CHAPTER VIII
SUE FALLS IN
The boat, in which Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had gone adrift, hadreally "bunked into an island," as Bunny told about it afterward. Hesaid "bunked," and he meant bumped, for that is what the boat had done.
There were a number of islands in the river, some small and some larger,and it was at one of the larger ones that Bunny and Sue now foundthemselves. Their boat swung around in the shallow water, and did notmove any more. It was fast aground on the edge of the island.
"Let's get out," suggested Bunny, and he did so, followed by Sue. AsBunny pulled his fish line from the water, his sister saw the danglingbent-pin hook, and cried out:
"Oh, Bunny, you didn't get a fish after all!"
"No," the little fellow answered. "I guess I can fish better from theisland, anyhow. We'll fish here now, and if we catch anything we canbuild a fire and cook it. That is, we could if we had any matches."
"Mother told us we musn't play with fire," remarked Sue.
"That's so," her brother agreed. "Well, we can wait till we get home tocook the fish. But we've got to fasten the boat, or it may go away andleave us."
Bunny's father was in the boat business and the little fellow had oftenheard how needful it was to tie boats fast so they would not drift awayor be taken out by the tide. So it was one of the first things hethought of when he and Sue landed on the island.
There was a rope in the front part, or bow of the rowboat, and Bunnytied one end of this rope to a tree that grew near the edge of theisland.
"Now I can fish," he said.
"What can I do?" asked Sue. "I wish I had one of my dolls with me--eventhe old sawdust one, with the sawdust coming out. I could play housewith her. What can I do, Bunny?"
"Well, you can watch me fish, and then I'll let you have a turn. If youhad another pin I could make you a hook."
"Nope, I haven't anymore," and Sue looked carefully over her dress,thinking she might find another pin. But there was none.
Bunny was about to cast in the line from the shore of the island, nearthe boat, where he and Sue were standing, when he suddenly thought ofsomething.
"Oh, I forgot! I haven't any bait on my hook!" he said. "No wonder Ididn't get a bite. I'll have to get a worm, or something the fish liketo eat. Come on, Sue, you can help at that--hunting for worms."
"I--I don't want to," and Sue gave a little shiver.
"You don't like to hunt worms?" asked Bunny, as if very much surprised."I like it--it's fun!"
"Oh, but worms--worms are so--so squiggily!" stammered Sue. "They makeme feel so ticklish in my toes."
"You don't pick up worms in your toes!" cried Bunny. "You pick 'em up inyour hands!"
"I know," and Sue smiled at her brother, "but they are so squiggily thatthey make me feel ticklish away down to my toes, anyhow."
"All right," Bunny agreed. "I'll pick up the worms, but you can have aturn fishing just the same."
"Thank you," answered Sue.
Mrs. Brown had taught the children to be kind and polite to each other,just as well as to strangers and to "company." Though of course BunnyBrown and his sister Sue had little troubles and "spats" anddifferences, now and then, just like other children.
Bunny began looking for worms, and he dug in the soft dirt of theisland, near the edge of the water, with a stick. But either there wereno worms there, or Bunny did not dig deep enough for them, for he foundnone.
"Guess I'll have to fish without any bait," he said, after a while. But,as I suppose you all know, fish hardly ever bite on an empty hook,especially when it is made from a bent pin; so, after he had dangled theline in the water for quite a while, Bunny said:
"Here, Sue. It's your turn now. Maybe you'll have better luck than Ihad."
"Maybe there aren't any fish in this river."
"Oh, yes there are. Bunker Blue caught a lot one day. But he had wormsfor bait."
However Sue did not mind fishing without any worms on the pin-hook, andshe sat down on a log, near the water and let the line dangle in it,while Bunny walked about the island. He had never been on this onebefore, though there was a larger one, farther down the river, where heand his sister Sue had often gone on little picnics with their motherand father.
Walking back a little way from the edge of the water, Bunny saw a placewhere a tangle of vines, growing over an old stump, had made a placelike a little tent, or bower. All at once Bunny remembered a story hismother had read to him. Back he ran to where Sue was fishing.
"Oh, Sue! Sue!" he exclaimed. "I know what we can do!"
"What?"
"We can play Robinson Crusoe!" cried Bunny.
"Is that like tag, or hide-and-go-to-seek?" the little girl wanted toknow.
"Neither one," answered her brother. "Robinson Crusoe was a man who wasshipwrecked on an island, and he lived there a long time with his manFriday. We can play that."
