And, then, all of a sudden, they saw a big wooden box floating down the street, which was now filled with water.
“Oh, this is just the thing!” cried the newsboy. “Come on, little ones,” and he ran toward the box. “We’ll go sailing!”
ADVENTURE NUMBER TWO
THE TRIPPERTROTS GO SAILING
The newsboy kindly helped the children to get in the box, first lifting in Mary, and then Johnny, and then Tommy. Then he got in himself. And all the while it kept on raining harder and harder.
“Oh, my!” cried Mary, as she sat down in a corner of the big box. “This is terrible! Here we are lost again, and we don’t know where we are going.”
“Ah, that is just the best part of it,” said the newsboy.
“Why do you say that?” asked Johnny.
“Because,” said the newsboy, “if you knew where you were going there wouldn’t be any surprise when you got there. And you would know just when you were going to get there, and what you were to do after you arrived. Now it’s all different. We don’t know where we are going, and we don’t know when we’ll get there, and we don’t know what we will do when we get there—if we ever do. At least, I don’t,” he said, with a smile. “Perhaps you children do.”
“No,” answered Mary, with a shake of her head. “I don’t.”
“And I don’t, either,” spoke Tommy.