“Come on now!” he cried, as he beached the boat, and jumped out.  “For the land’s sake, how did you get so wet?  But don’t stop to tell me now!  Just pile in the boat, and let me get you home to a fire and some dry clothes.  You’ll all have to bail, for she leaks something awful.”

Not waiting for a second invitation, the damp quartet scrambled into the boat, and Carter pulled off.  The old man had provided tin cans, and the children bailed all the way over, for it was necessary to do so to keep the boat afloat.

As they went, Marjorie told Carter the whole story, “and you see,” she concluded, “we didn’t do anything wrong, for we’re always allowed to go in a boat if King is with us.”

“Oh, no, Miss Mischief, you didn’t do anything wrong!  Of course it wasn’t wrong to jump about in the boat and carry on until you upset it!  It’s a marvel you weren’t all drowned.”

“It is so!” said King, who realized more fully than the others the danger they had been in.  “Why, there’s Uncle Steve on the dock, and Father, too; I wonder if they heard Midget scream.”

“If they were within a mile and not stone deaf they couldn’t help hearing her,” declared Carter.  He rowed as fast as he could, and he made the children keep hard at work bailing, not only to get the water out of the boat, but because he feared if they sat still they’d take cold.

At last they reached the dock, and Uncle Steve and Mr. Maynard assisted them out of the boat.

It was no time then for questions or comments, and Uncle Steve simply issued commands.

“Molly,” he said, “you scamper home as fast as you can fly!  We have enough to attend to with our own brood.  Scoot, now, and don’t stop until you reach your own kitchen fire, and tell your mother what has happened.  As for you Maynards, you fly to Grandma’s kitchen, and see what Eliza can do for you.”

Molly flew off across the lawns to her own house, running so swiftly that she was out of sight in a moment.  Then the Maynards, obeying Uncle Steve’s command, ran to the kitchen door, and burst in upon Eliza as she was just finishing the breakfast preparations.

“Howly saints!” she cried.  “If it wasn’t that I always ixpict yees to come in drownded, I’d be sheared to death!  But if yees weren’t in this mess, ye’d be in some other.  Such childher I niver saw!”

Eliza’s tirade probably would have been longer, but just then Grandma and Mrs. Maynard came into the kitchen.

“Been for a swim?” asked Mrs. Maynard, pleasantly.

“Almost been drowned,” said Kitty, rushing into her mother’s arm, greatly to the detriment of her pretty, fresh morning dress.

As soon as Mrs. Maynard realized that her brood had really been in danger, she gathered all three forlorn, wet little figures into her arms at once, thankful that they were restored to her alive.

Then breakfast was delayed while Grandma and Mother Maynard provided dry clothing, and helped the children to transform themselves once more into respectable citizens.