.

He, too, put on his robe and slippers, and then Sue, with her lighted
Teddy bear, and Bunny, with his little flashlight, started toward the
"Ark." The two dogs followed.

Up the steps, in the glare of the little outside electric light went
the two tots. As they entered the automobile Mrs. Brown heard them and
called:

"Who is there?"

"It's us," said Bunny.

"An old owl kept askin' us questions about who was it," added Sue, "an'
we couldn't sleep. So we came in here."

"Crawl into your bunks," said Mother Brown. And that ended the
children's sleeping in the tent, for a while at least.

The next morning Mr. Jason, the soldier-farmer who owned the wood where
the tent was erected, came down to the "Ark."

"I'm going to drive over to Blue Lake to-day," he said. "Don't you folks
want to go along? You might take your lunch and picnic there. It's got a
waterfall."

"I did promise the children to take them to see it while we were here,"
said Mr. Brown. "Thank you, we should like to go with you." And a little
later the Browns were at Blue Lake.

CHAPTER XX

DIX TO THE RESCUE

"Where is the waterfall?"

"Can't we go in swimming?"

"I want to row a boat!"

"I want to fish!"

As soon as they jumped out of Farmer Jason's wagon at Blue Lake, Bunny
Brown and his Sister Sue were saying these things and asking these
questions. The children saw before them a large body of water, that
seemed a deep blue under the shining sun, and round about it were small
hills "like strawberries on top of a shortcake," as Sue said.

"Oh, what a beautiful place!" ejaculated Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, folks around here thinks as how it _is_ right pretty," said Farmer
Jason. "But you haven't seen the prettiest part yet--that's the
waterfall."

"Oh, that's where I want to go!" cried Bunny.

"And I want to go out in a boat," added Sue, renewing her first request.

"So do I! And fish!" chimed in Bunny.

"Now, one thing at a time," said Mr. Brown with a laugh. "You are hardly
here yet and you want to do half a dozen things. Be patient. We are
going to stay all day, for we brought our lunch, and I think we shall
have time for everything you want to do."

"Yes, pitch right in and enjoy yourselves," said Farmer Jason with a
laugh. "That's what the lake's here for. A few of us farmers own it, and
the churches in this neighborhood generally has picnics here. I've got
to drive over a few miles to see a man about some horses I want t