"Does everybody fish there?" Bunny asked.
"No, hardly anybody. And you can't always catch fish there either, even if you know the best places."
"Then we'll go," decided Bunny. "I want to go to a hard place."
"Is there anything I can do where you are going?" asked Sue.
"Well, you can gather pond lilies in the creek, which comes into the lake up above a piece. I'm going to take you there," said Tom. "It's a nice place."
"Oh, goody!" cried Sue, clapping her hands. "Mother loves pond lilies."
"Well, there's lots up where we're going," said Tom, as he began to row with strong, long strokes.
The creek, as Tom called it, was a lazy sort of stream flowing into one part of the lake through a dense part of the big woods. Up this creek very few persons went, as it was shallow for most boats, and they often ran aground and got stuck.
"But our boat will be all right," said Tom, "for it has a flat bottom and it doesn't lie very deep in the water. It could almost be rowed in a good rain storm."
Farther and farther up the creek Tom rowed the children. The trees met in a green arch overhead, and the only sounds were those of the dripping waters from Tom's oars, the call of woodland birds or the distant splash of a fish jumping up to get a fly that was close to the top of the water.