IN THE STORM
Before Sue and Uncle Tad could do anything, even if they had known what
to do, something very queer happened. The goat, on whose back Bunny was
riding, jumped up on the big, circular platform of the merry-go-round.
It was on this platform that the wooden animals, birds, and fishes were
built, and where, also, were the broad wooden seats for older folk, who
did not like to get on the back of a lion or a camel and be twirled
around.
The platform was broad, for boys and girls had to step up on it to make
their way to whatever animal they wanted to sit on, and the men who
collected the tickets also had to walk around on this wooden platform
while the machine was in motion. And it was in motion when the live goat
jumped on it.
There was plenty of room for "Billy" on the merry-go-round, though why
he jumped up on it I cannot say. You can hardly ever tell why a goat
does things, anyhow.
[Illustration: THE GOAT LEAPED UPON THE MOVING MERRY-GO-ROUND.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove._ _Page 104_]
Right up on the moving merry-go-round leaped the goat, with Bunny
clinging to the long hair of his back. The goat slid along until he came
up beside a lion, on whose back a frowsy young person was riding.
"Oh, my!" cried this girl, "one of the wooden animals has come to life."
She screamed and would have fallen from the lion, Sue thought, but for
the fact that a young man was standing beside her. He had come around to
collect her ticket and when he heard her scream and saw her sway back
and forth he grasped her.
"Sit still!" advised the ticket-taker.
"But look! Look!" cried the girl. "One of the wooden animals has come to
life! Oh, I'm so afraid! And look! He has a little boy on his back!"
The goat on which Bunny was riding was quite large, really as big as one
of the wooden goats of the merry-go-round, and, as the make-believe
creatures were painted to resemble the real animals as nearly as
possible, the sight was a surprising one.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the young man ticket-taker. "It isn't one of the
wooden animals! It's a real goat from the ones over by the ponies. He's
alive, of course."
The frowsy girl giggled.
"And I'm alive, too!" added Bunny, his hands wound in the goat's long
hair. "But I didn't want to ride the goat up here!"
"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" shouted Sue from the outer edge of the
merry-go-round, which she and Uncle Tad had now reached. "Look out,
Bunny, or you'll fall off!"
There was a laugh from the crowd of evening pleasure-seekers that had
gathered at the shore resort.
"I am holding on!" cried Bunny. "Whoa now, goat!" he called.
"Stop the machine!" exclaimed Uncle Tad.
"All right; we'll stop it," said the ticket-taker, who still held to the
frowsy young person on the back of the lion.
The goat seemed quiet enough now. After it had jumped up on the moving
platform, with Bunny on its back, the animal just stood there, looking
around. Perhaps it felt quite at home with the wooden horses, the
ostriches, lions, tigers, camels, and other creatures so gaily painted
and with pieces of looking glass stuck all over them.
Slowly the merry-go-round came to a stop, and the ticket-taker, letting
go of the girl, who had not fallen from the back of the lion, hurried to
Bunny's side.
"I'll lift you off," he said.
"Thank you," answered Bunny. A moment later he was walking over to join
Sue and Uncle Tad, while a man stepped from the crowd and took charge of
the goat, which he led to the edge of the platform. The goat leaped down
and off as Bunny had done.
"I hope my goat didn't hurt you when he ran away with you," said the
man, walking up to Bunny, Sue, and Uncle Tad and leading the horned
creature.
"Oh, no, he didn't hurt me," Bunny answered. "But I didn't think he'd
run away with me just 'cause I got on his back."
"He isn't used to having boys and girls on his back unless he wears a
saddle," the man explained.
"Did you jump on the goat's back, Bunny?" asked Uncle Tad.
"Well, I didn't exactly _jump_ on," replied the little boy. "I was
leaning over, looking at him, and I sort of wanted to see how it would
feel to get on his back. And I did, and then he ran up on the
merry-go-round with me. But I held on so I wouldn't fall."
"It's a good thing you did!" declared Sue.
"How did it happen?" asked Uncle Tad.
"All I know about it is this," said the man who owned the goat. "I have
a few of these Billies and Nannies for children that don't want a
ponyback ride. But I was getting the goats ready to put in the stable
for the night, and I'd taken off the saddles. I had my back turned, and
the first I knew I heard a shout. I turned and saw this boy on Nero's
back, heading for the merry-go-round. I followed as fast as I could.
Nero is a gentle goat, but I couldn't tell what he'd do when he got
mixed up with the wooden animals," he finished.
"No," said Uncle Tad, "that's so. You did wrong, Bunny, to get on the
goat's back without asking permission."
