THE TWO friends had a strange feeling, as if it could not be true that Mr. Bear was nowhere in sight and the island covered with water. For a few minutes they kept on looking at the river, hoping that somehow Mr. Bear would reappear, and trying to think that perhaps they had come to the wrong place. But it was no use. It was the right place, and there was no island, and no Mr. Bear.
“He is gone,” said Mr. Badger.
“We must search,” said Mr. Lobster. “Nothing is gone until you have searched for it without finding it. It must be the same with people.”
“How wise you are. Perhaps there is hope. Let us start at once.”
So Mr. Badger and Mr. Lobster started walking along the bank of the river. It was an unhappy walk, and neither Mr. Lobster nor Mr. Badger cared to say anything about exploring. In fact, they were so silent as they went along that Mr. Lobster realized that he had never known Mr. Badger to stay quiet for such a long time.
“It is a beautiful day,” Mr. Lobster said, trying to make a little pleasant conversation.
“I really haven’t noticed,” said Mr. Badger. And even after that he didn’t try to notice.
Mr. Lobster decided not to attempt any more conversation.
Slowly they followed the winding river, keeping on the bank so that they could search the water as well as the meadow. When they came to a creek, Mr. Badger would run along it until he found a place where he could jump to the other side. Mr. Lobster swam across all the creeks.
When they had traveled for what seemed an endless and totally unhappy distance without seeing any sign of Mr. Bear, they stopped for a few minutes of rest.
“I am becoming more and more wretched,” said Mr. Badger. “I wish now that I had never found the land boat. It was all my fault.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” protested Mr. Lobster. “It is best, when something unfortunate happens, to call it an accident. Then nobody is to blame.”
“Don’t you think it was my fault?”
“No, I do not.” Mr. Lobster spoke positively. “Mr. Bear broke the handle himself, and that caused the accident. Either Mr. Bear was too strong or the handle was not strong enough. It certainly had nothing to do with you.”
Mr. Badger sighed with relief.
“I feel very much better. Thank you very much, Mr. Lobster,” he said with great feeling. “Since you are so wise, of course you are right. I always believe every word you say. This has been a hard morning for me, for I am by nature so happy and carefree that when I am miserable I am extra miserable thinking of how happy I used to be.”
“We have not finished our search yet, you know,” Mr. Lobster said. “So Mr. Bear is not gone yet. Why don’t you go to the woods and look down from a hill? Perhaps then you could see far enough to see Mr. Bear.”
“A brilliant idea!” exclaimed Mr. Badger. “You wait here, and I will go at once and hurry back and tell you what I see.”
Mr. Badger trotted off.
Mr. Lobster, left alone, slipped into the river to get wet. For some time he crawled aimlessly along the bottom. When two small flounders just the size of a lunch came swimming by he did not try to catch them. He was too busy thinking about the unfortunate end of the exploring and about Mr. Bear to be able to eat.
When he climbed out on the bank again Mr. Badger was returning from the woods as fast as he could run.
“There is something big and black lying on the meadow right by a tall tree without any leaves,” he said, panting. “We must hurry along. It may be Mr. Bear.”
They started again. Mr. Lobster could not go as fast as he wanted to because he could never travel by snapping his tail when he was on land. But he made his eight legs go as fast as possible, and together they headed in the direction where Mr. Badger had seen the tree without leaves.
“There it is!” cried Mr. Badger after a short time. “Right near the river and sticking up out of the meadow!”
Mr. Lobster tried to go faster.
“There’s Mr. Bear!” shouted Mr. Badger.
Sure enough, there was Mr. Bear curled up on the soft grass of the meadow fast asleep. And the tree without any leaves was the mast of a sailboat which was floating in a little creek behind Mr. Bear.
“Mr. Bear!” called Mr. Lobster and Mr. Badger at the same time.
Mr. Bear opened his eyes and yawned. Then he saw Mr. Badger, and he managed to give a low growl.
“Well! So it is you,” he said in a sleepy voice.
“Are you all right?” asked Mr. Lobster anxiously.
“Oh, yes,” answered Mr. Bear in a contented manner. Then he remembered to be cross, and he growled again at Mr. Badger. “But no thanks to you and your precious land boat,” he said crossly. “What a terrible night I had! You will be the end of me yet! I always get the worst of everything.” He was trying to look very miserable, but actually he looked sleek and well-fed and comfortable.
“Perhaps I owe you an apology,” said Mr. Badger, “but I did not know the handle on my land boat was not strong.”
“Apologies are always too late,” said Mr. Bear severely.
“I am sure it was not Mr. Badger’s fault,” said Mr. Lobster kindly, hoping to restore friendship without any more cross words.
“And Mr. Lobster is so very wise,” added Mr. Badger hopefully.
Mr. Lobster, being modest, said nothing more.
