Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove Part 11

Bunny and Sue laughed also, and they knew they were going to have a jolly time on the trip to Christmas Tree Cove with Captain Ross to sail the _Fairy_, or, if there was no wind, to send the craft through the water by her gasolene engine.

This engine Bunker Blue was working on to mend, as it had been broken just before the two Bunker children went adrift from their father's dock.

"Will it be ready to sail to-morrow?" asked Bunny, as he watched Bunker hammering away at the motor.

"Oh, yes," was the answer. "There isn't much the matter with her. We'll be able to pull out in the morning."

And by hard work everything was finished that night on board the _Fairy_. Uncle Tad, the jolly old soldier, announced that he had his "knapsack" packed and enough "rations" to last him for a week, anyhow.

As they were to make an early morning start, Bunny and Sue had said good-bye to their boy and girl friends the evening before. As they walked past Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop with Uncle Tad, who went down the street with them at the last minute to buy something Mrs. Brown wanted, the children looked at the wood-working place.

"Wouldn't it be funny if that dog should be hiding around here?" asked Sue of her brother.

"Yes," he agreed, "it would be. But I don't see him."

"I guess if he is here he's hiding," Sue went on. "Maybe there's a hole under the floor of the shop and he's there, just as once at Grandpa's farm in the country we found where a hen had her nest under the floor in the barn. And it had eggs in it!"

"Dogs don't make nests like hens," said Bunny.

"Oh, I know that!" retorted Sue. "But maybe this dog hid the pocketbook under the boards in the shop floor."

"I hardly think so," put in Uncle Tad. "He probably dropped that pocketbook in the street, and either some one picked it up and kept it, or else it was dropped down a sewer."

"But if anybody found it, wouldn't we have got it back?" asked Bunny.

"Daddy put an advertis.e.m.e.nt in the paper."

"Maybe we would and maybe we wouldn't," said Uncle Tad. "Anyhow, it's gone."

Bright and early the next morning Bunny Brown and his sister Sue went aboard the _Fairy_, which was tied at their father's dock. The Brown home had been shut up, the things that were needed had been put on board the boat, Mrs. Brown was keeping an eye on the children to see that they did not stray away, and Uncle Tad was stowing away the baggage in the cabin.

Soon Mr. Brown, Bunker Blue, and Captain Ross would come on board and the voyage would start.

The _Fairy_ was large enough for the whole family, as well as the "crew," to sleep on board. The crew generally was made up of Captain Ross and a man and a boy. But this time Mr. Brown was going to take the place of the man, and Bunker Blue would be the "boy," so that it was more of a family party. Mr. Brown had known Captain Ross for many years, and the children felt as though he were as nearly related to them as was Uncle Tad.

"All aboard!" called the captain, as he came down the wharf from Mr.

Brown's office, accompanied by Mr. Brown and Bunker Blue. "Are you all aboard?" and he smiled at Bunny and Sue.

"Yes, we're here," Bunny answered.

"Isn't he funny, Mother?" whispered Sue. "He can look right at us, and yet he wants to know if we're here!"

"It's just his joking way," said Mrs. Brown.

"I've got another good riddle for you, youngsters," called Captain Ross, as he made his way along the deck. "What kind of tree would scare a cat?"

"There wouldn't any tree scare a cat," declared Bunny. "I've seen a cat climb up a tree lots of times. Cats aren't scared of trees!"

"Well, wouldn't a dogwood tree scare a cat?" chuckled the sailor. "Ha!

Ha! I'm sure it would. I don't believe you could get a cat to climb a _dog_wood tree!" he went on.

"That _is_ a funny riddle!" declared Bunny. "I'm going to tell it to Charlie Star when we come back from Christmas Tree Cove."

"We'd better get there first," went on Captain Ross, still chuckling at his riddle. "Cast off, Bunker Blue!"

Bunker loosed the ropes that held the _Fairy_ to the wharf, and the boat slowly drifted away.

"Oh, we've really started!" cried Sue, as she saw the open water between the rail and the string-piece of the wharf.

"We'll go faster than this!" exclaimed Bunny. "Wait till Bunker Blue starts the motor."

As there was not enough wind to allow the sails to be used, it was needful to start the motor, and soon it was chugging away, sending the _Fairy_ swiftly along through the water.

Bunny and Sue were delighted with the trip. They sat in camp-chairs on deck and watched the different sights. They expected to cruise about on the boat for perhaps three days before going to the Cove. They could sleep in the little bunks with which the boat was provided.

"It's a funny way to go to bed," said Sue, after looking at the bunks for the tenth time.

"Well, I guess you can sleep here just as well as at home," answered her brother.

"You'd better not walk in your sleep, Bunny, 'cause you might walk overboard."

"I ain't going to walk in my sleep any more," answered Bunny. "I told daddy I wasn't."

"Maybe you can't help it."

"Yes, I can. You wait and see."

It was toward the close of the afternoon, and Bunny and Sue were beginning to wonder how much longer it would be before supper was ready, when, as they stood near Bunker, who was steering, the children saw a canoe with two young men and two young women in it being slowly paddled across the bay.

"They'd better watch where they're going," said Bunker Blue. "They seem to be aiming to cross our bows, and if they do---- Look out there!" he suddenly cried, as the canoe turned. "Do you want to be run down?"

The next moment there was a collision. The _Fairy_ struck the small boat, upsetting it and spilling into the water the two young men and the young women.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Sue. "We've run over 'em!"

CHAPTER IX

THE MERRY GOAT

Bunny Brown, who had been sitting near his sister Sue on the deck of the _Fairy_, had jumped to his feet and run to the rail, or side of the boat, as the little girl cried out that their craft had run over the canoe. That was really what had happened. The two young men and the young women in the canoe had got in the way of the motor boat, and had been struck.

"Man overboard!" yelled Bunny. He had often enough heard that cry on his father's boat and on the pier, for more than once boys or men had fallen off into the water. Sometimes on warm summer days the boys pushed each other off, just for fun.

And often, at such times, the cry would be raised:

"Man overboard!"