Harriet leaned against the side of the cabin screaming with laughter. Jane looked at her an instant, then, joined in the merriment.
"You are a sight!" gasped Harriet.
"Why shouldn't I be? I've been in the water? Are we going to stand here and laugh all the morning, or are we going to get busy?"
For answer Harriet Burrell picked up a pail and began bailing out the cockpit. Jane, dripping, took up another pail and together the girls worked feverishly. There were several barrels of water in the cockpit, so their backs were aching by the time they had finished bailing out the water. The stern of the boat now floated clear, but the forward end was hard and fast on the ground.
"The next thing is to get the boat off the gravel," announced Harriet.
"Maybe we can hitch the rowboat on and drag the 'Red Rover' off," suggested Jane.
Harriet shook her head.
"It won't work. We shall have to drag it off by main force. You can't be any wetter, and I'm not afraid of a little water. Let's get outside the boat and see what we can do."
A few seconds later as they took hold and directed their strength to the task of moving the heavy boat, Harriet's feet slipped from under her. She fell over into the water, coming up coughing, the water streaming from her hair and shoulders, and falling into the lake in a shower. Jane screamed with delight. "You're wet all right, now! No mistake about that," jeered Crazy Jane. "And what have we done? Moved the old tub three quarters of an inch. At this rate we'll have her afloat about supper time. I wish I had my car hitched to it. I'd drag the old thing out so fast it would make her dizzy."
Harriet had grasped the edge of the boat, tugging with all her might. Jane dashed around to the other side, adding her strength to the task. The boat gave way with such suddenness that both girls fell into the lake. But they did not care. They could get no wetter. Therefore they laughed and joked over their bedraggled condition. The "Red Rover" floated clear of the rushes.