And this the children did. The little ducks paddled around in the water at the edge of the raft, and on the middle of it, in a dry place, perched the hen mother. It was great fun, and Bunny and Sue liked it very much.
"She is just like a trained hen," said Bunny. "If we have another and bigger circus, Sue, we can have this hen in it."
"Are we going to have another circus?"
"Maybe—a big one, in two tents. Bunker Blue and Ben are talking about it."
"Oh, that would be fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.
And then, all at once, as soon as Sue did this, the little ducks took fright, and hurried toward the shore. Perhaps they thought Sue was shooing them away, as her grandmother sometimes shooed the hens out of the garden.
Anyhow, the little ducks, half swimming and half flying, rushed for the shore, and no sooner had the hen mother seen them go, than with a loud cluck she raised herself up in the air, and flew to shore also. She had had enough of sailing, and she wanted to be with her little duck family.
"Oh, I didn't mean to scare them," said Sue.
"Never mind," Bunny comforted her. "I guess they had ride enough. Now we'll sail down to the other end of the pond."
But the wind was quite strong now. It blew very hard on the bag-sail, and the raft went swiftly through the water.