As he held the open umbrella he felt the wind blowing strongly against it.  The wind was almost strong enough to blow the umbrella out of his hands.  But he held on tightly.

“Oh, Bunny, your oar is gone!” cried Sue, as she saw it float away.

“I—­I can’t help it,” answered her brother.  “I can’t reach it, Sue.  You get it.”

“I can’t.  It’s too far away.”

“Well, let it go!” cried Bunny.  “I know something else we can do, Sue.  Oh, this will be fun!  It’s better than fishing!”

Sue was pulling, as best she could, on her one oar.  But boats are not meant to be rowed with one oar, though you can scull, or paddle, with one.  If you row with one oar your boat swings around in a circle, instead of going straight ahead.

“I can’t row this way, Bunny!” called Sue.  She knew enough about boats for that.  “You’ll have to get your oar, Bunny.”

“We won’t need it, Sue,” called her brother.  “Take in your oar.  We won’t need that either.  We’re going to sail.  Look! the umbrella is just like a sail.”

And so it was.  The wind, blowing on the open umbrella Bunny held, was sending the rowboat along just as if a sail had been hoisted.  The boat was moving quite fast now.  Bunny and Sue were so pleased that they did not think about the lost oar, which had fallen overboard and had floated away.  As Bunny had said, they did not need oars now.

“Isn’t this fun!” cried Bunny.

“Yes,” said Sue.  “I like it.  My dolly likes it, too!  Do you like it, Splash?”

Splash did not answer.  He hardly ever did answer, except with a bark or a whine, when Bunny or Sue spoke to him, and the children did not understand dog language.  Anyhow, Splash seemed to like the umbrella sail, for he stretched out in the bottom of the boat and went to sleep.

Bunny held the open umbrella, and Sue held her doll.  Of course, the doll had nothing to do with the sailing of the boat, but Sue kept her in her arms.

“You aren’t going to sail very far; are you, Bunny?” asked Sue as the boat kept on going faster and faster.

“Not very far,” Bunny answered.  “We’ll just sail around the end of the island where Bunker went fishing.”

Now this would have been all right if the children had sailed around the end of the island where Bunker Blue happened to be.  But they did not.  It was not their fault, either.  For Bunker had gone to the other end of the island, and he was sitting on a log, waiting for a fish to bite.

You see, this is the way it was.  Bunker Blue told about it afterward.  He went off the island, leaving Bunny and Sue in the boat.  Bunker walked to the lower end of the island.  Bunny and Sue saw him going.  He was going to try for fish there.

But when the red-haired boy got to that end of the island he saw that the water was so shallow that no large fish could be caught in it.

“I’ll just go to the other end,” thought Bunker.