"I--I didn't mean to," said the little boy. "When you and Sue were
looking at the glass-blower I went over to look at the ponies and the
goats. And I just sort of leaned over this goat, and, first I remember,
I was on his back and he ran away with me."
"There's no harm done," said the goat's owner, as the people in the
crowd smiled and laughed at what had happened. "Come over in the morning
and I'll let you have a regular ride on a saddle--you and your sister,"
he added as he looked at Sue.
"Thank you," she answered. "I'll come if mother will let me."
"I guess we have to go on to Christmas Tree Cove in the morning,"
announced Bunny. "Anyhow, I'm much obliged for this ride," he said.
"Nero's a good goat," and he patted the head of the animal.
"Yes, he's a good goat," agreed the owner.
Then he took his horned steed back to the pony stand, the merry-go-round
started off again with the loud music, and Uncle Tad took Bunny and Sue
back to the _Fairy_.
Of course there was considerable talk and some laughter on board the
boat when the story was told of Bunny's goat ride. His mother, laughing,
told him never to do such a thing again, and, of course, Bunny said he
wouldn't.
"Did you like that ride?" questioned Sue, when they were getting ready
to go to bed.
"I did and I didn't," was Bunny's answer. "I got on the goat so
sudden-like I didn't have time to make up my mind about it. He was an
awful quick goat, Nero was."
"I guess most goats are quick. Once I saw a goat go after a man who was
pasting up bills on a board. My, but that man had to run to get out of
the way!"
"Maybe the goat wanted his bills or his paste," said Bunny. "I once
heard that goats love to eat billboard paper just for the paste on it."
"Maybe so."
Bright and early the next morning Bunker Blue arose and began to wash
down the decks of the boat. As he was splashing the water around in his
bare feet with his trousers rolled up, a young man with a bundle under
his arm came down to the dock.
"Here are the dresses and things Mrs. Brown lent to the young ladies,"
said the young man. "They are very much obliged. I brought them early,
for I thought maybe you'd want to get an early start."
"Yes, I believe we are going to leave soon," answered Bunker. "But I
don't like the looks of the weather," he added. "It seems to me we are
going to have a storm. If you get another canoe and paddle out in it,"
he said, "I wouldn't go too far from shore."
"Thank you, I'll be careful," was the answer.
Bunny and Sue awakened and got ready for breakfast, and Bunker told
about the visit of the young man. Then the children went out on deck to
look at the sea and sky.
I say the "sea," though really it was all part of Sandport Bay, and not
exactly the open ocean, though it was a very large body of water.
"Do you think it's going to rain, Bunker?" asked Sue.
"I think it's going to rain and blow, too," answered the fish and boat
boy, who had learned to read the weather signs. "But the _Fairy_ is able
to stand it, I think. How are you after your goat ride, Bunny?"
"Oh, I feel fine!" declared the little boy. "But I want to get to
Christmas Tree Cove before long."
"So do I," added Sue. "I'm going to make a little bungalow there for my
dolls."
"And I'm going to make one to camp in," declared her brother.
They started off right after breakfast, and as Bunny and Sue played
around on the deck they could see their father and Captain Ross talking
together and looking up at the sky every now and then.
"We'll keep near shore," they heard the captain say. "Then if the storm
breaks we can tie up."
But, though the clouds scudded across the sky all day, the storm did not
break. It was black and lowering when evening came, but, after another
look all around, Bunny heard the captain say to their father and mother:
"We may as well keep on. It may blow over, and if we tie up over night
it will take us just so much longer to get there. I'd better keep on,
don't you think?"
"Yes," said Mr. Brown, "keep on."
So the _Fairy_ kept on through the waters of the bay. Bunny and Sue,
after being allowed out on deck to watch the distant twinkling lights of
other vessels, were put to bed in their bunks, and Mrs. Brown fastened
some broad canvas straps up in front of their berths.
"What are they for?" asked Sue, as she kissed her mother good night.
"So you won't fall out if the boat rolls and rocks too much in the
storm," was the answer.
"Oh, I like to be out in a storm!" exclaimed Bunny.
"I do if it's not too hard a storm," said Sue.
"I think this will be only a small one," replied Mrs. Brown, but as she
went out on deck and felt the strong wind and noticed how high the waves
were she felt a trifle uneasy.
Some hours later Bunny and Sue were each awakened about the same time by
feeling themselves being tossed about in their berths. Bunny was flung
up against the canvas straps his mother had fastened, and at first he
did not know what was happening. Then he heard Sue ask:
"What's the matter?"
"Don't be afraid," said Bunny. "It's only the storm, I guess. Oh, feel
that!" he cried, and as he spoke the _Fairy_ seemed to be trying to
stand on her "head."