“I will go,” said Bunker.
As he went out on the dock he looked up the beach and saw Patter standing near Bunny’s cap and barking. At first Bunker did not see Bunny and Sue in the boat, which had, by this time, drifted farther out. But Bunker knew the trick dog, and he felt sure something was wrong, for Bunny and Sue were never far away from their pet.
Bunker ran up the beach toward Patter, and then the fish boy saw Bunny’s cap. He knew it at once.
“My goodness, I hope nothing has happened to those children!” thought Bunker Blue. “I hope they haven’t fallen overboard! Where are they, Patter?” he asked. “Where are Bunny and Sue?”
Patter’s only answer was to bark more loudly. Then Bunker Blue looked across the bay. He saw the drifting boat and his sharp eyes made out in it the figures of two children.
“That must be Bunny and Sue,” he said. “I’ll go after them.”
In a few minutes Bunker was rowing rapidly out toward the drifting boat. Patter jumped in with the fish boy, taking Bunny’s wet cap with him. In about five minutes Bunker had reached the drifting boat and had made it fast to his own.
“What in the world did you two want to come away out here for without any oars?” he asked. “You ought to know better than that!”
“We didn’t come—we were drifted out,” said Bunny, telling exactly what had happened, if not explaining very fully.
“Well, you ought to look and make sure a boat is fast before you get into it to play,” scolded Bunker, as he began to row back to shore.