"We'll make a big raft and sail away off," Bunny said, as he and Sue, telling their mother nothing about their plans, went down to the river. They found the pile of boards and small logs in the same place they had first seen them, and Bunny, with Sue's help, began to make a raft.
CHAPTER XXIII
ON THE ISLAND
The two children had been around boats enough to know more about water craft than most boys and girls of their age. Bunny's father, owning a boat and fish dock, where Sue and her brother often played, had taught the youngsters something about how boats are steered. A raft, as Bunny knew, was the simplest and safest form of a boat. He also knew that a raft was only a lot of logs and boards fastened together. On it one could float or push down a little river or across a pond.
"This is nice smooth water, isn't it?" asked Sue, as she looked out over Squaw River which, as has been said, was a sluggish stream. It hardly seemed to flow at all.
"Yes, it's nice here," Bunny said. "We won't go very fast. There aren't any waves like in the ocean or our bay."
Bunny and Sue had often been out with their father, Uncle Tad, or Bunker Blue on Sandport Bay at home, and sometimes on the real ocean when it was not too rough. So Squaw River seemed very small and smooth to them.
It was harder work than Bunny had thought it would be to make the raft, but he had right at hand everything he needed, from boards and small logs to hammer and nails. The hammer and nails he had brought with him. Putting the cloth bag of lunch in a safe place on the bank, Bunny began work.
He laid some logs down on the sandy shore as close to the water as he could. On top of the logs he placed boards, and these he nailed on, so they would not float away.