“Well,” said Mr. Bear, “I suppose that if Mr. Lobster says it was not your fault I can believe it.”
“By all means!” said Mr. Badger eagerly. “It was all an accident, and explorers are bound to have accidents.”
“Accident!” Mr. Bear snorted. He was wide awake now. “I call it a catastrophe!”
“Goodness! What is that?” asked Mr. Lobster.
“A catastrophe,” said Mr. Badger, who loved to explain, “is an accident that happens to a great many people at the same time, or else it is just a single accident of tremendous size.”
“Oh,” said Mr. Lobster. “And Mr. Bear is tremendous; so this was certainly a catastrophe, wasn’t it?”
“Certainly,” agreed Mr. Badger.
“Well, now we are all together again, and we can be happy once more,” said Mr. Lobster. “And I am curious to know what happened. Will you please tell us, Mr. Bear?”
Mr. Bear looked actually happy. For once he was the most important of the three friends, and for once Mr. Badger would have to let him do most of the talking. He stood up, looked calmly around, and then glanced with pride at the sailboat floating in the creek.
“By the way,” he said in his most important manner, “that is my boat. And it is better than any land boat you have to pull.”
“How did you get it? What happened last night?” asked Mr. Lobster, whose curiosity was making him tremble with eagerness to hear every word of Mr. Bear’s story.
“You are right about the boat,” said Mr. Badger. “It is much more colossal than mine.”
Mr. Bear gave a sound of approval at Mr. Badger’s words. Then, settling himself comfortably in the soft grass, he began.
“It was a terrible night,” he said. “I walked back and forth on that miserable island, which was not nearly big enough for a creature my size, for hours. I was hungry and unhappy. And I was surrounded by water. How I suffered—thanks to that awful ride in Mr. Badger’s land boat. While you both were sleeping happily, I was suffering.”
“Oh, we weren’t happy at all!” exclaimed Mr. Badger.
“Please do not interrupt,” said Mr. Bear sternly. “As I was saying, while you were sleeping happily, I was suffering. While you were safe on dry land, I was in the greatest danger.”
Mr. Badger did not dare interrupt again.
Mr. Lobster, who had the softest heart under his hard shell, felt even sorrier for Mr. Bear than before.
“For hours I remained in that hideous plight,” Mr. Bear went on, when he saw that they were listening carefully to each word. “And then, sometime in the darkest and most dangerous part of the night, the island began to get smaller and smaller. It was sinking in the river.”
“Pardon me for speaking,” put in Mr. Lobster, “but perhaps the tide was coming in and covering the island.”
“When the island began to sink,” continued Mr. Bear, just as though no one had spoken, “I realized that the end had come. So my suffering and peril increased every minute. And there was no one to help me.”
He looked sharply at his friends to be sure they understood, and both Mr. Lobster and Mr. Badger trembled with sympathy and looked very distressed and said, “Do go on.”
Mr. Bear was pleased at the trembling and again continued. “Finally, there was no dry land left on the island. I was not only surrounded by water. I was standing in water. First it covered my feet; then it came higher and higher. I am sure no one has been in a more terrible situation. But then, just when I was about to be gone, this fine boat came floating down the river, and it came so near that I was able to climb aboard. It was a great struggle, but I saved myself.”
“How clever and brave you are!” exclaimed Mr. Badger tactfully.
“Yes, indeed,” murmured Mr. Lobster.
“WHEN THE ISLAND BEGAN TO SINK,” CONTINUED MR. BEAR, “I REALIZED THAT THE END HAD COME.”
“So I drifted down the river,” Mr. Bear said. “And someone had left a large package of fried fish on the boat, and I ate all of them. It was necessary for me to eat them, for I had been starving all the time I was on the island. When the boat drifted into this creek, I came ashore. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep.”
Mr. Bear could not pretend any longer that he was miserable. He was really so satisfied with himself that it was perfectly plain to Mr. Badger and Mr. Lobster.
“Perhaps you fell asleep because you were so full of fish,” remarked Mr. Badger, who saw that Mr. Bear was in fine condition and had had a large meal. Mr. Badger’s usual good spirits had returned, and there was a twinkle in his eye.
“Such suffering as mine is nothing to joke about,” said Mr. Bear. But he looked so full and comfortable that it was impossible for him to impress Mr. Badger.
Mr. Lobster was too wise to say anything to spoil Mr. Bear’s story, but he thought to himself : “Mr. Bear had a fine supper, and Mr. Badger and I haven’t eaten a thing. Mr. Bear has been sleeping comfortably for hours while we have been looking for him. I know now that the persons who do the worrying suffer more than the person who has the adventure. I shall remember that and not get lost and cause my friends suffering.”
He looked over to Mr. Bear. “You have had a hard time, indeed,” he said, “and Mr. Badger and I are delighted to find you safe and well. Now I should like to look at your boat a little more closely.”
