t sink?'"

"I hope it _was_ only a riddle, and that nothing has happened," said Mrs.
Bunker.

"Maybe it'll be no worse than Mun and his balloon," said Norah. "Anyhow,
I can see the two children!" and she pointed across the green meadow to
the brook. "They seem to be all right."

There, on the grassy bank, was Laddie jumping up and down, and pointing to
something in the water. And the something was Vi though she appeared to be
out in the middle of the brook, in a part where it was deep enough to come
over the knees of Russ.

"What's the matter, Laddie?" asked his mother. "Has anything happened to
Vi?"

"She's in the boat, and it's sunk," was the answer. "Oh, what made the
boat sink?"

"Silly boy! Stop asking riddles at a time like this!" cried Mrs. Bunker.
"What do you mean, Laddie?"

"It isn't a riddle at all," he answered. "The boat did sink and Vi is in
it. What made it?"

"A boat! Sure there's no boat on the brook, unless the boy made one
himself," said Norah.

"I did make one--out of a box, and Vi was riding in it, but it sank," said
Laddie. "What made it sink?"

Then Mrs. Bunker, Norah and Russ came near enough to the shore of the
brook to see what had happened. Out in the middle, standing in a soap box,
was Violet. The little girl was crying and holding out her hands to
Laddie, who seemed quite worried and excited.

"She's sunk! She's sunk!" he said over and over again.

"Be quiet, silly boy!" ordered his mother, who saw that Vi was in no
danger. "We'll get her out. Why didn't you wade out to her yourself, and
bring her to shore?"

"'Cause I thought maybe something was out there," said Laddie.

"Something out there? What do you mean?" asked his mother.

"I mean something that made the boat sink--something that pulled it down
in the water with Vi. A shark maybe, or a whale!"

"Nonsense!" laughed Mrs. Bunker. "There are only little baby fishes in the
brook."

"But something made the boat sink!" insisted Laddie.

"We'll see about that when we get Vi to shore," said Mrs. Bunker. "Come
on," she called to the little girl. "Wade to shore, Vi. You have your
shoes and stockings off, haven't you?"

"Oh, yes, Mother."

"Then wade to shore. You're all right."

So Vi stepped out of the soap box, which Laddie had called the boat, and
started for shore. The box floated down the brook, and Russ ran out on a
little point of land to catch hold of it when it should float to him.

"Now you're all right,"