The "Red
Rover" started but slowly. It was all the two girls could do to get it
in motion. Then when, finally, they had gotten under way with it, Jane
was obliged to wade out in water nearly to her neck to reach the
rowboat. She nearly upset it in getting aboard. Two pairs of oars,
instead of one, were now bent to the work of towing the houseboat. The
boat went broadside to the waves, nearly pulling them overboard. They
saw that it would be impossible to tow it to the Johnson dock in this
fashion.

"One of us must row and the other steer," declared Harriet.

"I'll do the rowing. You've had your share," cried Jane. "Wait, I'll
pull you alongside."

"No. You must keep the oars going, or the big boat will drift back into
shallow water again. I'll get back there all right." Harriet unshipped
her oars and stood up in the boat. She took a clean, curving dive into
the lake. Jane shouted delightedly.

"What a beauty!"

Harriet came up, shaking her head to free it from water, then struck out
for the houseboat. Getting aboard, weighted down by her clothes as she
was, was not an easy task. Finally, however, the girl managed to get one
foot over the edge. She clung there for a moment breathing heavily, then
slowly climbed aboard.

"Hur-r-r-ro-o-o-o!" wailed Jane. "They can't stop a Meadow-Brook Girl
with fire or water."

"Now pull," shouted Harriet, "I'll change places with you when you get
tired."

"I'll rest when I get tired," was the very practical reply of Crazy Jane
McCarthy.

Harriet took the tiller and straightened out the scow's course, though
she discovered that the old boat was a most unmanageable craft. It
simply would not keep on any one course for more than thirty seconds at
a time. Jane was shouting her directions, making sarcastic remarks about
Harriet's steering, but the latter merely smiled. She knew she was doing
the best she could, and that was all any one could do. Jane was making
but slow headway. They had not yet rounded the point that hid the
Johnson dock from view. Her strokes became uneven, and jerky. All at
once the rope broke. Crazy Jane McCarthy landed in the bottom of the
rowboat.

"Save me," she screamed.

Harriet, who could not see the small boat, the deck house being in the
way, continued on her course, smiling good-naturedly at Jane's noisy
objections. But all at once a crash and a yell startled Harriet. She
threw the tiller over and leaned far out. The rowboat was
bottom-side-up,