s--yes, I guess I will," she answered. "But you mustn't hunt 'em on
purpose."

This Bunny promised not to do, and then he went on to tell Sue what his
plans were.

"Daddy is going riding with Mr. Halliday," said the little fellow, "and
I heard mother say she and Mrs. Halliday were going to make orange
shortcake to-day, so they won't want us around. We can go down and make
the raft and have a sail. Won't that be fun?"

"It will be if the alligators don't come," agreed Sue.

"I don't b'lieve any will come," Bunny answered, though in his heart he
hoped they would, so he could scare them away with the sharp stick.

So Sue took up the bag of lunch and Bunny ran and got the sharp stick
where he had hidden it under the porch. Bunny also had a hammer and some
nails he had taken from the shop where Mr. Halliday's men put together
the orange crates.

"We'll make a big raft and sail away off," Bunny said, as he and Sue,
telling their mother nothing about their plans, went down to the river.
They found the pile of boards and small logs in the same place they had
first seen them, and Bunny, with Sue's help, began to make a raft.

CHAPTER XXIII

ON THE ISLAND

The two children had been around boats enough to know more about water
craft than most boys and girls of their age. Bunny's father, owning a
boat and fish dock, where Sue and her brother often played, had taught
the youngsters something about how boats are steered. A raft, as Bunny
knew, was the simplest and safest form of a boat. He also knew that a
raft was only a lot of logs and boards fastened together. On it one
could float or push down a little river or across a pond.

"This is nice smooth water, isn't it?" asked Sue, as she looked out over
Squaw River which, as has been said, was a sluggish stream. It hardly
seemed to flow at all.

"Yes, it's nice here," Bunny said. "We won't go very fast. There aren't
any waves like in the ocean or our bay."

Bunny and Sue had often been out with their father, Uncle Tad, or Bunker
Blue on Sandport Bay at home, and sometimes on the real ocean when it
was not too rough. So Squaw River seemed very small and smooth to them.

It was harder work than Bunny had thought it would be to make the raft,
but he had right at hand everything he needed, from boards and small
logs to hammer and nails. The hammer and nails he had brought with him.
Putting the cloth bag of lunch in a safe place on the bank, Bunny began
work.

He