“Well, I don’t know.  We might,” said the red-haired boy.  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do.  I’ll go ashore on the island, and try fishing a bit.  If I have any luck I’ll come back and get you two.  You and Sue stay in the boat, Bunny, until I come back.”  Then the big boy got out and went ashore, leaving Bunny and Sue in the boat.

CHAPTER XXII

IN THE WOODS

Bunker Blue seemed to be gone a long time.  Five, ten—­fifteen minutes went past and he did not come back.  Bunny and Sue began to get tired.

“He must be catching a lot of fish,” said Bunny, after a bit, while he dangled his own hook in the water.  Bunny wasn’t catching anything—­he didn’t have even a nibble, though he was using the right kind of hook and line, and he had a real “squiggily” worm on his hook—­Bunker had put it there for him.

“Maybe Bunker caught a big fish,” said Sue, “and it pulled him into the water, eh, Bunny?”

Bunny shook his head.

“No,” he said.  “That didn’t happen.”

“Maybe it might,” went on Sue.  “There might be big fish in this lake.  Or maybe it was a muskrat, like the one Splash barked at.”

Splash, asleep up in the front of the boat, hearing his name spoken, looked up and wagged his tail.

“I didn’t call you,” said Sue.  “But, oh, Bunny! maybe Bunker did fall in!”

Bunny shook his head again.

“No, he didn’t fall in,” said the little fellow.  “If he had we’d have heard him holler, and he hasn’t hollered.”

Sue thought that over.  It seemed all right.  She knew she would “holler,” as Bunny called it, if she fell into the water, and of course if a big fish or a muskrat had pulled in Bunker, he, too, would cry out.  And it had been very still and quiet since the red-haired boy had gone ashore on the island.

“I know what we can do,” said Bunny, after a bit.

“What?” asked Sue.

“We can untie the boat, and row around to the other side of the island where Bunker went,” suggested Bunny.  “He told us not to get out of the boat until he came back, and we won’t, ’cause mother told us to mind Bunker.  But he didn’t tell us not to row the boat around where he is.”

“That’s right,” agreed Sue.  “We can do that.”

Bunny and Sue knew something about boats, and they could each row a little.  So while Bunny loosed the rope by which the boat was tied, Sue took up one oar.  Then Bunny took the other.  He shoved the boat out a little way.  It began to move, first slowly, and then faster.  All at once Sue cried: 

“Oh, Bunny!  My umbrella!”

It was open, and a gust of wind almost blew it out of the boat.  Bunny caught the umbrella just in time.  To do this he had to let go of his oar, and it slid overboard, into the water.  But Bunny was not thinking about the oar just then.  He had a new idea.