All this while poor Bunny was securely locked in the storeroom where many good things to eat were kept.
At first, after Bunny realized that the swaying of the ship had made the sliding door roll shut and lock, he thought perhaps he could push it open again and get out. So, after calling once or twice for Mr. Jobson, the pantry steward, and getting no answer, Bunny went to the door and began to push on it.
But, as far as Bunny could tell, the door was made to open only from the outside, though, he thought, perhaps a man if he knew how could have opened it from within. There seemed to be some sort of catch that held it shut, and push and pull though he did, Bunny could not stir it.
“Maybe Mr. Jobson is away back in there and doesn’t hear me calling,” said Bunny to himself, after he had worked in vain at the door for some time. “I’ll go and look.”
The pantry was small and well lighted by even the one electric bulb, so Bunny could easily see his way to the back part. When he got there he did not find the cupboard bare, as Mother Hubbard did, for there was plenty to eat in this ship’s pantry, but Mr. Jobson was not in the storeroom.
Then Bunny Brown knew he was locked in all alone, and for the first time he felt a bit frightened.
But he was also a bit hungry, and seeing on a shelf a package of ginger cookies that had been opened, he reached up and took one.
“I don’t s’pose anybody will care,” thought Bunny. “Maybe Mr. Jobson was eating some of these cookies, and he’d have given me one, anyhow.” Which was probably quite true.
So the little locked-in boy munched his ginger cookie and felt better. Still he wanted to get out, and so when he had gotten rid of the last crumbs he tried the door again. But it was still tightly closed.
“I’m going to yell!” said Bunny Brown. “Somebody will hear me yell and come and let me out.” So he called: “Open the door! Open the door and let me out! I’m in here! Bunny Brown is locked in here!”