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."
"We had a dog Splash, and he ran away, too," said Sue.
"My dog would carry things in his mouth," went on Harry. "He used to
carry our paper, and sometimes he would take things you didn't want him
to, and carry them away."
"Oh, Bunny!" suddenly exclaimed Sue, "that's just what the big yellow
dog did. He took mother's pocketbook when we didn't want him to and
carried it away. Maybe this is the same dog!"
"What kind of a dog was yours?" asked Bunny of his new friend.
"He was a big yellow one," was the answer. "But he was never here in
this place, 'cause we were never here ourselves before this summer. So
he couldn't have taken your mother's pocketbook."
"But the pocketbook wasn't taken from here," said Bunny. "It was where
we live--in Bellemere. And it was a big, yellow dog! Could your dog run
fast?" he asked Harry.
"Oh, yes, terribly fast. But what's that about your mother's
pocketbook?"
Bunny and Sue told the story by turns, how they had seen the dog
running away with the pocketbook containing the five-dollar bill and
their mother's diamond ring.
"And he ran into a carpenter shop, and we ran in after him, and Mr.
Foswick locked us in, and Bunny broke a window, and we had a terrible
time!" explained Sue.
"I don't believe that was my dog," said Harry. "But Sandy--that was my
dog's name--would carry away lots of things in his mouth. I wish I had
him back. My father said he'd give a lot of money to find him--a reward,
you know."
"And I guess my father would give a reward if he could get back my
mother's diamond ring," added Sue. "But he can't. Bunker Blue says it's
gone forever."
"Children! Children!" called Mrs. Brown from the shore. "I think we had
better go now. It is getting late and it looks as if we might have
another storm. Come along. You have clams enough."
"Yes, I guess we have," said Bunny, looking in the basket.
The children started for the mainland, stopping in a little pool to
wash the mud off themselves and also to cleanse their shovels.
Bunny "sozzled" the basket of clams in the water to wash them, and when
Mrs. Brown explained how she made them into chowder Mrs. Slater
remarked:
"I wish they served that at the hotel."
"Won't you and Harry come over and have supper with us this evening?"
asked Mrs. Brown. "We'll give you some of the chowder then."
"Oh, yes, Mother, please do!" begged Harry, and Mrs. Slater consented.
"I'll tell you more about my lost dog when I come over to-night," called
Harry to Bunny and Sue, as they parted.
That evening Mrs. Slater and her son Harry were guests of the Browns at
supper, at which was served the chowder made from the clams dug by the
children that afternoon.
"It is delicious!" said Mrs. Slater, as she was helped to a second
plateful.
"I like it lots!" declared Harry. "I guess Sandy would, too, if he was
here."
"What's this about your dog being lost?" asked Mr. Brown, for he had
heard the children talking about it.
"We did lose a very valuable animal," explained Mrs. Slater. "We were
out automobiling one day, and in driving through a place called
Bellemere, on Sandport Bay----"
"Bellemere!" cried Bunny Brown. "Why, that's where we live!"
"That's where our dog was lost," said Mrs. Slater, smiling at him. "For
some reason he leaped out of the auto and went bounding away down the
street. My husband stopped and tried to get him back, but he would not
come. And he has been lost ever since. Harry misses him very much."
"What day was it that your dog ran away?" asked Mr. Brown, with a look
at his wife.
"Why, it was--let me see," answered Mrs. Slater slowly. "It was on----"
Her words were interrupted by a loud crash of thunder that shook the
bungalow, and all the electric lights suddenly went out.
"Oh!" cried Bunny, Sue, and Harry, all at the same time.
"I presume we're in for another storm," said Mr. Brown. "Sit still
until I light some candles. Often the electric lights go out in a severe
thunderstorm."
As Mr. Brown arose to strike a match another loud clap of thunder pealed
out.