Fred and Polly looked as though they wanted to laugh.
"Say," said Fred, "did you hear that riddle, Artie, or did you read it? I'll bet a cookie you read it."
"Of course I read it—in a book," Artie answered. "It said the front part of a ship."
"That's all right," replied Fred, grinning. "But you don't pronounce this b-o-w that way. The front part of a ship is the bow, the way you say you made a bow. See? That's where the being polite, comes in."
Ward made a dive for Artie and they rolled over on the sand.
"Nobody could guess the riddle!" chuckled Ward. "Not even Artie had it right!"
"Anybody going swimming?" asked Mr. Larue, coming down to them in his bathing suit, followed by Mr. Marley and Mr. Williamson. "If the Riddle Club will adjourn, we'll take you as far as you want to go, to make up for waiting so patiently."
"I move that the meeting be adjourned," said Jess, and Margy seconded the motion.
Two minutes later the Riddle Club membership might have been seen floating far out, just beyond the lazy breakers. They could swim a little, and all of them could float, and they stayed there till an unusually heavy comber frightened Margy and she wanted to come in. Then they splashed around in the shallower water for another half hour, and then put on their sweaters and toasted themselves in the sun till reminded that it was time to go up to the cottage and get dressed for lunch.
"Gee, I like it here," announced Fred, as they toiled through the heavy sand. "We can have heaps of fun—there's country back of all the cottages."