“No, he was a bigger one than that. I asked my father to let me go too. At first he said I was too little; but afterwards he said I might go.”
“How big were you?” said Lucy.
“I was just about your age,” said Joanna. “My mother said I could not possibly walk so far; but father said I should not have to walk but a little way, for he was going down the brook in a boat.
“So father concluded to let me go, and we started off,—all three together. We went across the road, and then struck right into the woods.”
“Struck?” said Lucy.
“Yes; that is, we went right in.”
“O,” said Lucy.
“We walked along by a sort of cart-road a little while, until we came to a place where I just began to see some water through the trees. Father said it was the brook.
“When we got down to it, I found that it was a pretty wide brook; and the water was deep and pretty still. There was a boat in the brook. The boat was tied to a tree upon the shore; my brother got in, and then my father put me in; and afterwards he untied the boat, and threw the rope in, and then got in himself. Then there were three of us in.”
“Wasn’t you afraid?” said Lucy.