“The boat upset out there in the middle,” said Russ, pointing.

“Oh, dear!” sighed Violet.  “If she was my rubber doll maybe she wouldn’t be drowned.  But she’s my china doll, and they won’t float, will they, Mother?”

“No, my dear, I’m afraid not.  How did it happen, Russ?  Why did you take Violet’s doll?”

“’Cause I wanted to give her a ride, and I didn’t think she would care—­I mean Vi.  Course the doll didn’t care.”

“She did so!” exclaimed the little girl, stamping her foot on the sand.  “My dolls have got feelings, same as you have, Russ Bunker, so there!”

“Now children, don’t get excited,” said Mrs. Bunker gently.  “Russ, you shouldn’t have taken Vi’s doll.”

“Well, I wanted to see how much my boat would hold, and I was playing the doll was a passenger.  I’ll get it back for her.  Cousin Tom will take me out in his boat to the middle, and I can scoop the doll up with a crab net.”

Mrs. Bunker went with Russ and Violet to find Cousin Tom, leaving Laddie, Rose, Margy and Mun Bun playing with pebbles and shells in the sand.

Russ told Cousin Tom what had happened.  The little boy had made a boat out of a piece of board, with a mast and a bit of cloth for a sail.  He had loaded his boat with stones he had picked up on the beach of the inlet, and had started his craft off on a voyage.

Violet had been playing near by with her doll, and when she put it down for a moment Russ had taken the doll and put it on his toy boat.

Then he gave it a shove out into the Clam River, the wind blowing on the sail and sending his toy well out toward the middle of the inlet.  There the accident happened.  The boat turned over and sank.  Perhaps if Russ had only laid the stones on, instead of tying one or two large ones fast, as he had, the boat might have floated, even though upset.

For if the stones had not been tied on they would have rolled off and the boat would have righted herself and floated, being made of wood.  But, as it was, she sank.

“And my doll went down with it,” said Vi sadly.  “Please, Cousin Tom, can you get her back?”

“I don’t know, Violet.  I’ll see,” was the answer.  “The tide is running out now, for it was high water a little while ago.  If the boat sank down to the bottom, and stayed there, we may be able to get it when the water is low if we can see it.”

“The sail is white, and you can see white cloth even under water,” said Russ.

“But I’m afraid the cloth won’t stay white very long.  The mud and sand of the inlet will cover it,” remarked Cousin Tom.  “Did you tie the doll on the boat, too, Russ?”

“No, I just laid the doll down on top of the stones.”

“Then when the boat upset the doll rolled off, and she probably sank in another place,” said Mr. Bunker.  “I don’t believe we can ever find her, Vi, I’m sorry to say, but I’ll try at low tide.”