“So should I,” said Mr. Badger. “We must do something with it.”
“Please remember that it is my boat,” said Mr. Bear.
“And please remember that we all used my land boat,” replied Mr. Badger. “No friend is ever selfish. That is one of the ways you know friends.”
“I shall not be selfish,” said Mr. Bear, “but I must protect myself against your ideas. You are both welcome to look at my boat.”
It was a sailboat, which is the most beautiful kind of boat there is. It was more than twenty feet long and painted white, with a forward deck big enough for even Mr. Bear to stand on, and a cockpit big enough for all three of the friends. On the deck was a large anchor fastened to a large coil of rope. The sail, which was new and neat, was furled on the boom. Everything about the little vessel was shipshape and clean.
“A sailboat!” exclaimed Mr. Badger joyfully. “I have always wanted to go skimming over the water in a boat like this.”
“Boats mean work,” remarked Mr. Bear. “I remember how I worked when we went fishing. I did all the rowing.”
“But sailboats go without rowing,” explained Mr. Badger eagerly. “All you have to do is sit still, and the wind blows you along. It is like going down-hill all the time, but of course not so fast. I could spend the rest of my life sailing.”
“I prefer to spend the rest of my life on dry land,” said Mr. Bear.
“Anyone who has spirit loves to sail,” insisted Mr. Badger.
Mr. Lobster was afraid that Mr. Badger and Mr. Bear would have an argument about boats. Also, Mr. Badger’s words interested him. Mr. Lobster had ridden on a turtle and on Mr. Bear’s back and in a land boat and in a rowboat. But he had never skimmed over the sea in a sailboat. So naturally, since he was always curious about new things and eager for new experiences, he wanted to sail in Mr. Bear’s boat.
“I should like to try sailing,” he said. “I think we might try it to see whether we like it. Then we can decide. Certainly it is unwise to dislike a new thing before you try it.”
“Your wisdom is perfect, Mr. Lobster,” said Mr. Badger.
“You think his ideas are perfect because they agree with yours,” said Mr. Bear.
“Of course,” assented Mr. Badger readily. “That’s the best way to tell a perfect thing. How can anything be perfect if it doesn’t agree with you?”
Mr. Bear was sure Mr. Badger was wrong, but he didn’t know what to say. It seemed to him that Mr. Badger had an answer to everything, and Mr. Bear kept hoping that someday he would be able to say something so brilliant that it would leave Mr. Badger in stunned silence.
“Where could we go?” asked Mr. Bear of Mr. Lobster.
Mr. Lobster was very quiet, thinking as hard as he could. He was afraid Mr. Badger would have an idea first, and Mr. Bear would surely disagree with it.
“I am sick of this river and the meadow,” Mr. Bear went on. “There’s too much trouble here. I want to get away from it all.”
They were almost the very words the talkative turtle had used, Mr. Lobster realized. “I know!” he answered. “The turtle told me that when he wanted to get away from things he went exploring; so why can’t we continue our exploring in your boat? We can explore the sea. I am sure explorers do not have to stay on the bottom of the ocean or on land.”
“But what is there to explore on the sea?” asked Mr. Bear. “It is nothing but water, and water looks just the same and just as wet and dangerous, no matter where it is. What did the turtle find?”
Mr. Lobster was not eager to answer that question, but he always told the truth. So he said, “Islands.”
“Islands!” exclaimed Mr. Bear in horror. “Never! Imagine going to all the trouble of exploring and running all kinds of risks just to find islands, which are dangerous and always surrounded by water! Never!”
“But there are big islands with trees and caves which are perfectly safe,” declared Mr. Badger.
“From my experience an island is never safe,” insisted Mr. Bear.
It looked as though the three friends could not agree. Mr. Lobster and Mr. Badger were eager to sail away exploring for islands, but Mr. Bear was firm. And the sailboat was Mr. Bear’s.
Mr. Lobster said to himself: “It is always wisest to make important decisions when one is not hungry or tired or cross. Perhaps we all shall be happier after a good supper and a good night’s sleep at home.”
So he said to Mr. Bear and Mr. Badger:
“Let us all go home and think the matter over, and let us return to this place day after tomorrow. Then we can take a vote.”
It was agreed to do what Mr. Lobster suggested, although it was a long distance from home for each of them.
Mr. Bear examined his boat to make sure that it would not float away.
“I don’t see why you want the boat, if you don’t want to sail the sea in it,” observed Mr. Badger.
“I just like to own it,” answered Mr. Bear. “I like to know it is my property.” He hoped that would silence Mr. Badger.
“Property is a nuisance,” said Mr. Badger cheerfully. “I don’t own anything except a fish line, and I am one of the happiest creatures in the world.”
Mr. Lobster thought that Mr. Badger was right, but he didn’t say a word. He slipped into the water and started down the river, resolved to have several good meals before he settled down in his home for the night.