“I’ve done that many a time,” said Sam. “It’s as good as a tent when the weather is as warm as it is down here.”
“Oh, won’t that be nice!” cried Sue.
“It will be just like camping out,” added Bunny.
Owing to the change in the tide, they did not land on the same stretch of the beach on which they had first come ashore, but about a mile to the south. And as the boat was pulled up on the sand and the castaways got out, Bunny looked toward the pine trees and some low bushes growing under them and, pointing, said:
“Look! There’s a little house!”
To the surprise of all, they beheld a small hut made of pieces of driftwood and palm leaves and branches. It stood in a clump of trees, and the opening was closed with a grass mat, or curtain, which flapped in the wind.
“Oh, what a nice little house!” cried Sue, running toward it. “We can stay in there instead of under the boat to-night!”
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Mr. Brown, catching hold of Sue before she could run very far.
“But I want to go into the little house,” she said.
“Some one may already be living there,” said her mother in a low voice. “We must wait and see first, Sue.”