"But we aren't shipwrecked," Sue said. Living near the sea the childrenhad often heard of shipwrecks, and had once seen one, when a big sailboat had beep blown up on the beach and broken to pieces by the heavywaves. The sailors were taken off by the life-savers. "We're notshipwrecked," said Sue. "There's our boat all right," and she pointed tothe one in which they had gone adrift.
"Oh, well, we can pretend we've been shipwrecked," Bunny said.
"Oh, yes!" and Sue understood now. "What is the rest of the game?" sheasked.
"Well, mother read the story to me out of a book," explained Bunny."Robinson Crusoe was wrecked, and he had to live on this island, and hehad a man named Friday."
"What a funny name! Who named him that?" asked Sue.
"Robinson Crusoe did. You see, Friday was a colored man, very nice, too,and he helped Robinson a lot. Robinson called him that name because hefound him on Friday."
"But this isn't Friday," objected Sue. "It's Thursday."
"Well, it's only pretend," went on Bunny.
"Oh, yes. I forgot. So Robinson had a colored man named Friday to helphim."
"Yes," Bunny said, "and we'll play that game. I'll be Robinson."
"But who is going to be Friday?" Sue wanted to know.
"You can be."
"But I'm not a man, and I'm not colored, Bunny."
"We'll have to pretend that, too. You'll be my man Friday, and we'll goto live in the little tent over there," and Bunny pointed toward theleafy bower he had found. "And you can be colored, too, if you want,Sue," he said. "You could rub some mud on your face and hands."
"Oh, let's! That's what I'll do!" and Sue laid aside the stick to whichBunny had tied the fishline and the bent pin. "That will be fun!" Suesaid. "It will be better than the Punch and Judy show with the lobsterclaw on your nose."
"But you mustn't get your dress muddy," Bunny cautioned his sister."Mother wouldn't like that."
[Illustration with caption: FOR A MOMENT SUE LAY THERE, STILL CHOKINGAND GASPING]
"I won't," promised Sue. "And when we get through playing I can wash themud off my face and hands."
"Yes," said Bunny. "Now I'll go over to my cave--we'll call the placewhere the vines grow over the stump a cave," he went on, "and I'll bethere just like Robinson Crusoe Was in the cave on his island. Then I'llcome out and find you, all blacked up with mud, and I'll call youFriday."
Sue clapped her hands in delight, and, when Bunny went off to the cave,which, he remembered, was the sort of place where the real RobinsonCrusoe lived, in the story book, Sue found a place where there was somesoft, black mud.
Very carefully, so as not to soil her dress, the little girl blackenedher hands and face, rubbing on the dirt as well as she could.
"Bunny! Bunny!" she called after a bit.
"Well, what is it?" asked her brother, as he was sitting in hismake-believe cave.
"Come and look at me," said Sue, "and see if I'm black enough to beFriday."
Bunny came and looked.
"You need a little more mud around behind your ears," he said. "I'll putit on for you," and
he did so.
Then the two children played the Robinson Crusoe game; that is, as muchof it as Bunny could remember, which was not a great deal. But they hadgood fun, walking about the island, and going into the green vine-bowernow and then to get out of the sun, which was very hot.
But even as much fun as it was playing at being shipwrecked on anisland, like Robinson, in the story book, the children soon tired of it.
"I guess we'd better go home," said Sue after awhile. "I'm terriblyhungry, Bunny."
"So'm I."
"And if we can't catch any fish, and can't find any place to get thingsto eat from, we'd better go home."
"Yes, I guess we had. I wonder if I can row the boat?"
Bunny had often seen his father, or Bunker Blue, or sometimes hismother, row a boat, so he knew how it was done. But he knew the oars inthe boat in which he and Sue had gone adrift were heavy, and he was notvery strong, though a sturdy little chap for his years.
"I'll help you," Sue said. "But first I'll have to un-Friday myself. Imust wash off this mud."
"I'll help you--around behind your ears where you can't see," offeredBunny.
Sue went to a place near the water, where there was a flat rock, andleaned over to dip her handkerchief in. She was going to use it as awashcloth.
But, whether she slipped, or leaned over too far, Sue never knew. At anyrate, soon after she had washed off the first bit of mud from her handsand wrists, she suddenly toppled, head first, right into the river!
"Oh! Oh! Bunny!" Sue cried, as she found herself in the water.