"I never tied a cake of soap around my neck," said the little girl.
"I like to play the cake of soap is a boat in the bathtub," remarked Bunny. "It's lots of fun."
"But this is a riddle," went on the seaman. "Why should you tie a cake of soap around your neck if you go in swimming in deep water?"
"It can't be for you to eat if you get hungry," said Bunny, "can it, Captain Ross?"
"Of course not!" cried his sister. "How could you eat a cake of soap?"
"You could if it was a chocolate cake," returned the little boy. "But that isn't the answer to the riddle. Please tell us, Captain," he begged, as Bunker Blue began to pull up the anchor.
"When you go swimming in deep water and get carried too far out, if you have a cake of soap tied around your neck it might wash you ashore! Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed the jolly old sailor. "Do you see, Bunny—Sue? If you had a cake of soap on your neck it could wash you ashore. Soap washes, you know."
"That's a pretty good riddle," said Uncle Tad, while the two children laughed. "I must remember that to tell my old friend Joe Jamison when I get back to Bellemere. A cake of soap washes you ashore! Ha! Ha!"
"Oh, I know a lot of better ones than that," said Captain Ross. "Only I can't think of 'em just now. Well, all clear, Bunker?" he called.
"Yes, sir," was the answer.