re in an old-fashioned, but safely constructed, barge,
half drifting and half rowing down the picturesque stream.

The afternoon sun was waning behind a bank of clouds, screened from the
girls by a fringe of trees. And as they floated on they talked at
intervals of Amy's secret, and of the coming fun they expected to have.

"Let's get farther out in the middle," suggested Betty, when they came to
a wide part of the river. "It's more pleasant there, and the air is
fresher. It is very warm."

"Yes, I think we will have another storm," agreed Grace. "If it rains now
it isn't so likely to when we start."

She was pulling on one pair of oars and Mollie on a second, the others
relieving them occasionally. Soon the boat was in the middle of the
stream. They had gone on for perhaps half a mile, when Betty, who was
sitting comfortably in the stern, toying with the rudder ropes, uttered
an exclamation.

"Oh!" she cried. "My feet are wet! Mollie, the boat is leaking!"

"Leaking?"

"Yes! See, the water is fairly pouring in!"

Mollie made a hasty examination under the bottom boards of her craft.

"Girls!" she cried, in tragic tones, "there's a hole in the boat!"

"Don't say that!" begged Amy, standing up.

"Sit down!" sternly ordered Betty. "There is no danger! Sit down or
you'll fall overboard!"

"Oh, but see the water!" cried the nervous Amy. "It is coming in faster!"

And indeed it was.

"It is those twins!" declared Mollie. "I told them not to get in my boat,
but they must have, and they've loosened the drain plug so that it came
out a moment ago. Quick! See if you can find it!"

There was a frightened search for the plug that fitted in a hole in the
bottom of the boat, through which aperture the water could be drained out
when the craft was on shore.

"It isn't here!" cried Grace. "Oh, Mollie!"

"Keep quiet! It must be here!" insisted the owner of the boat. "It
couldn't get out. Look for it! Find it! Or, if you can't, we'll stuff a
handkerchief in the hole!"

Meanwhile the water continued to pour in through the bottom of the boat,
setting the boards afloat, and thoroughly wetting the skirts of the
girls. And they were now in the centre of the widest part of the river.

CHAPTER VII

TO THE RESCUE

Rapidly the water rose in the boat. It had now set the bottom boards
more fully afloat, and the girls in vain tried to raise their feet out
of the incoming flood. They stared at the swirling water, fas