deep hole there!" shouted Bunny, darting away. "Come on,
Charlie! Help me pull Sue out of the hole!"

CHAPTER IX

UP A LADDER

Charlie Star needed no second urging. Bunny had forgotten all about his
toy ship, but Charlie gave one look and saw that it had safely blown on
shore. Then Charlie sped after his chum.

"We're coming, Sue! We're coming!" cried Bunny. "Don't be afraid!"

"We'll get you out!" added Charlie.

The brook that ran back of the Brown house was rather deep in places,
and some of these places were near shore where the bank went steeply
down into the water. It was at one of these places that Sue had fallen
in.

The little girl had been looking for "sweet-flag." This is the root of a
plant something like the cat-tail in looks--that is, it has the same
kind of long, narrow ribbon-like leaves.

But while the root of the sweet-flag is pleasant to gnaw, though a
trifle smarty, the root of the cat-tail is of no use--that is, as far as
Sue could tell. She wanted some sweet-flag, but not cat-tail root, and
to find out which was right she had to pull up many of the long, green
streamers. If Sue had known how to tell the difference otherwise it
would have been easier.

It was in bending over to pull up some of the flag roots that she had
leaned too far, and suddenly she found herself in the water. She had
slipped off the muddy bank at a place where it was steep and the water
was deep.

Luckily Sue had slipped in feet first, and now she was standing in water
over her waist, yelling for Bunny to come and help her.

Breathless, the two boys reached the little girl. They could see then,
that she was in no special danger, since the water was not over her
head. If Sue had fallen in head first instead of feet first that would
have been sadly different.

"Come on out! Come on out!" cried Bunny, reaching his hand toward his
sister.

"I--I can't!" she answered.

"Why not?" Charlie asked.

"'Cause I'm stuck. I'm stuck in the mud!" Sue answered.

"Oh!" exclaimed Bunny. "Then we have to pull you out!"

"That's right!" said Charlie Star. "I'll help!"

"Look out you don't fall in yourselves!" warned Sue, as they held out
their hands to her. "It's awful slippery!"

And the bank was, as Charlie and Bunny soon found, for Charlie nearly
slid in as Sue had done and Bunny almost followed. But by digging their
heels in the slippery mud they held on and soon they had pulled Sue out
of the hole.

But, oh