“Does it hurt the derelict?” asked Bunny, while his mother and sister listened to the talk.
“No, you can’t hurt a derelict,” was Mr. Brown’s reply. “But sometimes a derelict, especially if it’s a big sunken ship, will damage the other vessel. But I guess we’re all right.”
And so it proved. When morning came there was no sign of the floating wreck, if such it was that the Beacon had bumped into. Nor was the steamer harmed. She proceeded on her course after a short stop following the midnight alarm.
Up to this time the days had been bright and sunny for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue. But on the morning after the bump in the night the sun was hidden behind masses of dark clouds. When Bunny saw Captain Ward gazing around the horizon, where sky and water seem to meet, and when the little boy heard the commander tell his officers to see that everything was made “snug and tight,” Bunny went to his father.
“Are we going to have a storm?” he asked.
“Perhaps,” said Mr. Brown. “But that’s nothing. We must have storms once in a while. We can’t have the sun always.”
“No, I guess not,” agreed Bunny.
“Will it be a snowstorm?” Sue wanted to know.
“I should say not!” laughed her father. “Can’t you feel how much warmer the weather is getting?”
“Yes, it is warmer,” said Sue. That very day she had asked her mother to let her wear a thinner dress, which Mrs. Brown had agreed to. “It’s quite warm,” Sue said.