The big boy set the Lamb down near the water and then the two lads began to make a raft.  A raft is like the big, wide, flat boat, without any house or cabin on it.  It did not take long to make it.

“All aboard!” cried the big boy, when the raft had been finished.  “All aboard!  Come on!” He picked up the Lamb again, and walked out on the raft.  The smaller boy went with his chum.  With long poles, cut from a near-by tree, the boys shoved the raft out into the middle of the brook.

“Now we’re a Noah’s Ark!” laughed the small boy, “and we have one animal with us—­a woolly Lamb on Wheels!”

And down the brook Mirabell’s toy went sailing with the two boys on the raft.

“This is certainly surprising!” thought the Lamb.  “I was bought by a sailor, and here I am making a voyage!  I hope I shall not be seasick!”

CHAPTER IX

ON A LOAD OF WOOD

Now while the Lamb on Wheels was being carried away by the dog, and after she had been dropped in the lot, where she was picked up by the boys and put on a Noah’s Ark raft—­while all this was happening to the toy, Mirabell, the little girl who owned the Lamb, was almost heart-broken.  After she had admired the trunk Dorothy had had given to her for the Sawdust Doll, Mirabell ran back to get her pet toy.

“Oh, where is my Lamb on Wheels?” cried Mirabell, looking up and down the street.  “Where is she?”

“Where did you leave her?” asked Dorothy, who had gone back with her friend.

“I left the Lamb right here by the fence,” answered Mirabell.  “She had a string on.  I was pulling her along the sidewalk, and when you called me I let go the string and ran.  Oh, where is my nice Lamb?”

“Maybe Dick took the Lamb,” suggested Dorothy to Mirabell, when they had looked up and down the street, in front of and behind the fence, and even in the yard, and had not found the toy.  “Dick sometimes takes my things and hides them just for fun,” Dorothy said.

“Or Arnold, maybe,” added Mirabell.

Just then Dick and Arnold came out of Mirabell’s house, each with a slice of bread and jam, and there was some jam around their mouths, too, showing that they had each taken a bite from their slices of bread.

“Oh, Arnold, did you take my Lamb!” cried Mirabell.

“Or did you take it, Dick?” asked his sister.

“Nope!” answered both boys, speaking at the same time.

“But where is she?” asked the little girl over and over again.  “Where is my Lamb on Wheels?”

“Oh, I know!” suddenly cried Dick.

“I thought you said you didn’t!” exclaimed his sister.  “You said you and Arnold didn’t hide her away.”

“Neither did we,” went on Dick.  “But I think I know where she is, just the same.”

“Where?” asked Arnold, as he finished the last of his bread and jam, having given his sister a bite, while Dick gave Dorothy some.  “Where is the Lamb on Wheels?” asked Arnold.