The water washed over the leaf, and the chickens shrieked with fear. A moment later the boat caught on a ledge and at once tilted over so that the chickens were upset into the water.
“Oh! oh!” cried Buff. “Look what we’ve done.”
The ducklings hurried to the help of the chicks, and pushing and pulling they managed to get them up on the rock where they were safe.
“Well, you can come along with men and I’ll show it to you”
The chickens were dripping wet however and so frightened they hardly knew where they were. “Oh! oh!” they wept. “We’ll be drowned! We want to go home. Oh! Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!”
The ducklings stood looking on in dismay, not knowing what to do or say.
At this moment a shriek sounded from the bank. “Oh, my chicks! my chicks!”
The duck and the hen had reached the river side, and the hen had seen her chickens far out on a rock, wet and shivering with fear. “Oh what shall I do! What shall I do,” she shrieked. “They can never get back.”
“Yes they can, too; now don’t you be so worried,” said the duck. “I’ll bring them back.”