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Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 23. The Sand Fort |
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_ CHAPTER XXIII. THE SAND FORT "What do you mean--the boat upset?" asked Russ, looking up from the sand fort he was making on the beach. "Do you mean one of your toy boats and is it make-believe men that are spilled out?" "No, I mean real ones!" exclaimed George. "It's one of the fishing boats, and it was just coming in from having been out to the nets. It was full of fish and they're all over, and you can pick up a lot of 'em and they're good to eat. And maybe one of the men is drowned. Anyhow, there's a lot of 'em in the water. Come on and look!" "Where is it?" asked Laddie. "Right down the beach!" and George pointed. "'Tisn't far." "Come on, Mun Bun and Margy!" called Rose as she saw Russ and Laddie start down the beach with George and his dog. "We'll go and see what it is. Vi, you take Mun Bun's hand and I'll look after Margy." "Shall we leave our dolls here?" asked Vi. "Yes. There's nobody here now and we can go faster if we don't carry them," answered Rose. "Here, Mun Bun and Margy, leave your dolls with Vi's and mine. They'll be all right." Rose laid her doll down on the sand and the others did the same, so that there were four Japanese dolls in a row. "Won't the waves come up and get 'em?" asked Margy as she looked back on the dolls. "No, the waves don't come up as high as the place where we left them," said Rose, who had taken care to put the dolls to "sleep" well above what is called "high-water mark," that is, the highest place on the beach where the tide ever comes. "Come on! Hurry if you want to see the men from the upset boat!" George called back to Rose and the others. "Let's wait for 'em," proposed Laddie. "Maybe they'll be lonesome. I'm going to wait." "Well, we'll all wait," said George, who was a kind-hearted boy. "If you can't see the men swim out you can see the lot of fish that went overboard." As the children came out from behind the little hills of sand they saw, down on the beach, a crowd of men and boys. And out in the surf and the waves, which were high and rough, was a large white boat, turned bottom up, and about it were men swimming. "Oh, will they drown?" asked Russ, much excited. "No, I guess not," answered George. "They're fishermen and they 'most all can swim. Anyhow the water isn't very deep where they are. They're trying to get their boat right side up so they can pull it up on the beach." "What made 'em upset?" asked Laddie. "Rough water. There's going to be a storm and the ocean gets rough just before that," George explained. The children watched the men swimming about the overturned boat, and noticed that the water all about them was filled with floating, dead fish. "Did the men kill the fish when they upset?" asked Violet. "No, the men got the fish out of their nets," explained George, who had been at the seashore every summer that he could remember. "There are the nets out where you see those poles," and he pointed to a place about a half mile off shore. "The men go out there in a big motor-boat," he went on, "and pull up the net. They empty the fish into the bottom of the boat and then they come ashore. They put the fish in barrels with a lot of ice and send them to New York. "But sometimes when the boat tries to come up on the beach with the men and a load of fish in it the waves in the surf are so big that the boat upsets. That's what this one did. I was watching it and I saw it. Then I came to tell you, 'cause I saw you playing on the sand." "I'm glad you did," said Russ. "I'm sorry the men got upset, but I like to see 'em." "So am I. Will they lose all their fish?" demanded Laddie. "Most of 'em," said George. "They can scoop up some in nets, I guess, but a lot that wasn't quite dead swam away and the waves took the others out to sea. The fish hawks will get 'em and lots of boys and men are taking fish home. The fishermen can't save 'em all and when a boat upsets anybody that wants to, keeps the fish." After hard work the men who had been tossed into the water when the boat went over managed to get it right side up again. Then a rope was made fast to it and horses on shore, pulling on the cable, hauled the boat up out of reach of the waves, where it would stay until it was time to make another trip to the nets. "Could we take some of the fish?" asked Russ of George. "Oh, yes, as many as you like," said his friend. "The fishermen can never pick them all up." So the six little Bunkers each picked up a fish and took it home to Cousin Ruth. They were nice and fresh and she cooked them for dinner. "Well, you youngsters had better luck than Cousin Tom and I had," said Daddy Bunker with a laugh as he saw what Russ and the others had picked up. "I guess, after this, we'll take you fishing with us." The promise of the storm brought by the big waves that upset the fishing-boat, came true. That night the wind began to rise and to blow with a howling and mournful sound about the bungalow. But inside it was cosy and light. In the morning, when the children awakened, it was raining hard, the drops dashing against the windows as though they wanted to break the glass and get inside. "Is the sea very rough now, Daddy?" asked Russ after breakfast. "Yes, I think it is," was the answer. "Would you like to see it?" Russ thought he would, and Laddie wanted to go also, but his mother said he was too small to go out in the storm. "It is a bad storm," said Cousin Tom. "I saw a fisherman as I was coming back from the village this morning early and he said he never felt a worse blow. The sea is very high." Daddy Bunker and Cousin Tom put on "oilskins," that is, suits of cloth covered with a sort of yellow rubber, through which the water could not come. A small suit with a hat of the same kind, called a "sou'wester," was found for Russ, and then the three started down for the beach. It was hard work walking against the wind, which came out of the northeast, and the rain stung Russ in the face so that he had to walk with his head down most of the time and let his father and Cousin Tom lead him. "Oh, what big waves!" cried Russ as he got within sight of the beach. And indeed the surf was very high. The tide was in and this, with the force of the wind, sent the big billows crashing up on the beach with a noise like thunder. "I guess no fishermen could go out in that, could they, Daddy?" asked the little boy. "No, indeed, Son! This weather is bad for the fishermen and all who are at sea," said Mr. Bunker. They remained looking at the heavy waves for some time and then went back to the house. Russ was glad to be indoors again, away from the blow and noise of the storm. "Do you often have such blows here?" asked Mother Bunker of Cousin Ruth. "Well, I haven't been here, at this beach, very long, but almost always toward the end of August and the beginning of September there are hard storms at the shore." It rained so hard that the six little Bunkers could not go out to play and Cousin Ruth and their mother had to make some amusement for them in the bungalow. "Have you ever been up in the attic?" asked Cousin Ruth. "No!" cried the six little Bunkers. "Well, you may play up there," said Cousin Ruth. "It isn't very big, but you can pretend it is a playhouse and do as you please." With shouts of joy the children hurried up to the attic. Indeed it was a small place. But the six little Bunkers liked it. There were so many little holes into which they could crawl away and hide. The four who liked to play with dolls brought up their Japanese toys, and Russ and Laddie found some of their playthings, so they had lots of fun in the bungalow attic. Cousin Ruth gave them something to eat and they played they were shipwrecked sailors part of the time. With the wind howling outside and the rain beating down on the roof, it was very easy to pretend this. The storm lasted three days, and toward the end the grown folks in Cousin Tom's bungalow began to wish it would stop, not only because they were tired of the wind and rain, but because the children were fretting to be out. At last the wind died down, the rain ceased and the sun shone. Out rushed the six little Bunkers with gladsome shouts. Laddie and Russ had some large toy shovels which their mother had bought them. "What are you going to do?" Rose asked her two older brothers as she saw them hurrying down to the beach when the sun was out. "We're going to make a sand fort and have a battle," answered Russ. "The sand will pack fine now 'cause it's so wet. We're going to make a big sand fort." And he and Laddie began this play. Something very strange was to come from it, too. _ |
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