Then she made a grab for and picked up—her big doll!
The sailors who had been getting ready to lower the boat and toss out life-rings looked in wonder at Sue clasping the wet and soaking doll. But Sue was happy—she did not care.
“Well, shiver my timbers!” cried one of the men as he shook the salty spray from his face. “I thought she meant a little girl was overboard!”
“So did I,” said another.
“Sue,” said her father a bit sternly, “whom did you mean when you said Elizabeth went overboard?”
“Why, Elizabeth! My doll, of course!” answered Sue. “Here she is. Elizabeth is my best doll. I brought her up to look at the storm and a wave washed her away.”
“And another wave washed her back again!” cried Bunny.
“That’s it,” agreed Sue.
Strange as it may seem, that is just what had happened. Of course it was only the crest, or top part, of the wave that had come aboard, snatched Sue’s doll out of her hands and carried it away. If the whole, big wave had come aboard there might have been no Bunny Brown and his sister Sue left.
“You shouldn’t have cried out that way about just a doll,” said Sue’s father, as he led the children back to the sheltered cabin. “The men thought you meant a real child.”