ve found the dog that took your diamond
ring?"

"Yes, Bunny, it would be lovely," said Mrs. Brown. "But I'm afraid that
will never happen."

There were so many things to do to have fun at Christmas Tree Cove that
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue hardly knew what to play at first. Each
day brought new joys. They could build houses on the sand, paddle or
bathe in the cool, shallow water, sail tiny boats which Uncle Tad made
for them, or take walks with their mother.

Daddy Brown stayed for several days at the cove, and then he had to go
back to Bellemere to his dock and boat business. But he said he would
come to the cove again as soon as he could.

Uncle Tad and Bunker stayed at the bungalow to help Mrs. Brown, and
Bunker often took Bunny and Sue out in a rowboat on the quiet waters of
the cove.

One day Mrs. Brown took some sewing, packed a small basket of lunch, and
said to the children:

"Now, Bunny and Sue, we will have a little picnic all by ourselves.
Bunker and Uncle Tad are going fishing, so we will go down to the beach
and stay all the afternoon. We will eat our lunch there, and while I sit
and sew you children can play around."

Bunny and Sue thought this would be fun, and soon they started off. It
was a beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, and soon Mrs. Brown was busy
with her needle while Sue and her brother played on the sand.

Mother Brown was trying to thread a very fine needle, which seemed to
have closed its eye and gone to sleep, when suddenly Sue came running up
to her so fast that she almost overturned the sun umbrella which Mrs.
Brown had raised to make a shade.

"Oh, Mother! Mother!" gasped Sue, so out of breath that she could hardly
speak. "Oh, Mother! Come quick!"

"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Brown, getting quickly to her feet.

"Oh, it's Bunny's toe! It's Bunny's toe!" was all Sue said, and,
catching hold of her mother's hand, she pulled her down toward the
water.

CHAPTER XVI

OVERBOARD

Mrs. Brown was used to seeing things happen to Bunny and Sue. They were
lively children, getting into mischief fully as often as other tots of
their same age did, and it was not unusual to have one of them hurt
slightly.

So when Sue ran up to her mother and began to cry out about Bunny's toe,
Mrs. Brown looked down the beach where she had left the two children
playing. There she saw Bunny dancing around on one foot in a shallow
pool of water, left there when the tide went out. An