THE ALLIGATORS
Bunny and Sue had, indeed, landed on an island in Squaw River. Or if
they had not exactly landed as yet, they were soon going to. For their
raft, floating downstream, had, as Sue expressed it, "bunked" on the
shore of a patch of land in the middle of the stream, forming an island.
As you learned in school, an island is a "body of land entirely
surrounded by water." That's what the place was where Bunny and Sue had
come. Water was all around the little patch of land, on which grew
several trees.
"All ashore!" cried Bunny again, as he had often heard his father or
Bunker Blue call when the fishing boats reached the dock. "All ashore!"
"Are we going to stay here long?" asked Sue, as she got up and brushed
the crumbs of bread and cake from her lap.
"Yes," Bunny answered, "we'll stay here all day and all night. We'll
make believe we're regular pirates!"
"Oh, we can't stay all _night_!" objected Sue.
"Well, we'll stay all day, anyhow," Bunny said. "And we'll go home when
it gets dark, and to-morrow we'll come back and stay all night."
"That'll be fun," agreed Sue. "Now we'll go on the island."
As yet the children were not off the raft. Their make-believe boat had
grounded on one of the sandy stretches that marked the shore of the
island, and there it stayed. Bunny took the mooring rope and made it
fast to a tree stump on shore. He did not want the raft to float away
as, more than once, some of his father's boats had floated off from the
dock.
Then Bunny and Sue, taking the bag of lunch with them, went on
shore--that is on the island. It was a pleasant place, with trees and
bushes to make shade, and with birds to sing to them.
"There doesn't anybody live here, I guess," Sue said, as they walked
about, looking on every side.
"Nobody ever lives on an island 'cepting pirates," Bunny said; "and
we're them."
"Maybe there are other pirates here," suggested Sue.
"If there are we'll fight 'em!" Bunny said.
"Oh!" exclaimed his sister, "mother wouldn't like to have us fight."
"Only make-believe," explained Bunny.
"Oh, make-believe is all right," Sue agreed.
Carrying their bag of lunch, the children wandered here and there over
the island. It was larger than they at first supposed, and Bunny was
glad of this. It was very still and quiet there, the ripple of the
water, the wind in the trees, and the birds making the only sounds.
"I guess daddy and mother are away off, aren't they?" asked Sue, after a
while.
"Miles and miles," Bunny answered. "Aren't you glad, Sue?"
"Ye--yes, I--I guess so," she answered, and her voice sounded so strange
that Bunny was afraid his sister might be going to cry. This would
never do! A crying pirate! Never!
Bunny must think of a way so his sister would not be lonesome. That was
the trouble now, he decided--she was getting lonesome because it was so
still and quiet on the island, far away from the orange groves.
The little boy ran back to the raft and brought off the sharp stick he
had placed there at the start of the voyage.
"What's that for?" asked Sue.
"For alligators," answered her brother. "I've got to have a sharp stick
to drive the alligators away, you know."
"Oh, Bunny!" gasped Sue, moving closer to him, "are there alligators
here--on our island?"
"I don't know," he answered. "I'm going to look for some."
"You're going to look for alligators?" cried Sue in surprise.
"Sure!" Bunny answered. "So they won't crawl up behind our backs and
bite us when we're eating some more lunch."
"Oh!" exclaimed Sue. "Well, I'll help you look for some then, so we can
drive 'em away!"
That was one thing Bunny liked about Sue. After you had told her about a
thing she was always ready to join in with you. And she was pretty brave
after all.
"Shall I get you a sharp stick, too?" asked Bunny of his sister. "Then
you can help drive the alligators away."
"No, I don't guess I want to," she answered. "I'll just help you look
for 'em and help you drive 'em away."
"All right," said Bunny Brown.
So he and Sue began walking along the edge of the island, looking for
alligators. They were in their bare feet, but the wet sand was smooth to
walk on. Sue, however, made up her mind as soon as she saw an alligator
to run back as far as she could. She did not want one to nip her bare
toes, she decided. If she had had on shoes it might be different.
For a time no alligators were seen, though Bunny looked eagerly for
them. I can not say that Sue looked as eagerly as did her brother.
Perhaps she wished that no alligators would be found.
But, all of a sudden, as they were walking along Sue grasped Bunny by
the arm and exclaimed:
"Look!"
"Where?" whispered Bunny, for he was filled with excitement.
"Right over by that stone!" and Sue pointed ahead a little way and down
the island shore. "Isn't that an alligator?" she asked.
Bunny looked long and carefully. Then he showed much disappointment as
he answered:
"No, that isn't an alligator, Sue. It's just an old floating log, like
the one we pegged stones at the other day. It isn't an alligator at
all."
She was glad of it, but she did not say so.
"It looked like an alligator, anyhow," she remarked.
"Yes," agreed Bunny, as he tossed a stone near the black object, hitting
it and thus making sure it was not alive. "It did look like an
alligator. But we'll find some--come on."
However, this did not seem to be a very good day for alligators, and the
children had reached the most distant end of the island without seeing
any when suddenly Sue, who had wandered a little ahead of her brother,
called out:
"Look, there's another island!"
And, surely enough, there was a smaller one a short distance from the
larger one on which the children had first landed.
"Come on! We'll go there!" cried Bunny. "Maybe there's alligators
there!"
He hurried down to the strip of water that separated the two islands.
Then he began to roll up his trousers as far above his knees as he
could.
"What you going to do?" asked Sue.
"I'm going to wade over to that other island," Bunny answered.
"Maybe the water's deep," suggested his sister.
"Well, if it is I won't go," Bunny replied. "But I don't guess it is."
"And maybe there's alligators in the water," went on Sue.
Bunny paused and looked at the strip between the two islands, one
large, on which they then were, the other smaller. Nothing seemed to be
in the strip of water.
"I guess it's all right," said Bunny Brown, as he finished rolling up
his trousers.
Into the water he waded, and as Sue did not want to be left behind she
followed, holding up her dress and skirt to keep them dry. She hurried
over the strip of water, which was quite shallow, only coming to the
knees of the children.
"Now maybe we'll find some alligators here," Bunny said hopefully, as he
started along the shore of the second island, Sue following.
Again Sue hoped Bunny would not have any luck finding the scaly
creatures, but she did not say so.
"How long you going to stay here, Bunny?" asked Sue, when they had
walked almost around the small island. "I'm getting hungry again."
"Well, we'll go back pretty soon and eat the rest of the lunch," agreed
Bunny. "But I wish--"
He suddenly stopped what he was saying and looked sharply ahead. Sue
looked also, and what she saw made her rush to the side of her brother,
cling to his arm and cry:
"There they are! There are the alligators!"
"Yes!" exclaimed Bunny. "They're sure enough alligators!"
There could be no mistake about it this time. Crawling up out of the
river to the shore of the small island were a number of the long-tailed,
scaly creatures with the big snouts. And as one of the alligators
crawled up he opened his mouth, showing rows of sharp teeth.
"Oh, I don't want to stay here!" cried Sue, in alarm.
Bunny Brown grasped more firmly his sharp stick.
"Don't be afraid!" he said. "I won't let the alligators hurt you!"