CHAPTER XIV
FAST AGROUND
Sue Brown was very much startled by the strange and fearful sound, and so was her brother Bunny. To the children it was truly a terrible noise. It was, Sue said, “like a big bull bellowing in a field.”
“Do you think it’s a bull, Bunny?” she asked her brother, as she ran along the corridor outside the stateroom.
“No, it isn’t a bull,” he said, as the strange noise sounded again, seeming to shake the whole vessel. “How would they get a bull on a ship?”
“Well, they have cows on ships,” Sue said. “One of the sailors told me he milked a cow once. And if they have cows they can have bulls, I guess.”
“But we haven’t seen any bull on this ship,” stated Bunny, “and we’ve been all over.”
“Maybe they have him hidden down in the cellar where I was,” suggested Sue. “Oh, Bunny, I don’t like a bull on a ship! One of Elizabeth’s dresses is red, and maybe the bull will chase her!”
Sue was becoming more and more frightened and Bunny was very uneasy over the strange sound. Again and again it echoed. The children were hurrying up on deck to ask their father or mother what the noise was when Mr. Brown came down to the staterooms. He had thought the two little ones might be frightened and hurried to be with them.
“Oh, Daddy, where’s the bull?” cried Sue, running to him.
“There isn’t any bull,” he answered, with a smile.