CHAPTER XIII
DOWN THE RIVER
Anna had gathered an armful of dry wood and was just starting back whena queer little frightened cry made her stop suddenly and look quicklyaround. In a moment the noise was repeated, and she realized that itcame from a pile of logs near the river bank. Anna put down the wood,and tiptoed carefully in the direction of the sound.
As she came near the logs she could see a little gray creaturestruggling to get loose from a coil of string in which its hind legswere entangled.
"Oh! It's a rabbit!" Anna exclaimed. "Perhaps it is Trit," and she ranquickly forward. But the little creature was evidently more alarmed ather approach than at the trap that held him, and with a frantic leap hewas off, the string trailing behind him; but his hind feet were stillhampered by the twisting string, and he came to a sudden halt.
"Poor Trit! Poor Trit!" called the little girl pityingly, as she ranafter him. Just as she was near enough to touch him another boundcarried him beyond her reach. On leaped the rabbit, and on followed Annauntil they were some distance below the mill and near the river'ssloping bank, over which the rabbit plunged and Anna after him. A smallboat lay close to the shore, and Bunny's plunge carried him directlyinto the boat, where, twisted in the string, he lay struggling andhelpless.
Anna climbed into the boat and picked up "Trit," as she called therabbit, and patiently and tenderly untied the string from thefrightened, panting little captive, talking gently as she did so, untilhe lay quiet in her hands.
The little girl was so wholly absorbed in her task that she did notnotice that the boat was not fastened, or that her spring into it hadsent it clear from the shore. Not until Trit was free from the stringdid she look up, and then the little boat was several feet from theshore, and moving rapidly downstream.
If Anna had stepped overboard then she could easily have waded ashoreand made her way back to the mill; but she was so surprised that such acourse did not come into her thoughts, and in a few moments the boat wasin deep water and moving with the current downstream.
On each side of the river the woods grew down to the shore, and now andthen the wide branches of overhanging trees stretched for some distanceover the stream. A blue heron rose from the river, making its loud callthat drowned Anna's voice as she cried: "Father! Father!" Even had Mr.Weston been near at hand he could hardly have distinguished Anna'svoice. But Anna was now too far downstream for any call to reach herfather or Rebby and Paul, who were all anxiously searching for her.
At first the little girl was not at all frightened. The river ran toMachias, and, had it not been that she was sure her father and sisterwould be worried and sadly troubled by her disappearance, Anna wouldhave thought it a fine adventure to go sailing down the stream with hercaptured rabbit. Even as it was, she had a gleeful thought of Luretta'ssurprise and of Melvina's admiration when she should tell them thestory.
She soon discovered that the boat leaked, and, holding the rabbittightly in one hand, she took off her round cap and began to bail outthe water, which had now risen to her ankles. Very soon the little capwas soggy and dripping; and now Anna began to wonder how long the leakylittle craft could keep afloat.
Both Anna and Rebby could swim; their father had taught them when theywere very little girls, and Anna knew that if she would leave the rabbitto drown that she could reach the shore safely; but this seemed hardlyto be thought of. She now resolved to clutch at the first branch withinreach, hoping in that way to scramble to safety with Trit. But the boatwas being carried steadily along by the current, although the water camein constantly about her feet.
"I mustn't get frightened," Anna said aloud, remembering how often herfather had told her that to be afraid was to lose the battle.
The boat swayed a little, and then Anna found that the board seat waswabbling.
"I never thought of the seat," she whispered, slipping down to her kneesand pulling the seat from the loose support on which it rested. It washard work to use the board as a paddle with only one hand, but Anna wasstrong and resolute, and managed to swing the boat a little toward theshore, so when a turn of the river came, bringing the boat close towarda little point of land, she quickly realized that this was heropportunity, and holding Trit close she sprang into the shallow waterand in a moment was safe on shore.
The old boat, now half-filled with water, moved slowly on, and Anna knewthat it would not be long afloat. She looked about her landing-placewith wondering eyes. Behind the little grassy point where she stood theforest stretched close and dark; the curve of the river shut away thecourse by which she had come, but she could look down the smooth flowingcurrent, and toward the wooded shores opposite.
