“Never mind, we’re going to be here nearly a week yet,” said Uncle Tad.  “We can come again.”

Just how it happened Sue herself could not explain.  But, somehow or other, her Teddy bear slipped from her lap and was about to fall out of the boat.  That would never do, the little girl decided, and of course she made a quick motion to catch her toy.

And, just then, Bunny leaned on the same side of the boat to pick up a floating stick so that the boat tipped.

“Look out!” cried Uncle Tad.  “Sit still, children!”

But he spoke too late, for, in an instant, Sue fell out of the boat and into the lake.  Uncle Tad was so surprised for a moment that he sat still.  But not so Dix.  He had awakened in a second, and with a loud bark sprang overboard to the rescue of the little girl.

CHAPTER XXI

THE CIRCUS

“Oh my!” cried Bunny Brown, as he saw his sister topple out of the boat into the lake.  “Oh, dear!”

By this time Uncle Tad, the old soldier, was ready for action.  He took off his coat, without standing up in the boat, for well he knew how dangerous that was, and he was just ready to slip overboard into the water, the bottom of which he could see, when Dix, who had thrust his head under the surface, came up with Sue held in his strong jaws, his teeth fastened in her dress near the neck.

“Oh, Dix!  Dix!” cried Bunny, in delight.  “I’m so glad you saved my sister.  Oh, Dix!  I’ll love you all my life!”

Dix, holding Sue with her head well above the water, was swimming toward the boat.  Bunny, eager to do what he could to help his sister, was leaning over the side, ready to reach her as soon as the dog came near enough.  Then Uncle Tad cried: 

“Sit still, Bunny!  I’ll take Sue in.  But I must do it at the stern of the boat, and not over the side, as that might tip us over.  You sit still in the middle of the boat.”

Bunny, who had lived near the seashore all his life knew that “stern” meant the back of the boat.  And he remembered that his father had often told him if ever he fell out of a boat and wanted to get in again without tipping the boat over, to do so from the stern, or from the bow, which is the front.  A row-boat will not tip backwards or forwards as easily as it will to either side.

As soon as Bunny heard what Uncle Tad said, he obeyed.  He sat down in the bottom of the boat between the seats.  Then the old soldier, going to the stern, called to Dix: 

“Around this way, old dog!  Bring her here and I’ll take her in.  Come on, Dix!”

Whether the dog knew that it was safer to bring a person in over the stern of a boat or over the bow instead of over the side, I do not know.  At any rate he did what Uncle Tad told him to do, and in another moment was close to the boat with Sue in his jaws.  Uncle Tad lifted her into the boat and at once turned her on her face and raised her legs in the air.  This was to let any water that she might have swallowed run out.