Sidney grinned. “The canoe went over,” he explained. “I was only about two or three hundred feet from shore and Mumsie was on the porch and she wouldn’t come out for me!”
“But what did you do?” questioned Tom with wide eyes.
“Oh, I sat on the end of the overturned canoe and worked in with my feet. I’d lost the paddle. The trouble was there was a breeze off shore and it took me nearly half an hour to get back. And Mumsie just sat there and watched me!”
“But weren’t you frightened?” asked Tom, turning bewilderedly to Mrs. Morris.
“Oh, no; I knew he could swim if he had to. And I thought it would teach him a lesson and make him more careful.” She laughed that little soft laugh of hers. “Sid was so angry when he got back that his teeth chattered!”
“I guess your teeth would have chattered if you’d had to sit on the bottom of that canoe for half an hour with the wind blowing on you?” Sidney grumbled. “I call it a mean trick, don’t you, Tom?”
“I think——” Tom hesitated, casting a doubtful glance at Mrs. Morris.
“Well?” she demanded, her eyes dancing.
“I think,” he went on boldly, “it must have been terribly hard for your mother to stay on the porch!”