"Yeth; I'll be careful."

"Hurry back. Supper will be on the table by the time you get below
again."

Tommy, pitcher in hand, ran up the ladder to the deck above, Harriet and
Miss Elting, in the meantime, putting the food on the table.

"Tom-m-m-y-y-y!" called Jane after some minutes had elapsed. "The little
girl has gone to sleep up there, I'll wager."

A scream, followed by a loud splash, startled the passengers on board
the "Red Rover." They rushed for the door.

"Tommy's fallen overboard!" yelled Harriet.

Beaching the lower deck they saw one little white hand holding aloft a
pitcher, and lower down, scarcely discernible, a bit of tow hair and a
freckled nose.

"Thave me!" wailed Tommy.

"We ought to leave you," flung back Margery. "What's the matter? Can't
you swim?"

"Yeth. But the pitcher can't."

Knowing that Tommy could take care of herself in the water, no one went
overboard to her rescue. Harriet flung out a coil of rope.

"Grab it!" she commanded. Tommy needed no second invitation to do so.
She grasped the rope with one hand, still clinging to the pitcher with
the other and holding it above the water. In this position Harriet drew
her in. The pitcher was rescued before they helped the little girl to
the deck.

"Ith thupper ready?" demanded Tommy, after getting aboard.

"Yes, it is and it's getting cold," answered Harriet.

"Then I gueth I'll thit down and eat."

"Not until you get off those wet clothes," answered Jane. "How did you
come to fall overboard?"

"I--I wath trying to walk on the railing," explained the girl lamely. "I
thtubbed my toe and fell in."

"Oh, help!" moaned Margery. Tommy shot a threatening look at her.

"I can thwim. Buthter ith too fat to thwim." With that parting shot,
Tommy hastened inside the cabin and proceeded to change her wet clothing
for dry garments. The other girls sat down to their supper, without
waiting for her.

None of them, ever had eaten a meal under quite such novel conditions.
Through the open door at one end they could see the lake, touched with
the gorgeous red and gold of the setting sun. A pleasant breeze was
drifting through the cabin from door and window, while the slight motion
of the boat rather added to than took from the keen enjoyment of the
hour.

"I have been wondering what we shall do in case the water gets really
rough?" said Jane.

"We shall have to put something on the table to keep the dishes from
sliding off," replied