"Peter," replied Mrs. Crane, "this is home."
"I'm beginning to think," said Mr. Black, "that we were all born wild Indians. I don't want to go home myself; and I hope that Saunders won't send any news that will make me feel that I ought to. How about you, Ambrosial Delight? Do you like the woods, little cat?"
The frisky kitten, always responsive to attention, scrambled up Mr. Black's leg, leaped to his broad shoulder, and began running in a circle round and round Mr. Black's neck.
"He says," interpreted Henrietta, "that he wouldn't go home for the best cow's milk in the country."
At last the boat, headed straight for the shore, was so near that the campers could see that every available inch of the craft was filled with boxes, bundles, and baskets. The excited little girls pranced so recklessly on the edge of the bank that a lot more of it crumbled and rolled to the beach, a youngster or two with it. Mabel, anxious to obtain a closer view of the boat's cargo, as Captain Berry dropped anchor, rushed recklessly toward the end of the long, prostrate pine.
"Oh!" shrieked Marjory, "you're shaking the whole log! Oh! Oh! Don't touch me!"
But Marjory's admonition came too late. Plump, clumsy Mabel, feeling the need of some other support than the log afforded, flung her arms about her slender comrade. There was another alarmed shriek from Marjory, two wildly scrambling figures clutching at empty air—and a prodigious splash. The water at this point was just knee deep; enough of it, fortunately, to break the girls' fall and not enough to drown them.
Dave and his dog plunged overboard from the launch and waded rapidly to the rescue. That is, Dave waded and Onota swam. Mr. Black, too, waded hurriedly to the spot where Mabel, on all-fours, was endeavoring to stand upright and where Marjory was thrashing about like a frenzied trout.
Dave seized one, Mr. Black the other, and, in another moment the girls were safe on their feet, gasping, sputtering, and trying to wipe their wet faces on their wetter skirts.
"It's a good thing," said Mr. Black, leading his half of the rescued victims ashore, "that your dry clothes are in sight."