The rabbit moved uneasily in her hands, and the little girl smoothed himtenderly. "I don't know who will ever find me here, unless it should beIndians," she said aloud, remembering the canoe that she and Rebby hadnoticed as they sat on the big rock.
Anna felt a little choking feeling in her throat at the remembrance. Itseemed so long ago since she had seen Rebby and her father. "And it'sall your fault, Trit," she told the rabbit; "but you could not help it,"she added quickly, and remembered that the rabbit must be hungry andthirsty, and for a little while busied herself in finding tender leavesand buds for Trit to eat, and in holding him close to the water's edgeso that he could drink. Then she wandered about the little clearing andto the edge of the dark forest. She began to feel hungry, and knew bythe sun that it was well past noon.
"Oh! If that Indian we saw in the canoe would only come downstream,"she thought longingly. For Anna well knew that when night came she wouldbe in danger from the wild beasts of the wilderness, but that almost anyof the Indians who fished and hunted in that region would take hersafely back to her home.
An hour or two dragged slowly by; Anna was very tired. She held Tritclose, and sat down not far from the river's edge. "Father will find mesome way," she said to herself over and over, and tried not to letthoughts of fear and loneliness find a place in her mind. The littlewild rabbit was no longer afraid of its captor, and Anna was sure thatit was sorry it had led her into such trouble. But now and then tearscame to the little girl's eyes, when suddenly she heard a voice from theriver just above the curve singing a familiar air:
"Success to fair America,-- To courage to be free, Success to fair America, Success to Liberty."
"Oh! That is Paul! That is Paul!" cried Anna, jumping up and down withjoy; and the next moment a canoe swung round the curve, paddled by atall boy with a cap ornamented by tall feathers.
Paul nearly dropped his paddle as he saw Anna at the river's edge.
"However did you get here?" he exclaimed, as with a swift stroke of hispaddle he sent his canoe to shore.
Anna told him quickly of the capture of Trit, the leaking boat, and herjump to safety, while Paul listened with astonished eyes, and, in histurn, told of the discovery of the honey-tree, and then of the searchfor Anna.
"Your father and Rebby are sadly frightened," he concluded; "they arewell on the way home now, thinking possibly you might have followed thepath. Now, get in the canoe, and I'll try my best to get you home by thetime they reach the settlement."
Anna sat in the bottom of the canoe, and Paul skilfully wielded thepaddle, sending the little craft swiftly down the river.
"That bucket is full of honey," he said, nodding toward the bow of thecanoe. But Anna was not greatly interested in the honey; she had evenforgotten that she was hungry and thirsty. She could think only of herfather and Rebby searching along the path for some trace of her.
It was late in the afternoon when the canoe swept across the river tothe same landing where Paul had fastened the liberty tree earlier in themonth. And in a few moments Anna was running up the path toward home,followed by Paul with the bucket of honey.
"Why, child! Where are Father and Rebby? and where is your cap?"questioned Mrs. Weston.
"Oh, Mother!" began Anna, but now the tear
s could not be kept back, andheld close in her mother's arms she sobbed out the story of the captureof Trit, and all that had followed. And then Paul told the story of thehoney-tree, and his story was not finished when Anna exclaimed: "Father!Rebby!" and ran toward the door.
How Mr. Weston's face brightened when he saw Danna safe and sound, andhow closely Rebby held her little sister, as Anna again told the storyof her journey down the river.
When Paul started for home Mrs. Weston insisted that a generous portionof the bucket of honey should go with him; and Trit, safely fastened ina small basket, was sent to Luretta as a gift from Anna. He promised tobe ready the next morning to return to the falls with Mr. Weston in thecanoe to bring home the store of honey.
As the Westons gathered about the table for their evening meal theylooked at each other with happy faces.
"I couldn't feel happier if the _Polly_ were in port, and Americatriumphant over her enemies," declared Mr. Weston, as he helped Anna toa liberal portion of honey.