“Oh, me!  Oh my!  What a mess!”

Harriet leaned against the side of the cabin screaming with laughter.  Jane looked at her an instant, then, joined in the merriment.

“You are a sight!” gasped Harriet.

“Why shouldn’t I be?  I’ve been in the water?  Are we going to stand here and laugh all the morning, or are we going to get busy?”

For answer Harriet Burrell picked up a pail and began bailing out the cockpit.  Jane, dripping, took up another pail and together the girls worked feverishly.  There were several barrels of water in the cockpit, so their backs were aching by the time they had finished bailing out the water.  The stern of the boat now floated clear, but the forward end was hard and fast on the ground.

“The next thing is to get the boat off the gravel,” announced Harriet.

“Maybe we can hitch the rowboat on and drag the ‘Red Rover’ off,” suggested Jane.

Harriet shook her head.

“It won’t work.  We shall have to drag it off by main force.  You can’t be any wetter, and I’m not afraid of a little water.  Let’s get outside the boat and see what we can do.”

A few seconds later as they took hold and directed their strength to the task of moving the heavy boat, Harriet’s feet slipped from under her.  She fell over into the water, coming up coughing, the water streaming from her hair and shoulders, and falling into the lake in a shower.  Jane screamed with delight.  “You’re wet all right, now!  No mistake about that,” jeered Crazy Jane.  “And what have we done?  Moved the old tub three quarters of an inch.  At this rate we’ll have her afloat about supper time.  I wish I had my car hitched to it.  I’d drag the old thing out so fast it would make her dizzy.”

Harriet had grasped the edge of the boat, tugging with all her might.  Jane dashed around to the other side, adding her strength to the task.  The boat gave way with such suddenness that both girls fell into the lake.  But they did not care.  They could get no wetter.  Therefore they laughed and joked over their bedraggled condition.  The “Red Rover” floated clear of the rushes.

“Do the best you can.  I’ll get the rowboat,” cried Harriet, splashing toward the shore.  Her clothes were so heavy with water that they impeded her movements.  She shoved the rowboat out, and, leaping in, rowed it out into the lake with strong sweeps of the oars.  In a few moments she was alongside.

“The rope is too short.  What shall we do?” called Jane.

“There is a rope attached to this boat.  I think it will be long enough for towing.  Wait, I’ll toss it to you.  Make it fast.  The boat is heavy and we are going to have a hard pull, but I don’t dare leave it here until we can get help.”