“It must be pretty near eight,” answered Katherine. “Wait a minute until I look at my watch.” 114 She fished around in the pocket of her sweater, pulling out first half a comb, then several peanuts, and finally the watch.
“It’s ten after seven,” she said. “Why, it can’t be that–that’s what it was when I got up. The watch has stopped. I don’t know what time it is, but it must be nearly eight.”
Just then a tiny golden beam fell on the water in front of the canoe. “It’s clearing up,” said Sahwah joyfully. “It isn’t going to rain after all today.” She twisted her head upward to see where the sun was breaking through the clouds. “Why—” she exclaimed in bewilderment, “where is the sun?”
They all looked around. There was the sun, just beginning to peep over the eastern horizon. “It’s–it’s just rising!” said Katherine, dumbfounded. “Did it oversleep, too?”
“No, it didn’t,” said Uncle Teddy. “Old Sol is the one person who always wakes on time. And at this season of the year his time is about four o’clock A. M.”
“It’s only four o’clock!” they all shouted. “Katherine, you wretch, you pulled us out of our beds at half past three! You did it on purpose!”
But one glance at Katherine’s amazed face dispelled all doubts on that score, and set them into a wild gale of laughter. If ever a person was taken aback it was Katherine. “My watch must have 115 stopped at ten after seven last night,” she said sheepishly. “I remember now, I didn’t wind it. No wonder it was so grey and misty we thought it was going to rain!”
“The real test of sportsmanship!” scoffed the Captain. “I should say we were some fine sports, getting up at half past three the morning after a canoe trip and going out to crew practice!”
“And me getting into a wet bathing suit!” mourned Hinpoha. “I think I ought to have a Carnegie medal for that.”
Even the sun seemed to be laughing, as he climbed up over the rim of the water and turned the wavelets into gold. They paddled back to the dock as fast as they could go, laughing so they could hardly dip their paddles, and singing,