‘So am I,’ cried Sally, ‘so am I. Mother said so. Didn’t you, Mother? Bring your pail, Andy, and we will dig together in the sand.’
‘I will. I will bring my pail and shovel,’ promised Andy.
‘Perhaps Tippy will come with us, too,’ called Sally, as Andy and his mother started down the path.
And from the back garden, where he was joyfully digging up an old bone, Tippy answered for himself.
‘Bow-wow-wow!’ said Tippy.
CHAPTER V
ANDY AND THE MERMAID
Tippy did not go to the beach that afternoon, but Sally and Alice did.
And no sooner were their shoes and stockings taken off and they were comfortably settled in a pleasant place to dig, than along came Andy, with such a happy, smiling face that it made Sally and Alice smile, too, only to look at him.
No wonder Andy was happy, for not only did he carry a gay blue pail and shovel, but in his arms he bore a sail-boat, a brand-new sail-boat, fresh from Captain Ball’s shop not half an hour ago.
‘I am late,’ said Andy, smiling the broadest kind of a smile. ‘I am late because we went to a funny little shop to buy my boat. Isn’t she a beauty? Did you ever see a boat like her before?’