like my sister. We used to make mud pies together.”
The boys were in the canoe now, and each took a paddle. The water was so smooth that the paddles merely patted it, like “brushing a cat’s back,” Bert said, and soon the little bark was gliding along down the lake, in and out of the turns, until the “narrows” were reached.
“Here’s where we get our pond lilies,” said Hal.
“Oh, let’s get some!” exclaimed Bert. “Mother is so fond of them.”
It was not difficult to gather the beautiful blooms, that nested so cosily on the cool waters, too fond of their cradle to ever want to creep, or walk upon their slender green limbs. They just rocked there, with every tiny ripple of the water, and only woke up to see the warm sunlight bleaching their dainty, yellow heads.
“Aren’t they fragrant?” said Bert, as he put one after the other into the bottom of the canoe.
“There’s nothing like them,” declared Hal. “Some people like roses best, but give me the pretty pond lilies,” he finished.
The morning passed quickly, for there was so much to see around the lake. Wild ducks tried to find out how near they could go to the water without touching it, and occasionally one would splash in, by accident.
“What large birds there are around the sea,” Bert remarked. “I suppose they have to be big and strong to stand long trips without food when the waves are very rough and they can hardly see fish.”
“Yes, and they have such fine plumage,” said Hal. “I’ve seen birds around here just like those in museums, all colors, and with all kinds of feathers—Birds of Paradise, I guess they call them.”
“Do you ever go shooting?”
“No, not in summer time,” replied Hal. “But sometimes father and I take a run down here about Thanksgiving. That’s the time for seaside sport. Why, last year we fished with rakes; just raked the fish up in piles—‘frosties,’ they call them.”
“That must be fun,” reflected Bert.
“Maybe you could come this year,” continued Hal. “We might make up a party, if you have school vacation for a week. We could camp out in our house, and get our meals at the hotel.”
“That would be fine!” exclaimed Bert. “Maybe Uncle William would come, and perhaps my Cousin Harry, from Meadow Brook. He loves that sort of sport. By the way, we expect him down for a few days; perhaps next week.”
“Good!” cried Hal. “The boat carnival is on next week. I’m sure he would enjoy that.”
The boys were back at the boathouse now, and Bert gathered up his pond lilies.
“There’ll be a scramble for them when the girls see them,” he said. “Nellie McLaughlin, next to Dorothy, is out for fun. She is not a bit like a sick girl.”
“Perhaps she isn’t sick now,” said Hal, “but has to be careful. She seems quite thin.”
“Mother says she wants fun, more than medicine,” went on Bert. “I guess she had to go to work because her father is away at sea. He’s been gone a year and he only expected to be away six months.”
“So is my Uncle George,” remarked Hal. “He went to the West Indies to bring back a valuable cargo of wood. He had only a small vessel, and a few men. Say, did you say her name was McLaughlin?” exclaimed Hal, suddenly.
“Yes; they call him Mack for short, but his name is McLaughlin.”
“Why, that was the name of the man who went with Uncle George!” declared Hal. “Maybe it was her father.”
“Sounds like it,” Bert said. “Tell Uncle William about it sometime. I wouldn’t mention it to Nellie, she cut up so, they said, the first time she saw the ocean. Poor thing! I suppose she just imagined her father was tossing about in the waves.”
The boys had tied the canoe to its post, and now made their way up over the hill toward the house.
“Here they come,” said Bert, as Nan, Nellie, and Dorothy came racing down the hill.
“Oh!” cried Dorothy, “give me some!”
“Oh, you know me, Bert?” pleaded Nellie.
“Hal, I wound up your kite string, didn’t I?” insisted Nan, by way of showing that she surely deserved some of Hal’s pond lilies.
“And I found your ball in the bushes, Bert,” urged Dorothy.
“They’re not for little girls,” Hal said, waving his hand comically, like a duke in a comic opera. “Run along, little girls, run along,” he said, rolling his r’s in real stage fashion, and holding the pond lilies against his heart.
“But if we get them, may we have them sir knight?” asked Dorothy, keeping up the joke.
“You surely can!” replied Hal, running short on his stage words.
At this Nellie dashed into the path ahead of Hal, and Dorothy turned toward Bert. Nan crowded in close to Dorothy, and the boys had some dodging to get a start. Finally Hal shot out back of the big bush, and Nellie darted after him. Of course, the boys were better runners than the girls, but somehow, girls always expect something wonderful to happen, when they start on a race like that. Hal had tennis slippers on, and he went like a deer. But just as he was about to call “home free” and as he reached the donkey barn, he turned on his ankle.
Nellie had her hands on the pond lilies instantly, for Hal was obliged to stop and nurse his ankle.
“They’re yours,” he gave in, handing her the beautiful bunch of blooms.
“Oh, aren’t they lovely!” exclaimed the little cash girl, but no one knew that was the first time she ever, in all her life, held a pond lily in her hand.
“I’m going to give them to Mrs. Bobbsey,” she decided, starting at once to the house with the fragrant prize in her arms. Neither Dorothy nor Nan had caught Bert, but he handed his flowers to his cousin.
“Give them to Aunt Emily,” he said gallantly, while Dorothy took the bouquet and declared she could have caught Bert, anyhow, if she “only had a few more feet,” whatever that meant.
CHAPTER IX
Fun on the Sands
“How many shells did you get in your hunt?” Bert asked the girls, when the excitement over the pond lilies had died away.
“We never went,” replied Dorothy. “First, Freddie fell down and had to cry awhile, then he had to stop to see the gutter band, next he had a ride on the five-cent donkey, and by that time there were so many people out, mother said there would not be a pretty shell left, so we decided to go to-morrow morning.”
“Then Hal and I will go along,” said Bert. “I want to look for nets, to put in my den at home.”
“We are going for a swim now,” went on Dorothy; “we only came back for our suits.”
“There
