“You can crawl out over the front seat,” said Mr. Brown.  “From there you can easily get down to the ground if Uncle Tad and I help you.  Then, Mother, you might try your hand at getting a lunch, for it will soon be noon, while Uncle Tad and I see what we can do about getting the automobile out of the ditch.”

“It will be some fun after all,” said Bunny as he crawled out over the front seat.  “We can picnic alongside the road, Sue, and watch Daddy and Uncle Tad get the car out.”

“Yes,” said Bunny’s sister.  “And maybe I’ll make a pie for you and Sallie Malinda.”

“No, I guess I wouldn’t try a pie to-day,” said Mrs. Brown with a smile.  “We won’t be able to use any stove except the small oil one, out on the ground, and that will cook only a few things.  We’ll wait for the pie until the auto is safe on the road again.”

“I hope we can get it out of the ditch without breaking anything,” said Mr. Brown, as he helped his wife and children down the high front steps of the big car, and then lifted out the oil stove, and other things that would be needed for the lunch.

“Do you think there is any danger?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“A little,” answered her husband.  “But at least none of us can be hurt, and the worst that can happen will be a little damage to our car.”

“Oh, the dear old ‘Ark!’” cried Mrs. Brown.  “I hope it won’t be damaged much.”

“So do I,” said her husband.  “If I had known that bridge was so weak as to let us fall through I would have gone a different road.  But I suppose the rain and high water weakened the supports.  However, don’t worry.  We’ll see what can be done.”

After a look at the way in which the rear wheels of the big car were lodged in the ditch, Uncle Tad and Mr. Brown went to the nearest town on foot to get help.  Mrs. Brown, Bunny and Sue made a little camp beside the road, the children helping a little, and then running about to play.  The two dogs joined them in their fun.

“I guess I’ll make a little cornstarch pudding,” said Mrs. Brown, as she got the other things ready for lunch; and when the pudding was finished she covered it up, so no ants or bugs would get in it, and set it in a hollow stump to keep until it would be needed for the dessert after the lunch.

It was not long before Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad came back riding in a big automobile truck which they had hired at the nearest garage to pull the “Ark” out of the ditch.

“Will you have lunch first?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Yes, I guess we will,” said her husband.  “We’ll eat while the garage men are getting ropes and chains around our car to pull it out of the ditch.”

And so they ate their dinner under the shade of a big tree beside the road.  Two men had come in the auto truck to work for Mr. Brown, and they went about it quickly, putting strong ropes and chains on the “Ark.”

“And now I have a little surprise for you,” said Mrs. Brown as she poured tea for herself, Mr. Brown and Uncle Tad, and set milk before the children.