exclaimed Bunny, as he looked again at
his sister. "It's like getting into a muck hole in the swamp. There's a
lot of soft sand and muck here on the flats, and you've stepped into one
of the holes, Sue."

"Shall I--shall I sink down through the hole all the way to--to China?"
asked the little girl, and it looked as if she might be going to cry, as
she had the time she and Bunny were lost in the Christmas Tree woods.

"We'll get you up," said Bunny. "Come on, Harry. You take hold of Sue on
one side and I'll take hold of her on the other. Then maybe she can lift
up her own legs."

The boys went toward her.

"Take the basket of clams," directed Sue. "I don't want to spill 'em!"

She handed Bunny the basket of soft clams which the two boys had dug,
and Bunny set it on top of the pile of dirt that had been piled up as he
and Harry dug holes to get at the shellfish. Then the two boys stood,
one on either side of Sue, so she could put her hands on their
shoulders.

"Maybe we'll get stuck in the mud, too," suggested Harry.

"Oh, I guess not," said Bunny. "Anyhow, if we do, it'll be fun."

Seeing Bunny and Harry about to help her, Sue felt better. She gave up
the notion of crying, and began to pull up, first on one foot and then
on the other.

At first it seemed that neither one would move, so sticky was the mud
and muck. But at last Sue felt one giving, and she cried:

"Oh, I'm getting loose! I'm getting loose, Bunny!"

"Pull harder!" directed her brother. "Pull as hard as you can!"

Just about this time Mrs. Brown, who was sitting on the sand under the
sun umbrella talking to Mrs. Slater, happened to look over toward the
children who had gone clam-digging. She saw Bunny and Harry standing
close to Sue, and she knew, by the way the children were acting, that
something had happened.

Then Mrs. Slater, too, looked toward the three children.

"Is Harry in trouble again?" asked his mother.

"No, this time it seems to be Sue," said Mrs. Brown. "I think she is
stuck in the mud."

"Is that serious?" asked Mrs. Slater, for she had not been to the
seashore enough to know anything about clam-digging.

"Oh, there is no danger," said Mrs. Brown. "They may get very muddy. But
they have on their bathing suits, and can easily wash. However, we might
walk over as near as we can go, so they may see us."

"Very well," agreed Mrs. Slater. "I don't want Harry frightened again
to-day."

But she need not have worried. The children were laughing as Sue used
the two boys like a pair of crutches to help her lift her feet from the
muck. Soon she had pulled loose, and she held one foot out so she could
see it.

"Oh, look!" cried the little girl. "There's so much mud on my foot I
can't see my toes wiggle!"

And this was really so.

"It looks as if you had a black shoe on," added Bunny. "Come on now,
you'd better step away from here if you don't want to get stuck again,
Sue."

"And I'm getting stuck myself!" exclaimed Harry, as he felt one foot
sinking. "Is it all like this on the clam flats?"

"No," answered Bunny, "only in some places. It was all right where you
and I stood."

By this time Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Slater had reached the edge of the clam
flats, and they saw that the three children were all right. Harry and
Bunny again started to dig for the shellfish and Sue held the basket for
them. But she took care to stand on a big flat stone, so there was no
more danger of sinking down.

"Mother!" cried Harry, when he saw Mrs. Slater with Mrs. Brown, "digging
clams is lots of fun, and Sue got stuck in the mud."

"So we saw," his mother answered. "The seashore is a funny place. You
don't seem to know what will happen on land or in the water."

"Oh, it is all right when you get used to it," said Mrs. Brown,
laughing. "Have you enough clams, Bunny?"

"Not quite," he answered. "I like lots of 'em in my chowder."

"Well, you may dig a few more. We'll sit here and wait for you," said
his mother, and, finding a place on shore where a clump of trees gave a
little shade, she and Mrs. Slater sat down.

Bunny, Sue, and Harry kept on digging, Sue finally insisting on taking a
turn with the shovel.

"I'm coming to the seashore every year," declared Harry, as he dug out
an extra large clam. "I guess my dog would like it here, too. He's fond
of water."

"Where is your dog?" asked Bunny. "I didn't see you have any."

"We didn't bring him with us 'cause he's lost," said Harry, leaning on
his shovel. "He's an awful nice dog, too. We were going to bring him
here with us, but one day, when we were out in the automobile, he jumped
out and ran away and we never saw him again."

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