k-to-it-iveness of fish-glue. Wait and see."

Meanwhile Arthur Hobbs drew in the canoe Purt was clinging to, and
soon helped the gasping dude into the large boat.

"Oh! oh!" cried Purt. "I might have known that horrid dog was bad
luck."

Having seen the exquisite dragged aboard the _Duchess_, most of the
girls on the other powerboat gave their attention to the dog. Indeed,
his fate all the time had attracted more attention from Lizzie Bean,
than had the trouble Purt Sweet was in.

"Why! he might have been drowned!" Lily exclaimed in answer to
something Bobby said.

"That's right. And it would be too mean," spoke up Lonesome Liz, as
Billy Long secretly called the sad-faced girl. "He's a smart dog."

"Mercy! who cares about that horrid dog?" snapped Lily.

"I do, for one," said Nellie Agnew.

"Me, too. He was pushed overboard by Purt, and it just served Purt
right that he went into the water," Bobby declared.

The mongrel cur had swum nobly for the shore. Before Purt was dragged
aboard by Art the dog was nearing his goal.

They were well above the town of Lumberport now, and the shore along
here was a shelving beach. After fighting the current the dog would
have been unable to drag himself out had the bank been steep.

"He's done it!" exclaimed Liz, eagerly. "Well! I declare I'm glad."

"Gladder than you were over Purt?" chuckled Bobby.

"Well, if you ask me," drawled the maid-of-all-work, "I think the
dog's wuth a whole lot more than that silly feller in the green
pants."

"How horrid!" ejaculated Lily.

"Gee!" said Bobby. "Don't you know, Lizzie, that there is only _one_
Pretty Sweet? I don't suppose you could find another fellow like him
if you combed the zones of both hemispheres."

"Hear! hear!" drawled Jess. "How many zones do you suppose there are,
Bobs?"

"Oh, a whole bunch of them," declared the reckless Bobby. "There's one
torrid, two temperate, two frigid, and a lot of postal zones."

"How smart!" sneered Lily, in no very good temper.

Meanwhile the dog had crawled out of the water. They saw him shake
himself and then sink upon the shore, evidently exhausted.

"Well," said Laura, "I guess Purt has finally gotten rid of the poor
creature. But it was too funny for anything."

The shores of Rocky River, as they advanced, were very pretty indeed.
There were several suburban villages near Lumberport; but the farther
they sailed up the stream the less inhabited the shores were and the
wilde