"Man overboard!" yelled Bunny. He had often enough heard that cry on his father's boat and on the pier, for more than once boys or men had fallen off into the water. Sometimes on warm summer days the boys pushed each other off, just for fun.
And often, at such times, the cry would be raised:
Bunny knew what that meant. It meant that somebody ought to jump to the rescue or throw into the water something the person who had fallen in could grab. There were, on his father's dock, a number of life buoys—round rings of cork covered with canvas and having a long rope attached to them. And there were some of these same things on the deck of the Fairy.
"Man overboard!" cried Bunny again, and, running to the nearest life ring, he took it off the hook and sent it spinning into the water. Bunny knew that the end of the rope was fast to the rail, so the buoy would not be lost.
Bunker Blue also acted quickly. Near the wheel by which the Fairy was steered was a wire, which, when pulled, shut off the motor down in the hold of the craft. Bunker Blue pulled this wire, and the boat began to slow up. Then Bunker leaped to the side of the Fairy near Bunny, and Bunker caught up another life ring and tossed it over the rail.
As Bunny and Sue leaned over to catch sight of the four people in the water, Captain Ross and Daddy Brown came hurrying up on deck from the little cabin, where they had been talking with Mrs. Brown.
"What's the matter?" cried Captain Ross. "Did we hit anything, Bunker?"
"Yes, a canoe with four people in it. We ran 'em down. They crossed right in front of our bows! I'll get 'em!"
The next minute Bunker peeled off his coat, slipped from his feet the loose, rubber-soled shoes he wore, and leaped over the rail.