"I"ve got time to take you back to your pier," he said to Cousin Tom. "I started out a bit early this morning, so I don"t have to hurry. Besides, the tide is running pretty strong, and you"d have it a bit hard rowing back."
"It"s a good thing you came along," said Daddy Bunker, as he thanked the lobsterman. "The children might have been carried out to sea."
"Oh, the life guard at the station on the beach would have seen them in time," returned Mr. Burnett. "But I"m just as glad we got them when we did."
"What made you go off in the boat?" asked Daddy Bunker of Margy.
"We didn"t mean to," answered Mun Bun. "We got in to play sail, and the boat went off by itself."
And this was about all the two children could say as to what had happened. They had got into the boat, which was tied to the pier, and had been playing in it for some time. Then, before they knew it, the boat became loose, and drifted off. Russ, who had been playing on the beach not far away, had seen them, but not in time to help them.
He had, indeed, called to them to "come out of the boat," but then it was too late for Margy and Mun Bun to do this. There was already some water between their boat and the pier. Then Russ did the next best thing; he called his mother.
It did not take long for the lobster motor-boat to make the run back to Cousin Tom"s pier, pulling the empty rowboat behind. Mrs. Bunker rushed down and hugged Margy and Mun Bun in her arms.
"Oh, I thought I should never see you again!" she cried, and there were tears in her eyes.
"We didn"t mean to go away in the boat," said Margy.
"We didn"t mean to," repeated Mun Bun.
And of course the children did not. They had been playing in the boat as it was tied to the wharf, and they never thought it would get loose.
Just how this happened was never found out. Perhaps Mun Bun or Margy might have pulled at the knot in the rope until they loosened it, and the tug of the tide did the rest.
But the children were soon safe on the beach again, playing in the sand, and the alarm was over.
"What makes the water in the inlet run up sometimes and down other times?" asked Violet.
"It"s the tide," said Russ, who had heard some fishermen talking about high and low water.
"What"s the tide?" went on the little girl.
"The moon," added Russ. "I heard Mother read a story, and it said the moon makes the tides."
"Does it, Daddy?" persisted Violet. She certainly had her questioning cap on that evening.
"Yes, the moon causes the tides," said Daddy Bunker. "But just how, it is a bit hard to tell to such little children. The moon pulls on the water in the oceans, just as a magnet pulls on a piece of iron or steel.
When the moon is on one side of the earth it pulls the water into a sort of bunch, or hill, there, and that makes it lower in the opposite part of the earth. That is low tide. Then, as the moon changes, it pulls the water up in the place where it was low before, and that makes high tide.
And when the tide is high in our ocean here it pushes a lot of water up Clam River. And when the water is low in our ocean here the water runs out of Clam River. That is what makes high tide and low tide here."
"Oh," said Violet, though I am not sure she understood all about it.
But after that Margy and Mun Bun were careful about getting into the boat, even when they felt sure it was tightly tied to the pier. They always waited until some older folks were with them, and this was the best way.
The happy days pa.s.sed at Cousin Tom"s. The six little Bunkers played on the beach, and, now and then, they looked and dug holes to try to find Rose"s locket.
"I guess it"s gone forever," said the little girl as the days pa.s.sed and no locket appeared. And she never even dreamed of the strange way good luck was to come to her once more.
One warm day, when all the children were playing down on the sandy sh.o.r.e of the inlet, Violet came running back to the house.
"Mother, make Russ stop!" she cried.
"What is he doing?" asked Mrs. Bunker.
"He"s taking my doll. He"s going to take her out on the ocean in a boat.
Make him stop."
"Oh, Russ mustn"t do that!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "Of course I"ll make him stop!"
She went down to the beach with Violet, and, just as they came within sight of the group of children, they heard Rose say:
"Oh, Russ! Now you"ve done it! You have drowned Vi"s doll!"
CHAPTER XV
THE BOX ON THE BEACH
"Dear me!" exclaimed the children"s mother, as she hurried along beside Violet to help settle whatever trouble Russ had caused.
"Oh! did you hear what Rose said?" asked Vi. "Did you hear?"
"Yes, my dear, I did."
"Oh, my lovely doll is drowned!" cried the little girl, and there were real tears in her eyes, and some even ran down her nose and splashed to the ground. "I just knew Russ would be mean and tease me, and he did, and now my doll is drowned and----"
"Well, it might better be a doll that is drowned and not one of my six little Bunkers," said the mother. "Though, of course, _I_ am sorry if any of your playthings are lost. Russ, did you drown Vi"s doll?" she called to her oldest son.
"I didn"t mean to, Mother," was the answer. "I was giving the doll a ride in a boat I made, and the boat got blown by the wind, and the wind upset the boat, and the boat went under water, "cause I had a cargo of stones on it, and----"
"What happened to Vi"s doll?" asked Mother Bunker. "Why don"t you get to that part of it, Russ?"
"I was going to," he said. "The doll fell off when the boat upset and sank, and the doll sank, too, I guess."
"Is my doll really, really, drowned?" cried Violet.
"I--I"m afraid I guess so," stammered Russ. "But maybe I can fish her up again when the tide is low," he added hopefully.
"Do it now," sobbed the little girl.
"The water"s too deep now."
"Where did she get drowned?" asked Violet, gazing through her tears at the waters of the inlet.
"The boat upset out there in the middle," said Russ, pointing.