Part 16 (1/2)

”Where's Bunny?” asked Mrs. Brown, coming up on the deck at that moment.

”Wasn't he with you?” asked her husband.

”No, he didn't come down. I asked Bunker some time ago about him, and Bunker said he was on deck with Sue. But he isn't. Where is Bunny?”

CHAPTER XII

CHRISTMAS TREE COVE

When a family is making a trip on a boat and one of the children becomes lost, or is missing, there is always more worry than if the same thing happened on land. For the first thing a father and a mother think of when on a boat and they do not see their children or know where they are, is that the missing child has fallen into the lake, river or ocean--whatever the body of water may be.

So when Mrs. Brown came up on the deck of the _Fairy_ and did not see Bunny, who she had thought was with Sue, she asked at once where he was.

And when Mr. Brown heard his wife say that Bunny had not come to the cabin he, too, began to wonder where the little boy was.

”Where did Bunny go, Sue?” asked Mother Brown. ”Wasn't he sitting here with you?”

”Yes, he was here a little while ago,” answered Sue. ”And then I was watching two of the sailboats to see if they would b.u.mp together, and I didn't look at Bunny. When I did look he was gone, but I thought he was downstairs.”

”He isn't,” said Mrs. Brown, ”and he isn't here on deck. Oh, if he----”

She did not finish what she was going to say, but quickly ran to the side of the boat and looked down into the water, as if she might see Bunny paddling around there. The _Fairy_ was still anch.o.r.ed in Clam Cove, waiting for the storm to blow out.

”Is Bunny in swimming?” asked Sue.

”What's the matter?” asked Captain Ross, who was up ”for'ard,” as he called it, meaning the front of the boat. He and Bunker Blue were mending one of the sails. ”Anything wrong, Mrs. Brown?” asked the jolly old sailor.

”I can't find Bunny,” she answered. ”He was here with Sue a moment ago.

Oh, I'm afraid Bunny----”

”Now, don't think that anything has happened!” interrupted Mr. Brown.

”He's probably hiding somewhere.”

”Bunny wouldn't do that,” declared his mother.

”No, we weren't playing hide and go seek,” said Sue.

”Then he must be downstairs in one of the cabins, or he is asleep in his berth,” said Mr. Brown. ”I'll look.”

”I'll help,” offered Uncle Tad, who, himself, had been taking a nap in his berth.

”I suppose he must be down below if he isn't up here,” said Mrs. Brown, hoping this was true. ”I want to look, too.”

Sue was beginning to be a bit frightened now, and she started to follow the others below, while Captain Ross and Bunker Blue, seeing how worried Mr. and Mrs. Brown were, dropped the sail on which they were working and decided to join in the search.

It did not take them long to make a search of the boat below decks. No Bunny was to be found. He was not in his own bunk, nor in that of any one else, nor was he in the small room where the gasolene motor was built, though Bunny liked to go there to watch the whirring wheels when the motor was in motion.