ADRIFT
The faces of Bunny and Sue shone with delight as they hurried along, one
on one side and one on the other of their father, each having hold of a
hand. Mr. Brown, too, was more joyful than he had been the night before
when the story of the lost ring had been told.
"Did you find Splash?" asked Sue, as she tripped along.
"No, I am sorry to say I did not," replied Mr. Brown. "I guess you will
have to give Splash up as lost. Though he may run back again some day as
suddenly as he ran off."
"And didn't you find the other dog--the one that took mother's ring in
the pocketbook?" asked Bunny.
His father shook his head.
"There was no sign of the other dog, either," Mr. Brown answered. "He
must have been a stray dog that just ran through the town. A sort of
tramp dog, I fancy."
"Then there isn't any good news," remarked Bunny, and he grew a little
sad and unhappy again.
"Yes, there is good news; though it isn't about mother's ring," said Mr.
Brown.
"Nor about a dog?" asked Sue.
"No, it isn't about a dog, either," her father said. "Come along, and
we'll tell mother. Perhaps it will cheer her up."
Mrs. Brown looked sharply at her husband when he entered the house with
the two children. She wanted to see if she could tell, by his face,
whether he had any better word than that which he had telephoned after
his visit to the carpenter shop.
"No," he said, in answer to her look, "we didn't find the pocketbook.
But Mr. Foswick is going to have a regular house-cleaning in his shop.
He is going to get the sawdust and shavings out of the way, and then we
can make a better search."
"I hope he will be careful when he takes them out," said Mrs. Brown. "My
pocketbook was not very large, and it might easily be thrown away in a
shovelful of shavings or sawdust."
"He will be very careful," her husband promised. "He is very sorry he
locked Bunny and Sue in his shop, very sorry indeed."
"Oh, we didn't mind!" exclaimed Bunny. "We were scared a little, at
first, but not much. Only I broke the window."
"Mr. Foswick didn't seem to mind that much," went on Mr. Brown. "The
'pesky' boys, as he calls them, certainly do bother him a lot by running
in the open front door when he is busy in the back of his shop. They
scatter the sawdust and shavings all about."
"Maybe some of those boys ran in and took my pocketbook and ring,"
suggested Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, no," explained Bunny. "We ran right in after the dog, and there
were no big boys around. We didn't see the dog run out, but Mr. Foswick
said there were holes in the back of his shop and he could get out that
way."
"Yes," agreed Mr. Brown, "he could. And he may have done so. We are
going to look around in the back of the shop as soon as the inside is
cleaned out."
"I do hope he will be careful," murmured Mrs. Brown.
"Why, the dog won't bite him!" exclaimed Bunny. "He ran away, that dog
did!"
"Oh, I mean I hope Mr. Foswick will be careful about looking in the
shavings and sawdust for my pocketbook," said Mother Brown.
"I will send Bunker Blue over to help him look," promised Mr. Brown.
"Bunker is a very careful lad."
"But what story are you going to tell us, Daddy?" asked Sue, as she
climbed up in her father's lap.
"A story! This time of day?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, in surprise.
"She means the news," said Mr. Brown. "I have some for you, and I hope
you will think it is good, though it isn't about your lost diamond ring.
Did you children ever hear of Christmas Tree Cove?" he asked.
"Christmas Tree Cove!" exclaimed Bunny. "Oh, I know where that is! It's
up the river back of the bay. Is the dog there, Daddy?"
"Oh, no!" laughed his father. "Can't you think of anything but dogs,
Bunny boy? Well, as long as you know where Christmas Tree Cove is, how
would you like to go there to spend the summer?" As he spoke he looked
at his wife.
"Do you really mean it?" she inquired, her face brightening.
"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Bunny and Sue together, almost like
twins, though Bunny was a year older than his sister.
"Well, I hope you will have some fun there," said their father. "Now
let's have lunch, and while we are eating I can tell you all about it."
"Is this the news you meant, Daddy?" asked Bunny.
"Yes," was the answer.
Christmas Tree Cove, as I may as well explain to you, was a sort of bay,
or wide place, in Turtle River, which ran into Sandport Bay. The town of
Bellemere, where Bunny and his sister lived, was partly on Sandport Bay
and partly on the ocean. The bay extended back of the town, and if one
sailed up the bay or went up in a motor boat one would come, after a
while, to Turtle River. I suppose it was called that because it had so
many turtles in it, and sometimes Bunny and Sue had caught them.
Christmas Tree Cove was so named because on the banks of it were many
evergreen trees, called Christmas trees by the children, and also by
some of the grown folk. And the cove had in it a few little islands. It
was a place where camping parties sometimes went, and often there were
picnics held there.
"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!