“All right,” said Jiggily.
“And we had better take some sticks, to use for oars, or paddles, or to push ourselves along with, in case there is no wind to blow the sail,” spoke Tommy. They all thought this was a good plan, so the three Trippertrots, and the newsboy, and Jiggily each got a tree branch.
Well, they climbed into the box-ship again, and Jiggily pushed off from the island, and away they went sailing once more. Then Jiggily and the newsboy stretched out on the bottom of the box, where you couldn’t see them unless you went up in a balloon, and they both went fast, fast to sleep.
On and on sailed the drygoods box, over the pretty lake, over toward the hills with trees on them, until finally Tommy said:
“Oh, let’s use our sticks to row with, and then we’ll go faster. There isn’t much wind now, and we’re not going along very quickly. Let’s push and row with the sticks.”
So they did that, and they went along very well. Only, they had accidents. Sometimes Tommy’s hat would blow off into the water, and he and Johnny would have to fish it out with their stick-oars. And sometimes Johnny’s hat would blow off, and he and his brother would have to reach for it.
And sometimes Tommy would reach for his own hat all alone, and sometimes Johnny would have to fish up his own hat all alone, when Tommy was attending to the sail. And so it went on; when it wasn’t one thing it was another.
The newsboy and Jiggily Jig slept on, in the bottom of the box, and they had a lovely time, with nothing to do. And the Trippertrots had lots of fun, too, sailing away.
Sometimes it would rain, and they would put the papers over the top of the box, and then the drops would stop coming down, and they could take off the papers, stand up, and paddle again.
On and on they went, and once the newsboy awakened, and most unexpectedly he found some more molasses cookies in his pocket, and he gave all his friends some, and some he ate himself, and then he went to sleep again—he and Jiggily.