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.