n most tragical.

And now the _Foam_ was launched, and the ladies and the General floated
upon the rippling deep.

"Hi, don't they look fine?" cried Tom, as with the long willow switch he
guided the little bark on its course down the stream, while his cousin
walked by his side, much interested in the operation.

Having recovered from their first shock, the passengers began to look
about them and enjoy their voyage.

"How very delightful!" exclaimed Matilda Agnes. "'Tis quite a pity,
General, that you're not an Admiral."

"Oh yes. I always adored the navy," added Angelina Mary.

At these remarks the General blushed as red as the white paper out of
which he was manufactured would allow, and hastened to change the
subject by calling attention to the beauties of the country through
which they were passing. He had just begun a poetical discourse on the
wild flowers which an army tramples down on the field of battle, when
Tom's switch happened to strike him in the face with such force as
caused him to flutter for an instant like a sheet of paper in a high
wind.

And now the ladies' fears returned, for the brook was growing wider and
wider, and the _Foam_ drifting constantly further and further from the
bank.

Suddenly Tom, who had been busy talking about water turtles with Frank,
noticed this, and struck out with his willow branch to bring the truant
back, but it was too late; the boat had got beyond his reach, and was
now floating swiftly down the middle of the stream with the current.

The ladies screamed, and the General groaned; but as neither the screams
nor the groans were louder than paper is thick, they were not heard by
human ears.

"The boys will surely save us," said Matilda Agnes, hopefully. "We are
too valuable to lose, to say nothing of the boat."

Before long, however, Tom exclaimed: "Oh, I'm tired trudging after the
thing. Come on, Frank, let's go back home, and I'll beat you a game of
croquet."

"But the dolls," the other ventured to interpose. "What'll the girls say
when we tell 'em what's become of them? They'll be mad, won't they?"

"Oh, I guess not, if we make up a nice story about their sailing off
down to the ocean, and going to Europe and Africa, and seeing gorillas
and bears, and kings and princes;" and with these words Tom gave up the
pursuit, and, followed by Frank, soon disappeared in the woods.

Being thus cruelly abandoned, with not so much as a match at hand by
means of which t