"The creek must bring down a lot of earth," said Frank.
"There are Joe and Dick Davis," said Donald, pointing across the river.
"I wonder what they are doing? I'm going to see."
Donald ran along to the mouth of the creek, which he reached as the Davis boys began to scramble down the steep bank to the edge of the river.
"Hello there!" called Donald. "What are you fellows doing?"
"Sticking in the mud," replied Joe Davis, holding up first one foot and then the other, heavy with the stiff clay that hung to it.
"Why don't they go around by the path?" said Susie, coming up with Frank and Uncle Robert.
"They'll always take the short cut if there is one," laughed Frank.
"Come along over here!" he shouted.
"All right," sang out Dick, scraping the mud from his shoes.
An eddy in the stream just above the steep bank made a quiet place in the current. Here their boat was moored. As they pushed out from the shore they were swept down the stream, but a few strong pulls carried them beyond the swiftest part of the current, and then they easily rowed back to the landing at the mouth of the creek, where the Leonards were waiting for them.
"I wish our bank was low like this," said Joe as he leaped from the boat. "We have to go so far downstream before we find a low bank on our side."